you should have left.

V looked up when the knock came, but didn’t have time to answer before Avery had opened the door. “What?”

He was mostly done with work for the day, but the clock showed 4.56 and he might as well be a dick. “You’re not off for another four minutes, Avery, and neither am I.”

V shook his head the entire way back to his own office, but he’d gotten a woefully unqualified assistant in Avery, and that was really what mattered, in the end.

V sighed. “I prefer just V, or some variation of dude if you really must, but really, I have a name.” He looked at Avery’s face, all self-satisfied smirk and cocky confidence. “Get to work.” He turned to leave.

“Oh- would you, Ted? That would be great.” Charlotte answered, reaching to take Ted’s hand again. “Thank you so much. Ah- I hate to ask this of you, but do you think you might be able to take care of them until I get out?” She asked with a small frown. “Or at least find someone who can. I… don’t know that Sam would really be able to give them the attention they need.”

V rolled his eyes just slightly. “See you later, Avery.” He turned to leave. “Actually, could you do me a favour? Never call me boss again.”

V shook his head slightly. “I don’t-” He stopped himself when he saw Avery’s smile; smirk, really. “Fine, sounds good.”

He sent a smile back, mostly cheap and fake, but hey, he was basically Avery’s boss now. “That’s after work. Now: Statements. Sorting. Get to it.”

There was no way Avery was watching V coming to terms with the fact that they were going out for drinks after work and not letting his smirk widen a bit.

V laughed; Avery really was a terrible liar. “I don’t doubt that you will.”

The office they came to was sparse, just a desk and a chair and a bookshelf, but like the rest of the archive, it was covered in misfiled statements. “Nothing yet. Jon had us trying to sort out statements, so I should like to continue that; you can start with what’s in here, just order it by date for now.” He decidedly didn’t mention anything about celebration.

Maybe V’s laugh should have bothered him. But in that train of thoughts, Elias Bouchard’s smug smile should have bothered him as well. As far as Avery was concerned, it didn’t matter wether they believed him or not. He had a job that paid better than bartending had and as long as he wasn’t fired, that wasn’t his responsibility, nor was it his problem to sort out.

“Oh, uh- th-thank you, Ted.” She said, giving him a small smile and taking the water. “Oh, no, I’m alright. I just-” Charlotte paused for a moment, her smile falling away again. “I’m worried. About the cats. It’s always been my responsibility to feed them, and I can’t exactly do that from here, Ted.”

The question elicited another laugh from V, who got up and gestured for Avery to follow. “I’ll show you.”

He led him to the office he was to be using. “An archival assistant mostly helps me with investigations,” he explained while walking. “When working for Jon I’d just… Well, Jon always accused Tim of flirting his way to answers, but really, he just knew a lot of people. I didn’t.” V sent Avery a smile as he pushed the door open. “Neither do you, I suppose. I might have you do some other stuff, we’ll see.”

Avery followed. He might as well, right?

V choked another laugh at Avery’s affected nonchalance. “Good. I’ve spoken to Sonya, you can transfer immediately. You can take Martin’s old office, I somehow doubt he’ll be coming back.” V handed over a form. “Oh, and you’ll need to sign this.

V gestured to the chair in the corner of his office. “Have a seat.”

He sat himself down behind the desk. “So, as I said, I’m the new archivist, I’m taking over since Jon left. Well, I’m in need of an assistant and was looking through some of the employees here at the institute, and your resume is very… Impressive.” He couldn’t quite contain a laugh. “So I’m offering you the job.”

He got seated, one leg casually slung over the other, and he listened to what this V had to say. He usually didn’t mingle much with the archival staff, save for Sasha James, and of all things he could have been brought in here for today, this was certainly not what he had expected.

As it turned out, V wasn’t much different from Elias Bouchard. Both had laughed at the mention of his resume, looked so sure of themselves and both times, Avery had smiled confidently and they had offered him the job. So he shrugged. “It’s just Yale,” he said casually. Subtlety had never been his forte and especially not when it came to lies. “I’m in artifact storage. I’ll take it.”

As she waited for him to return, Charlotte looked around the room for a moment and felt a slight frown begin to spread across her face as she thought back to the events that lead to her being in the hospital. She noticed her good hand shaking slightly after a moment, squeezing it into a fist and closing her eyes.

She smiled up at him again, a light blush coloring her face slightly as she took his hand in her own. “Well… if you’re really sure…” Charlotte hesitated for a moment before pulling her hand away again, clearing her throat slightly. “Ah- could you please get a nurse to bring me some water? I’m pretty thirsty.”

“Well- it was really nice of you to come see me, Ted, but I don’t want you getting in trouble with Mr. Davidson.” Charlotte said, offering him a small smile for a moment. “You should go to work. I… I’ll still be here at the end of the day…” She let out a quiet sigh, frowning slightly and looking away from Ted again.

Looking back over at him, Charlotte bit her lip gently and stayed silent for another moment before speaking, her voice shaking slightly. “Y… yes. That’s what happened, Ted, it wasn’t… anything else, I promise. Really. Don’t worry.” She said, her eyes flicking away again before returning to him. At Ted’s next question, she sighed quietly and fidgeted slightly with her good hand. “Sam… he was here last night, and he’s probably at work by now. Speaking of, why aren’t you at work, Ted? How did you even know I was here?”

Charlotte’s eyes slowly opened at his touch and she looked up at Ted, a small smile at seeing him appearing on her face for a moment that quickly faded away when she remembered where she was. “T-Ted? What- why are you-” The woman began, her voice slightly hoarse as she spoke. “I… I tripped. Down the stairs.” She finally said after a few moments of hesitation, moving her gaze away from him to stare up at the ceiling.

The fact that a small smile appears on Charlotte’s lips is the most wonderful thing ever, but at the same time, it is incredibly sad; because just as fast as it gets there, it’s gone again. And Ted has to think of other things, like the question she’s not quite asking and how hoarse her voice sounds. Or if he’s going to believe her. “You tripped,” he repeated, perhaps a bit more dry than he intended. “Down the stairs.  And you ended in the hospital?” She wasn’t meeting his eyes and all it does is make him think he’s right in his suspicions. Dammit!