A Chance Encounter

Erin was working the breakfast shift when she saw him for the first time. She had never seen the man before but felt as if she had known him her whole life. Their eyes met and she thanked St. Brigid that he sat down at her station. She felt her cheeks warm as his intelligent eyes took her in from head to toe. His smile as she approached made her incapable of coherent thought. She took out her order pad, pen poised over the page, and asked. "Order? Would you?" She could see him holding in a chuckle. Sure this is your chance talk to him and you're blowing it. She moved her gaze to the table just to the side of his hands and tried again. "Sorry, are you ready order or do you need a minute?" Erin, so proud of herself for getting the sentence out in the correct order, almost forgot to pay attention as he ordered.

He watched the beautiful woman standing in front of him, all wild blonde curls and sparkling brown eyes, even freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was perfect. "Are you going to write that down or should I?" He smiled as he leaned toward her as if he was going to take her pen.

Erin pulled herself out of the depths of those hazel eyes. "Yes. No. Ummm… maybe?" She held her order pad and pen out to him in mock surrender. "You should probably be the one to write it down."

He was entranced by her Irish accent and smiled at her sympathetically. "Working a long shift?"

Erin felt relief rush through her, he hadn't realized she was making a total fool of herself because of him. He thought she was making a total fool of herself because she was overworked. Somehow the fact that she'd made it through her first verbal exchange with him without declaring her undying love for him, gave Erin back her usual confidence, charm, and ability to talk to anyone. "You wouldn't believe how long now." Erin smiled at him, taking in his wavy brown hair and just the perfect amount of stubble across his strong jaw. Her brain back in working order, she scribbled down his order on her pad. "Breakfast special and coffee coming up." She ripped a page off of her pad and before she could turn toward the kitchen, his voice stopped her.

"I like your accent, Erin."

"Erin?" she repeated, "How-how did you know my name?"

He gestured toward her. "Your name tag."

She touched it. "My name tag, of course. Long shift."

"But it's still true, I do like your accent."

Erin chuckled. "I like yours too. West Altadenia?"

He grinned, "Pasadena. What about you? Galway?"

Erin put her hands on her hips. "Now you're just trying to start somethin'. But I am impressed. So you know Ireland?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I know a little about a lot of things and only slightly more about a few things. Ireland is not on that embarrassingly short second list. I mean, I had a one in thirty-two chance of being right, but unfortunately a much greater chance of being wrong and irritating you." He met her eyes. "Mostly I just hoped to have a conversation with you."

Erin caught the manager heading toward her out of the corner of her eye. "I've got to get back to work before I get fired. I'll get your order into the kitchen right away."

Erin turned regretfully away from the handsome man at the table. She really should have asked him his name. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to think any more about the flirtatious stranger who knew a little about Ireland.

The next morning Erin was disappointed not to see her new favorite customer for breakfast. The minutes of her shift ticked slowly by despite the crush of patrons. Breakfast was almost over and Erin had almost given up hope that she would see him again when he walked in the door and sat directly at the same table he had the day before.

Erin strode as nonchalantly as she could, with her heart hammering in her chest, toward him. He's here! He's here! She stopped a few inches from his table and asked, "So are you ready to order?"

"Depends. What do you recommend?" he smiled up at her.

"Eating somewhere else." Erin deadpanned.

He put on a mock frown at her words. "But if I did, I wouldn't have the pleasure of being waited on by the lovely Erin, not-from-County-Galway."

"Sure," she drawled, "you are smooth."

"Actually, I'm not. I practiced that at home last night, in anticipation of seeing you again today," he whispered as if confessing a terrible deed.

It could have been a line. But Erin knew people and she knew he was sincere. Who was this intelligent, honest, funny, and handsome man? And how did she wind up with the good fortune to cross paths with him? Erin did her best to stay cool and not jump directly into his lap. "Sorry, same as yesterday?"

"No, just coffee for me today. I've got to catch up on a bunch of work before my boss finds out I've been wasting my time mooning over a beautiful waitress from my new favorite diner."

Erin didn't trust herself to speak, just turned and grabbed the pot of coffee to fill his waiting cup. When she returned, he was in the midst of spreading out a pile of loose papers. After she poured his coffee, he reached out a hand to her. "Forgive my rudeness, I don't know where my manners are Erin, I'm Noah, Noah Davis."

Erin took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Noah, Noah Davis." He held her hand in his for a moment longer than polite society would dictate. "Sorry, I've got to check on my other customers, but I'll be back with a refill in a little bit."

Noah nodded and was soon engrossed in the paperwork in front of him. He didn't even realize how much time had passed until he took a sip of very cold coffee and looked up to see Erin coming toward him with a fresh pot for a refill.

"What is that now?" she gestured to the strange jumble of numbers and symbols on a page on the top of the stack.

His mind was still engrossed in the formulas he had been copying and it took a moment for him to answer. "Just some research from work I need to complete."

"Where do you work?" Erin asked.

"Kinetic Transformation." Noah put down the pen and smiled up at her.

"That sounds exciting, is a huge company on the cutting edge of technology."

"Yeah it is, but what I do there isn't really that interesting."

"It isn't? What do you do there?"

"I'm cataloging archived projects in case technology advances sufficiently or the funding comes through to resurrect them, deciding what's worth holding onto and what to sell to idiots stupid enough to think they can develop technology that Kinetic Transformation can't," Noah explained.

"That seems like a lot of responsibility." Erin was visibly impressed.

"Well kind of, I guess. That's what some of this stuff is, a project I'm currently evaluating for the 'hold onto' list."

Erin ran her gaze across the jumble of pages. "Sorry, that looks a lot like the stuff my Granny's cousin writes on his whiteboard."

"Is he a physicist?"

"No?... Yes?... I don't think so?" Noah looked confused. "I don't think Cousin Walter went to college, but he's smart, an official genius, 197 IQ she told me once."

"Wow, now I don't know if I'm dying to meet him or praying I never do."

"When he talks to me, most of the time I have no idea what he's talking about. But fortunately for my little brain, he lets me do most of the talking."

"Sounds intimidating." Noah wondered who her cousin was.

"Sure he was, a little bit, at first, but he's not so bad. He's helping me stay in the US and not making me go back home to the farm in Ireland."

"Sounds like he did both of us a favor." Noah smiled at Erin, his hazel eyes dancing.

Erin narrowed her eyes at him. "Cheesy pickup line."

Noah looked chagrined. "True. How do you feel about this one? Would you like to have dinner with me this weekend?"

"So long as it's not here." Erin laughed.

"I can arrange that." Noah joined her.

The sound of their laughter caught the attention of her manager once again. "You need get out of here now. Go. I really need this job and you can't seem stop getting me in trouble." She jotted her number onto a corner of one of the pages on the edge of the table. "Call me," she whispered to him before she disappeared in a whirlwind to wait on other customers.

Walter looked up from the computer hard drive he was updating as Erin practically floated in from… from wherever she had been. Had she been at work? Or somewhere else? He knew she had made some friends. Girls from Ireland. He wasn't sure how she met them or why she was spending time with them. Hadn't she wanted to get away from Ireland? But somehow he doubted that time with girlfriends would cause this… whatever this was. This seemed different somehow. Almost like…

"Erin," Walter voiced his confusion. "Something about your demeanor is quite different today. Please explain the change."

Erin stared at him for a few moments, processing the strange words Walter sometimes used when speaking to her. Realization finally dawned on what he was asking. Erin hoped she wasn't about to be forced to call her mother. Walter had been accommodating and let her make all her own decisions but about this? She wasn't sure. Erin considered fibbing to the older man, but she knew she could never live with herself if she did. She respected and admired him too much. And she'd convinced him to let her stay, how hard would it be to convince him to let her have a boyfriend?

Sighing dreamily, as she flopped into an old desk chair a few feet from where he sat, Erin told Walter everything. "I have a date. His name is Noah Davis. He came to the diner yesterday and sat at my station. He's amazing. He came back today and he asked me out. He has the most amazing eyes and the kindest smile. He knows science, he recently got his PhD in quantum physics from UCLA and he writes equations like you write on your whiteboard sometimes. Sure he's perfect."

Walter didn't know how to respond. Most of Erin's descriptions of the young man she had a date with made no sense to him. Why would he care about the man's eyes or smile? But he was intrigued that the subject of Erin's affection was a scientist and wondered if the man was doing any interesting research.

Erin sat up straight when it appeared that Walter wasn't going to forbid the relationship. "Sorry, Cousin Walter, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

"More than living in my house and my silence to your mother and granny on your lack of educational aspirations?" He pinned her with his gaze.

"Yes." She looked so nervous, quite unlike the Erin he had gotten to know these past weeks.

He was quite fond of his young cousin and hated to see that he was making her uncomfortable, so he consciously softened his expression, allowing some of the wrinkles in his forehead to relax. "Of course, you may ask me anything, I just make no promises that I will agree to the favor."

"Okay, Cousin Walter, may I invite Noah to dinner with us at the Garage next week? I really want you to meet him. I think you would like him."

Walter was stunned. He had not expected this request. Just thinking about speaking to another human who wasn't Erin filled him with trepidation. "I-I'm not sure. I haven't spoken to anyone who isn't you in more than a year."

Erin got up out of the chair and crossed to where Walter was still seated with computer components in front of him. "I know, that's part of the reason why I want you meet him. It might do you some good to get to know someone. He's smart. Maybe not like you, but smart, you might enjoy meeting him." She put her hand on his shoulder. "Sure would be grand if you would agree."

Walter knew he was lost when she said those words. "Of course, Erin, anything you want. But I will not be cooking."

"I can't imagine that. I don't think anyone would want to eat anything you made, beyond heating up canned soup." She smiled to herself just thinking of Walter in the kitchen. In spite of his severe lack of culinary skills, she loved her weird cousin and the strange place they lived and wanted Noah to meet him.

The days flew by with lightning speed and all too soon the time had arrived. The evening when Walter would need to speak to another human face to face. He paced nervously while Erin put the finishing touches on dinner, both of them waiting for the knock on the door announcing Noah's arrival.

Dinner went smoothly. Erin and Noah were happy to monopolize the conversation, requiring very little interaction from Walter. Grateful to mostly be an observer, Walter quickly realized that Noah was quite a brilliant and educated young man. He was impressed by his intelligence as well as the kind way he treated Erin. As they finished the meal, Erin took the dishes into the kitchen leaving the two men alone for the first time. The two men sat in uncomfortable silence without Erin in the room.

Noah's gaze darted around the room as he uneasily waited for Erin to return. Dinner had gone well, but Walter still intimidated the hell out of him and had hardly spoken, let alone made eye contact during the meal.

Walter knew he should say something, anything. But what? He wasn't used to communicating with humans. Erin hardly counted, she did the talking for both of them. Finally, the smallest bit of the social graces that Erin had been attempting to teach him floated into his mind. He grabbed onto it like a drowning man grabs a life raft. "Where do you work… uh, Noah?"

Noah smiled in relief as he saw Erin reenter the dining area along with dessert and plates before he answered. "Kinetic Transformation."

Walter tensed at those two words. He really didn't want to be having any conversation, let alone this one, but he was trying to be normal, to be human, for Erin, for tonight. He had been content just to listen, but now the spotlight was on him, he was part of a dialogue, uncomfortable a circumstance as that was. It wasn't as if Erin or the boy had known he had something of a history with the Kinetic Transformation founders.

Erin, of course, immediately noticed the shift in his mood. She placed a comforting hand on his forearm. Walter used every bit of willpower he had not to pull his arm away, doing so would no doubt hurt her feelings. "Is everything all right? You seem to have quite a reaction to Noah's workplace."

"I-I'm fine, I was just taken by surprise is all. I worked with the two founding scientists of Kinetic Transformation before Richard Elia gave them funding to start their own company. We all worked for the US government on a top-secret project. I was quite young, still living in Ireland. It's a time in my life I don't enjoy thinking of."

Erin studied Walter's expression carefully. There was more here than Walter was telling them, but she decided to leave it alone, for now. "Noah's job at Kinetic Transformation is evaluating their retired projects for possible further development in the future."

Walter asked the first question that came to mind. "Why put someone as brilliant as you apparently are in charge of something so mundane?"

Noah chuckled, "Oh, I ticked someone off higher up the food chain by calling him an idiot."

Walter almost laughed his earlier tension easing. "Well I thought I liked you before, but now I know I do."

"Thank you, Mr. O'Brien." Erin practically beamed as Walter and Noah became more comfortable with each other and were able to converse on their own. "I consider that a compliment. Erin tells me how little you like people generally."

Erin coughed. "You weren't supposed to say that out loud." Noah mouthed "sorry" to her.

"Why not?" Walter asked her, "It's the truth."

"It's about social niceties, Cousin Walter."

"Oh," Walter looked embarrassed. "I'm not good with that kind of thing. I never had anyone care enough about me before to help me understand the complexities of human interaction. My apologies for not understanding the subtleties of the interaction."

Erin kissed Walter's cheek as she offered him a plate of dessert. "You're doing quite well. Your human interactions overall are much improved." Walter felt a warmth in his chest at the compliment. As the trio enjoyed their dessert, Erin asked Walter a question that had been on her mind since she had arrived in his life a few months previously. "My Granny told me that when you were young you started a company and you had a group of people that you worked with. The company had a strange name: Arachnid… Centipede… something like that."

"Scorpion." Walter corrected her, unsure if he was going to like where this query was going.

"Yes, Scorpion, that's it. What happened to them?"

Noah looked excited at the mention of the name 'Scorpion'. "I remember learning that a company with that name was part of the rescue efforts of those planes back in 2014."

Walter shifted uncomfortably in his seat and put down his fork. "I was… uh, we were."

"Will you tell us about it?" Noah pleaded. "That's such a big part of the history of the early 21st century when we studied it in school."

"No," he told them and his expression brooked no argument, "I don't talk about that day." Noah blanched at Walter's stiff tone.

Erin patted Noah comfortingly on the hand. "Sorry, that day is hard for him to talk about. It's not you." Erin turned her attention to Walter. "Okay, I understand, we won't ask you any more questions about that day, but what about your team, what happened to them?"

"How do you know they didn't just work with me their entire careers and recently retire? I am old after all." Walter asked her.

"You can tell no one else has worked here in a very long time, Cousin Walter. It's very obvious."

He wasn't entirely certain what she meant by that remark, but Walter considered his cousin sitting before him. He sighed, as it struck him just how much he enjoyed having Erin in his life, and there was very little he could deny her. "No more questions tonight about falling planes and Kinetic Transformation and in exchange I will tell you how Scorpion fell apart. Erin and Noah nodded, eager to hear Walter's story.

"The day after… well… the day after the event, Scorpion's team members: Toby, Sly, and Happy showed up at the Garage like usual. But nothing was like it was before…"