Face to Face (Aidan)
It had been weeks since she first saw Aidan Waite on the streets of the City - and days since she'd spoken to John about it. His response had settled all throughout her until she was saturated with it. She lost sleep over it - over all of it, the implications, the probability of its truth - all of it. And, in the end, she came to conclusions.
She needed to see Aidan. There were things left unsaid.
There was entirely too much time spent on preparation. She scrubbed her skin - every part of it - until it was glowing, then carefully brush-dried her hair straight and smooth. She had long ago given up cosmetics. They'd been difficult enough to find in London, and they had been all but impossible on that dying planet, and then truly impossible on the island. Now that she had full access to it here in the City, she found that she didn't want it.
But she dressed very carefully. The soft black pants were slim, but on her frame seemed fluid and graceful instead of stern. The sleeveless blouse was satin under a navy blue bit of flotsam, too sheer and delicate for any sort of work. Perhaps that's why she'd selected it. The clothing made her feel... less like a worker. More like... something else. Maybe something beautiful, or at least, something that could have been beautiful once. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, then turned away, pushing her hair over her shoulder as she bent down to slip on a pair of low heels. It was time to go.
The grand hotel she remembered was easy enough to find. The doorman took one look at her, then opened the door immediately. She walked through the lobby as if she belonged, and with the way she was dressed, she felt like she might. There was a sharp-eyed attendant at the desk who gave her a long scrutiny, but she returned his stare with a cold, hard look of her own, and he turned away with a touch of an index finger to his nose.
She took the elevator up. She knew exactly where to go. The thick carpeting muted her heels as she walked. Three times, she rapped her knuckles against the door she knew, after some research, was Aidan Waite's.