Just another Day (Theo)

[Imogen Taggert]

The basket of warm, fresh cookies was placed gently on the desk, and the red-headed grandmother took her seat behind it. She liked to have cookies or brownies for the people that passed through, it helped make everyone feel at ease. Imogen was looking forward to the day, although she didn't really do all that much, it was more a sense of being helpful to everyone. She'd spent her whole life taking care of people, and with the house empty and her Sean gone, all those attentions turned towards the people and children at Hammel.

The computer was turned on, and Imogen logged into her email to see what tasks lay ahead for her today. Not a lot, apparently. Some filing and of course, answering the phone. But more tasks would come up through the day. They always did. The job wasn't terribly difficult or complicated, and she was grateful for that. Going into the workforce for the first time ever was hard enough, and learning some complicated position was just going to be beyond her scope, she just knew it.

She felt lucky that she'd been hired as the receptionist, and tried to do her best each and every day so that the administration would be glad they'd made the decision to hire her. In the last month or so, she had begun to hope that a certain doctor would come through the office. There was a thrill to it, and it made her a bit giddy. To find herself eager to speak to someone in particular, and a man to boot, well, it was nothing short of a miracle it seemed. Then again, this was almost her entire social life, so it wasn't that surprising to want to talk to someone.

She nodded politely to the various staff as they entered in, offering cookies and exchanging words of greeting and pleasantries. Nothing out of the ordinary happened as the staff filed in, and she began her slow tasks of filing away those things that were left on her desk, and answering the few emails she'd gotten.

A shadow fell over her desk, and she looked up with a bright smile. "Why, hello, Dr. Atwell, what can I do for you today?"

[Dr. Theo Atwell]

He had to get some of this mail sent, elsewise he'd be in trouble. It was part of his personal research he wanted to have gone over, but he hadn't had time of late to be sending things, not with winter and the fact he was..sort of making friends? If that was the word for it. So that meant lot's of time in the new office. In recent weeks a new receptionist had been hired, a nice woman by the name of Imogen Taggert. She was surprisingly pleasant, and he appreciated that. It meant he only had to grumble slightly, if at all.

" Hello Mrs. Taggert. It's nice to see you. I just have some notices to send out for the staff and signs to be hung for students. The usual Doctor-ish type things I'll be doing late flu shots and such things so I'd like to have the notices up and paperwork out for the students to have signed." At the last moment he decided not to give her his mail. Why? Because she didn't need to listen to him grumble and complain about the research world that didn't particularly want to open it's ears at the moment or...well, open their ears would be good enough. He could find time later for his personal mail, since really his priorities should have been to the school anyway.

The basket of baked goods stared at him tantalizingly, and he wasn't sure if they were for just anyone, or students, or staff. While he wasn't above taking one it seemed he didn't want to offend this woman, for whatever reason. Which was funny because he normally never had a problem with offending people.. It was part of who he was. The offending part anyway. Came as naturally as rain.

[Imogen Taggert]

Imogen smiled at Theo as he outlined his needs with the least amount of grumbling possible. There was something about the curmudgeonly doctor that never failed to amuse her. Perhaps it was the fact that her Sean had been the same way. A man that grumbled at everyone and everything. She was comfortable dealing with such a man, and knew just how to read between the lines with Dr. Atwell. She took the few papers he gave her, and then arched an eyebrow slightly and left her hand out.

"There must be something more that I can do for you, Dr. Atwell. You look rather harried, and I have plenty of time to help out. You should have a cookie, I made windmill ones today." Imogen smiled and edged the cookies a bit closer to him with her spare hand. "Come now, just give me whatever else is on your plate, and I can help."

Imogen gave him a little wink, and beckoned with her hand. She knew that he was keeping back something, and she wasn't going to allow him to escape without gaining whatever it was. Fate conspired against her though and the phone rang. A finger was held up to Theo to keep him in place while she picked up the phone and answered it cheerfully, directing the call properly. Once done, she looked back at Theo.

"Sorry, duty called. Come on, Dr. Atwell, I know you are a busy man, and have no assistant. Let me help you." If the man was anything like Sean, repeated assurances that she had time and would help were necessary. As much as they liked to grumble and complain, they also liked to be in control of things, and it was needful to sweep that away and take over how she could. It could, and did, backfire sometimes, but most of the time a bit of gentle encouragement would do the trick, that and the cookies. Her mother hadn't lied, baked goods were the way to a man's heart. It hadn't failed in all her years of marriage to Sean, and she doubted it would fail now.

[Dr. Theo Atwell]

Such a disarming charm she had to her. And the fact that the windmill cookies sitting there smelled so...heavenly. They were his absolute favorite, and he couldn't resist. He snagged one, biting into it to enjoy the wonderful spiced flavor. There was nothing better than good windmill cookies except maybe coffee. Of which he had back in his office. Where his work was. That's what he should be doing right now. He still had regular medical files to organize, and there were a few students he was meeting with later on to check up on after a few nasty falls on the ice, the little idiots. Thought the koi pond would be safe before[.i] any of the cryo's had the time to go out and strengthen the ice. Oh well. He hedged for a moment, still not wanting to give her the papers he was hiding even though he really did need them sent. He'd....he'd do it later. On the way home. That was it.

" No, no, it's fine! I just have some daft people to meet up with later. Of all the stupid things the students could do they went out onto thin ice. One sprained ankle and a couple colds, nothing too serious. But they should know better, and I hate dealing with idiots. " He could hear people walking down the hall, although they were a long ways off. To his ears they sounded so close, and the steps echoed in his ears. Breathing, heartbeats, the smells of perfume and cookies....especially the cookies. He turned his head, trying to make sure he got a good look at the clock. It was far away, but only a moment brought it into sharp relief. As if on cue, he started to notice the ticking of the clock. It had been there before,, but he normally blocked out such menial sounds as unimportant. Twelve minutes. Twelve minutes before the bell rang. He needed to be back in the office by then with th door closed because the sound of that damned bell made his teeth grate. And he was standing close to one of the actual bells they used when the electronic ones weren't working.

For a moment she held out her finger, answering the phone. He concentrated on some other small noise, tuning out most of the phone chatter. A call had needed to be redirected to the Janitorial staff from the student lounge. Apparently there was now a sticky soda pop mess up there that the kids couldn't cope with.

" Really, it's fine Mrs. Taggert. I get along just as well as the next. Some of the teachers are less fortunate than I." He didn't say how so, because he wasn't sure, but it had to be true right? Still, he was a stubborn and wasn't going to take up her time with his antics.

[Imogen Taggert]

Oh, he was going to be stubborn about this. Fine, she'd play dirty if she had to. By the time she was done, he was going to wonder why he hadn't asked her to do it sooner. Imogen rose from behind the desk and came around, scooping up a thick green mug and moving into the small kitchen to fill it with hot water and a tea bag. A small paper plate was pulled down and she brought the whole kit back to her desk. The steaming mug was set out of the way and the plate was quickly filled with those delicious and mouth-watering windmill cookies she'd made.

"Children will be children, Dr. Atwell. You can't blame them there. Besides, if they don't make mistakes, they will never learn. And these children are especially true of that adage. Here, hold this for me, please?" Deftly, she maneuvered him into holding the plate of cookies, taking the rest of the papers from him almost without him noticing. "Now, your hands seem to be quite full, Dr. Atwell, what can I do for you with these? Oh, and do call me Imogen. Only the children and the head boss man call me Mrs. Taggert."

Once again, she graced him with a smile. This was who she'd been waiting on to show up. He just made her feel so comfortable, and he was in need of some serious female attention. He reminded her so much of Sean, and it was easy to simply fall into the same patterns she'd had before. He was more stubborn though, and she would be willing to bet there would be more differences between the men if she got to know him better. But she wasn't sure if either of them were ready for such a thing. Imogen had been curious enough to ask about him, and had discovered that they were both widowers. Sometime, when it was appropriate, she wanted to ask him how he was dealing with it. Perhaps they could form a support circle for themselves. She knew that she missed Sean something awful, and it would be nice to have someone that understood to talk to about it.

[Dr. Theo Atwell]

He'd only made a muffled noise, meaning it couldn't have been anything too polite to say about those children being children. Sometimes he wondered why he had come to Hammel, but then he thought again and remembered why. Once upon a way distant time he had liked being around people, children especially. Hard to tell now. He just grimaced, shaking his head. For a moment she disappeared into the back kitchen, and he was half tempted to walk away. But she was back before he could make his 'escape', not that he really wanted to escape anyway. She asked him to hold the plate, which he did ever so politely, not thinking about the fact that he handed her the papers he was never going to get to going to mail later.

So adeptly the woman manipulated him without him even realizing it. Usually that was his job. Nope, she beat him at it. He looked at the plate in his hand to the papers she was holding with quite a large amount of surprise.
" Mrs. Ta...Imogen," he amended, as she wanted, " I... uh, I would appreciate if those were mailed out." He finished lamely. A little bit of the stubbornness crept out of his voice, but he was quite sure that it would be back later. He wasn't really sure what was going on, as he now had a plate of cookies in his hands [which were delicious smelling, especially so close,] and so he stood there for a moment. Really then. What was he to do?

She smiled warmly at him and for a moment he could see his Noelle in her, his wonderful Noelle. So kind, so bright and happy. She tended to do things like this when he started to get himself in too much work or do too much research. It seemed the women were so much alike. And he knew that not too long ago in the grand scheme of things her husband had died. Maybe sometime he would sit down for a chat with her, a bit more of a lengthy chat that had less to do with work and more to do with life in general.

[Imogen Taggert]

The noise he made in response to her comment about children was understood as only one with children could. She'd raised four of the little darlings, one of whom was a meta. She'd probably made that same noise a million times. It brought yet another smile to her face, something he seemed pretty good at doing. She didn't say anything though, nothing really needed to be said at that point. It was just one of those things, and you just dealt with it. At least that was her philosophy. Perhaps that was why she got on so well with the children. She knew how to deal with them.

Yes, she had manipulated him. But the poor man was obviously overworked, and it was all she could do to help him out. Besides, she did a lot of the other mail for the school, so why not a few extra pieces. It didn't add that much work to her load. Really, it was just a few steps and a toss into a bin. His look of surprise was amusing though. He tripped over her name, and she gave him a wink.

"Of course, Dr. Atwell, can I call you Theo? I'll make sure that they go out with the daily mail run. Is there anything else I can help you with? I know you must be busy. Oh, and I'll have fudge tomorrow, if you want to be ready."

Imogen calmly walked behind her desk, setting the envelopes onto the corner. She bobbed the tea bag a bit before pulling it out and putting it on a napkin. The still steaming mug was wrapped in her hands and lifted for a sip, and a low ragged sigh of pleasure.

"Do you drink tea, Dr. Atwell? Perhaps we should have a tea break sometime if you do." That had been rather bold of her, and she hoped the slight flush rising in her cheeks was attributed to the steam from the mug rather than her own embarrassment. Really, Immy, you should know better. Men do the asking, times haven't changed that much! Her inner voice chided her while she waited for his answer, a hopeful look flickering in the green eyes.

[Dr. Theo Atwell]

" Yes, that's fine." he said in reply to her calling him Theo. He was a bit flustered, as he was usually the one in control of these situations. He'd never let anyone get a word in edgewise usually, just getting things done and going on his prickly, grumpy way. But for some reason he had stopped and chatted, and now look. He was eating cookies and giving up mail like he actually was good friends! Internally he berated himself for letting it get out of hand. The problem was that she was such a disarming woman. He couldn't be at all like himself when he was around her, which unnerved him quite a bit.

" Nothing else. Just the things from before," He replied rather quietly. She said she'd have fudge tomorrow, as if she knew he'd be back. Which he most likely would now, even if he didn't have a real reason to. And he's probably be back the day after that, and after that. He could come up with some reason to be there, surely it wasn't that hard.

Again, she disappeared for a moment and then came back with a mug in her hand. He could smell the tea, and that mixed with cookies was wonderful, even though he was usually a coffee person himself.
"Do you drink tea, Dr. Atwell? Perhaps we should have a tea break sometime if you do" Again he was startled, seeing as people didn't normally want to socialize with him. One of his few friends was Aracelli, so making more friends, closer to his own age group was.....new to him.

"That would be lovely." He said, trying to imagine what Celli would say, because he sure as hell didn't know. Great, what mess are you going and getting yourself into now. the thought wasn't suppose to be there, but sometimes bitter thoughts just had a life of thier own, and he sincerely hoped she wasn't a telepath at that moment.

[Imogen Taggert]

She wanted to smile with the permission to use his given name, but she was already smiling, so she couldn't really do much more. She could tell he was off balance. In the few interactions she had seen him in, and had had with him, he was always firmly in control, always grumpy. This encounter was ending up completely different, with her doing a great deal of the talking. She might not have a power like the rest of the group, but she had years of life experience to draw on. Sometimes she wondered if that was more valuable. She didn't rely on a power to tell her things, she relied on body language, tone, inflection, all the things that people did without knowing it.

She hoped he would be back. That's why she'd offered the fudge. She wanted to get to know this man better. He was the first one to even spark her interest since her Sean had died. Imogen wasn't used to being alone, and she'd felt the sting of it for the last few years. Cooking alone, eating alone, doing everything alone, it was awful. She'd been out a couple of times, never more than one date with any one man, they just didn't make her interested. She'd begun to wonder if she would find someone and when she'd gotten the job, and met Theo, well, that had answered that question.

He acquiesced to her suggestion of a tea break, and another smile was beamed at him. "Why don't we do that tomorrow, about 10ish if you're free?" Sooner rather than later was better for Imogen. She could tell that he was a bit shell shocked, and she was pushing a bit harder than would be normal for her. She did not want to give him to much time to reconsider and back away. She wouldn't know if that spark was anything until they got to know each other better, and if she gave Theo to much time on his own, he might talk himself out of it. That was not going to be acceptable.

[Dr. Theo Atwell]

Theo wasn't quite sure what to say. Really, he was...speechless. Wordless. No response bubbled to his lips. Why? Because nothing he knew was the proper response for a situation like this. He knew plenty of mean grumpy things to say, and plenty of things he would have said long ago, in what seemed like another lifetime, but for someone who was a friend? Well, the man was just pretty unprepared for that. So he stood there awkwardly for the moment.

Tomorrow at ten? He had a meeting he was supposed be in then was completely free, and the idea sounded lovely. So ten it would be.
" Sure, sounds quite nice." He replied as un-sarcastically sounding as he could manage. Which was rather hard. Why did such a simple thing to say have to be so hard anyway? Couldn't it just be simple, like....like going through gene code or something? not that that's simple for most people he thought to himself. The man stood there awkwardly for a moment before deciding that maybe it was time to go and get some work done.

" Tomorrow at ten then," he said, nodding politely to Imogen.