"An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them."
- Stephen Fry
Jack leaves early to pick up Charlie. It seems like an insane amount of driving, hauling that truck back and forth across several states, but both Jack and Charlie seem used to long road trips – worse, they seem to find them fun.
"There's something to it," Jack says when she expresses hesitation over his drive. "Those long hauls. Flat road. Where all you have to do is just drive."
She offers to go with him but he says that it's fine so she stays behind at the cabin in the wilderness. Jack will be gone for most of the day. He leaves before the sun comes up, kissing her in the darkness of the bedroom, his mouth minty against hers warm with sleep. They'll be back for dinner, maybe.
She sleeps a few more hours and then gets up, boils some water for the French press. There is a coffee pot but it doesn't keep the coffee warm, like there's something wrong with the burner that the pot sits on. At least with the French press, the coffee will taste better as it quickly cools. She takes her mug of coffee out to the dock and sits and watches the water. It's still chilly and the water ripples with insects touching down on the surface. When the sun rises enough to hit her in the eyes, she goes back inside.
She showers in the dingy shower, washing her hair and shaving at the same time – the hot water is temperamental at best and she doesn't linger. When she's dressed, she eats a bowl of cereal and the washes her bowl and her spoon.
It's still only nine am and she's not sure, exactly, what Jack sees in all this isolation because she is bored. There's no computer, no internet, no cable and though there is a VHS player, she has no desire to watch any of the tapes that sit next to the old TV, covered in dust. Especially the ones that look like old family movies.
She takes a walk, pulling on her good boots and lacing them up tight. She puts on sunscreen and insect repellent and takes a bottle of water with her. She doesn't have a plan, just picks a direction and forges on. It's lovely forest but that's all it is. When she finds a stretch that seems flat, she breaks into an easy jog and eventually starts circling back around toward the cabin.
If she had a car, she might drive into town and eat lunch there, but she's stuck here. The cabin emerges through the trees and she's glad to see it. She slows down and then stops, bent over at the waist, breathing heavy and sweating. A small part of her wants to throw herself into the pond, but she thinks it's still probably too cold and she'd regret it, so she pulls her shirt over her head and mops her brow with it and goes back inside where it's cool and dark.
She needs another shower.
Inside, the clock reads just after 10:00.
oooo
Sam is elbow deep in the oven when she hears tires on the gravel. She'd started out cleaning it but it had sort of gotten complicated after that. She'd pulled it out and started tinkering with it, trying to work around parts that were so old they were obviously about to fail - no wonder the thing didn't cook evenly! It was fifty years old, at least. Apparently, she'd lost track of time. She extracts herself from behind the old appliance and stands her, her spine cracking as she stretches. She realizes she's totally filthy, covered with dust and grime and rust and grease. Even if she did manage to shove the old oven back in place, she knows that she's not going to go unnoticed.
But when Jack comes in, he just looks at her, looks at the wreckage, shakes his head a little. She has not disappointed him, not even surprised him it seems. There's something so aw shucks about the way he puts his hands into the pockets of his coat and says, "Charlie is home."
"I'm fixing the oven," she says.
"Okay," he replies.
A few moments later Charlie comes in and looks around and gives Sam a hug even though she's all dirty and doesn't touch him with her hands.
"How was camp?" she asks.
"Fine," he says, staring at the oven. "So are we not eating dinner?"
oooo
Mark says they'll stay in a hotel and that they'll rent a car. Mark likes to be in control - and while the frat house isn't in good enough shape for Sam to live in, let alone have guests, she still offers it to him. She offers to pick them all up from the airport, too, but Mark says no, it's all taken care of and that they get in late from Denver and will see Sam in the morning.
Sam hasn't told Mark or Elizabeth about moving in with the O'Neills. It hasn't come up and she doesn't feel like explaining it. It feels like a reckless, impulsive decision even though she thought it out, thought it through, moved in slowly. Even though she could leave anytime. Mark met Elizabeth college and they married and that was that, they've been together ever since. He'd never done the date, break up, start over thing and it feels like he looks down his nose at the way his sister's love life is always in shambles.
Elizabeth knows about Jack, sort of. She doesn't know that it has gotten pretty serious. And when they talk, they mostly talk about the kids. Her nephew, Matt, is thirteen now. In her last email, Elizabeth had written, "Don't call him Matty. He likes Matthew now. I have no idea why." Her niece, Katelyn, is nine and Sam wonders if it's still okay to call her Katie or not.
"You don't have to spend any time with them," Sam says as she and Jack are getting ready for bed. Charlie is out late with Cassie and a few other friends. Sam lets him drive her car, now. It's a little easier than Jack's big truck and with the motorcycles, she doesn't feel trapped if the car isn't there. Charlie is grateful and more careful than he might be otherwise, since it's Sam's car.
"Why wouldn't we spend time with them?" Jack asks.
"I mean you and Charlie," she says.
He squints at her, confused.
"If you don't want to," she says.
"Do you not want me to spend time with your family?" he asks. "Because that sort of hurts my feelings."
"I'm being serious," she says.
"Yeah," he says. "Me too."
He teases her a lot but when she looks up at him, she sees that maybe he is being serious. She sets down the little bottle of moisturizer she has in her hand and gives him all her attention.
"I would love it," she says. "I would love for you to meet my family."
"Good," he says.
"We're having breakfast," Sam says, "And then maybe taking the kids to the zoo."
"I hear they let you feed the giraffes," Jack says.
"Do you think Charlie will want to come?" she asks.
"Maybe," Jack says. "He likes giraffes pretty well."
"Someone should have warned me what falling in love with you would do to my blood pressure," she mutters, climbing into the bed. But when he heads into the bathroom she just can't help but smirk. A small smile, one sure to be gone before he comes back.
oooo
Sam gets up so early, earlier, even, than Jack. Jack rises early due to necessity and so when necessity does not dictate it, he prefers sleep. But when Sam wakes up this morning, Jack gets up, too. He puts on his light, summer robe and follows her down the stairs. When she starts to make coffee, he takes the pot from her hand and takes over the task, touching her neck lightly before turning away.
When she looks at him, she gets goosebumps, she feels like the air is being pushed out of her body to make room for something so much bigger. It's how she felt the first time she held her baby nephew and niece, it's how she felt when she rode a motorcycle for the first time, it's how she feels when she hears someone with a beautiful voice singing a Christmas hymn.
She never thinks about getting married until she does. She finds herself thinking about it more and more often now.
Charlie decides that he will come to the zoo but not to an 8am breakfast. So Sam showers and then Jack does, too. Jack wears a button down shirt and his nice jeans, the only pair he has that aren't fraying at the bottoms and sag only a little. He doesn't wear a ball cap which means he's really trying to impress.
"You look nice," she says, and she means it. He smiles.
"I showered," he says.
They take the truck to the restaurant. Sam is excited to see her family, but a little nervous too. It feels like they've come out to see if this new life is worth leaving them behind for. Sam knows that's silly, but Mark had been so upset when she'd told him she was moving and they still haven't cleared the air, a year later. Her brother has been sulking. Maybe she has, a little, too.
The restaurant parking lot is crowded, so Jack offers to park the truck while she goes inside. She looks past the hostess and points to her brother who she can see from across the room.
"I'm with them," she says. "And my, um, my friend is too, he's right behind me trying to park."
"Sure," says the girl. "What's his name?"
"Jack," she says. "He's like 6'1", salt and pepper hair."
"I'll make sure he finds you," she says.
Sam weaves her way through the tables. She can see her brother, her sister-in-law, the two kids and strangely, another body.
On the phone, Mark had said, "Six for breakfast right?" She'd said, "Right," not really thinking about it. Assuming that Elizabeth had mentioned Jack. But there is a man who is standing up to greet her with the rest of the family, his round face breaking into a hopeful smile as he looks at her. She decides to just ignore it for the moment, hugging Elizabeth, kissing her brother's cheek, touching the kid's heads.
"Sam, this is Pete Shanahan," her brother says. "My buddy. He came down from Denver."
"Hi," Sam says, and though he seems perfectly nice and though her brother is perfectly welcome to have other friends to see while he is in Colorado, she has a weird feeling about this. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were bringing a friend, Mark." She looks at her sister-in-law kind of desperately. Elizabeth just rolls her eyes shrugs. "We're going to need another place setting."
"What?" Mark says.
"For Jack," Sam says, making herself sound more apologetic than she actually feels. Elizabeth, finally, jumps in and says, "Always room for more!"
There's chaos as they try to scoot the kids in and put another chair on the end and they're still in the middle of it when Jack comes in - he finds them easily enough. It doesn't take a hostess to point out the one table that is standing and loudly disrupting everyone's breakfast.
Sam ends up wedged between Jack and her brother, directly across from Pete. Their waiter smiles though seems annoyed at the uneven numbers. He brings another plate, another rolled up set of silverware. He brings coffee and orange juice and Sam stirs a packet of sweetener into her coffee mug while Mark and Elizabeth stare at each other. Her nephew elbows her niece and that causes another round of inappropriately loud behavior that carries them through ordering.
"So," Elizabeth says finally. "Jack, it's so nice to meet you."
"You as well," Jack says. "I've heard a lot about the Carter clan."
That's not exactly true, but Sam doesn't argue with it. "All good things," Sam chimes in. Jack glances over at her but doesn't say anything.
"How do you and Sam know each other?" Elizabeth asks.
"We work together," Sam says. "Jack is the coach at the high school where I teach."
Elizabeth, of course, knows this but she's trying to bring everyone on to the same page, which clearly they are not.
"Pete's a detective," Mark says. "In Denver."
"Is that so?" Sam says. "That must be exciting."
"I like it," says Pete.
"How do you and Mark know each other?" Sam asks, politely. Here is a man who Sam has never even heard of crashing their family reunion, she's curious to know why Mark thought it appropriate to bring him along.
"I used to live in Colorado Springs," Pete says. "We were friends when Mark was going to the Air Force Academy."
"So you're ex-military?" Jack asks him. Barks at him, more like.
"No," Pete says. "I went law enforcement."
"Mark is a Colonel, now," Sam says. "Well, Lieutenant Colonel." She's not sure why she qualifies it, exactly. Mark gives a wan smile.
"Mom, can I have your phone?" Matt asks.
"I want to look at a phone!" Katie chimes in.
"No phones!" Mark barks. "We are talking to your aunt."
The kids slump, bored. Katie goes back to doodling on her place mat, Matt sulks.
"You're going to love the zoo," Jack offers. "There are giraffes and everything."
"It's a zoo, of course there are giraffes," Matt says. "What kind of zoo doesn't have giraffes?"
"Matthew," Elizabeth says warningly.
"I haven't been to the zoo in ages, I'm looking forward to it," Pete says, looking at Jack.
"Me too," Jack replies.
"So we're all going to the zoo then?" Elizabeth asks. "Fantastic." She sips her water.
"And Charlie," Sam says. "I think he's planning on coming along."
"Who is Charlie?" Mark asks.
"My son," Jack says. "He's sixteen."
"Jack is a retired Colonel himself," Sam offers.
"Oh yeah?" Mark says. "Full-bird?"
"Yep," Jack says.
"I know a lot of guys who hit full-bird and then call it a day," Mark says. "It's a nice retirement if you can get it."
"I retired because my wife died," Jack says. "I had to raise my son." He doesn't say you asshole but it hangs there in the air, anyway.
"Oh," Mark says. "My apologies."
The food comes, finally, and they all shovel it into their mouths to stop the talking.
oooo
"It's going fine," Jack says in the truck, though his jaw seems tight and his eyes have narrowed down to slits.
"First of all," Sam says, "I don't even know this detective or why the hell they brought him along."
Jack barks out a laugh. "Yes you do."
"No, I swear, I've never met him before today," she argues.
"But you know why they brought him," Jack says. Sam stares at him. "They brought him for you, Carter!"
"What?"
"It's a set up. They brought him to even out your numbers. Your brother thought he was doing you a favor. Did you even tell them about me at all?"
"Yes! Of course! I talk about you to Elizabeth all the time, but Mark is an arrogant asshole who probably didn't…. whatever, this is all so stupid."
"It's fine," he says. "It's okay. The poor guy probably feels worse than we do."
"We can skip the zoo," Sam offers.
"Charlie wants to come," Jack says, shaking his head. "We're going."
They're headed home to pick Charlie up and then are meeting their party back at the zoo.
"Okay," Sam says.
Charlie, miraculously, is dressed and ready when they walk in the front door, sitting on the couch in front of the television eating a poptart out of its shiny silver sleeve.
"Oh Charlie," Sam says. "That's not even really food."
"It's delicious," he says.
"You ready?" Jack asks.
In the truck, Charlie asks how breakfast went.
"Oh," Sam says. "Families are complicated."
"That good, huh?" Charlie asks.
"They brought some dude for Sam to date," Jack says.
"What?" Charlie asks. "You're the dude that Sam dates."
"I know, right?" Jack says.
"My brother is… kind of dense," Sam says. "Smart, but oblivious, you know?"
"Like Trevor Dunbar?" Charlie asks.
"Yes," she says. "More stoic, but yes."
"Whatever," Charlie says, rolling down his window just enough to stick his hand out into the wind. "I'm just in it for the monkeys."
"Giraffes," Jack says.
"I like the elephants," Sam says. Jack reaches over and squeezes her knee.
oooo
Charlie is very patient with Matthew. In the real world, Charlie wouldn't give someone like Matthew the time of day, but in this weird cobbled together family scenario, Charlie is kind and answers all of Matt's questions. Of which there are very, very many.
Katie has gotten whiny and complains about everything - it's too hot, her feet hurt, she's hungry, she's bored and on and on. Sam loves her but wants to ditch her in the reptile house. It's Pete, actually, who is the best with her. Telling her dumb animal jokes and making her laugh, pointing out neat things to look at, commiserating that his feet hurt, too. She hopes that what Jack said isn't true, that he wasn't expecting a date out of this, or if he was, he isn't too disappointed.
She holds Jack's hand as they stroll toward the lions and he pulls her to the side of the pass to kiss her lightly. She knows it's some masculine form of marking his territory, peeing on her leg or something, but she allows it because she thinks her brother will only notice something if it is thrown into his face.
"I'm sorry," Elizabeth says at one point. They're waiting in line to get lunch. Pete and the kids are at the big table the found with Mark, Jack and Charlie are buying bottles of water from a vending machine and Elizabeth and Sam are going to buy overpriced burgers and hotdogs and french fries.
"Why? I'm glad you came," Sam says.
"I told Mark that you weren't going to be interested in his friend," Elizabeth says. "I told him I was pretty sure you were seeing someone."
"I actually moved in with Jack and Charlie, so," she shrugs. "It's pretty serious now."
"That's great!" Elizabeth says. "And to be honest, I really don't think Pete is your type. He's nice but… he's looking for someone to stay home and have his babies and clean his house."
"Pass," Sam says. "Hard pass."
"Exactly."
When they get back to the table with their trays loaded down with greasy park food, Jack is handing out waters.
"Peter," he says.
"It's Pete," Pete says as he takes the bottle.
"Okay," Jack says dismissively, handing the next bottle to Matthew. Jack is just goading him now and when they're seating, she gives him a look that says, stop. He pretends not to see it.
"When does school start again?" Elizabeth asks Charlie.
"Like, three weeks?" Charlie asks.
"Senior year?" Mark asks.
"Junior," Charlies says. "Unfortunately."
"Not too fast," Jack says. "What's the rush?"
"I couldn't wait to move out of my parents house," Pete says. "I never went back. It was great."
Jack's hand on Sam's leg balls into a fist.
oooo
Mark and Pete take the kids to the movies. It's their last full day in Colorado Springs. Jack has already started football practice so he and Charlie will be gone most of the day. Sam picks up Elizabeth and brings her to the house. They'll eat lunch and then maybe do a little shopping. Honestly, though, Sam is exhausted, feels itchy under her skin from too much company.
"This is nice," Elizabeth says, holding her bag tightly against her.
"Convincing," Sam says. She is making progress on getting used to living with two men, one of which is a slob who leaves his sports equipment at the front door and his dishes in the sink, and the other who is Charlie.
Elizabeth takes a slow walk around the living room, looking at the pictures of Charlie on the mantle, the shadow box of Air Force medals, the stack of books on the table next to the sofa where Sam sits and reads while Jack and Charlie watch hockey or football or baseball.
Sam slings her purse over her shoulder and says, "You ready?"
"Yeah," Elizabeth says. "Sam..."
"What?" Sam asks when Elizabeth doesn't continues.
"This all seems really nice."
"What does?"
"This life," Elizabeth says. "We've been so worried about you but maybe we shouldn't be."
"Maybe not," Sam says rolling her eyes. But she smiles.
oooo
Sam gets to keep her same classroom which feels like a luxury. In San Diego, they were always shuffling everybody around. Her parking spot is better this year, too, though she didn't mind the one that was far away. Walter hands her the new parking permit with a solemn nod and says, "Congratulations."
"Thanks," she says uneasily. That man is really into parking.
She barely sees the boys at all in the weeks before school starts. They're always at practice. But, finally, Sam is home alone with Charlie one night because Jack's bowling league has started up again.
"Like," Charlie says. "Are we all supposed to drive to school together?"
Sam looks up from her book.
"Probably not," she says. "You go in early for weight training and I will just sleep, thanks."
"Okay," he says.
"It's okay to worry about stuff changing. I do," she says.
"I'm not worried," he says. "I just… want to make sure everything stays good."
"Well," she says. "Nothing is always going to be perfect but I'm glad you think things are good."
"I just want my dad to be happy," he says. "I'm not always going to be here, you know."
"You're not?" she says, but she's teasing. "Can I have your room when you leave?"
"No!" he says. And then, "For what?"
"Oh I don't know, science experiments? A library?"
"Crafts?" he asks.
"Probably not crafts," she says.
"Other moms are crafty," Charlie says. "But they don't ride motorcycles."
She smiles at him, her face flushing, her heart beating fast.
oooo
Three weeks into the school year, Sam wakes up to thunder. It's a little unusual, rain so early, but not unheard of. Jack's side of the bed is rumpled and empty and when she goes into the bathroom, it's steamy and warm from his shower. When she makes it down the stairs, both Jack and Charlie are still in the kitchen, finishing up coffee and the crusts of their toast.
"What's the matter?" Jack asks, surprised to see her.
"It's raining," she says. Charlie snorts back laughter; Jack hands her his mug. The coffee is half gone and not exactly as hot as she prefers, but she still takes it because it's coffee and she isn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. The rain beats down on the kitchen window and though a small awning protects the glass of the slider, the wood of the deck is dark and waterlogged. She watches the water fall for a few moments before Jack hugs her from behind.
"We gotta go," he says. "See you soon."
"Let's all call in sick," she says.
"Yes! Done!" Charlie says, dropping his backpack to the ground. The thump it makes is unsettling - no wonder everyone sits at their desk with the appalling posture of a hunchback. Sam had been that way too, once, curled over the long tables in the library at her graduate school, when she'd been working toward something better. Before she'd set it all aside for a wedding that never happened.
"Let's go, kiddo," Jack says. Charlie picks up his bag, navigates it on to his broad shoulders. He's grown so much in the last year - he's still wiry, but strong. When he doesn't shave for a couple days, it's noticeable. The boyishness of his face is diminishing.
"See you later," he says.
Alone in the house, Sam adds fresh coffee to Jack's mug and takes it upstairs.
The shower has one of those metal caddies that hangs from the shower head that holds the shampoo, the conditioner, her citrus scented body wash and her blue razor. It also has a little place for a bar of soap, so Sam uses the one built into the shower to set her coffee cup on. It's high enough that the spray from the shower misses it completely and it's a sort of wicked indulgence, sipping coffee while hot water pummels her between her shoulder blades. The first time Jack had seen her do this, he'd whispered "Genius!" and had been a convert ever since. Though half the time, he takes a can of beer in there.
"I am not the inventor of shower beer," she'd told him.
"You are for me," he'd said.
She's almost late, unlocking her classroom door with four or five students already waiting outside. One of the girls, Michelle, drags her messenger bag along behind her.
"It's not even Monday," Sam says.
"It's morning," Michelle spits back. She sounds perpetually offended and out of sorts and today, Sam can relate. Her AP class is first period this year, which does seem cruel. Teenagers don't function this early, they just don't, so she's had to tone down her tyrannical approach to AP this year. She can yell and threaten them all she wants, but they're tired and it doesn't do any good.
The rest of the kids come pouring in, with at least a third of them with travel mugs or white Starbucks cups. Sam didn't start really drinking coffee until college. Three of her students have cans of energy drink. The stuff smells awful, like gasoline mixed with cheap perfume.
"There's actually more caffeine in a cup of coffee than in that energy drink," she says to one of the guys holding a Rock Star, a shorter kid name Ronald.
"Yeah but coffee taste like dirt," he says. "I can always drink two of these."
"Not exactly the lesson I was trying to impart," she says.
The bells rings.
She starts slow, turning on the projector with the slides of today's lecture. People pull out clean paper and pens, their faces resting on their hands.
"Okay," she says. "Physics."
oooo
Jack has a fire going in the fireplace when she gets home. It's late and cold and everything looks so warm and inviting. She drops her purse and her bag and collapses into the armchair.
"Where's Charlie?" she asks.
"Grounded," Jack says.
"What?" she exclaims. She's lived with them for over six months and known them for longer and she's never known about Charlie getting grounded. She didn't even know Jack believed in that kind of discipline. "What happened?"
"I caught him having sex," Jack says.
"WHAT?" she exclaims.
"With Cassandra Frasier," Jack finishes gravely.
"Oh my God!" she says. "I knew it! Brother and sister my ass."
"You knew?" he says.
"No, I mean, that they were all flirty and hormonal," she says. "Did he use protection?"
Jack glares at her and then says, "I think so."
"Well," Sam shrugs. "Teenagers have sex, Jack. The best you can hope for is that it's safe sex."
Sam sees something out of the corner of her eye, movement at the top of the stairs. Charlie has cracked his door and is listening. Hoping, maybe, that Sam will plead his case.
"They were here?" she asks.
"He lied, said he was sick, left school and came home with her here. I came home at lunch to check on him and bring him some food and all I see is his ass in the air," Jack says. "I mean, how long has he been lying to us about this?"
"Yes, the lying and skipping school is unacceptable," she concedes, "but think about what you would've done to get laid at sixteen."
"No," he says.
"Does Janet know?" Sam asks.
"Oh yeah," he says, cracking the first smile she's seen since getting home. "I drove her home myself."
"Oof," she says. She watches Jack watch the fire for a few minutes and says, "They just kids."
"Too young for sex," he says.
"Maybe so," she says. "But you would've done exactly the same thing, so don't be mad at him for too long, okay?"
"There's leftovers for you in the kitchen," Jack says.
Sam calls Janet while she eats the rest of the lukewarm macaroni and cheese and a few bites of salad.
"Frasier residence," Cassandra answers.
"Hey Cass, it's Miss Carter," she says.
"Oh," Cassie says, sounding glum and awkward. "Hi."
"Hi," Sam says, though it's hard to keep the smile out of her voice. "Can I talk to your mom?"
"Yeah. MOM!"
Sam hears a muffled sound and then, "IT'S MISS CARTER."
Sam holds the phone away from her ear and pours herself a glass of water from the filtered pitcher in the refrigerator.
"Hi Sam," Janet says.
"Oh hi," she says. "I hear there is a scandal afoot."
"Your step-son is trying to impregnate my daughter," Janet says.
"I don't know about that," Sam says. "You're the biology teacher. You know exactly what happened."
"I just thought I had more time," Janet says. "I just thought our kids were not stupid."
"All kids are stupid," Sam says. "They can't help it."
"You're pretty calm about all of this," Janet says.
"I just think being mad about sex isn't the right message," Sam says. "They're going to do it, so we may as well teach them to be safe and respectful instead of getting mad so all they want to do is bang in secret."
"Please don't say bang," Janet says. "And it's easy to take the philosophical high ground when it's not your kid under there."
"I know," Sam says. "I'm sorry. We'll chain him up out back from now on."
"Thank you," Janet says.
Charlie hides out in his room until Jack goes to bed. Sam stays up late grading tests, sitting at the kitchen table with her red felt pen. She doesn't even refer to the answer key anymore, just glances down the questions slashing through wrong answers or giving partial credit. Like Abby Anderson who does all the homework correctly but bombs all her tests which is a clear indication that she's copying off someone somewhere.
She writes see me at the bottom of her test.
Charlie comes into the kitchen and jumps at the sight of Sam.
"Slinking out of hiding, I see," Sam says glancing up at him.
"I just wanted some water," he mutters.
"Okay," she says.
He pulls a glass from the cupboard but then just holds it, looking down into it.
"How long?"
"The whole month," he says.
"Yikes," she says. "Well, I mean, I guess it could've been worse."
"He didn't hit either of us," Charlie says. "There's that."
"There is that," she says. "Now, I thought you and Cass weren't like that. Is how you explained it to me."
"We weren't," he says. "Until we were."
"Ah," she says.
"You asked me that like a year ago. A year ago you weren't dating my dad, either."
"That's true," she concedes. "Your dad is just worried about you guys being safe and moving too fast, you know that right?"
"I know," he says. "I was stupid to get caught." He finally puts water in his glass and then sits down across from her. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."
"Okay," she says. She goes back to her tests, he sits and sips at his water.
"Do you think everything is going to be okay?" Charlie asks after a few minutes of silent brooding.
"Everything ever?" she says. "No. You and your dad and me? Yes, I think we will be okay."
This seems to help and soon, he goes to bed.
She follows not long behind, shutting off lights and checking to make sure the doors are locked. She checks the thermostat before she climbs the stairs. Jack has left the bedroom door open, but she closes it behind her. She brushes her teeth, changes into soft pants and a tank top and the slips into bed next to him.
He wakes up; he always does.
She shifts close to him so he can hold her for awhile, nuzzling his scratchy chin into her bares shoulder.
"Okay?" he asks.
Like father, like son.
"Okay," she reassures him.
He gives her a little squeeze and falls back to sleep. She falls asleep, too, feeling perfectly okay.
The quote that inspired the title:
"While the Copernican principle comes with no guarantees that it will forever guide us to cosmic truths, it's worked quite well so far: not only is Earth not in the center of the solar system, but the solar system is not in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy is not in the center of the universe, and it may come to pass that our universe is just one of many that comprise a multiverse. And in case you're one of those people who thinks that the edge may be a special place, we are not at the edge of anything either."
― Neil deGrasse Tyson
