Ever since Maya had rescued him from his textbooks, Sebastian had felt like he, too, was light enough to walk on air. He hadn't even realized how much his textbooks had been weighing him down until the stress of it was gone. Simple everyday life seemed almost magical in comparison to the drear he had let his December become. It was as if he had been living in black and white and Maya had brought back the color again.

Walking to the grocery store for last minute holiday baking supplies had him in such a good mood that not even marauding pine trees and a few broken eggs could spoil the mood, cleaning the apartment was a joy rather than a chore, and finally opening presents under the tree with his family had made him feel, quite literally, like a child again.

Not even making an appointment to talk to the “mad scientist,” as his wife called him, could put a damper on his euphoria. Not when he had a brilliant new plan; one that would let him spend precious time with his family and still get a treatment or cure to help Ghost.

Step one involved recruiting one James Ingram, which was what brought him and Ghost to Mondragon Labs. Sebastian grinned at Noin as she picked up the phone, four fingered hand carefully dialing the lab's phone number, thin eyebrow carefully arched at Sebastian in an upside down echo of his strange smile. She could give him all the funny looks she wanted, Sebastian was smiling like that at everyone these days.

The phone rang once, twice, three times without anyone picking up on the other end.

The corner of Noin's mouth twitched upwards just a bit, “He never answers. You can go right in.”

Sebastian found Maya's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before leading the way into the labyrinthine halls towards Ingram's lab. It had been awhile since he had been here, but he still remembered the way.

Nerves. Maya had them. Her skirt, perfectly finger ironed, continued to receive it's smoothing during the ride over to a part of town she'd previously never had a reason to visit. Her legs started with tiny taps that built into full blown stomps before she realized what they were doing outside of adult supervision.

This doctor invented a heart. He was the Willy Wonka of medical miracles. And for all Maya cared, he could work late on the weekends because he was not her husband.

Said husband led her by the hand to the reception desk in a stark looking compound. The woman who dialed the magical mystery doctor had something weird with her hand. It took Maya a little unabashed staring to figure out that something was actually missing. A finger. Maya squeezed Sebastian's hand (which had all it's fingers) and busied herself studying the decor while they waited for an answer that apparently would never come.

The air elemental shrugged her shoulders apologetically to the nine-fingered lady as they passed from her domain into a maze of halls and doors that really suited the workspace of a mad scientist. The receptionist was nice enough in a business sort of way. If things worked out with this Ingram, Maya may have to come back often enough to eventually get to know that receptionist lady. Somehow that thought made her bouncing nervous again.

Sebastian knew the way, like his horn always pointed north or something.

They pushed through a set of double doors and transitioned from hall to full blown cadaver lab looking slabs of metal. The super sterile smell had Maya reminding herself that this was America, Sebastian was here, she had volunteered for this and, no, this was not Romania. Halfway in, a man was bent over one of the tables, no doubt doing something nefarious...

...though on closer inspection he seemed to be dissecting a blueberry bagel.