Voicemail

[weldedtomyspine]

"Oh, hey! I was hoping you'd call. What's up?" There was a brief pause, a wait for an answer. "Oh, sweet. Yeah, I'm doing pretty good, too. Or... at least I was when I recorded this message. Because, yep, this is my voicemail. But leave me one and I'll call you back!"

[This should have gone up a while ago... oops?]

Comments

[heromaniac]

As soon as Jaime's voicemail message began, Momoko hung up. The call connected, so he was still there. That... That was enough, really; she didn't need to leave a message. What could she say anyway? And what could he do, so far away?

In so many more ways than just distance.

[heromaniac]

"Sorry. I need to go back to the dorm and sleep for a while." Momoko took another swipe at her eyes. And to stop crying.

"Hey. Uhm. if this isn't affecting your world, would it be any good to send you my notes and stuff? Professor Utonium can't find anything and last I heard Miss Barbara couldn't either, but both of them are affected by this..."

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime scowled, but tried to keep it out of his voice. "Sure. Copies, at leas,t, couldn't hurt. I'm trying to figure out what I can from this end, after all."

Which... wasn't much so far.

[heromaniac]

Momoko nodded. "I've sent copies to Karla for the Reserves, too. It's not much, just dates and thoughts and lists of what's missing. Who. I've got some data from Dinah, some from Tim, others. None of it makes sense to me."

But maybe someone smarter could find something?

[weldedtomyspine]

"I've got some people here looking into things, too." And they'd saved a universe or two in their time, so he was hoping they could find something.

[heromaniac]

"Thanks, Jaime. I'll send the files as soon as I get back to the Lab. I think..." She looked out over what was left of the view. How many more people were lost? How many more places no longer existed? "I think I'm going to take the rest of the day off and sleep."

She'd already skipped a day and a half of classes and she wasn't going into work tonight. "I don't want to, but... Ah. There's so much to do, but I just can't think straight today."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Get some rest," Jaime agreed, his concern evident in his tone. "You sound..." Awful. "Really tired."

[heromaniac]

"I've been too busy to sleep." She wasn't apologizing, just explaining. "But I'm at my limit, I think."

Momoko closed her eyes and leaned into the phone. Into the warmth she could hear in his voice. "Be careful, okay? And I promise to leave a message next time I call."

[weldedtomyspine]

"You push yourself too hard sometimes," Jaime said. His voice was soft, more a comment to himself than something he meant Momoko to hear.

"You, too. Extra careful. And... check in? When you can?" He worried. More right now than he usually did.

[heromaniac]

"I'm needed; it's what I do." She lived to help people, no matter who it was, where, or from what.

"But I'll totally be careful. And check in." She tried a smile. "Thanks for calling back, Jaime. Bye."

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime sighed softly. "I know."

He tried to smile himself.

"Bye."

After the line disconnected, he added one last thing. "I love you."