Cabot and Associates, Wednesday

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex Cabot had once heard that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

By the strictest sense, then, Alex wasn't insane. Every few hours, when she stopped researching long enough to lift her phone and dial Gibbs' number, she fully expected the same nasal computerized voice to inform her that her call could not be completed as dialed.

Expecting it didn't stop it from hurting, every single time.

Cabot and Associates was open.

(OCD-free)

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was not bored. Jack was frustrated. He'd all but read his eyes bloody over the last week, and it seemed that all there was to do was read his eyes bloody a little more. It wasn't going anywhere.

"Ms. Cabot," he said, and his tone was cheerful even if he looked ragged. "I don't suppose you could use a temporary office assistant until this has passed?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Jack," Alex said. Her eyes were tired, but her smile was genuine, filled with relief. "I always need more hands. And may I say, it is very good to see you."

Especially since she had been starting to worry she might never see him again.

[bitten_notshy]

"I got out about a week before my universe went," Jack commented. "So I'm here until either we fix this or ... something else happens. Anyhow, what can I do?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," Alex said, softly. "If you want to talk about it ..."

She trailed off. Jack didn't seem like he did, but she wasn't always good at reading that from people, so she wanted to let him know that the offer stood.

"I've been doing research on ... whatever the hell this is," she said, "but I'm not finding much, and I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. You can help with that, or you can help with the mountains of legal research I have piled up that I've been ignoring. Searching for case precedents and so on. Just like old times."

(I'm so sorry. RL happened, and then freaking LJ kept crashing like a mad fiend.)

[bitten_notshy]

"There's nothing to say, is there?" Jack said crisply. "It's gone. It won't come back faster because I whine and gnash my teeth."

He flicked a hand over his hair as if brushing it away. "I've no preference, really. Though I suppose the crisis seems more pressing. If we don't solve it, the legal work won't exactly matter."

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Not in the least," Alex agreed. "I keep the legal work around for when I can't stand to look at the research any more. Start wherever you like. Feel free to come in whenever you have nowhere better to be."

She intended to more or less live here for most of ... whatever time was left. Until they fixed this. That was how she was trying to think of it, anyway.

[bitten_notshy]

"That may be rather a lot," Jack warned. "I'm staying with Ronan, but I don't want to be underfoot there."

He glanced over. "What about your world -- there or gone?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"I'll get you a set of keys," Alex said, easily, "so you can open if I'm not here."

She didn't expect to not be here, but it was better to cover her bases.

She hesitated before filling in the rest of the details. "I'm in Witness Protection," she said. "So I can't call home to find out. Someone else ... that I met here is gone. I got a letter."

She busied herself with books, so she could find him something to start working on. And so she didn't think about that sentence.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack's eyebrows went up at the 'witness protection' comment. "I don't know if I could respect Witness Protection during this," he said, but off-handedly; he knew Alex was strong. "I'm sorry you lost a friend."

And then he went over to look at her books.