THEO BECKETT

natalie watches the man's chest sieze for a moment. normally it'd have slid by her notice- a harmless twitch in the infinite complexity that is the human condition- but up until that moment his composure had been ice. natalie was confident there was something there, but said nothing.

"limited?" she echoes, biting her lower lip in one smooth motion beneath the medical mask. somehow she doubted that. "didn't anyone ever tell you that 'good things take time?'"

natalie moved away from the table, the toe of one of her heels applying the pressure to open a biomedical disposable bin. she disposited the bloodied gloves inside.

"so far you've made this out to be solely for my benefit." she turned a frosted glare onto theo. "what is your benefit in all of this?"

THEO BECKETT

ah, the root of the problem. did theo really expect natalie of all people to rise to the bait? if he was here personally in the dead of night, trolling through a dank and slightly decrepit morgue, all in search of her...

well, if that didn't speak of desperate.

"mm, you could be." she agrees, unconcerned for the not-so veiled threat of his words. "there are a number of people that could fill your quota." natalie reaches up and removes the cloth mask from around her mouth, depositing it in the bin shortly behind the gloves.

"i know of a few, actually, if you're interested. i remember hearing rumors of two decent scientists in your very region. i believe their names were dahlia goode and Eva Morales ?" she intentionally leaves out a few names, such as illeana reyes and amalia samson , unsure of their moral ambiguities.

natalie stops and ponders for a moment, finger resting lazily against an upwardly tilted chin. "now why wouldn't you go to them first..." she asks herself aloud.

"ah! because they probably wouldn't be okay with the how of you conducting your business." not many people were, in fact, okay with it. natalie simply didn't care. it was all a means to an end. "so do quit the quite tiring over-masculine wrapped posturing of yours and get on with it." natalie bit her lip, eyes narrowing. "what subjects have you gathered for me already?"

if theo thought he could bully her. he would be dead wrong.

THEO BECKETT

natalie flips and rolls the simple card between fore and middle finger before placing one of the corners on her lips.

simple and effective. she pitied theo and his lack of any flare. but, the perk of working with someone like theo, especially in moments like this, was efficiency. natalie respected that.

"only one," she says, hanging up her white coat and replacing it with a dark green longcoat. she moves to the door, the snake slithering onto the cold tile and moving to join her. "it's doctor fairchild." her lips curl into a knowing smile that fades as she turns to leave. natalie's voice echoes back.

"let's meet again." a pause. "oh, and turn out the lights when you leave."