This is, essentially, a reworking of my other piece, Houdini.Please, do us all a favor and don't read that first.As always, I own nothing, and reviews are lovely.
Quill
It was snowing by the time the airport livery car pulled up to the front drive of the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. There was a pause, then a soft shudder as the driver threw the engine into neutral; in this sort of weather, he couldn't be bothered to risk gumming up the mechanics by killing the ignition completely. A click, a shove, and a scuffle later had him out of the car and on the sidewalk beside the rear passenger door. He made a grab for the handle, only to find that the door itself had long since been opened, swinging free on its hinge before the worn-shiny cuff of his shirt could so much as brush against it. Surprised, he stumbled backwards so quickly that the force of his near fall would have cracked his side view mirror had he not caught himself against the roof of his car, one palm spread open, wrinkled and sharp white against the shiny black background, just like the snowflakes that fluttered against his suit lapels.
The woman behind the door, hidden by a tinted window and a turned back, shifted her weight long enough to spare him a concerned glance before resuming her struggle with something still stuck within the car. Her shoulders shifted noticeably beneath her trench coat –black enough to match the car, crisp and clean enough to blend into the winter air –as she gave an assertive tug on whatever it was that wasn't coming free. Though the driver mumbled offers of assistance, then, when those were ignored, of advice, the woman refused to relinquish her task. It was only when she braced a heeled foot against the bottom of the car's threshold that the thing, or rather, things –a suitcase and a briefcase, both bulging to capacity –came free.
A laugh, a strange, triumphant cackle swirled out over the snow as the woman twirled her briefcase strap over one shoulder and hefted the luggage with her spare hand. She smiled at the driver, even though he had already slipped into shame at the strange noise he'd made a second before. He shrugged, scuffed his shoe, then clambered back into the idling car. The woman nudged the passenger door shut with her hip. It clicked closed in tandem with the sound of the driver's foot mashing the clutch. He pulled his own door back into place, let the car shudder into first, and eased back onto the road the same way that he eased onto the gas. The woman half-waved with the hand that held on to her briefcase. Her thumb was pinned under the strap, up by her shoulder, so it was just her fingers that fluttered, but the attempted gesture stood out against the bleak Jersey day almost as much as the woman's copper-colored hair.
The automatic doors flared open, and a darker-haired counterpart who wore a low-cut top under a pinstriped lab coat joined the woman on the sidewalk. She held a clipboard close to her chest and her hands shook with either cold or nerves –it was hard to say.
"Commander Gordon. I'm glad you made it despite the weather problems."
The red-haired woman raised an eyebrow behind silver framed glasses. Her eyes, blue and odd, flickered in a way that made the clipboard jangle all the more.
"It's Doctor Gordon."
"Of course. I-"
"Should we go inside? You're shaking. Cold?"
"A little, yes." The woman in the lab coat stepped back towards the automatic doors. They swished open obligingly. "You can put your luggage in my office."
Gordon didn't answer at first. Her neck was craned back, studying the building's façade and subjecting her lenses to an attack of snowflakes. When she found, or rather, didn't find, what she had been looking for, Gordon turned to offer a reply.
"Thank you, Doctor Cuddy, I would appreciate that."
The clipboard stood still. Cuddy smiled.
"I can introduce you to Doctor House after we've signed the papers."
Gordon nodded, her odd eyes darting upwards again. Cuddy waited for some sort of response, but when no acknowledgement -positive or negative –came, she turned and retreated into the familiar hospital lobby. Gordon followed, shedding a skin of snow as she went.