Clerical/IT Coordination Committee - Meeting Room Central B

As you and Jayne exit the stairwell on the third floor (and your thigh muscles are sure reminding you about your ‘workout’ the night before!) you see a few of your office neighbors standing in the hallway near Jayne’s door. Mati, your nosy coworker a few doors down the other hallway, and Kat Franklin. Kat is a friendly, outgoing older woman, and you recall she had seen you in Jayne’s car the previous day.

“Hi you two,” Mati says, her eyes darting between you. You know damn well this is going to be grist for the rumor mill, but you don’t really care anymore. You are dating now, and it will become common knowledge soon enough. You’re sure it will remain professional and proper between you two at work, and beyond that it’s no ones business. Still, that weird memo Doris, the Nurse in Charge, gave you implying it was against the ‘rules’ makes you wonder if some of the managers might frown about it. Well, fuck ‘em. Jayne has made you happier than you’ve been in years.

“Hey Mati, hey Kat, good morning!” Jayne says cheerfully as you walk by. You just smile and nod, and when Jayne walks into her office you fight the urge to follow her and just go into yours.

After booting up your computer and getting ready to at least try to do some work, you get a notification on your Teams chat client.

Jayne Hall: :) :) :) <3

You: <3 u

You’re grinning like a maniac as Jayne sets her status to Away, she mentioned having a meeting at 9, but she might have something else going on before. You’re just wondering if you’ll be able to wait to talk to her again before lunch - you already miss her like a teenage boy crushing on his first steady girlfriend - when a meeting invite pops up in your inbox.

INVITATION: Clerical/IT Coordination Committee - Meeting Room Central B - 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM

You look at it, confused. You’ve never heard of that committee before, and since you are the entire IT department you’d think you would have. It might be new, still a 30 minute meeting about anything is rare in this place - everyone who works for health care or government knows that an hour is the bare minimum needed to give everyone in the meeting enough time to complain about whatever they’re meeting about, never mind do anything about it. And who would book a meeting for something new for that morning, without at least talking about it first?

You click ‘accept’ and add the meeting to your calendar, then double click on it to see the participants. Ahhh, the only participants are you, Jayne... and Karissa, the organizer. Well, she did say she wanted an update on date night, and it looks like she’s not going to wait until the next time she bumps into you in the break room. You have to admit, it’s flattering to have someone so interested in your love life, especially someone so beautiful and charming her own love life must be a million times more interesting than most.

Smiling to yourself, you start up a hockey podcast and attack your daily list of emails, trouble tickets and change requests with the good cheer of a man in an exciting new relationship. Not to mention, a man who had a lot of sex the night before after an epic dry spell.

You’re so productive and focused you almost don’t notice the figure in your doorway. But before Jayne can knock, you take off your headphones and excitedly say, “Hi!”

“Hey,” Jayne is also clearly happy to see you. She walks in a few steps and says, “Did you send me that meeting invite? I was watching a presentation so I couldn’t tell. Something about IT, so I assumed it was you.”

You look at the time just as the 5 minute reminder pops up on your screen, “Hah, no not me. But we’re both invited, I’ll give you one guess who organized it.” You stand up and lock your computer. The ‘meeting’ is in one of the small meeting rooms just across the hall from your office.

Jayne has pulled out her phone to look at the invite again. She ponders a moment and says, “Clerical/IT coordination? That doesn’t make a lot of sense unless- ahhh.”

As Jayne nods, Karissa herself walks into your office. “Hi! Huh, we could have the meeting in here. Well, except Zach only has one good chair. We may as well go sit in Central B, this won’t take long!” With a cheerful hop in her step, the young woman sets off and you follow.

Inside the meeting room, Karissa waits with a neutral expression at the small table, and you can’t help but feel like you’re under review somehow. Jayne sits across from her, and since you are last you close the door and take the seat beside Jayne.

As soon as you sit, the polite facade disappears from Karissa and she exclaims, “Oh my god! It’s true! I’m so freaking happy you guys!!” She’s not yelling, or even talking very loudly, but her joyous tone and clear excitement have you looking around guiltily, as if someone else is eavesdropping.

With a rueful chuckle, Jayne looks at you and grins before turning back to the visibly thrilled young woman. “Ok Karissa, we had a good date. Very good. But it’s not a big deal, we’re going to see each other again and-“

“Not a big deal! People saw you leave together yesterday and Zhijuan Zhao, the PACS/RIS administrator, said she saw you two drive in together too! And Jayne, come on, I know those are the same dark grey slacks you wore yesterday. You never wear the same pants two days in a row. You slept over!”

“Uh.... well...” Jayne trails off, then looks at you. You just shrug, you already know Karissa is basically the Columbo of this shit and she’s going to crack the case no matter what. May as well admit it now.

“Karissa,” you begin, “obviously we trust you completely. But it’s really not a big deal, I’m sure some of the others will gossip a little but the novelty will die down fast.”

Giving a disbelieving snort that is somehow cute as heck, Karissa shakes her head and says, “Zhizi was talking to me at my desk first thing about how she saw you in Jayne’s car and then Kat was walking by, and she could tell what we were talking about and with a big smile she looked at us and said ‘Oh, they fuckin!’ and laughed. I laughed too, it was pretty funny.”

Jayne groans and you blush, but Karissa just giggles, “I am so very happy for you two! You’re just a perfect couple, it makes me want to dance around and celebrate! And if you were intimate already, and you clearly were, a lot - I can tell you’re both sore, walking around like you ran a marathon on the weekend - that’s great but even better now you’re all lovey-dovey and giggly! It’s so amazing, I’m giddy! It’s exactly what I hoped for.”

You’re a little thrown off by her scattershot conversational style and how matter of fact she is - is it really that obvious or is Karissa the Sherlock Holmes of detecting other people having sex? - but you can’t keep the bashful grin off your face. Jayne is covering her eyes with one hand, but with the closer one she reaches over and takes your free hand.

“Eeeeeee!” Karissa squeals so loudly she has to cover her mouth suddenly. In a quieter voice, she says, “You two are so dang cute! And don’t worry, I’ll think of something better than ‘Zayne’ for sure.”

“What?” You and Jayne say in unison.

“Oh, Erica and Kyrie were trying to get ‘Zayne’ going as a couple nickname for you, but I was like that’s so lame. Portmanteau’s are just zero-effort, I’ll think of something better. Besides, One Direction was a million years ago, and they were so overrated it’s crazy. Now if it was a BTS nickname that’d be awesome. Like, if Zach’s name started with a J and Jayne was named Hope it would be so easy, but we’re not that lucky.”

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me,” you say, hopelessly.

Pausing, Karissa just shrugs and gives you a brilliant smile and says, “Oh it’s nothing! Just thinking out loud! My Mom always complains about it but I’ve always been this way, you get used to it. Anyway, I’m done here but the room is yours for the next 20 minutes. If you guys wanted to, you know, whatever.”

Sputtering, Jayne says, “What?! No, Jesus Karissa we’re just dating, we’re going to be completely professional while we’re here!”

She looks at you for support, but you just raise your hand, with hers in it. While Karissa giggles, Jayne sighs and takes her hand back. “Ok, other than that. But Karissa you can help. Make sure no inappropriate rumors get started, it would be a real problem for us.”

“I will, 100%, of course. I won’t let anyone make up nonsense about you two, you know how gossipy and cliquish this place can be. I won’t stand for anyone trying to start shit, you two are too important to me.”

You’re touched. “Thank you Karissa, you’re a real friend. I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done for me, and for us now. Ever since I started here, you’ve gone out of your way to make me feel included and welcomed. I truly appreciate that,” you say, honestly.

Karissa pinks, the first time you can recall the young woman ever blushing. She nods, a tight smile on her face, and then clears her throat, “Thank you Zach. That’s very kind of you. I consider you both my friends too. I, uh, well... talk to you guys later!” Standing up, Karissa hurries out of the room, clearly flustered.

After a moment, Jayne looks at you and says, “We need to check her scores.”

You close your eyes and sigh, “Yeah, we do. We should have made her dormant yesterday. Shit.” For just a moment, you and Jayne look at each other. A pregnant pause, just long enough for you to think… wait, she’s not thinking of actually… no you both quickly stand and leave the meeting room. Don’t be ridiculous, sneaking off to a quiet, windowless room to make out with your girlfriend is so junior high. Not that you were cool enough in junior high to have a girlfriend.

Back in your office, you partially close the door behind Jayne. Not enough to make it look like there’s some funny business going on, anyone who looks into your office while walking by will see Jayne and you standing at the network rack, but if anyone enters they won’t be able to see exactly what you’re doing right away. At least long enough for you to minimize TAM. You’re not sure why, but being totally focused on Jayne the past day - and who could blame you! - and then suddenly thinking about TAM has you feeling a little paranoid. There is something about what you found in SB2-07 that you find unnerving, or at least extra unnerving beyond the papers, and you can’t quite put your finger on what.

As the SGI boots up, you look at Jayne. She smiles at you, but you can tell she’s a little nervous too. Without ceremony, you double click on the TAM shortcut.

===WELCOME Zachary and Jayne!===
1) SHOW Summary
2) EDIT PoI's
3) ADMIN PORTAL
4) SHOW Tutorial

5)EXIT
==CHANGES DETECTED! SHOW UPDATED SUMMARY? [Y/N]===

“Ok, that’s creepy and impressive. Do you think it would have my name there with yours if I wasn’t here? Like does it now I’m standing here with you or does it just say both of us because we’re the admins?” Jayne asks.

“God I wish I knew. We can test that later maybe. Well, here’s hoping our scores aren’t super embarrassing. Like, if my love score for you is super high and yours is, I dunno, 10.” You give a weak laugh as you say it, but Jayne is not fooled.

“I worry about the same thing Zach. But no matter what, we clearly care for each other so I’m telling myself not to let some numbers on an old computer freak me out. Naturally, I’m still freaking out, a little.” Having said that, Jayne reaches out, hesitantly, and hits Y.

===UPDATED SUMMARY===
PERSON OF INTEREST (Primary)(Dormant)(Admin):
Hall, Jayne (AGE 29, SEX F)
AFFECTION SCORE: 58 (was: 45)
LOVE SCORE: 33 (was: 15)
LUST SCORE: 58 (was: 1)
**Note: Dormancy prevents TAM assisted rate gains, stats measured only**

PERSON OF INTEREST (Admin)(Dormant):
Pritchard, Zachary (AGE 29, SEX M)
AFFECTION SCORE: 76 (was: 74)
LOVE SCORE: 39 (was: 29)
LUST SCORE: 61 (was: 46)
**Note: Dormancy prevents TAM assisted rate gains, stats measured only**

Martin, Karissa (AGE 19, SEX F)
AFFECTION SCORE: 53/48 (was: 49/??)
LOVE SCORE: 47/20 (was: 37/??)
LUST SCORE: 45/49 (was: 16/??)
**Note: PoI gains apply to multiple admins! Valid A/L/L scores for multiple admins!**

“Oh dear,” Jayne mutters to herself, and you’re not even sure what about. You, despite Jayne’s sound advice, are a wee bit embarrassed that you are clearly slightly more into Jayne (in love with? Shut up brain!) than she is in you, but you at least can tell yourself that her scores shot up a lot and that was while TAM was not presumably affecting her.

With an abashed chuckle, Jayne mock covers her eyes and says, “Wow, my lust score goes from 1 to 58, and that’s after last night. I’m going to just blame that on our aggressive cuddling this morning! I’m not really a sex addict, I swear!”

Whatever small tension was in you dissipates and you laugh, “That’s too bad Hallsy, judging by my scores I’m even worse! You turned me into a horny teenage boy after one date, I’m going to have to carry a bunch of textbooks in front of me like in a Judy Bloom novel.”

“God Zach, every time I think you’ve made the dorkiest reference I will ever hear in my life you go and outdo yourself.” You both grin at each other, then you look back at the blue screen of the TAM window.

“What are we going to do with Karissa? I assume the first score listed under Karissa is for me, and the second one is for you but that's just a guess. Should we try that reset function? I feel terrible that I did this, that this thing is apparently changing her feelings. Although, the fact she has love and lust scores for you would mean she would have had some feelings for you anyway, and they must not have been small to go up that high after just a few conversations.”

Sighing, Jayne takes of her glasses and rubs her eyes, “I can’t even process that right now. I guess maybe I don’t know Karissa as well as I assumed I did. But do you want to just use that factory reset? The tutorial says it would make all the gains from TAM go down over time. Would that be weird for her? Would she suddenly just think about us less or would she, I don’t know, get mad at us for no reason and that would lower her scores? I hate to say it, but maybe we should tell her?”

You frown, “Tell her? About TAM? Like show her all this? What if she freaks out? I mean, I get it. Telling her is the best, most ethical thing; just giving her the info and letting her make an informed choice. But this shit is so weird and impossible, what if she doesn’t believe it? How would we demonstrate it to her that wouldn’t just make more problems in the end?”

Jayne lets out a long breath and you both stand there, staring at the screen and trying to decide what to do about Karissa.

Authors Note:

Hi, lame note time, but for one of my other ongoing stories I am commissioning some art. If anyone wants to donate a few dollars I would truly appreciate it!
All the money (and a lot more) will go to the art I am having made for my new (and old) Ella and Evan stories. At this time, I do not have any plans to have art made for Zayne. I mean, Zach and Jayne. We do need a nickname for them huh.

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