Carlos studied the door before him carefully. It was an old oak door that seemingly led to nowhere. Of course Carlos knew that wasn't the case, his only real question was whether or not it led to Night Vale.

"So is this our stop? Or will we be trapped in this desert for another month trying to find the next door?" Kevin had managed to be quiet for all of two minutes before he couldn't stand the silence, it was a new record.

Carlos glared at his new companion, he had been very reluctant to allow Kevin to join the small band he had formed with Doug and Alicia, but Kevin was very persistent. He followed them around no matter how many times Doug attacked him, and after 6 weeks Carlos finally gave in and let the man in on their plans.

"I don't know yet," Carlos said, "I still have to run some tests."

Kevin groaned, "Can't we just open it and look?"

"We could do that, but without knowing where it goes I wouldn't recommend it. Unless you want a repeat of last time that is," Carlos had explained this dozens of times, but that didn't stop Kevin from asking every time they found a door.

Kevin sighed at sat down, "But that door wasn't an old oak door, it was an old birch door. This one is most certainly oak, just like the ones that appeared in Night Vale. So this must be the right door."

Carlos had pulled out his phone and was taking pictures of the door from every angle, by sending them back to his team they could tell him if it was truly a match, "We'll know for certain soon enough. Now be quiet, I need to call Cecil."

Kevin rolled his eyes, but he was silent, something Carlos was extraordinarily thankful for because he hadn't quite told Cecil they'd found each other yet. But he hadn't wanted to worry him and telling Cecil that Kevin had joined the party would do just that. Of course he also didn't want to lie to Cecil, so he had unintentionally decreased the frequency of his phone calls. His last call had been only a few weeks ago from his perspective, but he wasn't sure how long it had been from Cecil's. Time moved differently in the desert.

XoXoXoXoX

"Goodnight Night Vale. Goodnight," Cecil said, leaning back in his chair and stretching.

"It's been really great getting to do the show with you Cecil," Earl said, "Thanks for letting me come back so often."

"I'm glad you continue to accept," Cecil said, "It's been nice getting to catch up, and I don't think we've spent this much time together since we were in the scouts."

"How could I ever say no?" Earl asked, pulling Cecil close and kissing him. Cecil kissed him back, ignoring the small voice in the back of his mind shouting in protest, and when Earl deepened the kiss the voice fell silent altogether.

They left the station together, taking Earl's truck back to Cecil's house. Cecil had this nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something but before he could figure out what it was Earl was kissing him again. They began moving towards the staircase, but the progress was slow as they couldn't take their hands off of each other. When they reached the stair Cecil's shirt was gone, and Earl broke the kiss long enough for them to make it upstairs to the bedroom. Neither of them stayed clothed for very long once they reached the room, and Earl had Cecil pinned to the bed within moments.

Cecil let out a low moan as Earl ran a hand down his chest, tracing the scratch marks that had been left behind from their last night together, the other hand was holding Cecil's arms securely above his head. Earl continued to let his hand wander as he began sucking on Cecil's collarbone, deeply enjoying the various noises his friend was making. It was certainly going to be a fun night.

XoXoXoXoX

Carlos waited as the phone rang, once, twice, three times. He was worried that he was going to get Cecil's voice mail when someone picked up – but it wasn't Cecil.

"Carlos?" said a young girl's voice.

"Yes? Where's Cecil?" he asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Molly, the new intern," the girl answered, "Mr. Palmer left his phone in the control booth. Station management has decided that he uses it too much during the show, and he's not allowed to take it in the studio anymore. He isn't very good at remembering to pick it up though, especially when he leaves with Mr. Harlan."

"Mr. Harlan?" Carlos asked, slightly worried.

"He's an old friend of Mr. Palmer, he does a cooking segment on the show every now and again. Though now a days he's become a bit more than a friend," Molly replied, "Anyway, would you like me to pass on a message to Mr. Palmer? I'm sure he'll be very happy to hear that you called."

Carlos felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him, he didn't trust himself to speak so instead he just hung up. Carlos could barely breathe, and he sunk to the ground in anguish.

"Are you alright?" Kevin asked, with a look on his face that Carlos assumed was concern, though the soulless black eyes made it hard to tell.

Carlos continued to stare into space, trying to come up with a logical answer for why there was so much pain in his chest. His phone buzzed, but he couldn't bring himself to look at was caused it. Kevin however had no such qualms and snatched the phone from Carlos' hand.

Kevin was confused by the scientist's reaction to the short call, but he clearly wasn't going to get any answers from him. However he could get answers from the email Carlos' team had sent back. He skimmed through the jargon until he found the answer about the door, then broke into a larger grin than usual.

"It's a match!" he said, pulling Carlos to his feet, "Your team is all in agreement! This is the door that will take us home!"

Carlos didn't answer, he wasn't sure he even wanted to go home anymore. What was there for him but regret and heart break? Carlos' lack of enthusiasm was barely noticed though, as Kevin was bouncing around, gather up their meager belongings, and chattering away about how he couldn't wait to return to Desert Bluffs, and how much work he had to catch up on.

"Don't just stand there!" Kevin said, "I need you to come through with me, if I leave without you Night Vale will want my head on a stick! So long Doug! Goodbye Alicia! You're both lovely warriors, and I'll miss our friendly chats!"

Doug made a sound that was something between a grunt and a laugh, while Alicia stayed silent. Carlos allowed Kevin to drag him to the door, and together they stepped through, back into Night Vale.