Butter Pecan #10, Watermelon #2
Author: winebabe
Title: Idle Minds
Story: LNOVERKILL
Rating: PG-13
Flavor(s): Butter Pecan #10: spicy; Watermelon #2: it’s all coming back to me
Word Count: 1506
Summary: Howard turns 62; the lab trio has a “party.” Meanwhile, Reilly tries not to remember the events of the past autumn, and Madelyn can’t allow herself to forget.
Notes: Reilly Desmarais, Howard Reese, Madelyn Gauthier. Set post-canon storyverse. (Don't fault me if I missed any typos.)
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“What if I don’t like burritos?” Reilly asked, only somewhat joking. Madelyn swatted his arm with the back of her hand and he glanced over at her. “Don’t tell me you eat burritos, Miss vanilla-cake-for-lunch.”
“I’ve never had one,” Madelyn announced, then frowned as both Reilly and Howard reacted in mild surprise. “What? Don’t look at me like that.”
“You’re 23 years old and you’ve never had a burrito,” Reilly stated, eyebrows raised.
“Because she’s been too busy eating cake for lunch,” Howard laughed, and then pulled Madelyn into a gentle side-hug as they made their way across the parking lot, towards the small Mexican restaurant he’d insisted on going to for his birthday lunch. “I’m only teasing, dear,” he told her, and Madelyn huffed.
“I would protest,” she said, “but I know it wouldn’t do any good. At least I actually eat, though, unlike some of us.” Madelyn shot a look over at Reilly, who only sighed and raised his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose.
“I don’t have time to eat,” he replied. “Science waits for no man.”
“Science can wait for one sandwich,” Madelyn insisted.
“Science is going to have to wait today, my friends,” Howard announced, beaming, as they approached the restaurant. “I plan on enjoying this birthday lunch for as long as possible.”
“No margaritas,” Madelyn told him, wagging a finger. “You drove us here.”
“And I suppose you’re going to abstain as well? Considering how inappropriate it would be to go to work intoxicated.”
Madelyn pouted. “You aren’t very fun, old man.”
“Old man?” Howard chuckled as he held the door open for Madelyn and Reilly. “I may be 62, but I feel like I’m still a young man,” he insisted, following them inside.
“So you weren’t just complaining about all your back problems and praising the local coffee shop’s senior discount policy earlier? That wasn’t you?” Reilly raised an eyebrow, turning back to meet Howard’s gaze for a moment.
“Must’ve been someone else,” Howard replied and shrugged.
Madelyn had gone ahead and approached the hostess, and she shot an irritated look back at both men as the hostess gathered up three menus and began leading the way towards their table. They slid into a booth in the middle of the restaurant, Reilly alone on one side of the table, and Madelyn and Howard sitting together on the other side.
Reilly picked up a menu and began glancing it over. “I don’t have to get a burrito, do I?” he asked. “I didn’t know you meant we were going to an actual sit-down restaurant.”
“You thought I’d want to go to some burrito shack for my birthday lunch,” Howard said, then laughed.
“I did,” Reilly confirmed. “The word ‘burrito’ doesn’t exactly conjure up the image of a fine dining establishment.”
Their waitress arrived at that moment, took their drink orders, and then disappeared again. They all fell silent as they flipped through their plastic menus, with Reilly scrutinizing every dish fully before moving onto the next one. Madelyn’s gaze lingered on the drinks section, and Howard nudged her with an elbow when he noticed, grinning and shaking his head when she looked over at him. “It’s my birthday,” he told her, “and I won’t tell if you won’t.”
When their waitress returned, Madelyn ordered a mango margarita and pushed her glass of strawberry lemonade to the edge of the table.
“So, Reilly,” Howard began, taking a moment to sip the beer he’d ordered, “you haven’t told us how your new job is going.”
Reilly cleared his throat and pulled his glasses from his face. “Right, I haven’t.” He used the material of his white dress shirt to clean a smudge from one of the lenses, taking careful time with the task while Madelyn swirled the straw around in her lemonade.
By then, it was no longer a secret what Reilly had been involved in back at the lab. The CIA funding was, to no one’s surprise, pulled around the same time the cover-up was broadcast and he had to leave the lab in disgrace. Despite his efforts to keep her in the dark, Madelyn eventually found out, and it was a few months before she finally stopped giving him the cold shoulder when he came in to visit Howard. It was a miracle, really, that nothing worse had happened given the fact that Reilly had sold out powerful men in a powerful branch of the government. But going from being the CIA’s golden child to being just another normal pharmacologist was a horrific fall.
“It’s fine,” Reilly said, and slipped his glasses back onto his face. Howard was engrossed in looking over the menu once more, merely humming his acknowledgment after Reilly spoke, but Madelyn’s eyes met his across the table and were so sympathetic he had to look away. “It, uh, isn’t as fast paced. I oversee experiments now, and work with several other people.”
“You’re not much of a people-person,” Madelyn pointed out, turning to beam at the waitress as the margarita was set down in front of her.
“No,” Reilly agreed.
“Well, it pays well, doesn’t it?” Howard asked, finally lifting his gaze from the menu. “I think we’re ready to order,” he told the waitress, and very predictably ordered himself a burrito.
Madelyn ended up ordering a salad that probably wasn’t any healthier than if she’d gotten tacos with extra lettuce, and Reilly, stomach already churning, ordered steak fajitas and hoped for the best. “It pays decently, yes,” he finally answered, once the waitress had gathered up their menus and headed back down the aisle.
“You should visit more,” said Howard, absently, as he glanced down at his cell phone.
“I agree.” Madelyn offered Reilly a thin smile, and ducked her head down to sip the margarita through her straw.
Reilly shook his head. “I don’t have time.” Madelyn was watching him through her lashes, and he sighed. “The commute is longer. Traffic, and--” Reilly waved one hand dismissively, and fell silent.
“I’ll be right back,” Howard announced and held up his cell phone, which was buzzing in his hand. “It’s the wife.” He slid out of the booth and then grabbed his beer glass, carrying it along with him as he headed outside.
“You’re miserable,” Madelyn accused the moment Howard was out of earshot.
“Madelyn.” Reilly sighed and pushed his glasses up so that he could cover his eyes with one hand.
“Howard is oblivious, but I’m not.” She reached across the table and rested her hand on Reilly’s arm. “You don’t have to stay there, you know.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he asked her, moving his hand to rest against his forehead. “Do you know how hard it was for me to get this job? I may not have been publicly outed, Madelyn, but everyone knows. It wasn’t very hard to put two and two together.”
“Is it really that bad?” Madelyn asked quietly, pulling her hand back to curl it around the base of her margarita glass instead.
“At best, they think I’m a mad scientist with no regard for human life. At worst, I’m a murderer.” Reilly massaged the bridge of his nose for a few seconds before finally bringing his glasses back down.
Madelyn dragged her teeth across her bottom lip and nodded.
“I don’t have any other choice,” Reilly muttered, lowering his voice just as Howard returned, followed by the waitress.
“You can’t be bringing your glass outside, sir,” she was saying, unable to fully mask her irritation.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Howard said, and then dramatically rolled his eyes at Madelyn and Reilly as he sat back down at the table. The waitress walked off with a loud sigh, and Howard fixed his friends with a grin. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing important,” Reilly replied.
“I was just thinking,” Madelyn said, “that maybe we should do this more often.”
“What?” Reilly asked, at the same time that Howard enthusiastically replied, “Of course!”
Both Madelyn and Howard turned to Reilly. “What do you mean, what?” Madelyn asked. “We should go out for drinks, or dinner, or something. Since we don’t get to see you much anymore.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Howard agreed.
After their food finally came and everyone finished eating, Reilly caught Madelyn by the arm just as they were about to exit the restaurant. They stood in the small space just beside the doors leading to the parking lot, and as Howard made his way towards his car, Reilly hissed, “Stop trying to push this.”
“Push what?” Madelyn asked, frowning.
“I’m trying very hard to forget about what happened last autumn, and spending more time with you and Howard is not going to help.”
“Reilly Desmarais,” Madelyn said, and fixed him with a stern look, “how could you ever expect to forget what happened last autumn?” She shook her arm free of his grasp and pushed through the doors, the early spring wind whipping her hair as she stormed over to Howard’s car.