"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-~

"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?"

"Naí," 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-~

"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."

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"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-~

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.

"Giù, 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 -"

"Sì!" 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.