terribly sorry, officer (baelfiery) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-11-08 12:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caleb rivers, neal cassidy (baelfire) |
Who: Neal and Caleb, with guest appearance by Henry
What: Caleb needs to distract himself from fretting about Hanna
When: Last week sometime
Where: The Cassidy-Swan residence
Rating/Warnings: Low, no warnings except for ~cuteness~
Status: Complete
It had been a few days since Hanna had woken up with injuries as if she had been hit by a car. Caleb had been by to see her whenever he could, but his girlfriend was also quite popular. She always seemed to have one friend or another wanting to check on her. Normally that wouldn’t bother Caleb, but he really just wanted to make sure he was okay. However while Hanna was busy with school and her friends Caleb kept himself busy as well. He had his job, and moving into his apartment (building furniture was no joke, thankfully Garrus had helped with that), and his own friends too. Plus there was always texting. Today he decided to take Neal up on his offer and visit the zoo he called home. He texted Neal earlier in the day to let him know he was planning on stopping by. Instead of heading to his apartment after he finished up his work at Stark he made his way to Neal’s place. He usually took off fairly early (9-5 wasn’t Caleb’s style), so hopefully Neal would be back from the ranch. Upon arriving at the address Neal had given him Caleb made his way up to the door and knocked. The text from Caleb was appreciated, though he wouldn’t have minded if the It was why the house wasn’t very zoo-like when Neal answered the knock, but give it a minute. Everything would get there. “Hey, come on in,” he waved Caleb inside, shutting the door behind him. “Make yourself at home. Mi casa es tu casa. You want anything? Drinks, eats?” He was always willing to feed his guests - that was just good hospitality, you know. Caleb wouldn’t have minded the mess. His place was somewhat tidy at the moment considering he had just moved and it wasn’t like he had a ton of things to begin with. However he was sure that soon enough his place would turn into a mess. When Neal opened the door Caleb was a bit surprised to see it was actually calm. Not at all how Neal described it, it also seemed like Neal was the only one home. Well that was fine with him too. “Thanks,” Caleb said entering Neal’s place. “What do you got?” Because Caleb wasn’t about to turn down free food. Neal should know this by now, if their pizza outing was any indication. Of course now Caleb actually had some real money and could actually afford things (with money he had obtained legally), but that was beside the point. Most people didn’t turn down free food; to do so was severe lunacy. But alas. Heading into the kitchen, Neal rummaged through the fridge - and he’d recently done a purge of most unhealthy stuff, since no one needed it anyway (especially Emma, who revealed the news of her pregnancy and basically shocked Neal to death). But there were still a few tasty things. “Leftover ham and mac and cheese, it’s kind of my infamous staple dish?” he offered, and really, he was always proud of that one. It was right up there with Gates of Hell chili - and the nutmeg was what made it awesome. Also the red pepper he used to kick it up a notch. “But if you want anything specific, I can see what I can do. You’ve had it rough, stress eating might do you some good.” “I could go for some ham and mac and cheese,” Caleb replied. “Let’s see if it lives up to it’s name,” he smirked. Caleb was actually a somewhat decent cook himself. Came with having to grow up on your own. “Yeah,” he agreed with a sigh. “It’s been a crazy week. I guess you are used to this sort of thing. Injuries from the dreams.” It was all new for Caleb though. And the fact that Hanna of all people had been hurt, well he wasn’t a fan. He preferred the living in a high school thing to this. “Somewhat used to it, but that doesn’t mean it sucks any less when it happens,” Neal said, plopping some leftover deliciousness on two plates - he’d warm them up in the microwave, Caleb’s plate first, and to him it tasted even better after a spin in the radioactivity box but it was overall perfection at any time. “Luckily, we have some...advantages here, I guess? People with magic who specialize in healing, for when sometimes you just can’t explain shit to doctors.” It seemed crazy, but the dreams were real, the crossover from them was real, and so was magic. As much as Neal remained cautious about the practice of, he had to admit it had saved his ass more than a few times. “Anyway, I was shot in my dreams and ended up here with a bullet in me. Had to go to the hospital for that one, but yeah, it happens a lot. Best thing you can do is be there for her, make sure she’s not alone to face all this.” So he gathered from Neal’s magic defibrillator comment. Yeah, it still sounded insane to Caleb, but he supposed it made sense. Magical dreams where injuries bled over to real life. Why wouldn’t there ways to have magic cure the injuries? Of course there was no magic in his dreams (that he knew of), but the dreams themselves seemed to be of some sort of magic. He didn’t know how else to explain it. “Fork?” he asked once Neal handed him his plate. Some things Caleb could eat with his hands. Mac and cheese was not one of them. He wasn’t a complete pig. He grabbed one from where Neal instructed, leaning against the counter to dig into his food. Okay this was good. “Wait. So when you were shot. That wasn’t the time you died and needed the magic defibrillators? How many dream injuries can you get?” Caleb frowned. He didn’t like that. At least it was somewhat good to know that the hospital still worked for them too considering he didn’t think he knew anyone magical and he was pretty sure Hanna didn’t either. But it was good to know the hospital worked too since it had for both Neal’s gunshot wound and Hanna’s hit by a car injuries. There were plenty of clean forks in the utensil drawer, no worries. And forgoing the beer for once (Neal wanted to be supportive since, hey, Emma couldn’t drink), he poured them both glasses of iced tea - not spiked. “No, the dream shooting was before the magical defibrillator,” he clarified. “For the shooting there was some crazy shit made up about being caught in a street fight or something, in the crossfire, I don’t know.” Or Tink probably did - since she’d driven him to the hospital and handled that part, thanks to Neal being doped up on painkillers most of the time. He ought to check on her, that reminded him. If he knew her insane boyfriend threw her into a wall it’d be even more urgent. “I guess it depends on what you dream about, for what crosses over - but not everything does.” Like he’d told Caleb, there was no way to predict that part. Unless you became friends with a psychic and even then, nothing was one-hundred percent exact about the future. “Here, have a seat - “ His kitchen table was neat and tidy, they could relax a little, “...tell me all about Hanna and how that’s going, I didn’t get to see her much at the blessed space nuptials.” It had been a whirlwind of a time, but fun. Wedding of the year, truly. Making up a lie at the hospital was probably the best idea. Caleb knew Hanna had made one up for her mom and the hospital. But with the whole magical defibrillator thing they probably didn't need a lie? He would assume magical beings(?) knew what the dreams could do. "Sounds like you have been through a lot," Caleb commented as he walked over to the table taking a seat. "It's... reassuring to know someone can survive all that." Maybe there was some hope. "You been dreaming a long time?" He took a sip of his iced tea not commenting on the fact that there wasn't any beer, but really what was with that? The iced tea was good too he just liked his beer and that was usually how it went when he was with Neal even if he was younger (at least he was of age now). When Caleb brought Hanna to the wedding he knew that it meant something even though he insisted to her, to himself, and to everyone that they were just friends. Besides the fact that there were obvious feelings there he was glad to have someone to talk to considering the only people he knew were Garrus and Neal and well Garrus was fairly busy being the groom and all. "It was a crazy day," Caleb agreed. "It's going good. She's not what you'd expect," he smirked at that. He knew Hanna looked like your basic popular, shallow, rich girl but that wasn't her at all. She was blunt, took risks (like shoplifting), and most importantly didn't judge. "I like Emma," he took another bite of his food. "She's easy to talk to," and it seems Caleb had more in common with her than just Neal. “Yep. I mean, you really just push through - we’ve always found a way to carry on, and you will too,” Neal said, fork taking a spin on the plate to get everything all nice and mixed and ooey and gooey. Mmmm. “But let’s see, I’ve been dreaming for over a year - the new ones have stopped, they just kind of cycle now. Which is good when the pleasant ones happen, bad when you have to relive the terrible ones again.” Oh, but right, Emma mentioned that she’d run into Caleb at the ranch. He was glad that they seemed to hit it off. “She’s good people,” he agreed, about his lady love. “You seem happy with Hanna too. As long as you are, she’s alright by me. But if you ever want to bring her by or whatever, we’ll feed the both of you.” Gotta take care of the youngin’s! And he was sure that Emma would concur with that as well. Speaking of the youngin’s, the back door opened and that’s when the noise started, a whole tornado of activity. It was Henry unclipping the dogs from their leashes, and they ran into the house, barking and snuffing excitedly, straight for their food bowls and apparently hungry from the exertion. “Calm down, guys, I need to feed you first,” Henry laughed, and headed into the kitchen. “Oh, hey - “ He stopped short, seeing his dad had company. “Sorry.” “Nah, it’s fine. I wanted to introduce you anyway. Henry, meet Caleb. Caleb, this is Henry. Eleven going on thirty-five. Aaaand - “ Neal motioned to the pups, “...the small, white carpet-looking one is Mystique, and the large mutt is Hawkeye.” Is that what Caleb to look forward to? Repeat dreams? Well his weren’t all that bad so far. Just living inside a high school then Hanna’s basement, followed by dating Hanna. He didn’t mind that part of them. “Is Emma in your dreams?” he couldn’t help but ask. He was curious about these things since Hanna was in his and as far he knew Cindy was not in Garrus’. He hadn’t really spoken to any one else about dreams. At least not anyone that had a significant other. “You know I’m going to take you up on that,” he was sure Hanna would get along with Emma too and probably Henry? He had no idea he hadn’t met Henry yet, but speak or rather think of the devil, in walked a boy and two dogs. Caleb obviously knew who it was but he raised a brow as he watched the scene, while still managing to stuff his face with mac and cheese. “Nice to meet you Henry,” Caleb gave him a smile then looked at the dogs. “Mystique, Hawkeye,” he nodded at each one as he said their name before turning his attention back to Henry. “Your dad just heated up some of his infamous ham mac and cheese. Want to join us?” The dogs were friendly and they bounced around, tails wagging, falling all over each other for a chance at the food bowls. Henry was actually in the process of opening cans of sustenance for them, however, he flashed a very familiar smile at the guest in the house. “Nice to meet you too. My dad’s ham and mac and cheese is the best.” He washed his hands at the sink when the dogs were eating like they had never eaten before (as if they’d never seen food, ever), then sat down at the table with the grown-ups. “We were just talking about the dreams,” Neal told Henry, once he got the kid a plate. And iced tea - he was probably thirsty after taking the dogs out. “But yes, Emma’s in mine. She’s a main player, actually.” “So am I!” Henry chimed in. “Except...I haven’t had any. But that’s okay. I don’t mind so much.” Neal didn’t either - he preferred it that way. Caleb was about to say maybe Henry would get them some day, but decided against it. He figured it was better if the kid didn’t dream with everything he had learned about them so far. And Caleb had a feeling that was only the beginning. “Let me guess,” Caleb said after taking another bite of the goeey goodness. “Henry is your’s and Emma’s kid in the dreams too?” That would make sense. It would be weird if he was there as someone else’s kid. Plus Neal had mentioned something about dreaming about his kid in another universe back when they had their pizza outing. Of course back then Caleb just thought he was nuts. “I bet you get some great bed time stories,” he said to Henry. That was if Neal and Emma told him about the dreams but it sounded like they did. He had no clue if it was at bed time though. He wasn’t sure how old was too old for those considering he never had them himself. Bedtime stories. Oh, hilarious. Henry grinned at that - he didn’t really have a bedtime, he was almost twelve! But he still knew what Caleb meant. “I like it here, there’s always something interesting going on,” he said, digging into the mac and cheese, spearing a piece of ham. “But good guess! Neal’s my dad in the dreams. Emma’s my mom. Well, and Regina is too. I have two mom’s, so here it’s kinda the same?” Yes, Henry’s clusterfuck of a family tree was slightly less complicated in the waking world - something that the kid’s father was also grateful for. “He references a lot of comic book stuff to explain the multiverse...things,” Neal added. “You’d be surprised how much of it actually make sense and applies to Orange County.” “I can let you borrow some if you want!” Henry offered. “You know, for research.” Caleb had no idea who the hell Regina was or how someone ended up with a dad and two moms. If there wasn’t a child (going on twelve or not), he might have cracked a joke about how Neal sure seemed to get around. “Two moms, huh?” Caleb raised a brow taking a sip of his drink. “That’s pretty cool. Extra presents on holidays?” He wasn’t even sorry if he was giving the kid ideas. Well, Caleb did like comic books. And he wasn’t afraid to admit it. Even if it did make him look like a kid to Neal. Yeah he was aware Neal still saw him like that sometimes. And he had been a kid when they met. A teenager. Though Caleb had to grow up fast so he never exactly got the perks of childhood. “That’s smart actually,” he commented to Neal before turning his attention back to Henry. “Are you sure you’re willing to part with them?” Even if it would only be for a few weeks probably. “Yeah! Extra presents!” See, Caleb had the right idea - and Henry’s enthusiasm (because he just realized that he’d be celebrating his birthday and Christmas here, with two mom’s and a dad) made Neal snicker. It was absolutely true that the kid would be showered with gifts, especially for his first one here - not to mention, he would be learning about Emma being pregnant around the same time and nobody wanted him to feel left out. Though Henry shouldn’t have to worry about that. His whole family, extended and otherwise, was pretty nuts about him. And he didn’t mind loaning his comic books to the cause. The research cause. “I’m sure,” he nodded. “I’ll lend you the issues with Captain Britain and stuff. In those, it gets explained like, how the multiverse came to be and is protected by Merlyn. There’s the real Merlin here too - “ Henry had met him during the Shattered Sight spell, when he couldn’t be near Regina, “...each universe also has a Sorcerer Supreme and the Vishanti, to defend the world against threats. It’s gotta be like that in this ‘verse too. But the whole thing is that there are multiple universes.” And they were living in one. Cool. Caleb had to smile at how excited Henry was about the whole thing. He didn’t think many people got excited about the dreams. “Sounds like you have done quite a bit of research,” he smirked. “I guess I haven’t looked at it like that yet. It is pretty cool that we live in a place where people from multiple universes exist.” Caleb still didn’t think the dreams were a good thing. Especially with his girlfriend being injured but he had to admit the whole concept was kind of awesome. “Must be hard to dislike the dreams with him around,” Caleb commented to Neal finishing off his mac and cheese. Both his older friend and his kid were certainly a good distraction and the food was delicious. Yes this beat sitting in his apartment worrying about Hanna. “It really is,” Neal laughed, and that was for a few reasons - one because, yes, Henry’s enthusiasm was hard to dislike (you just couldn’t be moody about the phenomenon around someone that happy-go-lucky) and the other main reason was that the dreams, ultimately, were the thing responsible for bringing Henry to the rest of his family. If Neal never even dreamed about him in the first place, he wouldn’t have gone looking - maybe Emma never would have even showed up, and told him about how she gave the kid up for adoption all that time ago. Fate, and coincidence, were funny concepts. Henry was still going about a mile a minute too. “Come on, I can show you my collection and get the issues that you’ll need to read! In my room, it’s really awesome - my dad’s friend painted it with this superhero theme and...” Chair pushed back, he would practically drag Caleb to the Avengers Sanctuary, but he was just excited to have someone to educate about multiverse stuff. And it was hopefully a good distraction for Caleb too, so he wasn’t fretting over Hanna so much. That was the whole point in having him over, after all. Don’t worry, Neal would do the dishes. You guys have fun. |