Author's Note: Phew! I finally got this updated! Fair warning, this chapter is wordy compared to previous ones. My aim is to keep them shorter than this, but since I like to include both what Boyd & Susan are up to as well as Blair in a given chapter, it didn't feel right splitting it.
This is also pretty much the transition point where the 'prequel' backstory that took place prior to starting the game ends, and events from my game play in the save this is based on start factoring in. In said save, I played Boyd and Susan's household only, but with NRaas story progression running, I got regular updates on Blair's life as well, so she will still be as much of a focus as she has been throughout it. I hope you get a kick out of the twists and turns of the story as it goes from here. Thanks for reading!
Brilliant Minds: The Wainwrights of Sunset Valley
Chapter 9
Now that their vacation was over and they were back in Sunset Valley, it was back to the grind for Boyd and Susan. Both came back to work with a pile of stuff on their desk, messages to go through, and plenty of lab gossip to catch up on upon their return. Judy called Susan into a meeting first thing, while Boyd started in on an analysis that had a looming deadline.
Madison, the lab tech assigned to help on Boyd’s projects, was already there when he arrived. She had been working with him for a few months now, and although they did not have much in common, they had a friendly rapport. Madison was easy to get along with, if not a bit prissy and clumsy at times, but she was enthusiastic and had a playful outlook on things that reminded Boyd a little of Blair, especially since she was not all that much older than her. “Welcome back,” she greeted him. “How were the islands?”
“Sunny, picturesque, and relaxing. Seeing the marine life up close was fascinating, even if scuba diving itself is kind of nerve wracking. Especially when there are sharks involved.” He shuddered. “One swam a little too close for comfort. I could live without ever seeing a shark again, except for maybe on TV.” He went over to the white board to work out a calculation. “So, what did I miss last week?”
“The end-of-quarter freezer sample inventory, some guy turning in a pink diamond he found up in the hills by the beach—seriously, why are the only rocks I ever find the annoying kind that get in my shoes, and not gemstones worth a small fortune?” She made a face. “You also missed a really long and boring department meeting on Friday afternoon.”
“Oh. What a shame.” Boyd tried to hide his smirk; he and Susan had deliberately picked the week of the monthly department meeting for their vacation. Their boss, Judy, was notoriously thorough, and her meetings were always tedious to sit through. Even Susan had trouble staying awake in them, and she was probably the most diligent employee Landgraab Industries had.
“I know, right? It dragged on for over two hours. I almost fell asleep, but Gobias woke me up before Judy saw.” She sighed. “Staying up until 2 in the morning the night before probably didn’t help, but my new boyfriend likes to go out and stay out late. He’s kind of a partier. But he’s so much fun,” Madison gushed. “I wish my roommate would stop going on about him, though. She doesn’t like him and thinks he’s a jerk.”
“And I take it he’s not, if you’re seeing him?” Although Boyd was not particularly interested in Madison’s personal life, he knew from experience that she would talk about it anyway. She could be quite the chatterbox.
Madison bit her lip. “Well… he can be a little sarcastic and mean sometimes, I guess, but that’s just moods he gets in. He’s not a bad guy. He just doesn’t always think before he talks.” She giggled. “And he’s cute.”
“My daughter dated someone like that,” Boyd remarked, thinking of Cycl0n3.
“How’d it turn out?”
“Fine while they were together. He put his foot in his mouth sometimes, but luckily for him, Blair’s pretty forgiving. They’re still friends. Close enough that she lives with him and some other roommates.” Boyd still questioned the wisdom of that, but Blair seemed to be handling it all right so far.
“She must really care about him, then.” Madison smiled. “That’s how I feel about Jared. I know he rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but he’s not this monster people like his ex make him out to be.” She frowned. “Jared says she’s just bitter, and lies and exaggerates stuff all out of proportion. My roommate works with his ex, so she’s heard her go on about him. But she’s totally biased! She doesn’t even know him! His ex gets all the sympathy just because she’s pregnant. It’s not like Jared even
knew. She found out about it after they broke up.”
Boyd raised an eyebrow. To him, Madison’s dating situation sounded like a drama minefield, one that would make good fodder for one of those daytime talk shows where angry exes shouted about paternity and lie detector test results. “It sounds like a complicated situation.”
“It is, but it’s all right. He and I have been friends for a while, you know, and it was actually this whole thing with his ex that made him realize how much he cared about me. He told me I’ve been the only one really there for him. Even his brother, who’s usually such a sweetie and really supportive of him, is giving him a hard time.”
Boyd was not sure what to say to that, so he was relieved when Gobias came in and ended the conversation for them.
“Hey, guys. Did Judy break the big news to you yet?”
Boyd and Madison exchanged puzzled looks. “Nope.”
“What news?” Boyd asked.
“Ah. I’ll take that as a no.”
Madison gave him a pointed look. “You could always tell us.”
“Please do,” Boyd added. “Otherwise I’m going to imagine nothing but worst-case scenarios, and on my first day back from vacation, I’d rather not.”
“Oh, it’s nothing catastrophic, Boyd,” Gobias said with a laugh. “Just boils down to extra work. Some of it related to the higher-ups wanting more ways to measure our progress in economic terms, like Judy was saying at the meeting last week. Be glad you missed that one. Ugh. It was a doozy. Maddie here almost started snoring in the middle of it.”
“I was
not snoring,” she protested haughtily. “I wasn’t even asleep.”
Gobias laughed. “I guess you were just watching that fascinating power point presentation with your eyes closed, then?” He looked at Boyd. “Anyway, we’ve now got to justify the expenditures of our projects with measurable progress and results according to these criteria some accounting guy in corporate came up with.”
Boyd groaned. “Oh, great. How much time are we going to be wasting with paperwork to prove how efficient we are?”
“Enough to counteract any hope of efficiency,” Gobias replied wryly. “That’s not all, though. Judy’s probably telling Susan now…”
In one of Landgraab Industries’ meeting rooms, Susan sat down at a table with Judy. “Welcome back from vacation, Susan. I hope you and Boyd had a good time.”
“We had a wonderful time,” Susan replied. “The islands are beautiful, and Sparkling Sands is a great resort. If you ever get a chance to go to Isla Paradiso, you should stay there. The service and amenities were excellent. Have you ever had a volcanic mud bath in an island spa? Now I can say that I have, and it was worth every penny.”
Judy let out a small laugh. “Well, it sounds great, but Jack and I don’t really get to take those kinds of vacations. Not with all the kids and our schedules. If we can coordinate a trip to Llama World for the family for the week, it’s a small miracle. But they’re worth it.” She set her folder down at the table. “Speaking of which, that’s got something to do with the reason I called you in here.”
Susan gave her a questioning look. “Oh?”
A bright smile lit up Judy’s face. “I’m going out on maternity leave as of next week. Jack and I are having another baby.”
“A baby. Wow.” Susan was surprised, even though she remembered Judy mentioning that she was thinking about having another child not long ago. It had surprised her then, too. Not only because Judy already had four children ranging from a few years younger than Blair to as little as six years old, but also because she and Boyd used to feel overwhelmed raising just one at times. Susan supposed that some were more cut out for parenthood than others, and that Judy was one of those who was. Susan could barely imagine what it would be like to have a baby at that point in her life. “Congratulations,” she told Judy. “You must be very happy.”
“Oh, we’re thrilled! We’ve been wanting just one more. I love kids, and having a big family.”
“Well, you certainly have that.” Susan made a mental note to message Jack with congratulations on SimBook later.
“I do. And I know I’m going to miss Ethan when he goes off to University in a couple of years, or moves out. Having the youngest to take care of will keep me going until the grandkids start coming along.” She gave Susan a sympathetic look. “I can only imagine what it must’ve been like for you with Blair moving out.”
“I miss her sometimes, but she’s on SimBook a lot, and Boyd and I talk to her on the phone pretty often.” She chuckled. “Although I’m in no rush to be a grandparent. I like to think I look too young to be ‘Grandma’ to anyone.”
“Well, I don’t think any of us want to
look like Grandma,” Judy joked back. “But I bet you’ll be proud whenever she does get married and give you and Boyd some grandkids to spoil.” She glanced at the clock. “Anyway, I know that my going out on maternity leave will put some strain on the workload here, and it’s at a time when we really don’t need it. I went over this at the meeting last week while you and Boyd were on vacation, but since you missed it, here’s what’s going on. The Landgraabs are taking an interest in Landgraab Industries again. Back in the day, Chester Landgraab kept tabs on the project pipeline here, but in the years since he passed, they’ve been more hands-off. Nancy Landgraab doesn’t have the medical background her father did, and her pet projects haven’t ever been in our line of work. But I guess the hit we took in the market last quarter caught her eye, and as a primary shareholder, she rattled the suits up in corporate about our productivity and efficiency. Never mind that scientific research can’t and shouldn’t be done assembly line style, but try explaining that to a board that has more members with MBAs than PhDs.”
Susan cringed. “Oh, no.”
“That was my reaction,” Judy said. “As your department head, I now have to report on the viability and potential profitability of all the projects everyone reporting to me is assigned to, and also justify my headcount. As in, do I need as many employees as I have, and if so, why are they an asset to the company more so than someone else in another department? Because we were told we have to cut 10% across the board, but they’re ‘reasonable’ enough to not make each department lay off 10% of their staff. It’s going to be by what projects and employees look the best and worst on the financial spreadsheet.” She let out a weary sigh. “I hate this. An employee isn’t even something you can quantify like that, but for instance, even though you and Boyd have worked here for twenty years and have so much experience, your unfinished degrees put you at just barely more desirable than a relatively new hire with one, like someone who’s got a degree but only a few years of experience.”
“What?!” Susan was outraged. “Even though we’re working on them, and just logged a couple of credits for continuing education with our diving and fishing classes in Isla Paradiso? Which was technically working while on vacation?”
“I know,” Judy said, shaking her head. “Believe me, I know what you both contribute. You’re one of the hardest workers in this place. There were a few things I wanted to say about it, but after the accountant pointed out my lack of degree to the whole room in a condescending tone, I realized he’d probably just note me down as not being a ‘team player’ or some nonsense, and take it out on my staff.” She tapped at her folder. “The good news is that your research is solid, and it’s been producing results. Same with Boyd’s. It also looks good that you’ve been working on your degrees. But it’ll look better if you can finish them before the end of the year, when we have to file the next productivity report.”
“That soon? We both have 18 credits left. We’d have to attend a full semester in the fall to do that.”
“I know it’s inconvenient timing, especially considering I’ll be out on maternity leave, but if there’s a way you could do that, we can arrange a light remote work load where you just check in a few hours a week. It’ll make you look even more diligent and dedicated. My supervisor was the one who suggested that to me, as a way for you and Boyd to keep your positions secure. With a completed degree and your experience, you’d both be not only gold star employees on paper, but up for a promotion. They want to put you on my level, Susan, but not until your degree is completed.” She paused. “If you’re concerned about your projects, Gobias will be overseeing them since he’s the most experienced. Madison and Christopher both need some more responsibility to justify their positions, and we’re confident they’re up to handling the grunt work involved. But of course, this all depends on whether you and Boyd can do it.”
Susan thought for a moment. Although they had planned to finish their degrees in the near future, now that Blair had moved out, it seemed that fate wanted to ensure that they got right on it. “I think we can.”
“I’m glad,” Judy said with a breath of relief. “If you do, our department will be one of the best here, on paper and in practice, and none of you will have to worry about a thing as far as job security goes. Thanks, Susan. I knew I could count on you.”
Susan straightened. “Do you want me to send Boyd in to talk to you?”
“Actually, you can go ahead and tell him. I know the two of you need to make your own plans and arrangements, and it’ll free me up to work on rearranging the project load. Let me know after you’ve worked out the details, okay?”
After she left the meeting room, Susan found Boyd in his lab, working on an analysis. “Hi, honey. How busy are you right now? Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure. Give me a minute to finish this sequence.” He double-checked the screen against what he had just typed. “So, I hear Judy’s going out on maternity leave soon. Can you believe it? They’re going to have five kids.”
Susan smirked. “No one can say the Bunches don’t have an apt surname.”
Boyd straightened and turned toward Susan. “True enough. So what did you need to talk about?”
“Let’s go into your office. You’ll probably want to sit down.”
“That sounds ominous,” he said as he followed Susan into the adjoining room.
“So, here’s the deal.” Susan proceeded to explain the situation as Judy had explained it to her. “If we want to make sure our positions here stay secure, we have to sign up for a full semester at Sims U this fall, and finish our degrees. We’ll be set and promoted if we do, and out of danger because it’ll make our department look really good, but if we don’t…”
“Looking anything less than spectacular puts us at risk of being the headcount on the chopping block,” Boyd finished.
“Pretty much.”
“I guess there are worse job assignments than to go take classes you were planning on taking eventually anyway,” Boyd mused. “At least they didn’t drop this on us until after Blair graduated. Maybe we can get some grants or scholarships to help cover the bills while we’re there.” He frowned. “If we’ve got to live there for a semester, that’s short notice to find a place to stay. I know you don’t want to live in a dorm any more than I do.”
“Probably less,” Susan replied with a look of distaste at the thought. “Shared bathrooms and kitchens, and a small room with thin walls that force us to hear juiced-up college kids hollering at all hours of the night? No thank you.”
“Don’t forget the rich microbial ecosystem that you’re likely to find in every mattress in said dorm,” Boyd said with a shudder.
“Thank you for
that lovely mental image, dear.” Susan winced. “I’m sure we can find an off-campus house or apartment to rent. Hopefully one that doesn’t have milk-crate furniture. I’ll start looking tonight when we get home.”
Blair came home from work ready to relax. It had not been a particularly bad or tiring day, but it had its share of small annoyances, and she was glad to be home. She almost collided with Stiles as she came in the door, while he was on his way out.
“Whoa. Sorry,” he said, stepping back. “I didn’t see you coming. My carpool’s waiting, but I got halfway down here and realized I forgot the card with this new band manager’s number, and I’ve got to call him tonight since I couldn’t get him earlier.” He gave her a sheepish smile. “No excuse for almost knocking you over, though. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay.” Blair smiled back at Stiles. He had turned out to be a pleasant addition to the household. Although he tended to keep to himself, and she did not know him all that well yet, he was always polite and personable. He was also quite good on the guitar, and sometimes she could overhear him practicing alone in his room. The rich tunes he strummed out were quite catchy, and she would have liked to compliment him on them, but she never felt right bothering or interrupting him. More so than anyone else in their household, Blair understood what it was like to need personal space, and she imagined Stiles probably had his fill of dealing with other people in his line of work. She could certainly relate sometimes. She liked her job, but there were aspects of it that made her want to hide in her room and forget about the rest of the world for a while, too. “Have a good night, Stiles.”
He turned and gave her a warm look. “Yeah, you too, Blair. Thanks.”
She found the place strangely quiet and dark when she got upstairs. Blair knew Emma was working that evening, but both Tamara and Cycl0n3 should have gotten off of work around the same time she did, so she wondered where they were. Sometimes Tamara went out with friends after work, usually to a place like Mick’s karaoke bar or that new lounge that had opened downtown, but that wasn’t Cycl0n3’s kind of thing.
Her stomach rumbled, so she headed for the fridge. Emma had made cinnamon rolls earlier that morning, and while that was not an ideal dinner, some of Emma’s delicious home cooked junk food sounded great right about then. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be found. A quick glance in the dishwasher confirmed that they’d already been finished off. “Oh, great.” Blair debated ordering take-out or attempting to cook macaroni and cheese, and then decided she’d figure that out after getting changed out of her work clothes.
When she was on her way back downstairs, she heard what sounded like keys being slammed onto a counter and loud and angry muttering. “Cycl0n3? Are you okay?”
“Do I look okay?” Cycl0n3 snapped, whirling around to face her.
It was then that she saw that he was soaked from head to toe. “Oh. What happened?”
“Life,” he muttered. “My crap job. Everything.” He sighed. “I’m miserable, Blair. I hate this job. Do you have any idea how boring the stuff I do is? How mind-numbingly tedious? I’m so tired of it, and the office politics, too. They suck! Plain and simple. I’ve got to swallow so much bull that by the time I’m ready to leave, I want to punch someone’s face in. Or at least tell them what I really think. Every time I get ready to, Connor’s like, ‘Relax, it’s not worth it,’ and I let it go, but I swear, I’d have already cracked my keyboard over a few heads if he hadn’t stopped me. Today, despite a stupid deadline that was more unrealistic than thinking the latest TarzWar patch wouldn’t have bugs, I got my stuff done, only to have Victoria come over and harp on me over one misplaced comma, like I didn’t know that it could change context, when it was just a mistake.” He scowled. “I managed to not tell her where to shove her comma, but only because it was already ten minutes past quitting time, and I just wanted her to shut up. I still ended up missing my carpool, so I had to get a taxi. And I had no idea it was supposed to rain today, so I had no umbrella, so I was already soggy by the time my ride showed up. Then, to top it all off, when I finally got home, the jerk driving behind the taxi hits a puddle in front of our walk at full speed, and tsunamis me with it.” He took a deep breath, but he wasn’t done ranting. “So I come upstairs, thinking at least I can have one of those godlike cinnamon rolls Emma made to warm my cold, soaked soul, but no. Someone ate them all. Screw my life.”
Blair went over and gave Cycl0n3 a hug. It caught him off guard, but it also soothed his anger. He put his hand on her arm, and then turned to look at her, not quite letting go. “Blair, I’m all right. Just aggravated. Today really sucked.”
“I know,” she said softly. “Try to remember that this is just a temp job, and it’s not forever. Before long you’ll be going back to University.” She felt a bit wistful as she said it, thinking about how she would miss him.
Cycl0n3 looked away, his expression hard. “Actually… I won’t.”
Blair blinked in surprise. “What?”
“I’m not going back, Blair. Not yet, anyway.”
“Why not? I thought you were doing well there.”
Cycl0n3 let out a weary sigh. “I am. I was. I guess.” He slumped down on a bar stool by the counter. “But I’ve come to realize some things lately. I just… I just don’t want to go back.”
Blair was shocked. “You don’t? But why? I thought you were happy there last year.”
“It was all right. But it wasn’t… I don’t know. I just know I hate my job. I hate everything about what I’ve been doing all summer. I hated a lot of stuff in my classes, too, even though I did all right in them. I like writing, but I don’t think I like this career. I think maybe I’m just not cut out for journalism.”
“You’re a great writer, Cycl0n3. I’ve read your stuff.”
He gave her a half-smile. “You mean my crappy Simstar Galactica fanfiction I wrote in high school?”
“It wasn’t crappy,” she protested.
“It wasn’t great,” he admitted. “And I suspect you only read it to humor me. You didn’t even watch SSG.”
“My parents watched it and talked about it enough that I knew most of what was going on, and what I didn’t, you explained.”
“That’s not really the point, though,” Cycl0n3 said. “Journalism isn’t anything like writing sci-fi or fiction. Well, no. I take that back. Some of the articles I proof are so puffed up or obviously sponsored that they might as well be fiction, but as I found out, that’s not the kind of thing you say to your supervisors. Back when I got into this, I thought that one day I’d be writing about great discoveries or interesting news stories a level above the dumbed down sensationalism stuff in the news these days. You know, educating the average reader so that one day, maybe the average intellectual level of the populace wouldn’t be the sort of idiots that surround us every day. But it turns out I was the idiot, or naïve at least. It’s nothing like that. I can tell even from peon level, looking at my boss, her boss, and their bosses. The jobs that aren’t are so hard to get that you have to pucker up and kiss so much butt to get them, that I’d have to invest in a lifetime supply of lip balm. So why should I even waste my time doing something I hate?”
Blair gave him a half-smile. “Now you sound like me when I told my parents why I wanted to join the force instead of go to University.”
Cycl0n3 chuckled. “Yeah, well, I have to say I didn’t see that coming from you, either, Officer Blondie.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“You had the right idea, though. Life’s too short to not do what you’re meant to do, and I’m pretty sure I’m not meant to do this.”
“What will you do, then?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, my aptitude scores were highest for a tech degree, but I can’t picture going into law enforcement like you, or the freaking military. I’d last five seconds in that. I like working with computers, so maybe something in the IT field. But that’s all corporate, too, and I hate that. I thought a little about private investigating. It’s a little bit like the aspect of journalism I liked.”
“You’d be a great PI, I think,” Blair encouraged. “You’ve always been good at solving puzzles and mysteries, and some of the stuff you can do online… well, as a police officer, you probably shouldn’t talk to me about that, but I’m off duty.”
Cycl0n3 could not help but smile. “Thanks, Blair. I’ll give it some thought. Maybe I’ll see what kind of background I need for it, but in the meantime, I need at least a semester off. If nothing else, I don’t want to waste money on classes I might not need, and I should save what money I can with this soul-sucking void of a job I have now.” He glanced over at the refrigerator. “I’d still like to whack Stiles or Emma or whoever finished the last cinnamon roll with the empty plate, though. I’m starved, and there’s nothing decent to eat.”
“Hey, how about I order a pizza? You can change and,” she stepped back and looked his soggy clothes over, “maybe get a shower, and by the time you’re done, it’ll be here.”
“Okay. I guess I do need one.” He sighed, remembering something else. “Oh, no. I forgot I was supposed to do laundry yesterday. I only have enough work clothes for tomorrow. Great. Guess I get to hit the laundromat after work. That’ll make two days getting home and online late. Blizz has a raid planned for tomorrow, too.”
“Don’t worry about that now. Go and relax. You’ll feel better out of those dirty clothes.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He headed down the hall. Blair called in the pizza while he was gone, and then her phone rang. It was her mother.
That call was the second bit of surprising news Blair got that day, and both were about University. First she found out that Cycl0n3 wasn’t going back for the upcoming term, and then her mother told her that she and her father were. Blair knew they wanted to finish their Science and Medicine degrees, but she never expected them to pack up and pound out the last of those credits in one final term. It struck her how weird it might have been if she had gone to University and they chose to do that.
“Let me know how you like dorm life,” Blair teased her mother in a playful tone.
“Right. Straight from luxury island resort accommodations to starving student ones,” Susan quipped on the other end of the line. “No, your father and I will be renting a house near campus. I just hope it doesn’t have roaches.” She paused. “Speaking of which, do you think you’d mind coming over to water our plants so they don’t die off while we’re away?” She heard a voice in the background. “Your father just asked me to add, especially the flame fruit in the lawn, if it hasn’t rained in more than a couple of days.”
“That giant vine by the kitchen table windows?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Make sure whoever’s mowing your lawn doesn’t cut it down, ‘cause it kind of looks like a weed.”
Susan chortled. “Don’t remind me. Anyway, have a good night, honey, and thanks for your help.”
“Anytime. ‘night Mom.”
The pizza arrived just after Blair’s call ended, and a cleaned up Cycl0n3 joined her in grabbing a slice. “That smells like cheesy tomatoey ambrosia. I say we eat it all and leave none for them.”
“I can’t eat half a pizza,” Blair laughed.
“Like it’ll make you fat. You weigh next to nothing.”
She swallowed the bite in her mouth. “Hey, I’ve actually put on a little muscle, you know. I work out every day.”
Cycl0n3 laughed. “I know. You’re nuts. Gym was bad enough in school, and you now go to one voluntarily. You’ve been spending too much time with Muscles.”
Blair rolled her eyes at his dig at Hank. “Staying in shape is something I have to do for my job. And Hank’s given me some good workout tips.”
“I bet. I’m sure he loves spotting for you, too. Watching you flex and twist and squirm in the name of checking your form.”
His sarcasm left Blair feeling defensive. “Actually, Justine’s been working out with me more lately. She just had her baby and wants to lose the extra weight. She’s been a great workout partner.”
“You and Justine, huh? Kinky.” Cycl0n3 grinned and took another bite of pizza.
Blair was about to respond to his quip when Tamara came in. As it turned out, she’d gone out to Mick’s with friends after work. When she spotted the pizza, she helped herself and joined them. The subject shifted to how dead and boring the bar was, and then Cycl0n3 told her all about his terrible day. The three of them chatted there for a while, until Blair began to feel tired and excused herself.
Later on, Blair was about to get in the shower before bed when she heard a knock on the door. “Blair? You still up?”
It was Cycl0n3. “Come in,” she said, surprised by his late visit. “What’s up?”
Cycl0n3 stepped in and shut the door behind him. “Hey. I saw you still had your light on. I’m not going to keep you up late on a work night or anything, but I just, well, I wanted to say thanks for listening earlier.”
“It’s no problem. What are friends for?”
“Yeah. But it really cheered me up.” He paused. “You’ve always been good at that, actually.”
“Thanks. I’m glad.” He was looking at her that certain way again, and Blair had a feeling she was doing the same.
But we’re not together anymore. That was a long time ago...“I’ve missed you,” Cycl0n3 said, moving closer into the space between them. “I didn’t realize how much until you came here.”
Blair felt her heart pound when he said that. “I missed you, too.”
Cycl0n3 leaned forward so their foreheads touched. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he said, and then he kissed her.
Much like it had been the first time they kissed all those years ago, it was tender and sweet, and when it ended, they found themselves smiling at one another.
“I’m glad I’m here, too,” Blair told him.
Cycl0n3 held her and brushed his lips against hers. “I promised I wouldn’t keep you up, so I won’t. Good night, Blair.” He planted another light kiss on her lips, and then let go.
“Good night, Cycl0n3,” she replied as he left. But he had been wrong. With what just happened on her mind, it was going to keep Blair awake for quite a while.
