Wait For It - Open

[Abby Winchester]

Abby had a hankering for chocolate molten lava cake that only one place in town had and a large cup of ice tea that another place in town had. So after school let out, she went to the nearest place with the cake and then grabbed the ice tea that was closer to the lake. Once set with both items, she went over to the lake and found a bench that was unoccupied and very far from the body of water.

The last time she had a 'dip' in that lake had not been a good experience so she wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

Piercing her plastic fork into the warm and moist cake, she put it in her mouth and closed her eyes. It was heavenly. And only after three bites did she realise she hadn't had cravings for anything for a long time. That was weird.

She ignored the feeling as she bit into more of the cake and a sip of the iced tea. Taking out her papers she had to grade, she set aside her treats, willing herself to only have at them every time she finished grading a paper.

Into her fourth paper and almost half her treats gone, she found herself at the rubbish bin trying hard not to puke her guts out. At least the bin was clean...ish.

[Haven Kensington]

Haven had been having a rather good day. Holding her bag of items she bought from the local store she was above all else, pleased with herself. The past few days had been a bit manic. She hadn’t been herself lately, running into complete strangers, being as awkward as a middle school girl in front of an attractive boy. But today was completely normal. All morning she graded papers in her office. She had officially deemed Monday morning to be her office time in the office she shared with Jack Maguire. And after a class she decided to go to the store, mainly to get some things for her hedgehog Petri. She’d been feeling bad lately, being so busy her poor little hedgehog is more or less abandoned all day.

On her way back to the school however, Haven spotted a woman, leaning over a rubbish bin, looking very ill. Haven, not really wanting to get involved with any other weird situations thought that she might just dismiss the scene and continue on her way. Then she felt bad and raced over to the blonde girl.

“Are you alright?” Haven asked, placing one hand on the girl’s shoulder, the other Haven held the girl’s hair back in case she did vomit, which looked inevitable. Haven hoped the girl didn’t mind her being so intrusive, but it looked like she really needed some help. “Do you want to sit down?” Haven asked.

[Abby Winchester]

Not a second after she gave the woman a thumbs up did Abby lose her stomach contents into the rubbish bin. She really hoped this wasn't stomach flu. The last time she had it, she lost half her body weight in basins and toilet bowls.

She hated vomitting and briefly wondered how people could forcibly do something like this on a regular basis.

Shaking her head of that insane thought, she looked up at the dark haired woman, smiling feebly as she tried to stand up right. "I'm sorry you ha-" Abby let out a wretching noise, grateful that the lady was holding her hair back. This was definitely not the best first meeting. Ever.

Abby limped over to her bag to find her wet wipes to clean up her mouth when she was sure everything was out. She didn't dare look at the lady for fear of sheer embarrassment.

"I'm...so sorry you had to see that." Abby said quietly with a sheepish grin.

[Haven Kensington]

Haven trailed behind the woman, staying close to her in case she needed help again. She sat at the table while the woman wiped her mouth. Haven reached into her bag and pulled out a mint, setting the wrapped candy on the table between them. She had grabbed the candies on a whim, thinking it would be nice to have a little bowl of mints in her office. You never know when you’re going to need them. A mental image of Jack and her embarrassing last meeting ran through her mind and she turned five shades of red at the checkout line.

“It’s okay,” Haven said, waving off her apology. “Are you going to be okay?”

Haven noticed the cake and iced tea and wrinkled her nose. That definitely didn’t taste good a second time around, she was sure. Then she noticed the papers and brightened.

“Oh you’re a teacher? I hope you haven’t gotten sick from the kids.”

Haven had been warned twenty times over before going to teach at Hammel to pump her system with vitamin c. You never know when you are going to get sick when it comes to kids. And from the subject matter on the paper, this woman taught a younger grade then Haven taught. Yuck, more germs.

“I’m Haven, I teach at Hammel. What’s your name?”

[Abby Winchester]

Pushing the cake and iced tea to the edge of the table so that she could rest her head, Abby noticed the mint being offered and she smiled. She lifted her head to give the other woman a smile before accepting the mint. "Thank you." She mumbled and popped the mint into her mouth, cringing at the taste in her mouth.

"I...think so?" She replied, hanging her head on her arm as her free hand pushed against her stomach.

The supposition was met with a frown and a small shake of her head. She always checked temperatures before class started and none of her kids had been sick. This was probably all on her. She definitely needed to go to the doctor's to see what brought on the sudden sickness.

"I don't think it's the kids." She answered before trying to sit up right when she heard the introduction. "Abby." She offered a sick smile. "Did you...go to Hammel, before I mean?"

[Haven Kensington]

Haven nodded, feeling the urge to pat the woman’s back but figured though they just experienced a pretty ugly thing together, and Haven had helped her out, they still were pretty much strangers. So she kept both hands on her bag.

“Abby, well…” Haven said, giving her a pained look. “For all intense and purposes it’s nice to meet you.”

With the comment about the kids probably not being the cause Haven opened her mouth, about to ask if it was possible if she was pregnant. Then, remembering herself she decided that would be very impolite so instead she answered Abby’s question instead.

“I actually lived in London before. Can’t tell from my accent, I’ve lived in America for years. Got tired of people looking at me like I am extremely intelligent or a foreigner. This is my first year teaching.”

Haven sighed, not really liking talking about herself in front of this obviously sick woman. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need help getting back to your house?”

[Abby Winchester]

Leaning her head on her upturned hand, Abby gave Haven a small smile, forcing herself to push any nausea down. "Pleasure's all mine. I wish we'd met under different circumstances." She closed her eyes as she tried to breathe deep.

The pregnancy thought did float about in Abby's head but she was quick to squash it because it couldn't be. She just finished her period like...damn, how long had that been?

As she counted her cycle, she tried her hardest to concentrate on Haven's words. "Oh." Abby laughed a little. "Um...so you were in Kocher before?" Abby asked at the mention of London, which was under the Swiss institute's jurisdiction.

"I've been teaching for five years now." Abby admitted with a smile. Haven's worry made Abby wave a dismissive hand. "Don't worry. I'll bring myself back fine. Hopefully. I think I probably ate the cake too fast or something." She laughed sheepishly.

[Haven Kensington]

Haven had eaten plenty of cake…and eating too much of it wasn’t something that made you puke quite like that. She could be contagious. Haven couldn’t afford to be sick. But maybe it was too much cake. Did cake do that to people? These thoughts raced through her mind rather quickly before evaporating at her next spoken thought.

“Pheromone manipulation?” Haven said sniffing the air and laughed. “I only smell that way when I’m around someone with your ability.

Unlike her usual run ins with powers of late, she rather enjoyed being a copycat around certain people. Pheromone manipulation was a power that brought her back to her days at Kocher, when she danced with a boy with a similar ability. Of course Haven never had a boyfriend till she was much older and graduated. Still, he had been her first crush and she remembered the smell of him, and of her when copying his ability. She thought a couple times to ask him how to use it, considering it would be a good excuse for a conversation, but she never gathered up enough courage.

“And yes I was at Kocher.” Haven smiled, liking Abby more and more. She was nice. But maybe that was the pheromones talking. Haven shook her head and started to block off the ability with her mind. No. This woman was really nice. Perhaps Haven had found her first girl-friend since she’s been at Hammel (all this testosterone was giving her a headache).

[Abby Winchester]

The accuracy in guessing her power had Abby nodding with a grin. Haven could possibly either be a telepath, a power detector or a power mimic. Either way, Abby was still impressed by Haven knowing her powers were. Her abilities weren't that easy to detect.

"You?" Abby asked, ignoring the heart burn occurring.

"Ah cool." The blond grinned at her educated guess actually being correct. "I actually thought of transferring there when I first got into Hammel but..." a little smile crafted its way on to her lips as she was reminded of Vinod and how quickly they got along.

If her abilities were kicking in then, she couldn't feel it. Blame the bile she could feel rising in her throat. "Have you lived here long?"

[Haven Kensington]

Haven frowned at Abby. The poor woman looked green. She really wanted to ask if this was because she might be pregnant. But how could she? Abby could take it like Haven was saying she was overweight or something! It wouldn’t be the worst thing she’s ever said.

“I’ve been here a couple months. Moved from New York City.” Haven smiled kindly. “Are you sure it’s the cake?”

There, now the ball was in Abby’s court. If she wanted to say something about…it, or if there was anything to say, she could. Not that it was Haven’s business whether the woman was pregnant. Still she had had plenty of experiences with women at work who got the same sickness, no matter what they ate. A piece of cake or a salad, they still got sick. And usually they didn’t get checked out at the doctors till a couple of weeks later, some even two months.

Regardless of what the reason, Abby still looked terrible. “I think you might need to go to the doctors. I’m not a professional. But…you look….bad.” Haven wrinkled her nose. She didn’t want to put it to Abby lightly but then again, maybe that was harsh to say?