“Okay.” Her voice was tight.
He put the bus in park and turned to her. Jenna was standing, brushing invisible dirt off her clothes and shaking out her hands.
“Okay. Yeah. That’s fine. We’re close to the door, right?”
“We’re very close. But Callum being here means nothing. I can carry you inside. It seems to help.”
“It does help,” she said quietly. “Being out there still makes me feel like I’m going to hurl my guts up, but it helps. But Callum can’t see me like that.” Immediately, she held out a hand to stop his protest. “I know you think I’m overreacting about people knowing, but I don’t want people in my professional life to look at me like I’m a freak. Or that I can’t handle something as mundane as a few steps to a door.”
He wanted to grab her and pick her up anyway, but that wasn’t how to handle this. And hell if he didn’t understand the need to keep professional weaknesses secret. It wasn’t like he was going around announcing his peripheral neuropathy to his colleagues.
He stopped the nervous movement of her hands. “For the record, I don’t think you’re overreacting. I would never think that. I don’t think you need to hide what you’re going through, but that’s up to you.”
She was still staring at the floor.
“If you want me to carry you, I’ll do that. If you want me to walk in beside you, holding your hand, I’ll do that. If you want me to stay in the bus and leave you alone…that’s an option too. I’m here for what you need.”
He slipped a hand behind her neck and lifted her eyes to his. “I don’t like seeing you in pain, little librarian. But I meant what I said. I’m here for what you need me to do, even if that means watching you struggle for this piece of it.”
She swallowed, eyes flickering all around like she couldn’t focus because of her fear. “Thank you. I—” She pressed her lips together. “I know you’re right, but I’m not ready. Can you… Can you distract him? I’ll go straight in. I can make it. If you’re talking to him, maybe he won’t pay attention to me.”
Mark grinned. “I don’t think anyone would be able to not pay attention when you walk by.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled the slightest bit. “Trying to secure your place in the bed tonight?”
“Trying to distract you a little. Is it working?”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll talk to him,” he said. “I need to tell him what we talked about on the drive anyway. You can do this.”
Jenna closed her eyes for a long moment, steadying herself. “Okay.”
“Let’s do this.” He bent down and kissed her briefly then turned and went to the door of the bus, Jenna crowding right behind him. He punched in the door code and stepped down and out of her way, immediately focusing on Callum.
“Hey, Callum. I didn’t expect you here in the flesh. Thought you were undercover.”
He only felt the air behind him as Jenna sprinted for the doors. Callum looked after her, and Mark stepped to intervene. “Jenna wants to get in there and start. Worked on the drive up, and the faster she’s in, the better chance she has.”
Callum nodded. “Yeah, okay, that’s smart. I wasn’t going to come, but if there’s any chance this robot can survive, I wanted to be able to talk to her personally. Especially in light of what you guys found about the computer stuff.”
“Jenna is concerned that the chemical tail being left in the robots might also affect their memories.”
Callum scrubbed a hand down his face. The man looked like he’d been awake for way too many hours. Mark knew the feeling.
“Why does she think that?”
“She said it was what she would do if she were working for Joaquin.”
“Shit.” Callum’s shoulders slumped. He didn’t try to dispute Jenna’s argument. Both of them knew her expertise went well beyond theirs.
“Yeah, my feelings exactly. I’m going to go park this thing.”
“Okay, I’ll be inside.”
Mark parked the bus away from the building and went inside, finding his way easily to the lab with help from the hospital staff.
Callum stood outside the lab, looking through the small window on the door.