4Waking up for the first time next to a woman was a lot more uncomfortable than Brendan thought it would be. They had to make do with the single bed or the floor, and since neither had very much room, nothing much had happened. They kissed, a lot, they got undressed, but that was about it. The room was too small for any extra curricular activities, which, in a way, was a good thing. It was going way too fast.
Freya moaned and rolled over, off of the small bed, making the room shake momentarily. Brendan couldn't help but snigger.
"'S not funny," she moaned, picking herself off the floor.
"Yes it is." :And you know it.: He pictured the scene that had just unfolded in his mind, watching the corners of her beautiful mouth curl up.
Shut up.
He continued to smile as he looked at his watch he'd left on the windowsill.
"It's that early huh?" she asked, using her own mind tricks.
"Yep, five am." :I never get up this early. Even on a work day.:
Freya decided not to answer that and began to put her shirt on. Brendan soon followed suet, and they exited the room, fully dressed and with no evidence that anything had happened.
Finding no one in the mess hall, they went into the kitchen to grab something quick to eat and headed out of the building towards the fields. They stopped next to a fence and watched the sun as it rose over the horizon, thinking of nothing but of its splendour.
They lost track of time, and before they knew it, the usual buzz of lucid minds began to creep into their thoughts. There was one, however, that seemed panicked.
"Do you think Michael ever really stops worrying about us?" Freya asked, turning to look at her partner.
"No, and I don't think he ever will." The agent turned to look at the building, searching for the one pattern that was more active than the rest. He could see that the doctor was in his bedroom, now in the corridor, the kitchen.
Slow down doc.
Brendan? Is that you? The buzzing of his thoughts slowed considerably.
"Did I…"
"Just go with it Brendan." Freya said, taking his hand, though she was equally as shocked as he was.
Yeah, it's me.
Where are you? How are you doing this?
Don't ask, I just wanted to talk, so… I'm with Freya. We got up early, so we went out. We're at the fence where we came in through the fields.
Well this is just incredible! I'll meet you there.
Brendan broke the connection and blinked. "Did I really just do that?"
"Yes, you really did." The grip around his hand tightened for a second as she squeezed it before letting it fall to his side.
It didn't take long for the lead scientist to find them. He seemed a little out of breath, though considering he'd been running throughout the building looking for them it wasn't a surprise.
"Brendan… Freya, how are you… this morning?" he panted, slicking his hair back with his sweaty hand. "Actually, don't answer that."
They waited for him to catch his breath, not saying a word, just listening to the birds and the steady buzz of everyone's thoughts.
"So you're a projector as well," the doctor stated once his breath had returned to him, "very interesting, though not altogether unexpected."
Brendan nodded. Like he'd been told before, George White had been able to project, and he was supposed to be some kind of prodigy.
"Well, this puts a whole new perspective on things." Michael scratched absently above his ear. He pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket, along with a stub of a pencil and wrote down a few notes. "I think our stay may be longer than I anticipated."
As expected, Harper didn't take too lightly to the idea that his two best operatives wouldn't be back for almost another week, but he accepted it, knowing he would be able to do anything anyway. Brendan couldn't help but laugh when he heard the shouts coming through the earpiece that was held several inches away from Michael's face.
Once the call was made, the NSA agent was given a new task.
"Why do I have the cards?" he asked, raising his hand in which the pile lay.
"We need to see if you can project images as well as words. I want you to do what you did before, but send the image, not your voice, into my mind."
He flipped the top card. "Are you sure this is safe doc?"
"As sure as I an be."
Brendan nodded numbly and looked at the shape in the card. It was a square. As he closed his eyes, he thought of what he'd done before, how he'd searched for the doctor's mind and made a connection. He found it again, rebinding the link and sent the image towards the other man.
"A square."
He opened his eyes to find the doctor staring at him. "Sorry?"
"Is it a square?"
He flipped the card to show he'd received the correct image.
Both men smiled and Brendan continued through the pack. Like with when he was reading minds, he had to take it step by step, moving from closed eyes, to open, to looking elsewhere, having more than one person in the room and so on. Eventually it became a game. Who was going to get the image next? What would it be?
It took him the better part of two days to master this new ability as he continued to discover the extents to what he could send. Anything he could remember, he could project into another's mind. The smell of citrus, the taste of his favourite coffee (unfortunately for those who detested it), the feel of silk on the skin, the sound of dogs barking, the feelings he had when he broke his leg. The list went on.
By the end of the third day, they had exhausted the list of possibilities, and Brendan escaped their all too eager hands. He'd decided to sit and watch the sunset, its red light giving an eerie feel to the long grass in front of him, his back supported by one of the fence's supports. He felt the worried thoughts of the scientists tickling the back of his mind before he completely shut them out, listening only to the breeze whistling through the fields.
"I thought I'd find you here."
Brendan turned to find Freya stood leaning on the fence next to him, her deep eyes staring into his. "I don't have to read your mind just to know what you'll do next. Besides, how could I with you keeping that wall up all the time?"
He grinned. "I'm sorry if I stole your steam in there," he reached out for her hand, "I can't help what I am any more than you."
She squeezed. "I don't envy you. You're like a shiny new toy, and everyone wants to 'play' with you. It's nice being in the background for once." Though I do think it's a little unfair that you can do those other things.
:I'm sure you'd be able to do them. You've just never tried.:
Her eyes light up at the thought and she climbed under the railing to sit next to her friend, snuggling under his arm to watch the last of the sun's rays sink beneath the edge of their sight.