Chapter VI:

Jane was historically terrible at dealing with hangovers. Today was no different.

Trundling toward the lab, she knew it was bad when it was taking an effort to even blink. The mild ache in her empty stomach was not helping either. And neither was the embarrassment she had woken up with, sprawled on her couch in sweaty clothes.

"Say, that wasn't my finest hour." She muttered aloud as she tousled her hair.

Looking back at it, she should have expected Percy's alcohol tolerance to be ungodly. She should have realized that she was setting herself up for nothing good. Gods, she refused to consider the things she might have uttered. And she had nothing to show for it. Percy, again, had weaseled his way out of a straight answer, his purpose unclear as ever.

Talk about a clever idea, Jane. Darcy would have called her tragically misguided.

Checking to see with a store window, her hair was still a bit frizzled at the ends. Her dress shirt and pants could have used an ironing over as well. Jane rolled her eyes. The least she could have done was look presentable. Maybe then she would have been able to salvage some amount of dignity. Her plan to show up early was not even going to matter if Percy showed up at his usual time, anyways.

In a manner that could be described as lackadaisical, Jane crossed over the streets. Now, the River Thames was beside her, providing a brief respite with its clearer than normal waters. The hint of a breeze felt better than none at all.

Without paying much thought, Jane passed overhead a man with black hair and green eyes.

Wait.

Jane's knees nearly caved in as she stopped dead in her tracks. No. Never mind, it was just a man that looked like Percy down there. She continued on.

Wait, no. That was him.

"Percy?!"

A surprised look greeted Jane as her body bent over the railing in astonishment. There, knee-deep in the water, she found him. Sleeves rolled up, hands dirty with mud, all while shouldering a bag.

Tentatively, he waved once. "Er, morning Jane. You sleep well last night?"

Jane blinked. She had to be hallucinating this. There was no way he was this off-put.

"Wha—Percy. What are you doing down there?"

He looked down around him, "I, uh, my breakfast fell into the water."

"And your solution to that problem was to jump in yourself?"

"That's about it, yeah. Not my brightest." He then flicked his hands, his face in a pout.

"I must say, you look like a sewer rat down there." Jane laughed, unable to help herself.

"If this city took better care of their water, I wouldn't." Percy frowned. "The amount of trash I've found is ridiculous."

"But no breakfast?"

"No breakfast." He affirmed.

Jane took a moment to try and comprehend, shaking her head afterward, "You do realize how mental this looks, right?"

"Tell that to the bird that knocked my sandwich over." Percy contended, raising his shoulders in a shrug.

"A bird?"

"Yup."

"What kind of bird?"

"I don't know Jane, I was too busy eating to notice."

Jane scooted closer toward him, amused now. "Well, I think for our first non-lab-related encounter, this is rather fitting."

Percy smiled. "You only say that because you're on top."

"Of course." Jane offered from above, desperately trying to ignore the connotations. "So is this what you've been doing when we're not working? Bird-stricken environmental activist by day, crazed lab assistant by night?"

"So many questions, Dr. Foster. It feels like I'm being interviewed again."

"Well, I'm positive I'm the only scientist in England who's ever discovered their intern lurking in a river on the way to work." Jane contended. "No wonder you smell like saltwater all the time."

Percy's smile went sideways. For the life of her, she could not tell whether he was happy or not that she had found him.

"Here, give me a second to get up to you." He said, making his way towards a nearby safety ladder.

"Be careful."

"Please, I always am, Dr. Foster."

Jane crossed her arms in waiting as Percy made his intrepid journey. Climbing up, he revealed that everything below his knees was dripping wet. It was in more ways than one, a rather strange sight, the possibility of normality dispelled. But nothing surprised her about Percy now.

"What's in the bag?" She asked, gesturing to his back. "Bunch of rubbish you scoured?"

"Oh, this?" He held it up. "It's for research purposes."

"Excuse me?"

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Just some components I thought I'd bring to the lab. Might help with the whole trying-to-make-a-shit-ton-of-energy problem we've got."

"And you happened upon these components, where?" Jane scrutinized.

"Stopped by a couple of junk shops. You'd be surprised how much useful stuff they have lying around."

"And you think this junk can help build a bridge capable of inter-dimensional travel?"

"That's exactly my line of thought, Dr. Foster." He assumed an almost smug pose. "I swear to you I'm not some secret ninja-agent."

"Right, well you're not exactly doing the best job at convincing me otherwise." Jane ruffled her hair again, smiling despite herself. Percy seemed to always have that magnetic effect on her lips. Even more so when he was half-drenched with river water. "I was headed over to the lab anyways. Might as well walk with me?"

With zeal, Percy nodded his head. "Wait, can we stop by a place with food before we do though? I'm absolutely starving."

"Fine." Her nose wrinkled. "But you're using the safety shower in the lab when we get there."

-Ω-

"I'm sorry, by the way." Jane apologized as she unlocked the lab door. The blasted piece of wood now took more than a nudge to open.

"Huh?" Percy wiped crumbs from his face with the back of his hand. "For what?"

Internally, she was grimacing. This subject was like scratching nails against a chalkboard.

"You know, for anything I might've said or done last night. I don't remember saying anything too vile, but I wasn't fully there, so you know."

"You were drunk." Percy said as he posited his muffin wrapper in the bin. "Don't be hard on yourself."

Jane wished to strangle him right then and there, but flipped the lights on instead. Call it character development or something.

"You never answered my question from earlier, Jane. Did you sleep okay?"

"I don't even remember, honestly." She admitted, turning his way. "I was going to give you a call, bu—Percy, how are your clothes and shoes already dry?"

He appeared completely normal. No smell, no water.

"I used the bathroom at the bakery?"

"Well I know that," Jane waved her hand. "I'm saying I'm surprised that it dried off already."

Percy observed himself, hands on his hips, as Jane's nose scrunched. Maybe she had not pissed out all the beer from last night yet. Was it really that hot outside?

"Whatever," she muttered, coaxing him toward her. Stranger things had happened. "Let's see what's in that stupid goodie bag of yours."

"This bag is Versace, actually."

"Percy, you'd be hard-pressed to convince anybody that your bag is from anywhere but Discount City." Jane eyed the brown burlap with skepticism. "But what do I know, these days."

When splayed out on the table, nothing he shook out was recognizable as a part of anything she had ever seen. There were a variety of different sizes and shapes, with most having a distinct bronze tinge to them. In its entirety, it truly did appear to be just a pile of junk.

"And your plan for this is?"

"Here, allow me to explain." Percy said, showing her to the drawing boards.

Following his lead, Jane pushed aside her skepticism. Shelving it in the hopes of him not being crazy. In the hopes of all of it working (for real this time).

Ah, screw it. Who was she kidding. She was still crazy.

Author's Note:

Glad you guys are enjoying this short story :)