As I Was

One

The room was in shadows as he wandered through. The time on his watch told him he was a half hour late but he wasn't sure Monica would be overly pressed about it on this occasion.

She was standing near the window. With her back hunched over the crib sitting below it she didn't even bother to turn around when she heard his footsteps approaching her "You'll ensure she's properly looked after won't you?" she asked instead as she reached down to gently trace a finger along the side of the sleeping baby's face.

There were tear tracks down her face she was trying desperately to hide and a small smile came to her lips when the child stirred in her sleep.

He was positive this was the most emotion he had seen from her since they'd first met.

"Of course Monica," he replied from beside her, his tone more official than reassuring. Leaning over he surveyed the sleeping baby, his brain calculating how useful she could be when she was older with the talented parents she had.

She chewed on her bottom lip as she brushed her daughter's hair from her face "And you'll keep her out of all this?" she asked as she turned away. Her eyes were stinging with the threat of more tears and she didn't have time for emotion "I'm trusting you with this Gideon."

"She'll live a normal life. We'll make sure of it."

*

When had it gotten so dark?

The words on the screen were blurring together as her eyes stung from squinting and her back ached from leaning over her desk. Throwing a glance toward the sack of mail waiting to be opened and processed she was just about ready to pull her hair out. All she wanted to drop her head onto her desk and fall asleep.

Rubbing at her eyes beneath her glasses she ended up settling for tugging her long blonde hair, which had been irritatingly tickling the back of her neck, into a tight ponytail as she allowed a yawn to tug at her lips. Shifting the piles of unopened envelopes cluttering her desk over to one side she finally allowed herself to lean forward and rest her head on her, uncomfortable, mouse mat.

She heard the click of her office door opening but, knowing exactly who it would be, remained in her fed up and exhausted position. As a musical chuckle echoed through her office, informing her her assumption had been right, she raised her arm in welcome "Don't you be staying too late Rhodes," Angela Watson, her favourite colleague (and person in general) by far, warned knowing the younger girl would still be sat at her desk long after the last visitor left the museum, no matter what she said.

Harper could just see the stern expression on her face without even glancing up and she smiled sleepily as she turned to look across to Ange "How many left?" she asked, a hint of a European accent lining her words, wincing as the frame of her glasses dug into the side of her face.

"Just a few," Angie reassured her. There was nothing worse to the researchers than venturing out from the comfort of their offices only to be caught up answering visitors questions. With the long days they had found themselves constantly suffering through recently all they wanted to do was leave their work behind and head home to peace and quiet "I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked as she played with her car keys; whereas Harper had the luxury of being able to hide away in her office until the last member of the public headed home Ange had to battle through whatever crowd was left as soon as the clock ticked over to five pm. There were two preteens waiting for their dinner back home.

"You certainly will," Harper nodded as she sat up. Swiping her glasses from her face she rubbed at her eyes properly before reaching for her laptop.

"And remember-"

"-don't stay too late," she repeated the warning she heard at the end of each and every working day with a cheeky grin on her face "I got it Ange."