Hey, long time (7 years LOL) no see.
I'll be updating this fic on Ao3, but figured I should at least upload chapter 2 on here to give y'all a heads-up.
Thanks for being patient with me!
After the "fucking goddamn tube exploding" that afternoon, Rick went out drinking with Craig (although it was more of Rick complaining about the situation and drinking while Craig just sat next to him awkwardly twiddling his fingers around the rim of his Shirley Temple). Rick slammed his bottle on the table and grunted.
"Shit."
Craig let out a sigh.
"The one thing I find relieving is that you already know you're an idiot and went too far. Saves me time."
"No, she's a grad student. Should'a known better."
"She's a kid, if we're being honest."
"She's 21. Old enough to know better."
"A precocious grad student. She's been in one place her whole life, and she's been finally given the opportunity to travel and do research in a place where she wants to prove her worth to the scientific community." Craig's voice dropped down, and sounded mildly sinister.
"Doesn't that premise sound familiar?"
Rick's jaw tightened, as he tried his best not to think about who Craig was implying.
"Whatever," he mumbled dismissively. "New week, we can get a kinda-fresh start, n' set the rules." He grinned. "Try not to kill each other."
They sat in silence before Craig cleared his throat.
"Sorry about earlier, that was low."
"I said whatever." He asked the bartender for one more beer and his tab.
"Can't change the past anyways."
-
In an apartment a few miles from the facility, Maddie had her own night of drinking with some of the other interns that were in the summer program. She and her roommate found out two other interns were living in an apartment down the hall from them, and invited the two of them over to talk about their first day in their respective internships.
Maddie recently turned 21 back in April and was the least knowledgeable when it came to alcoholic beverages, but knew how to make a good pasta salad. Cooking also was a decent stress reliever from the day's event's and she entertained the idea that the knife currently dicing cucumbers and carrots was actually Rick.
Her roommate Hettie was helping out the programming division, and was the one who arranged the little get-together in their apartment. Being the daughter of a bona fide Southern belle she was skilled in entertaining, and provided a chocolate sheet cake to go with the white zifandel she'd chosen for the night's activities.
Francis, a redhead with a temper to match, was assisting with the newly-formed biomedical division with researching human augmentation and prosthetics. He brought cheap beer, a large pepperoni pizza, and a bag of chips he bought from the nearby party store.
"Oh, bless your heart." Hettie cheerfully said in her Southern twang, trying her best not to reprimand Francis for his rather juvenile taste. "Where's Connie?"
"Taking her sweet-ass time at the grocery store still," Francis mumbled, dropping off his food and drinks at the living room's coffee table. "Whatever she's making, it better be good."
Connie was studying to be a research clinical psychologist, and was assisting with studying and developing motivation tactics for testers. Due to her androgynous name she accidentally ended up being assigned a room with Francis, but didn't really mind the living arrangements as both kept to themselves. She arrived a half-hour after Francis, but brought a jug full of a dangerously bright red liquid she only referred to as "Juice", along with a box of antacids, a carton of eggs, a small package of bacon, and a loaf of bread.
Maddie looked up from her vegetable chopping and eyed Connie's grocery bag, confused.
"Breakfast?"
"For tomorrow actually," Connie replied as she barged into their kitchen started placing her groceries into the apartment's fridge without asking. "If you don't know your limits, Juice will have no mercy."
Francis opened the lid of the jug Connie left in the living room and took a sniff.
"This isn't some weird Asian shit is it?"
"No, just canned pineapple chunks, orange juice, cranberry juice, pink lemonade, Everclear, vodka, and some cheap rum I found." She stared at them and shrugged. "Just something I learned from friends from the Bay."
Hettie looked shocked, and Francis let out a low whistle.
"Trying to kill us on our first day? Holy shit woman, let me contribute something to the Biomed lab first!"
"Honestly, I'm pretty sure my mentor already wants to kill me after today." Maddie walked into the room with her bowl of pasta salad and set it down, along with some bowls and forks. "Pretty sure I had the worst start out of anyone here."
Over their rather eclectic dinner spread, Maddie recounted the event of her disastrous first day to the group, and although she would blame the alcohol for it, ended up in tears. Hettie was sympathetically rubbing Maddie's back, Francis was trying his best not to laugh, and Connie urged her to drink a glass of Juice to "calm down".
"Sweetie, don't be too hard on yourself." Hettie glared at Francis to try and cut down his sniggering. "Sounds like he's under a lot of stress and took it out on you."
"Inappropriate, however. Kind of a dick move," Connie added, her hand folded neatly under her chin. Two glasses deep into Juice and she didn't seem to have been affected at all.
"Get yourself together though, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen, right?" Francis had left the table to find their bathroom, and returned with a toilet paper roll. "Go and blow your nose, you're grossing me out."
"Um, thanks guys," Maddie sniffed. "I didn't really expect you to be that nice about it." She blew her nose while Hettie glared at the ginger.
"What? Couldn't find a tissue box anywhere."
"We've all done silly things before, and pretty sure we've been chewed out just as many times," Hettie said reassuringly, switching her focus back to Maddie. "Just take the weekend to relax as much as possible, and try to go into next with with positive thoughts, alright?"
"Alternatively, just walk into you lab Monday ready to beat his ass," Francis mimed pummeling someone into the ground. "Would be hilarious."
Maddie managed a giggle a little bit from that, and continued to have a pleasant night with her newfound friends. They agreed to try and have dinner together once or twice a week, and they all ended up dragging Francis back, blacked out from too much Juice.
On Monday Maddie came back into the lab, and to Rick's relief, appeared seemingly unfazed by Friday's encounter. She took the pep talk from the weekend to heart, and was hoping that today would be a fresh start for both of them. She also hoped that wasn't asking for much.
They stared at each other apprehensively, the air thick with tension. After a few moments of silently regarding each other Rick gave her a curt nod, and motioned for her to sit across him at his desk. He picked up her folder and flipped through it quickly. Maddie let out a quiet exhale of relief that Hettie's tips were working.
"Fluid dynamics?" He was blunt and to the point.
"Yes. Program specializes in hydraulics. Undergrad research in compound synthesis. So what do you want me doing here now, if you won't let me work on fixing my accident?" Maddie didn't want to bullshit around either.
"Get oriented to the lab with Craig. Your bench is across from his. Very easy to find; you've met him Friday, and also he's the resident ghost." He stood up and started walking towards him, and Maddie followed. Craig was currently sitting and reading the latest chemistry journal, and looked up expectantly at the pair.
"M'thinkin' mornings with him, go to lunch, finish your afternoons with me. Pinky arrives and leaves early, so that's about 4 hours with each of us." Craig nodded in agreement at the arrangement.
"Sounds reasonable enough." She set her backpack on the floor near her new workspace.
"If you don't fuck anything up, I'll let you work with me more. Sound good, Corncob?"
Corncob. Did she hear that right?
"What?" She did a double take at the name. Rick raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk on his face before he turned on his heel to get to his bench.
"Your new nickname. 'Iowa Girl' has too many syllables for me to care about," he called out from over his shoulder.
She slumped down at her new bench with a huff and clasped her hands together on her lap, confused on how she should feel. Craig swiveled around on his seat with a bemused smile on his face.
"Don't fret about the nickname. Mine's is Pinkie, but it's rather thoughtful that at least he noticed the distinction between pale blondes and albinos."
Maddie narrowed her eyes at Craig. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?" He shrugged.
"Marginally. He put a bit of effort into a nickname. It's a semi-decent start."
Maddie sighed.
"I've been working with Rick for a while now, and I'm still here. Even had a cake to celebrate our first year of running a lab together and not end up killing each other. Yet. I'm just trying to tell you you'll be okay."
"Thanks, I guess, sir." Craig rolled his eyes and snorted.
"Just Craig will do, Maddie. Don't make me feel as old as that blow-hard."
She let herself laugh a little with him. Odd man, but she was glad to have an ally in this lab. She couldn't help but look at his irises that indeed weren't pink, but in fact more of a ghostly silver-blue. They were pretty, in an odd sort of way. Craig caught her staring, and gave her a quizzical look. She felt her cheeks turn red.
"Can I ask, your condition-"
"Recessive for both parents. Only one in the family," Craig quickly replied with a hint of a smile, running a hand through his messy quiff. "Luckily my partner doesn't mind, she's a bit of a night person anyway. No need for gallivanting in the sun with her." Her then handed her a stack of manuals. "Now, shall we begin?"
The morning passed quickly with Craig, as he was assessing her proficiency with all of the tools their compound lab had. The skills check off completed with flying colors, they started on working on compound analysis for a new gel that finished synthesizing over the weekend.
After lunch Craig took his leave, wishing Maddie good luck with her afternoon.
"Try not to kill him, alright?"
She gave him a reassuring smile. "Promise I won't."
Maddie walked towards Rick's bench with a small spring in her step. Establishing a good rapport with Craig seemed like a good start, so the positive-thoughts seemed to be working, right? Rick was currently in the middle of calculations, and she mentally braced herself for whatever was about to come.
Rick held up a finger before she could even say a word.
"I forgot one more thing about working with me. For all your question askin' driving me insane Friday, five-finger rule."
"What do you mean by that?" Maddie asked, insulted that she was being treated as a child.
"Y'heard me. Five question limit every day, unless it's an emergency. Y'got that?"
Maddie's eyes were wide in disbelief.
"Wait, are you kidding me?"
"No, and down to four."
Maddie regretted her promise to Craig, and gritted her teeth.
"Yeah, got it."
"Good. Come here and take a look at this," Rick handed Maddie a lab book opened to a dog-eared page. "I need about 450 grams of that. Think you can make it?"
She stared at his neatly handwritten notes for the compound. Despite his attitude she did have to admire the preciseness of his work, and how much detail he went into reporting trials.
"Yeah, I can do that." She walked towards the supply cabinet, grabbed what she needed, and started to work under the hood nearby. Measuring and mixing chemicals was mundane work, but the need to be accurate in he measurements gave her something else to focus on besides her outrage at his stupid rule.
They worked in silence for most of the hour before Rick let out a long sigh. He was losing focus over these calculations, mostly from being preoccupied from thoughts of their rather unpleasant exchange last Friday. He knew he shouldn't let that day predetermine all of the interactions over the course of this internship, so he decided to make amends.
"That was a shitty joke, the five-question thing is all bullshit." He turned to look at his intern and grinned sheepishly.
Maddie was neither impressed nor humored by his admission, and didn't look away from her work as she responded.
"You don't say?" Her voice was clipped, and body language rigid.
Rick walked over to the hood where she was working and leaned on one of the external metal panels, taking a deep breath.
"I know, I know, I'm the asshole. But, I'm giving you a free pass to go all out on me. Just scream it all out, get all of it out of the way so the rest of this internship runs smoothly m'kay?"
Maddie stopped her work to consider this proposition and stared at him, face unchanging.
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
Maddie's eyes narrowed.
"This isn't a way to get me kicked from the program?"
Rick frowned. "What gave you that idea?"
Maddie shrugged. "Never hurts to ask."
"Nope. You have all the power to chew me out for last Friday now. Dont be lyin' that you've been holding out, Corncob."
Rick tacked on that 'Corncob' to see how she'd react, and the response was nearly instantaneous.
"You're rude. Also kind of condescending? You're definitely a grade A asshole though, and a jerk." Maddie quickly spat out, and took a moment to recollect her thoughts. "And a blow-hard." She then promptly returned back to her work.
Rick chuckled at her stream of insults.
"Oh, Craig's already rubbin' off on ya?"
Maddie didn't even look up from her work to acknowledge him.
"Why couldn't Craig be my mentor instead of you?"
Rick's sudden outburst of laughter startled her.
"Shit, that stung a bit."
"Good, I hoped it did." She was placing filled and paraffin-wrapped beakers onto a storage tray. "Are you still going to keep on calling me 'Corncob'?"
He took the tray from her and started walking towards the lab's cold-storage area for safe-keeping. "Not unless you can come up with a better nickname."'
"And if I do?"
"Still call you Corncob."
"It's kind of growing on me, if I'm being honest," Maddie finally admitted, as she was putting back her goggles and throwing away her gloves. "Compared to other nicknames I've been given in the past, yours does have the most originality."
"Excellent, glad t'know I've done somethin' right today."
Rick shot his intern a playful grin as she rolled her eyes and gave him the smallest of smiles had felt they had reached a decent truce, and he was willing to take what he can get. He passed her some supplies for her to calculate her estimated yields for her compound's tests tomorrow.
"Now enough chit-chat, let's get to work."