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-~

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.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, 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-~

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, Giù 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."