Chapter thirty-three
National Museum of Natural History
Washington DC

Spencer

"Dinosaurs!" Henry crowed as he ran across the vast hall.

Their family therapist had told JJ and Will that it was time for Henry to start exploring the world again, to re-learn that the world around him was a place that could be experienced without fear. That meant going out with someone not Mom, Dad or Grandma.

Enter godparents. And a new best friend.

"Hey, slow up." Penelope told him. "We don't need to be running in here."

Susanna laughed. "You don't know how many times he told me about dinosaurs." She said to the gentleman standing with her.

"I can guess." Spencer replied. "Thankfully they have a number of hands-on exhibits here."

"I'm looking forward to that." She looked up at the dome over the massive African elephant in front of them. "Ah, the Great Temple of Heresy. Please tell me you'll show me all of it."

"All of it?" He teased gently. "Heretic."

"Perhaps. I still haven't decided about that."

"No? From your letters to your sister you sound rather…devout still."

"Those are words she can hear. For myself I…I just don't know what I believe anymore. But at the moment it's not a priority, let's just say I'm remaining open to the possibilities for now."

That almost mimicked his own Agnosticism. "I heartily agree."

"Oooo," squealed an obvious tourist. "Are you two historical reenactors?"

They paused a moment. "Um, no," they said in unison.

Penelope chuckled. "You really need to learn to dress down."

"Actually I'm quite comfortable." Susanna said as she tweaked her brown twill skirt.

"Besides, that would be…disrespectful." Spencer added. He'd worn tweed for the occasion.

Penelope barely hid her eye roll, "Right."

"Dinosaurs!" Henry insisted again.

"All right," Penelope replied. "Just be patient. Remember, Susanna has to see with her fingers, not her eyes."

They entered the display hall, Henry running on ahead, dragging his godmother along. "I don't think I'm going to be able to appreciate much of this." Susanna sighed.

"You might be surprised." Spencer replied. He smiled at a docent on duty, "Anything she can look at?"

"Sure." The woman replied. "She can start with this replica of a fish fossil." The docent proceeded to explain the exhibit while Susanna's fingers drifted over the plaster replica. Susanna replied with a series of questions about how they could tell the age of the fossils, how they could tell the age of the earth itself, when humans came about in relation to the dinosaurs. She quickly exhausted the poor docent's range of knowledge but Spencer was in his element, gladly answering all of her questions in great detail.

They were in the middle of this discussion, well maybe the first third of it, when they headed for the main exhibit of the hall. Susanna stopped in the middle of the walkway and placed a hand on his arm to interrupt him. "Spencer, what is that?"

He followed her gaze up. "Tyrannasaurus Rex, commonly called a T-rex. It's actually the third largest carnivore in history; they've found two other species, Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus, although Spinosaurus may have actually been a scavenger, not an actual predator."

"It's immense!" She moved closer, tipping her head to get the best look she could. "I wish I could see the details."

"You can't?" Well no, he thought, she couldn't.

"No. But the size…"

"Excuse me." Someone said close to Spencer's elbow. He turned to find another docent holding an object in his hands and surrounded by a small flock of children, Henry included. "Now, now, hang on kids. You can all see with your eyes, but I believe this lady can only see with her fingers. Why don't we let her go first?"

"What is it?" Susanna asked.

"A Tyrannosaur tooth," Spencer told her. He watched as the docent let her hold the tooth, as she ran gentle fingers over the length of it. As he watched he noticed some feeling… "The edge is serrated to help rend the muscle fibers in its prey. The T-rex only has this kind of tooth; it doesn't have anything for grinding. For him it was just shred and swallow."

"Good heavens. Thank you." She murmured to the docent who started sharing with the children. "You know my church believes in Young Earth Creationism. They believed that before the Fall people coexisted with dinosaurs, maybe even rode them, and after they became the dragons of legend and knights literally went after them with swords on horseback." She looked up at the giant T-rex and beyond it the massive brontosaurs. "What do you think, Percival? Think you can take one on?"

Spencer fought the desire to say anything for a long moment. "I'm sorry, Fleur." He said at last. "I don't want to show any lack of respect but that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"I heartily agree." Susanna looked up again, "Fleur, huh?"

"No?"

"Much better than Blanch."

He looked at her again. "It fits you."

She smiled. "I'll accept that compliment, thank you. So, what's next?"

Henry ran up to them. "I want to go see the bugs!" He announced.

Susanna shuddered, "Oh boy."

After the insect zoo, where Susanna came face to face, or fingers to body, with a tarantula, a Great Horned Beetle, a frighteningly long millipede and a number of other bugs they went to the Discovery Room. It was a room set aside for the smallest visitors who preferred to get hands on with their museums. And hands on was just what was wanted here. "This is a sea urchin." Spencer said, placing the shell in her hands. "Class Echinoidea, phylum Echinodermata, same as that sea star you were just holding."

"Oh wow. What function do all these spines serve?"

"Protection from predators." Everything in here had fascinated her, all day long. He would have to find a way for her to be able to touch more exhibits. He watched her touch the fragile shell so delicately and felt that something again. "Do you want to move on to bones?"

"Sure." She handed him the shell and he handed her the skull at hand. "What is this?"

"Felis catus, the common house cat. And this is Canis lupus familiaris, the domestic dog."

"I heard on the radio once that cats were obligate carnivores, they don't eat vegetations, whereas dogs are omnivores." She ran her fingers over the jaws of the two skulls. "You really can tell from the teeth."

"Yeah. Okay, I hope this one doesn't freak you out too much." He passed on the next in the series. "This one is human."

She ran her fingers over the skull for a long moment. "Henry." She called out. "Will you come here a moment, please?"

Henry ran over from where he had been showing Penelope the microscopes Spencer had shown him on his last visit. "That's cool." He said. "What is it?"

"A skull. Hold still, please." With her right hand on the skull she let the fingers of her left hand drift light as a feather over Henry's features, his forehead, the arch over his eyes, cheekbones, nose, jaw. Spencer watched as she ever so lightly and carefully mapped every possible inch, comparing it to the skull in her other hand, forming a mental topography of both. He found himself wondering what it would feel like to be touched like that, so lightly and so intently. What she would think of the topography of his body? What would happen if she wanted to look everywhere? What would it be like to be touched like that, not rough and possessive and cruel but so very gently? That twinge of something grew suddenly, hard and hot and for a heartbeat it overwhelmed everything.

"That tickles." Henry told her.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Thank you." He ran off and Susanna passed back the skull. "It is human."

Yes, Spencer thought, and so am I.