AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grace snorted but turned her attention back to the matter at hand. There was still an empty server to deal with. “So now what? Do we get the data back?” she asked.
“Yep, security has it. Jones put it on a hard drive. I’m going to go get that and give my statement. Something you two don’t have to do, seeing as you’re indisposed.” She wiggled her eyebrows at them, and Grace groaned. Lou’s eyebrows were positively dancing. “Remember you love me enough to get abducted by aliens with me.”
“Okay, yes. But I want it on record just how lucky you are that it’s true with all the eyebrow dancing you have going on right now.”
“Don’t I know it.” Lou gave them both a wave and bounced on her toes. “Okay, I’m going to go get our life’s research back, no biggie, be back in a jiffy. You two try and keep your hands off each other. This is a family-friendly workplace.”
“That wasn’t in writing when you invited me,” Anton called after her when Lou made a beeline for the double doors. “This is censorship!”
“I can’t believe it,” Grace mused, leaning into Anton’s side. She felt gutted, like she had run a marathon, and now that she had reached the end she was simultaneously weak and bursting with energy. She sucked in a deep breath, trying to clear her head of the thoughts racing through her mind.
What now?
How long would it take to get the data back? When could she resume work in the labs?
And what would CERN have to say about the matter of all the dramatics surrounding their research? Her body was trembling, adrenaline leaving her system no doubt. To say the least, Grace was overwhelmed by the list of things that needed doing, but Anton’s gentle touch at her arm stilled her. She looked up at him when he put his other hand on her shoulder.
“Believe what?” he asked.
“That we got it back. That it just...worked out. That’s not…that isn’t how life works.”
“Sometimes things work out, Grace,” Anton said gently. “And today was one of those days.”
“Everything did work out today,” she conceded. “It’s making me anxious. I keep expecting the other shoe to drop.”
“No, none of that.” He tilted her chin up to look at him. “Things worked out today, but even when they don’t, that doesn’t mean they won’t. If things aren’t okay, then it isn’t the end. And I’m going to be right here for it.”
She blinked. Her anxiety was a product of her childhood, of a life lived in the shadows of her grief at losing Lillia. It wouldn’t be easy to unlearn the fear, the anxiety, whispering to her that everything and everyone had a timer ticking down over their head, but she would manage it, because like Anton said, if it wasn’t okay, then it wasn’t the end. And this wasn’t the end. Not by a long shot.
It was only the beginning, and with Anton beside her, loving her and learning with her, Grace was excited for the journey—explosions, unruly scientists, and possible alien encounters and all. With that in mind, she reached out and caught his hand and brought it close to her mouth, pressing a kiss against his knuckles, fingers brushing against the inside of his wrist.
His eyes widened and his mouth parted in a surprised sigh. “I get the whole appeal over hand-kissing now. It’s hot.”
She grinned up at him and dropped another kiss on his skin. “I love you, Kovalev.”
Anton paused, eyes widening before they went soft. He raised Grace’s hand to his lips dropping a gentle kiss on her palm. It felt like a promise, but even more than that, it made her feel seen and, above all else, loved.
epilogue
8 months later…
“What do you mean you have a handler?” Grace asked, flinging her hands out. “I’m your handler. I handle more than any handler has ever handled.”
Lou raised her eyes from the charts in front of her and shrugged. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really reading the fine print when I signed that contract last month, so…”
“So they just replaced me as the science wrangler?” Grace asked and shook her head. “If I don’t look after the tiny science people then what am I good for?”
“You’re good for plenty more than that,” Lou sighed and gave her friend a tight smile. “And besides, you aren’t being replaced as the science brood queen. The handler is just for me.”
“But you’re the tiniest of all the science people. You’re my main objective.”
“I know. That’s why they brought in back up, which I don’t really get what the big idea is. I’m fine,” Lou said with a shake of her head.
Grace fell silent and looked down at the files she was unpacking. They had just touched down in Kansas, in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere called Blue City. Their labs weren’t really labs at all she guessed, at least not currently.
They were set up in the old bank, which might bother some, but it wasn’t the least traditional place she’d ever conducted research. She kind of liked the old wooden doors, shiny marble floors, and the pretty granite fixtures of the rooms they were in. It added a little something extra to the space that had been missing from the labs in Geneva. Those had been state of the art, of course, which was optimal for science. But the type of research Lou was doing now was of a different flavor.
From black holes and gravity to storm chasing. It was a 180, but she was ready for the new challenge. Anything that forced her to consider things from a different perspective was useful and to be explored. Without new stimulation even the greatest minds grew stagnant and Lou had no plans on going down that road.
