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Ahhhh.
Caroline sighed as she took another sip of the instant decaf coffee made by her boss. The first day or so she'd been drinking it, she'd been what she could only describe as testing the fortitude of her taste buds - though she wouldn’t have dared say it out loud..
Lately, however, either due to her acclimating or Cave Johnson's skills improving, she found herself not just tolerating the concoction, but almost outright appreciating it.
Maybe cabin fever was real after all.
Thank goodness Cave Johnson knew how to pull out all the stops. She heard familiar footsteps. There he was.
“Will ya look at that!” Her boss exclaimed, sitting on the couch they’d just spent the better part of an hour moving up an unsettlingly creaky flight of stairs. Right next to her, halfway covered by the blanket Caroline had coccooned herself into.
Cave Johnson’s gaze, normally no stranger to his assistant, was this time focused in the same direction as hers. She remembered an old quote about that – before dismissing it as quaint advice for old married couples. She was neither of those two, and that was how she liked it.
Besides, who could’ve possibly wanted to miss the view of the Aurora Borealis through the skylight of their not-so-little cabin. “It’s been getting brighter and brighter, sir. Look how green it is.”
Cave Johnson took a sip of his own coffee – with zero difficulty tolerating the taste – and sighed. “There’s nothing that’ll ever replace Michigan, but damn, if only we could get this kinda view over there.”
Caroline made a mental note on it – they’d actually considered the technology of recreating the aurorae anywhere on the planet, and it did actually seem within the realm of possibility, though it never seemed quite interesting (or lucrative) enough to put every other project of theirs on hold. Maybe one day they’d get around to it.
“All the more reason to come back here from time to time, sir.”
“Ah, right you are. This was a smart move, acquiring the comms company.” Caroline took another sip. “Far enough to test the long range technology, just the right place where nobody’ll be asking questions. And just you look at the–”
“Shhh” Caroline pulled him closer, moving the blanket around so as to cover them both. For all the times she’d had to keep his focus on the task at hand, it should’ve been a blessing to see him so focused on work that it was near impossible to snap him out of it.
She knew her boss well enough to know he only acted like this when he was unusually excited. And she knew it was well earned.
Finding a company that was willing to participate. Getting Dr. Herschel on board. Actually travelling all the way to the middle of nowhere. Signing deals to build the equipment. Secrecy clauses. Caroline caught herself before her mind spiraled too much.
“You’ve done a real good job sir.” Caroline whispered, leaning into him.
Cave Johnson chuckled. “Ah hell, I couldn’ta done it alone. Certainly not without you there.”
Caroline smiled. “Santa’s little helper, hm?”
“Santa Clave Johnson, coming to town.”
Caroline let out a suppressed giggle that only she could’ve made without getting fired. “Riding on his teleporting sleigh?”
“Bringing the gift of science to all the good kids!” Cave Johnson had no shame in his sense of humor. Caroline began to smirk.
“Do I get the gift of science?”
“Well my dear, I guess that all depends on if you’ve been good or not.” This man was playing with fire right now, and he knew it.
Putting on her best doe-eye face, Caroline pondered, “Oh golly, if only there was something I could do to get in Santa’s good graces.”
“Oh, he’s making a list. And as it just so happens, top of that list is sitting right here, watching the lights.”
Caroline grinned. She was going to make him pay for that. Maybe later though. For now, this was more than enough. She raised her mug, “I’ll drink to that.”
After clinking their mugs and finishing off their coffee, the two sat together in silence, admiring the stream of charged and ionized particles in the atmosphere, straight through their skylight, before drifting off, only to wake up the next morning in the same place they were the night before.