The Hot Canary (A Brian Quinn Fanfic)

Part 16: ....Then There's Sour...

 The moment when the ticket clerk at The Bronx Zoo gave Nova the okay to head in, Nova's feet carried her into the beautiful front courtyard, powered by her sense of wonder. She didn't even realize that she had left Brian stuck at the front ticket counter, digging through his jean pockets, trying to find his ticket so he could join her. 

Nova slowly spun around, breathless by all the nature around her. It had been so long since she had seen this much of it, living in the city as long as she had been. It made her realize how much she missed it. Just the smell of the fresh air without typical city pollutants was enough to make her miss her home town to where an escape from the rural boundaries was no longer than a quick drive away. Never she thought she would see the day where she would find such an appreciation for such small blessings. 

Right away she took took her lens cap off her camera and crouched down to zoom in on an exotic flower that she had never seen before. She didn't even notice when Brian came to her side. 

"Oh there you are...For a minute there I thought you were ditching me...For a flower?" Q stated, looking down at her in question. Nova snapped off a few more pictures and straightened up with a smile.

"It is not just any flower, it is a Blue Orchid. One of the rarest Orchid's in the world! According to the description it says that it is rare to find a real blue orchid. All the blue orchids you see in stores are usually dyed and not authentic. Even though Orchids are considered to be very adaptable, these ones require full sunlight and the richest of soil's to stay healthy and survive."

"Hmm...Interesting. I'll be sure to let the next Blue Orchid I see in a store know that he is not fooling anyone" Brian replied with a joke, not having anything else to contribute to her lesson. Nova giggled and rolled her eyes. "It says that back in the Victorian days that to be given an Orchid as a gift was one of the highest forms of showing respect, they symbolize great beauty, decadence, and strength." Nova added simply. 

"Really? I always thought that flowers were just to say "I'm sorry, I fucked up, here's a house plant, please don't be mad at me" when you are in a pickle with someone." Q teased. "Oh Q!" Nova replied, rolling her eyes again and giving his arm a playful smack. Even though she was falling for him, he could be quite obtuse at times. 

Brian smirked at her and said "Come on, lets go find some animals."

They walked over to a billboard that had some park maps stacked neatly in front of it and Q picked one up. Together they scouted out which habitat they wanted to visit first.

 "OOO! Let's go visit the primates first!" Nova said excitedly. Even though turtles were in fact her favorite animal, Nova loved taking pictures of monkeys and apes. They always portrayed the most beautiful emotions and showed far more personality than most other animals. 

"Okay, as long as I don't get pegged with monkey turds, I am okay with that" Q joked again. Together, hand in hand, they walked in the direction of where the primates section was.

 It was a beautiful day to be out at the zoo with Q and Nova was quite enjoying herself. He kept narrating what he presumed the monkeys were thinking and Nova could not stop laughing. He was so funny, it was as if Nova couldn't wait to hear what he would say next.

 Q left his hat and sunglasses on the whole time to avoid being recognized but every now and then someone would still come up to him and compliment him on how much they loved the show. 

Q would feel a mild annoyance when this happened because he just wanted to spend time with Nova and see the world through her eyes. Every time she would become fixated on either a plant or an animal, he would become fixated on her, mostly in intrigement. She would show interest and get very excited over things that he honestly wouldn't have given a rat's ass about before, but seeing it though her eyes gave him a new appreciation.