Hear Me

Wednesdays and Thursdays

Clara straightens her shirt as she approaches his office. She emailed him about it this morning and he responded with a time to talk. This isn't going to be fun. She knocks on the door and a rough, "come in," sounds out. She opens the door, heading into the office. "I have to be honest, I never expected an email like this from you," he says, shaking his head.

"Did you think about what I proposed?"

Nodding, "I did. I think it's an... interesting idea. Weren't you defending the Man in the Mask yesterday?"

"I didn't know the full extent of the story. Now that I educated myself a little, I understand why he's controversial," she nods, lying.

He smiles, "good. Come in tomorrow. You're officially on the task force."

She steps back, surprised it was that easy, "wow, thanks," Chief Tanner has never been approachable and talking to him has always seemed impossible but she just did it... she feels like she just accomplished something or even won an award. No time for celebrating, though. Her boss still didn't want her to be there today so she wasn't planning on it. 

As she waits by the bus stop, she spots a familiar face, "Matt!" She calls out, approaching him. He's standing, holding onto his cane. "It's Clara, from yesterday," she says, joining him on the edge of the sidewalk. 

"Oh, Hey. I thought you were on paid leave."

"I negotiated my way out of it. I'm going into work tomorrow," she shrugs. He smiles, looking down. "What are you doing here?" She asks him.

"Foggy ditched me for a client. I've been trying to flag down a taxi," he nods.

She frowns, "he just ditched you?"

He chuckles, "It's not that bad. He knows I can get back to the office by myself. I somehow do it every morning."

Clara sighs, "well, can I join you?"

Matt shakes his head, "You don't have to."

"But I do. I can't just leave you standing here. It's like illegal or something," she shrugs.

He laughs, "I believe that only counts for children."

"Well...." she says and they both laugh, "come on, I'll feel really guilty if I leave you here."

Matt sighs, "fine." She smiles and holds out her arm for him to take it.

"Address?"

"The Van Lunt Real Estate Building," he says.

Her eyes widen, "Seriously? I read about a case there, 3 years ago..."

He nods, "I know. It was what we could afford, though. It was rebuilt after the... incident," he refers to the alien invasion of 2012. The city never talks about it and often refers to it as the 'incident' as if that's all it was. Clara was a sergeant then and she was on duty the day it happened... but like the rest of the city, she doesn't talk about it. 

"Yeah, the incident," she says shallowly. Matt detects a hint of sadness in her voice but pushes past it, not wanting to bring up anything that would hurt her.