Dacs had gotten to work early and was on her way out for some coffee. It was good to be back but she knew there things that she left here that would resurface.

As she reached the foyer,she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the last person, she probably expect to see....Ben. She stood staring at him not knowing what to do or to say. They had ended everything for his safety and because she was leaving.

Now, he was there. How could she not expect to see him here. Walked a bit slower toward him, quietly, still looking at him, completely lost for words.

The file was strange. It reported a house being destroyed from the basement. A water heater erupting. Clearly tampered with...

Footsteps... Heels... Quiet...

Benjamin looked up to see a woman. But he didn't expect to see THAT woman.

"Dacs..." He said quietly taking a small step toward the woman- His mouth open slightly from the shock. He kept his complexion calm and stern, though his voice reflected surprise.

"When... When did you get back?" The New Yorker asked slightly louder.

She glanced away at his tone. Dacs knew he would've been surprised to see her. Looking back at him, she replied in a steady voice and cool tone,"I got back two days ago."

Running a hand through her hair, she looked at him."I'm back at the ministry; back in MLE."she said, her voice not wavering.

She didn't know how to feel. They hadn't seen each other in so long. Dacs wasn't one to squirm either. "How you been?" she asked, taking another step toward him.

She had been back two days... And didn't speak to Ben.

He stood up straight and lowered his eyebrows a bit to enhance his stern posture. Ben's voice returned to his regular, almost raspy, tone he had developed over the past two years.

"Good," he said. "You've been missed." Ben offered a small smirk. His life had changed without Dacs, he knew her life was different as well.

"When do you want to meet and.... talk?" All Ben wanted was information. He could have easily kept a watch on her over the last few years if he wanted... But he didn't. He didn't know if it was safe for him... Or her.

It was getting a bit weird."Thanks. I'm glad to hear that. I missed here and everyone too." she replied,"I missed you too."

She could remember the first few months when she was working undercover and wanting to contact him but knew she couldn't. Those were hard days. She used to wonder if he thought about her anymore.

But the months trekked on and she suppressed all of her emotions, til she couldn't feel anymore. She was like a lone warrior who couldn't afford such 'weaknesses'. Now here she stood looking at the person who once meant the world to her but she gave it all up for a something else. She wondered, all this change had change had made him hate her. He wouldn't be the first to hate her.

"We could meet after work, if you'd like." she said, her voice smooth as velvet.

Benjamin took every word she said to heart. Beyond her cool image, Benjamin knew she was as stressed out about this situation as he was. But the Detective's stance didn't budge.

But her voice rattled his senses in the way that it used to and without realizing it he took a small step forward. For a moment he would have taken her and loved her more than he had loved anything in a very long time. But the sensation faded quickly. He didn't know what she was like now. They needed to talk.

Benjamin quickly said, "Yes. Perfect." He paused for a moment. "We'll meet later." Ben lifted the file in his hand back under his arm gave Dacs a nod and made a B-Line back towards his office.

Back to work.

The exchange was almost cold yet ignited with raw buried emotions between the two and she knew it. She still had feelings for him but didn't want to admit them especially to someone who was a different Ben, that now stood in front of her.

"Ok, I'll see you after work."she said. She watched him walk away before walking away herself.

For Luna_Midnight/Alyssa
 

It had been a long afternoon, but now Benjy was getting ready to head out for the evening. After lunch, he had sent a memo over to Sky asking her to meet him in the foyer of the level. He had checked to see when Sky was supposed to work till and it just so happened that they were supposed to get out around the same time. While he waited for his coworker, he fiddled with his shoulder bag and his outer robes, pacing up and down the little hall section near the entrance to the DMLE. Every now and again, he would glance at his watch just to see how much longer it should be before she arrived.

It had been a long day and Sky was ready to leave the DMLE for the day. Picking up her purse she walked out of the DMLE entering the foyer. She looked around for Benjy, he did say meet him in the foyer right? Glancing at her watch she reentered the department and went back to the desks to see if he was still there. No luck. As she walked back out onto the foyer she saw a familiar person packing up and down the little hall near the entrance. She walked on over to him and said "Hey Benjy!"

Where was she?? Benjy was starting to get slightly nervous that he had missed her...until he heard some movement in the entrance to the department. He turned as soon as he heard his name. "Sky!! How are you doing? Busy day today?" He asked beaming.

He hoped that she had a decent day... otherwise his plan may not work as well as planned.

Sky smiled as she saw Benjy it was great to see him again. "I am great! What about you? Yes, I am so happy its over, what about you busy day?" She flicked a blonde lock out of her face as she looked over at Benjy. Sky had to admit she was curious as to why he had asked her to meet him but than again it was easy for Sky to get curious.

Been a long, dragging day. Taking a deep breath Julia walked into the main foyer. She was done with the day. I just wanna go home and crash into my bed. She wasn't supposed to be thinking this way. No, not Julia anyway. She'd been thinking too much lately. Thinking. She sighed and moved to the chairs in the seating area. She sat down, laid her head on the table, covering them with her hands. Oh boy, this is bad.

can't resist xD (because yes, this is amusing)
 

It wasn't that Dorian didn't trust the food court, but as of yet, he hadn't found a reason to go down there. At least, not today, but he had stepped out of the office to make a trip out to the cafe across the street to refill his espresso and grab a croissant. Odds were food would be necessary, especially with the case and everything taking his mind away from daily things. In fact, he figured he was going to end up back in the office with the files for a while, just to get a new angle or two to investigate tomorrow. Although, as he'd walked intot he foyer, he noticed Ms. Carter leaning up against the wall as if she'd just ran from who knew where. Either that, or she had a lot on her mind. Neither of which were ideas that he was apt to walk away from, even if he still didn't quite understand her aversion to politeness. If it got her to talk, he'd try.

Hmm, he thought, taking a sip from his cup before speaking. "Ms. Carter?," he began, "Roxanne? Is something going on, or have you just taken it upon yourself to make sure the wall isn't about to collapse on us?," he asked, looking at her with an expression that was mostly concerned even though one of his eyebrows was a bit higher than normal due to curiosity and a bit of amusement. Maybe a bit of humor would mask the fact he still hadn't quite gotten past the name thing even though he'd honestly tried. He just hadn't worked with the woman enough to feel like it was entirely appropriate. But then, part of him hoped that something in fact was going on, just to break up the day-to-day work on the de Talone case.

Benjy kinda fiddled with his outer robes somewhat nervously as he grinned and listened to his coworker. "I'm doing pretty well, thanks." He said before pausing. "...I agree with that statement. I had a busy day as well and it feels good to be able to get out from behind my desk." The redhead readjusted his shoulder bag and ran his fingers through his recently cut hair, a part of the back starting to stick up. "So... um..." He started, stammering slightly. "Are you doing anything this evening?" He asked, the tips of his ears barely changing to a light shade of pink.

Still torn over how to handle the zombie situation, and to the point of banging her head against the wall, Roxanne was snapped out of it, at least a little, by something almost as shocking to her as zombies in the food court. "Oh, so you do know my first name, then," she remarked, smiling to show that she was joking. Honestly, it wasn't so much that she was opposed to politeness. Just that, in every office she had ever worked at in her life, using one's last name when speaking to or even of a person meant that you disliked the person and were just trying to keep things civil. So, whenever Dorian used her last name, it threw her off, made her wonder what she had done to make him hate her.

"Honestly, I think by the time any of us realizes this place is about fall down around us, it would be too late to do anything about it. Besides, I'm not really strong enough to hold it up, anyway." Her own eyes were showing amusement as she shrugged and moved away from the wall. She appreciated the injection of humor into the conversation. It really made the reality a little easier to deal with. That reality being that she had narrowly escaped being attacked by zombies, and that, probably, no one would believe her unless they had seen it for themselves. Speaking of which......

She was about to test that theory. "I really hope you're not headed to the food court." Because that would be the last thing they needed. Him, or any MLEer getting turned into one of them.

Arms folded Josh was pacing in the corridors, his head full of thoughts, ideas, problems and other things he did not want to think about. Some of them were about mundane things, some were the kind that was giving him bad dreams and the other were about...women. Among the things that gave him bad dreams, women had their places in it but he could not deny the fact that while the memories were not the ones he was proud of, they had some sweetness in them.

He let out a deep breath and stopped pacing looking around. There he was, in this empty corridor walking around idly while everyone else was busy with...whatever they had to do. He had been having a difficult time focusing his mind on the cases of De Talone or the drooling people. He knew that was a huge mistake and others probably did not like it at all yet other troubles always kept gnawing his brain in the back somewhere which made it extremely difficult for him to focus on anything else.

He had to fight it and he was planning to start from a point. What point would that be, though, he was yet to know.

<3
 

It was one of those days... she'd finished her assigned tasks and was now searching for something else to take up her time. Some other distraction. Emily had meandered around the offices, hoping someone would set her on a super important task, because she was ... super. But alas, everyone was lost in their own little worlds, so much so that the thought of exploiting her availability escaped them.

She was considering ducking out for a coffee, or food... food would be good, when she spotted a lost looking YATI in the corridor... well this could be fun.

Approaching, Emily gave Cater a short girlish grunt... "Shouldn't you be... doing something?" Or more to the point, shouldn't SHE be getting him to do something?

This had no end. He was feeling like he was running in circles. The same things all over again. It was annoying and took him away from everything. There had to be a way to break the circle. If only he knew how to so things could be easier.

Letting out a sigh, he leaned against the wall and that was when he heard the footsteps approaching. Great...that was probably a boss man who would scold him for doing nothing. Well...maybe not scold but whatever he had to say about him not doing anything would feel like that to him. However...it turned out to be Emily. Eh...still not much different from a boss man. He looked up at her grunt.

''I...'' yes, should not he be doing something? ''Yeah...i guess.'' What else could he say? His folded arms dropped to his sides as he pushed himself off the wall to face her properly. ''Emily...'' he said not knowing how she would react to the fact that he adressed to her with her first name. Did it matter? ''Would you help me with something? If, of course, you are not busy.''

Emily had been close to making a sarcastic remark about the state of the YATI... he looked, terrible. But thankfully, managed to hold it back.

Yeah I guess... well at least he understood to some extent that his role here wasn't simply to stand around and look pretty, though he'd do alright with that... if he got more sleep and more caffeine maybe.
The seriousness of Carter's tone piqued her curiosity. This was somewhat unexpected.

Busy? Was SHE busy? ...

Emily contemplated saying yes, and ducking out for a beverage, but that would have been wrong of her. Instead, she shook her head. "I'm free... what's up?" As in, what in the name of Merlin could she do to help him? Helping wasn't really one of her strong suits.

He gave silent thanks to Merlin when she said that she was free. Now maybe she could help him with some of the things that distracted him a lot from his work and other things...distracting him from the rest of the things about his life, actually. ''You are a woman.'' he said a bit relieved that she made no negative comment about him adressing her with her first name. So he supposed he could go with some personal stuff with her...being safe from her bite. ''Which is hard to miss. I mean...you are pretty and...''

Okay...now she was going to bite his head off. He needed to explain himself before she attacked. ''I don't mean it.'' no that sounded wrong ''Well...neither do i mean that you are not pretty. You are very pretty but...'' he knew that if it went on like that he was going to sweat and make things worse. Then she would think he was hitting on her and complain about it to Jax. Yeah...that would be great added to the fact that he was hardly being useful in the department lately. He let out a deep breath. ''That 'but' does not mean i think something is wrong with your...beauty. Just that i am trying to make a point and it was not really...all about that.'' Fail. This was getting worse.

''Do you have a boyfriend?''

And even worse...

''Don't misunderstand me. I just need help with...something.''

Emily arched her eyebrows. She was a woman... well that was incredibly insightful. She was about to offer a snide comment on the matter when Carter continued. He... he noticed? What did that mean? Was he a pervert? Is that it?

Emily didn't say anything, she continued to stare, slowly moving her arms across her body and folding them severely. He ought to proceed with caution.

Pretty? Beauty? Wrong with her? and then the cherry on the cake... did she have a boyfriend?

It wasn't something she could help, the snort of laughter escaped her lips before she could compose herself. It wasn't anything in particular that Carter said that made her react in such an ... animated way... it was more so the bizarre nature of the entire scenario.

"Right... stop there," she ordered, allowing her arms to relax to her sides.

"Firstly... keep your thoughts to yourself, please, we're professionals," or at least she was. "Secondly, no I do not..." at this point in time... "Thirdly, what is it you're trying to get at?"

She had her suspicions, but failed to believe that anybody would be desperate enough to seek relationship advice from her. No. That would be like asking a troll for legal advice. Well ok, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, after all, she was good at landing them, she just didn't want to keep them... completely different.

This was not going well. The young man did not like the way she was looking at her. Yes, she was probably thinking that he was trying to hit on her or something like that. Who to blame though? Of course himself because he just had messed up everything with his words. Why he messed up was another matter though. Usually he was confident and easygoing but all the things he had faced lately made him like this and, surely, Emily's personality added to it as well. She was no easy girl. Actually, as far as he figured, she was the kind to hex you if she did not like the way you said good morning. Like Evelyn.

Well...he stopped as she said. No more comments about her looks. He did not comment even when he did not see the point with being professional with this...eh...right now. He was not confessing his undying love for her in the middle of a case, was he? Yet on the second thought, he was most likely do that too, if he were in love with her.

She did not have a boyfriend?

''I am sorry, Emily, i did not mean to...annoy you in any way.'' How a woman could be annoyed when she was told that she was beautiful was beyond him but this was Emily. ''I am just...in trouble. And it's about women. I have a girlfriend with whom i seem to have a proper relationship. But...well...there's also this other woman. I...'' Now she was going to think that he was a cheater...an awful person ''My girlfriend knows about her. I just...did a mistake and fell into a pit with no ladder to get out of it. She forgave me for it because she knows me well and knows that i am more than that.''

This felt awkward, telling an Auror he was working with almost all of his love life. But he needed help. There were no other choices. ''I am asking you because you are the kind of woman who would make a guy regret it quite well if he happened to do anything wrong to you. And this woman is...a dangerous kind.'' Daughter of a known Dark Wizard, actually but he was going to omit that part. ''Like really dangerous. I will tell her that i only want to be with my girlfriend but i know she will get...angry and try to hurt me. How can i avoid her? Or how can i stop her? Or...at least...how can i protect myself from her?''

Women were devious. So another devious woman was the best protection against one.

Merlin it was fun watching the boy fumble with his words. It was like watching an acne ridden teen attempt to converse with a queen bee... and coming from Carter, well that was something. She supposed this was one of those moments she ought to lock up in a pensive for when she needed a laugh. Perhaps.

"Annoy me?..." pffffffffft... ".. trust me, if I were annoyed, you'd know about it." As it were, this was amusing, and amusing was acceptable in her books for today. After all, though this wasn't work work, this was building a ... rapport and stuff with her YATI. Acceptable use of time.

Emily listened, with as sensitive an ear as she could lend, though granted, she wasn't very sensitive. The gist she got from the young mans ramblings were... 1) he had a girlfriend 2) he had an admirer/stalker of a dark kind 3) his life/livelihood was in danger should he say no to said admirer/stalker... this all sounded a bit too familiar, it sounded like Xavier.

Nodding, Emily offered Carter a look of understanding. He was in a pickle wasn't he.
"Do you want the fluffed up by the book response?.. or are you wanting my own opinion - something more concrete?" meaning, was he asking because he really wanted help, or was he asking to make himself feel as if he were doing something proactive about the situation? Because she wasn't going to muck around with this.

She was not annoyed. Good. That was good news. She possibly liked it anyway...being called pretty. Yeah...why would not she? Even women like her, the hard-to-deal-with ones, liked being complimented about themselves. Yet, as far as Josh had experienced, women like Emily liked it more when she was complimented about her intelligence or skills. He took a quick mental note to do so when this conversation was over. It was a way to thank and show her he appreciated her help.

As she listened, she did not interrupt and made a comment. At first, he could not be sure if that was a good sign. But he supposed if she thought anything negative about him, she would let him know like how she would make him know it when she was annoyed with him. The young man blinked at her question a bit. ''Well...'' he idly scratched back of his neck before his arm dropped back to his side. ''Maybe both? I need to know all the possible way outs from this pit. Then i am to decide which one would cause me less harm.''