Kindred

The Start Of An Adventure

A yawn escaped Melody's lips as she pulled her car into the TAPS parking lot at exactly 5:45 a.m. the next morning. Her black rimmed glasses were perched on the end of her nose, doing little to hide the dark circles under her eyes. Despite the fact that it was way too early to be out of bed in the first place, Melody had quite a bit of trouble sleeping the night before. She was trying to convince herself that her insomnia was due to anxiety over the trip in potentially bad weather, but she knew better than that. No, her anxiety was really the result of a long car ride with a man she barely knew. Even with Tango's assurance that she had nothing to worry about, Melody was still a nervous wreck, and a tired one at that.

After stalling for a few moments in her car, Melody let out a sigh and turned off the ignition. "I'd better get this over with, then." She mumbled to herself as she pulled her suitcase out of the trunk, making sure to lock it and check the doors. Of course, she could have used the electric key fob, but the last thing Melody wanted was the entire town of Warrick coming after her for disturbing their peaceful sleep with a loud car honk. That wouldn't do at all. "I guess I could blame Steve." She snickered to herself as she made her way toward the small, brightly lit building.

As she stepped inside she was immediately met with warmth, a welcome contrast to the freezing cold temperatures outside, as well as the scent of freshly brewed coffee. Forgetting any anxiety she had moments before, Melody hurried to the kitchen area of the building in anticipation of the first of what would probably be many cups of caffeine. There, she found her travelling buddy leaning against the counter with a steaming cup of coffee clutched in his hand and grin far too bright for the earliness of the hour on his face. Melody raised a brow as she reached for one of the travel coffee mugs she kept in the cupboard. "Good morning." She said quietly, the forgotten anxiety returning almost as quickly as it left.

"Good Morning." Steve repeated, the grin remaining on his lips as he watched Melody pour a ridiculous amount of creamer into the steaming Holiday Blend coffee. "You want a bit of coffee with that creamer?" He chuckled.

"You wanna tone down that pep a bit?" She retorted without a thought. "It's far too early to be as hyper as you are, dude. Waaaay too early!" She raised the cup to her lips and sighed a bit before taking a long sip of her liquid lifeline.

"I take it you're not a morning person, then?" Steve chuckled, taking no offense to her words. . "And here I thought Tango was kidding."

"Bold of you to assume that he wasn't telling the truth...No one in their right mind is a morning person! And I'm sure as hell not one at 6:00 a.m. Nothing good happens at 6:00 a.m."

"I wouldn't quite say that. Coffee happens at 6:00, and from my astute observations, Holiday Blend seems to be your favorite, correct?"

Melody's eyes widened slightly as she looked at the man in curiosity. She felt her cheeks burn with a blush as she cleared her throat and tucked an emerald curl behind her ear. Had the man been stalking her? "Astute observations?" She questioned.

Now it was Steve's turn to blush. "Well, I was here the other day when you came in with all the bags of coffee..." He explained. " Tango mentioned brewing a pot before you got here would be a good idea. I had to have some idea of how to deal with 'Sleep Deprived Mels', as he called you. Don't worry, I packed a couple of bags in the van for the trip."

Melody hadn't remembered Steve being in the office when she'd arrived with literally an armload of Holiday Blend for the office, but then again, maybe she just hadn't seen him. As for Tango's advice to Steve, she didn't doubt that one bit. Dave knew better than anyone how grumpy she was until she had at least one if not two cups of coffee. He'd probably given Steve the tip for his own good.