A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

Poetry Week

Summary: Jeffries takes a chance, Cecil encourages the team to write poetry and Ellie and Carlos try to stop people from entering the Dog Park.

"Just call her, Brent."

"I wouldn't know wha' to say."

"Just...sweep her off her feet." Ellie suggested.

"I haven' done this in a long time." Jeffries sighed. "An' even then I wasn't great at it."

"Brent, you were married for five years, you must have done something right."

"And I'm no' anymore, which shows how much good it did." He brooded, glancing up at his colleagues. "What did you do to make Cecil like ya so much, Carlos?"

"I wouldn't be taking tips from me." Carlos muttered, still focused on the piece of strange vulture bone under his microscope. Natalia was next to him, making measurements of some of the sand from the sandstorm a few weeks back.

"It was his hair, obviously." Ellie grinned over at Carlos, who scowled back grumpily.

"Ugh." Jeffries put down his phone. "I migh' go out fer a walk." He grumbled.

He got up from the bench, taking off his lab coat and hanging it on the hooks.

There was a sharp knock at the door.

"Could you possibly get that please, Brent?" Ellie asked, who was in the middle of dissecting part of a cactus leaf.

"Sure." He walked over to the door rather sullenly and opened it to reveal a grinning man.

"Hi, everyone. Is Carlos home?"

For once, Carlos did not look desperately for somewhere to hide. Brent could not be sure that it was because he was used to Cecil by now or because the vulture bone had started writhing under the microscope vigorously.

"Sure. He's in the corner."

~

Carlos was attempting to grab the squirming vulture bone when Cecil entered the room. Jeffries had called back a farewell as he'd shut the door and Cecil had come into the lab. When he did, Carlos was taken aback.

Cecil seemed...different somehow. He wasn't sure what it was. Cecil's blonde hair was sticking up in all its usual crazy directions, his tie was a horrifying shade of orange and his violet eyes still twinkled when he saw Carlos looking at him.

Think rationally, Carlos' brain screamed. There is nothing scientifically different about Cecil at ALL. He has always been cute in your opinion...right? Right? Let's go with that.

"How are you, dear Carlos?"

"Everything is fine, thank you, Cecil."

In retrospect, Carlos' statement would have been much more convincing if he had not been attempting to shove the now incredibly vigorous vulture bone under the nearest Bunsen burner.

"What is that?"

"It's a...I'm not entirely sure."

"Well it looks pretty neat anyway." Cecil beamed.

"How are you?" Carlos asked. "You disappeared a few weeks back on the radio broadcast apparently. We heard you when we visited Desert Bluffs."

"Y-you were in that dreadful place?" Cecil paled.

"No. We were in a laboratory nearby doing some experiments on the sand. Because, you know, it kept making doppelgängers of people."

Carlos could feel his face heating up. Thankfully, Natalia came to his rescue as she came back into the room.