The right call...(Simon/Jennifer Log)
Jennifer: Jen listened to her messages as soon as she got back to the apartment. Jake wasn't there, and she found that she was really disappointed. She’d been hoping her feline roommate would be there, so she could know he was okay for one. So she could see him and give him a hug for another. Maybe some tuna. Maybe some belly rubs. But she was incredibly glad to hear Simon’s voice come through on her voicemail. She hit the quickdial button on her phone that would connect to his number.
As it rang, she chewed on her lip. It was nice that he was out there. Contacting her. And the same Simon as he’d been when she’d gone into Arkham.
Simon: The doctor wasn’t sure what to do when he hadn’t heard back from her. Of course, she was busy. Plus, it was possible that it wasn’t even her. He didn’t know how to handle how he felt. There was Kaylee, but then there was Jennifer. He really should have gotten out more when he was younger. There had been a few girls, but...
His phone was ringing. The ID said her name....
“Hello?” He cleared his throat. “Hello.”
Jennifer: She smiled, hearing his voice in real time. Though, she knew he couldn’t see that, she hoped that he would be able to hear it.
“Hey. I’m really glad to hear from you, Si. I was starting to think that nobody was around anymore. Are you okay?”
Simon: Did she actually sound happy? Or at least sound as if there was a smile there, somewhere. Just that thought had him smiling. He settled on the couch; he’d have to get to the gym later. Hey, he had to keep in shape, for who knew what reason. Perhaps to impress someone, or someones.
“Si?” Simon wasn’t sure about that one. “Mm? Yes, I’m fine. I’ve been busy.” He didn’t know where that had come from. “You? Are you okay?”
Jennifer: “Sorry. I can keep myself from calling you that, if you’d rather.” It had really come from nowhere, honestly. Not something that she’d been practicing. “I’m okay. I was... “
Now she was having a little bit of trouble. How do you tell your doctor romantic interest that you were in the local crazy bin without scaring him off? She supposed you just came out and said it and hoped for the best.
“I was in Arkham. As a patient. For a really long time, I think.”
Simon: There was a pause on his end. Had he just heard right? She’d been in the asylum, too? He sighed softly, then remembered that she could hear it and might misinterpret.
“What? No, you can. I’ve just never been called that. It’s fine. Really.” Actually he was smiling as he said that. She gave him a nickname, which was cute and made him feel special. Yes, he really should have gotten out more when he was younger.
“I’m sorry. That you were in there. I...” He could have lied, but he didn’t want to. Not too much. “I was, too. I think quite a few people were. Kaylee was..” There was a soft bit of cursing, Chinese cursing. He hadn’t meant for that to get out. He wasn’t even sure why he was bothered by that.
Jennifer: Jennifer was quiet on her side for a moment just as he’d been. “I was really hoping that you hadn’t been.”
She’d been secretly hoping that neither Jake nor Simon had endured the asylum. Or Charlie, for that matter. She’d been hoping that they’d locked her up because she really had had some breakdown that she couldn’t remember. But it didn’t seem to be that way.
“I didn’t see anybody in there that I knew, so I was... hoping.” Now she kind of felt worse that she’d not thought of the cat or the boyfriend at all while in there. The normal her, the undrugged her, would have sought them both out, refusing to stop looking until she found them. The drugged her hadn’t cared.
“Kaylee?” Curious.
Simon: Jennifer wasn’t alone in feeling guilty. Simon had his own case of guilt from the whole experience. Not once had he thought about anyone he’d cared for, and he was usually Mr. Overprotective. River hadn’t even been an issue, which ate him up a little. Then top that off with the other women in his life? He sighed softly again.
“I had hoped you weren’t in there either. It was...a bad place to be. I’m sorry that I didn’t come find you. I didn’t know...” Simon hadn’t thought about it to know. There was another pause as she asked about Kaylee. He bit back the curses this time.
“Kaylee, she was the ship’s mechanic. She’s in the City.” He was leaving out part of the story. It wasn’t his story, but it was Kaylee’s.
Jennifer: She was nodding her acceptance, and realized that she couldn’t be seen. “It’s alright. It’s not like I went looking either. I was too busy talking to an elf.”
Of course, now that she was out, she wanted to find that elf and find out what he really was. Her non-drugged brain didn’t sit well with just ‘elf’ as the explanation. Perhaps it was her cop instincts, too.
She wasn’t really suspicious or jealous of Kaylee, she’d heard the name before, but she decided to tease him anyway. Simon needed more teasing in his life.
“So you’ve been seeing Kaylee again, have you?”
Simon: For once, he was glad she couldn’t see him, how he was wincing and possibly blushing at what she just said. He hated being teased, sort of. It felt different when she did it. Kaylee never did it, not like Jennifer. She...was different. The two couldn’t be more different.
“I’m not seeing her, Jennifer.” That was the part that had caught his attention. The “elf” took a little longer to sink in. “I...don’t..think there are elves. There is probably an explanation for why you thought he or she was an elf, but I highly doubt you were speaking to an actual elf. They don’t exist.” Yes, after all he’d seen and done, he was going to say that. “At least, I’ve yet to meet one, so I have hard time believing they are real.” He quickly fixed that.
Jennifer: “Calm down there.” Jennifer laughed. “I’m just kidding. Simon, I would never think such a thing of you in honesty. I’m playing. And this is exactly why. You need to lighten up some. You know, laugh a little.”
She shook her head and decided that in the future, there was going to be a lot more teasing about Kaylee. Especially if she ever found them together. Maybe she could find a way to team up with the girl and give Simon a little hell.
“He had pointed ears. He was also slightly... greenish. He called himself a Vulcan, but I took it as a word meaning elf in his language. Spock. His name was Spock. I think he may have also said something dirty to me. But keep in mind I was on a lot of drugs.”
Simon: “Jennifer, she talks about what we were. I feel bad that I’m not it. That we don’t...” He couldn’t bring himself to say it because he wasn’t sure if that was the sort of thing he should tell his..girlfriend? His love interest? The girl he had a crush on and possibly had similar feelings in return? “Let’s just say I don’t give her what she needs.” That sounded worse.
“Pointed ears, greenish, Vulcan, and Spock. Yeah, has all the hallmarks of a drug induced elf. Especially the dirty bits. Are you sure you didn’t just want him to say dirty things?” Simon was only a little jealous. Okay, probably more than a little, but he could tease back, maybe? “I’d say you might have dreamed him, but I met some guy who swore by the Dread Doorman Mu of the Eternal Fish Shanty. Think I’d rather meet an elf named Spock who talked...no. I think I’d take the wizard or warlock or whatever the hell he called himself.”
Jennifer: “You can’t force yourself to be something you’re not, Si.” No more teasing on that for the moment. She felt a bit badly for him. “But she’s clearly... I mean, it’s not just a little crush it doesn’t sound like. I don’t know what to tell you about it. I have no advice. I mean, if it’s meant to be, it’ll be right?”
It hurt more than a little to say that. But she was a realist and she could accept that perhaps she and Simon were not destined to be together, despite her personal hopes on it.
“I like you a lot. But if this is something you feel you need to explore, I’m not going to be mad.” Depressed maybe, but not angry. Who was she to stand in the way of love?
“As for the elf, I’m pretty sure he was real. Not sure he was actually an elf. But real, all the way. I made him eat a cookie and it made him sick. The first cookie he ever has in his whole life and it’s in an insane asylum. I’m pretty sure I declared him my new best friend, as well.” Jennifer thought a moment. “Eternal Fish Shanty, huh?”
Simon: “Honestly, I don’t know what’s meant to be. I have feelings for her, but...I’m not that Simon.” He stopped himself before saying he didn’t deserve her; that wasn’t fair to Jennifer because what made Kaylee any better than the agent? Nothing actually. Only that Jennifer didn’t seem as emotionally fragile? Kaylee was a survivor, but there were times she seemed too sweet, too good. “Not even sure you should be seeing me. I’ve done some terrible things since I’ve come here.”
“Look, what I want is for her to be happy. I also want to know what you look like when you wake up in the morning.” He got that last bit out not too quickly, but quicker than he normally would say something. “I’ve seen you sleeping, but I want to wake up with you in my arms, which is not what I thought I would be saying to you when I talked to you again, much less something I would say to you over the phone. It was more of a face to face conversation. Or that’s how I envisioned it.”
The doctor coughed. “But we don’t have to talk about that. We can talk about how your best friend the elf sick with his first cookie. I don’t think I ate the cookies.” He didn’t really remembering eating much. He suspected he had, but he wasn’t sure what. “I probably misheard, but it sounded like Eternal Fish Shanty.” He was trying to change the subject, probably.
Jennifer: She decided very quickly that Simon was not changing the subject on her. What he’d just said was terribly sentimental and even romantic. She’d been waiting for Simon to speak his mind on their relationship, or make any kind of move really, for a long time. He wasn’t letting it just slip by.
“I’m just glad you said it.” She was smiling again. It didn’t bother her that he had feelings for Kaylee, people could feel things for people and not be with them. They could also feel things for more than one person at a time. To her, it sounded like Simon had made his choice, and she had to admit that she was happy about his decision. “Your little zombie trick with Dr Lecter isn’t going to frighten me off, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not particularly happy about it, but it’s not like you intentionally spread it. It was an accident.”
Jennifer took a moment to wonder if Charlie had ever read those books.
“Why don’t you come over tomorrow.” She hadn’t been overly forward with Simon in a long time. He’d seemed really put off by that. But after what he’d just said, she felt it was warranted.
Simon: “I knew what we were doing was a bad idea. We did things.” Simon may one day stop feeling guilty about what he did to that monkey, and what came of it. Perhaps, it was a good thing that he wasn’t one to just give in to those darker desires to know what made something tick. He didn’t want to be Hannibal, no matter how brilliant the man/boy and others thought him to be. There was something disturbingly wrong with Dr. Lecter, and no matter how much River “loved” him, Simon would probably never think of the guy as a good choice.
“I’m glad it doesn’t frighten you, or at least doesn’t scare you away. I want you to be proud of me, not cart me off to jail.” Simon laughed weakly at the very bad joke. He really did want her to smile when she thought of him rather than wonder what awful thing she’d be taking him in for. Or just interviewing him for. “I don’t know. I have a long shift tomorrow. I’m doing a 24 hr on. Seems that people have been hurting themselves.”
Jennifer: She listened to Simon as he talked, and felt touched by the things that he said. She didn’t know that she’d ever had anyone in her life that wanted her to be proud of them. Not like this.
“Nothing has to happen. You can come crawl into my bed when you get off shift and sleep. I’d just like to see you.”
Simon: He was smiling. He was blushing, but he was smiling. He leaned back in his chair and just grinned a goofy little grin.
“I think I might be able to do that. I’ll shower at the Hospital. I try not to bring the institutional smell with me.”
Jennifer: “That’s good. Cause the last time I was there, I was trying to eat people.”