The group silently filed in. Minho rubbed the back of his neck when he accidentally made short eye contact with Jessica. He didn’t know why he was starting to get so nervous around her. Although, he did feel slightly responsible for what happened the night before because it was him who somehow convinced Yuri that it was a good idea to begin with. Now, they were fighting more than ever and he just wanted everything to stop. Of course, the two women bickering was a daily thing, but it was never this much.

“I’m just saying,” Tiffany went on. “If your sister and her friends would have turned the music off at midnight, we wouldn’t have had to stop by for coffee because we would have gotten enough sleep the night before. Besides that, we still have a lot of things to cover about this case and we only have three days left to do it. You of all people should know that we need to get everything done by the fourth day so on the last day, we can review everything and make sure that everything is fine.”

Amber and Ailee whispered amongst themselves. Neither one wanted to talk about the awesome breakfast they had this morning because Tiffany always loved it whenever Sooyoung made them food. Since their Boss was already in a fowl mood to begin with, it would just be adding insult to injury if they talked about the breakfast. Amber sighed and glumly looked at Ailee who returned the same look.

“And I told you that you didn’t have to spend the night at my apartment.” Jessica defended. “If you wanted them to quiet down, you could’ve just said so. Those girls are very obedient and I’m sure that they wouldn’t want to interrupt your precious sleep. And don’t even talk to me about the case right now. You of all people should know that I’m already busting my for this case. I don’t need you breathing down my neck, especially if it’s about being late because we had to stop by for coffee.”

Tiffany groaned and rubbed her temples. “Look, we have a very long day ahead of us, we haven’t even started our day and we’re already yelling at each other. Just shut up for the rest of the morning and then we can yell at each other in the afternoon.”

“Fine by me.” Jessica grabbed the rest of her things in her office and slammed one of the conference room doors behind her.

“Good!” Tiffany went to the other conference room and slammed it just as hard as Jessica.

Sooyoung and Yuri’s jaw dropped. Never in their lives have they ever seen someone get an emotional reaction out of Tiffany. She had always been such a reserved person and didn’t like to show too much emotion, not even when her dad had kicked her out of the house back in high school. Seeing an angry Tiffany meant that she would probably by herself the rest of the day.

“Did that just happen?” Ailee asked quietly.

“I think it did,” Minho whispered.

“What are we going to do now?” Yuri asked.

“We?” Sooyoung looked at her. “You and Choi started this entire thing. You two should be the ones to fix this because honestly, I liked it a lot better when we didn’t try to meddle in Ppany’s love life. Sure she ended up with Taeyeon for four years, but at least she wasn’t mad at us for leaving her at a random restaurant with Jung.”

“So what now?” Amber asked. “Should we just leave those two alone?”

“Where are we supposed to go?” Minho threw his hands up in the air. “We have a crap load of data in our laptops that need to be transferred so we have a physical, hard copy of it by the end of the day to show to Boss. We need a quiet place where we can work.”

“There is no way in hell I’m going back to that hospital.” Ailee piped in. “Those doctors and nurses are all crazy. We need a place where we can work in peace. The library is out of the question because we can’t drink coffee in there.”

“Where do you guys go?” Amber asked Sooyoung and Yuri.

“We usually stay in the office, but with the way things are around here, I don’t think Soo and I are going to want to stay here all day.” Yuri answered.

“So I guess we really don’t have much of a choice, huh?” Ailee sighed.

— — — — —

“I’m glad that you guys decided to come back to the hospital, even though the last time didn’t really work out for you,” Owen smiled as he led them to a quiet room at the administrative wing in the hospital. “I will let the hospital staff know that you guys are just as busy as us, so they will not bother you the entire day.”

“Thank you,” Amber, Ailee and Minho all bowed.

“We plan on making the most out of this day.” Yuri said shortly.

“If you have time today, could we, maybe, talk?” Owen said quietly.

Yuri made eye contact with Sooyoung for a split second who crossed her arms. “I don’t think we can, ever.”

“We need to talk about this if we’re going to keep working together like this,” Owen pulled her over to the side where no one could hear their conversation.

“Soo and I work for Ppany. You and Ppany work together.” Yuri said in a harsh whisper. “There’s a difference. The three of us don’t work together anymore. Let’s just keep it that way because it’ll just complicate things even more than they already are.”

Owen sighed, “I understand. Page me if you guys want anything. Pizza, water, anything at all, just let me know.” Owen waved to the lawyers. “I’ll see you guys whenever you finish everything up. I’ll tell the hospital to give you all some space.”

“Thank you,” Sooyoung said with her back towards Owen. “But I don’t think we’ll be needing anything from you anymore.”

“I’m still here if you need anything,” Owen sighed and closed the door behind him.

“What was all that?” Ailee said. “You two weren’t very happy to see him at all.”  

“That’s a story for another time,” Sooyoung pulled up a chair next to Yuri.

“Start working, Youngie and I have to start doing interviews.” Yuri stood up. “We’ll be next door if you need us.” Sooyoung and Yuri gathered their things and headed next door.

“Hi!” A perky voice piped up.

“Yes, Arizona?” Sooyoung asked.

“And look, she brought Callie and Meredith—” Yuri tried to sound excited, but her voice failed.

“You sound like you’re happy to see us,” Meredith rolled her eyes.

“Owen keeps on pushing us to talk to him,” Sooyoung said.

“Oooh,” Arizona winced, “That’s definitely a bad idea. He should let you guys feel your feelings first and then talk when everything is somewhat okay.”

“Babe, if they wanna talk to Owen, they should talk to Owen.” Callie placed a hand on Arizona’s back. “We shouldn't pry anymore.”

“Because last time went so well,” Meredith muttered under her breath.

“I don’t think I even wanna talk,” Yuri rubbed her temple with her free hand. “After what happened, I don’t think there is even any room to talk.”

“Do you think Stephanie is fine with everything?” Callie asked.

Sooyoung shrugged, “Who knows. No one ever knows what that woman is thinking. For all we know, she and Owen might have hooked up in college? I don’t ing know.”

Yuri sighed, “All I know is that Youngie and I need to get through this pile of employees and fax the report to Ppany.”

Callie gave them a sympathetic look, “Hang in there guys. After all, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right?” She forced out a hearty laugh.

“Tell that to Owen,” Arizona clicked her tongue. “Anyway, we’ll see you guys when you have the time, okay?”

“Okay,” Sooyoung nodded.

“Owen always likes to keep a lot of things to himself,” Meredith started. “I think he’s had some time to think things over. Derek has been trying to talk to him, but honestly, I don’t see much progress. My husband is pretty useless.”

“Make sure you tell Stephanie that when this case is over, we should all go for drinks.” Arizona smiled and walked away with her wife.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Meredith waved and walked the opposite direction from Callie and Arizona.

“Don’t work too hard!” Callie called.

“You think Owen really just wants to talk?” Yuri asked once Arizona and Callie were nowhere in sight.

Sooyoung sighed, “I don’t know. He might throw something at us again.”

Yuri laughed, “At least Ppany was there to stop him.”

“She may not be there the next time,” Sooyoung said seriously.

“We should talk to her about this first,” Yuri opened the door for her and Sooyoung to step inside the empty room.

“I really wish we could turn back the time,” Sooyoung placed her stack on her side of the table.

“We shouldn’t tell Ppany about this until after this case is over and done with. The last thing she needs is more drama from Owen.” Yuri leaned back on her chair.

“At least Meredith, Arizona and Callie are understanding about it.”

— — — — —

Are they still outside?

How the hell am I supposed to know?

Check.

No.

You’re impossible.

Yet you’re dating me.

Tiffany glared at Jessica’s last text message. She really was impossible, yet she found herself opening the door and looking around the office. She walked to Jessica’s  conference room and softly knocked on the door.

“So they all left?” Jessica stepped out and took a look around.

“I’m sure that we scared them into going to the hospital and doing their work over there.” Tiffany laughed and sat on the couch in the employee lounge. She took her jacket off and rested her feet on the coffee table. “I just need to take a little nap before I start working again.” She stretched her arms on the couch and kept them outstretched. 

“While you do that, I’m going to order some food because I didn’t get to eat breakfast because I had a house full of teenagers.” Jessica went to the nearest computer and started searching some delivery places.

“Care to take a nap with me?” Tiffany offered. She patted the empty space next to her. 

“So there’s no hand holding, but taking a nap with you on the couch is fine?” Jessica rolled her eyes. She pulled her phone next to her ear and waited for someone on the other line to answer.

“No one is going to be here for hours.” Tiffany pulled Jessica to her feet and led her to the couch with her. “We can take a nap and no one will even notice.” She whispered in her other ear.

Jessica pushed her off, “Will you stop? I’m trying to order some food and you’re making it impossible to understand the dude.”

Tiffany pulled away and made Jessica rest her head on her shoulder, “Better?”

“Yeah,” Jessica snuggled closer to Tiffany’s body. “Can I get an order of black noodles, bulgoggi, rice and kimchi please?”

“Would that be all for you ma’am?” The boy on the other line asked.

“Yes and the address is…” 

Tiffany seemed to have drifted off into slumber because Jessica’s voice seemed to be getting further and further away. She felt calm. Jessica was cuddling with her and it made her tense body relax when she sat down next to her. Something about Jessica had always made her feel comfortable and at peace. It was like she was her own security blanket. 

She didn’t know what time it was, but she knew that she woke up with a frown on her face. The warm body next to her was now gone. “Jessie?”

“I’m right here,” Jessica had all her work in front her. “You slept the entire day.”

She rubbed her eyes, “What time is it?”

“8:29.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Tiffany jumped out of her seat. “What’s all this?” She eyed the amount of work that was currently in front of Jessica. Most of the things she was supposed to be doing today was almost done by Jessica along with her work as well.

“You’ve been working super hard lately and I figured that you deserve a break, so I just ended up doing the work we were supposed to be doing.” She shrugged. 

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Tiffany frowned and took a seat next to Jessica. She wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

“You looked so peaceful,” Jessica leaned her head on Tiffany’s shoulders. “I didn’t want to wake you up. Plus, Minho was telling me the other day about how you didn’t sleep at all because you were coordinating the case, well, what we have of it so far. You do so much behind closed doors and I just wanted you to get a day to catch up on sleep.”

Tiffany’s frown instantly disappeared and a smile automatically appeared. “I don’t want you doing my half. That just doesn’t seem too fair though.”

“It’s fine,” Jessica nudged her side. “You owe me a kick date then.”

She kissed her cheek, “You can definitely count on it.”

Jessica pushed Tiffany’s face away from hers, “Stop kissing me. I told you, I’m not easy.”

“I never said you were!” Tiffany grabbed her by the sweatshirt and pushed her on the couch. Then her hands started to tickle her.

“Stop!” Jessica squealed. “I don’t like this!”

“Let me kiss you!” Tiffany demanded.

“Not until you take me to dinner first!” Jessica yelled. She tried to grab her hands, but Tiffany was surprisingly quick.

“Well, this is quiet a sight to see,” Sooyoung smiled.

“I win,” Arizona held her hand out as Sooyoung and Yuri placed a couple of bills in her hand.

“Looks like we’ll be drinking the fancy wine tonight,” Callie smiled.

“What are you guys doing here?” Tiffany slowly got off Jessica who hid her body behind Tiffany’s. “You weren’t supposed to be here till 9 tonight with the others.”

“Looks like you two had an eventful day,” Yuri walked up to Tiffany and fixed her hair. “ hair?”

Tiffany swatted Yuri’s hands. “I fell asleep on the couch and just woke up. It’s not hair.” She slowly sat up and scooted closer to Jessica. “If you’re done mocking my relationship with this lovely lady sitting next to me, when are the others coming?”

“The girls went out to buy some dinner for us tonight. Minho went to on a coffee and energy drink run.” Sooyoung motioned for Callie and Arizona to sit on one of the rolling chairs. “I think we’ll need as much as we can tonight.”

“Callie and Arizona are here along with a list of nurses, doctors and hospital staff that has contributed to making the hospital better, like you requested.” Yuri nodded.

“May I see the list please?” Jessica’s tone suddenly turned into a professional lawyer.

Callie handed the stack of papers, “Each and every one of us wrote a little snippet on why they are valuable and feel very strongly about why they should stay.”

Jessica handed the stack of papers to Yuri and Sooyoung, “Whoever is on the list of names we gave you earlier, please take their names off. Interviewing them is no longer our concern.”

“Wait, why?” Arizona suddenly got defensive.

“Because you doctors believe that they are capable.” Jessica explained. “We don’t have any reason to doubt you as doctors, so therefore, we don’t really have a need to see if they are capable of the job.”

Arizona nodded, “I see.”

“We’re here!” Amber announced.

“And we have food!” Ailee squealed.

“And coffee!” Minho grinned. “And energy drinks!”

“Perfect.” Tiffany smiled. “Put them in the other conference room. Then, when we’e done, we’ll move back to this one and have our nightly discussions.”

The three lawyers nodded.

“Oh, now might be a good time to announce that we have a new addition to the team.” Tiffany said.

“Huh?” Minho tilted his head. “New addition?”

Tiffany nodded, “He starts next week, when this case is over.”

“And you didn’t inform us about this because…?” Ailee lifted an eyebrow.

“Do I need to tell you every single detail of my life?” 

“Your professional life, no,” Minho shook his head. “But your personal life, yes,” He nodded.

“Is there something you’re trying to hint at, Choi?” Tiffany crossed her arms and gave him a stare down. “You can just come out and ask. There’s no need to be scared.”

Minho gulped. His eyes landed on the food, “Do you like steamed or fried rice, Boss?”

Tiffany narrowed her eyes at him, “What do you know?”

His eyes widened. He quickly glanced at Yuri and Sooyoung who seemed to be interested in their cuticle care. “I was just curious to see which rice you preferred. Besides, it’s not like someone sent me, Ailee and Amber a picture of you and Jung on the couch that happened an hour ago…”

Tiffany looked at Ailee and Amber, “Let me see one of your phones.”

“Well…— Umm…—” Amber stumbled over her own words.

“Tiff,” Jessica held Tiffany back and placed an arm around her waist. “It’s okay.”

Tiffany relaxed at Jessica’s touch and gave her a soft, loving look, “But you didn’t want them to know until you were ready.”

Jessica held Tiffany’s hand, “They were bound to find out eventually. I just didn’t think that they would find out so quick.”

Sooyoung, Minho and Amber groaned as they handed Ailee and Yuri $20. Yuri and Amber gladly accepted with smiles on their faces. Tiffany and Jessica eyed the exchange.

“We made a bet.” Amber grumbled. “It was to see when you two would come out and tell us that you were together.”

“Clearly, we lost,” Minho glared at Ailee and Yuri. “Lucky guess.”

“I just know my best friend,” Ailee smiled innocently.

Callie and Arizona giggled at the exchange in front of them. Arizona smiled at Tiffany, who smiled back. Never in her life had she ever thought that her friend, Stephanie would ever smile like that. Of course, there were times, but they never seemed to be sincere. But this time, this time, this smile Stephanie was giving her was genuine. It seems that dating Jessica could be the start of something beautiful for her dear friend. It was about time too.

Callie noticed that Tiffany would look at Jessica a lot like how Arizona would look at her. The way Tiffany’s eyes would light up whenever Jessica would smile or whenever she would take a step closer. Although it was a little early to tell, but Callie wanted the two of them to last.

“Let’s begin tonight’s meeting,” Tiffany’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“I’ll crack open the energy drinks,” Minho said.

“I’ll brew us some coffee when we finish our own drinks,” Amber volunteered.

“I’ll get everything else set up,” Ailee got up from her seat.

“We’ll help you,” Sooyoung and Yuri followed her out of the room.

“I’ll go get the food,” Jessica followed the others.

“I’ll help you out,” Tiffany followed.

“What do you want us to do?” Arizona asked.

“Just make yourselves comfortable.” Tiffany smiled. “We’ll take care of everything else.”

“No, you weren’t!” Amber’s voice rang through the office.

“Yeah, I was!” Minho defended. 

“How can a dude as tall and well-built as you get picked on back in high school and college?” Ailee raised an eyebrow at him.

“I was a little back then,” Minho sighed. “But I always got them to leave me alone.” 

“What was that?” Amber asked.

“Did you just play dead?” Yuri asked, putting the food on the table.

Did you piss on yourself on purpose?” Sooyoung asked.

Minho blushed and looked away, “I don’t wanna say it…”

“Now I really wanna know,” Yuri grinned.

“What’s going on?” Tiffany asked, walking inside the room with Jessica.

“Choi used to get beat up back in high school and college.” Yuri stated.

“No one ever picked on Callie Torres.” Callie grinned. “I was the kid everyone feared. No one messed with me. Of course, I had to get into fights every now and then just to prove to the other kids that I was untouchable.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t me,” Minho mumbled. “I was a little . I was scrawny and I guess I was an easy target. Now that I think about it, I think I was the school punching bag. The football players always looked for me on Freshman Fridays. I didn’t even know that those kinds of things existed in college. I thought everyone was mature in college.”

“It’s worse in college,” Jessica laughed. “Especially if you still wore braces and thick rimmed glasses. Those are the days I would really love to put behind me.”

“I stayed away from bullies when I was in school,” Arizona said. “Although, I was bullied when I did my residency back in the States.”

“What kind of adult bullies another adult?” Yuri asked.

“The kind who is jealous because I took all the good surgeries right from under her,” Arizona grinned. “She wanted to be me, but she just wasn’t good enough.”

“That’s my girl,” Callie gave her a high-5. Arizona grinned and returned the slap.

“What did you do to avoid getting bullied?” Minho asked.

Jessica shrugged, “I made friends with the librarian and never really went anywhere but the library for lunch, but when the library was used for testing and stuff like that, I went to my English teacher’s classroom and just did my homework in other classes. In college, all I did was focus on school, but even then, I was still made fun of. But since I was taking care of Krystal for a while, I started a lot later than the others, but still managed to catch up to them. I don’t think they liked me very much back in college.”

“What did you do, Choi?” Sooyoung asked.

Minho blushed, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“C’mon, we’re all practically family. You can tell us anything,” Yuri encouraged.

“Promise you won’t laugh?” Minho asked quietly.

“Promise.” Everyone in the room said.

“I would yell, ‘Stop, you’ll give me an .’” 

The entire room burst into laughter.