Once they entered the communal kitchen down in the basement, Beth offered to make tea, which left Luther and Three to stare blankly at one another from opposite ends of the table. They seemed to have run out of things to say.
Beth eventually stepped up to break the silence. "So, um, this time-travel agency you've been with— What does it do?" she asked Three awkwardly.
"We—they— maintain the correct timeline by…" By ruthlessly murdering people. Three swallowed the saliva that was pooling in her mouth, as though she were about to vomit. "...By tracking anomalies and stopping them. That way, everything in history happens as it should. Three tried to laugh it off: "That probably doesn't make a lot of sense, I know." But her laughter wasn't genuine. If you two knew what I've done...
"No, it, uh, makes sense," Luther said earnestly. "No wonder Five ended up getting mixed up with the Commission— That's what it's called, right? It sounds right up his alley."
"Yep." Desperate to change the subject, Three abruptly asked, "So, how did you two meet?"
At the same time, Beth and Luther responded, "We met—" They cut themselves off and told each other, "Oh, you can go ahead— No, you can!"
Beth made like she was locking her lips, and then threw away the invisible key.
Luther cracked a grin. "Alrighty…" He resumed his response. "We met each other back in 2011, while at university. Then, Beth asked me to study with her one day, and, well…"
"University? Really? What did you major in?" Three inquired. She'd never attended an actual school, and was kind of surprised that Luther had. Surely their father's extensive education was more than adequete?
"Astronomy."
"Oh, duh. That was a stupid question, huh?" Three chuckled. Of course Luther had studied astronomy. As kids, Luther had taken her onto the roof countless times to point out every constellation in the night sky and boast about how he was going to go up there someday.
It was odd; There had been a time when Three had imagined spending the rest of her life with Luther, the boy whose eyes were always uplifted to the heavens, so full of hope. But that was just puppy love. It's not like their relationship could ever have developed into something bigger. They were fucking siblings, after all.
Rightfully, Luther had gone off and found someone who was good and wholesome and worthy of him, instead. Which reminded Three…
"The baby— Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"
"Boy," Beth answered promptly, eyes lighting up. "We're naming him 'Adam', after my father."
Three observed Luther's mouth twitch a bit, as though upset.
Beth noticed, too, and laughed ruefully. "He liked 'Leo'," she explained to Three.
"Like, the constellation?" Three guessed. Because this was Luther they were talking about, after all.
"Yeah," Beth confirmed. "But I told him, we can just have another kid, and you can name them whatever space name you like! It's just— My dad just passed away, and…" she shrugged before turning back toward the tea, which was steeping.
"Oh." Three nodded solemnly. Death, she understood.
So, even the perfect American couple has its fair share of sorrow.
The slight bitterness on Luther's face gave way to concern for his wife. He clumsily stood up and wrapped his arms around Beth, who sniffled a bit.
Three was just thinking, Maybe I should give them some space for a bit, when Luther whirled around and exclaimed, "Oh my God, I just remembered! On our twelve birthday, when Mom gave us names, I asked her what name she'd picked out for you. I don't know if you'd, um, want it..?"
"Oh, shit." It hadn't occurred to Three that there could be another name she could possibly take on. Well, what was the harm in finding out what it was? "Let's hear it."
"Allison." Luther watched his sister closely, trying to gauge her reaction.
Beth, restored to her cheerful self, gave her input: "Oh, I like that!"
"I mean, you can just keep going byThree if you want," Luther added hastily. "Five didn't accept his name, either."
"No, I like it!" Three assured him. There was a warm, fluttering feeling in her chest. Even though she hadn't been home to receive her name, one had been chosen for her, anyway, and Luther had remembered it, just in case the opportunity to bestow it to her ever came.
"How could I not like it?" It was a name given out of love, rather than out of cold necessity, like Number Three, or out of sickly sweet manipulation, like Rose. She admitted, "At the Commission, I went by Rose, so it'll take some getting used to, but—"
"We can call you 'Rose' if you want," Luther cut in, anxious to preemptively smooth over any hurt feelings.
"No, I am over that name," Three insisted. "I like Allison much better."
"Besides, 'a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet'," Beth quipped.
"So— Allison it is, then?" Luther clarified.
Allison bobbed her head up and down. "Yes!"
The sweet moment was suddenly interrupted by an eldery male voice from the next room over. "Master Luther!"
"Yes?" Luther called out.
"If I could borrow you for a moment, there's something..." The speaker, Pogo, rounded the corner and came to a dead stop when he saw Three- Allison. "Goodness gracious," he spluttered, recognizing her immediately. "Number Three?"
Although the chimpanzee was now dependent on a cane, he quickly made his way over to the woman and wrapped his arms around her.
Out of all the residents of the Umbrella Academy, Allison hadn't missed Pogo all that much. While Pogo had definitely been a source of comfort for Three when she was little, he'd always turned a blind eye to Reginald abusing the children.
Allison could only imagine how much better her childhood would have been if Pogo had spoken up. And, perhaps Five wouldn't have disappeared. Maybe Ben wouldn't have tragically died.
But everyone makes mistakes. Dwelling on 'maybes' doesn't change anything. Allison, of all people, knew that. Besides, Pogo had simply been trying to avoid further strife, which was understandable. At the end of the day, Pogo was a victim of Reginald's manipulation, too.
So, as Pogo hugged her, she hugged him back with sincerity.
It was Reginald who truly deserved Allison's anger. (And the Handler. And probably Lila, too. But that was a whole other can of worms that she didn't have the mental capacity to open at the moment.)
"Goodness," Pogo said, pulling away from her after a minute. "If your father was here, he'd be so…"
"What, happy to see me?" Three snorted. Yeah, right.
"But he's your father," Beth said tentatively, pressing a pleasantly warm mug of tea into Allison's hands.
"Yes," Pogo agreed emphatically. "He would surely have been relieved by your return."
"Mm. Thanks, Beth," Allison said, lifting the mug to her lips and taking a sip— It was peppermint. "Dad just wasn't really the sentimental type, from what I remember."
Pogo frowned a bit, and annoyance ate up Allison's sense of benevolent forgiveness. Evidently, Pogo was still Reginald's faithful servant, after all this time. After everything that had happened. And for what?
"... Anyway," Pogo said in a clipped tone. "I'm sure we have much to discuss, Number Three, but right now, I'm afraid that I need Master Luther's attention."
"Yes?" Luther asked, drawing himself to his full height, ready to get down to business.
"Master Diego arrived about ten minutes ago. Additionally, someone has broken into your father's study, so we either have a burglar on our hands, or Master Klaus has also arrived. I am rather inclined to believe the latter to be the case, though it would be much appreciated if you would kindly check—"
"Wait, some of the others are here? In the house? Right now?" Allison shrieked. The inkling of irritation with Pogo grew into a crazed rage. Why hadn't he said something already?
She frantically grabbed Luther's arm. "Which ones are Diego and Klaus?" For, she didn't know her other siblings' normal names yet.
"Diego is Two, and Klaus is Four," Luther filled her in. With his free hand, he gripped hers. "Let's go see them!"