UNCHARTED – A Date
When Nathan Drake's only daughter is growing up and goes on her first date.
Tags: "Nathan Drake is my father", established relationship, parenthood, father and daughter relationship, growing up, darkroom, interruption, overprotective Nate, family life, my daughter is out on a date, mentions of sexual activity,
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Uncharted, everything belongs to Naghty Dog, Sony and other respective owners.
I am not an English-speaker, so if there are mistakes, forgive me, I'm doing my best to avoid them.
In the faint light of a red lightbulb Elena Fisher was printing photos of the latest D&F Fortunes expedition to Peru. In recent years nearly all of her fellow journalists changed on electronic devices, but she couldn't completely drop this old-fashioned method of developing pictures. While the crew was filming the footage digitally and in full-HD technology, Elena could take some time and take a series of studied, highly-polished shots, that she printed afterwards by herself. She even got a bunch of awards for her photos, and some of them were shown on the covers of international magazines.
Indeed she loved photographing. She was of the opinion that digitally printed copies could never parallel those printed manually in the darkroom. The scent of chemicals, the atmosphere of a darkroom and the time spent on waiting for the photo to dry up - she believed that all these elements joined together breathed life into pictures, made the memories enclosed in them more vivid. She could spend hours bended over the trays and the enlarger, concentrating on testing different exposure times, trying to get the best effects. It was one of her best ways to relax…
That's why Elena sighed heavily, when a loud voice of her husband and associate-in-business in one person ruined her concentration in an instant.
"Damnit, Cas! This thing serves primarily to answer calls, not to take stupid snapshots!"
Elena rolled her eyes, took a deep breath and after making sure she hid all the negatives away and can let some light into the room, popped her head through the ajar door. The maker of all her distraction, Nathan Drake, was walking in circles through two joint rooms of their studio, violently running fingers through his hair.
"What's up?" she asked rhetorically, making him jump.
"She's not answering," Nathan gasped in response, "I called her a dozen times!"
"Well, she definitely inherited that from you," Elena sent her husband a wink. "You realize how many times I was going crazy because you didn't answer my calls for days? Once or twice I was sure you were dead."
Nate gazed at her, shocked, his eyes widened.
"Elena-" he gasped, pointing his watch with forefinger, "it's nearly half past ten! She said she would be back at nine!"
"Easy, cowboy. Last time I checked our already seventeen-year-old daughter went on a date, not to fight zombies…"
"Then why she's not answering?" Nathan raised his voice at her with anxiety, looking like he was about to suffer a heart attack. "What should we do? Shouldn't I go look for her? God, I have really bad feeling 'bout this…"
Elena snickered. She was experiencing some kind of sadistic pleasure watching this rare view of her husband distressing himself. That had to sound cruel, but he was cute when he was anxious.
"I'm sure she'll be back shortly," she said, deciding to stop his torture and bring him up to speed, "I gave her permission to come back later, at ten o'clock."
Hearing this, Nathan froze, bracing himself on the wall.
"You've gotta be kidding me," he murmured, "when you were planning to tell me? Once I went completely nuts?"
"She texted me about half an hour ago. I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to worry this much. Come on in, I have few more photos to print."
Elena slipped again into the darkroom, her husband following her some seconds after. The door clicked behind Nate, and he leaned against the wall, rubbing his eyes.
"You'll wipe me out someday, really," he sighed. "Nevertheless… I'm still nervous. I don't trust that guy at all."
"You mean Joe?" Elena opened a container with negatives, put one of them in the negative carrier and inserted it to the enlarger. Her moves were smooth and practiced, although her eyes weren't used to darkness yet.
"Yeah… him," Nate snorted with disapprobation, crossing his arms on his chest, "I just… I think he's not good enough for Cassie. He doesn't deserve her."
Elena thought this kind of a sentence couldn't sound weirder in a mouth of somebody like Nathan Drake. Joe, an eighteen-year-old Australian, indeed appeared somewhat unexpectedly in Cassie's life. The two came across each other in the transit lounge at the Milan airport. The Drake family was coming back home from a vacation in Italy, two weeks before their expedition to Peru; he was waiting for a plane to Hamburg, where he attended a flight school to become a pilot. While Nathan took a short nap on a waiting bench resting his head on his wife's lap, Elena watched discretely her daughter talking and laughing with that boy. They talked for about an hour, behaving more and more informally with every passing minute, like they were already best friends. When the flight to States was finally announced, both had an apparent problem to part. They exchanged phone numbers and shook their hands longer than it usually takes, not taking their eyes off each other.
As a mother Elena had very special relationship with her daughter. There were times they quarreled so badly that Nathan had to stand between them and calm both of them down, but Cassie could always count on her support. So Elena wasn't surprised, when a few days later her daughter sat next to her and admitted that she might have fallen in love.
Before and during the D&F Fortunes expedition to Peru, Cassie was literally glued down to her smartphone, texting and calling Joe during all her free time. She seemed not even in a half interested in their search. This couldn't escape even her father's attention, although he was all in his element looking for lost archeological treasures. At first Nathan started getting worried about her, but then Cassie's phone bill hit his mailbox and nearly knocked him out. When Nathan asked her to explain herself, he heard the news, that every overprotective father of a growing-up only daughter is (at least deep inside) afraid to hear. It meant the official beginning of a dating stage in his daughter's life.
Two months and about several thousand SMSs, phone-calls and video-conversations later, Cassie announced at the breakfast table that Joe was coming to the States to meet her and she's going on a date. Nathan was about to shoot one of his smart-ass lines, but he felt Elena's foot kicking his ankle under the table; instead he just choked his approval. And this morning Joe came to their house, introduced himself politely and after a quick chat walked away towards the town with Cassie.
"I don't know," Elena sighed absent-mindedly, counting silently, then she turned off the enlarger. "I liked him. I guess he might love our Cassie."
"Love?" Nate spat almost with contempt, "Y'know, boys at this age have a peculiar tendency to think that 'love' and 'sex' mean somewhat the same thing."
Elena snickered, then carefully took the paper from under the enlarger and put it in the tray with developer. She felt shame that in the darkness she couldn't clearly see her husband's facial expression. "Really? And you know it from your experience? Maybe you just… don't trust Australians?"
"Maybe," Nathan answered shortly, then approached Elena to observe what she's been doing. Elena started agitating a sheet of paper in a tray with liquid. Nathan bended over the tray behind Elena, resting his chin on her shoulder, his right hand on her hip. "Is it Peru?" he asked, unexpectedly and desperately trying to change the subject.
"Yup," Elena admitted, still agitating the paper, waiting for the picture to appear. "You know, I think we should schedule future trips the other way than we did until now. I mean… spend more time together, off work, before coming back home." She looked over her shoulder at her husband. "Just us."
"Without Cassie?" Nathan's voice seemed tentative.
"Nate, it's time to face the music. She grows up. We shouldn't take her everywhere with us anymore, although we wish to. She should have more freedom, spend more time with her peers... She definitely needs that change."
"I dunno," Nathan mumbled, cuddling his cheek to Elena's neck. "You're ready for this?"
"You can never be ready," Elena snickered and squirmed, as his stubble was tickling her. "When the time comes, you simply have to accept it." She grabbed the paper with her tweezers and lifted it off the liquid.
The picture showed themselves. It had to be taken in a café in Lima. They were sitting around the table, Nathan on the left, Elena in the center and Cassie on the right side. Nathan was drinking a bottle of beer, Elena preferred coffee and Cassie drank orange juice. They looked relaxed and laid-back.
"Funny," Nathan snickered, "now that I look at this I have an impression that we don't have many pictures on which we are all three".
"I thought the same," Elena admitted, "but then I remembered all the albums we store in the living room and hours spent on filing them…"
"Cas might have more photos of this kind on her smartphone," Nathan noticed, remembering his daughter always carrying a smartphone around and taking selfies in outstanding locations. "God, just look at her, never leaving that devilish device!" he pointed at his daughter, holding a phone in her hands, looking bored at the photographer from above the screen. "Wish she could answer my calls more often..."
"You'll never stop being overprotective, won't you?" Elena snickered, then put the photograph in a tray with water, pushing it gently with a pair of tweezers.
"It's not that simple," she heard Nathan's silent voice next to her ear. She could tell. It wasn't easy for her as well. It was hard to believe that Cassandra was almost an adult now; it seemed like it was only yesterday that Nathan had held her, so tiny and delicate, in his arms, then helped her make first steps and learned how to climb.
Elena turned around and cupped his face.
"Hey, Nate," she whispered, looking deep into his eyes, surrounded by thin laugh lines. In the darkroom light his irises were shining in red like a pair of embers. "Thanks to you, thanks to us, she grew up into a smart, self-confident and pretty young woman. Whatever she decides, she'll be fine. I'm sure of it."
She stood on her tiptoes leaning against his chest, like a schoolgirl, and kissed him gently in his mouth. She could not determine whether she wanted to comfort herself or him. As they deepened the kiss, Nathan let out a quiet hum and raised his hand to trail it down her cheek and her jawline, tangling his fingers in loosen strands of her blonde hair.
"Now we should focus more on us," she sent him a grin as their lips parted.
Even if Nathan had any remaining doubts, he apparently decided to worry about them later. He made an unexpected step towards Elena, making her back away and brace against the furniture.
"Well," he looked mischievously in Elena's eyes, as his right hand wandered down her lower back, "so what you're planning to do with all the spare time we'll be given once that seventeen-year-old parasite of ours will transfer to another host?"
His glare undoubtedly shown that he already had a few ideas.
His body pressed hardly against hers as he slipped his thigh between her legs. When Elena threw her arms around his shoulders to catch the balance, Nathan instantly took advantage of the opportunity, hoisted her up and settled on the desktop.
"Nate!" Elena giggled, reaching quickly with her hands behind her back to move away trays with water, a desk lamp, papers and other stuff. Drying photographs hanging above on the thin string swung rapidly and tickled her ear. It was so like them - they've barely started and already causing a mess.
She braced her head carefully against the shelves behind her upper back, gently trying to push her husband away. "Nate, wait-" she gasped as his warm hand slid under her shirt and then up her ribs.
"What-" Nathan mumbled harshly with impatience, completely uninterested in waiting or stopping, and that made Elena giggle even more, "you said she'll be back at ten. We have plenty of time to focus on ourselves."
He kissed delicate skin on the side of her neck and collarbone, unbuttoning her shirt. Elena grasped at his forearms, but gave up on pushing him away and arched her back as he descended on her breasts. He unzipped and pulled down her shorts in no time, then lowered himself on his knees between her legs. Feeling his hot breath on her skin, Elena tilted her head and ran her fingers through his thick hair, here and there brushed with white strands. Few moments later the narrow room got filled with her moans.
"God, Nate… you're such an ass," Elena sighed with a smile, when Nathan rose himself up and started pulling down his own pants.
"Yeah," he sent her a cheeky smile. "But remind me… have we done it here ever before?"
She chuckled answering him with a shake of her head. "C'mere now, cowboy." She grabbed him firmly and kissed deeply, helping him get off the excess of clothing. Once she freed him of it, Nathan grasped at her hips and pulled her up closer, allowing Elena to wrap her legs around his waist.
In this very moment they suddenly heard the squeaking sound of somebody's steps on the wooden floor outside the darkroom. Both froze, listening breathlessly and completely surprised. None of them heard when the door to their beach studio opened or when Vicky barked.
"Mom? Dad?" Their daughter's loud, clear and dangerously close voice finally reached them through the closed door to the darkroom. "You're there?"
And so the chaos began.
"Crap!" Nathan gasped, making a step back and allowing Elena to slid from the counter on the floor, while he was trying to put his pants up. Backing away in the semi-darkness he unintentionally knocked over two empty bottles of chemicals and a pair of metal tweezers that fell on the ground before he could catch any of them. This caused a horrible noise, long and loud like gunfire, that made them grit their teeth and decisively betrayed their presence in a darkroom.
"…Hello?"
Beside of getting louder Cassie's voice sounded now more confused and warning, like if she was suspecting somebody else than her parents to fumble in the darkroom. The squeaking started getting louder, signalizing her picking the direction towards the darkroom. Finally Vicky started barking, maybe sharing Cassie's suspicions.
"Shit!" Elena cursed quietly. Realizing they have no time left, she quickly got on her shorts, pushing her panties inside the pocket and started buttoning-up her shirt, when she suddenly pointed on Nate's pants, at the level of his groin. "Nate!"
He looked down, then at her, making a sheepish but a bit panicked look.
"What?! It's not the Velcro kind!" he snapped, but before he could concentrate on cooling down, Elena turned him around and pushed towards the second exit from the room.
"Through here!" she ordered and Nathan obeyed. In all this rush and semi-darkness, he jumped at the door, grabbed the handle and pushed with all his body against the wood. Unfortunately for him, the door didn't move even for an inch and what Cassie and Vicky heard from the opposite side of the door was a loud bang, followed by groan with pain.
A second later Cassie opened the door and let the light to the darkroom. What she saw was her poor father, standing with his back to her, as he was pressing both hands to his forehead and her mother patting him on his arm, with messy hair, partly unbuttoned shirt and rather sheepish look on her face.
"Oh, it's you, guys," Cassie made a deep sigh and lowered down a North-American tomahawk that she was holding in her right hand. Vicky immediately stopped barking and sat at the doorstep, watching their masters joyfully.
"And you thought who we were?!" Nathan growled, not looking at her, "Didn't your parents teach you to knock-" he didn't finish the sentence as he received a meaningful nip from his wife, ordering him to shut up.
"I thought you were burglars. What…" Cassie started, watching her folks in such a miserable state and the mess inside the darkroom for a moment, "…were you doing in here?"
Elena made a loud cough and approached her daughter with a wide smile, leaving Nathan still facing the exit door, cursing quietly under his breath (Who the hell closed that goddamn door…?!) and massaging his head. She knew she had to buy him a few more minutes.
"Oh, you know, sweetheart…" she said cheerfully, stuffing nervously her pocket with something Cassie couldn't see, "…we've been printing photos from Peru-"
"Wait, y'mean… dad is printing photos?" Cassie cut her mother short, her eyes widened with surprise. Elena gritted her teeth realizing her daughter remark was on point; Nathan Drake actually never, ever printed photos. He never cared about photos, anyway. Drawings, that's different.
"He actually… helped me… a lot…" Elena smiled broadly and emphasizing every syllable. She made a few little steps to stand between Cassie and the entrance to the darkroom in order to screen the mess inside with her own body.
"Yeah, that's true," Nathan mumbled with a nod of his head, still facing the back door and checking the inside of his hand for blood, "I really did."
"And then, well, he wanted to go to check if you're back…" Elena pointed at the door, "…and hurt himself. Poor thing."
Despite Elena's attempts, Cassie managed to make another quick look inside the darkroom. She smirked, leaning against the door jamb.
"You know, guys, as for me, you don't have to fell so ashamed. It's nice to know that after so maaany years of being together you still like each other so much that you still want to have sex with each other…" She rolled her eyes pointing with her finger at the inside of the darkroom, "even in such unromantic place like that…"
Both Nathan and Elena froze, staring at their juvenile, apparently well-informed daughter with slightly lowered jaws. Cassie chuckled.
"I mean it's actually rather unusual these days. You're… somewhat special."
"Well-" Elena made a deep sigh.
"Thanks…" Nathan finished, furrowing his eyebrows.
"You're welcome," Cassie turned on her heel, smacking at Vicky to join her.
"Whoa, whoa, young lady, wait-" Nathan finally pulled himself together and ran after her from the darkroom, "how… how was the date?"
Cassie stopped for a second, hesitating, then parked in an armchair, crossed her legs and sent her father a pleasant look. Vicky danced around her on the floor, wagging her tail.
"Nice," she replied shortly, teasing her father with mysteriousness. Nathan acted like he swallowed the bait and leaned against his adventures' closet, watching Cassie for a moment.
"C'mon, Cas-" he put hands to his pockets and raised an eyebrow, "as for me, you don't have to feel so ashamed of telling your old man how was your first date, y'know..."
Cassie chuckled, then Elena noticed a faint blush appearing on her daughter's face.
"Everything's okay, sweetheart?" she asked.
"Joe invited me to Sydney," Cassie announced after a short pause, watching her parents' reaction for a moment, and then continued when they didn't make any immediate protest, "I could stay at Marlene's place. May I go?"
"When and for how long?" Nathan unexpectedly asked, poker-faced.
"I dunno… maybe in two weeks, when the school is over? For a week?" Cassie rested her both legs on the floor, "Do you agree? May I go?" she asked impatiently, trying to read her chances on success from her parents' faces. "I'll pay for the plane ticket with my own money…"
Nathan crossed his arms on his chest and watched his daughter in silence. Elena peeked at Nathan and the look on his face made her worry.
"Sweetheart, you're sure it's a good idea-" she asked, when suddenly Nathan unfolded his arms and a wide grin appeared on his face.
"All right," he answered, "I say: all right. You?" he gazed at Elena, raising his eyebrow knowingly.
Elena hesitated for a moment, unsure what to think about her husband's sudden change of view on sheltered upbringing. Cassie got on her feet and approached her mother.
"Mum?" she begged, making sad eyes (taken straight from the Shrek movie) that she usually did when she wanted to persuade her father or to get away with something. It usually worked, especially on Nathan.
"Umm… okay."
In this very moment, a wide smile appeared on the youngest Drake's face. She stepped over to kiss them on their cheeks and say something about them being "best parents ever". Then she left the house through the main entrance, already texting the happy message to Joe. Vicky, her inseparable companion, followed her to the beach.
"Did you hear that?" Nathan spoke after a moment, "we are the best parents ever." A complacent smile appeared on his face.
"What's with that sudden change," Elena pointed out, resting her hands on her hips, "few hours ago you were ready to call a whole U.S. army to search for your daughter… and now you're simply allowing her to go to a different continent all by herself? It's not that I'm against, but...", she stopped when Nathan suddenly pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and started typing something on his keyboard. "What are you doing?"
"Calling Sam," he placed the phone to his ear, and sent her mischievous gaze, "he's staying in Australia till winter. I'm gonna make sure he'll keep an eye on her… and that Australian."
Elena blinked at him for a second and then burst out laughing maniacally.
"I should have foreseen that," she sighed, patting his arm and walked into the darkroom.
"You said it yourself. I'll never stop being overprotective," Nathan pointed, winking at her. "Hey Sam, how's it going?" he started cheerfully, "Still on the loose? Good. Look, I have a job for you…"
"Hey, dad of the year," Elena called out to him, "at least tell him to do this discreetly!"
Nathan covered the phone with his hand.
"Quiet please, I'm talking to a professional."
Elena chuckled and started collecting bottles and other stuff from the floor. The back corner of the room was still filled with red light and that made her remember about the last photo she'd printed. The paper was soaked with liquid, so she shaken it a bit longer than it usually took and then hung it on the string over her head, next to other photos from beautiful Peru.
"Done," she heard Nathan's voice behind her, as he stood in the entrance to the darkroom, "now I can sleep peacefully. And Sam said he'll check the guy out."
Elena approached him with a smile. "You think she was right?"
"About what?" Nathan asked.
"That it's really so unromantic?" Elena nodded towards the darkroom's direction.
Nathan looked at the place, then wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders, scooting her close to his chest.
"I guess we just have a funny idea of romantic," he said, turning off the lights.
This took me a long to write (actually something about a mouth), because I have plenty of business recently to do. But I really liked the idea of Cassie growing-up. Maybe I'll write some more of this stuff.
Anyway, hope you liked this one (although it got really long).