Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

No sooner had she said it than she was out the door in a rush.

Roseanne felt numb all over.

Oh well, as long as they're happy...

In the lab-

Owen was poring over two sets of data from last week, spotting a discrepancy in the fourth column of the second set, just about to call Sammy over when his phone rang.

He answered it without looking-

"Hello?"

"Mr. Reynolds, it's Roseanne."

Owen paused, his gaze slowly drifting away from the screen, his voice softening, "What's up? Everything okay?"

"My dad, he... he wants to invite you over for dinner. He's cooking himself... If you're too busy, it's okay, I'll just let him know..."

"I'm free."

Roseanne stopped dead for a few seconds: "...Isn't the lab swamped?"

"It's manageable."

"So..."

your dad for me, for going through the trouble

it's no trouble at

hanging up, Roseanne was

Wait a minute...

how swamped they all were with work, struggling to keep up with their schedule.

overheard Owen conclude his call, nudged him teasingly, "Who was that? Little Roseanne, right? I could hear her voice." Owen shot him a glance, "You

Sammy have been moaning about the workload. Only you, Mr. Reynolds, can speak of it

Owen was pushing himself harder

Vel

he made it

and cheerful.

everyone else just pretending to do experiments, fabricating reports,

mistaken, it's been over nine hours since you received the preliminary data yesterday. How much have you verified? Is the accuracy up to standard? Have the discrepancies

The deadly quadruple inquiry.

disturbed you, I'll see myself

his workstation with a grimace, facing the mountain of data yet to

times like these, Stoddard found

a program

luxury is easy, but

only little Roseanne could

...