Spilling Guts

Part 17 - Coffee and Raisins

Sometimes, when Rachel was done dealing with other people's bullshit, her bedside manner goes right out the window. What she shouldn't say gets said. The moment the words "where do you think you're going to be" came out of her mouth, she realized there might have been a more tactful way of insinuating to Louis "you're going to be inside Will, like it or not". But then she would have to tip-toe around the subject.

Rachel hated tiptoeing. That's why she never went past one year of ballet.

She gave up her search for the plate manual to face Louis just in time for his mouth to drop.

Louis gestured to the pressure plate with the ice pack. Metallic cellophane crackled under his grip. "I need to be inside Will for this?!"

"By Monday at the latest," said Rachel.

"What did Will say about it?"

Rachel paused. That was another can or worms she had yet to open. She hated fishing too.

"You haven't told him," said Louis.

"I will tell him."

Louis put the ice pack half over his eyes, avoiding Rachel's eyes and the world. "By Monday?"

"Monday."

"I'm going to hate Monday."

"Everyone hates Mondays." said Rachel. "Anything else you needed while you were here?"

Louis held up his arm.

"Right. Let's fit you with a lighter brace."

The procedure took less than ten minutes. The 3D printer used the same previous scan of Louis' arm and made a brace with forty-percent less material. All Rachel had to add were two Velcro straps and a few spongy pads to prevent friction.

"Rachel?"

"Yes?" She hoped he wasn't about to ask for a new color brace. She had just gotten the foam pads to stick and taking them off for a paintjob would be a pain.

"What's the likelihood that a device that manipulates and dulls spinal reactions and nerve signals can cause a person's circadian rhythm to get fucked up?"

Rachel blinked and paused in adjusting the straps on the brace..

Louis quirked an eye. "What? I read."

"What have you been reading?"

"Grovic's case file."

That brought back another headache. Rachel handed over the brace for Louis to try on. Screw it. She still had four days to figure out how to make the pressure plate work.

"If there are continual interruptions to a person's circadian rhythm then there can be long lasting effects, but it varies person to person. You're talking about the Neckbrace causing changes to a person's circadian rhythm?"

"Yeah, like causing insomnia."

"That depends on the type of insomnia." Rachel paused for a moment. She briefly wondered if the Neckbrace had any correlation to Will's problems. But that could be due to job stress, illness, or just Louis. Louis would make a lot of people lose sleep.

"What kinds are there?" asked Louis.

"I'd have to look them up. I don't have all the answers stored in my brain." But the databases at her fingertips were extensive and should could possibly pull up enough peer reviewed journals to fill a month of research. "What brought this up?"

"I looked up a few of the victims from the original case. A lot of them suffered from illnesses related to sleep deprivation or sleep disorders. I would like to know if we can find undocumented victims of the Neckbrace via finding people suffering from the same symptoms."

"That's... a damn good slant." And a curious subject to research when Louis was supposed to be hip deep in patent paperwork, thought Rachel. "But what evidence do you have that it's the device that caused sleep disorders and not what they went though while being victimized?"

Louis shrugged, twisting his left arm to feel the give in his new brace. "It was an idea. But if the Neckbrace did cause those symptoms, couldn't the Watch try to fix the mess made by it?"

Rachel's lips quirked in a small half smile. "Part of the "Act for the Good of Humankind" bit?"

"The friggin' seal hangs above our heads all day," said Louis. "The message had to sink in eventually."

***

Louis glanced at the timer on the coffee maker while waiting for the drip to finish. Five after three. How much longer did he want to stay?

He thought he was making headway with the Devil's Neckbrace case. A report at least to give Megan and Teegan when they came back from... whatever they were doing.

Important stuff. Cetz assigned stuff.

Louis would rather take a Cetz assigned task than have to deal with the Watch One assigned test on Monday. He'd even do patent paperwork; it was less stressful. Crazy useless inventions might make him loose faith in humanity, but having to take a trip down Will's insides brought him too close to something he didn't want to feel again.

Even he had to admit why he was also avoiding his desk and inbox. He was avoiding Will.

The dripping from the coffee maker stopped. Plain mug. Black two sugars.

Wasn't it nice to be greeted every morning with coffee and a hello?

Well, that would never happen again.

He was tempted to make another mug of tea for...

Louis pulled his hand away from the cupboard of mugs and walked back towards his borrowed office.

No. He'd talk to Will tomorrow. He'd wasted enough tea bags. Tomorrow he'd talk to him. Cross his heart promise. On the top of the to-do list. Tomorrow he'd say he was sorry.

Probably.

He'd think of something after he finalized some parts of this file for Megan and Teegan. And then, sleep. At least he could sleep. Unlike all those people in the files.

Louis pulled out the crinkly granola bar from his back pocket and unwrapped it. Doctors orders. Eat. He sunk his teeth into a speckled mass kept together with some sort of sugar syrup.

And then he froze. That didn't taste right. It tasted... fermented?

He looked on the wrapper. Oat and raisin.

Damn it, why raisins?

Louis wavered between throwing the bar away and risking Rachel's wrath or trying to eat the whole thing in two bites and risk choking. In a moment of desperation he dunked it in his coffee and tried it again.

Okay, that's a bit better.