CHAPTER 9 - MEETING THE MUSEUM
After a long night hearing the Porter's - but mostly Jane - enthusiastically talk about the whole research they were doing about the gorillas; Milo went to bed late but he ended waking up early as the sun creeped into the room between the soft cotton curtains that covered the windows nearby the bed. It was a quarter past six when he sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes to try to remove the sleep from his face, he reached to his glasses on the nightstand and quickly glanced at the clock to see the time before getting on his feet and walking into the bathroom to deal with his morning routine. Once Milo was properly dressed, he walked out of his room and went downstairs, soon enough he found the Porter's sitting on the dining room ready to have breakfast. The vision of Jane made a smile get plastered on his face, he passed a hand through his hair and pulled a chair to sit down after greeting them. Jane was holding a toast with a lively red jam on top, she smiled at Milo and spoke up
“Morning! So good that you woke up on your own, we were starting to think that we would need to get you up to go to work.”
Milo chuckled softly and a small blush adorning his cheeks with the idea of Jane waking him up, such image in his head was a very nice one. He cleaned his throat, "I woke up with the sunlight." he replied and then thanked Berta once she settled a plate in front of him so he could serve himself with the assortment of toasts and breads, fruits and condiments to have his breakfast. He picked a couple of toasts and spread some butter on them and sipped from the tea that was poured for him, this one was different than the one they had on the night before. It was softer but still very energetic. He was guessing he was going to be trying at lot of teas from now on since the British had a liking for such drink. Once in a while, he glanced up at Jane and they exchanged small smiles and he even could hear her giggling a few times. He enjoyed her company on the night before and it seemed she did too.
After breakfast, the three of them left the house and entered Archimedes’ car since they thought it would be better to explain to Milo how the public transportation worked in a more tranquil day where they didn't had to arrive at a place in a specific time. The travel was pretty much the same route he had passed through on the way from the docks but it seemed more enjoyable because he had Jane excitedly pointing out all the places she would like to show to Milo. He was aware that something was building up inside of him regarding Jane but he decided to do not give it much thought and tried to focus on work. As soon as they arrived at the museum, Milo’s eyes sparkled with excitement, the place was monumental; all made in stone and still had a soft and relaxing atmosphere to it. He wished he could have enough time to take in all the fine details of the main hall of the museum but the Porter's were marching with a destination and Milo simply followed them while stealing glances from the exhibits of the museum. He couldn't see much since they headed to the employees only area but what he saw he thought was fabulous, the place had a lot of exhibits focused on animal skeletal structure. Once they walked through the corridors of the restricted area, he saw tons of rooms that were focused on restoration of museum pieces and also some areas that seemed to simply be storage until they finally walked into a room, the place was rather large and also made of stone but the mess was very similar to the one he had found at Archimedes' office back at the Porter's home. Right in the center of the room there stood a gorilla skeletal structure, there were two big blackboard pressed against a wall and filled with informations. In between the blackboards a desk that had towers of papers on it. Archimedes promptly walked to said desk "I'll continue from where I stopped last time, Jane."
Jane nodded and looked at Milo to find him with his mouth open as he tried to absorb all the information around him; she chuckled softly, gently pressing her fingers against her lips and then cleaned her throat to catch his attention. Once he was looking at her, she started to walk "Follow me. I'll give you a short tour through what we have so far." she then explained the blackboards and walked with him to show some slides of photos they had. "As you can see, we have gathered a lot of information but unfortunately we can't put it all together to formulate a proper scientific article to present to the zoology community. That's the part we need your help, how can we show that what we see isn't mere coincidence."
Milo nodded as he watched her change the slides on the projector to show the different pictures of gorillas "Put the last one back again!" he instructed as he noticed something. She furrowed her eyebrows slightly from curiosity but did as he instructed.
"Here." he pointed at the picture "That motion hand, it's a still but... it almost looks like this gorilla is greeting the other. Like when we say hello."
Jane put a lock of her hair behind her ear, some stray strands missing the bun she had made. She moved closer and watched the hand before speaking up: "I believe we might have some footage that might have similar motions. I'll look through it and while I try to find it-" she walked to a nearby bookcase and picked about three books before handing them to Milo and continue "-you can read those to have a basics about gorilla physiology and habits. From there you can start narrowing down which actions are not basic from their habits but actually might suggest a communication."
Milo let out a small umhp when she handed him the books, they were slightly thick and some people might need days to read it but not Milo, he was used to skimming books and fast reading. He walked to a couch and set down the books on it before plopping himself down and opening the first one to read, the title was Primates and their differences in physiology.
He divided his attention in reading the book while he stole glances that weren't so sutil at Jane, he watched as she moved around and rummaged through boxes to find the footage of gorillas. It seemed that they didn't really have a method to the chaos and it's probably a factor that is not helping them advance. He found himself gazing at her figure as she got on the tip of her toes to reach a higher place, Milo bit down on his lower lip and let out a small groan of frustration before focusing once again on his book. But the truth is that reading about chimpanzees and gorillas wasn't as fun as watching Jane. She was a fascinating mixture of graceful and clumsy that made her look adorable. He was once again getting lost on his thoughts about Jane and he let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, he could already tell that it was going to be hard for him to focus when Jane's around.
A couple of months had passed since Milo arrived in London and started working with the Porter's, he had managed to help them figure some things out and now they had managed to find some specific patterns in gestures and sounds but they still didn't knew what they meant. It was very obvious that they had a very simplified sort of communication but they had to prove that it wasn't just grunts and groans, they had to show for the community of zoologists that such sounds had meanings and therefore they had a language and communication of their own. It was easier said than done since there's just so much you can prove with pictures and footage. It was already getting late but Milo was too focused together with Jane in the records of gorilla sounds, trying to see if they found any pattern.
"That groan was definitely the same we heard a while back." Milo pointed out.
Jane shook her head "It sounds the same but this one is way more aggressive, the other seemed more tranquil. What if they way they say it make it have different meanings?"
Milo tapped his fingers over the desk and had his other hands resting under his chin, holding the weight of his face. He frowned and hummed as he pondered "You mean like when a person screams no and it sounds like an alert, a warning but when it's in a more tranquil way it is simply an answer? That does make sense... unfortunately that makes our job harder."
Jane nodded and sighed, her finger undoing the braid she was portraying through the whole day. "Oh God! Daddy, what do you think?" she inquired and when there were no reply, they started to look around the room to find no sign of the professor. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and looked at Milo "He left?"
The brunet then thought for a bit, trying to scan through his memories to figure out an answer. The two were so focused that they barely noticed Archimedes had already left but Milo seemed to have found something on his mind "I remember him bidding good night. I guess he got tired or sleepy."
Jane leaned back on her chair and blew a raspberry, she looked at Milo and then sat up before grabbing his left arm to check the time "What time is it anyway?" she looked at the watch on the brunet's arm and her lively blue eyes went wide open. "Oh my! It's past eight!" she let go of his arm and a blush adorned her cheeks, she had been blushing a lot lately whenever the two of them found themselves together alone. A thing that it seemed Archimedes was trying to allow to happen very often. Milo passed a hand through his hair and adjusted his glasses "Uh... would you like to have dinner in a restaurant nearby? I'm pretty sure Berta is gone by now so... unless we would like us to cook when we get home..." his voice trailed off as he made notice of how it sounded. It sounded a lot like Milo was asking her out for dinner.
Jane got on her feet and smiled, she rolled back down the sleeves of her yellow shirt and then ran her hands through the front of the brown skirt she was wearing "Dinner sounds perfect. There's a wonderful pub nearby and also a very nice Italian restaurant."
Milo then swallowed down thickly and got on his feet, he buttoned up the vest he was wearing and then patted on his pants to remove any wrinkles. He stared at Jane for a while, unsure of what to do next.
She giggled and walked to the door "Shall we? I believe that most of the restaurants will close soon so we better rush." he nodded and followed her out of the room.
As she had mentioned, the restaurants were nearby but unfortunately the Italian place was already closed so they had to head to the pub. Milo wasn't so happy about the idea of going to a place where people mainly drink alcoholic beverages but he didn't saw much of an option. They were sat on a booth and soon brought menus, Jane then handed the menus back and spoke up "We'll have one pint for each of the house beer and we'll have a sea platter to share." she smiled brightly and then added "Oh! Bring us a side of chips too."
Milo started at her "You know I don't drink."
She giggled "Oh shoosh, you're always so focused and helpful, I haven't seen you loosen up and relax since you got here. Even on weekends, the places you made daddy and I take you were all historical buildings." she smiled and then closed her eyes "Follow me. Breath in." and with that she took a breath just to let it out after a while "And breath out." she added and then opened her eyes. "You're doing an excellent work with the research but believe me" she chuckled and continued "If you drown yourself in gorillas you'll go a bit insane. I know we're going to figure things out. I'm sure of that but we should have some fun on the way so we don't go bonkers."
The waiter settled the two beer mugs on the table and walked away. Milo looked at the beer, at Jane and then smiled while he grabbed the handle of the beer. "You're right. To relaxing times." she smiled and clinked her own mug with his before both took a long sip of the sparkling yellow liquid. Milo coughed a bit, not used to the taste of alcoholic drinks. The rest of the meal consisted of a lot of laughs and conversations while they shared the platter of seafood. Jane ordered a second mug of beer for her, Milo barely managed to finish the first one. After a relaxing meal, they stepped out of the pub and started walking to the subway so they could head back home. Jane seemed to be a bit tipsy - not drunk, mind you - but just slightly bubbly and giggly and giddy. She wrapped an arm around Milo's arm, locking their arms together as they walked down the stairs to the subway. Milo chuckled with her every time he heard the beaming sound leaving her lips. Once they got inside the train, they sat down side-by-side and Jane then rested her head on his shoulder. Such thing made Milo tense up a bit, in the last month they seemed to get closer and his feelings for Jane only grew stronger but he wasn't sure on what to do, he had a feeling she might like him too but he's not sure if it's in the same way he does. He thought that she only liked him in a friend or companion level, as perhaps if he was someone of the family.
Milo's train of thoughts were broke once they arrived at the station they had to, he gently shook her body because she seemed to be drifting into sleep and once again locked arms with her as they walked from the station to the house. Jane now seemed to be hyper, she couldn't stop talking about anything and everything, as they approached the house she was singing a song from a presentation she had to do in school when she was a child. Milo chuckled and watched as she did pirouettes in the front yard of the house they live in. Her cheeks were flushed when she stopped spinning and she walked to the front door in a tipsy way, she struggled to open the door and Milo stood behind her as he was supervising her motions while looking over her shoulders. Once the door swung open, Jane suddenly was jerked forward together with the door and Milo threw himself forward to grab her before she could fall on the floor. He held her by her waist and now it looked like he was tipping her down to give her a kiss. She was facing him and had her arms resting on his shoulders, he swallowed thickly while they stared at each other and was trying to set his senses to normal so he could have them back to a standing position. Jane then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her face closer to his, before he could rationalize what was happening, their lips were pressed together in a passionate kiss. Milo broke the kiss after a while and set them straight, his hands were still holding her waist as she smiled at him after the kiss, he furrowed his eyebrows because he was now suspecting she was more than just tipsy. She giggled and raised an eyebrow.
"What's the problem Milo? You also think deeply about kisses too?" she leaned closer to him, wrapping her arms tighter around his shoulders as she inched closer and closer to his face, she then continued in a whisper "That's not something you think, you just feel." and then she pressed her lips against his again. This time he reciprocated the kiss with passion, he felt her hand resting on his neck and their bodies pressed together. The front door forgotten open for the time being as they allowed their feelings to flood their bodies. He felt her hands slid from his shoulders to his chest and he could sense her undoing the buttons of his vest, he then broke the kiss and held her tiny hands in his larger ones, he chuckled nervously and could feel his glasses were slightly crooked on his face "I-I... I think that we should go to bed now. I mean... sleep!" he took a deep breath and let go of her hands, he passed a hand through his hair and then closed the door behind them. When he turned around, Jane was staring at him. He furrowed his eyebrows and inquired.
"What?"
She sighed and said in a low tone, not sounding so giggly or giddy anymore "Nothing Milo." she then turned around and started to climb the stairs. He furrowed his brows for a while as he tried to figure why her change of heart, he then took a long breath and rushed after her, he grabbed one of her arms and spinned her around before clashing his lips against hers in a lovingly way. "Sleep well, Jane." he said after breaking the kiss and climbed up the stairs hand in hand with her.