Cynndle glanced at the time as he sat in his quarters. He didn’t want Heriah to feel like he was checking up on her because he didn’t trust her, but he said he would check in on her.  After their chat tthe other day he wanted to give her some space but given what had been happening and what he suspected may be happening he knew he had to check in with her regularly.

He stepped over to his computer console, opened a call to Heriah and waited for a response.

It took a short moment, but Cynndle saw that the call was activated…audio only. He could already here the obvious sound of a brush trekking its way through a length of hair. “Cynndle. Hello,” came her voice through the speakers. Another brush of the hair. “To what do I owe this honor?” To anyone taking note (when she sounded gingerly, when she sounded off, when she sounded clearly out of sorts, when she simply did not sound herself at all) this time would certainly go down in the ‘Sounding Gingerly’ column.

“Hi…” Cynndle said pausing slightly his voice trailing off. “Heriah, I wanted to check in as we discussed. How are you feeling?” The way she sounded made him a bit uneasy.

“I’m feeling OK,” she said. The brushing stopped. “Another day of hearing people’s woes. It…sometimes puts my own into perspective. My own struggles sound minute when compared to some of what I hear. I can’t speak on any of that here, of course, but…it pains me when I want to go and find the source of my patient’s pain and punch that person right in the face, but I can’t.” The brushing started again. “I guess my success; my figurative punching in the face, is getting my patient through their pain and onward. And I had a few breakthroughs today. So…all in all…today was a good day. I am doing well. How about you? How are you doing?”

“I can understand the desire to step in and help others directly, Heriah,” Cynndle said, “But I am doing ok, thanks. Had the day off so took it easy but wanted to check in.” He paused for a moment and frowned.

“That’s good,” her voice came through the speaker. “That’s good.” A bit of silence. “I have been meaning to check in on you as well. I’ve been thinking about you. Well…thinking about your progress…with our sessions and all.”

Cynndle nodded but his gut said something was off. “Have you used the monocorder recently? Can we switch to video so I can see the reading?”

The sound of the hairbrush being placed down sounded a bit harsher than Cynndle expected. Perhaps she placed it down close to the audio input of her computer terminal.

“Oh…um,” she started. He could hear her stand from her chair. “Just a moment.” Her voice lowered in volume. “I am not…really…all that…well…” her voice became distant as she stepped away, but she spoke louder. “…well…I am well. Just not…well…dressed. That is. Hold on.”

Cynndle could also hear the obvious sound of fumbling clothing. Heriah was putting something on, covering herself.

Heriah said something in a lower voice, nearly inaudible. Speaking to someone else or was that possibly meant for Cynndle? “I got this,” she said. “Now where is that damned…oh there it is.”

The sound of feet brought her closer to her terminal. There came a sigh and the sound of her seating herself once again. “I apologize if I sounded impatient. I know you are only looking out for me,” but Cynndle could not tell if those words were meant for him.

The UFP emblem finally vanished from Cynndle’s screen, went black and was replaced with Heriah’s face. A large-necked shirt hung off one shoulder. Her hair appeared well brushed and hung down over her exposed shoulder. Heriah was not exactly smiling but not frowning either. She was almost indifferent. She did hold a hand up before her. Atop her index finger was the monocorder.

“It’s flashing red right now because it is still taking a reading,” she said right when the monocorder turned a solid green. “There it is.” Her eyes did not reconnect with his through the monitor. She did not look away either, just around.

He frowned slightly. He looked at the screen and could clearly see that the light was green. He leaned back and thought about what to do next, ‘Something seems off but the monocorder is green….cannot tell her to take another dose, that was the issue before.’ Realizing he was frowning he shook his head and smiled, “Thanks Heriah. When did you take the last benzo dose by chance? Sorry for pushing this but I just want to make sure you are well.”

Heriah let her hand fall away from view. She did reconnect with his eyes. “I did ask for this. So,” she looked up and away, stretched her neck and looked back at him through the monitor. “I don’t want you to apologize. You are not pushing. I asked for this and I need this. I know that. You, you are good to me Cynndle. I know it is not your job and may not be a load of fun but…I would much rather it be you than Elegy or someone else. I admit I have not yet met with Elegy, but I do have an appointment to meet with him soon.”

Cynndle nodded at that, taking in what she said. “I am glad you feel that way and I won’t apologize again for this. As for Elegy, I am glad you have an appointment coming up soon. It will help,” he said before adding, “and needed.” He glanced at the time on the display and was about to end the call when he remembered the Post Crisis Summit party, get-together. They had previously discussed going, “The post-crisis party is the day after tomorrow, I wanted to check if you are still in for that?”

It started as a minute nod, but Heriah finally managed to exaggerate it and produced a smile. “Yes, I am.” She shrugged. “I am told I am going regardless. I would much rather go with someone I know…someone I like. I do hope your schedule can accommodate going to that.”

Cynndle smiled slightly, “Told you are going?” he said with a pause and looked at the screen for a moment. “Well I am free so I look forward to it.”

Heriah smiled and shrugged, “Slip of the tongue, my bad.”

“Fair enough, have a good night Heriah. I will get in touch with you soon.” Cynndle said with a smile and excused himself.