Arms Hotel, Outside Room 412, Before Dawn Sunday Morning
Elena couldn't sleep. It was late, and then it was later, and then it was early, and she still couldn't sleep. She kept catching it in bits, but it wouldn't stick around. Maybe it knew her too well and was running for it
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Comments 38
The notion had, in fact, crossed his mind. But he'd spent far too many nights chasing away his own demons to be able to drift to sleep so easily as that, and tonight was hardly any different.
He actually still looked as alert as always when he answered the door, though he had changed into something slightly less formal over the course of the night. One hardly needed to go to bed wearing a suit and a tie when one was on vacation, after all.
... And so he was wearing his uniform slacks. They were comfortable.
"Elena?"
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Do not stare at your boss, Elena.
She gulped down air and glanced up at his eyes. Which were safe.
"Hi," she said. "I couldn't sleep. Are you Tseng One or Two? They numbered you, at the front desk. I was worried about ... Rosalind and I couldn't sleep. Were you sleeping? Did I wake you? I didn't mean to wake you. Can I come in? Or were you sleeping? I can go."
Good. Excellent. Her mouth was broken again.
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Yes, horrible inappropriateness aside. The fact that he'd met her when she was twelve just the other day aside, as well. He was willing to make small mental adjustments for the sake of different timelines. This Elena, after all, was relatively grown up. Occasional bouts of rambling aside, of course.
"I wasn't sleeping just yet," he offered, calmly. "And yes, Elena, I am the Tseng that accompanied you here."
Although, he mused, it would have been interesting if he had wound up having to threaten his younger self for getting entirely too close to one of his Turks.
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Because, well, Other-Tseng would have so many things to say about that situation, and very few of them were any good.
"Not that I ... came here to make a huge mess of things," she added, weakly. "I meant -- you know what I mean."
No, Elena. He probably didn't.
Oh, Shiva, he wasn't wearing a shirt, and she was in his hotel room. He had such presence, in his suit, and he had presence without it, but it was a very different sort of presence. One that wasn't helping her inability to use words.
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