Hypothesis by Happi Zebra

Jeb groaned, rolling gracelessly from his low, uncomfortable bunk; when he'd begun his work here at the School he'd been young and could sleep on anything, now he felt sore and tired and… used. His experiment had been compromised, his work made meaningless, the Director had won and it was his own damn fault. He stumbled quite deftly through the minefield of textbooks, and scattered papers he'd strewn across the floor. His small room the last private work space he had left, free from the Director's prying eyes.

He made it safely to his small bathroom. The bathroom was all he got for being the founder of the School, a bare recognition that he was somewhat more important than those hundreds of scientists and lab techs. He'd given up his dreams and gotten a bathroom in return. What the hell was wrong with him? He squinted up at the frosted glass window, surprised by the bright light filtering in, he waited for his eyes to adjust considering flicking on the lights just so he'd have the artificial lighting he was used to. It had been a long time since he'd woken while it was still morning.

Jeb stared at his reflection, the man in front of him looked weary and the longer he looked the more the hollow look to his eyes disturbed him; he wasn't the same man he'd been. He rubbed his eyes, scrubbing at himself as if he could slough of this mask and find the light young man he'd been. He turned the shower on listening to the shudder and hiss of the pipes and feeling the first spray of icy water on his hand. A knock came from the other room. Who came to visit at this time? They all knew Jeb didn't get up until afternoon.

What did it matter though? He wasn't being interrupted from something important, nothing he did was important anymore; he turned the shower off, abandoning his futile wait for it to heat up and shook his hand, spraying water across his tiles. He sighed and headed back through the mess, wiping the water off against his pants so as not to drip on his documents. The documents he deluded himself into thinking could be important. Nothing was important. The door opened and a sliver of artificial light crept into the room. Jeb sighed and hit the light switch beside him, pulling the door fully open – or as open as it would move, a quick check behind it revealed several folders that had tumbled from a haphazard stack beside his desk.

"Jeb?" Jeb turned to Reilly, standing in the hall nervously, obviously feeling awkward after being caught peeking in. "I was just checking to see if you were in," he muttered.

"It's fine," Jeb said absently, "What did you need?" he asked, stepping back and shifting the door further open with his foot in an unspoken invitation. Reilly smiled faintly and stepped inside, stumbling when he realized there was only so far in he could go. He sat on the edge of the bed awkwardly while Jeb negotiated his path to the desk chair. He sat down, spinning the chair lightly to face Reilly, staring at the young tech through bleary eyes.

"Uh, I think, I, uh, found something that might interest you," Reilly stammered, "Subject 723 is still in its fetal stage, but evidence is suggesting that your hypothesis might have been correct,"

"Which hypothesis would that be?" Jeb asked, he was more interested in studying Reilly than the science he was being told about. Reilly still had that passion, that exuberance about him, it reminded of Jeb before the takeover, before what happened with his wife, before Ari… "I haven't made public any hypotheses since I started all this," he gestured mildly over the papers, giving Reilly a questioning look.

"Uh, yes, sir, I know that, but… Subject 11, your hypothesis regarding her mental abilities might be substantiated through 723, the circumstances have been very similar, only the Director wants us to inject the surrogate with the DFT serum,"

"Which was used in all the other Flock pregnancies," Jeb nodded, starting to rummage through his desk drawers, "She can't sabotage it with her ignorance if she has the wrong serum," Jeb smiled, feeling the first spark of excitement and defiance he'd felt in years. Reilly smiled conspiratorially, tip toeing across the paper strewn floor to take the bottle.

"Knew I could count on you for a partner in crime," he grinned. Jeb looked up at him and nodded slowly, seeing himself reflected in the younger man. Reilly wasn't even that much younger, Jeb thought, feeling jaded. Reilly's grin was infectious though it seemed and when he didn't seem like he planned to move anytime soon, Jeb smiled and choked out a faint laugh, standing and prodding the man. "I don't want to step on anything important," Reilly explained quickly, looking down.

"It's okay, none of that's important," Jeb said, "Let's go get some coffee and you can explain why you think this miraculous experiment might be the next Subject 11," he told Reilly, guiding him to the door along a paper-clear trail. Reilly nodded and relaxed – it seemed like he was always relaxed – and Jeb decided that some things might still be important after all.