Laurie & Eamon | Late Sunday night

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Laurie finally gets a return to all those voicemails she's been leaving Eamon.

He'd just woken up and it wasn't quite past sunrise again. Mike was on guard duty which meant Eamon had fuck all to do for the first time in days. Or was it weeks? He stretched, then groped about a bit blindly for his mobile and dialled a number which was likely a bit more familiar than it ought to have been to him. Listening to the ringing on the other end almost put him back to sleep but then a voice said "hello?" and his attention was back up.

"Is it some horrid hour of the day," he asked, voice still thick with sleep. "Because I can ring back a bit later if it is. My idea on what the difference is and where you are's a bit more shite than usual right now."

Laurie grinned as she heard the voice on the other end of the phone and glanced over at the clock. It was late, and she probably should have been asleep by now but she'd been up studying a particularly tricky calculus equation and hadn't wanted to sleep till she'd nutted it out.

"It's late, but I was up," she said, settling back in her desk chair, and curling a lock of hair around her fingers. "Are you okay?"

"Bed's a little empty, stitches are healing," Eamon stifled a yawn, "but I've really nothing to complain about much all things considered. Except maybe that bed thing." He laughed, the sound quiet and low.

"You could come visit me," Laurie said idly, making it a suggestion rather then a demand. "I'm home at the mansion for good now, and need someone to come take me away from all this science and mathematics homework I've surrounded myself with. Now, are you going to tell me why you needed stitches or should I just make up worst case scenarios for myself?"

Laurie knew he worked in a dangerous profession, but she couldn't quite stop herself from asking anyhow, despite the fact that she was kicking herself for sounding so...so about it. She couldn't even think of a word for it, but it was definitely a 'so'.

"I could," his voice trailed off as he thought about that. Yeah, he could go visit her. After the job was done. Be a normal person for a bit. But he wasn't sure if he had another job lined up for them immediately after this one or not. Eamon just wasn't awake enough for that. "Potentially. Maybe. I dunno yet, love. But the stitches, I just got shot in the arm. It's not the worst I've been hit. Kept the client safe so that's all that matters. They'll be out in a couple weeks."

"Good," Laurie noted, juggling the phone slightly as she closed the lid of her laptop and stood up. She thought perhaps it was time for some refueling and there shouldn't be a lot of people awake at 1am in the morning. She could make a quick run down without anyone asking questions about who she was talking to. "The only being a minor wound I mean, although gunshots can be tricky. Make sure you keep it clean."

"Aye, doc, I promise I'm following all the rules they gave me." Eamon even crossed his heart despite her not being able to see it. Then he pulled the covers up and nestled down further into the bed. "How's normal life, then? Happy to be home?"

"Normal per I'm friends with mercenaries and mutants who can blow things up, or normal as per normal?" Laurie asked, amusement clear in her voice as she traveled down the main stairs toward the level that held the kitchen. "But definitely happy to be home. Especially after the sheer crazy that was Dubai. Did I e-mail you about the trip to Dubai? I called but I think you were on a job so I just put it all in text."

"Dubai? Don't think I got anything, no. And normal per Laurie." He was grinning, though, and it raised the edges of his voice from their sleep-thickened stupor.

"Forge got invited to this new hotel they were opening there, completely automated," Laurie explained, entering the kitchen and switching on the counter lights as she did so. She didn't need to light up the entire room, just the work spaces so she'd have enough light to make a snack. "We didn't count on two old friends of Forge and Doug's showing up. Crazy elevator antics was the least of it. Otherwise, normal per Laurie standards has been pretty good. I think I've had enough of traveling for awhile. At least, constant travel, anyhow. I'm going to talk to my university after the holidays and see about re-enrolling, don't know if they'll make me repeat everything or not considering I got the medical leave. How has 'normal per Eamon standards' been going? Other then the gunshot stuff."

"Gunshot is normal per Eamon standards," he reminded her lightly. "Or have I got to go over the Tour of Scars again with you?" He peaked over at the clock, saw it was barely much past six and decided after the phone call he was going back to sleep. He'd woken with her on his mind, though, and he wanted to return a call to her before he forgot, got shot again or was too busy for another several weeks. "It's actually quiet per Ea standards. We're on a security job, which means we're mostly being overpaid body guards. It's a lot slower and safer than our usual work but we've been up to that for a bit too long a stretch. The lads were looking run over and rundown. They aren't overjoyed at wearing suits but I reckon the nightly shower and lack of explosions is making it worth their while. Maybe I'll have use take a proper break for a while after this. Can't remember if I've got anything arranged already or not, though. It's written somewhere."

"Should I have Morgan send you an iPhone for your birthday?" Laurie joked, pushing down the slight uneasy feeling that his job description always gave her. She was getting her heart involved with someone who could be shot dead tomorrow, it wasn't exactly the smartest decision she'd ever made. Still, the heart wanted what it wanted, and she wasn't about to argue. "It's got this cool little calendar application that beeps at you when things are due."

"Have they come up with an explosion-proof one of those yet then?" Eamon was joking, but he wasn't sure if it was too far into reality for her. Some people could joke to an extent and then they just got serious and depressed beyond that point. He wasn't sure where Laurie's line was drawn precisely. Not just yet. "Aye, but I could have you send me pictures of normal per Laurie to cheer me up when I'm being stitched with one of those, yeah?"

"I could, although it might include battlefield mine clearing operations," Laurie replied, pulling the refrigerator open and pulling out the makings for sandwiches. "I don't think I told you about that one. Yvette got blown up and almost died. Lucky we ended up being able to find a set of kidneys she could use."

She said it as if it were almost an afterthought but she had an idea that Eamon had probably heard the catch in her voice at that last word. She still wasn't used to the idea of death, no matter how many times she confronted it, or knew that her friends were in danger of it. In the end she thought that perhaps that was a good thing, she couldn't be a doctor without wanting to fight that ultimate loss.

Eamon let a moment of silence descend upon the line. He'd heard the catch and he wondered if he did that to her voice when he wasn't paying attention or if she said anything to anyone else about him. "She come out of her surgery alright, then? Healed up and good to go?"

"She's getting better, they're going to take the stitches out in a week or so, I think," Laurie replied, specifically reminding herself not to talk about the inhibitor they'd had to put her on. As much as she liked him, and might even eventually love him if she allowed herself that, he was still a mercenary and there was information she would never share with him, even if only so he'd never be tempted to sell it.

Even if what she wanted to believe most of all was that he wouldn't, not if she told him not to.

"I'm sure she'll heal up just fine. Stitches out and then bouncing about and the like. People're more resilient when they're younger. They bounce back quicker. Surgery's no fun and the healing's annoying, but if her stitches are nearly out then the worst of it's over likely." He hoped she didn't interpret him saying people were more resilient when they were younger as you being less resilient when you were older. Eamon didn't need Laurie worrying overmuch about him when she had an actual life to participate in.

"You're right," Laurie said, browsing through the condiments she'd placed on the table. She wasn't exactly sure what she wanted, or was craving for right now. Well, beside Eamon here and not a world away. "Quick, choose a sandwich filling."

"Roast beef." It was the first thing out of his mouth and the thought of food made his stomach grumble. Fucking hell. He groaned and crawled out of bed to check the minifridge in the hotel room for leftovers. Noodles. Everywhere he went, no matter what country, a man could always find noodles. Eamon pulled the carton out and dug up a plastic fork so he could shut his stomach up. "Innit a bit late for sandwiches over there?"

"Study break snack food," Laurie noted, pulling the roast beef from the fridge and placing it on the counter. It would've been from earlier that night, food, especially meat type food didn't last long enough to be out of date. "I've been trying to catch up before I go back to school. I swear my brain is full of integrals and hyperbolic functions right now. It's hard to sleep when your brain is trying to crawl out your ear."

"Maybe you should study in the mornings and early afternoon, then, so that your brain can recover and you can relax at night. Then you'd get some decent sleep, love." At least one of them ought to get decent sleep whenever they could, he thought. Eamon stuffed a forkful of noodles into his mouth as he rotated the phone up into the air so he didn't chew into the speaker.

"Can't," Laurie said, slightly muffed by the slice of roast beef she'd cut and stuffed into her mouth as she made her sandwich. "X-men training, and looking for a job makes it hard to find time otherwise. I'm getting sleep though, I make sure I only study like this one week out of every two. How much longer do you have where you are?"

"Not sure, exactly. Maybe a few days. Maybe a few weeks. Maybe even a few months. More like wheres though. The client's out and about a fair bit. But then people who need security like us tend to be." Now that he thought about it, Eamon was sure he didn't have anything lined up for the lads after this. he couldn't. He didn't know when the job would end. It could go on for years for all he knew. Yeah, they were definitely taking a break after this. He shoved another forkful of noodles into his mouth.

"Sounds like you'll need a holiday after," Laurie noted, pulling a jar of chutney toward her and liberally spreading it over the roast beef she'd already put on the bread. "I...um, I could come visit some time?"

"Aye, pet, I probably will. As will the lads." Eamon paused at her offer, or rather the hesitation in it. "Aye? Yeah, that'd be lovely. I can almost promise a lack of bullets and explosions. It'd be more normal than your normal. Which probably makes it a bit abnormal for us both, huh?" His tone had gotten noticeably cheerier and more awake. Eamon had, quite honestly, perked up at the very thought of getting to see her again.

"You wouldn't mind?" Laurie asked, feeling relief. She hadn't wanted to come across the total stalker, but she missed him and the thought of seeing him again was happy making. "I mean, you're doing the big manly, hanging out with the guys thing, I wouldn't want to cramp your style."

She hoped he took that as the joke she meant it as, but she really had been worried that maybe he wouldn't want her over there with him, not with his job and all, not even for a short visit.

"Mind? Would I...mind?" Silence fell and the surprise was evident in his voice. "Have you gone off your brain, pet? 'Course I'd not mind. I can get up to a bit of craic with the lads any time I like. Aye, and a beautiful girl, especially the one in question, ranks a fair bit higher than dirty, vulgar mercenaries. They're right decent blokes, don't get me wrong. But I don't really miss them if they aren't there when I wake up unless they've gone and landed themselves in hospital or summat."

Laurie blushed deeply, feeling suddenly both incredibly foolish and incredibly giddily happy at the same time. "I wasn't sure, we haven't talked in awhile, you could've had second thoughts?"

"I always thought that was a daft expression," Eamon replied thoughtfully. "Aye, I've had second and third and tenth and twentieth thoughts. That doesn't mean my mind changed, just that I've been having thoughts. About you. I've not changed my mind about you. Not a bit, pet."

"I'm glad," Laurie said softly, knowing that she'd had second and third and twentieth thoughts herself. "Call me when it's cool to come visit?"

Eamon quirked an eyebrow and gave his mobile a funny look. "That'd be right short notice there, pet."

"You mean it's cool for me to visit now?" Laurie asked with a grin, placing the final touches on her sandwich. "I thought you were on your job."

He couldn't stop the grin that took over his face. "I've a job I'm on, aye. But I'm not required to be actively involved in it today unless something goes wrong. Mostly my plans are to go back to bed when we hang up. Maybe try to dream you're curled up under there with me hard enough I believe it," he added with a smirk on his face and a sly, flirtatious note in his voice.

"Planes don't fly that fast, or I'd totally take you up on that," Laurie noted, placing her sandwich on a plate. "Although I do have a phone, and a room all to myself."

Eamon went silent, then had to clear his throat to ensure he could speak properly. He was now thoroughly distracted. "So you see my point about the short notice? Maybe you should give me options to pick from, aye? But I can't promise more'n about a week's notice at that." Yes, he was quite intentionally ignoring her comment about the room all to herself as best he could. Eamon was even singing Lalalalalala in his head to keep the images and thoughts at bay.

"Weeks notice should be more then enough," Laurie said, grinning widely. She was being mean, she knew, but a little flirting wouldn't hurt him too much. "Although that might depend on where in the world you are. Commercial flights can be weird."

"Aye and Eastern Europe's not always very convenient. One day I'll take a job in France or Spain. Just so I'm more easily accessible, aye?" Eamon laughed.

"I may just hold you to that," Laurie said, amused. "I should go, I've got to eat this and then get a bit more study in before I go to sleep. Dream well?"

"Aye, I'm sure I will. You, too, Doc." Eamon grinned into the phone. "Night, pet." Then he hung up. The day was officially looking pretty damn good and it had barely started yet.