Dollhouse fic
Apr. 20th, 2009 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trillianastraTitle: An Unusual Way To Hire Staff
Author: trillianastra
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters: Adelle DeWitt, Topher Brink
Spoilers: Pre-series, so none.
Prompt: written for "Topher/DeWitt, unique hiring process" at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
comment_fic. Posted here because it got too long, oops.
Summary: Topher gets a job offer in a most unusual way.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for Topher Brink. Is he around?”
Topher looked up in surprise as he (accidentally, why, of course he wouldn’t eavesdrop on colleagues, that would be a terrible thing to do…) overheard someone asking one of the research assistants where he was. A ‘someone’ with a cut-glass British accent, that brought to mind half-remembered cliches about boarding schools, polo ponies and afternoon tea.
He rapidly snapped out of that train of thought when he heard the same someone clear their throat discreetly. When he dared to look up, he saw the owner of the voice looking down at him with a thin smile. “I’m sorry, you are Dr Brink, yes?” He stared at her, mentally trying to make the tone and the words fit with the woman he was looking at, who was making him remember several old fantasies… and the remembering itself was going to cause him a problem if he didn’t get it under control soon.
Topher swallowed quickly, finding his voice. “Uh, yeah, yeah that’s me… is there something I can… help you with?” Somehow he got the feeling that he ought to be apologising for something, and smiled at her in a way that he hoped came off as apologetic but also endearing. He was surprised when she smiled back, saying “I have a proposition for you. We should discuss it in private, though. Not here.”
“A… proposition? Uh, yeah… we can use one of the offices, maybe… there’s usually one empty…”
“An office? No, I don’t think so. My hotel is near here, we’ll go there.”
“Sure, sure. Great. I’ll just.. get my coat.” He shrugged off his lab coat quickly, then grabbed his jacket from a hook on the wall before following her out.
Outside the building, she walked briskly towards her hotel – which was really just around the corner from the laboratory building.
“So… uh, sorry… but who are you, exactly? What do you want?”
She slowed her pace a little. “My name is Adelle DeWitt. And I want to offer you a job, Dr Brink.”
He stared at her. “A job?”
“Yes. But I will tell you more inside, when we’re in a secure environment.”
“Oh. The hotel. Okay. Sounds good. Where is that exactly?”
She nodded in the direction of a building nearby… it was a hotel, but not the five-star palace he’d been expecting. Just a small, ordinary-looking sort of place. As Adelle (and he was really hoping she wouldn’t ask him to call her “Miss DeWitt”, because then the schoolteacher fantasies might really be too much to bear) started to walk up the steps to the front door, she gestured quickly for him to catch up, and he scrambled to get to her side. As he did so, she unexpectedly pulled her hair out of its tight bun, pulled off her perfectly tailored jacket and undid the top two buttons of her blouse. Then she turned to Topher and said “Please understand, I’d rather not do this, but I can’t arouse any suspicion here” with a perfectly serious expression. Then she pulled him closer and kissed him.
Topher was a little taken aback, but his body seemed to have more grasp of the situation than his brain did, so he just went with… whatever it was that Adelle was doing. They were still kissing (quite a lot, his brain contributed, before his libido butted in and told it to shut up), but she was walking them towards the elevators. He managed to get a glimpse of the reception desk, and saw that the receptionist (a very bored-looking young woman) had barely even registered their arrival. Obviously she saw a lot of this kind of thing… and suddenly Adelle’s plan made perfect sense.
Once they’d made it to the elevators, Adelle let go of him, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief (or disappointment, depending on how you looked at it), as she rearranged her clothes and smoothed her hair back quickly, so that when the doors opened she stepped out looking more like she had when she’d arrived at the lab. Topher followed her into one of the rooms, which turned out to be a very standard, ordinary hotel room in a hotel that was two-star at best.
“Please, sit down.” Adelle sat in the armchair by the window, leaving him to sit down a little awkwardly on the edge of the bed. “Now… as I said, I’d like to offer you a job. I run a rather… unusual organisation, catering to a very select pool of clients, and your skills would, I believe, be a real asset to the organisation.”
“My skills? I’m a neuroscientist. I don’t know what you think I can do… I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I should probably, um, go…” He made to stand up, only to freeze when she said simply “Neural programming.”
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. You’re one of the foremost scientists in the field. I need your expertise.”
“One of? One of the foremost scientists? I practically am the foremost.”
“Of course. I don’t particularly need your ego, though. This organisation is highly secretive, hence my precautions for this meeting. You wouldn’t be able to… brag… to anyone.”
“What would I get?”
“Your own lab. A certain degree of freedom, but only if you keep within the strict rules under which we operate. And the chance to be involved in something that only a handful of others even know exists.”
Once she’d said that, his fate was sealed. He knew he was going to take the job, even if it meant moving to Alaska or Siberia or somewhere. Then she told him about the plan for the Dollhouse in LA, as he listened keenly, eyes growing wider almost with each word. When she had finished, she looked at him. “Well? What do you say?”
He grinned. “I’ll take it. But I have to say, your hiring process is a little… odd.” At her expression, he hurriedly added “The good kind of odd, that is. It’s not a complaint… I’ve just never been offered a job like that before.”
“And probably, you never will again.”
Author: trillianastra
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters: Adelle DeWitt, Topher Brink
Spoilers: Pre-series, so none.
Prompt: written for "Topher/DeWitt, unique hiring process" at
comment_fic. Posted here because it got too long, oops.Summary: Topher gets a job offer in a most unusual way.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for Topher Brink. Is he around?”
Topher looked up in surprise as he (accidentally, why, of course he wouldn’t eavesdrop on colleagues, that would be a terrible thing to do…) overheard someone asking one of the research assistants where he was. A ‘someone’ with a cut-glass British accent, that brought to mind half-remembered cliches about boarding schools, polo ponies and afternoon tea.
He rapidly snapped out of that train of thought when he heard the same someone clear their throat discreetly. When he dared to look up, he saw the owner of the voice looking down at him with a thin smile. “I’m sorry, you are Dr Brink, yes?” He stared at her, mentally trying to make the tone and the words fit with the woman he was looking at, who was making him remember several old fantasies… and the remembering itself was going to cause him a problem if he didn’t get it under control soon.
Topher swallowed quickly, finding his voice. “Uh, yeah, yeah that’s me… is there something I can… help you with?” Somehow he got the feeling that he ought to be apologising for something, and smiled at her in a way that he hoped came off as apologetic but also endearing. He was surprised when she smiled back, saying “I have a proposition for you. We should discuss it in private, though. Not here.”
“A… proposition? Uh, yeah… we can use one of the offices, maybe… there’s usually one empty…”
“An office? No, I don’t think so. My hotel is near here, we’ll go there.”
“Sure, sure. Great. I’ll just.. get my coat.” He shrugged off his lab coat quickly, then grabbed his jacket from a hook on the wall before following her out.
Outside the building, she walked briskly towards her hotel – which was really just around the corner from the laboratory building.
“So… uh, sorry… but who are you, exactly? What do you want?”
She slowed her pace a little. “My name is Adelle DeWitt. And I want to offer you a job, Dr Brink.”
He stared at her. “A job?”
“Yes. But I will tell you more inside, when we’re in a secure environment.”
“Oh. The hotel. Okay. Sounds good. Where is that exactly?”
She nodded in the direction of a building nearby… it was a hotel, but not the five-star palace he’d been expecting. Just a small, ordinary-looking sort of place. As Adelle (and he was really hoping she wouldn’t ask him to call her “Miss DeWitt”, because then the schoolteacher fantasies might really be too much to bear) started to walk up the steps to the front door, she gestured quickly for him to catch up, and he scrambled to get to her side. As he did so, she unexpectedly pulled her hair out of its tight bun, pulled off her perfectly tailored jacket and undid the top two buttons of her blouse. Then she turned to Topher and said “Please understand, I’d rather not do this, but I can’t arouse any suspicion here” with a perfectly serious expression. Then she pulled him closer and kissed him.
Topher was a little taken aback, but his body seemed to have more grasp of the situation than his brain did, so he just went with… whatever it was that Adelle was doing. They were still kissing (quite a lot, his brain contributed, before his libido butted in and told it to shut up), but she was walking them towards the elevators. He managed to get a glimpse of the reception desk, and saw that the receptionist (a very bored-looking young woman) had barely even registered their arrival. Obviously she saw a lot of this kind of thing… and suddenly Adelle’s plan made perfect sense.
Once they’d made it to the elevators, Adelle let go of him, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief (or disappointment, depending on how you looked at it), as she rearranged her clothes and smoothed her hair back quickly, so that when the doors opened she stepped out looking more like she had when she’d arrived at the lab. Topher followed her into one of the rooms, which turned out to be a very standard, ordinary hotel room in a hotel that was two-star at best.
“Please, sit down.” Adelle sat in the armchair by the window, leaving him to sit down a little awkwardly on the edge of the bed. “Now… as I said, I’d like to offer you a job. I run a rather… unusual organisation, catering to a very select pool of clients, and your skills would, I believe, be a real asset to the organisation.”
“My skills? I’m a neuroscientist. I don’t know what you think I can do… I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I should probably, um, go…” He made to stand up, only to freeze when she said simply “Neural programming.”
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. You’re one of the foremost scientists in the field. I need your expertise.”
“One of? One of the foremost scientists? I practically am the foremost.”
“Of course. I don’t particularly need your ego, though. This organisation is highly secretive, hence my precautions for this meeting. You wouldn’t be able to… brag… to anyone.”
“What would I get?”
“Your own lab. A certain degree of freedom, but only if you keep within the strict rules under which we operate. And the chance to be involved in something that only a handful of others even know exists.”
Once she’d said that, his fate was sealed. He knew he was going to take the job, even if it meant moving to Alaska or Siberia or somewhere. Then she told him about the plan for the Dollhouse in LA, as he listened keenly, eyes growing wider almost with each word. When she had finished, she looked at him. “Well? What do you say?”
He grinned. “I’ll take it. But I have to say, your hiring process is a little… odd.” At her expression, he hurriedly added “The good kind of odd, that is. It’s not a complaint… I’ve just never been offered a job like that before.”
“And probably, you never will again.”
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