"Miss Cillian?" Jenkins calls out as he walks out of the lab.
"Yes Mr. Jenkins. Right here." She replied standing up a little straighter as he walks over to the large table.
"Good, I thought you would still be here. Would you mind helping me put away these books?" Jenkins gestures to the pile that was sitting on top of his desk. "I was using them for a study, but the results were unsatisfactory to say the least."
"Not at all." Cassandra takes an armful of books determined to help him as best as she could.
Jenkins follows her with the rest in his own hands. Silently with only the noise of scuffling books accompanying them, they place all the books back. Cassandra began quietly humming a song as she was finishing up her own pile.
Once they were done Jenkins noticed the time. "Miss Cillian it's getting rather late."
"Yeah I guess it is." She answers causally.
"Should you not be getting home?" Jenkins asks. He makes his way back to his own desk. Rummaging through the drawers he find an old paper he began to fiddle with. "I can open a door directly into your apartment if you would like."
"No, no. It's fine Jenkins. I don't mind the walk. The city is, nice at night." She says after a brief pause, as if trying to find the right words.
"Are you planning on going home at all tonight?" Jenkins inquires. There had been several instances of him waking up and walking out into the annex only to find out one or even all the librarians had spent the night.
"Yes." She answers with a laugh. "I'll leave soon, just wanted to finish some reading."
"So you are walking home, at night, alone." Jenkins summarizes. "How far away are you opening the door from your apartment?"
"There's an empty studio I use. I typically just walk home from there. It's only a couple blocks away from my apartment." Cassandra answers.
Jenkins watches her set the door for herself. "Are you sure you don't want me to just open it into your apartment?"
"No. I did that for a bit but the security guard kept asking me how I was getting home and not being recorded on the cameras. At one point he insisted on escorting me in and out of the building to see if the cameras were faulty. So now I walk."
Jenkins looks cassandra over as the door starts to activate. His good conscious refused him to allow her to walk by herself.
"Wait," he calls out as she opens the door. He offers her his arm. "Allow me my lady."
"Jenkins you don't have to. I've made the walk plenty of times on my own." Jenkins raises his hand to pause stop her.
"That I have no doubt. I also know you are quite capable. Yet it is very late, and the colonel would kill me if I allowed you to walk down the streets at such a time by yourself." Jenkins explains. He leaves his offered arm where it was until she takes it.
They step through the door together with Jenkins shutting it behind them. Together they leave the empty studio and make their way down the street. Cassandra leans a little more into Jenkins as they approach the first crossing. The street wasn't as busy as he had expected it to be. There was few people standing off to the side of the roads as well. None even looked threatening. Maybe this had been an over estimation of his. Now he felt as if his worry was completely unwarranted. Well at least Mrs. Cillian was getting home safe. It was a nice night out as well. Not to terrible for a walk.
They look across both ways before the light gives them the go ahead to cross the street. "Have you ever lived in a modern city before?"
"Modern now, no. A few decades ago I had lived in a small place of mine own within the city. During the time of when blues and jazz were popping up. I use to live in the city then, but it was only for a few months. I found the peace and quiet of the annex was better fitted for me. When you have lived as long as I have you find that solitude is a gift."
"Why?" Cassandra asks. Her eyes shining with curiosity.
"Eventually the noise begins to get to you." Jenkins answers as if that was the only reason. Cassandra doesn't try to pry anymore from him.
"Though it can be a comforting feeling, having so many people near you. I can see the attraction cities still poses to this day. They use to be for safety. Now you see more people using them to socialize and meet others rather than just for protection. It is amazing how different the cities are. A city here is not the same as a city in Rome. Nor in Russia."
"You've seen the world." Cassandra says starting to sound awed. "The knight of the world." She says with a light laugh.
Jenkins freezes in his steps and looks her over. Had she meant to say that or was it just a thought that had caught her fancy. He eyes her up and down. Her expression changing from one of laughter to concern.
"Jenkins? Did I say something wrong?"
He looks away from her. "Of course not. How far off of your place are we?"
She looks around. He imagines that she was searching for street signs or a familiar building in which she could gauge the distance they had left to go.
"We are almost there. I can walk the rest of the way by myself. So you can return to the annex."
"The annex will be fine without me there. I offered to walk you home and I plan to walk you the whole way there."
Cassandra blushes and Jenkins pretends not to notice. She leads him through the city. As they arrive at her apartment complex he realizes the distance had been even greater than she had led him to believe.
"Thank you Jenkins." Cassandra says as she walks up to the entrance. She looks back at him for just a moment before unlocking the door. She runs back down the steps to plant a kiss on the side of his cheek before running back into the safety of her apartment.
Slowly Jenkins turns around. He could feel heat rushing to his face, but he chose to ignore it. While he rounds the building he walks as if nothing was wrong. Once he was out of sight of the building, he briskly walks back down the city blocks towards the empty studio. Quickly he opens the door that was still connected to the annex. Once he was back home he shuts it behind himself. He found that his mouth was parched. So he made himself a glass of water and retired for the night in his room.
Somehow that night had began a tradition of theirs. Some nights Cassandra would stay longer than the rest. On those nights when she would decide not to stay in the annex, Jenkins would escort her home. He could not very well let her walk home so late alone without it weighing on his conscious. It had nothing to do with the fact that he enjoyed her chatter as they would walk, or the fact that some nights she would kiss him on the cheek. No it was entirely because his honor would not allow for a young lady such as herself to travel home in the dark, alone. Yes that was all. Or so he would tell himself on the walk back to the studio every night. Thankfully none of the others ever found out about that little tradition of theirs.