Fighting Life

Chapter Eighteen

After the week of rest, spending a lot of her time with Claudia, Tana was very ready to get back to work. It was now July. Hitting Monday the eight and Claudia drove Tana to the train station, where they met her mother and father as well. Tana gave her keys to Claudia who jumped into Tana's car to drive it home. Claudia's mother jumped into her car to drive that home and her father would follow and pick up her mother from the house once done. Tana on the other hand thanked them all for the help and then got on the train, taking a seat and taking the morning ride into the city to go to work.

When she first walked into the building, through the main foyer, the security desk man looked up, seemingly a bit surprised to see her walking in. He made a comment, to say that she looked a lot better and Tana knew it meant he had been there that night when she had collapsed. She thanked him quickly and then went to the lift, avoiding going through the police departments and instead taking the single lift up to the third floor, to the office. She knew she was early, but she did not mind, there would be a lot to catch up on.

What did not surprise her now though, was that when she arrived, the floor was in silence and yet, she could see that there was a soft light coming from the boss' office once again. Taking in a deep breath, Tana went to the door and knocked, waiting for a moment and then heard his voice, advising her to enter. He may not have known it was her at first, but unlike most other times Tana had entered the office, Clark Smith was not facing the window. He was sitting at the desk, working on some papers, and so the moment she walked in, he looked up.

Silence befell between them, as he seemed a bit surprised by her presence and she was not sure what to say. Though this only lasted a moment, when Tana moved closer to the desk, handing over a slip of paper. She swallowed the lump in the throat, getting the nerves to speak up.

"I have this for you to pass on." Tana spoke up finally.
"I was not... expecting you back so soon." The boss Clark Smith told her.
"I got bored at home." Tana said in short.
"Fine. Maybe that was wise, you have a lot to catch up on." He replied.
"I will do my best." She said with a nod and being serious. "and.... Thank you."
"For what?" Clark asked an eyebrow raised.
"You should be aware for what." Tana told him.
"Well.... I could not have an investigation on my hands as to why a staff member died in my office now could I." he remarked, almost getting his cruel spark back.
"You are a good lawyer, I am sure you would have found some explanation." Tana remarked back.

She was not sure, but Tana felt like Clark was being very moderate with his mood. Like he had actually heard her words she had spoken to him and was trying, to show a little of what was on the inside. Further from there, she could not help but to notice the tiny twitch to the side of his lips to her last comment. Like he was about to smile, but he was hiding it. It surprised her a little, because Tana had never seen this side of the boss before and she did not know if it meant he was trying after what she had said to him, or if she had generally made him feel like laughing.

Either way, she did not say too much from there and just turned and walked out of the room, going to the desk near the office and sitting down, logging in and looking at any updates or information she had missed out on. One thing that popped up in her mail box that surprised her was a survey sent to the whole office, asking their opinions of how things are run, and it was anonymous. Tana knew she would not answer it, but she did read some of the questions, and was surprised to see that it stemmed from the things she had said to the boss before collapsing in his office.

What she said, seemed to have made an impact and she was glad. Maybe things were going to turn around and be for the better. She also noticed a few new systems, one which was a sick leave roster. Another email explained for serious situations, staff were welcome to take longer time to recover and needed to fill out the roster form if it was some thing they were aware of. If not, then as much details as known when they call in for unexpected illness would be there. Tana looked it over, noticing that her name was noted, illness – unexpected. It had a return date of unknown. So, in the end, it had very little details, which she did not mind. Yet, she did see another name on the list. It was Jenny and she was taking leave due to illness and death in the family. It meant that she was going to be a way for the week, which made Tana guiltily happy, because it meant she would not need to see Jenny.