Tom admitted to himself long ago that he and sleep were never going to be best friends. He blamed his bouts of insomnia on the weird hours he kept at work, the late nights he spent with Irma, and his addiction to coffee. He did not blame the nightmares, which were infrequent these days, but they certainly didn't help him to fall back asleep once he ( Read more... )

Irma's PINpoint has the coordinates to the inside her apartment, but Tom figures that would be rude. Instead, he appears where he usually does when he visits, and knocks on her door ( Read more... )

"I'm sorry," Irma whispered, and then she was suddenly out of his reach, his PINpoint in her hands ( Read more... )

When it came to Tom and sleeping, there were good nights and bad nights. This was a good night. He got to bed at a reasonable hour, fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and was resting quite comfortably until the wee hours of the morning.

That's when he heard the singing.

I can see you, don't even know you ( Read more... )

Irma's stay, while not perfectly smooth, had gone rather well so far. The small apartment was empty during the day, save for a curious cat and a terse tortoise. Not a fan of cooking, Tom and Irma grabbed take-out and chatted about all sorts of things. Tom had figured out which topics were safe, which were dangerous, and how to navigate between the ( Read more... )

After hearing about Irma's plight with roaches and offering a place to stay, Tom began a frantic one-man campaign to clean up his apartment. Fortunately, he was not a slob by nature, but a single man living alone tended to not be the cleanest of residents.

He gave Sarah a quick phone call. She arrived with some extra pillows for his couch. "You ( Read more... )

It takes Tom a little while to work up the nerve to ask, but he wasn't terribly excited about going to Harley's party alone, especially a costume party. He's not sure Irma will say yes, but he'd appreciate her company -- maybe that's why he's nervous, because he doesn't want to impose. Of course that's it, it's not because he's afraid she'll say no ( Read more... )

Wow, I never write in this thing. For a writer, that's not a great track record. Does anybody even read this? (I mean, besides you, Sarah ( Read more... )

They hadn't been searching long when Sarah got the call from Markus that he was back in the City, and in a hospital receiving treatment. Relieved, Tom returned to his apartment. He wasn't surprised when Sarah was at his door not too long afterward ( Read more... )

Tom doesn't PIN Irma as soon as he hears that she's back. He bombards Sarah with questions, of course, and spends a day or two dwelling over things, not wanting to overwhelm her.

Hey, Irma. Sarah said that you came back and that you weren't injured badly. I'm really glad to hear that ( Read more... )