![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Fred took the stairs from the emergency exit just near her office, enjoying the way her footsteps echoed. There wasn't any particular system to them, more an easy 1, 4-3, 2-1, 7 and then stop ---
Gait that was meant to match her thoughts and not the other way around. Fred was thinking right now. She trusted her feet to eventually catch up. They'd never let her down yet, not even here. And Faith was more than just a Slayer. A lot more actually. And ever Fred was surprised at how much of it she still had at times. Especially in herself.
She figured that there was all sorts of machinery humming underneath the simple cinder block walls that made up the stair well. Her lab probably made a good bit of it. Defenses and weapons and the stuff to catch the unawares. Fred glanced up at a nearby corner. Were there cameras tucked there? Did they think she was one of them? The unawares?
She wasn't.
She hadn't been for a long, long time. And that was -- good. Ok even. She'd found it, her stride. The point were thoughts and steps caught up. And where she stopping looking back, and liking the girl she was better. Now was finally winning out.
But even that wasn't why she was smiling.
She had a very important paper, with very important data for a very important person.
To a point. The main reason being it was time she faced her again.
And pushing open the door to the floor with the executive offices, Fred was somehow not surprised that she wasn't going to be hard to find. Had anyone told her that was annoying yet?
"Eve," she pronounced brightly, all stride and smiles and a No. 2 pencil tucked up in her hair.
"Remember that chat we had, about my budget?"
The paper was delivered neatly into the other woman's hands, a lone fold cutting the information in half.
"I was just coming to tell you how much better I did this time round. I didn't miss it by near that."
Less stride, all smile now. Feet planted firmly on the ground.
"I missed it by twice as much."
Gait that was meant to match her thoughts and not the other way around. Fred was thinking right now. She trusted her feet to eventually catch up. They'd never let her down yet, not even here. And Faith was more than just a Slayer. A lot more actually. And ever Fred was surprised at how much of it she still had at times. Especially in herself.
She figured that there was all sorts of machinery humming underneath the simple cinder block walls that made up the stair well. Her lab probably made a good bit of it. Defenses and weapons and the stuff to catch the unawares. Fred glanced up at a nearby corner. Were there cameras tucked there? Did they think she was one of them? The unawares?
She wasn't.
She hadn't been for a long, long time. And that was -- good. Ok even. She'd found it, her stride. The point were thoughts and steps caught up. And where she stopping looking back, and liking the girl she was better. Now was finally winning out.
But even that wasn't why she was smiling.
She had a very important paper, with very important data for a very important person.
To a point. The main reason being it was time she faced her again.
And pushing open the door to the floor with the executive offices, Fred was somehow not surprised that she wasn't going to be hard to find. Had anyone told her that was annoying yet?
"Eve," she pronounced brightly, all stride and smiles and a No. 2 pencil tucked up in her hair.
"Remember that chat we had, about my budget?"
The paper was delivered neatly into the other woman's hands, a lone fold cutting the information in half.
"I was just coming to tell you how much better I did this time round. I didn't miss it by near that."
Less stride, all smile now. Feet planted firmly on the ground.
"I missed it by twice as much."
