Steps

Step 9.2: Closer

Leah couldn't explicitly remember if the cop she'd talked to had told her that the paperwork wouldn't take long. If he did though, he lied. That had taken way too long.

She was so glad she's chosen to drive her car today. Otherwise, she would have been walking home. It was nearly 2 am before Leah had been able to finish the paperwork and leave. The trains had stopped running long ago. At least the roads were empty. Driving down the empty streets in the middle of the night always made her feel... alone...better.

Leah let what had happened wash over her. She'd been attacked... in a secure building... in the middle of the night. She'd been attacked... by a duo with sci-fi guns... who were demanding the package meant for S.T.A.R. Labs. She'd. Been. Attacked. It simply wouldn't process. The whole situations seemed too far-fetched for real life, yet it had happened to her.

Pulling up outside her apartment, she abandoned all hope of trying to logically sort out her thoughts. It might be easier just to drown them out. She walked up the stairs to her apartment. Opening the door, she quickly grabbed ahold of Nova before she could escape. The cat rubbed against her face. Maybe she knew.

"Nova, I have had the worst day." Leah flopped on the couch and kicked off her shoes. She set Nova in her lap. "First Brian spilled water on his keyboard, then the copier broke, AGAIN. And then, earlier tonight, I got attacked by two gun wielding freaks. I bet all you did all day was sleep." Nova chirped in reply. "Lucky you."

Leah threw her head back, letting out an exasperated groan. She was hungry, tired, and stressed all at once. Yea, she was done with today.

Getting up, she headed for the kitchen. Raman, she wanted ramen. Nova followed her and jumped on the counter. Leah stopped and stared at the cat for a minute. "Jerk..." She quickly picked up the cat and put her back on the ground. Walking over the refrigerator, she quickly grabbed what she needed. An egg, some kimchi, mushrooms, onions, some garlic, ramen stock, and to top it off, some ginger. This would suffice.

Leah quickly cut the vegetables and mixed up the egg. After she had the ramen stock boiling, she added the vegetables, followed by some noodles she'd pulled from an instant noodle package. Her kimchi ramen was so much better than any instant ramen could ever be. Finishing it off, she poured in the egg and topped everything off with a bit of soy sauce and ginger. Perfect.

She reached for her phone as she brought the ramen to the table. Wait... where was it? Had she not brought it home? Well, crap. Where had it gone? She mulled it over for a minute. Oh. It was still on the floor in the supply closet. Leah shrugged. It's not like anyone really texted or called her anyway, besides Jamie. And Jamie could always wait.

The ramen was still hot when she'd started eating it. It burned her tongue and throat, but she really didn't care. It was amazing. Nova sat across the table from Leah, eyeing the ramen. Leah noticed this and laughed.

"No Nova, you're not getting any of my ramen."

Nova didn't quite comprehend that message, because as soon as Leah looked away for one second, the cat's face was nearly in the bowl.

"Nova, you jerk!" Leah laughed. "Why do you always do this?" She got up, taking the cat with her, and poured food in the cat's bowl. Nova scrambled out of her arms. "Jeezzzzz, you'd think I starve you or something. Spoiled brat."

She walked back over to the table and started back on the ramen. What could she do to distract herself? He mind was still buzzing over everything that had happened. Even if she wanted to sleep, she knew it wouldn't come. In the end, she settled on watching a movie. A happy movie.

Browsing through her collection, it was a bit hard to find something she wanted to watch. Moving down to the shelf that held her favorite animated movies, she lightly placed a finger on the first movie she saw. Wall-E. That was a good distraction, right? Love story about robots? Sure. She pulled out the disk and popped it into the DVD player.