taxonomites | 8 | [ location: the jeffersonian institute ] / [ visual ]

The feed flickers to life as Brennan turns on the record function, giving Taxon a quick glimpse of her office couch that has clearly been slept on if the blanket and pillow combination is anything to go by, as well as a dog on the floor that's chewing halfheartedly on a toy. Brennan leans back a little as she straightens the tablet and regards the screen, her expression carefully neutral.

"For those of you who were acquainted with her and may not yet be aware of it... Angela Montenegro was sent back home yesterday."

Brennan looks like she's about to add something to this, but decides against it. Instead she presses her lips together into a tight line as if to keep from saying anything further and lowers her gaze, reaching out for the device and fumbling with it for a second before tossing it back on the coffee table in front of her. Brennan's attempt was to turn it off, but she doesn't quite manage it in her distracted state. Instead, the tablet keeps on recording, albeit now only showing a steady view of the ceiling. The audio is still clear as day, however.

The silence is punctuated only by the dog gnawing on her precious toy until Brennan speaks up a moment later.

"Looks like it's just you and me now, Tuesday."

There are no tears in her tone, but the words come out very softly and are followed by a forlorn sigh.

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Brennan thinks about this for a moment, opening her mouth to reply - only to snap it back shut. Inhaling deeply and blowing the air out through her mouth in frustration, she shakes her head slightly. Emotional issues have always been difficult to Brennan, twice so now with nobody familiar left in Taxon who'd know how she thinks and processes everything. Still, DG's way of spelling things out for her reminds her a little of Angela, and it's coaxing an honest answer out of Brennan instead of the standard denial that anything's wrong.

"I figure," she finally begins slowly, "If I concentrate on the fact that Angela is safely and happily back home, it might make me miss her less. Then perhaps I wouldn't feel so badly. I don't want to feel this way, I only want to be happy for her. Not feel sorry for myself."

When it came to dealing with difficult people, DG was something close to an expert. Her best friends were a stoic former police man and a headcased former adviser to the queen respectively, after all. She was nothing if not patient and she had certainly learned to be persistent. (Or stubborn, depending on who you were talking to.)

"Or it'll make you feel guilty for missing her at all?" DG suggested, "Missing her doesn't have to mean that you're not happy for her. It's just ... just a sign of how much you cared about her."

Brennan nodded her head in response to DG's suggestion, slightly taken aback that the other woman managed to pinpoint her sentiments that accurately when she hadn't truly and exactly made sense of it all to herself.

"So, you don't think..." Brennan paused, frowning a little as she fumbled for the right words, "You don't think it's selfish of me? Knowing that Angela is better off being back home and yet wishing that she were still here?"

"No," she said, gently, knowing that she felt exactly the same about Piper and would feel the same if Glitch or Cain or Tara or any of her other friends left. "Just human. And there's nothing wrong with that."

In fact, in a city that was often inhuman, it was incredibly important to hold on to that.

Edited 2011-04-10 22:07 (UTC)

8 | [ location: the jeffersonian institute ] / [ visual ]

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