Blood Lines

13. Admiration

By 9pm that evening, Clae was feeling surprisingly nervous about her upcoming task with Lena. She didn't know what she was going to say or ask. When the lamia entered the lab, this time only a few minutes late, Clae jerked to attention. For a moment the two merely stared at each other.

"Shall we?" Lena asked, indicating the boxes of tools to be autoclaved.

"Oh, yeah," Clae said. They each scooped up a box and headed towards the lift. Clae felt tongue tied. What should she say? Lena took the liberty of starting the conversation.

"Did you see Hornsworth this morning?" she asked blandly as the lift doors closed.

"Yeah," Clae said. "I was really surprised actually. He said we can continue the midterm."

Lena glanced sideways at her and smirked. Clae raised her eyebrows at the gesture. "Wait, so how did you get him to change his mind?"

"Oh that was easy," Lena preened. "I just rewrote our proposal and told him about how our project was going to focus on restoration of the lilies from the bulb stage."

"That must have taken a lot of effort," Clae said, bewildered.

"It wasn't that bad," Lena said, leaning against the railing in the lift. "I just talked to him about it and explained what had happened and how it was completely my fault and that you had worked so hard on the project. He gave in after that."

The lift dinged and the doors slid open. Lena exited and Clae stared after her. "Seriously?" she said, following Lena into the autoclave room.

Lena shrugged as she cycled the autoclave door and let the air vent.

Clae continued to gape at her. "Why?" she asked finally.

Lena glanced up a her as she loaded the tools. "I guess because you really care about it a lot, and I admire that."

Clae stared at her, barely registering that the boxes were in and the autoclave was closed and programed.

"Ok, we're done here I think," Lena said, leading the way back out of the room. They walked down the hallway together to the exit before Clae remember that she was headed the other way for the greenhouse.

"I'm headed this way," she explained as Lena opened the lift again.

"Oh, ok, see ya," she said, heading into the lift alone.

Clae took two steps back the way they had come and then spun on her heel, reaching back for the lift door to hold it open.

"Thank you," she said, staring at Lena. "I-that was really amazing of you."

Lena smiled for perhaps the first time since they had known each other. "Don't get too excited," she said. "You're still stuck with me as a partner."

Clae laughed. "I think we'll be fine. I-" she hesitated for a moment. "I admire you too, what you do for the school, being a guardian. It's really brave."

Lena stared at her, her smile fading into a look of surprise. For a moment, they just gazed at each other, both of them slightly flushed. Then the elevator door dinged impatiently, making Clae jump.

"Oh, yeah, well have a good evening," Clae said, removing her hand from the door. They slid shut and Clae stood blinking for a moment. Then she shook herself and headed to the greenhouse.