Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
Author's Note(s): As always, I want to thank my friend(s) for any and all help and support they have given me on any and all my fanfics (whether I have published them or have yet to)! X3 Ya'll rock and I hope you stay awesome! OLIVE JUICE! XD
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"A Black Cat and a White Coat"
"A Date with Insanity!"
Finally, the shoot was over and Gwen said her goodbyes to everyone and left; sending a quick message to Tabitha before exiting the studio. Since it was so close, she decided to walk to the hospital.
It was only about a twenty minute walk. Besides, it would take more than twice as long if she tried to take a cab. So, it was the better alternative; despite her having to walk in heels. Ah well, at least she was used to that sort of thing by now.
Unfortunately, on her way there, just as she was nearing the hospital building, she accidentally ended up bumping into someone and getting, what appeared to be a fruit smoothie of some pink variety, splashed onto her blouse! And when she looked up to see who had spilled their drink on her, she stared at first in shock, then a few seconds of aggravation and then she forced a smile.
"Oh… Hello Mary Jane…" The redhead in question looked up and glared as she recognized the speaker.
"Gracie, wasn't it?" Gwen gritted her teeth in that instant; knowing the other said her name wrong on purpose.
"Gwen Stacy, actually…"
"Whatever. Well listen, I need to get going. You can repay me for that smoothie you wasted when ever you get the chance, ok?" The redhead flashed that oh so obviously fake and cheesy grin at her; thinking she was so freakin' cute when she only looked like a crackhead who was trying to con someone out of cash to Gwen.
"But, you were the one who-!" But Mary Jane was already hurrying off in the opposite direction as the blonde and had blended into the crowd. Gwen glowered after the rude redhead; at first wondering what Peter saw in such an obviously horrible person, but then remembering he wasn't exactly a prize himself.
The lovely young woman hurried off down the street; hoping to get to a bathroom inside the hospital to clean up in since it was the closest place to her currently. She really didn't want the umber haired doctor to see her in such a messy state.
Unfortunately, to her further mortification, Tabitha was not only waiting at the entrance of the hospital for her, but had seen her and was currently approaching her! When Tabitha strode closer to the blonde, she saw that the other looked very upset about something. This of course made Tabitha frown as she stopped about a foot in front of the other. Gwen had her arms crossed over her chest as if trying to hide something.
She firmly yet carefully took Gwen by the upper arm and led her inside to the closest ladies bathroom to talk; the whole way wondering what smelled like creamy strawberry. The umber haired physician regarded the other, who stubbornly didn't seem to want to meet her eyes.
"What's troubling you?" Tabitha asked in a tone that held some concern. The blonde sighed and lowered her arms to reveal that her blouse was a mess, and now so were the sleeves of her arms that had concealed it. Tabitha blinked in bewilderment.
"Oh, so that's what that smell was… You're upset because you accidentally spilled a drink on yourself?" She asked with a slight tilting of her head to one side; wondering why such a thing would seem to unsettle the other in such a way. It was only a spill. At this, Tabitha was taken aback when Gwen scowled at her.
"No, that's not it at all! That rude girlfriend of Peter's did this! And she didn't even apologize!" The blonde said, her tone and expression turning from anger to sadness. At this bit of information, and also the mention of the Parker boy again, it was her turn to scowl.
"Do you want me to punish them?" Tabitha asked in a low, menacing tone. It was bad enough this Peter person had already caused Gwen such grief, but now he was sending his whore to torment the fair blonde as well?!
Gwen blinked and stared at Tabitha for a moment. Then, to both of their surprise, the blonde laughed! For some reason, just knowing the other cared enough about her to go and torture and possibly murder someone just because they upset her, made her feel a lot better! Even if she wasn't too keen on killing still… It's the thought that counts!
"No, that's okay… I just overreacted I guess… But even so… I'm still rather peeved that she messed up my top. I mean, I don't think I'll be able to get this out with just paper towels and water…" Gwen sighed as she looked at the mess via her reflection in the mirror over the sinks.
"Why are you so worried about how you look?" Tabitha inquired with a slight tilt of her head to the side again.
"Well… I wanted to look nice for… w-when we ate lunch!" Gwen blushed a little; having to quickly catch herself because she almost said "I wanted to look nice for you."
"Ah, well that was very considerate of you. But you needn't have fretted so much." Tabitha stated in that calm way of hers and held up a hand only a hairs breath from the spill on Gwen's chest. The blonde blushed again.
"W-what are you doing?" Gwen asked her hesitantly. Her question was answered when Tabitha continued to stare at the spill. So, she looked back down at it too, only to see that it was starting to disappear!
'What in the world…?!' She thought in wonder. The mutant then made quick work of the mess on Gwen's arms too and then took a half step back to check her work; her arms folded over her own chest.
"H-how did you do that?!" Gwen gaped at her, and Tabitha just gave her a small smile and a little pat on the head.
"Not a conversation for here I'm afraid… Perhaps back at the apartments…" The blonde considered for a moment but then nodded that she understood. Tabitha's smile widened some and she gently grasped Gwen's forearm and led her out of the bathroom and to the cafeteria. They picked out the food they wanted and Tabitha kindly paid, despite Gwen saying she had money.
"I know. But, I wanted to." And when the dark eyed woman told her this, the blonde found she lost the will to argue and merely blushed and smiled; thinking that if the other really wanted to pay, then it would be rude to argue any further. And she didn't want to risk upsetting the other over something so silly.
'Hmm… That line Rose once told me to use really does work…' It wasn't like she hadn't meant it, it was just the simple fact her fellow physician had told her that it was a useable phrase made her interested and just a tiny bit doubtful of its worth.
However, she did have to remember that Gwen wasn't very assertive in general. Tabitha frowned a little at this thought and made a mental note that she would have to help the other learn how to be at some point.
They took up seats at a table by a window and sat across from one another. Gwen had gotten a chicken salad, an apple and an orange juice. Tabitha had her tray piled up with various sweets and a salad as well, but Gwen wasn't sure what type it was as she began to eat her own.
The blonde took a small bite of the chicken salad and frowned a little. It wasn't that it tasted bad… She simply found that she did not have a taste for it. Tabitha had of course, been watching her the entire time, as she had a feeling the other might not like what she'd gotten for lunch. It was just an amusing hunch of course, but to the boffin's surprise and intrigue, she seemed to have been correct!
"Something the matter with your food?" Gwen heard the hint of amusement as she looked over at the other who had yet to touch her own food, and instead was leaning forward with her elbows propped up on the table and her chin resting on gracefully long, steepled fingers.
"Well, no… It's just that…" The blonde wasn't quite sure how to answer and it not sound rude, but Tabitha was waiting patiently for her to finish.
"Not to your taste at the moment, is it?" The dark haired female offered and Gwen gave an embarrassed nod. Tabitha merely reached across the table and put the top back on the chicken salad before setting it aside.
Dr. Tenshi then took the salad container that she had on her own tray and set it on Gwen's where hers had previously been and lifted the top off; setting it off to the side as her calculating eyes remained fixated on the other to see how she would react to what had been placed before her.
Gwen gave the other a small smile, but was obviously confused, as she picked up her fork again and, proceeded to stab some of what she discovered was a type of pasta salad onto the plastic utensil. She took a small mouthful and found that it was quite tasty indeed!
"Mm! What is this?" Gwen inquired as she took another bite. Tabitha's lips twitched into a knowing smirk.
"Tuna Salad." The boffin answered simply; obviously entertained at the other's positive reaction. Gwen's eyes went wide as she paused just as she was about to eat another bite. The fork hovering about an inch in front of her pink, glossy lips.
"Wait… you don't think this is because of…" The young woman trailed off in a wary tone. Tabitha nodded.
"It would appear so."
"But how did you know?"
"Cats like tuna." Tabitha told her matter of factly; as if the answer was apparent. And if the blonde thought about it, it really did make sense. Why she hadn't seen it before was a mystery to her…
Gwen eyed the pasta. It really wasn't bad for cafeteria food, and she had never really eaten this sort of dish much. But for reasons that apparently applied to those side-effects of the serum, it tasted a lot better than she'd ever remembered it!
Tabitha smiled a little. She then picked up a strawberry muffin and after peeling off the wrapper she began to eat it; taking petite bites and savoring the sweet goodness. As Gwen was eating her own food, the young lass examined all the little confections that the other had on her tray.
"How can you eat all that sugar?" Gwen asked with a mixture of wonder and slight envy; seeing as the physician appeared quite small and slim with her baggy clothing. Tabitha swallowed her bite and the blonde couldn't control how her eyes watched as the tip of the smaller woman's tongue ran over her lips to clean away any remaining sugary morsels; feeling unfathomably jealous of the muffin in that instant!
"The same way I cleaned up your blouse." She answered simply. Seeing that this did nothing except make Gwen all the more curious, Tabitha went ahead and added to her answer in hopes of ending the subject for now.
"I'll explain it when we return to my apartment later. I shall be off work this evening, so in the mean time, do as you please." Since this was apparently all the blonde was going to get out of the boffin, she gave an understanding nod and choose to change the topic of conversation to something the other would hopefully be more talkative in.
Gwen picked what she'd been learning about in her class about Quantum Physics. And to her shock, relief and delight, Tabitha seemed relatively interested in the discussion!
Even though the blonde ended up doing most of the talking and the doctor mainly listened; only ever commenting or very rarely correcting and adding her own thoughts on the subject, Gwen was quite happy to finally be able to have a conversation in which she felt apart of it, rather than someone simply talking AT her or dismissing her entirely.
The boffin herself was more of a listener; having grown up with people like Rose and Violet who could become quite the talkative bunch when they wanted to be. So, it wasn't really a new thing to her to sit and listen to the blonde; whose ability to hold a stimulating conversation was much appreciated.
All in all, once they had finished lunch, both young women found it to have been a satisfactory endeavor; and Tabitha was quite taken aback when Gwen asked if they could do it again sometime! A minute or so of thought and the sweet enthusiast decided that if Gwen wanted to then it was fine with her.
To be continuuuuuuued! Dun dun duuuuun! X3
WHAT UP READERS?! XD Check me out! I updated another chapter! WOOOOH! BOO-YAH! LoL I'm in an extra good mood today! X3 So I'm bein' my silly self and havin' fun! Then again I usually do!
Gwen is a fun character to develop and so is Tabitha! They have their own issues and in their own way they have to work them out; whether seperately, together or with help LOL. Yaaaaayness!
Review to show your love! XD And until next time, Tootles!
