Coffee and last night's leftover tuna sandwich, not the most balanced breakfast and certainly not the most pleasant smelling one. Unfortunately, while Beau’s supervisor shouted in her face that's all she was able to focus on as she hung her head in shame. “Are you even listening to me?!” Mrs. Williams threw up her hands as she paced the room. She was uptight but she did her job well, despite her age she still managed to get a few streaks of grey hair begin to fade in. Pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration she turns to Beau once more, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “Not only did you completely disregard our testing policies but you also put the most important person of this branch in a coma, oh and let's not forget the fact you destroyed half a year's worth of progress when we were supposed to present it in a month!” Mrs. Williams's face was red you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears over how furious she was. “Now you’re telling me this ridiculous story to what? Is this some kind of lazy plan to save your ass from the higher up? We scanned you, there is nothing wrong with your brain, Ms. Beaz, and the more you try to spin this story the more I’m concerned for your mental health.” She huffed crossing her arms while shaking her head like a disapproving mother. 

“Was she always this stubborn?!” Damien groaned in annoyance as Beau felt it was very hard to push her voice out of her mouth in this situation. She was terrified of getting killed or locked up if she spoke out of turn but Damien kept pushing for her to explain further. “Stand up for yourself Ms. Beaz!” He allowed her to squeeze his hand for support before she let out a shaky breath while looking up at Mrs. Williams. 

“I told you I can prove it! He just doesn’t want to tell me anything confidential for my own safety!” Beau sat up straight as she argued back. Mrs. Williams threw her head forward with an amused chuckle.

“Get real honey, I don’t know if you had a crush or something on the poor guy but trust me when I say he’s a cruel mother fucker who doesn’t care about anyone's safety, barely even his own.” Her cold and casual voice made Beau feel sick. Mrs. Williams sat back at her desk and opened a drawer. “You have a meeting with the higher-ups in 4 weeks, they’ll decide what to do with you then, I suggest you get your affairs in order and until then you are suspended on behalf of the Blight Agency. If you so choose to not attend your meeting or try to skip town, you will be hunted down and that's a promise.” She slides over a signed document to Beau. “You will now be escorted out of the building.” And with a push of a button, two large security personnel enter the room. Hanging her head down in shame she is forced to walk down the hall in front of all her coworkers. She avoided eye contact the best she could but managed to catch a glimpse of Brenda’s apologetic face. 

“I knew she’d break eventually under the stress but I didn’t think she’d do something like this…” One whispered to Brenda. Guilt began to chew at her, beginning to she may have ruined a hard-working employee. As Beau was escorted into her own car she drove away, holding in tears. 

“Ms. Baez, please don’t hold it in for my sake, it’s ok to cry.” Damien attempted to comfort her as she focused her glazed-over eyes on the road. A loud sniff and a long slow breath escaped her lips as she rubbed her runny nose. 

“No, I don’t deserve to, I made this bed now I have to lie in it” Her voice shook stubbornly as Damien let out a sigh, the pressure building up in her chest, constantly holding in her breath so she wouldn’t let out an involuntary sob. 

“Hmm…” He mused aloud trying to think of ways to get her to relax before she combusts in the middle of traffic. “Can you turn right here?” Damien asked, a plan beginning to form in mind. Beau does as she's told with no argument just a small sniffle and pushed down hiccups. After a few more directions later she arrives at the tiny liquor shop. 

“What good is that going to do? It’s all overpriced bull shit anyways” Beau’s head leaned against the steering wheel a million thoughts running through her head but luckily Damien is louder. 

“Come on, I’ll pay you back once I’m in my own body.” He’s usually the one to be wallowing in self-pity so it's definitely a change of pace for him to be the glass half full for her. Again no argument she accepts his offer and droopily walks in. Damien points her in the direction of the whiskey aisle and picks up this beautiful crystal bottle, the same one he has at home. 

“Fuck it, we might die in a few weeks anyways…” She spoke in a shaky defeatest tone while grimacing at the price tag. Once the bottle is paid for she begins her drive home, the gloomy clouds begin to coat the smokey brownish sky, pushing Beau’s mood even further. She runs inside her apartment building, the rain pelting down hard as she lets out a deep breath while waiting for the elevator to arrive. 

“Ms. Baez, I-” Beau immediately cuts him off.

“Please Mr. Hale, you have been nothing but nice to me, I can’t take hearing you defend my actions anymore.” She clenches onto the bag allowing all her inner thoughts fall out. “Just allow me to accept the stupid choices I made and the consequences that come of it.” Her brows furrowed together as she finds herself beginning to spiral, she broke the dam now everything is spilling out whether she wants to or not “I never should have spoken out of turn, I never should have broke protocol. I hate myself for what I’ve dragged you into, I hate that you have to look at me like this. I don’t deserve that job, I don’t deserve such a supportive boss, I don’t… I don’t deserve to… to…” Beau stops herself, tears escaping with every blink, trying to push it down further.  She tries to hold out a little bit longer but she ends up biting her lip so hard it was about to break the skin. Beau quickly tries to wipe away the tears but more just keep falling as she steps inside the elevator. Her knuckles were turning white from gripping so tightly, her jaw clenched so hard desperately trying to not let herself fall apart yet, please not yet, she doesn’t deserve to yet. Body feeling heavy with the weight of her own self-hatred, it’s suffocating to the point where she’s scared she might drown. Every issue, every problem, every mistake, it didn’t matter if it was partially someone else's fault or just an unlucky roll of circumstances, Beau would add that weight to her shoulders more and more. She accepts that everything will always be her fault, that she will always be the problem up until the day she collapses because she can’t carry it anymore and even then Beau will call herself weak. 

“Ms. Baez what you did was stupid and reckless but that doesn’t mean I can just sit here and watch you degrade yourself like this.” Damien helped wipe away the stray tears on her face. “Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean deserve to talk about yourself that way, you’re human, and it’s not like you have to deal with this alone anyways.” His gruff voice managed to sooth her enough to start thinking rationally again. “Look, I’m not defending your actions but the fact that you’re acting like you’re expected to be perfect all the time is ridiculous. Everyone makes mistakes big and small but the difference is that you make up for it. You’re very kind and hard-working, I believe you have so much more to offer than just mistakes.” He lets out a small sigh as the elevator doors open and she has to push herself forward to continue walking to her apartment number. Beau doesn’t argue with his response however it did manage to make the weight on her shoulders a little bit lighter. “God knows I’ve made quite a few bad decisions in my life…” Damien mumbles under his breath as if it was only meant for him to hear but it makes Beau stop for a moment to think about the rumors again, she shakes her head to remove any lingering curiosity, deciding it's probably best not to pry. Once inside he helps her fix a glass of whiskey and guides her to the couch as he takes control over the remote. Damien flips through the channels until it lands on Trash TV. With a few more sniffles she finds herself giving the TV a weak smile, the image of what she found on his computer the other day flashed in the front of her mind. 

“I didn’t think you actually liked watching this stuff.” She sips on the whiskey and finally starts to relax. 

“I unfortunately do.” Damien chuckles nervously, embarrassment seeping through his voice. “What you’re doing right now is the only thing I do every day besides work,” Damien says resting his arm on the back of the couch. The nonsensical bickering between two actors and the dramatic misunderstandings that play out eventually capture Beau’s attention. The tenseness melts away with each sip of alcohol until she is successfully distracted. 

“I don’t understand how you love this show enough to watch it every day, I feel like my brain would melt” Beau jokes as the two actresses get into a slap fight while screaming censored insults at each other.  

“My mom got me into it when I was a kid.” He mused aloud, focusing on the screen as well. 

“Your mom let you watch this?” Beau’s questioned curiously. 

“Yeah, my mom thinks I’m an old soul,” He chuckles, memories flooding to the front of his mind. “I was pretty mature for my age, I thought all the other kids were too dumb to talk to so my mom showed me adults can be dumb as well.” Beau smiles hearing the nostalgia in his voice. “Of course that just made me distance myself more from everyone else, I thought there was no point in trying to talk to people I thought were beneath and obviously that just made me have no idea how to talk to anyone properly.” He sighs disapprovingly at his past self’s actions “I guess since I never learn how to have a social life, I live vicariously through this show now.” The hint of sadness plucked at Beau’s heartstrings. 

“I guess in a weird way you have one now” She absentmindedly tried to joke but immediately regretted her wording. “I mean not that this situation is good by any means-” She starts panicking and rambling on again until Damien starts to laugh, making her trail off her sentence. 

“It's ok, you’re right” Damien's approval of her joke causes her face to heat up thinking she’s embarrassed herself yet again. “It took 27 years for me to talk to someone casually, and this is how it finally happens, being forced in someone I barely knows head, it’s laughable.” Damien snickers quietly to himself as Beau bites her lip unsure of what to say or do. He clears his throat realizing he may have been a bit too casual with her. “Uh, apologies, was that oversharing?” Now it’s Damien’s turn to feel embarrassed.

“I don’t mind, I don’t know much about you, I don’t think anyone really does so I’m honored to know more.” Beau smiles awkwardly despite Damien not being able to see it. “By the way… Since we’ve gotten to know each other a bit more, do you think we can stop acting so professional all the time? It’s kind of stressful to keep up all hours of the day especially during my no longer private moments” Her cheeks go red just by mentioning those embarrassing occurrences that she’ll now have to suffer through daily until this is finally sorted out.

“Erm… Yes, very well, Ms. Baez, I’ll try to be less formal with you.” Damien being reminded of the intrusive situation made him very fidgety, she had a point, however, what is the correct etiquette to having a boss not only with you while you shower but also having to be there when you use the restroom? If this were under any other circumstances it would be a situation for HR to handle. 

”Why don’t we start off by calling each other by our first names?” Beau suggests, suddenly feeling rather nervous, not sure if that would push him too far out of his comfort zone. 

“I-If that makes you feel more relaxed then I’ll refer to you as Beau.” Damien stammered out nervously, a slight voice-crack as he felt like this was somehow taboo for coworkers to do. With a quiet nod, she smiles finally not feeling the pressure to be in a professional mindset all the time. So that night, instead of freaking out over the anticipation of the meeting or sulking about the mistakes she’s made to get here she was able to be calm and distracted in a similar way Damien used to distract himself. Sometimes ignoring the elephant in the room can bring some calm before the storm.