Sunlight filtered in through the gaps in the curtains and landed softly upon April's face. Her eyes winced in reaction and she gently woke from her slumber. Half asleep, she gently rolled over, careful to put as little pressure on her back as possible. She opened her eyes, clawing the sleep out of them and yawned. She was met with a stare from the blank beige wall opposite her. She sighed, and replayed the events of the previous day in her head.
Philip was dead. She didn't have a job. She was staying with somebody she had been hired to spy on. And to top it all off, she was bed ridden. She'd worked out most of her frustration last night in the bath with (via a good cry); now her emotions had just taken the form of a lingering cloud of depression.
After finishing in the bath last night she let the water out, covered what she could of herself with the towel and then called Connor back in. It was extremely awkward Connor helping her back into the bedroom with only a loosely hanging towel covering her body, but honestly she had other things on her mind. All of her emotions had been drained of her that night, she wasn't even embarrassed.
He had then left her to get herself dressed (again, extremely difficult to do when lying down) and came back in when she'd finished. He offered to make her some tea and get her a drink, and bless him, he really was trying to help her. But she was in no mood for that, she had just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. And so after a "thank you for doing all of this for me", she politely asked him to leave. Though she was emotionally and physically drained, she didn't actually fall asleep for another few hours after he left. She had just lay staring at her ceiling, contemplating what life would be like for her now.
April sighed. She had hoped tomorrow she would feel a lot better.
She was wrong.
"Connor?" She raised her voice into a gentle shout.
A moment of silence, then some shuffling, and her door gently creaked open.
"Hey. How'd you sleep?" He smiled gently.
"Okay. I'm sorry for last night."
Connor gave her a confused smiled "What do you mean?"
"I was being quite nasty."
He laughed her off. "April I'm used to you being pretty blunt, don't worry about it. You were in pain, its cool."
April smiled at him. "Thank you."
Connor smiled again. "What for?"
"Everything, I don't know. I didn't ask you to take me in. I promise I'll be gone as soon as I can." April said.
"Don't say that, you can stay as long as you like." He smiled.
April smiled, her first proper smile in a long time. His endless optimism was very refreshing to her.
"Connor you're too kind for your own good." She shook her head. "Have you told Jess yet about me staying here?"
"Not yet. She hasn't noticed, because Abby's off in Brighton Jess has taken over her shifts. She gets home about midnight and then goes straight to bed. And you haven't seen her when she's tired, the flat could be being burgled and she'd walk straight past them." Connor smiled.
April was about to answer, but was interrupted by a low growl form her stomach.
Connor laughed lightly. "I'll go make us some breakfast, do you want coffee?" He asked.
April smiled at him. "If you wouldn't mind."
Connor rummaged through various cabinets and drawers finding the ingredients he needed to make breakfast. Before long, he was completing the familiar process of cooking a full traditional English fry up. Connor had never been good at cooking, but his time in the Cretaceous had gotten him very good at cooking roots. And when he had returned to the present, he decided to further improve on his skills. Since moving in with Jess, whenever the three of them had a day off together one of them would make a fry up for them all. Whoever it was was depending on who hadn't done it the last time.
He finished his preparation and dished out the food onto two separate plates and began to make his way over to the guess room. He took in a deep breath and pushed open April's door, to find her sat up with a pillow behind her back.
She smiled at his entrance. "That smells delicious."
"I hope it tastes the same." Connor said, passing her a plate.
"Only one way to find out." April picked up her fork and stabbed a big juicy slice of bacon. "Oh my gosh! Where did you learn to cook like this?"
"Abby can't cook to save her life, in the Cretaceous I had to either learn to cook or starve." Connor smiled, sitting down at the bottom of her bed.
"Well it's amazing." April said, almost inhaling her food.
Connor smiled at the compliment and bit into his bacon. She was right; he had really out done himself.
"So, April," Connor chewed his food. "Tell me a bit about yourself? I don't know anything about you outside the workspace."
She thought for a minute.
"My name is April Leonard; I have qualifications in Quantum Mechanics, Computer Engineering and Electronic Servicing. I am twenty two years old, I was born in Manchester at the age zero and moved to study at the University of London when I was nineteen. Upon graduating I was taken directly into the care of Propsero Industries and have been working with them ever since. My favourite colour is orange and I like snakes."
The two stared at eachother blankly for moment, before laughing.
Connor smiled and swallowed his food. "Nice to meet you."
"Your turn." April smirked, teasing.
Connor nodded. "Connor Temple, I'm twenty nine and was also born at the age zero. I've studied Palaeontology, Computer Engineering, and Games Design. I have lived in London all my life. My favourite colour is purple, I wear hats and also like snakes."
The two giggled together.
"So how's your back feeling?" Connor gestured towards her back with his fork.
"Like crap." She said. "It's fine until I try to move."
He nodded. "The Doctors gave me a support cast you need to wear when you're back on your feet. It just holds everything in place, it looks like a big corset."
April nodded. She hesitated with what she said next.
"Listen… Connor… if I really am staying here, I'm gonna need some stuff from my flat. I'll need to speak to my landlord as well, but I know if my stuff doesn't get moved when I get kicked out, it's all gonna get chucked. I know I'm being really cheeky asking cause you've done so much for me already but, would you mind?"
"Oh… um, yeah sure." Connor seemed surprised by this sudden request. "I'll finish this then I'll drive us down."
"Connor I can't walk."
"Oh yeah." He said. He thought for a minute.
"Well, I'll go get changed, and while I'm gone you write me a list of what you need and your address, and I'll go bring it round."
She smiled brightly. "Thank you."
Twenty minutes later Connor re-entered the room, wearing his casual scarf, hat and fingertip-less gloves. Much to his delight, April had completed her breakfast and list, and was sat patiently waiting for him. He sat down on her bed.
"You took your time."
"I couldn't find my gloves." He said. "So what's on this list then?"
April passed him a small note. He quickly glanced over it.
Laptop
Vivarium + Green Tree Python
Wardrobe (including jackets on coat stand)
Picture by bedside table
Pink safe under left side of bed
Doberman bust
"A Doberman statue?" He asked in disbelief.
"She's called Suzie, please be careful with her." She asked.
"And a Python?"
April pulled a puppy dog face. "I didn't know what this apartment buildings policy was on pets. If you can't bring her that's fine, I know a pet shop that can hold her for a while."
"No no no it's fine." Connor reassured, scanning the list over again. "I can bring this all no problem. What's the address?"
April's two-bedroom apartment was decorated in an Asian theme, with old wooden cabinets and expensive tribal looking antiques. The entire place was spotlessly clean, and most of the antiques were housed in plastic cases. Some of them even labelled. Connor slowly walked into the living room.
"How can anyone live here?" He asked himself. The apartment to him looked more like a museum than anything else, and Connor had never had a good history with museums.
The living room sofas were arranged in a hotel-lobby-style, surrounding a glass coffee table. On the table was an extremely neat pile of four books, each neatly aligned with the glass edges. He bent down to examine the titles. "The Origin of Species", "A Brief History of Time", "The Man in the High Castle"; all of it was intelligent reading material. But it was the last one that caught Connors eye. "The Pieces that Don't Fit", by none other than N. Cutter. He made a mental note to bring this up with April later.
He took a quick glance around and pocketed the books for himself; after all they weren't on April's list, so she could cope with not having them.
"Speaking of the list." He mumbled to himself, and took a glance over the list again. Nothing on the list was in here.
He crossed into the dining room. Along the wall, a row of antique china hung. In the centre of the room was a polished wooden table with a place set for one. Prospero must have been paying April some serious money, he thought. Then, in the corner of the room, he spotted a marble dog statuette.
"Might not be as hard as I thought it was." He said to himself.
Connor crossed the room and grabbed the statue, and then succeeded in hauling it a full centimetre off the counter. He gasped and placed the statue back on the side.
"Okay, maybe not."
