Scientific Fantasies (Wattys2015)

Chapter Thirteen

It didn't surprise Natalia that the first thing heard in the morning was her assistant's quiet voice. But she still just rolled over in her bed, hiding her face. She didn't want to go and face any of them. They'd heard her argument with Ingvar.

"Come on, honey. Up you get."

Natalia only grunted, and hid her head under her pillow, trying in vain to go back to sleep. It didn't work. Especially when she smelt coffee. She wavered for a long moment, trying to decide whether coffee or sleep was more desirable at that point in time, and the coffee finally won.

She sat up with a groan, dragging her hands through her tangled hair. "What time is it, Linda?"

"Waking up time. Come on. You have work to do."

She dropped right back into bed. "No I don't," she said, her voice muffled in her pillow. "I quit, remember? Surely you heard us yelling."

The covers were ripped off her, and she glared at her assistant.

"Stop it. You still have a job now. Get to it."

She rolled her eyes again, and dragged her covers back over herself as she sat up, yawning. "Why, Linda? There's no point."

"In case you hadn't noticed, you're the only one who can get into your room since you changed the lock. Those specimens will be hungry."

Natalia flushed deep red, reaching for the cup of coffee. She needed it before she could think of doing anything more. Linda waited in silence, and when she was finished, put a gentle hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"Do you want to talk, honey?"

Natalia stiffened, and then shook her head. "No," she muttered. "I can't."

"Well, if you ever want to."

"I know. Thank you, Linda."

Her assistant left without another word, leaving her to get ready for the day. Natalia just sat on her bed for a while, her eyes closed, trying to work out what she wanted to do. She couldn't do much research — she'd packed all her records and results away for whoever would be taking her spot. With a sigh, she got dressed, grabbing the book off the beside table, and made her way to her lab, thankfully without seeing anyone else.

The door slid open as silently as it always did, and she surveyed the bare benches and desk of what had been her workplace for nearly two years. As much as she hated leaving, she couldn't deal with the military, or soldiers of any kind. It was just too hard.

With a heavy sigh, she let them out of the enclosure, not caring what they would get up to. There was nothing that they could get into anymore.

"You came back."

She glanced at him, knowing that he would be able to see the sadness in her eyes. "Can't let you two starve," she said softly.

He studied her for a moment, and she looked away, getting food out of the kitchenette and putting it on one of the bare benches. She went back into the tiny kitchen, pressing random buttons on the coffee machine. One wasn't enough to get her awake in the mornings.

A knock interrupted her halfway through making it, and she grumbled under her breath as she went to the door. Seeing Aiden there didn't surprise her, though a tiny bit of anger stirred. "What?" she asked bluntly. "Come to beg me to stay as well?"

He shook his head. "No. Just wanted to see if you needed any help packing up."

It was her turn to shake her head as she let him come in, shutting the door. "No, thank you. I'm pretty much done."