Time amongst the roses [Botany - Open]

[de_forest]

De hadn't rushed down to Botany as soon as he had received his present , but he had wanted to, rather a lot. He'd stayed away, for a couple of days, reading whatever he could find on the computers about taking care of roses, and generally refreshing his memory. He didn't want to go down there and accidentally kill all the flowers. Roses being such

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[canadianbill]

De had gone out. Willingly. On his own.

Part of Bill wondered whether, perhaps, he should stay firmly put and wait for him to come back before interrogating him; whether, maybe, tracking him this one time might do more harm than good. Maybe De had specifically wanted to venture outside without them.

Still, another part really wanted to see De with his roses, see what he thought of it, what he was doing.

In the end, he compromised, giving it an hour or so before slipping down to botany, only meaning to poke his head in and say hello to De and his plot.

[de_forest]

De, rather engrossed by this point in tidying up the established rose bushes (which had been in good order anyway, but everything could benefit from a bit of gentle tweaking), and having rather failed at working out how the environmental system programmed for this plot worked (he would really have to ask about that...maybe he could replicate the conditions at Greenleaf...would that be possible?), didn't notice Bill arrive. As Bill approached, De was intently working away, head bowed as he concentrated.

[canadianbill]

He looked engrossed. Bill didn't want to disturb him. Something about the sight, the way De moved, the look on his face - it was all so shockingly, gratifyingly familiar that he couldn't bring himself to interrupt before he had drunk his fill of it.

He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms, smiling at the picture before him. At length, he ventured, "You look busy."

[de_forest]

De started up at the unexpected interruption, but relaxed again when he saw who it was. "Not really," he answered, straightening up, a few dead rose heads in his hand. "These ones don't really need anything doing to them, other than a bit of love."