Amelie's leg had been shaking under the table for the past twenty minutes as she waited for the minute hand on the clock at the front of the lab to move to 12. Time had been stretching for the past hour to make it feel like she had been glued to her chair for a week.

She turned to glance once again at the clock behind her. Still 11:47. Damn. She could have sworn a minute had passed already.

There was no work she could do to distract herself for the thirteen minutes that remained before she could go on her lunch break. Thirteen minutes before she could run to the hidden gym to practice magic for the first time since she had successfully produced something for the first time.

If she started any work she would no way wrap it up enough to leave in exactly thirteen minutes. She glanced at the clock. Twelve minutes. And, it was likely she could get away with walking out of the building at exactly noon, not leaving her desk at noon so that gave her an extra two whole minutes. Ten minutes left.

Amelie put her head in her hand and stared at her computer screen, passively, waiting. There was a light knock on the door and she jolted upright in her chair and quickly pulled up her email on her computer.

She looked up into the perpetually irritated face of Cathy.

"Hey Cathy. How's your day going?" Amelie asked politely.

Cathy huffed and said, "It's been a long day already. We hardly got anything done yesterday with you gone so I've spent the morning catching up."

"Oh yeah, I'm really sorry. It was just the end of a really bad cold and I was worried I might sneeze and contaminate some of the samples or lab equipment," Amelie said.

"Ah yes, I understand. I appreciate that you emailed me, although in the future try to take better care of yourself so you're not out during critical work time again. I'm glad you spent most of the weekend sick so that you didn't miss more work days," Cathy said.

Amelie pushed her lips together into a thin smile and nodded. In her head she was contemplating ways that Cathy could fall down the steps and 'miss critical work time' herself.

"Anyway," Cathy droned, "I came in here to ask if you could take only a fifteen minute lunch break today so that you can make up some of the work from yesterday. There is quite a lot to do."

Amelie sucked in a sharp breath. "Sure thing," she said, and turned back to her computer screen. Sure that if she spent any more time speaking to her boss Amelie was in danger of lashing out at her.

"Thank you. Also, if you could stay an extra two hours tonight to run a PCR I'll have ready around five that would be great." Amelie bit down on her tongue to release some of her anger.

"Actually, I have plans tonight. Can you ask Jesse to stay late today?" she replied as sweetly as she could, working to keep the disappointment off her face.

"Do you have a date or a sorority pep rally to attend? No. Jesse said he can't tonight. Don't give me that face. This is a big-girl job honey. You can work late a few nights."

Cathy walked out without another word and Amelie's face dropped onto her desk with a groan of defeat. No magic today. If she didn't get to practice tomorrow that would be a full week since she had last used magic.

After her lunch "break" she texted Adrien that she couldn't make it to the gym that night. A few hours later she received a response.

Adrien: :( Ok, I'll miss you. How are you feeling, btw?

I'll miss you. Warm bubbles moved up her stomach. Maybe she could see him after she finished work. She was nervous to ask, but it was worth trying.

Amelie: Hmmm I'll miss you too...Do you want to grab some dinner together when I finish work? Then no missing to be had.

She sent it and the groaned at her bad attempt to be funny. His reply was instantaneous.

Adrien: Definitely. What time can I meet you?

Amelie: 7:15 sound good?

Adrien: Yeah, see you then :)

She smiled to herself. How could she make five hours pass quickly when she could barely get through thirteen minutes earlier?

She went down to the lobby of her lab's building at 7:10, finally done with work. It was September and still quite warm out, so she sat on a bench outside of the building enjoying the feel of the whispering breeze and the golden glow the setting sun gave the world at this time. She lifted her face up towards the sky and closed her eyes, to try to live in the peaceful moment.

"Hey," Adrien's voice interrupted her thoughts

She turned towards the voice, her eyes squinting in the sunlight that radiated from behind him.

"Hey you," she said.

He sat down next to her. "How was work?" he asked.

"Oh you know, the same as always. I'm getting used to it," she replied. "You ready to go?" she asked as she took his hand and stood up.

Adrien nodded in reply. They walked to a nearby restaurant and sat down in a booth. It was easy to keep up relaxed conversation for the duration of dinner, but never once did Amelie get up the courage to ask him what he wanted them to be.

The last time they had talked his personal life he had quickly deflected so she was cautious when she asked, "What's your family like?" as they walked out of the restaurant.

He was silent for a minute then quietly said, "My father was a great man. Incredibly strong. Everyone knew it too. He was the head Rentré in Moore before he died. He and my mom met pretty young for Elves, when he was back in Moore working at the school for a while. They married when they were fifty, still pretty young for Elven folk to marry, but in Moore we tend to marry younger anyway.

"They tried to have kids for one hundred and fifty years and were unable to. They thought they would never have children and had given up on the idea when my mother found out she was pregnant. She was almost two hundred. That's not too old for Elves, but just on the older side for having children.

"I was their only child. Mom is amazing. Kind and caring, if not a little eccentric. She likes to spend money on nice things. And since Dad was so successful we always had a lot of money.

"Dad wanted me to be like him. He told my mother that I was going to go to the Rentré school. It broke her heart because as you know, Rentrés in Moore don't get to live with their families. It's an honor to be chosen, and because he was so powerful, there was no question I would be chosen. Usually families get the final say in whether their children go though."

Amelie grabbed his hand and started making comforting circles with her fingers.

"I only know them from a distance. I lived with them until I was six and have good memories of them from that but Dad wasn't around a lot but Mom and I spent the first six years of my life attached at the hip. Whenever I was home after that Mom usually faded into the background. She did not say much to me when Dad was there because Dad loves to talk so much.

"I missed them a lot when I was at school. But I also did not find school very challenging and was rewarded every time I got home with good marks. My father was very proud of me and I loved that.

"When he died I felt like something inside of me had shattered. It was horrible. But Mom seemed okay.

"I have only been home twice since he died five years ago. Once to say goodbye and once to visit my mother. She seemed fine...

"It makes me wonder if they ever loved each other and that hurts to think about. I grew up thinking they were the pinnacle of what I wanted to become when I got married and knowing that she was just okay after he was gone so suddenly is...just...it makes me so angry. She should be hurting. I know he would be hurting if she were the one to die so young.

"I do love her though. I've just been taking some time to deal with my feelings about my dad. I think she has too. Things have just been weird since he died, is all," he sighed.

They stopped walking, they had reached her building. Amelie was still holding Adrien's hand and started rummaging around in her purse for her keys to buy them time. When she found them she let the hand holding them fall to her side and stared up at him.

"No one feels right after the death of a loved one, I think. If you hurt too much you worry you were dependent. If you don't care enough, you try to search within yourself to find feelings, otherwise, you're heartless and apathetic to life." She gave his hand a little squeeze.

"There is no right way to grieve. I bet your mom is as broken up as you are about it, even if you can't see it," Amelie said. She told him how the pain of her own mother's death was not something she felt in a crushing wave of grief. "It doesn't mean I didn't hurt from her death or not miss her."

The tight expression on his face seemed to melt and he pulled her hand. She followed the pull and landed with their chests pressed up against each other. Adrien let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

Kiss me, she thought. Pull away and kiss me already.

They pulled away from each other and Amelie focused on making sure she seemed reluctant to let go. His hands lingered on her back and he looked down at her, a question in his eyes. She leaned up slightly to his face and that was all the invitation he needed before his lips came crashing into hers.