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-~

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.

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"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-~

"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-~

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-~

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.