The Misadventures of Anna Cabbot

Checking In

Anna stood patiently by the bus stop sign post late Friday afternoon, her sketchbook cradled against her forearm. She glanced continuously between the paper and the old man sat on a porch rocker across the street, reading. He wore a suit, tie, and hat that had, perhaps, been the height of fashion in the 1940s. He looked quite dapper in it, and she had no doubt he'd turned many heads back in his day.

He was probably still a hit with the ladies, honestly.

She used her thumb to soften a line.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" said a voice to her right.

"Yeah. Classic New York spring." Anna looked up at the man again and did a double take when he seemed frozen in place. She licked her suddenly dry lips and leaned foward.

A black woman in a floral sundress stood on the other side of the signpost. A thick headband held her natural curls away from her face and on the ground, between her bright pink pumps, was a lantern the same size and shape Paul Revere may have used for his famous midnight ride. It was also a significantly smaller lantern than they'd had the last time Anna had spoken with them.

"Do you just sort of freeze everything every time you come for a visit?" Anna asked, closing her sketchbook and returning it to her backpack.

"I have a lot of power condensed in this form," Deirdre said. "That much power, contained in a woman? It tends to make people uncomfortable."

"Makes men uncomfortable, you mean," she murmured. Anna had always preferred to call a spade a spade.

They grinned sharply.

Anna put her backpack on and gripped the strips. "Social visit?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing," they said. "Heard you'd met a Murdock."

"A Murdock?" Her eyebrows rose. "There's more than one?"

Deirdre chortled.

It almost wasn't worth it to ask anything since the ratio of questions to answers was extremely skewed in the direction opposite to what she wanted.

"How is your task with the Lache going?" they asked.

"Good. It's good." She readjusted her shoulder against the signpost. "I thought that was completely separate from what you wanted with me."

"It is," Deirdre agreed easily, "but that doesn't make it uninteresting to me."

Anna didn't know what to say to that, and chose to stay quiet.

They hefted the lantern and stepped smartly into the street. "Have you thought about what I said last time?"

"I'd say yes, but that would be a lie." Anna shrugged.

Lantern swinging by her thigh, Deirdre tipped their head back and laughed.

Anna waved. Movement and sound returned to the world with a snap. The old man across the street continued to rock and read, and she lost sight of Deirdre when the bus pulled up. Shivering, she hopped on to get downtown.


She was in the elevator and on the way to the eighth floor when it happened — her heart skipped. Stepping onto the smooth marble, she straightened her torso and took several deep breaths. Sometimes there was only one. Sometimes one meant there would be more. Anna didn't know which scenario she'd be in until it happened.

Still breathing deeply, she walked woodenly to the glass door of Erie LLC and pushed it open.
It's okay. It's fine. It's okay. It's fine.

"I'm okay, I'm fine," she mouthed repeatedly, slipping through the deserted reception area.

You're going to have odd beats periodically, her cardiac team had said. Your heart has to learn how to beat in its own rhythm again.

Her cardiac birth defect had produced a hole the size of a half dollar in an organ not much larger than her own fist. Her pulse had fluctuated so damn much those first few months, and even knowing it was going to happen periodically, it still caught her off guard.

The trick was to stay on an even keel. It was something like a work in progress.

Like last time, Erin wasn't in her office. Unlike last time, Anna took the visitor's chair to start with so she could keep an eye on Erin's lake. Right now the water was choppy, white caps rolling relentlessly toward the shore.

She leaned back and rubbed lightly at her shirt where it covered her scar. Her wires ached — she'd check the weather later to see if there was a storm coming.

Erin, with her own stack of files in her hands, breezed through the open doorway and set the paperwork on her desk with a muffled thump. Her pantsuit was impeccable as always, though her hair had fallen out of its usual careful styling. Coupled with her worn expression, she had a general air of dishevelment.

She wasn't angry, though, and her current temperament didn't accurately match the state of her lake.

Maybe Teddy was on to something.

"It's been a long week so if you could keep this short and sweet, that would be preferable," Erin said, sinking into her chair. Her forehead was creased, like she was fighting a headache.

Anna brought out her notebook. "Short and sweet."

"Please." She rested her elbows on her desk and massaged the bridge of her nose.

Whitecaps continued to roll.

"The Bookkeeper didn't have anything overly useful," Anna said bluntly. "So I'm looking into other...options."

She didn't elaborate; Erin didn't push. Erin didn't even look up.

"You're staring," Erin said after several long, awkwardly quiet seconds.

"Sorry. It's...you — are you feeling okay?"

"Unexpectedly tired."

"Not angry or anything?" From the state of her lake, Anna would have expected her to be seething.

Erin gestured to her face. "Do I look angry?"

Anna would classify that particular expression as pretty shitty rather than Hulk smash. "No."

The lake continued to churn.

Anna stood. "I'll keep you in the loop then? And your name out of my mouth?"

"If you wouldn't mind." Erin lowered her head to her desk.

Anna saw herself quickly out the door and didn't look back.