Work Text:
April 4, 2012
Minnesota/Fisher House
Thirty six years old
Thirty two years old
Nate and Elena:
Elena and her parents had become estranged since she chose to work as a journalist and war correspondent. They had not liked the idea of their daughter exposing herself to that danger, and in the middle of a heated fight they ended up losing connection on both sides.
The first few months had been difficult for both her parents and her, but they had already made the decision, so she moved on with her life.
Until she reached the moment she was currently in, leaning against her now husband's shoulder, the two were happy to be able to live in peace and comfort. Sure, it wasn't what they were used to, but it was better than living among dangerous adventures and treasures that could kill them.
They were both having dinner on the couch, their nightly tradition, talking about how their day at work had been, Elena who had decided to leave her old job as a war correspondent behind and had been an article writer since they got married.
And Nathan, who had finally found a job suitable for him, after months of changing jobs every week due to the discomfort and boredom they gave him, now worked for a certain Jameson, who was in charge of finding artifacts for those who hired them. .
But their conversation was interrupted by the sudden beeping of Elena's cell phone.
"Oh please, who's calling at this hour."
"Don't worry, it may just be a promotion, it won't take long."
Nathan just sighed in resignation as Elena laughed at his expression.
"Hello? You're talking to Elena Fisher."
"Daughter"
Elena let out a sigh at hearing the voice. "Mom... It's nice to talk to you again, and sorry for asking, but why are you calling?"
"You may be surprised by the call, I also know you may still be angry, but we just wanted to ask how you are, we haven't had any communication for a long time."
"I'm fine, mom, you don't have to worry. So much you and dad know that I couldn't have been mad at you forever. Maybe a few years, but not a lifetime."
"The same goes for your father and me, daughter. We only cared about your well-being."
"Then I guess you'll be pleased to know that's not my job anymore."
"Wait, what..." His mother let out a stunned scream.
"As you hear it. I decided something more normal was better."
Elena could have sworn that Nathan had laughed at her when he heard that word come out of her mouth.
"But you seemed so determined to go on when we fought last time."
"Yeah... Well, too much happened, but I don't think it's appropriate to talk about it on the phone."
"Of course! You're right! How about you come to talk, I'm sure your father would love to have you back even if it's only for a limited time."
"Well, I'm busy right now, so I guess we'll see you later."
"Ha, okay, take your time, see you, daughter."
"See you later, mom I love you."
"Me too..."
And with this last line, Elena hung up the call, returning her attention to her husband, who was curious.
"Lena, let's pretend for a moment that I don't know what you were talking about or who you were talking to."
She shook her head, amused. "She was my mother."
"Really? The only thing you've told me about them is that you haven't spoken to them in years."
"Yes, well, it seems they want to fix things, and I don't totally disagree with them."
"I guess you have to travel to see them."
"Yes, well... My intention was to take you with me, so that you two can get to know each other."
"Well, I don't think they'll let me miss work, I just got the job."
"And that's why you're Nathan Drake, I know you can earn your boss's trust in a heartbeat."
The aforementioned giggled again.
"Stop there cowboy, don't get cocky."
"Sure, anyway, where your parents live."
"In Minnesota."
Panting. "You can't be serious! That's like six hours from here, and that's if we take a direct flight."
"We've been on longer trips, plus this one is different, you know."
"Okay, but know that it's going to cost you." He said with a smile.
"Really." He raised his eyebrow.
"Yes, I'm not going to wash the dishes for the whole month."
"Don't get your hopes up too high, cowboy, two weeks and that's all you'll get."
He sighed with resignation. "It's a waste of time to fight with you, well... One week."
Two weeks had passed since they had decided that they would visit the Fishers.
It was true that since the plane incident on their last adventure, Nathan preferred to take road trips, but he knew the benefits of traveling by plane, so he tolerated it.
"It's okay, remember, my parents don't know we're married, they don't know you."
"Yes, don't worry, you've told me that since we were at the airport, no lost treasures or past life."
'Good morning/ afternoon/ evening gentlemen passengers. The Commander and all of us thank you for choosing this Sun Country Airlines flight to Minnesota. We are pleased to extend a special welcome to those joining our flight from another Sun Country alliance airline.'
'Buenos días/ tardes/ noches señores pasajeros. El comandante y todos nosotros les damos las gracias por elegir este vuelo de la compañía Sun Country Airlines con destino a Minnesota. Nos complace dar una bienvenida especial a quienes se unen a nuestro vuelo proveniente de otra línea aérea de la alianza Sun Country.'
"Well, I think it's time to go downstairs, Nate."
"Everything is going to be alright, Lena."
She sighed. "I hope so."
“According to this thing, we are already here."
Ding.
After knocking on the door, it opened instantly, revealing two adults, who Nathan assumed were Elena's parents.
They were ushered in and then Elena's father greeted her.
"Good afternoon, daughter, it's nice to have you back." She hugged Elena and turned her gaze to Nathan, who smiled nervously. "And I see you brought company."
Elena was going to answer but Nathan beat her to it.
"Nathan Drake, nice to meet you." He extended his hand to them.
"Pilar Fisher, it's a pleasure too." She was the first to introduce herself.
"Benjamin Fisher." He also squeezed back. "But I would like to know who you are."
"Dad, mom, introduced you to Nathan Drake, my husband."
Nathan gave a nervous chuckle. "How long ago? If we may know."
"For seven months or sometime like that."
"It's nice to meet you son, I'm glad Elena found someone."
"Yes, it's good to see that you're happy, Elena, but I'm warning you boy, if you hurt him you'll regret it."
"Don't worry sir, I've had enough of your temper."
"Hey."
"Don't blame me, I can still feel the burning in my cheek from time to time." He expressed dramatically while clutching the 'affected' area.
"How about we continue this conversation at the table? You must be hungry after having traveled so far."
"Thank you very much, airplane food sucks."
After fifteen minutes the four of them were sitting at the rectangular dining room table.
“So, Elena, your mother told me that you are no longer a war correspondent.” Benjamin spoke. “What are you working on now?”
“Now I work from home, I write articles about different places, mostly touristy.”
“Oh, I didn't think you'd change jobs so radically.” Pilar exclaimed in surprise.
“After getting married, we decided to change jobs, for something quieter.”
“I see, then, Nathan.” Benjamin's gaze moved from his daughter to his son-in-law. "What do you do?
Nate and Elena shared a nervous look, which Pilar noticed, before he answered.
“I recently started working for a maritime salvage company. Although you could say that before that he was an archaeologist.”
“Interesting choice of jobs, but why change careers? “Being an archaeologist sounds interesting.”
“As Elena said, we wanted something more normal. Besides, I used to travel a lot so settling in one place didn't seem like a bad idea.”
“I see, it must have been a strong change.”
“It was a little difficult, but over time we got used to it.”
Benjamin kept looking at Nathan, as if he were inspecting him, making Nathan a little nervous.
“How did you meet?”
“I was working on a big project, but I didn't have enough money to do it, so I called a reporting company. “I told them that if they financed my project I would give them the exclusive access to the tomb of Sir Francis Drake, he was a very famous pirate in his time.”
“Ohh. “This pirate, he has your last name, darling.”
“That's right ma'am, you could say he is my ancestor.”
"And what were you doing looking for his coffin, boy? I don't think it's right to usurp a relative's grave."
"Technically you can't usurp an empty coffin"
"Empty?"
“Before starting the job, I had theorized that Francis had faked his death, so finding the coffin confirmed it.”
Pilar looked at her daughter. “Why isn't there a report about that, if it says that they contacted you for that?”
“During that job, my camera broke, and I couldn't save what I had already recorded.”
"It is a pity."
“It really was.”
“Look on the bright side, Lena, at least you knew me.” Nathan winked at him, which earned him a small tap on the shoulder.”
“As if that's going to make up for the loss of my camera.”
Elena's parents couldn't help but notice the naturalness of that joke.
“Interesting way to get to know each other.”
“The truth is, yes, he does, although I have to admit, at first he seemed like an idiot to me.”
Nate brought his hand to the top of his chest, where his heart was, pretending to be hurt by the comment.
“On other topics.” Pilar spoke, more serious. “Daughter, if you got married, why didn't you call us, I know we were fighting, but I think we deserved to even be informed of this decision.”
Elena felt a little guilty, because her mother was right.
“I'm sorry, Mom, it was a hasty decision, but for what it's worth, only one person attended and was informed of the wedding.”
“And who could it be? It must be important if they only let someone know.” His father raised his eyebrow.
For his part, Nathan felt nervous again.
“Well, an old acquaintance of mine. “He was the one who motivated me to ask Elena to marry me.”
“I mean, no family member of yours attended either?”
Nate smiled sadly. “I have no family sir, my mother died when I was still little.”
“Ohh. Sorry for Ask."
“It's okay, I didn't know.”
“What about your father, honey, are you still in contact with him?”
Nathan's spirits dropped a little at the question, “Honestly, I haven't seen my father since I was a child, so I don't know anything about him.”
“I'm so sorry, it must be hard.”
“It happened too long ago, besides, I have everything I need.”
“Well Nate.” Benjamin intervened. “If you married Elena, it means you are a good person, so now you have us too.”
Elena smiled at her father's comment, her father had already accepted Nate so it was a good development.
“Thank you gentlemen, thank you very much.”
“Son, like my husband said, we are family now, call us by our names.”
“It's okay, Pilar.”
“You're welcome son, welcome to the family.”
After dinner, Pilar showed them the room where they would sleep during the days they would stay with them.
Taking things out of his suitcases and tidying up, Nathan couldn't help but ask Elena how she thought dinner had gone.
“Nate, really, my parents literally told you that. They already accepted you into the family, I just hope they don't resent the wedding too much, if I should have called them.”
“Hey, don't worry, they surely understand. In any case, it is my fault, I was the one who did everything in a hurry.”
“I won't deny that, but I should have still invited them, I hope I can make it up to them now.”
“Well, we could invite them over to the house, you know.” Elena looked at him questioningly. “For your birthday or mine, so they don't feel so bad about it.”
“Who would have thought, Nathan Drake, living a normal life.”
Nate laughed. “I can do a lot of things, you know.”
“I didn't expect this to be one of those.”
“Anything for you, Lena'.”