HALLWAY

[DETECTIVE PETER ARAMIS]

“It really is, my most recent work has been in trying to stabilize adult stem cells. What many people don’t know is that everyone, even adults have stems cells. These cells are just a bit less compliant than those taken from fetuses. My team has been working on creating environments that would revert them back to the plasticity that fetal cells exhibit.”

He nodded, not sure he understood it. Adults weren’t supposed to have useable stem cells – he knew that much. So for someone to trying to make those cells work was interesting. Still, he couldn’t help wondering how they got those from adult people...

He was glad when she kept the conversation going, because he honestly had nothing to add to it. He was just not a science guy in the slightest. So he listened as she began talking about her future plans.

“I’m not entirely sure, I’ve always loved research, and I’ll probably remain as a research partner at the university if I can get my education visa re-designated as a work visa. If not, I’ll head back to the big tech university in Zurich. Closer to home.”

Ah, a Swiss girl. This was a first for him. What did one talk about with a Swiss girl...

“Though, I imagine that my father would like me back in Geneva as soon as possible.”

“Daddies are like that with their daughters,” he replied, thinking their father would have cut off his own arm before letting Angelique go off to some big city without making her promise to come home as soon as possible. “Sons are a different story.”

He wasn’t even going to let himself go there. Tonight was a party, and not a pity one.

“Switzerland had to be a nice place to grow up, though. There is probably lots for a biochemical engineer to do there.”

He was guessing. He’d never heard of anything interesting ever happening in Switzerland. However, he knew how to make conversation with women. Keep them talking about themselves and that was all they needed. He didn’t mind listening, either, so it always went over well.

[VICTORIA FRANKENSTEIN]

She could tell that he didn’t understand the science, and she hoped that turning the conversation back to her homeland might serve as a sufficient subject change.

“Daddies are like that with their daughters. Sons are a different story.”

She pondered on the thought. Her own choices weren’t making it exceedingly easy for her brothers at home. Her mother, unable to be frustrated at Victoria, lashed out at her brothers a bit, and Earnest was having quite the time fending off their mother.

“Switzerland had to be a nice place to grow up, though. There is probably lots for a biochemical engineer to do there.”

“Well, no more than any other place.” She smiled and continued, “Switzerland really is a lovely place. I do miss it sometimes.” Her mind got lost for a moment in the fields and mountains of her childhood home before she asked her own question, “So, what about you? What do you do?”

[DETECTIVE PETER ARAMIS]

“Well, no more than any other place. Switzerland really is a lovely place. I do miss it sometimes.”

He had never been there, had never seen pictures of the place, but from the way she smiled when she talked about it, he was sure it was a very lovely place. He felt the same way about Montana. Most people thought it was full of cows and cowboys, and they’d be right, but it was a wild and beautiful place. He missed being able to ride all day and not run into a single person. Home was, as they always said, where the heart was.

“So, what about you? What do you do?”

“I’m a detective with the NYPD,” he replied.

There wasn’t much else to say. He was a rookie in the department, third grade. He was still earning his credibility, and it didn’t help when he had Don’s reputation to live up to, or when he showed up walking perps in with flip flops on his feet. All in all, his job was mostly paperwork, mostly boring, but it paid his bills and made it so that he met a lot of interesting people.

“So, if you ever need to get out of a parking ticket...I’m not your man,” he joked.

Yeah, it was a lame joke, but he wasn’t a funny person at the best of times. He should give up trying, but it seemed to spew out, regardless.

“I work mainly with youth crime,” he explained. “Gangs, juvenile delinquency, and the like. And when I'm not doing that, I bartend down at O'Bannon's in Brooklyn."

O'Bannon's was how he was paying off his massive university debt. It was one way to use his Psychology degree.

"Believe me, it's nothing as interesting as research."

[VICTORIA FRANKENSTEIN]

“I’m a detective with the NYPD,”

Oh, a detective, She had never really really been on either side of the law as a wealthy politician's daughter back in Switzerland, and her tendency to be fascinated by most anything carried through into her interactions. It'd be interesting to hear about what his career was like.

“So, if you ever need to get out of a parking ticket...I’m not your man,”

She laughed softly along to his little joke, even if she could tell that he didn't think very highly of it. She tried her best to relax the situation, she had gotten into her old rhythm and she decided to try to take the reins of the conversation back. So she quieted down and listened.

“I work mainly with youth crime. Gangs, juvenile delinquency, and the like. And when I'm not doing that, I bartend down at O'Bannon's in Brooklyn."

Victoria really hadn't been in New York long enough to know what kind of work he had cut out for him. She had seen evidence of that sort of thing, but she effectively floated above it during her time at New York. She wanted to ask all kinds of questions, and a bit of her curiosity was betrayed in her facial expression, but she wasn't exactly sure what he could tell her, so she kept her mouth shut and kept listening.

"Believe me, it's nothing as interesting as research."

"I'm sure it has it's own moments. Even research can get dull, grants must be applied for, department requests must be made. Though I do suppose that it's all the great moments that we work for. You stop minding the time you spent up during the wee hours of the morning making sure a grant application went through when you stumble upon something great."

She looked to him for a response before continuing.

"So, how long have you been a detective?"

[DETECTIVE PETER ARAMIS]

Peter was surprised when she was actually interested in what he said. She nodded in all the right places and even laughed a little at his lame joke. She even looked curious when he explained exactly what he did. He didn’t think it was as interesting as stem cells and adult stem cells, but he wouldn’t have traded her. It sounded like she had to be pretty smart to do what she did, and while Peter was smart, it wasn’t that kind of smart.

"I'm sure it has it's own moments. Even research can get dull, grants must be applied for, department requests must be made. Though I do suppose that it's all the great moments that we work for. You stop minding the time you spent up during the wee hours of the morning making sure a grant application went through when you stumble upon something great."

So it was like anything else – there were exciting moments, and then you were back to paperwork for a while. He smiled at the thought. It was a small world after all.

"So, how long have you been a detective?"

“Actually, not that long,” he replied, thinking back fondly on his short time with the NYPD. “I joined the NYPD after I graduated university, then I got on as a mounted patrolman for about a year before I took the exam to see if I could get on as a Detective. So it’s been about eight months.”

Eight months of a sharp learning curve. He had so much to catch onto because he rarely had to do more than give tickets when he was on horseback. He’d had to brush up on procedures, and his first placement had been in homicide, so it had been pretty gruesome. He’d been glad for the transfer down to youth crimes with Gerry. He was glad he’d landed a veteran cop like him for his partner. They understood each other and he didn’t feel like the man was constantly looking at him like he should have been better because he was Don’s nephew. He was twenty-four. He had time.

“Believe it or not, I had considered going into the Priesthood instead.”

He didn’t know why he threw that out there, but he did. He’d considered it all his life, until his mother had told him he was damned and his own priest hadn’t done anything to convince him that he wasn’t. He’d lost faith in the institution, so he’d found a new one in the law. But every so often he had to wonder.

“Did you ever consider doing something else with your life, Miss Victoria?”

A pretty girl like her could have done anything she wanted.

[VICTORIA FRANKENSTEIN]

She felt herself slipping back into control of her conversation. She had calmed down quite a bit now, and she was getting back to that volley that she had always been so used to. She says, he says, she says, he says, and on. It then occurred to her that this hallway was rather long, and she wondered if either of them actually knew the way out.

“Actually, not that long. I joined the NYPD after I graduated university, then I got on as a mounted patrolman for about a year before I took the exam to see if I could get on as a Detective. So it’s been about eight months.”

Only two years out of uni? Well, looking back on their conversation, it made a bit of sense, and now she just felt a bit silly. A very slight blush climbed onto her cheeks, the only evidence of her embarrassment.

“Believe it or not, I had considered going into the Priesthood instead.”

No, she couldn't imagine Peter as a priest. Maybe a long time ago, maybe before the underlying pain in his eyes painted itself there, he could have made a good preacher, but no, not anymore. Funny how life could be like that. Singular events completely changing the course of one's life.

“Did you ever consider doing something else with your life, Miss Victoria?”

"Oh, when I was an undergraduate," she chuckled a bit, remembering the frustration she put her academic advisor at the university in Geneva through. "Well, I wasn't sure at all. I had always loved Biological Science, but I love Literature, Writing, Social Sciences, History, and Mathematical Sciences just as well."

She paused and counted in her head. "I must've changed majors ten or fifteen times at the university in Geneva and two or three times at the university in Zurich. NYU is the first university I've never changed majors at. They almost rejected me on the basis of my inability to settle on a major."

It was funny, her application process to NYU, just as she had proved to the polytechnic school her dedication to the field, her father allowed general admissions access to the sealed records regarding her... inheritance. Suddenly she was accepted and she had an academic counselor that was endlessly encouraging her to explore other fields. After about a month, she could no longer stand it, and she applied to have her graduate thesis advisor double as her academic advisor. That process in of itself was completely arduous considering that she wasn't supposed to have an academic advisor in the first place due to her status as a graduate student. She really always did try to keep her... economic status... under wraps. Her father didn't mind at all when she requested that he seal the records regarding all the money he'd pass onto his daughter when the time came. She just despised all the wrong sorts of attention that she often got when people knew about her history.

"I almost became a translator or interpreter, my mother always thought it'd be a good fit, and I fancied it for quite awhile. If you can believe, English wasn't my first language, wasn't my third either. I was going to major in Intercultural Communication before I switched to Biochem."

Victoria hoped that she didn't come across as too pompous. She knew that most people struggled with learning new languages, but being raised on French and German simultaneously likely saved her from such a fate. If anything, she didn't struggle at learning new languages, but keeping the ones she knew separate.

[DETECTIVE PETER ARAMIS]

"Oh, when I was an undergraduate...well, I wasn't sure at all. I had always loved Biological Science, but I love Literature, Writing, Social Sciences, History, and Mathematical Sciences just as well."

She chuckled a bit at the thought and Peter had to admit she had a nice laugh. He could also remember being in her shoes. University had so much to offer that he wanted to be everything, do everything, take classes on everything. Nothing was certain until you tried it, though.

"I must've changed majors ten or fifteen times at the university in Geneva and two or three times at the university in Zurich. NYU is the first university I've never changed majors at. They almost rejected me on the basis of my inability to settle on a major."

It was Peter’s turn to laugh. “NYU was probably thrilled that you settled on just one, then. They have their fair share of kids with no clue what they want to do. I was like that. I changed my major a record setting five times in four semesters before I finally found a double major I liked.”

He swore his guidance counsellor was going to rip his hair out by the time Peter finally connected with a professor he liked who taught Child Psychology. Psych became his thing, so did Kinesiology, with a minor in criminology. It had all paid off in the end.

"I almost became a translator or interpreter, my mother always thought it'd be a good fit, and I fancied it for quite awhile. If you can believe, English wasn't my first language, wasn't my third either. I was going to major in Intercultural Communication before I switched to Biochem."

He was a bit surprised. He’d never met anyone who didn’t have English as at least their second language. She must have been very talented with languages indeed. It was one of those things where it would be a shame not to use it.

“Well, you know what they say – there’s always retirement. Work with stem cells now, then retire to some place nice and interpret languages for all the tourists once you’ve made your mark on history.”

It was kind of the opposite of his retirement plan. Where he imagined research to be solitary, Peter interacted with people every day. When he was retired, he was going to find some lonely place and just raise horses or dogs or something. Just spend his time with creatures that didn’t talk back or shoot each other or beat their kids. Retirement was a long way off, though, for both of them.