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-~

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.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

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 sì, 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-~

"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.