No Chance, Ch 9
No Chance
Chapter 9
copyright 2010 comidacomida
Courtney awoke alone; that was nothing new. Regardless of the immediate sense of loneliness, there was still something comforting in the morning ritual of him disappearing before she got up; due to Daryl's strange hours at work she was used to falling asleep beside him and awakening without him there. Even sitting in the unfamiliar office, something about the situation made her just a little more at ease. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, an unanticipated smile parting her lips as she reveled the feel that Daryl was not gone... not completely.
She stood, and made her way to the bathroom connected to the office. She paused long enough to relieve herself and her spirits rose even more once she saw the shower. Courtney was in the hall a second later, quickly returning to the bathroom within two minutes with a fresh change of clothing. Her spirits, at one point, were raised enough that she caught herself humming the song from the previous night as she prepared for the shower. She laughed at her own changed mood, smile still on her lips as she climbed into stall, met eagerly by the stream of heated water.
The shower was different than most she was used to; being built more for a utilitarian purpose than for comfort or recreation, the shower's nozzle only had one stream setting and was not directional. Regardless, that did not bother her half as much as the fact that the shower was turned on with a button... and it automatically turned off after what she determined was ten minutes. While the heat setting could be easily controlled with a dial, Courtney found it most inconvenient that it reset to 'semi-warm' each time she was forced to start it back up. The woman was not in the habit of taking a half hour shower, but something about the warmth of the water and joy of getting clean enticed her into staying longer.
Finally, when she realized that her fingers were pruning, Courtney let the water finish up its final ten minute cycle and she reached out of the shower stall to where she left her towel... but it wasn't there. She peeked her head out of the shower and almost let out a scream when she saw the humanoid golden dog standing there, tail swaying casually back and forth. Rex held her towel out to her, "Here. I got this for you." he offered, tail picking up speed.
"Rex... you need to stop doing that!" Courtney said, heart still beating powerfully in her chest. She accepted the towel from the dog man.
Rex took a step back and lowered his head, eyes glancing to the ground as his tail curled between his legs, "I'm sorry..." he said, a soft whimper to his voice, "YOu do not want me to fetch your towel?"
Courtney closed the stall door, not sure if she wanted to sigh or smile; she almost ended up doing both, but preempted the expressions by drying her hair with the towel, "It's not that... thank you for your help... I just mean you should knock before you enter a bathroom... don't just walk in."
"Oh... I'm sorry." Rex noted, "But you liked your towel?"
"Yes, Rex... thank you." she responded. Courtney didn't in fact, really care for the towel; it was not as plush as the ones she was used to but, she reminded herself, the bathroom was built to be serviceable, not luxurious. The woman promised to stop comparing the amenities to a hotel; she was not in a hotel, and she pointed out to herself that she should be greatful for what she had.
"Are you still out there?" she asked at the golden-colored blot visible through the smokey glass stall door.
"Yes." Rex answered right away.
"Are you going to let me get changed?" she asked him.
"Yes." he acknowledged, and Courtney waited as she could practically hear the gears turning in the dog's brain, "Do you want me to fetch your clothes too?"
Courtney wrapped the towel around herself, covering up her body before she opened the stall door, "Usually when someone is showering they get privacy." she explained to the dog, who responded by cocking his head to the side.
"Oh... you want to be alone?" he asked, his tail's thumping slowing down dramatically.
"Just while I get changed. Just like you are wearing clothes, I wear clothes too, and I don't usually let people see me naked." she explained with calm patience. There was something about Rex that helped her keep her cool, and she found it endearing, like dealing with a little child who was eager to learn.
"Oh..." Rex nodded vigorously, "Daryl says that I should wear clothes... I like it because it makes me feel closer to everyone because everyone wears clothes. When I wear clothes it makes me feel more like everyone else." his lips flopped audibly as he nodded enthusiastically
"So... let me get changed, and then I'll be right out. How does that sound?" she inquired, finding herself inadvertently smiling.
Rex's tail started wagging up a storm, "And then we can get breakfast!"
Courtney DID laugh at that, "Alright... then we'll get breakfast." Rex exited the bathroom, leaving Courtney with the privacy she wanted for getting changed. It seemed almost funny to her the way she could easily identify Rex as a dog, and yet she couldn't help but feel that he was a person too. She didn't think that she would have been so hesitant to change if Rex was just a normal dog, but the fact that he was so entirely human made it uncomfortable in a way that... she paused in her thought as she came to the conclusion, "Rex IS a person." she told herself.
Once Courtney had a chance to brush her hair she exited the bathroom and went back into the adjoining office. Rex was splayed out on the sofa, one leg hanging off of it, tongue lolling out the side of his muzzle looking, by all accounts, to be in roughly the same position as he would have been in assuming he was just a normal dog, but Courtney realized that she wouldn't ever be able to see him as 'just a normal dog' ever again.
"So Daryl taught you all about clothes but he didn't teach you about modesty?" she chided.
Rex raised his head to look at her, floppy ears perked, "Modesty? Is that something you wear?"
"I'll take that as a 'no'." Courtney smirked, and headed for the door, "So where are we going to eat breakfast, and what are we having?" she asked the dog.
Rex rolled off the sofa onto all fours then rose up to his hind legs, jogging after her. He ran past, then paused, glancing back down the hall in her direction, "We should go see Abe-- he always makes good breakfasts."
"Abe?" she asked.
"Yes. I like Abe; he makes good breakfasts... and he is a good person." Rex wagged, continuing down the hall.
"As long as he isn't in the habit of throwing big metal pipes it will probably be an improvement over some others I've met." she mumbled to herself.
"No... Abe doesn't throw things." Rex answered, making Courtney pause as she realized that the dog heard her self-addressed comment.
"So who IS Abe?" Courtney inquired, walking faster to catch up to the excitable dog, "I thought the only Agents here were you and Daryl and David and Fred."
"Yes..." Rex nodded, "Abe was not with them when they came and I wasn't with them either, but we're both still here now."
"Oh... so Abe was another animal here at the lab?" Courtney asked.
"No... I was the only lab here." Rex answered. It took the woman a moment to realize how he misunderstood the word, and she laughed.
"I meant laboratory, not Labrador." she found herself smiling again.
"Abe took care of me before I became like this." Rex stated blankly, apparently not following her meaning.
"So... you mean he was a human?" she inquired.
Rex nodded vigorously, reaching the bottom of the stairs ahead of her, "Yes... he's a very good human... he's one of my favorite humans."
"You seem to be such a good dog, I'd have thought every human was your favorite human." Courtney chided.
"Oh yes!" Rex confirmed, "But Abe is one of my favorite, favorite humans." he wagged, completely missing Courtney's humor, making her laugh even more.
"God, Rex... you're such a good dog." she smiled ear to ear.
"I agree." said a new voice, catching Courtney completely off guard. The woman missed the last step and almost fell, but Rex caught her without a moment's hesitation, helping her to catch her balance and alight on the floor without incident. Once she was settled, Courtney looked to the speaker, a white furred dog-like individual with ears straighter than Rex's and muzzle far pointier. He was wearing a lab coat, which Courtney might have found humorous were it in a more normal situation but, as it was, she just accepted it as par for the course.
"Are you Abe?" Courtney asked.
"I am!" he said with a smile, "I'm a fox, just so you know." he grinned.
"Oh... alright." she said with a vacant nod, "That's good to know."
"You're telling me!" Abe responded, "It took me weeks to find out."
Courtney glanced to Rex, who just wagged, panting happily. When she looked back to Abe, he held a paw out to her, "Abraham Christensen... but everyone calls me Abe." he noted formally.
She hesitantly accepted the extended paw, giving it a light shake. In many ways it reminded her of David's; it was slight, and the paw pads were soft and smooth. Unlike David's however, the fox's was far more fluid and less firm. It reminded her more of a kid's handshake.
"I'm sixteen." he spoke up.
"Huh?" Courtney paused.
"It's hard to tell because of how I look... age isn't very easy to judge when we look so different... but you had the whole 'something is weird about this guy' look to you." Abe's tail swished languidly, "Sometimes the whole age-thing helps put it in perspective."
"Well... to be honest," Courtney said with a faint blush, "You did seem pretty 'bouncy' for a scientist."
Abe just nodded with a grin, "Yea... most guys dealing with test tubes and science equipment are crotchety old fogies." the grin widened, "Kinda reminds me of Professor Farnsworth on Futurama... only without the funny parts."
The comment made Courtney smirk, "Okay... now I believe you're sixteen."
Abe laughed in response, "What? You mean you couldn't guess?" he stretched his arms out.
"No... you were right about the whole 'hard to tell', and, to be honest, I really didn't expect a teenager to be working as a geneticist... or whatever it is everyone does here." she glanced around the lab, completely at a loss for what over 90% of the equipment was for.
"Well... I wanted to be a professional skateboarder." the fox's ears lowered slightly.
"You have your whole life ahead of you... I don't see why you couldn't." Courtney shrugged.
"Well... aside from the fact that my parents put me through almost three years of college for my doctorate in genetics, I think that'd kinda ruin the whole point of putting my brain to work in a constructive and benevolent way to aid mankind." Abe answered, one of his ears flicking.
"That doesn't sound like something I'd expect to hear from a sixteen year old, to be honest, Abe." Courtney stated, leaning on the counter at her side.
"It's paraphrasing my mom and dad... they were led to believe that I wanted to go into genetics when I was fourteen." the fox shrugged, turning to look into a microscope.
"Why would they believe something like that?" she asked, "I didn't think most fourteen year olds would want to do something like that."
"It's complicated." he noted, adjusting the focus on it, "And you probably wouldn't be very comfortable with the answer." he added.
"You got me curious." Courtney answered with a smile.
"My dad came home and caught me whacking-off the family dog. I panicked, and I told him it was part of a science experiment involving the replication of haploid cells without a biological reaction at the cellular level." the fox explained in a straight forward manner, still gazing into the microscope.
Courtney paused at the answer, not sure of whether she was more surprised at the fox's answer or in the matter-of-fact manner in which he admitted it, "So..." she started, trying to find the best way to continue the conversation, but still mentally stunned. "what happened?" she finally added.
"Oh... he believed it... I think he and my mom were pretty good about the whole denial thing... they were more willing to believe that their son was already moving toward being a super genius intent on unraveling the mysteries of life than acknowledging that their little boy was interested in discovering everything there was to know about the birds and the bees by playing with animals."
"So... it was 'experimenting'... but not exactly the scientific kind." Courtney offered.
"Yea..." the fox nodded, ears reddening just a little, pausing before he opened his muzzle to speak again.
"It sounds like you were going to add an 'and' in there." Courtney pressed.
"I was." Abe noted, adjusting the focus on the microscope again.
"Alright... I won't push anymore." she stated, standing up a little straighter, "So, basically, you ended up going into genetics because you got trapped into doing what your mom and dad thought you wanted to do because you used it as an excuse when you were caught... um..."
"Red handed." Abe offered.
"You seem pretty comfortable talking about it." Courtney noted.
"Yea... well... it's pretty easy talking to a stranger about personal stuff because their judgments don't matter as much as people you know." Abe shrugged.
"You got your doctorate in just three years?" Courtney asked, suddenly swinging the topic as her mind finally caught onto that part of the story.
"Not quite three years... 2 years and 9 months." he explained.
"That's amazing!" she exclaimed.
"Thanks." the fox's ears blushed.
"I suppose you still like SOME judgments." Courtney smiled. Abe's ears blushed more.
"Listen..." Abe said, looking at her, "I'm not trying to chase you away or anything... it's just... you asked, and I figured--"
"No... I understand, Abe." Courtney replied, resting a hand on his paw. The fox glanced at her, ears raising up. He looked down at her hand on his paw, then up into her eyes again.
"You... do?" he asked.
Courtney nodded, "The world is a weird place, and when we're teenagers sometimes we have to figure out the world on our own terms." she sighed, looking around the lab, "And then, sometimes, when we get older, we're thrown a curve ball and we realize that we don't know as much as we thought."
"You're at odds about Daryl... aren't you?" the fox inquired.
Courtney paused, taking her turn to glance away before looking back, "Is it that obvious?"
"You forget that I'm a super genius." Abe smiled, resting his second paw atop her hand, "He's crazy about you, ya know."
Courtney also took her turn to blush, and she fought back a smile, "Yea... well I'm crazy about him too... we were going to get married a few weeks ago."
"When are you rescheduling for?" Abe asked.
"I..." Courtney's smile slowly faded, "I don't know..."
"Why not?" he asked simply.
"Everything's just... well..." she paused, looking at the hazel eyes framed by silver fur gazing up at her. She looked away from them again, "it's all so complicated..."
"Probably not as complicated as earning a doctorate to hide your motives for giving a dog a hand-job." Abe smirked, ears reddening again.
"You wanted to check my chrome-a-soaps." Rex offered helpfully.
"Chromosomes." Abe corrected.
"Rex was your family dog?" Courtney asked.
"No..." Abe answered, "He was a test animal here when I arrived." his ears drooped in embarrassment. It took Courtney only a moment to realize the significance.
"So... I take it the 'family dog' wasn't an isolated instance then?" she asked.
"Remember what I said before about answers with which you might not be completely comfortable?" he smiled sheepishly.
Courtney shook her head, "Never mind... it's not any of my business anyway." she took a seat on the stool next to the table and Abe slowly let go of her hand.
"But I mean what I said about Daryl, Mrs. Rogers..." the fox added.
"I'm not Mrs. Rogers yet." she interjected.
"Well... you should be." Abe noted, "He's crazy about you, and you already said you are crazy about him... I don't see the problem."
"Maybe you'll understand when you're older." she shrugged.
"Oh come on, lady," Abe chided, "Super genius, remember?" he grinned.
"And oh-so-modest too, I see." she replied, unable to hide the smile that accompanied the statement.
Abe reached out and took her hand in one of his paws again, "Alright... so I'm sixteen... but even *I* can see that you two should be together. Yea... maybe there are a few bumps in the road, but that shouldn't change the fact that you're made for each other."
"Now it sounds like you're looking at life as if it were a teen romance movie." Courtney sighed.
"I'm sixteen, remember? Life's always 'that simple'." he responded with a smirk, but it disappeared into a serious expression quickly, "Ms. Porter, all the funny stuff aside, I really do mean what I say. Daryl would do ANYTHING for you, and I think, if you love him as much as you think you do, that anything other than the fact that you two can be together shouldn't be important." he took a step back, removing his paw from her hand as he returned to his microscope, "That's all I really wanted to say."
Courtney stared at the fox for a long time, but he didn't bother looking back at her. The woman's mind worked to digest what Abe had said, and she had trouble wrapping her brain around it... but even more trouble fighting the urge to try. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, then, finally, she spoke up, "Do you know one other thing about talking with complete strangers about personal stuff, Abe?"
"What's that?" he asked, glancing at her.
"Sometimes they can help put things in perspective because they're looking at it through binoculars and not a magnifying glass." Courtney leaned over and kissed the young fox on the cheek, "Thank you." She smiled to herself as she heard Abe's tail beat against the side of his stool as it swished happily.