Chapter Text
Agent Kingston picked up a chair across from her bed and moved it closer to where the bed was situated in the middle of the room. Releasing the buttons of his suit jacket before tugging at his slacks as he sat down. He had dismissed Unit Bravo to tend to their other duties after she had provided a detailed report of what had happened leading up to her waking up there. His head tilted slightly so he could get a glimpse of her as she tugged at the hem around the bedsheet that covered her body.
“I’m sure you have several questions that you would like answered, Emma. I’ll try my best to work on answering them to the best of my ability,” he said, lacing his fingers together as he crossed his legs and rested his hands on his lap. He offered her a friendly smile as he watched her emerald eyes lift from where she was studying the weave pattern of the plain white sheets. “Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Bottle of wine?”
“Bottle of wine?” she thought. “What am I like here?” Shaking her head, she sighed. “Coffee makes me jittery, and I don’t like to drink alcohol too much. It makes me sick.” Sitting up straighter, she adjusted the pillows behind her so she could lean back slightly. “Although, I really could use a cup of herbal tea or hot chocolate.”
Retrieving his phone from his pocket, he sent a text and returned the phone to where it was. “It will be here soon.”
“Thank you…umm…” she said before shaking her head. A chuckle came from her as her eyes lifted to the look upward. “I don’t even know what to call you. Agent Kingston? Sir?”
Dad? She couldn’t bring herself to say it even with it on the tip of her lips. Clearing her throat, she looked across the distance at the man sitting there to try to get a read on him. He stared back at her with a warm smile and the same emerald eyes that she had. A face with fine lines of age but something deeper behind the mask he wore. A sadness that she felt to her core.
“Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine with me, Emma.” He twined his fingers together and clasped them over his lap. “With everything that is happening with you right now, I think I would be easier if we play it loosely until you’re more accustomed to being here.”
Emma’s lips parted to speak but closed tightly when the door to her room opened as Nate stepped inside carrying a small tray. She tucked a stray stand of hair behind her ear as her lips lifted into a smile as he approached.
“I hope chamomile is satisfactory,” Nate said, setting the tray on the table beside the bed. “I figured it would be helpful for you to relax.” He straightened himself as he looked down at her with a friendly but guarded smile. “There are a few biscuits as well. I wasn’t sure if you were hungry or not.”
Food had not been a thought until she saw the cookies sitting on the fine China plate. Her hand moved quickly to her stomach and frowned when it began to growl. A flush colored her cheeks as her eyes lifted back to meet his. Those same soft brown eyes that she could get lost in for hours.
“I guess you are hungry,” he said, a playful tone to his voice.
Nodding, Emma reached out for the delicate teacup and saucer, carefully picking it up from the tray. “I don’t remember when I ate honestly.”
“We’ll see that you get to eat soon, Emma,” Agent Kingston told her. “When we’re done, you can escort Emma to my daughter’s quarters.” He turned back to face her, his lips in a thin line as if he realized what he had just said. “If you’re uncomfortable with that arrangement, I can have Nate show you to other quarters. I’m sure we can find appropriate clothing and such for you while you’re here.”
Taking a sip of the tea, Emma’s eyes closed as she enjoyed the taste. This was not her usual blend of tea that she would purchase for herself to help wind down from a busy day or to help unwind. This was much more, something expensive. Setting the cup back down onto the saucer, she looked at the man sitting across from her.
“Anywhere that you would like me to be is acceptable. I don’t mind,” she replied. Taking another sip of tea, she smiled. “As long as I can get a shower and a change of clothes, I’ll be fine.”
Nate pulled his attention away from the woman that sat on the bed to his handler. “I’ll excuse myself until I’m needed again.”
“That won’t be necessary, Nate,” Agent Kingston said as his gaze turned from the woman that was sipping her tea quietly. “I’m sure Emma wouldn’t mind your presence.”
She needed her head slowly as she placed the cup and saucer down on the table beside her bed. “Please stay, Nate. I know you’re not my Nate, but it is still calming to have you around.”
Nate’s brown eyes swung back to hers as he searched for her expression, curiously. “If you wish.”
“Yes, please,” she said. Adjusting herself on the bed, she turned to look at Agent Kingston. “I probably have more questions that can be answered right now. Unfortunately, I think the adrenaline is wearing off.”
A slow smile curled the lips of Agent Kingston as his head tilted slightly. “You’re handling this very well, Emma.”
She took a sip of her tea, smiling around the rim. “Well, honestly,” she began before setting the cup on the saucer. “I’m in a complete panic but I’m trying to keep everything under control.”
Agent Kingston stood from his chair and began to button his suit jacket. “Maybe some rest will help you.”
“Are you certain?” Emma asked, a frown on her face as she tilted her head back slightly to look up at him. “I can – “
“No, please,” he said, shaking his head. “We have your statement about what happened before you arrived here. The Agency has agents out right now searching for Dupree’s whereabouts.”
Biting down on her lower lip, Emma found herself pushing the sheet off her body as she lowered her feet to the floor to stand. She was not going to allow her fears to get the best of her. Not after everything she had been through since this new life of hers began when Murphy hunted her down and experimented on her blood.
Squaring her shoulders, she inhaled a deep breath before asking the question that she knew the answer would not be the one she wanted to hear but she needed to hear him say it, nonetheless. “And if you – we – don’t find her?”
The man before her had been void of expression since she had woken up, but she saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes as he stared back at her. If she had blinked, she would not have seen it. “Then our world will most likely become your new home.”
Releasing a heavy breath, Emma’s head slowly nodded as her arms crossed over her stomach. “I guess we need to find her.”
“We’ll do everything we can to help you, Detective,” Nate said as he turned to look down at her. “Unit Bravo will find her to get you back home.”
“Then I’ll do everything I can to help you.” She looked up at Nate before turning to her father.
Father. That was going to take a while to get used to.
“I have a feeling that there’s going to be some very small differences and some very large differences between my world and here.” She smiled as she looked at both men. “However, I am certain that we’ll do what is needed to bring your Emma back.”
* * * * * * *
“She doesn’t smell right,” Mason muttered, cocking his head to the side as he light his cigarette. “I don’t like it.”
“She’s still Emma,” Felix said, staring through the one-way glass at the woman that sat on the bed as she talked with Nate and Agent Kingston. “I mean, she’s not our Emma but she’s still Emma.”
Adam stood silently in the back of the room, staring at the woman. The moment that he had kissed her he knew something was wrong. His Emma would have grabbed his shoulders to pull him in tighter as they kissed. This one was surprised, shocked at his affection.
“What was it like?”
His eyes lifted to see Felix staring across the room at him. Beside Felix stood Mason, staring back at him as well with a curiosity that he hadn’t seen from the other man before.
“What was what like?” Adam questioned as he straightened himself more. His arms folding across his chest as his forced the walls to be erected around himself.
“Kissing Emma?” Felix said, waving his hand to motion towards the door that they had just exited. “I mean…not Emma Emma but you know…kissing her.”
“Bet it was warmer than what you usually get,” Mason muttered before taking another long pull off his cigarette.
“She’s the dectective whether she’s the Emma from our world or another word,” Adam answered. “Shes no different.”
Mason snorted, shaking his head. His cigarette dangling from his lips. “The fuck she’s not different. Just take a good sniff of her.”
“I don’t need to…” Adam paused, shaking his head. “Sniff her.”
No, he didn’t need to sniff her to know she was different. Her eyes were emerald, not the soft brown that he was drawn to. Her scent, although still alluring, wasn’t the same intoxicating scent that he had memorized. Or the taste of her lips as he kissed her.
“You really should,” Mason offered, pulling the cigarette from his lips. Pointing at the door with his fingers that held the cigarette between, he smirked. “That woman in there is making my mouth water.”
“That’s enough!” Adam boomed out, his arms falling to his sides. His hands clenched in tight fists. “We will show this Detective Kingston the same respect as we would our Detective Kingston. Understood?”
“Yeah…yeah…whatever,” Mason said, lifting his cigarette back to his lips to take another long draw off it. “Besides. It looks like Nate’s moving in on that one there.”
“Nate’s just being nice,” Felix said, looking at Adam’s tightly clenched fists. “He’s trying to help with Agent Kingston to keep her calm. I mean, I’d be freaking out if I found myself somewhere that wasn’t here.” Lifting his eyes, Felix stared up at his team leader. “That’s what Nate’s good at, right? Helping calm people down.”
Nodding, Adam felt his fingers slowly uncurl. “You are right, Felix. Nate is more skilled at that duty than the rest of us.”
After a brief silence, Mason rolled his eyes. “Bored.” He turned to walk away. “Gonna check and see if anything new on Dupree.”
Waiting until they were alone, Felix looked back up at Adam. “You know we’ll find her, right? She has to be with the other us’s, right?”
A slow nod of Adam’s head had Felix relax a little. “It would be a good assumption that she is with them. If the gateway opened pulling this detective here that Detective Kingston went there.”
Patting the other man on the shoulder, Felix smiled. “Well they can’t be that bad if they’re us! We’re awesome in any world.”
“Most certainly,” Adam said, forcing a smile on his face as he looked at the younger man. “Go get some rest, Felix. When we have more to follow up on I will notify you.”
“You sure?” Felix questioned. It wasn’t like Adam to just dismiss him without ordering him to do more work or something equally boring.
“Yes. We’ll continue the search after we give Detective Kingston some time to rest and allow Agent Kingston to get new information for us.”
Not going to question him again, Felix took off down the hall to leave the medical wing.
Adam turned back to look at the room briefly. He wanted to go back in there, question her. Try to find out where his Emma was. Yet, he didn’t. He would get the answers soon enough from Nate when his friend would leave the room.
Finding Emma was his mission and nothing or no one would stand in his way.