Chapter 2

"What do we do now?"

Bryan's question hung in the air as Finola pulled her thoughts together. Finally, she answered, "We treat this exactly like any other debris-related event. We report everything."

"Are you sure?" he questioned her, giving her an out if she wanted to change the story.

"I'm sure." She pointed to their orange suits crumbled on the ground. "There's still an open comm. They probably can't hear us just talking now, but I got pretty loud back there."

Bryan's face turned beet red again. Then he strode over to the suits and spoke into the microphone there. "This is Agent Beneventi. The debris has been neutralized. We need a crew in here. There have been several civilians affected in compromising positions. I repeat, several civilians affected."

Before she could walk out the door, Bryan's fingers brushed against her arm. They barely touched her, but it was enough to catch her attention.

"Are you really okay?" he asked in earnest.

She turned it back on him. "Are you?"

He nodded but his eyes dropped to the floor. It told her everything

she needed to know.

Finola stepped towards him, right into his personal space. She gave him credit for not backing away. "Listen very carefully to me, Bryan. You did not rape me. That's not what happened. You need to get that out of your head. Look at me."

His eyes came up from the floor and locked on hers.

"Are we good?" she asked him.

He pursed his lips, but then said, "Yeah, we're good."

"Then let's go do our jobs." With that, she strode out of the office. She heard him trail behind her. Neither of them bothered picking up the orange protective suits. They'd been worthless against the effects of this debris.

As she traveled down the hall, Finola could hear a woman crying. They reached the point where they'd seen the couple having sex on the floor. Finola winced as she remembered how her brain had substituted her and Bryan in that image. The two people, most likely insurance agents, had clothed themselves and gotten off the floor. The woman sat at the desk, bawling with her hands covering her face while the man leaned against the desk next to her, chewing on his nails. He looked to be dazed, just staring at the floor.

"My husband's going to kill me," the woman sobbed to nobody in particular.

Finola leaned over to Bryan and whispered, "I'm going to make sure they're okay. Will you go ahead and brief the crew coming in?"

"Okay," Bryan said and continued on towards the main entrance.

Finola walked over to the desk. In a soft voice, she said, "Hey, I'm Agent Finola Jones. I know this has been really upsetting. I wanted to let you know that we've taken care of the cause of what had you acting so strangely. Everything should get back to normal very soon."

"Normal? My husband already thinks I cheat on him and now I actually have!" She started sobbing again.

Finola laid a hand on her shoulder. "This wasn't cheating. I can't go into the details, but this was forced upon you. You're a victim. You're both victims. Besides, this is all classified. Your husband doesn't need to know the details."

The woman looked up at her, hope in her eyes. "Really?"

"You should leave him."

Finola jumped a little at the sound of the man's voice. He still stared down at the floor in a daze and Finola wondered if she'd imagined it until he spoke again.

"He's an asshole. Always accusing you of shit you don't do. Leave him."

"I can't! He controls all our money. I have nothing without him." She closed her red eyes in misery.

The man finally looked up at his coworker. "You could, maybe, stay at my place until you get on your feet." He shrugged. "If you want."

The woman's eyes widened. "You'd do that for me? Thank you. I promise I'll think about it."

Finola couldn't help but to smile. Perhaps something good might come out of this for her if she could get away from an abusive relationship.

The crew decked out in orange protective suits came down the hall towards them. Finola wanted to tell them the suits didn't help at all but she held her tongue. After informing them of the situation, she headed for the main entrance.

She didn't make it far out of the building before a middle-aged Indian woman with a tight bun of black hair approached her. Finola hadn't even known Dr. Patel, Orbital's medical director, had been on site at this mission. She knew Dr. Patel occasionally liked to evaluate missions directly, but this was the first one for Finola.

"Agent Jones, please join me in the trailer." The dark-haired woman's tone didn't leave room for argument.

"Umm, okay. Where's Agent Beneventi?" She couldn't see him anywhere with the other agents bustling around.

"He's been taken for debrief and examination, same as you." Dr. Patel motioned to the trailer and Finola followed her in. It was one of the mobile med units. "Tell me exactly what happened in there."

Finola did, only leaving out the part about her incredible enjoyment from it. Just as she'd told Bryan to treat this as any other debris-related incident, she took her own advice.

Keeping a very professional face, Dr. Patel did not react to anything Finola told her. When Finola finished, she simply said, "I'm going to draw some blood to make sure no abnormalities show up."

"Okay." Finola rolled up her sleeve, biting the inside of her cheek when the needle punctured her skin.

Once the medic finished labeling her tubes, she looked pointedly at Finola. "Should I do a pelvic exam? Check for any bruising or tearing?"

Finola waved the notion away. "No. I wasn't a virgin. I'm alright."

"What about birth control? Are you on any?"

Finola snorted. "I haven't needed any for a long time."

"Then I want you to go to the pharmacy and get this." She jotted down the words Plan B on a piece of paper. "You should take it within the next 72 hours for it to be most effective."

Reading the words, Finola realized she'd been so focused on the euphoria of the sexual encounter that she hadn't even thought of pregnancy. Wasn't her own theory about the goal of this debris being reproduction? She decided she didn't need to examine such feelings right then so she slipped the piece of paper in her pocket.

"Do you want to file an HR claim against Agent Beneventi?"

"What? No!" Finola shook her head vigorously. "This wasn't his fault! The debris had control over him just like me. In fact, he held onto control longer than I did. I practically threw myself at him!" She paused before continuing to gather her thoughts. "But I know him. He's going to make himself into the perpetrator and me the victim in his head. He'll take all that guilt on himself. You can tell HR they shouldn't let that happen."

Dr. Patel's eyebrows had crept up during her defense of Bryan, the first reaction this woman had shown. "Understood. I'll make a note of it. In the meantime, it's late so we're booking everyone into a nearby hotel for the night. I'm going to put Agent Beneventi in a room on the opposite side of the hotel from you."

Finola rolled her eyes, annoyed. "You don't have to do that. I'm not afraid of him."

"I know. But it will cut down on any awkwardness from chance encounters until tomorrow."

"Fine," Finola sighed. She didn't make any promises about encounters that weren't by chance.