Sky almost screamed when Nathan seemingly dropped from the heavens in front of her, but managed to hold it in with a hand over her mouth. [i]Does he ever make a normal appearance?[/i] She thought to herself in somewhat amused exasperation. She was about to offer cream and sugar to the unique man, but watched as he downed his entire coffee before she could open her mouth. [i]At least things won’t be boring here…[/i]

As if to accentuate the point she had just made, Nathan suddenly sprung to life. Every pose was more bold and dramatic than the first. This time, Sky’s brain wasn't full of some snide judgment. Taking in the meaning of his words, she realized she had won him over. She was in! [i]Coffee and donuts… works every time.[/i] Finally showing some earnest emotion, the young woman jumped a little and ran over to hug the scientist.

“Thank you so much, Doctor Burnoise! You have no idea how much this means to me!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A week had passed since Nathan had accepted Sky as an apprentice, the young woman finding herself outside the lab once more after a peaceful weekend. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door with the new code Nathan had given her. [i]I think I might actually be more nervous than the first day I came here.[/i]

Stepping inside the building, it hardly looked like the same place. The entryway now had a chair, a side table, and a picture on the wall but it was what lie beyond the second door that was truly amazing. With much coaxing, Skylar had convinced Nathan to move a couple of his ‘masterpieces’ as she called them, opening up one wall of the room. The grad student hopeful had quickly set up three office desks in one corner, using filing cabinets as a sort of dividing wall to separate work space from thinking space. The rest of the opened up space was filled with rows of shelves, laid out like a grocery store, on which all the scraps and abandoned projects that had been on the floor were now organized. The ones that Sky had been able to identify, had even been labelled. The rest of the room, although mostly unchanged, also looked noticeably better. There was no longer any sign of trash on the floor, and some of the older machines shined with renewed vigor thanks to Miss Donahue’s dusting and polishing.

Taking in the sight of her work, Sky couldn't help but smile. Now this is a lab. [i]Time to see what the curious Doctor has in store for me today.[/i] Laughing lightly to herself, Sky called out to make her presence known, as was common practice for her now.

“Good morning, Doctor!” Looking around the lab, the blue-eyed girl found Nathan easily enough, though she wasn't sure if it was due to her organizing or if she was just used to him now. “I hope you got some rest this weekend, we can’t have you suddenly passing out like you did last week.” She smiled, recalling what had happened when the coffee had worn off and the days with no sleep had finally caught up to the man.

“So! What are we going to do today?”