ROLEPLAY HQ - the-spy-and-the-mafia-boss

Tw: Kidnapping, manipulation, war, fighting, injuries, trauma, abuse and murder mentioned more to be added later (edited)

'It's time you took the family buiness seriously Azreil, you are no longer a child, you are a grown man. It's time you start acting like it. Starting today you will be running the company as the new acting CEO. Do not disappoint me boy, you are an O'Brien not a sap. Those were the last word Azreil had heard from his father. The night before his first day of being the CEO, he had passed away from a opposing Gang, trying to his family a lesson. Azreil was 19, the you gest CEO, in the history of O'Brien Incurance company. He learned the do's and donts as he went along, but he also picked up another title while working, in those few short years he gained the title 'Mad Dog' because he fought his way to the top, and fought for the respect he deserved. Not only had he inheritied the family conpany, but yet also inherited the family 'buiness'. When you hear family Buiness, you'd assume it was associated with the incerance company, well youd be wrong. In fact wasnt known that the family O'Brien owned the compnay at all, see Azria lived in Cleveland. Where his family was number one for another reason, that reason wasn't because they sold affordable insurance. No, the family O'Brien was the bosses of Cleveland, the biggest and longest standing Mafia in the history of Cleveland. You'd think such a famous family would be caught by now, with owning a huge company, but surprisingly, they were good at covering their tracks...until now. Azreil needed help, and he needed help fast. He has been running both businesses for nearly 6 years now, and it was starting to take a total on him, his employees were beginning to tip toe while he is in the office, and his henchmen has began to feel the pressure of his anger, on more then one occasion. So he decided to set out and look for an assistant, one who could help him carry the load of the work he was doing there at the Incerance company, or at least help him keep an actual schedule. Going home from the office at midnight

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, togo and lead as 'Mad Dog' the mafia boss until five in the morning, only to be Azreil again just a few hours later, was beginning to take a big total on him physically, mentally, and emotionally. 'Now, Mister O'Brien is a very busy man, so you'll have to make sure you can keep up with his schedule.' One of the employees told (yoir oc) , as they walked down the hall towards the main office. 'we mustn't keep him waiting, if anything goes off schedule..well you may not appreciate the words he will call you.' He whispered as they approached the office door. "And I told you, if I get another call from Miss Jenkins again, you would be terminated from the position didn't i?" A voice shouted from behind the door, the employee standing by flinched. "I TOLD THAT WILL BE THE LAST TIME JOHNATHAN!" the shout had got louder forced out with so much anger it would give anyone goose bumps. Soon the door flew opened, and standing there in the flesh was Azreil O'Brien. A tall ginger man, a perfectly trimmed bears, tattoos visible on hid neck and hands. The man was not what anyone expected when they thought of a CEO of the company, but not only that he looked furious, his eyes were basically on fire as he glared. A barely twenty year old ran out of the office in tears. Azreil turned towards the two standing infront of him, ignoring the kid as he growled "what do you two want, i am busy and i do not have time to deal with any dumb and silly questions. So if you wish not to anger me, i suggest you give me a good reason, as to why you have come to mt office." The man standing next to (your oc) gave a small shaky smile, trying not to show fear to his boss 'Ah! Mr O'Brien, this is (your oc) your newest assistant, they are supose to be here today, you personally told me to retrieve them and bring them to your office this morning.'

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Azreil narrowed his eyes looking (your oc) up and down as he hummed softly, he didn't say anything just pointed to the desk infront of the door. "Theres Your desk, try not to ask me to many questions, imma tell you this now. I don't have the awnsers your looking for. Fredrick there is the man on the floor, if I have appointments page me, and if ask for me by name you let them in ." He said in a gruff voice , crossing his arms as he carefully raised an eyebrow. "Fredrick, take them on a tour, and cancel my meets before lunch, I need to take Miss Jenkins out for lunch, as a personal apology, on the behalf of the company. God knows the damage the kid did ." He sighed walking back into the office slamming his door shut. Azreil O'Brien needed help, but was this the kind of help he was expecting?

Leo walked through the halls of her workplace, her eyes focused dead ahead. She always hated how stuffy the building was; pristine white halls, little decoration, and office stiffs working on whatever cases they were assigned to. Days like this, she was grateful she did fieldwork. She tried to imagine being stuck behind a desk from 9 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, but every time the scenario ended with her jumping from one of the top floors. No, writing up field reports was mind numbingly boring enough, and that was just one report a day. Eventually, she reached the office she was beelining to. She opened the door, trying not to roll her eyes at how stuffy the suits looked sitting at the conference table. "Ah, Leo. Nice of our field agent to finally join us. 10 minutes late." Despite keeping a friendly face, her boss's tone was dripping with sarcasm. "Hey hey, I'm here aren't I?" She asked, taking her own seat. She leaned against the table, resting her chin in her hand. "So, what's the mission this time?" "Well," The boss said, glancing to his coworkers before sliding a file towards the woman. "We need you to go deep undercover. We need intel on someone, and lots of it." As the boss kept rambling about this and that about the target, Leo flipped through the file. Azreil O'Brien, she thought, flipping idly through and skimming the details. "Suspected of money laundering and embezzlement? So you mean someone in the mafia." She said flatly, only for her boss to shake her head. "No no, nothing we've learned officially leads to that," He countered, but Leo wasn't an idiot. She could read between the lines. She made an 'o' shape with her mouth, giving a chuckle. "Oooohhhhhh...so that's why you're sending me instead of actual investigators." She said, the boss giving a nod of confirmation. -

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"There's that, and a rather oddly timed coincidence." He added, his gaze hardening. "A lot of cops dying; ones with not-so-perfect records. Evidence leads to gang activity, especially with how vocal some of them have gotten about the 'dirty pigs' that were in the force." Leo had to fight the urge to shrug her shoulders and ask why that was a big deal. Dirty cops shouldn't exist, and for all she cared the gang was doing a good thing. However, considering she worked for the government, she knew better than to express her feelings. "Okay, so suspected mafia activity and conveniently timed gang activity. Anything else before I jump in?" That meeting was weeks ago, and it was finally time for her to start her job in earnest. Fortunately, some of the working stiffs managed to be glowing references on her resume, so she was a shoe in for an amazingly timed opportunity. Turns out, her target was in the market for a personal assistant, and she snatched that up quicker than a nice cold beer. She walked alongside the employee who was giving the tour, trying her best to appear like a wide eyed intern. "Now, Mr. O'Brien is a very busy man, so you'll have to make sure you can keep up with his schedule." The employee said, leading the way to the main office. "Oh my, I'll do my best!" Leo tried her best to appear worried, but she knew it wouldn't be a problem. Tight schedules, strict deadlines, it wasn't anything new to her. She even gave a solemn nod as he whispered that she wouldn't like the names she'd get called. -

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However, the way she flinched from the shouting from the other side of the door wasn't an act. She would've thought she'd be used to that kind of shouting by now, with the area she lives in, but no. She quickly stepped out of the way as some 20 some employee-or, ex employee maybe?-darted out the door, then looked over at the man still in the doorway. The man easily towered over her 5 foot 4 frame. Despite how scary she looked, she didn't feel any fear. Rather, she had to fight the urge to puff up her chest and show just how unafraid she was. She did her best to look intimidated as the employee introduced Azriel to her, even added a timid way to seal the performance. "I-it's nice to meet-" The man had interrupted her before she could finish introducing herself, causing her to fight back the primal urge to fight him over the action. You're here for a job, you're here for a job. She thought to herself, taking a subtle deep breath. By the time she had calmed herself down, the door slammed in both her and Fredrick's faces. She felt her jaw tense as she clenched her teeth, but quickly worked to calm herself down again. I can't blow my cover. Deep breaths. Remember the stupid fucking anger management classes the boss made you take. She kept her thoughts along those lines for the next few hours of the day, sighing internally. Damnit, this'll be a hard job.

Azreil sighed heavily as she leaned back against his Chair, rubbing his temple to try and ease the migraine that was forming. He was stressed to the max, and the incident with Johnathan had made things worse. Carefully digging through his desk, to search for any sort of medicene. Today was going to be a long and agonizing day, one he wasn't ready for. The lunch with Miss Jenkins wad a Long, and frustrating lunch. The woman had shouted and thrown insults at him, for a mistake an ex employee had made. Walking back into the office everyone could tell hoe tense and angry the man had looked, this 27 year old was just exhausted and ready to get the latest hit done and over with, then maybe he'd be able to get some actual sleep. Walking over to the newsg employee, he carefullt lossened his tie "Cancele the rest of my meetings for the day, I am in no mood to deal with stupidity. " He said looking at Leo with dark harsh eyes. "Only let in a man named Sebastián understand, he is a man who cannot understand English, he has white hair and is 25." He explained "understand? Yes no? Speak up leo."

Leo had actually calmed down quite a bit while on the tour with Fredrick. She took the opportunity to observe what the culture seemed like, and it seemed like working stiffs were the same no matter where you went. She listened to Fredrick explain this and that, only really half paying attention unless it was something she deemed important. They eventually parted ways, leaving her at her own little work desk. While she wasn't one for decorating, she did take a small lioness figuring from her pocket. It didn't look like much-something from the dollar store maybe-but she treated it like one of the most valuable things on earth. It wasn't too much longer before Azreil approached her, and she could easily read how he was wound up tighter than a clock by his body language. Even if that didn't give him away, the loose tie did. Before she could say anything, he was already barking orders at her. Her first impulse was to tell him to shove the attitude and she'd think about it, but she couldn't afford to loose this opportunity. Usually your targets didn't leave such an easy opening to spy on them. So instead, she opted to give a nod. "Of course sir," She said, trying to make sure her tone didn't give away the frustration she felt. Despite being able to tell this man was a ticking time bomb of stress and anger, she didn't feel the least bit intimidated; and it was real difficult to pretend she was. Instead, she got to work on the computer, trying to figure out the programing so she could follow through on his request. She hoped maybe shoving her nose in the computer would be enough to at least look like she was intimidated.

Azreil nodded as he watched Leo shove her nose in the computer, raising an eyebrow he shook his head. "Whatever." He grumbled walking back into his office closing the door harshly. He wasn't sure why, but that frustrated him even more so, then if they argued back with him. He was so use to people fighting and arguing with him, that the sudden act of obedience was strange. Not thinking to much about it, Azreil went back to work. Emailing diffrent company's about paying their owned bills, calling people who have done wrong to their employees who needed thr insurance, the works. There was a few times his shouts could be heard out into the office, alot of name calling by the young CEO. Even the sound of him slamming his fist into the table was heard. Fredrick sighed from his desk shaking his head. "Poor lad, ever since his father passed away, he's had to much on his shoulders. suprised he hasn't been admitted to the hospital again." He commented as he passed by Leo's desk, shaking his head with a worried look. "Nineteen is such a young age to be thrown into this type of position. Poor thing never finished college." Once the shouts died down, the buzz of the office came to a peaceful hum, the clicking of keyboards, and humming of the printers were the only thing heard. It had seemed as if the office only seemed stresses when the young CEO made his stress Clear. The peaceful atmosphere didn't last long, Azreil excited the office once again, to look around the office, eyed narrowed as if he was looking for someone. He turned his head sharply looking at Leo. "You, are you any good with typing? I need someone to type an email as I speak, I don't have time to type focus on only one email at a time, I need you to type as I speak got it?" He asked. Again before Leo could awnser he walked back into his office, this time leaving the door opened so she could follow him inside. As he sat at his desk he looked up at Leo with an raised eyebrow "Come on now, I haven't got

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all day, I need to get these emails out within the next hour, or else we may loss more clients." He huffed carefully beginning to type his other email. If Leo did walk in, he Guestard to the seat infront of him, showing that she could sit there and work on the email.

After Azriel had walked back into his office, Leo gave a sigh. Despite trying to look calm, her fingers hit the keyboard quickly and with a touch more force than necessary. Okay, maybe a lot more than necessary; the harsh typing echoed slightly around her area as she grumbled under her breath. "...the hell he thinks he is...I'm not scared of his attitude...keep himself in check...I'll fucking fight him I don't give a fuck..." She ended up taking another deep breath, trying to calm down. Her attitude was the thing needed to be kept in check right now; she didn't need anyone overhearing how she wanted to fight the CEO/her boss. Fortunately, her grumbling was quiet enough that the angry noises from his office covered her mutterings at the very least. However, when she noticed Fredrick walking by, she swallowed her attitude to look at least halfway neutral; she didn't want the stiffs to ask her why she was angry. She listened intently, and felt a pang of...some sort of emotion. His dad was dead too? Sounds recent by how Fredrick was talking too. She grit her teeth, recognizing the pang she felt. The pang of guilt did nothing but make her more angry. She tried to rationalize, take deep breaths like her stupid anger management classes said, but the guilt made her more angry. Not an excuse to be a fucking ass wipe, She thought, going back to hitting her keys with more force than necessary. Eventually, she got lost in her work enough to not have noticed the sounds dying down, or the fact that he had come out looking for her until he started talking. Her head whipped around, and despite staying quiet, her eyes burned with a quiet frustration as she gave a nod. "Yea, typing out dictation is r-" Again, he had stormed off before she could finish. Prick, she thought, taking another deep breath as she followed behind him into his office. -

02:08

She listened to him huff about hurrying, and she fought back the urge to roll her eyes. However, she was so focused on that, she didn't pay attention to the words coming out of her mouth. "Yea yea, cool your jets I got it," She mumbled under her breath, sitting down in front of the computer. She froze for a second, realizing she used her outer voice instead of thinking for once. She grit her teeth, taking a deep breath and staring straight ahead at the computer. She hoped he hadn't heard her; she really didn't know if she could hold her tongue if he started shouting at her the way she saw him shout at that one employee. Plus, she really didn't want to loose this opportunity.

Thankfully Azreil was to focused on the Email to hear what Leo had to say. His eyes never left the computer as he began to reciet the email he needed her to write. The poor guy looked as if he would drop at any moment, but he kept working typing at his own email. Once he finished both emails, he leaned back in his seat rubbing his temple as the minegrain returned. Closing his eyes for a moment, trying to gather himself better. Soon he opened his eyes again, standing up and walking to the window, watching the people walk around on the sidewalks. He had a look of annoyance, he turned to look at Leo, hands behind his back. "You must be wondering how someone like me got into a position of power huh? Must think I get off having employees fear me huh?" He asked walking closer to her as he narrowed his eyes. "You'll be happy to know, I don't. This is just business, and if I wasn't hard on them, they all would be without a job " He replied moving away from Leo going back to his desk. "If you have questions make them quick please I have lots I need to get done before tonight, I would like to sleep at a decent time today." He grumbled carefully putting his computer on sleep mode, giving Leo his complete attention.

Leo worked diligently to type out the letter as he spoke. She stayed quiet; honestly, having to focus on two separate things helped calm herself down. When she was finished, she chanced a glance to look over at him. She watched as he walked to the window, then turn to face her. She gave a bit of a shrug, trying to bite back the sarcastic quip on her tongue. Nah, but you're stressed to high hell and refuse to see it from their perspective. Instead, she gave a slow nod. "Nah, I gotcha boss; I just think your wound up tighter than a clock spring and you tend to just snap." Shit, still sarcastic. She winced. Trying to save face, she ran a hand through her hair. Now that she wasn't typing away at a keyboard, her posture was more relaxed; she was leaned back in her chair, arms on either armrest. However, seeing as he was done, she stood up. Before she walked out though, she dug in her pockets, pulling out a bottle of Excedrine. "Sorry boss, that was...improper..." She said, trying to fish for a word other than bitchy. She handed the bottle to him, giving a crooked smile. "I can tell your head is killin' ya; this usually helps. Also a caffinated drink; old family remedy." She said, giving an earnest attempt of a peace treaty. Not so much to save face; rather, out of a sense of if he yelled, she wouldn't be able to bite her tongue anymore.

He paused, he was suprised at the sarcastic tone that was given to him. He had to admit it was refreshing, no one in his office dared to speak to him like that, but yet this new employee was brave enough to be sarcastic. He snorted slight shaking his head as he sat up a bit more in his chair. "Yes well, working from 5am to 5am every day, it tends to whine you up tightly." He replied carefully leaning forward looking at Leo, he raised an eyebrow as he was handed the bottle. He took it into his hands looking at it couriously. "Oh, um thank you, I will have to look more into this product." He replied placing the bottle on his desk. He looked back to Leo and hummed. "Now Leo, tell me why you wanted this job, what makes you any diffrent then everyone out there?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "What makes you think you eill survive long in this compnay?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her.

Leo chuckled a bit, seeing how he got thrown off a bit. Or it was because she wasn't screamed at, she wasn't sure. Either way, she just shrugged a bit as he took the bottle and put it away. Then, came the million dollar question; why was she here? She thought about the cover she was assigned from the higher ups; about having just moved here and blah blah, but felt that would be too stuffy. Not to mention, completely transparent; the stiffs were always completely unoriginal. So instead, she opted to improvise. "Well," She said, thinking through her answer. "I wanted to work here cause I needed a change of pace, ya know? Always on the go and on the road, it's fun, but the unpredictability makes it a pain to plan dates, or anything else really." She gave a bit of a laugh, adjusting herself slightly in her chair. "As for my survival rate..." She paused for a second. She was trying to figure out how to word her answer in "working stiff" mode, but she couldn't figure it out. So, being the ever-so-sarcastic lady she was, opted for a joke. "You don't really intimidate me boss, and I say that with as much respect as I have." She gave a shrug, still having a crooked smile on her face. "Everyone else seems terrified, but I've seen scarier, even fought scarier men than you." She wasn't quite wrong; she didn't mention how many of those fights were bar fights, or how many she lost because she was drunk, but it was an honest answer nonetheless.

Azreil gave a small grin, he liked her. Leaning back in his seat he looked at Leo with a serious look, humming softly. "Good, your not the only one who doesn't fear me, Fredrick is also one who doesn't fear me." He replied in a calm and cool tone as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Take Fredrick as an example. The man's been working in my company for years, he isn't afraid of me. I don't worry, to have my employees fear me Leo. That is not my goal I have here at the office. Those who fear me have lower work edict, and are only able to work with a few clients a day." He hummed softly shaking his head softly. "If they fear me, we'll that is their issue, and if Fredrick wishes to continue to try and convince the employees I am not to be feared, well that's his issue as well." He replied. Azreil stood up again, taking a moment to stand there, he hadn't relized his vision went blurry until he stood, but he shook his head again and walked over to one of his book shelves, grabbing a big black binder before he looked back to Leo. "This has the history if the company, as well as the employee handbook, I need you to read it, learn it and memorize it by the morning. We are in the busy season and I do not have time to hold your hand and walk you through every single detail of the conpany." He said placing the binder on the desk. A soft knock was heard on the door, standing there was a tall skinny twenty something yesr old with white hair. They had a bright smile, giving Azreil a way, upon closer inspection, the man looked familiar, someone the FBI has been looking for. Before Leo could get a good look Azreil walked over shaking his friends hand, greeting him in the others native tounge. "Sebastián, welcome. Please make yourself comfortable, Leo and I were just finishing up a talk."

Leo's crooked smile grew a bit, and even gave a bit of a laugh. "Well, I'm not here to convince people not to be afraid; that's above my pay grade." She joked, shoving her hands in her pockets. "But I will admit, nice to know you aren't trying to scare people; that'd just make you an...oh uh...that just wouldn't be nice." She forgot for a second where she was, and even who she was talking to. She cleared her throat awkwardly, giving a bit of a chuckle. Now that she had an opportunity to talk to him without him barking orders, she could tell if circumstances were different, they'd probably get along well. She watched as he took a binder off the bookshelf, and took it off the desk with a small nod. "Ya got it boss; luckily, I'm a quick learner and like to stand on my own two feet." She looked over at the man who'd just walked in, and for a split second thought he looked familiar. Maybe she saw a file somewhere back at the office, but she couldn't tell. However, she gave a bit of a wave, shoving her free hand back into her pocket. "I'll see ya around boss, just lemme know if ya need me." She said, and with that she was out the door.

Once Leo walked out of the room, Azreil closed the door looking at his friend. 'You promised not to just waltz into My office Seb, what if I was in a meeting with the big boys?' he asked in his friends native tounge, walking over to his desk, carefully sitting down. Watching as the other sat infront of him. 'Now, please sit. Is everything alright? You don't normally visit me while I'm at the office.' Sebastián sat in the chair infront of Azreil, carefully crossing one leg over the other as he gave a sheepish smile. 'Sorry Az, I didn't mean too. Yes everything's okay, I just came to check up on you. You haven't been feeling well the last few days, and some of the men at the hideout have been worried as well. So I thought I'd come check on you.' he said eith the kindest smile he could muster. Azreil sighed rubbing his temple as he gave Sebastián a glare, the other man's smile never flattened it just widened, but Azreil's mood soured. 'im fine Sebastián, and those who wish to question me can go home tonight, they arnt getting a cut of what we earn tonight understand, and you can tell them that yourself. If you have nothing else to discuss with me then you can see yourself out.' Sebastián chuckled softly, he stood up walking over to Azreil, gently taking his hands in his. 'AZ, You are my dear friend, you saved me from the FBI, from the terrorism of my people, and given me a purpose. Please allow me to do the same for you, I do not want my friend to die because of exhaustion.' he spoke softly giving the others Hands a gentle squeeze before he returned to his seat, looking to Azriel. Azreil sighed softly, loading up his computer, ignoring the others words, and continuing with work. Getting Sebastián views on how to involve people from other countries. The two stayed in the office until 4pm, Sebastián left that time, leaving Azriel alone in the office, holding his head and looking at the multiple emails he had missed. It looked like

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he would be there all night again. "Leo." He called loudly "get Fredrick and bring him to my office now."

Leo walked back to her desk, still holding onto that crooked smile. Well, he isn't a complete ass. That's good. She thought, opening the binder. She figured as a new hire, she wouldn't be assigned anything too strenuous or difficult; she took the opportunity to read over the information given to her, trying to see if anything could reveal itself. Unfortunately, everything seemed air-tight; no contradictory evidence, nothing. Huh, careful to cover tracks. She mused, but kept reading. Despite her demeanor, she was incredibly bright; there was a reason she worked with the FBI. A great mix of street and book smarts, as her boss would say. She would loose track of time, reading until Azriel called her from his office. "Huh? Sure thing boss!" She called back, nonchalantly getting up from her seat. She started wandering around, trying to find Fredrick.

"Quickly !" Azriel reminded as he pulled up a file on his computer, trying to find the documents he needed to speak to Fredrick about the paperwork, were life or death worthy. Fredrick was sitting in the break room with a teenager and a young boy. Fredrick had his laptop on his lap, helping the teen with homework, while the young kid happily colored on some of Fredrick very important papers. The man looked up and offered Leo a kind smile. "Ah, hello there Leo, are you enjoying your first day of work?" He asked her couriously as he sat up straighter. The young teen looked up, and blushed quickly looking back to his homework, trying to ignore Leo. Fredrick just smiled. "Oh! This is my kid brother Lorcan and my baby Ames, you'll be seeing them alot more after school!" He smiled carefullt picking up his son looking at Leo.

"Yea yea, I'm working on it," She muttered under her breath, taking a deep breath as she kept wandering. Eventually, she found herself in the breakroom, and couldn't help but flash a crooked smile at the sight in front of her. "Oh! Hey! Yea, it's been a barrel of laughs here so far." She said, giving a chuckle. Even if it was slightly sarcastic, there wasn't any malice to it. "Seriously though, it's been alright, nothing too crazy at least." She walked over to the group, not noticing the teen quickly going back to his homework. She looked between the two kids, giving a bit of a genuine laugh. "Well aren't they adorable!" She gushed. Despite being a self-described asshole 90% of the time, something about families just made her melt a bit, chipping away at the front she put up all the time. "Makes me wish I had siblings at the very least; but I look forward to seeing ya'll around more!" However, when she was done, she remembered why she was here in the first place. "Oh yea! I hate to break up the fun here, but the boss needs ya." She said, the crooked smile fading a bit. She ran a hand through her hair, her other hand on her hip. "It sounded kinda urgent too."

Fredrick nodded with a small frown. "Right it's tuseday." He hummed carefully standing up, setting his son next to his brother. "Lorcan, watch Ames, It's going to be a long night tonight. You know where Mr Azreil hides his candy." He smiled softly, giving the eldest some money for the vending machine. Lorcan looked up at his brother and nodded. "Yes sir." He agreed carefullt moving his nephew onto his lap, before going back to his homework. Fredrick nodded, grabbing his laptop before ushering Leo to follow "He may need your assistance, stand by just inncase." He whispered to her as they walked to Azreils office. Upon entering through office the young CEO was pacing the room, a glare placed on his face as he went over papers in his hands mumbling about needing to get a deadline done. Which caused Fredrick to flinch. "Crap." He whispered looking to Leo. "On second thought I got this, you prepare to head home, the days almost over." He smiled walking into the office going over to Azreil.

Leo waited for a second, watching Fredrick get everything gathered up, and gave a nod. "Sounds good to me," She whispered back, following behind. She stayed quiet, not too great with smalltalk. Instead, she just got lost in her own thoughts, only snapping back when they reached the office. She looked over at Fredrick, raising an eyebrow before giving a shrug. "If you say so," She whispered back, turning on her heels to go back to her desk. Seeing as she hadn't brought much other than her purse, she just sat back down, opening the binder again. She kept reading quietly, counting down the time until she was free to go home. What Ramen to eat tonight...decisions decisions... She pondered, a growling stomach causing her thoughts to drift from the reading to dinner.

Azreil was struggling, the papers were do in am hour, if he didn't get them done bad things would happen. Thankfully for him Fredrick was his best employee and right hand man, if he needed things to get done Fredrick was his man. "Im sorry for pulling you away from the kids Freddy, I had forgotten about these papers, and you know how he gets when they arnt finished." Fredrick chuckled "I know Az, no need to worry. Lor is working on homework, and Ames is just happy to be held. Their okay let's focus on these papers." He smiled helping file the paperwork. After an hour the paperwork was finally done leaving the two men tieless, and sleeves pushed up as if they had been in a fight. Fredrick smiled as he opened the door of the office, calling out "O'Hara compnay agreed to our perposal!" He called to the staff who cheered and gave each other high fives. Azreil was behind Fredrick with a small smile "shall I order pizza and beer?" He offered causing the office to cheer again. This man was full of surprises, surprises that never could be pinpointed as his next move

Leo kept switching her focus between dinner and reading, having to catch herself and redirect her focus. She had gotten so focused on that, that she forgot about counting down the time, and ended up jumping up a bit as Fredrick had called out about the proposal. Seeing everyone else celebrate, she clapped politely, flashing another crooked smile. She got caught off guard again when she heard pizza and beer. The smile widened, looking a bit more like a natural smile rather than her normal crooked ones. Damn, good day to start this job then, She said, excited for not only pizza, but beer. The stiffs back at the office would flip at the thought of beer!

With another loud Cheer, Fredrick and Azreil walked back into the office, Azreil sending off the final paperwork to other major companies,while Fredrick ordered the pizza and beers. It was a good day at the office. But the night was still young. And the two still had alot to be done. Azreil frowned as he reserved a email warning him about undercover cops in the area, causing him to curse and close the computer with a harsh slam. "Again, won't these stupid cops get the idea, the business is ligit not a cover." He suddnely snapped causing Fredrick to close the door and frown. "Yes well, it didn't help that your father...." "My father was a coward and that's all he ever was." The man snapped leaning against his desk rubbing his temple with frustration. "I took the company over at 19, you'd think they would get the hint that this is a good business." He muttered either a heavy sigh. Fredrick nodded. "I know, I know. But it's time you proved them wrong, there isn't much we can do, but what we can do is prove them wrong Azreil. " He replied giving him a small smile. "If it helps I will have the office keep an eye out for anyone suspicious, have them report it to me that way you can focus on work. Besides tonight is too important, to focus on something else." Azreil nodded "your right. Let's go join the others for pizza, we can't have them be suspicious." He smiled patting Fredrick on the back, going out to his employees to enjoy the pizza party

Standing from her desk, Leo stretched a bit, her arms above her head. Seeing everyone congratulate eachother, she felt a pang of something she felt even back at her real job. She realized just how alienated she felt from her surroundings. She frowned a bit, then closed her eyes as shit pinched the corners of them. Well, I might as well try to be friends with these people, she thought, running a hand through her hair as she picked up her purse. She knew it'd probably be safe around here, but ya never knew. Her dad always taught her to be aware of everything. She walked away from her desk, pausing a bit in front of Azreil's office when she heard the two talking. Not wanting to seem suspicious, she started digging around her purse, trying to look like she was looking for something. Huh, so things just got sticky...and it's not a cover? She pondered that, and tried to fight back a groan of frustration as she realized she was working at a stuffy office as a stiff for no reason. She wouldn't find the evidence she needed here; the realization definitely soured her mood. However, she didn't linger in her spot for long; she pulled out a half eaten protein bar and kept walking. As she munched on the bar, she looked around at everyone again; it was like looking into an aquarium, or watching a movie. She knew she should mingle, to look like she was adjusting well, but she couldn't get her feet to move towards anyone. She wasn't scared; she was Leo after all, and she wasn't scared of anything or anyone! Despite this fearlessness, she just kind of lingered around the wall, wearing her crooked smile as she watched the celebrations around her.

The dinner went on like normal, everyone ate pizza and drank beer and chatted. Azreil held Fredricks son while he slept, needing a distraction from tonight's Job, bit he couldn't help but watch Leo. This ranger had came into work and really put an impression on Azriel. There was something about jer the young CEO couldn't place. Signing heavily, he walked over to her and stood next to her. Looking out into the crowd he spoke softly. "You know, standing odd by yourself makes you look Suspicious, have you come to steal the inner workings of my business?" He teased. "You know the best way to learn my secrets, is to actually get to know me, though I'm afraid not one person has gotten close enough to know them all." He didn't know why he was saying all this, maybe it was all the beers in his system, or maybe it was the exhaustion talking, but Azriel was trying his best to make small tall, something he jas never been good at. "I'll give you one secret for free, you'll have to work for the rest, I may have lots of tattoos, but I'm actually afraid of needles. Funny huh?" He replied with a small smile looking at Leo.

Leo looked ove at Azreil, munching on a slice of pizza she managed to nab. She still had her crooked smile, and she gave a chuckle. "Oh yeah, I'm here to steal all the secrets! Cause I totally know what the hell I'd do with them." She joked, taking a sip of the beer in the hand that wasn't holding pizza. "Nah boss, I'm just not good with small talk. This is just kinda what I do, even at the bar." She said, finishing her slice with a chuckle. "But I'll take you up on that challenge! I bet we'll be best friends by the end of the year." She teased, giving a friendly wink before looking back over at everyone. She was quiet for a moment, trying to think of more to say. She kept reassuring herself, she knew social gatherings didn't scare her. She was a regular at a few of the bars around her area after all! She was a field agent with street smarts! Despite that, she couldn't help... "I haven't gotten a chance to get tattoos myself, " She added, looking back over with her crooked smile. It totally hadn't faltered for a second while she got lost in her own thoughts. "But I have to admit, heavily tattooed guys holding little kids is an absolutely adorable sight; you look like a big ol' teddy bear boss!" She took another swig of beer, trying to steady her nerves. She wasn't quite sure if that was out of line; sure he was her boss, but it was after hours, right? Even back at her actual job, office parties weren't her scene; she didn't know what the hell to do or what to say.

Azreil hummed with a small grin. "Me a teddy? That's a first, never been called s teddy bear before. I do babysit in my free time, you know Leo, anything for mt dear nephews. But that's something the media will not report on." He huffed softly, carefully adjusting the child in his arms. "No, rather call me blood thirsty, hateful, and a killer to the community." He shook his head with a heavy sigh. He looked around the office, watching employees talk, laugh and enjoy their time together, he couldn't help but wonder why work couldn't be like this every day, he felt awful knowing his employees feared him, and handed to do better. But he also knew if they didn't fear him, then why would they give him respect. "You did good today Leo, I look forward to seeing how you will fit into the office quiet well." He complamented looking at Leo with a soft hum. "Just try not to believe the rumors going around, I must remind everyone that not everything you believe is true." He replied with a soft wink, carefully taking a sip of his beer. " come back tomorrow around 8 in the morning. We have lots of meetings, it will be a good way to introduce you to the company alot better." He said with a small smile. Looking up to watch the teen from the break room walked over to them. carefully moving to stand next to Azriel, when the teen noticed Leo, he tried to make himself as small as possible trying to stay hidden. Azreil hummed, ruffling the teens hair, before digging in his wallet giving Leo his business card. "Message if you ever have questions about the business, I will try my best to awnser them."

Leo gave a bit of a chuckle, shrugging as she took another swig of beer. "Bah, the media knows horror stories sell; not enough of the heartwarming fuzzies on the news nowadays." She commented, glancing over at him before back at the people around the office. She couldn't help but wonder what it'd be like working behind a desk; she wasn't the type to sit still for too long, always looking for the next job. She didn't snap out of her thoughts until Azreil spoke to her again, looking back over with her crooked smile. "Rumor mills are always intriguing, but I never put all my eggs in 'em. I've been in similar boats before." She said with another chuckle. She drained the last of her beer, trying to use it to hide her face for a moment. Despite the tough exterior she put on, she didn't know how to handle people winking at her, or returning the teasing she did. However, she shook it off quickly, giving a nod. "Sounds good boss! I'll be here bright and early." She said, cracking her neck as the crooked smile returned again. She watched as Lorcan came out of the breakroom, and tried to give a wave before he tried to melt into the background. Not wanting the poor teen to feel more uncomfortable, she quickly shifted her wave so appear she was reaching for the business card all along. She gave a nod, carefully putting the card into her purse. "I gotcha boss! I'll be sure to do that; fortunately enough, I'm usually pretty quick on my feet."

Azreil gave a small nod. "Perfect, we need more people like you, ignored the rumors, quick on theit feet. I look forward to see your productivity in the future." He hummed patting the teens back. "Head to my office Lor, you know what you are and arnt allowed to do." He spoke softly but yet sternly. The teen nodded walking as quickly as he coukd to Azreils office, dodging people waving at him, or beckoning him to join them for some fun. The sight caused Azreil to snort and shake his head. "I do apologize for my nephew, he is a man of very little words. " He admitted with a soft hum. "Fredrick has tried everything to get him to speak up, but nothing seems to be helping. You'll get use to his quiet nature, we have them in the office quiet often, expecally when we are working overtime." He admitted. The soft and kind look Azreil had on his face was like non anyone has seen, he saw his nephews as his own kids, he would do anything he could for fhe boys. He looked to Leo, giving her a bored look, the fond look now gone. "I bid you goodnight Leo, I have many things I need to do before I go home tonight. Enjoy your evening." He said walking towards his office. Acting as if he had not just spoken to Leo.

Leo gave a shrug, watching out the corner of her eye as the teen scurried off to the office. "Bah, don't be sorry boss; I have a friend who's similar, probably the shiest gal I've ever met." She said, her crooked smile shifting just slightly into one more genuine as she thought about Cap. However, the look vanished just as quickly as it appeared, her normal cocky look back on her face as she gave a nod. "For sure boss, have a good one!" She said, giving a wave. She looked around the party, then looked at the clock. Wonder if it's too early just to call it a night. She thought, but gave a soft sigh as she shrugged to herself. Eh, probably best if I go home; stupid field report won't write itself. With that thought, she quietly slipped out of the building, starting her walk home.

Azreil watched Leo leave, humming ever so softly he walked back into his office, going straight to the computer turning it on. "Go get Freddy for me Lor, we have some business we need to attend to." He said softly, sitting in his chair as he narrowed his eyes at the screen, tonight was the night, there was no way he would let anyone down. The next morning was Chaos, everyone was running back and forth, papers going in the main off and out to the mail room, it was complete Chaos. In the middle of that Chaos was Azreil, sleeves pushed up, tie undone and jacket off. He was on the phone talking to someone, while Fredrick wrote down names on a whiteboard. Upon spotting Leo, Azreil was quick to put her to work, having her help run paperwork to the diffrent branches of the building. Each office was just as crazy as the next. Something happened to cause them all to be this chaotic

Leo walked home, listening to her music while mulling over her plan of attack. Well, if the business is a cover, it sucks for me. I guess it still at least gives me an opportunity to observe. She thought, arriving at her apartment building half an hour later. She stayed up typing out her report, not getting to sleep until about 1 in the morning. The late night barely appeared to have taken a toll on her though, at least on the outside. She still left ontime, walking through the door early enough to get settled in. She stifled a yawn as she diligently did her work; running paperwork to and fro like a good working stiff. This was an environment she could work with; lots of moving, lots to do. She even did a decent job biting back sarcastic quips and eyerolls when she felt the tone of her order was snappy. Despite thriving in this chaos, she was still curious. Throughout the day, she kept trying to find an opening to ask what the hell was happening. Maybe a bit nicer than that, she wasn't sure yet; however by midday, she realized she forgot breakfast. Again. For someone so firey, she sure forgot to eat a lot.

When mid day came Fredrick walled up to Leo's desk, placing a vending machine sandwich and a bag of chips down. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got you a plain ham and cheese." He smiled, carefullt sitting in his desk across from hers. "Sorry about this morning. It's been crazy we got two huge offers to purchase a few companies from a company that's going down. We barely made it but we got the offer." He smiled eating his own sandwhich, watching Azreil closely. "Say Leo, I know this is only your second day and all, but I have to say I think you will do a fantastic job here, the Boss seems to like you, and he hasn't scared you away so that's good." He smiled kindly looking at her. "Thank you for giving him a chance, I know he seems all big and bad, but trust me there's a softy under him." He winked, carefully getting up and going back to work. Azreil slowly walked Over to Leo. "Once your done with lunch, I need you to come with me. I need to go off sight and inspect a building. I need you to write down Any worries I have with the building got it?" He asked sound a but sterner then he had yesterday.

Leo looked up from her computer, giving another crooked smile. "Oi, I'm not too picky; especially when someone offers food!" She said, opening the food and munching on it. "Thanks, you're a real life saver! I completely blanked on breakfast today!" She added through a mouthful of sandwich. She never claimed to have the best manners; with her upbringing, you ate what you could and fast. She listened to him talk about the offers, giving a nod as she swallowed her bite. "Well that's good at least! Worth it even if it causes chaos." She said with a nod, still wasting no time with her sandwich. She finished it in no time, opening the chips next as he kept talking. She looked up at him, giving another crooked smile as she shrugged. "Well, I've fought scarier men than him in the bars; plus, those were the kinda guys dad hung out with when I was just a pipsqueak." She offered, popping a chip in her mouth. "Biker gang type, ya know?" She didn't even need a cover or a backstory to say that; the childhood she had was exactly why she joined in the FBI. She was one of the true bona-fide 'started from the bottom' types she'd hear rappers rap about all the time. She offered a wave, going back to her computer as she kept munching on her chips. She had just finished up and was getting ready to throw away the wrappers when Azreil made his way over to her. She gave a nod, the hand not holding trash going to her hip again as she listened. "Sure thing boss; I actually just finished lunch. I'll go turn off the computer and grab my purse." She said, punctuating the sentence with a nod. She walked over to the nearest trash can, and successfully fought the urge to throw the trash like a basketball. She chuckled a bit at the idea, but went back to her desk to grab her purse.

Azreil hummed walking to his office to grab his keys, wallet and phone. Making sure he had everything before he walked out of his office, grabbing his jacket on the way out. "Good we need to leave now and get there in a timely manner, before the landlord gets there, i need that building to move other employees there." He grumbled walking towards the elevator. Carefully putting his Jacket on, placing his Bluetooth ear piece in his ear, he began to grab his phone. Typing as quickly as he could, letting Fredrick know where he and Leo were off too. Making sure to go into full detail about it. "Once we get there, i will need to go around the office to make sure there is enough space for everyone who will be working there. Make sure it will be a good workplace. I cannot afford to send employees there, just for them to get sick from rats or roaches." Once the elevator doors opened, he placed his phone into his pocket and began walking towards the parking garage, leading her to a black Jeep, a vehicle no one expected the rich CEO to drive. He carefullt unlocked the car, carefullt getting in. "Ignore the carseat, stuff animals and rubber ducks, I am picking up my nephews after out visit with the offices. Please watch your step getting in, the door does not like to stay on the hinges." He said without a care in the world, carefully buckling up ad he turned the jeep on. He paused picking up something off the Passenger floor boards, grumbling ad he tossed it into the back seat "Well, im going to get shouted out by theit father, but right now I don't care." He said. Once Leo was in the car and Buckled, Azreil began to pull out of the parking space, but also using his phone to find the gps.

Leo lingered by the office door for a second, slinging her little backpack purse over a shoulder as she walked. Random pins from various bands littered the ratty thing, and she cussed under her breath for a second as she dislodged one that snagged on her shirt. She looked over at Azreil, giving a nod as she followed behind. Rather, jogged behind; her shorter stature always had her jogging to keep up with everyone. She stood next to him, staring at the elevator doors. Never being able to sit still, she bounced on her toes, humming some metal song she had stuck in her head before he started talking again. Looking over at him, she gave a crooked smile as she nodded. "Fair enough boss; I'll be able to take down notes easy enough," She said, a hand on her hip while the other held the worn strap of her bag. "Plus, roaches are just creepy. I'm cool with rats, but don't be surprised if I run out of the room if there's a roach." She ended her sentence with a laugh, cracking her neck. "Kidding, by the way. I don't scare that easy." Just then, the doors opened, and she again jogged behind to keep up. She looked at the jeep, giving a bit of a whistle as they approached. *Huh, I suppose he isn't the showboat type. She thought, giving a nod as he explained the carseat and toys. "Ey, don't worry about it; I'm sure they'll be happy to see ya!" She said with a toothy grin. She gave another nod when he explained the fussy door, opening it carefully and getting in. "Hey, at least it looks like you got a stereo; I remember dad selling his as a pipsqueak. Or it got stolen, one of the two." She chuckled, buckling up. She eyed him throwing something in the backseat, but didn't see what it was. She shrugged it off; she wasn't about to ask too many questions right now, it wasn't the time. Maybe once they had a better rapport, she can ask questions without being seen as odd. She adjusted slightly, taking her backpack purse off and dropping it on the floor.

Azreil nodded softly as he began to drive down the road, carefully leaning back in his seat. "Not to worry, I don't do Roaches either. Not since the last office. I regret even entertaining the idea of buying that dreadful place." He shivered at the memory. That was one of the worst offices he had ever visited. There had been so many bugs in that office, he was able to feel them crawling on him for days, if not months afterward. He sighed heavily, he noticed They were now in the middle of a traffic Jam. "Great." He grumbled, leaning back into his seat, watching as the cars ahead were stopped for miles. He figured he'd take Fredrick words to heart, and get to know the newest employee beside him. "So...are you from here? Or new to town?" He knew it was a dumb question to ask, but what else was he supose to do, they were stuck in a traffic Jam, he couldn't really awnser emails. So all that was left was small talk, the more small talk he was forced to partake in, the more he was able to losen up, and become himself. But for now, he was the stiff uptight boss everyone despised and feared.....great. "I was born, but my family is from Ireland amd scottland." He explained softly "my great great grandfather imagrated here for my grandmother. They decided they liked it here and raised my family here to stay."

Leo gave a bit of a shrug, still having a bit of a crooked smile as she looked out the window. "Eh, they aren't so bad; ya get used to them when they're around all the time, ya know?" She said with a chuckle, looking back over at him. "I will say though, sucky roommates. Don't ever pay rent and eat your food if you aren't careful." She glanced over at him when she heard him sigh, then saw exactly why he grumbled a sarcastic 'great.' She gave her own little sigh, her hand tapping to a rhythm in her head. Fuck, well that's just peachy, She thought. If this was anyone else's car, she'd probably lean her head against the window, or even fish around her bag to see if she had her smokes. Seeing as she was in her boss's car, however, she didn't think that was the right move. This was a new one for her; having to walk everywhere, she never really delt with traffic jams. Especially traffic jams where it's either awkward silence or small talk. She looked over when he asked if she was from around here, and her crooked smile made a return when he talked about his own family. "Man, my family doesn't have that cool a story," She commented, brushing some of her shaggy hair behind her ear. "Honestly, my hometown is a couple hours away from here; I'd move further, but that requires money." She gave a bit of a laugh, tapping her foot a bit. "Don't get me wrong, the nice parts of town were nice; dad and I lived in the slums though. Ya know the kind, right? Where ya can't tell if it's a fireworks show or another driveby?" She got a bit quiet after that, biting the inside of her cheek. She hadn't thought about home so much in a long time; memories best left behind she thought. However, it seemed maybe her experiences would be somewhat of an asset, if she played her cards right. "Eh, maybe I'll visit sometime; see if dad's outta jail yet or not. Never know with him, he was always in and out when I was a pipsqueak."

"Yeah I know the kind, I wasn't always this privileged as I am now." He gave a small nod, listening to what she was saying, he could relate in some ways, his dad wad in and out of Jail for gang activity, he grew up not knowing his mom, and he lived in a neighborhood where those sounds put him to sleep every night. "Well I hope he is out of jail when you visit him, I understand the feeling of growing up with a parent in and put of prision." He replied looking forward at the cars ahead of him, trying not to make eye contact. Any talk about his past, always caused him to feel awkward and out of place. He ran a hand through his hair, looking back to Leo giving a small shrug. "My life's not that intresting, I've been working at the company ever since I learned to read. Everyday all day, from the age of five till now. Over twenty-two years of straight work doesn't sound like a fun life but it made me into the man I am now." He explained, carefully driving Along with traffic, thankful they were able to drive even of it was only a few feet. "Wouldn't hurt to actually open an office in the old neighborhood. Give people there an opportunity to work again, help them get back onto their feet, get some housing so they don't have to worry about their families." He hummed, carefully grabbing his Phone, holding it infront of him as he texted Fredrick his plan. But paused when a sharp pain went across his head, he sighed shaking his head as he placed his phone down, focusing on the road. Azreil stayed quiet for a long while, a storm grumpy look stayed on his face as he scanned the scenery of the highway. His eyes landed on a car, narrowing his eyes as he slowly picked his phone up watching the car. He scoffed "idiotic cops...sending another undercover agent after me." He shook his head in frustration. "They act as if I have a hostage ."

Leo gave a bit of a shrug, trying not to roll her eyes. She wanted to make a snarky comment about her dad, but bit her tongue. Honestly, he could be dead for all she knew or cared; but she didn't want to say that to someone who's dad just died. She might be an asshole, but not that big of one. "Hey, at least it taught ya some good things," She said, her hand again tapping against her leg. "If I wasn't in school, I was kinda just sent to my room so dad could do god knows what." She bit the inside of her cheek again, remembering the stuff her dad was doing. "Some people just shouldn't be parents honestly," she added under breath, taking a breath to steady her nerves. She looked back over at him when he mentioned giving back to the old neighborhood, the crooked smile making a reappearance. "Honestly, I think it'd be a good plan." She said, giving a bit of a shrug as she looked back over. "People would probably appreciate the leg up." Before she could say anymore, she saw him sigh as he put the phone down. She looked back out the window when she saw the grumpy look return. Well, guess the small talks done, She thought, eyes lazily watching the cars and trees outside her window. She didn't snap back to the present until she heard him scoff. "Seriously? Man, don't they have better things to do?" She asked, going back to tapping her leg idly. "Why would they be doing that anyway? Sounds kinda dumb sending an undercover cop to stake out some hotshot CEO." Unless there's ties to something illegal, she bit the comment back. Given the position she was in, it'd be no issue to take care of business and make sure she was never found. Not only that, but she was curious about his answer. She found the guy interesting at the very least; learning about people was one of her favorite parts of her job. It was always intriguing to see how they'd cover up a truth you already knew.

"You'd be suprised. Expecally since my father died, I've been talked ever since. They suspect foul play imma give them foul play I am fine with this ." He suddnelt snapped. At the next opportunity he pulled off the highway and began to drive to the nearest gas station. As he passed a undercover car, he flipped them off. He was exhausted and annoyed, tired of being followed, maybe his tired brain was making him act not responsibly. Before he could do anything else unbecoming, he just continued to drive. Driving towards the office they were going to purchase. "Working in my compnay, you will also be under fire of the public and the police. Please try your best to ignore them, if they continue to harass you please let me know, I've had to go speak to the head detective a few times. They have shown up at my nephews schools, I will not allow that happen again. The police department will be sued this time." He promised, narrowing his eyes as he looked down the road. Azriel stayed silent the entire ride to the office, he wasn't happy about being followed, but there wasn't anything he could do. Finally they made it to the office, Azreil parked infront of the building turning his Jeep off. Reading into the back seat, he grabbed a tape measure and a notebook. "Time to get to work, we may be followed inside, just let me do the talking. " He told her, carefully getting out of the jeep, closing the door behind him. He walked into the building, making sure Leo, was close behind him. Upon stepping foot into the building Azreils heart sank, it was visible on his face the man was not happy at all. The office was trashed, completely gutted for silver and gold. Trash everywhere, bugs and mice crawling around. Azreil looked defeated. "No." That was all the man said before he walked back out of the building and back to the Jeep, but this time he didn't get in, he just leaned back against the jeep hanging his head. He felt sick, and seeing that, made him feel sicker.

Leo glanced over after he snapped out his response, just giving a small nod. That's the line they fed him? Dicks. She thought, running a hand through her hair. However, she did chuckle a bit when he flipped the poor sucker off. Her hand kept tapping against her leg in the silence, unsure of what to say until he broke it. She looked back over at him, nodding. "Eh, don't worry about it boss; had to deal with cops when I was a pipsqueak. I'm sure I can handle it." She said, biting the inside of her cheek. They showed up at the kids' school? The hell kind of amateur hour are they running here? She thought bitterly. Sending people to watch adults was one thing; kids were always off limits, even to her. She had to turn down work that involved them so many times. "Animals," She grumbled under her breath, not catching it with how wrapped up she was with her thoughts. She stayed wrapped up in her thoughts for the rest of the drive, not noticing the quietness. She only snapped out of them once they got to the building, getting out carefully as to not hurt the door, and hopped down. She followed behind, giving a slight grateful nod when she realized he was making sure she wasn't getting left behind. She looked around the building, watching the bugs and mice skitter around. She kept a blank face, trying to ignore the familiarity of the creatures. She didn't look back over at him until he said no. She saw him walking away, jogging behind until they reached the car. She stood next to him, bouncing on her toes. "Hey, you good there boss?" She asked, her voice a touch softer than the normal harshness everyone would be accustomed to.

"No, no im not okay. That's is a year worth of renovation, I cannot afford a year of renovation, so we are not buying it." He said lifting hid head again tired Turn to Leo. The look of defeat hung heavily over him. "If it's like that, who knows what our employees will have to deal with once moved in, i am not willing to risk their safety. Showing me that, was a complete waste of my time. And an embaressmemt to rhe company, it shows we aren't worth their time nor money. " He said angrily, carefully opening the jeep door getting in. "The next one we have to go is near the Daycare and highschool, we can stop by get the kids after, let's hope this one isn't completely demolished." He sighed, once Leo was in the car he began to drove. His phone began to ring causing him to sigh heavily. "Great." He sighed carefully pushing a button on his ear piece "O'Brien." He said in a grouchy tone, looking forward at the road. He suddnely growled, tightening his grip on the stirring wheel. "I'm on my way to get them now, assuming im still on their file as a caregiver, don't worry Freddy, just focus on thr office." He said humming ad he hung up. He carefully picked up his phone, still driving he dialed a number. "You might want to cover your ears Leo, I'm about to get extremely loud." He warned pressing the call button. Once the phone was picked up on the other end, he began to shout, cruse and be little the other on the end. Promising to get his legal team on the poor person on the other end. Azreil lost his temper, he was furious, outraged, and most importantly disgusted. "I told you last time, you send another officer to my kids school the entire office is getting sued, guess what detective your job is mine and I will be suing every single officer in that town!" He shouted angrily, parking infront of the Daycare. "And if I find out you have an officer in my building, I will be doing so much worse then suing." He threatened. Getting out of the car with a slam of his door.

09:39

Placing the phone in his pocket, he walked into the building trying to calm himself down. Apologizing profusely to the directors and teachers for the trouble. Carefully getting his nephew and walking back to the jeep, if Leo looked closely, he could see tears forming in the man's eyes. But he quickly wipes them away putting his nephew in his seat. "We will just bring the kids with us, please send an email to Fredrick to contact the legal team, we are pressing charges, suing anything."

Leo gave a nod, listening quietly as he talked about the renovations and how he felt about the company trying to sell the property. "Hey, I'm sure the next building'll be better boss." She said, shrugging to herself a bit as he got into the car. She followed suit, taking care with the door and buckling in. Out of habit, she checked on her purse, going through it to make sure everything was still there as he spoke. "Sounds good to me; honestly, I'm just glad to explore a bit." She said, a smirk on her face as she concluded everything was there and in one piece. She set her purse back between her feet, hand tapping as she watched him answer the phone. While he talked to Fredrick, she again kept watching out the window. While she didn't drive, or ride in vehicles often, it was nice to observe the world speeding past. She didn't look back over until he addressed her again, not helping a small look of curiosity on her face for a split second. Oh shit, that's right, she thought, trying not to stare as he shouted to the pencil pusher on the other end of the phone. She didn't feel the need to cover her ears though; shouting never really bothered her. The only time it did is if it were at her, and it wouldn't take long before she shouted back and tried to fight them. She waited inside the car when he stormed out, just going back to her thoughts. Goddamn, it really is amature hour at the damn PD here. She thought with a grumble. Don't those pricks have any honor? Despite her line of work, the moral code she grew up with was ingrained and would never leave her; only fight if you have to (and make it quick, dirty, and severe enough to make sure it won't happen again,) it's only illegal if you're caught, and peoples' kids are off limits. So the idea of them going after the kids really, really, pissed her off.

09:59

"Fucking scumbags," She grumbled, running a hand through her hair before he came back with his nephew. She watched out the corner of her eye as he got back in, thinking she saw a glint from tears gathering in his eyes. However, she shook it off; even if they were there, she wasn't about to call him out on them. She gave a nod as he told her to email Fredrick, pulling out her own phone. "You got it boss!" She said, perhaps with a touch more enthusiasm than necessary. Should she have been conflicted about endorsing suing a whole department? Maybe, but she didn't care. She scrolled through, trying to find the company contact list she got upon hire. "Fucking no honor having scumbag cowardly assholes." She mumbled, cursing out the PD under her breath as she typed out her best attempt at a corporate email. Might talk to my boss tonight, She mused as she hit send. Maybe he can get them to at least back off the kids.

Azreil buckled in the youngest, hearing Leo's words he carefully cleared his throat. "Yes they may be all of those thing, but Ames is very impressionable. He loves to mimic, I rather you not be on his fathers bad side, trust me Fredrick may be kind and sweet. But when his baby drops a f bomb you better watch out." Hw warned but had a kind grin, as if he was the cause that sudden change. He carefully drove to the highschool where he got out and went to get the other kid, but this time had a bit of trouble trying to get the teen in the car. The shy teen saw Leo, and wanted desperately to get away, that is until Azreil made him get in the car. With an embaressed and shy look the teen got in and stayed close to the youngest, not dareing to look up. Azreils sighed getting in the driver side as he began to drive to the new office. "Back to business, ignore the two i will handle them. If this place is just as trashed I'm going to be extremely upset." He huffed shaking his head as he drove to the new building. He listened to the youngest Babble on and on about his day, telling him about nap time how he got the cot. It was peaceful, until they got to the building and there was a man there, a tall buff guy with scaring on his face, Azreil decided to keep driving, narrowing his eyes ad he had a dark look over cross his face. "Chnage of plan, we are heading back to the office."

"Oh! Shi-I mean shoot!" Leo could feel her face heat up a bit, giving a bit of an awkward cough. "D-didn't realize I was thinking out loud there, sorry boss." She bit the inside of her cheek again, glancing out the window as they began driving again. Really need to work on that, She thought, her hand tapping her leg again. She watched as Azreil got out, humming a bit to herself as her hand tapped to the rhythm. She watched the teen get into the car, giving a bit of a wave and her best friendly smile. "Nice to see ya again." She greeted, looking over as Azreil got back in the car. She gave a nod, brushing some hair behind her ear. "Sounds good boss; and honestly, won't blame ya. But I'm sure it'll be fine." She commented, giving a crooked smile again. She listened to the little one babble, not helping but let her crooked grin melt a bit into a genuine smile. Call the gal soft, but little kids were always adorable. She gave a bit of a chuckle, looking out the window and watching the world go by. However, the smile quickly disappeared when she saw the man in front. Something about him gave her the creeps; why would some random just be standing there. She gave a slow nod, just staring at the man as they kept on driving. "Who the he-I mean, who in the world just stands in random places looking like a creep?" She mused, looking over and finally noticing the look that was on his face. "I mean, intimidating has it's places, but a random empty building isn't one."

"Dont worry about it, just ignore them." He said, he knew exactly who it was. But he wasn't going to let Leo or thr kids know who the man was, that was his business and one he wasn't going to reveal. "Just worry about the paper work your going to be handling the next couple days, we have alot to do If we are going to be suing the police department. I need to make sure my staff and everyone is safe, so they all are going to be filling out incident reports and you are going to organize them and give them to me." Azriel was in all business mode, he needed to get this done, before someone got hurt or worse, so he was going to have every employee write any incident they had with an undercover cop, he was going to be putting a stop to it, and he didn't care what it took, he'd even send one of his men to go handle it if he needed. The drive was quiet for the most part, every so often he'd awnser his nephews random questions about the world, why are dogs bigger then cats, why is his hair red, so on and so forth. He didn't bring up business, he didn't bring up the offices anymore, not spoke about the law suite they soon would find themselves under. But the teen did speak, "m-miss Leo, I think you need to drive ." He spoke as quietly as he could his eyes stayed on his uncle. "I-i don't think uncle Azreil is okay."

Leo gave another nod, her eyebrows furrowing in curiosity as she got her phone out again. Damnit, I'm a field agent, not a lawyer, She thought, but diligently started to try and type out another corporate email. She stared at the blank notes screen on her phone, her environment starting to fade away as she tried to focus. Probably best to not draw attention right off the bat; especially if the PD here is at least competent enough to get a warrant from the IPs this office uses, She mused, quickly typing away at her notes. She decided to leave it a touch open-ended; just a generic email stating that any employees who have had any police interactions based on the company or CEO should schedule meetings with her to explain the situations. With some effort, she managed to figure out how to get it into corporate lingo; however, she just saved a draft so she could ask Azreil before sending it out. After all, probably not the best idea to step on his toes here. When she went to go ask him if that'd be okay, she heard the teen speak up. She looked over at the man driving, and bit her cheek. "Hey, you do look a bit off there boss..." She said, reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder. "I can take over driving; there's a gas station up the road we can pull into." She slid her phone in her pocket, trying her best not to be demanding. Anger management did have a few good points sometimes.

Azreil carefully moved her hand off his shoulder, not rudely or harshly, just moved it. "Im fine, I'm just a bit dizzy, and my headache has returned don't worry." He said continuing to drives. "The office is only 15 minutes away, you do your homework, and you continue the emails I am a grown man and don't need looking after." He said sternly. Lorcan sighed "but..." "No buts, I'm fine don't worry, a little dizziness and a headache won't do anything. Do your homework I'm fine, do tou really think something so small as a headache woukd take your uncle Az out? Im fine Lor promise" Azreil replied, continuing to drives. The teen sighed and went back to his homework, whispering an apology. He was fine he didn't need anyone to tell him otherwise, the work day was almost over. He could survive until the end of the day, That's what he kept telling himself. Once they got back to the office, Azreil took his nephews and went straight to his office to talk to the legal team, leaving Leo to send him the files he needed to speak to the lawyers. Fredrick walked to Leo with a heavy frown "what happened?" He asked. He sat infront of her desk needing information.

Leo kept looking over at him, her jaw tensing a bit. Honestly, if he were any other person she'd push it more; if only to make sure they wouldn't end up in a ditch with kids in the back, if not worse. However, as much as she wanted to make sure they'd be safe, she was more reluctant to argue in front of anyone's kids, especially towards their authority figure. "Whatever you say boss," She mumbled, pulling her phone back out to go over the draft she'd typed out. She didn't say anything else after that; getting her marching orders and making her way back to her desk. She set her bag down underneath, propping her head up in her chin as she stared at the computer in front of her. She didn't really look up, going over what paperwork would even be needed for the lawyers, until Fredrick came around. She glanced up, biting her cheek again and giving a shrug. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure; he took your call, got really angry, and called the police department to scream and shout at them and let them know he's gonna sue." That's all the direct information she could offer; there wasn't much more she had. "He told me I was in charge of getting paperwork and incident reports from employees to hand to the lawyers and legal department. I say good on him honestly." She snorted, going to boot up her computer. "Sorry I don't have much more info to cough up for ya; figured that's all the relevant info at least. He might also be stressed cause the first building was a years worth of work to fix up, and the second place had some sketchy looking man just hanging around."

Fredrick sighed heavily, running a hand over his head looking worried. "Im so sorry he is having a stressful time. I don't understand what is happening. I will talk to him, thank you for your hard work leo!"He said with a small kind smile. "Im going to help you with the work load, I already got everyone's statement in the offices on the first and third floors then I will get to everyone on the fifth and seventh next." He replied carefully standing up. "How does that sound ?"

"That sounds awesome actually!" Leo flashed a crooked smile, giving a grateful nod. "Once I get all the reports, I'll try and organize them based on severity, that sounds good right?" She asked, searching for an opinion. While she was confident in her plan, she figured a second opinion wouldn't hurt; she wasn't insecure about it at all. "Now I just gotta figure out what other paperwork lawyers would need..." She thought for a second, then looked back over at Fredrick. "Oi, also don't be sorry. Ain't your fault he's stressed, you aren't his keeper." She said, her crooked smile shrinking a bit and looking more kind as she laughed a bit. "Unless that's in your job description I guess, but that ain't my business." She added, still smiling a bit as she turned her computer on; no longer just staring at it while planning.

Fredrick snorted softly. "I've known him since we were small things, diapers actually. My mom and his mom were best friends. He's like a brother to me, so if he's stressed I'm stressed." He admitted with a small smile carefully gathering the papers he has already gotten printed out. "But your right I am not his keeper, but I cannot help but worry its taking a total on his health." He replied carefully sitting down separating the papers into needing immediate attention, and not so immediate. "Your idea sounds perfect, we will be able to have these done by quiting time, this is amazing I really hope this helps, I'm tired of having to get my kids early from school, and having them worry." He admitted, humming softly as he got his laptop, so he could stay close to Leo to help her with the paper work, but also continue his emails that needed to be finished by the end of the day. "I hope my little brother hasn't offended you, he is a shy one I can never get him to talk to others. But he likes to be the center of attention, what an oxymoron huh" he chuckled softly logging into his laptop and began to do his work.

Meanwhile in the office Azreil was on the phone with a rival, narrowing his eyes as he listened to the man talk and threaten him. He balled his hands into a fist when the other mentioned his nephews, there is no way in heck he was going to allow them. "You and me, tonight at dawn, we will settle this." He growled. "The normal place bring your best man." He hung up his phone with an angry look, he was going to settle this once and for all. But he had to figure out how to hide it from the conpnay.

Leo gave a nod, glancing back over at him with a chuckle. "I gotcha! Honestly, must be nice having someone that close." She commented, giving another smile as she watched him sort the papers. She fished around her desk, trying to find folders so the papers wouldn't fly everywhere if someone walked by too quick. "Here's hoping!" She said with another chuckle. "But even if it doesn't, I don't mind staying late to make sure it's all done." She finally got three folders to start with; marking each one with priority 1, priority 2, and priority 3. "Here, hand me the most immediate ones; I'll throw them in the 1 folder." She said, gently taking the pile and placing them neatly in the folder. "Honestly, I hope it helps too; I know I'm still new here and all that, but the whole situation bugs me. Growing up, one of the three big rules that got drilled into everyone was kids were off limits, no matter what." She explained, continuing thr sort through the papers. "Probably one of the few good lessons I've learned; kinda surprised the PD doesn't have the same kinda honor." As she spoke, she couldn't help a touch of venom from getting into her final statement when the PD was brought up. If there was one thing she hated about her line of work, it was how often the bastards didn't have honor; at least, in her eyes. She kept sorting quietly until he apologized, then looked up with a crooked smile. "Eh, he hasn't; tried my temper a few times, but hasn't offended me." She said, tapping her hand on her leg. "Honestly, I'm just glad I haven't snapped back and lost my job yet. Stupid anger management classes my friend had me take finally paying off." She gave a bit of a laugh at that, scratching the back of her neck a bit awkwardly before going back to her papers. "Hey, also, I hate to sound dumb, but is there any other paperwork I should prep for the legal team? Besides the incident reports I mean; I've never dealt with lawyers really." She asked, biting the inside of her cheek

"no question is a dumb question." He hummed softly, continuing to write the emails. "Nope, I'll talk to the legal team in the morning. I just need your help fileing and gathering the paperwork. I'm not sure how many reports we have, but that's why I will be speaking to the legal team. Besides it's only your second day at the job, I don't want you to have to suffer and work on the papers alone." He replied with a kind smile. "That group can be a bit intimidating so I don't want them freaking you out the first few days you working ." Fredrick tried his hardest to make every new employee feel welcomed and safe, he knew with the stress Azreil was under, it could cause new employees to feel scared, expecally with his best friends destructive behavior towards everyone was becoming tiresome. He needed to figure something out and fast, or else Azreil will lose all the employees. They just needed to get this big Job done, then his friend could finally rest, and go back to his normal self. He looked up at her with a courious look, listening to her talk about the PD. He couldn't help but laugh. "Those guy? Of course not, they have no morals when it comes to us over here. They have stalked my children's school I don't know how many times, they even tired to take them out of my custody, because I know Azreil. Trust me, my brother is as good as they come. And if the police department can't see that, we'll that's their problem. And they are about to get humbled." He sighed shaking his head with a slight look of hurt. "I'd like for them to not make my kids scared of the police, I'd much rather have my own bed at night for at least one night, but because of the police department my eldest has night terrors, so i dont like leaving him alone." He sighed a heavy sigh, everyone in the office was tired. Having simular experience with the undercover cops, it seemed no one could catch a break. He chuckled softly, listening to her talk about Azreil, he just had a proud smil

19:45

e. "Im glad he hasn't offended you, he's trying to work on his manners, it hasn't been easy but he's getting there." He chuckled, typing on his computer. "Dont worry, if you snap back I will make sure you don't get fired." He promised her, looking up with a kind smile. "I was able to get Johnathan his job back, so I doubt you will completely loose your job expecally with me here." He promised. "Anger management, huh. Maybe I need to get him in those types of classes, I doubt he will go but it's worth a shot." He admitted humming. Fredrick stayed with Leo until the paperwork was sorted and finished, he gave her a wide smile, praising her on the accomplishment they had done. "Well done Leo! I will make sure these papers get to the legal team. Why don't you head on home, today's been a long day, and we have a longer one in the morning." He smiled gently patting her on the back. "Goodwork today, I am very proud." He said before walking to Azreil's office, where he disappeared

Leo gave another chuckle, her crooked smile still present as she gave another nod. "Dude, you're a lifesaver! Honestly, I'm so used to just being thrown into the deep end with no life jacket, so this is a nice change of pace!" She complimented, feet tapping as she went back to sorting. "I'm not easily intimidated; I won't lie though, legal stiffs are in a whole other ballpark. They find the loopholes in everything; worse than the fair folk I read about in those fairy tales as a pipsqueak." She gave a chuckle after that, continuing to sort the incident reports on her desk. She grimaced as she read through the incidents that had happened, feeling her blood boil more and more on behalf of the workers. "Stupid scumbag..." She kept muttering obscenities under her breath without realizing it, her focus more on the paperwork than anything else. She tried to figure out if it'd be worth leaving this information out in her field report tonight; sure her boss would be pissed, bur the amature hour in this PD had to stop. Usually these assholes don't know to stop until they get the hell sued out of them... Yea, yea she wouldn't tell her boss about the lawsuit; however, she was probably going to have a strong word or two about how she felt about this PD trying to drag kids into this mess. She looked back up when he talked about his kids and the PD, causing her blood to boil more. She was angry on Frederick's behalf; mostly because of how close to home sharing a bed due to fear hit. "This better get the message through their thick skulls! Honestly, even the cokehead down the street from us growing up knew to leave me and the other neighborhood kids the hell alone. Might've taken a few visits from the adults, but he learned." She grumbled, her leg bouncing. She took a deep breath, trying not to go completely off the handle while at work.

01:19

"U-uh, sorry, probably not the best place to talk about Ricky." She said sheepishly, chuckling a bit as she went back to her work. "I guess...this all just hits a bit close to home; I'm just glad I can help somehow, even if it is filing paperwork instead of how we took care of things as a pipsqueak." She mused, the crooked smile returning a bit to try and reassure that she wasn't a completely a-moral char a character. "Gotta say, lawsuit sounds a bit less prison-y than that route." Her crooked smile shifted slightly, again looking more...warm, in a sense, instead of sarcastic or even empty. "Honestly, that'd be amazing; there've been a few times where if we were just strangers at a bar, I'd probably fight him." She said with a chuckle, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "I-I mean, not saying I'd fight the boss...Unless we were at a bar I guess?" She gave a bit of a sigh, resting her forehead in her hand. "Fuck I'm making such a bad impression," she mumbled under her breath, trying to get it together. She glanced over when he mentioned the classes, and she gave another crooked smile. "If you try, and if he's anything like me, he's gonna bitch about how much of a waste of time and energy it is." She warned, giving a bit of a laugh. She tried to imagine Azreil in group, learning how to count to five while taking deep breaths, and the scene made her laugh more. "O-oh, sorry for cussing," She added sheepishly, realizing her normal vocabulary had slipped past her radar.

01:19

Eventually, she patted her hands together like she was getting imaginary dirt off. "There! Got it all sorted; that should help them get a scope on how invasive the PD has been; plus give them some good ammo for when court rolls around." She said, looking over at Fredrick. She couldn't help feeling her face heat up a little bit at the praise she received, chuckling a bit as a hand went back to the back of her neck. "Awh man, gonna make me blush over here." She joked, trying to brush it off as she handed the folders over to him. "Sounds good though; I'll be sure to be on my A game tomorrow!" She gave a wave as he walked away, then gathered up her things to head out.

The next morning the office was quiet, everyone worked along side each other making sure paperwork was done. But for some reason, it was a dead silence as if people were afraid to speak. Fredrick was standing in the middle of the office, looking as if he had not slept at all. He was pale from worry, and looked frazzled. When his eyes landed on Leo, he gave her a sad anxious smile. Walking over Fredrick smiled. "Hey Leo, mind coming into Azreil's office please. I need to speak with you and put you on a special assignment. " He said carefully leading her to the office, someone of the employees watched with wide sad eyes, giving her pitty looks. But Fredricks face stayed stone cold. Closing the door behind them, he sighed walking over to the desk, carefully leaning against it as he looked at Leo. "Im telling you this before anyone else has the chance to say anything. But Azreil's in the hospital, we were walking in the park yesterday with the kids, on a homework quest for Lorcan. And Azreil was attacked, he got shot." He explained sadly.

Leo somehow managed to make it into the office ontime, despite oversleeping. Sure, there was a lot of colorful language as she ran to the office, but she took some deep breaths to catch it as she walked inside, trying her best to look like she didn't just run a good city mile to get to the office. However, the atmosphere was...different, as she looked around. This wasn't a normal office him silence; it was a lot more grim, more solomn even. She looked around, eyebrows furrowed. Who died? She pondered, finally spotting Fredrick. She gave a wave as she walked over, but before she could ask anything she was being whisked away to the office. She noticed the looks she was getting, which only confused her more. Oh shit, I'm getting fired aren't I? She felt her jaw tense slightly, feeling a small spark of panic as the thought crossed her mind. She kept retracing her actions, trying to find the one that did her in as Fredrick shut the door behind them. She listened to him, feeling her heart drop as he explained the situation. "Oh shit...I'm so sorry, how're you holding up? How're the kids holding up? Is he gonna be okay?" She asked the questions rapid fire, not having the sense to have her mental filter slow her down. She had about a million thoughts swirling around, but tried to shake them off. Focus, she had to focus. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she tried to sort her thoughts. "What do you need me to do?" She asked after a moment, looking back up. "I know I'm new, and I don't know much, but how can I help take some stuff off your plate?" The normal tough act seemed to drop for that moment; no sarcastic quips, no jokes, not even a crooked smile. She looked serious; a determined look on her face as she tried to step up to the plate.

Fredrick nodded taking a deep breath so he could address her questions. "The boys are very afraid, but werent hurt thankfull. Azreil was thankfully not hit in any major places, they are just going to keep him Over night to make sure it didn't hit anything serious." He said looking at her with a sad look. He was exhausted, the lying was causing him to go into anxiety overload. "I...I don't know what to do, I know what to do in the office, but after I dont...I told him he needed to take a break but he refused to listen." He said sadly, shaking hus head as he heaved a heavy sigh. "I just need you to work and act as If Azreil is on vacation. We got word an undercover cop is in the office. We don't know who, but we arnt letting anyone in the office know. They know Azreil is on vacation and won't be back for a while....but they sense something is wrong because Az never takes a vacation." He sighed running a hand through his hair trying not to show how incredibly stressed he was. "I need you to pretend I didn't tell you anything, if anyone from the news paper of police station come you send them to me please." He begged he was in charge, he wasn't going to allow the buisness to go under.

Leo nodded, releasing a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding. She put a hand on his shoulder, doing her best to give a reassuring look. "Well, I don't know how to help with after work, but if you need anything else from me to help ya lighten the load, I'm here for ya." Again, her voice lacked the normal feisty tone; it was softer. She'd never admit to being the most comforting person, but she sure as hell tried with good people, and Fredrick was good people in her book. "You're good people, and I wanna help good people, even if I'm clumsy at it." She lowered her arm again, giving another nod to punctuate her statement. As he explained what he needed her to do, she felt a twinge of...some sort of emotion when he brought up the undercover cop. She didn't let it show, but that guilt feeling had reared it's ugly head again. She pushed it down; now was definitely not the time to explore that weird thing. "Ya got my word; I won't say anything. Plus, on the bright side, being a newbie means they probably won't expect me to know anything." She gave a slight chuckle, trying to lighten the heavy mood. She shifted a bit in her spot, her weight going to a leg. "I'm serious though, ya need anything from me holler. I might not be able to do much, but I'll try my damnest." Despite pushing that guilt down, she couldn't help but dwindle on it. Maybe she should tell her boss that it's a mistake, and she shouldn't be here. She imagined the conversation in her head, giving a defeated mental sigh as she figured out the ending. Bastard would probably just ignore me anyway. She concluded, biting the inside of her cheek. "Was there anything else ya needed from me?" She asked, trying to find some sort of work to distract her from everything. Seems tonight would probably be a bar night after all.

Fredrick paused ad he sighed "I hate to ask this, and I know it may be extremely uncomfortable. You can day no. But I cant be at the hospital, I need you to go and sit with Azriel. You don't have to go to work, I just need someone there incase he needs something. Lorcan can only do so much, he actually has to leave every two hours because Azriel is in icu and ames isnt allowed there." He replied softly looking at her with pleading eyes. "Im not worried about after work, once work is over, I can handle everything from there, I'm more worried about what I'm going to do while I'm here, and he's there. My 16 year can't be alone." He replied taking a deep breath as he held his head groaning. He was beyond frustrated and didn't know what to do. He sighed holding his head for a moment before he stood up. "All this is completely optional I don't want to force you to babysit. I just need an extra hand. Even if you don't want to sit with Azriel I just need someone to sit with lorcan and Ames. " He explained. "And if not that is completely alright, I can call a friend."

Leo listened intently, giving a slight nod. At first, she wanted to say no; she knew she'd feel awkward enough, but once he brought up his kids... She gave a nod. "I can do that; it might take me a bit to get there, but I can do that." She said, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "As soon as we're done here, I can head over; might take a bit on foot, but I can do it." She said, trying to give an earnest smile. She had no idea what she was doing; this sort of thing was WAY out of her job description. She was sent here to be an office drone, so why was she agreeing to do this? She shouldn't ask that, she knew why she was agreeing. She couldn't just sit there twiddling her thumbs, especially when there were kids involved. "I'll just warn ya that I don't know how good of company I am; I'm not exactly known for warm and fuzzies, ya know?" She said, trying to give another chuckle.

Fredrick gave a small smile. "Thank you Leo, I can let you use the company car if you'd like. Don't worry about having to be warm and fuzzy, I just need you to stay incase the kids need anything. You don't even have to talk to Azreil. I'll be there around 5, I really appreciate this Leo." He got up going over to one of the book shelves grabbing a set of car keys, walking Over to give it to her. "Here, this is the company car, if you can drive great, if not I'll get the keys back later." He carefully walked over towards the door opening it. He gave her a small tired smile. "Thank you."

Leo gave a nod, giving another genuine smile as he handed her the keys. "Ah, don't worry, I won't go street racing in the company car." She joked, following behind. "I'll do my best to at least be not as sarcastic as my normal lovely self." She said, giving a bit of a chuckle. Now that she knew what was going on, and what the game plan was, she seemed to relax a bit more, even patting him on the shoulder as she walked out. "Just be sure to take care of yourself, kay?" She asked, giving a wave as she went to find the company car. As she pulled into the hospital, she gave a bit of a sigh as she lingered in the car. Hot damn, this is a new one. She thought to herself, running a hand through her hair. She was already trying to figure out what to put in her field report tonight; she couldn't exactly say she played babysitter in a hospital all day. She grabbed her bag, cursing a bit as one of the pins again caught on God knows what, and got out of the car. I'm pretty sure if I play my cards right, the boss'll buy me being ignorant at least, she mused, thinking if just saying he was on vacation would work out in her favor. She knew they'd probably see Azreil was in the hospital instead, but could they blame her if she just relayed what she was told? She didn't know, and honestly at the moment she didn't care. I'll deal with it later; hopefully the bars will still be open after this. She concluded, walking through the hospital doors. She went to the front desk, giving her best attempt at a friendly smile. "Uhm, I'm here to visit someone?" She asked, shifting her weight a bit. She forgot how much these hospitals sucked; the smell of the disinfectant alone was enough to spark some forgotten anxiety about these places.

Fredrick smiled softly. "Thank you, I appreciate you not doing any drag races in the comonay car, I'd much rather you be safe then in an accident." He chuckled softly, carefully picking up the coffee cup off the desk. "I will try my best, I'll be there at 5. I'll give you extra pay." He promised watching her walk out od the office. He sighed heavily sitting in his seat. "Lord, helo Azreil to be on his nest behavior." He whispered to himself , carefully busying himself with paperwork.

The nurse at the front desk smiled softly. "You must be here for Mr O'Brien, his brother just called and told me you were in your way. He's on the forth floor room 109." She did sweetly, giving leo a visitor pass. In the hospital room Azriel laid there connected to machines, he looked okay just very tired. Fredricks kids were laying with him, both fast asleep on his left side. He looked up confused when he saw Leo. "H-hey, I didn't expect to see you." He said his voice sounding horse and tremble. "I apologize if Freddy asked you to come. He is a worrier for no reason." He sighed shaking his head

Leo gave a nod, a crooked smile on her face. "Hey, can't blame the guy for worrying." She said softly, trying not to wake up the kids. She put her bag between her feet, one of her legs already bouncing. Shit, she really forgot how much hospitals bothered her. She tried to shake it off though, running a hand through her hair. "He told me what happened though; how're ya holding up?" She asked, still speaking softly. "Don't worry though, my lips are sealed. Ya know, if someone decides to ask the newbie what's going on." She added the last part with a bit of a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood even slightly. She leaned forward a bit, resting her arms on her legs despite the one bouncing. "Ya won't have to deal with me for long though; I'm just here till 5, then he'll be back to stay with ya and the kiddos."

He hummed softly, laying his head back against the pillow looking up at the ceiling. He was surprised Leo actually agreed to come to the hospital, even more surprised when she agreed to stay until Fredrick arrived to take over. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “ as good as a man who's been shot can be.” he admitted with a soft shrug, flinching as he felt his side flared up. He sighed. “Yeah, I can't blame him for worrying, but I'm fine like I told him and the doctors. I'll be back to work in the morning, that way we can make sure." He replied, sounding very determined to do so. "I'm not worried, If someone asks you what happens let them, it doesn't matter. I am more concerned about when I can return to work. But to my annoyance, the doctors are refusing to give me a time frame." He sighed carefully, running a hand through his hair. "They are even going as far as to order me to be on bedrest, can you believe that? They expect me to be on bed rest, while others run the company." He snorted, shaking his head "not going to happen." Azreil looked at Leo with a raised eyebrow. "Five? I'm assuming Fredrick bribed the toy with extra pay huh. Well, I will make sure to include that in your check." He sighed, laying his head back again, shifting slightly trying to get comfortable again. "You don't have to stay, I will tell Fredrick you were here the entire time, no need to worry the poor guy." He said turning his head to look at Leo, he had a hint of sadness in his eyes, as if the thought of someone having to be bribed to stay with him hurt. " i highly doubt he will suspect anything he will be more focused on the kids. " he shrugged

Leo listened as her leg bounced, still leaning forward in her chair. She pursed her lips a bit as he talked about going back to work. "Hey, ya need to take the doc seriously boss." She said, running a hand through her hair. "Ya ignore the bedrest, the wound is gonna open back up, and that wouldn't be good if that happened in the middle of the work floor." She bit the inside of her cheek after she said that, going back to listening. She shook her head again, giving a shrug. "Bah, don't worry about the pay, it's not a big deal." She said, giving another crooked smile. "Also, no chance. I'm a gal of my word boss; I'm sticking around till he gets here." She said, giving a bit of a chuckle. "Sorry, you're stuck with me till he gets here; I'm probably not great company, but I'll still try my best." She added, cracking her neck a bit.

Azreil nodded softly as he sighed. "I supose your right, that would cause work to slow down, as well as caught the company more on thearpy bills." He replied looking at the ceiling. He listened to her talk, giving a small nod. "Yes, but can we really be sure these people are responsible real doctors? I mean you can't tell me they actually know everything ." He replied giving Leo a look, he seemed alot calmer then he had the past few days. He looked very relaxed and rested. He carefully ran his fingers through Lorcans hair. Looking back to Leo. "Well, I appreciate the conpnay, there is only so many kid friendly things I can talk about." He sighed. "I live my nephews, but I don't think I can talk about dinosaurs or what shoes go with what shirt any longer ." He hummed raising an eyebrow as he noticed her knee bounding "are you alright? You seem very anxious ."

"I mean, they probably don't." She admitted, taking a deep breath. "However, I'm no doctor and even I know that if your blood pressure goes through the roof at work, that wound is gonna turn into a spigot." She gave a bit of a sigh as she shrugged, a crooked smile still on her face. Her leg still bounced as she listened to him, giving a bit of a laugh. "Hey, dinosaurs are pretty cool to their credit." She chuckled, running a hand through her hair. However, as he asked about her anxiety, the crooked smile faded a bit. "Bah, I'm okay, it's nothing." She said, trying to give another smile. Although, this one seemed a bit forced. "I'm not scared of anything, even hospitals." She gave another laugh, even if it didn't sound as genuine. "They totally don't smell weird or anything."

Azreio sighed, he knew she was right, he really just didn't want to admit it, and staying home in how own bed did also sound nice. Giving a soft nod he sighed. "I supose the office would benefit with a few days off. Maybe I can give everyone a paid week off, I hate to know I'm resting while everyone else is slaving away." He hummed, turning his head to look for his phone so he could message Fredrick the plan. He looked back to Leo, giving a small pout. "Yes they are intresting, but not when you are on pain killers, and he hasn't changed the topic since he arrived." He replied with a shake of his head. "I am now terrible thankful my father never put me in public or private school, if shoes is something I had to worry about I would more then likely of dropped out." He raised an eyebrow listening to her talk. "Uh huh " He commented giving a small nod. "Well, I'm glad your not afraid, I must say I may feed off of that, expecally with this iv. I hate needles." He grumbled looking at the ivs in his arms sighing. "Since we will be here a while. Why don't we....get to know each other. I know everything about my employees, I want them to see the compnay as a second home, if you don't wsnt to that's fine. I figured it would help pass the time."

Leo shrugged a bit, her smile relaxing back into her typical crooked one. "Don't sell us short boss; I mean, I won't stick my nose up at a paid week vacation, but it ain't exactly a secret you needed a break." She said, resting her elbows on her knees. "Everyone there seems like a hard worker, from what I've seen at least." When he brought up the dinosaurs again, Leo laughed a bit. "Okay, fair point." She conceded, eyes still glinting with a bit of humor. "As long as we all agree that pterodactyl are the coolest dinos. That's just the facts, I don't make them up." She teased, running a hand through her hair. "Although, yea the shoes thing never made sense to me; I swear I had the same pair all through high-school once my feet stopped growing." She admitted with a bit of a chuckle. She gave a bit of a shrug, her crooked smiling weakening just a touch fir a brief second. "Y-yea, needles are nothing, don't worry!" She said, but despite saying that her leg kept bouncing. "As for getting to know eachother, it sounds like fun! Although, I'm not really all that interesting." She admitted, a hand going to the back of her neck.

He hummed. "Its not that I don't have faith everyone will work wonderfully. I am more concerned of who will take advantage of my absence. We have a few customers who like to take advantage of my absence and use my employees to get better deals on their insurance. Luckily with me not taking breaks they relize they cannot get those deals. But now they may try again." He replied with a not, trying to move to get himself comfortable. When she mentioned the name of a dinosaur, he couldn't help but pause. "Right...let's pretend I know what the heck that is. Haven't you seen land before time? Those long neck guys are far superior." He teased, with a slightly embaressed look, he carefully moved his left arm, ignoring the pain as he showed a very unique tattoo, one that had been hidden amoung multiple tattoos. "I got it when Ames was born, he's been my little buddy evet since. Fredrick has one for him and lorcan as well. Don't tell the others, they need to know I'm tough and won't bend easily. " He hummed carefully relaxing again. Frowning again, he looked at her as if she had said something strange. He gave a small nod. "I find everyone's lives intresying, boring and all. Like take Michael Fredricks intern. From the outside he just links like a hot shot, who flirts with every single women in and out of the office. But at home he raised his twin who has sever anxiety, they bought their first home at 18, and now he's training to be in the Olympics for track." He said with a soft smile "so I don't believe you not intresging ." He said, the medicene they had him on made him more truthful and sensitive. It was as if he was given a truth serum.

15:29

the tattoo

Leo gave a bit of a shrug, a half smile on her face. "Sorry, I didn't really watch a lot of movies as a kid." She admitted, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as she looked at his tattoo. She gave a nod though, recognizing the dinosaur while her smile turned a bit bigger and more genuine. "I will admit, brachiosaurus is a close second, but pterodactyls can fly!" She said, a slight shimmer of excitement in her eyes. However, she did give another laugh as he said not to tell anyone. "Hey now, your secret's safe with me boss, don't worry." She said, tucking some hair behind her ear. Leo listened as he talked, smiling a bit as he talked about Michael. She smiled a bit as he finished, giving a bit of a shrug. "Bah, that's still at least more feel-goody than me; I mean, grew up with a drug lord for a dad for the most part." She said, her normal crooked smile turning more into a barely-there smirk. "I mean, mom had custody first, but she got hospitalized when I was real little. Ended up dying and leaving me with pops when I was around...six maybe? I don't really remember." She said, giving a bit of a shrug. "Honestly, it's why ya don't intimidate me, and even if ya did I wouldn't show it. Ya show your fear, that's when they getcha."

Azreil snorted softly as he shook his head. "Yes, but your able to see things better if you had a long neck...though I supose finding a sweater would be aweful." He chuckled looking at his nephews as he carefully put the blanket on them better, before he hummed. "But what do I know, I don't really know much about them. " he looked at her, listening to her talk, watching as she tucked her hair behind her ear. He gave a small smile. "Thank you I appreciate that, many would take this time to take over the company and screw me over. But I am very appreciative that you will not." As he listened to Leo, he couldn't help but frown, why wad their lives so similar. He gave her a sympathetic look. "I can understand that, Michaels past isn't all sunshine and rainbows mind you. It has only just recently gotten better. " He admitted softly. "But I can understand what you are going through, my father was also in and out of Jail, but I didn't have the pleasure to know my mother. Fredricks mom was kind enough to make me apart of her family so I am forever greatful to her." He explained having a soft smile, he couldn't help but laugh, flinching as he did so. "I intimidate lots of people, it is very rare to see someone i don't intimate." He admitted with a small smile. "But that is true, once you show fear it will eat you up."

Leo gave a bit of a shrug, suddenly feeling like she might've overshared there. "Well...I'm really glad he's getting better now!" She said, rubbing the back of her neck a bit. "I-I didn't mean to sound insensitive, sorry bout that." She added awkwardly. Man, she hated when she accidentally came across as an asshole; completely different than when she was trying. She listened to him carefully, giving a bit of a crooked smile as he brought up Fredrick's mom. "Honestly, I missed my mom a lot growing up; wish she didn't get sick." She said quietly. The smell of the hospital washed over her again as she thought of her mom, and she shook her head, almost as if to shake the memory from her head completely. "But it's whatever really; mostly just bitter she left me with that a-I mean...uh...jerk." She said, correcting her cussing when she remembered the kids in the room. She gave another chuckle, giving a shrug. "Man, fear is the blood in the water; they see you're scared, and you're done for." She said, leaning back a bit. "Probably was the hardest lesson to learn honestly; it was one of those things pops drilled into my head once he got custody." The more she talked, the more she wanted to shut up. She hated her past, her pops, all of it. She did her best to leave it behind her, and now it kept popping back up. God, she needed a drink.

Azreil shrugged. "I didn't tell you that for you to feel guilty, I told you to show you arnt alone in hardships. Everyone at the company has had a bad life in one way or another. But that is not my business to tell, at O'Brien company, we try and help the best we can financially, phycally and emotionally, but if we find out you have lied about your financial worries, then we will simply fire you, and make you pay back everything you have taken." He replied with a simple shrug, he listened to her with a soft nod "im sorry about yoir mother. Sickness is a terrible thing, one no one can predict or pervent." He said sadly. He looked up at the ceiling looking sad. He suddnely looked at the door humming. He didn't wish to sit at the hospital any longer. So he carefullt pulled his ivs off, as well as his heart monitor. "Lets go." He said simplely carefully grabbing his pants and t-shirt he quickly changed being mindful of his scar. "Lorcan, get ups we are leaving. " The teen woke up in a Panic not remembering where he was. "W-what? But your sick." He said "Nope doctor said I can leave , get your bag. We are going hom." He said grabbing his jacket placing it on Ames, trying to pick him up

Leo gave a bit of a shrug, having a bit of a lopsided smile on her face. "It is what it is boss; but it is nice that that's the company policy." She said, running a hand through her hair. However, she got a bit of a panicked look when he started pulling out the medical equipment. "Oh no we don't." She said sternly, quickly going to the door. "I know hospitals suck, but ya gotta wait till your discharged boss. If you leave AMA, and something happens, nothing is covered when you gotta come back." She said, leaning against the door. She couldn't help the brief panic that flashed through her as she stood up to him, but she didn't let it show in her body language as she crossed her arms. "Excuse my saying so, but I ain't gonna let ya be a moron and hurt yourself just cause hospitals suck."

Azreil looked at Leo, he just gave her a grin. "You do relize this is considered Kidnapping. You holding me hostage I could call security to remove you." He replied holding Ames close as he carefully picked up the bag. "Lets go Lorcan, we are going home to rest in An actual comfortable place." He said walking ti the door, frowning as he watched her. "Leo move." Lorcan sighed holding his head. As he grabbed his book bag. He anxiously followed his uncle looking highly upset. "Uncle Az, please wr have to stay here." "Im doing home, uncle.Mario will be by to help check out the wound and make sure I'm not dying. You can use the computer for your homework, and ames cam watch his movies let's go." He said sternly causing lorcan to just sigh and go with him

"Boss, please." She gave a bit of a sigh, but didn't move an inch. She just stood there, looking at him defiantly. "Unless Mario is an actual doctor, I think it's smarter to stay here. I get it, hospitals suck, but sometimes ya gotta suck it up if ya wanna feel better." She said, shoving her hands in her pockets. "I guess though, if ya wanna bleed out at home, be my guest. I'm not your keeper. I will tell ya though, those wounds are a...pain...when they get infected without proper medical care." She added, glancing at the kids when she said 'pain.' Man, this not-cussing business was the real 'pain' here. "Trust me, I've seen some stuff boss; I've seen at home care go really, really wrong, but," She gave another sigh, stepping to the side and giving a grand gesture to the door. "Be my guest; roll the dice, and see if it's just a couple days of bedrest, or winding up back here anyway when there's an infection. You're choice." She still looked a bit defiant, her sarcastic humor dripping from her words. She had seen what goes wrong if wounds weren't taken care of, gunshot or otherwise, and it was never pretty. "At least tell Fredrick I tried to talk some sense into ya on the way out; don't wanna worry him more than he already is."

"It seems people forgot this isn't my first gunshot wound. This will not be my last, as long as bad people are out there then, then I will be in the line of danger." He snapped "ad a matter of fact he is an actual doctor. He works here. Which is why I'm going home." He replied carefully watching her, he needed a plan to escape, but he wasn't sure hoebto move her without being rude. "Dont worry miss Leo, I have alr3ady contacted my dad. He said he's calling uncle Mario to make him stay." Lorcan said gently taking Ames from Azreil going back to one of the chairs to sit in. Azreil sighed rubbing a hand through his hair, he looked aggravated "great."

Leo gave a shrug, crossing her arms again as if to size him up. "Oi, I dunno how or why this isn't your first or last, but sounds like you should take better care of yourself." She said, eyeing him carefully. She knew she physically couldn't stop him, but she kept an eye on the emergency button in case he did try and physically get her out of his way. She just kept staring him down until Lorcan piped up up. She flashed him a relieved smile, giving him a nod. "Thanks kid, I'll buy ya an ice cream for that." She said, giving him a thumbs up as the kids went back to the chairs. She then looked back over at Azriel, giving another stern look. "Seems like even Dr. Mario thinks you should stay here, so go lay back down." She said, uncrossing her arms to put them in her pockets. "Also, I'm not sayin' sorry; not on the clock, so I'm not acting as an employee, just a concerned...friend, I guess?" She started off strong, but her words faltered towards the end, a hand going to the back of her neck as she looked away.

Azreil huffed "see here Leo, you are not my wife, and you are not my partner. You are an employee and you are stepping over boundaries terrible!" He growled narrowing his eyes at her with an angry look. "I am a grown man, I have been working day in and out, I will fire you as If nothing has happened now move aside." He snapped. Hearing lorcan he glared. "And you young man, I will tell your father about the fight you got into Last week don't think I didn't hear that." He said causing Lorcan to hang his head in shame. "Get your things we are leaving." Lorcan just nodded gathering the things, tears had welled in his eyes "no thank you miss Leo, I don't like ice cream." He replied walking to the door. Azreil rolled his eyed. "I dont need friends, Mario will understand, now move. I will lay down as soon ad I am home in my own bed." He replied carefullt moving his hand to get the door being careful not to not her.

Leo shrugged a bit, again stepping to the side with a dramatic gesture. "By all means, you wanna kill yourself over your work go for it. I'm just sorry I was wasting my energy trying to be nice." She snapped back, not even flinching at his tone. "And like I said, I ain't on the clock; I came here as a concerned friend, so sorry for being, ya know, concerned!" At this point, the frustration came to a boil, and she walked over to pick up her bag. "Go bleed out at home, get your wound infected, I don't care. Sorry I was worried I guess." She grumbled, slinging the bag over her shoulder. As she walked past Lorcan, she sighed a bit. "Sorry lil dude; don't like snapping like that in front of young ones." She said, trying to give a half smile. "Thanks for trying though." After that, she gave Azriel a bit of a glare before she stormed out first. "God I need a drink." She grumbled, running a hand through her hair before pausing, and walking back into the room, fishing for the keys. "Oh, here; if you're threatening to 'fire me as if nothing happened,' take your stupid keys back; I'm walking home." She said, a fire still in her eyes as she turned on her heels to walk out of the hospital and into the closest bar.

The anger Azriel felt boil up was unexplainable. He felt as if he needed to go into a blind rage, yell, shout and fire her there on the spot. But instead he just glared, an ice angry glare as he listened to her. "You don't get to tell me how I need to work, i am dealing with things a person like you can't fathom, and when you understand I'll be waiting for your apologies. Yes I will kill myself for this company and I will do so many other things as well. You have no right to judge how I work, if it disturbs you so much don't bother coming back!" He growled. Grabbing Lorcans hand and begins to walk out of the room walking towards the elevator. Lorcan held Azreil's hand looking at his uncle anxiously. He looked back to Leo giving a small nod, giving her a look that said he needed help, he couldn't watch his uncle alone. Azriel huffed taking the keys back. "With plrasure!" He snapped , taking lorcan and ames to the car. Ignoring any and all pain he drove the kids back to his house, having a hard glare the entire time.

Leo felt a slight pang of guilt as she stormed out of the hospital, fishing in her bag for her pack of smokes. She didn't feel guilty for snapping at him; she felt that was well deserved. However, she did feel guilty making a scene in front of the kids. She sighed, pausing on the sidewalk to light her cigarette. "Goddamn motherfucker," She grumbled, checking the time on her phone. She gave a sigh, taking a drag before she started walking. Honestly, she didn't know where the hell she was going, but she knew it wasn't there. She reflected on the face Lorcan gave her, and grit her teeth. "I ain't gettin' paid to be a glorified babysitter," She growled to herself, continuing to walk aimlessly. Judging by the looks of things, she could tell she was a good ways away from home, and that just pissed her off more. She didn't know how long she had walked until she finally found her apartment building. She paused for a second outside, then shook her head. "Nah, promised myself I'd go to the bar, and I damn well deserve that." She decided, giving a bit of a nod as she headed down a few blocks to the closest bar.

Back home Azreil kept his promise to Lorcan. He got them set up in his room, with the laptop and a movie, while he carefully laid in bed. He groaned as the pain meds began to wear off, not letting the kids know how much he was actually hurting. He carefullt used his phone to do some emails, ignoring the pitiful and sad looks his nephew gave him. Well, he was trying his hardest to ignore them, but the longer he tried, the more heart breaking they were becoming. Sighing Azreil put his phone down looking to Lorcan. "Alright Kid, come talk to me." He said waving him over. Watching as Lorcan made his way to the bed to sit down next to him, he gently pulled him close so he could hold and comfort him. "Why did you have to yell at Miss Leo uncle Azreil, she was only trying to help ." Lorcan said, gently resting his head on his uncles shoulder, looking up at him with a sad look. "And then you threatened to tell my dad about what happened at school, and you promised not too. That wasn't cool, or very nice ." He complained sadly. "Well, I didn't mean to threatened you Lor, I was stressed and angry. I really needed to go home." He explained looking at him. "That doesn't excuse my harshness and I'm very sorry. I will email, or talk to Leo about it later. But right now, I'm going to listen to your dad and rest." He promised gently running his fingers through his nephews hair. "But Lorcan, you know why I can't stay in a hospital, why your dad brought me there is beyond me, but I promise I'm okay. Uncle Mario is on his way to make sure I'm settled." Lorcan sighed heavily as he gently hugged him. "I wish you weren't a mob boss uncle Az, I want you yo be safe, and go on vacations with us. And not be scared someone's going to hurt you." He whispered. Azreil sighed holding lorcan close. "Me too kiddo, me too." He whispered gently kissing the top of his head, holding him close as he looked at the ceiling hoping he was doing the right thing.

Fredrick called Leo sound furious. When she picked up, he didn't give her the chance to speak before he was quick to talk. "I will pay you triple your salary if you go watch him, I cannot be in the same place at once, I'm already pulling my hair out over here, we have clients calling left and right, and I need to count on you, please Leo I am begging you." He said in a desperate voice. Emailing her Azreils address. "Mario is on his way there, he can let you in and get Azreil to listen to you, please Leo, you are my only hope right now."

Leo stopped in front of the bar, giving a bit of a sigh. "Finally, I can rela-" Before she could finish her sentence, she felt her phone go off. She looked at it, saw it was Fredrick, and felt a slight twinge of panic. She walked away from the hustle and bustle of the bar, and picked up. She listened intently, even feeling her phone vibrate with the email notification when he sent her the address. She felt a bit more guilty, giving a sigh of defeat. Sure, she was probably gonna get chewed out for going to his house, but she couldn't say no. "Hey, don't worry about pay or anything, okay? I'm pretty sure he ain't exactly pleased with me right now," She admitted awkwardly, wincing a bit as she remembered snapping at him. "Kiiiiiinda snapped back when I probably shouldn't have. Tried talking some sense into him, didn't work, got a bit snippy at him when he got snippy with me." She took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair as she remembered the look on Lorcan's face. Feeling defeated, she gave a nod even though he couldn't see it. "Fine, fine, I'll go over there. Please just have my back if he gets a bit 'fire happy' with me, kay? He might have mentioned the idea when he decided to go against medical advice."

"dont worry about him, he is not in the right mind to make sound decisions about the comonay, and he will not be firing you, if he does I'm leaving and he cannot afford me leaving." He said running an exhausted hand down his face as he sighed heavily. "I will be paying you extra, don't worry about snipping at him, as of right now he deserves every single bit of it. I will be there around 5." He promised. Carefully sending Mario a email.."uncle Mario said he will open the door for you."

Leo nodded, quickly checking the address as she kept talking. "Sounds good...okay it looks like he ain't too far from where I'm at; I ended up walking home from the hospital." She said, starting to head in the right direction of Azriel's home. "And like I said, don't worry about paying; it's no biggie. It's not like I'm doing actual work for the company; if anything, I'd feel bad for snapping at him on company time." She said with a sigh. "But don't worry, I'll try to keep an eye on him. Don't think he'll listen to a word I say though." She added, shoving her free hand in her pocket as she kept walking along.

Fredrick nodded, looking out the window with a worried look. "Your right, I'm sorry for asking you to much, I just want to make sure you are comfortable, but also he is actually resting ." He said running a hand through his hair, looking back to the other employees taking a deep breath. "If needed I cam send Uncle Mario to you, that way you don't have to walk, his house is far....and you need to get through...secrutiy." He sighed even more.

"Bah, like I said it ain't a big deal." She kept walking as she talked, her free hand messing with the bag strap on her shoulder. "Besides, after how nice you've been to me, I owe ya; so ya ain't askin too much from me, don't worry." She thought about the offer to have Uncle Mario pick her up, looking around. It didn't seem too bad now, but she didn't know what the hell he meant by security. "And I mean, if he's up for givin me a ride, I won't mind; but I ain't gonna cause trouble over a ride. I'm used to walkin everywhere; keeps me in shape ya know?" She added with a laugh, shoving her free hand into her pocket.

Fredrick nodded "He already said yes, your adress is in our files, i had sent him the address, please be outside waiting for him to retrieve you." He said with an anxious sigh. He carefully sat at Azreil's desk. "I honestly have no idea how Az can work day in and out, all night some days, and not collapse from exhaustion." He sighed holding his head looking at the computer. On the main road, a elderly man in a fancy car pulled up infront of Leo, he rolled his window down, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "You Leo? I'm Mario get in."

"Sounds good to me," Leo said, stopping where she was to wait for Mario. "And I don't know either; he really needs to learn how to take a break without getting injured." She let out a breathy chuckle, the looked up at the fancy car. "Oi, imma let you go, I think Mario is here. Don't worry, have a good one okay?" She hung up her phone, slipping it into her pocket as she gave a nod. "Yea, it's nice to meetcha." She said, getting into the car. "I really appreciate the ride; thanks for it!"

Fredrick thanked Leo again, before he hung up the phone, sighing heavily as he went back to work. Mario gave a soft grunt in response to her thanking him, as he began to drive towards the main road, he stayed quiet the entire drive if she asked him the man would only grunt never giving a verbal reply. It only took a good 15 minutes to get to Azreils house, he stopped the car in front of the main gates waiting to be let in. A guy in a suit stood there having a walkie talkie as they walked up to Mario's car, carefully bending down to look at Mario and Leo with an annoyed look. "She with you, old man?" He asked. "Yep, now let us through." He snapped, causing the man to give him a raised eyebrow, but nodded going back to his little box pushing a button, allowing the gates to open. Mario grumbled something about young people, not respecting elders. He just seemed grumpy after that, he began to drive down a Long driveway that led towards a small Cabin in the woods. Standing at the front door was Lorcan, waiting for Mario and Leo to arrive. When Mario parked the car, he walked over to them with an anxious look. "Uncle Az just fell asleep with Ames. I can wake them up for you, but i don't think that would be a good idea, considering this is the first time he's been asleep in quite a while.” hew spoke softly, before looking at the older man with a guilty look. “Uncle Mario I'm sorry I couldn't keep him there at the hospital, i…I tried my best." Lorcan promised, trying his best not to cry, he felt so frustrated and worried he unsettled the man in front of him. "And Miss Leo, I'm sorry I couldn't stop him from being mean to you, I did try to make him apologize. I really did try, he's just….in a bad mood today.." he rambled finally stopping when Mario grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "It's alright kid, he is a stubborn man and he does need sleep, your right dont wake him. I'll knock some sense into him. You take Miss Leo and show her around the property?" The man a

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sked, causing Lorcan to nod. “Good, now I'm off to see the damage your uncle caused to his body, if we are lucky it's a lot and he can be locked up in the hospital for a good while.the good lord knows we all need a break from his drama” Mario hummed, patting his shoulder before grabbing his medical bag going inside the house. Leaving Lorcan with Leo on the huge property. "I…I can take you anywhere you'd like Miss Leo, uncle Az owns 12 acres of this land, and dad owns the other 12 on the right?" He said with a soft shy smile walking over to her, hoping she would be okay with this minor inconvenience. “ Don't listen to uncle Mario, he means well, uncle az is just a bit too stubborn sometimes and uncle mario doesnt appreciate it.” he said, walking Leo over to the lake where he stopped to look out at it. Kid looked tired, he had spent a long time worrying for his family and today seemed to pile on the worries.

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Leo sat quietly as Mario drove, her feet swaying a bit and hitting her bag. She had to admit, she was nervous about this, but she owed Fredrick for his kindness. So, she just stared out the window, admiring the scenery. When they pulled up and got out of the car, Leo nodded as she listened to Lorcan. When he apologized, she gave her usual crooked smile. She waited until Mario was done speaking before she chipped in. "Hey, don't sweat it okay? I wasn't exactly nice either." She admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "Don't worry about making him apologize, okay? He's a grown up, he either will or won't; it ain't your job to get him to do anything." She spoke as they walked, giving a nod as he explained the land and not to listen to Mario. "Bah, I'm just sure he's worried about your uncle." She said with a shrug, the crooked smile softening some now that it was just the two of them. Once they got to the lake, she looked over at it, her smile widening some. "Awh jeeze, I haven't been to a lake since I was a pipsqueak!" She said, looking over at him. She noticed how tired he looked, frowning a bit. "Oi, we can go back to the house if ya want kiddo; you look worn out, you need to rest too ya know." She said softly, almost sisterly. She always went soft for kids; being the oldest in her neighborhood, she was basically everyone's older sister back in the day. "Here, ya like grilled cheese? I can cook ya up some if your hungry!"

Lorcan hummed softly. “Maybe, but that doesnt give him the right to be rude or horrific towards other people. It teaches Ames he doesn't need to respect people and that isn't right nor correct. Uncle Azreil wasn't taught to be nice to others, he was taught to be harsh and mean. I don't want my little brother to be picking up on that, and I know my dad doesn't either, so making Uncle Az apologize will be a good idea.” he admitted, carefully standing on a rock, looking out at the lake with a small smile. “It’s nice here during the fall, you should see it from our house, you can see the entire thing from my bedroom. Come on ill show you what i mean” he explained turning around to Leo. He gave a small frown, when she suggested going back into the house. He quickly shook his head jumping off the rock looking at her. “I'm sorry miss Leo, we cannot go inside at the moment. Uncle Mario has asked me to show you around, which means he doesn't want to be disturbed while he is working.” he said softly, walking over to her. “Besides, tiredness cannot slow me down, if it does then that means i am not working at my full potential. I'm fine, please do not worry about me.” he promised, beginning to walk towards the bridge that would lead him towards his house. “I do not like grilled cheese actually, I don't like the texture of the bread when it's cooked.” he admitted with a soft smile. “Thank you for the offer though, i'm sure you make amazing grilled cheeses, but i'm not a fan .” he admitted walking over along the bridge making sure Leo stayed in the middle away from the railings. “My bio dad built our house in 1972, when he and his first wife got married, that's when he met Uncle Az’s dad . They became fast friends, he was there when dad’s first wife passed away, and was his best man when he married his next three wives.” he hummed softly, holding his hands behind his back, walking as if he was a Royal. “He wasn't a very kind guy i have to admit, but if it wasn't for him,

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then i wouldn't have Fredrick as an older brother or guardian. “ he admitted with a small smile. “ he died last year, that's why i live with Freddy and Ames, but if i'm being honest i've always seen him as my dad better than the other guy.” he chuckled, walking down a path towards an identical cabin . “But hey, if I was Freddy’s kid, then I'd have the unfortunate honor of having his red hair.” he laughed, obviously joking, because he himself had a dark reddish brown hair color, while Frederick had a bright vibrant shade of red hair. But either way it seemed to make the teen laugh, which was different then when Leo first saw him that day. . “Until we are able to go back into the cabin, I can show you around my house as well if you'd like, show you the properties. And if you have some questions like get to know you kinds, i would be happy to answer them.” he said trying his hardest to not shrink into his shell, he promised Mario he would do this, so he was going to see this through. “I have a question for you if you don't mind me asking, what brings you to cleveland? Were you born here?” he asked as they walked up to the front door, he carefully moved in front of the door putting in the code, before he opened the door, letting her inside before he followed her inside, removing his shoes and placing them beside the door. He gave Leo a look waiting for her to do the same thing. Once she did remove her shoes, Lorcan smiled, carefully moving towards the kitchen. “ Would you like lemonade or water?” he asked, turning his head to look at Leo, he seemed to be in his element here in his own home, moving with such comfort, he seemed completely different then the shy guy she first met. ‘I would offer juice, but we haven't gone to the store for the week yet, so I'm afraid I can't offer you that. But dad made fresh lemonade yesterday so i think you may like it, i wonder if he will invite you to his annual cookout this weekend, to welcome you to the company, you can swim in

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the lake if you want”

Leo gave a nod as she listened, biting the inside of her cheek. "I guess that's a fair point." She sighed, shoving a hand in her pocket. "It really is a poor example..." She thought for a second, then gave a nod. "Well, I might as well apologize too then; don't think I need to, but I'd hate to be a bad influence, ya know." She said, glancing over at Lorcan. She nodded in understanding, her free hand going to the back of her neck. "That makes sense; plus I'm pretty sure the boss doesn't wanna see me after what happened." She said, giving a bit of a sigh. "I still feel bad about that happening in front of you and Ames; I will apologize to ya about that." She said, her tone just a touch sheepish. "Been taking anger management classes to get that under control." She listened as he explained his life story, and even gave a bit of a laugh at his joke. "Honestly, he seems like good people from what I've seen. I kinda owe him one for being so friendly, so that's why I'm here." She admitted, her smile again more gentle than her normal crooked one. When he asked about being in Cleveland, she gave a shrug. "Nah, I wasn't born here; just moved here as soon as I could." She said with a bit of a laugh. "I grew up with my pops; my mom got real sick when I was five..." Her words trailed off as she remembered her mom. The machines beeping, the hair falling out, and most of all that hospital smell... She shook her head, still following behind. "Honestly, my life ain't that interesting. Best left behind." She finished, taking her shoes off. "Oh! And water's fine, thank you." She said, adjusting the strap of her bag a bit. At the mention of the cookout, her eyebrows furrowed. She didn't know what he was talking about, but to save face she gave a shrug. "We'll see! Although, I probably won't swim." She said, laughing a bit. "I actually don't know how to swim; silly, I know, but even as a pipsqueak at the lake, I never went into it.'

tw hints at abuse and murder Lorcan gave her a small smile. "No that's not why we aren't allowed in the house yet, Uncle Mario wanted us away, because Uncle Az can be mean when he first wakes up, so he is protecting us from the bear.'' He replied with a kind smile, walking over to the fridge to get a bottle of water for Leo. The fridge was covered in drawings, passed tests, and family photos. It was clear Fredrick was a huge family guy, just by the fridge, you could tell he was the nurturing type, he even had photos of their coworkers. Lorcan looked at her with a confused look, as he carefully handed her the bottle. “ You don't owe dad anything, especially for being kind. He will tell you that any human deserves kindness and respect. And that something that doesn't make you owe him.” he explained, leading her into the giant living room that looked a bit messy, Ames toys were laying everywhere and the couch looked as if someone had slept there. “ Also you don't have to apologize, you are valid in your feelings, but if it makes you feel better, i accept your apology.” When she mentioned she couldn't swim, he gave her a small nod looking back at her. “Oh, don't worry, you don't have to swim, dad will make sure you're safe and won't get pushed in the lake. But of course you don't have to tell him you can't swim, that will be our secret '' he promised carefully picking up the blanket fold, making sure Fredrick didn't have to when he got home. He listened to her talk about growing up with her dad, but frowned when she stopped talking about it. He noticed the distant look she got, and figured something must have happened. “Everyone's life is interesting, Miss Leo, the good, bad and ugly. But I don't want to push you to speak about your life, so why don't I ask you a different question that can help keep you in a positive and safe mood. Or I could explain how Freddy came to adopt me” He replied, placing the folded blanket down on the sofa, before he began