Nodding as Rebecca spoke he grinned. Ok, so that was the lie, she must have fewer or more siblings...or none at all! His gaze went back to Gina though as she spoke, nodding again he smiled to himself. Assignments of their own they wanted to tackle...well he'd not checked his inbox recently and knew there was a letter coming from his friend again soon, that he'd been waiting for. Hopefully this one he'd not need to take a team once again, but he never knew what to expect.

Rising from his seat, he picked up his coffee mug and grabbed a few cookies "Thank you Gina." he said softly to her before exiting the room and heading for his cubicle.

Huh. "Meeting" pretty much over as soon as Harland got there? Story of his life. But in thiiiiiiis case it wasn't all bad - he'd made it just in time for COOKIEEEEEEES!!!! No one had to tell him twice. He picked up a couple with chocolate chips, blueberries, and cranberries and munched happily on them. Ahhhh, how he loooooved breaktime!

Entering the conference room after finishing up in his office, Gavin had stopped in the break room for the box he'd brought for dessert. Setting it on the center of the table that was next to the coffee pot, Gavin left the coffee pot empty, knowing they'd have a tray of drinks coming soon. Walking around he took a seat off to one side opening the folder he'd brought. There wasn't anything specific in it, just some notes the minister had sent him.

Jack walked in for the meeting. He looked very tired. Since the arrival of his and Elizabeth's daughter he hadn't slept very much. He nodded at Gavin. "Hello, Gavin." He said with a smile.

Looking up as Jack entered the room, Gavin smiled at the man. "Hello Jack, how've you been?" He'd not seen him much lately and it was good to see the guy! "Just feel free to take a seat anywhere you'd like, our lunch will be here soon hopefully as well!" Hmmm, he tried to remember something about him, hadn't he just gotten married...no baby! "How the baby doing?"

Sophie was exhausted. She was starting to think that her age was catching up with her and she wasn't even that old yet. The woman was just starting to tip-toe into her fourties, so she should not be this tired. And yet, she was. So when she got the message for the meeting she did not even bother to read the specifics.

Instead, she just made her way into the conference room and nodded in Gavin's direction, "Afternoon Gavin." Hopefully the Minister had sorted out this whole Head of Department nonsense. She was ready to just get back to work... although it wouldn't be the same without Gina.

He'd just finish speaking to Jack when Sophie walked into the room. She actually looked kind of tired, "Good afternoon Sophie. You doing alright?" he asked concernedly. She looked a little tired but maybe it was just him. It had been a long last few days for everyone trying to get everything under control without Gina there. Hopefully now that he had the ability to speak up without feeling like he'd be stepping on feet, he'd be able to get things somewhat organized!

He hoped Kat would be there but she'd not been feeling all that well lately, and wasn't sure if she was coming in that day or not. She still was looking at switching departments but that hadn't happened yet. Paperwork sometimes took longer then it needed to, making it difficult to figure what was going to happen!

Entering the conference room with a very big tray of food was not easy! Especially when he was the only person who could help Gavin with it. At first Dimitri wanted to ask Becca or another employee of level 5 to help him. But seemed all of them were so busy with their own things, so the skinny guy just did it by himself.

He noticed that Gavin was already there, and also Sophie and Jack. Dima put the first tray on the table. "Sorry if it takes a long time. The foodcourt was so crowded." He said. And no one wants to help me. Then he walked back to the foodcourt and brought the second tray fifteen minutes later. Good! Dimitri had brought the two trays as Gavin asked him before. "Well, is there anything else that you want, Gavin?" asked the 21-year-old guy.

Grinning as Dimitri entered the room with the first tray, he'd looked to see if someone else had come with him, with the other tray. Hmm, well the guy hadn't gotten help but had done a nice job in selecting the foods! Didn't appear that anything was missed, he had grabbed exactly as asked a little of everything from the drinks and when he returned a little of everything of the main course bar! "Thank you very much Dimitri." he said kindly "That's all we needed, feel free to help yourself as well!"

Looking around the room, he smiled "Feel free to grab yourself something to eat, Dimitri's brought us a nice selection of foods for our lunch from the food court. Once we've all tucked in we can start erm...chatting." Right? Or was that just stating the obvious? Sighing he really hadn't gotten the hang of this lead thing very well yet.

Jack smiled kindly. "I've been good, I hear you're the new boss around here. Congrats." He said taking a seat and then nodded thinking of his daughter. "She's as lovely as her mother, i just wish she'd sleep through the night just once." He said with a small chuckle. "But other than that she's great."

Giving Jack a shy grin, "Thank you." He still hadn't gotten over the fact that he was now department head! "Oh for sweet!" Laughing softly he nodded "I don't doubt it. How old is she now?"

Rising to his feet, he needed coffee, now that the trays were here, he finally could grab himself a cup! "Feel free to come grab yourselves something." he said calling over his shoulder to those that had come in already. "Lots of food here." Grabbing one of the cups of coffee, he took a sip of it before he went over to the the food, there he grabbed a chicken salad sandwich and balanced a fruit salad on top of it, before heading back to his seat.

Katrina slipped into the conference room and headed towards Gavin. She was so happy for him, he deserved this job. He was always working so hard. She stood off to the side as he talked to some other people, she wasn't about to intrude on others' conversation. She waved at him to let him know she was there and then went to grab some food.

Hong quietly slipped in without trying to make any sort of entrance his head ever so stuck into a book. He just gotten his hands on this book and he had to memorize it for some reason it couldn't be helped it was just in this nature to read a book and to remember word for word and cover to cover what was written within it. He peered up above his book and glanced over to everyone and gave a gentle nod to each of them.

He finally made eye contact with Gavin instead of a gentle nod his right eyebrow rose up a bit in a questioning manner. Hong was rather curious as of this meeting was gonna be about he continued to think a little and decided to let it slide he would find out soon enough. He lowered his eyebrow and then gently nodded at Gavin before taking his seat. Once taking his seat he took out a bookmark and placed it in between the pages he just read and sat the book gently upon the table.

He then looked around again then pulled out a book form his inside jacket pocket. He sat the book down and opened it this time the books had no words written inside it in fact the pages were bare. He then pulled out a pen and uncapped it waiting patiently to hear what was gonna happen and ready to scribe some notes down within his book.

Looking over as Kat walked in, he smiled softly at her. He was still amazed they were now married, and it always lit up his face whenever he spotted her somewhere. Waving over at her he went sat down in his seat placing his food on the table. He was glad to see she'd come! It was his first meeting leading the group and he was really nervous about it.

Looking up as Hong walked into the room, he smiled kindly at the younger man. He'd only talked with the guy a few times, and he definitely appeared to know his stuff, and Gavin appreciated that. "Welcome". He said and nodded towards the foodstuffs "Feel free to grab something." Looking around he glanced at the others, including them as well.

Looking around the room, he finally spoke to the group as a whole "Once you're settled, I know some of you have already heard this, but I want to make sure all of you are aware. Gina has retired." Stopping there, he wanted the words to sink in, for each of them. Especially those who probably weren't aware yet. He didn't say anything about himself being the new department head, not yet anyway. He wanted them each to have a chance to think on that. Stabbing a piece of fruit he waited to see what the others would say.

Jack thought about it "She's about two months old..." He said and blinked hard.

Was the 'Le King' late? Pshht no! He was never late. The people before him were just early.

With the purple diary still in he's tight grip, Dart entered the conference room. He wouldn't leave that diary anywhere, even though it wasn't his. It went with him everywhere and almost every second he got, he attempted to open the locked diary, that still hadn't opened. Silly lock. He wanted to just break the whole thing. ...Then it hit him. Break it hmmmm..not a bad idea, but before he's thought process could continue, he noticed all the people already seated in the conference room.

He smirked at them all and then went over straight to the food, putting the diary in he's left hand so that he could still use he's right. He took some mozzarella sticks, a chicken wrap and roasted potatoes. After that he took a seat and began eating away not even bothering to say hello to any of he's co-workers. He was hungry and the only reason why he was here was because of the food and nothing else.

When Gavin asked how Sophie was doing, the older woman just smiled weakly at him. Her feelings were not something that she was extremely open and comfortable sharing with other people. It was a part of Sophia's personality that had been conditioned in her from a very young age. Her parents were the strictest of sorts who believed that one did not air their dirty laundry. So in turn, in her adult life Sophie typically plastered a smile on her face and told everyone she was fine. In reality, Sophie was just getting tired and she hoped that it was nothing serious.

Taking a seat around the table, Sophie nodded to Gavin, "I'm fine. Thank you for asking though. Just been awful tired lately. Need more sleep." Except she had been getting a lot of sleep lately. Perhaps she needed to go to hospital.

That was when a lot of people started to enter the conference room. Sophie smiled to all of them as they entered and nodded her head in all of their directions. Even as Gavin reminded all of them that Gina retired, which still upset Sophie. There was no department without Gina.

"Oh, a sweet age!" he said with a smile. "Just beginning to get her own little personality!"

Looking up as another person entered the room, Gavin nodded to Dart. His gaze dropping to the little purple book the man was carrying still. Hmm, Gavin was really curious as to what that book was. And why the man appeared so obsessed with it! He might need to pull him aside later, and maybe see what he could find out about the book.

Watching as Dart moved to the food, before sitting down, Gavin smiled at him and looked back Sophie's way when she started speaking again.

"Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help." he said honestly, his concern showing in his face. He wasn't much younger then her only by a year or two he was sure. And she really did look exhausted!

*****

Looking up around after he'd finished most of his sandwich, he'd watched each of their expressions and admonitions when he'd spoke of Gina. No one had said anything but he was sure each one felt her missing presence in this meeting. Swallowing he pushed his plate back, folding his arms on the table, and finally spoke "The minister has given me the position as head of this department." he stated waiting for their reactions before going on.

Finally... FOOD!

Dimitri Burton was completely hungry. When he brought the trays from the food court to the level 5, he tried not to drool over them. The skinny guy admit that bringing food from the food court wasn't easy. Not because it was heavy or exhausted, but because he must tried not to eat them before. But now, it's time to EAT! He took sandwich and coffee to start his eating time.

While he was busy munching his sandwich, Dima listened to Gavin's speech about announcing Gina's retirement.. and himself who was promoted to be the department head. The 21-year-old guy had known it before, since he noticed the announcement board and he had visited Gavin at his new office before. After he finished with his sandwich, he took a sip of his coffee and suddenly he stood up from his seat. "Well.. Congratulations for you, Gavin Higareda, as the new department head." said him while he clapped his hand. "You really deserve it." Though he just had worked in this department for a year, but he admitted that Gavin was so much helpful to the fellow level 5 employees.

Katrina quickly grabbed food and a cup of raspberry tea. She found her seat next to Gavin and smiled at him as she took a quick sip of her hot tea. Not a good idea. She had burned her tongue and tried not to show it to everyone, but ended up knocking Gavin's knee with hers. Why was she so dumb? Of course the tea is hot!

Flushing as Dimitri started clapped, he smiled softly at him. He'd certainly never expected to have earned the position, but was honored and accepted it more then willingly. "Thank you. It was certainly unexpected but not unwanted." He just hoped that he would be the kind of department head that Gina had been. He didn't want to let his team down, and couldn't bear the thought of letting them all down!

Plus the way he saw it he felt he'd be letting Gina down besides! He had big shoes to fill, she'd been there for a long time and had built the level up. He didn't want to tear down all she had done there.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, as she took a sip and nearly jumped out of her chair, knocking his leg. He knew the tea had to have been hot, his own coffee cup was burning when he took a drink. He liked how those cups were charmed to stay hot even after sitting a bit! His hand reached over squeezing her knee gently.

"Yeah, just burned my tongue." Katrina said smiling at him. "It was a stupid mistake. I wasn't thinking." What was wrong with her? She placed her hand over Gavin's. "Thank you and congratulations. You deserve it." She wanted to give him a kiss on the cheek, but didn't know if there was rules against that or not, so she squeezed his hand softly. "What do you think will happen to my tongue?" she asked him.

There was not much that he could do. She just needed a vacation was all- at least she hoped that was all it would take. She loved her line of work and she would hate to have not be able to work as much because of her lack of sleep. Honestly, it was nothing.

Then she heard the news- Gavin was the new head of the department. She needed to process that. He was going to be brilliant, but it was a lot to process. So silence was all that he got from Sophie.

That's why they were here.

Dart continued to munch on he's food as Gavin let out an announcment. Aha! He knew Gina had left, and now obviously someone had to replace her. Being he's arrogant self Dart thought it would be him even though he trully didn't deserve it. He was a lazy but and just plain arrogant. He was surprised of this news, but he didn't feel like stating that. Gavin probably needed this more anyways. Dart didn't care too much about he's work, he preffered to think about Amy all day and how beautiful she was.

All Dart did was give Gavin a thumbs up. He had sort of earned respect for him over he's time here and if he hadn't he wouldn't have taken this so easily.

Munch! Dartanian took another bite from he's food and continued as nothing was new.

Wincing at Kat's words, "Ouch." he murmured. He'd done that a few times too many. Squeezing her hand back he beamed "Thank you." Laughing he shook his head "Guess it'll be tender, might need to use a healing charm, if it hurts too much."



Watching the others reactions, Sophie was hard to read, she'd learned to hide her emotions well, it was one of the things he'd learned quickly he needed to do as well, especially in the ministry. If you let things get to you, it'd take you down. Just like the thing with Gina retiring. Smiling he nodded as Dart gave him a thumbs up. The guy wasn't too bad, a little arrogant at times, but did his work when he had to. sometimes

"So I've made a few changes in our department. One was a request, and the other a promotion." His eyes flickered around the room at each of them, "I would love to do more promotions for anyone who shows me that they are working hard, or even feels that you deserve one over the years that you've been here." He knew Gina gave them out very sparingly and even he hadn't gotten one in the 5 years he'd been in the position. "If you are looking at changing positions though let me know, I'll see what we can do. Perhaps you're ready to move on to something new, more exciting. Stop me here or come to my office after the meeting."

"The two changes I made, were: Katrina has been moved to Ambassador. We haven't had an ambassador for the Magical countries, and particularly Atlantis has needed someone there as of lately so when she requested a move from undercover buyer, I transfered her into the position." Looking down the table towards Dimitri, "The other change I've made is we really do need to have an undercover buyer, and with Kat switching and myself no longer on the floor I've promoted Dimitri to Undercover Buyer." Smiling at the man, he added "I want to add my congratulations there, he's done well and deserves it."