75 Godiva, Friday evening

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had been taking it easy since getting back from LA. For all his bluster and insistence on avoiding formalized medical care -- be it hospitals or magical healing -- he knew how to take time to give his body what it needed. And after the number that the mad doctor had managed to do, both with his fists and the whole "blowing up" thing, Eliot's body had needed a lot.

So he'd laid low, making good use of ice packs and analgesics, and lots and lots of cuddle time, either with his partners or with his dog. Not that he would ever, ever use that term out loud.

He was just pulling his "cook and convalesce" stool up to the counter to get started on dinner for the evening (and yeah, it was maybe a little sad that he had a stool specifically for that purpose, but it wasn't like he was going to not cook), when he heard a quiet but firm knock on the door.

. . . That was a very distinctive knock.

"I got it," he called. Val trotted up to the door with him, ears pricked at her person's sudden discomfiture. Eliot paused at the door to steel himself, only for the knock to come again, more insistently this time. He rolled back his shoulders, shook out his hair, and eased the door open.

"Heya Pop."

[for the family, please]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yo, Eliot," Hardison said, coming into the room with a laptop tucked under one arm and a pair of headphones around his neck. "I heard the door, who's--oh."

Guess who had just spotted Emerson. His easy grin faded and turned into a sigh. "That time of year again?"

[vdistinctive]

"Seems like," Eliot said. "He said he'd be good."

Eliot didn't sound like he believed it.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Folks say a lot of things," Hardison noted. "It's more in the doin' than the sayin' if you ask me."

He paused. "You told Parker yet?"

She probably wouldn't react kindly to a strange man in the house.

[vdistinctive]

"He just showed up," Eliot said. "Told him I'd kick him out if he pissed you two off."

He said 'back to the afterlife', to be specific, but still.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"We settin' a timer for how soon that happens, then?" Hardison grumbled under his breath, so only Eliot would hear him.

[vdistinctive]

"You want to start a pool?" Eliot asked at the same volume. He reached over to give Hardison's hand a firm squeeze.

He was always going to be on his partners' sides, but he had to at least give Emerson a chance. He was a his dad. And the last thing Eliot had done with the man was argue.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

And while Hardison wasn't above sniping at Emerson, he would never deny Eliot that chance. Family was hard and family was complicated, and Hardison got that.

So he squeezed right back, silently offering Eliot love and - more importantly - support. "Nah," he said. "Parker'll just steal the money."

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, but it'll make her happy. You know how she gets when we get all tense."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You know she's got a weird nest somewhere just made of money, right?" Hardison checked. "A giant, woman-sized birds nest of bills."

[vdistinctive]

"Pretty sure she's got more'n one."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"That's our girl," Hardison said fondly. "Whatcha makin' for dinner?" he asked. "Or is that kiboshed by dint of guest an' we should think about takeout?"

[vdistinctive]

"I dunno, man. I ain't real excited to feed him." Emerson was one of those men who thought women did the cooking unless it involved an outdoor grill. "But I was kinda lookin' forward to putting something together."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

For Hardison that was plenty reason for Eliot to put together a damn feast.

"I mean, I'm willin' to serve us all Hot Pockets instead," he offered, figuring that would help Eliot decide what to do.

[vdisappointed]

"Ah, hello again -- young man."

Yeah, Emerson didn't remember Hardison's name at all. Even though Eliot had just said it. He wasn't proud of that fact, but he did think he should get some allowances for having just come back from the dead.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You sure you don't wanna just skip to callin' me 'boy'?" Hardison asked, pursing his lips.

So, nope, didn't look like there were any allowances to be found here. But, hey. Emerson wouldn't have wanted a handout anyway.

[vdisappointed]

"Why would I do that? You're full-grown, ain't ya?"

Was his son robbing the cradle as well as living in miscegenation and sin?

[geniuswithasmartphone]

It was a sad, sad day when the racists didn't even recognize their own terminology. Hardison nearly shook his head and tsked. "Yes," he said mildly. "Thank you for noticing. My name is Hardison."

There were a lot of potential followups to that statement:
You'll be able to remember that name by how your son is screaming it later.
But you can call me 'sir.'
But I respond to Mr. Spencer, too.
Hardison didn't say any of them, but those and several others flickered through his brain, one after another.

He didn't offer his hand.

[vdisappointed]

"Hardison," Emerson said with a nod. There, see, he would have remembered a normal name! "Nice to see you again. You can call me Emerson. I'm -- sorry about how we left it, last time."

He even mostly meant that. Or at least thought he did.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Well, glad to see you don't still half-think I'm here to run a con on you," Hardison said, dropping down onto a chair across from the older man. "Hope this extra time means you're ready to see what Eliot's become, instead of just what you've assumed."

[vdisappointed]

"I'm a dead man," Emerson pointed out. "Got nothing left to con." He looked over at Eliot. "He says he built this place himself?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Pretty much," Hardison said, looking around the house with evident pride. "What, you think he's lyin' about that, too? Nah. After our old place got destroyed, he decided that he wanted a house that could stand up against the worst the island could throw at us. So he figured out what we all wanted and built us a house that that was a little bit all of us."

[vdisappointed]

"Did I say I thought he was lying?" Emerson asked pointedly. "I damn well raised the boy, I know he knows how to build." He closed his eyes and sighed at himself. "I am making an effort, Hardison. I would appreciate having one made in return."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You in the house, ain't you?" Hardison said, unimpressed by his 'efforts'. "Not attemptin' to shout your attempts at contrition through the keyhole. That's more of an effort than you put in when he showed up at your deathbed."

He kicked his feet up on the ottman, and rubbed behind Val's silky ears as she ran over to rest her face on his lap.

"Eliot's in the kitchen right now, makin' himself vulnerable again, hopin' that this time, it'll work out between you two. He just came back from one of the most horrifyin' situations I can think of, tryna rescue - " Hardison checked himself. It wasn't his place to tell Emerson that he was a granddaddy now. "- rescuing a young woman he thinks the world of an' takin' care of her friends at the same time. He's still injured, he's still tired, but he's still gonna open himself up to lettin' you hurt him again because he loves you. So, nah, I'm not gonna let you play on easy mode with me, too."

[vdisappointed]

"Easy mode," Emerson said. "You think anything about being a father is easy? Or is it comin' back from the dead that you think is some kind of walk in the park? Now I'll cop to havin' some old-fashioned views on certain things. My granddaughters made that perfectly clear to me that that was something I needed to work on. But there's a world of difference between being an ass to someone 'cause of their parentage, or what they do in the bedroom, and having some trepidation because it turns out your child is a murderer."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Bruh, you woke up next to a rock and wandered down some stairs," Hardison said. "You wouldn't believe the stuff this island throws at us. An' more than once, I've been grateful for the skills your boy has picked up because they've saved us more'n once. Saved a lot more than just the three of us, too."

He shook his head and rubbed his face. "You think it don't sometimes bug me, what Eliot used to do? We just had a huge fight over it. But the thing you ain't realizin'? How much he's grown. How do you judge a man? By who he is at his lowest? Or how high he climbs afterwards?"