By the time Rachel and Five returned to the apartment that doubled as a store, Elliot was already asleep. That was clear from the soft snores drifting in from a side bedroom. Five cursed in annoyance, but Rachel just laughed.
"Typical. You rush around like a mad man while everyone else has their priorities straight."
Five turned and glared at her.
"Priorities? Stopping an apocalypse is a much higher priority than anything else."
"Not more than sleep. You don't want that developed in a store, so you need to wait until Elliot has time to provide suggestions since he has suspicious items everywhere."
Five's upper lip crinkled in annoyance but chose to turn away and sigh instead of fight with her. Rachel meandered down the hallway, checking through doors. She found the bathroom, an oddly dark closet, and a second bedroom. The bedroom was relatively small. It just consisted of a double bed, drab colored bedding, and a very old set of furniture containing a vanity, dresser, and side table.
"There it is," she spoke to herself.
She moved back to Five and tugged him along.
"You're going to sleep or else you will be useless to everyone for the next nine days. If you try to refuse, I'm going to knock you out."
The boy allowed her to drag him to the second bedroom, knowing her reasoning was sound but still being peeved that Elliot was too comfortable with "aliens" invading his space. Rachel sat him on the bed before taking the Frankel Footage.
"Don't-" Five began to protest, but Rachel pointed a finger at him.
"Nope, sleep."
She placed the tape on a side table by the bed, patting it twice to show Five that it would remain right there. She then moved around to lie in the bed, kicking off her shoes as she did. Five took off his shoes and blazer before lying back on the bed. As the two stared up at the ceiling, Rachel grinned.
"Asleep yet?"
"I don't know how you think I'd be able to fall asleep in the two seconds since you stopped speaking."
Turning toward her companion, Rachel stared at him. She started by sending calming feelings his way. She watched the tensed muscles of his jaw release, his arms falling to his sides.
"Rach…"
His voice was quiet, tired, but still held a hint of disapproval. He knew what she was doing.
"Better than me singing you a lullaby, though."
"You know how I feel about you using your powers on me."
Rachel shuffled up closer to Five, so she hovered over him a bit. His eyes were closed but, feeling her movement, he opened an eye to look at her. He was clearly less concerned than he let on, possibly because of the calmness she was sending him.
"This is completely innocent," she pouted at him," Who else can I practice on?"
She sent a few waves of desire at him and his other eye shot open.
"Don't play with me," he told her, smirking.
He leaned over and took her hand, caressing her palm with his thumb. Rachel stopped and went back to filling him with calm. She then tried to send the hazy feeling of sleep. His eyes closed again, and, to her surprise, his breathing evened out, his thumb stopping its movements.
"Five?" she whispered.
She tapped his hand, his cheeks, and nothing. He was asleep. He had clearly been more exhausted than he was willing to let on. Rachel suddenly yawned and lay her head down on the pillow. Apparently, her thoughts of sleepiness made her feel that way as well. She was soon drifting out of consciousness.
It felt like no time at all had passed when she heard a loud clang from outside the room. She and Five both jolted up to an awake position.
"Ouch! Oops."
Elliot's voice reached them from the kitchen. The man was clearly used to living alone as he talked to himself very loudly.
"I smell coffee."
Five swung himself off the bed, putting on his blazer and grabbing the tape. Rachel tried to smooth out the bedhead she could see in the mirror across the room.
"I see that I'm less important that coffee," she noted, scooting to the end of the bed.
Five reached her in two strides, planting a kiss on her lips.
"If you knew how good Elliot's coffee is, you would understand."
"Good morning to you, too," Rachel grumbled," I think I'd rather use the shower before having coffee. Maybe you can pop out and get me something to wear that is less scandalous for a 1960s teenager? These shorts are too high for my age bracket here."
"Sounds doable."
Five gave her another quick kiss before disappearing from the room. A yelp sounded from the kitchen, making Rachel laugh in amusement. Poor Elliot.
An hour later, Rachel was examining the pictures on Elliot's wall in the living area with Five. A coffee in hand, the girl was now wearing beige capri pants and a black long-sleeved sweater. The plainness of the outfit really showed off Five's old man tastes. She was at least grateful he had the sense to get sneakers instead of heels or booties. They were black with white shoelaces, matching the outfit as much as could be expected. Maybe the two of them were getting too comfortable shoplifting thanks to Five's power…
"Elliot," Five started," did you develop these photos yourself?"
"Of course," the man responded proudly," Can't exactly drop that stuff off at the neighborhood Fotomat."
Certainly not, Rachel thought to herself. They were clearly candid photos taken of the Hargreeves arriving in the 1960s. All the photos were taken from a distance. Elliot would easily have been pegged as some sort of creep.
"Government has eyes everywhere," Elliot continued, digging into his bowl of cereal.
Rachel took a sip of her coffee, giving Elliot the side eye. Apparently, government conspiracy was the only thing on the man's mind. The concept of him being an oddball never crossed his mind.
"I didn't see a darkroom," Five pointed out.
"Yeah, I converted the hallway closet."
A high-pitched sound came from one of his various machines. As Elliot turned to adjust it, Five grabbed a pen off the table and scratched out the date on the footage Hazel gave them. Moving forward, he held out the tape to Elliot.
"Can you develop this?"
"Hmm?"
Elliot turned and took the yellow package from Five. He examined the back of it.
"Huh. "Frankel Footage." Friends of yours?"
Five gave the man his annoyed, "barely willing to deal with idiocy" smile.
"Cousins on my robot mother's side. Can you do it or not?"
Elliott nodded.
"Sure I can."
Rachel frowned at Elliot. The man was strangely calm with them. He was actually quite happy to have people to talk to about his odd ideas and proclivities. As far as she could diagnose, he also had a bad case of being too nice for his own good.
"How long?"
"Well, I mean, I'm running low on acetic acid. Beeker's Cameras is open today, but it's two miles away. I mean, I'd have to take the bus. On the other hand, Gibson's is only ten blocks away, but I gotta cut through the park, and there's this overbreed of pigeons-"
"Elliot," Five cut off his rambling.
Rachel smiled around her coffee mug. She'd decided. She liked Elliot. She wondered to what degree she was a sadist who enjoyed watching Five get annoyed at people. It was probably because he no longer used his "Are you stupid?" tone on her with regularity.
"It's like five, maybe six hours."
They got to avoid the explosion of annoyance that would have been Five thanks to the radio beside them kicking on. Rachel moved over and joined them to better hear.
"Attention all units, we have a code 3-15 at the Holbrook Sanitarium."
Five looked up at Elliot.
"The hell is a code 3-15?"
"Mmm," Elliot spoke around his chewing," fugitives on the run."
Five led them closer to the radio as he tried to hear better.
"Twenty-five patients still at large. Many are considered armed and dangerous."
Rachel raised an eyebrow as her partner sighed.
"Oh, Diego," she heard him whisper.
The girl coughed on her sip of coffee.
"Wait, Diego's a fugitive?"
"Oh, who's Diego?" Elliot asked.
Five thought for a second.
"Imagine Batman, then aim lower."
Elliot nodded in feigned understanding while Rachel snorted in amusement. She could sense Five's emotional pleasure from her acknowledging his comment.
"You get started on that film," the boy told Elliot," I'll be back as soon as I can."
Rachel rushed to put down her coffee mug and followed Five as he headed to the kitchen.
"You mean we! See you later, Elliot."
"Uh, bye!"
Rachel followed Five down the back stairs to the alley.
"Do you know where Diego is?" she asked Five as they stepped out into the sunshine.
"That idiot plans on killing Oswald, so I have a strong suspicion…"
"Texas School Book Depository?"
"I will never be able to express how much I appreciate your intelligence compared to my family's."
Five took Rachel's hand as they headed toward their destination. Five would jump at strategic moments, getting them to their goal faster. Upon reaching the square brick building, they found a car parked on the street just down the road from the entrance. The two crouched and examined those in the car.
"Are those two females? Their hair length is similar."
Five shook his head.
"No, that's Diego in the passenger seat."
"Oh, right…I see the beard now…" she noted squinting," How did he manage to get an accomplice?"
"I don't know but come on."
In the blink of an eye, the two of them were in the backseat of the car. The two in the front did not notice the new arrivals.
"Then why are you doing this?" the female asked Diego.
"Because he is an idiot," Five answered on his brother's behalf.
The woman whipped around in surprise while Diego just shook his head slightly.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked, looking between the two of them.
"Hi," Five said, putting on his fake smile," I'm his loving brother."
"Who left me to rot in the nuthouse," Diego pointed out.
"To protect you from yourself."
The woman seemed to accept the information readily.
"That's quite sweet."
"Isn't it though?" Rachel grinned," I'm his loving brother's girlfriend. Are you Diego's new girlfriend?"
Diego got more annoyed.
"Okay, all of you, out."
Five leaned forward, focusing on his brother.
"Lose the crazy lady and come with us. We have important business."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
The car was quiet as Five looked out toward the street and then back at his brother.
"Okay, fine."
Rachel pressed herself to the back of the chair as Five hopped over her and leaned toward a broken driver side window of the car. Clearly, that was how the fugitives had commandeered the car.
"Officer!" Five called out the window.
Rachel ducked farther into the seat as Diego shouted, lunged across her, and grabbed his brother.
"What are you doing?"
"I hear there's a reward out for you two."
The brother's stared at each other. Diego glared while Five smiled, testing the bearded man. The woman in the driver's seat looked back.
"He's bluffing."
There was a moment of hesitation before Diego's tension released and a feeling of defeat hit him.
"He's not. Fine. I'll go with you."
"What about me?"
Everyone else in the car looked at Diego's girl.
"And I'm bringing the crazy lady."
She smiled at his response. Five looked over at Rachel. Looking at the girl, she could sense a lot of amusement, excitement, and a bit of trauma. If the woman was crazy, then her emotions would be pretty scattered and find a weird situation like this fun. Check and Check.
"If having her means we get Diego, bring her along," Rachel told Five.
Her partner sighed and leaned back in his new seat. The girl moved to better sit behind Diego.
"Alright, fine. Let's get back to Elliot's."
Five directed the crazy lady, who they soon found out was named Lila, toward Morty's.