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Somewhere far away in the Swiss alps, Mary and Ellody huddle around the same microscope. Ellody is hawking over the lenses, intently zooming in and out of the cells they were flown over to experiment and examine, while Mary watches the screen in front of them to look out for any radiation being detected. It was the middle of winter, the clouds were thick white, the windows were condensed, and any beautiful view from the window left to the geniuses was pure fog.
"Interesting," Says Mary. "There seems to be a number of beta particles, but quite small, so for what we're doing it's nothing to worry about."
"Anything else?" Ellody said briefly, before raising her head from the lenses of the microscope.
Mary clicks through the elements in the cell and huffs out a disappointed sigh.
"Almost completely hydrogen."
"Well," Ellody snorts. "most cells are."
"Heh, if that isn't true!"
Ellody rolls back in her chair away from the microscope, continuing to scoot back across the entire room. She parks the chair at a window.
“It's gorgeous out there.” She says. “We should take a break. The team wouldn't have brought us out here if they didn't want us to enjoy the view.”
Mary walks over, and the pair have a peaceful moment of watching the clouds and the fog together.
“It's going to snow.” Mary observes. Ellody nods in agreement.
“Affirmative.”
And just as Mary had predicted, the clouds begin to let graceful white snowflakes dance their way to the ground in large assembled groups, and fast. The geniuses had no problem watching the snow fall for hours leaning against the window counter, finding enjoyment in examining the level of snow that was emerging, the layers that piled over the mountains, erasing any green left over from the view.
Then came a loud thump from the door.
“Oh?” Mary stands up straight and walks towards the door.
“Careful, Mary.” Ellody raises her eyebrows.
“I'm careful.” She opens the door, and to her surprise was a mountain of snow blocking their exit from the lab!
Ellody gasps and rushes over. She attempts to push the snow out–maybe it was thin enough to knock over.
“No!” She holds her face in panic. “We were supposed to leave today, Mary! Mary, we were supposed to leave today, that's what we said! Today is a Thursday, we were going to leave and go back home on Thursday–TODAY! Mary!!”
“You're right, this might mean that we stay here a little longer.. We can pass the time by packing up our equipment.” Mary slides out a black duffel bag from under a table and rips the zip open. She takes out a foam padded box and begins packing away the microscope and cell tabs. “Ellody?”
“It's already getting dark..” Ellody shudders. “We won't be done packing before the middle of the night! And I predict our levels of exhaustion won't be safe for driving..!”
Mary brushes through her fringe and sweeps them to the side.
“Slow down.. If worse comes to worse we'll just stay the night! I brought coffee, and tea, and..” She rummages through the duffel bag with a smile and pulls out two hoodies--one purple one orange-with the periodic table plastered on the back, and on the front was a cat with glasses and a test tube in its mouth. “It's from Physiphor–the science group. It's got a cat.. hehe. With a test tube in its mouth. Wonderous!”
Ellody lightens up, and brings herself to a chortle accompanying Mary's snorts.
“Wow.” Ellody takes the hoodie and immediately pulls it over her head. “It certainly makes up for the weather. And tea sounds splendid, please.”
They walk over to a separate room–a kitchen/break room. The window blinds kindly cover most of the snowy disaster striking the alps outside. Mary opens a few cupboards and eventually discovers the cup-cupboard. She takes out two mugs, both with cats on them, and turns on the kettle.
“Sugar? Milk?” Mary asks. Ellody shakes her head with a knowing smile.
“Just black please.”
“Good. I'm glad we're on the same page!” She sits down at the table and takes off her glasses to rest her head on her arms. Ellody lays her chin on her palms and stares forward at Mary with a small smile. She finishes making the teas to allow Mary an extra ounce of rest, and places them beside both of them.
“These chairs aren't structurally sound at all. Listen.” Says Ellody. She pushes the seat of the chair down, and it rattles against the legs. “Completely unsafe!”
“Ellody, please. If the main concern of Physiphor was the structural integrity of a chair in the kitchen, they would have sent two repair workers.” Mary tuts.
Snow continues to fall for the next hour, and the sun quickly sets. Ellody sits on the floor against the wall and sips on her cold tea. Mary sits beside her.
“Mary, are we really staying here overnight?”
“Yes. The conditions outside are no conditions to leave the lab in.”
Ellody takes out a small strand of hair and splits it into three parts to braid. She takes the braid out and braids it again. She intertwines her hair into knots she can undo with a fluent rhythm. Mary observes Ellody’s constant fidgeting. She knew Ellody was incredibly frustrated with the lack of going back home. They were off plan by a whole night and it was driving her insane. Mary didn’t mind much, but the stress from Ellody made her stressed a little. She didn’t know how to comfort her in ways that aren’t material like the hoodies, and they were both already wearing them. However, she did notice Ellody getting increasingly frustrated with the braid ending so quickly. Mary scoots closer and brings a small part of her long hair in Ellody’s direction.
“Really?” Ellody asks, and Mary nods. She immediately begins making a braid in Mary’s hair. She continues tying and untying knots in her science partner’s hair, and Mary even falls asleep as she does so. Her head falls towards Ellody’s shoulder and rests there comfortably. This brings her immense happiness, and her face flushes red. She braids and unbraids her hair one last time before her fingers get completely sore from all that tying. She also finds herself in a state of profuse stress by her empty hand.
She twitches her thumbs but it is no use. Her hair was certainly fed up with it being used to keep her calm. Her hoodie was too new to fray. Mary’s hand was empty. Not only would it be a source of heat, but she can lock her fingers in between Mary’s and stop her from fidgeting any more.
With great hesitation, Ellody moves her hand towards her science partners’. Her fingers intertwine with Marys’, holding her hand firmly. And, not long after, she falls asleep.
Mary circles her thumb around the back of Ellody’s hand, and holds it even tighter. She brings their hands to her lips and smiles against them.
“We’ll be back home tomorrow.” She says quietly.
Though, in all truthfulness, she wanted this moment to last way beyond tomorrow.