The conversation dies down as it comes to a close. I look at Gerard and awkwardly smile, glancing down at my coffee. "How long are you staying in Austria?" I ask.

"Still undetermined," he replies. "As of now, it seems we will be here for a while, making slow progress on agreements."

"Have you gone home at all during this time or at least do you have breaks to go back home?" Gerard casually shakes his head. "Really? You're just out of the country for months on end?"

"Well, yes. Understand I'm in this position because I have not much to lose," he says. "It's not like I have anyone back home to miss me."

"Oh," I sigh. He smiles gently. "What about your brother?"

"Even when I'm home, we don't see each other often. He doesn't live close."

"I see, well, if you were to have people close, say, family, would you still be gone for so long?" I look up at him innocently.

He smiles amused. He probably thinks I'm asking since he knows I like him. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. "My job isn't designed to...be a stay home husband or a family man. I travel a lot and I'm gone for, as you can see, months at a time."

"Do you like it?" I ask.

He shrugs, picking up his coffee and swirling it around. "I mean, I get to travel the world, a few of my colleges and I are rather good friends so I am with them. And the expenses aren't coming out of my pocket so not much to lose."

"That's fair. It does sound fun. But I feel like it would get a little lonely."

He sips his coffee, glancing out the window. "I mean," he says, setting it down, "I never anticipated myself settling down, which is why I took the job."

Before I can say anything else, the coffee shop door opens and I see Jenna and Cody walk in. I glance at them and Gerard furrows his eyes curiously, turning around. Cody and Jenna notice us and they start walking over. "Hey, there you are," Jenna says. "We've been calling you."

"You have?" I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. Why is it on silent? "Sorry about that." The two of them have giddy smiles and Jenna gestures at Gerard with her eyes. "Um, guys, this is Gerard." He smiles politely and gives a small wave. "Um, I believe you met Cody before."

"Right, right, we ran into each other the last week," Gerard says. "And you are?"

"I'm Jenna," she says, holding out her hand.

"Ah, the roommate," he says, shaking her hand.

"So what's going on?" I ask.

Cody glances at me. "Oh, so Lynn texts me and she wanted to meet up. She's got a lot of free time off her hands since her internship went fluked."

"Wait, what happened?" I ask.

"Not her fault, she still has it," Jenna clarifies.

Gerard glances at me slightly confused. "So my friend Lynn," I explain for him, "she's really smart. Like genius smart. Younger than us and she's going into microbiology and biochemistry. And she has an internship at some lab."

"Wow, that's really impressive," Gerard says. "What kind of lab?"

"It's the Laboratory of Viral and Infectious Diseases," Cody explains. Gerard's eyes widen and he looks impressed. "LoVID."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard. That's really awesome, good for her," Gerard says.

"Yeah, she can't drink with us in America but she can make a virus," Cody says. "But I guess something happened to the lab and she can't be there while they're dealing with it. So with her time of, for now, she wanted to go out."

"Yeah, she's been working a lot lately," I say. "You know what happened?"

Cody winces, trying to think. He glances at Jenna and she makes an unsure face. "I'm not sure," Jenna says. "Honestly, I don't think she knows everything either. Something about a containment issue and a malfunction in one of the sectors?"

"Well, that surely doesn't sound good," Gerard says. "Hopefully everything goes well. Anyways, I should be off, now." He starts standing up, grabbing his coffee.

"Are you sure?" I ask, getting up as well.

"You want to come with us to get some lunch?" Cody offers.

Gerard smiles. "I appreciate the offer however my plans for lunch have already been determined. Work." I look at him smiling and he takes a step back.

"Warten-" Jenna tries grabbing his arm but a waitress crashes into him from behind.

There's a loud clatter as her tray bumps, all the dishes tipping over. "Ach du Gott," the waitress cries out. As Gerard turns around to look at her, he reaches down and catches the two coffee cups that fell off her tray with one hand, gripping them by the handles. He freezes for a second, staring at them in his hand as if he's shocked to see them in his hand.

"Whoa," Cody mutters. "Ninja reflexes." Gerard looks at the waitress worried but she's slightly impressed with a hint of a smile. He sets the two cups down on her tray and she apologizes to him in German. Gerard replies back to her. They're talking rather quickly so I'm not sure what they're saying exactly but I do know they're both sorry. She waves to him and sets around the group of us, heading back toward the kitchen.

"How'd you do that?" I ask when he turns around. His cheeks are slightly red.

"Huh?" He brushes his hair back.

"The thing," I say, mimicking him grabbing it. "Your back was to her and you weren't looking. You just grabbed the cups out of the air."

He laughs. "I'm not sure, glad they were empty though. I don't have time to deal with coffee stains." He looks behind him and smiles. "Well, it was nice meeting you guys. Frank, we'll...talk later?"

"Yeah, definitely," I say with a smile. He shoots a smile at me and walks out of the cafe.