Morningstar Manor

The kitchen was a sea of grocery bags, crinkly plastic as far as the eye could see. They were even washing up in the living room as if carried by an actual tide.

Adam hadn't imagined his return from Iraq restocking would be this bad - hell he was pretty sure it wouldn't have been if it hadn't been for the worms. Little, pale writhing things he found in his instant oatmeal this morning.

It probably would have been smart to then check everything in the cupboards to see what was infested and what wasn't, but he hadn't been able to bear the thought so it had all gone straight into the trash. Everything.

Hence now the way he tip-toed around his kitchen, trying not to crush the eggs or the Captain Crunch.

When someone knocked on his door he paused, a loaf of bread in one hand and a package of bologna in the other, and called out, "it's open," before continuing on his slow, careful trek to the refrigerator.

Robbie, in his black leather jacket, stepped into the Slaughtered Lamb. There was nothing on TV, he knew all his DVD movies by heart and he had no other company, so why not have a pint in the local pub?

*

Laura felt the chills of fall on her skin as she relaxed in the lotus position in the gardens. The evening was getting cool, and she opened her eyes slowly and looked up at the sky painted with violet and rose, sensing that it was about time she would get long sleeves on after the yoga excercice.

*

Lucas stumped his cigarette right outside the main doors of the Manor and stepped inside the lobby while stifling a big yawn. He was coming home after a day - actually a week - at work waitering at the Flamingo Lounge, and he felt it in his feet.

*

Emily slowly but surely sorted through her mail in the mailroom. She had not picked it up in days because she had had better things to think about - but now she was making three different piles of mail on the small side table of the room; one for ads, the second one for bills and other painfully obligatory things and the third for things she would actually read through with interest.

*

Thomas blinked hard in the queue of the Mocha. He had not been working on tables in the restaurant on Sunday but he had been picking up on paperwork for the whole day. It had left him slightly numb and very bored, and he tried fixing that with a big mug of tea.

Adam wasn't sure what time it was exactly, he'd traveled through to many time zones to be sure, but it was dark enough and quiet enough that he figured it was probably just late enough, or early depending on how you looked at it, to be wildly inappropriate of him to be letting himself into Icene's apartment.

But he didn't care. The only thing had kept him on his feet this long was the knowledge that finally, after four long months, he'd be able to sleep in a real bed with her slim, cool body in his arms. Right where she belonged.

He swung the door closed behind him and left his duffel where it fell in the middle of the living room floor. He shuffled on to her bedroom, pushing open the door. For a moment he just stood there, drinking in the delicious sight of her, then he moved forward and dropped onto the bed, moving immediately to draw her into his arms.

It wasn't perhaps the most delicate or romantic entrance he could have made, but again he just didn't care.

Emily had, as usual, given Icene a list of ingredients to get, and Icene even believed her this time when she promised something edible would come of it. The first few lessons had been really awful, but the omelettes they'd made the last time had been really nice!

Laden with shopping bags she arrived home and unpacked everything. It was nice to see the herb and spice rack filling up with things, and that there were easy to make recipes that she could just whip up out of store cupboard ingredients, well, now she had ingredients in the store cupboard anyway!

Grabbing a cold soda Icene settled on the sofa to wait for Emily, no point in eating first, she'd only get hungry again learning to make hamburgers...

Another fat, brown package envelope came for Joe. After opening it and reading the short note inside, he separated the contents and made sure they got where they were supposed to go.

At the front desk he left:

( Eris )

( Icene )

Because of neither of them would fit under their respective doors.

Luckily he didn't have to worry about that with his own letter and he merely slipped that into his pocket to enjoy after dinner.

True to his word Adam found himself by the phones on Friday, dialing Joe's number. With any luck Joe had been true to his word and rounded up Icene as well.

He was looking forward to talking to both of them.

A distant ringing came through the line and Adam started tapping his phone card on the table, waiting a might impatiently for someone to pick up.

Isabella was in the gym wearing a pair of black, low rise yoga pants and a white sports bra with her hair high on her head in a ponytail beating the ever-loving crap out of a punching bag.
It had been one of those sorts of days. She was confused about everything, and the way Daphne kept sitting her down to lecture her wasn't helping.
She delivered a kick to the bag and watched it swing out at the force of it, feeling a sense of satisfaction. This wasn't her favorite way to relieve stress, but it'd do.

Ang was in the garden with Gavin, a sensible sleeping baby, while she weeded her garden patch and tended her herbs and vegetables. Just occasionally she'd sip from a water bottle, and look round the garden to check her progress, or to see if there was anyone to talk to, even she didn't know which.

---

Icene was in the gym, working out some of her frustrations with a concerted effort to exhaust herself so she could sleep. She'd done her laundry yesterday, and cleaned her apartment from top to bottom, but that hadn't helped much. So now she was pounding the punchbag into some semblance of submission. She wasn't entirely unaware of her surroundings though, and often paused to wipe her face or sip from her water bottle, especially when anyone walked by the doorway.

---

Emma was positively not skulking. She was up in the pool house swimming laps instead, and then when she needed to take a break she was enjoying the sunshine and whatever tunes her iPod shuffled up. Which didn't mean she was averse to company, but, while there were a few people she really didn't want to see, pretty much anyone else was guaranteed at least a smile as they came by.

---

Spencer was in the Mocha, waiting patiently for his Mom to call him back, something about a wedding present? But while he was waiting, he was enjoying a large coffee, and a cinnamon danish or two. Well, he'd call it lunch if anyone asked.

---

Jane was between apartments, and having trouble with her trolley as she moved about the Manor's hallways. One of the wheels was wonky, had been ever since that incident with Jazz knocking it over the other week, and today it was being extremely awkward and not steering at all well. It slowed her down too much, and she was considering asking someone to fix it for her, because she had no idea where to begin.

Icene had spent the weekend up in the mountains, above the snowline. She was comfortable there, but anyone who might have seen her wouldn't have been. A little research on Iraq had given her the average temperatures for the summer months.... and boy was it HOT! So she'd bought a digital camera, not a posh one with lots of settings, but something she could point and shoot, that had a time delay on it, and was reasonably good quality for a complete beginner.

A simple tent, a good quality sleeping bag, and several changes of clothes had gone into a very home made photo shoot, some things she though Adam would appreciate, including frost covered spiders webs, those had been tricky, the control needed was very delicate. Then there were the shots of the snow, various ice sculptures, and a couple of Icene in her favourite bikini, playing in the snow with not a goosebump in sight.

She'd spent an equally long time on the writing of the letter to go with the photos. Each page having a photo to go with it, talking about things, in general, what was happening, the gossip, news, and her fears and worries. She did briefly mention how much she missed him, but then, she did admit that taking the photo's had helped.

In the end, she gave up and typed the letter into her laptop, adding the digital images to the pages and playing around with text wrapping to make it look right to her. Then she printed it out, as high quality as she could, and folded it carefully before stuffing it, and a small enamelled flame pendant on a gold chain, into the envelope she'd already addressed. Before she could change her mind, she headed down to the mail room and posted it. Then decided to empty her mailbox, which was of course, full of the usual junk mail she received, because she actually hadn't looked at it since Adam left. So, she was standing there, sorting a massive pile of junk mail, when someone else came into the mail room.

Funnily enough Adam hadn't put his return address in his letter to Icene, she guessed it was his way of making sure she checked in on Joe. So here she was, Sunday afternoon, with a large box under one arm, and a smaller box under the other. She managed to get to the bell though, rather than kicking on the door. It seemed only polite really. Mind you, the boxes were a little unwieldy, "Joe? You in there? I'm a bit stuck!"

Dear god she hoped he was home.

Of course he was home, where else would he be? In fact, he was in his office, working on his reply letter to Adam. At the knock he lifted his head and removed his glasses, but it wasn't until he heard the muffled shout that he stood and moved through the apartment to open the front door.

"Icene," he looked a little surprised to see her, but he stepped back to give her room to enter. "Come in, come in."
( Read more... )

Icene didn't answer when Joe knocked, and he figured she was still at work. He considered holding onto her letter from Adam until he saw her in person, but then decided that if Icene found out Eris had gotten her letter first she'd probably be upset.

So he slipped it under her door instead.

( Read more... )

Laura pulled the blanket that she had grabbed from the Mocha around her tighter. It wasn't really that chilly but she still felt a cold grip inside. She was standing in front of the angel statue in the gardens alone at dusk, doing nothing, looking at nothing.

Lost patient. It did not happen very often to her. When it did, it was usually because there was nothing she could do anymore. She wasn't a magician after all even if she wanted to be. Thoughts like that hardly helped - every time it happened it felt like a cold towel slapped on her face. She was too realistic and brusque to let it bring her down but now less than three hours since the patient had died in the middle of her surgery it still weighed heavily.

Two days. It had been two days and already she could feel the edges of her life fraying, the great big gaping hole where Adam should be deepening as if it would swallow her whole. The ice raged inside, and sleeping was stupidly difficult. Icene stirred her coffee and sighed, she had another four long months of this to get through, and heaven alone knew what Adam was going to be doing for those months. Well, other than living in one of the hottest places, temperature and danger wise, he was probably relaxing and maybe, if she was lucky, wishing she was there to cool things down a bit.

She snorted a little, a half hearted attempt at laughter, and pulled the morning papers towards her again. Still a while before she could go to work, but then, she'd been here for a while now. She looked up as someone else came into the mocha, there weren't normally that many people who would be up at this time of day she thought. It was barely 6am as it was!

Adam hadn't needed an alarm, he'd laid awake most of the night, unable to sleep. Finally, when he couldn't linger any longer he slipped quietly from the bed and silently got dressed. Putting on his travel uniform, in all its stiff khaki glory, didn't fill him with the same sense of pride that it usually did.

He felt...empty. And kind of tired.

From the corner of the room, where he'd banished it Saturday night, Adam picked up his bag, draping the heavy canvas strap over one shoulder.

He looked back at the bed, at the mop of pale hair just sticking out from the under the covers. He watched her as long as he dared, knowing it would have to last him the next four months, then he shifted the bag slightly and left quickly, not trusting himself to linger any longer.

In the Lobby, Joe was waiting, sipping a cup of coffee, and holding another for Adam. They stood together for little while in silence, drinking and avoiding conversation. Then Adam pulled an envelope out of his pocket and passed it to his brother. Knowing what it was for, Joe slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket. Then he nodded toward the garage.

"Ready?" Joe sounded tired too.

"No," Adam replied, but he started walking anyway.

Adam's conversation with Eris in the poolhouse had been tough, but, in its own way, it had been clarifying. There were some things he felt he understood better now that he'd had to face them directly and he lie awake, thinking about them, as he held Icene close.

He still had a few minutes before her alarm would go off and he enjoyed simply holding her in his arms quietly, simply because he could. He rubbed her cornsilk hair between his fingertips and stared at the ceiling, with a lilting smile on his face as he traced the cracks in the ceiling with his eyes.

He couldn't quite remember how they'd gotten there....

After a round of goodbyes, and spot of crying courtesy of his mother, Adam and Icene loaded their bags and climbed once more into the fire engine red truck (lovingly nicknamed Selma) to set off for home.

Driving, Adam's attention was on the road, and for a good solid ten minutes silence reigned in the cabin, then, when the truck paused at a red light, he glanced over at Icene.

"So...wanna run screaming yet?"

Curled up together in his wide bed, Adam and Icene were all set for bed...save of course for the way Adam was nibbling on the back of her neck and murmuring questions at her.

"So," he asked, nuzzling at her nair. "Did you get the time off?"

First thing in the morning, as the business crowd was milling about in their snappy suits, a yawning Marine in his full dress uniform clicked his way across the Lobby, pulling on sharp white gloves and tucking the stiff brimmed hat under his arm as he crossed to Mocha and joined the queue.

This would probably be his only chance to eat or drink all day, he planned on making the best of it.

She'd pulled up at the gates and before they could even offer told them quite clearly not to call him. It was so hard to surprise him at work, but she was determined to do that at least once before he left. So much so that she wasn't even wearing her regular black jeans and boots outfit, but a deep green court suit and cream blouse, and some stupidly (for her) high black heels.

She parked up, and then headed back to the gatehouse to check her gun, since she knew damn well they weren't going to let her anywhere else with it still on her. That of course necessitated yet another round of asking them not to call Adam to let him know she was here, that she wanted to surprise him, and honestly, they had her gun, what did they think she was gonna do? Kiss him to death? The last got a laugh, and with some wolf whistles and applause Icene walked into the base to see if she could remember the way to Adam's office. Of course she could, and she was somehow able to walk along the corridor outside without her heels clacking on the floor, although she was glad nobody had seen her, tiptoeing in three inch heels, honestly!

She stood in the doorway, did he always leave the door open, and watched him for a minute, then she leaned against the door frame and smiled, "Well hello there, hard at work I see?"

Collecting the mail was a chore. It wasn't so much that Fin didn't like getting letters, though he was very wary of the contents, but having to wade through all the junk that came with them got on his nerves.

Also there was something about the mail room then made him edgy.

He opened his box, and took out the sheaf of paper inside then locked it again and began to go through the contents piece by piece, sorting them carefully by size.