Garrett poured out the concoction onto the skillet, a nice sizzle meeting his ears as the smell hit his nose. He began immediately to work at the edges, forming a nice sized pancake. Looking over at Madlaina, she was looking at him from a position that made him smile. Whoops, almost burned it looking at her. He got the spatula beneath it and gave it a flip. It landed, the previous bottom now a delicious golden brown. He already had a plate out, but stepped away to get maple syrup, silverware, and a napkin for her.

Returning to the skillet, he began to work at the other side while he listened to her. " well, pancakes are the only thing I can make without setting the kitchen on fire. I can make more, though, if you like. Try this one. " He slid the pancake effortlessly from the spatula to her plate, patting the syrup on its invisible head , should she not know what it was for. “I cook okay. Not bad. Cook zama and tocanita in big pots. Muschi poiana is good good, I make all time. Saramura is no good so I not make it."

Garrett's money was on those being Romanian dishes. he smiled at her as he hoped she enjoyed his pancake. " I don't know what those are, but if you want to cook, be my guest. I would love to taste your cooking. I just didn't want you to have to cook on an empty stomach. Doesn't seem very fair." In the meantime, he made himself a pancake as well. Fastest flipper in the East.

When the batter met the pan it sizzled, making Maddy’s ears twitch and her mouth water as the smell filled the kitchen. A plate appeared in front of her and she took her eyes off the pan to see that Garrett was moving around getting other things. Sitting up, she watched as he put the food on her plate and after waiting a second, she ignored the syrup and the silver ware and just picked up the fluffy thing.

Folding it she took a bite and chewed, swallowing quickly. Her attention flickered from him to her pancake as he spoke, Madlaina eating steadily. So when he cooked he set things on fire, good to know. Finishing her pancake rather quickly she watched the next one go to his plate. Just in case he didn’t realize she wanted another one, Maddy casually nudged her plate closer so she could get the next one.

Shaking her head she agreed with him. “I not cook if too hungry. Just eat things.” When she was very hungry, she was more likely to just grab things and eat them, like fruit or other quick food that could be eaten raw. She knew how to use all the silverware but once she reached a point of hunger she didn’t use it, preferring to get the food to her mouth in the fastest way possible, which like now, was with her hands.

While waiting for the second one, a bit more patient now that she had something in her stomach, she picked up the syrup and put a swirl of it on her plate so that the next pancake would get it on both sides. “Why you cook and make fires?”

She must have been hungry as Madlaina skipped both syrup and silverware, folding the pancake in half and chewing on it. He knew how dry it must have been. With her not so subtle nudging of plate, he skipped his own and gave her the next one, so it slid into the syrup bed she had prepared for it. Before he made another one for himself, or her if she preferred, he steeped to the refrigerator and pulled out some orange juice, pouring it into a tall glass and bringing it back to her, placing it next to the pancake.'I not cook if too hungry. Just eat things.” That she did.

“Why you cook and make fires?” He couldn't help but chuckle as he worked on might be her third or his first. " I'm just not good at cooking. It has to be very simple or I ruin it. I think because I work so much that I don't have time." To sleep. To socialize. Much of anything. He felt a compulsion to make time for this one, though. How could he not, since he could very well burn everything he made just by looking into her violet eyes, tracing his glance over her perfect lips. Food. Yes, food, right. The next one was gone, so to be safe, he went ahead and slid her a third pancake, determined to make at least one for himself before the batter was gone. " When is the last time you ate? I hate to think of you doing without."

Using her fork on the next pancake he gave her, she quickly sectioned it and put another quick swirl of syrup on top of it, licking her lip hungrily. Forking a piece into her mouth, she listened to him and why he couldn’t cook. Why didn’t he have time? “Is only minute walk from Irf-miry…” Madlaina hoped she said that right, and kept eating.

She was halfway done with the second pancake when some juice and another pancake appeared. Taking a gulp of the juice, she dug into the pancakes but moving with less urgency than before. His question made her think for a minute. When was the last time she ate? 6 and1/2 hour plane from Romania to London, dinner and breakfast on the plane. 1 hour stop, lunch. 7 and 1/2 hour plane to New York, dinner early on the plane. 1 and 1/2 hour to the mansion, about 1/2 an hour to an hour of intake paperwork and tour, and eating now at… Maddy glanced at the clock on the wall. 4 pm New York time, give or take a few minutes for the ease of the math. With a seven hour time difference, that means…

With some rough math and time zone changes she figured she hadn’t eaten for nearly 10 hours. ”I not eat since 6 in morning?” She and Miss Alex had been traveling for nearly 24 hours straight, and Maddy realized that not long after she finished eating she would probably start falling asleep. Yes she had slept on the plane but it wasn’t exactly restful. But she had heard the best way to adapt to a time change was to force yourself into that schedule, so maybe she should try to force herself to stay awake. At the thought of Alex, Maddy sipped some juice to clear her throat and added, “Is not Miss Alex blame… She help me lots. Is rough day, hard to think food.”

Both of them had been stressed and nervous, for a multitude of reasons. So neither of them had been particularly concerned with food. With at least half a pancake still on her plate, Maddy probably would be good until the actual dinner time that everyone here had, so it looked like Garrett would get a pancake or two for himself.

Syrup licked from hungry lips. It was really too much to bear. He would find a way, though. Maybe by answering her question instead of skipping the pancake and devouring her? Good call. " Well, I also work at the Iris Clinic and take classes at college. Often I just sleep here because I have worked all day. Usually I stay at my apartment above the Clinic if I have free time." He watched her eyes move from left to right as she thought of something. Whatever it was, it seemed to be quite a bit of thinking. "I not eat since 6 in morning?”" That was a while indeed. He would probably be doing the same.

It looked like he would get a pancake after all. he poured the remains of the batter bowl into the skillet, patiently working the spatula until he had his own plate. Turning the eye off, he sat down opposite Madlaina and proceeded to eat one for himself, taking his time enjoying each delectable morsel. The thought occurred to him to be a bit forward. Waiting and pining was something he would rather not do anymore, so better to just be too forward than not enough. Fishing in his back pocket, he pulled out his wallet and got a card from it.

As he took another bite, he stood up and opened drawers until he found a pen to use. Returning to the island, he wrote his name on the back of one of the Clinic business cards and his number to his apartment. He slid it over to her. " This is my number at my place. I live above the Clinic. I'd love to hear from you sometime, since I am not always here." Done deal. No reason to do much now but wait for her response. Mental fingers remained crossed.

That made more sense; if he had only been working here there was really no reason to not eat. But then again, he lived above the other place he worked so she wasn’t sure why he couldn’t eat there either. She shrugged mentally and let it go. Maddy obviously wasn’t the only one that needed a keeper now and then. Finishing off her pancakes and then moving to sipping her juice, she watched him make his own food briefly, before she lost interest and looked around the kitchen more closely.

If they let her, she could quite happily cook here. There were nice shiny surfaces and big utensils and pots around the room in various means of storage. It was bright and sunny with lots of windows, but that didn’t stop her from suddenly and without warning cracking a yawn. Covering it with her wrist, she shook her head in surprise. Apparently the pancakes were speeding up her sleepy feelings.

Hoping the cold juice would help, Madlaina took some large swallows and felt a little better, enough to ask another question. “Why you work and sleep two places?” Maddy had multiple safe spots when she had been in Romania but that was because she hadn’t trusted any of the spots to be completely safe, so she had to have another place to go if one of her spots was invaded or discovered. But that didn’t seem like an issue here.

When he gave her his card, with writing on the back, Madlaina didn’t think anything of it. It had been so long since she thought about boys and dating, around two years, that it didn’t even register for her as anything more than him doing his job or being friendly. When she had been homeless, if a male was interested in her, it wasn’t safe for her to be around because she was too easy a target, and since she was safe here, her logic dictated that he wasn’t a threat so must not be interested.

So she took the card with a small smile and tucked it in her pocket. “Okay. Is good to have more person…” Maddy was kind of proud of herself, she had made a friend on her first day! Maybe things wouldn’t be too bad here. And now if Alex wasn’t around Madlaina could go to Garrett.

A yawn escaped Madlaina's lips. She quickly tried to cover it up with juice, but it was obvious to Garrett that now she was fed and felt safe. She was probably letting the fatigue of the day sink in. He loved spending time with her, but there was no reason to placate his ego at her expense. The more he looked into it, the more he realized that he really had no idea about girls at all and was incredibly lucky with the few experiences he had. fortunately she had a question to divert him from his self analysis, which could otherwise go on perpetually."Why you work and sleep two places?" Garrett thought about it a moment, but not too long. " Sometimes I work late here at the Infirmary and don't feel like driving back to the Clinic, which is closed at night. I used to train here so I have my own room. It's just easier. My apartment is home, but it's sort of lonely to sit there by myself all the time."

She had taken his card after briefly looking at it and put it in her pocket. "Okay. Is good to have more person…” Not a total letdown. Hopefully she meant friend and it was lost in translation. Garrett decided to let it go for now, focusing on her comfort. "I'm glad I got to meet you today, Madlaina. I hope you'll call me or visit me sometime, if I don't see you here around the Mansion. I know you are tired, so why don't you go up to your room and get some rest? I can clean this mess up." Making a friend who happened to be beautiful and funny was definitely not the worst thing that could have happened.

Madlaina still didn’t quite understand his working situation, but did understand why he needed two places to live because he worked in two places. He was lonely in the other home, and here there were plenty of people so he would not be alone. And he used to train here… but not anymore? Maddy got the feeling there was history in that, but being that she had just made friends with him, she didn’t want to upset Garrett by asking. But maybe he could help her… His mutation was touch he said, so he might know a trick. She made a mental note to ask him next time they ran into each other.

“Yes, I see you here. Or I learn the New York, see you.” Madlaina didn’t feel brave enough to go out into the city yet. It might take a while and a few tries before she accomplished it; she didn’t like big cities, lots of people, and unfamiliar places. She was planning to get a map and study it, and get better at English, before she even tried to go into the city. But now she had somewhere to try to go. And phones were out of the question until her English got better.

Since her return to civilization some of her manners, if not the habits, had returned and she felt a bit guilty that he had cooked and now was offering to clean. But she was never one to turn down doing dishes, especially since she was tired and it was something she hated, so she nodded in agreement. “Thanks you for pans cake, is good. And…” She looked at the glass for a second unsure what to call it before she said, “And drink.”

Turning on the stool, she hopped off, swallowing the last of the juice and moving to the sink. Rinsing it once she filled it with water again, and quickly drank it, gulping it down. Finishing it, she set it in the sink and for a moment stood there, head cocked, eyes on Garrett, and her mind remembering the way back to the room she had been given. Then when another yawn creeped up on her, she self-consciously ducked her head, avoiding eye contact as if hiding a weakness from a larger animal, before she moved quickly to the door.

Pausing, unsure exactly what to do, she blurted out “Bye bye” and hastily beat a retreat to the stairs. Scampering up the steps she disappeared around the corner before pulling out her map and following it back to her room, only getting mixed up once. Shutting the door behind her, Madlaina locked it, and began preparing her room for her to sleep in. After about fifteen minutes it was good enough that she felt safe to pass out.

The door was blocked enough that she would know before anyone got it, the window rigged to knock over a cup from the bathroom, and her bedding moved. Pulling a thin blanket from her pack before hiding it, she stripped and crawled into the closet. Wrapping herself so that the one blanket was the only thing touching her skin, her face the only place uncovered, she nestled down in the pile of blankets and pillows and slid the closet door closed.