The USB drive still sat on the front edge of Jack's desk, tiny and black and incredibly distracting. He stared at it, equally desperate to know and not to know what was on it. He'd almost taken it home with him the night before; he'd reached for it but hadn't been able to touch it. He still couldn't.
It didn't matter; he wasn't going to read it at work. That seemed like a recipe for disaster no matter what it said. Grabbing another file folder, Jack turned to Odyssey's incident report and tried to focus. If he held the file upright and rested the bottom edge on his desk, he couldn't see the drive, anyway. Of course, the act of holding the folder reminded him that it was there, so that wasn't really as effective as he'd hoped.
Annoyed, Jack tossed another file toward the edge of his desk, hoping to cover the offensive device somewhat permanently. Instead, he heard the plastic scrape across the desk and thud lightly onto the carpet, and gratitude and loss swam through him side by side.
Jack sucked in a breath and went back to the incident report.
~/~
"How do you think I'm doing, Daniel?" Cassandra's words were punctuated with a sniffle through the phone.
"Yeah, I know," the archaeologist admitted with a sigh. Sam had asked him to take care of the young woman, and he was giving it his best shot. "Sorry. Just something to say. How are classes?"
"Um… my philosophy prof told me my grade is high enough I don't have to take the final," she told him. "He feels bad for me."
"If it cuts down on your workload, great," Daniel pressed. He couldn't imagine going into final exams three weeks after the death of the closest thing she'd had to family. "Are they being okay about it?"
"Yeah, mostly." The shrug sounded clearly through her voice. "I had a paper due last week. Doctor Graham said I can just turn it in at the final."
Yeah, she'd been a little too busy burying her aunt to write a paper. "If I can help at all…."
"No, I'll be okay. School-wise. I can always take an incomplete and finish it next semester."
"Okay." Daniel wished there was more he could do; she sounded so resigned. "Have you read her letter?"
The line was silent for a moment. And even when she finally answered, it was so quiet he barely heard it. "Yeah."
"Did it help at all?"
"Why would it help, Daniel?" she demanded, and he grimaced as he realized she was crying again. "I knew she was proud of me. I knew she wanted to be around longer. All it did was make my roommate go get the R.A. for the fifth time because I couldn't stop sobbing. I don't need a stupid letter. I need Sam."
"Yeah, I know," he told her quietly. "Me, too."
They sat together – and hundreds of miles apart – for a moment in silence. In grief. "Hey, what time does your flight get in?" Daniel asked finally.
"Eleven-thirty."
"Saturday morning, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Going through Sam's things wouldn't be pleasant for either of them, but there was a bigger issue to address. "I've, uh…. I've cleared out my second bedroom for you. I want you to have a place. With me. If you want it. I mean, Christmas is coming up, and, uh…."
That did it; her breath went in as a sniffle and came out as a sob. She hadn't just lost Sam; she'd lost her home away from college, too. Her base. She'd moved into Sam's guest room when she'd had to move out of Janet's house less than a year and half before. It was just too much loss. "I'm so sorry, Cassie," he tried as she cried quietly on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry. We can talk about it later."
"Yeah, okay." It was said through pained gasps and sniffles. "I have to go, Daniel."
"Okay." He took a breath, because they weren't words he was used to saying. "I love you, Cassie, okay?"
"Bye, Daniel." She hung up the phone.
~/~
The cleaning crew had put the USB drive back on Jack's desk the night before, and he'd hated them for it all day. Between the wreck on the highway and the traffic and scurrying to his office late, he'd almost managed to forget the damn thing even existed. And then he'd opened his office door. And there it was.
He hadn't been able to concentrate on a damned thing all day. Before he could think about it too hard, he snatched the drive off the desk and shoved it in a pocket.