Ridgefield Forensic Nerds
#51
Pauline was already kicking herself, she thought that if she touched it, it would be fine, that she could do her work but then she got stuck a bit. It was horrifying almost and now she wanted to scrub it from her mind forever. She knew Matthew was going to be cross with her after what she just said but he really couldn't be any worse than what was playing in her head right now.

"I can barely see, it's all fuzzy, " she told him. It was like when waking up and everything was blurry until you blinked but no matter how she blinked her eyes were fuzzy and would stick like that for a short bit.

She was trying to breathe, to stop the shaking, hell she barely noticed that she had been crying as she held onto his arm and turned to press her forehead against it. "I was stupid, " she told him, in hopes that her admittance would save her from a lecture as she held onto her friend. Pauline took slow shaking breaths, flinching some still as she tried to compartmentalize what she saw like she did with a crime scene.
#52
"You're okay," was his only response to her impaired vision claim. What else was there to say? She almost certainly wasn't okay after whatever she'd just experienced, but there wasn't much that Matthew could do about it, either. Except to speak calmly and hold her until she became a little more stable, until she could see. To offer her a little comfort, even if she did it to her-bloody-self. She couldn't have known it would happen. Matthew hadn't known either, even if he'd worried that it might. How would she know if she didn't try? And so she had, and now they were here. Propping her up like she was fractured glass and if he let her go now she'd shatter.

"You were stupid, aye," he said in typical Glaswegian passive aggression, but the squeeze he gave her was also typical of the unspoken sympathy, even empathy. "And I think you should be clever for a bit and take the rest of the day off." Not that he was kicking her out of the lab blind and shaken. But how could she stay and work after that? He wasn't sure he'd want to come in and sit among shards of bone and vials of dubious liquids right after having been killed. Whether it was someone else's memory or not.
#53
Pauline just closed her eyes and leaned her head against his arm, her breathing shaky as she would move and do the one thing she rarely did and that was to just wrap her arms around him if he allowed and just hugged him. Were's were fucking terrifying. She was never going to forget what she saw, no matter how much she drank or tried to forget it she wouldn't be able to but she also had no idea how to control such an ability that read the past on objects. Her heart went out to the man who died even more so but also to the strange man who tried to save him.

"We're all entitled to be stupid once a week...I just used mine up, " she told him, trying to joke as she took a shaky breath as she could have laughed. Go home and do what? Raid her liquor cabinet? Watch tv? Take a tranquilizer to knock her out? "Would you get grumpy if I asked you to come check on me later to make sure I'm not a mess? " she asked him. Normally she was very much a big girl and could take care of herself, hell she had for a long time and not really relied on her parents save for just clothes and food but the rest was her but even she knew when she needed to ask for some assistance in some things.
#54
Of course he let her hug him; he wasn't a complete monster. 'You can lean for a minute and cry all over me but hugging is where I draw the line' would be so card-carrying asshole evil that it would swing back round to comical. Gently, he reached to rub her back a little, as if he was trying to comfort a child who'd had a terrible nightmare. Maybe the situation wasn't so different. Except she had experienced death, just about firsthand, violently. At least nightmares were just made up in your head, could be explained away as illusions that didn't have to mean anything.

"Well obviously I was gonna come and check on you," he sighed, swaying the chair a little like he was rocking her to sleep. "After I'm done here. Give you a chance to go home, get comfortable. Do what you need to." He didn't really know what she needed to decompress. Would she need a psych visit for this? Would she need doctors, medicines? He really didn't know, and it made him feel terribly impotent.
#55
Pauline would wrap her arms around him, holding him as her face pressed against him. She just took the moment to breathe in her friend who was a solid force right now for her. Someone she knew she could lean on and someone she trusted with information she barely accepted about herself. He was calm and she needed it as her fingers bunched up his coat as a little tremor ran through her body, this sucked but least she hadn't been alone in the lab when it happened.

A little laugh left her at that, her eyes just closing as he rocked her some. It was an oddly soothing sensation and she would just lean into him and not move from it. "You have my address still? " she asked, trying to tease him a little. Pauline was not fighting him on going home, she wouldn't be able to focus, wouldn't be able to think straight or look at this evidence unbiasedly in the slightest right now. "I'll say one thing...I'm not heading to the Canyon now, " she told him point blank. Like, hell no if there was a gator living in those woods.
#56
"Oh, aye," he breathed, slowly twirling her in the chair now that she was feeling comfortable enough to mess around. But very, very slowly, and only once, rubbing her back again when she was facing him once more. "I keep all my colleagues' addresses in my dusty old Rolodex." Of course, he had never had a Rolodex. Pointless thing, really. Quite deserving that they went out of fashion pretty quickly.

"Wise," was all he could say in response to her decision not to go to the Canyon. At least, she definitely shouldn't go alone. And after what she'd just experienced, he wasn't really sure she should be going anywhere in the near future but home, and maybe work, and quite possibly to a therapist who dealt with psychics. "How are you feeling now? How's your vision?"
#57
His sarcasm made her laugh, a smile on her face some as she tried to relax against him but her fingers didn't ease up. He felt like a strong rock that she needed. "I need to get you a better cell phone, " she told him with a small laugh. Her heart was still pounding, her head full of the images she had borne witness to second hand. Pauline took a few long slow breaths, trying to show to him that she was attempting to find some form of calm.

Slowly, she pulled her head away, her eyes closed for a moment before she dared to open them. It took a few moments still, her vision blurry but it was clearing up more, "Better, It's not all blurred together anymore, " she told him a sigh in her voice when she said that. "Shit, " she swore as her hand that went to her face to feel the tears that had been rolling down her face, "I...I didn't even know I was crying, hell, " she said as she wiped her face, her hand still shaking.

"Will you...take a blood sample from me and label the source as unknown and send it to your friend? " she asked. He knew and she was here and going to be going home soon, she didn't see the harm in it especially when they had plenty to use to collect a sample.
#58
It would have been unkind, but not untrue, to say that Pauline looked awful. Not ugly, never ugly, but just like someone who'd done a lot of crying in a short space of time. She looked like someone who needed sent home, and it would be easy enough to make up an excuse. As the responsible person in the lab he didn't need to explain his reasoning to anyone else and he'd fight anyone who said otherwise. With his words, obviously, rather than his fists. With a couple of quick hops, he grabbed some of the softer paper towels and returned to Pauline, handing them to her to dab her face with. Then she was saying something about taking a dodgy sample. Something he could definitely physically do, but not something he was willing to do right this second, especially not without consulting his friend.

And besides, if there was ever going to be a dodgy use of lab equipment and resources, Matthew could sequence DNA. He might have to bluff a little at another lab to do so, but he could do it.

"Not right now," he said after a moment's hesitation. "Just now I want you to focus on rest. I'll come see you later. And if anything happens, anything at all, call my phone or call the lab. Alright?"
#59
At being handed the soft towels, she would try and dry her face and eyes. Some of her eye make-up; the only make up she wore, coming off and making her internally groan as she made sure that the black didn’t smear against her skin and make her look like a raccoon or that she was wearing war paint.

It didn’t overly surprise her when he said no, she hadn’t truly expected a whole yes from it but she would not. Pauline was too mentally drained to argue and it showed, "Alright and I will, you’re already on my speed dial, " she told him, a little smile on her face. She kept him there because if ever her judgment was compromised, she knew she could trust his for sure. She took a few more breathes, just trying to focus as she then went and undid her lab coat, "Don’t work too hard and forget to eat alright? " she told him, not even hiding her bit of concern for the man right now. She knew his tendencies and that he could get pulled deep into his work but she wanted to remind him to take care of himself as well. She would reach out and gently squeeze his arm, "I’ll see you in a few hours, yea? " she asked him, wondering if maybe she should order them pizza or something.
#60
Oh no, she wasn't just going to leave the lab on her own like that, not after that kind of incident. To be fair, he had made it seem like he was ordering her to do just that, having not yet offered any solutions to the problem of sending her travelling alone. "Wait, wait. Are you okay to travel? Should I take you home or will I call you a cab?"
#61
Pauline was going to drive herself but then she just gave a small smile and shake of her head, "I did drive to work and I think I can manage, I don't live far just twenty minutes. I can see again and when I get home I'll send you a text, " she could only be babied so much before she turned sarcastic and sassy with the man but she knew it was coming from a place of caring for her and trying to make sure that she would be ok.
#62
There was at least one trait they shared that threaded deeply through their very identities, and that was definitely their stubbornness. Pauline probably shouldn't be allowed to drive home, even if it was just a twenty-minute journey. Matthew normally wouldn't allow it. He was considering not allowing it now, giving her a darkly stern glare. But if he wanted her to rest and relax, he couldn't push her too hard, and he relented, backing away from her chair. "Call me the second you get home," he insisted. "Let me know you're safe. I'll keep things ticking over here and then come visit. Alright?"
#63
The stirn glare was met with her own rather firm stare down of him, nothing harsh but she didn't want to be a burden to anyone, and getting a ride home felt like it would be a burden to others and she didn't want to be that. She was raised to be independent so leaning on others was still a weird thing for her to even fathom doing. When he relented, she gave a small smile and nodded, pulling her oat off the rest of the way and taking her phone and tucking it in her pocket.

"The moment I step into my house I will call you, I'll leave my door unlocked for you to come on in, " she told him with a little smile as she went and gave him another hug. Not like she lived in a bad area but she also kept a gun at her place so she really was not afraid of intruders.
#64
More hugs. This place was turning into a weird love den. Not a thought he wanted to even jokingly vocalise. It wasn't really the time to be dismissive of affections. He simply gave her a firm squeeze and pushed her gently towards the door. "Go, go. I'll see you later. Get some rest, sleep if it helps."
#65
Pauline gave a smile and nodded, "Alright alright, i'm going. I'll order us pizza and maybe introduce you to a good show instead of the weird ones you watch, " she told him, teasing him a little bit as she reached to grab her mug and give a small wave to him.

She would get her belongings and silently make her way out and avoid anyone so that she could get to her car and drive home. She blared music to keep her awake and going so that she could make the short drive to her place.

Once she was home, she'd park and get out with her things and grabbing her mail before heading inside and pulling out her cellphone after about thirty minutes of having left their office;
I'm home, ordering pizza for us what kind do you want?
Pauline
Yep, she was being a little pushy but he saw her crying and in a bad state, it was a bit embarrassing on her end so she could at least feed the man while she got into comfortable pj's.
#66
Once Pauline had left, Matthew continued examining the evidence from the cold case, working with it as best he could, though he found it hard to focus when he was so worried about the younger analyst. Was there anything he could really do? He was sceptical that sitting around with her watching trash TV was really going to do more than mask the problem, hide it away as if not talking about it would make things better. After about fifteen minutes, he gave up and bundled everything away again. He should check on things they had going for current cases. He should process new samples. He should look into psychologists or therapists who dealt with the supernatural, who could help Pauline process what she'd seen.

As he was doing his rounds in the lab, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and immediately extracted it, scrabbling to unlock it. It was almost certainly Pauline.

And it was about pizza. He didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed.

I don't know. What are you in the mood for?
Matthew
#67
As long as there is no fruit on it, I'll be happy,
Pauline
She sent him as she went to her room and changed into a pair of leggings and a tank top. Pauline went to her kitchen and pulled out a bottle of wine and filled a glass, stopping to just lean against the counter as she drank from it. She could still see the attack clearly in her head, what had happened and the man who tried to save him. She wanted to know who that man was, maybe she should reach out to a detective but that was too risky to do.

With a groaning sigh, she drank the wine while pulling up pizza places to find what they had for her and Matthew. She wanted to make sure he ate and just spending some time with him was always welcome in her book.
#68
oh well definitely lots of pineapple
Matthew

He couldn't resist poking her a little bit, even now, but admittedly it was really to try to distract himself from what was happening, to stop himself from dwelling on shit he couldn't control. In his lab, there was a lot he could control, and he was doing his best to deal with that right now. To ready things for later, to complete things for current cases, to run everything as normal. What else could he do? He couldn't shut the whole lab down over this. Could he?

No, that would be ridiculous. He could worry himself sick later. He could check on Pauline appropriately later.
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