Harriet's office, the wee hours of Friday onwards

[idontlooktired]

Quietly, calmly, Harriet made tea and used it to down two analgesics. As they took effect, she sat down at her desk, looking at the paperwork stacked neatly on it. Some of it was clawed, and she touched the class lists with one finger

Comments

[stupid_toasters]

After having received a phone call from the Dean, Lee trudged down to her office, just wondering what he'd done now.

He knocked on the door and peered in.

"Dean?"

[idontlooktired]

Harriet looked up. "Just Harriet will be fine. I'm sorry to bring you down here on the last day of your vacation." She pointed to a chair in front of her desk. "Please, take a seat."

[stupid_toasters]

"Uh, I think I'll stick with Dean," he said but took the requested seat. "It's all right, I wasn't doing much of anything."

[idontlooktired]

"In that case, it would be Vice Principal, though neither will be accurate after today," she said, then shook her head. "Dean is fine. I asked you to come and see me because I know you were close to Sarah Kerrigan."

[stupid_toasters]

"Not really," he said, remembering that last conversation. "Apparently not."

[idontlooktired]

Her expression sharpened. "Could you explain why you think so?"

[stupid_toasters]

"Because I apparently disappoint her," he said moodily. "She said so. It was a nice touching moment."

[idontlooktired]

"Was this yesterday?" she asked quietly, feeling a pang of sympathy for him, which she in no way let show.

[stupid_toasters]

"Did you listen to the radio?" Lee asked glumly.

[idontlooktired]

"No. I spoke with her myself." She steepled her hands, pressing her fingertips together. "She was not herself yesterday. Whatever she said to you was not how she actually felt." She didn't know how much to tell him. "Try and forget what she said, and remember what came before it."

[stupid_toasters]

"She wasn't herself?" Lee frowned. "She looked fine to me."

[idontlooktired]

Harriet studied him, weighing it up. She had no desire to make his life any harder, but he had a right to know. "Before she returned to Fandom, she was with a race called the Zerg. They made her what she was when she came back. Yesterday, they called her home. Her mind was filled with them, and what they wanted. It was that part of her that was talking to you." She paused, then added, "That was talking to both of us. Not the Sarah Kerrigan that we knew from before."

[stupid_toasters]

Lee blinked slowly. "Was she...ever really talking to me after she came back?"

[idontlooktired]

"Yes." It was said firmly, with absolutely no possibility of doubt. "Before yesterday, it was still her."

[stupid_toasters]

"Is she...totally gone?" Lee asked.

[idontlooktired]

She wouldn't lie to him. "She is. I'm sorry, Lee."