It's A Matter of Trust
Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.
Chapter Seven: Washington, DC ain't got nothing on Boston, as long as you're there.
The car ride to the airport was short, shorter then she remembered it. She sat in the back seat, her brown eyes hidden behind her Ray Ban aviators, looking out the window at the passing scenery. She didn't know when she'd be back, so she wanted to look at it all, as if to memorize the way there. She saw a sign and read that the airport was merely 2 km away, and her stomach did a turn. After a month of preparation, she was about to head to Washington, DC, to begin her work on the US Constitution, as a professional Chemical Engineering performing tests for a fake manuscript group. But still, after the countless hours spent poring over chemistry text books and protocols, she still didn't feel ready. She stirred in her seat in the back of Ben's car anxiously and then felt a warm hand press over hers, giving it a squeeze, which quickly brought her out of her revere.
They'd gotten pretty close over the past few weeks. Although he was always busy with his own research, he always took a couple of hours everyday to come help her with all the prep work that needed to be done. Although they were strictly just friends, she found their working hours extending longer into the night and their conversations were turning from professional to personal. Instead of grilling her about chemical compositions or engineering ethics, she found that lately he'd been asking more personal questions. And slowly, over time, she regaled to him her entire life story, detailing quite gruesomely her estrangement from her brother and the after affects of his national betrayal. Even in England she'd felt the shockwave of his actions. For three weeks after the scandal, paparazzi were permanently parked outside of her house, trying to get a comment about how she felt about it all. Some friends stopped talking to her, some family members stopped calling, and even her own mother was wary to talk to her about it all. Everyone thought for some reason that she knew what he had done, but no one listened; she hadn't seen him in over 8 years. The news of his actions had reached her just as quickly as it had everyone else; the repercussions were just a lot more severe for her.
"Relax Alex; you're going to be amazing. You're a sponge with knowledge, you've got this. Just breathe," Ben coached from the driver's seat as he spied her nervous face through the rear view mirror.
She grinned at him anxiously and her stomach did another flip as he pulled off the highway and into the airport. They found a parking spot relatively quickly and that's when her nerves went into over drive.
"Are you guys sure this is a good idea? I mean like, I'm sure there's another way to get our hands on the Consti—" she started.
"Alex, zip it" Riley ordered, pulling her suitcase out of the car's trunk and glaring at her directly. She nodded slowly and shook out her limbs, trying to calm herself.
"It's going to be fine, I've got this, It's gonna be amazing" she said to herself, eyes closed, trying to calm herself down. She heard Riley stifle a laugh and she punched his arm playfully, feeling her body relax as they joked around.
"Everything will be waiting for you in Washington when you arrive. A driver will be there waiting for you and he'll take you to your apartment. Everything you need will be there, including a secure phone line. Only call us on that, incase things go awry" Ben instructed as they entered the parking lot elevator to take them to departures.
"I'm to wait two weeks before making contact, right?" she asked, checking the protocol.
"Yes. Settle in, get a reputation as an introvert, and work hard. The harder you work the more responsibility they'll give you. Remember; never do any research unless you're totally alone. Once you have any proof, call us. We'll be in Washington as soon as you give us word" Ben said as they reached ground floor, the doors opening and washing her with warm air. She nodded and then left the lift, the three of them making their way to the US Continental Check in desk for Flight 456 to Washington. They stopped there.
"You're going to do great. Just relax and when in doubt, trust your instincts" Ben said encouragingly, grasping her shoulders and then giving her a big hug. She pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her and took a deep breath, nodding as the man let go of her and the moved to the side.
"I guess this is when you expect some motivational, uncharacteristically kind words from me before you leave for a mission that will potentially uncover yet another history defining treasure full of antiques, valuables and scrolls that could potentially re write history as we know it…so yeah, good luck. Break a leg" Riley said humorously, giving Alex a sly smile before pulling her in for a hug. She laughed and took another breath, her head going slightly topsy-turvy at the scent of his intoxicating cologne. She loved the scent he wore; she loved it so much that she'd pilfered one of his shirts from his room and drenched the poor thing in his cologne before she left.
"Oh, thanks for that, really, that's just…fantastic Riley, really" she chuckled, swinging the small, tan leather carry on Riley had been carrying over her shoulder and then looked towards the check in counter, her stomach erupting in a rabble of butterflies.
"We'll call you tonight to do a final time table run through. Remember, if you ever feel as if you need to get out, we're just a phone call away, okay?" Ben said as he nudged her towards the check in desk where an overtly perky blonde women with a green and navy blue scarf tied tightly, almost noose-like, around her neck. She dug around her bag for her ticket and passport and then put them on the desk, Riley lifting her large, black suitcase that contained everything she'd need in Washington onto the weighing convenor belt. In what seemed like no time, she was checked in and her luggage was being whisked away and out of sight, leaving Ben, Riley, and Alex standing by the boarding gates with only one of them being able to go through.
"We'll call tonight, and we'll come out to visit soon, okay?" Ben said, giving her one final hug before turning to leave.
"Good luck. You're going to do amazing, I can feel it" Riley whispered as he hugged her again, Alex clenching her eyes shut to keep herself from getting emotional.
"I'll talk to you guys later" she said finally, giving them each a smile before turning to leave. As she rotated her body, her eyes locked onto Riley's and for a second, she was lost.
His eyes were such an incredibly shade of blue; so clear and with the beams of light pouring through the class ceiling above, so piercing. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned and began walking to customs, her thoughts straying to Riley one last time before banishing him to a deep, closed off place in her mind as she focused herself on the task ahead.
Quiet, classical music quieted her mind as she went over the mental checklist of what she was to do. As the plane taxied down the runway, she put herself into a state of ease as she realized that it was too late for her to turn back. She went over what she had to accomplish in the next few months.
Settle into her apartment in Washington
Get a reputation as an introvert
Work hard
Gain trust
Be granted privileges to work on documents of the highest clearance (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc)
Then call Ben, Riley and Abigail to Washington stat so they could decipher the Braille together.
This was all based on the assumption that the clue was detailed on the Constitution in Braille. It accounted for the blind part of the clue, but the Constitution was written and ratified well before the creation of Braille. The Constitution, if she remembered correctly (which she did. She had a knack for little details and her uncanny ability to remember them) was written in 1787, ratified in 1788 but Braille was not developed by Frenchman Louis Braille until 1821. She knew there were probably a million reasons as to how a form of communication developed 30 years after a document was written showed up on the document in question; she just hoped that they were right. Without the Braille option, they really had no other leads. She knew that while she was away the guys would keep researching, but she knew they all truly believed Braille to be a clue. She just hoped they weren't wrong.
"So you're settled in? Your flight went well and your apartment is nice?"
Alex ran a hand through her wet hair, a phone tucked neatly between her shoulder and ear as she stepped out of her bathroom and into her new apartment, a fluffy white robe wrapped tightly around her body.
"Yes, I am. The flight went well and the apartment is amazing Abby, honestly. It's exceptionally nicer than anything I've ever lived in before, except for maybe, your house" she joked, padding her way across the quaint by small living room into her bedroom.
As if on que, at 10 pm that night, her telephone rang and she was greeted by Abigail's friendly voice. She'd had a whirlwind of a day; her flight landed right on time and from the second she landed, she was swept into a furry of activity. A National Archives director was there to pick her up and from there, she was driven to NA and into human resources where the terms of her employment were laid out. She had to sign a dictionary's worth of paperwork, but by 8pm, she was on contract for the next few months (with the chance of being extended if her work merited more time) in order to do research about the amounts of Carbon 14 and other radio-isotopes in some of the most important documents in American history. She was tasked with smaller documents at first, but she knew that she could eventually work her way up to the bigger guns.
She'd been dropped off at her apartment around 8:30 that night and as she rode the lift up, she realized just how astonishingly exhausted she was from the day she'd just had. Her plans were to unpack, take a shower, and then head to be early. But not before checking in with Boston first.
"Well, we all miss you. The house is not the same without you. Oh, here's Ben, I'm sure he wants to talk business. We're making plans to fly out for a week in a few weeks, we'll co-ordinate a good time later, okay? Good luck Alexandra, we're all so proud of you!" Abigail said before bidding her goodbye and handing the phone over to her husband.
Ben came on shortly after and greeted her warmly, the two of them exchanging few pleasantries before getting down to business. He updated her on new findings and emailed her new information regarding the research she'd be doing. They talked for about a half hour before she began stifling frequent yawns, not being able to mask them from the telephone receiver
"You're exhausted, so I'll let you go. Oh, hold on, Riley wants to talk to you. First the boy doesn't want anything to do with you and now, he's almost tripping over himself to talk to you. Anyways, good luck tomorrow. You'll be great"
She bit down on her lip to keep herself from grinning at Ben's words as she went back into her living room to curl up on a couch.
"For the record, I did not trip over myself to get to the phone. I tripped over one of kitchen stools, those things are practically lethal. Anyways, how are you?" he asked, her body tingling slightly at the sound of his voice.
They made light conversation for a few minutes before she yawned again, trying to keep the sound of her tiredness from the receiver to keep him on the line for as long as possible.
She didn't know when it'd had happened. One day, she was trying not to strangle the guy and the next, she was losing her breath in the middle of an airport. He'd turned out to be a really, really great guy with an incredible amount of intelligence (which was a turn on), a great sense of humour (another turn on), and was incredibly good looking (the biggest turn on of all). She was surprised at how madly her heart had beat when he'd hugged her and she couldn't for the life of her shake the feeling of her breath being caught in her throat, the vision of his amazing eyes locked on her's almost burned into her memory for life.
"You're tired, so I'm going to go. Good luck tomorrow Alex, you're going to do great" he said finally, Alex almost already asleep before perking back up.
"Thanks Riley, I'll see you soon. Good night" she said, getting up off her couch and stumbling back into her bedroom, the phone still at her ear, waiting for the dial tone to sound so she could hang up.
There was silence for a few seconds and she stalled, waiting for the dial tone. Was he still on the line?
"Riley?"
"Yeah, um, so. Just wanted to say that I miss you, WE miss you. Boston isn't the same without you here" he said in a low voice.
She could almost see his face in her mind, scrunched up, waiting for her response or mentally kicking himself to saying what he'd just said.
She just smiled, bit down on her lip, and replied.
"I miss you too"
((Author's Note: So, updating for the first time in about two years? LOL. Sorry for the delay...readers, are you out there? *knock knock* ARE YOU THERE READERS?? IT'S ME, KRISTEN, THE AUTHOR. This is well over due, and I'm not going to hate anyone if they don't read this...it's taken two years but I think I'm back, if at least for a little bit! Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review if you did, review if you didn't. Reviews make me happy! =] ))