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Leon was woken up by the cat as usual. Of course she doesn’t understand that daylight savings exists. So he gets up at five in the morning and puts food in a bowl. He pondered going back to bed but once he’s up, he’s up for a while.
He stood in the quiet of the morning. Waiting for the coffee to brew. Some of the fancy stuff that Luis insisted on getting. When the drip stopped Leon grabbed the mug and slowly wandered outside to the back porch. After the requisite fight to keep a very big Maine Coon from discovering the joys of the outdoors, he sat at the picnic table to watch the sun rise.
Eventually he heard the screen door slide open and an argument between a human and cat behind him.
“No Maite. You cannot leave. There are coyotes outside.”
The only answer Luis obtained was a meow.
“You will not win. I am much bigger than you and can pick you up.”
Leon chuckled into his coffee. Luis finally sat down next to him, easing softly into the seat. Leon would probably never get over how age had shaped the man beside him. Long wavy brown hair streaked in grey that glowed in the light of the rising sun. Crows feet that scrunched up with a large smile. The cheater glasses he picked out a few years ago that made him look every bit the academic he was. Fifty looked good on Luis.
”You win?”
“Eventually.” Luis said, sighing and leaning into Leon’s side. “She’s very insistent.”
“She wants so badly to meet a moth in its natural habitat.”
“Well she shall never as long as I live.”
The sound of Leon’s personal phone going off interrupted the peace of the morning. Leon fished the phone out of his pajama pocket. “It’s Grace”
Luis tilted his head towards the phone. “It’s early, she must really need you.”
Leon placed the phone on the table and answered on speaker phone. “Kennedy speaking. Luis is here, Grace, just so you know.”
“Oh! Hi Luis. I wasn’t expecting to be picked up.” Grace’s voice wafted up from the small metallic box.
“Hola mija.” Luis said sleepily.
Leon huffed. “Hoping to get away with a voicemail?”
“Only a little.” She admitted softly. “Can I request something from you? Not zombie related.”
Luis snickered at that. Leon jostled him slightly to get him to quiet down.
“Yeah. What do you need?”
“So it was open enrollment for work’s dental insurance a few months ago and I switched providers which finally has made it reasonable for me to get my wisdom teeth out.” She sighed softly. “First off I need someone to take me, stay for the procedure as my advocate, and take me home. And second I need someone to watch Emily while I’m out of it.”
Leon looked to Luis, shrugging. Luis simply nodded his head, the scratch of his day old beard prickling against Leon’s bare arm.
“I can do that.”
“Actually since you’re here. Luis, c-could you also come? I know we haven’t really gotten to know each other yet but I-I would like to maybe have someone who’ll make sure I don’t accidentally take the wrong medication or something, and I know you’re a doctor. Well not exactly that kinda doctor, ya know, but Leon told me you worked in medicine-”
Luis cut her off with a laugh. “I would be happy to help out with la muchachita and to make sure you do not accidentally overdose on Tylenol.”
“Oh um- thanks.” Leon could almost hear the relief in her voice. “I’m, tentatively, planning on taking a Friday off work and recovering over the weekend. Nothing set in stone yet.”
Leon quickly flipped through his work phone’s calendar. “I’m back on call for work next week but if nothing happens I should be able to request time off at any point.”
“I need to put things in for work two weeks ahead. And if you don’t want a very angry small tiger in your home we’ll need to arrange for Maite.”
“I don’t mind the cat coming.”
“She would mind.” Luis lamented.
Leon looked back at Maite scratching at the back door trying to get to them. “She’ll be fine. It’s an hour and a half drive. Emily will love her.”
“She has never been around a child.”
“It’s not like Emily’s a toddler.”
“Emily really loves animals. And she knows how to be gentle.”
Luis threw up an arm. “I have been outnumbered it seems. The cat joins the adventure.”
Leon snorted out a laugh. “Let us know when and we’ll figure out getting to you.”
“Thanks. Love you.” The phone beeped out before Leon could answer.
“Did she just say she loves me?”
Luis leaned away from him and patted him on the shoulder. “Sí. Ten dollars she calls you ‘dad’ when she comes to.”
Leon huffed and set his coffee down. “I hate you.”
“Oh but you would be so good as a papi.”
“Luis, I’m going to push you off this bench.”
———
Luis grabbed the cat carrier out of the back seat as Maite yelled at him. “Yes, yes. You are very angry. You will have food and affection soon, diablito.”
Leon hefted both of their overnight bags over his shoulders, his dirty blond hair falling in his eye. Leon blew a bit of hair out of his face. “You ready?”
Luis nodded. “Of course. I’m great with polleulos. They love me.”
“We’ll see how well you keep up with a seven year old, old man.” Leon called back as he walked up to the little house.
It was a cute one story thing. Painted terracotta with a red roof and a little hexagonal tower on the side. The flower beds were starting to push up their first blooms, little pops of color among the green of early spring.
Leon knocked softly at the red door and it flew open immediately. Grace stood in the doorway staring at the two of them, almost like she was in disbelief that they were there. Half her hair was pulled back into a messy bun while the rest settled around her chin in a curtain of almost white. Luis wondered if she bleached it recently.
After a moment, Leon took it upon himself to further the interaction. “Hey kid, ready for tomorrow?”
“Oh my God no.” Grace seemed to double over instantly, walking away from the door. Leon and Luis shared an amused look before following her inside. “Did you know it’s worse the older you are when you get them out?”
Luis laughed as he toed off his shoes, setting Maite down for a moment as he did so much to the cat’s annoyance. “Yes I did. But you are still a good age for it.”
Grace held up her hand, her fingers almost touching. “Only barely. I-it’s gonna be so bad.”
Leon set their bags down on a couch. “That’s why we’re here isn’t it? And from my memory it sucks for a few days but you’ll be fine eventually.”
Grace looked at him. “What age did you get them out?”
“Eighteen, but that’s how it was in the nineties. Everybody my age I know got them out immediately after high school unless they weren’t coming in.” Leon pointed at Luis. “Except this guy but he grew up in a cult. In Europe.”
“It was not a cult yet. They were just traditional.”
“Did you have a dentist?”
“Yes. Was he good? No.” Maite screamed at Luis, her little claws poking out at him through the net of the carrier. “La gata requests to be freed.”
“Oh yeah! Sorry.” Grace ran a hand through her hair. “I’ll show you to the guest room. We can let her out there first then let her explore the rest of the house when she’s ready.”
As Grace led them through the hall Luis could see Leon checking around, either because they were introducing a nearly thirteen pound cat, a very smart cat who might as well have thumbs, into a non-cat proofed house or because he was always on edge. Luis couldn’t fully tell. He had gotten better at that over the years but Leon’s latent paranoia was always threatening to rear its head up. If it was about the cat it was reasonable.
The room they were led to was fine enough. A quintessential guest room for a house that had just been moved into. Just a queen sized bed, two bedside tables, and a closet. It hadn’t gained the eccentric decoration that Luis had shoved into their guest bedroom over the last twenty-ish years.
As Leon started to unpack their stuff and Luis set Maite’s carrier down on the bed, Grace started explaining their setup. “So this is your room for as long as you’re staying. It shares a bathroom with Emily’s room so I hope that’s okay. I’m down the hall, in the master. That’s basically it, other than the living room and the kitchen, that’s just off to the side connected to it.”
Luis slowly started to unzip the carrier, careful not to spook Maite. “It’s very cute. I like it. The house I mean.”
Grace tucked a loose hair behind her ear, her eyes brightening. “Thanks. I really like it. Emily loves it. Especially her room. She’s in the tower.”
Maite cautiously stepped out of the carrier before deciding that Luis was obviously her best source of comfort in this new place, sidling up to him and refusing to leave his side even as Leon set up the temporary litter box in the corner of the room. Luis pet idly along her spine allowing her fluffy tail to slide through his fingers as she paced and turned.
“Where is Emily?” Leon asked, not looking up from his task of setting up a space for Maite.
“She’s with a new friend from school.” Grace checked her phone. “Looks like his mom is planning to bring her back soon though. Probably thirty minutes.”
“How’s she doing? Adjusting to normal life?”
“Good! So good actually. Once we found a place she could transfer into mid school year and would take her needs seriously she’s been having such a fun time. She’s still in remedial classes for math but the teacher is sure that in a few years she’ll be exactly on target…”
The sound of Grace chatting excitedly and the soft grumble of Leon’s answer quickly faded into the background as Luis stood there, tired from a full day’s work and then driving longer than expected because of the traffic. He could feel a twinge in his hip that was definitely going to be a problem tomorrow. Had he packed his cane? Probably. If he hadn’t that was no big deal. He could manage. Maite decided to explore the room more, finally building up her confidence to see the new environment.
There was a snap of fingers in front of Luis’ face and he looked over to see Leon standing beside him. “Luis? You good?”
“Oh sí, sí, yes. Just zoned out for a bit.”
“Not in pain?” Leon asked softly.
Luis shook his head and reached out to grab Leon’s hand and squeeze it. “No. Just tired. Did we bring my cane?”
“Yeah. Just need to unpack it.”
Grace jumped a little at the vibration of the phone in her pocket. “Oh Emily must be back.”
Leon took a step towards the door, his hand slipping gently from Luis’. “I’ll go get her from the driveway. Give her a little surprise.”
“She does know you’re coming.” Grace said with a chuckle.
Leon smiled at her stepping through the door, closing it softly behind him so Maite wouldn’t notice him missing. Luis sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to him. After a bit of shifting Grace sat down in the spot.
“You’re still nervous?”
“Yeah. I’m going under for the first time, consensually. Although I don’t think getting knocked out counts.”
“It can if you want it too.”
Grace laughed at his joke. “I don’t know. I just feel… helpless when I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Luis hummed. “I understand.”
“What was it like when you got yours out?”
“Well, it was sometime between meeting Leon and getting my citizenship, so probably around twenty-nine or thirty. Way outside of the ideal range, but I also got them late so I couldn’t have had them out much earlier even if I wanted to. Only had two anyways. I had a mild fever that Leon had to work me through but it was fine once that cleared up.”
“A fever?”
“My body has always been dramatic.”
The tension around her finally broke and Grace lost it at that. She had a laughing fit so intense that by the time Leon and Emily came back to the guest room she was snorting and Luis was about to join her.
———
It’s odd, for Leon, being in a clinical setting without him or Luis being the patient. It was also odd to be in a doctors office where he wasn’t expecting bad news at the end. Just a routine procedure that they did all the time, no rushing around, no somber doctors taking him to the side. It was a little boring, just him, a fake plant, and the receptionist.
Eventually a nurse (Oral surgery technician? Dental assistant? He didn’t know the exact title but he acted like a nurse) did come out and give him the full rundown of after surgery treatment. If bleeding lasted more than about four hours or if there was a fever over 101 degrees to contact them. That there would be extreme disorientation and that he needed to keep an eye on Grace so she didn’t mess anything up in her confusion. Apparently she had tried to rip the anesthesia tube out of her arm when she came to, so they were a bit more worried about that. He handed Leon a list of the meds they had already given as well as two prescriptions. One an opioid pain killer, the other nausea meds.
Leon pulled his car into the patient pick up area as Grace was led out, her cheeks puffing around the gauze. She stood for a second in front of the car door before the woman helping her gently opened it for her to get into.
“You feeling okay kiddo?”
Grace fumbled around with her seat belt before answering him with a slur in her voice. “Can’t feel my tongue.”
Leon laughed. “That’ll get better. Have to stop by the pharmacy but then we’ll get you home.”
Grace didn’t stay awake long enough for him to even get to the Walgreens.
———
Luis stood at the bus stop, waiting patiently for the big, bright, very American, yellow school bus to lumber down the road. His right hand curled softly around the head of his cane using it to steady himself on his feet. A few parents or grandparents stood with him, gossiping and milling around. He felt out of place amongst them. He supposed he had as much right as anyone in Emily’s life to be hanging out to pick her up.
The bus finally came to a stop and kids tumbled out like bouncy balls being dumped out of a container. The young ones immediately run to care takers and the older ones set off confidently on their journey home. Emily stood on the final step off the bus briefly before catching his eye and waving to him.
Luis waved back as she walked timidly over to him. He bent down a bit to be level with her. “Ready to go home?” He asked, holding out his hand.
“Yeah.” She said quietly, taking it.
A young mother with a baby in a stroller and a boy around Emily’s age stopped by them. She looked between the two of them mildly surprised. “Emily? Who's your friend?”
Despite the friendly tone of her question it still made Luis prickle with anxiety. He had to remind himself that it was completely normal for people to have questions about a person they had never seen before. It wasn’t a judgement on him.
Emily smiled at the woman softly. “Hi Miss Bailey. This is Mr. Luis. He’s Mr. Leon’s husband. They’re staying with us and they brought their bug fluffy cat.”
Luis nodded, straightening to look at the woman. “Luis Kennedy. We are family friends of Grace’s.”
The woman seemed to visibly relax. She nodded, grabbing the handle on her son’s backpack as he started to wander away. “Oh! It’s so good to meet you then. I’m Sierra Bailey. Max here is in Emily’s class so sometimes they have hang outs. What brings you and your husband to town?”
Emily piped up at that. “Grace is getting rid of her teeth!”
Sierra looked down at her in that way where an adult decides it is very funny to take a child completely seriously. “All of them?”
Luis chuckled at that. “No, just her wisdom. We’re helping out with keeping an eye on the both of them while she’s out of it. Isn’t that right?” He let go of Emily’s hand to ruffle her hair a bit.
Emily nodded enthusiastically.
Sierra smiled back at her. “Well I hope they’re taking good care of you.”
Emily looked very thoughtful at that. “I think he is. But Mr. Luis didn’t let me have pudding last night even though we had it all made in the fridge.”
“That’s because it is for Grace.”
“But I can also have some.”
“If Grace wants to share, pollita.”
Sierra smiled at him sympathetically at that. “Well I’ll let you two go home then. Tell Grace I hope she gets well soon.”
———
Grace slept most of the day Friday, stayed up much of the night and then slept again most of the day Saturday, which meant that Luis and Leon took Emily to the zoo. It wasn’t very big. A good half day activity.
They spent a good portion of the morning in the reptile building, watching snakes and frogs. Trying to figure out if the stick bugs were actually on display or just really good at camouflage (they were in the back of the tank according to the attendant but Luis doubted him). They also visited a family of Cotton Top Tamerines who were very curious about the tiny human being carried on the shoulders of the bigger human that was Leon and Emily. One of the little fluffs climbed all the way to the top of the enclosure window to look Emily in the eyes, its little head turning in curiosity.
Grace had unfortunately not slipped up and called Leon ‘dad’ while coming to so Luis ended up buying all three of them some overpriced ice cream from a stall by the butterfly tent. It was fine. Cloyingly sweet in the way all American deserts are in Luis’ opinion. Emily was having a great time, so was Leon. Even if his face still stubbornly held itself in a soft pout when at rest. Luis could see it in his eyes softening.
Perhaps he would buy something from the gift shop for Leon to remember this by. A little keychain or a magnet. They could start a collection, one of the few old person things they had yet to fall completely into.
———
Grace leaned against Leon’s shoulder as they watched some terrible Hallmark affair. Well Grace was only sort of half watching it. She couldn’t follow much of any media at the moment, too tired and feeling ill to do much of anything. There was a strange combination of being unable to eat very much but not in the way she was used to when she was sick when food looked disgusting no matter what. No instead all food looked amazing and it felt like torture. Leon was reading some sort of history book beside her, Maite spread out over both their laps.
“I wanna eat a carrot so bad.” She grumbled.
“Not for a little bit longer.”
“How would they know? I could take real tiny bites with my front teeth and swallow them whole.”
“They could get stuck in your sockets and then we’d have to go back. Also it will hurt, your jaw is still sore.”
Grace flailed her head dramatically into his shoulder. “You’re no fun.”
Leon reached up and scratched the back of her head. “That’s what everyone tells me.”
Maite decided that was too much attention not on her so she yelled at Leon until he put down his book and started petting her too.
———
Luis collapsed into the bed on top of Leon. Leon made a little ‘oomph’ noise, reaching out and softly running his hand through Luis’ hair.
“Ready to go home?”
Luis nodded softly. “Love them. Love them so much. I could not be a father. Not right now.”
Leon chuckled. “It’s a good thing we never took that step then.”
Luis looked up at him. “I am definitely a weekend abuelo.”
“You did amazingly. Emily loves you. Did you see how excited she was to pretend to use your cane?”
“She stole all my rings and became Gollum.”
Leon kissed the crown of her head. “You have all the fun accessories. Just waiting for her to steal your glasses.”
Luis nuzzled himself into Leon’s stomach. “Don’t give her ideas.”
There was a rattle of the door handle before it slowly crept open. Both of them lifted their heads up to see who was coming in. After some struggle Emily pushed the door open, Maite dangling from her arms. The cat was nearly walking on her back feet, nearly as tall as the little girl.
“Mr. Leon. Mr. Luis. She was trying to get into the pantry but I stopped her.”
Leon huffed affectionately. “Good job Emily. Let her go. We’ll talk to her.”
Maite wiggled out of Emily’s arms, and bounded over to Luis. Luis quickly flipped her over and held the cat like a baby. “You are a menace.”
Emily looked distressed at that. “No! Not a menace! She didn’t scratch me at all!”
Luis laughed. “No, she is a criminal! Caught red handed!”
Leon couldn’t help but smile as Emily attempted to get Maite back from Luis. Maite’s face the cherry on top, the little creature wide eyed and terrified.