A/N: My oneshot. I got the idea for it when I was saying words from Hindi with an American accent just to amuse myself, and I immediately thought of this when I came to one word. Wait and watch.
Disclaimer: I don't and will never own the 39 clues.
A butterfly, hued a beautiful, vivacious black, rose and light blue, fluttered past. She felt her outstretched finger muscles start to relax as it settled on them. She held as still as stone as it probed the back of her palm, while moving its wings slowly, quietly.
Ah, how she loved butterflies. It was a secret unknown to anybody else in the world, even her family, who knew her the best. They probably would have picked it up if butterflies had ever happened to be mentioned in their presences, but since the topic never came up, it remained a secret. She thought butterflies were the most beautiful things. She loved the variety of shades that could be found in their wings—sometimes shades which were almost impossible to find naturally elsewhere. She had never done any research on them, because she did not want to know all about them; she was content just to watch their beauty.
~~butterflies~~butterflies~~butterflies~~
He was out for a walk. He needed to get away from everybody for a while—their incessant chatter gave him a headache, and that blurred the images his devices flashed to him. (He wore two special devices that performed the functions his eyes used to by recording and transmitting images to his brain—sort of like untiring, waterproof video cameras. They were attached to either side of his head, and he could turn them off at night. Headaches tended to make his brain misinterpret the images wrongly, leaving him with blurry images or even nothing at all.) He wasn't the least bit sleepy, and the lab was occupied by some mega-important project all five branches were cooperating on, so he took the only alternative he could think of: a walk.
He headed out into the large woody area behind the house where he currently was staying. Woods were a little dangerous to him, as he could not always see the different obstacles he might crash into, such as roots; but he loved the place anyway. Soft leaves rustled under his shoes. He could feel the life all around him, insects chirping away, but so softly that it was only possible to hear them because of his extraordinary hearing.
He paused suddenly. There was something ahead of him. Something large—at least larger than the insects he had previously been listening to. He could tell it was behind the large tree ahead of him.
She saw him first.
~~butterflies~~butterflies~~butterflies~~
"Ted?"
"Natalie?"
"What—what're you doing here?" The butterfly hovered, startled, above her hand. It flew away a little farther and settled on a tree branch about five and a half feet off the ground. Natalie sighed in annoyance.
"Out for a walk. Was that a butterfly on your hand?"
Oh, great. "Yes."
"I didn't know you liked butterflies."
"Nobody does. You're the first."
Ted was unsure what to say. She intervened, though.
"Care to sit down?" Might as well have some company if the butterfly won't return, she thought.
"Sure," he accepted. He never got much farther than this point in the woods anyway, because they became denser a few yards ahead.
There was a silence after he lowered himself on the ground next to her. He broke it a few minutes later.
"'Tetalie'."
"Pardon me?" she asked, confused.
"'Tetalie'," he repeated, a little louder. "It means butterfly. In Hindi."
Natalie smiled. "My father is part Indian. I know a bit of Hindi, too. I believe it's 'Thithli'." Her voice had a soft Indian accent when she said the word.
Ted looked at her, a little surprised. "Beautiful accent you have there," he said, impressed. "I've talked American all my life, so I can't say it quite that well. I suppose your British accent makes it easier to talk Indian."
"Yes."
Another silence followed between them. Somewhere quite close by, a bird sang quietly, rhythmically.
Natalie couldn't stop thinking of the way Ted had said the word 'Thithli'. If it was spelled the way he said it, it would be 'Tetalie'. She tried to push the thought out of her mind and look for other butterflies. But it kept returning, until all of a sudden the thing about it flashed into her mind.
Ted's arm brushed against hers. Nothing happened; she didn't know what she'd been expecting. A tingle of some sort? Nonsense; that stuff happened in the movies and sappy books, not real life. And it wasn't as if she liked Ted; he was just a good companion, easy to sit in silence with.
Ted had already realized what he'd said. He slapped himself mentally and prayed she wouldn't realize it. Because it wasn't as if either of them liked each other; they were distant cousins, maybe friends. Natalie was a good pal who didn't give him headaches and would listen to some of his talk, but not criticize him like she was often known to do to others. That was all.
Ted plus Natalie equals Tetalie.
I just wanted to let you know, I really intended for them to be just friends in this oneshot. They weren't in denial in the last part. No Romance, just Friendship.
Incredibly, amazingly OOC. Oh, psshh, I don't care. That's what FanFiction's for.
Hope you liked it. Please review! I don't care if I get flames either. I probably will, for the pairing, but again, they're just friends!
~Sri