Happy Doesn't Have to Have An Ending

[Tess Abrahams]

The day started off with a bang - literally. The resulting yelp as Tess Abrahams came hitch-stepping out of the bathroom sailed down the hallway, chased by a muttered chorus of hissed invectives. Her eyes narrowed and the woman rubbed at her smarting funny bone and scoured the doorway - which the sensitive nerve had smacked against - with an accusing glower. Already hounded by a nagging fog of... well, what, really? She'd slept a solid twelve hours and still woken up to the feeling of hitting the wrong side of a double-shift. It felt wrong to label the thick sensation fatigue.

Strained? That hit closer to the mark. The disastrous turn the rally had taken the previous week had taken it's toll on everyone, and in bad imitation of a disaster film it had followed all-too-closely on the heels of Apollos' break-in. They were all worn out.

But life went on, ever stalwart. There were still jobs to go to and bills to pay and groceries to buy and all the other mundane little details that made up the day-to-day tide of Redencion. Trying to keep up was just more difficult right now, all things considered; dealing with rogue bits of architecture that saw fit to attack simply went beyond her skill set at the moment.

Tess took a few deep yoga breaths and then smoothed the front of her turquoise linen blouse, gathering a measure of composure as her fingers brushed away creases in the fabric. A backward glance in the bathroom mirror made her frown and, wriggling, Tess twisted at the subtly-fit skirt she wore - a casual but smart thing she'd borrowed from Aimee, in a shade of muted cream that offset the brilliance of the shirt - until the hems lay right. That was another reason she probably felt so ruffled. If ever there was a day meant for the simple comfort of shorts and a t-shirt, it was now: the skies were clear and bright with the promise of a gorgeous summer afternoon but it wasn't obnoxiously warm, a gentle breeze cutting through the season's heat like a benevolent spirit.

Perfect beach day, Tess mused as she padded down the stairs and through the kitchen, forgoing coffee in deference to her unsettled stomach. Perfect lay-on-the-couch-and-do-nothing day.

Alas, the couch that she intended to steal a few moments of blissful lazing on was already occupied. Instead of feeling thwarted yet again, Tess felt a breath of release curl in her lungs and loosen the tension in her shoulders. She smiled, something of desperate relief in the expression, and dropped down next to the comfortingly solid form of Aidan.

"I had a dream last night," Tess greeted, toppling against his side. "That you decided on a whim to become a professional SCUBA diver and took off with your new best friend, Philippe Cousteau. It was so bizarre. But you look great in a wetsuit, so there's that."

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan looped an arm over Tess as a matter of instinct more than anything else. It had become very natural the way they folded together, in just about any position, as easily as most people said "good morning."

"You have a wicked imagination," Aidan said. "Putting a pyrokinetic to work underwater."

He idly stroked her ribs along the seam of her blouse. "You look nice today. Makes me feel like I should put on something other than a T-shirt."

[Tess Abrahams]

A playful grin tugged at Tess's mouth and she quirked a brow. "Slide under all those hoods in a dress shirt, huh? How very GQ."

The idea had merit. Aidan pulled off the wind-tousled, engine-grease stained look (and she had come to love the particular scent that came along with that, the way even incidental traces of it immediately called up the feel of his hands on her skin, the bend of his smile and the honey-rich tone of his voice) with great appeal. The simple idea of him getting all James Bonded up was enticing enough in and of itself.

Tess ran a hand along the collar of his shirt fondly and tilted her face up to kiss him. "I love your t-shirts. I wish I could spend all day, right here, with your t-shirts." She sighed, sun-kissed legs stretching out with lazy reluctance. "But alas, the bus waits for no one. Downtown is going to be even crazier than usual, there's some comic convention going on and so the transit schedule is running on holiday time. Because that's convenient."

A vague sensation tickled at the back of her mind, some niggling impression that she was forgetting something. Tess's brow creased as she prodded at the slippery thought; it was relentless in it's coy refusal to surface, and she was about to shake it off when -

"Oh, shoot," Tess winced and met Aidan's eyes, their scheduled powers practice session suddenly bright in her mental calendar. "I don't think I'll be able to get back in time for our thing. God, it completely slipped my mind when they called... I'm so sorry, Aidan. But we can do it this weekend, right?"

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan frowned as he found his mind going in several different directions at once - that seemed to be happening all too often these days. He had appointments to keep on the weekend, the kind that tended to keep him out late at night and leave him crawling into bed at some ungodly morning hour with aching muscles and a splitting stress headache. His free time wasn't nearly as fluid as it appeared, and it was getting harder to invent likely alibis.

"Um... maybe. Things are just a little crazy this weekend. What is this about? Who called?"

[Tess Abrahams]

That Aidan didn't already know was more evidence of how disjointed the last week had been. Tess could have sworn they'd talked about it but they'd both been so busy - ships passing in the night - maybe it was only the lingering impression of meaning to have mentioned it that she was recalling.

She took his hand, turning it over and tracing the lines on his palm with a finger. "The university, I have a meeting with an admissions advisor," Tess said, suddenly shy at speaking the news aloud. It had come about so unexpectedly that it seemed almost providential and easily jinxed. "A GA scholarship's been offered. Not a full-ride but it might as well be."

She looked up again, a creeping glow of excitement colouring her face. "I thought I told you. It's pretty great, right?"

[Aidan Fox]

"Yeah. Yeah, that's great."

It had the sound of a programmed response, something to buy time while he performed a mental search for the other shoe. Aidan's eyebrows pinched together in a way that was anything but congratulatory.

"A genetic advantage scholarship... Do you know who's funding it?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Mm it's a private foundation that works through Loyola, I don't know much more than that. I guess I can ask today, at the meeting," Tess studied Aidan's face and the stillness there. His response was... fairly underwhelming. But then, the news had come out of nowhere. Maybe it hadn't sunk in yet.

Tess nudged Aidan's side with an encouraging elbow and, sotto voce, said, "You can smile, it's okay. It won't knock me from the realm of humility."

[Aidan Fox]

He did smile - a brief flicker, like a little spurt of flame that makes you think the kindling is going to take right before it dies in a wisp of smoke. "Well, yeah, it's just... that kind of terminology usually has strings attached. Like registration."

[Tess Abrahams]

Ah, there it was: concern. There was no better dimmer switch than a veil of well-intended caution.

"Well, that's this is about. You know, to find out more and get answers to questions." Tess squeezed Aidan's hand, a soft pressure to reassure him that she heard what he was saying. "I'm not going to sign on any lines without reading the fine print. Pretty sure that's the first thing they teach in law school, incidentally."

[Aidan Fox]

There was a lot more Aidan might have mentioned - names to avoid, warning signs to look out for, questions to peel back the veil of altruism, trite phrases like "too good to be true." But even in his own head it all sounded patronizing, like he didn't trust her judgment. Besides, there was a fine line between concern and paranoia, and Aidan and Tess rarely seemed to agree on where it was.

"Yeah, I know," he conceded, and he squeezed her hand back. "Well, maybe we can talk about it over dinner instead of lunch?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Perfect. It feels like it's been ages since we had a chance to just take a - oh crap, is that really the time?"

Tess angled Aidan's wrist to gape at his watch and then awkwardly shimmied off the couch, forced by the confines of the skirt to move in a sort of tumbling caterpillar crawl that lacked her usual athletic grace. She turned round, a flush of hurried intention spilling across her face, and offered a champion smile to Aidan, part apology and part a hopeful attempt to lift his mood.

"Sorry, sorry, the bus, gotta run for it. Have a good day, okay? I'll see you tonight. Don't worry," she bent over and pecked him on the cheek, dark hair spilling over her shoulders. "I have a feeling about this. It's going to go alright."

With a parting wink and a whirlwind gathering up of keys and purse, Tess made for the door, glad for the fact that it was just as easy to make a mad dash in ballet flats as it was in sneakers.

And things did go alright. Better than, actually, they went off brilliantly. Whatever expectations Tess had gone to the meeting with were quickly replaced by a reality that was more accommodating and prospective than the woman could have dared to hope. As she rode back on the crowded bus, surrounded by weary post-work citizens who bent under the ache of wanting to be home, an excited glow grew warmer and warmer in her chest, brightening her features so that even the limpness caused by a long day seemed insubstantial by comparison. It was all Tess could do not to call Aidan right then and there.

She managed to curb her enthusiasm until they were actually face-to-face.

"First things first: hi," Tess greeted. She let out a breath as though it had been held for a long time. The last month had felt exactly so, like a frantic holding-over that meant simple indulgences - like just being together - had been circumvented. She was looking forward to sitting down with Aidan without it being motivated by some shocking drama. "How was your day?"

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan was just pulling a volcanically hot plate of leftover tamales out of the microwave when Tess stepped into the kitchen. He was still in his uniform trousers, but he'd peeled down to a white T-shirt on top, and his skin fairly glowed from the sweltering heat of the garage. He smiled at Tess, but it had to work its way through layers of tension and exhaustion first.

"Hi, you," he replied, and he swung the steaming plate down to the counter and leaned in to kiss her. "The day was... well, it's over."

Slim and Marano had stopped by the garage with a two-door Lincoln Continental that had just been hastily repainted and asked for some custom work. Looked sketchy as hell, and then they had the cheek to tell Marco that Aidan had said they could get it done as a walk-in. That had led to a decidedly uncomfortable conversation with the manager.

"Just some pushy jackass customers," Aidan said with a shrug. "With any luck they won't be back. So how'd it go?"

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess offered a sympathetic face - the restaurant didn't get too many boneheads, being mostly favoured by families who were just relieved to find a place where the food was cheap and hot and kids could get away with being a bit rambunctious, but there was the odd one every now and again. Hours always tended to slow when that sort hung around and take on a wearing, ragged edge.

"Sorry you had a rough one," she said, thumb tracing the line of his cheekbone. She reached down and yanked off her shoes, wriggling her bare toes thankfully as she set down her bag and tried to scrape her thoughts into an ordered pile.

Tess paused, lips quirking. "It went... incredibly, actually." A grin caught light like a oil-soaked wick and she shook her head. "I feel a bit bad, now, knowing how your day went, but. They just... blew away my expectations. I don't even really know what I was expecting; condescension or... aversion, maybe? But there was none of that, it was the most welcoming environment, here look, I've brought brochures - "

Excited now, Tess bent down to rummage through her bag, coming up with more wrinkles in her skirt and a handful of glossy tri-fold information readouts. Printed in full-colour and modest font, they presented an air of restrained sophistication while somehow managing through the artful layout to still cast a bit of a roguish nod in the direction of unconventionality; fitting, considering the establishment's reputation for shading outside of the lines.

Eagerly, Tess spread them out over the counter.

"The scholarship wouldn't cover everything but it might as well be a full ride, considering, and before you ask, no, registration isn't a requirement. Well, not with the state, at least," Tess amended. "See, this organization - The Genesis Initiative, but that's meant to be private - they place the scholarship funds at the university's discretion with the only stipulation being that Loyola has to keep records of those students who meet eligibility and accept. They don't release the information. Fantastic, isn't it?"

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan picked up a leaflet and browsed through the colorful bullet points and photos of smiling faces. It was all breathlessly optimistic - a perfect mirror image to Tess's enthusiasm.

"Sounds great," he said. "The Genesis Initiative? I haven't heard of them. Do you have any idea where their funding comes from?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"No, I've never even heard of them before," Tess said absently, leaning against Aidan's side as he thumbed through the brochures that she'd scrutinized a hundred times on the ride home, already adding to a pile of daydream fodder despite her resolve not to get ahead of herself. "But it's pretty great of them, to offer such a specific scholarship without imposing ridiculous restrictions. God, I still can't believe it. This is happening."

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan's arm wrapped around Tess's waist as a matter of unconscious instinct - not that he wasn't thinking about her, because he was. And as easy as it would have been to just ride the current of her enthusiasm, any organization with a name as pretentious as The Genesis Initiative deserved closer scrutiny in his book.

"Wait, it's happening?" Aidan said. "You didn't already sign up, did you?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Not on any dotted lines, no, but they needed me to express at least a verbal intent. I'm not the only candidate."

Tess twisted her neck, taking in Aidan's profile, and her brow pinched together in caution or curiosity. "Why?"