No Longer Alone

Chapter Twenty-Six

*Nicole's POV* 

    Those two bastards trapped me.   Alex may have done most of the talking but I am still certain Damian had something to do with it as well.  I look to my boss and the site director knowing there is no way that I will be able to get out of this now, and nod my head in acceptance.

    "When will this start?  I don't mean to be rude but I am due to go into one of the classes for a meet and greet with the agents since I will be working with them, and I still have some other things to accomplish today." At this point I'm not even certain who to address with this and all the chaos these two seem to bring.

    "Right now if possible.  I'd like to see as many aspects of how you work with agents and peers as possible.  There may be things we can bring back to our company to improve other projects."  Damian's voice is still has the same impact on me as it did that night at the bar, and keeping him quiet is going to be important to my ability to think.

    "Fine.  If that's everything for me then?"  A nod from the others encouraged me to stand up and push my chair in, glancing around I saw Damian had already done so and was on his way towards the door, holding it open and motioning for me to go first.

    I tried to gather my wits as well as my control since this whole thing felt like it was a set up for the two of them to mess with me more.  I could have sworn that they said they were here on vacation, and now they show up at my work as important visitors.  My temper was simmering steadily, but I had to lock it down, these new agents didn't deserve to have my anger when they were already stressed and overwhelmed.

    "So are you just going to ignore me, or will you explain what this meeting is and why you do it."  So much for keeping him silent ignoring him.

    "I'm not ignoring you," I'm not lying, I am far to aware of him to ignore him. "I'm figuring out how to explain you so that people don't freeze up and start avoiding me.  I'm also going through the work I need to do today."  I glanced over my shoulder for a moment and stopped.  "As for this meeting with the new agents, whenever I am assigned to working with a new group I always make sure to go in and visit with them for a bit so they know who I am but also get to know me a little bit.  We've found that this will make them more comfortable in approaching me and talking with me, it also makes them more inclined to listen to me.  The final reason this is a help is that it will help me to identify the ones early on that are going to either really need my help, or the ones that would do better with another supervisor helping them."

    "I see."  He stopped when I did, looking deep in thought, before those forest green eyes met mine again, "Just explain that I help oversee our training department and I'm watching to see how well your site could work with what we are looking for." I nodded and continued on my way to the class.  

    When we reached the room we needed to I walked right in as Amy was telling a story to the class, and she grinned seeing me, walking over for a hug like she always did when she saw me now.

    "I was beginning to think you got lost or forgot about us.  Class, this is Nicole, one of the OJT supervisors who will be helping you when you leave training."  Amy turned to address the class after giving me a hug, I had helped train her as an agent, but it wasn't until after she became a trainer that we had gotten close. Since I was still in the door and she had turned back to the class, I didn't think she saw my shadow.  "She is an awesome lady that does soooo much for the department and is just an absolute blast to work with."

    "Sorry I was late, an unexpected meeting came up that I wasn't prepared for but I am thrilled to be here now." Moving further into the class with a smile I look around to see the people looking from me to the door behind me.  As I said, a distraction.  "As you can see one of the visitors is with me, don't worry he's just here to observe what I do.  So to start with, as Amy said, my name is Nicole, I've been with the company for 9 almost 9 years, and over 8 and a half of those have been in some kind of leadership role here.  I started as an agent like you, but I have worked in OJT, production, and was even a team lead for a while before I had to make a choice to step down and go back to where my real passion is, which would be OJT.  I am a single mother raising kids, and the schedules I had as a team lead weren't working as well for seeing my kids as I had hoped." 

    I started my normal talk, explaining my coffee addiction, getting them to laugh and relax with me, a leader that was human.  I talked about my hobbies and what I did for fun, reading, how many game systems I had, even my love of anime and my daughter's obsession with sending me memes and being what I called a broken teen.  One of the people looked shocked at this and had to ask what I meant by calling her broken causing me to laugh.

    "Hannah is a broken teen because she doesn't act like a normal teen does.  She doesn't want to date, she thinks boys are stinky idiots and girls are googly-eyed idiots.  She'd rather play video games with me than go to a school dance, or read books.  At school she'd rather study than get involved with drama and gossip.  She's one of a kind."  I explain my daughter with a smile.

    "Sounds like a smart kid."  One of the people in the class response after the laughter dies down.

    "Oh she is.  When she got birthday wishes from my co-workers she told me to thank them by letting them know that she appreciates their existence on the planet and their well wishes for her womb expulsion day."  Again the laughter kicks up and I smile.  "Any other questions for me?  I do come with a disclosure though, if you don't want to know the answer, don't ask me the question.  Also be aware sometimes I can be very random with answers, especially if you start out with 'I have a question' then the answer will be 42."  A few people chuckle at this and some look blank.  

    One of the blank ones raises a hand and I nod to them, guessing the question already.

    "Why 42?"

    "It's from a book that was turned into a movie, 42 was the answer when they didn't know the question, but the fun thing is it is also related to computer coding on a system.  In that system, 42 translates to a symbol that means whatever you want it to mean."  They nod and smile understanding now.  Questions continue for a bit longer as all of them have a chance to ask me a few more things before we wrap up.  I'd gotten so caught up in talking with them that I forgot about my shadow who was now watching me with something in his eyes that I couldn't put a name to.