ã€ŠPeople. Harmony. Dysfunctionã€‹


 1. The First Day

    Olivia felt like she was back at school as she sat opposite the reception desk, bag on her knee as she twirled her ginger ponytail around a finger as she watched the clock, just waiting. Would it be unprofessional to start playing on her phone? She sighed and Peter briefly looked up from his computer at the reception desk at the noise and gave her a wry, apologetic smile. This was supposed to be the first day of her PhD and she had been told to be in at nine o¡¯clock to meet her project supervisor. She had expected it to be overwhelming, but in a good way, now her anxiety was unsettling her stomach as she continued to wait.

    She¡¯d been there for half an hour.

    As Olivia, yet again, brushed some imaginary dirt from the hem of her green dress another woman came in. She was tall with a messy bun and pale skin, wearing purple jeans and an old, scruffy jacket with a satchel swung over her shoulder. She cheerfully greeted Peter before taking a swig from the cup in her hand. Olivia realised that she was the first person to greet the receptionist without needing something from him.

    ¡°Tasha!¡± Peter called out before she¡¯d gotten too far, making her turn and stroll back to the reception desk to lean on it. ¡°Do you know when Professor Allerton is due in?¡± He asked. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to get hold of her.¡±

    Natasha checked her watch as she took another sip of her coffee. ¡°About an hour ago.¡± She replied mirroring the same long suffering look that was on Peter¡¯s face.

    ¡°Her new start, Olivia Pendleton, is here.¡± Olivia gave a little hopeful wave as Natasha turned when Peter indicated to her. Natasha offered her a polite smile before turning back to Peter and promising to deal with it. ¡°Thanks, Tasha.¡±

    Olivia quickly stood up as Natasha walked over to her, unable to temper down the hopeful feeling that surged through her at the idea that she might finally be about to get started. Or at least something more to do than just sitting there. Olivia eagerly thrust out a hand to offer Natasha in greeting. ¡°Olivia.¡±

    As she noticed the corner¡¯s of Natasha¡¯s lip twitch in amusement she felt a flicker of worry before Natasha swapped her coffee between hands and shook hers in a comfortable and firm grip. ¡°Natasha. Has Peter got you all set up? Building pass, fire safety, etc?¡± Olivia nodded as Natasha beckoned her to walk with her, not really waiting for Olivia¡¯s reply. Natasha knew Peter was competent at his job and that he¡¯d have already seen to it, but she also knew better than to make assumptions. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say our team leader has been at a conference and is currently out of her office, but we can get you set up for when she returns.¡±

    ¡°She forgot about me, didn¡¯t she?¡± Olivia asked timidly.

    Natasha wasn¡¯t surprised by the question. ¡°No. We all knew you were coming.¡± Olivia had noticed the hesitation but she didn¡¯t question the diplomatic nature of the response, too relieved at the fact that she was no longer just waiting in reception any longer.

    Olivia followed Natasha through a series of corridors that made her think of a rabbit warren, or maybe a labyrinth. She tried to map the turns they took so that she knew her way around but the building seemed beyond anything she was used to. When it had been built it had been much smaller, not anticipating how much the department would expand over the years. Therefore rooms had been modified and expansions added as required rather than with any real overall design plan. It was a stark contrast to the overly designed buildings of her school and university.

    ¡°Welcome to the belly of the beast.¡± Natasha announced as they arrived at their office, swiping her keycard over the lock and held the door behind her for Olivia to follow.

    The office itself was quite large, though it didn¡¯t look it anymore after generations of students and scientists. The door she¡¯d just walked through opened up until it was flush against a wall, in her immediate line of sight were two desks she was looking at side on. If she followed the room round from them anti-clock wise she could just made out a kettle in the corner after the second desk, travelling along the next wall was another pair of desks, then a bookshelf followed by a door. Olivia would later discover that door led to their lab.

    Following the same direction the next wall contained another pair of desks - after the gap allowing the lab door to open - then a filing cabinet. The final wall was full of wipeboards and corkboards - with a combination of official and unofficial notices before arriving at the door she¡¯d just walked through. In the centre of the room was a final pair of desks that had been pushed together to form a large, more-or-less square table for meetings and discussions. However, it was littered with books and components. The wall space above all the desks against the walls was filled with shelves and cabinets and those she could see in were stuffed full of books in various states of repair.

    It had not been what Olivia had expected, but then again she quickly realised she didn¡¯t know what to expect.

    Natasha had dumped her bag and travel mug on the desk nearest the filing cabinet. ¡°Sofia and Joe.¡± Introduced the other two occupants of the office as she switched on her computer.

    Olivia turned her attention from the layout of the room and to the people in it. ¡°Coffee?¡± Sofia asked, an Italian accent complimenting her dark olive skin and long brown hair. She had an elegant look to her features, made mysterious by the dark make-up.

    ¡°...I don¡¯t have a mug.¡±

    Sofia giggled. ¡°We have spares.¡±

    ¡°Yes, please. Milk, one sugar.¡±

    Both Natasha and Joseph chuckled to themselves. ¡°Never direct an Italian about coffee.¡± Joseph warned Olivia with amusement in his tone. He was about as tall as Natasha, but blonder and stood straighter, as if he had been trained not to slouch, with a refined accent. As Natasha passed her mug over for a refill Olivia made a note to bring in her own mug tomorrow.

    ¡°Even we do not have only one recipe for coffee.¡± Sofia corrected with a smile as she poured the water. ¡°This is why we have so many fantastic coffees.¡±

    ¡°And took over our kettle.¡± Joseph chuckled before Sofia punched his arm - with no real strength or malice - before picking up the mugs to pass them out to their recipients before taking a seat at the desk next to the coffee machine and opposite the door. She had to move a skateboard out of her way she she did, Olivia realised that explained the short combats she was wearing, though not the hiking boots. ¡°Zach¡¯s in the lab, Toni isn¡¯t in yet, professor¡¯s still AWOL.¡± He explained succinctly.

    Natasha shrugged off both statements as if they weren¡¯t important. She¡¯d been part of the team long enough to know the lay of the land. She put down her coffee and directed Olivia to the empty desk next to Sofia, explaining that she¡¯d have to arrange her desk to fit her ergonomics but they¡¯d already got her set up on the IT systems. She was left to it with instructions to just ask if she needed anything.

    Olivia had just finished the DSE assessment of her desk when another man walked into the office with a bright smile. ¡°Morning guys.¡± Olivia wasn¡¯t the only one to look up at the almost too lively greeting in a Greek accent. He was tall with sharp, handsome features, sun-kissed skin and brown hair that already looked mussed up. He had the air of an athlete around him, that surprised Olivia in an office full of geeks.

    ¡°You missed the coffee again, Toni.¡± Sofia teased.

    ¡°I missedyourcoffee again.¡± Antonis corrected as he took a seat at the desk on the other corner to the kettle and checked the heat with his hand before setting to making his own coffee as his computer turned on.

    ¡°Never bother to make coffee for those two.¡± Natasha warned. ¡°The only thing they agree on is that us Brits can¡¯t made coffee.¡±

    ¡°You cannot.¡± Antonis corrected.

    Natasha scoffed as if it were obvious. ¡°No, our coffee shops can¡¯t.¡±

    Any further argument on who could and couldn¡¯t make coffee was interrupted by the other door opening as another man leant through it, as if he wasn¡¯t going to bother travelling further than necessary as he held the door open with one hand and leant on the frame with the other. He had short dreadlocks that were mostly pushed back out of his face and the sleeves on his hoodie were rolled up enough to show the artistic tattoos on the outside of both forearms, the black ink somehow both stark contrast yet subtle against his dark skin. His friendly grey eyes had done a sweep of the office out of habit despite knowing where his original subject had been. ¡°Olivia?¡± He half asked as he realised that the empty desk was no longer empty.

    ¡°Hi.¡± She greeted.

    ¡°Zach.¡± He introduced himself with a smile and a nod before turning back to his original reason for poking his head back into the office. ¡°Tasha, you got a minute to go over those diagnostics you were running?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Natasha plucked a pair of lab specs from atop her computer as she stood up to join him in the lab. She wrinkled her nose as she took the door from him. ¡°You stink of cigarettes again.¡±

    ¡°If I gave up you¡¯d miss out on vital gossip.¡± Zachariah retorted. Natasha knew better than to go over that ground again, she¡¯d attempted to make him quit too many times and he knew that if he ever wanted to he could rely on her support. Therefore she had stopped nagging, it wouldn¡¯t work.

    ~-x-~

    For the rest of the morning they continued as normal, with each of them introducing Olivia to various aspects of their work whilst they waited for their supervisor to appear.

    When she still hadn¡¯t made an appearance by lunchtime Natasha had had enough of wasting everyone¡¯s time. ¡°Do not do anything stupid.¡± Antonis warned her as he and Olivia watched her rummage through her back before eventually producing a large bunch of keys.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dream of it.¡± Natasha gave a far too innocent grin that made Antonis chuckle wearily.

    Natasha strode out of the office before Olivia could question anything and down the corridor to a nearby office, knocking once on the off-chance the Professor Allerton had arrived back but not told them. She waited long enough to be sure she hadn¡¯t got a reply before unlocking the office and walking in. It didn¡¯t take her long to find the vague file that contained the application for the PhD, taking it with her she locked up the office behind her and returned to the team one.

    It didn¡¯t take her long to review the couple of relevant documents for Olivia getting the placement before beckoning her over to the breakout table, though she had to push back a bunch of books to make room at a corner. Natasha quickly went over that with Olivia before questioning her further as she drew up an outline plan for the direction of Olivia¡¯s work and based the specific initial direction on what Olivia was already familiar with - specifically the use and application of photonics. It was a technology they¡¯d started to hear more and more about, but as of yet lacked expertise and knowledge of it in their own department.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Olivia seemed perfectly content to spend her initial days on research to both refresh her memory and to learn about the specific applications their team was interested in before she started focusing on anything specific. Natasha was perfectly happy for her to do so, because not only would it allow her time to settle in, but it would also mean she hadn¡¯t got too far involved in anything if Allerton decided to change direction when she finally deigned to make an appearance. Just before she left to grab some food Natasha assured Olivia that she was welcome to ask them anything about their work to familiarise herself with it, before warning her not to assume she could take everything in in one go.

    About mid afternoon a woman in a stylish skirt-suit strolled into the lab, her light brown hair brushed and sprayed into a perfectly neat bob. She had passed a critical yet detached eye over the occupants in the office on her way through before finding Natasha and Zachariah busy mounting the sensor array they¡¯d all been working on as Antonis guided them. She paused briefly to watch them before her attention was diverted as an email notification popped up on her phone. ¡°Why is the new girl sat at her computer?¡± Caroline Allerton asked without diverting her attention away from her phone.

    Natasha shared a look with Zachariah, they¡¯d both been hoping that because they were clearly busy Allerton wouldn¡¯t want to bother waiting for them to be done, or disturb them in case they broke anything. ¡°Because she¡¯s doing background research rather than just setting to in any random direction.¡± Natasha explained tersely.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t she already have a direction before she arrived?¡± Allerton¡¯s question was pointed and deliberate.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, where¡¯s the project plan you wrote for her?¡± Natasha retorted despite the warning look Antonis gave her.

    Allerton finally looked up from her phone with an unimpressed look on her face, raising herself to her full height - which wasn¡¯t as tall as Natasha - as she stared down her unruly subordinate. ¡°In case it escaped your limited attention, I have been away on an important conference.¡±

    Natasha knew she shouldn¡¯t take the bait, but equally she couldn¡¯t let it slide as she took a calming breath and indicate Antonis swap with her. He hesitated until she glared at him for considering not doing so. She brushed her hands off on her jeans as she turned to her supervisor, who had already lost interest in her and was replying to get another email. ¡°You have known you were getting a new start for four months, known who it was for two.¡± Her tone was quiet yet she was clearly seething. ¡°You have known about this conference for three weeks. That was three weeks to either draw up a plan or to delegate that job to someone else. You did neither.¡±

    ¡°Yet you knew it needed doing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not her supervisor.¡± Natasha glared at the top of Allerton¡¯s head. ¡°And until you can muster the respect to look at the people you¡¯re having a conversation with, I¡¯m not dealing with this.¡±

    That made Allerton look up as Natasha turned to get back on with her work. ¡°Natasha.¡± She called calmly and knowingly, making Natasha turn back around after taking a steadying breath. ¡°My office, now.¡± Natasha thought she did an admiral job of resisting showing any outward signs of irritation as she nodded and followed Allerton back to her office, picking up the folder she¡¯d borrowed earlier that day as they went.

    ¡°Why do I get the feeling that this time, Tasha is out of lives?¡± Zachariah asked once the door closed behind them.

    ¡°She will be fine.¡± Antonis corrected in an assured tone, before frowning. ¡°If she does not hit her.¡± Zachariah chuckled wryly.

    It felt like a long time before Allerton came back out of her office to invite Olivia in, not even waiting for a reply before she disappeared again. Olivia chanced a pleading look at the others and despite the same timid looks on Sofia and Joseph¡¯s faces, Sofia gave her a small nod of encouragement as Olivia stood to follow before she got herself in trouble on her first day. As she joined the professor in her office Allerton offered Olivia a seat as she took one at her desk, Olivia quietly sat down as she noticed Natasha in the corner of the office. Olivia didn¡¯t have much experience of meetings, but even to her this seemed rather strange and awkward as Allerton discussed her current project plans. Olivia tried her best to keep her face neutral as Allerton went over everything Natasha had already gone through with her that morning as if it were entirely new material.

    The general gist that Olivia picked up from the meeting was to ask Natasha if Allerton wasn¡¯t available, but to be wary about Natasha¡¯s competence and therefore double check everything she was told when she got the chance. Eventually they were dismissed. ¡°Welcome to the team.¡± Natasha half muttered as she stalked to her desk to grab her mug to make herself a coffee.

    Olivia remained stood in the doorway dumbfounded as Zachariah watched them both. ¡°Still have your job then?¡± He was more than a little concerned about Natasha. She nodded as the kettle boiled. ¡°Good, I need you to set up some more tests.¡±

    ¡°No rest of the wicked.¡± Natasha muttered as she wrapped her hands around the mug as if it were some kind of comfort, glancing into it briefly. ¡°Would anyone notice if I Irished this up?¡±

    ¡°This close to getting fired? Yeah, I reckon so.¡± Zachariah warned her and she nodded absentmindedly in defeat.

    ~-x-~

    Zachariah was the first to leave for the day - banning anyone from touching anything whilst he wasn¡¯t there to fix it - because he was the first in. Sofia and Joseph weren¡¯t far after but Sofia made arrangements for them all to head to the pub that evening so that they could get to know Olivia properly. They all laughed off Olivia¡¯s surprise at drinking on a work night, before they promised her she didn¡¯t have to stay out late.

    Natasha and Antonis were the last two in the lab, doing a sweep of both lab and office to make sure everything was off or safe before they headed straight to the pub. Zachariah joined them just as Antonis was getting up from their table to place their order, pausing long enough to find out what Zachariah wanted to eat as well. Natasha tossed Zachariah a pouch of wet wipes from her bag as he sat down. ¡°You¡¯re covered in grease.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, mum.¡± Zachariah wiped his hands down appreciatively despite his sarcasm. He¡¯d come straight from his house share where he did basic mechanical work in his garage to supplement his wage, In this case fixing a broken gear box in a student¡¯s car, the students liked him because he was not only near campus, but was often far cheaper than conventional garages. It was what he enjoyed, Natasha and Antonis always joked about how if he ever got married he¡¯d be one of those guys who constantly got in bother because he put another gear box through the dish washer.

    It wasn¡¯t long before Antonis was back with drinks and a spoon with a number on it. ¡°So... what do you two think of the new girl?¡± Zachariah asked as he claimed his beer, he was a notorious gossip.

    Natasha grinned as Antonis tossed her a bunch of ketchup sachets before he claimed his own drink. ¡°Shy or incredibly politically savvy.¡± Natasha shrugged. ¡°She spent the whole meeting this afternoon just quietly nodding along to Allerton, despite already having been through the whole material before.¡±

    ¡°What else would you do?¡± Antonis asked and Natasha had to give him that.

    ¡°We could report her...¡±

    Natasha gave a wry chuckle into her own bottle of cider. ¡°Yeah, that worked so well the last half dozen times.¡±

    ¡°They have to listen eventually?¡± Antonis suggested.

    Natasha scoffed. ¡°She¡¯s a female professor in what is essentially an engineering role, there¡¯s no way they¡¯ll want to give that up until they have no other choice.¡± Antonis looked to Zachariah as if asking for a translation. Both Antonis and Sofia had excellent English skills, but despite that sometimes they both struggled to keep up with Natasha when she was on one of her rambles. ¡°It makes them look like they¡¯re promoting equality.¡± She rephrased.

    ¡°Even if that includes god awful people.¡±

    ¡°Such blasphemy, Zach, your mother would flay you.¡± Natasha giggled making Antonis chuckle.

    ¡°Ah, pish.¡± Zachariah said. ¡°I left that part behind me at eighteen, don¡¯t you go reviving it.¡± Natasha offered him an innocent grin. ¡°You know, it¡¯s a shame Prof ever had to retire.¡±

    Both of the others gave a wry smile at that. They all still referred to their previous team leader as Prof almost as much a sign of endearment as respect. He¡¯d been there when they¡¯d all started, retiring only three years ago once Sofia and Joseph were fully settled into their PhDs. ¡°He couldn¡¯t stay, you know that.¡± Natasha reminded him.

    ¡°It¡¯s still a damn shame though.¡± Zachariah agreed. ¡°He was much better than this... harpy!¡± He decided not to swear at the last moment.

    Antonis looked to Natasha. ¡°Does he mean like the mythic creature?¡±

    Natasha considered the question. ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±

    A moment later they all instantly perked up as their food arrived. That was business out of the way as they all tucked in, laughing about all the daft things they got up to. The bizarre TV that Antonis watched, the things Zachariah had seen broken in impossible ways and the weird books that Natasha had read. That got them onto dragons and led Zachariah to complain about failing to kill a dragon in one of his video games.

    ¡°I always fail at that one, I just avoid it.¡± Natasha shrugged, unable to offer any advice.

    ¡°Defence.¡± Antonis cut in firmly. ¡°Armour, resistance, potions... Then you don¡¯t ned to worry about attack.¡±

    Zachariah considered that approach. ¡°Just keep whittling away at it until it eventually falls, yeah that could work.¡±

    ¡°You need a hell of a tank to do that...¡± Natasha warned.

    ¡°Oh, no, you¡¯re not on dragons again are you?¡± Joseph asked as he and Sofia arrived, letting go of her hand to grab a nearby chair as she took his drink to place it on the table as she claimed one of the two empty chairs already at the table. They¡¯d need another if Olivia was joining them.

    ¡°Of course they are.¡± Sofia happily stole one of Zachariah¡¯s chips - it was the safest option of the three.

    Zachariah swatted at her hand halfheartedly. ¡°We don¡¯t like change.¡±

    They all laughed. ¡°You¡¯re constantly petitioning for nothing but change.¡± Natasha objected.

    ¡°That¡¯s only because they fucked up the last one.¡± Zachariah explained as if it were obvious.

    ¡°We need a swear jaw.¡± Sofia muttered and not for the first time.

    Zachariah smirked. ¡°Joe¡¯d get jealous about how many more dinners than him I¡¯d be buying you.¡±

    ¡°On the basis that I¡¯d be getting dinner too, I think I could live with that.¡± Joseph assured him.

    A timid voice interrupted the flow of the conversation. ¡°Oh, was I supposed to be getting food here?¡± Olivia asked as Sofia waved her into the free seat. ¡°I already ate...¡±

    ¡°We came straight from work.¡± Natasha explained making Olivia frown in confusion as she glanced at Zachariah. ¡°He came straight from working on cars.¡±

    Olivia nodded to herself, debating whether or not to dig deeper into how that made sense. However, Sofia cut straight to the chase and started asking about what she did for fun, mainly to make an active point of avoiding talking about work. It often seemed to be where their out of work conversations went anyway, but no harm in avoiding that inevitability for a while. Olivia explained how she used to play tennis and since finishing her fourth year exams was hoping to be able to pick it up again. That got Antonis onto his football and Sofia arguing that skateboarding did count as a sport. Though by now they all knew Antonis only told her it wasn¡¯t to wind her up.

    It wasn¡¯t until Antonis and Joseph got up to get people drinks that Olivia noticed Natasha¡¯s jewellery and started asking questions about what the various symbols meant. Sofia and Zachariah caught each other¡¯s eye with a wry grin, Zachariah even asking if she was sure she wanted to start down that path. Natasha ignored him as she happily explained, she liked celtic and mythical symbols and knew what most of them were supposed to represent even if she didn¡¯t actually believe in it. ¡°Goth but too lazy about the make-up.¡± Zachariah quoted Natasha¡¯s own previous summary when he¡¯d once asked.

    Natasha pretended to glare at him as the others returned with drinks and Antonis handed her back her change. Sofia was about to start itching at her stomach again but Joseph caught her hand. She sighed and placed both hands firmly around her glass. ¡°How much longer till the bandage comes off?¡± Natasha asked.

    ¡°Tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Bandage?¡± Olivia asked.

    ¡°My new tattoo.¡± Sofia explained. ¡°It is a mandala owl.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to make sure you show it us.¡± Natasha added. ¡°We never got to see the pattern for this one.¡±

    ¡°How many have you got?¡± Olivia asked.

    ¡°This makes two.¡± Sofia turned before pulling down her top slightly to reveal the pattern of hearts over the top of her left breast - high enough to show without being indecent. ¡°It is for my famiglia - family.¡± She corrected herself as she realised she¡¯d slipped back into Italian.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice.¡± Olivia agreed before asking if she planned on getting any more. Sofia shrugged admitting she didn¡¯t know. That prompted a discussion on how much it hurt to get them. Zachariah said the ones on his forearms - stylised, mechanical wings - had been fine but Sofia had always called him a liar for it as the hearts had hurt. Eventually he had persuaded her the reason the hearts had hurt so much as the area. She had to admit that Zachariah might have been right as the owl had hurt much less.

    For once they managed to keep their pub banter away from work, sharing stories and hobbies as they took the chance to get to know someone new for a change. Even if Olivia suspected she was going to be by far the most sensible one, as the others were still happily drinking away by the time she called it a night.

 2. Backus Award

    Sofia loved the feeling of freedom she got from skateboarding. She loved spending time outdoors and honing the technical aspects that allowed her to come up with new and better tricks. She loved the thrill she got when she finally mastered her latest challenge. She came to a graceful stop as she took in the late September scenery, the leaves were just starting to turn golden and red to break up the sea of greenery of the park the skate area was housed. Soon she¡¯d have to start taking her lunch breaks on campus because the weather wouldn¡¯t be good enough to venture outside, so she was making the most of it whilst she could.

    ¡°Yo, Moretti!¡± A shout across the skate park snapped her out of her head space. ¡°You have eaten, right?¡±

    Sofia rolled her eyes as she glided across to where the group of skaters were busy munching on their sandwiches. It made her cross to think that most people judged skaters as a mean, bad lot without getting to know them. Sure, some could be, but there were jerks in every walk of life. These guys formed an informal club of uni students who looked out for each other, she wouldn¡¯t necessarily say they were all friends, more like the bond of teammates. She stepped off her board after checking her watch and she started peeling her pads off. ¡°I eat already.¡± She explained as she stuffed her gear back into her backpack and shaking her long brown hair out of her helmet. ¡°Bye!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t a long walk back to campus or the department - even when navigating crowded pathways with a skateboard under her arm - and she was soon back into the over-bright lights of corridors with no external windows. She¡¯d been resident in the department for over three years now so she knew most of the faces she passed by, greeting them with nods, smiles and occasionally friendly words.

    ¡°Ah, Sofia, once you¡¯ve put away that... contraption, I need a word with you in my office.¡± Sofia stopped as she heard Professor Allerton¡¯s derisive voice from behind her. She¡¯d heard people speak of gushing sarcasm in someone¡¯s voice, Allerton was gushing disdain.

    Sofia counted to ten before turning around. ¡°S¨¬, Professor.¡±

    Allerton nodded to herself before strolling away as if she owned the corridors and once she was out of sight Sofia dashed back to the team office. The quicker she got there the more time she had to find out what was going on, otherwise she was going in blind. She knew better to think that was a good idea. She knew at most she had ten minutes, something that Natasha had thoroughly tested since Allerton arrived and they all benefitted from that. Sofia knew that the rest of them benefitted a lot from Natasha¡¯s impulsive and brash attitude, she wished that Natasha would give just a little more consideration to the affect it Sofia believed it would ultimately have on her own future.

    She arrived to find the office completely empty. Where was everyone? Oh, right, Antonis and Natasha would be on their usual late lunch breaks, Joseph could well be with them. She checked her watch again, Zachariah would be on his post-lunch cigarette break getting the round up on the lunchtime news. That left Olivia who normally took an earlier lunch like she did. Sofia quickly strode - as much as her small frame allowed - towards the lab door and stuck her head through it. Meno male! ¡°Olivia! What did I miss?¡±

    Olivia looked up sharply in surprise, causing her long, ginger hair flick around her head. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Allerton wants to see me.¡±

    ¡°Oh, look.¡± Olivia pointed behind Sofia towards the notice boards on the wall the office shared with the corridor. Sofia turned to look at what Olivia was offering as explanation and what she saw was a new notice, with five darts in it which someone had wound some string around to create a star that outlined the contents. Sofia let the door shut behind her as she went to go and investigate it. As she got nearer she realised it as an announcement about the Backus competition - a campus run initiative that offered a cash prize for creative or innovative programming - and that the string star outlined her name as top prize winner. ¡°Mio Dio!¡± She breathed as she traced the string in complete awe.

    Sofia hadn¡¯t expected to win, in fact she hadn¡¯t been going to enter the competition at all until Natasha repeatedly encouraged her to submit her work on integrated power management. She smiled to herself as she remembered Zachariah telling Natasha to leave her alone, before he paused and added that she should listen to her. For all the disruptive and hardened nature of the team - some members especially - they did care about each other and it cheered her no end to see them do things like this for each other. Even if she was usually the one leading it.

    Right now she felt like a kid again, when her primary school artwork had been stuck onto the fridge. Sofia couldn¡¯t stop her nostalgic chuckle at the fact that that had probably been the last time her parents understood what it was that she did. She sighed as she retracted her hand, she missed her family. As the middle of three children she could be invisible when she wanted, but with a large extended family - both sets of grandparents, a handful of aunts and uncles on both sides, plus a dozen or so cousins - that were all incredible close to each other she had never felt lonely, no matter what was happening. She messaged and called them all frequently, but it wasn¡¯t the same. However, it was the little, daft gestures like this that reminded her that she had a family here too.

    Sofia took a steadying breath. Now all she had to do was find out how her supervisor planned on exploiting her win. It might seem selfish, but she was not donating the five hundred pounds to the department, ever since she started her PhD she¡¯d had her eye on a nice new laptop. She just hadn¡¯t been able to afford it.

    ~-x-~

    Sofia was instantly worried and suspicious when Allerton not only greeted her in a perfectly pleasant manner, but appeared to be giving her her full attention. ¡°Do you have much experience in public speaking?¡± Allerton asked after offering Sofia a seat.

    ¡°A bit.¡± Sofia resisted chewing her lip, she had given presentations before but she couldn¡¯t say that she enjoyed it.

    ¡°I see.¡± Allerton decided before passing her a piece of paper. ¡°Then it¡¯s a good thing that I¡¯ve taken the liberty of preparing an acceptance statement for you.¡±

    Sofia frowned at the paper and not only because of it¡¯s contents. ¡°What is this for?¡±

    ¡°Oh, how silly of me.¡± Allerton replied in a fake, sweet voice that cloyed on Sofia¡¯s nerves. ¡°There is a formal event tonight to present the winners with their prizes.¡± She paused as she eyed Sofia. ¡°You do have something appropriate to wear, I hope.¡±

    Sofia raised a pointed eyebrow at that, mainly in an attempt to stop herself making a response about fake designer suits. Natasha had been a terrible influence on her, thankfully she had Antonis to provide the counter example of behaviour. ¡°Is this necessary?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely.¡± Allerton was emphatic as she leant forward on her desk. ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to understand the finer points of how we acquire our funding, but it never hurts to publicise any win for our team. Even something as... meagre as this.¡± For someone as seemingly politically astute as Allerton, Sofia couldn¡¯t understand why she spent so long patronising those around her, did it not occur to her that one day someone she treated badly might rise above her? Or was she hedging her bets that people wouldn¡¯t achieve anything without encouragement? ¡°On that note, what do you plan on doing with the prize money?¡±

    Sofia felt her blood run cold, she had expected to be asked and she feared what Allerton¡¯s real motives for asking would be. She had worked hard to create that solution, even if it was technically for their team, didn¡¯t she deserve something for it? ¡°I am going to get a new laptop.¡± She admitted, hoping that if she acted like she believed Allerton was only asking out of friendly curiosity that she might be able to head it away from anything else.

    Allerton nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± She glanced at her hands as she made a point of twisting them where they otherwise rested on her desk. ¡°With our funding situation the way it is... I was hoping you might consider donating it.¡±

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Our funds are that precarious?¡±

    Allerton nodded gravely. ¡°I know you and Joseph are both hoping to be kept on at the end of your PhDs and I have been trying to spare your feelings whilst the budgets are currently in flux... But it¡¯s not looking good.¡±

    Sofia fidgeted as her eyes found the piece of paper with Allerton¡¯s prepared statement, where she thanked the professor and department specifically for the opportunities that had led to her win. Allerton had had nothing to do with it. ¡°You said it was meagre.¡±

    ¡°In desperation even meagre amounts are worth something.¡± Allerton¡¯s tone was completely neutral but somehow imploring. Sofia suspected she was being played, but did she think that purely because she¡¯d spent too much time around Zachariah and Natasha? Was she assuming this was nonsense because she was being selfish about that laptop? Allerton must have sensed her vulnerability. ¡°So I can expect your donation within the coming days?¡± Sofia closed her eyes - desperate not to cry - and nodded quietly. ¡°Good choice. I expect you to have memorised your statement and arrive promptly on Friday.¡±

    ~-x-~

    By the time Friday rolled around Sofia wasn¡¯t entire certain she felt any more like partying. She¡¯d been so excited when she saw that she¡¯d won first place, but now she was sipping champagne - or whatever this cheap substitute everyone was calling champagne was - with a polite smile trying not to slink into a corner and eat her weight in canap¨¦s, or tiny bruschetta, or indeed any of the antipasto that were being served. She finally managed a smile at the thought that if Antonis were here he¡¯d have easily swiped a whole tray without a second thought to cheer her up with. He lacked the care for social graces required at these events that would prevent Joseph from doing the same thing.

    In truth, even if she weren¡¯t feeling despondent about the whole affair, events like this weren¡¯t her thing, in truth she detested them. Everyone wanted something and it was like being surrounded by sharks, unable to escape the office politics that Professor Allerton played. It didn¡¯t matter which direction she turned in, there were no safe routes through the room. Not that there were many people she wanted to talk to as she excused herself - with a polite smile, of course - from a conversation with the professor who¡¯d told her to quit after her first tutorial so many years ago as a fresher. He had changed his tune, she thought bitterly to herself.

    She smoothed her burgundy velvet dress down with her free hand as she held her wine glass in the other. She found herself suddenly grateful for the conversation where Natasha had convinced her that no matter how pretty clutch bags looked, they were completely useless. Though they did give her something to do with her hands, she mused as she smiled imagining the horrified look on Natasha¡¯s face at the impractical pencil skirt instead. One day Sofia would convince the other woman that aesthetics could be worth a little impracticality now and then. Though they firmly agreed that no one should own a pair of shoes they couldn¡¯t run in.

    Finally she found the one person at this event she wanted to speak to and smiled into her wine. In contrast to the discomfort she found at these events, Joseph was truly in his element. Dressed in an immaculate designer suit, a shade of green so dark it made Sofia think of a forest at midnight and happily regaling a group of people with some anecdote or other. He knew how to work a room, after all, he¡¯d been groomed to do so from an early age given the expectations and ambitions his parents had for him. He made it look easy how he would join a conversation, share just enough stories and pleasantries to appear friendly without being overbearing and then depart with grace to move on to the next group of people.

    She carefully made her way between people, chairs and tables to join the group he was talking to, not stumbling at all in her heels. She slipped into the group as politely as she could to hear the end of the story and politely offering a small titter when everyone else did, trying to give the pretence that she knew exactly what he was talking about.

    Once he¡¯d finished with that tale Joseph turned his million watt smile on her and placed a hand on the back of her shoulder; familiar and comforting but not too forward. ¡°May I introduce Sofia Moretti, my girlfriend, and winner of this years Backus award.¡± His voice full of pride as he waved his other hand towards her and it almost looked like he was toasting her with the glass in it. Sofia smiled shyly and gave a tiny wave as he proceeded to introduce everyone else in the group. She tried her best to take in all their names, but she had been introduced to so many people this evening already she was starting to struggle and most of their names passed straight through her memory without saving.

    It didn¡¯t matter too much because not long later the announcer called everyone to take a seat so that they could present the winners with their prizes. Sofia excused herself and made her way to the side of the stage where the second and third place students were also making their way too, casually putting her wine glass down on a passing table. She only knew the third place winner, another computer science student who¡¯d been in the year below her. The three of them shared a nervous smile and quiet congratulations as they waited for their names to be called up one by one to receive their reward.

    A wave of butterflies made themselves at home in Sofia¡¯s stomach as she waited her turn, watching the other two students be presented with their trophies - their prize money was done by bank transfer - both shaking hands with the head of the computer science faculty, both of them giving a brief statement of thanks before stepping down the other side of the stage. She was nervous enough about this as it was, not wanting to be that person who tripped and fell face first into the lectern - though Zachariah would simply tell her to style it out - or something equally foolish. More than that she was nervous about who she thanked, she wanted to thank her friends and family for giving her the confidence to chase her dreams, she didn¡¯t want to lie and thank Allerton and the department. Equally she didn¡¯t want to face Allerton¡¯s wrath if she didn¡¯t go with the prepared statement.

    She heard her name called and she plastered a smile on her face as she climbed the few stairs onto the stage, strolling along it with a confidence she didn¡¯t feel. She thanked the professor, shaking his hand as he presented her with a trophy, then turned to face the crowd. She swallowed as she cast her gaze around, finding Joseph in the crowd who was gave her a nod of encouragement, but on the way her eyes had seen the stern eyes of Allerton.

    ¡°Thank you for this award.¡± Sofia started, at least she truly meant that. ¡°And I would just like to thank Professor Allerton for her help and the opportunity to work on the project that inspired the work.¡± She kept smiling even if disappointment settled into her stomach like a stone, but she just wasn¡¯t as brave - or as Antonis would say; stupid - as Natasha. It just wasn¡¯t in her nature to rock the boat for something so trivial.

    With that out of the way she made her way down the other side of the stage and made her way over to her seat for the dinner that had been prepared. It was partly an event to celebrate the students achievements but it¡¯s real aim was to provide networking opportunities for the winners - and a number of runners up the judges considered worthy - with experts in the field.

    Right now she would rather go and curl up on her sofa with a giant bowl of gelato and video chat with her sisters.

    She found her seat next to Joseph - he was her plus one - and carefully placed her trophy between glasses, cutlery, condiments and the centrepiece. He instinctively reached out and wrapped his large hand over hers and gave a reassuring squeeze. It wasn¡¯t enough to calm all of her shattered nerves - she knew that wasn¡¯t his fault - but it was enough to settle her stomach enough to eat. The food was better than the wine, but that wasn¡¯t saying much. Sofia didn¡¯t see the point in fancy food if it didn¡¯t taste like, well, food. Zachariah would tell her never to say no to free food, Natasha would say there¡¯s no such thing as free. Sofia was trying to remember what she¡¯d think about it but she couldn¡¯t escape the fact that the meat was rubbery and half the vegetables squeaked against her teeth. It was almost a good thing she had no appetite.

    Sofia was eternally grateful for Joseph¡¯s natural - was it natural when charm was drilled into you from an early age? - ability to guide a conversation and hold attention. She knew that right now he was doing it to keep the spotlight away from her so that she could eat in peace and try and centre herself for the rest of the evening. She picked up on the way he¡¯d keep returning his hand to her arm or glancing at her as she ate in relative silence. How she wished Allerton hadn¡¯t decided to sour the experience with her damn ambition. It wasn¡¯t like Sofia couldn¡¯t have name dropped her repeatedly during the evening to all the well wishers and experts.

    Eventually dinner was over and people started to drift away from their tables to mingle again. She reached for her wine glass again to take another long sip. Was it her imagination or was this getting more tolerable as the evening progressed? She was certain that was a sign of concern. ¡°Can we escape?¡± She asked quietly as Joseph turned to her.

    He chuckled. ¡°Soon.¡± He promised as he leant to press a kiss to her forehead. He wanted to scoop her up into a warm hug but if he did, not only would he get her make-up all down his suit, he would probably knock her perfectly styled hair out of place.

    ¡°You two!¡± They both cringed as they heard a shrill voice from across the table. ¡°This is no time to be alone. Go, mingle, network!¡± Allerton ordered sharply.

    ¡°Save me, Gi¨´?¡± Sofia mouthed as Joseph stood up.

    ¡°Later.¡± He gave her a sympathetic smile before heading off to continue mingling.

    Sofia glanced around her at the sea of people then reached for her wine glass and downed the dregs, pulling a face - was this really what the British called wine? - whilst knowing that she needed it if she was going to survive the rest of the evening.

 3. Celebration

    From the moment they found out about the Backus award results they knew that they were going to have a real party to celebrate. It was only cemented as they witnessed Sofia¡¯s mounting frustration as she spent the rest of the week deliberating over whether or not to submit to Allerton¡¯s request. More than once Antonis found himself having to talk Natasha and Zachariah out of gate crashing the event.

    In the end he had managed to direct their energy into organising a pub/bar crawl. That was how they ended up in one of their favourite pubs in outfits that were rather more glitzy than they would normally inhabit the place in. Their night, however, was only just getting started something he suspected the barman guessed from the bemused look as he took them in. As a student town he must see this kind of thing relatively often, though not as much as some of the other pubs.

    Right now their energy was mostly focused on reassuring Sofia that she¡¯d done nothing wrong. Antonis was silently fuming that Allerton had done this to her. This was supposed to be a celebration of her achievement not reaffirming the fact that they didn¡¯t care if she played the game or not. Perhaps he needed to have a word with Natasha and Zachariah about toning down their criticism of Allerton. He knew they didn¡¯t blame Sofia for anything but he could understand how she might think they might. He smiled ruefully as he could hear Natasha calling him an overprotective big brother again. He was and he didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°Why does this even matter?¡± Olivia asked as she tried to understand why the battle lines were so utterly entrenched.

    ¡°The reason it matters is principle!¡± Zachariah was the first one to stop drinking to answer. ¡°Allerton just swans in and tries to take credit for all our work without giving us a damn thing in return or even the fainest bit of effort herself!¡±

    ¡°Breathe, Zach.¡± Joseph reminded him and also in part to interrupt him before he expanded on the rant. They were trying to forget about work for the evening. Though they could all understand Olivia¡¯s curiosity. She¡¯d only been in their team for a couple of weeks now and they had tried to shield her from it, at least for now.

    Olivia looked around the group with confusion. ¡°But in academic work the team leader gets all the credit... that¡¯s the way it¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°I like to think that in most cases the team leader actually helped with the project in some way!¡± Natasha thumped the table with her fist.

    Olivia had to admit that Natasha might have a point there. ¡°I know it probably doesn¡¯t seem like it, but we did try and get on with her in the early days.¡± Joseph explained. ¡°Some of us more than others.¡± He gave Natasha and Zachariah a pointed look.

    ¡°We were perfectly civil in the beginning.¡± Zachariah objected.

    Olivia giggled. ¡°They were actually on their best behaviour.¡± Antonis assured her. ¡°Unbelievable as that sounds.¡± If he hadn¡¯t known them as long as he had he would also struggle to believe that those two were capable of good behaviour. He¡¯d never change them though, they needed that kind of fire on their team.

    As curious as Olivia was about what happened with Allerton she decided to change tack. ¡°So... how long have you all been on the team?¡±

    ¡°Me and Gi¨´; three years.¡± Sofia figured that Olivia knew as much given that she knew they were both final year PhD students, but it was only polite to confirm.

    ¡°Zach and I were already part of the furniture by then.¡± Natasha briefly paused swigging from her bottle earning a chorus of wry chuckles.

    ¡°We started as fresh faced PhD students together, bit like those two.¡± Zachariah waved his hand towards Joseph and Sofia.

    ¡°We were ever that fresh faced?¡± Natasha pondered wistfully and Zachariah chuckled.

    ¡°Wait... You two..?¡± Olivia¡¯s eyes were darting between them at light speed as she tried to work out who she could possibly have missed that.

    Natasha and Zachariah shared a look, as if to ask each other if they were going to go down that route to mess with her, before neither of them could hold back their rambunctious laughter at the idea. ¡°Oh, heavens, no.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d pretend to be offended, Zach, but I agree wholeheartedly.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I just thought...¡± Olivia hid her face in her glass as her face flushed in embarrassment.

    ¡°No biggie.¡± Zachariah shrugged. ¡°I can see how I implied that.¡± He admitted. ¡°Besides, they didn¡¯t know each other before they started here.¡± Olivia had to admit that surprised her. Joseph and Sofia seemed so settled and comfortable with each other she had assumed that they had been dating longer than a couple of years. ¡°Anyway, that must be - what? - eight years ago now. Toni started the year after us. We had a relatively stable department for a few years. One guy moved departments, a lady took a better job offer, the last guy left for family reasons. Bloke before you had decided he wasn¡¯t going to stay even before his PhD was finished.¡±

    ¡°And Allerton?¡±

    ¡°The last head of department retired a few months after we started.¡± Joseph explained.

    ¡°To Prof!¡± Zachariah raised his glass and the rest of them all joined in with his toast. Even if Olivia didn¡¯t quite know what was going on.

    ¡°Our previous professor, took us all on, his health took a turn and he finally left to look after himself.¡± Natasha summarised with a sigh. ¡°He¡¯ll always be our Prof.¡±

    ¡°Aw, Tasha! You can be sentimental!¡± Sofia gushed as she leant over to give her a half hug.

    ¡°I keep telling you Nat is sweet really.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because she¡¯s nice to you, Toni.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible not to be nice to Toni.¡± Natasha and Antonis shared a rueful look at that sentiment as they both tried not to laugh at the memories of when Antonis first started. She had so badly wanted to hate him. He had been equally determined to prove her wrong. Zachariah had happily sat back to watch the show - with popcorn half the time - to find out which one of them was more bloody minded than the other. Natasha had eventually admitted she was wrong, but had pointed out she was right about the fact that no one was that nice without wanting something. She had just been wrong about the something. It still made him smile to remember the equally tenacious yet uncomfortable demeanour she had donned that day.

    ¡°Believe me, she tried.¡± Zachariah chuckled into his beer. ¡°How long till you gave up, again?¡±

    Everyone apart from Antonis turned to Natasha as she considered the question as she took a few long gulps of her drink. ¡°Even allowing for the month where I only kept it up because he kept bribing me with chocolate... Three months.¡±

    ¡°Wait, I could have a month of free chocolate if I was mean to Toni?¡± Sofia¡¯s glass dropped back to the table in mournful reflection.

    Antonis chuckled into his drink. ¡°Could you be mean to anyone longer than a week?¡± Sofia tried to look confident whilst her grin was fighting its way onto her face every second which only made them all laugh.

    ~-x-~

    Antonis couldn¡¯t stop his chuckle as they watched Zachariah - yet again - fail at duelling Sofia on the dance machine. Natasha was naturally goading Zachariah on with running commentary on just how well Sofia was doing even. Olivia was looking around the bar in wide eyed wonder as the rest of them cheered their friends on in the running rivalry. Zachariah was determined to win, though none of them - and Antonis suspected that included Zachariah - didn¡¯t ever expect him to do so.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know places like this existed!¡± Olivia yelled over the music. ¡°I mean... it¡¯s a bar, with arcade games! And a dance floor!¡± Her eyes somehow managed to get wider as her hand flew to her mouth as she hiccuped.

    ¡°Is this a warning we need to get a round of water in?¡± Natasha teased with a wry grin.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine! I just get hiccups sometimes.¡± Olivia was surprised the other woman even noticed something that minor when she was so engrossed in the battle between her friends. Despite her reassurance Antonis made a mental note to include water the next time he went for a round.

    Suddenly Sofia cried out in triumph as she threw both arms up the air and Zachariah slumped against the back railing. ¡°How... How do you do this? You¡¯ve not even broken a sweat and you¡¯re wearing heels!¡±

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Clearly there¡¯s only one answer. She¡¯s a witch and we need to dunk her to prove it!¡± Natasha pointed a finger at the woman in fake accusation before raising her other hand to take another sip of her drink.

    ¡°If by ¡®dunk me¡¯ you mean Zach is going to buy me a drink, s¨¬.¡± Sofia smiled sweetly where Zachariah was still slouched and batted her eyelashes at him hopefully.

    ¡°I am a sucker for punishment.¡± He decided as he patted his wallet to check it was still there after all that movement. ¡°Right, what¡¯ll it be?¡± He quickly went around the group before dragging Joseph after him to help carry.

    As Zachariah moved out of Sofia¡¯s line of sight she broken into a grin. ¡°Tasha, look!¡± She said as she reached over to nudge Natasha¡¯s shoulder.

    Natasha¡¯s eyes lit up as Antonis¡¯ went wide with horror. ¡°Nat, ochi!¡±

    ¡°Bomb Jack!¡± Natasha cried happily as she bounded over to the currently free machine. Sofia drunkenly giggled as Antonis sighed with the resignation that kids in sweet shops had nothing on drunk Natasha.

    ¡°Bomb Jack?¡± Olivia asked timidly from where she¡¯d just barely dodged Natasha¡¯s enthusiasm.

    Antonis shared a knowing look with Sofia. ¡°It will be easier to look.¡± Sofia waved towards where Natasha had perched her drink atop the machine and was engrossed with jumping, dodging bad guys and collecting as many bombs - and trying to follow the pattern of lit fuses for additional points - so that she could beat her own personal best.

    She was still happily going when Zachariah and Joseph returned with their new drinks. ¡°I leave for five minutes and you let Tasha on Bomb Jack?¡± Zachariah teased as he passed Antonis his drink.

    ¡°You babysit next time.¡± Antonis suggested with a wry smile as Zachariah considered his options, before they shared a rather less cynical smile at the way Sofia beamed at Joseph as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they clinked their glasses together.

    For the most part they ignored the way Natasha grumbled and cheered at herself as she played her game, Antonis and Zachariah briefly explaining the rules to Olivia who was observing the screen with confused, drunken curiosity. Once they¡¯d covered the basics they started quizzing her on her knowledge or experience of video games, refusing to believe for a second she knew nothing. Surely she must have owned a Gameboy when she was a kid? A smooth transition to board games suddenly gave her stories to share from her childhood and an ongoing Monopoly feud with her baby brother.

    They were just considering whether or not they needed to get another round in as Zachariah was mournfully checking what was left in his bottle and Olivia was noisily slurping the dregs of her cocktail with her straw when Sofia threaded her fingers through Joseph¡¯s hand and gently pulled him after her towards the dance floor. ¡°Should we catch up with them?¡± Olivia¡¯s eyes were darting unsurely to the rest of the group and following the couple.

    Natasha barely glanced up from the machine. ¡°Nah, this is the part where they go off and be all cutey and whatever on the dance floor before they remember they came with friends and things go back to normal.¡±

    ¡°You worry me, you know that, right?¡±

    ¡°She worries everyone.¡± Zachariah assured the younger woman.

    ¡°On purpose.¡± Antonis added.

    By the time Natasha¡¯s prediction came true they had persuaded her to finish playing so that they could claim a table with a fresh couple of pitchers for drinks - one of which Antonis had insisted be water. He managed to keep an impressively passive face as Natasha and Zachariah yet again teased him for being the mum of the group, though he was smiling on the inside. Yes he was, he was fully aware of that and had no intentions of changing. Why shouldn¡¯t he care about his friends? Why shouldn¡¯t he look out for them? Others might ask him why that was his job and he would say it wasn¡¯t, it was just his way. Natasha and Zachariah didn¡¯t mean it maliciously and he knew that, they were all happily drunk and if he were honest he would tease them for their own habits just as jovially. Others had taunted him for it with far darker intentions, usually questioning his manhood and sexuality. Antonis refused to let them get to him, he was comfortable and confident in who he was. He had seen the dangerous effects of men who thought that to be ¡®real men¡¯ they couldn¡¯t express themselves in gentle ways, men who thought that they had to be the loudest or the strongest, demonstrating their prowess with physicality and violence. Antonis didn¡¯t understand the mentality. How did hurting others make you better? He much preferred his way.

    ¡°Now can I initiate Olivia?¡± Sofia asked after taking a long draw on her new drink.

    The rest of the group shared wry and amused smiles as Olivia looked around them all worriedly. ¡°Initiate? You guys haze newbies?¡±

    Antonis chuckled. ¡°In a way.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Sofia¡¯s patented drinking game.¡± Natasha rummaged in her purse to produce a number of coppers. ¡°Okay, I need two more two pennies.¡± Zachariah happily obliged after a quick search through his own wallet. ¡°Right, rules are simple. We all get a coin, tails means drink - two fingers -, heads means you have to answer any - and I do mean any - question we ask.¡±

    Olivia cringed. ¡°Any?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we always play - somewhat - nice on someone¡¯s first game.¡± Zachariah assured her. ¡°We¡¯re mainly just going to probe for embarrassing stories.¡±

    ¡°Capovolto!¡± Sofia¡¯s tone was almost a squeal. ¡°Literally meaning flipped, but I think it makes a good game name.¡±

    Olivia toyed with the coin she¡¯d been handed nervously. ¡°How do we determine who asks questions?¡±

    ¡°Those who have to drink get first dibs on questions, after that it¡¯s just whoever thinks of the best questions first.¡± Zachariah explained as he poured more drinks so that they all had equal amount to start with. ¡°Same question to everyone in a round.¡±

    ¡°It tends to naturally get shared between us.¡± Joseph added. ¡°If one person seems to end up hogging all the questions someone tends to notice and play umpire.¡±

    ¡°He means Nat.¡± Natasha turned an affronted look upon Antonis and he wasn¡¯t the only one to chuckle. ¡°Anarr¨ªpto!¡± Olivia was a few seconds behind the rest of them tossing their coins onto the table.

    The first few rounds involved what Zachariah described as soft questions, such as what they¡¯d pick as a superpower or their most embarrassing favourite song before they got progressively more specific and personal, but somehow never invasive. ¡°Weirdest place you¡¯ve ever made out?¡± Olivia asked as she swayed slightly in her seat.

    ¡°Atop the statue in the quad.¡± Natasha declared with a giggle.

    ¡°Chicken hut.¡±

    ¡°You got into a chicken coop?¡± Zachariah wasn¡¯t having it.

    ¡°Behind it.¡± Antonis clarified.

    Natasha called for them all to flip their coins again before knocking back her own drink for tails. ¡°Favourite momento from a partner? Past or present.¡±

    ¡°M¨ªxi.¡± Antonis struggled to find the word he wanted for a moment. ¡°Before CDs...¡±

    ¡°A mixtape?¡± Zachariah supplied and Antonis pointed at him whilst nodding happily. Sofia practically cooed because she was drunk and found it adorable.

    They turned to Olivia next who was trying to focus her thoughts. ¡°Jumper.¡± She decided. ¡°Comfiest thing I own.¡±

    That just left Joseph who chuckled to himself despite being a deep shade of red. ¡°Bra.¡±

    ¡°This is where I really wish we hadn¡¯t created a no follow-ups rule.¡± Zachariah admitted as Natasha turned to Sofia with an inquisitive eyebrow.

    ¡°I think I need another drink!¡± Sofia lifted her now empty cocktail glass high in the air. None of them were sure if it was in triumph or defeat. They were all sure it didn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°Excellent idea! I¡¯m buying!¡± Natasha¡¯s tone was definitely triumphant as she leapt from her own seat, landing haphazardly on her high wedges but recovering her balance before hitting anything. Antonis shook his head and stood to go with her. He knew he didn¡¯t have to worry about Natasha being able to take care of herself, but that didn¡¯t stop him. Besides, she¡¯d need help carrying a full round of drinks. He didn¡¯t want to witness a repeat of the time she tried to balance a pint on her head.

    ~-x-~

    They headed up a floor because they knew they¡¯d get served faster. It wasn¡¯t a long walk, but it was long enough to remind Antonis why he hated crowds of drunk people. Someone had already groped his arse on the stairs, though if he were honest he couldn¡¯t say for certainty whether or not it was intentional. However there was no mistaking the intention of the three ladies that hollered at them before one of them slapped his butt. ¡°Hey! Not cool!¡± Natasha shouted as she clocked what was happening a second too late to stop it.

    ¡°What? You going to get pissy with me for hitting on your boyfriend?¡±

    In so many other situations Antonis would have laughed at the way Natasha towered over the tiny woman with a fierce - but drunken - glare. Instead he simply took hold of her arms and steered her away as she was mid-denial about being his girlfriend. ¡°Leave it.¡± He whispered firmly.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time this had happened. In fact it happened frequently. Antonis had learnt to shrug it off when he couldn¡¯t avoid it. Natasha sighed as she extracted herself from his hands and he couldn¡¯t quite meet her eye again, of course she had noticed. ¡°You know you shouldn¡¯t have to put up with that, right?¡± She asked as she leant on the bar to wait her turn to be served.

    Antonis shrugged as he stared at a cup full of straws. ¡°It is fine.¡±

    Natasha turned to scrutinise him, both drunk and concerned. ¡°Is it?¡±

    Antonis refused to meet her gaze. He could keep face in front of anyone else, but Natasha knew him too well. She would be able to see what he tried to hide. However, he refused to worry her because he knew he could handle this himself. ¡°Some people have grabby hands, it could be worse.¡±

    ¡°Okay, some people have worse done to them, but that doesn¡¯t mean you have to put up with people treating you like an object.¡± Natasha corrected as gently as she could when she wanted to do nothing more than start hitting people who touched others without permission. It was one thing to make a pass when misreading a situation, but to just straight up assume someone was okay with such physical contact? She huffed her frustration out as a breath that knocked some errant hair back out of her face. Antonis¡¯ lips twitched slightly at her concern. He refused to burden her with his troubles and not just because he knew that she would get herself kicked out for instigating a fight if he did. ¡°What about when it¡¯s not just some trashy hen party?¡± She asked quietly after giving their order to the barman.

    Antonis swallowed, that had only happened once, and he had been able to extract himself from the situation. Being a tall, athletic man helped in that regard. Even though it wasn¡¯t in his nature to fight, he could defend himself when required. He knew Natasha wouldn¡¯t see it that way. A part of him he locked away to preserve his sanity didn¡¯t see it that way either. ¡°They are just drunk.¡±

    ¡°So am I, but I haven¡¯t grabbed your arse yet.¡± Natasha retorted, slightly relieved to see him smile at the joke. ¡°I still know it¡¯s wrong just to go around grabbing people like that.¡±

    ¡°People lose their inhibitions differently.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be superman all the time, you know?¡± Natasha¡¯s voice was barely loud enough for him to hear over the music as she picked up a pitcher and a stack of plastic glasses. ¡°You¡¯re not burdening us if you need us to be there for you. We¡¯re your friends, we care about you too.¡± Antonis swallowed as he reached for the jug of water and the remaining glasses from the bar but said nothing else. What could he say? He wasn¡¯t going to lie to his best friend and he didn¡¯t want to discuss the fact that she might well be right. Tonight was supposed to be about celebrating Sofia¡¯s achievement - even if it had descended into a general team party - and he wasn¡¯t going to ruin the night with problems he knew he could handle.

 4. Bereavement

    Over the next couple of months things settled down into a routine. Olivia was slowly learning where she fit in with the team. Sofia and Joseph were making good progress on their write up whilst still being able to help with the lab work. Zachariah, Natasha and Antonis spent their time between their mentoring duties and building the prototype senor array they¡¯d been working on putting together.

    That was the reason why the lab bench was covered in rows and rows of vials. There was a dull ping as Joseph ejected the last of the auto-pipettor tips into the bin next to him before crimping the last one shut and adding it to the end of the last, previously uneven, row. He looked over them before glancing at the man next to him. ¡°Do you think we made enough?¡±

    Antonis gave him a wry grin. ¡°Ochi. We still need blind spikes from the others.¡±

    Joseph chuckled despite himself. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have room for any more.¡±

    Antonis¡¯ lips twitched into a smile. ¡°We have Nat and Zach.¡± Back when he started Joseph wouldn¡¯t have understood how that answered his concerns, however after a few years in the team he was well aware of Natasha and Zachariah¡¯s ability to make use of any space without wasting any.

    Zachariah and Natasha arrived a few moments after Antonis stuck his head into the office to ask them for a hand. Once they had taken in the sight and sheer number of vials in front of them they shared a look. ¡°This is what happens when we don¡¯t supervise them.¡± Zachariah declared. ¡°They have little chemical babies.¡±

    Joseph raised an eyebrow at Zachariah, knowing that pretending to glare at him would only result in more teasing. Joseph and Antonis were both chemistry graduates and he knew that his own skill set still lay firmly within the discipline, Antonis on the other hand had a tendency to easily pick up new information and skills, making him more of an all-rounder these days.

    Natasha giggled whilst giving the entire scene a hopeless look. ¡°You want us to Tetris this mess into the fridge, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Please?¡± Antonis asked nicely.

    ¡°Get us a tray of doughnuts and we¡¯ve got a deal.¡±

    ¡°Zach!¡± Natasha scolded with a giggle.

    ¡°I buy you each doughnuts if you fit these in the fridge and you make us blind samples.¡± Antonis offered instead. Natasha had studied natural sciences before finding out she had a knack for software, meaning that whilst she didn¡¯t have as much practical wet lab experience as Antonis or Joseph, she was the next most competent to make up standards for them. Though Joseph knew they¡¯d have a differing opinion in whether or not it was simple enough for anyone to do. In theory she was right, but he also knew that in practise some people just weren¡¯t precise or had the lab hygiene to make accurate, non-contaminated standards. Zachariah was a prime example, he had studied physics but was an engineer at heart and he was damn good at both, but he didn¡¯t always understand that he really should wash his hands free from the grease he had a habit of getting covered in.

    ¡°Deal.¡± Zachariah agreed happily whilst Natasha and Joseph shook their heads at the pair.

    ~-x-~

    Joseph and Antonis left them to it - mainly because they didn¡¯t want to witness what they were about to do and how close they¡¯d come to smashing any of those vials - and returned to the office. Sofia and Olivia were both busy at their computers but both glancing up to greet them with a smile.

    As Joseph sat back down at his computer he checked his phone out of habit and was surprised to see a couple of missed calls from his parents. He frowned at the device in confusion before checking his watch. It wasn¡¯t even close to lunch time and his parents were normally far too strict to call him during work hours, that would be unprofessional of them and of him if he answered. Even with Antonis¡¯ desk between them Sofia caught his confusion and gave him a curious look as if to silently ask if he was okay, but he just offered her a deliberate and well practised smile to reassure her as best he could. He wasn¡¯t sure she bought it but she respected his space enough to trust him to come to her if he needed and turned back to her work.

    Joseph followed suit with his own computer to check his emails before attempting to return to the mammoth task of writing up the last few years of his life into a thesis. In the end he probably only managed another quarter of an hour before his curiosity got the better of him and he swiped his phone from the desk and stepped outside to ring them back.

    He almost flipped a coin to choose which parent to ring, before deciding on his mother, it was more likely that his father would be busy. To his surprise she answered almost immediately. ¡°Gabriel! Are you free this weekend?¡± She asked, clearly flustered and it was out of character enough to banish all thoughts of his distaste for his first name.

    ¡°Mum, what¡¯s happened?¡± It wasn¡¯t unusual for his mother to skip the pleasantries with him and jump straight to the organisation. It was unusual for her to do when sounding so stricken. It was highly unusual for her to be doing so whilst he was at work.

    There was a telling silence. ¡°Haven¡¯t you spoken to your father?¡±

    ¡°...no.¡±

    Another telling silence. Whatever was going on his mother had not expected to be the one to tell him. Joseph now assumed that she had simply rung him to tell him to ring his father and he was sure she was about to do just that now. ¡°Gabriel, it¡¯s your grandfather.¡± She finally admitted in a quiet, sad voice. ¡°He...¡± She trailed off in a decision to spare him the details as worry churned in his stomach. ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±

    If it wasn¡¯t for years of training in discipline and etiquette Joseph would have dropped the phone in shock. Instead it was as if time left him behind. He barely registered the rest of the conversation as his mind went into a loop of denial, certain he had misheard or misunderstood what his mother had just told him but unable to work out how. His mother had already moved on, talking about funeral arrangements and that he needed to be there. She knew he wanted to be there and she¡¯d know his grandfather would have wanted him there. He wasn¡¯t listening, how could he? His mother must have picked up on that as he was vaguely aware of her saying she¡¯d text him the details before hanging up.

    He couldn¡¯t move. He just stood there staring into space as he leant against the wall after lowering the phone from his ear.

    Unfortunately for him time kept going, it didn¡¯t offer him the luxury of comfort or turning back to happier times. As someone passed him in the corridor and greeted him Joseph suddenly remembered that he was at work. He needed to get back to that. He needed to do something else. Anything else. He nodded resolutely to himself as if he could really do this and returned to his desk and once again checked over his emails before loading up the latest draft of his thesis again.

    As he scrolled through he almost gave a little sardonic laugh. He wouldn¡¯t have been studying for his PhD if it weren¡¯t for his grandad. His father wanted him to go into business, he needed a qualification to match it. His grandad had encouraged Joseph to choose his own path, otherwise he would have left science behind at A-level. His grandad would always say that they walked in high circles and they had to act appropriately, but that didn¡¯t mean you forgot about everything that made you human. Joseph almost laughed - genuinely this time - at the way he sometimes caught his grandad shaking his head or rolling his eyes when his father was trying to drill it into him that there were expectations to keep, ambitions to find and meet, and just as suddenly he almost found himself crying at the same memories. Those days were gone, the only real family he had was gone. His parents were too focused on appearances, money, the business... They had raised him and his brother in that vein. His grandad had shown him family wasn¡¯t that cold.

    He was startled out of his scattered memories by a gentle hand on his arm and his eyes focused on a concerned looking Sofia. ¡°Gi¨´, are you okay?¡± Her voice was soft, almost too soft and it almost broken him.

    However, years of parental advise activated as if they had literally programmed him. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± He replied gruffly, pulling his arm away in the same manner. Sofia said nothing further, but she knew he was lying and she knew to keep an eye on him.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ~-x-~

    The rest of the day passed him by in a blur before he eventually went to bed far earlier than normal, unable to find the will to do anything else.

    ¡°Gabriel! Get down from there! Gabriel ignored the shrill voice of the nanny and defiantly climbed higher into the huge, sturdy chestnut tree. ¡°Gabriel!¡±

    ¡°Make me!¡± He shouted back, dangling upside down and sticking his tongue out at the frantic woman.

    ¡°You¡¯ll fall!¡± Her gasp almost a scream of terror at what would happen to her if the boy she was minding fell from such a height, the end of her job for sure. Gabriel didn¡¯t care too much and let go of the branch with one hand to give her a cheeky wave.

    ¡°If the boy breaks his leg he might think twice about it next time.¡± A deeper voice chuckled as its owner strolled nonchalantly down the garden towards them. Gabriel quickly twisted back onto the top of the branch to watch the scene unfold below him as his grandfather joined them.

    ¡°Mr Lambert, sir, I was just -¡±

    ¡°Arguing with a stubborn ten year old?¡± His grandfather chuckled again. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with this, go and check on his brother.¡± The nanny nodded quickly and hurried away back to her younger charge. ¡°Gabe, are you going to make an old man climb all the way up there or will you join me on solid ground?¡± He turned back to the young boy. Gabriel swallowed a mixture of shame and guilt as he slowly made his way back down to the ground. Once there he was unable to meet his grandfather¡¯s gaze and choosing instead to look at his own knobbly knees as he fidgeted. ¡°You are skipping your lessons again?¡± Gabriel nodded bashfully, knowing he¡¯d been caught and knowing that it was better to get it over with, even if he didn¡¯t quite dare face it head on. ¡°Education is important, my boy.¡± His grandfather sighed reassuringly. ¡°But I¡¯m not such an old fool that I think me ordering you to pay attention will work. I remember being a young whipper snapper too, you know.¡±

    ¡°Did dinosaurs still exist then?¡±

    ¡°Cheeky.¡± His grandfather pretended to scold, but the two shared a secret smile at the young boys quip. ¡°Do you like your new nanny?¡±

    Gabriel scuffed his toes in the grass. ¡°She¡¯s okay, I guess.¡± There was a pause. ¡°She¡¯s better than the last one.¡±

    ¡°Then you won¡¯t think it¡¯s fair if she loses her job because you are being troublesome?¡± The way Gabriel chewed on the inside of his cheek meant that he did know, but didn¡¯t quite want to admit that. ¡°Then I think you¡¯ve learnt your lesson for the day; to think of how you actions affect others. You¡¯re a privileged lad, my boy, but that means you have responsibility too.¡±

    Joseph startled awake at the memory, almost surprised to find himself taking up so much of the bed as the dream eeked from his mind and he remembered that he was an adult now, not a petulant child. He wiped at his face to dry it as the realisation washed over him that he¡¯d never witness his grandfather¡¯s kindness again. The way he would teach with gentleness rather than punishment. He treated the people around him with respect and dignity, often getting better responses than his father¡¯s aggressive tactics. Joseph couldn¡¯t understand how someone like his grandad had raised his dad, the two were so completely different. He had asked his grandfather once, who had sighed wistfully and admitted that he hadn¡¯t been around his son as often as he should have.

    It was his grandfather who had built up the family business from almost nothing, rescuing it from the brink of ruin. His father had ridden on the tailcoats of his successes rather than his own, not that his father wasn¡¯t competent and doing a good job of expanding in his own right. However, Joseph rather suspected that if his father had to start from the same place as his grandfather their fortunes would not have been so good.

    He tried to clear his mind again as he rolled slightly to get comfortable on his other side, a soft smile finding it¡¯s way onto his face at Sofia¡¯s peaceful form next to him. He gently, carefully stroked a hand along her arm, reassuring himself that she was real and sleeping soundly before withdrawing his hand again to try and join her.

    ¡°Grandad?¡± Joseph asked unsurely as he walked into his grandparents kitchen to find his grandfather staring at a tray of breakfast leftovers.

    ¡°Joe!¡± He nearly jumped. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t hear you come in...¡± Joseph swallowed at the melancholy look on his grandad¡¯s face.

    ¡°Is gran...¡± He trailed off, unable to ask if she was any better. Frustrated at his own fears, he wasn¡¯t a child any more, his teenage hubris preventing him from realising that it was normal. Not yet fully understanding that growing up didn¡¯t mean becoming impervious to emotions but reacting to them better.

    ¡°She¡¯s a tough little lady, your grandmother.¡± His grandad sounded rueful. ¡°She¡¯s hanging in, but... the doctor¡¯s aren¡¯t optimistic.¡±

    ¡°I... is there anything I can do to help?¡±

    ¡°Just spend time with her.¡± His grandad¡¯s voice was soft and gentle, as if he was warning him of something he didn¡¯t want to voice out loud. Finally managing a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve been blessed having so many years with her. I made mistakes, some I owned and some I¡¯m sad to say I didn¡¯t, but she always forgave me and I never once stopped loving her like I did when I asked her to marry me.¡± The admission took Joseph by surprise. ¡°When you find that much happiness with someone and they¡¯re taken away from you, you mourn the time that you believe you should still have together. We lived full, happy lives for the most part, my only regret is taking her for granted. Never take your loved ones for granted, Joe.¡±

    Joseph woke up hot with shame and wet with tears as they streamed down his face, throwing the covers off and burying his face in his hands as he sat on the edge of the bed. He had spoken with his grandfather most weekends, yet now he felt like he had rather taken him for granted. He could hear him chuckling at stories of his latest exploits, the way he would dote on Sofia and remind him to cherish such a lovely gem for as long as she gave him the privilege, the sad silence as Joseph wouldn¡¯t admit the last time he had spoken to his parents or brother.

    ¡°Gi¨´?¡± Sofia¡¯s voice was thick and sleepy as she rolled and placed a warm hand on his back, rubbing gentle circles into his skin as she tried to comfort him. ¡°What is wrong?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± He stuttered as he tried to compose himself. ¡°Nothing.¡± He tried to promise and his stomach churned uneasily at the fact it was clear she didn¡¯t believe him. He shouldn¡¯t be lying to her, but he wasn¡¯t ready to talk about this. Not yet. ¡°Go back to sleep.¡± He whispered as he turned to press a kiss to her forehead.

    ¡°If you are sure...¡± She murmured, settling down onto her pillows and pulling the duvet tightly around her. She knew trying to make him talk when he didn¡¯t want to was a lost cause. ¡°Get back into bed.¡± She added as a soft order.

    ¡°Gabriel Joseph Lambert!¡± Joseph cringed as he heard his mother¡¯s shout through the house. He braced himself as he made his way towards the source of the commotion.

    ¡°Yes, mother?¡± He asked. She brandished a letter towards him. ¡°You read my mail?¡± That one action had his indignation matching her own.

    ¡°You still live in our house.¡± His father¡¯s reminder was almost a threat.

    Joseph swallowed his immediate retort and that gave his mother the opening she needed to start reading. ¡°We hereby offer you a place to study for a Masters in Chemistry providing you meet the following requirements.¡± Joseph couldn¡¯t stop the grin appearing on his face at the news. ¡°Chemistry?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡¯m good at it and I enjoy it. Besides it¡¯s not like it¡¯s in a useless subject.¡±

    ¡°We are raising you to run a business, not play in a lab.¡± Joseph¡¯s heart sunk like a stone at the dismissive tone in his father¡¯s voice. ¡°You need to focus on business and enterprise, politics and diplomacy. You need to make connections and learn how to manipulate them and understand the stock markets.¡±

    ¡°Why not hire a business manager?¡± Joseph almost flinched at his own stupidity asking that question. It wasn¡¯t like this wasn¡¯t ground they hadn¡¯t covered before.

    ¡°Has your grandfather planted this stupid idea in your head?¡± His father demanded. Joseph said nothing in response to that. They didn¡¯t need to know who had encouraged him to live his best life rather than the life his parents wanted for him. ¡°Go to you room and stay there until you¡¯ve reconsidered this foolish application.¡±

    Joseph curled up into a ball in an attempt to comfort himself as the loss manifested itself as an emptiness in his chest. His throat constricting as grief and regret washed over him and he tried to resist sobbing into his pillow. His parents had been cold and distant, only really caring about someone to carry on the family legacy - or their perceived notion of it. His grandfather had shown him that there was more to life than that. In many ways more like a father to him than his real one had ever been. His parents love had always been conditional, his grandad¡¯s never had. He no longer had unconditional support from his family.

    Just as the cold feeling of doubt and loneliness were taking hold of him a warm hand snuck over his shoulder and down his chest to find his heart as a warm body pressed closed to his back. Sofia pressed a gentle kiss to his shoulder. ¡°I got you.¡± She whispered the promise against his skin and suddenly any damn he¡¯d been attempting to build in front of the flood of emotions was destroyed and his whole body shook as he cried into his knees.

    As the minutes ticked by he lost track of even why he was crying. At first it was because of the sadness of knowing he would never see his grandad again. Then it was of the bittersweet memories he had; happy times that hurt because he wouldn¡¯t have more. The feeling morphed into self loathing as he remembered the times they argued and the uncertain guilt when he couldn¡¯t remember if he¡¯d apologised, they¡¯d always made up, but that didn¡¯t mean he hadn¡¯t owed an apology or three. Looking back he wasn¡¯t sure if he had been gracious enough to realise it.

    Finally his heart seemed to steady, his emotions settling into something discomforting but manageable. He wiped his face as he carefully rolled to wrap Sofia in his arms and hold her tight, pressing a kiss into her hair and whispering that he loved her and didn¡¯t deserve her. ¡°What happened?¡± She asked as she stroked his back where they lay on their sides.

    He didn¡¯t want to say it, a small childish and unreasonable part of him wanting to believe it wasn¡¯t true if he didn¡¯t say it. ¡°My grandad died.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Gi¨´... I am so sorry.¡± Her hands tightened on him as she pressed a kiss against his chest where she could reach.

    Her tone was so devoid of judgement or frustration about how he was dealing with it and it made tears well in his eyes again. Unconditional. He needed to learn to trust in that.

 5. Written Warning

    Natasha hated Wednesdays. Or at least, she hated Wednesday afternoons. Wednesdays mornings were collateral damage because she knew what was coming. Traditionally midweek was their catchup day. Since Allerton had taken over the department they had learnt to have two meetings. The first was a quick catch up between the six of them so that they all knew what they¡¯d achieved and their next steps. The second was in the afternoon where they covered the same thing in more detail with their supervisor and she attempted to run roughshod over everything they said. When she deigned to turn up.

    However, Sofia had the cure for that when Natasha arrived and her coffee mug was instantly refilled with her special brand of coffee. ¡°Is it me, or is this even stronger than your usual Wednesday brew?¡± Natasha asked in surprise as the caffeine kicked in.

    Sofia tried to shrug it off. ¡°Maybe you are just tired?¡±

    Natasha studied the younger woman for a moment, noticing the extra foundation below her eyes to cover the dark rings. ¡°Maybe.¡± She agreed cryptically as she decided to keep an eye on Sofia for the rest of the day.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why we do this twice in one day...¡± Olivia admitted as they found a spare half an hour that morning to convene in the office.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. One real meeting, one fake one.¡± Zachariah¡¯s tone was breezy and Olivia sort of shook her head at him as she shrugged as if to ask how that made any kind of sense.

    Natasha decided she better clarify. ¡°This one is our action plan. The one this afternoon is the diversion, otherwise we end up running around like headless chuckles and achieve nothing.¡± She paused. ¡°On that note, Zach, unless you give me a reason not to, I was going to prepare blind samples for Toni and Joe today.¡±

    ¡°Nah, you¡¯re good to use the lab.¡±

    ¡°Good. Then you can do yours tomorrow.¡± She added brightly, her smile only getting wider as Zachariah pretended to glare at her.

    ¡°Olivia, have you done any wet lab work before?¡± Antonis cut in before they got sidetracked.

    ¡°Not since college.¡±

    ¡°It might be a good idea to shadow either Nat or Zach then. To refresh.¡± Natasha nodded along with Antonis¡¯ suggestion. He glanced at both her and Zachariah as if silently asking one of them to volunteer. Neither did. The fact that neither objected was as good as an invitation, Olivia could pick which suited her best.

    The meeting continued as normal until Antonis¡¯ finally asked Joseph a question Sofia couldn¡¯t cover for. There was a moments pause before Zachariah finally nudged him back into the present. As Natasha raised her eyes from where she was taking notes she realised that Joseph looked even more tired than Sofia. ¡°Sorry, I was... Sorry.¡± Joseph apologised as he shook his head to clear it. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    As Antonis repeated the question, Natasha¡¯s gaze was darting around the group as if she could work out what was going on simply by her own intuition, the power of deduction and their expressions. A moment later Sofia finished blind typing on her phone and gently poked Natasha¡¯s leg with the phone so she¡¯d look at the screen. Natasha nodded to indicate that she¡¯d understood, suddenly everything was clear.

    The meeting continued on without anything else unusual happening, apart from Joseph being slightly distracted, but somehow from that point on Natasha and Sofia were able to deflect and redirect so that no one else really noticed. Though if either girl was every told that they had leadership abilities they¡¯d laugh in the face of it. Neither believed it.

    ~-x-~

    Once the meeting was over Natasha stood up saying Joseph¡¯s name, waiting patiently until she was sure he was aware. ¡°Can you please show me which chemicals you¡¯ve been using for the spikes?¡± She asked. Her voice was friendly but her eyes hinted that he should just follow her into the lab regardless of the fact that she was probably well aware of what she needed to do. Or would just ask Antonis. Joseph nodded and walked towards the lab to grab them from the cabinet, lost in his own headspace so he didn¡¯t even consider that she had ulterior motives even after she closed the door behind him. ¡°Joe, are you sure you want to be here?¡± She asked softly as she moved to the side and away from the door. If she were in his shoes and someone was trying to make her open up, knowing they were in between her and the exit would make her feel trapped and cause her to clam up.

    Joseph somehow turned sharply and stood up at the same time, amber bottle still in his hand after removing it from the vented cabinet. Surprise was written all over his face before he sighed and put the bottle in the solitary fume cupboard. ¡°Sofia told you?¡±

    Natasha nodded. ¡°Only me. She¡¯s worried.¡±

    Joseph could understand that. He gave a watery smile as he could almost hear his grandad chuckling, telling him that he should open up and listen to Sofia. He set his jaw and blinked rapidly, determined not to cry in front of anyone else. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± He promised but his voice betrayed him.

    ¡°Joe, go home.¡± Natasha sounded like she was making a suggestion, but he knew it was an order. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be here, you should take some time to heal. I¡¯ll square it with Allerton.¡± Joseph was about to argue but Natasha headed him off. ¡°It¡¯s not weakness to admit when you¡¯re not at your best.¡±

    ¡°The funeral is this weekend.¡± Joseph admitted in a small voice. Natasha nodded as she formulated a plan, then told him to come back in on Monday. She paused and asked him what he wanted the others to know. It was her way of indicating that she¡¯d cover if he wanted her to. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I should probably have just said something.¡± He admitted with an unhappy shrug.

    Natasha offered him a half smile. ¡°No one would expect you to be thinking straight right now.¡±

    ~-x-~

    No one questioned why Joseph left until after he was gone. Sofia half followed him to make sure he was okay. On her return, the second the door shut behind her, a barrage of questioned followed. Sofia looked about to interrupt but Natasha gave a tiny shake of her head to dissuade her, content to patiently wait out the questions.

    Once the office fell silent Natasha ignored every question that had been asked and simply announced - as gently as she could - that Joseph had just lost a close member of his family and that she had sent him home to grieve and that they should respect his privacy beyond that. Everyone agreed but both Antonis and Zachariah gave her a look that asked if she knew what trouble she was inviting upon herself, but she shrugged it off.

    Apart from that Joseph¡¯s loss wasn¡¯t discussed further, Natasha¡¯s explanation had been respectful yet thorough enough to satisfy their curiosity, other than to each send him a message of support.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    At lunch time Natasha realised that she shouldn¡¯t have expected Zachariah and Antonis to drop it from her warning look. Once both Sofia and Olivia had both left for lunch they cornered her in the lab. ¡°Tell me you¡¯ve thought this through?¡± Zachariah started once she¡¯d finished with the solution she had been in the middle of preparing.

    ¡°You think I should¡¯ve let him stay?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Both Zachariah and Natasha deflated in defeat with a sigh, both knowing the other had a point. ¡°I just... You know how this could backfire, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°This is more than disobedience, Nat, Allerton will punish you for over-stepping.¡±

    Natasha¡¯s jaw twitched as she looked at her feet. She knew that. She knew that Antonis knew she knew that, as did Zachariah. ¡°Of course she will, but I think it¡¯s probably going to be better than letting her let rip into Joe right now.¡±

    Neither men could argue with her logic. ¡°Just... don¡¯t overestimate your own importance. Allerton already thinks you¡¯re a threat and she will fire you if you give her a chance.¡± Zachariah¡¯s tone would¡¯ve sounded threatening if it didn¡¯t sound so tired.

    Natasha offered him a cheeky smile. ¡°Don¡¯t think I can keep my temper in check?¡±

    ¡°There is no point in protecting people now if it causes you to be unable to do so later.¡± Natasha¡¯s head snapped towards Antonis in surprise and Zachariah laughed.

    ¡°You think we don¡¯t know why you do these things?¡±

    ¡°We know, Nat, as...¡±

    ¡°Bitchy, mate, you can say bitchy.¡± Zachariah suggested as Antonis trailed off in search of the word.

    Natasha laughed softly as Antonis glared at Zachariah on her behalf. She was fully aware of how she came across and a lot of it was deliberate. She had learnt at a young age that the easiest way to protect herself was to prevent people getting too close and to make them think twice about trying. Antonis, however, was far too nice to say it directly. ¡°As hostile as you come across to most people, we know you care really.¡±

    ¡°My wording was better.¡±

    ¡°And might be why we all like Toni better than you?¡±

    ¡°You wound me, Tasha.¡±

    The three of them dissolved into chuckles for a moment, all of them forgetting why they¡¯d ended up in the lab for a moment, before the real world crept back in. ¡°You¡¯re going to get yourself fired, aren¡¯t you?¡± Zachariah sighed.

    Natasha shrugged unhappily as she and Antonis shared a look before she turned back to Zachariah. ¡°If I do it again, certainly. Hopefully not the first time.¡±

    ¡°I really hope you¡¯re right.¡±

    ~-x-~

    Naturally Natasha put off informing Professor Allerton as long as she possibly could. Finally admitting defeat about half an hour before their team meeting was due to start and knocked on her office door, hoping Allerton would be out. Unfortunately luck was not on her side and she was given permission to enter. ¡°Well?¡± Allerton asked before Natasha had even finished closing the door behind her. ¡°What¡¯s so important it can¡¯t wait till our meeting?¡±

    Natasha set her face into neutral - don¡¯t give the satisfaction of a provoked response. ¡°I came to let you know that Joe won¡¯t be in for a few days.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Allerton asked as she straightened up in her chair and folded her arms on her desk. ¡°And why not?¡±

    Natasha had considered lying when this question came, part of her had been hoping Allerton wouldn¡¯t care enough to question why. She knew that anything other than the truth would make matters worse for herself. Even though she had done this for a friend, she did have her own future to consider too. ¡°Family bereavement.¡±

    ¡°And he thinks he¡¯s entitled to time off for that?¡± Allerton demanded.

    ¡°I sent him home for the rest of the week.¡± Natasha¡¯s voice was firm and level and most people wouldn¡¯t argue with her when she used that tone.

    If it were actually possible Allerton¡¯s glare would have cooled the room by at least ten degrees, if not more. As the angry silence continued Natasha raised an eyebrow as if asking for a response. Allerton¡¯s knuckles were white as her fists clenched onto her elbows. ¡°Fine.¡± She finally decided. ¡°Joseph can have till the end of the week. But you are getting a written warning for this, Natasha.¡± Natasha refused to react, she had expected as much.

    She¡¯d still do it all over again.

    ~-x-~

    Natasha was starting to think Antonis¡¯ attitude was rubbing off on her as she realised she¡¯d got to the end of a meeting Allerton was running without a single doodle on her notebook. Her subconscious must have realised she really was in the shit with her boss this time and she wasn¡¯t taking any chances. That was definitely Antonis¡¯ influence.

    ¡°Okay, does anyone need me to recap their actions this week?¡± Allerton checked and she received a chorus of ¡°no¡±s. ¡°Good. Then just one last thing.¡± Natasha almost scoffed that it had taken her this long to get to the public shaming, she had expected it to be the first thing on the agenda. ¡°I have had to officially reprimand Natasha today for undermining my authority. This isn¡¯t something I do lightly and I expect better behaviour from the rest of you. Hopefully you can lead by example and maybe Natasha can learn better attitude from you all.¡±

    Natasha saw Zachariah open his mouth but he quickly snapped it shut again when she kicked him under the table. Allerton glared around the group as if challenging one of them to argue with her, but no one did. She was surprised, she had expected dissent in the ranks. Perhaps Natasha was more of a maverick than she realised and didn¡¯t always have the support of the team behind her before she acted?

    After another firm reminder about the behaviour she expected from her team Allerton left them to it and returned to her office. There was a metaphorical sigh of relief from the whole group once the door shut. Sofia was rubbing her temples as Zachariah rubbed at his shin now he could admit to being kicked. Antonis turned to Natasha with an inquisitive look. ¡°Written warning.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Shit, Tasha...¡± Zachariah muttered to himself.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to say ¡®I told you so¡¯ if you want.¡± Natasha hissed. They had already covered this ground, she didn¡¯t see why they needed to go over it again.

    ¡°Yeah, well, it¡¯s real now, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°You know she wants us to fight, sost¨¢?¡± Antonis reminded them both and they both backed down. ¡°Nat, you cannot keep antagonising her.¡± Natasha shot him a glare but couldn¡¯t hold it. Even she couldn¡¯t stay angry with Antonis, he was just too damn reasonable.

    ¡°You want me to make a promise I won¡¯t keep?¡± Natasha finally asked after a long pause. Antonis made a point of rolling his eyes at her, but she could see the smile he was fighting to hide. ¡°Look, we all know I¡¯m not going to change, if shouting at me makes you all feel better go ahead.¡± She added as she leant back in her chair with her arms folded and looking around the whole group. ¡°So, we done?¡± She asked when no one felt the need to add anything, thought Zachariah looked like he had considered it before thinking better of it.

    A tense silence hung in the air as if no one quite wanted to let it go but equally didn¡¯t know how to resolve the situation before Natasha finally stood up and headed back into the lab to tidy up from her earlier work. She hadn¡¯t got very far when she heard the door open after her. She had expected either Zachariah or Antonis to come in and try to explain the need to tread carefully. Zachariah would shout at her, Antonis would gently, yet firmly, persuade her but both would have the same message; that she was just as important as the rest of them. Instead she was faced with Sofia who was twisting her hands in front of her. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Natasha asked with a soft expression.

    Sofia nodded quickly. ¡°I... Just... Thank you.¡± She finally managed to get her thoughts in order. ¡°You did not need to... but thank you for looking out for him.¡± Natasha offered her a wry smile and a nod, Sofia returned the gesture. ¡°Why do you do it?¡± She finally asked.

    ¡°Do what?¡±

    ¡°Look out for us all? Shield us.¡±

    ¡°Someone has to.¡± Natasha shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant about the whole thing. Sofia¡¯s eyes narrowed as she tried to read her friend. Natasha raised an eyebrow at her and Sofia gave up on the attempt. They came from two very different worlds and as astute as Sofia was, without Natasha explicitly explaining the ups and downs of her childhood it just wouldn¡¯t occur to her. Sofia¡¯s childhood was Winnie the Pooh whereas Natasha¡¯s was more Lord of the Flies.

    After a few more moments in which Sofia considered trying to get Natasha to open up more she decided against it and repeated her thanks before slipping back into the office. Natasha sighed to herself as she was left to her thoughts and she did truly consider Antonis and Zachariah¡¯s warnings.

    Suddenly it occurred to her that Olivia had stayed silent the whole time, allowing her to be practically invisible whilst the storm raged around her. Natasha was suddenly impressed with the new girl and her ability to know when not to get involved, even if it had probably been borne from fear of the repercussions. Self preservation was certainly a skill she respected, sometimes she wished she still retained hers.

 6. Prototype Troubles

    The next few weeks were, of course, tough for Joseph. However, slowly and surely once the shock had worn off and with the support his friends gave him, he started to return to his normal self, working through his grief in his own way. He was still quieter than usual and stayed away from social events for a while, but with time his focus returned, he was able to smile again and engage with life. Even if sometimes doing so would bring him close to tears as he could hear his grandad reminding him to live life to the full, don¡¯t squander it and certainly enjoy it.

    That abrupt behaviour made him rather apologetic, especially to Sofia who saw the most of it. ¡°No one expects you to be the same after this.¡± She reminded him gently, her voice soothing and gentle as she held him close. ¡°He was a father to you. It is normal for someone to change after a loss like that.¡±

    Therefore, as it always does, life went on regardless of how much someone wished they could take a break from it all, a respite to heal.

    ~-x-~

    With the end of autumn term approaching faster than any of them would like, were ramping up their work on the prototype. They had to not only register their application for funding from different sources but to acquire them in line with the CAPEX deadlines, meaning that they had till the end of the year. That way all expenditures and budgets could be appropriately set by the beginning of the financial year. So far they had put in bids for a number of potential investors and the available departmental pot.

    They knew that their success would depend on what they could show to prove their worth.

    ¡°Get anything good?¡± Natasha asked without looking up from where she was typing on the laptop. The cloying aroma of cigarettes was a giveaway that didn¡¯t require her vision.

    Zachariah smiled despite himself as he returned from his smoke break. ¡°Nothing we haven¡¯t already heard.¡± He admitted and she nodded offhandly. No matter how much he knew she¡¯d prefer it if he quit smoking, she had never denied that it was a useful way for him to get all the latest gossip. ¡°So, how¡¯d Barney do?¡±

    ¡°Why did you call it Barney?¡± Zachariah shrugged at her repeated question, he honestly didn¡¯t know. Their prototype just felt like a Barney to him. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s still off.¡± She explained as he walked up behind her so he could read the screen over her shoulder. ¡°Our LOD was higher before...¡± She indicated to the chart she had up that she¡¯d quickly plotted from their latest batch of results. He hummed in thought as he saw the calculated limit of detection was currently much higher than they¡¯d had it before. They needed to get it lower, the lower amounts they could detect the better. This didn¡¯t make any sense, Antonis had been thorough when they were working on the limits originally and his theoretical values had proven to be around the right ballpark before they¡¯d mounted the array.

    In the end he figured that talking through his thoughts would allow them both to organise them into a logical order to problem solve. ¡°You and Toni had a much better signal before we mounted it... And Sofia ran those calculations three times since.¡± Natasha nodded along to show her agreement. She remembered it the same way. In a way that reassured him, but at the same time it was annoying there was no obvious problem to fix. ¡°Then we better take it out and recheck the alignment. Maybe we knocked something...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve wanted to dismantle it since you put it together.¡±

    ¡°It keeps me indispensable.¡±

    Suddenly the jovial mood left her face. ¡°Allerton threatened to get rid of you again?¡±

    Zachariah shook his head. ¡°Not as such, but the budget rumours are still circulating.¡±

    Natasha pulled a face. ¡°That¡¯ll cheer Sofia and Joe up.¡± She grumbled. They had been trying to get some clarification on whether or not they¡¯d be able to keep either Sofia or Joseph after their write up year but so far they hadn¡¯t been given any reassurances or definitive answers on the matter. Zachariah knew it would be great if they could keep them both one, or even just one of them, but with the rumours circulating he would be thankful if they still had their jobs at the end of the year. Antonis would call him a pessimist, Natasha a cynic, he preferred the term realist. Though he had to admit that Natasha might not be entirely wrong in her assessment and if she were being entirely honest her outlook wasn¡¯t that different to his. Their only reassurance was that if they were running that close to the wire they wouldn¡¯t have been allowed to advertise for a PhD placement for Olivia to have started.

    Zachariah nodded in sympathy to her annoyance, they were all equally frustrated by the uncertainty, but there was nothing they could do about it other than focus on their work and attempt to increase their funding. Natasha put the computer away and they set to dismantling Barney so that they could start over.

    They ended up spending all day checking over Barney. From the angles they¡¯d drawn on and used to affix the sensor array to the connections they¡¯d made to do so. Until it was time for Zachariah to pack up and he left with his usual warning not to touch anything whilst he wasn¡¯t there.

    ~-x-~

    In the end they¡¯d found nothing. Zachariah decided it was time for plan B. ¡°Plan B?¡± Olivia asked as Sofia started passing out coffee mugs and Joseph and Natasha pushed a bunch of chairs out of their way.

    ¡°Darts.¡± Antonis explained as he plucked them from the dartboard that hung on one of the notice boards.

    Zachariah nearly laughed as Olivia looked around at the rest of them as if to ask how that answered her question. ¡°I¡¯ve found the best way to get the most out of our geeks is to distract them from thinking until the light bulb goes off inside their head.¡± Zachariah explained as he sipped his coffee. ¡°Somehow they work better when they¡¯re not thinking too hard about a problem.¡±

    It occurred to Zachariah that no one argued with the fact that he¡¯d singled out Natasha and Antonis as geeks. All six of them were highly smart individuals - all scientists either having completed or working towards their PhDs - and could easily qualify for the label. For a brief moment he felt insulted on Sofia¡¯s behalf that he hadn¡¯t included her in that category, those three were on another level compared to the rest of them, for slightly different but no less impressive reasons. But did people accept it because they instinctively knew that or was it because even as adults and comfortable in their own selves, the stigma of being labelled such remained?

    Zachariah was almost lost in his own side tracked thoughts as Antonis started the game by landing three good shots. ¡°What they really just want to do is watch me fail... repeatedly.¡± Natasha joked as she walked over to pluck the darts from the board.

    She wasn¡¯t wrong, Zachariah thought with amusement, that was just an added benefit.

    As Antonis and Natasha got into the swing of a very lopsided game - Antonis was a much better player than Natasha and they all knew it - the whole team went over what they knew about the problem and what they¡¯d tried and subsequently what had failed to fix it. ¡°So, basically, what you¡¯re saying is that since we¡¯ve mounted the sensor array to the prototype we¡¯ve reduced our sensitivity? But removing it hasn¡¯t returned it to the previous levels we saw?¡± Natasha summarised before making another irritated noise as she yet again missed any numbers on the board. Antonis just about resisted grinning as he collected the darts for his turn.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zachariah agreed, briefly throwing Olivia a glare as she got too close to touching what appeared to be an abandoned circuit breadboard on the central desk. Olivia quickly retracted her hand, realising it was a work in progress despite the fact she hadn¡¯t seen anyone touch it since she started. Zachariah smiled internally and made a mental reminder to talk her through some of the mini-projects that lay half completed around the lab and office. However, right now, they were focusing on one problem.

    Sofia looked up from where she was checking the wheels on her skateboard, having borrowed some grease from the lab. ¡°So... what would cause that?¡± She asked.

    ¡°The obvious problem would be misalignment, but you¡¯ve already checked that.¡± Joseph piped up.

    ¡°True, but if it¡¯s only just off...¡± Natasha trailed off as she paused at the dartboard, tapping the darts against her chin as she thought. ¡°Have we checked the power connections? Maybe the problem isn¡¯t with the array itself?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± Zachariah agreed as he finished up his coffee.

    ¡°Your go.¡± Antonis prompted and Natasha rolled her eyes at him before moving to take her shots. Zachariah hid his smile into his mug as he could tell she was wondering - yet again - why she agreed to play knowing that she was dreadful. Especially against Antonis who had a good aim on him. For all her brassy nature she was relatively ego free and didn¡¯t care too much about embarrassing herself, Zachariah also suspected she secretly liked being included.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s our plan for today sorted. Who wants to go out tonight then?¡± Natasha asked brightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s a school night.¡± Joseph reminded her.

    ¡°And?¡± She challenged. ¡°You three are still students.¡± She added with a wave towards him, Sofia and Olivia.

    ¡°Still... it is unusual for you to heavy drink midweek.¡± Sofia said.

    Antonis chuckled. ¡°She is trying to escape.¡±

    Zachariah knew that meant he was going to wake up to find her crashed on his sofa again as Natasha chuckled at the confusion on the rest of the group¡¯s faces. ¡°If I don¡¯t go out tonight I¡¯m going to murder my housemate. All I¡¯ve heard for the last three days is him and his new boyfriend at it all night.¡± She paused in thought as Antonis took his turn. ¡°I wonder if I can convince my other housemate to swap rooms...¡±

    ¡°Which room?¡± Zachariah teased.

    Natasha brightened up considerably as she glanced at the lab in thought. ¡°That could work. I have access to powerful cleaning agents...¡±

    ¡°I think drinks would be easier, so we better go out just to keep you sane.¡± Joseph figured and the rest of them agreed. ¡°Or you crash somewhere else.¡±

    ¡°Drinking is more fun.¡± Natasha quipped before missing the board entirely. That was why they set up the dartboard in the middle of the notice boards. ¡°Who knows, it might improve my aim.¡±

    ¡°Lost cause.¡± Antonis teased.

    ~-x-~

    Once their break was over it was back to work as usual, though it involved even more dismantling of their prototype than before. They had decided to double check everything and not just the power, though that was where they started.

    The end of the day saw parts strewn across the lab in a way that almost made Zachariah cry - despite the fact he had helped them do it - resulting in both Natasha and Antonis teasing him that he was more likely to have robot babies than real ones. He¡¯d retorted that at least they wouldn¡¯t take apart a real baby, before pausing and deciding that was only because neither of them were medical professionals or had backgrounds in biology. Then paused again before deciding that actually it was only because of the moral implications and that he should be thankful neither were evil geniuses, or at least that Antonis could keep Natasha in check.

    However, the alcohol they all consumed that evening cheered them up. Though some partied much harder than others. Zachariah and Natasha were out the longest, Natasha only left because Zachariah actually carried her out with him. Later on, when they sobered up, they became a little concerned that no one actually questioned why he was carrying a clearly inebriated woman over his shoulder.

    He was not surprised to find her still asleep on his sofa as he was about to leave for work. He grinned to himself before he stooped to muss up her hair until she swatted at him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you too old to be crashing on sofas on school days?¡± He teased now she was awake.

    ¡°I hate you.¡± Natasha retorted, clearly still half asleep. ¡°You better have coffee ready for me when I arrive.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll probably be on the third batch by then.¡±

    Zachariah sidestepped the arm she threw in his direction before she¡¯d even moved. He knew her too well, even still, she only just missed him. He had no qualms about leaving her there to sort herself out, his housemates knew her well by now and this was hardly the first time she¡¯d crashed on their sofa. They trusted her only to help herself to Zachariah¡¯s cereal and his shower stuff. He should probably stop humouring her irresponsible whims, it only encouraged her, but then again between them and Antonis they balanced each other out pretty well. But sometimes Zachariah did wonder if he should give Antonis some back up on the responsibility front. Lord knew that Natasha was unlikely to step up on that issue.

    Zachariah couldn¡¯t help but reflect that she¡¯d possibly done this too many times when it was only Olivia who looked confused when she arrived at work in her dress and heels from the night before. Sofia already had coffee ready. ¡°You have about an hour before Allerton is due back.¡± She warned as if they had a whole protocol for this situation. Zachariah supposed that they kind of did.

    ¡°Thanks. Maybe seeing me like this might give her the breakdown we need to get rid of her...¡± She considered as she swapped her heels for a pair of trainers she had in her desk before grabbing a bag of spare clothes and heading to get changed whilst Zachariah muttered something about not getting his hopes up.

    He left them to it to go and check on Antonis in the lab who was busy drawing their Christmas tree mess as he walked himself through what they had. As he did that Zachariah resumed testing the electrical and power connections and ultimately found nothing wrong with them. ¡°Is Nat in yet?¡± Antonis checked once he finished his diagram and Zachariah nodded.

    A few minutes later Antonis returned following Natasha who was busy staring intently at the diagram she held in front of her. The two men shared a familiar and amused look, Natasha got like this she¡¯d seen something but didn¡¯t know quite what she¡¯d seen. It was always worth letting her see the thought through. She stopped next to the amplifier array and her eyes darted between the notepad and the device as if comparing. ¡°It is the same.¡± Antonis assured her as he stopped next to her shoulder and did the same comparison.

    ¡°It¡¯s back to front.¡± Natasha said as if it were so obvious she couldn¡¯t understand why none of them had spotted it till that moment. Zachariah¡¯s head snapped up as she said that and he frowned at the same components only to find that she was right. He looked up at them to see the same expression of realisation cross their faces at the same time as they turned back to each other. ¡°Joe.¡± They said in unison.

    Zachariah pinched the bridge of his nose. Joseph was a chemist and good at working out how to improve sensitivity, detectable components and the like, but the practical engineering was not his strong suit. Sofia on the other hand had spent her youth building and dismantling computers and consoles, that was what had got her into computer science in the first place. That was why they had tried to ensure Sofia was in the lab with him at all times when they started, they hadn¡¯t been intended to play match-maker.

    They shouldn¡¯t have let him help with the engineering whilst he was still reeling from his grandfather¡¯s death. ¡°At least we¡¯ve found the problem.¡± Zachariah finally decided, each word slow and careful. It was frustrating, but ultimately it wasn¡¯t really Joe¡¯s fault and he certainly hadn¡¯t done it deliberately or maliciously. Zachariah knew that and so he would make himself act accordingly, but maybe get Antonis to explain to the rest of the group in case his own irritation seeped into his tone and was misconstrued.

    ¡°He¡¯s taking this better than I expected.¡± Natasha fake whispered to Antonis as he took his notepad back from her.

    ¡°I think he is committing how much you drank last night to memory, that way he can get you hungover next time we need to troubleshoot.¡± Antonis replied in kind.

    ¡°You two do know I can hear you, right?¡± Zachariah looked at his friends only to receive two innocent grins, in fairness, it went some way to dispelling his frustration at the situation. Even if it worried him that Natasha might be a bad influence on Antonis.

 7. Tension

    They all agreed that Antonis should be the one to break the news. There was some debate on whether or not they followed it up with their traditional sentence or not. They couldn¡¯t decide if it would be harsh to punish him when they all understood what he was currently going through, or if he would react worse to the special treatment if they agreed to waive it this time.

    In the end they had met halfway and halved the usual time with a silent understanding that they would be kinder than usual.

    Olivia was shocked by the entire proceding. ¡°How can you punish him at a time like this?¡±

    ¡°Standard procedure. If you make a significant mistake you run the office errands for ten days.¡± Natasha explained with a shrug. ¡°We¡¯ve all done it before, even Toni.¡±

    Zachariah rearranged the magnifying glass he was using to see what he was soldering. He was giving Olivia a quick lesson at the central meeting table. ¡°Toni set the bar too high though. He brought in doughnuts almost every other day the first time.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty certain the second time you made it up in the hope that you¡¯d get the same treatment again.¡± Natasha teased causing Olivia to turn from the electronics tutorial she was getting when Sofia giggled.

    ¡°Eyes on this.¡± Zachariah added.

    Olivia¡¯s attention snapped back quickly. ¡°But you didn¡¯t even look up!¡±

    ¡°Peripheral vision senses movement. I¡¯m gonna test you on this you know.¡±

    Natasha chuckled where she was sipping her coffee as Olivia turned her attention mostly back to what Zachariah was doing. ¡°I still think it¡¯s harsh. He just lost his grandad!¡±

    ¡°Na¨ª. That is why we reduced it by half.¡± Antonis corrected. It had taken some time for Olivia to become accustomed to the Greek for yes sounding so much like an English no.

    ¡°I thought you were the nice one.¡±

    They all got a chuckle at that. ¡°We considered giving him a pass, just this once, but then what would be the point in having a rule to make people learn?¡± Natasha asked.

    Olivia opened her mouth but she was prevented. ¡°Olivia, it¡¯s okay.¡± Joseph assured her with a too practiced smile.

    ¡°We don¡¯t do this to apportion blame.¡± Zachariah added kindly. ¡°None of us think he did this maliciously or intentionally. We all understand that he¡¯s not at his best. We do this so that people don¡¯t get complacent about mistakes, so that they think about what happened.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about hating the person who did it.¡± Natasha added firmly as she too noticed the way Joseph¡¯s smile hadn¡¯t reached his eyes.

    ¡°We want people to learn.¡± Antonis finished.

    Olivia considered herself told, though she still wasn¡¯t sure she agreed with them for enacting it in this situation, she could tell where they were coming from. She just hoped it didn¡¯t make Joseph¡¯s situation worse.

    ~-x-~

    Running errands didn¡¯t change anything as far as Joseph was concerned. In a way he would have felt worse if they¡¯d pretended it was to be expected.

    He had been the one who had done the work on the amplifier array because he¡¯d been available at the time and had wanted to keep himself busy. In retrospect that was foolish, he knew he wasn¡¯t an engineer, but under normal circumstances he at least trusted himself to be competent enough to follow instructions. At a time when his mind was preoccupied and his emotions fraying at the seams... well, he realised now he should¡¯ve known better. He should have known that something like this was more likely to happen and to get someone to check his work when he was finished. He should have known that not being at his best could lead to problems with his work and not ploughed on regardless.

    That was the lesson he had learnt from this and the lesson he knew they¡¯d want him to learn. None of them believed themselves or the others to be infalliable, none would expect anyone to be. However, there were sensible precautions they could take to minimise them and he¡¯d been careless because he¡¯d been selfish. Sofia would tell him they wouldn¡¯t expect him to be thinking straight at such a time, he shouldn¡¯t expect so much of himself. It wasn¡¯t so simple. He¡¯d been brought up by parents who expected nothing less than perfection from their heir, it was difficult to turn so many years of upbringing and expectations off.

    In short, he blamed himself and so he believed the others should as well. He believed he deserved to be punished and he didn¡¯t want pity.

    Sofia realised what he was doing to himself and did her best to reassure him that he was wrong. He shouldn¡¯t blame himself for an honest mistake that didn¡¯t hurt anyone. Yes, it was frustrating, but people made mistakes and none of them would hold that against him, especially not given the circumstances. When he didn¡¯t appear to be listening to her she asked the rest of the group if they could gently assure him that they didn¡¯t hold it against him. They had agreed to try.

    Antonis, Zachariah and Olivia¡¯s attempts had all been the kind of subtle reassurance that Sofia had envisaged. When none of them seemed to be getting through Natasha had opted for an entirely different approach. She had marched Joseph into the lab one day, pointed at the prototype and told him to snap out of it, otherwise she would start holding it against him before leading into what they supposed was supposed to be some kind of motivational rant about how they needed him to start thinking straight so they could complete their work and win themselves some damn funding. They had all heard her through the wall, Olivia couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing, more astonishingly Zachariah was laughing the whole time and Antonis just shrugged it off saying that he was surprised she hadn¡¯t just smacked the back of Joseph¡¯s head.

    As she spent longer and longer on the team Olivia had begun to suspect that they did all care about each other - in their own unique ways - though after that day she wasn¡¯t all that sure.

    ~-x-~

    Olivia wasn¡¯t sure if any of their attempts worked, but she figured at least it would prove to him that they did care. That had to help. Joseph was too good at being able to put on a normal face about matters, too good at covering up what he really felt. Sofia said it was because his parents had trained him to be able to exchange pleasantries with anyone regardless of his own personal feelings about them. Olivia thought that was a sad childhood. However, it made it difficult to tell how well he was recovering from the shock of his grandfather¡¯s death and the loss he felt because of it.

    Natasha had put a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder and reminded her that all they could do was remind him that they were here for him if he wanted. Otherwise they couldn¡¯t help someone who wasn¡¯t ready to accept help, or didn¡¯t want it. They had to trust Joseph to handle his problems no matter how much they wanted to do things differently.

    ¡°How can you just ignore it?¡± Olivia asked.

    Natasha offered her a sad smile. ¡°You¡¯re one of those naturally empathic people, aren¡¯t you?¡± Olivia shrugged timidly and tiny chuckle almost escaped Natasha. ¡°People only open up when they feel safe to do so. Constantly prodding at them doesn¡¯t usually make them feel safe.¡± Olivia had to admit that the older woman had a point there.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    In the end she had to stick with being kind and hope it was enough. Zachariah joked she was a fixer and Antonis asked him why he said it like it was a bad thing. Sofia just gave her a quiet thank you and extra coffee.

    In truth Joseph wasn¡¯t sure if the kindness was better or worse. He didn¡¯t want them to be angry with him or hate him, but the nicer they were to him the more he felt like he didn¡¯t deserve it. Old lessons about the true meaning of strength - or what his parents thought it meant - were hard to shake. Here he was a full grown man utterly destroyed by the death of one man, it didn¡¯t matter how important someone was to you, you needed to be strong enough to get on with your life. If something as small as this could destroy your entire life then what was it worth?

    He slowly withdrew into himself in an attempt not to burden his friends with his problems. Especially Sofia, kind, gentle and wonderful Sofia. He loved her so much and still he couldn¡¯t open up to her. He wanted to protect her from his demons. Ignoring the hurt he could see in her eyes every time he refused to share his feelings with her, telling himself it was for the best. In his darkest moments he started to wonder if it would be best if he let her go, feeling undeserving of her and wanting her to be happy. Those moments always deserted him the moment she turned to him and he saw her soft smile for him, the one she reserved just for him, the one he knew meant ¡®I love you¡¯.

    ¡°I wish I knew how to break him out of it.¡± Sofia admitted as she and Olivia headed towards the nearest campus cafe, both girls needed to buy lunch before heading in their separate directions.

    ¡°Maybe Tasha¡¯s right, we just have to wait for him to come to us.¡± Olivia shrugged unhappily.

    Sofia sighed. ¡°She probably is.¡± There was a pause as Sofia rummaged through the coins in her purse, mainly pretending to me interested in the contents whilst really just trying to arrange her thoughts. ¡°I just... wish he would talk to me.¡± Olivia offered Sofia a sad smile as she squeezed her shoulder, hoping to impart some comfort. They made their way through the queue without discussing it further until Sofia was about to head off to the skate park, instead she pressed a sandwich into Olivia¡¯s hands. ¡°Please, make sure he eats.¡± Olivia nodded allowing Sofia the freedom to not worry - anymore than she would anyway - for an hour.

    She arrived back at the office to find Natasha and Antonis at the meeting table scribbling on a notepad between them. Zachariah had probably already gone to lunch. They both greeted her as she arrived as she asked if Joseph was still about, holding the sandwich up as explanation. Natasha waved vaguely towards the lab and Antonis chuckled as he translated for Olivia. She thanked them as she put both sets of lunches down on her desk before heading into the lab.

    She found Joseph surrounded by bottles, scribbling on a piece of paper inbetween tapping quick numbers into a calculator. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look good...¡± Olivia teased.

    Joseph started slightly at the sound of her voice, he had been so absorbed that he hadn¡¯t heard the door. ¡°Oh, I was just working out the least number of solutions I can get away with.¡± Olivia raised an eyebrow. ¡°Too many analytes increases the risk of me mucking it up by adding too much of one and needing to start over. I also want to minimise the number of dilution steps, which either limits how much of each I can add, or I need to make more in total.¡± He paused as he took in the hopeless look on her face. ¡°You don¡¯t really care about the finer points of making solutions...¡±

    Olivia couldn¡¯t help but smile a little at that. ¡°Not really. I came to let you know Sofia bought you a sandwich for lunch. I¡¯m pretty certain she won¡¯t be happy with you if you don¡¯t eat it before she gets back.¡±

    Joseph managed a wry smile at that before scrubbing a hand through his blond hair. ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll be happy with me either way.¡± He admitted with a sigh. ¡°I¡¯ve not been... I¡¯ve not been as good to her as I should be.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still grieving, she doesn¡¯t expect you to be perfect, none of us do.¡± Olivia reminded him gently. ¡°She just wants to help you through it and she can¡¯t do that if you don¡¯t tell her how she can.¡±

    ¡°She shouldn¡¯t have to help me through it. Loss is a normal part of life and I should be able to cope with it.¡±

    ¡°Hey...¡± Olivia placed a gentle hand on his arm. ¡°There¡¯s no normal way to deal with this stuff, everyone needs something different when they lose someone important to them. So don¡¯t go thinking like that, Joe, you¡¯re allowed to need time and people to help you through this. You¡¯re allowed to tell us what you need from us.¡±

    Joseph gripped her hand where it rested on her arm as his gaze dropped to the floor. For a moment Olivia thought he was going to start crying and part of her would have been relieved if he had. She suspected part of the problem was that he hadn¡¯t just let himself hurt, that he was bottling it all up because he thought he had to. When he looked up his eyes were glassy as if he couldn¡¯t quite see straight through the unshed tears.

    She hadn¡¯t expected him to kiss her. His hand over hers tightening as he leant into her, lips insistent and firm against her own surprised ones.

    The moment her brain had caught up with the surprise she yanked her hand out of his grip whilst shoving him back with her other. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She hissed as her second attempt put some space between them.

    Joseph blinked dumbly. ¡°I... I just...¡± As he stammered over his response Olivia suspected he didn¡¯t know.

    She automatically took another step backwards to put some space between them as she protectively wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to straighten her own thoughts out. Not about how she felt about Joseph, she had no romantic feelings towards him, but about what she did about this. She couldn¡¯t hide this from Sofia, but then again Joseph clearly wasn¡¯t thinking straight and she wasn¡¯t sure he deserved the instability that ratting him out to Sofia would cause. Then again she suspected Sofia would show some understanding, or at least, if it was someone Joseph could easily avoid again to prevent this kind of situation arising again.

    Olivia swallowed as she tried to make her throat work again but the door swung open before she could make a sound. ¡°Hey, Joe, are you coming for lunch?¡± Antonis asked from the doorway.

    Olivia¡¯s eyes dropped to the floor as she refused to give anything away. Joseph glanced to her before turning back to Antonis. ¡°Yeah.¡± He agreed walking towards the door. Antonis stepped aside to let him out as he noticed the way Olivia was stood, refusing to meet anyone¡¯s eye and hugging herself. It embodied a feeling he had felt many times but had never shown.

    He let the door shut behind Joseph before speaking. ¡°Olivia, are you okay?¡±

    Olivia¡¯s head snapped up and her eyes were wide with a combination of shock, worry and possibly fear. ¡°I... yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± She tried to sound reassuring but under Antonis¡¯ scrutinising stare she didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d managed it.

    ¡°You should finish your lunch.¡± He said instead, deciding that either he was imagining it or she wasn¡¯t willing to talk to him about it. Either way he had to respect her space.

    ~-x-~

    Olivia hated to admit it, but she agonised for a few days over what to do about Joseph¡¯s behaviour. She had always thought that it would be an easy thing to deal with, if a friend¡¯s partner made a pass at someone else she had never thought of a reason she wouldn¡¯t tell them. Now she found herself unsure if that really was the best way to deal with it.

    She worried if it was because she felt guilty herself, no matter how many times she tried to tell herself she had done nothing wrong - all she had been was kind to a friend, that wasn¡¯t an invitation! - she couldn¡¯t quite shake the feeling that maybe she had done someting without realising it.

    Eventually she had decided the best course of action was to talk to him about it and convince him that he should come clean to Sofia. It felt wrong arranging to meet up with Joseph in secret, as if she was endorsing or even encouraging his behaviour, but at the same time she couldn¡¯t risk one of the others overhearing this conversation.

    They greeted each other awkwardly as he took a seat at the table she was sat at in the pub. ¡°I guess... you want an explanation?¡± Joseph asked after he took a long swig from his pint.

    Olivia nodded. ¡°I just... I want to understand. I guess.¡±

    Joseph took another long drink. ¡°I wish I knew.¡± He admitted. ¡°I... keep ending up in these dark loops, convincing myself that I¡¯m selfish for not letting Sofia go, for making her put up with me when I¡¯m like this. I keep pushing her away thinking it¡¯s a kindness yet every time I do I hate myself for it because it hurts to think of her not being there...¡± He took another drink. ¡°I was in one of those cycles when you found me in the lab the other day, then suddenly you were there, all nice and understanding without invoking any of the guilt...¡± He sighed. ¡°After feeling so bad for so long, I guess I just wanted to hold on to something nice.¡±

    Olivia rubbed her temples. ¡°I want to call you a liar.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t blame you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have feelings for you, just so we¡¯re clear.¡±

    Joseph chuckled wryly into his drink. ¡°Same.¡±

    A silence fell over them as they both sipped at their drinks. ¡°I can¡¯t hide this from Sofia. She deserves to know.¡±

    ¡°I... does she?¡± Joseph asked unsurely. ¡°I mean, if this is just a one off... a dumb, stupid mistake when I wasn¡¯t thinking clearly, who does it help if I tell her?¡±

    ¡°Joe!¡± Olivia scolded. ¡°You need to start being honest with her about how badly you¡¯re hurting after losing your grandfather. Maybe not everything you¡¯re feeling, but unless you open up to her you¡¯re going to destroy what you had with her.¡± Joseph looked set to argue with her. ¡°You¡¯re wrong about not putting her through this. If she was hurting what would you do to make her feel better again?¡±

    ¡°Anything she needed.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. She¡¯s willing to do the same for you because she loves you. Don¡¯t throw that away because of your demons.¡± Olivia sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t make her decisions for her.¡±

    ¡°You make it sound so easy.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll make it even easier. Either you tell her, or I will.¡±

 8. Duplicity

    Sofia didn¡¯t even look up as the phone she shared with Olivia rang she simply reached over to answer it. Each pair of desks had a landline shared between them. ¡°Good morning, Sofia speaking.¡± She greeted as succinctly and politely as possible.

    ¡°Hi, Sofia, do you know where Allerton is?¡± Peter asked in rather hushed tones, as if he was trying to prevent someone else from overhearing.

    ¡°No. One minute.¡± She turned around. ¡°Tasha, do you know where is Allerton?¡± Natasha looked up from her own computer at the question, frowned in thought and then shook her head. ¡°No. Why?¡± Sofia asked leaning back into the headset.

    ¡°There¡¯s a group of people here saying they are scheduled for a tour and presentation with Allerton¡¯s team, but I¡¯ve got nothing scheduled in my calendar and I can¡¯t get hold of her.¡±

    As Sofia¡¯s eyes had grown wider and wider Natasha had strolled over and switched the phone over to speaker, allowing her to hear the end of Peter¡¯s worry. ¡°Tour?¡± Sofia asked nervously.

    ¡°Barney¡¯s not ready for presentation yet...¡± Natasha muttered. ¡°We thought we were presenting in a couple of weeks.¡±

    ¡°Well they¡¯re here now. Can you collect them?¡± Peter asked hopefully.

    Natasha took a breath as she counted to ten, as much as she wanted to shout at Peter for dumping this on them, she knew it wasn¡¯t his fault. Shouting at him would do nothing but undo any favours they might have brokered between them over the years. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll track down Toni if you stall them.¡±

    ¡°You want me to stall them? How?¡±

    ¡°You want me to be the diplomatic one?¡±

    There was a telling silence. ¡°Good point. Okay, but please be quick.¡±

    ~-x-~

    Zachariah looked up from Barney as Natasha practically fell through the door into the lab, looking worried. He didn¡¯t have a chance to ask what was wrong. ¡°Where¡¯s Toni?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s got an undergrad workshop to run today.¡± Zachariah replied. ¡°Why?¡±

    Natasha looked panicked now. ¡°Peter just rang to say that there¡¯s a group of delegates Allerton promised a lab tour and she¡¯s fucked off somewhere.¡± The words tumbled out of her mouth in a single breath, then there was a brief pause as an idea flourished in her head. ¡°Will you -¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Zachariah confirmed before glancing at Barney. ¡°But I¡¯ll get this tidied up.¡±

    Natasha nodded before running off in the hopes of trying to catch Antonis before he got to the workshop. She had to sneak out of the door Zachariah took his smoke breaks at so that she didn¡¯t have to go through the tour group that Peter had promised to stall for her. She owed him at least one drink after this. She hadn¡¯t been aware she could run the distance between their engineering department and the chemistry building - let alone that fast - until she hurtled to a stop in a corridor and spotted Antonis, and shouted his name causing him to turn to her and allowed her to catch up. It was serious if she¡¯d run. ¡°I will cover your workshop if you please, please, please do a lab tour for me.¡± She half bargained, half begged.

    Antonis looked at her shrewdly. ¡°Why?¡± He asked, the who was irrelevant.

    ¡°You really want me to give a tour?¡± Natasha challenged. ¡°Allerton is nowhere to be seen, Zach already said no.¡± She explained. They both knew that this was part of their funding application, it was down to one of the three of them - well, probably Allerton really - to do this. Sofia, Joseph and Olivia weren¡¯t in the best position to lead it as they were technically all still students and not permanent employees.

    Antonis glanced at the folder under his arm and back to Natasha. ¡°What do you remember about statistical thermodynamics?¡± He asked.

    Natasha¡¯s face fell. ¡°Really?¡± Antonis couldn¡¯t stop himself from laughing for more than a moment. ¡°You¡¯re messing with me, right?¡± She asked hopefully.

    ¡°Yes.¡± He admitted. ¡°Lasers.¡± He confirmed, smiling at the relief that washed over Natasha¡¯s face. Laser theory and applications she could cover. She¡¯d have done the statistical thermodynamics one without question, but she would have struggled whereas lasers fell right into her wheelhouse.

    ¡°I love you!¡± She practically cheered as she leapt to hug him firmly.

    Antonis chuckled. ¡°You owe me for this.¡± He corrected as she let go of him and he passed her the folder.

    ¡°I owe you for a lot of things.¡± She retorted cheekily as they set to a rather efficient exchange of information, he quickly gave her the background on the workshop and she explained everything she knew about the group Allerton had promised a tour to. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t have much to tell him on that front.

    ~-x-~

    Zachariah honestly didn¡¯t know how Antonis had such a perfect pokerface. That man could keep smiling even after being insulted and belittled and it was astounding to Zachariah because if he were in Antonis¡¯ shoes right now, he¡¯d have punched someone. Hell, if it had been Natasha she¡¯d probably have punched out the whole room.

    Antonis had stalled the group as long as possible to allow Zachariah a chance to put Barney back together whilst drawing on the rest of the team to tidy up as best as they could. He had taken them the long way through the department chatting in a professionally casual way until arriving in the office and then using Olivia and Sofia as bait to talk briefly about their PhD projects - to showcase the talent their department nurtured, he¡¯d said - before finally conceding to himself that he had to move on or what he was doing would become obvious.

    Zachariah and Joseph had greeted the group with smiles, before Joseph had politely excused himself because he needed to take the box he was carrying to another lab - timely before Antonis had chance to ask him to delve into his PhD, but he covered by briefly explaining it himself - as Zachariah discreetly put the tools he was still holding away without drawing the eye of any of the group.

    In a feat of spectacular timing Allerton had appeared just as Antonis was about to introduce Barney to the group - Zachariah presumed not with their informal nickname - and she breezily swooped in to introduce herself to the group, making all the usual fake apologies for her absence with fake excuses about meetings that didn¡¯t exist and schedules she didn¡¯t keep. Antonis managed to keep his face decidedly neutral as she did that.

    Once that was done Allerton walked past Antonis and patted him on the arm, thanked him for what he¡¯d done so far before dismissing both him and Zachariah because she would take it from here. Zachariah¡¯s face had fallen into a furious glare, Antonis had smiled politely at the group as he bid them goodbye, before all but dragging Zachariah out with him before Allerton caught him glaring.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Joseph asked as they returned to the office without the group.

    Zachariah and Antonis both looked to make sure the door was definitely shut behind them. ¡°Allerton dismissed us.¡± Zachariah almost spat the words out in his disgust before sighing. ¡°This is depressing and expected. She¡¯s taking all our credit and acting as if we didn¡¯t have much to do with it.¡± The office fell quiet as they thought. None of them were surprised - even Olivia wasn¡¯t really surprised by now - but none of them knew what they could do about it.

    ~-x-~

    Natasha arrived back from the workshop to find a particularly tense air in the office. It was unnaturally quiet causing everyone to turn to the door as it opened. ¡°What happened?¡± She asked as she handed Antonis his folder back.

    ¡°Boom.¡± Zachariah muttered under his breath.

    Natasha threw him a confused and concerned look. After working with him for so long she knew that meant something bad. ¡°Allerton screwed us over.¡± Sofia explained softly as she handed Natasha a mug of coffee.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re actually toast this time.¡± Zachariah added ruefully.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Natasha decided after taking a sip of coffee before turning to the one person she was most likely to get a straight and quick answer from. ¡°Toni?¡±

    ¡°Allerton took over the presentation. She tried to run a demo. It failed.¡± Natasha resisted every urge within her to slam her hand to her forehead in disbelief, frustration and a little anger.

    ¡°We¡¯re supposed to tell her the moment you¡¯re back.¡± Joseph added quietly. After it was all done and the visitors had been seen out, Allerton had strolled back into the office - looking far too calm and collected for a woman who had just humiliated herself - and done a quick headcount before issuing the order and departing again.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    No one was inclined to move as Natasha sighed into her coffee again. ¡°I guess we better get this shitstorm over with, then?¡± She put the mug down on her desk and headed back out of the office to knock on Allerton¡¯s door. She wasn¡¯t there long, only really sticking her head through the door to let her supervisor know she was back. Allerton thanked her tersely before dismissing her.

    ¡°How bad?¡± Zachariah asked as Natasha returned.

    ¡°Bad.¡±

    There was a few minutes before Allerton followed Natasha, allowing the door to swing shut behind her before she folded her arms and glared at them all. ¡°Well?¡± She demanded. None of them fell into the trap. ¡°Which one of you is responsible for this?¡±

    ¡°Define this.¡± Natasha was the only one who dared to speak.

    ¡°The absolute failure of a presentation today.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t know they were coming.¡± Zachariah folded his arms, clearly seething. ¡°This is all on you.¡±

    ¡°What Zach means is that we cannot prepare for something we do not know about.¡± Antonis cut in quickly in an attempt to minimise the damage.

    ¡°I was under the impression that the prototype was working. I saw a report on the tests you ran just last week, the results were more than adequate to do a demonstration on.¡± At that revelation Zachariah and Natasha exchanged a confused frown with each other.

    ¡°We still had two weeks for additional tests and to make improvements.¡± Sofia replied, ignoring the looks, she could ask later. ¡°We wanted it to be the best it could be.¡±

    ¡°Well, then, thanks to your efforts to improve you¡¯ve sabotaged the entire team.¡± Allerton retorted as she didn¡¯t quite manage to resist tapping her foot impatiently. She wanted a specific scapegoat - she didn¡¯t mind who - but they were all being far too reasonable about this.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us you¡¯d moved the presentation?¡± Joseph asked.

    ¡°It was of no concern to you, I always planned to give the presentation myself.¡±

    Before anyone could continue the circular argument, Zachariah interrupted with a tangent. ¡°Who told you?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Who told you Barney was ready?¡±

    ¡°The prototype.¡± Natasha quickly translated before Allerton could ask.

    Allerton didn¡¯t see how it mattered one way or the other, but perhaps this was the fuse she needed to light to give her a legitimate reason to properly vent her frustrations of the day. ¡°Olivia, she sent me an email with the summary of your latest tests. Frankly I¡¯m disappointed that you didn¡¯t think to fill me in yourselves.¡±

    Olivia had never felt more conspicuous or more shocked in her whole life as her mouth fell open in shock and she shrank into herself from all the attention as everyone else turned too her. She preferred being invisible. ¡°I... I didn¡¯t...¡± She stammered taking in the various shocked, aghast and just disappointed faces.

    ¡°Now, now, don¡¯t be shy. I¡¯m not angry at you for keeping me informed.¡± Allerton dismissed the denial with a wave of her head. Zachariah was about to say something, but Natasha put a hand on his arm to stop him, her eyes never leaving Antonis¡¯ who was giving her a warning yet reassuring look. Not now. Joseph was looking at the floor and Sofia¡¯s hand was still covering her surprised expression with eyes full of hurt. A hollow feeling fell over Allerton as she realised that she wasn¡¯t going to get the instant stress relief she had hoped for, as all her anger knotted itself up into a tiny ball that she could no longer throw. She sighed. ¡°I want that prototype fixed and ready to showcase by the end of the week - at the latest - whilst I attempt to rescue this disaster.¡± She slammed the door shut behind her as she left.

    ~-x-~

    The silence continued a few minutes after their supervisor left. As if no one knew what to say. As if no one wanted to make it real by dealing with it. As if everyone was too betrayed to face it.

    ¡°Olivia, what did you do?¡± Antonis eventually asked.

    Olivia wasn¡¯t sure if she was grateful it was Antonis who asked. At least he didn¡¯t sound like he wanted to hurt her, but at the same time he was the nice one and even he couldn¡¯t keep the affront from his voice, not entirely. Maybe Natasha just shouting at her would have been better? She¡¯d expect that. ¡°I didn¡¯t email her anything. I didn¡¯t even have an electronic copy of those results. I only saw the ones on Zach¡¯s screen.¡±

    ¡°I gotta say, that¡¯s not exactly the most convincing of excuses.¡± Zachariah stated as he rubbed his hands over his knees in an effort to dispel some of the frustrated energy. The second this conversation was done he was taking a smoke break.

    ¡°It¡¯s convenient, we¡¯ve no way to disprove it.¡± Natasha agreed after finishing another sip of coffee, staring at the contents as if to avoid looking at Olivia.

    ¡°Just check her email history?¡± Joseph suggested.

    A number of them shook their heads. ¡°Histories can be deleted and there¡¯s nothing to stop someone using her unlocked computer to send an email.¡± Natasha followed up. ¡°It doesn¡¯t prove it one way or the other.¡±

    ¡°I promise I didn¡¯t do this!¡± Olivia almost shouted, her voice pleading. ¡°What can I do to prove that? Why would I do that?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re smart enough to stay on Allerton¡¯s good side.¡± Natasha finally raised her eyes to the younger girl. ¡°You always have been. You¡¯ve always known when to stay quiet and not rock the boat.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately no one can stay neutral forever, no matter how much they want to.¡± Zachariah added.

    ¡°Perhaps we should leave this for today and talk about it when tempers are not so high.¡± Antonis suggested firmly, for a moment it looked like a number of people were going to ignore him, before they recognised the wisdom in his words and they all turned away from each other and back to the work they had for the rest of the day.

    ~-x-~

    Sofia couldn¡¯t remember the last time she and Joseph had walked home this quiet. Part of her wanted to unhook her skateboard from where it sat between the straps of her rucksack and hurtle off on it, as if she could outrun the problems they¡¯d hoped to leave behind in the office.

    It wasn¡¯t that simple though.

    ¡°We¡¯re screwed, aren¡¯t we?¡± Joseph finally asked.

    ¡°What?¡± Sofia asked as blinked as if clearing her eyes could clear her head. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°That demo was for additional funds. If Allerton blew it...¡±

    If Allerton blew it then the prospect of either of them having a job in the department was rapidly declining. Sofia picked at her fingers. ¡°It is not over yet. We can still push -¡±

    ¡°Can we?¡± Joseph asked.

    Sofia grabbed Joseph¡¯s hand to pull him to a stop at one side of the pavement, raising a hand to his face and cupping his cheek gently. ¡°Gi¨´, we have time to try and fix this.¡± She promised.

    ¡°I want to believe you.¡± Joseph replied as he leant his head down to rest on her forehead and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He couldn¡¯t help but feel that it was beyond fixing now. Their department was set on a course that could no longer be changed and people better be happy with the beds they¡¯d made for themselves.

    ~-x-~

    ¡°Hey, how¡¯d it go today?¡±

    Olivia¡¯s head snapped up as if she¡¯d literally walked into something. She had hoped to escape the building without anyone seeing her, wishing she could go back to being invisible, but Peter had called out to her as she was walking past. ¡°What?¡± She asked weakly.

    ¡°The presentation? I wanna know how many drinks Tasha owes me.¡± Peter explained with a cheeky grin which slowly fell as Olivia approached his desk and he took in her expression. ¡°What happened?¡± His tone softened easily as he realised this was not a time for cheery jokes.

    ¡°I...¡± Olivia trailed off as she leant heavily on the desk. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She admitted. ¡°God, would you judge me if I started crying?¡±

    Peter offered her a wry smile and plucked a box of tissues from behind the shield that surrounded his workspace, designed to hide sensitive documents and work from any old member of the public. ¡°Not in the slightest.¡± He promised. ¡°Unless it¡¯s because the vending machine hasn¡¯t been restocked in two weeks. I¡¯ll judge you for that.¡±

    Olivia managed a watery laugh. ¡°I mean... that is a travesty.¡±

    ¡°At least you can still smile, so it¡¯s not the end of the world.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s sunk in yet.¡± Olivia admitted, wiping her eyes with her hands before Peter wiggled the box at her again. She gave a little rueful chuckle as she swiped a tissue to use instead. ¡°They all hate me.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°They think I did something I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Is this something I shouldn¡¯t ask about and just let you cry on my desk?¡±

    ¡°The team thinks I sold them out to Allerton.¡± Olivia whispered into her hands.

    ¡°And did you?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Then the truth¡¯ll come out eventually.¡± Peter assured her, she glanced up at him, clearly unconvinced. ¡°Look, I¡¯ve been here long enough to know that despite all that goes on between them and their supervisor, they¡¯re not actually interested in petty rivalries. They don¡¯t want to hate her, but they¡¯ve learnt to as a defence. If you really didn¡¯t do this, they¡¯ll work that out.¡±

    Olivia managed a smile. ¡°I wish I could believe that.¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t wait for them to do all the work, prove it yourself.¡± Peter¡¯s tone was conspiratorial as he pushed his glasses back up his nose, for a brief moment drawing Olivia¡¯s attention to his flat but rounded nose and mono-lidded eyes. It was always his shaggy brown hair she¡¯d noticed before.

    ¡°I might just make matters worse.¡± Olivia hugged her arms around herself.

    ¡°The way you were acting suggested that wasn¡¯t possible.¡±

    Olivia sighed. ¡°I suppose you have me there.¡±

    ~-x-~

    ¡°I have never been more tempted to steal one of those than I am right now.¡± Natasha admitted as she slipped past Zachariah out of the building, claiming a seat on the low wall opposite the unofficial smokers door.

    Zachariah couldn¡¯t even laugh at her terrible joke as he blew out a frustrated breath of smoke. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Natasha huffed a laugh at that. ¡°I was kinda hoping you¡¯d have a secret stash of booze hidden in your desk.¡±

    ¡°Like this?¡± Both of them turned sharply to see Antonis brandishing what looked like an ordinary water bottle as he joined them, taking a seat next to Natasha. Though he perched whereas Natasha was sat cross legged.

    She took the offered bottle and unscrewed the cap to take a sniff, pulling a somehow disgusted and impressed expression before taking a swig. ¡°Tell me that¡¯s not ouzo!¡±

    Antonis just looked innocent as she took a swig anyway, clearly regretting it, before he took the bottle back for his own sip before holding it out to offer Zachariah who was stamping out his cigarette. ¡°Here¡¯s to the end of the road.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that bad... Is it?¡± Natasha started off scolding him before realising that he might have a point.

    Antonis sighed as he screwed the bottle back up. ¡°Until now, we could trust each other. Unless Allerton can salvage this, our resources next year will be... limited.¡±

    ¡°Limited we can work with.¡± Zachariah reminded him and both Antonis and Natasha nodded at that, in fact Antonis felt that deserved another round of ouzo for them.

    Natasha coughed again as she finished her second sip, glaring at Antonis as if he were trying to poison her. ¡°We need to work out if Olivia really did send that email.¡±

    Zachariah was rather more dignified about his drink. ¡°How? You said it yourself, anyone could¡¯ve walked up to her computer to send it. We have to assume it¡¯s her or we end up trusting no one.¡±

    Antonis didn¡¯t even bat an eyelash at the strong drink. ¡°Is it fair to mistrust Olivia if we cannot prove it was her?¡±

    ¡°I think we¡¯re beyond fair.¡±

    ¡°Zach, we¡¯re never beyond fair. We¡¯re better than that.¡± Zachariah slumped against the wall next to them as Natasha scolded him. He knew that really. As he took in both of their expressions he realised that they were going to have to get to the bottom of this to have any hope in recovering things.

 9. Rebuilding

    Normally when Antonis arrived for work the building was already pretty busy, but as it was still winter break none of the students were back in yet. It was nice to get a few quiet days between his own return and the students. It gave him time not only to catch up on his own work and emails, but to do some damage control.

    He arrived in the office to find Zachariah and Natasha sat at their desks chattering away as they took turns - or more rather knocked each other''s hands out of their way - scribbling over some kind of diagram in one of their notebooks. Sofia''s skateboard was propped up against her desk but there was no sign of the other two. He greeted them as he moved to put on the kettle, they both returned the greeting. "How was your holiday?" Zachariah asked, leaving Natasha unguarded with the notebook, Antonis hid his smile by turning to the kettle.

    "Good." Antonis hit the power button on his computer as he searched for his mug. "Yours?"

    "Eventful," Zachariah decided.

    "You keep saying that, yet you won''t tell me why!" Natasha objected from where she was still scribbling.

    Zachariah turned and his retort died on his lips as he noticed that she''d undone all of his previous corrections. He cursed as he swatted her away from the diagram, making both Natasha and Antonis laugh. Zachariah scrutinised the mess carefully for a moment. "No."

    "But the increase in -"

    "If you wanted to blow the department up you should''ve done it before we came back to supervise you," Zachariah interrupted Natasha''s objection swiftly and she deflated in defeat, huffing out a breath in pretend annoyance. Both men knew her too well to think she was seriously annoyed. "So, if Toni wants to finish making the coffee and pass out the treats then I''ll tell you about my Christmas."

    "Zach!" Natasha scolded.

    "My mam¨¢ is too good to you," Antonis chuckled as he reached into his backpack to produce a box and passed it to his friends.

    "That''s because she hasn''t met us," Natasha laughed as she took the box to stop Zachariah scoffing all of the melomakaronas in one sitting. Antonis'' mother always made a batch for him to take back with him after he visited for the holidays, and ever since he had explained that they were a hit with all his friends she had started making two.

    Not long later and they were gathered around the meeting table with sweets and coffee - Natasha had been and called Sofia in from the lab, Joseph and Olivia weren''t due back in yet - and Zachariah finally decided to divulge the events of his holiday. "Okay, so - and don''t say a damn thing Tasha - I''m giving up smoking, because my sister''s having a baby."

    There was a stunned silence for a moment before Sofia squealed and hugged him. Natasha and Antonis shared a rather amused glance as the latter clapped Zachariah on the back. "That poor kid doesn''t know what''s coming¡­" Natasha joked.

    "Hey!" Zachariah objected.

    "She has a point," Antonis said as he shrugged. "Your bedtime stories would be engineering tutorials."

    "More like the CPC catalogue," Natasha muttered into her brew. Zachariah glared at them both as Sofia and Antonis chuckled to themselves.

    "I''m not allowed to mould my own niece or nephew how I want?"

    "I think your sister gets to determine that." Natasha giggled.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    A couple of days later and they were all back from their various trips - those that had been away anyway. The difference in the atmosphere of the office had almost instantly changed. Antonis knew he wasn''t the only one who noticed, but he suspected he was the only one who cared. The only problem was that he didn''t know how to fix it.

    By mid afternoon he was working on one of the wipeboards with Natasha, or at least they had started out working, by now Natasha had resorted to doodling in the blank spaces around their working and he was trying to clean them up before they lost track of the important scribbles. He knew she took that as a challenge and by now was stepping around him each time to find a new space and a new colour to play with. He was only able to halfheartedly glare at her, mostly he was just desperately trying not to smile at her mischief.

    He also knew that she was behaving this way because she secretly wanted to deny what was going on in their office.

    Sofia and Joseph were chatting away whilst they were working, their conversation picking up and trailing off as their focus shifted between each other and their work. Antonis and Natasha were occasionally chipping in if they had an opinion, but for the most part were focused on their own conversation and work. Until the lab door opened and Olivia and Zachariah returned from where he''d been giving a quick tutorial on some of the engineering basics she''d need going forwards. The fact that everyone fell silent as the door opened wasn''t unusual, the uncomfortable silence that followed was.

    It had been this way in the few weeks leading up till the winter break and when most of them would be taking some time off to visit their families. Then they had been concerned but also knew that it was still too fresh to deal with and they had hoped that the break might be enough for everyone to process what happened. Hopefully enabling some kind of return to some sense of normalcy. They had been mistaken. Antonis didn''t miss the way that Olivia almost shrank in on herself as she took her seat next to Sofia.

    He hadn''t realised he had zoned out until Natasha clapped her hands together, efficiently calling for everyone''s attention as she took the couple of steps from the wipeboard to lean on the meeting table. Antonis was briefly surprised that she didn''t just straight up sit on it, but he knew that look on her face. She wasn''t going to stand for this to continue, though he was worried about the methods she was about to employ.

    "This is ridiculous," Natasha announced. "We''re adults, we shouldn''t be acting like children about this. What went down with Allerton was stupid and entirely her fault, whatever emails she may or may not have received from us are irrelevant. Any good supervisor would not only have had that information anyway, but would have come to us about any demo - especially when it involved funding." She paused mid rant to glare around the group. "So, if you are going to insist on making this workplace uncomfortable for each other, you better bring me some damn good evidence or so help you¡­"

    "We''re just going to ignore that someone ratted us out to Allerton?" Joseph asked.

    For a second Antonis thought he was going to have to intercept the pen that Natasha still had hold of unless they wanted it to find it''s mark - literally - on Joseph. "Oh, for fucks sake," Natasha muttered instead. "No one ratted anyone out. In any other department that kind of information would have been freely shared. The way we deal with Allerton is self-preservation, it''s not a fucking war."

    "That''s a bit rich," Zachariah muttered, before raising his voice as they all turned to him. "You''re the first to start an argument with her."

    "Yeah and when have I ever judged any of you for doing differently?"

    "You do sometimes forget to reassure people of that," Antonis said quietly. He could''ve sworn he briefly saw betrayal in her eyes before she nodded as if relenting that he had a point.

    "Is it that simple?" Sofia raised her eyes from her knees.

    Natasha took a breath as she considered the question. "Yes," she decided, "because if we don''t act like a team, then there''s nothing left here to salvage."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Thought you quit?" Zachariah turned sharply at Natasha''s teasing tone as she and Antonis arrived at the pub. He was currently huddled up just outside to get his fix before heading inside. Now that they were into winter properly it was freezing and even the layers he had piled on weren''t enough for him to want to linger.

    "Chemicals." Zachariah lifted the electronic cigarette he was using and Natasha made a point of wafting his fumes away from her. "I know, it''s just to wean me off the nicotine. I''m not going to keep it forever."

    "She is just unhappy she can no longer nag you to quit," Antonis joked, making Zachariah laugh and Natasha glare. "Meet you inside?" Zachariah nodded and both Antonis and Natasha headed inside to find themselves a table and some menus.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    None of them dared approach the elephant in the room until they had all taken a long sip of their respective drinks. "How''s the mood after she bollocked everyone today?" Zachariah asked Antonis. Natasha didn''t even have the heart to pretend to glare at him for that.

    "Stunned but I think they know Nat is right," Antonis shrugged. People couldn''t help but relax around Antonis, he was just too nice and too calm, so he usually had a pretty good idea of where problems were brewing. Though it was a little trickier right now as people were still shaken from a perceived breaking of trust.

    "You''re right too, we need to remember that this isn''t a war. There aren''t sides," Natasha said as she picked at the label on her bottle. "We did what we did with Allerton because we knew the need for damage limitation, but we can''t hold it against the others if they don''t see it that way. It certainly isn''t fair if we start treating some people like crap over it, especially without proof of what they''ve done."

    "She really is judge, jury and executioner, isn''t she?" Zachariah turned to Antonis before yelping in pain as Natasha kicked his shin. Antonis simply chuckled.

    "She is also right," Antonis said. But both him and Natasha knew Zachariah had been joking. "Our office has always been a fun place to work, for everyone. It should stay that way."

    Natasha raised her bottle to that and they all took another drink as a melancholy silence fell over them again. Antonis remembered when Natasha had been determined to hate him when he first started, but even then she''d never been vindictive or tried to make him uncomfortable, she''d just refused to - or tried to - engage with him socially. This latest atmosphere had been entirely different, it had been judgemental and unwelcoming. "Was I the only one hoping it would all go away over Christmas?" Zachariah whispered into his pint.

    Antonis shook his head. "No," Natasha confirmed, even she had been hopeful and she was normally the first one to call wishful thinking naive.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Zachariah usually arrived at the lab first because he was an early bird and also because he liked to have time in the evenings to perform engineering work for students to supplement his wage.

    However, he had also realised that it gave him the perfect opportunity to snoop around without anyone knowing what he was doing. Even if that was actually just verifying all of the various rumours he''d heard from the other smokers'' gossip.

    Because Natasha was right, it wasn''t fair to assume Olivia set them up without knowing if she had. Or even why she would. And what reason did they have to trust that Allerton was even telling the truth?

    Not that it was all that easy. Most of the rumours either related to who was shacking up with whom, or were rumours that had been doing the rounds as long as he''d been working there. Such as the near permanent one about funding being slashed.

    "Zach, are you okay?" Sofia asked as she handed him a coffee.

    He blinked at her owlishly for a moment, before realising he''d been zoned so bad he had entirely missed someone talking to him. "Sorry, did you say something?"

    Sofia shook her head hopelessly. "I asked if you were okay."

    Zachariah took a sip of the drink as he was reassured he hadn''t been as oblivious has he feared. "Yeah, I guess¡­ I''m just distracted."

    "The smoking?"

    "No, yeah, kinda," Zachariah admitted. "I just¡­ I''m trying to work something out. Normally I''d gather evidence, or run tests, but I can''t this time."

    Sofia raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, as if he weren''t making any sense, before shrugging it off and sipping her own beverage. "Maybe there are other ways to check cause and effect?"

    Zachariah nodded along absentmindedly, not really listening, as he continued drinking. Only for what Sofia had just said hit him and he instantly retracted his mug from the sip he had been about to take. "You are a genius!" He declared with a wide grin.

    "You would have got there eventually," Sofia shrugged. Zachariah shook his head at her, before offering her his mug and she giggled as she clinked her own to it.

    <center></center>

    Once he had finished his brew he went off in search of the person who he knew could provide the information he wanted.

    "Peter, I need a favour."

    Peter pushed his glasses back up his nose as he looked up at Zachariah. "Don''t you already owe me about ten?"

    Zachariah had the decency to look guilty at that. "Probably, but you know you''ll cash in one day."

    "Uh huh," the receptionist replied, clearly unconvinced. "Go on then, let''s hear it..?"

    "You remember that group of visitors that Allerton sprung on us a couple of months back?" Zachariah asked, and Peter nodded. "I don''t supposed I can convince you to check if she put any meetings into your calendar that might be¡­ interesting around that time?"

    "That''s it?" Peter asked.

    "Wait, you''re okay with that?"

    "Anything that goes into my calendar is common knowledge. If it''s supposed to be a big super secret meeting they don''t add it to the shared ones. I just see a big block of red against meeting rooms to indicate they''re taken," Peter explained, and waved Zachariah into the square of his desk.

    Peter had soon narrowed it down to the right time frame and was scanning through as Zachariah looked over his shoulder. "I knew this was gonna be a bust," Zachariah muttered unhappily as he noticed there was absolutely nothing in there for Allerton.

    "Ye of little faith," Peter scolded. "She may not put her internal meetings in, but the others do. Look."

    Zachariah followed Peter''s finger to look at the specific meeting, one marked high level business comms that a bunch of different department heads had been invited to. Zachariah''s fists clenched as he resisted the urge to swear. "Why do I get the feeling that is something the rest of us aren''t supposed to be aware of yet."

    Peter pulled a grimace of agreement. "Is that what you were looking for?"

    "Probably," Zachariah admitted. "Thanks."

    "I''d say any time, but you already take liberties."

    Zachariah chuckled as he headed back down to the lab. Maybe some of those rumours weren''t rumours anymore.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "You know, I cannot even remember the last time I went to a house party," Sofia admitted.

    "And you''re the sociable one," Zachariah teased where he was slouched on Natasha''s sofa.

    "Yeah, and I am no longer a teenager," Sofia giggled, trying to take another sip from her bottle and almost spilling it because she was so slumped, tucked up against Joseph. Instead she pushed herself back upright and tried again rather more successfully.

    "Seeing as my housemates owe me a few favours, figured I might as well cash in on them," Natasha replied as she returned from the kitchen with more supplies. She was carrying the bottles, Antonis was carrying the snacks.

    "And why waste a perfectly good opportunity to get drunk?" Zachariah asked.

    Antonis knocked Zachariah''s feet off the table so that he could put stuff down on it. "Maybe you should set up the rig then?"

    Zachariah pretended to grouse but stood up only to take another swig of his beer before placing it on the coffee table and heading over to the TV to properly set up the console he''d brought over. By the time he was done and he turned around to reclaim his beer, Antonis had stolen his seat. "Cold, man."

    "I thought you were the nice one?" Olivia asked where she was curled up at one end of a couch, as if she could be invisible if she was small.

    "Tasha''s clearly a bad influence," Zachariah pretended to grumble, claiming a different seat. Natasha simply offered an innocent grin and nodded her drink towards him from where she was lounging. "Battle royale?" Zachariah asked instead of drifting down that line of conversation, offering the controller out to the group.

    "Why change the rules now?" Natasha asked as Antonis claimed the controller.

    <center></center>

    As the two men faced each other off on screen, the rest of them picked their sides, hollering and drinking as appropriate until the screen declared the results.

    "How?" Zachariah groaned. "How? Just how?"

    Natasha laughed as Antonis put down the controller on the table in front of him to reclaim his beer. "And that is the nearest to smug you will ever see Toni," she declared.

    "Have any of us ever actually beaten him?" Joseph asked.

    "Certainly not drunk," Sofia added.

    "Really? He always wins?" Olivia asked.

    Antonis half nodded his head but raised his bottle as if in toast. Natasha giggled again as she said, "I''m pretty certain he teases Zach into thinking he has a chance sometimes."

    "Would I?"

    "Yes."

    "Wow, maybe Tasha is right, maybe Toni is just acting the nice guy all the time," Sofia giggled into her drink, feet on Joseph''s knee.

    "Nope, if it was, she''d have already broken him," Zachariah retorted. It was Natasha''s turn to look innocent and raise her drink high in the air above her head.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Who told Tasha to invite me?"

    Zachariah nearly jumped out of his own skin at the sound of Olivia''s voice. Her question was barely more than a whisper as she joined him in Natasha''s back yard where he was getting a nicotine fix. He still wasn''t convinced about the flavour of the cartridge he''d chosen. He also wasn''t quite sure how he didn''t hear the door open. "No one."

    Olivia scoffed as she hugged herself against the chill. "Not sure I believe that."

    Zachariah raised the e-cigarette for another hit, then blowing out the plume away from Olivia as he considered his answer. "Well you should," he replied, stuffing his hands back into his pockets. An advantage of the electronic device over a lit cigarette. "Toni has a point about Tasha, she''s a tough nut but on the inside she cares," he said. Natasha was gonna kill him if Olivia ever mentioned he''d said that. "She hates the way things have changed, and she''s right, the best way to move past it is a bit of team bonding. Hence a drunken party and a video game session."

    "To get out any bitterness in a more constructive manner?"

    Zachariah laughed at the word constructive. "In a way, yeah."

    Olivia nodded to herself as Zachariah took another puff on the device. "I thought you all hated me."

    "I''d ask why, but I know that me and Tasha don''t have any tact between us," Zachariah admitted. "We weren''t - aren''t angry with you. We''re angry about Allerton. Tasha''s right, in a normal team no one would be surprised that a team leader had the information or requested the information. The fact that we even have to think about the data we forward is frankly insane, but it is what it is."

    "I''ve only ever had temp jobs before," Olivia admitted. "Cashier stuff." She gave a wry chuckle as Zachariah blew out another cloud of whatever it was the aerosol became when breathed in then out again. "And then this is what I end up with fresh outta uni," she muttered.

    Zachariah shared the chuckle as he turned the device off and pocketted it. "As Tasha would be the first to tell you, life isn''t fair."

    "Am I gonna get out of this project without becoming a massive cynic?"

    "Depends, are you a Toni or Tasha?"

    "Can I be an Olivia?"

    "Sure," Zachariah agreed. "Then what''s Olivia''s take on it all?"

    Olivia thought for a moment, trying not to just grumble about how cold it was. "I think that you should know Allerton was asking about loyalty," she finally said. "Well, not asking exactly, but she said something about how she''s being pushed to make some changes and that our loyalty will determine just how bad it''ll be for us."

    Zachariah took a moment to consider his reply to that. "I''ve heard that threat before."

    "So I don''t need to worry?"

    Zachariah sighed, unsure if he should lie or not. "Always worry, it''s your best defence."

 10. Analysis

    It wasn''t entirely unusual for any of them to work in silence, but right now the only sound was Natasha furiously typing on the laptop that was hooked up to Barney as Antonis stood nearby after they''d just finished running a set of new tests. The only reason he wasn''t leaning over her shoulder was because he didn''t want her to snap at him for making his restlessness clearly known.

    After a moment the typing paused and she scowled at the screen. Then she stretched out an arm vaguely towards Antonis, then open and closed her fingers in a gimme motion. He shook his head at her before reaching for where his lab book lay on the bench near him.

    Despite the fact that they did have actual chairs in their lab, Natasha had settled herself on one of the crates they used for storing parts, now she lifted the laptop so that she could uncross her legs, putting it down again next to her feet as she curled up with her knees near her chin and used her legs as a stand for the lab book whilst still being able to type as she leant back to check Antonis'' working and her data.

    He almost decided to go and tidy away their samples to prevent him from tapping his foot impatiently when she said, "it''s still not enough."

    "Are you sure?" He asked, moving to stand behind her so he could read the screen over her head.

    "We got the sensitivity back, and the linearity is¡­ okay," she explain, and Antonis almost laughed at the distaste in her voice. She didn''t find it acceptable but was ignoring it because of their time limits. "But the resolution¡­ We can''t do it."

    "Are you giving up?" He asked, resting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a light shake.

    Natasha shook her head as she leant back to look up at him with a smile. "No," she admitted tiredly. "But I don''t think we have long enough to fix it."

    "Are you sure?"

    Natasha was part way through giving an unhappy nod when another voice cut through saying, "yes."

    Both Natasha and Antonis turned to see Zachariah stood near the door of the lab, looking unusually serious. They quickly shared a look with each other as if to ask if they knew what was going on, but both looked as clueless as the other. "Zach, what''re you on about?" Natasha asked.

    Zachariah glanced at the door behind him. Everyone else had gone for their lunch break, he had arrived back hoping to catch these two before they headed for theirs. "I think we''re about to lose a bunch of our funding."

    Natasha''s face instantly fell into a suspicious frown whereas Antonis was rather more scrutinising. "There are always rumours about funding," he remarked. "Why take them seriously now?"

    "Because a couple of weeks before that demo Allerton screwed up there was an important high level comms, and now she''s talking about making serious changes based on loyalty¡­" Zachariah explained.

    "The funding rumours have been more insistent lately," Natasha admitted. "I just assumed it was due to the CAPEX deadlines."

    "I think it''s serious this time," Zachariah agreed. "I also think that due to whatever discussions happened in that meeting, Allerton decided to use Barney as a way to try and secure a bigger share than initially promised for her team. Shame she didn''t share enough details with us to ensure everything was prepared, because since it backfired we''re all in the firing line because it looks like we''re not worth it."

    "I can''t believe I''m not calling you a conspiracy theorist for this¡­" Natasha muttered under her breath.

    "It is crazy, but it also makes some sense," Antonis agreed with her.

    Natasha seemed to deflate as she closed the lab book on her knee, eyes darting across something unseen. "I can''t believe I''m saying this, but we need to talk to Allerton. Find out if we''re right."

    "She''s not gonna tell us anything."

    "Where did the bit about loyalty come from?" Antonis asked instead.

    Zachariah''s face contorted briefly as he debated whether or not he told them. "Olivia," he admitted. A little surprised that neither scolded him for that, indeed more worried that Natasha barely seemed to register it.

    "What exactly did she say?" Antonis asked.

    "She said that Allerton was being pushed to make some changes, and our loyalty would determine what it meant for us," Zachariah explained.

    Antonis nodded to himself, it felt like Zachariah''s theory was becoming more plausible the more they discussed it. "Nat?" He asked, realising she''d been very quiet, nudging her shoulder.

    "What do you want me to say?" She asked. "We all have too many years of history with Allerton for loyalty to mean anything for us. And given how uncomfortable Olivia looks when drawing any kind of attention I can''t see why she''d try and play anyone like this¡­ Though equally we can''t fully answer the question on trust until we know who sent the email, and I still haven''t thought of a way to prove that either way."

    "I thought the party was to fix the trust issue?" Antonis teased.

    Natasha rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn''t quite hide her smile. "Honestly, if I thought there was any chance in hell of her listening, I would suggest going to Allerton and just asking her about the funding and offer to help. But I think her pride will win out over status."

    "And all it will do is make her more guarded against us and we''ll be even less likely to be able to fight our corner," Zachariah summarised.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    There had been one phrase that Natasha had said that stuck in Antonis'' mind. Uncomfortable. That was when he had remembered a ghost of a look on Olivia''s face, one he had thought he might recognise if he allowed himself to.

    It had taken a few days of agonising and watching the team as they got on with their work before he finally managed to come to a decision about what to do about it.

    "Okay, that''s it, I''ve been through the algorithm Sofia designed to clean up the data and I can''t see any fault with it, so I''ve left it to run overnight," Natasha said as she switched off her computer and reached for her coat. "I''ll see you in the morning."

    Antonis looked up as if he hadn''t quite realised what time it was. "Wait for me?"

    Natasha turned where she was reaching to flick the socket switches for her desk, and instead put a hand on her hip as she scrutinised him. "Sure," she figured after a moment with a shrug.

    It didn''t take Antonis long to finish up and save his work so he should shut down his own computer as Natasha went to double check she''d switched everything off in the lab that should be. He was pulling his own coat on when she returned and she picked up her bag from her chair as she walked past and held the door for him to catch up.

    She waited until they''d cleared the main buildings, both of them nodding and waving to people as they passed, until she finally asked him, "what''s up?"

    "What makes you think anything is up?"

    "I know you, Toni," she retorted.

    He chuckled once as they continued walking. He considered diverting them to the pub, but he didn''t think this was a pub conversation. "Okay, I am going to tell you something, but I need you to promise you will treat it carefully."

    Natasha stopped then, hand on his arm as her expression became confused. "Toni, how serious is this if you''re coming to me for careful?"

    Antonis swallowed. "Very."

    She nodded. "Okay."

    He nudged her arm to get them walking again. It was too cold to linger if they didn''t need to. "You said you had not thought of how to prove who sent the email yet."

    "True."

    "Would a name help?"

    "You mean focusing on someone specific?" Natasha checked, and he nodded. She chewed her lip as she thought about it. Antonis counted ten steps before she replied. "Maybe, but I can''t promise anything."

    It was his turn to nod. As always she was being honest, and doing so upfront so that he could chose if he wanted to back out of whatever it was he was thinking. Three steps later he said, "I cannot be sure, and I am not sure I should say anything at all -"

    "You don''t have to if it makes you uncomfortable," Natasha interrupted.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "I know," Antonis promised with a wry smile. "It is not my story, but I think it is important." Natasha didn''t say anything but waited patiently for him to continue if he wanted to. "Last year, I entered the lab and found Olivia looking uncomfortable. As if she could not believe something had just happened."

    "What do you think happened, and why do you think it matters now?"

    "The only other person in the lab was Joe," Antonis explained. "And I think he did something stupid."

    "Stupid enough to set her up for some kind of revenge?"

    Antonis hesitated for a moment. He knew she was giving him a way of not actually telling her his suspicions, to let her know why it was important but not what he thought had gone down. "The look on her face reminded me of the way I feel, when people do not keep their hands to themselves."

    Natasha''s footsteps faltered, but she didn''t stop this time. This time he didn''t want to count how many more steps it was until she spoke again. "You really think Joe would''ve¡­"

    "Not maliciously," Antonis admitted. "I think he was suffering, and did something dumb. I think Olivia did not know what to do about it. If I am right, I think Joe did not know what to do either."

    "Ah, shit, Toni," Natasha muttered. "You know I can''t ignore this, right?"

    "I know."

    "Of course you do, that''s why you told me even when it''s not your story," Natasha muttered to herself as she realised why he''d confided his suspicions to her. As she had alluded earlier, she knew him far too well.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Why do I feel like you buying me a drink is either very good, or super duper bad?" Olivia asked as Natasha arrived back at their table with a couple of glasses of wine.

    "Because you''ve been here long enough to pick up on my bad habits, and aren''t stupid," Natasha replied with a smile.

    Olivia gave a wry smile at that, and took a slightly too large gulp. She ignored the way her eyes watered as she tried to pretend like her nerves hadn''t gotten the better of her as Natasha took her own sip. "So, which is it?" She asked, eyebrows scrunched up as if she was braced for something bad.

    Natasha sighed, sliding her glass slightly further away from her and toying with the stem with both hands. "I have some¡­ delicate questions to ask you," she started. "And, as you are probably well aware, delicate is not exactly something I''m good at."

    Olivia giggled. "No, but you are honest."

    Natasha smiled to herself at that. She paused to enjoy the amusement before she let it drain away and took a steadying breath. "Last term, did something happen in the lab that made you uncomfortable?"

    Olivia swallowed as a memory resurfaced, and she reached for her wine again. Natasha tried not to make it too obvious she was watching the woman for her reaction, because she knew that Olivia wouldn''t open up to her if she didn''t feel comfortable doing so. But she also needed to know what her body language said in case Olivia didn''t. As Olivia lowered her glass again Natasha took her own sip. "What have you heard? And who have you heard it from?"

    "Then something did happen?"

    Olivia seemed to shrink a little at that observation. "I don''t want to get anyone in trouble."

    "That''s not why I''m asking," Natasha promised. And it was her turn to take a slightly too large sip, though she was rather more used to the slight burn. "Hell, I know I''m no good at this stuff, but my main interest is to make sure that you are comfortable at work. I''m not interested in punishing people for dumb one off mistakes, no harm no fowl and all that. But if something happened that actually matters¡­ well, someone''s gotta fix it."

    "Nothing needs fixing!"

    Natasha cursed her own way with words. Or lack thereof. Why didn''t she make Antonis have this conversation? "Then there''s no harm in telling me, is there?"

    "You promise you won''t be mad?"

    Natasha considered the question. "I can''t promise that," she admitted. "But, I promise that whatever you tell me, my reaction will be entirely appropriate. If nothing happened, then I won''t do anything and it stays between us."

    Olivia took a breath and nodded to herself, leaning on her elbows as she looked at something far off in the distance. "Okay," she finally decided. "Last year, I can''t remember when exactly, I was in the lab with Joe. It was some time after we discovered the sensitivity issue, I think. Sofia was worried about him, and I found him spaced out in the lab, he was clearly still struggling with his grandad''s death, so I tried to offer him some support. I can''t remember what I said, exactly, something about how grief affects us all differently and it''s okay to need help or whatever¡­" Olivia tried to recall, at the time she didn''t think she''d have ever forgotten the memory, now the only bit she remembered was the kiss and the awkward churning feeling in her stomach when that had happened. "He turned and kissed me," Olivia admitted, then swallowed and reached sharply for her wine again. Natasha didn''t say a word and just let her tell the tale. "I shoved him away, and barely had a chance to ask what he thought he was doing when Toni walked into the lab."

    Olivia took another drink of wine and Natasha joined her that time, waiting patiently to see if there was any more to it. After a few moments of silence Natasha finally broke it. "What did you do after that?"

    "He went to lunch and I¡­ didn''t know what to do," Olivia admitted. "In the end I met up with him and asked for an explanation. He didn''t seem to know why he''d done it either, something about feeling guilty all the time and that briefly he hadn''t felt that and sought to keep hold of it. I told him that he needed to tell Sofia, and that if he didn''t, I would."

    "And did he?"

    "I¡­ don''t know actually," Olivia admitted. "The thing with Allerton sort of blew up not long after. I kind of pushed it to the side because rocking the team further seemed like a really stupid thing to do."

    Natasha took another sip of wine to stop herself saying anything. Olivia hadn''t seemed to think anything of the timing, but Natasha was rather more suspicious.

    "So?" Olivia asked after a moment. "What are you going to do?"

    "Did he ever make another pass at you?" Natasha asked, and Olivia shook her head no. "Then probably nothing. I think you''re right and he should''ve told Sofia, but people do stupid shit sometimes. So unless it makes you uncomfortable to keep working with him, then I don''t think anything needs raising."

    Olivia nodded. "He''s always behaved himself before and after, genuinely it was just a one off. And at the time it felt uncomfortable, but it''s fine now. So long as it doesn''t happen again."

    "Then let''s put it behind us," Natasha agreed, and Olivia seemed to relax considerably at the idea. "Now, apart from the team awkwardness around winter break, how have you been holding up?"

    "You really care?"

    Natasha sighed. "I probably deserve that, and I probably owe you an apology, but I don''t actually have a problem with anyone on the team. I want to at least partially get on with them."

    "I just¡­ you''re really hard to read."

    Suddenly Natasha was laughing. "That is entirely fair."

    Olivia giggled too. "You wanna hear something really stupid?"

    "Go on then."

    "When Allerton dropped that bomb about the email - and I swear I didn''t send it! - I actually briefly wished you''d just shouted at me rather than Toni just calmly asking me questions," Olivia admitted. "I expected you to lose it with me, but it felt so much worse when the nice guy was the one questioning me."

    Natasha chuckled. "I''ll remember that the next time Toni tries to talk me down."

    "I don''t mean that I want you to shout at me!" Olivia quickly corrected. Natasha tilted her glass as if to promise she knew what she''d meant.

    Natasha waited till Olivia was taking another sip of wine. "So you care about what Toni thinks about you?"

    Olivia nearly choked on her drink, making Natasha laugh. "What!?"

    "That''s not a no."

    "I¡­ No! Not like that!" Olivia spluttered.

    "I mean, I don''t think anyone would blame you. He''s a nice guy, athletic, good looking¡­"

    "I don''t fancy him!"

    Natasha raised her hands in surrender, but she was also clearly having far too much amusement at Olivia''s expense. "Okay, I''ll drop it," she said. "So did you ever find a tennis club?"

    "Yeah, actually," Olivia admitted and from there the two chatted about anything but work until they''d finished their drinks.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Zachariah pulled a face as he took a puff of his e-cigarette. None of these flavours tasted like whatever it was they claimed. He decided to try and see if he could find one without a flavour in.

    He was stood right on the threshold so that he didn''t have to be any further outside than he had to be, wedged between the frame and the door to keep as much heat inside as possible. It wasn''t actually raining at the moment, but it had properly chucked it down that morning to the point where half the pavements looked like they''d be dangerously slippy later.

    He kept overhearing pieces of conversation walking past him as he stood there, but most of it was mundane or stuff he already knew. It wasn''t until he was just about to pack up and head back to work that he heard something genuinely interesting.

    "Did you know that Caroline has been in with HR with an hour now?"

    "I heard that meeting''s booked for the whole day."

    "No one willingly spends that much time with HR."

    "Especially not a couple of months after the biggest demo fail of your career."

    The two staff members came to an abrupt stop as they noticed Zachariah standing in their path looking unimpressed. One of them stammered something as they both looked up at him. Sometimes being even taller than Antonis had it''s advantages, and he was far better at glaring than his friend. "Zach!" The other greeted a bit too brightly.

    "Does that sound like the kind of gossip you should be having at all? Let alone in the corridors?"

    They shared a guilty expression. Zachariah had a point. He rarely scolded anyone about gossiping, it was good fun, and for the most part the rumours were harmless. But letting the rumourmill have at people''s actual careers without them being in the loop felt like one step too far. Even the ones that could ruin relationships felt fair game to him because if there was something to them then the people involved had had a choice, and if it ever sounded like one of them hadn''t, that was when it got escalated and he refused to discuss it outside of official channels.

    "That''s what I thought," he decided, and stepped out of their path to let them go, watching them scurry back to their own area.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Natasha knew she shouldn''t be doing this, but she wasn''t sure when she''d get another opportunity. She knew Allerton was in meetings all afternoon, and even though she didn''t know who with or what about, she knew that it was something her boss couldn''t get out of.

    That meant she had enough time to go in and have a quick nosey through Allerton''s emails. Especially when she knew her supervisor was hopeless with passwords and so kept her current on in a post-it note hidden in one of the filing cabinets. If Natasha were honest, at least Allerton was sort of sensible about that. It couldn''t be hacked via an app or whatever, and it wasn''t just left on her desk, but given how often her team had to go through the various files, it was also kind of dumb.

    All she wanted to do was see what it was that Allerton had been sent to change her mind about the demo, and when. She was in and out within ten minutes with the information she needed. She had considered forwarding herself the email and deleting the history, but in the end had decided it was too risky and just wrote down the information to take with her.

    She bumped into Zachariah as she closed the office door behind her. "What are you doing?" He asked.

    Natasha held up a textbook she held in her other hand. "Was looking for this."

    Zachariah gave her a look as if to say he knew she was lying, but he shrugged it off and they headed back into the team office together.

    Natasha could feel the curious look he was still giving her as they sat down at their desks, both logging back into their PCs. She glanced at her email before flicking the textbook open and scanning through to a section she''d been reading the other day, pulling out her notebook to compare. For all intents and purposes it looked like she was working as if nothing weird was going on.

    After a few minutes Zachariah got up and headed into the lab. She continued as she was for a few more minutes to make sure he wasn''t about to come straight back in, and turned back to her computer. Now that she knew what had been sent all she had to do was find out who had accessed it and when. Having known Sofia for three years, she was well versed in computers.

    She hadn''t expected the answer to be as conclusive as what she found.

    <center></center>

 11. No easy choice

    "Christ, Tasha, do you know what time it is?" Zachariah demanded as he finally opened the door on her insistent hammering.

    She didn''t even have the heart to tease him about light blasphemy. "It''s not that late," she retorted gesturing at him to ask if he was going to let her in.

    Zachariah sighed and stepped aside to let her in and she didn''t hesitate to make a beeline to his room, waving a greeting at his housemates. He followed obediently enough, recognising the state she was in. Whatever it was was important now that she''d finally made a decision about what to do about it. "What''s going on?" He asked as he pulled the door closed behind her.

    "Did you keep digging?" She asked.

    "Why?"

    "Because I did," she admitted.

    Zachariah couldn''t even hide his curiosity. Not when it sounded like she''d had far more success than him. "What''ve you found?"

    Natasha swallowed, briefly reconsidering, before shaking her head at herself. "I found out what Allerton was sent," Natasha explained. "It was on the shared drive and it was a bloody link anyway -"

    "Tasha," Zachariah said, trying to cajole her back on track.

    "Right," she realised. "Olivia never even accessed the file. Why would she send Allerton a link to a file she''d never even looked at?"

    "Because she didn''t need to to know what was in it?"

    Natasha shrugged. "If it were a file I''d read over someone''s shoulder I''d want to make sure I got the right one," she said as if it were obvious. "But Joe did, and not half an hour before that email went out."

    "And you know that how?" Zachariah asked shrewdly.

    "You sure you want me to answer that?"

    Zachariah sighed. She was probably right about that. "So - what? - you think Joe set Olivia up for some reason?" He asked, and Natasha nodded. "Why?"

    "Does that matter?"

    "People don''t do things without a motive -" He stopped abruptly halfway through as something occurred to him. "Allerton spent all afternoon in a meeting with HR¡­ Joe and Sofia are probably the least safe seeing as their PhDs are coming to an end this year¡­"

    "How does getting Olivia into Allerton''s good books help with that?"

    "But is she?" Zachariah asked. "Her info made the demo blow up in all our faces, but especially Allerton''s. And it also makes us all distrust her. That means she''s already a problem, before her probationary period is up."

    "Do students even have probie periods?"

    Zachariah glared at her, that was so not his main point. "Shit, are we really that screwed that we''re losing a team member?"

    Natasha shrugged hopelessly. "It''s starting to seem that way, and it explains a lot."

    "But why would he do that? It''s not like he would''ve known. I mean, I know Allerton has been refusing to confirm if she''s keeping him or Sofia on after this year¡­ even before the demo. But¡­ I don''t see what he thinks he''d gain by doing this."

    Natasha shook her head as if she couldn''t provide any answers. Zachariah turned to his desk and rummaged until he wrapped his hands around the e-cigarette, only because he knew Natasha would actually start a fight with him if he went for the more easily accessible box of real ones he''d never got around to throwing out. He was at his window in moments to breath out into the night sky.

    "Shit, Zach, what do I do? If I''m right he''s broken IT policy but I''ve little proof and it''s a pretty minor thing. But can I just let it slide after what it caused?"

    Zachariah couldn''t remember the last time he''d heard Natasha sound so unsure about anything. In all the time they''d known each other, she''d always known her own mind even when it led her to make mistakes. She owned them too. "It seems petty to report him for that, at least until we''ve got more to go on. Like you said, you''ve no proof and it''ll only cause more disruption."

    Natasha nodded to herself, that made sense. She just wished it felt like it was the right decision.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    When Joseph and Sofia arrived at the lab the following morning, Sofia was starting to think Zachariah giving up smoking was a bad idea. He barely noticed them greet him, and he was fidgeting even more than usual. She made a note to talk to either Natasha or Antonis about him later, there was no point talking to him if someone else already had.

    She hadn''t even finished making their coffee when the door opened. Sofia was halfway through turning to ask Olivia if she wanted a coffee when she recognised Allerton had walked through the door instead and came to an abrupt stop.

    "Ah, Sofia, you''re already here," Allerton started. Sofia turned wide eyes to Joseph and Zachariah, the former looked as baffled as she did, the latter was all but glaring at their boss. "Please can I have a word with you in my office."

    Sofia simply put the kettle down and followed her boss from the room, not really trusting her voice to work to ask the question she wanted to. And not sure if she wanted to in front of the others. Then again, Natasha always said there was a benefit to having backup. Or was that Antonis about certain video games?

    Sofia turned to slowly close the door behind her once they arrived in the office, hoping to buy a few seconds to compose herself before facing Allerton.

    "There''s no easy way to have this conversation," Allerton started, barely waiting for the door to click closed. "But I have had to make the difficult decision that we won''t be offering you a place after your PhD is complete."

    If Sofia''s gut hadn''t been churning before, it definitely was now. She swallowed and turned to her boss. "Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

    Allerton shook her head. "No, we don''t have the funding available to retain six staff members. I wish it weren''t true, you have been a valuable asset to the team, and I am sorry to have to let you go in the summer."

    Sofia nodded, trying to set her jaw. "Then, I guess there is nothing else I need to say right now?"

    "No, I guess not," Allerton agreed airily.

    Sofia bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself reacting from the tone. "If I may, I do not know if you can tell me, but how many staff are you keeping?"

    "Why? Do you wish to argue your case against another member of staff?" Allerton asked, and if Sofia didn''t know any better she''d say that her boss sounded almost gleeful at the prospect.

    "No," Sofia decided, looking at her feet.

    "That''s what I thought," Allerton said, and turned back to her computer.

    Sofia didn''t say anything else but waited a heartbeat to see if Allerton was going to say anything else, then promptly left. Naturally both Joseph and Zachariah asked her what had happened, but she put them off by asking if the coffee was ready now. Olivia was the only one who dared offer the Italian a mug of coffee, which Sofia found oddly funny.

    She promised them she was fine and just ignored any other attempts by them to talk about it, and they''d taken the hint before Natasha arrived. Other than Zachariah''s agitation, things had almost settled back down to normal by the time Antonis arrived. That seemed to prompt Zachariah into action, telling everyone to stay where they were whilst he went to retrieve everyone from the lab.

    "What is he up to?" Antonis asked. "What can we need a meeting about today?"

    "Allerton already pulled Sofia into her office, maybe -" Joseph said, causing Sofia to turn sharply with wide, worried eyes.

    "Sofia, answer honestly, do you want to talk about it?" Natasha interrupted, and based on Antonis'' reaction she hadn''t been the only one to clock Sofia''s reaction. Sofia shook her head, she really didn''t want to talk about it. "Then we don''t," Natasha promised, standing and marching straight into the lab, practically colliding with Zachariah as he returned with Olivia.

    "Where are you going?" Zachariah asked.

    "Lab, now," Natasha stated in a way that brooked no room for argument, though Zachariah looked to be considering it. Olivia scurried to her desk and out of the way. Finally Zachariah set his jaw and turned around. Natasha glanced over her shoulder to share a look with Antonis before she followed him.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    "We''re listening, right?" Joseph asked.

    "Ochi," Antonis replied firmly, moving between everyone and the lab door. He hadn''t needed Natasha''s look to know to keep everyone separate right now.

    Meanwhile, in the lab, Zachariah was furious. "What are you doing?" He demanded.

    "What am I doing?" Natasha asked. "What are you up to?"

    "Oh, come on! After our discussion last night and now Allerton has an impromptu meeting with Sofia you can''t believe we don''t need a team meeting to get to the bottom of this so that we can mount a response!"

    "Zach!" Natasha snapped. "This isn''t a game! Yes, of course I want to know what Allerton said to Sofia, but you cannot just assume that Sofia wants to talk about it! Especially if our worst fears have been confirmed. That''s entirely too personal to demand her to explain."

    Zachariah set his jaw, because deep down he knew Natasha was right. He just didn''t want to admit to it. He wanted to be able to fight for their team. "We can''t just give up."

    "I''m not suggesting we do," Natasha retorted. "Maybe one of us would storm back into the office ready to rant and rave, but if she''s not ready to talk about it¡­" She trailed off, unsure how to explain how she thought Sofia would feel betrayed by them if they forced her to reveal something she wasn''t ready to.

    Zachariah deflated at that. "Okay," he sighed, rubbing at his face. "We''ll play it your way for now."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Sofia? Are you okay?" Joseph asked unsurely.

    "S¨¬," she replied, with a too bright smile for the way she''d been staring despondently at her dinner.

    Joseph didn''t say anything for a moment, before the silence got to him again and he asked, "this is about what happened with Allerton this morning, isn''t it?"

    "Gi¨´," Sofia started tiredly.

    "No, whatever it is has sent you into a spin all day," Joseph interrupted whatever she was about to say. She narrowed her eyes at him briefly before turning back to her food with a sigh. "Please, just tell me what''s bothering you?"

    Sofia scoffed but said nothing.

    "Fine, stay moody, why would I care?"

    Sofia glared at him for that, and simply grabbed her plate and stood up. Joseph then realised his mistake. "Sofia, wait -"

    She didn''t let him try and apologise, simply left the room and shut herself in their room and pushed an end table against the door in the hope that if Joseph tried the door, it would provide enough resistance to make him rethink it.

    She sat on the edge of their bed as she finished eating. She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to hug him. It wasn''t his fault, yet she also knew that Allerton hadn''t had a discussion with anyone else. That meant she was the only one. That made her sad, yet guilty that she wasn''t happier for Joseph that he would get a job when they finished their projects.

    Once her plate was empty all she could do was stare at it, and gave a bitter laugh as she realised an empty plate was a perfect metaphor to how empty she now felt; drained and guilty.

    She looked up at the door. She didn''t want to open it and find out what was waiting for her on the other side, but she also couldn''t hide forever.

    Joseph looked up from his laptop as she reappeared, walking through the to the kitchen to wash her plate up. Sofia didn''t know if she felt better or worse that he didn''t say anything but just let her do her thing.

    "I am sorry," she said when she returned to the living room.

    Joseph looked up at her softly spoken apology, and moved his computer to the coffee table. "Sofia, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

    She nodded, and flopped down onto the other side of the sofa. "I will not be given a job at the end of my project," she explained quietly.

    "What?" Joseph demanded, causing her to look up sharply, before he reigned himself in with a visible effort. "Sorry, I just¡­ I assumed it was bad but not¡­ Why?"

    "Allerton said she did not have enough money to keep all of us."

    "So why you and not Olivia?" He asked, and she shrugged. "Did you even ask?"

    "Allerton said it was finalised," Sofia explained.

    "But it doesn''t have to be you," Joseph said. "You have so many skills to bring to the table, you''ve been here longer than her¡­ We can definitely make a case for you to stay instead -"

    "I know!" Sofia suddenly snapped. Joseph stopped dead as he gaped at her. "Toni has all the same chemical knowledge as you, and whilst Tasha shares some of my computing skills, my abilities are far greater than hers. Olivia will be cheaper to keep than either of us once we are staff rather than students. Zach, Toni and Tasha have all been there long enough for it to be more expensive to get rid of them than either of us. If someone is going to go it is down to one of us."

    "But -"

    "No," Sofia put her foot down. "I might bring more skills to the table than you, but I do not have your connections."

    "You think I pulled some strings to stay over you?"

    "I do not know anymore!" Sofia shouted. "All I know is that I do not want to go, but I do not want to be the reason that you have to go either."

    Joseph had no response to that. He knew exactly how that felt.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Toni," Natasha started after Sofia got up to go for her lunch.

    "Na¨ª?" Antonis asked, looking up from his desk.

    "Those doughnuts you use to bribe us, where do you get them from?"

    If Antonis hadn''t been suspicious from the way she''d called his name to start the conversation, he certainly was now. "Why?"

    "Because I think Joe pissed in Sofia''s coffee and I want to fix things before they get worse."

    Antonis chuckled to himself. "I never thought I would see you play cupid."

    Natasha rolled her eyes at him. "It''s not about them, it''s about the team," she explained.

    Antonis locked his computer and Natasha quirked an eyebrow at him. "They do good sandwiches too," he offered as an explanation. She shook her head hopelessly at him but followed suit and grabbed her coat.

    They were the last ones back from lunch, not entirely surprised to find the mood in the office the same sombre it had been all morning. Sofia and Joseph kept giving each other the side eye, each of them alternating between stern and regretful. None of them knew what had happened between them, but were growing more and more concerned as neither felt the need to explain and also worried that it had something to do with Allerton''s meeting with Sofia the previous day.

    "What did you do this time, Tasha?" Zachariah teased as they returned laden with a tray of sweet treats.

    "Why assume it''s my fault?"

    "Actually, it was your idea."

    "Grass!" Natasha teased as she pretended to be grumpy with Antonis for outing her concern.

    Antonis and Sofia shared a confused look. "A tattle-tale," Zachariah explained, knowing where the confusion arose. "Someone who didn''t keep a secret," he added when his initial synonym didn''t provide the clarification he hoped for.

    "Why?" Joseph asked.

    "Because something''s wrong today, and the only solution I have right now is pudding," Natasha shrugged.

    "I''d say it''s usually the answer," Zachariah agreed.

    "Why do you think I used it to make Nat like me?" Antonis chuckled.

    "These are up for grabs then, right?" Zachariah checked, and both Natasha and Antonis nodded, and everyone dived in. "So, am I allowed to ask the question on everyone''s mind?"

    "Almost certainly not," Natasha retorted.

    "You have no room to talk, your other plan was to lock them in the lab together until they made up," Antonis said as he also plucked a pastry from the tray.

    "That obvious, huh?" Joseph asked, casting a glance at Sofia who was staring at her feet.

    "Oh, yeah," Zachariah confirmed.

    "I will not be here when I have finished my thesis," Sofia finally admitted.

    The office fell into stunned silence as the rest of the team - apart from Joseph - turned to each other as if to ask if they knew this was coming. "What?" Natasha finally managed to ask.

    "She said we do not have the funds to keep all of us," Sofia said. "So she is letting me go."

    Everyone else - apart from Joseph - shared a look. "Screw this," Natasha muttered to herself as she stood up. "Stay put," she added before stalking out of the office.

    "Why do I get the feeling this is something we should stop her doing?" Zachariah asked worriedly.

    <center></center>

    Natasha didn''t even bother knocking but just stormed straight into Allerton''s office, only to kick the door shut behind her. "I take it Sofia finally told you then?" Allerton asked as if this was an expected occurrence.

    "When were you going to tell us about the funding?" Natasha asked.

    Allerton finally looked up. "When it became your business."

    "Let me guess, that''s never?" Natasha asked sarcastically. Allerton simply gave an innocent half shrug. "Okay, next question, why Sofia?"

    "We did an assessment, and we decided she had the least use to the department," Allerton explained far too sweetly. "And frankly, Natasha, this isn''t anything to do with you."

    "Sofia had the least use?" Natasha quoted sardonically. "What assessment did you even do?"

    "Plenty, now -"

    "Assuming that Olivia is the cheapest to keep, and therefore is safe," Natasha interrupted, putting her hands onto the desk to lean towards Allerton. "Then I assume you did a financial assessment of what it would cost to get rid of Zach, Toni or I against the skills we have, it came down to it being either Joe or Sofia?" Natasha paused only long enough to gauge Allerton''s reaction to see how close she was. "Sure, makes sense, it sucks but there''s a logic that makes sense. So then it comes down to what they bring to the table. Joe brings a chemistry background, one that Toni shares, whereas Sofia brings computing skills none of us match."

    "As you say, it comes down to what they bring to the table," Allerton agreed.

    "Then why lose Sofia?" Natasha asked. "It doesn''t -" she started, only to stop dead when she realised something based on the smug look on Allerton''s face. "They don''t just bring skills¡­ and Joe has more connections."

    "Not that he ever uses them, the fool," Allerton agreed casually. Holding up her hand as Natasha looked set to berate her for that comment. "His family is a resource we can leverage, whether he wants to or not. His family has connections to wider industry."

    "They have little to do with our area," Natasha scoffed.

    "Sometimes, Natasha, you are just as naive as the rest of them," Allerton said with a sigh and a shake of her head. "Once you get high enough in business you rub shoulders and mingle with the same in other industries, it''s a closed network."

    "And what if you''re wrong?" Natasha asked, straightening up and folding her arms. "What if Joe refuses to give you your in? Then we''ve lost a valuable asset for no reason."

    "Everyone is replaceable."

    "Even you?"

    Allerton frowned but otherwise let the question go unanswered. "I would advise you to keep this discussion between us," she finally said, turning back to the paperwork on her desk. "Otherwise, I will be forced to add a third written warning to the one I now need to write."

    Natasha set her jaw, before spinning on her heel and stalking out of the office in a very similar manner to the one she''d entered in. Returning to the team office in a similar state.

    <center></center>

    "Please tell me there''s some more coffee on the go?" Natasha half demanded when she returned to the office and flopped into her chair disheartenedly.

    "So you still have a job then?" Zachariah asked as Antonis turned to make some coffees.

    "Just about," Natasha admitted. "On the bright side, one more outburst from me and you''ll be safe, Sofia."

    "Nat," Antonis started.

    "Don''t, Toni, there''s nothing I can do but joke about it now," Natasha said as if it were obvious.

    "Thank you, for trying," Sofia said sincerely, but feeling incredibly small that right now Natasha was on her second written warning because of her and Joseph.

    "No worries," Natasha assured her, as Antonis handed her a mug. "We''re not going down without a fight."

    Everyone else shared a look, Joseph, Olivia and Sofia were rather stunned, whereas Antonis and Zachariah''s shared glance was rather more knowing. "What''s the plan?" Zachariah asked.

    Natasha chewed her lip for a moment as she thought, before turning to Antonis, who nodded once. "If money is the only issue, we look to secure more. Screw Allerton, she only complicates things, we''ll do what we can to save the team."

 12. Break

    "Oh, come on!" Olivia grumbled, thumping the vending machine halfheartedly as her chocolate bar stuck in the twirl of wire.

    She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a chuckle behind her. "It''s going that well, huh?" Peter asked.

    All of Olivia''s frustration just bled out of her in that moment as she slumped against the nearby wall. "I just¡­ the team''s going through a lot right now," she muttered.

    "I take it this is something I shouldn''t ask about?"

    Olivia shook her head. "No, even if you did, I couldn''t tell you."

    "Okay, then can I ask what I can ask?"

    Olivia couldn''t help her tired giggle. "What will you do if I say no?" She teased.

    Peter scrutinised her for a moment before walking up to the vending machine and feeding his own coins in. "Suggest you take a break from office politics."

    "How?" Olivia asked. "It''s not like I can just not show up for a few days, so no matter what I do outside of here I still have to come back to it."

    Peter chuckled as he pushed the vending machine flap out of his way to grab his snack. "Sure, but it''s easier to deal with if you''ve got an outlet or two."

    "Any suggestions?"

    "Well, you''re already on the right track with chocolate," he explained, holding out the chocolate bar she''d tried to purchase. She did a double take as she looked at the vending machine to see that he''d selected the same one to get both. He wiggled it at her and she took it with a thanks and a smile. "As for other suggestions¡­ Alcohol, hitting things, binging the trashiest TV possible?"

    "Apart from the hitting things, I''m pretty certain that''s my life right about now: work, eat, drink, sleep, repeat."

    "How about a change of scene?" He asked. "It''s pasta night at our house tonight, and my housemates are pretty sound, they''re just the kind of distraction you need. Plus, if my decadently indulgent pasta isn''t the best comfort food¡­ well, there''s something wrong with you."

    Olivia gave a weak chuckle. "There''s garlic bread, right?"

    "There can be."

    She couldn''t help the real smile that broke through then. "Well, if it''s no trouble."

    "None at all, that''s the whole point of pasta night. Make a huge batch of the stuff for people to help themselves to as we actually socialise with each other for the night and freeze any left overs. And, if you''re not enjoying yourself, you can bail once you''ve eaten."

    "Then yes, why not?"

    "That''s the spirit."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Do I need to be functional tomorrow?" Natasha asked as she rested her chin on her arms as she considered the almost empty pint glass in front of her.

    "Are you ever?" Antonis teased, chuckling to himself as she moved only far enough to quirk a challenging eyebrow at him.

    "Man has a point," Zachariah agreed.

    "I hate you both."

    "No, you don''t, you''re just hoping one of us will get you more alcohol so you don''t have to get up," Zachariah retorted.

    "Is it working?" Natasha asked, knowing she was rumbled.

    The men shared a look. "Money?" Antonis asked, holding his hand out.

    Natasha positively beamed. "I knew there was a reason you were my favourite," she said as she reached to rummage in her bag for her purse before offering it to Antonis. It was probably an indication about how much they went out drinking together that he simply took it to the bar with him.

    "If I were him, I''d take a service charge," Zachariah teased. "Lord knows you probably owe him a life time''s worth of tips."

    "And do you ever think that''s the reason I trust him with my money and not you?" Natasha retorted, finally lifting herself up and swiping at her glass to tip her head back to knock the dregs back.

    "So, what did you say to Allerton?" Zachariah asked innocently.

    Natasha chuckled. "You''re gonna have to get me way drunker to get that outta me," she retorted.

    "Aw, come on, since when did we have secrets?"

    "Since you are the biggest gossip on the team?" Antonis asked as he returned with another round.

    Zachariah blinked at him, then almost stumbled from his chair as he tried to look at the bar and then back to his friend. "How? Do you have some super power to get drinks at light speed?"

    "Na¨ª," he said with a smug grin as he took his seat.

    "He catches the barman''s eye as he gets up from the table and if he nods they get the same again," Natasha explained as if it were obvious.

    "And I thought Zach was the one who told all our secrets?" Antonis teased, prompting Natasha to look innocent as she took a sip of her new drink. "But lets skip the part where Zach asks questions he should not, and cut straight to asking what you were thinking?"

    That made Natasha deflate. "You expected me to just let it slide?"

    "No, you are not that sensible."

    "I had to ask why," Natasha admitted. "Why her, why she didn''t -, just why everything¡­"

    "And she gave you another warning for that?" Zachariah asked.

    "I mean, I did basically shout at her for a solid ten minutes," Natasha admitted. She had no intention of saying anything more specific, she would need to be a lot more drunk before she even considered that telling them what Allerton told her was a good idea.

    After a few more moments Zachariah finally felt the need to break the silence. "So¡­ do you want to take bets on what dumb thing it is that finally gets Tasha fired?"

    "Zach!" Antonis scolded. "Do not encourage her."

    "I think we''re beyond that," Natasha admitted. "Besides, if I''m finally gonna get myself kicked out, I''ve gotta do something epic, surely?"

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "You haven''t ensnared another poor soul, have you, Peter?" A young woman teased as Peter showed Olivia into his home.

    "It''s easier than trying to get you to be nice to me," he retorted, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and ducking to kiss the top of her head. She wrinkled her nose at him to make him laugh as he continued on. "Drink, Olivia?"

    "Uh, sure," she replied unsurely, where she hung near the doorway.

    The other woman rolled her eyes before yelling towards the kitchen, "Peter, you''re a terrible host!" Then she turned back to Olivia. "My brother forgets that not everyone knows he automatically serves certain drinks with certain foods. It''ll be wine, that okay?"

    "Yeah."

    "Cool, then make yourself comfortable," she said beckoning firmly at the sofas. "I''m Xinya, by the way."

    "It''s definitely not a problem he invited me at such short notice, is it?" Olivia checked as she tucked her bag alongside the sofa and took a seat.

    "Oh, of course not," Xinya said. "He always makes enough to feed an army, so it''s really no bother."

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    "Is it just the two of you?"

    "Nope, there''s Eleesha and Jason. They''re his housemates, I just invite myself over for free food."

    "Isn''t that what siblings are for?"

    Xinya giggled as Peter returned with a glass for each of them, after Xinya thanked her brother for her''s she turned back to Olivia and said, "it depends how well you train them."

    Olivia giggled into her glass as Peter turned to look between the pair of them. "I don''t want to know, do I?"

    Xinya looked as innocent as it was possible to do so. Peter briefly glanced towards Olivia who shrugged in a similarly equal way before he shook his head at them and went to go and cook. "Does he not want to flump between work and cooking?" Olivia asked.

    "Nah, it''s weird, but this is his happy place."

    "You make it sound like it''s a heavy burden you carry," Olivia teased, making Xinya giggle.

    "Is that a new voice I hear?" A man asked as he arrived into the lounge.

    "More importantly is that the smell of food?" A woman asked, following him in.

    "I''ve only just started ''Eesha!" Peter yelled back from the kitchen.

    "And not even poured me wine as well, tsk," Eleesha pretended to scold.

    "I''ll grab you one," Jason offered.

    "Thanks," Eleesha replied as she made herself comfortable on the seat next to Xinya, who promptly span to use her as a footrest. "In return I promise to hold off on the interrogation until you return."

    Jason offered her a thumbs up as Olivia turned to Xinya with a worried expression. "Interrogation?"

    "Oh, you''ll be fine, we just want all the gossip Peter won''t tell us."

    "That''s because you don''t need to know!" Peter shouted through the open kitchen door.

    "Everyone needs to know if Antonis has started dating someone!" Xinya shouted back.

    "You''re not even interested!" Peter retorted.

    "See, I don''t get this," Olivia interrupted to stop the siblings bickering - no matter how light-hearted. "I swear everyone on campus is obsessed with Toni''s sex life."

    "Oh my god, you work on the same team as him?" Xinya practically squealed as she bolted up right. Eleesha swatted at her arm to scold her for it before pulling her back. Olivia nodded. "Jackpot!"

    "Xin," Jason scolded as he returned, passing on of the drinks he carried to Eleesha. "The new girl''s not just here for you to pump for info."

    Xinya rolled her eyes and ignored him. "To answer your question, Olivia, it''s because Antonis is the most eligible bachelor on campus. So people want to know who finally snags him up because - so far - no one has caught his fancy. And believe me, some have tried."

    "I keep telling you he''s already smitten, but won''t tell you who," Peter called. "So you ignore me."

    "Then Olivia can."

    "I don''t know anything about any of this!" Olivia cut in quickly. She honestly didn''t, there was enough going on in that team for her to try and be bothered to work out who was sleeping with who if they weren''t open about it.

    Xinya huffed. "There goes my spy."

    "You can''t convince your own brother to spy for you, hun, what makes you think you can convince someone else?" Eleesha chuckled.

    "Cast a wide enough net and eventually something''ll bite?" Xinya suggested somewhere between optimistic and unsure.

    "Better hope it''s not a shark then," Jason said. Making them all turn to him in surprise, before Xinya spluttered into a laugh and they all followed suit.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    As it turned out, that a hearty meal and a dinner among people she could easily consider friends in time was just what Olivia had needed. It was definitely the easiest she''d slept in days if not weeks, maybe longer.

    In fact, even when she got back to work and half the discussions were about how to secure more funding without having to involve their boss in the process, she didn''t feel like she was being dragged down, but energised enough to ask how she could help and apply herself properly.

    The day passed by in a flurry of activity to the point where Olivia almost hadn''t realised it was home time until Natasha stood up and declared she was in dire need of a night out and the whole office agreed they needed one too.

    That was how she ended up in a loud club and leaning halfway over a bar to order a drink over the music. In fact it was only because she was rummaging in her bag for her money that she noticed the notification on her phone. She quickly typed out a reply in the time she had before the bartender came back with her drink. A response came in as she waited for her change.

    "Why are you grinning like a fool?"

    Olivia almost jumped as she turned at the sound of Joseph''s voice. She hadn''t even realised her own goofy grin until that moment. As he dumped the empty glasses he was carrying on the bar, she took a sip of her drink as the warm feeling in her chest that had accompanied her text conversation with Peter - where he told her that Xinya had ordered him to bring Olivia around for all future pasta nights - died as she realised she shouldn''t have let that show when they had more important things to deal with right now. "I¡­ I just," she stammered as she tried to think of something to say that didn''t make her seem incredibly shallow.

    "You shouldn''t even be here, let alone looking so pleased with yourself after everything you''ve done."

    "I didn''t do anything!" She replied in frustration. Honestly she was sick of denying it, but she wasn''t ever going to not do in case they mistook her fatigue as admission of guilt.

    She started to walk away from the bar, not wanting to have this argument, but he shouted after her, "we all know about the email!"

    She turned back to face where he had stepped away from the bar, drinks apparently forgotten. "I never sent it! Tasha even said that it''s existence wasn''t proof I did!" She retorted.

    "I still don''t know how you convinced them," he spat. "They''re not a trusting bunch and yet they all accept your story."

    "But not you?" Olivia scoffed. Trying to imbue herself with some confidence by sipping on her wine.

    "I know the truth, you can''t pull the wool over my eyes."

    Olivia bit her lip as she thought, something uneasy was settling in her stomach as she remembered when Natasha asked her about the previous term. The timing that had never seemed suspicious to her before now stuck out like a sore thumb because of what he''d just said. "Did you send it?" She suddenly asked in a tiny voice, not sure if she were more worried it was true, or that she was conceited enough to think that maybe he saw her as a threat.

    It took her a moment to realise he hadn''t heard her over the music, that the sound wasn''t her blood pounding in her ears. "Did you send it because I said I''d tell Sofia?" She repeated loud enough to be heard.

    She tried not to shrink under Joseph''s scrutinising stare, but held his stare as she tried to pretend she had Natasha''s attitude. "You should''ve just pretended it hadn''t happened," he finally said, voice oddly threatening considering that he was usually so well composed.

    "You should''ve been honest with her!" Olivia retorted. Months of worry and isolation coalescing into a validated outrage as she finally found out the truth. "It wasn''t even that bad, all you had to do was be honest with her about how badly you were - maybe still are - hurting and you''d have been in a far better place!"

    "What would that have achieved? Telling her I kissed you would only have hurt her!"

    "You wouldn''t have sent an email that started a chain of events that has cost her her job!" Olivia snapped back. Joseph glared at her for a moment. "Would that demo have happened if you hadn''t sent that email?"

    Joseph''s glare morphed into a horrified expression as he recognised her point, a cold chill running through him at the realisation that it was all his fault.

    "Gi¨´, is it true?"

    They both whirled around at the sound of a very hurt voice to find the rest of the team, Sofia''s expression more shocked than either of them at being interrupted. The others varying degrees of astonishment with only Natasha completely unsurprised by all the revelations in the argument they''d overheard.

    "Sofia, I -" Joseph started, stammering and unsure of where to go from here.

    Sofia swallowed and shook her head as she realised his hesitation confirmed it. She blinked to try and hold back her tears. "Why?"

    "I didn''t¡­" He trailed off. "It just happened."

    "Olivia?"

    Olivia swallowed as Sofia turned very sad eyes to her. "It was shortly after his grandad died, we were in the lab. He was zoned out and I tried to be nice, then he¡­ I don''t know why. I just know he kissed me, I pushed him away and he seemed to realise he''d made a mistake." She rubbed at her temples. "I wanted to tell you, but¡­ well the email thing blew up shortly after and¡­" She trailed off as she realised that it sounded bad to say she had bigger things to worry about.

    Sofia opened her mouth as if to say something, whether to ask for more details or to just demand why, no one was sure because no sound came out before she closed it again. Zachariah stepped around her and skirted past them all to the bar to order her a drink, deciding she definitely needed something right now.

    At the same time Antonis and Natasha gently encouraged the other three away from the bar and off to the side where they were no longer in the main thoroughfare to the bar. Sofia was still silently processing when Zachariah rejoined them with a drink for her, she accepted it gratefully and drank a couple of large gulps in a vain attempt to quell the storm of her emotions.

    "What I want to say is not for public," Sofia finally decided, she and Joseph could have a full discussion or argument in the privacy of their home. "But you owe everyone an apology."

    Joseph blinked at her for a moment. "Shouldn''t she apologise for deciding what''s best for us? None of this would''ve happened if she''d trusted me that keeping it secret was the best route."

    "Absolutely not," Zachariah interrupted. "Perhaps her solution wasn''t the right one, but that doesn''t excuse what you did." Sofia nodded her agreement to what he said as she took another large gulp.

    "But -"

    "No buts, Joe," Natasha interrupted. "You are the one who escalated this from a stupid mistake that didn''t involve any official reprimand, to sending an email that could amount to bullying in revenge for something that was your own fault. Not to mention breaking IT policy, but that feels pretty unimportant right now."

    "Wait, since when did unwanted kissing of a coworker not merit some kind of review?" Zachariah asked in surprise.

    Natasha was just about able to not outwardly blanch as she realised she''d revealed more than she meant to when rebuking Joseph.

    "Mio Dio! Tasha, did you already know?" Sofia exclaimed. Natasha paused as she considered the best response, before nodding once. "What? When?"

    "Are you sure -"

    "S¨¬!" Sofia shouted.

    Natasha sighed. "Okay, if you want the whole truth," she started carefully. "I found out about the kiss a few days ago, and discussed it with Olivia to determine what steps needed to be taken. The decision was that since nothing else had happened since that it was best forgotten about - from a department standpoint. I worked out who sent the email the day before you found out you were being made redundant, but had no real proof and only suspicions didn''t think it worth reporting yet."

    Sofia swallowed, then turned to Zachariah and glared. "Tasha told me about the email when she found out, but given that was all I knew I agreed that there was no point officially raising it," he admitted. "Everything else is news to me."

    "You too, Toni."

    Antonis was looking rather more shocked than the others. "I walked in after the kiss. I knew something weird had happened, but not what. I eventually told Nat about my concerns, but she never told me what the result was. Nor anything about the email."

    Sofia nodded to herself as she suddenly felt very small and isolated as they confessed everything they knew.

    "Sofia, I -" Joseph didn''t get a chance to say anything further as Sofia threw the remains of her drink into his face before storming out of the club.

    <center></center>

 13. Aftermath

    For a moment none of them said anything as they watched Sofia leave, angry, hurt and betrayed.

    It was finally Natasha who broke the silence. "Toni, someone should go talk to her," she suggested as softly as the loud music would allow. He held her gaze for a long time and for a moment they all thought he was going to argue, before relenting that he was probably the best option and nodded before heading after their friend.

    "Zach, is Joe good to crash on your sofa tonight?" Natasha asked.

    Zachariah considered the question before also nodding. "Yeah, my housemates might be confused it''s not you, but they''ll be cool with it."

    "Good," Natasha decided, her voice much harder and it was clear that this part was an order, not a suggestion. "Keep an eye on him until we''ve had a chance to make sure Sofia''s okay."

    "No one would be okay after that kind of revelation, especially when we all knew so much more than her," Zachariah reminded her.

    "I''m right here, you know," Joseph grumbled.

    "Shut it," Natasha cut in. "You turned a small thing into a giant mess for the rest of us to clean up. I''m trying not to think about the shitstorm that is going to happen when I have to take this to HR. Which I really should''ve already done."

    "HR?"

    "What, you think I''m going to just let you bully a colleague and get away with it?" Natasha asked as if he were joking.

    "And if she did, I wouldn''t," Zachariah confirmed. "And I doubt Toni would either."

    "So drink up, wash your face and sleep it off on Zach''s couch," Natasha ordered.

    Zachariah didn''t give him a chance to argue and practically dragged him off to the loos in the hope that one of the sinks had working taps. He had realised Natasha had assigned each of them a participant to check on. That left her with a rather nonplussed Olivia, who was clearly gobsmacked any of this had transpired. Natasha sighed to herself and then rubbed at her face. "Come on," she waved Olivia after her as she made a beeline to the bar to order a half dozen shots.

    "Um, how many of those are for you?" Olivia asked timidly.

    Natasha turned a surprisingly mischievous look to her. "How many do you want?"

    Olivia glanced back at them. "Right now? At least two."

    "Race you then," Natasha said, reaching for the first one and Olivia followed suit.

    <center></center>

    In the end they split them evenly and Natasha led them out of the club and into the relative quiet of town as they started walking to the nearest bus stop. "So, how are you doing?"

    Even though they''d only known each other for a few months, the derisive laugh that left Olivia at that question surprised Natasha. She rather had the younger woman pegged as an optimist, or naive. "How can I possibly be doing after all that?"

    Natasha bit back her automatic reply, and just nodded to herself. "Then what do you need to hear? Or want to say?"

    Olivia turned from where she had been looking over the practically meaningless timetable attached to the bus shelter back to the other woman. "Why didn''t you tell me you knew it wasn''t me?"

    "I¡­" Natasha trailed off with a sigh. "Honestly, I forgot. And yeah, I know that''s a crap excuse."

    It was Olivia''s turn to sag, she couldn''t deny that they''d had rather more to think about over the last forty eight hours. She flopped down onto the cold and uncomfortable bench and suddenly started laughing. "I want to be so angry with you, and you''re right it''s a terrible excuse, but¡­ it''s honest, and weirdly that''s kinda what I''ve been wanting."

    Natasha gave a single chuckle at that.

    Olivia leant back so her head was resting against the cool glass behind her. "What happens now?" She asked, turning to where Natasha was still stood.

    "I wish I knew," Natasha admitted. "Sofia¡­"

    "You''re worried about her."

    "Of course I am," Natasha snapped. "Sorry, I¡­ probably deserved that."

    "No," Olivia said. "You''ve always looked out for us, or tried to. How did it come to this?"

    "People are dumb, every single one of us."

    "Even you?"

    "I''ve had my moments," Natasha agreed with a knowing half smile. "Though those are stories for lots more alcohol and less of an ongoing catastrophe."

    "That bad, huh?"

    Natasha turned away from Olivia and looked down the empty street and checked her watch. "Screw the bus, screw it being a school night, I need a lot more alcohol for the impending cluster." She paused long enough to look back at Olivia. "And yes, it is that bad. Allerton humiliated our department, we were already fighting for survival, Joseph''s behaviour will just be the icing on the cake when HR gets involved. I''m not sure if we can come back from this."

    Olivia blinked as the full weight of Natasha''s honesty hit her. It almost sounded like Natasha had given up, and if that were true Olivia couldn''t help but think it really was the end. Maybe she should mention this to Antonis or Zachariah? But right now more drinking was starting to feel like a good idea.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    She was broken out of her reverie as a pair of headlights lit up the street as the bus came around the corner.

    "Well?" Natasha queried. "Am I getting you home safely and drinking alone, or are you staying up past bedtime?"

    Olivia bounced up from her seat with a grin on her face. "You''re like the badass older sister I never had." Natasha grinned in return and they scarpered before the bus reached the stop.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Sofia!" Antonis practically had to run to catch up with her. He understood that she was angry and therefore in full marching mode, but how she''d gone that fast in those heels eluded him entirely.

    She didn''t turn to face him, but she did pause to allow him to catch up. Hugging herself against the cold as a way to pretend it wasn''t because she was hurting.

    But of course Antonis saw right through her, he saw through each wall every single one of them always tried to build. He simply opened his arms and she collapsed against his chest as she sobbed. He hugged her comfortingly as she trembled with her tears and emotions.

    Finally she said, "I feel embarrassed and ashamed."

    He chuckled. "You have nothing to feel that way about."

    "No?" She queried, pulling out of his arms. "He is my boyfriend, and yet I was the last to know that he kissed her and that he tried to punish her for wanting to tell me."

    "He wanted to hide it from you."

    "But no one else told me!"

    Antonis opened his mouth to argue against that, but closed it again as he realised she was right. "If I had known what I had almost walked in on, I might have handled it differently," he finally said.

    Sofia sagged again as she gave a derisive little laugh. "What could you have done? You had to raise it appropriately first, and that was not me." She started walking again, brushing her long brown hair out of her face in an effort to hide the fact she was wiping her tears away.

    Antonis sighed as he kept pace with her. "This sucks," he finally opted for.

    Of all things that finally made Sofia laugh. "We are far, far beyond that." He chuckled too at her observation. "What am I going to do?" She asked quietly.

    "Go home, sleep. Comfort food. No rushed decisions. Get all the facts you need to know how you feel about what happened."

    "Is it that simple?"

    "No," he replied. "But we all broke your trust in some form, not intentionally, but only you can decide how our reasons feel to you."

    "I¡­" Sofia trailed off. "I feel lonely."

    "Maybe also call your sisters tomorrow."

    "Yeah¡­" She trailed off, looking at nothing far off in the distance. "What if they judge me?"

    Antonis stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder. "You have done nothing wrong. There is nothing here that reflects badly on you."

    "He should have been able to come to me!"

    "Yes, but that is on him, not you," Antonis corrected firmly, eyes flashing on her behalf. "Na¨ª?"

    Sofia held his gaze as if his eyes could fix all her hurt if she just believed him. "S¨¬," she finally agreed with a weak nod.

    "Good," he said, trying to reinforce the point. Though he knew it would take her longer than this to start to heal, he could at least minimise the damage.

    "Toni, I¡­" She trailed off uncertainly, biting her lip and her hand slid into his hair as she stepped closer still. "I want -"

    It took all of Antonis'' willpower not to sigh as he gently extracted her hand and took a step backwards again. "Ochi, no."

    "But -"

    "You are drunk, and hurting, you don''t really want to go down this road."

    Sofia held herself tensely for a moment as she wanted to scream that he didn''t know what she wanted, before she broke down into a fresh set of tears. He was right. She just wanted to hurt Joseph because of what had happened. She just wanted to feel wanted. She wanted to feel not alone.

    Antonis wrapped her back up in a hug. "How?" She asked, and he wasn''t sure if her hiccoughs were due to the alcohol or her crying. "How are you always this nice even when we don''t deserve it?"

    "You do deserve kindness," he corrected. "You are a good person who does not deserve to be here."

    "Now you are just trying to make me cry."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Phone," Zachariah prompted, holding his hand out.

    "What?" Joseph demanded.

    "Gimme your phone," Zachariah explained. "Then I''m gonna grab some of my things and you can sleep in my bed and I''ll take the sofa."

    Joseph narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

    "Because right now, you and Sofia need space from each other. She''s hurt and if I were in your shoes I''d be feeling defensive as all hell - assuming of course I''m right in thinking you never meant for things to spiral this far - so talking will only make matters worse. Sleep it off and then try talking tomorrow."

    "You don''t have to do what Tasha says, you know."

    Zachariah laughed. Natasha''s main - and he was pretty certain it was her only concern - was making sure Joseph had a roof over his head tonight. Natasha would be assuming Sofia would do what she''d do, and that was not let him in if he went home. Zachariah just happened to have experienced enough of his sister''s relationship drama to know that attempting to talk when tempers were already high rarely ended well. He also knew there was a high likelihood of Joseph attempting to reach out to Sofia before she was ready to deal with him.

    "Are you really turning down an actual bed?"

    Joseph had to concede that point. "I suppose, at this point, that''s about as much kindness I''m gonna get."

    Zachariah was so close to reminding him that he had started a chain of events that had screwed over their entire team, but he also didn''t think that laying on more guilt would help right now. People didn''t open up when they felt like they were being attacked. "We all need time," he shrugged. "But we all know you, you''re not a bad guy. I just¡­ I don''t really know how we got here."

    Joseph ran his hands over his face as he fell onto the sofa. "Me neither," he admitted. "I just¡­ I panicked initially. That was why I sent the email, I just thought it''d sow some distrust so people would think she was the one trying to disrupt the team. Then the demo happened and it was so much worse than I thought."

    "If you could go back, what would you undo?" Zachariah asked.

    "Grandad dying?" Joseph suggested with a wry laugh. Zachariah''s lips twitched but he couldn''t quite manage a full smile. "I just wish I''d never kissed her. I don''t even really understand why I did¡­"

    "We all do stupid things that make no sense sometimes," Zachariah shrugged. "I guess it''s how we deal with them afterwards that''s the important part."

    "Yeah¡­ Guess that''s the bit you all think I screwed up."

    Zachariah sighed. "You don''t?"

    Joseph''s head snapped up at that. He bit back his initial response as he considered the question. "I still don''t understand how telling Sofia was a good option. It was unnecessary."

    "If Sofia kissed someone even if it never meant anything, would you want to know about it?"

    A silence lingered as Joseph thought about it, before he finally said, "I don''t think I would, no."

    "Why not?" Zachariah asked, completely devoid of judgement, he was honestly just curious as to Joseph''s reasoning.

    "Because if I knew, how could I not help but worry I was about to lose her? Even if I didn''t, what if she started to realise I wasn''t good enough for her?"

    "Same way you trust her about anything else. You either trust what she says or you don''t, and if you don''t, you''ll eventually drive her away anyway. Self-fulfilling prophecy and all that."

    "Should that not work the other way? Shouldn''t she trust me too?"

    "She does, or did certainly," Zachariah corrected as softly as he could. "Right now she''s trying to work out what just happened, and come to terms with being the last to know. I don''t know what the result of her processing tonight will be, but you can''t write it all off just yet."

    "How do you come back from something like this?"

    "By not presuming to know what she''s thinking until she tells you."

 14. Once the Dust Settles

    Olivia groaned as she rested her head on her desk. It hated her right now. "I was right, Tasha''s a bad influence," she muttered into her hands.

    Antonis and Zachariah laughed. "How long did you all stay out?" Antonis asked.

    "Joe and I headed out shortly after you went after Sofia," Zachariah explained in-between sips of his coffee. "I assumed those two were gonna do similar."

    "That was the plan, we got to the bus stop and everything," Olivia agreed. "Then Tasha realised how bad today was gonna be, so suggested hitting more bars."

    "Has anyone seen Tasha today?" Zachariah asked. "She''s not still drunk is she?"

    "Not this time," Antonis shrugged.

    "This time?" Olivia''s eyes went wide as she finally lifted her head back off her desk, her long ginger hair sliding away from her face.

    "It''s a rare occurrence, and indicates just how bad things have got," Antonis replied as if it were perfectly obvious.

    "Where is she then?" Zachariah asked.

    "With HR, reporting this mess," Antonis replied gloomily.

    "You know, last night it sounded like she already knew the outcome, and that she''d already given up," Olivia admitted.

    Antonis and Zachariah shared a look that did nothing to reassure her. If they had anything to say about that, they didn''t have time before the door abruptly opened so severely it banged hard against the wall next to it as Natasha returned to the office with an even stormier look on her face than they were expecting.

    For a moment no one said anything but just watched her stalk back to her computer as the door slowly closed behind her. Finally it was Zachariah who asked, "well?"

    "Joseph is suspended whilst they gather all relative evidence and speak to him - and anyone else they feel relevant," she explained. "I''m pretty certain the only reason I''ve not just received my third written warning to join him is because HR explicitly warned Allerton that whistle blowers are protected from retribution. Though I''m sure she''ll try and find another reason as soon as she can."

    "But that''s the scope? Just the email and bullying angle?" Zachariah asked.

    "Why? Should there be something else?" Natasha retorted angrily, then reigned herself in. "Sorry."

    "She really is hungover," Zachariah teased, pretending to whisper to Antonis who simply rolled his eyes.

    Natasha gave them a look that would have been withering if her lips weren''t twitching as if she were fighting a smile. "What else were you thinking about?"

    "The funding or redundancy decisions?"

    "HR was involved in both of those at the time - if I understand correctly anyway - so they''d have to find something pretty serious to go over those again."

    "Great," Zachariah muttered.

    "Then we continue where we left off," Antonis suggested. "We may yet find something."

    Natasha''s hands curled into fists for a second before she forced herself to take a calming breath. "Tasha?" Zachariah asked.

    "What are we fighting for?" She asked, trying to keep her voice even. "Can we save Sofia''s job? Does she want us to? What about Joe? Even if HR clear him, will he want to stay?"

    "That still leaves the rest of us," Antonis reminded her. Though from the way his eyes darted between the others it was clear he was weighing up if this was a conversation they should be having in the office or in front of them at all. "We have had new team members before."

    "Yeah, but not after a HR investigation nor a boss who screwed us all over," Natasha corrected, rubbing at her temples.

    No one quite new what to say to that. "Well, worrying about it now won''t help," Olivia suggested quietly. "Why not see how the HR thing pans out first?"

    "Not a bad suggestion," Zachariah agreed. "First we fix Barney, then we''ll worry about updating our CVs if it comes to it."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Sofia swallowed as she heard the keys in the door. She had managed to avoid the office that day, Natasha had rung her to say to take the day off because she''d got food poisoning. Sofia had been incredibly grateful for that, she had barely been able to face her sisters in a much needed comfort session, she had no idea how she was gonna face the rest of the team.

    If she were honest, she had no idea how she was going to face Joseph either. She thought she had deliberated over every possible angle to take during this conversation, but when he stepped through the front door and saw her curled up on the sofa they both froze as their gazes met.

    It turned out no amount of preparation was enough for reality.

    It must have been immediately obvious to him that she''d barely moved all day, she was still in her pyjamas, half wrapped up in a blanket with half a dozen wrappers strewn around her. Her hair tousled and no makeup to hide her puffy, red eyes.

    Stolen story; please report.

    Of all the things that snapped them out of it, it was a notification on her phone. Joseph shook his head as he turned to shut the door behind him and Sofia turned to flip her phone over so she couldn''t see what it was. Though she was tempted to look at it anyway, ignore him until she was ready, but she also wanted to get this over with. The waiting was painful too.

    "Can I sit down?" He asked quietly as he approached the couch. She nodded once and he took a seat. "I guess there''s not going to be an easy way to do this, is there?" She shook her head. He sighed. "I never meant to hurt you, please tell me you at least believe that?"

    Sofia swallowed. "Then why?"

    "Why did I kiss her?"

    "I meant why did you try and cover it up, but s¨¬, that too."

    Joseph nodded to himself as he took a breath. "I don''t know why I kissed her," he admitted quietly. "Every time I think about it it makes less sense, but I guess¡­ the grief was more overwhelming than I let on, and because I was out of whack, I did something stupid. She was just trying to be a friend."

    "I can¡­ understand that," Sofia figured. "People do stupid things when they are hurting, I tried to too."

    Joseph''s head snapped up at that. "What?"

    "I¡­ Last night I tried to proposition Toni," she whispered, a confession she didn''t want to make but knew she had to. Her fingers twisting together nervously as she considered how much she should explain. "I was drunk, I felt alone, I wanted to hurt you and I wanted to feel wanted. He said no, so I dropped it, and cried some more."

    She could see the way Joseph was clenching his jaw. He was definitely not happy with her for that, though that was probably fair. "Why tell me that? To retain some kind of moral high ground?"

    "I told you because I do not want any more secrets between us, because I want you to know how I felt last night, because I want you to know that I understand people do stupid things sometimes," she tried to explain. Though a part of her couldn''t help but wonder if maybe she told him because she knew it would hurt him. "Because if we are not honest with each other now, then I do not see how we can work this out."

    "Do you still want to?" She thought he sounded more hopeful than bitter.

    Sofia opened her mouth to say she did, before she paused to think it through. "Maybe," she admitted rather more honestly. Joseph nodded to himself as if to say that was about as much as he could expect. When it became apparent he wasn''t going to say anything else she asked, "and the email?"

    "She said she''d tell you if I didn''t, and I panicked because I didn''t want to hurt you," he explained. "I didn''t plan on something like that demo happening, I just thought that Allerton would mention that Olivia had been a useful source of information or something. Something that would make you distrust her when she told you."

    "Is that why you kept up the act?"

    "Partly, but also because how could I admit that I was responsible for something so much worse?"

    "Because you are not a coward."

    "Clearly I am."

    "You did not used to be," Sofia reminded him. "You defied your parents to follow your own path, that took a certain amount of courage." He turned away. "You also owe her an apology."

    He rubbed at his face. "Yeah, that I do."

    Sofia didn''t say that she''d also noticed he hadn''t actually apologised to her. Right now that felt like twisting the knife, they''d had an honest discussion, it was a start. She had many more questions, for the others too, but right now she wasn''t sure she was up for any more answers today.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "When you suggested going out somewhere tonight, I assumed you meant a pub," Natasha teased as Antonis led her to one of the campus college cafes.

    "I do not think you need more alcohol right now," he retorted in kind, sending her out in search of a table whilst he ordered them some hot drinks and pastries - hoping they wouldn''t be the stale remnants from lunch.

    By the time he joined her, she''d dug a book out of her bag, but when he put the tray down on the table she just replaced the scrap she used as a bookmark and set it down as he indicated which drink and muffin was hers. "So? What are you up to?" She asked as she shook the sugar pack to break up any lumps before tearing one end off.

    "You seemed very¡­ defeated this morning," he explained.

    As if to prove his point she practically deflated at the observation. "I¡­ I don''t know, this one just seems like a problem that can''t be fixed."

    "Why?" He asked, blowing on his own coffee before taking a tentative sip. "They are our friends, true, but the team has changed before."

    "I know, but I guess¡­" She trailed off as she considered how to explain what she was feeling, though she wasn''t entirely sure why this felt so catastrophic. "I guess with all the funding and managerial issues, this one feels like there''s deeper problems. Like at the root."

    Antonis nodded, that made sense. "So we fix that."

    "How can it be that simple?" Natasha demanded. "We have been trying to fix that issue for almost four years now, what chance do we have with a third of the team out of action?"

    Antonis wished he had an answer for that. "Are you sure that is what you are angry about?" He asked instead, deciding to change track. Natasha glared at him over her cake. He might have hit more of a nerve than he meant to, but he knew that she needed to face that. She knew better than to rise to it, so he pressed the issue, "I know why you did not tell Sofia, but that does not mean you are entirely happy about it either."

    If anything her glare deepened. "You think I''m using anger to hide guilt?"

    "Are you?"

    In retrospect, he should probably be grateful she still had the muffin in her hand rather than the coffee given that she looked down at her hands as if she were genuinely considering throwing the contents at him. Only for her to sag after a moment as if she was tired of everything. "Maybe," she finally whispered. "Everything has happened so fast over the last week¡­ I talk to Olivia at the weekend, on Monday I prove Joe sent the email, the next day Sofia finds out she''s being made redundant¡­ She tells us the day after that and we focus on trying to undo that mess."

    "That led us to last night," Antonis finished the sequence of events. It was a good job they''d finished work for the week and they had a couple of days to take stock. Though Sofia and Joseph probably didn''t view it the same way.

    Natasha nodded sadly, and took another bite, thinking as she chewed. "Sofia is a friend, but I talked to Olivia in a somewhat official capacity. I didn''t even think¡­ Maybe if less had been ongoing I would have had time to think about whether or not I acted as her friend or had to remain neutral, but it never crossed my mind. And that is what feels wrong."

    "Because you acted professionally?"

    "Because I never weighed up that against being a good friend."

    Antonis could understand that, he could have been in her situation if he had spoken to Olivia directly, but instead he had put Natasha into the impossible situation he sidestepped. At the time he had justified it as thinking that Olivia was more likely to open up to another woman, but given what had happened since he couldn''t help but wonder if there hadn''t been some kind of sub-conscious self preservation instinct underneath it all. Yet she hadn''t spat that responsibility in his face, so maybe his original reasoning was sound.

    "If we could go back in time, would you change anything?"

    Natasha laughed. "How far back in time?"

    Antonis chuckled with her. "The beginning of the week." Though he knew he didn''t really have to specify, he just wanted to prompt her into answering rather than deflecting.

    Natasha started folding the now empty muffin wrapper as she thought, carefully lining up the edges as she did. "Telling Sofia is basically tantamount to resigning, so¡­" She trailed off with a sigh.

    "Not quite ready to admit defeat then?"

    Natasha raised an eyebrow at the shadow of a smirk on Antonis'' face, only to end up shaking her head at him as a smile fought at her own mouth.

 15. Symposium

    If they thought the Friday following their disaster of a night out was awkward, the following Monday when Sofia was back at work but not Joseph was far, far worse. None of them knew how to act, whether it would be better to pretend everything was fine or accept things were irreparably different. Whether that was because they didn''t know which would be better for Sofia, or because they were being cowards about the latter, none of them were really sure.

    If Sofia were honest, she wasn''t sure which she would have preferred.

    On the one hand, after the turmoil she was going through with Joseph it would be nice to have some stability with her friends. However, in some way she felt like some of them had betrayed her in some form and she wasn''t sure she wanted to let that go unaddressed.

    "Ah, Sofia, you''ve deigned to join us today," Allerton greeted as she swanned into the office.

    Sofia froze, trying not to bristle like a cat when she knew that was exactly what Allerton wanted. "I am sorry, I was ill on Friday," she said instead, turning to face her boss.

    "Yes, Natasha told me you had food poisoning," Allerton confirmed, glancing at her phone as if she might have missed a notification. "Remarkable timing the day after your boyfriend causes a scene big enough that he needs reporting to HR."

    "Would you have preferred me to have been sick all over the office?" Sofia asked innocently. She had siblings, and cousins, she knew how to work an excuse.

    Allerton grimaced as she turned back to her phone, typing away as if she was dealing with an important email or text. Sofia wasn''t sure if she genuinely was doing, or if it was to hide her expression as she thought up a new line of attack.

    By the time Allerton looked up Sofia had turned back to her computer to continue working. "So you''re not going to ask?"

    "Ask what?" Sofia asked, turning back to face her boss.

    "If HR see fit to fire him over this, then there might be a job opening," Allerton explained breezily. "I just assumed that if you really did care for this department you would enquire as to whether or not you could have it if it did come down to it."

    "I¡­ I had not really thought about it," Sofia stammered, only realising too late that she shouldn''t have admitted to that. She should have said she didn''t want to presume anything about the HR investigation.

    Allerton chuckled and it made Sofia''s blood run cold. "And that just goes to prove I made the right decision to get rid of you. You''ve no gumption, no fire. And I''ve no use for doormats on my team." There was a pause. "I suppose that''s why we''re in this mess. When something isn''t right at home but there''s not going to be any consequences¡­"

    Sofia hadn''t realised her hands had curled into fists until the pain of her nails digging into her palm distracted her from the metaphorical knife Allerton was twisting in her chest. She forced herself to relax as she resisted wiping her eyes. None of this was her fault, no matter how much it felt like it. If she told herself that enough times she might finally believe it.

    "Since you were surprised to see me, who are you looking for?" Sofia asked, grasping upon a lifeline out of this conversation.

    "I was hoping to catch you all to run through a few points about the current mess we find ourselves in and ensure you all have work to do whilst I''m away next week. Who''s here already?" Allerton asked, turning briefly as the door behind her opened as Antonis arrived for the day.

    "Everyone but Tasha," Sofia explained, purposefully avoiding Antonis'' curious gaze as he tried to determine what he was walking in on.

    "No matter, I can''t wait for her tardiness, is everyone else in the lab?"

    Sofia nodded. "I will get them," she offered. She wanted a reprieve.

    Naturally both Zachariah and Olivia looked up from their work as Sofia entered the lab, only to lean on the door she''d just shut behind her. She took a couple of deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down.

    "Sofia, what''s up?" Zachariah asked, the first in with the question.

    "Allerton wants a meeting," Sofia explained.

    Zachariah and Olivia shared a look, but neither could add any further explanation. "What else did she say?" Zachariah asked.

    Sofia swallowed, then took a breath. "Nothing important," she said before turning to go back into the office, by which point Natasha had also arrived and was halfway turning her computer on as the others filed back in. Allowing Allerton to give her briefing relatively uneventfully.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "I swear to God you guys are trying to get me kicked out of my own house!" Zachariah yelled as he opened his front door after a straight minute of insistent hammering to find a frantic looking Joseph.

    "What?" Joseph asked.

    "Never mind," Zachariah decided not to try and explain that barely a week ago Natasha had been in Joseph''s exact place after she found out he''d sent the email. "Come on in, then tell me why the hell you''re trying to break down our door."

    Joseph stepped into the hallway as Zachariah stepped to the side so he could shut the door behind him, then waved him through to his room. "What did you do this time?" Zachariah asked once his door was closed.

    "Nothing!" Joseph retorted defensively, before reigning himself and raising his hands as if to admit he deserved that. "Allerton crossed a line! Sofia arrived home in tears today because of her!"

    Zachariah folded his arms as he straightened himself to his full height. He knew something had happened earlier that Sofia had sidestepped talking about. "Am I to assume you have a plan?"

    "You sound like Tasha," Joseph muttered, scrubbing his hands through his blond hair. "And yeah, kinda."

    Zachariah''s hands twitched as he automatically reached for a cigarette, before he remembered and instead reached for the electronic device on his desk and stalked over to his window. "Okay, go on then," he decided, as if he was resigning himself to disappointment already.

    "How do you feel about embarrassing the hell out of Allerton at a networking symposium next week?"

    Zachariah nearly choked on his fake cigarette in his surprise. "What?" He asked when he got his throat under control again, but still absentmindedly rubbing it.

    "My parents still make sure I''m in the loop when it comes to conferences and networking opportunities, and I checked Allerton''s calendar, she''s at this one even though it''s geared more towards industry than academia."

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    "And you want to do what, exactly?"

    "I also checked the agenda, she''s set to give a presentation."

    Zachariah took another puff. "We''ll get fired for this, you know?"

    Joseph shrugged. "For all I know, I already am. But we either admit there''s a line we won''t let her get away with crossing, or we admit that we''ll roll over every time." Zachariah blew out of the window again, gazing at the dark street before nodding.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Zachariah almost found the stunned silence that stretched between him and Antonis funny until the other man shouted, "are you trying to get us all fired?"

    "You''ve said it yourself before, we needed to get rid of her."

    "Yes, in a responsible way, not by causing a scene at a conference that will damage us just as much as her."

    "For all the luck we''ve had with that in the past," Zachariah scoffed.

    "So your solution to desperate times is desperate measures?"

    "She reduced Sofia to tears!"

    "Yes, and that is terrible, but what do you think her response will be to disrupting her presentation?" Antonis asked, humming pointedly at Zachariah when he didn''t immediately answer. "You think HR will take our side on this? They will see us being unprofessional and are more likely to sack us than her. You will trash your own and our reputations and make job hunting harder in the future. And for what? Revenge?"

    "So you''re just going to roll over and accept it?" Zachariah demanded. "Talk the talk with us but when it comes down to it act like a coward!"

    Antonis folded his arms as he straightened himself to his full height, though he was still a little shorter than Zachariah the quiet anger did have an intimidation factor. "It serves us better to fight smarter than go for broke," he said though the subtle pauses between the words suggested he was putting a lot of effort into keeping his voice even. Then he turned and stepped towards his door, and opened it whilst saying, "I think you know your way out."

    Zachariah glanced from Antonis to the open door and back to his friend, then gave and angry huff and stormed past him.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Never let it be said that Zachariah didn''t listen. He did. Sometimes.

    Not that it looked like it when he was currently wandering through the crowds investigating the different booths at the networking do Allerton was scheduled to do a presentation at. Partly for the swag, but mainly because the more he got talking, the more opportunity he had to drop hints and suggestions about what people should be asking his boss about at the end of her presentation. Joseph had reluctantly agreed to seek out his parents to network that crowd for the same purpose.

    See? He did listen to Antonis. They were now getting other people to embarrass Allerton.

    Hopefully.

    He was still going as back up, but he''d restrict himself to the science.

    Probably.

    "I''m going to assume you have an excellent reason not being at work right now?"

    Probably not, he realised as he heard Allerton''s voice and turned sharply to see her stood just to the side of the booth he was at. For once she wasn''t glued to a screen and was actually glaring at him directly.

    "Even if I did, would you accept that?"

    "No," she confirmed with a worrying smirk. "So skip the BS and tell me what you''re doing here."

    How many times had he rehearsed various excuses and now none of them were appropriate or even slightly useful to him. All because she''d disrupted their game-plan. "Research," he finally offered.

    "Research?" She clearly didn''t believe him.

    "Research," he repeated, trying to sound confident. "I mean, you wouldn''t be presenting our work here if it wasn''t relevant. So I came to nosey about and see what else was on offer that hadn''t hit the journals yet. Because we''ve been having those issues with sensitivity -"

    "Zach!" She snapped, and he raised an eyebrow at her. She took a breath and smoothed her clothes down - not that she needed to, it was clearly in an attempt to centre herself - and he tried not to get smug by the fact that he''d flustered her. Once done she strolled up to him and grabbed his arm to march him away from other people. He let her mainly because he didn''t want to have an actual confrontation. "Don''t you dare mention those issues to outside ears," she hissed at him.

    "Sorry, Professor, I thought that we were supposed to collaborate where there was a benefit."

    Allerton scoffed at him. "With you it''s far more likely to be sabotage rather than collaboration."

    "Why would I want to sabotage you?"

    "Don''t play dumb with me," Allerton said without even attempting to hide her sneer, before her tone lightened significantly. "And it looks like there''s more of you on this little field trip."

    Zachariah turned to follow her gaze and spotted Joseph, whose eyes were flicking between the pair of him in a mix of confusion and anger. "Is there somewhere he''s supposed to be instead?"

    Allerton rolled her eyes as she released his arm with a shove to encourage him towards Joseph. "Not the point, I want you both out of here rather than interfering," she explained, trying to stare them both down.

    "You''d know all about interfering," Joseph retorted.

    "Joe -" Zachariah started, knowing that making a scene here wouldn''t help. The crowds around them might be talking amongst each other, but they could definitely hear and would pay attention if one of them raised their voice.

    "No, let him, I''m sure HR would love to know what he''s about to say to me," Allerton goaded.

    "I''m sure they''d love to know how you sent a member of staff home in tears! I''m sure they''d love to know how you manipulate and belittle your team for your own ends only to take all the credit for a project you know nothing about!" Joseph snapped.

    Zachariah winced, but Allerton was rather calmer about the whole thing, even with the nearby people clearly pretending they weren''t eavesdropping on them. "Joseph, go home, it''s clear that you''re still upset over your recent breakup and lashing out. We don''t need to involve HR in this if you just calm down and think rationally."

    From the way Joseph''s jaw was clenching it was clear to Zachariah that he was seeing red at the unnervingly soothing tone Allerton was taking. He lurched forward before the other man could say anything else. "Come on, let''s go check out some of the other booths and head back to the lab."

    "You do that," Allerton agreed. "Do not loiter."

    "Zach!" Joseph hissed as Zachariah held him firm to stop him following their boss.

    "No, right now this is as much of a victory as we''re gonna get from this."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "Is Nat already in?" Antonis asked as he hurried into the office, not even bothering to remove his coat as he dumped his bag at his desk.

    "Lab," Olivia explained, unnecessarily pointing at the door.

    He barely remembered to thank her as he marched through to find Natasha running more tests on Barney. She grinned as she saw him. "Toni -"

    "Has Zach spoken to you?"

    Her smile vanished. "No."

    "He and Joe are going to do something stupid, or maybe already have done -"

    Natasha properly put the laptop down and turned to him. "Toni, breathe," she encouraged and he halfheartedly frowned at her before following her advice and taking a breath so that he could explain things in order rather than rushing through a nonsensical explanation.

    "They found out where her presentation was -"

    Whatever else he was going to say was lost as the door swung open to reveal Allerton. She simply snapped her fingers at them and said, "office, now."

    Natasha turned wide eyes to Antonis who glanced back at her with a rather more concerned expression. "Now!" Allerton shouted.

    This time they obeyed quickly to find everyone else in the office, though neither returned to their desks but instead stayed standing near the lab door. "Right, now that everyone is present, who wants to admit to their part in Zach and Joe''s little scheme yesterday?" Allerton demanded, looking around her team, watching the way they exchanged glances as if they could silently communicate with each other. "No? You really expect me to believe that you hadn''t talked it all through?"

    Zachariah opened his mouth, but promptly closed it again when Natasha shook her head at him. "You can''t ride this one out in silence, Tasha," Allerton said, having also clocked the motion. Natasha turned to Allerton and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, have you lost control of them? Did they finally leave you out of the loop? That would explain why Toni was warning -"

    "What do you think you know?" Natasha asked, drawing herself to her full height rather than slouching, folding her arms. "You''re clearly in a mood and want blood, so how about we cut to the chase and you give me my third written warning right now rather than dragging this lot through it."

    For a moment, Allerton was caught off guard and the surprise showed before she was able to school her expression back to stern. "Go on then, explain why you''re the one in the firing line and not Zach?"

    "You''re the one who was asking me if I''d lost control, what else could you possibly mean if it wasn''t that everything happened under my instructions?"

    The whole office was silent for a minute, as if Allerton were weighing up if it was a trap and to see what the others said about this. She couldn''t believe they''d just let Natasha fall on a sword for them. Especially when she could see the way Antonis and Zachariah were watching the room, and Natasha''s hand twitching at her elbow as if she could halt them with such a tiny hand gesture, as if keeping the slashing motion so stilted that she could hide it from Allerton.

    "Fine, if you''re going to play it this way, get your things and out," Allerton said. "Consider this your third and final written warning."

 16. Turning Point

    It was almost a surprise that Natasha went quietly, simply swinging by her desk to collect her bag, shoving her mug roughly inside before reaching for her coat and leaving the office without saying a word or approaching Allerton in one last act of intimidation. She just pulled the door open and waved vaguely behind her rather than say goodbye.

    None of the rest of them dared move as Allerton continued to scrutinise them, before finally giving up. "Fine, since you''re in agreement that this was ultimately Natasha''s fault, Zach you''re on your first written warning and I expect you all to be on your absolute best behaviour." With that she turned and flounced out of the team office and into her own.

    "What happened?" Sofia finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper as if she were scared of breaking the silence that was acting as some kind of fragile shield.

    "Zach and Joe got it into their heads to embarrass Allerton at her conference yesterday," Antonis explained.

    "We didn''t even do that!" Zachariah protested. "I did listen to you, you know, instead we spoke to a bunch of other reps and just stated what we were personally interested in with her research and what we''d ask about and the like. You know, let other people spring the trap. She just caught us in the foyer beforehand and basically chucked us out."

    "Then why was she baying for blood this morning?"

    "Because she always is?"

    "Zach!" Antonis snapped, making Olivia jump.

    "Joe might have shouted at her about her behaviour," Zachariah admitted. "She probably thinks someone overheard."

    "Probably?"

    "Okay, someone will definitely have overheard."

    Antonis just shook his head at Zachariah, as if he couldn''t quite believe what he was hearing. "And that is all you''ve got to say for yourself? Nat just took the fall for this after you gave us zero warning of what actually happened. How many of us even knew you were going? And what is your plan now?"

    "What do you want me to say? We couldn''t do nothing after what she did to Sofia."

    "You should not have done that!" Antonis shouted.

    "Wait, you did something so stupid for me?" Sofia interrupted. "What possessed you to do that?"

    "Joe told me what state you were in when you got home the other day, that Allerton had done that -"

    "So your solution was to publicly embarrass her? And you did not think that would end badly?" Sofia asked. Then muttered "idiots" under her breath in italian.

    "We had to do something."

    "No you didn''t," Antonis corrected.

    "Because there was another way?" Zachariah asked, his tone mocking. "We''ve been in survival mode for years and haven''t been able to do anything. Nothing touches her!"

    "These last few months have been far worse than the last few years, if we had played it smart we might finally have been able to do something. Or at least not get any of us fired!"

    "That was Tasha''s choice!"

    Antonis'' jaw twitched as the truth of Zachariah''s words sank in. The two men glaring at each other as an angry silence fell over the office, which was only broken when Allerton''s door slammed opposite them in the corridor.

    "Boys, not now," Sofia said softly. "Do not give her the satisfaction."

    Neither of them said anything, but simply turned from each other and Antonis headed back to the lab to try and see if he could figure out what Natasha had been doing, whereas Zachariah returned to his desk to continue the report he had been writing. Olivia and Sofia shared a concerned look at just how loud and aggressive his typing was, before finally Sofia gave a wry shrug and tiny sigh and turned back to her own screen.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Antonis wasn''t entirely surprised the only response to his tentative knock was a sharp "go away!" courtesy of the room''s occupant. "Nat, it is Toni," he said. When there was no further response from the room he knocked again.

    "I said go away!"

    "No," he replied, knocking again as if to prove a point. And as if to prove a point of her own there was no further reply from Natasha. "Please, can I come in?"

    Yet again he was greeted with yet more silence. He banged on the door again. "Nat, I will shout at you from the corridor if I have to."

    Finally he elicited a different response from her as she yanked the door open to glare up at him. "Can''t take a hint, Katsaros?"

    For a moment he was thrown entirely off guard. "Would we be friends if I could?" He retorted, knowing that her reversion to his surname was a way of trying to reconstruct a whole lot of walls after recent events. He wasn''t sure he could blame her for that. After all, she had just got herself fired because she let herself care enough to protect others.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Her face didn''t show anything, but the slight shift in her stance let him know that a part of her found amusement in that. "Fine," she sighed, stepping aside to let him into her room. "You have five minutes."

    He walked into her room and turned to her as she shut the door. "Then I will not waste time and ask how you are -"

    "Good."

    "- and instead ask what your plan is now?"

    "My plan?" Natasha asked incredulously. "My plan involves finding a new job when I''ve got no reference to show for the only academic job I''ve held since leaving uni."

    "You really are not going to fight this?" He asked. "There is no way her dismissal can stand. She had no justification, you did not admit to anything."

    "What''s the point, Toni?" She asked tiredly. "Even if I fight against it, I''m returning to a boss that manipulates us all, belittles us all, not to mention the mess with the team that will still require cleaning up. I just¡­ What''s the point?"

    He blinked at her for a moment. He knew she protected them as best she could. He knew that she took on extra duties because Allerton didn''t fulfil hers. He had thought she shared some of that load with Zachariah and himself. Now he was starting to suspect she''d been hiding just how much she was shielding them. Could he have been that blind? No, because if she was doing that she was almost certainly deliberately making sure they wouldn''t notice.

    "Because we want you on the team? Because¡­ we will miss you. Because you can share the burden with us. You do not have to do everything."

    She rubbed at her face before sitting heavily on the edge of her bed. "I want a time machine."

    Antonis chuckled at that, and dug his phone out of his pocket and quickly tapped away until he had the page he wanted and held it out to her. "I cannot get you one of those, but maybe this is a start?"

    Natasha looked up at him for a moment, as if she could glean something from his expression before turning her attention to the phone and angling it better to read the email he was showing her. "HR are investigating our whole team?"

    Antonis nodded. "They want to interview us all, to assess us. They also said they were going to run an audit, but not what on."

    "It''s probably just a fancy way of covering up the fact they''re gonna read a bunch of our emails," Natasha shrugged, letting go of his wrist so he could put the phone away. "You really think this time will be different?"

    "What have we got left to lose?" He asked, and Natasha almost managed a wry chuckle. "Why did you do it?"

    "Do what?" She asked as she looked up.

    "Take the fall?"

    She turned back to the floor before saying, "foolishness?" Then sighed. "Didn''t seem like there was any point getting all of us fired."

    Antonis chuckled. "I am not so sure, maybe it would have made a point?"

    Natasha finally managed a smile, unsure if it was because of his joke or because he seemed to have forgotten she hadn''t actually answered his question. "Aren''t you supposed to be the sensible one?"

    "I do not have much competition."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    "If you keep twisting that crust any longer, a seagull is gonna swoop down and steal it from you," Peter chuckled.

    Olivia''s head snapped up from where she had been staring at what was left of her sandwich without really seeing it for the last few minutes. "Sorry, I was¡­ thinking."

    "Given how hard you were glaring at that crust, I''m going to assume you were revving yourself up to finally take the plunge into adulthood and finish the whole of your sandwich this time."

    Olivia pretended to give him her best side-eye glare, though based on the grin on his face he knew she was fighting a smile of her own.

    After a moment he finally nudged her with his elbow. "Well?"

    Olivia sighed. "How do you apologise to someone?"

    Peter pushed his glasses up his flat nose. "You walk up to them, maybe say hi, and then say you''re sorry?"

    "Peter, I''m serious!"

    "Then maybe explain why that isn''t a viable option?"

    Olivia twisted the crust again before angrily throwing it towards a nearby group of pigeons, who briefly scattered before all swooping back to tussle over the prize. "You know how I told you about the whole Joe thing?" She asked, and Peter nodded. Naturally he had politely enquired as to what was going on once HR got involved, if she could say, and she had finally blabbed everything to him. "I need to apologise to Sofia for not telling her. But how? It''s almost two weeks since she found out, and months since the original incident¡­ I just feel awkward thinking about starting it."

    "Then just go up to her and say ''I know it won''t make up for not saying anything at the time, but I just want you to know that I am sorry about what happened and how I handled it''. Don''t wait for a reply, just carry on as you normally would so she knows you don''t expect forgiveness or anything really."

    "How do you make it sound so simple?"

    "Isn''t it?"

    "Maybe," Olivia replied with a shrug, her fingers playing with her long red hair now she no longer had the bread to occupy them with.

    "Nope, I''m not having that," Peter cut in. "I want you to promise me that once you get back to your lab after lunch, you''ll apologise to her rather than agonise over it for another three days."

    "That''s an oddly specific number."

    "And you''re evading. Promise me?"

    Olivia held his gaze for a moment as she considered her options. "Okay, promise."

    "Good." Then he turned from her to where the pigeons had finally scattered now they no longer had food. "Seriously, what adult doesn''t eat their crusts?" Peter teased making Olivia swat his arm, barely feeling it through his coat.

    ~-x-~

    By the time she was walking back down the corridor Olivia was already regretting making that promise. Her stomach was churning with nerves because somehow now it was imminent it didn''t seem anywhere near as simple as Peter had made it out to be.

    She took a breath as she recited his words in her mind. She could do this. She even had a script! She would do this.

    She wasn''t entirely surprised to see the office empty apart from Sofia by the time she returned. It would be just her luck. She nodded to herself and headed straight for her desk to put her bag down and enter her password as she sat down. Once she finished typing she turned to Sofia and said, "I know it won''t make up for not saying anything at the time, and I don''t expect it to change anything, but I just want you to know that I am sorry about what happened and how I handled it." She briefly chewed her lip before adding another "I''m sorry" and turning back to her computer.

    She could almost feel Sofia''s gaze on the side of her face, but didn''t turn back, just continued to scroll through till she found the file she wanted.

    "I am not saying I forgive you, yet, but I think I know why you did not," Sofia whispered when it became clear Olivia wasn''t going to say anything else.

    That made her turn back. "I should''ve told you."

    "S¨¬," Sofia agreed. "But you were going to, and then we did not trust you. Even if you had remembered, I am not sure I would have believed you."

    "I guess that''s fair, I really would''ve looked like a usurper¡­"

    They were both surprised that made Sofia giggle, only for a sad look to pass over her face. "I miss the way this team used to be. The jokes, the¡­ friends."

    "Yeah, I miss it too," Olivia agreed. "I think we all do."

 17. New Normal

    It was a door closing in the background that made Sofia look up, only to realise that she''d completely lost track of time as she took in just how many pieces of paper law strewn around her blanket cocoon on the sofa. She''d been doodling for hours - everything from phoenixes to waves, trees to storms -, though only now realised that for the first time since that night at the bar that she had felt okay. Maybe not quite a peace, but that things weren''t as bad as she had felt then.

    Her fingers traced over the lines in the spiral triskelion she''d just finished encasing in a circle of leaves. A smile twitched at the corners of her lips as she decided that once she''d refined it, she''d add this one to her tattoo collection.

    An awkward cough snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see a nervous Joseph leaning through the kitchen door. "I was going to make some tea, do you want anything?"

    "No, thank you," she declined politely.

    "It''s good to see you smile again," he admitted with a guilty whisper, before disappearing to put the kettle on.

    She couldn''t help but sigh. She knew he hadn''t meant it as a jibe, that he was just trying to start them talking again. But now the dust had settled she wasn''t sure she wanted to cross the divide. She would probably have forgiven him if he had just been honest with her at the time, but he had taken a route that had caused damage to her other friendships too. If anything the collateral damage felt worse because she no longer had those she would normally have turned to for support. At least she still had her sisters.

    And as much as she wanted to help him overcome his own hurt, she actually found it kind of freeing not to feel responsible for offering that support. It wasn''t that her relationship with Joseph had ever felt like a burden, but whenever someone she cared about needed help, Sofia always felt obliged to put them ahead of her, but recent events had shaken something loose. That she was allowed to put herself first sometimes too.

    Her finger finished tracing one of the loops and she took a breath. There was a conversation she needed to have.

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    All in all it took the best part of a fortnight for HR to perform the series of staff interviews and audits before they called Natasha back for a meeting regarding the evidence she had submitted to fight the written warnings she had received over the last several months.

    She was just being shown into the meeting room when she heard a shout down the corridor. "Whatever she''s told you is a lie!" Natasha couldn''t help but turn her attention at Allerton''s voice. "She''s spent years undermining me."

    Natasha didn''t have to say anything because the woman escorting Allerton got in first. "We''ve already explained that our decision was not based on any one person''s testimony. Now, please," she finished, gesturing in front of them to make it clear Allerton was supposed to keep walking.

    Natasha didn''t get to witness anything else as her own HR escort reminded her they were supposed to be starting a meeting and she stepped into the room ahead of him to get it over with. He was halfway through suggesting she take a seat when he realised she''d already slumped down. "Right," he said, more to himself than anything. "Well, as you may have already deduced from that little scene, Professor Allerton has been dismissed from her employment."

    That made Natasha sit bolt upright. "Excuse me?" She was actually surprised at her ability to distil that out from the sweary version that went through her head.

    "Whilst my colleague is correct that the decision was not based on any of your testimonies, it was one of your colleagues who first raised our attentions to audit your teams finances," he explained. Natasha raised a quizzical eyebrow. "When was the last time you tried to claim an item on expenses?"

    Natasha frowned as she thought. "Not for a few years, I can''t remember when exactly, but Allerton pulled all our access sometime during her first year here."

    "And you didn''t test that?"

    Natasha gave a wry laugh. "She also basically banned us from going on business related trips, we''ve actually had very little need to claim anything and the few times it was unavoidable she put it through on hers and reimbursed us."

    "So these are?" He asked, handing over a couple of pieces of paper.

    Natasha scanned them to absorb the information. It didn''t take her long, whilst she hadn''t used the system for a couple of years she remembered enough to recognise the expense claims with her name attached, and that they weren''t hers. "I have never seen these before."

    "I suspected as much, but we did need you to confirm that," he explained, taking the pages back from her with little resistance. "Those are just some selected examples, there were more."

    "Are you telling me that we''ve been suffering her all this time, when there was a seriously legitimate reason to sack her?"

    "Dr Crabbe you know I cannot comment on the reasons for the dismissal of a colleague. I can only discuss your own employment with you."

    "Right." She''d almost forgotten this was technically about her own job.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "In light of the recent revelations, your own evidence and testimony and the aforementioned investigation into your team, we believe Professor Allerton''s decisions against you were incorrect, and would like to formally reinstate you."

    "Given your unusual and specific wording, I''m guessing it''s not as simple as getting my old job back?"

    He couldn''t help his amused smile. "No. Mr Lambert is not being offered re-employment, and Ms Moretti has chosen to leave. Ms Pendleton is being permanently moved to another project to give her the stability needed for her PhD." He paused to let her absorb that as she nodded to herself. "Drs Granger, Katsaros and yourself are being given six months to wrap up your current project - which Professor Fisher has kindly agreed to oversee as well as becoming Ms Pendleton''s supervisor - before you are moved onto different teams as best fits your skills."

    "Is there any chance of being able to continue our project if we can get results?"

    There was a pause before he said, "nothing is set in stone right now, but I would imagine it would take only an incredible amount of progress for that eventuality to happen."

    Natasha nodded to herself, that made sense, and if she were honest, was a lot less bad than it could have been. "But for now my desk is still where it was?" He nodded. "And when am I officially back at work?"

    "We were hoping today, but given the circumstances if you need to postpone till tomorrow, that can be arranged."

    "Today is fine," Natasha confirmed, leaning forward in her seat. "Anything else?"

    "Naturally you aren''t to discuss the terms of Professor Allerton''s departure. If anyone asks you about it, please refrain from saying anything more detailed than misconduct." Natasha nodded to his explanation and then waved her hand as if to indicate he make his next point. "If we''re agreed on all that, then all that''s left to say is: welcome back."

    ~-x-~

    <center></center>

    Natasha couldn''t remember the last time she''d wanted to run to the office before, but knowing that she probably should behave herself for a while after having only just gotten her job back, she managed to restrain herself and only walk.

    She opened the door only for the excited hushed tones to die as if the occupants weren''t sure who was about to stroll through. "Tell me you''ve heard?" Zachariah asked once the door was shut behind her.

    "Heard? If I hadn''t seen her escorted out still calling me a liar I wouldn''t believe she was really out," Natasha admitted.

    "You saw that? We need details."

    "No, you don''t," she replied firmly.

    "And you?" Antonis asked.

    "Allowed back," Natasha confirmed with a half grin. "I''m assuming I''m supposed to be staying out of trouble for a while though," she added as Antonis pulled her into a hug.

    "But you''re still with us to keep Barney alive, right?" Zachariah asked. "They''re not instantly shipping you out to another team?"

    "This isn''t the military, Zach, they don''t ship us out," Natasha retorted, as she broke away from Antonis so she could put air quotes around the phrase ''ship us out''. "How much have HR told you about all this then?"

    "The only thing we didn''t know was if you were coming back," Olivia explained.

    "I am leaving, Gi¨´ is not coming back, Olivia is moving to another team, and these two are still part of the furniture," Sofia summarised succinctly.

    "Nominally with Fisher as our supervisor until they''ve decided what to do with us," Natasha confirmed.

    "I still haven''t worked out how to feel about that yet," Zachariah admitted.

    "But it''s Professor Gareth Fisher!" Olivia said as if that made it obvious how they should react. "I read some of his papers as part of my masters. That breakthrough on -"

    "And someone''s already gone into fangirl mode," Natasha teased, causing Olivia to blush bright red and lean back in her chair. "Honestly, it''s kinda nice to see you''re still capable of optimism like that after what you''ve been through on this team."

    "I''m just glad we know where things are going now," Olivia admitted with a small shrug. They all shared a knowing smile at that.

    "We do not need to know how we feel about it yet, we have six months before we even know what is going to happen to us," Antonis reminded them.

    "Which means six months to save Barney!" Zachariah suggested hopefully.

    "He really is your baby, isn''t he?" Natasha teased.

    "Or he is applying for tenure," Antonis added, making everyone chuckle.

    "I am going to miss you all," Sofia admitted.

    "Then stay," Zachariah suggested.

    "He meant to say we''ll miss you too," Natasha pretended to translate. "But we''re certainly not going to object if you change your mind."

    "Does this mean you are buying my drinks all night, Tasha?" Sofia teased.

    "I think Zach owes us all booze after that stunt he pulled," Natasha said, turning a pointed look on Zachariah.

    "Yeah, that''s probably fair," he admitted with a shrug.

    As the day progressed they finally found their groove again. After all the upheaval none of them really quite dared to believe it was all over and the dust had finally settled. That they knew what was happening now for some stability, even if it was bittersweet. It wasn''t a particularly productive day, but it allowed them to formulate the start of their plan for the coming days and weeks. Baby steps as they found their way again.

    As normal Sofia was the first one to leave, but this time Natasha hurried after her, catching up with her just outside the building. "Hey, Sofia, can I talk to you?"

    Sofia turned and waited for the taller woman to catch up, offering a half shrug. "Sure."

    "I¡­ Actually I''m not sure if this counts as an apology," Natasha laughed at her own uncertainty as she toyed with the folded piece of paper in her hands. "I wanted to say that I''m sorry I put official duties ahead of our friendship. It wasn''t fair on you, but equally doing anything else wouldn''t have been fair on the other team members."

    Sofia sighed. "I know," she admitted quietly. "I want to be so cross, but what else could you do? You had to treat the information you had in confidence."

    Natasha nodded. "That''s what I tell myself, and yet I still hate what it did to our friendship. I hate that it put us in that situation." She looked down at her hands again, and then held the piece of paper out. "I get why you want to head home, and with the stories you tell about your family they''ll do a lot more good for you than we ever could - no matter how hard we try - but this is just something to keep in mind."

    Sofia took it and unfolded it to scan the contents of the page. "This is a job advert for Salik''s team."

    Natasha nodded. "They need a new member in September when Lukas retires," she said with a shrug. "So it gives you plenty of time to think about it, so if you do change your mind you have an option." There was a pause. "And if you do come back, and we can be friends again, that we won''t be on the same team to have to test loyalties like that."

    Sofia couldn''t quite believe what she was hearing for a moment, her eyes darting between Natasha and the job advert she''d been handed. That even with everything else going on, even though their friendship wasn''t what it was, Natasha was still looking out for her and making sure she didn''t permanently close a door she shouldn''t do. Sofia wasn''t sure if she wanted to laugh or to cry. "Maybe we start with the drinks tonight, and then work out the future?"

    "That sounds like a very wise idea."