Work In Progress | Ben Wyatt/OC

Every Window is a Mirror

Every Window is a Mirror - Joywave
Everything that you thought (confirmed)
Every fear you had lost (returns)
A film that you just can't wash (has emerged)
But you cleanse, you cleanse, you cleanse
Yeah, every window is a mirror

Chapter Text

"Knope, Holloway, my office, now!" Ron's words echoed throughout the office, causing Ember's head to ring. She knew what was coming from this, but she headed into his office for the scolding anyways. She didn't remember much after yelling at Ben last night, other than waking up in her bed this morning to her alarm going off. She was still in the same dress from the night before and no one else was in there with her, so that seemed promising. But, Ron had clearly heard her little yell-fest last night anyways.

"Ember. You cannot go around yelling at everyone who pisses you off," Ron said sternly as he walked them back through the events of yesterday. "You need to save that energy once and a while for the ones who really, really deserve it. Not this kid from Indiana. He doesn't know what he's doing but he's certainly not trying to be a personal threat. And Leslie, don't take any encouragement from her. I don't need my two best employees getting fired because they can't have a polite conversation. Ember, you're going to apologize to him right now."

"I don't...." Ember started, but trailed off when Ron stared at her with a gaze that had the heat of a thousand suns, in a bad way. She was about to get burned if she didn't. "Okay, okay, I'll go apologize." She sighed, standing up. "Leslie, I'll be back in a bit for more brainstorming." And then she did her walk of shame out of the office, all eyes on her as she left.

When she arrived at the office, Ember leaned in to the office they were renting out and knocked twice on the open door. Chris, who was drinking out of a cup of coffee, whirled around, a smile lighting up his face. "Ember Holloway! Come on in! What brings you to our little space this morning? And would you like a morning vitamin?" He gestured to the many pill bottles on his desk in front of him, next to some protein powder. God even this early he was so...enthusiastic. It made her head pound.

"Um, no, that's alright," she said with a frown, sticking her hands into the front pockets of her dark blue slacks.

"Are you positive? This one really helps with hangovers," He smiled politely, holding up a bottle. After a moment, Ember shrugged and held out her hand. Yea, okay, maybe she could use a pill for that today. "So, how else may I help you today?"

"I'm, um, actually here to review some things with Ben," she said quietly, with one small nod. She didn't elaborate any further, but apparently she didn't have to.

"Well great, that is awesome! I am just going to pop my headphones on and get some morning chin ups in then!" He whirled around, grabbing a set of over ear headphones from his desk and proceeding to jump up to the pull-up bar he had mounted to one of the doorways. To each their own.

Ember sighed and turned around, to wear Ben sat at a round table, papers surrounding him in an order she couldn't begin to understand nor describe. "Good morning," she said, taking a seat across from him and plastering a smile, as friendly as she could muster for him, of all people, to her face. "I am...here to apologize," she said calmly, as if this didn't make her incredibly uncomfortable to be showing up here, tail between her legs, at the behest of her boss.

"You don't need to do that," he said, not evenly really looking up from his paperwork for anything more than a glance her way. That...didn't feel very good. Yet, she had to power through this to get it over with. The longer she waited, the worse it would be.

"Okay, well, you say that, but I do. The way I handled our situation yesterday, twice, was unprofessional. I let my emotions get the best of me, something I make every effort not to do, but obviously you represent a threat to my department, and that is something very difficult for me to deal with and process." She said, looking down at her lap as she spoke, finding a small, tiny fray in the stitching of her black silk shirt.