Chilling with a Friend [Vigilante, or Invite][NR]

Cala was more than glad they had avoided the media after saving that bank. It was bad enough that she was sure the bank itself probably had some sort of video of the whole incident, the last thing she wanted was her face plastered all over the television: she didn't need the publicity, or the attention; and she surely didn't need her sister seeing some of the stuff she had done. She figured it would give the poor girl nightmares.

She had spent a bit thinking, pondering about her new approach she had been taking on things. It was so easy to kill, to end someone's life. But, it was far different to whoop someone's ass and give them scars or pain that would have them remembering the experience for a very long time. Killing and hurting someone were two completely different things, and had different results because of it. Perhaps it was the fact that she had to think differently now that she had to think of her sister's safety as well, or perhaps it was all of the time she had recently been spending around V: but either way, she no longer wished to kill people. Instead she wanted to whoop ass and take names: give people something to remember her by, give them a reason not to fuck with her.

So, an idea had popped into her head, one that she wished to share with V. An idea that might help the pair of them, and something she figured he might be able to help her create. Plus, she wanted to spend more time with him, get to know him more, and give him the chance to get to know more about her if he wanted to. With the sudden rush of the media and having to get out of the bank as quickly as possible they really hadn't been able to go on that date that they were talking about, so she figured that maybe they could hang out in the tower at least, and chill, and talk.

She had stopped back to check on her sister, something that was constantly floating around in the back of her head. Ensured that she was okay, eyes glued to the television as she flipped through channel after channel: watching cooking shows, cartoons, and Law and Order all at once, she left her suite once more, and for the second time that day she headed to Matt's suite down the hall.

Just as she did before she leaned on the door frame and knocked lightly, hoping he wasn't too busy for company and a chat. She folded her arms across her chest lightly as she waited for him to answer the door, if he was even in his suite to begin with.

He'd purposely let himself get caught on camera, and let a few photographers take pictures of him. He wanted word to spread about him, but he wasn't going to let the fame go to his head. V didn't let too many pics be taken of him, quickly running off and changing clothes to blend in with the crowds gathering. He looked around for Cala, but she probably disappeared into the sea of people, not wanting to be caught in the spotlight either.

Matt stopped at a store on the way walking back to the tower to buy a honey bun and cup cakes, bought with some of the funds given to him by the bank manager. While gobbling those down he decided to create more gadgets to use with the suit, but he was drawing a blank at what exactly to make. He'd inhaled the last bite of cup cake as he sat in his living room surrounded by tools, small machines, parts and plans. He'd been sitting there a while after coming back to the tower, letting his mind wander a while. Sometimes randomly fishing for ideas in mid-air worked...

There was a knock at the door which made him stand up and go to it. Opening it to see Cala, he grinned some while wiping whipped cream from the sides of his mouth. "Come on in, I thought you'd disappear after we got done with that bank thing, good thinking. Nice job on the bozos in the safe by the way," he said while heading back to the living room.

Cala grinned as he opened the door and then walked into his suite, shutting the door behind herself before following him to the living room. She took a glance around before taking a seat nearby with a light shrug. "Eh, I figured my sister didn't need to see my face plastered all over the television. She's been having a rough time lately with everything that's happened to her, the last thing she needs is to see me on the TV for doing something that she'll think is dangerous or risky."

"And yeah... " She grinned. "Normally, not gonna lie, I'm usually the type to go into a fight and end it as quickly and deadly as possible. So, felt kind of good to leave behind a reminder of myself.. a sort of lesson so to speak, something they're not soon to forget, especially the dude whose legs I broke."

She looked over towards his tools and then to him, an eyebrow raising. "Working on creating something new?", she asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. She thought again about the idea she had had between the bank and checking on her sister: some sort of special glove or something along those lines that helped in several ways... she figured she would bring it up soon, and see if he wanted in on the idea.

Matt sat on the floor again, balling up the honey bun and cup cake wrappers. He was still drawing a blank, when normally he was good with this sort of thing.

"Yeah. Read up on some other species the other night. That Ryuu weirdo, the big blue guy in the armor at Murder Inc, I guess he's a Dragon. The computers say that Dragons are nearly immune to physical damage, so if I didn't make my move when I did, that guy would have pulverized me. I'm trying to come up with something...something to penetrate defenses, or to cover my own ass at the very least. Running away isn't always gonna work..."

Not if she could run him down like she did, that was for sure. What if that guy was still around here somewhere, planning his revenge? Matt had to make sure he was prepared for people and freaks that were all but invincible to physical attacks. He had the means to build just about any program for his micro chips, he just needed a push in the right direction...

Cala grinned suddenly as she listened to his own idea. "That's funny, because I had an idea myself that I was figuring you might be able to help me with." She glanced down at her hands, knowing the power that they were /naturally/ capable of; the amount of force she had behind a punch, the amount of damage that she was capable of causing - at least to a normal person. "See... I've suddenly gained this new outlook on things. I don't want to kill people if I can help it, but like you said.. there are some people who can't take damage, or if they do they heal too damn fast for it to matter much."

She paused, arms stretching skyward for a moment before she shifted her legs into an Indian style position as she remained seated where she was and rested her arms on her legs, hands clasped together. "So, I had this idea I've been playing with in my head to create some sort of gloves or something that not only stop someone, like myself, from being able to heal super fast, or regenerate... but to also have some way to cause damage to those who otherwise couldn't be hurt. However, I'm good at killing things, not making things... And, it sounds like something that could be helpful to the both of us, honestly."

She fell silent, figuring she'd give him a chance to respond to her idea, or add more to it if he had some idea to add on. Hell, she figured that maybe, if they could find a way to make the idea work, that it would be something that could benefit the both of them.

Wheels started turning and a light bulb appeared. He didn't say anything at first, he just went to work. This was connected to that, this was screwed into there, this part was melted onto that part...

Eventually he'd stand up and put on his armor, all except the helmet part. He inserted a chip into his wrist computer and type several moments. "That...is actually a good idea," he said, typing quickly with one hand. "To be able to cause damage to those that couldn't otherwise be damaged. When hitting or being hit, the armor is tuned to scan and recognize the physiology of the target subject, and adjust to cause others with the same physiology damage. The scan may take about 3 minutes or so. That'll come in handy in case that big blue freak decides to have another go at me for getting his butt spanked by a mere human."

Matt took the chip back out and began to attach things to an extra set of his gloves. "Now, to cancel out regeneration abilities...I think that may be out of my hands. Sounds like some weird voodoo or witchcraft kinda stuff, y'know?" He quickly attached a device that would let the gloves perform the same task just mentioned above, then handed them toward Cala while undressing again out of his armor. "Try those on, see how they fit."

Her head remained tilted in curiosity as she watched him get to work. She blinked several times, and remained silent, not wanting to bother or distract him. She was curious as to what exactly he was doing, but didn't question it; figuring he was taking the idea and going with it. Her head straightened up as she watched him stand and begin to type while speaking to her.

At his words about Ryuukishi perhaps looking to seek revenge a dangerous glint appeared in her mismatched gaze. "If he tries to seek revenge while I'm around I might find the sudden urge to go back on my word... and beat him with his own limbs." It wasn't a threat so much as a promise: it wasn't beyond her to rip off someone's limb and beat them senseless with it, especially a creature who could probably regenerate as she assumed Ryuukishi could.

She took the gloves and looked at them curiously before she slipped them onto her hands, finding that they fit rather well. She turned her hands over, looking at them. Her grin returned, unhinged as always. "They fit... like a glove.", she chuckled at her own joke and wording. "As far as the other idea... I'll ask Amaranth at some point, she's the girl with the rune abilities. She might be able to come up with something that will cause regeneration to stop..." Suddenly she tilted her head. "Or, perhaps I'll ask Niala. She's always messing with her own abilities, technology, and everything else she can get her hands on, perhaps she can come up with something that'll do the same thing... and she lives here so I wouldn't have to travel halfway across the world to get to her."

Niala? That must have been one of the kids he'd seen in Alec's office that first day. If one of them had the strange ability to enchant gloves, that would be awesome honestly, when he'd normally think it was freaky. V knew he could heal fast, faster than most humans that is, but some super villain with the ability to magically heal after every wound would be cheat code central.

"Yeah, I bet you would," he said in response to Cala's promise. "But if it does happen I don't want you getting involved and risk getting on Kane's bad side. That's between V and the Fabio freak, i'm ready for him."

He started putting his tools and supplies away, cleaning up the mess he'd made in the living room before it got too bad. With everything cleaned and put away he sat on the couch and sighed. "If something goes wrong with those gloves let me know and i'll fix them," he said.

A chuckle escaped her and she nodded. "Alright, I'll keep my hands to myself if he comes around." It was only fair that he handle Ryuukishi after all, especially if the guy happened to come around with the idea for revenge of some kind in his head.

She gave a nod to his statement about the gloves, keeping them on, figuring that she might as well get used to the feel of them. She normally wore gloves of some kind anyway, due to her slightly dangerous stunts, so it wouldn't take long before they felt like a second skin to her. "Yeah, I'll definitely say something to Niala... I've been meaning to anyway. I thought maybe she'd help me with my sister's issue."

She sighed softly, and then glanced around the living room. "But, that issue is a very long story... It makes for an interesting story if you want to hear a tale.", she said with a soft chuckle. She turned her mismatched gaze back to Matt, figuring she might just tell him that story if he wanted to hear, even if it might be extremely hard to believe.

She'd threatened to rip the dude's arms off and beat him with them. No one else threatened to cause harm to someone over him before. Maybe this meant she was developing feelings for him? To say that she'd tear one of his limbs off and bludgeon the guy with it for him, this could have been so. It felt strange to have someone having his back, other than Stretch, who must have been somewhere buying up a bunch of toys and junk from the funds he'd left for him.

There were other extraordinary people moving about this building. V'd started feeling like he should get to know some of the people he used to think were nothing but freaks, but there was a girl alone in his place at the moment. Getting to know her better first could lead to other things...

"Something wrong with your sister?" he asked, feeling helpful after putting together gloves that, after a time, could penetrate any defenses. If Cala was over 400 years old, how old did that make her sister, then? He situated his behind into the couch and settled in to hear her tale. "I don't mind, let's hear it."

Her grin turned into a gentle smile and she shook her head slightly. "It's... not that there's something wrong with her, not really. But, let me go back to the very beginning and explain. I was adopted when I was six years old by a mercenary. He only wanted me, though, because I had what he was looking for, so I was adopted while my sister remained in the orphanage. I underwent training for four years before that vampire found us - but that's a different story, hard training to be turned into a skilled killer. Meanwhile, my sister remained in the orphanage. Now, I lived out in the country back then, so I was well away from the dirt and disgust that the normal cities back then were filled with."

A soft sigh escaped her and she continued with her story. "My sister was not so lucky. A plague, unbeknownst to me, began to ravage the city the orphanage was in. After several of the children died the woman who ran the orphanage, who happened to be a witch, decided to put the remaining children in a sleep like state magically. She wasn't trying to be cruel, she just couldn't stand the crying and screaming anymore, she couldn't stand knowing the children were in pain. I believe my sister was the last to be put into that sleep like state... only it didn't work completely: she was asleep and yet her mind was completely alert, she knew what was going on around her, she just couldn't react to it and couldn't control her body in any way."

"The woman got sick, and died... as did all of the children but my sister. However, medicine was horrible back then as I'm sure you've heard and learned, and well... my sister was taken for dead. Now, they hadn't started burning the plague victims yet, so my sister was just buried alive in a mass grave. However, when the woman had died she must have left a magical connection with my sister, and that magic transferred completely to her, keeping her alive and nourished while she was in that sleep like state - and entirely aware of where she was, and the fact that her friends were rotting beside her."

Cala's smile saddened slightly. "I found my sister just about two weeks ago.. it was completely by accident. I had made a random trip back to the old area for curiosity sake to see what it had turned into over the years... and I found her body sticking out halfway from the mass grave. I thought it odd... she wasn't decaying or anything like the rest of the bones... so I pulled her out, and realized it was her."

"So, that leads to my problem...my sister is human, breakable. Her magic, what she can use of it, isn't enough to keep her safe. I do not want to turn my sister into a vampire because I believe she's had enough of hell in her childhood, and deserves a good one where she can grow. She's got enough to go through with the fact that she was asleep for over four hundred years, and now has to learn everything about this very modern world... So, I had been hoping to find some way to make her less breakable, so that I don't have to worry about her as much as I do.... Another vampire already had his sights on her, though he's dead now. I just... I suppose it's made me a bit paranoid." She fell silent, giving him a chance to speak, to think about her story if he chose to....

All that time in a grave, that had to seriously suck. Matt was an only child; he has no idea what it was to have a sibling. He listened to everything she'd said. So she'd been trained to be a serial killer, back when...his ancestors were alive. This was around the time she got turned...She was a trained killer even before she became a Vampire. Gotta stay on her good side. Matt figured then that if he fought her that night he ran away, he would have been pounded into red meat, even with the suit on.

But her sister...For her, it must be like she traveled forward in time after being locked in a "prison" of sorts for all of that time. Trapped somewhere without being able to do anything about it, while fully aware. It left a bad taste in V's mouth, and even he felt like he should help out some kind of way. The idea he suddenly thought of didn't come with it's share of risks though. Was it safe to be telling anyone about this yet?

Matt stared at Cala for a while after she got done talking, fighting with himself on the inside on whether to trust her and tell her about the secret that was about to make his father famous or not. If this turned out bad, his father would turn over in his grave, and he'd be kicking himself in the ass for the rest of his life.

"...My father was an inventor," he started to say. "He invented machines called 'Nanoids.' They're really tiny computers too small to be seen with the naked eye. They're A.I., self sustaining, and can build copies of themselves. If you put them into someone's bloodstream, The Nanoids will bond to that person and, long story short, let them become a super human. They become stronger, smarter, faster than a normal human. They react to things quicker and heal from wounds 5 times as fast. A serious wound that would take months to heal would be completely healed in about 5 minutes..."

Matt wondered if he should have said that as he looked at the floor, scratching a hand through messy black hair. "My father never got to finish his project before he went missing and later died. I'd been reading his stuff since I was in diapers, and when I got old enough I finished a couple of my dad's unfinished things, these Nanoids were one of them...I'm the only person that i've tried them on. We could try them on your sister, but...I have to let you know, it comes with the risk of killing her. If the Nanoids choose not to bond with her, she could have a heart attack...and if your sister died because of me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Cala stared at him as he revealed what was probably one of his most guarded secrets. In fact, with the way he was acting, she was sure it was. She tilted her head slightly, and could only stare for a moment. She couldn't believe he would tell her something like that: that took a lot of trust, a hell of a lot. But what was more... was the fact that he was telling her that to try and help her sister. She kept silent for a moment as she thought back to all of things he had done that had caused her to look at him differently than she had other people: this had to be the biggest thing, much larger than the rest. Her smile returned upon her face and she nodded.

"Devon would have to agree of course... but I would like to try. Not to abuse my friends powers, but if something were to happen... they could and I'm sure would bring her back to life." She straightened her head up, her face becoming serious, even though her smile remained. "I really appreciate you telling me about the nanoids.. if this can work and help, it would take a big load off of my shoulders, and ensure my sister a much safer life."

Since she was sure her sister was going to be willing to do it she asked, "What all would you have to do to prepare to be able to do this? Or is it something that could be done at a moments notice?" If they could do it sooner, rather than later, she would feel even better.

She agreed that she'd give it a try, and that someone could bring her back to life if she died? Was there someone here who actually had the ability to return the dead to life? He would have to ask Alec about that sometime. Cala agreed, but still Matt hesitated. For a second he started to think that he shouldn't have told her. But eventually he stood up and went into the back, to his bedroom.

A while passed before he returned to the living room, holding a special kind of syringe. It wasn't a needle; his father built it specially to avoid pain while inserting something into or removing blood. The syringe had a clear liquid inside of it that was filled with millions of Nanoids, far too small for ordinary eyes. He hesitated before giving it to Cala.

"...Try to insert them into one of the main veins, like the jugular, or in one of her legs..." he said, looking petrified. His skin started to turn pale. He knew he'd be like this until Cala came back to tell him she was alright, or with the bad news. With the worst case scenario, his life would never be the same again. A grim expression was on his face. "...Let me know how it turns out, okay?..." He went and sat down, staring off into space.

Cala watched him get up, after a short period of time, and disappear into one of the rooms. She waited where she was, drumming her fingertips along the arm of the chair she was seated in as she waited for him to return; and after a short while he did, and she turned her mismatched gaze to him as he hesitantly handed over the syringe. She took it carefully, cradling it in her hands.

"Thank you... I'll go get it over with.", she said after staring at the syringe for a moment, and listening to his words. She saw his petrified expression and paused. "I'll be back over when it's finished and I know she's okay."

With that said she didn't hesitate anymore. She walked out of his suite, shutting the door behind herself. She threw a glance up and down the hallway and then walked the short distance to her own suite since she knew her sister was still in there. She kept the syringe in one hand as she unlocked and opened the door with the other: disappearing inside, and the door shutting firmly behind her.

It took about twenty minutes, between explaining to her sister what she wanted to do, inserting the Nanoids, and waiting while holding her sister to ensure that she was okay and that nothing bad happened. She figured twenty minutes was a good enough of a period of time to wait: if her sister was going to have any ill effects she figured that they would have presented themselves in that time period; especially seeing as the Nanoids had been injected into her bloodstream. So, after making sure she was fine, and informing her of where she exactly was going to be encase Devon needed anything she gave her sister a pat on the head and then walked back out of her suite, clothing the door behind herself.

She walked back across the short distance that separated their doors and paused outside of Matt's door again. She raised her right hand and rapped her knuckles against his door a few times, knocking. A smile slipped across her face, happy as could be. Her sister was fine, and now... from what he'd explained, she'd be stronger than before. So, now it was time to deliver the good news, and give a great big thank-you to V.

Man. What was going to happen if her sister died. Would that make him a murderer? He'd have to go to jail. Kane would kick his ass with some weird angel power before that though. Why did he agree to this? It was always because some pretty girl smiled at him, he was always a sucker for that. But now a little girl's life was on the line. If the Nanoids chose not to bond with her, it was curtains.

He almost dreaded getting up to go open the door when the knock came. As he walked toward the front door, he didn't hear any crying or screaming, so that was a plus. But Cala didn't seem like the type to start crying, so maybe she was waiting on the other side of the door with a Machete, preparing to rip him from his ass to his appetite. If that was how he was about to check out, so be it then.

He opened the door, expecting some super fast cheat code attack, and blocked. He peeked out from under an armpit with one eye. "...Did it work? Tell me it worked out alright with no heart stoppage or anything."

She blinked, several times, when she saw him open the door and block himself; like he had been expecting her to attack him or something. She tilted her head, her smile growing, lighting up her eyes with happiness. "It absolutely worked, and with no sort of side effects. In fact, when I left the room, she was turning the lights on and off again repeatedly." Her smile turned into a grin. "So, I came by to thank you.. and my sister might show up, if she can peel herself away from the light switch or TV long enough, to thank you as well."

She watched him, waiting for him to lower his arm, and relax. She really had absolutely no reason to attack him, though she played with the idea of hugging him for what he had done... or perhaps a kiss. Not one of those cheap cheek kisses either, but a kiss on the lips. Yup, definitely not a cheek kiss, she could thank him better than that, and she definitely wanted to thank him.

Matt put his arms down. The color returned to his skin and he let out a sigh of relief. The old program for the Nanoids...he'd tested that one out on dogs, cats, rats, animals that there were many of. The earlier program...hadn't worked out too well. Some of the animals had heart attacks, some of them bled out of every hole. One exploded. He couldn't get the smell of exploded cooked cat out of the basement for over a month.

But the new program, he hadn't tested it out on anyone or anything but himself, and now Cala's little sister. The new program was his father's old program with alot of his own work added in. Everything worked out like it should, and he was relieved.

"Whew! No getting my arm ripped off and beat with it, or a foot up my b-hole from the boss! I can sleep good tonight," he said, wiping off his forehead with the back of his left hand while walking back into the living room. "If the bonding process went off without a hitch, then she should be fine from here on out. The Nanoids will constantly fix her and keep her system free of germs, so she won't get sick anymore, and she'll live a lot longer than the average human too. Maybe you should run around with her outside somewhere too, so she can get the feel of her new strength."

Now that he knew the new program worked, he'd have to keep knowledge of his machines extra quiet, so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands...

Cala followed him inside, closing the door behind herself after a backwards glance at her own suites door. She could still hear the flick-flick that indicated the lightswitch being played with in the living room. She chuckled beneath her breath, feeling completely happy, and far less worried about her sister than she had been.

She gave a nod to his words about testing her sister's strength out. "I'll definitely do that; if not outside then I'm sure Mister Kane has a nice big training room somewhere in this building - he has everything else after all. Might be best to do it in private... where no one would be around to ask any questions.", she said with a chuckle. She was definitely thinking about keeping her sisters abilities, if possible, a secret. She didn't want people coming around, being nosy, asking questions, and just otherwise trying to figure out how an ordinary human could do the things that she could do. But, those were thoughts for a few minutes from now if not later than that, there was something she had come here to do, and she was determined to do it: even if she wanted to blush like some sort of school girl.

"So... I wanted to thank you, properly...", she said softly, taking the few steps that would close the distance between the two of them, looking him in the eyes with her own mismatched gaze...

For all intents and purposes he'd probably just saved a girl's life, but he wasn't looking at it that way. There was still the chance that the A.I could suddenly reject the bond. There was the chance that they could malfunction somehow. Many scenarios played out in his head, but he thought it was better not to be so negative. She hadn't shown any reaction and she was normal, and would remain that way until she about 150 years old, or even older. Who knew?

"...Pops was a doctor...I kinda wanted to be one too, until I found that armor...His big medical thing was about to be those Nanoids, well, minus the super human part. Him and my mom were always helping people, and never really expected thanks or anything in return. I guess it kinda rubbed off on me too, it's not really necessary. Just glad I could help out, y'know?"

He was saying this as she got closer, thinking maybe this was finally his chance to touch those lips that were most of the time twisted up into an insane grin, or to get his hands on that hot body. At the least he'd get to hug her, and experience the sensation of her slender form pressed up against his. He was cool with that. V didn't think he knew her well enough to be pressing lips yet. Gran had always told him that when he found a girl he liked, to take it slow...

Cala smiled more, again surprised by him, by his modesty. "Well," she said when he finished speaking, stopping to stand in front of him, "I want to thank you anyway." When she finished speaking she reached out, gently wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a hug. She had wanted to give him a kiss, but didn't want to press her luck; something that had popped into her head at the last moment. He had already been on edge when dealing with her sister's welfare, she didn't want to make it worse by putting him in what could be an awkward position.

However, her hug wasn't a quick one, and instead lingered. She would give him the kiss later: maybe when they had the chance to go out on an official date. "Thank you... I really do appreciate it, Matt." When she finished speaking she finally released him from the hug, her arms slowly moving from around him and back down to her sides, before she took a step back to give him back some of his personal space that she had momentarily invaded.

A hug...it was an everyday thing to most people. A Gran hug was a Gran hug, but he'd never done it with anyone else. He didn't have to lean over or crouch down like he did with Gran. Now it was a sexy girl that was about the same size as him, except she was a little taller. A curvy coke-bottle female frame resting against his; a pair of breasts smooshed against his own chest. He grinned while smelling the perfume she was wearing, or the shampoo in her hair, while rubbing his hands up and down upon the curves of her sides and hips. He tried not to be pressed up against her too hard, for he didn't want her to take offense at the sudden "growth" in his pants...

"It's no problem, really...However I can help out," he said once she'd let him go.

She smiled at his words and gave a nod, not reacting to his reaction to her closeness from when she had hugged him. "Well, let me help us both..." She reached into her pocket, pulling out a cellphone with a full touch screen on front, and which slide out sideways to reveal a full keyboard. The phone lit up, and after a moment of pushing a few buttons on the screen she slid the side keyboard out and her thumbs flew quickly over the buttons as she sent a random text. A soft ping sounded, indicating the text had been sent.

"I sent Niala a message, asking if she was in the building... I figured she could stop by right fast and help us out if she was." No sooner had she finished speaking that a higher pitched ping sounded: the indication of a text message back. She pressed a button, causing the screen to light up again, and after a second or two of reading a huge grin swept across her face. "She'll be here in a moment."

So, Cala and the new member of the Company needed her help with something. She had no idea what; but she was a helpful person, and more than willing to do her best to help in whatever they needed. Besides, she needed a break from the constant electrical shocks she'd been dealing with from what she had been working on in her own suite; bringing one of her more robotic creations to life.

Her hair was slightly frizzy as she left her suite and traveled down the hallway. She pulled her cell out of her pocket, double checking Cala's text and thus which door she needed to knock on; she knew where Cala's suite was, but hadn't known where the Vigilante's was. She paused outside of his door and lifted her hand, knocking.

As she waited for the door to be opened she reached up, trying to make her hair lay flat: especially because she kind of looked like she had shoved a wet finger into an electrical outlet, or something similar.

It was kind of embarrassing to have "stood at attention" while hugged up with her, but she didn't seem to be bothered by it, which relieved him a bit. It was a natural reaction to being close to someone you were attracted to, right? After letting her go, he situated his pants and sat again on the floor. Cala offered to help more, and pulled out her phone to text someone. He didn't know who she was about to call, or who she was texting.

Maybe the answer would come from the knock he got at the door, causing him to stand and go to it. Matt opened the door to see one of the little girls from that meeting in Alec's office, looking down at her strangely. "Hi...I take it Cala just texted you, right?...Come on in," he said, stepping aside and holding the door open for her.