Dr. Walsh's Birthday

[This is a short story based loosely on the canon timeline. Here, Dr. Walsh spends her birthday like any other day. Not if her trustworthy assistant can help it, however.]

Today, I wake up with a prickling awareness of time wasted. My lab coat still clings to me, a testament to another late night in pursuit of scientific answers.

The mirror reflects a tangled landscape of hair, it looks a little grayer than before. Fatigue lingers in the shadows under my eyes. I'm getting older.

Crap, I'm getting older! What day is it? I turn to look at the blank computer screen as if that's going to give me any answers. Whatever. It's not like I'm missing an event or anything. I decided to have a shower and take my time freshening up for work today.

The face wash Ava got for me sits in front of my usual shower products. She insists on the relevance of proper skincare, so I pour a generous amount of the off-white liquid in my hand and take in the pleasant scent. Rice water with a slight herbal touch... Tea flowers, perhaps?

I spend a good five minutes in this step alone. I don't usually indulge in this type of care, but it has left my skin feeling undeniably softer than before. She got me conditioner to try as well, so I do that too. A dedicated researcher deserves a controlled variable... Even in the realm of hair.

I feel much better as I step out of the shower and into my work clothes. Draping a fresh lab coat over my shoulders, I trade the cozy break rooms of the office for the fluorescent white lights of the lab.

Decontamination stings less today – a welcome anomaly. Was it Ava's "miracle rice soap" infiltrating my usual routine? I make a mental note to try again tomorrow and confirm my hypothesis.

The lab is chilly yet inviting, as usual, as I make my way to the sample fridge and retrieve the samples I prepped yesterday. Alice's multicolored fur gleams under the light. I envision her soft ears, her nose twitching at a forbidden carrot... A chirp at the doorway jolts me back.

-"Doc!"- Ava bursts in, sunshine personified.

-"Good morning, Ava,"- I turn to her, feeling a smile tug at my lips as I take in the sight of her. Her enthusiasm is infectious, even at such early hours.

She approaches, her gaze fixated on the samples in my hand. -"Is that rabbit fur, Doc?"-

-"Why, it is!"- I hand her one, and she examines it closely. -"Given the fascinating conditions of Alice's existence, I think this is worth a closer look."-

Ava, bless her eager hands, placed the prime sample under my trusty scope. She spends a good while tinkering with the machine until the image satisfies her.

-"Well, it's... Fur... Certainly,"- Ava steps away from the microscope, gesturing for me to look in.

I found the image swimming in a haze of uncertainty, whatever she had seen was a mystery to me. My fingers tweaked the dials, transforming the blurry into the sublime. There, laid bare under the magnified gaze, lay the unmistakable latticework of cells, stacking like microscopic bricks. Rabbit fur, undeniably.

I rose to share my triumphant discovery, intent on dissecting the fur's secrets with Ava. But poof! The girl had vanished.

-"Ava?"- I called, the echo bouncing off the sterile metal surfaces. An uneasy feeling crept in. I pressed my eye back to the scope with a sigh, seeking solace in the ordered rows of fur cells, a microscopic universe where chaos dared not intrude.

- - -

Alice's fur, dissected under the meticulous analysis of my trusty genetic scanner, yielded its secrets. Ordinary rabbit fur, yes, but the dance of nucleotides within her DNA... That was the anomaly singing its silent song. My pen scratched across the notebook, translating observations into precise notes, each dot and comma holding the potential for a groundbreaking discovery.

Hours dissolved into a blur of thought. I don't recall having had lunch today, other than a single glass of water and an energy bar four hours ago. With a groan, I finally peeled myself from the metal bench, my glasses askew on my nose. Stretching muscles long-dormant, I rush through the decontamination process and head to the office intending to shed the lab coat like a chrysalis, but...

-"Happy birthday, Doc!"- Ava erupted from behind the corner, showering me in tiny paper squares. My heart skipped a beat as my notebook landed on the concrete floor with a soft thud, my written speculations about the sample's enzymes momentarily forgotten. -"Ava! You scared the... Hypothesis out of me!"- I spluttered, an amused smile tugging at my lips. But the surprise, like a well-placed reagent, sparked a warmth I hadn't anticipated.

Instead of launching into a lecture on the dangers of startling researchers, I found myself brushing the makeshift confetti off her hair, a smile softening the angles of my face. Ava's exuberance, though occasionally inconvenient, had a way of cracking open the sterile shell of the lab.

-"How did you know?"- I whisper, my fingers resting momentarily on her shoulders.

Ava shrugged, a conspiratory glint in her eyes. -"Dr. Fox. Easy as bribing him with donuts. Why didn't you tell me?"-

My gaze scanned the confetti-strewn landscape, then zeroed in on her face. -"Slipped my mind,"- It felt better to let her believe that, anyway.

The sudden weight of Ava's embrace startled me, an unfamiliar warmth flooding my cheeks like an unexpected reaction. The feeling was oddly comforting, and I breathed a sigh that betrayed a deeper need. Her hair, surprisingly silky against my shoulder, grounded me in the present.

-"You're important, Doc."- she mumbled, her voice muffled against my lab coat. -"Important to me, that is."-

It wasn't poetry, but the way she said it, with quiet conviction, sent a spark through me. We held the pose for a beat, a silent experiment in human connection. Finally, Ava pulled back, her eyes sparkling. -"Come on, Doc. I got you chocolate cake."-

My head perks up. -"Chocolate cake, you say?"-

- - -

The office spun with the remnants of Ava's celebratory chaos. Colored paper clung to my hair and coated the floor like errant data points, a nonsensical counterpoint to the ordered bullet points and diagrams scrawled on my notebooks. But amidst the festive whirlwind, a different equation formed in my mind, one with a new variable: Ava, the catalyst for unexpected joy on a day marked by the predictable passage of time.