Work Text:
When Del invited Elliot to dinner in Kat's absence, he suspected ulterior motives at play. First on her list would be getting him and Alice to settle their differences. She had no reason to suspect things changed since her party, and really, they hadn't. Actually that was a lie – they'd gotten worse.
Del's second motive would be pity. Throughout childhood Kat and Nick were his only real friends. Even then Elliot only lucked out because Kat drew him out of his shell. Throughout college Elliot struggled to find a new friend group on his own, still bogged down by the past. Not that he'd be Mr. Popular if high school went as planned without unspeakable tragedy. Regardless, he'd muddled through with classmates and roommates he could barely call “friends” until he met his wife. Even during his marriage he'd tended towards date nights more than dinners out with a group. (Cue his ex citing 'clinginess' as a reason for their divorce.)
Since his divorce he'd felt a temporary lull. He knew Kat would return with Alice in less than a decade, most likely upending his entire life in the process. Why bother with anything or anyone else? And, okay, maybe he carried some emotional bruising from the divorce that needed to heal.
Everything led to present-day Elliot who would probably never have a social life outside of the Landrys – all of them. Even when two out of three weren't speaking to him. Alice had tried to escape into town when Del surprised her with company, but stayed back at her grandmother's orders.
Dinner had been the predicted tense affair, with Del making an admirable effort to carry the conversation. They'd still finished her pasta dish in less than an hour. He'd expected Alice to run but, again per Del's orders, she helped clear the table.
“Thank you for dinner, Del,” Elliot began, setting the bread basket on the counter. The sooner he could get out of there the better. “It was great. I'll have to return the favor one day.”
“You cook?” Del raised an eyebrow at him, and even Alice showed some interest.
Elliot replied with a modest shrug. “Too much take-out isn't healthy. I'm not a world-class chef or anything but I'll watch Food Network while grading papers.”
“In that case, I may take you up on your offer.” Del reached for her phone before heading towards the door. “I'm going to try and call Kat. She's in some mystery location with spotty service, so only a few measly texts have gotten through. Alice, if I catch her I'll let you know. In the meantime the two of you are on dish duty.”
She went out the door without waiting for a response.
“Subtle, Grandma,” Alice muttered, snapping the faucet on with more force than necessary.
About to agree, Elliot paused when Del's words processed. “Wait, she's gotten texts? From 1814?”
Alice rolled her eyes and produced Kat's phone from her hoodie pocket.
“Oh. That makes more sense.” Elliot opened the dishwasher while Alice started rinsing plates. As of that moment, Kat had been in the past for two days. Alice only gave him the bare-bones explanation when he stopped by to check on Kat. He couldn't stop thinking about the disastrous conversations he'd had with both Landrys. While he didn't necessarily need to apologize to Kat, he'd wanted to make sure she didn't do anything rash.
Like jumping into the pond, and making her daughter pretend to be her over text. Then again Elliot couldn't claim he'd been a better adult role model lately.
“I'm sorry. Again.” His words just seemed to fly out on their own. Alice paused, the dish still in her hand while the water ran. “These last few days I've tried to consider your and your mom's point of view, to understand. For starters, I really should have been more supportive when you and your mom were separated in the pond. Something like that would make anyone panic, let alone a teenager. Which brings me to my next point.”
Alice turned off the water, put the plate in the dishwasher, and stood back up to face him. He was making progress.
Needing to gather his thoughts, Elliot busied himself by filling the dishwasher with detergent and setting it. “I think, when you first arrived in Port Haven, my brain didn't know what to do with the conflicting data. Here was Kat's daughter Alice but also my high school friend Alice. We quickly fell back into our old routine where you had your time travel problems and I was along for the ride. And I believe that's why I unfairly blamed you for telling me my future. I forgot that you are, were, a teenager, dealing with bizarre circumstances the best you could. And for that, I'm also sorry.”
Did he still resent knowing his future? Yes, but he couldn't blame a teenager for single-handedly ruining his life. They were both pawns of fate. All three of them really, even Kat. Especially Kat.
“You have done a lot of thinking,” Alice acknowledged. “So, does this mean you're back in?”
He'd thought about that question too. Non-stop. “I've always been as deep in it as anyone who's not a Landry can get,” he confessed. “I've tried to pull away, to spare myself the stress and the chaos. But the pond draws me in like it does you and your mother.”
Alice put a hand on her hip. “So what, it's the pond's fault now? You know what your problem is? You blame everything on everyone else except you.”
“Whoa, I did say I was accepting it,” Elliot snapped back defensively. He'd been completely honest with her and it still wasn't good enough?
“Either you're all-in, or you're not,” Alice continued. “It can't be my fault or Mom's fault or the pond's fault. This has to be your choice. Otherwise you're just going to pull away again when it gets to be too much. So decide right now if you are choosing to be part of this.”
Why did he try apologizing again? What made him think it would go differently? Did the pond, did life, teach him nothing?
Apparently not.
“That's the problem!” Elliot exclaimed, making Alice's eyes go wide with surprise. “I always chose the pond, okay? Whenever I strayed too far from my path I would inevitably find my way back. I've spent my whole adult life researching time travel and making trips back to the pond to see if it changed. I guess when the future finally came to pass I thought, maybe now, we can all be free and live normal lives. But now I see that can't happen. That I can't ignore the pond's call anymore than you or Kat can. So whether you accept my reasoning or not, I'm here. And I always will be.”
To his confusion, Alice smiled, then let out a chuckle. “Only you can make being supportive sound like a threat.”
“Maybe it is,” Elliot joked, then the two of them burst into laughter.
At that moment, Del walked back into the kitchen. Both Elliot and Alice froze, realizing the door had been partially open and wondering how much she'd heard. “Sorry, were we too loud?” Elliot asked hesitantly, trying to read Del's face.
When Del smiled wide, Elliot and Alice let out small sighs of relief. “You be as loud as you want,” Del insisted. “It's nice to hear you two laughing again. Do I dare push it with a round of cards?”
“I'm in,” Alice replied, sending Elliot a hopeful look as they took seats at the table.
The double meaning was not at all lost on him. “Oh, I'm definitely in.” To prove it, Elliot helped out with Alice's cover story. “By the way, Del, did you reach Kat?” Behind Del's back Alice sent him an inconspicuous thumbs up.
Del let out a groan of frustration. “Not at all! This seems ridiculous to me. She keeps taking off on some huge story for the paper without telling me anything. Meanwhile, this is Port Haven, how often do major stories really come along? Especially ones that require her to be out of town?”
“I'm sure she'll tell you everything when she's ready.” Elliot wondered how true that was. Would Kat or Alice ever tell Del about the pond? Really, it was possible Del knew already and thought she had to keep the secret. It would be an interesting day when that big can of worms finally burst open. “In the meantime, as long as you're getting texts, I'm sure everything's fine.” Alice smirked at this but quickly changed her face to more-appropriate concern.
Del scoffed as she took out a deck of cards. “All I know is, I better hear her voice one way or another by the end of the week, or...” She trailed off, glancing at Alice. “Well, I'm sure she'll be back soon and I'm just overreacting. Who wants to deal first?”
“I'll do it.” Just like that, Elliot found himself knee-deep in Landry time-travel drama again when he promised himself he'd keep his distance. The truth was he'd shared Alice's panic when Kat first disappeared. For him it'd been easier to act like everything would be fine, that they had nothing to worry about. When really there was always something or someone to worry about. Even when he'd traveled he thought about the pond and Kat way too often.
Insanity was doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. That's why Elliot tried so hard to avoid repeating his mistakes, to avoid getting in too deep this time.
But did 'this time' count as true insanity if he'd never really stopped?