2007-08-24: Catching Up

Starring:

Elena_icon.gif Eric_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Lachlan_icon.gif

Summary: Elena and Eric leave campus early during the day to visit Cass in the bookstore. Lachlan is also there, and the foursome catch each other up on what's been going on. Cass and Lachlan break it to the college kids that they're getting married, Elena updates Cass on Ramon's investigation about the impending storms, and reveals something startling about a mutual friend.

Date It Happened: August 24th, 2007

Catching Up


Enlightenment Books, East Village, New York

It is a pretty typical late-August day in the East Village. The sun is shining, the traffic is buzzing, the people are walking. Typical. Serene, even. In Enlightenment Books, there's the slightest lull in customers with only a few regulars hanging around. Most of them are reading, skimming, others are browsing. All-in-all, there are maybe three people in the bookstore, not including employees. Unfortunately, all employees seem to be suspiciously absent. Any of the regulars who have been here for a while would know that Lachlan came by earlier and spirited Cass away into the back for 'a few minutes'. Oddly enough, they've been in there for quite some time …

Enlightenment Books. It feels like it's been a while since she's been there, but Elena is walking there accompanied with her classmate and friend, her backpack slung on her shoulder and books cradled in one arm. She…strangely enough she's also got a large, decorative sombrero on her head. Hell, it even looks authentic. She hasn't seen Cass or Lachlan since she arrived from Spain. And she's also lugging a laptop case with her. The summer was starting to cool down a bit, and classes have started.

She's got on a ruffled, sleeveless blouse and a pair of boot-cut jeans. Sandals grace her feet as she makes quick work of the street to head for the bookstore. "I need to talk to Cass for a bit, tell her about what we found out when we went out with Papa that day," she says, inclining her head at Eric. "Also….I told you about Gene, wanted to get her opinion on the scans." She frowns slightly at that. "And…." She doesn't continue it, digging out her cherry-red jPhone to peer at all the messages left there. "I've been told to talk to her about something."

So she opens the door, and blinks. The store is open, but it's…empty. Where's Rose? Alyssa? She furrows her brows, stepping inside. That was weird. "Cass?" she calls out. "Hello?"

A lot has happened since Elena left for Spain. Possibly more than one conversation can withstand. However, that's assuming the two people /aren't/ Cass and Elena. They've covered more over coffee than most people can cover in a month. It's just the way they are. Noticeably, Cass isn't in the store. Nor is any other employee. While Cass has no real set schedule as to when she is in the store, she normally likes to spend Saturdays here. The two young adults have a little while longer to wait before finally there's something like a giggle and the door opens a crack, Cass barely visible before the door shuts again and there's a soft thud as if someone was just pushed up against the door. There's something said that's muffled and then, finally, the door opens again, completely, and Cass emerges, her face a little red. Immediately, she spots Elena. "Elena!" There's no hesitation, the girl goes swooping forward to wrap the woman in a hug. "Eric! You two are back! How was Spain? I've /always/ wanted to go to Spain. Was it amazing? Was it very Spanish?"

"…well I've been trying to get us all together too…I…well I'll tell you when we all get together," Eric replies towards Elena with a slight shake of his head. A raised eyebrow at the sombrero though and just smirks. "…I can't believe your still wearing that thing." Sounding mildly amused about it. He has no laptop with him, but he does have his school bookbag slung over one shoulder. Classes yes, and it seems that he's more serious about his martial arts as well if the staff that is strapped to the side of his bag is any indication.

Removing that to lean it against the wall he pauses a moment. He's wearing a pair grey and faded jeans, his usual tall boots, and a black t-shirt with Han Solo's face on it that has emblazoned on it. 'GREEDO SHOT FIRST!'

Yeah. Looks like a millionare dosn't he?

"I be there in the back," Eric says with a smirk as he slides his hands into his pockets with a grin coming to his face. He shakes his head slightly though before he looks curiously over towards Elena. "…what?" He asks.

Then Cass appears in a bubble of giggles and smiles and he has to grin. "…it was great!" He says happily. "…very Spanish, we got some excelent pictures. We all had a blast." He adds with a grin towards her a hand coming out of his pocket to wave towards her. "…it was hot though….but fun."

It's a little while longer before the reason for those giggles and slightly reddened face emerges from the back as well. He had to put some things back first. When Lachlan does step out into the main area of the bookstore, he's a bit red-faced himself and adjusting a shirt that is on inside-out. Whups. Spotting Elena and Eric, he offers a grin and a wave. "Hey, yer back!" … hat. Hat. Hat. "… the bloody hell's tha'?"

"Cass! Lachlan!" Elena cries, after setting her backpack and laptop case back. Just in time too, before she's swooped up in a hug. She hugs Cass back, pulling back a bit after squeezing her like a koala does a eucalyptus tree, beaming at Cass and her SO. "It was beautiful!" she says breathlessly. "We went to Barcelona, and Madrid, the food was AWESOME." Poor Eric had to see her horf so much seafood when they finally got to Barcelona. "Oh man, I missed you guys. And this? It's a sombrero!" She pulls it off her head and presents it to Cass. "It's decorative. I figured I should get you both one crazy looking native trinket from where I've been. And Eric's right, we took a lot of pictures. And we bought so much stuff. We needed to get souvenirs for everybody."

She picks up the backpack, and unzips it, and starts looking through the things she's got in there. She pulls out a box for Lachlan, and a box for Cass. "So how have you two been? Everything good?" she asks, looking at the both of them. "I'm sorry for not stopping by sooner, but school started for the both of us, and…I had to help the family move to their new house upstate, and THEN I had to temporarily move my stuff at Heidi's. I haven't had the time to look around for an apartment yet even.

"…you would know, you ate more than me, Gene and Jaden combined!" Eric replies with a smirk towards Elena and a nod towards her. "…and her on the beach…it was like taking a little kid to the zoo. She couldn't hold still." All over the place, all over the city. She was nuts, she was crazy. She was quite amusing. "…yeah…we got you guys a few trinkets from half the world away. Couldn't go to spain and come back empty handed."

"…yeah…no matter how many times you try to save the world, collage dosn't cut you a break." He says with a smirk towards the both of them. He blinks then before looking towards her. "…your staying with Heidi?" He asks in some suprise.

After being gifted with a sombrero, Cass blinks and takes it in both of her hands? Is it possible to hold such a thing in one? Who knows. "Wow. Uh, thanks!" What is she going to do with a sombrero? She'll figure it out. "I'll want to see all those pictures and stuff when we get a chance. I'm so glad you had a good time!" She wants to wave a dismissive hand at the idea of apologizing for not being by sooner, but she can't. She has a sombrero in her hands. In order to fix that, she stands on her tip-toes and puts it right on Lachlan's head. Beaming, she gives him a quick peck on the cheek and then turns back to the conversation with her friends. "Don't worry about it! You've been busy. So've I. So much has happened. I don't even know where to start."All channels have

Lachlan James Deatley: protector, lover, hat rack. He doesn't protest this strange crowning, because Cass was so nice about it. Instead, he just sorta looks upward at the massive brim that suddenly overshadows his life. Kinda goofy-looking, but oh well. He's being helpful. The whole conversation just goes right on by him, since he's got no reason to really participate. The only time he moves or says anything is when Cass finishes up her statement. Then he grins. It's a big grin. It's a secretive grin. Hee. Hee. Hee. He sidles over to Cass and wraps his arms around her from behind. Then he lowers his head to her ear and very quietly and secretively murmurs, "Ye gonna tell 'er?"

She presents one box to Cass now that Lachlan is wearing the sombrero, and Elena grins. "Aw, Lachlan." She doesn't say that Lachlan's being cute, because he doesn't like it. But they were both being so adorable she can't help but feel her smile soften. They were two of her favorite people in the world, seeing them act the way they do is enough to make her happy. The box Cass has is wrapped in pretty wrapping paper, and she turns around, dragging the large box strapped to Eric's backpack and presenting -that- to Lachlan. One leetle box, one big box. "I heard these were two of the must-have things to bring your friends back from Spain," she says. And then, Lachlan grins. GRINS. She looks at him quizzically, though the smile is still there. And then, Cass. "Well, then, tell me about it. I have time," she says with a laugh. To Eric, she nods. "Only for a little while. Living with Nate is….interesting. Reminds me to grab some popcorn though. For some reason he wants some."

The secretive grin from Lachlan gets a beaming smile in return. "Lachlan," she says softly, pretending to be scolding. "You're ruining the surprise." Then, of course, she takes the box from Elena and gives it a gentle, experimental shake. "Must haves, huh?" She doesn't go for the wrapping paper just yet, instead she just laughs. "Oh man. I can only imagine. Popcorn?" That's certainly an interesting request. At least, she sees it as such. "Well. I guess. First big things first." She takes a bit of a breath, the grin already widening. "We're getting married." Big happy face!

"Yeah, popcorn. I didn't really think he was the popcorn type, but there you go. I figured since I'm sharing space with them for a few weeks….least I can do, right?" Elena grins over as Lachlan cuddles Cass onto him, still wearing the sombrero. And then…? She stares when Cass makes her announcement, gaping at the two of them for a while. Cass, getting married? To LACHLAN? But…she thought…didn't Cass say Lachlan wasn't the marrying type before? Things DO change. "Oh my…oh…" And the news sets in. "Oh my god!" She walks back over to the both of them, and since Cass is being hugged by Lachlan from behind, she moves to hug the -both- of them at the same time from the front. "Con…congratulations! Oh my god! Who else knows? Have you two set a date? Is this gonna be a Vegas thing? I've never been to Vegas. I'm invited, right? Right? Oh my god!" If Cass wasn't being held, Elena would be doing the hug and bounce-bounce-bounce on her feet thing.

Eric…was on the phone.

It happens! He has OTHER FRIENDS! And a business to run too. He got the phonecall just after Lach because a hatrack, wondering off as he muttered into the phone. Finally though he clicks the phone off and turns back to them with a deeeeeeeeep sigh. Stupid business people. Arguing with all of them gives him fits at times. He is holding his head as he returns to the conversation…

Only to find Elena…bouncing….

Stare. Head-tilt.

WHAT?! HE'S ONLY HUMAN!

He shakes his head to break out of that before he just smirks slightly. "…alright. What did I miss?"

The Scot accepts the gift with some curiosity, but like Cass, he doesn't open it just yet. Instead, he holds it and keeps one arm around Cass — and grins when the news breaks. And then — OOF! — hugging and he just grins wider, laughing. Except for that one moment in which he grows Very Serious. "Nah, we're doin' it t'morrow at the courthouse. Figured nobody needed ta be invited." In other words: yes, Elena, you're invited.

Shooting Lachlan a look - one that has no meaning since she's still grinning like a fool - Cass doesn't mind that Lachlan still is holding her. Wrapping Elena in a hug, she bounces a little. She'll take the Scot with her if she has to. "Nothing's been planned yet. It's probably going to be a little while." There's so much they have to do and she's been so busy lately that she can't even begin to imagine planning a wedding. "A year, probably. No date. And no place yet. We haven't even really started to talk about it." Wedding planning! It's one thing to say yes, an entirely different thing to actually make those plans. "Of /course/ you're invited." To Eric, she just gives him a bit of grin. "Oh, nothing Eric. I'm pregnant." And she manages to say it with an almost completely straight face. It makes no sense with what she was saying before, but that's not the point. It's a joke!

She'll let Cass tell Eric - it was her news to tell. "Only the most awesome thing to happen while people are gone, -ever-!" Elena says with a grin over at Eric. But they looked so happy, and it was hard not to be smiling and laughing along with them. "Oh god, you guys. I'm so happy for you!" And when Lachlan does his serious face, she blinks. "Oh, but…but….but…" she stutters. When Cass makes sure to let them know that Lachlan's kidding, she bounces with Cass again, laughing. "A wedding! God, I'm so happy for you guys." She takes a step back…. "Well, good thing I got you guys gifts from Spain. To commemorate the occasion. Go on, open them. Hope you guys like 'em." When Cass tells Eric she's pregnant, she chokes. "Isn't that the last thing a girl should say around a guy, Cass?" she teases with a wink.

When Cass tells Eric that she's pregnant, Lachlan pales just slightly. The very thought causes his testicles to draw up into his body. That's the little squeak they can most likely hear. No, wait, that's the sound coming from Lachlan's throat, which has grown tight. He stares at Cass. Okay, she's joking, right? It's a joke. Please?

"…I think…" Eric says with a slowly growing smile at the look on Lachlan's face. "…that if you /were/ pregnant then Lach would be face down on the floor by now." He says before just just laughs and shakes his head. The poor Scot looks like a landed fish! Its awesome. "…but…since its a /wedding/ your talking about…then CONGRADULATIONS!" He enthuses before he beams towards all three of them. "I better get an invite and…god…now I have to think of presents?" He's grinning though. Obviously happy for them both.

Then he pauses worriedly for a moment as he peers at Lachlan. Then a Cass. Then he blinks. "…it…is a joke right. Tell Lachlan its a joke before his face sticks like that."

Though Cass can't see Lachlan's face, she can already guess as to what it is. Still grinning, she tilts her head back so that she can see an upside down Scot face. "I'm /joking/. Now give me a kiss." Which is quite a demand from someone who just played a joke on him, but they just announced their engagement, so she deserves a kiss. "Thank you. There will be invitations and plans and everything, just once it all settles down." Once they fix everything. Then, of course, there are gifts to worry about, so she releases Elena to get back to unwrapping. She tries to be careful about it, the wrapping is beautiful and she doesn't want it to turn into a big pile of mess on her floor.

Whoooooosh! That's the sound of the breath Lachlan had been holding escaping. He grins a bit, then gives Cass a kiss. "Yer gonna kill me," he mutters before he pulls away to open his own gift. He's not so careful. Compare and contrast, class: Cass is trying not to make a mess and is being delicate with her wrapping paper; Lachlan is just ripping it off. Imagine him at Christmas.
Whenever Cass opens the gift, in the lacquered box it comes in, a delicate fan made out of fragrant wood and hand-stitched silk comes out. It wasn't the ones that stay in one shape, but rather the ones that fold, and with the tassel on the other end. The Abanico fan is colorful, blue with black and silver embroidery. And whenever Lachlan opens up his present…

He'll find one big, two handed Spanish sword. The scabbard is black, and made of leather, and the hilt is wrought simply out of silver. But it's real, and it's sharp. Lachlan had been pretty hard to shop for, so she decided to go with something big and manly that can defend the house with style if he can't get to his gun on time.

"While we were in Spain, I managed to rope Eric into coming with me to this tomb where two famous lovers were buried," Elena explains. "In life, the girl carried a fan, and the guy carried a sword. The story was pretty tragic actually, when they died they'd been separated….but their story touched so many people that they got special permission from the Church to have them buried together two centuries after they died. So now they're together till the world ends. But that's not gonna happen while we're around." She nods sagely at that. "Speaking of…" She looks at Cass, her expression turning a little serious. "Papa told me about Dezi's vision. Dezi made him promise to go looking for whoever it was that might cause the storm. We got some leads, but….it's not much. We got a vague description of who it might be."

"…thats right Elena," Eric says with a slight smirk. "…give them a story with a really happy ending," He replies with a shake of his head. "And of course its not going to happen!" He adds cheerfully before he just grins towards Lachlan. "…and you have no idea how hard it was to get that thing past customs." He adds cheerfully. "Its good spanish steel too." After all, that always counted for something in Robin Hood.

He nods slightly though, the smile sliding down a notch or two before he nods. "…we've been trying to find out some information, but its been difficult." He smirks then though. "…but when have you ever known difficult to stop any of us." He adds with a grin.

He pauses again before he drops his voice slightly, glancing around to make sure no one is listening. "…and…just so everyone knows. I found someone else that can do…" He waves his hand slightly. "…things. Like…go invisible."

"Nah, you're too much fun to have around to kill." Beaming after the kiss, her attention brought right back to the present. The fan that gets unwrapped is met with widened eyes. "It's gorgeous," she tells Elena. It's got embroidery and already she can tell that it's beautifully made. "Thank you, Elena." It's heartfelt and warm. However, the story gets more of a raised eyebrow. "Okay, so, honey? Let's not have a tragic ending where the only way it can be happy again is if they smoosh our dead bodies together in some mausoleum, deal?" Her tone gets more serious when they start talking business. "Yeah. I was there when Desiree told it. The storm that ruins New York. Heavy stuff. We're, uh, already on it. Sort of. It's complicated." Is it ever! It involves time travel. "Invisibility. Okay. We knew that was possible before." Because of Peter, but knowing that other people have it is slightly disconcerting. "I guess that's something else to investigate."

Lachlan has a sword. It is a very big sword. And he likes it. He doesn't know how to use it, except that the pointy end goes into the other man, but hey. Sword. The story sort of puts a damper on the awesomeness of the gift, and then he peers at Cass. "… ye mean where they stuff ye an' put ye up naked somewhere?" Someone has sorta mixed up the words 'museum' and 'mausoleum', but oh well. "Di'ye know I can swallow these things?" He hefts the sword for emphasis. All the Serious Talk about storms and stuff is just given a silent look. He doesn't have much to add there.

"Come on, don't you want to be with the one you love for ALL ETERNITY? Mwah. Hah. Hah. Hah." She says this rather creepily, making grabby-handed-finger-gestures at Eric from where she is. Okay. Don't make her do that again. The young Gomez girl grins, and turns back to Cass.

"She's female. Or…she could be. With dark hair and apparently very unusual eyes. She's about my age," Elena supplies to Cass. "No name, I didn't manage to get one, but I think Papa had Gene looking into the traffic cams back when the bizarre cyclone thing happened a while back, see if he can capture some images to help things out a bit." She digs out her jPhone and looks at it somewhat helplessly. "…while I was in Spain, Peter called." There's a strange expression on her face. It's half huffy, and half concerned. "He left me…a message." Well. Six messages. But she's not about to get into the fact that they had a falling out before they left for Spain and she's still not sure how she was going to respond to him the next time he sees her. "He said….you'll know where he was going? He just told me to talk to you."

And then, she blinks at Lachlan. "………wait, you can swallow swords?" she says, her eyes widening curiously. "Can you do that one? But it's HUGE!" Then again, Lachlan's huge too.

He just smiles towards the both of them as they appriciate their gifts. "…the idea was all Elena, I just pitched in on the money," Eric admits before he shakes his head slightly. "I'm glad you both like them though." He grin though widely. At least until the talk of storms and things. Things being Peter. He still has no idea how to feel about that guy. However he hides that well enough. "…I'll look little miss invisible up if you like. Though I don't know how much I should tell her." More research is good before revealing anything big.

A glance then towards Elena and her grabby hands. A raised eyebrow. "…your Wendsday Adams impersnation is fail." He informs her, though he does grin towards her, highly amused.

"Yeah, prob'ly could. 'M gonna go out fer a quick smoke, though." Because, uh. Things. Rearranging the office is tough work. So with another quick kiss to Cass, Lachlan sets his sword down in the box on the counter and heads out for a quick break.

"Uh, no. Mausoleum, not Museum. It's where you put just regular dead bodies." Now that that little morbid sidetrack is done with, Cass moves on to the more important things. Sort of. "…you can swallow swords?" To be fair, she /was/ about to address the Evolved they're trying to find, but she got sidetracked. Then, she shakes her head to get back on track. "Okay. That sounds great. I'll see what I can find from the the less technical side." Who knows how, but she'll do her best. Possibly just talking with people. "Oh. Uh, yes. Peter." Frowning, she looks around the store, she tries to think of what to say and decides to stall. "No, thank you Eric. They're both lovely. I hope that Lach doesn't kill himself trying to swallow his, but you can't do a lot of damage with a fan. And it's helpful during the summer!" All good points. "Well, just so we can know who she is. I mean, you don't have to do anything extreme. I don't know. I guess it all depends on who she is and if she wants help." If not, there's nothing she can do. Kissing Lachlan quickly, she adds, "Alright, hon." And then is back to the business at hand. "Anyway, Peter. He, uh, yeah. He's kind of out of reach for a little while."

"Especially since half the buildings in New York don't have airconditioning," Elena grumbles. New York over the summer tended to be murder, but at least the classrooms were cool. When Lachlan steps out for a smoke break she can't help but smile. "You're both so cute together," she says wistfully, folding her arms on the counter. But even if she says that, she could afford to live vicariously off her friends for a while. But at the last, she blinks at Cass. "…..is that why he hasn't been answering his phone? He left me six messages while I was away," she wonders. "It's…" She rubs her face, and looks half-frustrated. He leaves her a gazillion messages while she's gone, she comes back, hears -all- of them, calls him back, and he doesn't return her calls. MEN. SERIOUSLY. "….what's going on?" she asks. "Cass?"

Eric just raises an eyebrow as Cass obviously ducks and dodges the whole answer. He pauses before he just sighs and smirks slightly. Instead of accusing her or anything he just nods. "…yeah…I have to agree with Elenea there…you two are adoreable together," He pauses. "…don't tell Lach I said that though. He might take it badly." After all. Men arn't adoreable. THEY ARE MANLY. He nods though once. "…I'll see if I can get some more information then." He blinks though. "…er…what do you mean by out of reach." Must. Ignore. Messages on Elena's phone.

"We are, aren't we?" Cass isn't about to be modest about how much she loves Lachlan and how adorable she finds them. Pulling out the fan from it's lacquer casing, she opens and closes it a few times experimentally, trying to figure out how to say it. She's already had this conversation twice and neither time it wasn't well received news. "He'd call you back if he could. I'm sure he would." Her eyes switch between her two younger friends and she sighs. "I still can't figure out the right way to say this. There's never a preface that makes it sound less crazy. Or safer. He went with Mr. Nakamura to the future. To try and fix it. To try and figure out what happened so we know /what/ we're actually stopping."

"Who did?" Guess who's back? And smelling not at all like cigarettes. Because Lachlan's lighter is out of fuel. Which means now he's a bit twitchy because he's jonesing bad and can do nothing about it.

"………………………………." Elena stares at Cass, and Lachlan, and then Cass, and then Lachlan again. "He went. To the future," she repeats disbelievingly. "I…I thought Hiro was just….a teleporter?" Then again it made sense, didn't it? She wasn't a closet Star Wars fan as Eric was, but the concept of teleportation was time-space manipulation. The shortest distance between two points isn't a straight line as normal chronological graphs would entail, but rather 'bend- the line to re-route back to the first point. "….okay," she says. "….Hiro's done this before, right?" She hopes so. Then again… "Peter mentioned Hiro was one of the people who stopped the first one from happening. You think maybe he did the same thing? Used Isaac Mendez's paintings to figure out what's going to happen and then 'ported himself in the future to bring back info? Was that how they did it the last time?" Not really, but she's HOPING the Japanese guy was somewhat practiced. "Because….if Peter and Hiro are stuck in the future, not only are we stuck not knowing what's gonna happen, the two people experienced with this entire Save New York thing are gonna be gone."

"…so…." Eric drawls out. "…he…went to the future to try to figure out whats going to go wrong in the past in order to save the possible future?" He says with a raised eyebrow. He just has to laugh softly then. "…this is starting to sound like a bad Star Trek plot. I'm expecting Sulu and Spock to jump out of the back room any moment now." He says as he just runs his hand though his hair and then sighs slightly as he listends to Elena. She…just touched on all the concerns he had, so he'll just be the amused one with the sarcastic comments then.

This is the reaction that Cass was expecting. Sort of. Mostly more disbelief, the worry to come later. But, still, she's getting all kinds of reactions from different people about the news that she was told to give those who were in the know. Cass repeats softly, for Lachlan, "Peter. And Hiro. I…I don't know. I know Hiro helped stop everything before. That he /has/ stopped paintings. This was kind of different. He's trying to stop his own painting. And what I told him that Desiree saw. But…it's Peter. And Hiro. They'll come back. And they'll know what's going on." Pause. "If they're trapped there…." It's not something she wants to think of. "They won't. We'll just keep working on everything from here so Peter doesn't think we've slacked off while he's been all in the Future with the Enterprise or something. I know. The whole thing is weird and I can't even begin to understand it. But…that's what it is."

Peter's in the future. With Little Chink Guy. Gotcha. Anything Peter wants to do to make sure the Painting That Will Never Happen And Does Not Exist ever comes into being is fine by him. Lachlan nods as he files this away, then he starts idly searching for something around the counter. Something flammable. This searching probably takes him all around the counter and, eventually, into Cass' pockets. He doesn't have to ask to look in Cass' pockets, right? Right. And nobody better laugh at the sombrero-wearing Scotsman with his nose in the bookstore owner's pockets.

She's still a little shocked by it all. She can't help but utter: "He….went to the future. To the -future-." Elena pauses, and drops her forehead on the counter, burying her face in her arms. "Christ. Fight with the guy and he runs away -to the future-. I'm going to have to shake him about his conflict coping mechanisms." She lifts her head and sighs, rubbing her face. Ugh. But what Cass says is right, and she nods. "Well, I gave him the flashdrive to give to you about….the virus and the girl in Texas," she says. "And we know that the potential source of at least -one- cyclone is a girl my age with dark hair and unusual eyes. I just hope Gene can find something so we can track her down and figure out if….she's one of us." Which reminds her. She opens up the laptop and looks at Cass. "I also got the brain scans I was telling you about if you want to take a look at them.

"…I don't think you can beat that way of coping with problems," Eric says after a moments thought with a slightly amused smile on his face. That amused smile dosn't even dim a bit as Lach goes rooting though Cass's pockets. A raised eyebrow does greet that though before he shakes his head. "…wouldn't it be more effective to let Cass go looking there?" He asks lightly. More effective yes. More fun? Oh hell no. "…its not much to go on…" His face gets slowly more serious though as they continue to talk. "…but some information is better than nothing." He nods towards Elena then. "…with all the backing of two companies…it shouldn't take /all/ that long until he might be able to figure something out."

"The flashdrive I got. Awhile ago." At least she thinks that was what it was about. "And, it wasn't the fight with you exactly that made him turn Michael J. Fox." Cass' smile turns lopsided. "At least, I'm sure that wasn't the catalyst for it." Obviously, Cass knows that Elena was joking. But, this is a strange topic. "Well, hm. I can see what I can look for on my own, but that'll mostly be just me keeping my eyes open on the walks to and from work, you know?" Glancing at the laptop, Cass nods. "Great. We'll—-" Though Cass doesn't /mind/ so much about Lachlan looking through her pockets, it's the fact that she's a little surprised. "You could just ask, you know." But, she grins and laughs. "What are you looking for, exactly?"

… oh hi. Lachlan glances up from where he's busy rifling through one of Cass' pants pockets, blinks once, then realizes that maybe this is not the most mannerful of ways to look for things in one's girlfriend's pockets. "Uhhh." He straightens again and rubs his hands over his own pockets. "D'ye have a lighter 'r somethin'?"

"I was just kidding about that," the younger woman says absently as she focuses on getting the machine going. She wissecracked when she was nervous, but she doesn't need to explain that to Cass. Cass knows. She fires up the laptop, Elena's expression serious now. She leaves the subject of Peter behind - while she wasn't exactly mad at him anymore, now she's pissed at him for other reasons. Namely what the hell he was doing JUMPING FORWARD IN TIME. If he does something there, would it affect things here? There's so much they didn't know about the space time continuum. And he could get STUCK there. She doesn't know Hiro very well, what if he was just as much of a sorta-but-not-really novice like he was? They could BOTH be screwed. Did they even test this before attempting this newest excursion?! When she pulls up the images, she takes a step back. "Here, take a look. These are the brainscans I was talking to you about. I'm…not confident…" Or just unaccepting. "Of my preliminary diagnosis but….I figured you'd know more than me."

Eric just shakes his head slightly at Lachlan. Reaching into his jacket he fishes out of a inner pocket a beaten up zippo to toss towards Lachlan. "Here," No he does not smoke, however sometimes a lighter is very useful. So he has one just in case. He smirks slightly towards the scotsman before turning back to listen to Elena and Cass. They are the science geeks. He's just the computer and money geek. This whole brainscan thing has him worried…mostly because he doesn't understand a damn thing about it all.

Rifling through her own pockets, Cass doesn't have anything to make Lachlan's cigarette light up. Luckily for them, Eric does! Some casual smoker Cass is. She has a lighter she stole from Lachlan in the back room, but this means she doesn't have to go rooting around for it. Hurrah for both sides. "I know," Cass tells Elena, her smile reassuring rather than showing amusement. "Well, I'm not an expert. I'm not a brain surgeon. Most of the time I can see when there's something wrong, just not how to treat it." When Elena fires up the laptop and swings it around so that Cass can observe them, the woman frowns. And then, picks up the whole computer so that she can shove her face to be only inches from the screen. Yes, that helps. The frown gets even more pronounced as she looks in the discoloration and what does /not/ look like a healthy brain. At least a part of it. That's not a very hard diagnosis. While still holding onto the computer, she looks over the edge of the screen at Elena. "Whose are these?"

"Thanks." A quick smooch to Cass' cheek before Lachlan heads out to finish his mission of smoking. It's one of those Guy Things.

"…..what do you think?" Elena says. She's withholding the identity of the person whose brainscans these came from at the moment, but she does look a little….well. The neutral expression falls on her face as her hands slowly ball into her pockets. She wants to hear Cass's opinion first, and if it's bad….they'll definitely have to seek out an expert. A professional opinion. If it's as bad as she thinks it is, she can't just accept it. Not right now. This has to be verified. So she waits, a slow sinking feeling prodding deep into her stomach. But she tries to keep calm. Maybe they caught it early. Maybe they can fix it.

Eric just nods towards Lachlan as the older man leaves, then his hands go into his pockets and he leans against the wall watching the two women work. A slight frown tuggs on his lips as he looks at the computer. He's curious himself just how this looks to Cass, because he believes he knows whose scan that is.

Taking the kiss on the cheek from Lachlan with a distracted sort of manner. There's a long pause. She's not waiting for Lachlan to leave so much as to make sure that the door is closed before she speaks again. Once the coast is clear, she frowns and focuses her attention on Elena, for the moment. "I think you have a brain scan of a terminal brain tumor." Of course, she can tell that Elena must already know that. Why else would she be asking for a second opinion of a brain scan if she thought it was healthy? "You'd have to run other tests to see if it was malignant or benign, but that would only tell you how much time it might take." That said, she puts the computer down onto the counter. The weight is starting to get to her. "So, whose brain scans were those?"

She looks at Cass, and then at Lachlan, and then at Eric. Elena's lower lip quivers for a moment, but she bites down on her lower lip and takes a deep breath. "I'll see…if I can have a professor in NYU help me out with these then. Do you want to come with me?" She reaches foward, to shut down the brainscans and click the laptop shut. Her eyes remain on it, smoothing her fingertips over. Clearly the laptop doesn't look normal. It was made by the hands of a genius, customized for this very purpose. Finally, she comes clean. "…they're Gene's, Cass. I….he was doing the final tweaks on the brain scanner he was building for Bat Country. So he asked me to test it, so since we were alone at the time, I tested it on him to see if the brain wave monitor function was working. It was, so I figured, why not test the scan, too, right? And that's where I found…" She looks over at Cass. "I don't….I don't think he knows."

Eric's eyes close, thats exactly what he didn't want to hear from Cass. He sighs slightly, that click of a laptop sounding oh so very final to him. He frowns slightly before he sucks in a deep break between his teath. Gene is his friend, he never likes to hear things like that about his friends. Though this one…I mean of all the people that /deserve/ something like this to happen, why does is have to be someone like Gene to get it. He didn't do anything. He didn't hurt anyone. Its just not fair.

Of course, life is never fair.

Shaking his head he reaches out to put a hand on Elena's shoulder. "…I've got some calls to make. If you need anything else…well you know how to find me." He murmurs towards the slightly younger woman before turning to smile towards Cass. "And the same goes for you, if you need anything…just yell." With that, and looking tired and mildly worried, Eric heads towards the door to follow Lachlan outside.

Except as Eric goes out, Lachlan comes back in. Because he forgot something else vital to smoking: cigarettes. Which he left in Cass' pocket when he was performing his search for something flammable. Back in he strides, patting down his pockets one last time just to be sure and muttering something to himself. "Cassie, have ye seen m— " Spotting the rather downer atmosphere surrounding the women now, he stops short and stares blankly. "… wha'?" His brow furrows. "Aw Christ. Who died?"

Having no real idea about laptops - normal or not - the significance of why this one is special escapes Cass. However, when she's told that what she just saw was Gene's scans, she pales. "What?" There's a long pause as Cass thinks back. That time in her bookstore, Gene threw up and said he hadn't been feeling well. Too much fast food. She thought he was just coming down with the flu and was a workaholic who didn't want to take time off. God. She was going to make him some home cooked meals. "Yeah. I'll go with you." There's more of a frown. "Thanks Eric." She watches the other man leave and then Lachlan return. My, it's just a revolving door of friends. The question makes her wince just slightly, but then she shakes her head. "I…no one, Lach. What were you looking for?" She puts on a small fake smile for him. It's meant to be reassuring.

"No one, Lachlan." And NO ONE WILL, if she has anything to say about it. There has to be a way. Elena packs up the laptop, and she gives Lachlan a small smile. It's not fake, but…there's no usual cheerfulness behind it. Lachlan has the kind of face that makes a girl smile anyway when he's being cute. And he was usually cute around Cass. So she zips the laptop back in the case. "Thanks, Cass. I really appreciate it. I…need to go see Gene anyway, see if he found anything hacking into those cameras." She rubs the back of her neck. "And I really should get going. Nate's probably waiting for his popcorn. I don't know what he's doing in the mansion in the middle of the day though, he says he's working from his office there." Of course, she doesn't know he's gearing up to watch his SOAP OPERAS RIGHT NOW. "If I talk to my professor, I'll call you, yeah? I'm living with Nate and Heidi for the interim until I can find a place in the city. Papa and Dezi and the other kids just moved upstate so….it's just more convenient for me to get my own place now that school's started."
Eric has disconnected.

Somehow, Lachlan's not buying it. There's just something weird in the air. Doesn't take a dog for him to notice it. They aren't talking though, so he doesn't push it. Besides, he's really really itchy for a cigarette. Talk can happen later. "M'cigarettes. Think I left 'em— " he moves over to Cass and starts digging in her pockets again until he comes up with the pack "— there. Thanks, baby." Another smooch before he gives Elena a wave and starts heading for the door … again.

"Of course. Give me a call before then." Cass moves forward to give Elena another hug. More comforting this time. "It's good to have you home safe." And they have work to do. "Of course. If it gets too Petrelli for you, though, give me a call. You can crash on my couch for a couple of days. Or if you just need a day away from politico central. Enjoy the popcorn and all." Whether Lachlan buys it or not is not really the issue at the moment. However, the semi-fake smile turns into a genuine one when he starts to root through her pockets a second time. "I was wondering when you'd notice." Then she returns the kiss and watches him head out the door.

"I will," Elena says, wrapping her arms around Cass in a hug and burying her nose into her shoulder. "I'm glad to be home too. I missed you guys." This last sincerely. But when she mentions things might get too Petrelli, she can't help but grin. She pulls away and winks. "Well that might happen sooner than later. Heidi took the kids to see their maternal grandparents so it's been just me, Nate, and the dogs and occasionally the servants in the house. It's a little weird. I know Heidi and Peter pretty well, but I don't really know Nate that much at all. But yeah, if you don't mind, if things DO get too Petrelli, I'll take you up on it." She hugs Cass again. "Congratulations, Cass. I hope you and Lachlan'll be very happy together. Not like you guys aren't already but you know what I mean." She picks up her things. "I'm'a go say goodbye to Lachlan before I go. I'll call you, okay?" She waves, and she'll do just that, bounding out of the store so she can go hug Lachlan.

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