[center][h2]Welcome Home, Pen-nut[/h2]
[h3]Greenleaf - Afternoon into Night[/h3]

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[img]https://i.imgur.com/diF6hFs.png[/img] 
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[hider=When You Need Me][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEFHIAdPyo4&ab_channel=RTBrandy[/youtube][/hider]


When Penelope left the China Doll, she was feeling mighty swell. Cyd had that kind of energy that seemed to fill all the spaces an easy-going spirit like her let drift along in the breeze. It wasn’t an overwhelming sort, more like making the flight more interesting. It’d been a while since she had a friend, and it seemed like the China Doll was nothing but the start to some bonds forming.

As she neared her father’s home - her home - her thoughts turned more on the task at hand. It was the sort of pleasant weather that came after a nice rain, before the sun warmed the water to steam. The best she could hope for in her plan for the day. She enjoyed the remainder of the walk, listening to the songs of the forest birds that the city could never mute. It was good to be home.

There was a hitch to her plan, though. She discovered it the moment she found herself facing the electronic panel on the outer storage door of the little covered patio. As she worried her lip in thought, mostly about how that wasn’t there before, the door to her immediate right cracked open. Its door track’s squeal was what caused her to jump slightly, being caught out so early on wasn’t part of what she’d pictured.

But neither was the rather large dark-skinned man hulking in the frame. Her first thought was she’d somehow gotten the wrong privacy area, but all the markings making this place her family’s was there down to the dent in the door frame Castor had gotten Pollux in trouble for just alongside the man’s big hand. If it weren’t for the warm smile that spread in his gold-flecked dark eyes as his rich voice asked: “Penelope?” she might have found herself running again.

“Don’t go. Please.” The stranger must’ve sensed her flight-instincts, because he stepped back slightly into the room rather than crowd her, explaining as he did so. “I’m Elias. Rowan asked me over to watch for you. He was worried you’d come by and he would miss you because he couldn’t stay awake. From what he said, last night was… eventful.”

There was a familiarity in which the man spoke about her father that seemed warm, friendly. The hint of amusement on the tail-end made it more true to Penelope. She smiled, the nervousness tickling at her only in the way she rubbed absently at the arm she’d clutched while listening. “Reckon I have no small part in all the excitement… How is he?”

“I’d say all manner of ways, but when he finally fell asleep… hopeful.” Elias glanced back towards the closed door she knew led to her father’s bedroom, Penelope following the gaze to notice him turn a lifted brow to her. “Any particular reason you favored the storage door over this one?”

“I wanted to fix something, I reckon, and since … well, this seemed the best place to start.” She gestured by a spanning wave at the overgrowth and neglect, then frowned again at the obstacle. “But the old lock is gone.”

“The code is 1805.” Elias said after her eyes settled sadly on the space a weathered yet otherwise like-new panel sat. “I convinced your father to have it installed after a series of thefts hit the lower units.”

Penelope reached to punch in the code on the touch-pad but paused, looking at Elias with curiosity plain on her open features. “Do you live here, too?”

“Next door.” He smiled in a manner that she couldn’t discern, though she didn’t have to after all. As she went to enter the code, leaving it there for now, he went on. “Since your brothers left the nest, I have been looking after your father. As a fellow widower with grown children, I understand the need for company. And your father… he seems to let things get away from him.”

Penelope smiled. Elias had put that mildly, and they both knew it. She could tell from the smile they were now sharing. “I was going to say… the sitting area looks a lot neater than I’d expect.”

“I couldn’t help myself.” It seemed as if this were a grand admittance in the way he sighed, and Penelope couldn’t help herself in the soft laugh. “Say, would you like some company taming this part of the jungle? I’ve told Rowan I wouldn’t mind tending it, but he said it was a job for two - then went to bed. Every time.”

Penelope could imagine that conversation - her father’s avoidance going for a whirl with his distraction and exhaustion. He was not a fan of the jungle, in any form. Not since her mother had died in it. Why he had kept a ground floor flat was beyond her until she read the letter. She wondered how much of all that Elias might know. The best way to find out was to take him up on that offer. Besides, he was easy to like. Given the wrong tone, her words could have been harsh, but Penelope’s warmth shined through. “Well, since it’s a job for two, I reckon I can’t say no.”

As they worked, the heat of the sun thickened the air around them. That didn’t weigh either of their spirits down though. Penelope learned Elias was a pediatrician. He’d taken the day off without hesitation when Rowan asked for his help. There was a fastidious nature to him that conflicted with the organized chaos that was her father, but he was too steady to be bothered and she liked that about him. There were also things he didn’t have to say that she understood from the way he spoke. That her father had not done well the past few years, but convinced most people otherwise. That he had trouble sleeping, based on the mention of late night flicks and drinks. And, though she was speculating, Elias had feelings for her father. 

It wasn’t until later that evening that anything would be addressed since her father still slept. They worked into early evening, just before dusk as the birds began to settle in for the night. As Penelope was rounding up the tools, she heard her name and turned to see her father standing in the doorway. Aside from the shiner, he looked put-together. His hair was damp and combed back, and his beard trimmed neatly down so it looked like a purposeful five o’clock shadow. He looked as he had two years ago, with only a little grey threatening now. 

“Daddy, I … got your letter.” She said as tears touched her eyes. She was, by comparison, a wreck from the day’s labor. But that didn’t matter to Rowan since he had her in his arms in two steps. All that came after - his marveling at the drastic change to the greenspace after all their work, the revisiting her room to find it untouched, the cold shower that wasn’t onboard a spacecraft but rather in her own home, the dinner that Elias insisted on cooking to spare them Rowan’s attempt… nothing touched her as much as being wrapped in her father’s arms and her him saying: “Welcome home, Pen-nut.”