"I took care of the incursion in the maintenance sector," Jesse announced as she dropped her service weapon on the table. It shifted and changed shape a few times before settling, like an annoyed cat. Exhausted, she collapsed heavily into a chair in the boardroom she and Emily had converted into a command center. She closed her eyes and groaned as she relaxed into the chair, relieved to be getting off her feet. It felt like she'd been running around non-stop for days. She didn't notice Emily discreetly gesture for the other scientists to leave, giving her and the Director some privacy.
"How are you doing, Dir... Jesse?" Emily corrected herself as Jesse started to raise a hand to object to the use of her title.
"I'm beat."
"Is there anything *I* can do to help?"
Jesse raised her eyes to regard the blonde. They'd grown very close, but there was an unaddressed tension that smoldered between them. Sometimes she felt like Emily looked at her as a specimen. Other times she would say something that seemed to hang in the air like an invitation. A frustratingly ambiguous invitation. Jesse felt out of her depth, like she was playing a game, but didn't know the rules.
Not for the first time, she considered directly asking Emily how she felt but dismissed the idea. It wasn't the right moment. It was never the right moment. Especially now, given the current state Jesse was in.
She glanced down at her increasingly grungy jeans and scuffed Docs. There was a bloodstain on her shirt, but it wasn't too visible against the black fabric. Her red hair felt greasy and was pulled into a sloppy ponytail. She was sore all over, and she'd kill for a clean pair of socks and underwear.
Looking at Emily, there was no comparison. Her blonde hair was perfectly styled. Her white dress shirt was crisply ironed, and her boots were spotless. She wore a smart pair of charcoal trousers that were obnoxiously well-fitting. Jesse sighed with a confusing mixture of envy and desire.
"Actually, Emily, there is something I could use your help with. Where in this place can I do my laundry?"
"Oh! Yes, I can help you with that." Was Jesse imagining the flash of disappointment in her eyes? "There's a small laundromat down by the field training facility. During lock-down procedures, most Bureau employees use that."
"...But?" Jesse prompted, sensing there was more.
"...But, as Director, you have access to the Oceanview Motel. So do department heads like me. It doesn't have laundry, per se, but it does have a tendency to offer what you need. Such as a change of clothes."
"You know," Jesse tried not to get her hopes up. "I've passed through the Oceanview at least a dozen times and never seen anything like that."
"Well, it operates on dream logic. When you visited before, you were focused on getting from point A to point B, so the motel provided what you needed. But when I've been, I was more focused on finding a place to, er, rest, and that's what I found."
"I dunno." Jesse frowned. "Seems risky. Every time I pass through there I have to solve some sort of puzzle to escape. I should just head down to the field training facility." She got to her feet, intending to leave.
"And what, sit around in a towel for two hours?" Emily scoffed as she stood up to stop her. "You're the Director. You have more important things to do. Look, if you're worried, why don't you come with me to *my* motel room."
Jesse coughed and tried her hardest not to read anything into that invitation, even as Emily made a point of looking her up and down. Jesse felt her cheeks burning as the scientist's eyes roamed over her curves.
"We're about the same size. My hips are a bit narrower than yours. You can borrow some of my clothes if the motel doesn't provide for you."
Emily seemed so confident, and Jesse was so tired that any further discussion seemed pointless. Soon they were standing side-by-side at one of the light switch cords that served as an entry point to the Oceanview Motel. Jesse reached out to pull the cord, but Emily stopped her.
"Dream logic, remember? If we're going to my motel room, I need to do it." Then she took Jesse's hand and quickly pulled the cord three times. The lights shifted, there was a strange sound, and then they found themselves standing in the dimly lit hallway of the motel. At the end of the hall, late afternoon sunlight seemed to make the lobby glow invitingly. A romantic song was playing on the radio behind the counter.
...And they were still holding hands.
Jesse bit her lip and smiled. Emily seemed to be distracted.
"I never get tired of coming here," Emily said in an awed voice. "We still have so much to learn about the Oceanview. Have we been transported to a real motel somewhere, or is this just another part of the Astral Plane? Why does dream logic work here, even though we seem to be awake? Or are we perhaps in a shared hallucination?" As Emily got more excited, she squeezed Jesse's hand tighter, then looked down in surprise, finally realizing they were still holding hands.
"And where, uh..." Emily let go with an obvious reluctance that set Jesse's heart pounding. "Where do the other locked doors..." The question trailed off as she raised her eyes to meet Jesse's.
For a long, tense moment they stood facing each other. Then, just as Jesse made up her mind to push Emily up against the wall and kiss her, the blonde abruptly turned away and walked toward the lobby.
"...Anyway! My room is right down here." She grabbed the key that was laying on the counter and unlocked the second door in the next hallway. Warm sunlight spilled from the open door as Emily walked in, gesturing for Jesse to follow.
When she entered, Jesse was struck by how different the room felt. She was sure she had been in this room before. Many times in fact, while solving the puzzles the motel liked to throw at her. But it felt more... comfortable? Inviting? There were no obvious differences. All the same furniture. The dresser against the wall, the double bed. The little writing desk and clock radio. But it all seemed to be welcoming her in and inviting her to relax in a way that...
"HOLY FUCK," Jesse blurted.
"What?" Emily, who had been watching Jesse's observations with amusement, looked suddenly concerned. Jesse ran to the open bathroom door on the wall by the dresser.
"Is that a SHOWER?"
"Yes?" Emily sounded confused.
"You don't understand." Jesse sounded like she was ready to cry. "I've been in this room before. All the rooms! There's never been a bathroom here before. When we were standing in the hallway earlier, I was thinking that if we got some clean clothes what I could really use after that was a long hot shower." She sighed and lovingly caressed the ugly 70s floral print shower curtain.
"Well, there you go!" Emily laughed with relief. "I told you, the motel provides what you need."
"Can I really take a shower now? We don't have anywhere to be?"
"As your doctor, I *insist* you take a shower," Emily said teasingly.
"You're not my doctor." Jesse shot back, raising an eyebrow and smiling.
"Well, I'm *a* doctor. And you need to take care of yourself or you won't last long as my Director."
"Hmmm... Okay." Jesse bit her lip in anticipation. "Give me 15... no, 20 minutes."
"Take as long as you want," Emily laughed as she sat on the bed. "I'll be waiting right here."
"You, uh, you could leave if you need to?" *Don't Go.* Jesse kicked herself for saying it. "If you have, you know, work to do?"
"I can't leave, this is my motel room. If I left you could end up stranded in non-Euclidian space or something."
Jesse peered at her suspiciously. She was no scientist, but that sounded made-up. Still, it meant Emily wasn't leaving, so she decided not to question it.
"Okay. Thank you, Emily."
Jesse shut the door. She felt giddy with anticipation as she turned the water on as hot as it would go. The room began to fill with steam as she peeled off her clothes, tossing them in a pile on the floor.
When she finally stepped into the shower, she actually did cry for just a moment, overwhelmed with gratitude. She allowed herself to just stand under the spray for a few minutes and savor it. The pressure of the water massaged some of the tension from her shoulders. The water was almost painfully hot, and her skin quickly turned pink. It was everything she'd hoped for.
As she turned slowly, allowing the water to stream over her body, she took stock. She'd half expected her shower to look like a scene in an action movie. The one where the hero stands in the shower and washes the blood from his last fight down the drain. But all in all, she was in better shape than she'd expected. Some bruises and scrapes, but no serious injuries.
Eventually, she removed the hairband from her ponytail and ducked her head under the spray. She worked her fingers into her hair, loosening it and allowing the water to cascade through. Her fingernails scratched her scalp, helping to wash away days of concrete dust and dirt and who knows what.
The shower held some of those little bottles of motel shampoo and body wash. Jesse picked them up warily and was pleasantly surprised. The shampoo smelled citrusy and made her feel more alert as she massaged it into her hair. The body wash had a mild vanilla scent and left her skin feeling soft and smooth.
There was no razor, which suited her fine. Jesse had an ambivalent relationship with shaving at the best of times. She rinsed the shampoo from her hair and gave her face a vigorous scrub, removing what little makeup she'd been wearing when she arrived.
