Xavier stared at the young woman, who couldn't be more than eighteen, walking towards him on the tarmac. One woman and man followed in her wake, carrying all the luggage, while all she carried was a backpack. She couldn't be who they were expecting, but, for some reason, the description he was given fit her to a T—bright red hair peeked out of her parka.

When she stopped in front of him, his heart did a triple thump as her vibrant green eyes locked with his. There was something otherworldly about them, and he found himself at a loss for words. He couldn't see much else, but it was enough.

"You must be Xavier. Hi, I'm Doctor Hannah Fraser," she said, shoving her gloved hand at him. "And these are my assistants Cheryl Blakely and Flynn Peters."

He stared at it mindless a moment before he cleared his throat, trying to get his mind back on track. The last thing he could afford was getting distracted. Being the head of security it was his duty to keep everyone safe, and get the doctor inside before they froze to death. It was 30 degrees below zero. Far too cold to stand out there and do idle chitchat.

"It's nice to meet you." After shaking her hand, he gestured towards the door a hundred feet behind him. "Right this way." Xavier shivered as a chill blew underneath his hood, ruffling his dark brown hair. It was one of those colors somewhere in between black and brown that could be one or the other. It gave him a hell of a time filling out security applications or driver's licenses.

Punching in the security code at the door and opening the door, he allowed them to enter first. Once the door was closed, he turned to face the newcomers. They were now in a small foyer, not any larger than a small bedroom. There was a desk on one side with a computer. Xavier pulled off his jacket and hung it on a hook in the corner before sitting down.

"I'll need to see your identification." He sat there patiently while they dug in their bags.

Hannah placed her bag on the edge of the table and pulled out a make-up bag, a small bag of medicine, two books-romance by the looks of it, and a bra. He glanced up at her and noted her cheeks turned a pretty hue of pink, making him grin. He couldn't help but wonder if she was wearing a bra under all her clothes.

She chuckled nervously and continued digging through her bag's contents. "I know it's in here somewhere."

In the meantime, her companions handed him their id's. They had flown up from Vancouver, British Columbia. She was well-known in her pathology field, which in a way surprised him. By appearance, he wouldn't have pegged her for a doctor. She was someone who could have had her face splashed on a magazine, or even snagged a rich sucker to pay her way.

A shiver rippled through him and he pushed the thought out of his mind. He wasn't going to go there. He'd transferred up here to get away from the memory of Catherine. Away from her bleeding him dry and ruining his life. What was Hannah trying to escape from?

"Ah ha! Found it. I must have put it in my suitcase when I was trying to find my notes." She handed him her license and he couldn't help but take a peek at her date of birth. He looked between her and the ID. There was no way she was twenty-eight. "I know. I know. I look sixteen, right?"

"I was going to say eighteen, but ya."

After checking everything over, he leaned over and pulled out their access cards from the bottom drawer. With a few clicks on the keyboard, their cards were activated. "Your cards will give you access into your rooms, as well as any medical and research rooms within the facility."

"Funny to have such high security in the middle of nowhere," Flynn, one of Hannah's assistants, commented.

"You can never be too careful, even out here. We have at least two hundred people in this facility and sensitive information." That included his twelve man security team who covered all six floors. Not much has happened since he joined, so it was a nice quiet job.

"Speaking of which, has the specimen arrived?" Hannah asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"One second." Xavier picked up his radio and contacted one of his teammates to man the desk while he showed the newcomers around, and then responded to her question. "It should arrive later today."

"Were you apprised of its condition?"

"They don't tell and I don't ask."

She tilted her sweet head to the side and studied him. "You aren't the least bit curious?"

Truth be told, when he first started here, he wanted to know everything. But they had enough on their plate without knowing every little thing, and the director didn't like them prying into the research.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not paid to inquire." The less he knew the better because then he wouldn't get accused of taking something if it disappeared or was misplaced. If it posed a threat that would be a different story, but a fossil frozen in ice was the least of his worries. They had the proper isolation rooms on the research floor to separate it from the rest of the population of Finley's Research Station.

"I don't think I could do that," she said. "I like to know every detail."

"Makes sense. You wouldn't be a doctor if you didn't like to know what makes things tick."

As they were talking, one of his men walked in, dressed in their usual attire- white shirts with a security logo on the front and Finley's Research Security on the arm patches, along with black pants and polished black shoes.

"Man the desk, please. I'm going to show Dr Fraser and her associates around the station."

"Sure thing," his buddy replied, taking up a position behind him.

Xavier nodded towards him, then turned his attention back to the newcomers. "We'll put your luggage in your room before we do the grand tour."

"Can we have 30 minutes to freshen up? It's been a long flight," Cheryl asked, her wavy hair standing on end from static after pulling off her toque. He fought to suppress a grin. It looked like she stuck her finger in a light socket.

He looked at his watch. "We might just have to wait until after dinner for the tour then because Director Adams wants to see you in the conference room in an hour."

Pushing the chair back from his desk, he stood up and moved over to the sliding door. He pulled his access card from his pocket and held it in front of the scanner before punching in the code. The sliding doors opened and they walked into a hallway. To his left was a set of stairs that led down to the lower floors.

"You have two options. We can take the stairs or the elevator. Your pick." He pointed down the long hallway to the elevator.

They had a pile of gear, so they opted for the elevator, even if it took them farther away from their room. As they walked down the hall, a square black case that Cheryl had stacked in her arms started to slip off.

"Oh no!" she cried as it tumbled towards the ground. Xavier snatched it out of the air, pulling it safely into his arms. Cheryl let out a visible sigh of relief. "Thank you so much."

Instead of piling it back on top, he opted to carry it. By the look on Hannah's face, the girl would have been up the creek without a paddle if whatever was inside broke. She held herself together though and didn't say a word.

It didn't take long for them to head down to the second floor. They walked halfway down the corridor and turned to the left, then a short bit later turned to the right. "Geez, this isn't confusing at all," Hannah said with a wry grin.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it. We're essentially a great big square and if you get lost, there are security phones along the outer hallways-one in each corner."

Xavier stopped in front of a room. "Dr. Fraser and Mrs. Blakely, this is your room. Flynn will be sharing a room next door with one of our resident engineers, Levi White."

"Please, it's just Miss Blakely. I'm not married," she made a point of saying, as she fluttered her eyelashes at him..

Xavier smiled. "Duly noted." Cheryl was a cute little thing, but she wasn't his type. Besides, he had no interest in pursuing a relationship while stationed out here. They may be in the middle of nowhere and fun activities were slim to none, but he was here to do a job and that's it. Anything else complicated things more than they needed to be right now.

Hannah swiped her card on the reader and stepped inside the room after the doors slid open, placing her gear on the table before turning to him. "If I need to speak to you specifically, where will I be able to find you?"

"Our main office is on the main floor where we came in, to the right of the elevator. I'm there from 0800 to 1600."

"Good to know."

"Well, I'll leave you to it."

Hannah nodded her head and then turned to Cheryl. "Did you want the washroom first or me?"

Special visitors to the island were given the best suites, which had a full bathroom, as opposed to the normal crew which only had a sink and toilet inside theirs. Only the director and assistant director had the same. Xavier didn't really mind. It's not like he had any entertaining plans.

Stepping out of the room, he allowed the doors to close behind him. Just as he was about to head back to the front his radio squawked. "Alpha-1 to Delta 1, the elevator has malfunctioned. The director is inside. Repair crew has been dispatched."

"10-4, I'm on my way there now."