ota {behind the mirror}

[holdsmyheart]

He's only meant to close his eyes for a minute, maybe five. But, he'd worked till well after sundown yesterday, then had come Donia Carruthers and her emergency stroke, which had seen him up all night long, getting the woman stable and trying to calm her distraught husband, and by then, adrenaline and coffee had rendered him unable to sleep, so back to his office he went.

And the agenda was full: a meeting with Rowan regarding the security issues involving the other Suits, the conversation with Mano about the h/vac system in the Castle as well as the planning and organization of a possible summer luau for the entire Deck, and countless other little details scrawled into his calendar. But somewhere around mid-morning, Theo's eyes just refused to stay open and he unconsciously leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, slipping into a doze before he realized it.

Just a minute. Just five minutes. That's all.

Comments

[somuchheart]

It really doesn't make her entirely happy to see her King in such a state. Which is why she'll be waiting for him when he wakes up with a tote bag slung over one shoulder.

First to be retrieved, of course, is a bottle of water for him. "Good morning, your Majesty," she teases gently with a soft smile.

[holdsmyheart]

He didn't doze long; his chair wasn't comfortable enough for that. Although Theo'd never been one for power naps, he nevertheless did feel a bit better when he finally opened his eyes, and blinked to see Blythe standing on the other side of his desk.

"Hey," he returned her greeting, sitting up with a lopsided smile. "G'morning. How was the trip?"

[somuchheart]

"It was... quite relaxing. There were some, ah, interesting parts. Overall, a really lovely time." She straightens, nodding. "And now I'm back and ready for work. From what I can see, it's about time."

[holdsmyheart]

"Good." Theo's phone chimed; he leaned up, read the text message then put it back down. "Donia Carruthers had a stroke last night, so Accounting is going to need a replacement since Phillip will be with her for a while. And some time later this afternoon, I'd like to sit down with you and Rowan to talk about the security problems going around."

Theo's brows lowered as he went on, "I'm sure we didn't have a breach like the others, but it never hurts to go over the details." He shuffled through a stack of papers, selected one, then asked, "By the way, how are you and Hadyn getting along?"

[somuchheart]

"Of course. I've had HR look into it, and I'm nearly certain we're fine, but it's good to be thorough."

She shrugs a little at his question. "We've... always gotten along well. It was a good suggestion from Elisha, really. He keeps me organized."

[alwaysmessedup]

That knocking at the door frame is Justin pushing his way in, a couple of cans of paint in hand, and a couple of brushes in another. "Yeah, sorry. I can work around you, no worries."

Hey, you were the one who told him you wanted your office painted, Theo.

[holdsmyheart]

Theo opened his eyes and sat up, spying Justin just coming into his office, and smiled. "Ah, yes. Excellent. I have..." he pushed back from the desk, rose and fetched a few large pieces of heavy cloth, shaking one out, "...drop-cloths."

He set it aside, nodding to the couch and chairs along the wall. "Let's move the furniture out into the hallway, and we'll start on that side and work around."

[alwaysmessedup]

Some paint rollers and pans and tape to keep the paint from getting on the trim of things probably would have also been a good idea, not that Justin would have known to fetch them. Or necessarily cared.

Also, the paint cans he's carrying may be full of the cheapest paint there was to get at the store, so it likely looks something rather reminiscent of concrete gray.

But he'll just set the cans down and raise his eyebrows at the furniture. "You do realize you'd be better off with somebody who actually knows what the fuck they're doing, right?"

Fair warning, Theo, fair warning.

[holdsmyheart]

"Never too late to learn something new," Theo replied cheerfully. He glanced at the cans of paint, cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. "I wish you'd have checked with me before shlepping those heavy things all the way up here, Justin."

Theo stepped over to the small closet on the other side of his office, rummaged for a few minutes, procuring two large paper bags of painting supplies as well as two cans of primer and two cans of peachy-cream colored paint. "I already had most of this up here."

He fished a photo concept from his stack of papers and held it out. "This is the plan," he explained. "Already have the furniture, as you can see, but the walls need to be done, as well as the carpet." His grin reappeared. "Won't take long."

[alwaysmessedup]

"Shoulda made your orders more plain then, I guess."

He doesn't look to be in too much of a hurry to either remove the stuff he's brought up or take the stuff that Theo's pulled out.

And he'll be raising his eyebrows at the picture. "Wanna look like every other Joe Blow office in the world? Pretty damn boring, man."

[dreamsofwords]

There's no personal assistant to keep him out, so Alasdair just steps into Theo's office, and then...pauses, before he clears his throat.

"I can come back later if this is a bad time?"

[holdsmyheart]

Opening his eyes and blinking, Theo sat up, spying Alasdair in the doorway and waved him in.

"No, no, not at all. Come in, come in. Just taking a power nap."

He gestured to a chair. "Please." Steepling his fingers, Theo propped his arms on his desk and assumed an open, waiting expression.

"What's on your mind, Alasdair?"

[dreamsofwords]

Power naps. There were a couple of days lately when he sort of wanted one of those himself. Maybe he could count that as "prep." Probably not, realistically.

"Nothing big," he said as he closed the door behind him. "Just wanted to update you on the situation with my dad."

[holdsmyheart]

"Ah, yes." Theo nodded encouragement. "I've been meaning to ask your mom up for coffee, but our schedules keep conflicting. How's he doing?"

[dreamsofwords]

The schedules are probably conflicting on purpose. Catherine's dealing with it better, but it's still not something she wants to talk to anyone about.

As for Dougal, Alasdair's hand seesaws. "There are good days." And bad days goes without saying. "I've gotten Mom to agree to off-Deck treatment, though."

[butneverbreak]

She does have a real reason for being here. She does have business she wants to run by the King of her Suit.

It's just that when she finds people sleeping at their desks, she has to wake them up. In her blood. In her system.

At least this time it's with a rough shake on the shoulder rather than a smack on the head. "Hey, doll. Terrible for your spine."

[holdsmyheart]

Theo didn't immediately open his eyes, but rather grunted instead. "Yeah, I know," he mumbled back, still unmoving. "'s why I have this chair, instead of one more comfortable."

He finally did open his eyes and glance up at her, quirking an eyebrow. "Catnap," was all he said before gesturing her to one of the empty chairs near his desk.

"And to what do I owe the honor, milady James?"

[butneverbreak]

She couldn't help the brief quirk of a smile. Always nice to let oneself feel trusted. Likely Theo was just too tired to care, but she'd let herself be an optimist.

Chairs were nice, but easier was simply checking her hip lightly against the side of his desk. It would, after all, be more conducive to smacking him awake again.

"First and foremost to my horrible concern that my King is going to leave me with an absolute mess of paperwork when he falls asleep on a letter opener."

[holdsmyheart]

He was awake now, never fear. To her comment, however, Theo snorted a chuckle, scrubbed a hand through his hair and leaned back in the chair, crossing arms over his chest.

"I doubt that," he half-smiled. "Don't use one." No, he just tore the ends off the envelope--call him strange.

[butneverbreak]

"A man who likes to live dangerously, I see. How in the world d'you not panic about the paper cuts you might get?"

Then again, how often did people get actual snail mail these days? Perhaps the whole point was moot. But also perhaps a few minutes pondering a moot point would be good for a tired brain.

[gotyourheart]

It really is only just five minutes. Their meeting is meant to be soon, after all.

Though she lets him get a little bit longer to sleep as she gets herself settled, and she'll look at him with a somewhat stern expression on her face when he does awaken, "Should I be shooing you off to bed instead of meeting with you? We can reschedule."

[holdsmyheart]

He heard her come in, but didn't open his eyes until she spoke, a belated, sleepy smile appearing.

"Nah, I'm good." Theo sat up, rubbed the bridge of his nose and put his glasses back on. "Didn't expect to be up all night, but I'll live. I'm a big boy and everything."

[gotyourheart]

"If you say so," comes the slightly dubious reply.

"We can try to keep this short; snag a few more minutes sleep before your next meeting. I imagine you're just as busy as I am."

[holdsmyheart]

"No, because rescheduling usually results in missed meetings." Or had in his experience. "Pull up a chair...from somewhere."

Thanks to Justin's efforts, Theo's office was quite haphazard, but the King regarded it as a work in progress.

"I'm sure you're aware of the situation happening in the other three Suits," the 'traitors', as it were, "and I'm wondering what the consensus is, regarding the situation."

[gotyourheart]

She nods, getting a chair after moving the pile of paperwork off of it.

"I believe the other Suits' Royals are... taking care of the ones in their Suit," she begins, "And while they don't seem to have had a connection in our own Suit, I feel it would be wise to keep an eye on any who arrived within the time period that the others did, just in case."