Chapter 2 - Part 2: The Chemistry Between Us

Faith had arrived at the lab early to get some reading done before her shift started when she couldn't help but notice a colleague standing in front of her, staring at her somewhat awkwardly.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your reading, I apologize," he started.  "It's just that I've seen you around the lab a lot and you do some really interesting stuff.  Smarts and looks, what a great combination," the man said matter of factly.

Faith was a little taken aback, she had never really had that much experience with guys before and certainly wasn't used to them openly flirting with her.  "Why, thank you, I think.  I appreciate that hard work doesn't go unnoticed," she replied.

They continued talking for quite awhile, neither realizing that they were now running late for their shifts.  She learned his name was Pete and he was in fact one of her own Lab Assistants.  

She had been so consumed by her side project that she been delegating most of her day-to-day work to the other partners and hadn't even met half of the staff that worked for her.

When he asked her out on a date, her face turned an amazing shade of red and she had trouble meeting his eyes.  The guy was forward, she'd give him that.  He was also kind of cute and she'd never been asked out before.

"Okay," she said to the ground, "that sounds like fun."

"Great!" he exclaimed, "I'll see you at seven, then."

After he went inside Faith sat back down on the bench and couldn't stop giggling like a school girl.

That evening Faith spent more time in front of her mirror than she had for her entire life combined.  She wanted to make sure she looked good for her first date ever.  The butterflies in her stomach were certainly doing a very complicated dance.

A little makeup, some lip gloss and a healthy dose of self-confidence was all she really needed.  The only thing going through her mind was "please don't make a fool of yourself" repeatedly.

Pete showed up right on time and the two made their way to the Mountain Bistro to dine outside as the sun was setting out over the ocean.  

For what felt forever, Faith could only sit and gaze at Pete, who was comfortably eating his sushi with a fork, no care in the world while she was a complete tangled mess of nerves and tension.

The conversation was light, revolving mostly around their interests, Faith's being botany and her garden and Pete's in mechanics and machinery.  He was responsible for keeping all the lab's contraptions and gizmos in working order and had even been the one that built the growing gardens that Faith was using in her research.

"What have you been working on in that lab, anyway?" Pete asked her between bites.  "I haven't ever seen plants like those before and no one seems to know what's going on in there."

She contemplated telling him all about her project, but knew it would only lead to more questions that she wasn't prepared to answer.  She deadpanned, "If I told you, I'd have to kill you.  Seriously."

Pete choked on his California roll while Faith laughed.  "Ok, fair enough," he replied after he'd recovered, laughing at her slightly cliche joke.

After dinner, they stood at the edge of the bluff and watched the sun make its final descent.  Pete took Faith's hands in his and told her that he'd had a great time.

"Me too," she replied, finally feeling a bit more relaxed and genuinely happy.  "It's been a very nice evening," she smiled.

As the sun dipped below the horizon and the fog started rolling in, Pete took Faith home as the always full moon made an incredibly rare 'night rainbow'.  Faith took that as a good sign.

Unfortunately for Morand, the evening wasn't going as well as Faith's.  He was on his third call of the day and he was absolutely exhausted.  He arrived to the house to find it already engulfed in flames.  

An unexplained feeling of dread came over him as soon as he slid out of the truck.

He barely made his way inside the door before he was hit with the inferno currently threatening to bring down the whole house.  His exhaustion was getting the better of him as it took him several minutes longer than it should have to contain the room before being able to move on.

What he found in the next room stopped him cold.

It wasn't the first time he'd had to pull someone free of rubble or a caved in ceiling, but it wasn't just debris in the way this time, the woman was trapped under a pile of burning embers.

Morand raced as close as he possibly could, trying to remove the burning pieces of wood from the woman.  Why did it take me so long to get here, why didn't I check the house first, he kept thinking, berating himself for not getting to her sooner.

The woman wasn't moving, he couldn't tell if she was still breathing and the fire was too strong.

He was too late.

Title / Suede