Another early morning. I normally wouldn’t call myself a night owl. Honestly I find myself most productive in the mornings. But having to get up balls-early two days in a row, and on a weekend at that…it’s just too much. 

Okay, maybe part of the problem was the slight panic I had when I woke up. I was having a bit of difficulty breathing, like there was a weight on my chest. Anyone who wakes up with unexplained difficulty breathing is bound to be a bit out of sorts for the rest of the day.  Until I realized the weight was just a cat. 

I can’t even get too mad at her. Her usual spot on the couch was taken by an unexpected guest, ordered to stay here by my inconsiderate boss. I do have to wonder if I have a 3rd amendment case, here, this must be a violation of my constitutional rights. But with her usual spot taken up by the awkward sorceress, she decided to sleep…here? Well we are married. 

And despite my initial shock, it was getting harder and harder to complain about it. I genuinely enjoy spending time with her. Minus the manner I was woken up of course. Can’t she at least sleep in human form? I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen her sleep any other way than as a cat, curled up either on the couch or on my chest. 

Where else would I sleep?  I guess she was awake. 

Of course, with all the moving about you’re doing. I had wanted to sleep for a bit longer too…

“Is it really necessary to sleep there? I almost had a heart attack.”

It’s just the right balance of soft and warm. Plus it’s just very relaxing. Far better than the couch. 

“Ouch! Watch your claws!”

Sorry, Instinct. I thought I was going to fall off.

“I swear, if you tore this shirt…” It was already pretty worn out, I had gotten it a while ago when I was on the high school swim team. But it’s the principle of the thing! I can’t just go about ruining good clothes. 

Don’t you do that all the time? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you drink coffee without spilling some.  She let out a yawn before curling back up. She did have a point, but it’s rude to point it out.

“That plays into why I prefer navy colored blouses… but that’s not the point. Come on, get up. I can’t make coffee if you stay there forever. We have work to do, and I’ll be damned if I have to drive without any caffeine.” I tried to pull her off, but her claws were firmly embedded in the shirt. Finally, with a slight tear and an angry “mrowl,” she broke free. 

“Fine.” She had shifted back to her human form, glaring off to the side. Was she always this difficult?

I made my way to the kitchen. I didn’t want to get out of bed just as much as the next person, but goodness was Liah not a morning person. I couldn’t help but grumble under my breath. 

“Morning”

Surprisingly, Sandra was awake. Even better, she had already made a pot. Beloved Elixir. 

“Must have been quite a night.” She looked at my shirt as she spoke, grinning. 

“Huh? Oh motherfucker.” I looked down. Tears, right across the front. “I swear I’m gonna-”

Needless to say, no one had a good morning. Besides Sandra, who was laughing her ass off. 

The one good thing about Sunday’s is there’s not a lot of traffic on the drive to work. The string of churches on the way in means there’s the occasional hourly surge, but compared to how things can get at rush hour it’s not nearly as bad. 

This is all just me coping with the fact that the sun still hadn’t even risen yet. I don’t think any of these churches even hold services before seven or eight. It’s not even six! The warm thermos full of coffee is little comfort. Why is there even a need for this?

The guard at the front gate of the archive seemed to agree, as he ambled out of the booth. That said, it was clear his rifle was condition one, a magazine in and a round in the chamber. Normally they just have handguns; clearly the boss was a bit concerned with our run-in yesterday. That or the watch level for the government as a whole went up coincidentally, but I’m more inclined to believe the former. Call me biased. 

I don’t think I’d ever seen this guard before, but if we’re gonna be honest I normally make my own hours here, or I did before my unwanted promotion. Giving up my weekends and nights was not something I’d do willingly. Yet here I fucking am. 

I made sure to remind Liah to leave her phone in the car before heading into the building. She still wasn’t really used to those kinds of rules. Sandra seemed rather on top of things, probably due to her paranoid NEET-ish background. But rules are rules. My gun’s fine, but cell phones and flash drives are a strict no-no. 

Mrs. S, our boss, was waiting, looking a chipper as ever. In a change from usual, she was accompanied by the same cat that came to see us yesterday. I had mostly taken the cat’s word that they worked here yesterday. How many talking cats do you see, after all? But it was reassuring to know they weren’t some malicious entity kicking up trouble. 

I still can’t tell whether or not they’re a malicious enemy, but count the small victories. 

“I’m glad you could make it on such short notice.”

“Mpljple” Points to Liah for attempting to answer. 

“Nice to see you too.”

“So, what’s so important that we have to get up this early for it?”

“My, and I thought I was being nice giving you time to rest and sleep. This incident is just as bad as the last one you were caught up in, I do hope you realize that. I even had to have poor Mrs. A here run about delivering messages. I can assure you that you had the more relaxing night.”

Remembering the hellish weekend a few weeks ago I knew she was likely telling the truth. That said, I don’t have to be happy about it. It’s my right, no, my duty to be pissed off and sullen about unchangeable facts. It’s right up there with skating for my duties as former enlisted. Being responsible is for the higher ups, the NCO’s and officers. 

“Now, take a seat. Sandra, do you think you could grab more coffee?”

She hesitated by the door, unsure of what to do.

“No cream or sugar please, for any of ours.”

With no other choice, Sandra left. 

“Shouldn’t she be here?”

“She’ll catch enough of this. Most of the basics are the same, it’s just that the timeline for a few things has been moved up. Either way, the only thing keeping her from prison or worse is staying in my good graces. She should have that figured out by now.” The normal self-assured smile was nowhere to be seen. Instead was a face filled with resolve. “Now, as you’ve probably figured by now, yesterday wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“You think?”

“I don’t think you realize how big of a deal that was, do you?”

“Sketchy shit happens all the time.”

“Yes, we both know that much. But still. It’s usually kept to mundane means. Or else at least has a veneer of plausible deniability.”

“You’re going to have to forgive me for being a bit slow on the uptake. I’m not as young as I used to be.”

“You’re not even in your thirties yet.”

“It feels like it. I have a job, a house, and even a wife who currently looks like she’s about to fall asleep on me. Please, break it down Barney-style for me.” My tired slurring earned me a sigh.

“...I know you’re smarter than this… and I know you know that yesterday was out of the ordinary.”

“Since when has anything here been within the ordinary.”

“Ordinary is subjective. That said, yesterday stepped over a few well-established lines. It may not be the first time those lines have been transgressed, but it made it clear that we’re long past the small little flare-ups.”

“That doesn’t change anything for me.”

“It sure does. The core issue is a matter of perspective. I had hoped to ease you into this gradually, but things progressed a bit faster than I’d liked. I like to think I have a base understanding of how you view the world. Sure, there’s a bit of flexibility to deal with the day to day realities of the job, but you still tend to favor dichotomies, with a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance.”

I’m no slouch with debate, but I was running on far too little sleep for this. Most people seem unaware that a bit of sleep deprivation is the same as having a 0.8 ABV, so forgive me for not giving the best showing on the battlefield of verbal acuity. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she’d done this on purpose. In a just world I could have waived off showing up because I couldn’t safely drive a car. Keep that in mind next time you see a semi swerve into a rumble strip. 

“Clearly there’s a point I’m not getting.”

Stress probably also played into this. I’m supposed to be able to cope with it well, but “train as you fight” in joking reference to drinking seems like less of a joke as time goes on. 

“Naturally. I had wanted to ease you into this, but current events have forced my hand. You better survive what happens in the next month, because your career progression is vitally important.”

“What?”

“I hate saying this, but we, me and Ta- Mrs. A here have been looking for more people for management. We need people with a less… institutionalized viewpoint. And goodness,the sacrifices we’ve made trying to find that. Congrats on being the most anti-government spook we could find. You’d make Mr. Duchovny proud, if he were actually the character he acted as.”