Work Stuff kicks in

With Garrison coming imminently, Sabrina nudged Andy to wake him up. It ended up taking a concerted shake to actually get him blinking and moving. He looked around the room blearily. “Oh, hey guys,” he said. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing, dude,” you said. “You just need to look like you’re working.”

“Right, right,” he mumbled and started absently tapping on the keys of his laptop. Sabrina reached over and turned it on for him.

It was another ten minutes before Garrison showed up in the doorway to the conference room. “Good morning, folks,” he said.

“Good morning,” Gemma and Sabrina both said. You’d already said good morning to him in the hallway so it felt weird to say it again.

“How was the extra long weekend?” he asked.

“Very good, sir,” you said. “We took a trip out to the beach.”

He did that sort of frown and nod motion that said he approved but didn’t actually care enough to say something or ask questions. “Great. I hope you’re coming back relaxed and ready to work. Just so you're aware, I did end up receiving another strongly worded Cease and Desist from the lawyer of the ‘DeezChains’ guy yesterday, so I called him directly. You shouldn’t have anything more to worry about unless you go looking for trouble. It sounds like his lawyer is milking billable hours out of him by following through on his fruitless and petty demands. Certainly unethical in my book, and in an ethically grey area professionally, but he’s within his bounds to follow his client's orders until it infringes on someone else. I’ve let him know harassing you with frivolous legal censures will qualify.”

“Thank you, sir,” Gemma said. “And I promise, we haven’t been doing anything to keep that going.”

“My pleasure,” Garrison smirked. You got the feeling he’d had fun tangling with whatever slimy lawyer DeezChains had on retainer. “So, you three are back to regular assignments and hours for now. Court for the merger case begins on Friday, so I’ll be taking you all to that for the day. Plan to be on point and take notes.”

Eric perked up, hearing that he would be coming along as well. Andy, on the other hand, looked like his eyelids were fighting to stay open and he didn’t really react.

“That’s all for now,” Garrison said. “John, come see me in my office in an hour.”

“Yes, sir,” you nodded and Garrison left.

“What’s he want to see you about?” Sabrina asked.

“No idea,” you said. That got her, Gemma and Eric guessing, but you really didn’t know. It could have been any of their suggestions, or none of them.

An hour later on the dot you got up from your work and slipped by Gemma, touching her shoulder briefly as you walked by her. Down at the other end of the building you knocked on Garrison’s office door. He gestured you in and pointed at a seat without raising his eyes from the document he was reading. You sat and waited for a couple of minutes as he continued to read, grunting every once in a while as he read something that was either notable, or interesting, or something.

Finally, Garrison set the document down and looked up at you. “John, you are starting to feel like a problem child for me,” he said.

“I’m sorry, sir?” you asked.

He reached up and wiped at his forehead as he sighed. “This morning I had a second Cease and Desist on my desk with your name on it. This one was from Joy.”

I blinked. “Wait… really? What am I supposedly doing?”

“Defamation, as far as I can tell. You had a run-in at a ‘function’ and decried her honour, or something.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” you grunted.

“So that did happen?”

“Well, if you call a house party at a friend’s apartment a ‘function,’ and me ‘decrying her honour’ just telling her she sucked, then yes,” you admitted.

“Alright, well, I’ll probably be able to make this go away by lunch,” he said. “Joy didn’t do it through her mother, so I assume she doesn’t know. I’ll remind her that her daughter suing a member of her firm will damage the firm, which directly impacts her chequebook. That should be enough.”

‘Thank you, sir,” you said.

“This one isn’t for you,” he said. “But like I said, this is starting to look way too much like a pattern. Either you need to start playing nicer with people, or you need to be ready to pay me for my services. I’m not fielding another one of these without good reason.”

“Understood, sir,” you said. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Good,” he nodded. “Now get back to work, and send Sabrina down here.”

You left, shaking your head. Joy had waited to make her strike, or maybe it had just taken that long for her to find a lawyer willing to draft the letter for her. Then again, you had a feeling if you did some checking the lawyer was probably young and in the same social circle as her. Or it was from ‘a lawyer’ and she’d drafted it herself.

Back in the conference room you told Sabrina she was being called up next.

“What’s it about?” she asked.

“Probably not the same thing as mine,” you said.

“Gee, be less descriptive,” Gemma said sarcastically.

“Joy tried to C&D me over the party thing,” you said. “Garrison is going to squash it. I don’t know what he wants you for.”

“OK,” Sabrina exhaled a little nervously. “How do I look?”

“Perfect,” Gemma said. “Put together. Ready to take on the world.”

“Thanks,” Sabrina grinned at your shared girlfriend.

Gemma blew her a kiss and Sabrina left for her meeting. You settled in back to work and ended up starting to worry a bit as time dragged on and Sabrina wasn’t returning. At a quarter to noon you and Gemma were trading looks, wondering where the brunette was.

At noon you got up and got ready to head down to the convenience store, still no Sabrina.

She caught up to you at the elevators.

“What was that about?” Gemma asked.

“You guys are not going to guess,” she said with a grin.

“If we can’t guess, just tell us,” you said.

“I aced my last practice LSAT,” Sabrina said. “Garrison wants me to lead our team in a head-to-head mock trial with the interns at a firm across town.”

“Holy shit,” you said. “Sabrina, that’s huge!”

“I know,” she grinned and then laughed as you and Gemma crushed her in a hug between the two of you.

“I’m so proud of you, baby,” you whispered to her during the hug.

“Thanks,” she whispered back, her smile beaming wide enough you thought she might pull a muscle in her cheek. “I can’t wait to get started.”

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