Morningstar Manor

The rattle of keys ceased suddenly and Fin grunted. There was a silence then he said, "So who do we offer this to? News Week? Or shall we go for one of the more local rags. Or how about young Declan? Just as a change of pace from totty?"

Leo always checked the weather forecast before leaving for work in the morning. What he saw today made him grimace and get his furry Russian hat out of the wardrobe again and book a cab.

Standing in the lobby, he peered at the snowflakes beginning to filter from the dull sky and gave a sigh of discontent.

###

Fin had decided not to go out. Instead he sat in the Mocha with his laptop warming his knees and tapped away at an article on recipes designed to reduce cholesterol levels. They all sounded pretty dire to him but at least the paycheck was palatable.

###

Guy had just picked up a fare to deliver to the Manor, which was good because he was due to collect Mr Beck. He turned on his windscreen wipers to sweep the snow away and said, "I thought it was spring, didn't you?"

The cab was going to cost a fortune but Fin hadn't got a car and wasn't organised enough to have hired one. Brendan Miller having left for Florida was a blow but during a phone call he had promised to arrange things so Fin and Andras were expected.

"Wait here?" Fin asked the cab driver as he got out.

"It's your money," the young man said and turned off the engine and took a book from his glove box. Fin glanced at the meter and shrugged at Andras. "Okay," he said, "let's go," and he led the way towards the door of the house.

Having company in his apartment was still quite a new thing for Fin but he thought he was getting the hang of it.

He passed Andras a mug and a coaster to put it on and said, "Would you like cookies to go with that?"

He was feeling much better thanks the massive amounts of sleep and medicine he'd had. Good enough that the Dean had cleared him to come back to work tomorrow. Thank God. Rhys didn't know what to do with himself when he wasn't working.

Today though he was feeling good and had time to himself and sitting in his apartment was just not an option. So off he went to the Mocha for some coffee and, hopefully, some company.

Fin had a coffee and a head full of half digested research about modern teaching methods and a horrible conviction that he should arrange to spend some days in schools to see for himself.

He was working his way up to needing a cookie.

Dinner had been good, very good, even if the conversation had, at times been a little awkward. Fin knew it was his fault. He could talk all night about work but now he knew what to look for he could see when Andras was expecting some thing more - something more intimate and personal - and it was then that Fin's fund of conversation dried up.

Actually, it was fucking annoying - how someone for whom words were toys to be manipulated as he chose could be at a total loss for the right thing to say in this situation. So Fin carried on walking, hands in pockets and said, "Of course the fifties was a state of flux everywhere, not just here. Sometimes much worse. Maybe we could talk to someone else who lived through it? What about that woman with all the cats?"

Jackson and Evans had booked leave at the same time. This happened in even the best regulated offices. When one man said his vacation was end of February and the other said his was first week of March it sometimes took a while to catch on that those dates included a common weekend. So they had drawn straws who would cover the Saturday night and Vincenzo, fuming, had picked the wrong one. It didn't help that he also had the Saturday afternoon shift as well.

But coffee would keep him going. Lots of coffee.

He stood in the queue and waited his turn, thinking about what he had planned for Emily tomorrow.

###

Fin had a book and some coffee and no commitments at all - which meant he was on edge and unhappy. He was a man who dearly loved a dead line. Also he had just had a very disturbing encounter with Andy Andrassy. He didn't dislike women in general but some were scary and she was just plain terrifying.

Lots of coffee was what he needed too.

###

Another man with a book was Leo Beck, reading through that years edition of the writer's handbook with a slightly bemused expression on his face. Occasionally he reached out and stirred his tea - which was getting cold.

###

Allan was garnering evil looks from the barista because he had been struck with a brilliant idea for a sculpture and to help the thought process was constructing a maquette out of pipecleaners and damp napkins. He always thought better if he had something to do with his hands.

###

Gil had nothing at all to do for the moment - not even a paper to read - and was enjoying the comparative silence before he had to go to work. Not that he disliked his job - he loved it - but a few moments calm before the madness was to be relished.

###

Del was less happy. He had worked last night, had a thick head, and suspected that Eris was making her mind up to move on. He'd go, of course - if she asked him to.

If.

He sipped his latte and wondered what he'd do if she didn't.

###

Charlie glowed happily as he sat in the corner and drew. Deacon was watching the sport, Nia was having tea with Aunty Andy and Unka Ekka - he snickered every time she called Erik that, and Charlie could feel the gentle pressure of his little collar under the fold of the scarf swathing his neck.

He smiled across the Mocha, his pencil moving with confident strokes, and drew anyone who crossed his line of sight.

Fin glanced at his watch as the elevator opened and strolled across towards the Mocha. he was a little early, but if punctuality is the politeness of princes it was also pretty good when dealing with professional colleagues.

Okay.

He could do this.

He wasn't a silly little teenager any more.

Andras was sitting at a table in the Mocha, and decided that there was no time like now, got out his phone, and called Fin's number.

And sipped his latte while he listened to Fin's phone ring.

And wibbled only a little.

Andras was in the Mocha, with a very large latte and his Macbook, editing photographs of dogs playing in the snow and sunshine.

He seemed perfectly content that way.

It was only a twinge but Fin knew from experience how easily it could develop into full blown pain. he was spending far too much time at his keyboard and the stiffness in shoulders and neck was bad but the worrying thing was the way two of the fingers on his right hand had stiffened and occasionally locked.

Last time the doctor had prescribed anti-inflammatories and rest. Fin decided to try something a bit different and booked a session with the Manor's ace masseur.

Entering the spa he looked around grinned and gave his name as the more sober, the most probably straight, of the two proprietors greeted him and followed his directions to the closed off area at the back of the room.

Lunch in the Auberge was something of a routine now. The Brit lawyer Fin sometimes saw around the Manor let fin bag his table as he left and Fin left his coat and his bag on it while he went to order. As Paula assembled his meal he studied the yellow poster taped to the front of the counter and nodded. That seemed like something worth doing.

Andras was sitting in the Mocha, with his little MacBook, drinking coffee.-

Andras is lurking in the lobby, close to the windows, perched with a big camera on the back of a large sofa. The camera is resting its long lens in the branches of a venerable potted ficus tree, and from time to time, when something interesting passes outside the window, Andras presses the button.

Sometimes, he chuckles. Sometimes, he sips from a Mocha paper cup dangling from his other hand. He seems quite happy that way.

It was almost time to knock off for the day when the tough little Russian who'd evolved into some sort of foreman as work went on burst from the basement and dove right at his coat hanging in the temporary office, where Cindy was ordering materials at the moment. He grabbed an icon -- some Holy Virgin, most likely the one from Kazan -- from the pocket and clutched it, taking a few deep breaths.

But before he could say anything, the rest of the workmen welled up the stairs and started babbling at once, sounding so scared and confused that Cindy took a crutch (it was a good day) and went down into the basement herself, where she hadn't been since work began on this part; she trusted Sergei to keep things under control

Only slightly less than half the builders followed her down, and when she arrived to where they said it was, she rather wanted an icon with her, as well.

Yes, she had understood correctly. Yes, hand. It were the bones of a human hand that were emerging from the shattered concrete of the basement floor, as if grasping for salvation.

A little Christmas thing on the Square! Of course Andrs had to go and help the gallery folks with their part of the preparation. Andy had started the thing, with Lara (apparently), but Andy had been banished to the Big Apple, so everybody helped as they could.

At the moment, Andras was carrying boards. It needed doing, and he didn't mind the exercise.

Dropping in to the Auberge was becoming a habit. The Mocha was very nice but Paul'a style was much more to Fin's taste then Joy's tense and snarky service.

He ordered coffee and a couple of almond crossaints and took a seat by the window, looking out across the frosty grass.

Andras had a triple-shot of espresso inside, a backpack over his shoulder, an aluminium case with technical equipment, a large thermos with very strong hot tea inside, large boots on his feet and a rather ugly woolly hat on his head.

He was currently in the lobby, wibbling from the caffeine jolt, and waiting for Fin to turn up.

Not everyone was that careful about how they disposed of their garbage - which was how it happened that Palug was able to drag a turkey carcass into the lobby and hide under a chair with it. The vigorous purring and crunching sounds were audible several paces away.

~

Nick had dropped several boxes of screws down the stairwell and was cursing and collected the scatter. "Mind your feet," he called as he heard footsteps.

~

Fin was taking a call from a customer so had paused in the conservatory phone to ear, enjoying the curl of the steam from his coffee cup.

~

Leo had tea so all was right with the world. It was some of that new tea too and he was feeling uncommonly alert. He flipped a page on the brief his was reading and scribbled a note in the margin.

~

Del was sleepy, but had got up because he was hungry. Hungry for a Mocha caramel muffin. Sometimes you just HAD to.