#perceives Dennis as a threat LMAO

[boodlesofdoodles]

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5

Mac is sitting impatiently as he watches Charlie scurrying about the kitchen, much more all over the place than usual; which is definitely saying something. He runs a hand through his hair and lets out a loud huff at the lack of attention he’s currently getting.

“So….” He starts, pausing for a minute and glancing up, hopeful that Charlie will stop what he’s doing and look up at Mac.

Charlie doesn’t.

“What’cha making today, Cat?” Hes even more intent on getting Charlie to pay attention to him. Charlie’s always enjoyed that nickname, and Mac uses it sparingly because when it’s a surprise it always seems to make Charlie happier to hear it.

Success this time around.

“Oh! Yeah-“ Charlie perks up, pausing what he’s doing for the first time in awhile. Actually looking at Mac for far too short a moment. Mac hates the way his heart flutters at it. “I’m making something called a, uh.” Charlie’s eyes quickly dart down to a oddly colorful piece of paper he had out on the counter in front of him, squinting at the name as his finger follows the letters, “a s-str. A stra,” he’s already getting a bit frustrated with himself.

It was already hard enough to learn the measurements. Now he has to sound out some of the words every time he tries reading a recipe. That’s why he’s so grateful to have Mac with him almost every time. Although.. when he’s alone, Charlie’s figured out a way to get his phone to narrate the text and read it out loud for him. He purposely hasn’t told Mac that, though, out of fear maybe Mac will stop hanging out with him while he bakes if he can ‘read’ the stuff on his own.

“A strundlay.” He finally stumbles out after a long pause of deliberation. Based on the look Mac is giving him, he probably read it completely wrong. “An apple strundlay,” he says more confidently. He knew the apple part was right… the other word? Not so much.

“Charlie, what in the hell is an apple strundlay?” Mac’s brows furrow as his face twists in confusion. He shakes his head lightly and reaches over the counter to pick up the paper Charlie was reading from. It’s a thin page ripped out of a magazine, some words rubbed off and smudged; he assumes Charlie must’ve ran his fingers over certain parts trying to reread them so many times. He probably went into some kind of office waiting room or lobby and just rifled through their magazines lying around until he saw a picture he liked. Mac scoffs slightly at the thought before his eyes roll over the word Charlie was just trying to say.

“Strudel?” This time he’s grinning and stifling a small chuckle, “you’re making an apple strudel?” He’s only met with a small, slightly embarrassed nod. “Sounds pretty good, Cat,” Mac beams fondly at the subconscious smile spreading on Charlie’s face at the repeated nickname, “I can’t wait to try it.” He slides the paper back over the counter and watches Char nervously fidget a little.

“I just, uh.” Charlie steps back a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. He’s looking everywhere but at the expectant Mac, biting his lip lightly “I hope he likes it.”

Mac’s heart completely drops. Something about Charlie’s tone. The way he’s glancing around.

He? Who the hell is He? Why won’t Charlie look at me? Is he blushing? What is he talking about? There’s a He?

“Who the hell is He?” Mac blurts out before he can stop himself. He grunts and brings a hand to his temple, scrunching his eyes and praying he didn’t sound as angry as he felt when he said that.

“Dennis!” Charlie chuckles out.

Why won’t Charlie look at him anymore?

“Dennis? You’re making something for Dennis, Cat?” His voice isn’t nearly as playful as it was when he had said the name earlier. Why was Charlie so excited to make something for Dennis? “He doesn’t even know you bake. Just gonna show up with a homemade pastry and expect him not to be suspicious?” Mac doesn’t notice how much more he talks with his hands when he’s angry. Charlie always notices.

“Well, I’m obviously going to tell him.” Charlie’s face scrunches up and he shakes his head erratically, “I saw this and it looked so good I knew I had to make it for Dennis.” His eyes finally meet with Mac’s. They’re also no longer as playful.

‘Looked so good I knew I had to make it for Dennis,’ what’s that supposed to mean? He wants to make Dennis something even better than anything he’s ever made for me?

“You really think he’s not going to make fun of you for it?” Mac stands up from the stool he was lounging on. This is ridiculous. Dennis wouldn’t understand or appreciate Charlie’s baking. He wouldn’t understand Charlie like Mac does. He doesn’t understand him like Mac does. So then why the hell is Charlie so giddy about shoving some stupid pastry into his mouth. “This is a bad idea. You shouldn’t give Dennis anything.” His voice is loud, engulfing, he’s trying to intimidate Charlie into letting this stay a private thing only the two of them share. Please let this stay something only they share together. “He’s gonna hate it and you’re gonna go crying to me about it.” Mac bangs his fist on the counter as a last resort, “that’s such a stupid idea, Charlie.”

“Man, what the fuck is your problem? Why are you so angry at me right now?” Charlie is completely and utterly baffled. What did he do to piss Mac off so much? “Is it so awful I want to make something for him?” He can feel his face heating up, and his voice rising involuntarily as he gets angrier, “If he’s an asshole about it I’ll make sure you’re the first to know. That make you feel better, Mac?!” Charlie is shaking his head erratically again, as he starts scrambling around the kitchen. There’s loud banging as he works quickly to clean up after himself.

“Charlie what are you doing?” As mad as he is, and as hard as he wants to come off, his tone is desperate. He doesn’t get an answer as the sink turns on, watching Charlie angrily scrub off everything he was just using. “Charlie!” He yells over the running water.

“I’m going home, jackass.” He hurries over to the trash and just drops the whole bowl in, everything he had been working on since he got there. “I’m not making the god damn Strudel anymore.” Charlie’s scoffing as he turns off the faucet.

Before mac even has a chance to respond Charlie is already rushing past him and reaching for the front door handle. The apartment is dead silent after the door slams shut. Mac shakes his head and signs heavily. What the fuck just happened?

Absentmindedly he reaches over to the paper Charlie left behind. He just looked at the bolder lettering earlier and didn’t even notice all the ‘annotations’ and doodles Charlie left in the margins. There’s scribbled hearts scattered around, which makes Mac just feel sick. There’s a lot of stars just subconsciously doodled about. Charlie recreated some of the drawings Mac made of the measuring cups next to certain ingredients in the list.

Finally, his eyes land on one corner thats much busier than the rest. ‘4 Den and Mac’ is hastily written. Mac sinks back onto the stool, hunched over and sighing as he notices most of the hearts on the page surround the two names.

Den is written as neatly as Charlie could get it, while Mac is much sloppier. There’s a familiarity in the way Charlie writes the name, like he’s done it a million times. Den is still so foreign, but his hand knows Mac by heart.

Mac is left alone in the silent apartment, wondering how often Charlie writes his name.

[henrenologist]

so because i rewatched s3/4 recently, when Hen is struggling with having to give Nia back to her mother, she says "we were supposed to have her for 2 months it's been a year" so i think it's not that they weren't told that Nia would go back to her biological mother, but they got attached to her (obviously 🥺) and maybe because she stayed with them for so long they assumed her mother wouldn't want her back or couldn't have her back? tbh it's still a bit.. that whole thing with Hen Refusing to give the child back. and picking a fight with Karen about it. always annoys me. it's the Angst and Drama show tho, so it's like of course there's gonna be Angst and Drama lmao

for one thing, yeah the bond she'd formed with nia made her irrational and angry when the time came to give her back, especially after she and karen had built themselves up with the expectation that they'd become a permanent placement for nia (although im not entirely sure where they got that idea from, beside the length of time they'd had her; the foster agency in 911verse is a nightmare at communication, evidently).

i think the extent of her frustrations can also be explained by hen's issues with loyalty. she's loyal to a fault. sorry im gonna use this ask as an excuse for meta posting:

eva. she didnt get closure when eva was arrested. so even after building a life with karen, hen still felt indebted to her ("i feel like i owe it to her," she says, ostensibly because eva "didn't fight us when we wanted to adopt denny" [ignoring the canon discrepancy regarding the circumstances of denny's adoption] but there's a deeper commitment there to eva). she wants to see the best in eva, and after having committed herself to helping eva for so long, i think that explains why she was still loyal to eva--one of the factors that contributed to her cheating.

chim. "You get to forgive and move on--I get to hold a grudge until I die." so we're all aware of how loyal hen is to chim, but it's important to note when that loyalty got in the way of their relationship. toward the end of s6, hen's frustration with maddie and doubts about chim's proposal was, imo, a little forced on the writers (in being shoehorned conflict) but not baseless. her loyalty is to chim first and foremost, and that loyalty twisted into an unfounded frustration with maddie for perceived "wrongs"--especially as hen was watching chim squirm over the issue of proposing himself.

s7 drunk driver. hen was angry with the rest of the team when they didn't lay down their unconditional trust in her judgement of the drunk driver. logically, hen might recognize that as professionals, it's right for them to have (1) a healthy amount of skepticism and (2) base their judgement on what they have seen for themselves. they hadn't seen and smelled what hen had, but understood that emotions were running high, and thus approached hen's situation with sympathy and measured trust in her assessment. but hen is upset regardless. she says, feeling that they dont have her back, "if the roles were reversed, I'd find a way to have your backs, and I wouldn't have to lie to do it." she's projecting her sense of loyalty onto the team, frustrated that they're not as apparently unconditionally devoted.

so. nia. hen developed an unconditional love for nia in that time that, naturally, translated to undying loyalty. but as demonstrated, her degree of loyalty can translate into misguided skepticism--and harm, at worst.

and hen's listening to nia "damn near crying her eyes out" over it all. nia's cries are haunting her. she's misguided trying to fight the source of nia's pain (and her own pain). she's seeing this whole situation as a threat to nia's well-being and identifying points of harm where there aren't necessarily any.

she's gravely concerned over what nia's mother did to lose custody in the first place, mistrustful of the positive judgement that deidra's giving them, mistrustful of the agency's assurances that nia will be cared for, and wanting to see the proof for herself that evangeline can care for nia.

it's only after seeing evangeline for herself, with assurances from karen on her capacity to care for nia, that hen can let go of her frustrations with evangeline, deidra, and karen. (just like how after talking to maddie she let go of her hesitancy around chim proposing. just like how seeing the team show up for her with the cruise ship disaster let her stop questioning their loyalty)

i'm not personally annoyed or frustrated with hen in the nia situation. i can't imagine never knowing the fate of your once-daughter and i'm not surprised hen wants to see the proof for herself. i think her desire to fight for nia was an expression of grief more than anything. her loyalty, maternity, and grief are all activated as opposed to the logic we usually see hen depend on.

it's like the call where hen continued cpr on a mother for 12 minutes. her devotion inhibits her from letting go. which was a lucky thing for that mother, but it's not always such a blessing for the people in hen's life.