Kevin's flight had been delayed. Only by about 20 minutes, but that was 20 minutes longer that Lee had had to stand waiting in the airport. Twenty more minutes that she had to be siphoning energy in a large crowd. And Lee knew that even with going for a run later that night, she would be lucky to manage to get a few hours of sleep near dawn.

Not that Lee had to siphon at the airport. She could have turned it off. It was a conscious and deliberate decision to not turn her siphoning off in this case because Lee knew that she would be so uncomfortable and off balance being in a crowd that large that it would have been far worse than being awake that night. Worse than being awake for two nights straight.

But Kevin’s flight had finally landed, and Lee had gotten him from the flight crew. Then came the wait for his luggage and a cab home. And once they climbed in the vehicle, Lee was finally able to turn her siphoning off. At least she wouldn’t be adding further to her energy issue.

Finally, they pulled up outside their building. Paying the outrageous fare, they got Kevin’s luggage from the trunk and made their way inside, up the elevator, and after what felt like it had been much longer than it probably was, Lee was unlocking the apartment door and making her way in.

”Are you hungry, Kev?” Lee asked as she set her purse and keys down.

”Starving!”

”Go put your bags in your room and I’ll warm some food up for you.”

The timing had not worked out as well as one could have hoped for Kevin’s return home. Tarin had hoped that he’d be able to go with Lee to the airport, but his appointments had ran too late for him to make it home before she had needed to leave and so Tarin had said he’d meet the two of them at home.

Tarin hadn’t ever been to the airport here, but he knew that an absolutely incredible number of planes and people moved through there on a daily basis and Lee was going to have a long night. Especially after Kevin’s flight was delayed.

Finally they were on their way home and Tarin was waiting, Mets game on in the background since he hadn’t had much else to do while he waited.

It was the middle of the third when Tarin heard the keys in the door and stood up from the couch. Why was he kind of nervous? Kevin had been gone for a while, but they’d gotten along well before the teen had left. Surely things wouldn’t be any different simply because he’d been gone for a few weeks. Surely everything had gone well with the advice Kevin had called Tarin to ask for and there weren’t going to be any hard feelings there.

Into the apartment came Lee and Kevin and then Lee was instructing Kevin to drop off his bags and Lee was offering to heat up food for Kevin and then Kevin was dragging his bags through the living room with a quick ”Hey Tarin.” before disappearing down the hallway and leaving Tarin waving kind of awkwardly, ”Hey Kev…” he said.

Lee had mentioned heating up food though and Tarin had to grin a little, there was definitely still Alfredo leftover from the night before. Making his way around the couch and towards the kitchen, Tarin waited for Lee, ”So, are you going to record his reaction, or am I?” he said before getting a bit more serious, ”How was the airport?”

Kevin grabbed his suitcase, still with his backpack on, and made his way toward his room, greeting Tarin on his way. Lee then turned, expecting to see Tarin still on the couch and was surprised to see him making his way toward her and the kitchen.

When Tarin asked which one of them was going to record Kevin’s reaction to where the leftovers had come from, Lee laughed. ”There’s nothing saying that both of us can’t record it,” Lee pointed out as she made her way over to the fridge. ”But I’ll probably have a more direct view of his reaction unless you’re standing behind me.”

Either way, it was bound to be entertaining. Kevin had been shocked by how good the pie had tasted that Lee had made for Tarin, and Kevin had known that Lee had had help from his grandmother for every single step of that process.

Then Tarin was asking how the airport was. Lee took a breath as she moved to put the container into the microwave to warm up for Kevin. ”It was extremely crowded,” Lee answered, turning to look at Tarin now that the food was being reheated. ”I’m not sure even a run will be enough to let me sleep tonight. And that’s with shutting my siphoning off as soon as I was in the cab to come home.”

”I think he might catch on that something is up if we’re both staring at him the whole time.” Tarin admitted when Lee pointed out that the he only way they’d both have a good vantage point was if Tarin stood right behind her.

”I’ll just play it cool and watch the game.” he said, leaning back to check the score real quick. No score still. Figured, he was the one wearing the hat tonight.

Lee said that the airport had been extremely crowded and that she didn’t think even a run would help her sleep that night, ”Yikes, that’s a heck of a crowd.” he said, ”I’m sorry.” Tarin knew that Lee was used to having to be up on her own some nights, but he still kind of hated the idea of her being up alone while everyone else slept, especially after a long run. Lee might be used to it, but it still tugged at something in him and he wished he could help.

It was something to think on.

Looking back towards Kevin’s room, Tarin lowered his voice, ”Did he say anything about the trip?”

Lee laughed. ”You’re probably right about that,” she admitted. ”Would be entertaining, though.”

So Tarin would just watch the game while they waited to see how Kevin would react to the news about the pasta. That would certainly seem the most normal thing to happen; since Tarin wasn’t eating and the fact that there was a Mets game, sitting on the couch watching it.

”How is the game going?” Lee asked. Unlike Tarin, Lee didn’t generally check the scores on her phone, but she had come to be interested enough in baseball by this time to be curious about the game even though she wasn’t actually watching it at the moment.

The microwave beeped and Lee turned to pull a plate out of the cupboard before getting the container out of the microwave. ”Unfortunately, I was expecting it to be bad,” Lee told Tarin as she transferred the food to the plate for Kevin. ”On top of normal travellers, there were end of the business day people coming home. I just wish I’d known about the delay before I left.”

Had Kevin said anything about his trip. Lee shrugged as she put the container in the sink and grabbed Kevin a fork. ”Only generically. It was ‘fine’. It was ‘good’. He spent a fair amount of time with the horses and riding when his younger cousins were being annoying.”

”Let’s keep it on the list of things we can do to freak him out. It can go right above speaking to him but several spaces below me and you holding hands or kissing.”

It wasn’t hard to freak out a teenager these days.

Lee asked about the game and Tarin looked back at the TV again, ”No score, top of the fourth.” he said, fidgeting with his hat a bit, but knowing tonight was probably not the night to push the interdimensional hat magic.

Tarin just nodded when Lee pointed out that she’d expected the airport to be bad, and how the delay had further compounded things. ”Well, let me know if you want company or if I can help.” he knew he probably couldn’t, but still wanted to offer.

Kevin hadn’t given Lee any details about the trip other than the fact that it had been fine and that he’d ridden a lot to keep away from cousins.

”I’d do that to get away from my brothers…” Tarin said, shaking his head a bit, it had been one of the more difficult things about leaving, not being able to ride anymore.

The pasta was done now though and it still looked completely edible. Go them.

Lee laughed again. She didn’t know there was an actual list. Yes, she knew there were quite a few things that freaked Kevin out, even more since she and Tarin had been able to be ‘public’ with their relationship, but an actual list to keep track of the things?

The laugh was replaced by a slight frown when Tarin told her that there was still no score. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad enough that she needed to wear the hat. Especially since Tarin hadn’t asked her. There were enough things that had changed since Kevin had gone to Texas, like her cooking, that they didn’t need to add in Tarin’s interdimensional magic hat theory to it.

Then Tarin was offering to stay up with her. Turning, Lee gave him a small smile. ”You don’t have the option of an energy pickup like I do, so I'd rather you get sleep,” she said. ”But I appreciate the offer, Tarin. Thank you.”

When Tarin commented that he’d go riding to get away from his brothers, Lee turned back to look at him with another smile. It was so uncommon that he talked about his family or his childhood that for him to voluntarily share that detail was meaningful.

”I’ve never really been down there enough to really learn myself. But as far as I can tell, Kevin loves it.”

With that, Lee picked up the plate with the chicken alfredo on it. ”Let’s head out. Then you can get back to your game.” Lee suggested.

”Mum, is the food ready?” As if on cue came Kevin’s voice.

As expected, Lee declined his over for company if her run tonight wasn’t enough to let her sleep. Tarin was glad he’d offered though and that Lee knew the offer stood.

Lee went on to mention that she’d never learned to ride and Tarin shrugged a bit with a smile, ” It was the only way to get around before we could drive the truck…”

That and at the time it was a way to get far enough away from people that it was actually quiet in his head.

The food was ready though and Lee was taking it to the table and Tarin made his way back to the couch to sit down and see if the Mets could overcome the lack of hat magic. Top of the fifth and two on base, that was a good thing.

Kevin, it appeared, was ready for the food.

Turning slightly on the couch so he could participate in any conversation and see at least some of Kevin’s reaction, Tarin waited to see what the teen thought.

Horseback had been Tarin’s only way to get around before he’d been allowed to drive the truck. Allowed to before he’d been legally old enough to. The ranch was rather out there and away from everything, Lee remembered. And that was even with the city spreading further and closer to them. So it made sense that there hadn’t really been many options.

”Yes, your food is ready,” Lee told her son as she sat down on the other side of the table and pulled her phone out. Making it look like she was simply checking her emails or messages while she was actually opening her camera.

”What is it? Kevin asked as he sat down and picked up his fork.

”It’s chicken alfredo.”

”Well yeah, mum,” Kevin said as he wound some noodles around his fork. ”I can see that. But where did you order from?”

Lee didn’t answer her son, but asked him a question of her own as she started the video on her phone. ”What do you think of it? Should we have it more often?”

Oh man, Lee was actually going to record Kevin’s reaction. Tarin had to smile as he looked between the TV and the two of them at the table.

The anticipation was palpable as Kevin asked generic questions about the food and where they’d gotten it from and Lee continued to work the set up like an absolute pro.

Lee still wasn’t giving up the game though and as Kevin took his first bite of the food and chewed, Tarin forgot about the game for a minute and found his focus solely on the reaction that was sure to come.

”Yeah, it’s good. We can get it again anytime, but why are you being weird?” he asked, digging in for another bite.

At the reaction, which from Kevin might as well have been jumping up and down while declaring the food the best he’d ever had, Tarin grinned at Lee. They hadn’t been having a shared hallucination. The food was good.

”The best part is that we don’t even have to go far to get it.” Tarin said, looking back at the TV just in time for the Mets to knock a run in.

Kevin actually liked the food. He liked the food enough that they could get it ‘any time’.

Lee smiled, not only happy that Kevin liked it, but also because she had it on video. ”I’m not being weird, though.”

”Whatever mum,” Kevin said as he turned his attention back to his food.

”I did have a thought,” Lee said after a moment, glancing over at Tarin before turning her eyes back to her son. ”Garlic bread would go good with this. Maybe we should make some next time.”

Kevin just looked up at Lee for a moment, shaking his head. ”Last time you tried to make garlic bread, it caught fire mum.”

”It wasn't in fire,” Lee said, shooting Tarin an ‘I told you so’ look as she started blushing slightly in embarrassment. ”It was just smoking a bit. But we made that pasta. We didn't order it from anywhere.”

Lee was enjoying this a lot, and that meant that Tarin was enjoying it even more.

Kevin was still eating the pasta with gusto and Lee pointed out that the next time they had the chicken Alfredo they needed to make garlic bread.

Tarin nodded enthusiastically. Surely they’d be able to handle putting something into and out of the oven while they did the rest of the cooking. They knew way more now and it would be much easier.

Kevin had his seemingly mandatory commentary though, pointing out that the last time that Lee had tried to make garlic bread it had burned. With fire?

Lee was giving him a look and Tarin looked right back at her. So what if she’d burned garlic bread? He’d burned chicken and it had all worked out just fine.

”Probably need to put the oven on medium high.” Tarin said, remembering how important that distinction had been for the chicken.

But then Lee was talking about the Alfredo again, pointing out to Kevin that she and Tarin had made the pasta instead of ordering it and Kevin stopped with a bite halfway to his mouth before he set it back down on his plate.

And Lee had it on film.

”Okay, but where did you get the sauce and the chicken from?” he asked, exhibiting extreme confidence in the ability of the two adults in the room to boil noodles, but nothing more.

”We made that too.” Tarin said, ”Came out real good, didn’t it?”

”Probably need to put the oven on medium high.”

Lee laughed softly. ”You’re probably right about that,” Lee replied. Now that the cooking was finished and not only had they enjoyed it, but Kevin thought it was good, it was far easier to joke about.

Kevin seemed surprised - he even put his fork down with food still on it - but accepting of the idea that they had boiled noodles. Lee smiled across at her son when Tarin pointed out that they had made both themselves as well.

”The sauce is basically just cream and parmesan cheese,” Lee told her son. ”But we do have enough ingredients leftover that we can make this again for tomorrow night.”

”No way,” Kevin said in disbelief, pushing himself away from the table and rushing to the kitchen.

”I’m not sure he believes us,” Lee said with good humour as she looked over at Tarin before following Kevin to the kitchen. Still recording. To see him staring into the open fridge.

Lee joked back at him and Tarin grinned. The fact that they could joke about the only thing that had really gone wrong with the cooking was definitely a good thing.

And then Lee suggested that they could make the chicken alfredo again the next day. She was getting more confident, good. Even if it was the same recipe, Tarin figured there were elements of cooking that were universal. The better they got at one thing, the easier other things would be.

At this point, Kevin had gotten up from the table and practically ran to the kitchen with Lee and her phone following.

”What could have possibly given you that idea?

Tarin didn’t follow this time, he just shook his head and laughed as he heard the fridge open.

”Okay, but how many times did you have to make it?”

”Just the once!” Tarin called from his spot on the couch as the current batter struck out and the inning ended.

”Up one nothing now.” he added.

Lee rolled her eyes at Tarin slightly as she made her way to the kitchen expecting that he'd be following to see what Kevin was doing.

So she was quite confused when she heard him calling from the living room. But he had still answered Kevin's question of how many times they had needed to try in order to make the meal.

”Also without ViewTube or calling anyone,” Lee added. Yes, she was a little proud now, after the fact, because it was something she had never thought she'd be able to do. ”Just the two of us with a written recipe.”

Kevin stood there staring at Lee for a few moments, still holding the fridge door open. Almost as though in disbelief.

”Wow mum,” Kevin finally said, shutting the door and walking past Lee or off the kitchen. ”I’m going to finish eating.”

Lee laughed slightly as she stopped the recording and made her way back to the living room herself. ”So what you're saying is I don't need to wear the hat tonight,” she said playfully as she sat on the couch beside Tarin.