Chapter Text
“Ladies!” The voice called out from outside the room, it wasn’t a snap, not this morning anyway, but they still jumped to their feet, pens and paper in hand and rushed as fast as they could to respond. It was only through regular practice that they appeared in the open doorway without crashing into one another, like some ballet performance, each sliding into place. Hitting their marks with learned precision. Alice had been interning for Chief of Staff Tolliver for eleven months, the longest any intern in recent memory has lasted, and Kelly had survived four.
It wasn’t that working for Ms. Tolliver was hard, they’d each logged enough hours to know the woman wasn’t the monster rumors would make her out to be, but she expected a certain level of professionalism, a certain degree of class and that bar being set so high tended to lead to unexpected consequences. Consequences like higher than normal turnover of her interns.
Kyle, the most recent third intern, had only lasted five weeks.
“Good morning, Ma’am.” Alice chirped, simultaneously wondering how long this would take and what her boss needed.
Nadine, already opening the day’s schedule Blake had left on the desk, glanced over her glasses at the two women in the doorway and then back to the petite, nervous looking young thing sitting in a chair. “Alice, Kelly, this is Judith. She’s replacing Kyle.” Her face soured at the name. It would be a long time before she forgot Kyle’s transgression and even longer before she forgave it. “Please show her to her desk and get her settled in. I’m sure both of you have more than enough work to share with her, yes?” She waited for matching nods. “Good. That is all.” She summarily dismissed all three.
Neither Alice nor Kelly said a word as they rushed back to the main office, Judith trailing behind. Once they were at the row of desks designated for the Chief of Staff’s interns, Alice turned back to the new girl with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Judith.”
Judith stared back at them; brown eyes wide as she tried to take everything in. “Please, just Judy.”
“Judy. Got it. I’m Alice and this is Kelly, we’ll help you get settled in a bit but we have a lot of work going on and I hope you can learn fast and think on your feet.”
“I- I can do that.”
Kelly frowned, turning to Alice. “We can’t have another confidence problem; it will be Stacey all over again.”
“Okay, Judy, here’s the crash course rules to live by. I’ve been interning under Ms. Tolliver nearly a year and I’ve seen a lot of interns come and go, so I’ll try to cover the few big ones and we’ll feel out the rest, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Confidence. Whatever you do, be fully committed. Never answer with a question because you’re unsure. It’s totally better to be wrong than not know. I mean, it’s bad to be wrong, but you get my drift.” Alice turned and pointed down the long room of desks. “Also, see that open space at the end before the last room back there? That’s all no-man’s land. Never, ever go past the end desk.”
“If you need something from the atrium, you go this way and around.” Kelly pointed the doorway behind them. “Believe me, it’s not worth the time you think you’ll save to ever go up there.”
“You can talk to anyone in the outer office out here, any of the other interns and assistants except never directly address the desk at the end. We report to Ms. Tolliver and if something needs to go to the last desk or higher, she will take care of it.”
“What if someone talks to me?”
Both women turned back to Judy. “They won’t.” They answered in unison. “All the senior staff know whoever sits at these desks belongs to Ms. Tolliver alone.” Alice carried on. “If they need us to do something, they will go to her and she will pass it along.” She saw the worried look on Judy’s face. “Hey, this is actually a decent place to work. Compared to some gigs, we have one clear-cut boss and don’t have to worry about territory fights over our time and work. And she treats us well.”
“Just remember the rules.” Kelly shook her head, taking a seat at her own desk. “That guy you’re replacing? She gave him a pass on a lot because he was younger and greener than most interns she takes on, but then he broke a big rule and was gone before the day finished.”
“Wha- What’d he do?”
Both women looked around before Alice leaned in. “He broke the worst rule of all. He put a binder together and bypassed Ms. Tolliver, every single rung on any ladder and took it to the Secretary’s office. He claimed he couldn’t find any of the other staff, but none of us are allowed to ever go down there and that was just…it. What I heard was the Secretary simply thanked him for the paperwork, but Ms. Tolliver walked in behind him and that was that, he boxed up his things and was out the door.”
“Oh. Okay.” Judy looked apprehensively at the other end of the room. “Do we do anything else? Or just calls and paperwork? How do I know who to put through?”
“We’ll help you, but don’t worry, she’ll forgive a few times till you get your feet under you.” Alice shifted some of the folders from her desk to Judy’s. “We take turns working early and late and we rotate lunches, so someone is always available. Ms. Tolliver works a long day. So, if you need to schedule something away from the office, let me know ahead of time so we can plan.”
Nodding in understanding, Judy accepted the files and got to work, keeping her head down until Kelly was telling her it was time to stop for lunch.
“We’ll go together today.” Kelly found her bag and walked toward their boss’s office, she was on the phone, so Kelly and Judy waited in the hall until the call ended and they were waved in. “We’re just going to lunch, Ma’am.”
“Okay. Enjoy.” She barely looked their way as she spoke, but then called out. “Wait! Kelly.” She waited for them to turn back. “When you get back, Matt could use a hand with some research he’s doing ahead of the dinner next week, so please come see me and I’ll get you two together. His assistant’s out for the week and he could really use the extra help of someone who’s a bit better at research than, well, he is.” A knowing smirk twitched at her lips.
“Sure, Ma’am. Not a problem.”
Nadine was already back to reviewing whatever was in her hand. “Thank you. On your way through, please warn Alice to avoid Blake. He’s on his way back from the White House.” She glanced up only long enough to smirk and give a tiny huff of amusement.
Leading the way back through, Kelly passed on the message before digging out her phone from a locker and making their way to the elevators.
Once they were in the canteen, Judy started to pepper her with questions. “Who’s Matt?”
“The head speechwriter. Normally he has an assistant, Danny, but he’s been out a lot lately. He, uh, he has cancer, so some days he comes in as much as he can but there are days he just can’t. He’d been getting pressure to just take the time off to recover, maybe he’s finally taken it.”
“Oh. That’s too bad.”
“It’s sad. Danny’s a great guy.” Kelly drew a breath. “Matt’s like one of these ‘stoner dude’ personalities and just really laid back and a lot of fun, so working with him is nice. Danny’s been under him longer than I’ve been here.”
Judy followed her through the line and to a table. “And who was the other guy she mentioned?”
“Hmm? Oh, Blake. He’s the desk at the end. He’s the other outer-office boss, he and Ms. Tolliver co-run everything.”
“So, he’s not like Matt then?” She had you warn Alice about him.
Kelly speared a bite of her salad and shrugged. “He’s a bit all over. Honestly, I’ve almost never talked to him and opinions vary a lot about what he’s really like. Look, working for Ms. Tolliver is one of the better positions; I have some friends over at the White House, depending on who they work for, it can be rough working over there. The President’s Chief of Staff? That man’s nasty, he goes through interns like water under a bridge. Here today, gone tomorrow.”
“Is that what she meant when she said that Blake had been over there? Was he dealing with that guy?”
“Who knows. He rarely comes back from there in a good mood. I do know the budget hearings are around the corner and while that’s on the Hill, maybe it had to do with something over at the White House. If it affects us, they’ll tell us.”
“Well, I’m glad to have the job. It’s been hard deciding just what I want to do next in life, this maybe will give me direction. Or tell me what to avoid.”
Kelly laughed. “Seven is a good place to start. The Seniors are all protective and even territorial of their interns and assistants, so we get treated pretty well. Alice has a couple cool stories and, like I said, the other assistants and aides have been here longer. At least one Friday night a month, a bunch of us go out for drinks, you should come.”
“Okay. Sure. That sounds like fun.” She sat up a bit straighter, it did sound fun to get to know her new coworkers.
When the pair returned, the seventh floor seemed quieter than when they’d left. Judy put part of that down to the decrease in staff due to lunch, but she doubted that was all. “Did something happen?” She asked Alice.
Alice didn’t answer Judy right away, instead turning to Kelly first. “Ms. Tolliver said she has the research information for you from Matt. He needs it by the end of the day today, so she asked that you make it your only priority.” As Kelly walked away, she turned back to Judy. “Just after you two left, Blake came back and tore through directly to the corner office. He’s not usually a hot head, but something got him steamed up. The Secretary turned up on the next elevator and she didn’t look happy either but not like him. Haven’t seen either one since.” She hoisted up a binder. “But Ms. Tolliver dropped this by about twenty minutes ago and asked if we can start reviewing it and flagging anything that is an edit from the copy in this binder.” She rested her free hand on a second one. “It’s only five-hundred pages, so we should be able to break it up easily; she’s wanting to take the edited copy home tonight to review before the meeting tomorrow morning.”
Judy took the binder. “So just looking for changes?”
“Every item change, wording, punctuation. All of it. I have a copy, you start at page one, I’ll start and two-fifty-one and when we’re done, we’ll combine the two.” She stood. “I’m going to eat, if you want, you can bring it into the breakroom and work and keep me company?”
“Uh, yeah, sure.” She followed and then took in the breakroom as Alice moved around.
A woman took that moment to excitedly rush in. “Oh! Alice! I have some gossip!” Her voice was low to not draw outside attention. “Who’s this?”
“Judy, Ms. Tolliver’s latest intern. Judy, this is Carla; she works under the press coordinator.”
“Yes, yes.” Carla offered her hand. “All rumor-mill and gossip-mill stuff is one hundred percent confidential.” She waited for Judy to nod. “Daisy was talking to Matt and I didn’t hear the whole thing, but she asked him if Blake really punched a senator! I hoped for more, but they realized I was walking in and they clammed up.”
Judy watched Alice’s jaw drop as she slid into a chair, a yogurt in her hand as she began leafing through pages. She felt compelled to ask, since she didn’t know anyone yet. “Could it be true?”
Carla shrugged. “If it is, it’s way out of the norm for him. But who knows? He’s been under a super ton of stress lately.” She was about to say more, but Nadine swept in, pausing and then narrowing her eyes.
“Alice!” She sounded aghast. “This better not be you working through lunch! I’ve told you, that’s entirely unacceptable.” She leaned over the table and shut the binder in front of her longest-working intern. “Obviously, I can’t make you leave the floor to take your lunch, but you know I strictly forbid you not taking a break entirely.” Her eyes darted from Carla to Judy. “Don’t follow Alice’s example.” She waved a warning finger in the air. “Take your breaks. Around here, the next one is never guaranteed.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Nadine swept to the kettle to start tea, gathering supplies while the water heated. “Now, as far as the highly inappropriate gossip sharing I walked in on, you know this is not the kind of workplace where such things can be tolerated, and it’s absolutely forbidden. It’s far too easy to end up with another international incident because of some offhand comment someone made in confidence.” She gathered the drink as she finished making it, throwing the garbage away before moving to leave, turning back in the doorway. “Stick to the facts. The Secretary and Blake had a private meeting with Mister Jackson and Senator Salazar.” The hard look on her face shifted for a split second into something perhaps a bit…mischievous before it vanished just as fast and she was gone.
“Who’s that?” Judy tried to catch up that their boss had just lectured them on gossiping and then possibly helped add to it.
Carla practically was squee-ing as Alice pulled a face. “Senator Salazar. Also known as Senator Sleazebag.”
Carla rushed to take a seat. “It would be totally imaginable for Blake to punch him. Still out of character, but Senator Sleazebag? If anyone were going to make him cross the line, I think it would be him.”
“I don’t know.” Alice was shaking her head, doubtful. “I still can’t see him doing it.” She glanced at the doorway again before flipping the binder back open. “And I don’t see where Ms. Tolliver has any room to get on my case about working through lunch when I know full well that tea was hers and she’s working while drinking it.”
“Why is he a sleazebag?” Judy couldn’t help asking.
“It’s all rumors, but apparently word is he’ll make inappropriate comments or these weird touches. I heard that the meetings are at the White House because Seven has no cameras and he’s banned from coming up here.” She shrugged. “I have no idea. Anyway…” She checked her watch. “I need to get back to my desk. If you hear any fireworks, remember to share later!” She giggled as she left.
==
It was after five when Alice had loaded up Judy’s arms with the binders and asked her to go drop them off to their boss. Much of the outer floor had cleared out already, just a few stragglers here and there. Carefully making her way up the hall, Judy realized she could hear voices from inside Ms. Tolliver’s office, the blinds were shut but the door was open.
“I would’ve fired you for that… It was inappropriate and so far outside your place. What in the hell were you thinking?”
Judy’s brows shot up hearing her boss swear.
“I was thinking of what could happen next.” The voice was male, despondent.
There wasn’t any sound in the room for a minute and then Judy heard her boss again, this time her voice was gentler. “Okay, but you can’t let yourself go there every time, it will destroy you.” Judy heard her sigh. “You managed to put the fear of god into the entire outer staff when you came back.” There was an edge of amusement now. “I haven’t even accomplished that.”
“I’m sorry.”
The next silence dragged on so long, Judy wondered if it was the right opportunity to make herself known, but then her boss spoke again. “You need to separate what happened to you from what happens to everyone else, it’s not always going to be the same situation; you need to talk to someone. A professional someone. Now. I think we’ve covered the schedule for tomorrow as it stands now, I’m taking home the binders to review tonight, my girls have been marking them up for me today. I’m guessing the Secretary hasn’t made any moves to leave yet?” There was the soft shuffle of feet on carpet. “Thank you for the fresh tea and food; go take whatever you made for the Secretary to her and I’ll let you know when I’m leaving.”
Judy saw it as her opportunity and walked the final steps to the open doorway, knocking on the glass. “Ma’am, I have the binders completed.”
Nadine smiled. “Oh, good! Perfect timing.” She waved to a spot on her desk. “Just leave them here.”
Judy crossed the room, not looking yet at the man standing from his spot on the couch and straightening his suit. “Will that be all for today?”
“Oh, yes. If one of you could be here a half hour early tomorrow? I may need a few extra things. How bad were the revisions?”
“Um. My half didn’t have too many I guess?” The man snorted, earning a withering glare from her boss. “I don’t really have much to compare it to yet.”
“Thank you, Judith.” Nadine pointed to the man finally. “As you’re here, Judith, this is Blake Moran, personal assistant to the Secretary and today, maker of floor wide gossip headlines.” The frown that followed seemed to be covering a slightly amused twinkle in her eye. “Blake, my newest intern, Judith.”
Judy turned, greeting and seeing him for the first time as she offered her hand. “Just Judy, please.”
He shook her hand and then turned back toward Nadine as Judy began to leave. She was just around the corner when she heard him speak. “Well, she looks smarter than Kyle was.”
“I think your tie is smarter than Kyle was.”