A passion for work

Runaway

The two women quickly ended their kiss, and stepped away from each other. Still, they remained in a rather suspicious position. But the man who opened the door was looking down at an iPad in his hand, barely even noticing Tatum's presence in the room. "Miss Darce, I was sent to inform you about the meeting in five minutes. It's on the thirty fifth floor." He spoke whilst aggressively tapping the iPad. He seemed stressed and very busy. "Thank you, I'll be right there." Miss Darce said in a calm, confident tone. The man closed the door and left the two of them alone once again.

But Miss Darce seemed to have switched her mind to business mode. "Can I have a look at those files, Miss Beck?" Tatum fiddled with the papers in her arms. "Of course!" She handed them over and Miss Darce reached for a pair of reading glasses. Tatum just stood there, unsure of what to do and not wanting to interrupt her reading. After about a minute she started talking business again. "This case is horrible, and there's no evidence what so ever!" She seemed very passionate about her work, Tatum guessed she was a lawyer at heart.

"Are you talking about the Garcia case?" Miss Darce looked at her, impressed, which made her blush uncontrolably. Tatum faced the ground. "Yes." "That case has been cold for years but a detective recently picked it up again. He's hoping to find traces of DNA somehow and link it to someone who's been convicted since it went cold." Her voice was excited. She, too, was passionate about her work, especially when it came to solving cold cases. Of course, she wasn't doing the solving, but she loved following the investigation.

Her now former boss shared her interest, which is why every morning she compiled a set of files containing cold or ongoing cases. He wanted to be there for when new leads were found, and when potential evidence was discovered. Tatum had never actually been the prosecutor in court, but she knew that if she ever would be, she would be just as invested in it as this man.

The woman in front of her lifted an eyebrow, looking her up and down. "How come you're not a detective? Or at least a lawyer?" Tatum felt flattered. "I'm not good with people." "You don't have to be good with people to be a detective." Miss Darce said, crossing her arms. "You have to not be terrible with people." Tatum let out and Miss Darce laughed. Her laughter was gorgeous, like a warm summer breeze washing over Tatum. She blushed again. What is wrong with me?! She told herself in her head. "Well, nonetheless, you should think about it." Miss Darce said with the most beautiful smile on her lips. "Thank you, I will." Tatum seemed to have finally gotten her ability to hold a normal conversation back.

"Well, I should be headed to this meeting." Tatum felt sad she was leaving so soon. She missed feeling this gorgeous woman's lips on her own, her hand holding her waist... "Would you like to join me?" Tatum looked up at her, shocked. "I-I usually d-don't go to that type of meeting" She stuttered. "Well, I would like you there." Miss Darce smiled at her. "Only if you want to of course" She was quick to add. Tatum blushed. "I would love to." Tatum flashed her a big smile. The woman in front of her seemed a bit thrown off for a single moment, before she put herself back together again. "I would lead the way, but I don't really know my way around here yet..." Shit. Tatum forgot how to be a human for a moment. Again.

"Of course!" She quickly opened the door and headed through the office landscape towards the elevator, Miss Darce following soon behind. She pressed the button for the thirty fifth floor and Miss Darce stood beside her as the doors closed. Standing beside her in this small space made it extremely difficult for Tatum to keep her hands off her. She had to keep telling herself in her head, Be proffesional! She's your god damned boss!

The elevator made a sound and the doors slid open. They walked through a long corridor which for some reason felt even longer than usual. Tatum started to feel insecure about the way she was walking since Miss Darce was right behind her. She tried not to think about it but it was impossible. Thankfully, they finally made it to the conference room where the meeting was being held. Tatum held the door open and Miss Darce flashed the most beautiful smile at her. In the room were five people: Tatum's old boss and the other four board members who had the same position as Miss Darce. They sat down and Miss Darce quickly joined the already ongoing conversation. Tatum was just sitting there, listening and admiring her. Tatum could only dream of being able to join a conversation like that. Completely spontaneous.

She listened to the people talk about this important case, never being involved in the conversation, for what must've been an hour. At the end of the hour she was beginning to loose focus. Her head was starting to hurt from taking in all this information and listening to their back-and-forth arguments. She had learned to recognize the symptoms of when she needed a break, and she knew this was one of those moments. But Tatum didn't know if Mr Abraham had told Miss Darce that she was autistic, and she didn't want to interrupt their discussion. Stuck in this dilemma, Tatum was deep in thought when she heard "How about you, Miss Beck?"

Tatum froze. Miss Darce was looking at her, with a serious look on her face, and so were the other five people in the room. "What are your thoughts on this solution?" Miss Darce elaborated. Tatum couldn't think. She felt trapped by the eyes of all these people, she started to panic because she didn't know what to do. She hadn't been listening to the last part of their conversation and she felt like an idiot. Anxiety started filling her body, it was as if she was being put on the spot. At work. And she didn't want to dissapoint any of these people, but she couldn't answer. Her heart was beating at an alarming rate, her legs were shaking and her eyes were flying quickly all over the room except in someone's eyes. Her brain was screaming at her RUN! She had to get out of this situation, she couldn't think clearly, she just had to. So she ran.