Chapter Text
Someone was calling for her in the background. Edie was just about to look down examine the new specimen but was constantly being interrupted.
“Edie!”
“In a minute!” Edie called back.
“Edie please… it’s getting kind of late.”
“Let me look at it, I swear it won’t be long.” Edie implored.
“Edie!” the voice wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t let her work.
“Please! Please just a little longer,” she pleaded. She wanted to finish it. No—she had to.
“Edie, wake up please!”
Edie’s eyes snap open, and she sits up abruptly, looking around wildly until her eyes land on a nervous-looking figure hovering near her bed—is this even her bed? The fog of sleep lifts from her mind, and she recognizes the figure to be Moreau.
“Morning Dr. Salvatore!” she gasps “Sorry for waking up so late.”
He looks slightly worried, wringing his hands and stealing glances at her occasionally but manages a smile in response. “Good morning to you too Edie. I thought you were never going to wake up,” he says half-jokingly, “I tried waking you up three times before this but you kept asking for more time.”
Edie groans, “I’m so sorry! I’m really not a morning person.”
The two of them laugh it off awkwardly, and Moreau excuses himself to tidy up the lab a bit before they start their day. Edie hurriedly runs through her morning routine and decides to skip breakfast, not wanting to keep Salvatore waiting any longer than he already had. Most of her things that she shipped to the Village while moving have not arrived yet (Eddie assumed that there was some delay in transit), and Salvatore had graciously provided her with basic toiletries and daily necessities.
After making herself look mostly presentable, Edie pauses for a moment to examine herself in the mirror. Perhaps she is simply nervous for her first day or feeling jittery due to being late already, but Edie couldn’t seem to keep still. Taking a deep breath, she steadies herself, “Be cool Edie. It’s a fresh start and don’t fuck it up for yourself. It’s fungus time.”
Edie lets out a puff of breath sprints to the lab to meet up with Salvatore. She sees his back facing the window and opted to knock on the door before barging in just in case she would startle him. However, Moreau must have heard her coming because he shuffles around and opens the door, “Ah so fast Edie! I would have never guessed you were running late.”
Out of breath Edie wheezes out a reply, “Gotta hustle gotta grind! Skipped breakfast but who needs that anyway.” She sucks in some air, “ Please show me around. I'm ready to get started!”
Though pleased with her enthusiasm, Moreau looks at his assistant concernedly. Edie has her hands gripped tightly on her knees as she hunches over, shoulders jerky up and down arrhythmically as she tries to catch her breath. Oddly enough, he notes that Edie’s face lacks the red flush often accompanying vigorous exercise despite being able to hear her heart rapidly drum in her chest. Even if he were to assume she is simply winded, the distance to the lab is hardly long enough to wear her out this much. After all, Edie seemed to be young and healthy and not possessing the burdens of unusual physiology like him. He most likely is overreacting, but Moreau felt baffled by the incongruences of her current state.
He in no way means to be rude or judgmental but, “Why are you so winded?” He reaches out tentatively and retracts his hand a few times and his hand ends up hovering around hers for a few moments. “May I?”
Edie is baffled but offers up her arm, “I uhhm… yes?”
A look of calm determination falls over Moreau’s face, and he gently guides Edie’s arm to a relaxed position on the lab bench in front of them. He lightly places his index and middle finger on her wrist as if feeling for her pulse while flicking open a pocket watch with his other hand. For the next minute, they stand there in near silence, Moreau focusing on the rise and fall of Edie’s chest. He releases Edie’s wrist and looks up, noticing Edie studying him with a curious expression.
“So what’s the verdict doc? Is my heart beating so fast it’s gonna burst?”
Moreau smiles at the playfulness of Edie’s questions, “Your breathing rate is higher than I would have expected, slightly irregular too. I’m—”
Edie interrupts him, “Wait I thought you were counting my heartbeat.”
“Oh, it’s an old trick; if you tell someone you’re counting their breaths, of course they would be self-conscious and that would affect their breathing. Pretending to count heart rate gets them in a position where you can have your patient sit still for a minute without drawing their attention to breathing.” Moreau continues, “But if you wanted to know, your heart rate is high too. I’m concerned that you’ve overexerted yourself, and I would rather you be late than feeling ill at the lab. Have you had issues like this in the past?”
“Not… really? Not like this at least.” Edie chews her lip for a moment, wracking her brain for something that could explain her condition, “It’s just… higher elevation! Air kinda thin up here in the village.” Her mouth curls up to a grin again as she continues, “plus I’m weak as hell.” She flops her arms around to prove her point, “I’ve never been fit— I mean just look at my noodle arms.”
“R-right, noodle arms” Moreau agrees hesitantly, “Well I hope your body can acclimate to the lower oxygen concentration soon. If you feel lightheaded or struggling to catch your breath like this again, please take care of yourself and rest until the symptoms subside. I recommend you refrain from all strenuous activities for the time being.”
He continues focusing his gaze thoughtfully on Edie, “Though I may be overly cautious, if you would allow it, I would like to draw a bit of blood later today to check your hematocrit levels and then again in a month or so to be sure that your red blood cells are increasing adequately.”
Edie is taken aback by the shift in Salvatore’s speaking to something much more clinical than how he had spoken prior to this. Then again, he is a doctor who has his own clinic after all. “Of course, Dr. Moreau, I trust you,” Edie agrees. Then she asks offhandedly, “You have a hematology lab here too?”
Moreau breaks eye contact with her, voice rising slightly in pitch, “You could say that.” Edie raises her eyebrow curiously at him, and he coughs and fidgets a bit, “We have a few… blood specialists in the village.”
“Right I’m sure there’s lots for me to learn about the village and we can start off with a lab tour? Lead the way please.”
Moreau hands her a lab coat which Edie throws on and buttons up with practiced ease. Though it has been a while since her previous research position, muscle memory of being in the lab still stayed with her. Moreau continued on into the lab with Edie trailing behind him, and she frowned, “Don’t you need your lab coat Dr. Moreau?”
“Oh. I only have one coat… I don’t need it. And please, don’t be so formal, just Salvatore is fine.”
Edie’s eyebrows furrow in concern, “Alright, Salvatore, but what about lab safety? Whatever mold we’re studying in this lab, shouldn’t you be more careful around it?”
“The Mold can’t hurt me now. It’s better for you to be safe.” Moreau replies stiffly.
“What makes you think the mold can hurt me?”
The two of them stare at each other, both surprised by the other’s reply. Moreau couldn’t tell if Edie’s challenge was out of defiance or concern for his safety. She knows close to nothing about the dangers of the Mold or his affliction, and her boldness to challenge the Mold like that could result in her death or worse—something Moreau actively is trying to prevent. Regardless, whatever he does will upset Edie or get him in trouble. He meant it when he says that the Mold couldn’t hurt him—not more than it already has anyway, but Edie didn’t know that. And if he were to explain to her why, it would likely be going against Mother Miranda’s will and more than likely horrify his new friend.
He couldn’t think of any ways to talk his way out of this. Even worse is that the longer takes to respond, the more Edie will demand a satisfactory answer. Moreau suppresses a shudder as stress threatens to overtake him, both figuratively and literally. Not only was he scrambling for words, his Cadous decide to flare up now—they always do at the worst times. He pulls his cloak tight against his back to restrict the growing and writhing mass forming on his back, still trying to think of something—anything—to say to Edie. He begins slowly, eyes squeezed shut from concentration, “We are a bit… unorthodox in the village, in the lab. I don’t always do things right. Please don’t be mad I’ll figure out how to fix it.”
Edie hums soothingly, realizing that she came off to be more confrontational than she intended. Now didn’t seem like the right time to pry and with today being the first day of lab, it is no surprise for her to run into unexpected situations.“Hey, I’m not angry and I wasn’t picking a fight. I just want us to be safe ok? We can add ‘lab coat’ to the list of things I have to shop for—now that I’m going to be here for a while. For now, maybe you can wear your cloak as a lab coat?”
Moreau relaxes and looks at Edie, letting out a relieved breath that he had not realized he was holding. “I-I can do that,” he straightens up a little and pulls his cloak close, “Let’s finish this lab tour shall we?"
Their moods brighten as the lab tour proceeds with Edie practically bouncing around with excitement as Salvatore walks her through the wet lab. Moreau on the other hand, though feeling significantly less stressed than earlier, is careful to keep Edie in front of him lest she notices the growing Cadous on his back. Still, they continue without hiccups as Moreau points out the locations of safety shower, exits, fume hoods, microscopes, autoclave, and other essential lab equipment.
As the tour wraps up, Moreau guides her to the central lab bench and hands her a stack of files and folders. He clears his throat and looks at Edie, who at the moment, is curiously eyeing the documents in front of her and very dutifully holding herself back from diving straight reading them. “Well that’s the lab, mostly. Mother Miranda sent me these early this morning, for you to read. Should familiarize you with the Mold and give you a basic idea of what the project entails,” he fidgets with the hem of his well-worn cloak, “I’ll leave you to it then?”
Edie’s and shoots up, startling Moreau a bit, “Edie?”
“Yes! Dr. Mor— I mean Salvatore! I have a few questions,” she blurts out.
This garners a small laugh from the Lord of the Reservoir, “By all means, ask away. And this isn’t a classroom, you don’t have to wait to be called on. We’re colleagues now after all.”
“Ah thank you very much!” Edie quiets her excitement before continuing, “Firstly, what is back there?” She gestures to two large windows to an adjacent room that currently have dark curtains drawn to block the view.
Moreau’s smile falters; thankfully, the room—his operation room— is empty today as Mother Miranda had not sent any new Cadous or people in the past few weeks. He, however, definitely wants to keep Edie far away from that information for her own sake, for the sake of their newly formed friendship, and for fear of going against Mother Miranda’s wishes. He settles on an answer, “That’s classified information. Perhaps Mother Miranda will explain it to you one day.”
Edie nods understandingly and moves directly to her next question, “Alright when can I see Miranda then?
“…Maybe soon? When she requires you, she’ll call on you. Though if it is urgent I can give Mother a call.”
Edie is already waving her hand and jumping to the next, “When can I see the mold? Ah probably after I read these, can’t start experiments if I don’t know what I’m doing right? That was a dumb question ignore that please.” She sucks in a deep breath (it honestly impressed Moreau that she is speaking this quickly), “How do you prefer lab notes to be done? How often should I be sharing data with you? Should I make weekly presentations?”
“I’ll be working closely with you so I wouldn’t need formal updates. Take notes as you see fit—they may be useful for you for our meetings with Mother Miranda.”
“Excellent. That should be all for now, thank you Salvatore,” Edie beams, “Oh! I almost forgot the most important question.” For the first time this morning, she looks a bit shy but still excited as ever, “Do you wanna eat lunch together?”
Moreau beams back at her, “It would be my pleasure.”
Edie busies herself with reading the papers, and Moreau leaves to the next room. He groans softly as he slumps down into a chair. Altogether, the morning and the lab tour had gone much more smoothly than he anticipated. Of course, it would have been much preferred for his Cadou not to start growing uncontrollably, but they seemed to have quieted for the time being. It has been a while since the last time his Cadou began growing unexpectedly, and it seems that this time he is headed for discomfort as usual. He would likely have to walk around hunched over until… Moreau shook his head, refusing to think about the other alternative.
Instead, he busied himself with reorganizing his surgical equipment. He pins up a few anatomical diagrams and sketches of the Cadou as a finishing touch. Feeling satisfied with his cleaning, he steps out, only to be greeted with quite the opposite situation in the lab. Edie is perched on a lab stool, sitting with one leg propped on the stool and other the other swinging by the stool idly. Half of the stack Moreau handed to her earlier is scattered all over the table, some even on the floor. Not noticing that Salvatore has returned, Edie continues scanning the document in her hands with laser focus, occasionally muttering to herself and scribbling on a sheet of paper.
Moreau smiled at himself, finding his new lab assistant’s dedication to the job endearing. It was, however, way past noon, and he knew that Edie should be getting something to eat soon. He walks over to Edie, making sure to take louder than normal steps to alert her of his presence—she was still engrossed in reading and he would hate to startle her. “Edie,” he greets, “I think it’s time we get lunch?”
“Mhmm,” Edie hums, not quite paying attention but agreeing nonetheless.
“I didn’t pack anything for us but it’s only a short walk back home,” Moreau starts again.
Again, Edie replies distractedly, “Ah yes of course. Your call Salvatore.”
It was clear that she wasn’t going to stop reading on her own. As much as Moreau wanted to indulge Edie and commend her work ethic, he was still worried about her bout of weakness from earlier that morning. Gently, he reached out and grabs Edie’s hand, guiding her to put the current paper down. Edie looked up at Moreau and as if broken out of a trance, she looked surprised for a second as she shifted her focus from reading to Moreau.
She grinned sheepishly at him, “Hey! Uh sorry was I ignoring you?”
“You seemed very focused,” Salvatore replies with a kind smile, “Glad you’re serious about work but I believe we had plans for lunch?”
“Yes please! I didn’t even realize I was starving!”
The two of them made their way back to Moreau’s house by the docks. Again, Moreau was careful to keep Edie walking in front of him, and she either didn’t notice or chose not to comment on his hunched posture. Moreau busied himself with making them a simple lunch with whatever he had left over (he really needed to see Duke for some fresh ingredients and maybe a cookbook) as Edie excused herself to grab something. A little while later, the two of them settled down to dine together at Moreau’s little barrel table.
They ate in comfortable silence with the waves rolling onto the shore providing peaceful ambient noise. Though, Edie threw the occasional curious glance at Salvatore throughout the meal. Eventually, Moreau noticed. “What is it? You seem like you have a question on your mind,” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes yes. I have lots of questions, mostly about the mold. But! I had trouble keeping a healthy work-life balance so I will save those for when we get back to the lab,” Edie pauses for a breath and continues, “But I hardly know anything about you and so as your new best friend, if you’ll have me of course, tell me about you please. About what you like, or don’t like, or your family, or anything really!”
Moreau’s eyes widened at her proposition; in the short time that she had been at the Reservoir, she never ceased to surprise him with her eagerness. He tried to sit up a bit to convey his own enthusiasm, but the ache in his back forced him to stay hunched over. He chuckled nervously thinking of his response, “Well… that was a lot of questions. I can’t answer all of that over lunch but I can start with ‘likes.’”
He turned to look at Edie, who in turn was looking at him with bright shining eyes and a goofy grin. “I like cheese. I like rom coms from any era. I like to fish when the weather is nice. I like my ‘family’ even though they don’t take me seriously most of the time,” Moreau lists off, “And now I think I like you Edie, my favorite lab assistant.”
“Hey! I’m your only lab assistant,” Edie laughs.
“Still my favorite thought,” Moreau quips back.
They finish their lunch together with some more easy banter and soon enough, it was time for the two friends to head back to the lab.