Benedict was known for running his mouth, but as he found himself sat in front of a typewriter, he felt like he was waking up in that hospital on the edge of the city all over again, with no memories and his dog tag at his bedside. He sighed and threw his head back. It was after work hours, so no clients saw him, but Iris did. "Ben." She said, dragging a seat into his booth. "What are you doing?" She crossed her legs and leant back in her chair, completely relaxed.
Her short and shaggy grey hair was hanging limply around her face, her eyebrows were raised and her jacket was long abandoned when she arrived to work, and even though she had long sleeves she shook from the cold. "Come on," She said, as he looked at her strangely, "I have to be feminine all day let me relax." Benedict took a moment. Talking to Iris was normal. Easy. Banter. Back and forth.
"I thought you liked being feminine, and if you didn't then why are you even a doll?" He asked back, pushing the type writer away.
"I like it on some days, on other days I just want to dress like you and Boss Hodgins. You know?" She asked.
"No." He replied. She shrugged.
"Anyway, what's the problem, why are you fawning over a typewriter, does Taylor need help with her homework or something?" She said, referencing Benedict's un-official child, Taylor, who was now 11, enrolled in a school, working part-time at the company and living with Violet.
"No, it's not about Taylor. She's loving school. It's, ah, good lord, a 'me' thing." He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Iris's eyebrows raised, and her eyes widened.
"Is it about 'Rica?" She asked, and Benedict turned pink. "I knew it! It is about Rica!" She yelled, and Benedict shushed her. "Alright, alright. So, the type writer, you're at work...You want to write her a letter, right?" Benedict turned a brighter shade of pink. "Right, you are far too easy to read, Blue."
"Shut up." He hissed. "I feel like I've forgotten everything. How to write- I know what I want to say but the words aren't there." Iris lowered her eyebrows and put her head in her hands, and sighed heavily.
"Benedict, hand me the type writer, I'm literally a doll." She said. He did as he was told, and she instantly was off. She clicked away in almost silence, filling line after line with words. He opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him. "Ben I'm a doll this is my life. We've all seen the way you look at Rica."
"I can't pay you." He said, and she glared at him.
"No. Shit. You're just as broke as I am all of your money goes into rent and finding out who you are. Any leads on that by the way?" She asked, her voice becoming softer towards the end.
"I remembered thier names. My Mother, my Father, older siblings, and obviously Clarise. I had older siblings by the way. Thier names were Acacia and Clover. My parents were Marcus and Leanna. That gives me some hope." He stopped where his memories stopped; Names and hospitals. Before that was a blur, almost like a dream you couldn't quite remember. "Let me see what you're writting."
"Ok." She shrugged, ripping off the letter and handing it to him. "I think I did alright."
"This is just asking her out on a date fancily." He said once he had finished reading the letter. "But it is exactly what I wanted to say. So thank you, Iris." She smirked. "Don't look at me like that, I take it back."
To his surprise, Erica approached him first the next day. She offered to pick Taylor up from her school, and Benedict said he'd come with her, since he was done for the day anyway (save for the few letters he'd kept for Taylor.). They stood, side by side, in the school yard. "I don't remember school." He said, grinning.
"I know, Benedict." She replied. Joking was just one of the many ways he used to cope with the forgetting who you are and if you have a family thing. "Did you sleep well last night?" She asked.
"I was up late," He said, "Working on something."
"On what?"
"Just something for Taylor's birthday." He mumbled as the children came bounding out of the classroom.
A little while later, Erica came to see Benedict again, with a letter in her hand. He had asked Taylor to deliver something to a friend of his, and it had worked, clearly. "So Taylor gave me this." She said, almost embarrassed, taking the seat next to him. He pretended to be shocked. "I know that Iris wrote it. She's the only one willing to help you with this kind of thing."
"So..." He began, looking at her casually. "What's the answer?" She thought for a moment.
After that, Benedict left little love notes for Erica all around her place, and he didn't always have to use Iris. It was easy now, to find things he liked. Some of his notes said things like this:
-"I like the way your hair gets lighter in the summer."
-"I keep seeing you give Iris your scarf during winter, should I get you a new one?"
-"I like the way your head fits softly into my shoulder, it's so perfect it makes me very happy."
And she started leaving them back, only more poetic:
-"When you pick up Taylor from school you have a large smile on your face, and it feels like sunshine, and then when you read as well you get this focused smile, like sunshine again, but winter sunshine."
-"Your eyes are so shiny, it feels like I'm drowning in a good way whenever you look at me, you live up to your last name, Blue. Like the sky, like the ocean, and rivers."
