Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Jen's voice cut through the buzz of the lab, "Hey, boss! Boss! You gotta come see this, is it the files we were looking for?"

The boss hurried over to the computer, fingers flying over the keyboard. After a moment, he confirmed, "Looks like we got some data recovery happening, but I'm not sure it's what you're after. Someone give this a look?" Liz immediately took his place as he stepped aside.

Seconds ticked by painfully slow. Jen, unable to contain her anxiety, pressed, "Well? How much did we get back?"

"...Most of it, I think." Liz bit her lip, her expression hard to read.

Jen, unsatisfied with the ambiguity, double-checked herself. A wave of relief washed over her, "Thank God, nearly all of it's back!"

She threw her arms around Roseanne, claiming, "We owe you big time. Without your help, we'd be buried in work for weeks trying to redo all this."

"Sharp as ever, a true Kingswell University gem," even the tech guru couldn't help but praise enthusiastically.

Stoddard nodded in agreement, admiration clear in his eyes, "Absolutely, all thanks to young Anne!"

He then added thoughtfully, with a hint of jest, "No wonder Mr. Reynolds saw potential early on. Snagged a brilliant mind ahead of the curve, impressive!" His words were serious, but his gaze hinted at more.

to the underlying message, though his hand clenched

admit, he took

things were already

clicked his tongue, eyeing Roseanne as if she were some kind of exotic creature, particularly fascinated

out, "Roseanne, have you ever competed in

Roseanne just stared blankly.

Stoddard burst into laughter, and that

glared at Roseanne with this cold, intense

Owen's resigned look Sammy's curious glances towards

to get interesting around

remember to bring some sunflower seeds from home

...

was a serious issue, ranging from a simple mishap to

adamant, "We need to track down the

if you didn't