A hand reached out and pushed hers off her neck. It proceeded to rub at the tension gathered there, an expression of friendship and concern.

"It's lunchtime, and Effie has threatened to kill me if I don't get you out of this office and taking a real break," said a soft male voice.

"We can't have that," she said, leaning back into the massage for another moment before sitting up. Turning, she smiled up at Mark. "That kitten is dangerous when she gets mad."

"I heard that," said Effie from the doorway.

"I know you did. Am I wrong?"

"Hmm." She pretended to be deep in thought for a moment, then smiled. "Nope!" she replied perkily. "Dangerous is fun!"

"That's what you think."

"Aw, don't be so dour all the time. It's a beautiful sunny day outside. Let's go take advantage of it!"

"It's always sunny."

"But the winds have been calm the past couple days, so it's clear, too. The sky is blue enough to perk even you up, gloomy pants."

"Even me? This I'll have to see."

"That's what I've been saying. Come on, let's go! Lunchtime doesn't last forever!"

Mark turned around, leaning on his cane as he shifted his weight. "A date with two lovely ladies? All the men will envy me."

"All the men who don't know us," pointed out Anne. "The ones who do will pity you."

"Envy, pity, little difference. How's the day going for you girls?"

"Long," replied Effie. I'm stuck trying to coordinate six different teams, two of which are way behind where they are supposed to be, and we need to be ready for trial in less than two weeks. I feel like I'm being forced into the mommy role, nagging and cajoling, and coaxing when all I want to do is toss the lot of them out the nearest window."

"Well, you get paid to be their mommy," Mark pointed out.

"Yes. But does it have to be so hard? Some days I wish I could be Anne, luxuriating in the privacy of my office, merely thinking up the pretty thoughts everyone else has to make work."

The lady in question sighed. "I'm blocked this morning. I think I didn't get enough sleep last night; I'm having a real hard time concentrating."

"I can get you more coffee," offered Effie as Mark peered at Anne's face.

"You look like crap," he pronounced.

"Thanks," Anne said wryly. "I'm not sure more caffeine is what I really need right now, but thanks. No, I'm pretty sure it's just stress. I've never been a fan of deadlines, and working out bugs this close to testing is making me edgy. And whiny. Someone, get some food in me before I start complaining about my messed up childhood, quick!"

Effie stopped in the hall. "Oh, so if we don't feed you, you'll finally talk about yourself? Not much of an incentive to get you food."

"No, I'll just stand here and whine. Trust me it's not a pretty sight. Besides, my childhood was mostly dull and boring," she lied. "I'm doing you a favor to keep my mouth shut."

"That's not it. You just like keeping that aura of mystery wrapped around you shoulders. Like a shawl. That's it! I shall make you the shawl of mystery, and make you wear it around the lab!"

Mark coughed.

Anne smiled a little. "That won't work. Lab coats are required. Lab shawls are not."

Effie pouted a little. "Fine. I shall make it and drape it over the back of your chair. Nothing against the rules there."

"I'm honored. And touched. Or you're touched."

Effie sighed. "No one understands me."

"You do your best to keep things that way," pointed out Mark, opening the door to the outside. They all absently waved at the door guard as they filed out into the sunshine. Mark and Anne squinted into the glare, and Effie raised a hand to shade her eyes.

"I always forget how bright it gets when there isn't so much dust in the air," she commented absently as they made their way to their favorite café.

"So you've listened to our day," pointed out Anne to Mark. "What did you do?"

"Oh, same as always. Paperwork, and supervising physical training. I'm highly qualified to hold a pencil, you know." Bitterness touched the edge of his voice, but it was an old pain, one the girls already knew and understood.

"It could be worse," pointed out Anne. "It could be exciting."

Mark grinned at her. "You are one of the rare ones," he said. "So many people think exciting is better."

"Not when you're a guard. Then exciting just means trouble."

"Some days I wish for a little trouble. It's been really boring. Last time anything of note happened was almost a year ago."

"That vandalism thing?" A few students had protested over what they saw as abuses heaped on the plants. Protested with paint and mild violence. Anne always wondered just what such actions were meant to accomplish.

"Yeah. Ever since then, it's just been lost ID badges and demagnetized key cards."

"Hardly worth waking up for."

"But…" he paused a moment.

"The pay is good," they all chorused, a well-rehearsed refrain.

They ordered lunch, then spent a few mostly silent minutes as they ate. Anne looked around the square, assessing potential problems absently, not really paying attention to what was going on around her. Mark did the same, as he had been trained to. She wondered sometimes if he caught her at it, noticed her noticing the same things he did, but if he did, he never commented on it. Sometimes she wondered at Effie's blindness, her inability to pay attention to the world around her. Effie lived in her own little sphere of reality, and Anne loved her for it.

Some days she wondered how she managed to find two such wonderful friends. Not through any virtue of hers, that she was sure of. But for some strange reason, these two people seemed to like her as much as she liked them.

And that was very nice, indeed.