Bump in the night.

Chapter Three: A Slayers come for dinner.

It had been a week since Ben had started to drive me, it was nice not having to do it. Cindy could use the Jeep now it was back, to take herself to work or meet up with her friends, without making me to drive her everywhere.
Ben was a nice guy, eventually letting me sit up front when I complained for the fourth time. We'd stop off at Patty's to pick up the office breakfast orders, usually getting extra for the night guards who'd be switching shifts.
I carried the tray of hot drinks of my lap carefully until Ben would stop at the front of the museum, letting me brave the steps rather than the speed bumps in the underground parking.
Grayson would usually meet me at the door, taking the drinks from me. I'd remembered to return his jacket and since then, he'd insisted on kissing my cheek when he saw me.
I blushed everytime, unsure if he was playing up some fake office romance to explain the jacket exchange, or if he just enjoyed torturing me.
None the less, we'd seperate at the elevators, me taking Dr. Hyde's order and going to the Basement while he went to a back office of the museum I didn't have access to. It was mostly corporate offices and more storage from what I knew.
Grayson waited at the elevator with me on Friday, holding the paper bag of coffees.
"You know, you don't have to wait with me." I finally had the courage to say, but still hid behind my chai cup, avoiding his eye by taking an interest in the floor numbers as they lit up.
"I know." He said, shrugging and pulling out his own coffee marked GrayMan by Ben's request.
He stopped a little when he saw the name, making me giggle.
He step me with a blazing stare I couldn't decipher, making me quiet.
A smile broke on his face, but it was mischievous, lighting up his eyes.
"I know Ben put you up to it, but you can deal with the consequences." He smiled, suddenly turning away and leaving me as the elevator doors opened.
I gulped hard, stepping into the elevator, my mind and heart racing at the thought of his words and the glimmer in his eyes.

I called Dr. Hyde on the com system when I couldn't find him in the shelves, he replied he'd be out soon, but I'd learnt that meant buzz him again in ten minutes, because he'd forget.
Dr. Hyde was a wonderful man, incredibly intelligent when it came to his area of expertise and dedicated to his work. Not so much when it came to basic life needs, like eating or drinking.
I'd even had to ask him when he'd last showered since I'd seen him in the same clothes everyday since starting.
He'd shyly told me he often forgot to wash his clothes, so I started to organise a dry-cleaning service through the Tapestries department. The reception Alison was very sweet and took some of Dr. Hyde's lectures, she was more than happy to help and we'd worked out a steady rotation.
I found the clean plastic sealed clothes on my desk, unwrapping them and putting them beside Dr. Hyde's food and coffee.
He never asked for breakfast, but other than lunch, I'd never see him eat, so I started to bring him different things.
Today was the same as mine, a ham and cheese croissant.
After two more buzzes and me finally pressing Save on the backlog that was now empty, Dr. Hyde joined me, smiling at the food and clean clothes.
"You're such a godsend, child." He smiled, beginning to undress. I'd tried to stop him a few times, but he didn't care so I'd just look away at the computer, fixing any mistakes and checking delivery dates.
He dressed in his new blue button up and black pants, looking at the shirt a bit odd.
"I don't own a shirt like this." He said finally, looking at me.
I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Dr. Hyde, you only owned two shirts. Your singlet and the one your button up. I can handle the same pants every day, but a different shirt would be nice." I smiled.
He looked down at the shit again and then me, tears seeming to fill his eyes.
"You got me new clothes? Why?" He asked, stepping forward. "Why are you so nice to me?" His voice pitched and I found myself reaching across to grab his hand, rubbing my thumb against his skin and smiling.
"You're a good man, Dr. Hyde. You just forget sometimes, so let me help. Don't ask why, just know I do it because I care." I said simply, squeezing his hand.
He sniffed, quickly wiping his tears and pulling away.
"Right, well," he looked at his food, pointed at it before grabbing it and leaving for his office.
A buzz through the intercom came a few minutes later while I was sending labels off to print.
"Thanks for the shirt and breakfast, I'll have that from now on, please." He almost sounded like he had to force the please, not use to the word.
"No problem, Dr. Hyde. I'll be popping to the upstairs office to grab some paperwork, I'll put in our lunch order while I'm there." He grunted a response and ended the call, making me giggle as I collected my notebook and ID card, heading for the elevator.
The main office was on the third floor past the Astronomy collection. I swiped my card in the door and pulled the handle when it went green, stepping into the bull-pen as I'd learnt they called it.
It was mostly HR and Exhibition Committee with the mail room and printers out the back in a glassed room.
I weaved through the sets of cubicles, waving at some of the workers I'd met during the week.
Tommy, the mail guy, was in the printer room when I stepped in, kicking the scanner he stood in front of.
"Woah, violence against machine! That's how Skynet starts, you know?" I joked, stepping beside him to see what the error was.
"Ha ha, Wayland." He rolled his eyes, slapping the machine again. "This damn things won't copy this book I need reference pages for." He snarled and balled his fists, ready to pummel the machine.
I pushed him back gently.
"Slow down there, big man. Maybe a woman's touch is needed, huh?" I raised an eyebrow at him. He gestured for me to have at it and I did, checking the book he was trying to scan to see it was an old text in Latin.
The images and pages were warn and I saw the print outs were blank.
"Ah, gotta turn the light exposure down." I muttered, adjusting the settings while he watched over me to see what I was doing. "The printers are pretty harsh on the paper, making it flashbacks instead of scan. Drop the light exposure to half and recopy that print out."
I showed him the way to do it and the final copies, he smiled at me taking them and then hugging me.
"You're such a hero, Wayland." He awed, turning back to the copier to make more.
I giggled and grabbed the labels I'd send to the label printer, checking the sizing to a plastic slip I had for them.
Satisfied, I grabbed my bundle of papers, patted Tommy on the arm and head back downstairs, putting our lunch order in at the cafeteria near the elevator on the way back.