3 meetings

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"Well?" Brenner questioned Holtz as she entered his office.

"Well?" she replied, not quite sure what he was asking.

"What are your initial impressions? Now that you've met her..." he asked, genuinely intrigued to hear her expert opinion.

"She's...interesting" Holtz started, "if I'm being honest she's not what I expected."

"Really?" Brenner asked, raising an eyebrow, "how so?"

"She's more articulate than I thought she'd be from reading her files" she explained, "using complex sentence structure, her description of things is vivid." She paused, taking a breath and thinking deeply before she said what she was thinking.

"Doctor?"

"She's not exactly the blank slate I was led to believe she was" she said, not accusingly but close. She knew she was walking a fine line, but she couldn't not say it.

Brenner sat back in his chair and sighed loudly, looking around the room in slight frustration. "It's true that the past few years have affected our work adversely, that we have a lot of work to do resetting and correcting...the influence her time outside has had has been unfortunate, but we are confident it can be undone...it must be undone" he stated. Holtz nodded her understanding, if only to appease his mood. "I suggest you get some rest, doctor, I foresee that this work will be difficult in the coming weeks."

"Ok" she agreed, "I'll see you tom..."

As she was replying, they were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Sorry to interrupt sir, but he's here" the guard informed.

"Ah, thank you" Brenner acknowledged him, "send him in. And yes, doctor, I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Holtz nodded and followed the guard out, locking eyes with the young man waiting on the other side of the corridor. As she did so he winked, smirking when she returned it without thinking.

She continued to walk away but turned her head slightly and caught his eye again as he was shown into Brenner's office. He'd watched her as she walked away and she couldn't help but be flattered by the way he looked at her.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"Mr Hargrove, a pleasure to see you again" Brenner said impassively.

"Brenner" Billy nodded in acknowledgement, tapping a cigarette from its packet and putting it to his mouth. Looking up at Brenner he realized, "do you mind?" he asked, the cigarette hanging from his lips.

Brenner didn't react at all for a few seconds, making Billy lose some of his swagger, before he smiled and leaned forwards, "be my guest" he replied, holding out a lighter.

Billy nodded and leaned forwards himself to meet the lighter, taking a deep drag and then exhaling, enjoying the sensation, he offered one to Brenner.

"No but thank you" he replied politely.

"So..." Billy started, immediately unsure where his sentence was going but wanting to start their exchange on the front foot.

"Yes?" Brenner responded, arching his eyebrow, determined to make Billy feel uncomfortable. He wanted Billy to remember who's boss, who calls the shots, all that posturing nonsense. Brenner had it down to a fine art, his use of body language and command of language and general position of power usually ensured he got exactly what he wanted, whether dealing with small town yokels like Billy, or government pen pushers who approved large budget increases for his research.

Billy said nothing but knew exactly what Brenner was up to, his solitary "hmm" and smirk let Brenner know that.

Brenner smiled too. He looked at Billy for a few more seconds before opening a drawer in his desk and withdrawing a full looking envelope. He watched Billy shift in his seat, sitting up straighter, eyes opening wider and following the envelope.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"HEY!" Billy called across the car park. Stuffing the envelope in his back pocket he made his way across the tarmac to the waiting woman currently giving him a quizzical expression. He sped up slightly, not wanting her to leave. "Hey" he repeated now that he was within speaking distance.

"Hello" Holtz replied plainly, not wanting to give anything away as she was unsure of this young guy's intentions.

"I saw you. Inside" he stated.

She nodded slowly, "yes?"

His confidence and mood had already been knocked twice today, once by seeing Max, the other by Brenner just a few minutes earlier, and he didn't feel his usual sense of self-belief. What the hell, he thought to himself, what have I got to lose? "I was wondering if you fancy going for a drink?"

She smiled, "it's a little early don't you think?" not really sure why as internally she really wanted to say yes.

He smiled back enjoying the game they'd just started, "we could stay till late" he countered.

She eyed him up shamelessly for a moment, "ok, where to?"

He grinned widely, not caring that he'd lost his cool exterior, "follow me" he commanded, before jogging off to his car and jumping in through the open window.

She laughed at his cheesiness, loving the exuberance he displayed. He looked over at her and revved his engine loudly, pulling a face each time to make her laugh.

"Come on then, we've only got 5 or 6 hours of drinking time left" he said smirking.

"Should I change first" Holtz asked him, gesturing to her suit.

The question gave him an excuse to look her up and down without having to hide it, and he certainly took his time, making sure to drink in every detail. Exactly her plan.

"No, you look...good" he concluded, failing miserably to find a more intelligent sounding word. It didn't matter, the look in his eye told her what she needed to know.

"Ok then, lead the way" she told him.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*


A/n sorry, short chapter

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