Immaculate

Neither required nor wanted...

Dr Green's POV

I rubbed at my eyes, I was tired.  Again.  Owen was sitting opposite me, his phone glued to his ear as he rounded up yet another call.  He shut it down, placed it on the table and then leant his head in his hands.

"All done?" I asked him and he nodded, sitting up long enough to take his glasses off and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, all commercial contractors.  Raven and Marc are boarding the windows this afternoon.  But everyone else is commercial, no Academy at all."

"That in itself is going to raise eyebrows if it gets around that you've had a fire," I told him but he shrugged.

"Time is the ultimate factor here," he said.  "I can't wait around for an opening in their schedules.  That house needs to be back to normal as quickly as we can get it.  Removers are coming tomorrow which means, North or Silas can stay and supervise, once the rooms are bare, decorators are coming in.  Gabriel is going to order more furniture for the items that need replacing.... which is pretty much everything.  Jesus, Sean, did you see her bed?"

I knew it was a rhetorical question, as he knew I'd seen her bed.  

"If she'd been in it...." He shook his head, the feeling of dread settled into my stomach.  I knew I had played it off to her in her bedroom, but it left me in a cold sweat when I thought about it.

"Police?" I asked him and he snorted.

"Will be looking into it," he said with a shake of his head, making air quotes in ridicule.  He was obviously not impressed with their response.

"They're pretty stretched as it is," I sighed and he snorted at me.

"They think it's just kids mucking around.  What would would they call it if someone had died?  "Oh, it's just kids mucking around," It's the only thing they know!" He was starting to get worked up.

"Well, at least we have a starting point to work from," I told him.

"Yeah?  And what if it's not Bennett's sister?  What then?  We have fuck all, Sean!  Someone could get hurt, badly.  I am this close to handing the whole thing over to the Academy."

"We'll lose her," I told him sharply.  I knew how badly this had affected him by his language, Owen rarely swore.

"We could lose her anyway if one of these attempts succeeds!" He slammed both hands own onto the table and swore again.  "We could lose any of them!  Victor was only saved by his seatbelt.  You two were saved by a police car and then because you were awake talking.  What if you'd both been fast asleep?  I could have lost you both, Sean!"

"Stop!" I gripped his wrists, making him look me in the eye.  "You have got to get a grip, Owen.  Nothing happened, we're all fine!  We need to concentrate on making sure we stay that way."

He took a deep breath and I saw his usual composure slide back into place.  He had lost it for a moment and I was not surprised.