you shouldn't talk to strangers

Being observant is the defining characteristic of a great scientist, it's the differentiating factor between the ones who get a few publications now and then, and the Nobel Prizes, the people who challenge the foundations of what we perceive as reality.

Victoria Marlowe was one of the latter type. She noticed things people took for granted, she enjoyed finding hidden patterns in her every day life, people watching was her favorite activity to do after a long day in the lab, as she loved picking out details in her surroundings, to dissect and analyze. That's how she noticed the rusty, old, black Toyota mini van that had been parked outside of her house for the past two days. Always parked across the street from her, as if it was looking for a good view of her bedroom window.

An eerie sensation crept over her, goosebumps filled the skin on her arms when she spotted the stereotypical kidnapping van in front of her house, yet again that morning. This was the third morning in a row, but this time it was different: she was going back to the lab and had to actually leave her house, knowing full well that whoever owned the car was probably keeping a close eye on her, analyzing her every move, looking for patterns in her routine, just as she enjoyed doing with other people on her leisure time. She felt exposed, like a gazelle in the open savannah on one of those animal planet documentaries she enjoyed, stalked by a predator, waiting for her to let down her guard, to strike their prey. She contemplated calling Joe, to ask him, no, to beg him to come pick her up and to take her into his home, protected by the enclosure of a private gated community and a state of the art alarm system, or even better, she wanted to disappear from the face of the earth on that moment. No protection, no enclosure, nothing was enough to make her shake the feeling that she was in grave danger.

It was now around 8:23 am, she was already running late since she had agreed with Lexie to arrive by 9:00 am at the university for an early morning experiment. She nervously swallowed the last bit of her breakfast, before heading to her front door, and putting on her best I'm not-scared-I-totally-see-you-standing-there poker face. She unlocked her front door, feeling like twisting the door knob would seal her fate. Sure enough, there it was, the same black mini van, in the same old spot.

Victoria almost sprinted to her car, her hands shaking as she tried to open the door as fast as she could. She soon regretted wearing her voluminous yet very warm black winter coat that covered her entire body, since it got stuck in between the car seat and her ass while she tried to squeeze into her car, and lock her doors as soon as possible. One detail stood out: the license plate was now within her range of vision. It was a Mississippi license plate: DBS-3281 she quickly wrote the number down in her notes app. She drove to the university, like a mad woman in a blind rage, not even caring about getting a ticket, and constantly checking her rear view mirror for the familiar black van.

When she arrived in the building, her friends didn't take long to notice the look of terror and anguish on her face.  She was pale, her hair was unruly, and she could barely speak clearly enough to say hello.

"What happened? Are you okay Victoria? Do you need us to call anyone?" Paige ran concerned towards her friend, who looked like she was about to pass out. She helped Victoria sit down on her lab chair.

"Yeah... It's just... I need to tell you something no one else knows about, I can't keep hiding it"

Alexandra joined the conversation, as she was just coming back from the cold room where they stored the protein samples needed for that morning's scheduled experiment. The sound of her opening the front door of the lab, startled Victoria too much.

"Someone's jumpy" Lexie tried to joke. Victoria just turned to look at her, on the brink of tears.

"Tori I'm sorry I scared you, I was just messing around" Lexie nervously laughed, she placed her cooler on the main table lab, it contained a little over 20 Eppendorf tubes, all filled with the protein extracts that the trio had been working with for the last few months.

"It's not that... please sit down Lex, I need to tell you both something" Victoria went on to tell them everything she knew about the situation: the mysterious man on the hallway at night, the drugging, how they might be connected and now the van standing in front of her house.

"Man you sure never have a boring day, I'm sure" Lexie blurted out, and she received an angry look from the other two.

"What are you planning on doing?" Paige inquired.

"I don't know, I should probably call the KCPD and let them know what's going on" Victoria replied.

"Don't you think that it would be best to call the Cincinnati police? I mean this is happening here, in the city. Not in Kansas" Alexandra was right, the KCPD had no jurisdiction of way of protecting her all the way in Cincinnati.

"I should call both of them then" Victoria nervously bit her lip.

"What does your blonde bodyguard has to say about it?" Paige asked.

"He doesn't know about the van, he probably would be locking me into his house right now. When I told him about the man in the lab, and that the waiter not accounted for was from Cincy, he almost made me quit my job. The poor man is begging me to move in with him so I'm not alone" Victoria half smiled, knowing her friends would have a feast with this information.

"HE ASKED YOU TO WHAT?" Alexandra yelled so hard that the undergraduate student working across the lab turned around to face them, scared by her screams.

"I'm sorry about this one, go back to your thing" Paige told him.

"Can you please not inform everyone?" Victoria laughed.

"Oh my goodness Victoria this is serious. What did you say?" Lexie was getting irritated at her friend who didn't share the complete information.

"I told him I'd think about it" Victoria grinned.

"You're saying that you didn't jump straight into the opportunity of living with the hottest man in the city?" Paige scoffed at her friend.

"He's an amazing boyfriend, he's sweet, considerate, kind, and warm, affectionate..."

"And hot as hell" Paige added, interrupting Victoria.

"And hot and amazing in bed" Victoria kept going while she tried not to laugh.

"So? Does he have bad breath in the morning? Did he kill someone? Does he have tuberculosis? What, woman, could be stopping you from locking him down?" Lexie continued to tease her. 

"It's too soon. I love him like crazy, and I know he loves me, but I've never lived with anyone before and it's scary..."

"So you're scared of a hot man and his great dick" Lexie continued to mock Victoria.

"Victoria, you know we support you, if you move in with him, or don't, you should do whatever you're heart desires" Paige reached for her friend's hand.

"Your heart and your vagina" Lexie replied and the three of them laughed. 

"I'm gonna call both police departments. And I'm gonna tell Joe about the van, and if he insists on me moving in with him, I won't deny him right away" Victoria smiled, feeling confident in her decision, guided by the strange albeit well intended advice from her friends. 

After the conversation with both of her friends, Victoria was able to regain enough composure to get back in track and complete the experiments she had scheduled for her day. This was her first full day back after winter break and the issue with her drink, sure enough she started to feel the effects of exhaustion by 6:00 pm, there was only one thing that could make her feel better.

Vi 🧬:Hey handsome, feeling up to something tonight? I miss u

Joe 🐯:Anything you're up to I'm in, baby.

Vi 🧬: Maybe come by my house later and we can watch a movie or something? I'm too exhausted to think

Joe 🐯:Sure thing, see you there in like an hour?

Vi 🧬:Sounds good🥰

Victoria wrapped up her work, said goodbye to her friends and her boss, who much for her displeasure was officially back and very much up her ass with more assignments, and drove back home. The eerie feeling washed over her once more as she turned around the corner of her street, wondering if the van would still be there. It wasn't. Victoria didn't know what to make of it: either it was all in her imagination and the van belonged to some random who dumped it and then came back. Or the owner moved the van somewhere. But where? Did it follow her? The thought automatically made her dizzy.

She ran to her front porch, and let herself in, quickly locking the door and double checking her windows. Soon after she arrived, the doorbell rang. The only person that could make her feel safe was standing behind it.

"Hello" Joe smiled at her, his ocean blue eyes sparkled when he smiled like that.

"Hello you, come on in" Victoria pulled him into her living room.

"I brought something" Joe said as he lifted up his arms, he was carrying a pair of plastic bags containing Thai food, Victoria's favorite.

"You always know how to cheer me up" She smiled as she unpacked the bags, laying the table for them to enjoy dinner.

"I think you should open it tonight. The wine bottle we left unopened when we celebrated my birthday" Joe grinned. He was up to something.

Victoria complied, pulling the Rosé bottle out of the fridge and pouring each of them a glass.

"So, how are you feeling four days away from your big night, hot shot?" Victoria sat next to him, and reached for his hand, holding it tight.

"I'm pretty nervous right now. I never let it show, not to my teammates, my coach, not even Dr. Paulson, but to you I won't lie, I'm a mess"

"I understand why you don't wanna tell your teammates how you feel, but Joe I think telling your therapist the truth it's the foundation for a good outcome" Victoria took a sip of her wine, enjoying its fruity taste in her mouth, and the sweet memories it brought to mind, Joe's birthday and how they ended up on the floor, the tender growing connection they developed that night had led them all this way to here.

"I suppose you're right, I just don't like to admit that I'm scared" Joe confessed. 

"You like to be Joe Cool all the time, but even you need to let yourself be vulnerable and honest about your feelings" Victoria softly kissed his cheek.

"I'm shitting myself. But also I'm so ready for this game, I'm gonna prove everyone who thinks we're the underdogs going into the Super Bowl wrong. If we don't win, at least we'll give on hell of a game"

"I'm sure of that, Joe cool" Victoria smiled, and leaned in for a kiss.

"And what about you? How was your day?" Joe inquired, his plate of food was practically gone by now. 

Victoria contemplated telling him about the van, but this night was about Joe, she didn't wanna ruin his mood, or even worse be a factor that distracted him from his big day. So she said nothing.

"It was pretty standard. Lots of work and piles of experiments and data to analyze. I've missed it so much" Victoria thought how much of a great liar she was becoming. She didn't like it. 

"That's great. I'm glad you're finally back in action" Joe poured more wine for her.  "Have you thought about what I proposed? Moving in?" He asked again.

"I have. And I would love to, Joe" She said, the first honest thing she had said to him. Joe almost jumped out of his seat with excitement and started kissing her face. "Whoa, hold your horses. We can discuss more about it and the logistics after the Super Bowl"Joe didn't pay any attention to her. The only thing he could think about was that she was moving in with him.

"This was your plan all along wasn't it? You got me drunk so that you'd convince me to move in" she grinned.

"Maybe. But you said yes and that's all that matters. Speaking about the Super Bowl, are you coming?" There was a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Luckily for you, I already asked Sal and I'm free to take the Monday after the game off as long as I complete my migration assays by then. The only thing that sucks is that I'll have to stay pretty late tomorrow to finish"

"I'll pick you up. There will be no discussion about it" Joe firmly told her.

"You wouldn't be my Joe if you let me argue about it" Victoria smiled.

"Your Joe huh?" He bantered her. 

"Mine and mine only. I'm sorry about all the women fangirling over you" She teased him.

"Oh come on it's not that serious" Joe laughed.

"Man have you seen the edits they post about you? You have them smitten. But I can't blame them, you're as an amazing person as you are hot" Victoria continued to laugh.

"You probably also have a few nerds crushing on you"

"Oh I totally do" Victoria bantered him.

Joe spent the night at Victoria's, to be able to drop her off at the university and then pick her up late at night, so she didn't need to take her car. Luckily for her, there weren't any signs of the black van when they left in the morning.

She spent the day working nonstop, with the only goal of finishing as early as she could, so she wouldn't have to spend much time alone in the building. By 9:25 pm she was finished with her assay. She took the elevator to the first floor, where Joe would be waiting for her. As she got on the elevator she noticed a man standing there, he didn't stand out on any form, looking like any of your standard doctors who worked in the building. Victoria pressed the bottom marked with the number 1. "Long night huh?" The man broke the silence.

"A pretty long day actually" she half smiled.

"Well at least you're going home now"

The doors of the elevator closed. Victoria felt uneasy.

"Yeah I am"

"Do you live far from here?" He inquired

"No, not really" she tried to keep her answers short.

The door of the elevator opened after what felt like hours. The man turned towards her, his expression changed completely from a neutral smile, to a slightly deranged look. With a deeply unsettling undertone he said:

"Your father taught you well, Victoria, you shouldn't talk to strangers"

Well hello, I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was celebrating my birthday but here I am Hope you like the chapter Are you enjoying the story? ;)