A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

Capital Campaign

Summary: Jeffries has a rabbit problem, Carlos gets to know the masked army and the team question how to operate without their leader at hand.

"How are you doing, Carlito?" Ellie grinned at him through the FaceTime call going on.

"Please don't call me that." Carlos frowned at her. Ellie could tell that he had been not sleeping properly by the horrendous dark circles under his eyes. His stubble had been untamed and his clothes were partially torn and wild. What was incredible, however, was that his hair was still sat in its usual perfect manner.

"You look awful." Dave said bluntly.

"Way to sugarcoat it." Rochelle muttered.

"I'm fine, I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep." Carlos sighed. "It's always sunny here, even during night time hours. I've been sleeping in the lighthouse which allows some shade, but..."

He trailed off, and the team looked at each other skeptically. They had had a few brief communications with Carlos over the last two weeks but they had never been long, and they usually discussed scientific findings. Occasionally the topic had shifted, such as when Natalia and Ellie had announced that they were dating, which had involved a lot of blushing and smirking, but essentially Carlos had tried to keep everything professional. His team knew him well enough to know that it was a facade. Carlos was struggling emotionally, and when that happened, he threw himself into his work. Science was the perfect distraction. It combined his fascination for the Desert Otherworld with his need to emotionally distance himself from the painful fact that he was trapped there.

"Is there anything going on today?" Carlos changed the topic, looking at Jeffries.

"Actually, the radio show'll have started by now."

Oops. Ellie cringed internally as Carlos' expression went back to once of hidden sadness and grief. He missed Cecil a lot. Jeffries tuned the radio to Cecil's show and smiled as the radio host's voice drifted smoothly around the room.

"...count on all of you to support the Night Vale Community College Capital Campaign, which was launched this past Monday to fund the establishment of a new Science Centre for students. Science, I especially believe, is very important."

Carlos' smile came back as he shook his head.

"He has really got to stop talking about me on our radio show."

"If he does, I will never forgive him." Rochelle piped up. "It's too funny!"

"It's unprofessional."

"It's funny."

"Unprofessional."

"Funny."

"Unprofessional."

"Cute."

"Cute."

"Ha! Gotcha!"

"Rochelle!"

The team laughed at the exchange between the two scientists. Even though Carlos was far away, they could still have moments like this, and that kept the team sane.

"...I've gotten a lot of calls, emails, telegrams, and sympathetic glances the past couple of weeks, from people who are wondering if Carlos the scientist has returned from the Other World desert he is trapped in. And here I remind you that he became trapped there while saving our city from treacherous dark forces. I remind you HE IS A HERO. I remind you that my boyfriend is a hero!"

Carlos blushed at Cecil's words. "I'm not a hero, I'm -"

"A scientist." The team chorused.

"Sadly, Carlos is still in the desert – the same desert our new mayor was once trapped in. Fortunately, as Dana discovered, cell phone batteries last forever there, and there's pretty good wifi, despite there being just vast amounts of sand and...apparently, a mountain."