Chapter Eighteen: Tuesday, December 27, 2005, New York City
A/N:
There are a lot of characters in this chapter; the point of it is to show Matt Camden (and the reader ) how Simon is fitting in/being accepted (in a way his own family hasn't quite accepted him lately, despite their ability to accept strangers; it's like Cathy said to Eric, when we see our own children, sometimes, no matter how much we love them, all we see are their mistakes).
Fin is from Law & Order SVU; in my story So Cold the Night, I paired him up with Diana from the third season of BATB
Laura and Jerry are from BATB (Impossible Silence, Sticks and Stones)
Lauren, Amy, Amy's brothers, etc. are from Judging Amy
Elliot Burch was an occasionally recurring character on BATB with a stunning redemption arc that made me fall in love with him
Matt's knowing ASL is cannon; but he dated a deaf woman long enough that Simon could have picked it up, especially given how close he and Matt were at the time, and how close Matt and Heather were (and remained)
I have no idea why there were so many redheads running around television shows in the late 80's/early 90's (as point of note, I also have red hair LOL !)
…
Matt Camden spotted his little brother—or maybe not so little; Simon would be twenty in April—though the café window and took a minute to really look at what he saw, because it was more than Simon and Caroline. It was Caroline's mother. Matt hadn't met her yet, but who else could it be? It was three other children. Teenagers. Two boys, one dark-haired, the other with hair almost the same color as Catherine's, and a girl who looked a little younger, maybe closer to twelve or thirteen. She was the spitting image of the mother. The boys looked like peas in a pod with their black leather jackets and sour expressions.
Simon and Caroline, holding hands on top of the table, looking at ease with one another. Comfortable.
Happy.
It was good to see Simon happy. The last few years, Paul Smith, Cecilia, Georgia, that STD scare…. And he'd heard about the girl Simon had a couple of dates with over the summer.
Why couldn't Simon have met Caroline in a few more years, when the age-difference wouldn't be such a big deal? Heck, Kevin had more years on Luce than Simon did on Caroline; the only difference was that they'd met when Lucy was older.
Fifteen….
Caroline was fifteen.
After sending Kevin digging into Caroline's family history, Lucy had done the math.
She'd called Matt. They'd had a very long talk.
The only upside was that so far, Mom and Dad seemed to have their hands too full with Ruthie to worry too much about Caroline.
Ruthie.
What was she thinking? What was she doing?
Matt shook himself. He would worry about Ruthie another day. Another day soon, but right now…right now, he needed to figure out how to get through to Simon, because it was obvious, watching them there in the café, that they were somehow okay with Caroline and Simon continuing with whatever-it-was-they-were-doing…. Because Matt refused to call it "dating". Even Simon couldn't be that stupid.
He headed into the café. Sitting with Simon, Caroline, and Cathy Chandler-Wells at a long table with lots of empty chairs, yet, were two teenaged boys, one dark-haired, the other with hair almost the same color as Catherine's, and a girl who looked a little younger, and was the spitting image of her mother, albeit in the form of an eleven- or twelve-year-old.
"Matt!" Simon saw him first. He met Matt halfway and enveloped him in a hug.
Matt returned it happily. "I'm sorry I haven't been home more this past semester."
"Everybody understands," Simon told him. He introduced Matt to Caroline's older brother Jake, and her younger brother and sister, Charles and Beth.
"I thought there were more of you," Matt said.
"Christopher and Janelle are down with a cold," Cathy explained. "Their father is staying home to keep an eye on them and not infect anyone else."
"I hope it's nothing serious." Matt took a seat. When the waitress came by, he asked for a coffee.
"It's nothing a little chicken soup and some rest won't fix," Cathy told him.
Kevin had called Matt before he even told Lucy what he'd found out about Cathy Chandler-Wells. Mom and Dad had called—separately—after Lucy told them. Matt had asked Sarah if she knew; Sarah had shrugged. She knew a little, she supposed, but who talked about that kind of thing? Clearly, she hadn't had any idea how Matt knew or why he was asking if she did.
"I'm sorry your wife couldn't join us," Cathy went on.
If Matt looked closely, he could just see the faint remains of a single scar near her left ear. And it wasn't polite to stare, he reminded himself, suddenly finding something else to look at. "We ah…we're on opposite shifts now," he said in response to her comment. He took the mug of steaming black coffee from their server with a grateful smile.
"You're both in your third year now, aren't you?" Cathy asked him.
Matt nodded. "I can't wait for it to be over, but I know residency is going to be twice as hard. So, ah…you guys have a good Christmas?" he asked, trying to come up with a topic of small talk that didn't include Cathy's scar or other past tragedies these people would likely rather not talk about.
Jake shrugged. Charles, who looked like he was trying perhaps a little too hard to emulate his older brother's leather-jacket-earring-and-Doc-Martin look mirrored it.
Cathy smiled a smile Matt had seen his own mother give on many an occasion, when she was thoroughly vexed with her children, but trying very hard not to let it spoil the occasion. He doubted that anything Jake or Charles had done—or not done—was any worse than anything any of them had ever pulled.
Beth flashed a bright smile. "I got a chess set!"
Charles broke out of his sour-puss demeanor long enough to chuckle. "Now I can beat you with your own board."
"Ha. Not unless I beat you," she countered.
Jake was the one to rebuke them, not unlike how it was often Matt corralling his younger siblings. "That's enough you two." Then he shot Beth a wink. "If anyone's going to beat Charlie, it's going to be me."
Rather than get offended, Charles laughed.
Before Matt could fumble his way through more small talk, the café door opened and in walked an unlikely group, who could only be the group that had unintentionally upended Mom's plans for an over-the-top breakfast spread: Two humans, upper middle aged, the man bearing three deep scars on his left cheek, the woman dark skinned with long curly hair, and six Tenctonese, three adults, one seemingly too pregnant to be travelling, and three children, ranging in age from five or six up to fourteen or fifteen—and garnering quite a few stares from other patrons.
Matt was on his feet almost at once. "Here, sit down," he said to the pregnant man.
"You must be Matt," the other responded. "Simon told us his brother was a medical student. Studying to be an OB-Gyn." It wasn't a question, though he sounded more amused than annoyed.
"Do you cover Tenctonese medicine?" the woman asked, genuinely curious.
"Only as an elective, and only in our third and fourth years," Matt explained. "But I'm hoping to learn more when I start my residency. We have a growing population of Tenctonese here in New York—that is if Sarah and I stay here. If we go back home, to California, especially if we end up down in L.A., or even San Bernardino, there's a much larger population, and not nearly enough Tenctonese doctors to go around."
"You should talk to our friend Joel," Cathy told him. "He knows almost as much about Tenctonese medicine as a Tenctonese doctor. I'm sure he could help you find a good hospital for your residency when the time comes."
"If only he weren't so…." The Tenctonese woman seemed to be struggling for words.
Cathy laughed. "He can't help it." She turned to Matt. "Joel spent nearly a year studying native medicine in Alaska. He's a bit…."
"Woo-woo," said the binnaum—or at least Matt guessed he…or rather bin…must be, given the size of his spots.
"Woo-woo?" he asked.
"He's more superstitious than my grandfather," said the Tenctonese woman. "And that's saying something. Honestly, I didn't think humans were so….well, 'woo-woo'. I'm Lyla, by the way." She held out her hand to Matt.
"Johnathan," said the pregnant man. "And Sam," he introduced the binnaum, who seemed a little shy. "And yes, Joel is rather unique amongst your species."
Lyla made quick introductions of the children, Beryl, Tobin, and Moora, who had already given Simon a huge hug and claimed the seat next to him, while her older siblings preferred to join the other older children at the far end of the table.
"I think your brother has an admirer," Lyla confided softly to Matt, who couldn't help but smile. Simon had always been great with Sam and David, even when he was going through that intolerable stage where he was simultaneously defiant and juvenile while demanding to be treated "like a man".
The door opened again, and Matt had to do a double take. Sarah read the society pages. Well…he did too. Sometimes. When she left the paper lying around. But even if she didn't this guy had been on the cover of Forbes and Time and several supermarket tabloids and he was the last person Matt expected to see walk into a Greenwich Village café.
"Elliot." Cathy beamed, rising to her feet. "I'm so glad you were able to make it." After a warm, and longer than your average friendly, hug, she turned to the vaguely disheveled redhead who had come in with him. She didn't look unkempt so much as clearly not a morning person and in as desperate need of caffein as Matt had been when he first walked in the door. "How was Tuscany?" Cathy asked her, as they shared a warm hug.
"I didn't want to come back! This weather!"
"Isn't it marvelous?" Devin grinned.
"No," said several of the adults.
"It's been like this all week," Cathy added.
Accompanying the two was a dark-haired girl who looked about Ruthie's age. She joined the other teenagers at the other end of the table, after giving Caroline a quick wave hello.
Elliot gave Jake and Charles a warm clap on the shoulder and exchanged hugs with Beth and then Caroline.
"And this is Simon," Caroline made the introductions. "Simon, my Uncle Elliot."
"Nice to finally meet you," he told Simon.
"Likewise." Simon shook his hand. "This is my brother, Matt."
"The med student—you'll find that word travels fast in this group," he responded with a grin to Matt's questioning look. "And may I be the first to introduce my beautiful wife." He held his hand to the vaguely disheveled redhead.
"You're married?" Matt didn't mean to blurt it out quite like that—but Elliot Burch only laughed.
"It's a secret, at least for a few more days." He drew her in close, and wrapped both hands around her waist. "Mrs. Elliot Burch…or I don't know, maybe her honor the honorable Amy Burch?"
She shook her head at him and held out her hand to Simon, then Matt. "How about just Amy. Running off and eloping was more about escaping my family than it was about evading reporters. Someday I'll tell you what my sister-in-law tried to do when my mother almost got remarried."
Simon chuckled. "It's nice to meet both of you."
Matt couldn't help noticing how completely at ease his little brother seemed with the entire situation, even though Matt felt…not ill at ease so much as like he was missing something. He was still pondering it when another couple walked in the door and towards the table. Matt recognized the scary looking Black man but had never seen his companion before.
"Sorry we're late." She pulled off her hat to reveal a mop of bright orange curls. "Someone—" she eyed the big Black guy—"insisted on driving here."
"I hate the subway," he countered.
"We're still waiting on Laura and Jerry," Cathy assured her, then pulled her into a hug.
"Hey, Squirt," the Black guy said to Caroline. "Simon."
They shook hands.
"Are you ever going to stop calling me that?" Caroline asked him.
"Dunno? You ever gonna get any taller?" he teased. To Simon, he said, "How was your flight?"
"Good, thanks. This is my brother Matt, I'm not sure you've met…?"
"Not officially." He held his hand out to Matt. "Fin Tutuola."
"Diana Bennett," said the red head.
"My better half," Fin added with a grin.
"It's nice to meet you both," Matt told them.
"Don't worry," Cathy whispered Matt with a smile. "There's no test afterwards."
Fin laughed, then turned to the Tenctonese man. "Johnathan, you look ready to pop. You sure you should be travelling?"
Lyla gave him a look that clearly read "I told you so!"
"The pod and I are fine. Truly. I wish everyone would stop fussing so much!"
"We only fuss because we love you," Devin's wife Robbie told him.
Fin chuckled and turned to Elliot. "And you…." He pulled Elliot into a warm hug. "Welcome back."
Matt leaned over to Simon. "Who are all these people? This is worse than being back home."
Simon laughed. "Tell me about it."
Caroline shifted closer. "Fin and Diana are my godparents. Elliot is one of Jake's god fathers. The other one is Joe Maxwell. Uncle Devin is my father's adopted father…as in, my father is the one who was adopted," she clarified. "Sam is Aunt Robbie's foster brother. He was orphaned in the crash. Robbie's family was one of a few dozen that volunteered as foster parents."
Matt remembered his parents talking about it, but at the time, the Bureau of Newcommer Affairs was working to keep the Tenctonese as close to Los Angeles as possible.
"Finally!" Someone announced, and Matt looked up to see a couple in their early thirties walk in. He was a clean-cut guy in a police uniform, her, a looking a bit hippy-esque with long nut-brown hair in pigtails, a crocheted poncho over her coat, and a long skirt. She was carrying a baby carrier; between them walked a girl who looked about Beth's age and bringing up the rear was a teenaged boy in a leather jacket who, unsurprisingly, bee-lined it for where Jake and Charles sat at the far end of the table. Jake greeted him with a high-five and a hug. The girl went to sit next to Beth.
Cathy made the introductions. "Laura, Jerry, you remember Johnathon, Lyla, Sam and their children, don't you?" As she spoke, she signed and Matt shot Simon a curious look.
Simon just shrugged.
When she answered, Laura's tone made it clear she was deaf. "Of course. It's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you too. How old is the little one?" Johnathan was careful to look at her as he spoke.
"Four months." Laura set the carrier on the table and handed the baby over.
Johnathon cooed at the infant, much to his wife's amusement, though Sam was no less taken by the child.
Fin moved to stand in front of Jerry. "Officer." His tone was gruff and for half a second, Matt expected some kind of altercation.
But Jerry grinned. "Detective."
They clasped hands and Fin asked, "When are you gonna take the test and get a gold shield of your own?"
"Never," Laura informed him. "His hours are long enough as it is!"
"Matt, Simon," Cathy joined them, signing as she spoke. "This is Laura and Jerry. Laura has been close to my husband's family since she was younger than Caroline, I think."
Laura's cheeks turned pink.
"Pleased to meet you," Matt signed as he spoke as well.
"You sign?" Laura asked, clearly surprised.
:We both do, Simon signed. "But he's better than I am," he added aloud, as well as signing.
"I'm pretty rusty," Matt admitted.
"You're doing great," said Laura. :Both of you, she added in sign.
"Next all we have to do is teach you Tenctonese," Johnathan teased.
"Got room for one more?" Asked a voice. It was attached to a man in a suit who looked about Cathy's age.
"Joe!" Cathy pulled him into a hug. "We weren't expecting you."
"I decided to play hookie. Being the boss ha to have some perks. Mr. Burch." He grinned at Elliot, then Amy. "Mrs. Burch." Warm hugs were exchanged all around. "How was the honeymoon?" Joe asked Elliot and Amy.
"Incredible," Elliot told him.
"At least until we came back to all this," she added.
Joe grinned and turned to Simon. "I heard you were back in town."
"Mr. District Attorney," Simon seemed to be teasing—at least if his effort not to laugh was any indication.
Joe laughed and Cathy shook her head. "Don't you think it's time you let the poor guy off the hook?" she asked.
"Fine. You can call me Joe." He was grinning, too. "Now come on, let's order some breakfast. I'm starving!"
