Taylor walked around a corner and collided with Danny who was running out of a lab, knocking her to the floor. “Desperate to make a phone call?” she asked him as he helped her to her feet.
“Sorry, Taylor, can’t stop – I think I’ve got a lead,” Danny told her before taking off again. “And that’s not funny,” he yelled over his shoulder as he disappeared from sight.
Sniggering to herself, Taylor carried on... until she spotted Mac. Quickly she ducked into the nearest room – this time it was Stella’s office. “Taylor? What are you doing here?”
Taylor smiled sheepishly. “Avoiding Mac.”
“You’re not doing something you’re not supposed to be doing, are you?”
Taylor gave the question some consideration. “By whose definition? Because the ghost wants me to help, but Mac doesn’t.”
Stella laughed. “And that’s why you’re creeping around? I’ve spotted you ducking into various rooms throughout the day. I thought you were avoiding Flack,” she explained.
“Well, I kind of am, but only because he thinks I’m not here,” Taylor admitted.
There was a knock at the door and Taylor dove behind Stella’s desk. “Taylor, it’s Frankie, and it’s also a glass door,” she laughed as Frankie came in.
Taylor popped her head up, “I knew that!” she exclaimed. “I was just, uh, just looking for a contact.”
“Behind Stella’s desk?” Frankie asked.
“Well, it’s not here,” Taylor said brightly, ignoring the burning sensation from her cheeks, as she got to her feet and headed for the door. Part of the way there, she spotted the box in Frankie’s arms, just as Stella did.
“What have you got there?” Stella asked.
“See for yourself,” Frankie told her, setting it down on the table.
Full of curiosity, Taylor hesitated in the doorway, wondering what was in the box.
Stella pulled the lid off and pulled out a sculpture, “Oh my God. Frankie, that’s beautiful.”
Beautiful was the last thing Taylor would have called it. It was ugly… in a… nope, it was just plain ugly.
“It’s called an Aresanob,” Frankie explained. “The many faces represent your amazing vision of the world, the coarse orange scales represent your tough, outer armour, and the solid white skull is your pure angelic soul.”
“Aresanob?” Stella repeated softly, admiring the creation.
“It’s Peruvian. It means ‘soul of a woman’.”
Taylor decided it was time to leave. Before the soul erupted from the… thing… and attacked her. As she left Stella’s office and turned a corner, she spotted Mac storming out of the interview room, before she had a chance to hide out of the way. Thankfully, he didn’t spot her, heading in the opposite direction.
Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, which was quickly cut short as her cell phone started ringing and she jumped. “Flack!” she cried down the phone.
“What?”
“Don’t scare me like that!” she told him.
“I, uh… what?”
“Never mind,” Taylor collapsed against a wall. “What’s up?”
“Look, all this uh… being out in the field has worn me out. I’m just going to go back to mine tonight.”
“Are you alright?” Taylor asked urgently, knowing Flack wouldn’t be telling her otherwise if it wasn’t the case.
“Yeah, I uh, I’m just tired – that’s all. I’m going to get an early night.”
“Do you want me to-”
“No,” Flack cut her off. “It’s alright, I’m practically at home anyway, and seeing as you’re at yours… by the time you get here, I’ll be asleep.”
“Alright,” said Taylor, “Call me if you need anything.” She hung up with a frown, wondering if he was really alright, and if she should go over there. But he had asked her not to…She slipped her cell phone back into her pocket.
“Thank you,” came the voice of Sean Hovac.
Taylor jumped again. “No problem,” she told him, trying to calm herself.
“He’s in surgery.”
Taylor frowned, still distracted by Flack’s phone call. “Who is?”
“The liver recipient. He’s in surgery.”
“Oh, good,” Taylor said, realising what he was talking about, just as he disappeared. She shook her head, feeling a little rude at the abrupt conversation, but seeing as there was nothing she could do, she decided that it was time to go home. Before Mac spotted her.
Or at least she would have done if the gossip queens hadn’t caught her attention.
“First day back on the job and look at him.”
“I know! It’s such a shame that that pretty face had to get messed up again.”
“You know, he wasn’t actually supposed to be back in the field until Thursday.”
“Really? I wonder how his girlfriend is taking that?”
“Have you not noticed that she’d been lurking around the lab all day, spying on him?”
Taylor had heard enough at pretty face get messed up again. Did that mean what she thought it did – that he had been hit? Taylor didn’t know if she wanted to murder him, or mother him. With a sigh, she took the third option.
Making sure she wasn’t spotted, she hurried to her locker and grabbed her gym clothes before heading to the building’s gym. Well, he didn’t want to see her, did he?
Three hours later, her arms were aching from punching a punching bag as hard as she could, and currently her legs felt like they were going to drop off (punching simply hadn’t had the same therapeutic properties as running did, and as she wasn’t daft enough to go running outside at this hour… again, she had opted for a machine).
Finally feeling a lot calmer, she slowed to a walk to cool off. As she caught her breath and wiped the sweat away, she realised that she had been a lot more stressed than she thought she was – she had clocked up several miles.
Wearily, she showered and changed before heading down and out onto the street where she hailed a cab. Halfway home, however, she changed her destination and by the small hours of the morning, she had paid the driver and was outside of Flack’s apartment building.
Taylor hammered his call button impatiently, well aware that the reason he was taking so long to answer was because he was asleep.
His gruffy voice as he answered confirmed that. “Y’ello?”
“Flack, it’s me.”
“Taylor?”
“Yeah. Let me in,” she told him firmly.
“What are you doing here at this time?”
“Currently: freezing to death, so hurry up and let me in.”
There was a long pause, “I thought I asked you not to come around tonight?”
“About that,” said Taylor. “Is that because you have a headache from being kicked in the head, or because you don’t want me to see your black eye?”
There was an even longer pause.
“Flack?” Taylor grunted as she hammered at the call button. The next minute, the door was opened and Flack appeared dressed in a pair of blue, silk pyjamas. And sporting a very nasty black eye.
Determined not to cave, she glared at him. “Did you have any intention of telling me, or were you just going to avoid me for the next week?” Flack sighed and stepped to one side to let her in, and followed her to the elevator. “If this were the other way around, how mad would you be?”
“If this were the other way around, I would be fuming, seeing as you had tackled a suspect when it wasn’t your job. However,” he added, cutting Taylor off before she could speak. “We made an agreement that we wouldn’t keep going through this, and so I wouldn’t have said anything.” The two exited the elevator and headed towards Flack’s door, which was propped open with a shoe. “So why are you allowed to break the agreement?”
“Flack!” Taylor exploded, “I’m not mad at you because you got hurt, I’m mad because you tried to hide it!”
“Do you mind?” interrupted one of Flack’s neighbours. “It’s three am. Some people have to sleep.”
“Sorry Frank,” Flack apologised as he ushered Taylor into his apartment and to the kitchen. He had long ago learned that if you wanted to have a ‘heated discussion’ the kitchen was the room the neighbours couldn’t hear you in.
Taylor stormed in and began pacing the kitchen. “Flack, the reason I didn’t agree to go out with you sooner was because of trust issues. If I’ve made a mistake, tell me now, before I get even… before this goes any further.”
Flack grabbed her shoulders, stopping her pacing. “Taylor, I love you, and I trust with you. With my life. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t trust you. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Flack, I found out from those blasted gossip queens! Christ, Flack. If it wasn’t for the fact I was in the lab and happened to overhear…” she trailed off at Flack’s arched eyebrows and swore under her breath.
“You were in the lab?” Flack repeated, sounding strangely calm.
Taylor winced. “Yeah.”
“And why were you in the lab? Especially as Mac asked you to go home.”
“Because I couldn’t help the ghost from home?” she offered. Flack smiled at her. “Alright,” said Taylor slowly. “That’s not quite the reaction I was expecting.”
“We’re even.”
“You can’t just… but...” Taylor sputtered. “Ugh, fine.” She backed up and heaved herself up on his kitchen counter.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re cute when you’re angry?” He asked, his head cocked, a lazy smile on his face.
Taylor arched her eyebrows. “And has anyone ever told you, you have beautiful eyes?”
Flack frowned at her, wondering exactly what she was one about. And then it clicked. “You were watching that interview?”
Taylor nodded, “Yup.”
“Damnit, Taylor, I swear you know more about what’s going on in that lab than even Mac does.”
“Probably not... actually,” she frowned. “There are a few things I know that he doesn’t.”
“Want to share them with me?”
“Not my secrets to tell,” she told him apologetically.
Flack nodded. “You should be careful, though.”
“Careful?”
“Yeah, you’re too curious for your own good,” Flack pointed out.
“I’m a journalist. Curiosity is like... part of my DNA, or something.”
Flack crossed his arms. “And look what curiosity did to the cat.”
Taylor glared back at him. “Well, it’s a good job I’m not a cat then, isn’t it.”
“Well, aside from the fact I’d be allergic to you, you’d probably be better off being a cat - at least then you’d have more than one life.” Taylor just continued to glare at him. Flack grinned. “You really are cute when you’re angry.”
“Cute?” Taylor repeated. “Stop calling me cute.”
“You don’t want to be cute?” Flack asked in amusement.
“No, I want to be intimidating or threatening… or at least… stop laughing at me!” she glared at him as she punched his shoulder.
Flack just laughed harder. “I can’t help it. It’s too cute.”
“You know, I came over here to see if you were alright, to see to your wounds,” Taylor grumbled.
Flack’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you’re wearing that nurse’s outfit?”
“Does it look like I’m wearing a nurse’s outfit, doofas?”
Flack stepped closer, and began to pull her coat off, slipping his hands under her top. “I don’t know, let’s find out.”
“Sorry, Taylor, can’t stop – I think I’ve got a lead,” Danny told her before taking off again. “And that’s not funny,” he yelled over his shoulder as he disappeared from sight.
Sniggering to herself, Taylor carried on... until she spotted Mac. Quickly she ducked into the nearest room – this time it was Stella’s office. “Taylor? What are you doing here?”
Taylor smiled sheepishly. “Avoiding Mac.”
“You’re not doing something you’re not supposed to be doing, are you?”
Taylor gave the question some consideration. “By whose definition? Because the ghost wants me to help, but Mac doesn’t.”
Stella laughed. “And that’s why you’re creeping around? I’ve spotted you ducking into various rooms throughout the day. I thought you were avoiding Flack,” she explained.
“Well, I kind of am, but only because he thinks I’m not here,” Taylor admitted.
There was a knock at the door and Taylor dove behind Stella’s desk. “Taylor, it’s Frankie, and it’s also a glass door,” she laughed as Frankie came in.
Taylor popped her head up, “I knew that!” she exclaimed. “I was just, uh, just looking for a contact.”
“Behind Stella’s desk?” Frankie asked.
“Well, it’s not here,” Taylor said brightly, ignoring the burning sensation from her cheeks, as she got to her feet and headed for the door. Part of the way there, she spotted the box in Frankie’s arms, just as Stella did.
“What have you got there?” Stella asked.
“See for yourself,” Frankie told her, setting it down on the table.
Full of curiosity, Taylor hesitated in the doorway, wondering what was in the box.
Stella pulled the lid off and pulled out a sculpture, “Oh my God. Frankie, that’s beautiful.”
Beautiful was the last thing Taylor would have called it. It was ugly… in a… nope, it was just plain ugly.
“It’s called an Aresanob,” Frankie explained. “The many faces represent your amazing vision of the world, the coarse orange scales represent your tough, outer armour, and the solid white skull is your pure angelic soul.”
“Aresanob?” Stella repeated softly, admiring the creation.
“It’s Peruvian. It means ‘soul of a woman’.”
Taylor decided it was time to leave. Before the soul erupted from the… thing… and attacked her. As she left Stella’s office and turned a corner, she spotted Mac storming out of the interview room, before she had a chance to hide out of the way. Thankfully, he didn’t spot her, heading in the opposite direction.
Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, which was quickly cut short as her cell phone started ringing and she jumped. “Flack!” she cried down the phone.
“What?”
“Don’t scare me like that!” she told him.
“I, uh… what?”
“Never mind,” Taylor collapsed against a wall. “What’s up?”
“Look, all this uh… being out in the field has worn me out. I’m just going to go back to mine tonight.”
“Are you alright?” Taylor asked urgently, knowing Flack wouldn’t be telling her otherwise if it wasn’t the case.
“Yeah, I uh, I’m just tired – that’s all. I’m going to get an early night.”
“Do you want me to-”
“No,” Flack cut her off. “It’s alright, I’m practically at home anyway, and seeing as you’re at yours… by the time you get here, I’ll be asleep.”
“Alright,” said Taylor, “Call me if you need anything.” She hung up with a frown, wondering if he was really alright, and if she should go over there. But he had asked her not to…She slipped her cell phone back into her pocket.
“Thank you,” came the voice of Sean Hovac.
Taylor jumped again. “No problem,” she told him, trying to calm herself.
“He’s in surgery.”
Taylor frowned, still distracted by Flack’s phone call. “Who is?”
“The liver recipient. He’s in surgery.”
“Oh, good,” Taylor said, realising what he was talking about, just as he disappeared. She shook her head, feeling a little rude at the abrupt conversation, but seeing as there was nothing she could do, she decided that it was time to go home. Before Mac spotted her.
Or at least she would have done if the gossip queens hadn’t caught her attention.
“First day back on the job and look at him.”
“I know! It’s such a shame that that pretty face had to get messed up again.”
“You know, he wasn’t actually supposed to be back in the field until Thursday.”
“Really? I wonder how his girlfriend is taking that?”
“Have you not noticed that she’d been lurking around the lab all day, spying on him?”
Taylor had heard enough at pretty face get messed up again. Did that mean what she thought it did – that he had been hit? Taylor didn’t know if she wanted to murder him, or mother him. With a sigh, she took the third option.
Making sure she wasn’t spotted, she hurried to her locker and grabbed her gym clothes before heading to the building’s gym. Well, he didn’t want to see her, did he?
Three hours later, her arms were aching from punching a punching bag as hard as she could, and currently her legs felt like they were going to drop off (punching simply hadn’t had the same therapeutic properties as running did, and as she wasn’t daft enough to go running outside at this hour… again, she had opted for a machine).
Finally feeling a lot calmer, she slowed to a walk to cool off. As she caught her breath and wiped the sweat away, she realised that she had been a lot more stressed than she thought she was – she had clocked up several miles.
Wearily, she showered and changed before heading down and out onto the street where she hailed a cab. Halfway home, however, she changed her destination and by the small hours of the morning, she had paid the driver and was outside of Flack’s apartment building.
Taylor hammered his call button impatiently, well aware that the reason he was taking so long to answer was because he was asleep.
His gruffy voice as he answered confirmed that. “Y’ello?”
“Flack, it’s me.”
“Taylor?”
“Yeah. Let me in,” she told him firmly.
“What are you doing here at this time?”
“Currently: freezing to death, so hurry up and let me in.”
There was a long pause, “I thought I asked you not to come around tonight?”
“About that,” said Taylor. “Is that because you have a headache from being kicked in the head, or because you don’t want me to see your black eye?”
There was an even longer pause.
“Flack?” Taylor grunted as she hammered at the call button. The next minute, the door was opened and Flack appeared dressed in a pair of blue, silk pyjamas. And sporting a very nasty black eye.
Determined not to cave, she glared at him. “Did you have any intention of telling me, or were you just going to avoid me for the next week?” Flack sighed and stepped to one side to let her in, and followed her to the elevator. “If this were the other way around, how mad would you be?”
“If this were the other way around, I would be fuming, seeing as you had tackled a suspect when it wasn’t your job. However,” he added, cutting Taylor off before she could speak. “We made an agreement that we wouldn’t keep going through this, and so I wouldn’t have said anything.” The two exited the elevator and headed towards Flack’s door, which was propped open with a shoe. “So why are you allowed to break the agreement?”
“Flack!” Taylor exploded, “I’m not mad at you because you got hurt, I’m mad because you tried to hide it!”
“Do you mind?” interrupted one of Flack’s neighbours. “It’s three am. Some people have to sleep.”
“Sorry Frank,” Flack apologised as he ushered Taylor into his apartment and to the kitchen. He had long ago learned that if you wanted to have a ‘heated discussion’ the kitchen was the room the neighbours couldn’t hear you in.
Taylor stormed in and began pacing the kitchen. “Flack, the reason I didn’t agree to go out with you sooner was because of trust issues. If I’ve made a mistake, tell me now, before I get even… before this goes any further.”
Flack grabbed her shoulders, stopping her pacing. “Taylor, I love you, and I trust with you. With my life. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t trust you. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Flack, I found out from those blasted gossip queens! Christ, Flack. If it wasn’t for the fact I was in the lab and happened to overhear…” she trailed off at Flack’s arched eyebrows and swore under her breath.
“You were in the lab?” Flack repeated, sounding strangely calm.
Taylor winced. “Yeah.”
“And why were you in the lab? Especially as Mac asked you to go home.”
“Because I couldn’t help the ghost from home?” she offered. Flack smiled at her. “Alright,” said Taylor slowly. “That’s not quite the reaction I was expecting.”
“We’re even.”
“You can’t just… but...” Taylor sputtered. “Ugh, fine.” She backed up and heaved herself up on his kitchen counter.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re cute when you’re angry?” He asked, his head cocked, a lazy smile on his face.
Taylor arched her eyebrows. “And has anyone ever told you, you have beautiful eyes?”
Flack frowned at her, wondering exactly what she was one about. And then it clicked. “You were watching that interview?”
Taylor nodded, “Yup.”
“Damnit, Taylor, I swear you know more about what’s going on in that lab than even Mac does.”
“Probably not... actually,” she frowned. “There are a few things I know that he doesn’t.”
“Want to share them with me?”
“Not my secrets to tell,” she told him apologetically.
Flack nodded. “You should be careful, though.”
“Careful?”
“Yeah, you’re too curious for your own good,” Flack pointed out.
“I’m a journalist. Curiosity is like... part of my DNA, or something.”
Flack crossed his arms. “And look what curiosity did to the cat.”
Taylor glared back at him. “Well, it’s a good job I’m not a cat then, isn’t it.”
“Well, aside from the fact I’d be allergic to you, you’d probably be better off being a cat - at least then you’d have more than one life.” Taylor just continued to glare at him. Flack grinned. “You really are cute when you’re angry.”
“Cute?” Taylor repeated. “Stop calling me cute.”
“You don’t want to be cute?” Flack asked in amusement.
“No, I want to be intimidating or threatening… or at least… stop laughing at me!” she glared at him as she punched his shoulder.
Flack just laughed harder. “I can’t help it. It’s too cute.”
“You know, I came over here to see if you were alright, to see to your wounds,” Taylor grumbled.
Flack’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you’re wearing that nurse’s outfit?”
“Does it look like I’m wearing a nurse’s outfit, doofas?”
Flack stepped closer, and began to pull her coat off, slipping his hands under her top. “I don’t know, let’s find out.”
Originally posted 02/09/2006