The scientist's eyes watched the drop of transparent liquid slowly form on the tip of the dropper she was holding, and then quickly fall to join the red solution inside the glass beaker.

"Twenty", she counted mentally.

As expected, the red liquid started shifting with the addition of the last drop, slowly acquiring a darker hue.

The scientist's expectations grew, and she held her breath. The solution reached the hue that would indicate a success of the experiment, and she briefly thought she had finally made it, but then it darkened some more, and soon it was black. She let the air out in a tired and disappointed sigh and started cleaning up the experiment.

She discarded her gloves and put on a new pair, and was setting up for her next try, when there was a knock on the lab door.

"Come in", she said, over her shoulder, while she continued her preparations.

She heard the door opening and closing, punctuated by the sound of little steps. She didn't have to ask who it was – only one person in the castle had permission to go into her lab.

Peppermint Butler's voice came from behind:

"Princess, lunch will be served in a few minutes. Should I make the usual arrangements?"

The scientist stopped what she was doing and let out a small sigh, responding while she removed her gloves and went to wash her hands in one of the sinks:

"No thank you, Peppermint Butler. I will join the castle staff for lunch today."

Had the princess been looking around, she'd have noticed the faintest smile on the servant's face, which disappeared as he said the next thing he had to say:

"Also, I have a message for you, princess." He hesitated. "It's from her."

Bubblegum stopped her thorough washing of her hands and her eyes widened. The room fell silent, except for the sound of the running water coming from the faucet.

Marceline had been gone for a week. For the past seven nights, the princess had stayed up as long as her exhausted body would allow, reading or just staring out the window, waiting. The hearings had ended five days before, with a lot of the Candy People apparently feeling discouraged to make the trip to the castle without the prospect of a free snack prepared by the staff, leaving Bubblegum with nothing to show for them but a headache and a growing conviction that the Candy People had no idea what was best for the kingdom.

One good thing had come out of Marceline's absence: having already read all her favorite books twice, Bubblegum turned to her research logs, from when she completely invested herself in finding out more about her mother's mysterious disease. Information on it was scarce, as her mother was the only recorded case she could find, but still she had tried her best to research similar cases and pathogens, and had drawn some conclusions from it.

She dropped the research after hitting a dead end due to the lack of information, but, as she realized in one of her late nights of waiting, there was a new piece in play. Though it was painful to think, her father had perished to the same disease, she knew that for sure, since she had ordered the doctor to tell her that. She had needed to know, even though it made her suffer even more back then. In hindsight, it had been for the best.

For the past three nights she read what she had wrote years before, and made corrections with the knowledge she had acquired since then, drawing new conclusions in the process. The previous night, she had gone through the entirety of her research, and a part of her, the part that craved knowledge, was eager to make more advances. The part of her that had hopes for Marceline's return each day, and had them crushed each night, also encouraged her to dive into her research. And so she did.

She asked the doctor for any genetic residue from her father, from when he was sick, and obtained enough to continue her work. She had expected the research to make her feel worse about his death, but approaching it in an entirely scientific manner helped her cope, as it helped distract her from Marceline's absence. Until now.

She was a little surprised about Peppermint Butler's way of giving the message, but she had known the servant for all her life, and had begun to understand he was more than met the eye, these past few weeks. Still, she recovered her composure and said:

"Is it in writing?"

"Yes, princess." He took a closed letter from his pocket, and placed it on one of the tables.

"Did she deliver it herself?" She avoided looking at him or the letter as she spoke, turning the tap off and drying her hands.

"In a manner, princess. I wouldn't like to get into the details of it, unless you order me to, your highness."

Bubblegum considered it for a bit, but figured that if Peppermint, being as loyal as he was, didn't want to discuss it, she'd let him be.

"Very well. Is there anything else?"

"No, princess."

"Then thank you, Peppermint Butler. You're dismissed."

"We'll be waiting for you for lunch, princess."

He made a small bow, and left the lab, shutting the door behind him.

The princess hanged her lab coat, checked her lab to make sure she didn't leave any experiments running, and left, locking the door behind her.

The letter remained on the table.

Author's Note

I'm so sorry to tease you guys (I'm totally not), but this is just a short interlude before the official chapter 3. This fic has received more attention than I could hope to get so soon, and I'm really thriled. I make a commitment as of now to try my best to update every week, and to let you guys know if I've abandoned the fic (let's hope it doesn't come to that). As usual, feedback is more than appreciated (every time I see someone has followed or reviewed the story, I remember that I should be writing it, so we have that), and thank you so much for reading. I'm sorry for the angst that's about to come (still totally not sorry).

EDIT (15/07/12): I no longer consider this an interlude. I don't think it really fits what an interlude actually is, and it's being bugging me like you have no idea. Consider this chapter 3.1, and I'm still deciding if the next one is going to be half-sized like this one and I'll just say I've slip the chapter and publish ir earlier, or if it will full length and I'll publish it later and lose my grasp on any sense of logic in these updates. Ramble ramble