aucourant | Open RP Post

Time passed. Life went on. Tess grieved, and threw herself into science. Into repairing S.T.A.R Labs. Into taking care of the motley collection of people who she’d sort of adopted. More than ever in the wake of Eobard’s betrayal. Sleep wasn’t important, and she did her best to keep her emotions, her grief and betrayal to herself. Barry and the others had enough to deal with.

But time passed. And her determination to salvage something of S.T.A.R Labs’ reputation led her to the world of PR. She’d done what she could in the wake of the explosion, but she was a scientist first and foremost. The basics she could handle. She didn’t have the expertise for more. She needed help.

That was how Connor entered her life. She hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t expected HIM. But there he was. And he didn’t seem to be leaving any time soon. She was pretty sure she should mind. But she didn't.

The STAR Labs assignment was one that Connor had dreaded at first. Everyone at RGM treated it like a joke. No one wanted it. Spin a positive image for the most notorious scientific company in the country? Was that even possible? Plus there was all that ribbing Connor got over the dam CEO. Every time that bastard held a press conference big enough to make national news, he just shut himself in his office until he could no longer hear Tom and Hector snickering.

But then he got to Central City. Then he met Tess. He met her team. And once everyone got passed the strangeness of it all, they started working quite well together. He found himself actually looking forward to his trips to the lab. Something he hadn't thought possible. But it was totally professional. Completely.

It was his first time returning. They'd found a direction for the campaign. Something that might actually work. He'd taken it all back to his team in Chicago. They'd mocked it all up. With all of the proofs in a book tucked under his arm, he strode confidently into the massive building. He tracked her down to where ever she was working, not having called ahead. Why not surprise the woman who was quite possibly his most favorite client?

Without a word he just leaned into her office. A precarious angle, supported by only one hand gripping the door jamb. The smile plastered on his face either meant he had great news or he was up to no good. Really with Connor, it could be either. Or both.

Tess was usually in her office, when she wasn’t in the cortex. And she’d been there most of the night. And the morning. She’d had... she wasn’t quite sure how many cups of coffee at this point, but she was on at least her second or third pot. It had been a long night, and there was a couch in her office but she hadn’t gotten around to actually using it yet. Of course, she wasn’t that tired, either. She was used to late nights.

There was a clearboard there, too, tucked away in the corner behind her desk, and she was scribbling away on it, working on one of her more important side projects. She wasn’t sure there was a way to reverse what the particle accelerator explosion had done to the metahumans it had created, but she had to try. Had to try and fix what Thawne had wrought. Stretching tiredly, she turned at the sound of footsteps, expecting Barry, or Cisco, or Caitlin, come to check on her.

Oh.

Conner was an unexpected and very pleasant surprise, and it earned him a delighted smile that lit up her face. Glad to see him? Oh yes. She was quite fond of that smile on his face. No matter which of the three possibilities it ended up meaning. “Conner! Hi.” Setting down the marker in her hand she came around her desk to greet him.

Dropping the proofs among the stuff on her desk, he gripped her by both shoulders in greeting. He looked so very pleased to be there. To see her. He should feel bad, honestly. Since he apparently resembled her late husband, sort of. For all he knew that could be the only reason she liked him. Some weird, twisted, recapturing of things lost long ago. He was still working out just when those things here lost, though. He wasn't exactly in the loop on what exactly was going on in Central City, but he was bright enough to pick out that she lost Harrison long before everyone says he died. There was something definitely hinky going on there, but he'd find out in ways that didn't involve directly asking.

"Tess! I've got--" Then he frowned, looking at her a little more closely. "Nope. That's going to wait. Because you look wrecked. Which means we're leaving. Getting coffee. Breakfast. Maybe taking you for somewhere to nap. Or get some sun. Anything that isn't staying cooped up in here. Come on." He already had his arm around her shoulders in an attempt to lead her out of the lab, not taking no for an answer.

Despite herself, some of the tension eased out of her under his hands. She was as pleased to see him as he was to see her. She probably shouldn’t be, but she was. And there was nothing she could do to change that. She wasn’t sure she would even if she could. Because yes, he resembled Harrison (always Harrison, never Thawne. Ever.), but that was where the similarities ended. She liked him for who he was. Every last inch of him. It was him, not his appearance, she liked.

She was doing her best to protect him from the backlash of being associated with S.T.A.R Labs at all. At being associated with her. There had been enough harm brought by Thawne. She wouldn’t have Conner hurt, too.

And she was fairly sure he’d realised that there was something strange going on with her ‘husband’s’ death, and all that surrounded it. He wasn’t stupid. Far from it. No matter what people might think of him at first glance. She hoped to delay his learning the truth until she figured out a good way to explain that a time travelling metahuman from the future travelled to his past and stole her husband’s identity for his own awful plans.

Although she was pretty sure that there was no way to make that believable.

His words earned him a tired, but incredibly amused laugh. “I think I should probably be insulted,” she replied, voice teasing. He was right, after all. She didn’t fight the arm he slid around her shoulders, instead leaning into him a little as she let him lead her out of the lab.

"Insulted?" He scoffed, neck craning to look at her under his arm. He made a grand gesture with his free hand as if wiping everything clear. Dismissing the possibility all together. "What, because I can see the way the very weight of the world weighs upon you? Which, by the way, you carry beautifully. But you cannot hide it from me, Tess Morgan. We have been working together too long," Yes he counted their short time together on his first visit as more than long enough, "for me to not see it."

He led them out of the Cortex, and into the winding, broad halls of the nearly deserted building. "Nope. I'll have none of that lying to each other nonsense. Absolute honesty. That's me. I'll not say all is fine when I can see, in an instant, how much you need a break! It's just the way I am. Completely open and honest." Says the man who changes himself based on who he is currently dating or at least courting.

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