Unexpected

Getting Back to 'Normal'

Although I wasn't woken up by the harsh knocking at my door, I was awake by my usual early hour since I had set an alarm clock for myself at that time and had woken up by myself, probably in subconscious anticipation for it, just a minute before it went off. Rolling out of bed I shook out my baggy pant legs which were bunched up my thighs and were as twisted as the tornado in my dream. Apparently I had tossed and turned quite a bit in my sleep. Shedding my pajamas I replaced them with my light wash jeans, black, lacy blouse, and black ballet flats. Crossing the hall I brushed my teeth, put on mascara, and tied my hair in a clean bun. My bruises and cuts had faded considerably and my hands hardly hurt this morning and looked almost back to normal. My right hand was covered in what looked like pale scars that might never go away and my left hand's coloring was almost normal.

Giving the mirror one last look before leaving my bathroom I noted that I looked very nice, not fancy, but nice. In fact I'd go so far as to say that I looked pretty. Turning I ambled out of the bathroom and down the hall. I'd had two days off, one simply for healing and the other was a vacation, it was time to get back to work.

Ed and Ben looked like they had just gotten there a few minutes before me and they were just about to put egg bakes that they had probably made the day before into the oven when I walked in. "Hey guys. Let's, uh, not over do the egg bakes. We don't want people getting tired of them, right?"

They stopped what they were doing and stood waiting for instructions. Ben asked, "What should we make then?"

"Uhhh." I held this note as I stepped into the fridge and looked through the shelves. Upon finding a cardboard box of packs of bacon an idea came to me. "Pancakes. Pancakes and bacon. How does that sound?"

They just nodded and Ed came into the fridge and took up the box of bacon I had just opened. I shivered as he got close to take the box, not because of the cold, but because of the particularly horrible memories the whole scene gave me, him and I in the fridge. Ripping open the first pack of bacon, Ed started frying the meat strips in pans on the stove top as I whipped up pancake batter and started cooking them up on the griddle top. Ben went about making up pitchers of juice, putting syrup on each of the tables and setting up the plates, silverware, and whatnot for the line. With all three of us working at a good speed, there were huge piles of pancakes and bacon in their heating compartments on the line, ready for the workers as they came in as usual.

I sat on my stool, the boys taking over keeping the heaters full of pancakes and bacon, and decided to catch up my journal. So much had happened in the last few days, and although quite a bit of it was hard for me to write, it also felt good to just get it out onto paper. As the blue eyed people passed me I nodded to the few that gave me a 'good morning' and focused mainly on my writing, just enjoying being able to hold a pen and write without my whole hand stinging.

"Penny!"

I looked up startled by the closeness and enthusiasm of the sudden voice to see that it was Selvig standing there with his breakfast tray piled with pancakes. His face was all stubbly and his hair and clothing were unkempt again. I made a note in my head to have him take another shower and nap later when I saw him at lunch as I gave him a smile, "Good morning, Doctor!"

"A very good morning it is to see you! I missed you yesterday! Didn't see you at breakfast and you didn't visit me at lunch!"

"Yes. I slept in then went on a day trip." I said, trying to be a bit vague about it. "But I'll certainly be there at lunch today."

"Promise?" he asked jokingly, laughing, and then he reached out towards me and took my hand, grinning at me, "I've got so much to tell you! I'm so close!"

My stomach dropped a bit at this. While it was good for him that he was nearing his target, it also meant that the world was that much closer to an intergalactic war that it didn't even know it was on the brink of. I kept my smile on, though I knew it looked strained and half-hearted now, not that Selvig could tell, being in his excited, mind controlled state, "That's great."