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So, surprisingly, Lucy is Sue Storm's assistant. That wasn't supposed to happen but it did. Lucy has a job with Act-F as Doctor Storm's assistant. Her first day on the job involved taking biological samples from people and also throwing someone out of the Baxter Building — someone whose shoes cost more than everything Lucy and Laura owned put together. It went okay, and then there were other things to be done and forms to fill out and "chain of custody" and clearances and, suddenly, it was actually her job.
Lucy isn't sure what to make of it all and it's kind of a commute from Mutant Town to the Baxter Building — not that she could be convinced to move — but here she is, showing up for work. It's probably going to involve couriering (is that a word) things around New York City and doing shopping or anything else Doctor Storm needs but Lucy is ready. The concierge at the building knows who she is already.
"Good morning, Miss West," the man says cheerfully.
"Good morning, Serge." There's more than one concierge but Lucy got their names from the doorman. It's good to know people. Lucy does not fidget in the elevator on the way up. She does consider how badly she needs other clothes if she's going to work here. Maybe she can find out where Doctor Storm shops. That seems reasonable.
The elevator pings and she steps off into the F4 HQ. Gosh. If her friends (who were all crazy about Johnny Storm) could see her now. Well, they'd probably criticize her hair, but then they'd be impressed.
*
It is probably no surprise that oftentimes, when Lucy comes in to work, the Fantastic Four are not always there. It does not take a lot of time spent with even one member of the team to gain an appreciation for just how crazy their lives are and how many directions they're all being pulled in at any given time.
What might be a surprise is that there is someone home, but their last name is not Richards, Storm, or Grimm.
Jessica Drew had a late night, so she is still puttering about the living space in her (men's) pajamas, a slightly too-large robe and a pair of fuzzy slippers, looking for all the world like she's walking in her sleep. Her brown hair is an absolute mess, there are rings beneath her eyes, and it is probably some kind of a superpower that she's managing to keep the mug of coffee in her hands steady as she trudges her way back towards the guest apartment Sue and Reed have had her staying in.
Of course, said room is located very conveniently towards the front door. Which means that, when the elevator opens, she is in a prime spot to be the first thing Lucy sees. She lifts her head slightly when the elevator pings and squints, trying to get her vision to focus. Somebody's home. Who is home.
*
"Ooh, sorry!" Lucy says brightly. Gosh, she's bright. Even with the bracelet on. It's the shiny golden hair. Or the ponytail and the big red bow. Or maybe the red dress. Or those shiny white boots. Possibly the smile.
"I didn't realize Doctor Storm had a guest except — wait! — she did mention maybe…" Head tilt, hair flip, another smile as Lucy all but bounds in. "Are you Jessica? I'm Lucy. I'm kind of Doctor Storm's assistant. I didn't mean to be but then we said I was so I kind of started doing it and now I think I am even though I don't know how that happened. Things are like that around here, though, did you notice?" Oh, yes, she's offering Drew a handshake.
*
Oh god. It's a morning person.
Without really thinking about it, Jessica frees up a hand to reach for the offered hand, still groggy enough that it takes a few tries to actually catch it. Oop, there it is. Grasp, shake, blink hard to get the ol' peepers to finally kick in. There we go.
"Oh, um. Hey. Yeah. I'm Pe— Jess." She'll get the hang of that one of these days. "You're working with her on the, uh… thing." She waggles her fingers, as if that will clarify matters. "Right?"
*
"Yeah. The thing." Lucy giggles about that. "I have a feeling Doctor Storm is working on a lot of "things". Nice to meet you, Jess. Did you have breakfast yet?" Lucy already had breakfast. Of course. She heads toward the kitchen where she and Doctor Storm had been talking the other day.
*
Jessica glances down at her mug, then back up at Lucy with a slight furrow to her brow. "Coffee is a breakfast, right?" So, that's a no.
Wait a second. "I'm fine, really," she adds quickly, starting to give chase before she remembers — or maybe realizes — the state she's in. "Oh geez. This is a first impression," Jessica winces, hurrying over to the kitchen table to set her mug down. "Hang on, I'm gonna — clothes. I should wear actual clothes, not pajamas. Right."
*
"Oh, don't mind me," Lucy says, scanning the kitchen for — oh look, fruit, yum yum — something to eat. "I'm the one who walked into your home. You don't have to change on my account." She goes about putting some fruit on a plate and getting herself some coffee before she goes over the information she has for Doctor Storm and Doctor Richards. "I'm just the staff." You get used to that, to being in your pjs or your robe in front of the help.
*
"It's not — this isn't home," Jessica says awkwardly, already rushing back towards the guest apartment to get changed. "They're just being nice since I don't have anywhere else to go. I'll be right back," she promises, then vanishes into the guest room.
*
Oh, well. Lucy isn't going to argue. She hums happily as she goes about getting set up and, ooh, journals. Academic journals. Lots of big words and things she has to suss out instead of knowing off the top of her head. That's exciting. "So, you know about Act-F?" she asks, when Jessica re-emerges.
*
It's not a long wait, mostly because Jessica does not have remotely feminine sensibilities about what does and does not count as being 'presentable.' The jeans and sweater she's pulled on fit her (thank you, Sue), but she's still hopping into a pair of socks when she comes back out, and her hair remains a disaster of messy brown curls.
"Sort of? I know it's wayyyyyy above my pay grade," Jessica says with a laugh, seeming to have no problem keeping her balance as she hops on one foot to cross the room while putting on her socks. "I just let the nice doctor swab my cheek to make sure I'm still me. Which is its own kind of ludicrous."
*
"Yes, I've been organizing some of that data," Lucy says happily. Organizing! That's so official. "Why is it ludicrous?" She looks up from a journal of space exploration, blue eyes wide and innocent. "I mean, unless you're one of those aliens, in which case…maybe."
*
"Not an alien," Jessica smiles as she drags a chair out for herself and drops down to sit, finally — finally! — reaching for her coffee. "I'm just not, y'know. A person." She pauses mid-sip, glancing off to the side. That… probably merits further explanation, doesn't it. "I'm a copy of another person. Sort of. He's a little more… male." And older. And his hair looks stupid from the back, why hadn't anybody ever told him? He'd have cut it.
*
Lucy ponders this, then her face lights up. Just like Laura! "Oh, I know someone like that. You're a clone, right? Pfft." She waves her hand dismissively. "You are too a person. Most people are just some weird combo of two people, you just have one. And a boy at that." She makes a sour face. "That's the only downside. You're definitely an upgrade, no matter who he is." Boys are smelly and have dangly bits and no thank you, gross. Girls are better.
*
This is not a reaction that Jessica has gotten before. She blinks twice and peers across at Lucy with a rather odd expression as her mind struggles to pick which part to respond to first. "…h-hey. I'm n— he's not so bad," she says lamely. Someone has to defend Peter.
*
"I'm sure he's great for a boy, but you're better." Lucy is certain of that. Because. Not a boy. "Do you know him or is it some thing where you're not allowed to contact him or something?" She pauses. "Oh, if you can't talk about it, I totally understand. Or if you don't want to. I guess I'm a little jealous because my parents are sort of evil so it would be cool to be from someone who wasn't awful."
*
That odd expression on Jessica's face does not seem to be going anywhere, but it does seem to have picked up a bit of a blush to go along with it. Better? "I am? I — no, no, it's fine," she says quickly, holding up both of her hands. "But it is… complicated. He doesn't exactly know about me. It's a whole thing." She makes a bit of a face and goes for the safety of her coffee. "Evil parents sounds like a drag. Is that why you're working with Seo?" Getting closer to pronouncing it right every day.
*
"Sort of, yes. I've been on my own for a while. I joined Act-F to help out, because the work means a lot to me." Lucy ponders for a moment, then decides not to admit to being an alien just yet. "I didn't really mean to be her assistant but there were extenuating circumstances to me being part of it that we didn't want to explain so she just started introducing me as her assistant and…I guess I'm hired."
*
Jessica actually laughs at that. "She kinda does that," she says with a very sympathetic smile, running a self-conscious hand back over her hair. …oh geez, she forgot. She settles back in her seat and tries to blindly restore some kind of order by combing her fingers back through her hair, grumbling to herself. "You, um. You mentioned knowing somebody like me?"
*
"You're not from Weapon X, right?" Lucy looks up from her papers again. "You don't have, like, metal claws and go SNKT!" She makes a passable imitation of the sound.
*
"Weapon what now?" That's probably a 'no.' Jessica looks down at her hands and flexes her fingers, pursing her lips. "Nope, no claws. I mean, as far as I know. Plenty of other stuff, just not… that."
*
"My, well…" Lucy thinks. No, still no good word for that. She gives Drew a sunny smile, anyway. "Roommate. Laura. She's kind of like you. So it's not weird for me. It's just where you came from, it doesn't have to define you." Easy as that. Lucy gets up to pour herself some coffee. "I hope you know that."
*
"Pfff. What else is there to define me?" Jessica asks with a laugh and a dismissive wave of a hand. She leans back in her chair and folds an arm across the back, settling into what a nerd thinks a cool person would sprawl like. It's awkward. Nailed it. "I mean, I thought I had my own thing going for a hot minute, but, nope. He's got it too. And is better at it 'cos he's been awake longer. But it's fine! I'll… figure it out."
*
"You're here. With me. In the Baxter Building. With the Fantastic Four. And where is he?" Lucy gestures around them. "You sleep late, you wear funny slippers, you like coffee, and you know what you are and it's different from most people — you're already figuring it out. You're already different from him." She wrinkles up her nose. "Also, not a boy. You're great! You should come to Mutant Town and visit me and Laura. We're not friends with him, so you'll have that different."
*
Where is he? Jessica casts a sidelong look towards the window. "He's around," she says vaguely, bringing her mug up for a sip. Nothing~! She peers thoughtfully towards Lucy through the steam before lowering the mug back to the table. "I… I mean, I guess I could come and visit, if you wanted me to. I could stand to go out for something that doesn't involve giant praying mantis people trying to turn me into a kebab," she allows grudgingly, pursing her lips.
*
"I can't promise no mantis people but we'll protect you," Lucy says cheerfully. "I'm hoping Laura will come join Act-F, so hopefully you'll at least meet her when she comes over. If you needed a place to stay, the rooming house where we are is cheap and decent. It's not a great neighborhood but we look out for each other as best we can."
*
"Oh, I'm not a mutant." Obviously, Jessica can't live in Mutant Town. It's right there in the name. "And I have no income. Otherwise I'd probably have gotten out of these guys' hair already," she says sheepishly, drumming her fingers against the table.
*
"Well, neither am I." Lucy sticks out her tongue at Drew. Because she's mature. "Oh, we'll find some way for you to get by. I'd offer to have you stay with Laura and me but you'd have to sleep on the couch. It's not as nice as here, anyway, but it's home for us. I love it. I never really had a place that was mine before. You'll feel a lot better once you have your own place," Lucy declares. "A place for you. And not that other guy."
*
Jessica is not going to lose that odd look on her face any time soon, is she. 'We'll find some way for you to get by'? What is happening. Who is we. Why do people keep doing this. "We..? You don't… really, I'm fine," she says awkwardly, shrinking back in her chair.
*
"Well, you landed on your feet by ending up here," Lucy says, gesturing around them. "I just want to help, I like helping. I used to be homeless and people were nice to me and I guess I want to return the favor somehow. Whether it was some guy who bought me lunch a couple times or the lady who bought me some clothes or Laura… people need to help each other, right? I didn't know what I was doing, I was scared, and it all worked out for me because people offered to help. That's all."
*
"But I'm fine," Jessica repeats, smiling anxiously across at Lucy. "It's sweet of you to offer, but — you should be helping somebody who really needs it, you know?" Clearly, she needs no help whatsoever. She's totally got her life together. Stop looking at her like that.
*
"Of course you are." Lucy lets it go. "Now, I have to fill out some papers and then I guess I need to see if Doctor Storm needs anything — or if Doctor Richards wants to fire any lasers at me or something, for testing. I need to be tested," she adds with a little eyeroll. "That's going to be exciting. Maybe kind of interesting. But." She gives Jessica a helpless little shrug. What can you do?
"I should get to work. Let me know if I can get you anything." She hops up to run around and do what needs doing to air out the coffee smell. "Not that you can't get it yourself, it's just that I'm here, right?"
*
"Tested?" Jessica echoes, her brow furrowing in mild confusion. Why would anyone be firing lasers at Lucy if she isn't a muta—ohhhhhhhhh. Understanding dawns on her face. "I gotcha. Reed's a nice guy, though, he won't let it become a drag," she promises, gathering up her mug as she rises to her feet. Time to retreat to her room. "But, um. Visiting you guys. I'll do that."