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There was a list of people to check up on, and a whole bunch of things to clean up. But people first People were more important that walls.



It was a little silly to actually send the text, as she was trying to get through the remains of the main building to get to his office.



She was nearly there.

It had taken her longer than she thought to actually get to the office, but there had been a fair bit of relief when the side stairs were intact and the halls mostly ok.

She was not relieved by the lack of reply. Mark usually replied. Now, Sherry wasn't the type to worry when people didn't reply right away, but there WAS a giant rock in the middle of the building. If for some reason Mark had been out of his normal wing and elsewhere - well.

His office itself seemed to be okay, though it was hard to tell. Nothing looked too out of place, or at least not too far from where she remembered it. Surprising, considering what everything had gone through.

Mark was there though - seemingly safe and sound, as long as one assumed he was sleeping and not knocked unconscious. Of course it was best to make sure, which was why Sherry had decided to move to stand next to him. Yep, looked mostly intact, though there was something different about him. Oh! New coat. She wondered when he'd decided to change that.

Now. The proper thing to do would be to leave. Mark was asleep, Sherry should let him sleep in peace. She knew that. It was creepy to watch people sleep when they didn't know you were there - Edward from Twilight did stuff like that and Sherry wasn't a creeper vampire. But she also didn't want to go back and deal with her room and be alone with her thoughts.

"Mark," she said in a whisper, "Mark." She poked him on the shoulder. "Can I hang out here for a bit?"

Mark stirred and the clouds seemed to shift because it got a little brighter in the office. One fleeting moment of surreal beauty.

And then Sherry was staring at Mark, who had said something about Wendy's burgers and was now going back to sleep.

"What does Wendy's have to do with anything?" Sherry frowned. Mark was clearly just mumbling while still asleep. Anyone other than Sherry might have left, and on a different day Sherry might have left too. She probably should just leave and let him sleep. But then again, that was giving up, and Sherry was bad at givin--

Her stomach growled. Damn him mentioning burgers. Wendy's to boot. And portals were down.

Sherry sighed, and placed on hand gently on Mark's shoulder. "You must be tired."

And then she quietly began searching what she could see of his desk for some scrap paper and something to write with. Silly Mark, dreaming of fast food chains. She'd leave a note promising to buy him Wendy's once portals were up. Yes that would --

An image flashed in her mind and Sherry froze. A red-head with pigtails and a cute dress. But not the Wendy's girl. Oh. Oh now. What if Mark was stuck in that nightmare with Dorothy.

"Mark. Mark!" Her hand was on his shoulder again, this time to jostle him a bit. "Wake up. Why are you talking about Wendy's?"

Sherry was just about to start shaking him again when he sat bolt upright - it was so startling she jumped back, even then narrowly missing colliding with him. Thank goodness he was awake!

She watched him, though, for any sign that he wasn't really awake. If he put his head back down well...

"What? Yes! Yes I do." She did want to go get a Frosty, and maybe a whole meal while she was at it. Even better if Mark went with her.

"But, Mark, portals are down. How do we get to Wendy's without portals?"

"Oh," she said, watching him squirrel things away. "Oh, that makes sense." A pause. "Contingency plan?" She said it right, just to be helpful and make sure they were on the same page.

Mark was handing her something weird though, "Okay." She lifted it high as she could, both arms up over her head.

"So, um, when'd you get a new coat? What happened to your old one?" Conversation while they waited.

The first couple of minutes into waiting Sherry realized Mark was concentrating really hard, so she decided to be quiet and let him focus. It was about when he actually looked away from his screen that she began to suspect he'd lost his train of thought somewhere and she was just holding this silly thing above her head for no reason now.

"Can I put this down now?" Sherry lifted one foot and tapped Mark lightly on the leg. "It's okay if it doesn't work, you know. I can take you out for Frosties another day."

Sherry was already leaning in to see what he was working on so intently. His question caught her off guard. "Um, uh, attractively? Erotically? What kind of sexy are you going for?" She went ahead and leaned in closer, to see what he needed it for. "Attractively," she confirmed.

She went ahead and set the antenna on the desk. "How long will, um, this take? Because I think we should get dinner when you're finished."

She reached out and started to straighten one of the piles of paper. She was fidgeting.

Sherry continued to mess with the papers until they were mostly straightened. It gave her the chance to take a look down at her own chest and make sure she was still a girl. Only after she was sure that she was did she stop to look at Mark.

"Right, you did ask me to hold these." She reached out and picked them back up. She was trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. "For Wendy's."

She sighed. It wasn't only nerves she was trying to hide. "Mark, you, um. You didn't offer me a slurpee at any point in time. I'm not British." Sherry looked at him. "Mark, you know I'm not Gale right?"

If Mark was only letting her hang out because he thought she was Gale, she was going to be very, very sad. It was understandable when she'd been a boy, but today... Sherry was now fidgeting with the antenna thing.