Pauline nodded to Deli, her smile bright with an honest joy, savoring the memory of the moment she'd finally earned her first job that didn't have a thing to do with bussing tables or "Do you want fries with that?"
"Oh yes, hired," she quipped as the little yellowy lemony sweet rolled over her tongue, letting it sit in her cheek for a moment while she talked. "And yeah, I'd like to believe it's bit of both: Owen is a great guy." She bit her tongue and didn't add the part about him not earning the same estimation from Mowzer. "And I have been working on these equations for a couple months now, for the training programs. Second Shift didn't see much point, but Owen seems to agree they could be helpful planning for certain eventualities - "
Pauline started when she saw Mike Davis framed by the doorway, her pale eyes widening in genuine surprise as she returned his small wave almost instinctively. She swallowed the yellow gummy bear she’d been sucking on, her smile tentative at first with the memory of her graceless exit from the gardens earlier garishly bright at the forefront of her thoughts. Mike had deserved better from her than some flimsy excuse about having to get to the hangar, not feeling well or to go pee or something like that - and all because he recognized her name?
'God knows, I can act such a fool... ' Antoine had shown her that wasn’t really so bad, being recognized - not at all. Not even a little. And frankly, the Copernicus didn’t have enough hidey holes in all its miles and miles of hallways if she bolted every time someone figured out who she was, and why she was awake. The shame wasn't hers after all, and it certainly wasn't little Eva's.
’Besides, the man laughs with his eyes. That’s really... That's really nice… ‘ And that was the thought that lifted her smile from tentative to positively brilliant.
“Mike? I’m fine, thanks - but what are you doing here?” She laughed softly, pushing off the desk she had been leaning against, standing to her feet to wave Sergeant Davis inside. “I almost didn’t recognize you without your 2Pac accompaniment! Sergeant Davis is a pretty amazing dancer Deli,” she said as she did a really terrible imitation of the graceful shuffling step-slide he'd been caught doing this morning in the middle of a temperate forest. “Yeah yeah, I’m gosh awful, but he - ”
Pauline's eyebrows raised in surprise as she turned to Deli, who was... Well, "dumbstruck" was probably a good word. "Awed" was another one. "Amazed" - probably even "stunned" would work, and Pauline just couldn't leave her like that!
"Gummy bears, of course!" Pauline interjected swiftly and easily, "And with what might be the last gummy bears in the universe? Psh, I mean who doesn't bear, right?" She picked out a few more of the yellow gummy bears from the bag, her pale gaze traveling lightly between the two as she held them to Mike in the palm of her hand, a sweet little welcome offering.
"Deli, this is Mike. Mike, Deli - she and I'll be working together here in Hangar Six, and she's also the lady with the bears! Like a few?"
**********
Abby grinned, shaking her head with a warm chuckle. Her head tilted slightly, curious about the soft blush that crept across Gavin's lightly freckled skin, though of course she said mentioned it not at all as the pair made their way through the
"Oh Gavin, all forgiven - but... A visit to the vet? Hmm... " She tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment as if deep in thought, before double-checking the location of Antoine Eodore's quarters. "Well, I suppose Stella Albright can have you - but only so long as it's just for a quick once-over! I still need you Doctor Brock, and I think I'll be keeping you around for a good while longer. I mean, what kind of fool would put down a perfectly good geneticist, I ask you?"
Abby winked slyly up at Gavin, still grinning as she nodded her head down the hallway in the direction of the cryotech's quarters. This business with Sylas Adams weighed heavy on her shoulders - shoulders already weighed down with a thousand other worries besides, and she'd only been woken from her cryosleep a few days now. These lighter moments with Gavin still had the cast of something precious and stolen, and she honestly could not - would not - stop herself from enjoying them wherever and whenever they might be found.
"A perfectly good geneticist mind you, who still owes me a real date... " she murmured just loud enough to be sure Gavin heard her, as she stopped outside what should be the room of Antoine Eadore. Abby's knuckles rapped against the metal casing of the door swiftly, a touch of the more old-fashioned Earth-bound manners that some of Her people still embraced before pressing the call button outside his room.
"Mr. Eadore? Are you home?" she said into the speaker piece. "This is Abby Larson, from the briefing this morning? I'm here with Dr. Brock - would you have a few minutes to talk with us?"
