Disclaimer: I do not own any of these wonderful characters.

~ This fic is based on the movie ~

Mina moved over to the second window, her hands buried deep in the rather large pockets of her black velvet dress. She really wasn't in the mood for any of it tonight. Not the arguing and certainly not the lateness. And they were all late. She knew that Nemo had recently ported so she could let him off with that excuse, but the other three weren't going to have a chance to start any sort of empty explanations. At this exact hour, she was quite tempted to smack someone. And she immediately pictured Skinner's face looming in front of her black gloved hand. He still deserved a bit of something for the whole behind grabbing incident. She certainly wasn't the kind of woman to stand around letting men treat her like some sort of common whore.

Her maid, Thria, was behind her again requesting for her to sit and wait. Telling Mina that she shouldn't be at the windows on such a cold night. It wasn't good for a woman to stand around all night waiting on men who obviously had no manners.

Mina held up her gloved hand, immediately sending the maid away. She could hear the woman saying something under her breath, but she chose to ignore it. Why bother getting irritated with the maid too? The night was much too short and she already had enough to deal with.

She leaned herself against the window, her nose pressed to the glass. Where were they?

Below her on the curb leading to her front door, a small man walked. He was crouched over holding his coat close to his body. His gray hair was blowing about in the cold, breezy night air. She watched him as he walked under her window. It seemed that he had no business being out on such a night and she was just about to send her maid out for him, when the library door flew open and in walked Skinner. He took no notice of her as he threw off his coat and seated himself. Brushing snow and ice onto her Oriental rug by the fireplace.

"Extraordinarily late." She said as she watched him dusting snow off his black hat. He had on a pair of black pants and a thick, black sweater that looked to be made of wool. The turtleneck of it was pressed up against his chin to which some of his face was smearing off onto it. She put this up to be one of the presents he had received from one of his many women. He was a man, after all, and they hardly knew how to walk right, much less buy expensive clothing.

"Actually, love, I'm early considering no one else is 'ere yet." He smiled with the falseness of all the white paint on his face, "Would you fancy a quick go at it?"

Mina, eyes still fastened on the grease face, looked tired for a moment, "Really Skinner, if you're going to be late, at least have the courtesy to talk to me as if I were a human being and not one of your little lovies."

"No 'arm done." He stood then and walked over to her, his arm going around her shoulders, "Lighten up Mina, really."

"I'll lighten up when all of you start taking me more seriously." She dropped her shoulders quickly and stepped away from him to the other side of the window.

No sooner had she turned back to the frosty window, then her maid came bursting into the room. Her hair was a bit disheveled and she held a broom in her hand, "The rest are here Mrs. Harker, but they bring the mud in and stomp it on my rugs. And now they bring it up the stairs!" she was furious, her little pudgy cheeks turning red with anger, "Can't they meet outside where they belong?"

Mina looked at her, shaking her head, "Clean it Thria. This should be the last of the meetings."

Thria blew out her cheeks in quite a huff, threw a maddened glance at Skinner and walked quickly from the room.

Mud was the first thing that came into the room. It flung out from Tom's shoes as he jumped down the library steps, "Yow! I think Thria is out to murder a few tonight."

"You can't take off your shoes at the door?" Mina asked as she walked over toward the three men who had entered.

"Guess not." Tom said as he seated himself, giving Skinner a pat on the leg.

Nemo stood back, slipping his shoes off.

Jekyll seated himself beside Tom, "Sorry Mina." He said softly, "We didn't think and we knew we were all late so we…"

"Didn't think." Skinner finished for him, giving him a wink.

They started their arguing then, the three of them, as they waited for Nemo. It really wasn't much of anything that they spoke of, but still they clamored on about nothing. Tom was merely taking up for Jekyll who was telling Tom that he could stick up for himself. And then Skinner was blasting the both of them. Tom for being too quick to fend for someone who didn't appreciate it and Jekyll for being, well, Jekyll. The two geniuses never seemed to get along much anymore and it didn't help that all of them were in love with the same woman.

Mina looked from the quarreling men back to Nemo who seemed to be cleaning off his socks and laying them perfectly in his boots. She was just about to get really irritated, when he looked at her and with a slight nod of his head, voyaged over to the couch to sit.

"Good." Mina said now. The men had stopped arguing upon Nemo's arrival on the couch. Now they all sat back, hands in their laps, and waited.