The first time she actually noticed something was off was when she was in New Mexico. It was shortly after Thor had literally fallen into their lives, and she had loitered behind everyone at the diner to add to the tip Jane had left. Bless her, but Jane did not tip well, which Darcy figured was because shining, intelligent, scientist Jane had never worked as a waitress. Jane wasn't a mean person; she just wasn't the most thoughtful all the time. Too much time spent in the land of ideas made her lack sympathy with the common folk on occasion. Not always, mind, but today she was so excited about the possibilities that had just opened for her research that she mindlessly grabbed a few bills from her pocket and left them on the table before she started mumbling something about her equations and took off for the door, a glassy look in her eyes.
Too much stress, not enough sleep. Everyone's been there, but a $4 tip on a $37 bill and a waitress who knew them by name? Not ok. Not in Darcy's book. So she'd looked to Erik and said, "Hey, I'll be out in a hot second, but I gotta piss like a racehorse first. Meet ya outside." She pushed out her chair, stood up, and made for the bathroom.
It was on her way there that she noticed. There was an old woman sitting quietly, with her back to the wall, at a small table. Her hair was neatly combed back. It looked like aged, yellowed lace. She's the human embodiment of a used Q-Tip, Darcy thought to herself. She suppressed a smirk as the old woman looked up at her.
She looked Darcy over quickly, and settled on the younger woman's face. Darcy's skinned buzzed; the intensity the old woman's eyes held was too much for her. So she sped up. In response, the old woman grinned.
By the time she got to the bathroom door, Darcy could still feel the old woman's eyes on her. Her heart started to pound. She pushed the door open, and closed it quickly behind her. She felt unnerved even as she made her way to the stall, and locked its ramshackle door. What was that horror movie shit that just happened? she thought. She just sat on the toilet a minute, trying to collect herself.
She was rubbing her face when her phone buzzed in her bra. She fished it out to see a text from Jane asking where she was and if she was planning to join them in the van. Darcy rolled her eyes. She got up, left the stall, and washed her hands- just in case. She grabbed a paper towel and stopped at the closed door in front of her. She took in a deep breath, and let it out in short puffs. She bounced on the balls of her feet and shook her arms. Ok, creepy lady, I got this. Your Twilight Zone mind crap isn't going to get me this time.She grabbed the doorknob, and yanked.
She stepped back into the dining area, and looked over to the old woman's table. It was empty. What the hell? Oook.Her eyebrow arched, and she looked around the diner. No old woman. Not strange or creepy at all.
She made her way to the doors that led outside, still confused about what had just transpired. "Have a nice day, hun!" Her waitress cheerfully called to her when she'd reached the front of the diner.
"You, too!" Darcy called back over her shoulder, and then stopped. "Crap," she said as she turned around and jogged back to the table she'd eaten at earlier. She fished a $5 bill out of one of her pockets, and tossed it on top of the $4 that Jane had left earlier. She turned and jogged back to the doors. "See you tomorrow, probably," she called to the waitress as she pushed her way outside.
She stepped out into the sun, and once again regretted coming to New Mexico. She missed the cold, misty days at home. Literally just left a building, and she could already feel the sweat starting to bead on her upper lip. Great. And this is the 'cold' weather. Awesome.
A loud, obnoxious honk cut through her thoughts. She spun around, and saw Jane staring at her through the windshield of the van. The scientist began gesturing dramatically, and Darcy could practically hear her boss saying, "Come on already, we've got stuff to do!" Darcy grinned.
Work or hot guys, boss lady? Both maybe? She walked over to the van slowly, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips as she watched Jane's gestures become more manic. By the time she got to the van, she was full-on grinning. She slid the door open, and jumped in. She closed the door behind her, turned to face the front, and said, "Ready to roll whenever you are."
"I was ready to roll five minutes ago, thanks," Jane said, looking into the rearview mirror. She turned the key in the ignition.
"Sorry, I had to pee. Not like you can deny nature when it calls." Jane looked back into the rearview. "What? You can't! People have died from trying, Jane. Died." Jane shook her head, and pulled out into the road. "Hey, you didn't hit anyone this time. Good job!" Darcy said cheerfully.
"Really?" Jane deadpanned back.
"Yep. Anyway, what was with that creepy old lady in the diner this morning? Anyone else notice her?" Darcy asked, realizing she was starting to tread thin ice with her ribbing.
"What old lady?" Jane asked.
"Yeah, not surprised you didn't notice," she turned her head to the other scientist in the van. "What about you, Erik?"
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. There was a little old lady sitting in the corner. Spent the whole time reading a newspaper. Looked like someone who would yell at you for walking on her lawn." Erik said.
"Yep, that's the one! She stared at me the whole way to the bathroom. It was waaaaay creepy. I don't know, it was weird though. I mean, have we seen her there before?" Darcy asked.
"I didn't recognize her," Erik said.
"I have absolutely zero idea who we're talking about, so no," Jane replied.
"Really? The more I think about it, the more I could swear I've seen her before. But you're right, Erik. I don't remember her being in the diner before. Where, though? Maybe the carry-out?" Darcy asked herself.
"I don't know, but I wouldn't worry too much about it right now, because I have the feeling we're going to be busy way too busy to worry about this kind of stuff for the next few weeks. I'm pretty sure this new data's going to lead us to the breakthrough we need," Jane said.
Darcy figured at that point she was going to be lost to the conversation that was sure to follow. Blah, blah, blah physics. Blah, blah, blah quantum theory. Yawn. No thank you. She didn't need to pay attention to what Jane and Erik were talking about to be able to enter data about it. Instead, she decided to wrack her brain to figure out where she'd seen that woman before.