Summary: Natalia investigates her dreams, the team have trouble following Tamika's order to study the House That Doesn't Exist and Carlos is separated from his team.
"Today's the day." Carlos said as he watched Cecil get dressed into a navy shirt that was tight fitting apart from the short sleeves, which were light, large and poofy, like Cinderella's ballgown, and patterned with roses. Cecil's fashion sense always made Carlos happy. It was so unique and odd. But strangely beautiful.
"Do I wear this with my sleeveless wetsuit jacket?" Cecil asked. "I can't see without a mirror, so..." That was one of the only things that Cecil had asked for when they moved in together. No mirrors around the house. Carlos had accepted naturally, and besides, it was sweet watching Cecil shave without a mirror. Because Carlos usually helped him with all the spots he missed and the two had a good laugh about it.
"Mm...." Carlos considered. "You may need more mobility today, so perhaps not."
"I guess so..." Cecil said sadly. "But I'm wearing my golden top hat for definite! It gives off the right vibe for absolutely not taking down an evil corporation, you know?"
"Absolutely. Hey, Cece. Which labcoat should I wear?" Carlos mused.
"How about....this one?" Cecil pulled out one of his ones that had his name on from when Ellie could still be bothered to embroider them all. "It makes you look...brave."
"Good call." Carlos flushed and nodded. He pulled off his pyjama shirt which had a faded picture of the periodic table on. It had been rigorously crossed out in sharpie by the Secret Police shortly after Carlos had arrived in Night Vale, but after many washes it could still be seen slightly. Cecil sat next to Carlos and rested his head on Carlos' bare shoulder.
"You'll be okay investigating today?"
"Yeah, I'll have my team." Carlos replied, turning his head to look at Cecil on his shoulder. "They are very reliable. Being reliable is one of the many things a scientist is. I'm more worried about you."
"I'll be okay. Besides, I need to be there for our community."
"Night Vale needs its Voice." Carlos smiled. "But I need its Voice too. So come home safe, okay?"
"I will." Cecil returned his smile and kissed Carlos gently. Well, gently at first.
"H-How long is it until one of us has to be somewhere?" Carlos pulled away from Cecil's lips momentarily, his breathing hitched.
"Twenty-five minutes, I think. Why?"
"That'll do."
The two half lunged back at each other and immediately resumed their heated kissing, the clothing choices quickly ruined as they were flung carelessly back across the room.
~
Natalia's morning was already living up to her expectations. She was to be heading out with a group of people to the previous home of Old Woman Josie, as there had been reported sightings of angels, which, of course, are very real and very dangerous, her colleagues assured her when she became afraid at them acknowledging their existence.
Along the way, she passed an apartment where two men were standing outside. She suddenly skidded her car to a halt. She...she knew them.
"Be safe, okay? I'll call you when I find some scientific results." The man in the lab coat and rather poignant hair kissed the other gently as he passed him what appeared to be a feather boa.
"I'll see you later." The man grinned back and started his car, before driving away.
Natalia looked at her watch. It was twenty minutes before she was scheduled to be at Old Woman Josie's for the investigation. She could do some investigating of her own for a little bit? Surely? Her head hurt, like someone was banging inside her head yelling at her. Come to think of it, it was how she always felt whenever she had the strange dreams. Like there was a part of her locked away.....
"Excuse me!" She called, getting out of her car, running over to the man. "Look this is going to sound really strange and weird and I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying this," Natalia babbled, suddenly worrying about how the StrexCorp management would feel about her about her a) conversing with a non-Strex employee without permission and b) her not working to her full potential.
"But I feel like I know....you...." She trailed off, seeing the man's shocked expression. "Are you okay?"
"Natalia..." The man breathed.
"You know me?"
"Of course I do." He rushed forward and hugged her tightly. "Tell me everything. I'm asking this because of purely scientific reasons, of course."
"Who are you? And if you know me, why don't I remember you?"
"Carlos. My name is Carlos. You're a member of my research team." He stepped back and observed her worriedly. "You went missing over three months ago."
"Three months....that's about as far back as I can remember. T-there was a room....and teeth. Lots of teeth. But it was okay! I met the Smiling God, and it was wonderful! And I have all this work....work......" She trailed off, her eyes widening and she glanced at her watch. "I'm late. I-I can't be punished again for not being dedicated to working! Or not smiling enough!" She panicked and began to turn back towards her car.
"Natalia, wait!" Carlos called after her desperately.
"What?" She replied, clearly spooked.
"If you want to know about your memories and your science and your friends....come with me."
"N-Now?"
"Yes. Natalia, this isn't you. You came here with my team. With me. How much do you remember?"
"Nothing, I just get these weird dreams."
"What happens in them?"
"Little conversations. I can't see the people's faces. It's like they've been removed from my memory..." She swallowed. "A few things keep coming up. Do you think....do you think you'd be able to help?"
"What things?"
"Chicago. Physics. And this woman. A blonde woman. She's there more than the other people I see."
The man's face softened. "You were brought up in Chicago. You're a physicist on my team....and the blonde woman....well, if I'm not mistaken, she's another member of our team. A scientist."
"Who?"
"Ellie. Her name is Ellie."
A stabbing pain went through Natalia's gut when she heard that name. Happiness and warmth...she must have felt strongly for this person. But it was overwhelmed with layers and layers of guilt. So much guilt that she felt tears coming to all three of her eyes. Before she properly registered what she was doing, she ran to her car and sped off, leaving Carlos standing outside his apartment with a solemn expression.
~
"Hey, Carlos! Come on, th'radio show's started already'." Jeffries called over with a smile as Carlos pulled up. "Rochelle went in the house a while ago to investigate. We tried ta stop her but her and Dr Green got in anothe' argument." He looked pointedly at Ellie. "So she took it as a challenge and went off into th' House. Also, Dave's made kolaches if you're hungry."
"Awesome." He replied flatly.
"Carlos, what's wrong?" Ellie bounded up, but refrained from hugging him, seeing his expression.
"I saw her."
"What? Who?" Dave asked, joining the small gathering of people next to Carlos' car, parked next to the scientists' van.
"Natalia."
Unconsciously, most of the team turned to Ellie to gauge her reaction. Jeffries even put a hand on her shoulder.
"I.....I-Is she okay?" Ellie whispered, her fist slightly clenched and a pink blush on her freckled cheeks.
"She is missing a very large part of her memories. I am very sure that StrexCorp is the result."
"Does she remember us?" Jeffries pressed. Carlos shook his head.
"She said she remembers snippets. Little things. Chicago. Her name. And..." Carlos thought about what Natalia had said. 'This woman. A blonde woman...'
"And what?" Ellie leaned forward.
"Some science things." He lied, scratching his head. He didn't want to give Ellie false hope, even if it did seem that Natalia wanted her memories back. The moment Carlos had mentioned her it had....triggered something in Natalia. She had seemed so upset.
"But what exactly did she-"
"HEY!" Dave called frantically. He had just opened the door to the House That Doesn't Exist. He'd done it out of curiosity, but Rochelle had immediately stumbled out and collapsed into the floor.
"Rochelle!" Carlos yelped in shock. The team ran over and surrounded the woman. "What happened?"
"I was in there for HOURS! Why didn't anyone let me out?"
"Rochelle...." Jeffries raised a bushy eyebrow. "You've been in there four'y-five minutes, tops."
The caramel haired woman shook her head in protest. "I've been in there hours. I'm SO hungry. Dave, you haven't eaten the kolaches, have you?"
"Uh, no." Dave said, trying not to be too worried by Rochelle's current state. He passed the tray of kolaches to Rochelle, who began devouring them like a starving animal. Clearly the amount of time she had been in the House That Doesn't Exist had meant that she felt table manners were a thing of the past.
"I'd best call Cecil." Carlos murmured. Ellie sat down to apologise to Rochelle and update her on the Natalia situation. He pulled out his phone and dialled Cecil's number. It went through almost immediately. He felt bad that he was missing the radio show. The revolution, too. But everyone had assured the scientists that this was where they were needed.
"Carlos?" Cecil's voice whispered. "Hang on, Carlos. Can you be on hold for just a few moments?"
"Sure." Carlos replied quietly, knowing that Cecil needed to finish his traffic segment.
"We're getting more updates about those doors. In fact, I have a very important scientist on the phone right now." Cecil's voice was suddenly louder and he had his special 'radio voice' on that Carlos loved so much. In a totally scientific way....absolutely. "He's at the very top of his field, a really handsome scientist!"
"Stop!" Carlos blurted, rather flushed. It reminded him of Cecil's gushing from the first few months he was in Night Vale.
"Hi, Carlos! So, you said you saw these new doors." Okay. Science. Science was good.
"Yes, I'm here with my research team at the House That Does Not Exist in the Desert Creek housing development. The one that looks like it's there, but isn't there? Our previous attempts to understand the home were futile. From the windows it looks completely empty, but when you try to go inside, there's a fully furnished home and a woman named Cynthia living there. But today, all of the composite fiberglass doors on the house suddenly changed. They're now all old oak doors with brass knobs, and when we opened one, we finally saw the empty house that we've been seeing through the windows." He recalled from Jeffries' update from before he arrived.
"If you go inside the home from these new doors, you can explore the house that does not exist, BUT you cannot return unless someone is on the other side of the door you went through. One of our scientists, Rochelle, went through, and couldn't get back out! We only thought she was inside for about 45 minutes, but when we opened the door back up, she ran out saying she'd been trapped for several hours! She was sweating and starving, and she ate every one of the kolaches Dave made for us. So now, we just need to do more experiments. We have to be careful, because time is weird in Night Vale. But I'm going to do a bit of exploring in this house, and get back to you and your listeners about what is going on here."
"Carlos? Do be careful!" Cecil replied.
"I'll be fine, Cecil!" He said reassuringly. "I have a team of five talented scientists with me..." He paused for a moment. He'd unconsciously included Natalia. "They will be here to check on my progress and keep me from getting trapped," he continued. "Without them, of course, it would be much more dangerous. But I am not without them. Not at all."
"Well, you're very brave." Cecil said happily in his voice, and Carlos tried not to think about earlier that morning when Cecil had said the same thing.
"Thanks, Cecil." Carlos replied softly, before the line went down and Cecil continued his broadcast. "I'm going in!" He called to the team, before opening his car and pulling out pretty much every single thing he had in there. He had his rucksack with a spare labcoat and change of clothes (in case there really was a large time gap and plus, a scientist should always be prepared for such a scenario), his lunchbox with a water bottle, his phone, the scout survival kit that Cecil bought him, plus some beakers, sampling equipment and a whole array of scientific monitoring equipment. It was enough to hurt Carlos' back when he was carrying it. He pulled out his Geiger counter and walked towards the house.
"Be careful, Carlos." Ellie said. "And we'll talk about Nat when you get back, okay?"
"Deal." Carlos said, giving the team a lazy wave as he stepped through the door.
"Carlos, wait!" Jeffries suddenly called after him, but it was no use. Carlos had already shut the door of the House That Does Not Exist. The man with perfect hair, in his excitement, had failed to notice the StrexCorp logo decorated cars speeding towards the group of scientists.
"Ellie, we need ta leave righ' now. Dave, get Rochelle to the van." Jeffries shouted firmly.
"But Carlos!" Ellie said in panic.
"We don't have time, Ellie! Do ya want 'em to catch us? By the time we get Carlos out they'd be here and he'd be caugh' too! We'll come back for him, now COME ON!" Jeffries put his hand on Ellie's arm, tugging her gently towards the van. The biochemist relented and ran towards the van, abandoning Carlos' car. Dave moved to get into the driver's seat but Jeffries put his arm in the way. "Let me."
Dave stepped back and Jeffries jumped into the front seat of the van, whilst the other man hurried round to the back seat. Dr Green had taken her usual position in the passenger seat and her eyes had not left the door to the House That Doesn't Exist.
Jeffries started up the engine and revved it into gear as the Strex cars closed in. "Hang on!"
He reversed back quickly before pulling off a handbrake turn that had all the scientists clinging on for dear life before speeding away from the Desert Creek housing development.
"B-Brent." Ellie breathed out finally. "How did you learn to drive like someone out of Fast and Furious?"
Jeffries blushed scarlet and scratched his beard with a few knuckles. "Well, you know I grew up with a rich father...."
"Yeah." Dave said in confusion.
"Let's jus' say that in my rather rebellious years, my brothe' Ian and I found out joyridin' really made him angry."
"Wow." Rochelle said. She had somehow managed to keep eating kolaches the entire time. Ellie looked towards the StrexCorp cars behind them forlornly. One best friend was missing her memories and part of an evil corporation. Now the one of the only people outside of her family that she trusted with her life was trapped somewhere unknown.
'We're coming back for you, Carlos,' all of the team individually thought as the team zigzagged around the streets of Night Vale as the sun set in its usual manner of screeching. 'I promise.'