Robert Crane - Omega

“Well,” I said with a nod toward the bed, “this was right up there.”

He let out a chuckle. “Mission accomplished, huh? Guess you better start making a new list, or things will start to get boring.”

I let a hand slip across his chest again. “I don’t think I’ll get bored with this for a good, long while.”

A flicker of amusement crossed his face as he buttoned his shirt. “That’s a relief. If you were tired of it already I’d be a little worried; like maybe I was out of practice or something.”

“Oh, yeah?” I let my fingers find the buttons he had just done and unbutton them one by one, pulling his shirt down and trapping his arms. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?”

“Sienna…” he said plaintively, “…I’m going to be late…”

“We don’t know what’s coming or when,” I said. “This may be the last breather we get for a while, and I don’t think that Omega is going to launch an all—out assault on the Directorate in broad daylight. All I want,” I said, unbuttoning his pants, “the only thing on my list now…is repetition.” I steered him to the bed and pushed him down, climbing up onto him and staring down. “I think you can handle being late for once in your life.” And I brought my head down to kiss his neck.

“Hmmm,” Zack said, his voice sounding in my head like the moans he emitted whenever we had been together in my dreams. “Maybe just this once…”

I was late for breakfast, and I knew it as I closed the door to my quarters. Zack had left a half hour earlier, but I needed time to shower and doll myself up (okay, I didn’t really do that, but I still liked to feel clean). I paced down the hallway, and stopped at the corner next to the elevator. Scott was waiting there before me, and the elevator dinged, the doors opened, and he started to get in.

I followed him, sneaking in just as the doors began to close. “Morning,” I said as he acknowledged me with a nod. He had a suitcase in one hand and a backpack on his back. “Umm…are you…” I tried to find a way to not come out and say it, but failed, “…bailing out before it hits the fan?”

His jaw set, and I could almost hear his teeth grind as the elevator dropped, floor by floor. “I’m leaving, yeah.”

“Why?” I felt a sudden deprivation of oxygen, and wondered what the hell had happened to the atmosphere in the elevator car.

“Because I’ve been ordered to go on medical leave by Dr. Perugini and Ariadne,” he snapped at me, turning his head long enough to give me a searing look. “Because when I try to use my power, I think about Kat and this happens—” He held a hand out and a tiny squirt of water came forth, no more than a few droplets that fell immediately to the carpeted floor of the elevator, making little dark spots in the beige carpet. “Because I’m pretty much useless to everybody now, Sienna, so they’re sending me home, out of the way, where I won’t be a danger to anyone but my parents and my siblings, and not much of one at that.”

The elevator doors opened to the lobby and Scott’s hand returned to his suitcase, which he dragged along behind him. “Scott, wait,” I said, and he slowed. I ran to catch up with him. “I’m sorry,” I said. “Sorry for Kat, sorry for everything.”

“I told you it wasn’t your fault,” he said with his lower jaw jutting out, as though he was encouraging me to aim for it, to hit him or something. “And now I’m pretty much out of the fight because I’ve gone and turned my head into a spaghetti noodle of twisty ties.” He waved a hand at me. “Or something. I don’t know.”

“Have you talked to Kat?” I asked.

“No,” he said, sullen. “I tried a couple times…the first, she didn’t even recognize me.” He adjusted the backpack over his shoulder. “The second time I couldn’t even find her to say goodbye. I’m sorry I’m not more use. Sorry I can’t…” He shook his head. “I’m just sorry, in every definition of the word.” His eyes came up, and met mine. “Get out of here, Sienna.”

“Can’t do that,” I said. “Not after last time. How many people died? You should know.”

“I should,” he said, “but I guess I don’t. I was too hard on you last time.” He broke a weak smile. “Kinda hard not to be scared when you don’t feel like you have any power to fight with, huh?” He looked at me soberly. “Good luck, Sienna.”

“I’ll need it,” I said, as I watched him wend his way to the exit doors, the suitcase he carried looking like a burden that was almost too much for him, though I knew for a fact it wasn’t at all what was causing his shoulders to slump.

When I walked into the cafeteria, they were already starting to clean up the buffet from breakfast, and there was no one else standing in the line. I caught a few dirty looks from the cafeteria ladies, but that wasn’t exactly new for me, so I didn’t sweat it. I filled my plate with cold eggs, colder toast, and a mug of coffee laden with a ton of cream and sugar, then made my way to one of the countless empty tables. The glass windows that surrounded two sides of the cafeteria provided me with an expansive view of the autumn-laced grounds; leaves were everywhere. Presumably, the gardening crew would normally have dealt with them, but they were now off work for the week. The cafeteria was also emptier than it normally would have been, and I wondered if the administrative staff was also off work because of the pending threat.

“You’re not real social, you know that?” I turned at the sound of the voice, unaware that anyone had even noticed me. Standing a couple tables away was the kid whom I had seen staring at me only a couple days earlier. “You don’t really talk to anyone but your little group of friends, you know? You kinda put out a…‘get lost’ vibe.”

“Oh, good,” I said, “it’s still working. Or, apparently not, since here you are, talking to me.”

“I can leave,” he said, beginning to turn away.

“What do you want, kid?” I asked. He wasn’t really a kid, probably only a year or two younger than me, but if he was gonna make with the fawning puppy eyes, I wanted to start putting some distance between us now, rather than later.

“I’m not a kid,” he said, as he turned back around. I disagreed with his assessment, but then, I couldn’t fault him for trying. I would have said the same thing at fifteen.

“Sure you’re not,” I said, laying the patronizing tone on thick. I figured if I gave him enough reasons to leave me alone by being both a smartass and condescending, he couldn’t fail to get the message that I wasn’t interested in him in any way.

“I’m not.” He said it with a decent amount of confidence. “But I don’t suppose that matters.”

“Not to me. What do you want?”

He gave a subtle nod to the chair directly across from me. “Mind if I…?”

I stared at the chair for a beat before turning back to look at him again, his dark hair, overlarge glasses; he looked as though he were trying devilishly hard to be the biggest geek possible. “Do I mind if you…what? Take that chair, turn it upside down and sit on it? Be my guest, but do it elsewhere.” I smiled and took a bite of my eggs.

“Wow,” he said, and his face didn’t fall from my insult, not even a little bit. “I guess it’s true what they say about you?”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, and turned my head to look down at my food. “What do they say about me? Am I a ball buster? A pain in the ass? A personality wrapped in barbed wire and coated in rubbing alcohol?” I looked back up at him and smiled. “If that’s what they say, then yeah, it’s true. I’m not the greatest people person you’ll ever meet.”