Characters: Connor Temple, James Lester, Alexis Edwards (OFC)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 904
Written for:
5-promptsPrompt: Table 73 #2: in a thousand different ways
Summary: The time has come to pay the piper, and there’s a huge amount of interest on the debt.
In the last twenty four hours, Alex has gone over the thousand different ways entering the ARC could go. None of them have ended terribly well. But she can’t back out now. She swallows her nerves and goes in.
The building is very modern; all white walls and sweeping curves, shining chrome and huge windows. It feels clinical, which given that it’s a research facility is probably a good thing, though it doesn’t help her stomach settle.
She enters the main area, the operations room, and comes to a stop. She’s read the files, but that hasn’t prepared her in any way for the reality. A bank of monitors dominates the room, the technology right at the edge of human endeavour: the anomaly detector. Nerves give way to the buzz of excitement.
There’s a young man at the keyboard, his dark hair constantly falling into his eyes as he works. Alex smiles and clears her throat to get his attention. He turns and stares at her. She wonders if James has even told them about her assignment. It’s not guaranteed.
“Hi, you must be Connor.” She walks over and sticks out a hand. “Alex Edwards.”
“Oh. Oh! Yes. Cutter said…” Connor scrambles to his feet, then takes her hand. He grins cheerfully and some of Alex’s tension leeches away. “Nice to have you on board.”
“Nice to be here.” The detector pulls her attention to it. “This is incredible.”
“Thanks! There’s still a few bugs, but it’s coming along. I’d still like to be able to predict anomalies, though.”
“Like a storm front?” Alex’s area of expertise isn’t anything she’d imagine the ARC needs, but the minister was insistent. She leans on the back of the chair and runs her gaze over the monitors. “I suppose it would depend on how much electromagnetic force they put out before actually appearing.”
Connor blinks, then grins. “Oh, you’re gonna be brilliant,” he enthuses.
She’s glad someone thinks so. “I hope so.”
“Want to meet the rest of the team?” he offers.
And she would really love to take him up on that. Heck, she’d rather get shoved through an anomaly than do what she has to right now. She glances up a level and fights the urge to simply run away.
“Maybe later,” she sighs. “I should go and report in.”
Connor nods. “Yeah, Lester does like to be kept in the loop. Just…” He breaks off to run a hand through his hair. “He’s kind of prickly, and he’ll probably be fairly rude, but it’s nothing personal. He’s like that with everyone.”
Except it is personal. Alex gives Connor a wan smile. “I’ll try to remember that.”
There’s nothing else for it - the time has come to pay the piper, and there’s a huge amount of interest on the debt. She pulls herself away and up the ramp to the next floor. She knows which room his office is, knows he’ll be waiting. She has no idea what she’s going to say.
His door is closed. It takes her three attempts to work up enough nerve to actually knock, and more not to simply flee rather than face him. His voice tells her to come in. Her heart turns over at the sound of it. Shaking, she pushes the handle down and opens the door.
The five years have barely touched him, if she ignores the wariness in his blue eyes. He wears an expensive Italian suit, fitted to perfection, and fusses with the silver cufflinks rather than look at her for too long. Her heart aches, but there is still so much difference - she never was Oxford-set material - and she knows it was the right decision. Even if it still hurts like hell.
“James.”
He stares at her. She wonders what he sees, now. “Alexis.”
It’s polite, but coolly distant. She can’t really blame him. She didn’t so much burn that bridge as blow it out of the water. There’s nothing left, and it’s her fault. She’s hated herself ever since, but reaches a new low on seeing the quiet pain on his face.
“I’ve no idea what to say,” she confesses, and that hurts as well. Once she’d been able to tell him anything. “I don’t suppose ‘sorry’ even begins to cut it.”
His expression hardens. “Not really, no.” He sits back and folds his arms. “I don’t approve of this assignment, but I’m told there’s no choice. So I guess we’re stuck with either other.”
Alex nods, lost for another response. “I guess so.”
“I don’t like it, you don’t like it, so we’re at least on the same page there. I’ll need reports from each mission, but other than that, there’s no reason we have to… I think keeping a distance is probably best.”
She stares at the floor. “Yes.”
He’s quiet for a moment, then sighs hard. “How have you been?”
“Okay.” It seems so little after so long. She glances at him. “You?”
“I survived.”
She flinches. “James-”
“Don’t. You’re far too late.” He closes up again and her heart bleeds. “You can go now.”
Alex bites her bottom lip, but he’s ignoring her and she beats a retreat. He’s not forgotten, nor forgiven. Then again, she’s not forgiven herself. How she’s going to survive this, she’s no idea, but it’s a chance to try and at least lay a ghost to rest.
If James will let her.