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Eva Stratt breathed out a sigh of relief as she walked into her room and locked the door behind her. What a day it had been and god was she tired. She resisted the urge to fall face down onto her bed and cry, or simply fall asleep because the notion of crying seemed too exhausting right now.
But, despite all of it, she still forced herself to get ready for bed properly. She threw her bag down on her desk chair, then practically ran to the bathroom to take a hot shower and brush her teeth. She sighed out of relief again as the steamy water hit her skin, relaxing her muscles for the first time in 21 hours.
In all honesty, she didn’t like being Director Stratt. She knew that when she volunteered for the position. She understood that that was who she’d have to be in front of people when she took the job. Yet, she was still Director Stratt even when she just wanted to be Eva.
As she got ready for bed, she tried not to think too hard about everything that had gone wrong that day. The Prime Minister of Australia had berated her about funding; a small explosion had burnt a science specialist’s face as well as singed off his left eyebrow, and he was now being treated in the med bay; and Dr. Grace had tripped and fell on his way to a meeting, and he was unfortunately walking alongside Eva, and managed to take her down with him. That one was a particularly painful one for Eva. Both for her ego and for the spot on her right hand that now donned a purple bruise. She patted it gently as she reminisced.
As Director Stratt, she carried an air of importance everywhere she went, always stoic and standing up pin straight. When she was on the floor on top of her lead scientist, that bubble burst. She lost it for a split second despite herself. However she quickly stood up and brushed herself off before hesitating and helping Dr. Grace up, because well, what else could she have done? Kicked him and walked away? At this point, it didn’t seem like that bad of an idea.
Eva stepped out of the bathroom and blow dried her hair before climbing into the blissful embrace of her bed. God it felt nice. She shut off the lights and rolled over until she found a comfortable position. She fell asleep in an instant. Almost.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Eva shot up in bed as an unwanted wave of adrenaline flowed through her veins. The sound, obviously, came from her door.
She let out an exhausted sob and threw a pillow at the door before unwillingly leaving her bed and muttering German swears as she made her way to the door. It was -she looked at the clock mounted on the wall behind her- 11:03 PM in the time zone they were currently in. China’s, she was pretty sure. It was not late necessarily, but it was certainly early for her.
Who is potentially getting fired? She asked herself as she looked outside the peephole. Dimitri Komorov stood outside, rocking back and forth on his feet, a habit Eva was almost certain he had picked up from Dr. Grace.
Damn, he’s too important.
She looked down at her clothes before she opened the door, which proved useless since the room was dark, but she knew anyways. She was wearing a pajama set, dug out from somewhere deep in her closet that she hadn’t really cared to look at before throwing on. Should she change? She decided against it, as she was planning to keep the interaction as short as possible anyways.
Eva threw open the door with a glare already set on her face, which had not been too hard to muster, given the circumstances.
Dr. Komorov stood there nervously, not wearing his lab coat, which Eva had come to believe was glued to his body.
“Dr. Komorov, wh-” she started.
“Please, call me Dimitri,” Dr. Komorov interjected. Stratt narrowed her eyes.
“Dr. Komorov.” She repeated firmer. “What brings you here at this hour?” There was no point for professionalism in this situation.
“Well uhh- I was looking- I was looking for Ryland, and figured he might be here? He wasn’t in his office, or his quarters or-“
“And why the hell would Dr. Grace be here?” She retorted angrily.
“Well,” he began sheepishly, “you are sleeping together aren’t you? I figured in that case, he might be here…”
Eva glared at Dr. Komorov with the fury of a woman with the world at her fingers. “What the fuck makes you think that, that is highly unprofessional Dr. Komorov. I would never do such a thing.”
“I mean, haven’t you heard the rumors? The two of you are the “it” couple after DuBois and Shapiro…”
“Dr. Komorov you have 10 seconds to leave before I personally chase you off this ship.”
“Well, I’ll just say, if you don’t want that scientist, you can have this one…” he winked.
Eva’s expression suddenly softened and she smiled sweetly, and Dimitri’s demeanor relaxed a little.
“Well, in that case,” she began to unbutton her shirt a little before leaning forward a bit, and saying in a low voice, “you must be out of your god damned mind,” before a resounding slap echoed down the hall, followed by the sound of the door slamming in Dimitri’s shocked face.
On her way back to bed, Eva picked up the pillow she had thrown in her earlier fit of rage and dusted it off before putting it back on her bed and lying down again.
A groggy voice came from the other side. “What happened?”
“Nothing important,” Eva responded. “Go back to sleep Ryland,” she leaned over and kissed his forehead.
“I love you Eva,” Ryland murmured sleepily, wrapping his arms around her. She could feel the warmth of his hands on her chest.
“I love you too.”
As she drifted off to sleep once more, a thought crossed her mind.
My job is to lie. This is no different.