Bernice still didn't have words regarding Jason's return- she was just left crying again, alone. She was so sure that by now things would be better, that she'd just feel cold and numb to this sort of thing. She didn't know if she ever wanted to see him again, honestly. She did still love him, deep down- and she never thought he was better off dead. But it just hurt so much, knowing he was really alive, standing right in front of her.
Finally, returning along with it was the once ever-present dilemma of Bernice Summerfield: whether to hug or to punch Jason Kane. Coming back in a more platonic form, at least. He wasn't getting anything more than that anytime soon, if ever.
Benny felt like she owed him something. She didn't. She never really owed Jason anything at all. But technically, now he was back- she'd left him, and she hated leaving without saying goodbye, even if it was him. In reality, he'd just have to get used to it. To her and Braxiatel's situation, to this timeline, to who was left. If there even was anyone left.
She was with the man who murdered her husband. ...Ex-husband. But they considered each other more than that at the time. When it happened, and Bernice's world fell away. Why there was nothing left for her here at all, then. Now there was- but it definitely wasn't him.
Braxiatel was important to her- nowadays since they made up, tied up there as her second favorite person, but it felt like he'd gone and broken her heart again. Not that it was really his fault, or that he would ever be the one to do it in the first place. Why make a rival for himself? Brax couldn't even make a display of winning because he knew all too well she'd hate him for it. He also despised Jason to start with, no matter which of either of them it was. All completely against his MO, and that didn't even begin to explain the expressions of absolute bafflement that even Brax wasn't good enough to fake.
Still, after counting her lost and conflicting emotions out of things, none of this made a lick of sense. There could always be another race of manipulators having fun spinning Braxiatel's head around. Third- fourth, now? There could be a sort of event horizon with this timeline, the closed loop might be ending with a convergence. If it was really the timelines meeting again- it could be utterly catastrophic. It might put this place's mere existence in a state of flux. It might cause doubles outside of those caught in the Deindum blast- her, Bev, Adrian, and Peter were more than enough. It- it might even drive Brax off the edge again. She'd just gotten back, a new start to a happy life- but this already might be the beginning of the end. She'd lose even more than before. She could lose everything. There were things she couldn't bear losing again.
But she couldn't lose Peter.
Full stop.
If these events started over, they could always be worse. Her whole universe could collapse, if it took her son away. If she ever knew he was dead, she probably wouldn't be able to keep on living at all.
Well, Benny could always get herself blink drunk. A bit earlier than their planned date there, (plus massage after, of course, he insisted if it wasn't going to be anywhere fancy) but the first minute the Rabbit would be open, you'd be able to find her at the bar. And she didn't have to make a promise to anyone to be absolutely sure when she was going for liquor.
Finally deciding to get up and clear her head, there was only one person around here to talk to. Well, technically there were thousands, or three, or maybe four, depending on how you counted things- but one person who could possibly have the slightest chance of getting things straight... And was unlikely to make her angry.
"Irving-
...Would you particularly mind kindly telling me what's going on with my dear Rabbit? The dear lady Roda measured it and said something about moving it." Jack cleared his throat pointedly.
"Keep telling you, not a lady, just a Roda." She was there, and at her comment, both chuckled and frowned at the same time.
At the time, the alarm from him on the holocorder had been disruptive, and to Irving Braxiatel the resulting startled reaction from the woman sitting across from him in his office was even more so. Mildly annoyed but still intent on being polite, he'd accepted it.
This was supposed to be Roda's briefing on another heist- ahem, acquisition. But the untimely interruption had brought that meeting to an early close. Staring at his image on the holocorder, Jack seemed to be giving her his best 'looks.' In response to that, they both just rolled their eyes.
Finding words suitable for his means, Irving explained, or rather didn't. "Don't worry about it. Just... find something to hold on to."
Unaware that he was busy with a meeting, the door to his opulent study creaked open. Knowing exactly who could give his time sense that particular feeling of warmth, and seeing the messy and tangled short brown hair peeking through the crack, Brax grinned.
"Benny, you're up early. Always pleasant seeing you. This is a new hire."
"Hello, Benny!" Jack cheerfully added.
Roda waved her hand quietly as Bernice approached, still in her pyjamas and a little awkward, then stood there in front of them before she'd allow herself to rest.
"Morning, Brax, Jack- and fresh meat? I'm Professor Bernice Summerfield. Head of archaeology. You are...?" She warmly offered a hand to shake after introducing herself.
The other woman reluctantly accepted and shook it. "Oh, heard of you. You're his girlfriend?" That word still made both partners twinge, and it left Benny with a bad taste in her mouth, knowing her already questionable reputation was already shifting to that, but let her continue. "-Roda, the Redjay... either is fine. I'm his... uhh-"
Braxiatel waved her off, speaking for her as she was considered unimportant so far.
"She's going to be a fill-in for performing acquisitions," he explained, giving a thin smile.
"Fancy word for snatching things, Irving," Jack chided.
Bernice frowned. He was still as shady as ever. She wasn't a fan of contemporary thievery at the best of times, if you considered archaeology a form of thievery anyway, and it most certainly wasn't. But she knew, even if she didn't approve, Brax would always want to continue keeping thieves on staff. Benny was content to live with it nowadays. And every jewel had its flaws, after all. Brax's jewel would make one very nice for a ring, probably- stunning and wonderful on one side, scratches and cracks on the other. Probably on one of those paradoxical Morbius rings too...
"Sorry, what's all this about?" she asked the other three, finally allowing herself to reluctantly fall into the other leather armchair opposite to Irving.
"Well- you see..." Jack answered, "...Irving is being his mysterious and frustrating self regarding the White Rabbit's fate."
Benny and Roda both gave Braxiatel a very particular look. The sort of look you would only ever give to scheming bastards who never showed their hand, even when it made sense to.
"You're moving it without telling them?" Bernice raised an eyebrow.
"Also, whatever he's doing- please don't shoot the messenger. I just got measurements!" added Roda.
"Look, he plans to move the whole thing to the Collection. People included." She paused and put a hand to her face. "I thought Brax or Peter would tell you. Goddess..."
Irving raised his hands up in the air defensively, but still chuckled. "I was going to tell them, but thought this would be more amusing." Then he stopped for a moment, putting them back down again. "-Obnoxious badgering from Jack not included, of course."
Benny glared at him. "Brax!"
Jack grumbled, eyes flickering as he rolled them. "Ha, ha. Very funny, Irving."
Roda stifled a laugh. "Not to agree, but it kinda is, actually. Don't worry, didn't you say you always land on your feet?"
Jack pouted again. "When I mean to get some air. It shouldn't be a big shock to hear that flying pubs are not my normal mode of transportation."
"Goddess..." Benny swore again.
"We're still open! We don't exactly want to be known for kidnapping our patrons... Well- not again," the Kadeptian whined.
"Well, then close up," Irving ordered. "The land movers outside should really have already been adequate motivation to do so, but apparently not."
Roda raised a mildly impressed eyebrow. "Gotta say, you move fast."
"This is already a nightmare..." Benny muttered. Quieter than that, a few swears were mixed into it under her breath.
"I figure at most we'll accidentally get Toothless Bob," Braxiatel shrugged, sipping on a glass of wine that was most definitely not there on his desk before. Just to make sure there wouldn't be quite as many snide remarks about it, he muted Jack.
"Do you really want toothless Bob running around the Collection though?" Bernice pointed out, then shook her head a bit when she remembered how old Bob had really been. "Well, vaguely shambling..."
In response, Brax offered her shrug and a cheeky glance over his wine. "Well, how far can he really get?"
She crossed her arms. " Irving, your charity knows no bounds..."
He shrugged again. "Look, I'm not going to try to scoop him up, but if I did so by accident, and it would technically be Jack's fault if it happened... This is a better place, isn't it?" He placed the wine back on the desk, and Bernice leant over for a curious sniff. Rosé. Not either of their typical preferences, but a nice one nonetheless.
Roda had been left speechless for a while, but finally piped back into the conversation with hands on her temples. This whole place was a headache. "-What did I get myself into, signing that contract?"
Bernice huffed in what was simultaneously amusement and frustration. "Quite a lot, probably."
"And I thought I was trouble..." she murmured.
Brax played innocent. "Trouble? I'm simply reclaiming my property."
"And accidentally kidnapping a few drunks along the way?" Roda joked.
Braxiatel shrugged yet again. It was just one of those sorts of conversations. "I'd be doing him a favour, Legion is... well, you've seen it."
"Quite..." she agreed.
Benny cut back in, giving the man in front of her a pointed question. "Was this healthy communication thing we talked about apparently only going to be with me, or-?"
He scrunched up his face. "Ah. I forgot. I'll call first. Roda, you can pick up the employees, can't you?"
Roda nodded, but Bernice's head was in her hands again. "I love you, Brax- but why?"
"It's in my nature?" He pouted. Not that you'd ever typically see him really pout. It was an unusual sight, usually followed by a 'But Benny...' or three. Especially bizarre to a new employee who barely knew him as anything but the Collection's ultimate authority who casually enjoyed making mild attempts on her life and having her do tricks for biscuits.
Giving in to him, Benny rolled her eyes again and huffed, somewhat amused at what he'd just pulled. "Fine..."
It seemed Jack had, given time, hacked away at the holomeet's mute setting until he could talk as much as he wanted. And that, as far as he was concerned- was quite a lot. "Your complicated little way of flirting is really quite funny and all, but do we have any choice in the matter here? Go to your little asteroid or lose our livelihoods? Not that I'd ever leave my- your dear Rabbit, Irving. But the happy couple I've been watching for years? Not so sure."
"Peter and Diego already made their choice about the what, Jack," he informed. "They just aren't quite aware of the how."
Benny raised an eyebrow. "Would they approve of the how, Brax? May I remind you I care about my-"
"Your son, yes. Benny, that you would literally go to hell and back for Peter is one of the ultimate facts of life. I trust you told him the plan already- he just wouldn't know every detail."
"But how come the manager is out of the loop?"
Roda giggled. Brax only smirked. "Because, Jack McSpringheel- friendly or not, you tend to be enough trouble as is. You were also never formally promoted to that position. Putting you in your place, as it were. This place."
Already losing some interest, the Kadeptian seemed to glaze over a bit. "You said. Anyways, while I have quite the handsome face, isn't acting as a display piece rather dull?"
"You'll still be minding the bar, all your normal duties- but breaking up fewer brawls, less beer and broken glass to clean and reorder, oh- and I'll order premium ingredients with the best drinks selection this side of the galaxy. The White Rabbit will be a real destination, not just the best pub on Legion. Constant pay too." The offer was tantalizing.
"I'm in."
"So much for Kadeptian stubbornness," Bernice muttered.
"It's not stubbornness, Benny- it's loyalty to a cause. And I'm showing that off now, aren't I?"
"Which cause did you just switch to?"
"Having both money and free drinks?" he shrugged innocently.
Roda made a sort of polite face, nodding along, then added in, "Exactly how are you bringing it here? A whole building? The White Rabbit's timezone is a century from now."
Brax chuckled at the exchange, sipping and examining the wine. "Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?"
"We're Time Lords, it's hardly a complete mystery."
Benny was surprised anyone would be so open about that fact. Nowadays, at least.
"You're one too?" That explained things. Even Bernice wasn't quite sure about the answer to her question though, and she knew exactly what they were currently sitting in. All hiding in plain sight. Even when he wasn't in the mood for his time equipment to be easily accessed, if the right books were just removed from the shelves over there, everything would be revealed.
Jack's eyes darted between the three of them. "Irving's one, Roda's one, the Doctor's one? If you're secretly one too, Benny, I may just be garnering a little Collection of my own."
Roda protested. "I don't belong to anyone-"
"Of course I don't really own you. Being figurative- I do really just have the soul of a poet," he grinned.
Benny called him out. "We were over this, Jack- you are never writing a single word of poetry again. Ever."
He laughed. "Oh, but weren't you banned from it first? Any form of rhyme breathed from your lips is quite literally blasphemy?"
Her eyes widened. He knew.
"Where'd you hear that?!"
"Read it in a book, probably," he answered nonchalantly.
"We both know that you barely read," she shot back.
"So maybe I looked up old Benny Summerfield a few times? You're a very weird person, let me tell you," he wiped a tear from his eye.
Brax interjected. "I do believe we may be off track. Jack, once you're closed up, call Roda over and I'll start the transit."
"Fine. Goodbye, Irving, Benny, dear Roda."
"See you soon, Jack," he finished.
At that, just before the link was severed, he winked and blew a kiss. Aimed quite at whom, nobody could be sure.
Well, Jack 'McSpringheel' certainly was a character. There was no doubt about that before, but that solidified it to Roda. One thing that she'd definitely end up agreeing with was that not even his friends were ever quite fully aware if he was a bad or good one- in a very different way to Braxiatel in that matter though. Much the opposite, in fact. Not that she considered herself firmly 'good' either.
It was only fifteen seconds later, local time, when Roda's personal communicator vibrated. She picked up again, the other two still sitting there with her.
"Oh, Roda! Dear Roda, please come and pick us up if you will? We're ready and waiting!"
She rolled her eyes at the 'dear' again, but it was better than lady, so she stopped contesting it. Maybe she was getting fond. Roda nodded. "I'll give you a ride, see you in five."
And with that, she was off. Benny watched her leave, and Braxiatel waved her goodbye, with slightly less ominous condescension than he had previously, then the door creaked shut behind her.
Sighing and embracing the quiet like a friend, Bernice commented, "You are a strange man, Irving."
"Well, it's one of the many reasons you like me, isn't it?" he huffed.
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. And also one of the reasons I don't always like you."
"Fair enough." He winked over his glass. It was still incredibly bizarre a sight for him to wink, regardless of the situation.
"Would you mind...?" Bernice gestured to his wine glass.
"Ah, yes. Of course." As if by magic, the bottle it belonged to came into existence on his desk and he picked it up- from just outside her peripheral vision so she still couldn't tell exactly how he pulled that particular trick. Always just a bit infuriating.
She took another mysteriously appearing glass and let him fill it, sipping at it gladly. "Ahh- goddess, yeah. Thanks . "
Braxiatel frowned and stared across his desk. "I know why you're here, up so early. Or, at least I can guess."
She glanced down. "It's that obvious, is it?"
"Jason?" he asked, and Benny silently nodded. "I've been concerned about that too."
"It just doesn't make any sense, Brax."
"I was hoping you'd have said that, because I don't quite know what to make of it either. I spoke to him after we left- he told me where he came in from and I had Joseph investigate..." he trailed off into incomprehensible mumbling that probably had something to do with him being kicked from the mansionhouse. That bit wasn't hard to gather.
"Alright, not reassuring, that."
Braxiatel placed his glass down, pushed it away, and leaned towards her, head resting on folded hands. His look was grim.
"He woke up in a casket, Bernice."
She didn't know what to expect, but that certainly wasn't it. Benny's expression went through several different phases, mostly confused, but also worried, angry, loving, and sorrowful.
What she ended up asking, however, barely suggested those emotions at all. "...What exactly did the casket look like?"
"Not the first thing I imagined you saying there, but a good question. I was hoping you'd be willing to see it anyway, because... well. If my hypothesis is even remotely on the right track, only you would know. Well, almost only you."
He pushed a button on the desk, showing a video feed recorded from Joseph a few hours prior. Dark mahogany, green velvet cushioning inside, golden handles. She knew alright, because Bernice had helped to pick it out herself.
That was the one, no doubt about it.
Bernice nodded, eyes wide and speechless, mouth agape.
It didn't take an expert to gauge her response, and Irving stroked his chin in concern. "I was afraid of that. It hasn't always been in that closet, obviously- but there are no disturbances on any of the security systems whatsoever that suggest quite how it could have appeared. Nothing at all."
It took a while for Benny to string any words together. There was a lot she wasn't trying to panic about.
"I- Brax- bollocks - Could the loop be closing? Please say the loop isn't closing."
Not wanting to have to look at the casket too much longer, in the event it decided to stir a memory, Irving turned off the image, then rubbed the back of his neck. "There's been a lot of anomalies about the universe lately, with most of my people gone. But the Collection's time loop isn't supposed to be this delicate anymore... I'll look into it. There have been a few other convergences, but none quite as significant as this."
She furrowed her brow after a firm gulp of wine. It settled in her mouth and rolled down her throat harshly. "Brax... what other convergences?"
He hesitated. "We should probably speak about it in a more professional environment."
"We're at your desk in your office, it can hardly get much more professional than that," she stated, obviously forgetting the fact that she had bedhead and was in her pyjamas.
"It isn't for us anymore. At least, she wouldn't agree with you," he added, gesturing to the room around them itself.
Either the wine really wasn't her thing, or realizing what 'she' meant left a bad taste in Bernice's mouth. Oops. "...Point taken. So where are we meeting then?"
"I rather think the question is with whom. I'll call a staff meeting." He paused. "After our date. Tuesday, when I've had some time to parse this. And find a fix for redundancy errors in the security with there being two Jasons about."
"Good idea, yeah." Bernice yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Should go back to bed, probably. I'm still... tired. Haven't gotten much sleep lately, again."
Brax shook his head. "Hmm... That just won't do. Benny, care to rest here? I'll... I'll cuddle with you?" He still wasn't usually the one to offer for just about anything yet- off the cuff, at least. Something this simple was still a bit hard to ask on.
She didn't give much response to it, just yawned and nodded, adding, "...It's always better with you," not realizing what she'd said until she'd already said it.
Without another word, Brax got up and moved over to a chair by the fire, picked up a blanket that was also definitely not there before- courtesy of the same annoying trick as the wine, and patted the cushion next to him.
Bernice squeezed in next to him and leaned on his shoulder, before finding a more comfortable position in his lap.
He gently draped the blanket over the both of them and kissed the top of Bernice's head as she slowly nodded off in his arms.
"Sleep well, Benny."This was going to be a big day. But it didn't have to start quite yet.
