My breathing has increased greatly as I stare wide eyed at the glass above me; now covered in what I assume to be the exploded fungus. Slowly standing back up, I struggle to move my eyes from the dark brown substance as people move around me. "Result! Yes." Connor celebrates, high-fiving Danny while Sarah lets out a small relieved laugh. A small smile comes to my face as I realise that the thing is dead. It's gone. We've found a way to kill it.
Well that was easier than I thought it would be. Now all we have to do is hope Jenny, Abby and Becker have found the other people exposed to the fungus.
-
-
-
-
"If baking worked, burning's going to be even better. We're going to incinerate it." Connor informs Lester as we rush around, packing the truck with flamethrowers. "Makes sense." Lester nods to Conner as I struggle to pick a flame thrower up. "Whoa, what do you think you're doing?" Lester asks realising Danny is also holding a flamethrower. "What does it look like?"
"Oh, that's a great idea. Let's send a criminal onto the streets with a flame thrower!" I roll my eyes at the irony of him, the ex inspector, being called a criminal. "I'm not a criminal."
"Well, you broke in here." Lester points out as I busy myself putting another flamethrower into the boot of the truck. "Yeah, well, I didn't steal anything, did I?"
"You're splitting hairs. The point is, a) you should be in custody, b) you're not part of the team."
Having had enough, I jump into the conversation. "He's done a pretty good job for us."
"Twice." Connor adds as he nods, agreeing with me. "Three times, actually." Danny corrects walking around a rather bewildered looking Lester. "We need all the help we can get, Lester. I think, we should trust him." Sarah also throws in her two bits before getting into the back of the truck. "Fantastic! You've been here five minutes and I've already got a mutiny on my hands- Do you know how to use that thing?" He cuts himself off when Danny walks to the truck with another flamethrower. "No, but I mean how hard can it be?"
"Right, he goes, you two geniuses stay here." James says pointing at me and a rather disappointed Connor. I nod in acceptance, "okay."
"You're kidding? I so wanted to fire this." I scoff while rubbing his back in mock condolences. "Find a way to stop this before it infects anyone else. I don't want any more Fungus the Bogeymen!" Lester is about to leave when he must remember something and turns back to where Danny is already in the car with the engine on and the window down. "The management accepts no responsibility for personal loss or injury!" He shouts over the engine before leaving and Danny starts to drive. "Good luck!" I shout as they go past and he sends me a smirk making me shake my head at him.
When we get back to outside the lab I can't help but chuckle at Connors expression of fear. "Just look at those plants. Abby is so going to kill me."
"Yep." I pop the 'p' which makes him roll his eyes slightly before they focus on something else. Following his eye line my own widen as I realise what he is looking at. "Lupin!" I sigh in relief as I see the small direwolf pup inside the opened vent. "That's where you are." Connor mutters as I turn to him with a raised eyebrow silently telling him to start moving. "Great, now I have to go back in. This day just keeps getting better!" He opens the door and walks in without putting his hazmat helmet on.
I watch anxiously to get the pup back. Connor stands up on a ledge and seems to start talking to the direwolf as it tries to get away from him by backing back into the vent. The chuckle I didn't even realise was coming from my lips is cut short when I see Connor knock a whole two beakers of the saline enhancer off the ledge and onto, what I thought was, the destroyed fungus. My pervious thoughts were proven wrong when the fungus starts to spread rapidly again. Panicking I look up from it to Connor who is already looking at me with a gobsmacked expression. Pressing the button I barely contain my alarm, "Connor, you need to get out of there. Now!"
He shakes his head in disbelief. "What we thought was ash was just millions of spores. It's reproducing itself. If it gets into the ARC, we're finished." I gasp slightly but don't let my shock get to me, focusing on the danger at hand. "So fire won't kill it?"
"Listen. No, tell Danny if he tries to burn it, it's going to spread through half of London." My eyes widen as I pull my phone out of my shorts back pocket. Going to Jenny's number I try getting through only to be almost instantly cut off. Next I try Abby and get the same. Sighing I go down to Becker's number and bite down my pride while his number dials.
After a few rings he answers. "Mia?" He seems preoccupied but still rather confused as to why I was calling. "Listen Becker, don't use the flame throwers. The-"
"I can't hear you." His voice comes through slightly scrambled but still clear enough to understand. "What?"
"You're breaking up, I can't hear what you're saying. Are you saying to go ahead?"
"No! No, listen-" The line goes dead.
"Oh my God!" I exclaim in frustration, keeping my phone in my hands as I try over and over to get through to any of them. It's Jenny this time that picks up. "Mia?"
"Don't use the flamethrowers!" I basically scream down the phone. I assume she hears me as I can hear muffled shouts and orders being thrown about. Lester must of been informed of the present situation since when I turn around he is walking over. "What is it now." He stops himself from talking further as he sees Connor standing up and away from the rapidly growing fungus in the lab. Looking to Connor I notice him grab a metal pole and open a refrigerated cooling box which instantly makes the fungus die back. My eyes widen at his realisation. "We can kill it." He seems very excited as he points for me to press the button allowing us to communicate. I do so. "Mia, we can freeze it! Turn the temperature gauge down to as low as it will go."
"What about you? You'll freeze to death." My voice fills with concern as he starts opening more fridge boxes up. "Just do it. I'll be fine." I jog the short distance from the window to the door where the thermostat is and push up the cover panel before turning the temperature down. Going back to the window I watch on, useless as my hands twitch, wanting to do something to help him.
I see as the temperature in the room lessens so does Connor's will to stay standing as the freezing temperature cripples him to a sitting position. I watch on as he slowly starts to freeze and curl in on himself. "We need to get him out of there!" I try to make a move for the thermostat but Lester's voice stops me. "The fungus needs to be dead." So now I'm stuck in a position where I don't know what to do. Save one of my best friends or potentially risk the lives of the people in the ARC. "Come on Connor, give us a sign." James mumbles as he also looks on in concern.
"It's dying." I whisper as the fungus starts to almost completely disappear. Seconds later Connor manages to raise his hand to shakily give us a thumbs up. "Right, get him out of there." James commands some of the security who instantly enter the room and grab a frozen Connor to pull him out. "Where's those blankets?! Come on!" I snap at a woman walking towards us which gets her to pick up her pace and run. By the time she gets here I'm on my knees and practically laying on him from how far I'm leaning over his body. She quickly tries to cover him in the reflective blankets as I help but give up after realising I'm shaking too much. "Connor?" Lester asks from behind me.
"I'm fine." He rasps as his shivering becomes erratic. He gasps as I put my hands to his freezing cold cheeks. I faintly hear Lester on the phone but don't pay any mind to what he is saying. Looking at Connor he meets my eyes and tries to give me a sheepish grin which I roll my own eyes at. "You. Stupid. Idiot! You almost got yourself killed!" I shout at him trying to act mad when in fact I'm just relieved which shows when I can't stop the smile from spreading across my face. He opens his mouth to reply but I don't let him as I throw my arms around him in a hug unable to listen to my better judgement that I shouldn't be doing so since he shouldn't get too warm too quickly. "I-I lo-love you t-too." He manages to whisper out past his shivers as his hand trembles against my back in an attempt to hold me. Pulling back. "Don't you dare ever do that again." I speak, looking in his eyes as his skin starts to gain some colour. He lets out a quiet scoff. "W-Wasn't planning on it." His joking comment makes me let out a sob of a laugh as I realise tears were brimming in my eyes from the relief.
"I don't believe that!" Lester exclaims from behind me. Looking over my shoulder in question my eyes meet his. "They're on their way, with the giant mushroom." My eyes widen at his sarcastic way of informing us.
-
-
-
-
I rush around with other members of the ARC's security with air vent tubing, making it lead into the main hub as Connor works on making all of the ARC's cold air travel through the tubes and into the closed off hub for when the creature arrives. Once everything is set, Connor rushes over to the tubes, completely revived from earlier, to check if the air is cold enough.
He turns to where a woman is who was helping him, grinning. "Yes! It's working. In a few minutes time, this place is going to be colder than the North Pole." I smile proudly at him and his expertise. "Come on then. We better get moving." I tell him already feeling the cold against my bare legs and arms. The one time I decide to wear shorts is the time the ARC turns into an ice block. Connor quickly nods while getting out his phone and dialling someone's number. He walks away from me as they answer leaving me to stand on my own. I wring my wrists as I pace waiting for something to happen. My head snaps to where Connor is in the corridor as someone enters through the doors.
Getting to them I notice that it is Jenny, Abby, Sarah, Danny and Becker who entered. I send a quick nod their way as Connor speaks. "Guys, listen up, the creature's going to be hiding somewhere dark. We need to force it down this corridor, through those doors."
"How do we do that?" Abby asks.
He answers straight away pointing to some fire extinguishers. "Freezing carbon dioxide. Whatever you do, don't let it touch you." He informs us. Danny grabs two of the five bottles and gives one to Sarah as he passes us. "I wasn't gonna shake hands with it."
"Let's find this thing." Becker commands backing away with his own extinguisher along with Danny, Page and Jenny. "Right, there's two extinguishers in the Ops Area." I tell Abby as she nods at me. We enter the hub and I visably shiver at the icy temperature of the room. "The temperature is dropping, fast." As my words come out so does the white vapour of my hot breath against the frigid air. "Yeah. All right, let's find these fire extinguishers and get out of here." I nod in agreement as we spot the two of them and start making our exit. My phone goes off in my pocket and I put the extinguisher down to answer it. Looking at Abby, "go on ahead." She nods before leaving the room. Checking the caller ID I frown in confusion. "Danny, hi."
"Mia, good news. It's heading directly back to the operations room." My eyes widen. My words come out in a whisper as I feel a chill run up my back. "But I'm still in here." His voice comes back a lot more serious and fearful. "Mia, get out of there. Get out of there now!" I end the call as I hear movement behind me. When I turn fully it feels like all of my breath has been knocked out of me as I come face to face with the very creature we were trying to find. Slowly, I start to crouch down, all while keeping my eyes on it, trying to grab the fire extinguisher. I hear Abby shout my name which seems to trigger my movements as I take off in a sprint to the doors. The creature is faster though and blocks my exit. Stopping in my tracks I look over to where Abby is behind the window but only see her making a move to come through the doors. My hand comes out like it will stop her from physically moving. "Abby, stay there! It's too dangerous!"
My fingers fumble with the locking pin of the extinguisher because of how stiff they are from the cold. The creature starts to move closer to me. Finally getting the pin out, I panic and start spraying the creature with the frozen carbon dioxide hoping it will keep it at bay.
My joints start locking up and little movements become ten times harder as the cold continues to freeze me completely. From the corner of my eye I notice more people joining Abby but don't take my attention off of the moving mushroom in front of me. As I notice the fire extinguisher starts to run out, in a last ditch attempt, I try walking forward to push it back which would then allow me to escape, but it barely moves. And the fire extinguisher runs out. Dropping it beside me as I stumble back. My vision starts to become blurred as black spots cloud it. The creature starts moving towards me but I can't find it in me to move away. Feeling my knees buckle under my dead weight I slide down the side of the desk as the thing approaches me.
So this is it.
This is actually how I am going to die.
Rolling my head to the side everything seems to go in slow motion as I make eye contact with a raging Becker. He is banging against the glass and screaming at me to get up but his screams only meet my ears as far off whispers. I smile slightly at him as my vision starts to go almost completely black. The last thing I can see is him pushing through his own team to get to the double door entrance.
Abby's POV
As soon as I see that thing facing Mia I instantly make moves to go and help her. She must notice and puts her hand out to stop me while flickering her eyes back and forth between me and the fungal creature in front of her. She tells me to not come in and I have to fight against almost every fibre of my being to follow her order.
Moments later as she is spraying the creature with the frozen carbon dioxide I am joined by the rest of the team as well as Lester and some of Becker's men but I don't pay much attention to them as I watch her through the glass fighting for her life. "What's going on?" Connor asks me as he comes to my side before noticing that Mia is trapped in the room with the creature, freezing to death. "Mia." Jenny mumbles in concern obviously just seeing her. I hear someone swearing under their breath and when I look over my shoulder I notice Becker staring on, powerless. Obviously, it being something that he's not used to.
"The creature's searching for heat." Connor informs slightly breathless in worry. I turn my head back to him. "But it's freezing in there."
"It's Mia's body heat. It's drawing it towards her." Turning I look at Danny as he answers me but find he is locked onto what Mia is doing. "Come on, Mia!" Jenny shouts as Mia's fire extinguisher starts to run out. "Mia! No, no, no, no!" I hear Becker shout as she drops her extinguisher and starts to stumble backwards before hitting a desk. He hits against the glass throwing commands at her as she slowly starts to give up. "No!" Connor shouts as he also notices her giving in. Her knees seem to give out and she slides down the desk. "Mia!" I slam against the glass window as she hits the floor while looking up at the thing in front of her. "Mia! Get up!" Becker is still shouting and I swear for a second I hear his voice break but ignore it none the less.
Unaware of us, she stares at the fungus for a few seconds as it comes closer to her before lolling her head to the side and looking off over my shoulder to where I assume Becker is. I'm pretty sure my heart audibly breaks as she conjures a small, barely there, smile to her face. I let out a sob.
Not both of them. Not Cutter and Mia. Connor seems to share my same thoughts as I see his own look of fear and despair. "It's going to kill her." Connor panics turning slightly to face us. Lester seems to have enough of it. "Turn off the cold air." I always knew Lester cared about us deep down but now, in this moment, it is rather clear that he does. "The creature's not dead yet." Sarah speaks up and I turn slightly to look at her in shock. "Mia's going to die if we don't."
"That's it." I see Becker move towards the doors but is quickly stopped by some of his men trying to hold him back. "Let go of me! As your captain I order you to let me past." His eyes are wild and his voice is anything but the usual cold one I am used to. I kinda figured him and Mia had a thing but I never knew it was 'wanting to risk your life' serious. His men seem reluctant to let him go but he easily slips past when they stop to think.
Without a second thought he enters the operations room and starts trying to spray his own extinguisher. "Hey! Over here!" He shouts getting closer to the fungus trying to provoke it. It takes a swing at him but misses and he tries to spray it before realising the canister is empty. Instead of throwing it away he uses it as a weapon to hit against the creature. Even though I can't hear properly I know he is shouting at the creature. He throws the extinguisher to the side and backs away as the thing starts to come up to him. Before it can get him though, it starts to freeze. "It's working." Connor says with a hint of hope in his voice. Becker keeps on looking between Mia and the creature, wanting to go to her but being unable to with the creature still alive. "The creature's freezing. It-it's dying." Connor carries on as I also allow myself a bit of hope. Soon after he says it, the creature fully freezes and crumbles onto the floor. Dead.
"Go, go, go, go! Let's get her out of there!" We all run into the room and rush over to her. Becker goes to grab her but Connor stops him. "No, don't touch her!" My eyes widen as I notice the fungus spreading over her face. With her frozen expression of peacefulness and open eyes I can't help but believe we may have lost her. "What?" Becker seems outraged ready to grab her with his hands hovering over her body. "The only chance she's got is if the cold kills the fungus. We wait, ok?"
"Yeah." I nod snuggling into my coat as we all watch on as the fungus starts to grow. Thinking irrationally Becker goes to make a grab for her but is pushed back by Connor. "No! Becker, listen to me!"
"It's killing her!" His eyes show everything he is feeling which shocks me since he is always so good with hiding his emotions. His care for the woman in front of us is evident as he stares at her lost and fearful. "I know. But if we take her out now, she'll end up like that thing over there. Trust me, please." He seems to think about it before nodding reluctantly. "Come on." I hear Danny mutter over and over as the fungus starts to stop it's growth. Slowly it starts to retract and die.
"Ok, ok, she's clear." Once it is gone from her face we all leep into action. "I've got her." Becker pracitcally growls at Danny when he tries to help him carry her. "Okay."
"Bring her through here." Connor commands as he and Lester clear a table. Placing her down I go to grab a resuscitator and place it against her mouth as the others go about attaching her to monitoring machines and a saline drip. "Take her head, take her head. If she's been frozen quickly, there's a chance we can bring her back." Sarah speaks as she helps put blankets over her and rubs one of her arms to warm it up. "Keep warming her." I command while pumping the resuscitator for the first time. "Come on, Mia." Becker holds both sides of her face steady while whispering things to her and himself while leaning over her with most of his upper body.
"Anything?" Connor asks distraught and I gulp as I look up at him. "No pulse." His eyes widen as he looks from me to down at her and takes a step back. "Come on, Mia. Come on." Danny speaks while holding the drip, she is attached to, up. "Not again." My eyes snap to Connor again as he seems to be in a shocked state of panic. "If she stays like this for a few minutes, we've lost her." I tell them while pumping the resuscitator. She's so pale. Her usual tan nearly blue. "Not again. Please, not again." Connor carries on mumbling to himself while pacing slightly nearly choking on his words. "Come on, Mia. You need to wake up now." Jenny pleads as tears slip freely from her eyes, Jenny had always been close to Mia; she helped her a lot when she first arrived. "Anything?" Connor asks me as I'm putting my fingers to her icy cold neck. My grim expression quickly turns into a relieved smile as I feel the familiar yet weak thump of a pulse. "I've got a pulse."
Mia's POV
"Here she comes." Is the first thing I hear as my vision and hearing comes in and out of focus. The first thing I do see though, surprises me.
Becker's relieved face staring down at me as he talks to someone to the side of me. My ears don't seem to allow me to hear him and my vision once again wobbles. Uncontrollable shivers shake me as the pain of the cold sets in through the numbness. "Nick?" I look around the room for my uncle wondering where he is. Surely he would be stressing out and shouting at someone. Jenny looks down at me with a sad smile. "He's gone. Remember?" My eyes widen and I nod as the memories quickly come back to me.
Feeling the warmth of Becker's calloused hand in mine I let myself smile slightly at him as the bad memories ebb away when I look into his eyes. With his warmth contrasting my numb coldness I can't help but shiver once again. He smiles back showing me his teeth as he releases a few relieved tears, sighing. My breath hitches as I'm pretty much sure everyone else's does as well, at seeing the captain of the ARC security cry. Lifting my free, shakey, hand with great effort I place it against his warm cheek and wipe the couple tears, that escaped, away. "I always thought soldiers never cried." He laughs in relief at my silly assumption as a couple more tears fall from his eyes. People start to slip away from the room we are in. "Me neither." He whispers truthfully, also in confusion to how he cried in front of us all, but not caring none the less as he pushes some hair behind my ear; clearing my face. This makes me smile back at him while he places his other hand over mine against his cheek. The hand that cleared my face moves to my free hand again and slips his fingers through mine.
Looking in his eyes I notice something that I have never seen in him before. Pure, unadulterated fear. Even with it is ebbing away slowly, I can see it. Hidden behind dark walls of brown, but still there. Could the source of his fear really be down to my near death? I don't have to ask since he answers my unsaid question without prompt. "I thought you were going to die. I stood there just watching as you fought for your life. I was mere inches away from you as you froze. Unable to help you. I was absolutly terrified and...for once in my life, I am not too proud to admit that."
At his weighted words, my heart starts to beat faster; pumping blood quicker, making warmth spread through me as I stare at the man in front of me in wonder. "You never cease to surprise me, Captain Becker." My words come out as breathy whispers due to my lungs crying out in pain. He scoffs at me calling him 'Captain' once again but doesn't say anything about it as I start trying to get up. "Whoa, take it easy. You'll be feeling very dizzy if you move too fast." He helps me up gently before allowing me to lean against his chest and stomach as he stands in front of where I am sitting on the table. I groan as my forehead presses to where his heart is with my eyes closed as nausea hits me while he holds my upper arms to keep me from swaying. One of his hands move to slowly rub my back allowing more warmth to seep through the blankets wrapped around me.
I shake my head in an attempt to stop the world from spinning every time I open my eyes. Taking a deep breath as more shivers rack my body, I slowly lean back with my eyes still closed; scared that if I open them I'll be sick from the nauseating spinning. He still holds me at arms length but even with the strong urge to look at him again, my fear of the nausea keeps them tightly shut. I feel Becker place his hands on each of my cheeks most likely feeling the warmth of my blush on them as he does. We sit in silence while my eyes are closed.
"Mia?" As if by instinct, my eyes slowly open to meet his dark ones. His usual composure seems to be partly back but anyone could still easily see he is slightly shaken. Taking a deep breath as my shivers start to become less harsh I force a smile past my seemingly frozen features. "Who knew? The seemingly emotionless captain getting worked up over some woman." His thumbs stroke my cheek bones as he chuckles at me. His expression becomes more serious. "You're not just some woman though. Not to me. Not anymore." My smile widens slightly as he makes me blush further. He stares at me with slightly widened eyes in wonder. "What did you do to me?"
Smiling back I whisper out, "I just said 'hello'." He shakes his head while rolling his eyes. Laughing, I push him back with as much force as I can muster, promptly ending the moment we were having. He stumbles back slightly while I chuckle at his surprised face. After a moment I hold my arms out expectantly and when he doesn't seem to get it I pout and make grabby hands at him. He pouts back at me mockingly. "Does the baby need help walking?" His patronising voice makes me narrow my eyes as he takes a step towards me to help me.
When he gets close enough I stop him by placing my hands against his chest. "You know what? Never mind. I can do it myself." Huffing I use my semi-working fingers to curl around the edges of the table and to push myself up. Getting up seemed to be the easy part since when I try and put my full weight on myself and walk I nearly collapse under it. "Hey, hey! Calm down there. You'll give yourself a sprained ankle, or a concussion." Shaking my head as he steadies me. Pushing him off of me again, I take a moment to prepare myself before taking a step. The weakness in my knees makes me wobble slightly but while gritting my teeth I manage to take a few steps on my own, refusing Becker's help when he offers.
"Come on. I still need to find Lupin." I clap his upper arm as I go past. But don't get much further since he grabs my elbow, abruptly stopping me in my tracks. Looking over my shoulder I frown at the confusion on his face. "Lupin?" Oh, that's right. He doesn't know who Lupin is. He only knows I'm missing a wolf. "My pup? I rescued him awhile back." He still seems rather confused, but I do see the slight realisation in his eyes. He nods and follows as I start walking to the door again.
People start entering the hub to defrost it and get it back to a normal temperature as we leave. "Mia, can I speak with you?" Jenny must have been waiting outside the room for us since as soon as the doors are closed behind me she is directly in front of me and Becker. Unsure, I look over to Becker not knowing what to do because I'm really starting to get worried about Lupin. What if he was still in the vents when that thing was? What about the cold air? Becker snaps me out of my frantic worries. "You go, I'll find him. I'm sure Abby and Connor will help too." Nodding along I send him a small smile before fully turning to Jenny and following her to an off to the side office further into the building.
As soon as we're in she goes over to a desk with a familiar cardboard box on it. Oh... "I think this belongs to you. It was your uncles so..." I stop her from handing it to me by putting my arms out in front of me to halt her. She looks at me confused as I take a step back away from the box filled with stuff belonging to Nick from his office. "I told them to give it to you. I've got his whole house and the rest of his things to go through. This stuff, his work...he would have wanted you to have it." I gesture to the box she is holding as she places it back down on the desk seeming reluctant and slightly afraid. "Did you see...he had...he had this picture in this box." She pulls out a small photograph before turning back to show it to me nervously.
Frowning I take it from her to examine properly. "I don't remember you like this. When was this taken?" She quickly shakes her head seeming distressed. "That's it, though! This was never taken. That's not me. It's Claudia Brown." My eyes widen as I think back to when Nick started talking about this woman called Claudia Brown that we supposedly all knew but was erased from the world and that only he remembered her. And then I think back to the explosion a few weeks ago. "Nick mentioned her when he was...you know. And I was out of it at the time but now I remember." She looks so confused which must match my expression quite well. "So you're saying this Claudia Brown was you and you were her? Or-"
"I don't know! This is too weird! Nick was in love with a woman who may or may not have existed before I did and it freaks me out." She seems so genuinely upset and shocked by this that I can't help but embrace her as tightly as my still weak muscles will allow me. "I'm sorry." I instantly feel stupid because that was the first thing that came to my mind and I just blurted it out even though I don't know why I'm even apologising. "You have nothing to be sorry about." She pulls back to smile at me through her watery eyes. She strokes my cheek and pushes some hair behind my ear.
"I can't stay here anymore, Mia." Closing my eyes as tears slip past, not wanting to hear what she is telling me but still I somehow knew this was coming. The tone in which she was speaking, and the way she asked to talk to me made it easy to know something was coming. "It's just too hard. Everywhere I look I'm reminded of him and after today, after you nearly dying...I don't want to stick around to watch the people I love die." Opening my eyes I meet hers seeing how her tears are running free as well. I want to disagree. I want to stop her from making this decision but I know she is right and that even if I tried, she would never change her mind. Nodding, I pull her back into a hug, closing my eyes for a split second before opening them again. "I know you want a fresh start but please, please don't be a stranger. You're my family." Leaning back I just about see her nod as she smiles slightly at me. "Of course." She whispers before grabbing the box of Nicks stuff and walking out of the room.
Leaning against the desk she had the box on, I try to compose myself enough to go back to everyone else. Jenny may be gone, but we're still here and we need to carry on. Like Nick would tell us to do.
-
"Glad you could drop by at such short notice." Lester greets Christine as she enters the newly defrosted hub. "Now, Christine, I wanted you to be the first to know." He says. "You're right, I am going to need a man just like Captain Wilder to replace Cutter." I cringe at the idea of Wilder even though I know, like everybody else but Christine and her men, that Lester has no intention of having Wilder as our team leader. "I'm glad you've come round to my way of thinking." She seems smug with herself as a small smirk passes on her lips as if she has won. Wanting to scoff, I bite my cheek and try to stop the glare I direct on to her by looking at the ground. "Oh, not Wilder himself, of course. No, he's playing much too vital a role on your own staff. But Danny Quinn here is just like him. Background in the police, firearms training, management skills. The perfect choice." He speaks back, equally matching her previous smug tone of voice. Her stoic face barely falters but in her eyes and through subtle movements it is not that hard to tell her feathers are ruffled.
Remembering something, Lester adds on, "I've already cleared it with the minister." Her jaw tightens as her eyes scan around the room. Meeting hers for a brief second as she sends me a slight glare which I assume I must be mirroring. "Congratulations. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other." Hearing the underlying threat deeply unsettles me. Especially from such an influential women who is probably more scaly in character than some of the creatures we come into contact with.
Wanting to get away as soon as possible, I don't hesitate to spin on my heel and walk out of the hub. Finally signing off for the day gives me a big sense of relief. Getting to go home and relax...with Connor. Groaning as I remember the man staying with me. I love him but I don't know if I can stand spending all of today with him and then when I get home. Seemingly lost in thought, I manage to make it all the way to where Connor put Lupin in his carry cage. Shaking myself out of it, I tuck some stray hair, behind my ear. "Come on then Lupin. Time to go home." I huff as I pick the travel cage up. Over the past few weeks he has gotten very heavy.
Walking to the main entrance I almost get out but someone shouting my name stops me. "Mia, wait! Are you going home now?" Becker holds the door open for me as I struggle past with Lupin. "Thank you and yes. I need to get this one home." I say while motioning with my head downwards towards Lupin. Putting his hand on the back of his neck he seems to think for a second. "Mia, I was thinking-" he cuts himself off as he hears Lupins little growls from inside the box. He seems to only just realise what it is, exactly, that I am holding. I struggle to keep ahold of the large crate like carry cage. "Here, let me help you." He tries to take him off of me but I just turn away stubbornly. "No, I'm okay."
Walking towards the boot of my car I place Lupin on the floor before opening the boot. As soon as it is open I see Becker carefully placing the crate into the car. Turning, I glare playfully at him before closing the boot and then leaning against it as he stands in front of me with his arms crossed. "I should get going..." I throw my thumb behind me as I trail off when I meet his eyes. His browns meet my own as they swirl with unsaid emotions.
As I turn slightly to go he puts his hand against the car to block my path. Looking back at him questioningly I'm shocked at our close proximity as he has seemed to have moved closer to me. My eyes go from his lips to his eyes and then back to his lips as he licks them. I feel how my heart beats faster, especially when I instinctively place my hand on his chest. "Becker-" He cuts off my words with his lips. Mine move with his as I lean back against the car again while I move my hands to his hair. My eyes flutter closed as I pull myself closer to him. The moment seems to go on for hours but in reality was only seconds before we are interrupted by the sound of Lupin banging against his crate.
Pulling back from him I chuckle while biting my lip as my eyes wander over my shoulder and through the back window to check on him through his cage. "Yeah...I wasn't lying. I really should be going; Lupin gets anxious if he's stuck in his cage too long." When I turn back to him he slowly places his hand against my upper arm, tracing circles with his thumb. "I'll see you soon." He tells me, making me smirk.
"Well, yeah. We work together." He rolls his eyes as I chuckle and walk to where the car door is and open it.
"Bye Becker."
"Mia."
A/N
I'M SO SORRY!
I know I haven't updated in sooo long. I've just been so busy with college and haven't had the time but to make up for it I have made this chapter extra long. I hope you enjoy and if you do could you please vote? It really makes my day.
Thanks so much.
Abbie