25th May 2013 Saturday

Day 145

Thank you very much for your feedback on that last one. I was supposed to put Jenny in the last but it was running a little late. This one will be Jenny.

Disclaimer: I do not own the show.

Jane had just finished tending to the acid glow-worms and now, she was retrieving the food bag for her beloved crickets. Work around here had become a lot harder without their "muscle" worker, but Dex had thoroughly created the perfect regime for everyone that compensated for their missing employee.

Heading towards the cargo haul, the mother decided to take a detour through the control room; just to skim past the cameras and ensure that everything was all right.

The door opened with a quick swish, and Jane was slightly surprised at what she saw.

Walking up with silent footsteps, she sat down next to the engineer and nudged her shoulder. With a groan of tiredness, Jenny blinked away the caked-in sleep in her eyes before meeting Jane's gaze.

"What's this?" Jane questioned, gesturing in a nod towards the largest of the computer monitors. A soundwave bounced across the screen, accompanied by a rhythmic beat of snoring.

"Sorry," her voice was croaky with no use. "It's a recording from a video camera. The sound of Zap's snoring puts me to sleep."

Jane curled her lips in sympathy, rubbing her hand on Jenny's back in comfort as she spoke. "How are you going with all of this?"

"Not good," Jenny said bluntly, shaking her head as it rested in her hand. "I feel like, like the team isn't whole. We can't work without him."

"I know," the mother nodded in agreement, typing at the computer to reduce the sound of the snoring. "I bet this hasn't been easy on you either?"

Her question snapped the clone out of her daze as her head began to droop again. Wiping her face awake, she buried her head in her hands, unable to face her conversationalist as she spoke.

"I've never felt this empty since before Dex found me," she mumbled, just loud enough for Jane to hear. "I don't know what to do without him."

"You know, Dex and I went through something like this," she began, catching the attention of the engineer as she turned her head. "Before we moved in together, we agreed to spend a few weeks apart to test the strength of our relationship. It was so hard at first, but by the end you kind of realise that another person somewhere, your other half, is feeling the same way and wants to be with you as much as you want to be with them."

Jenny sat up in her seat properly, smudging the tear stains that had subtly began to form. "How did you manage to get through all that time?"

"I tried to distract myself with work," she explained, smiling at the memory. "But it is important that you don't try and forget about them completely. Knowing that he will come back should make you strive for the future where you'll see him again."

With a sad nod, Jenny gave Jane a small smile. She sniffed the last of her tears away before pulling herself together and standing up.

"I'm going to go work on a few discontinued experiments," she said, which Jane nodded solemnly at. "And, thank you for this. It meant a lot."

The mother's lips curled in sympathy again. "I know."

Kind of mother/daughter with this one, so very sweet. R&R! (Sorry they are short/nothing really huge happening but exams are fast approaching and I should be revising.)