Lena couldn’t help but smile as she followed behind Brian down the hallway.  She almost felt like it was the good old days.  A memory slipped through her defences.

Lena was carefully recording a result as a nearby beaker bubbled on top of a portable stove.  She frowned, crossing out a calculation, typing it into the computer in front of her, before adding solution into the beaker.  It stilled for a moment before continuing its steady rise to the rim.

Brian tapped her shoulder and she nearly stabbed him with her pen in annoyance as she yelped in surprise.

“Sorry, you said you would come meet me for dinner, remember?  I’m sure you could use the break.”

Lena’s expression turned into alarm as she glanced at the clock.  After her initial shock of his announcement, she couldn’t bring herself to stay angry with him.  

It was always his dream.

“I’m so sorry Brian!  I mean to wrap this up an hour ago but discovered something.”

Brian chuckled, leaning comfortably against the desk beside her while she excitedly explained her most recent discovery.

“…and then if you add just a bit of higher heat for 2-5 minutes, the structure completely changes…”

Her voice trailed off in suspicion as he reached over and had rushed her hair away from her neck and placed a cool metal around her neck.

“What this for?”  She quizzically looked at the cross.  “You know how I feel about  religion.”  She indicated towards her lab attire and waved at the lab they were currently in.

Brian stepped back and grinned. “Wasn’t it Einstein who said that the more he studied the stars, the more he believed in a higher power?”  He teased.

Lena rolled her eyes but carefully tucked the necklace under her shirt.

“I doubt he meant to stay that.  He was probably nearing his old age by the time he tried to tell anyone that.”

Brian just shrugged in amusement, helping her into her jacket and walking out of the lab together.

Lena felt the small necklace tucked under her shirt and wondered if she should return it to him.

“Brian?”

He looked back as he pressed the elevator button, having reached the other end of the hallway.

“Yes, Dr. Lee?”

Lena hesitated, the formal name on his lips reminder her it wasn’t really him.  She gazed up at his dark brown eyes and felt her chest contract painfully.

It shouldn’t matter that he looks so much like him.  It couldn’t possibly be him.