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“It was good to see you, Emilia.”
“You too, Julian.”
We went our separate ways.
The morning continued. Mateo was absorbed in his sample preparation, the postdocs were at work in the cell culture hoods, and Priya was in the corner drinking her coffee and watching everyone during one of her few breaks.
The laboratory did not feel like it was recovering from a fire. Things had settled back into a familiar pace.
Alexander appeared in my doorway at eleven o’clock.
“Twice in one morning,” I said.
“Am I becoming predictable?”
“Not yet. But I’m glad you stopped by.” I told him about the results from Priya’s experiment.
“What becomes possible now that wasn’t possible before?”
“Priya is going to run the assay one more time. If we receive consistent results, we can start preparing for trials a month earlier than we expected.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Then the institution has to move with you.”
“I met with Dr. Daniel Brooks on the Clinical Research Board this morning. He has the updated projections.”
“Congratulations,” he said quietly. “I know how much work this represents.”
He glanced briefly toward my office door. “The opera house is hosting an aria recital this evening.” His attention returned to me. “I’d rather not attend without you, if you’re free.”
“I’d love to.”
“Good. Then I’ll come to your suite at seven and escort you.” He inclined his head once before leaving.
* * *
Charlotte was at our usual table when I arrived at the Fellows’ Dining Room, a cappuccino half-finished beside her notebook.
“How’s Aurora?” she asked as I sat down.
“Better every day.” I wrapped both hands around my chamomile tea before continuing. “We repeated an experiment overnight and our results were consistent with our findings from before the fire, even though all the materials we used were new. We can move into trial preparation sooner than we expected.”
A genuine smile spread across her face. “I know exactly enough science to understand that this is very good news.”
“It is.”
“I’m proud of you.”
The words caught me unexpectedly. There was nothing attached to them. No expectation, no qualification. Just pride. I took a sip of my tea before I answered.
“Thank you.”
“And how are you?”
I laughed. “You ask that as though it’s a completely different question.”
“It should be.” She wasn’t wrong.
I thought about it honestly before answering. “I think I’m finally coming out the other side of the fire. The lab feels like itself, the team feels like itself, and I don’t wake up wondering what we’ve lost before I remember what we still have.”
