A drink at work was rare, but there was a reason. There had been a reason to drink from this bottle until it was completely empty - and god, she couldn’t even remember where she’d found the glass.
She had lost a client. It was a big venture - there were three agents on the case, but they had lost a man, and they had lost him brutally. The kicker was that everyone had been drinking, but that everyone had left, and they had left a bottle for her, specifically…. though none of them knew that she was a recovering alcoholic, and none of them knew how highly she valued this client or how sad it would really make her.
Instead of draining the bottle in the sink or taking it home, she took it into her office and had it all while hovering over her work, though none of it got done.
The motion of him taking her hand was what made her look up, finally, and she looked pitiful, cheeks stained with tears and eyelashes still wet, though her expression still had that sort of seriousness that she’d always stubbornly carry. Her hand squeezed his, and she nodded. She needed the contact. Perhaps he understood that.
She stood, wavering, from her chair.
he’s patient, and very much aware of how delicate this situation was.
in fact, in the back of his mind, gregory knows there’s a type of finesse
attached that he wasn’t exactly the best at. but perhaps, perhaps the lesson
here, was to simply ... simply be human. do not treat her as a case. do
not allow previous biases to interject. allow the vulnerability to seep through,
no matter how uncomfortable, and for her sake... stay strong.
she finally looks up at him, and his eyes lock onto her gaze. he’s glad to see
that she hadn’t pushed him away, hadn’t screamed, hadn’t thrown anything.
which, from his own deductive powers, (though, nowhere near the level of
sherlock’s) could deduce that it was now something work related, but deeply
personal, too.
ah. a danger that he knew all too well. but when she stands, so does he, and
at the slightest sign of wavering on her part, a warm hand is wrapped gently
but firmly around her shoulders as he begins to walk with steady steps, letting
kori lean on him if necessary.