The Atlantis Expedition

Epilogue: In Which Reunions Are Made

Daniel and Nora Callaghan made their way across the street and to The Coffee Chain. Not their usual hangout, but they weren't about to turn down the invitation when Cary finally contacted them nearly a full week after he returned to Bricksburg. From the look on his wife's face, Daniel knew their son was about to get the lecture of a lifetime, for leaving them hanging for so long. He'd been rather vague about it before he'd left, stating only he was "leaving town for a few weeks", with no explanation as to why.

Nora faltered for a moment when she slammed the coffee shop's door open and spotted Cary sitting toward the back with The Special and his friends, and Business, who, according to the news, was back as President. She'd had a few things to say about that too. She hadn't been expecting an audience, but she was still more than willing to put her son in his place in front of his friends.

The barista glanced over when the door slammed shut to see Daniel trying to fix the 'open/closed' sign. "You can leave that on 'closed'," Larry called over. Daniel shot him a surprised look. Glancing around the shop, he realized there were no other customers. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but Larry silenced him with a deadpan stare before returning to his dishes.

"Oh. Okay."

Nora approached their booth, where they'd pulled up another table and two chairs, and was stopped once again when Cary quietly slid over a scone and a cup of coffee. "Orange cranberry, and black with one sugar," he said softly. "Just how you like it."

"If you think this is going to stop me from-"

"I don't, Mum." Obviously he knew how much trouble he was in; he still wouldn't meet her gaze. "But I do think you should sit down. You too, Dad." Lucy set another cup on the table for him.

"What's going on?" Daniel finally asked as he took a seat, Nora sitting across from him and picking at her scone. "Why is the shop closed?"

"We brought a couple people back that are very eager to see you!" Emmet was barely able to contain his enthusiasm.

"And we thought you might like a more private setting, rather having a bunch of strangers gawking at you," Lucy finished.

The elder Callaghans looked at the group in confusion. They knew Emmet and Lucy already, and Business, of course, and there could be no mistaking Captain Metalbeard and Princess Unikitty. They weren't sure about the young man at Cary's side, but his face looked familiar- oh, that was Benny! It was the first time they'd seen him out of his spacesuit. So who...

An arm wrapped itself around Nora's shoulders, pulling her in close to be joined by its twin, and a kiss was pressed to her temple. "Hi, Mummy." Daniel gasped, even as her eyes went wide in recognition of that voice. "Hi, Dad."

"Alastar!" She hugged him tightly before moving to cup his face in her hands, gazing at his beautiful blue eyes and bright smile that hadn't changed one bit. "My sweet little boy," she choked. "We thought you were dead??" He slid out of the booth as Daniel came around the table, giving his father a tight hug as well.

"I was," he confirmed. "But everyone here worked hard over the past few weeks to bring me back." At his emphasis on 'everyone', her eyes went to Business, who dropped his gaze to the table to avoid her piercing stare. "Yes, Mummy, even him. Actually, especially him. They wouldn't have been able to get anywhere without his help. And not even just his translations, but his experience dealing with competitive parties... And his willingness to get shot for his friends."

"You got shot?"

"It was scary!" Unikitty piped up. "There was a big fight on the beach and the sky pirates were mad at us 'cause we kept beating them and Busy started shooting them cause we were tired of them being such jerks-"

"I think you should tell us everything from the beginning," Daniel interrupted.

So they did. Metalbeard started with the gathering in Pirate's Cove and his first encounter with the sky pirate Airheart. Lucy continued with the meeting in Octan Tower, and the whole crew's first run-in with the sky pirates, and Bad Cop's raid to retrieve the stolen notes. They continued telling the story, each taking a turn to tell a part. Benny finished with the tale of the spaceship and the pranks he left for the sky pirates (which earned a chuckle from Daniel).

Nora frowned thoughtfully as the story was concluded. "I feel like you left out some details," she said, giving them a sharp stare. "Some things just don't add up."

Lucy glanced at Good Cop in askance. He nodded slightly. "So this is the other part of our surprise for you," she started. "After the desert temple, once things calmed back down again, Cary and Benny came to me to ask for my help with something. Cary's dizzy spells were coming in greater frequency the longer time went on, and he was really starting to get concerned about it. Well, while he was on watch the night before, somebody finally spoke back to him, and it wasn't Alastar, so he had me help him find out what was going on."

From the way Nora stiffened in Alastar's hold, Lucy figured she could guess where this was going. "And we did come across someone. Cary knew who he was almost immediately."

"Keelan..." Nora gasped, tears coming to her eyes. "But... how is that possible??"

"Divine intervention," Benny answered, grinning. "Somebody Up There likes your boys. That's why Cary started getting better, in the hospital."

"And we never realized, never even thought..."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourselves. There's no way you could have guessed." He reached over, squeezing Alastar's shoulder. "Okay kiddo, you can say hi now."

They watched in stunned silence as the scribbled face they once thought was Alastar came to the front, and he began to fidget nervously- definitely not a mannerism they'd known either of their boys to display. "Hi," Keelan said softly. Wordlessly, Nora drew him in close, holding him tightly. The youngest triplet began to sniffle into her shoulder, clinging just as tightly as Daniel wrapped an arm around his shoulders, holding his family close.

"Welcome home."