DA Ficlet: Being Normal
Title: Being Normal
Author: Mink
Rating: PG - Gen
Spoilers: General (for all aired episodes)
Disclaimers: DA & characters are owned by their various creators.
Summary: Normal gets something unexpected.

For the jam_pony_fic contest!



Being Normal for quite some time, had never been all that normal.

Was it the urgent rush to the ladies powder room to put out the fire in the third to last stall? It was always that particular stall. He wasn't sure why. Frankly, he didn't exactly care why anymore. It was easier to just keep the fire extinguisher handy.

What was normality these days in a workplace anyway?

Maybe it was the jilted sector cop he had to persuade to stop choking his most often choked employee. He realized he might stop getting tired of hearing just exactly how and why the loaded dice and the stacked cards appeared in the break room. And that freakish plumbing incident that resulted in plunging a spiked dog collar and more tissues than you could buy in bulk? He knew better than to delve into matters that he shouldn't.

It at least always kept his income exciting.

No matter how erratic.

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away, when he had been handed his second degree from one of the oldest and most respected institutions from the Pre-Pulse ... he had imagined a corner office. A large potted plant. Some paid vacations to some sun, sand and everything else you were supposed to want. Maybe some engraved gold watch when he saw 20 years go by beside the same piece of large corporate sculpture.

There might have even been some elaborate office holiday parties. Horrible red Santa hats, a seat on the photocopier after too many highballs, hell, he could have swapped golf stories and water cooler dramas about who did what in a supply closet. There could have even been some serious national scandalous insider trading--

"Hey boss."

Alec causally tossed a package on the counter.

Normal winced as it made contact. For all he knew, the box and everything in it cost more than his belongings, the building he lived in and possibly his soul combined. He began the simple explanation in his head to inform his courier just exactly where he'd gone wrong. Mostly in short syllables in case any word was misunderstood.

Normal took another look at the box in front of him.

The words scrawled on its front made him pause.

Alec nudged it forward. He patted it with a smile.

"Look's like it's for you."

Strange as it was, handling other people's gift wrapped dreams, hopes and wishes, bundled achievements, late nights and even earlier mornings of their sweat and tears... Normal didn't often find any of it addressed to himself.

"What is it?" Alec asked with genuine curiosity.

Normal looked back up at him, gauging the sometimes open and simple sincerity the boy had. The young messenger often reverted to an almost child like tone when no one else was around to hear otherwise.

"Shouldn't you open it?" Alec picked the package back up and shook it.

Normal snatched it out of his hands. "Shouldn't you be out in Sector 12?"

The customer lines started to light up on the phone panel, the holding system flooded and firing like angry red Christmas lights. Normal glanced down at the neatly wrapped box with his name written carefully across its top.

"Hey?" Alec called out over his shoulder as he was walking away.

Normal looked up at him wearily.

"Isn't your birthday this month?"

He felt his face flush before he could even think about a nod that meant yes. Normal suddenly noticed the lack of a return address on the delivery that sat before him. He cleared his throat, his voice barely over the noise of his crew and assorted media they liked to listen to much too loudly.

"Wait, where um- where exactly did this come from?"

Alec shrugged, shouldering his back pack and his gaze shifting towards and through the hectic crowd of the bikers. His interest apparently evaporating with the urgent ring of his phone and the question and call of one of his fellow workers.

With a small smile, Normal placed the package away down under the counter.

Whatever was inside, he suspected it might be just exactly what he wanted.