The day was grey and drizzly, and the window seats in the bakery cafe were mostly empty, except for the one nearest the entrance. This was occupied by a tall, dark-haired woman who had a book open on the table in front of her, which she appeared entirely disinterested in. Instead she rested her chin on one hand and stared out the window, eyes closely tracking any turtleneck-wearing man on the street until he passed out of view.
It was ridiculous behavior, Cylar knew: until the day of her escape she hadn't seen Fennis in nearly a decade, and there was no reason to assume that what he was wearing then was the only thing he ever wore. On the other hand she'd always felt there was something turtleneck-ish about her brother, something about the style that belonged to him, or that he belonged to. Also ridiculous, but there you had it.
She had been waiting for half an hour because she'd arrived forty minutes early, and it infuriated her, because she shouldn't feel so anxious about this. Even if it had been almost ten years, she and Fennis had been close as children, and it wasn't as though he'd condemned her specifically when he ran away; and when she'd taken the plunge and called to explain what had happened he'd sounded surprised, but certainly not upset, and he'd seemed happy to arrange this meeting. And anyway she resented being so hung up on another person's opinion, after all this time, after finally getting out, even if Fennis was her only connection, the only person left to her after the decision she'd finally had the resources to make, even of he was all she had left in the world and if she drove him away—
Of course, she knew very little of the person he'd become. Maybe they wouldn't like each other. Maybe all they had in common now was a horrific past, and all they could do was remind each other of it. But she needed to know. She had accepted that she might be truly alone after cutting ties with the family, but she wouldn't resign herself to it unnecessarily. And so she was here.
Sitting with her back to the door had been a mistake; she kept twisting around to look every time she heard a sound from that direction. Her watch said her brother wasn't due for another five minutes but maybe she'd be lucky and he would be a little early himself. Patience had never been Cylar's strength.
