Notes: Mari and Sammy – Thanks, as always, for the fantastic support and feedback. Special thanks to Sammy for the brainstorming! And HEE for reasons ;-)

Readers and REAL McRollers – Your enthusiasm continues to amaze! I know I haven't responded to reviews in what feels like forever, but please know I appreciate every single word.

Hope you enjoy!

Last Day at the Office (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

Cody hesitantly opened Marliyah Jackson's door after her administrative assistant waved him through to her office. The governor's deputy chief of staff looked up from her desk and smiled.

"Cody, come on in. Have a seat," she said, motioning to the chair across from her.

He sat down, smoothing his pant legs as he waited for her to open the folder in front of her. She removed two sets of papers and handed one to him.

"We like to do an evaluation meeting at the end of our internship semesters for two reasons. We want to make sure you have feedback in the form of a formal evaluation, and we want to hear from you on your experience and how we can make it better for the future. The exit interview is important to us. This is a two-way street. You've been working for us, but we've also been working for you, and we want to make sure we're giving our interns the best experience we possibly can."

Cody nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Okay. Let's do your evaluation first. You have a copy there, and I'll go over a few highlights from each section. We look at seven key areas with our interns: Reliability and Commitment, Quality and Quantity of Work, Human Relations Skills, Teamwork and Cooperation, Organizational Skills, Initiative and Creativity, and Judgment and Leadership." She flipped to the first page, and Cody did the same. "We'll start with Reliability and Commitment. Both of your recommendation letters mentioned how reliable and committed you are, and we've seen ample evidence of that over the course of your internship. You can see the lieutenant governor herself added a note to your evaluation about how you went above and beyond, coming in when you weren't scheduled to retrieve the file she needed for her presentation last week."

He shrugged with a self-deprecating smile. "It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing, Cody," Marliyah said firmly. "That was an important meeting and not only did you work hard preparing for it, you prevented what could have been an embarrassing situation without that presentation."

He straightened a little in his seat, his eyes drifting down to the typed note from Lea Kekoa on his evaluation.

Marliyah turned to the next page. "Quality and Quantity of Work. I've been very impressed with both the quality and quantity of your work this summer. You came into this internship with no office or government experience, but you were eager to learn and you learned quickly. You're thorough, efficient, and your work always reflects well on the governor and the governor's office."

Cody looked down, trying to contain his smile.

"Human Relations Skills," Marliyah continued. "You're respectful and courteous to everyone you come in contact with. Your communication skills have grown stronger over the course of the summer. We talked about that last month when we met. It's been very nice to see you make those strides to be more assertive and clear in your communication."

He nodded.

She turned another page. "Teamwork and Cooperation. You've established good working relationships with other interns and support staff, as well as senior personnel." She looked up and smiled at him. "We all like working with you. You put the needs of the job – that is, serving the people of Hawaii – above any desire for recognition or praise. That's not always the norm, and it's refreshing to see."

Cody gave a small smile, looking down.

"Organizational Skills. You've shown very strong organizational and time management skills. You can prioritize your workload to make the best use of time and resources to get all your projects done by their deadlines. Balancing so many tasks at once can be difficult but you do it very well. That's very impressive in someone so young."

"I've had a lot of practice," he said.

She nodded with a smile and turned another page. "Initiative and Creativity. You've demonstrated the ability to see a problem and creatively come up with a solution. Your idea to use keywords to streamline the sorting of constituent emails was excellent. We've already started moving on it."

Cody looked surprised. "Really?"

"We've outsourced the programming to a trusted IT specialist and should see implementation by mid-fall. That will allow us to get correspondence to the appropriate department much faster, which will help us better serve the public."

Cody looked down, a small, proud smile on his face.

"Finally, Judgment and Leadership. You've shown very sound judgment all along, and I think you have a lot of leadership potential." He looked up at her. "I've definitely seen hints of it in the way you work with a group," she continued. "You don't necessarily take charge in the conventional sense, but you set a good example, give solid insights, and make sure everyone has what's needed to achieve success. Those are valuable traits."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Now what I'd like to see you work on is your confidence. You have a lot of strengths, Cody, but sometimes it's like you don't really see them yourself."

Cody started to look down but caught himself and met her gaze. He nodded. "I'll work on that."

Marliyah smiled. She set the evaluation down on her desk, folding her hands over it and leaning forward. "Needless to say, you've been an exceptional intern. I'm not just speaking for myself when I say it's been a true pleasure having you here this summer. You've definitely left your mark in more ways than one."

"I've really liked working here," Cody said honestly. "I've learned so much. You help people in so many ways here … ways I think most people don't even know. I've really liked being a part of that."

Her smile widened. "Well, I'm very glad to hear you say that, Cody, because I'd like to offer you the opportunity to stay on as an intern this fall."

He blinked in surprise. "You … really?"

She chuckled at his reaction. "Yes. We don't normally have high school students during the school year, but your work has been exemplary. And it's definitely possible, we have done it in the past. I've taken the liberty of checking with your school administration, and they assured me you can switch your last class period to a work study and come here during that time. You'll have to do a few papers and maybe a presentation for the class, but … what do you say? Would you like to continue with us?"

"Yes!" he said immediately. "I mean, thank you, ma'am. I would love to keep working here. I should probably check with my mom … but I'm sure she'll say it's okay."

Marliyah smiled happily. "Wonderful!" She shifted another paper on top of his evaluation. "Well, this may seem more like a formality now, but let's go ahead with your exit interview. We'll think of it more as an end-of-semester interview instead so we can see if there are any changes we should make going forward." She picked up her pen and smiled at him. "I think I know the answer to the first question: Did you find your internship to be a valuable learning experience?"

Cody smiled broadly. "Definitely."

Later that day, Cody stood after shutting down the computer at his small desk in the office set aside for the interns. A figure walked past the open doorway, then doubled back to lean inside.

"Hey, Cody," the young man said.

Cody looked up and smiled at the familiar face. "Hi, Mr. Hedley."

"Ross, remember?"

"Right."

"Congratulations," he said genuinely. "I'm glad you'll be staying with us this fall."

Cody's eyes widened slightly. "Everybody knows already?"

Ross smiled reassuringly. "No. But I was talking with Marliyah earlier about you and happened to mention wishing you could keep working after the school year started. She said she'd offered you a fall internship. Congratulations."

"Thank you. I feel really lucky."

"We're the lucky ones. I'm looking forward to working with you more in the future."

Cody's smile widened. "Thanks. Me, too."

Ross backed out of the office, almost running into Jordan, one of the other interns, outside the door. Ross gave him a quick, cursory nod before walking down the hallway.

Jordan stepped into the office, his lip curling. "You're going to be one of the fall interns?"

Cody glanced at him, then opened the file drawer on his desk and placed a folder inside. "Yeah, Ms. Jackson asked during my evaluation meeting. Why? Aren't you?"

Jordan straightened defensively. "I … I'm sure she's going to ask."

Cody looked confused. "But … wasn't your evaluation this morning?"

"So what if it was?" Jordan snapped.

Cody held up his hands to ward off an argument. "Whatever." He pushed his chair in and came around his desk. His head was down but his back was straight as he started to walk past Jordan.

"Not like it's any secret why you got the spot," Jordan muttered.

Cody paused. He took a deep breath and turned around. "Listen, I don't know what your problem is. I've tried to get along with you this summer."

Jordan snorted. "Sure."

"I let you present the graph we made on the relationship between education spending and graduation rates to the aides for the budget steering committee, and I covered for you when you didn't know how to put in a request for documents even though Ms. Jackson showed us twice."

Jordan bristled, folding his arms. "Whatever. The only reason you were even here to begin with is because you know Commander McGarrett and the rest of Five-0. Now you're getting a fall internship position over me? It's not right."

Cody didn't back down. "I had to interview for this job, same as you. So what if one of my recommendations was written by the head of Five-0? One of yours was written by Senator Liu, and I know that because you remind us at least once a week," he said pointedly, managing to not roll his eyes. "I've done a good job this summer, and if Ms. Jackson thinks I'm good enough to keep working here, then I'm going to keep working here no matter what you think about it."

Jordan gaped, searching for a response.

"Hey, guys," Tara, another intern, said brightly as she came in smiling. "My evaluation's done and I'm ready to go. It's been cool, but I'm glad it's the last day."

"Not for me," Cody said proudly. "I'm going to stay on as an intern this fall."

"Really? That's awesome. Congrats." She looked at Jordan. "Are you staying, too?"

With a huff, Jordan brushed past them and out the door.

Tara stared after him then looked back at Cody. "Um … I guess that's a 'no'?"

Cody shook his head.

"Good riddance," Tara said, then winced guiltily.

Cody cracked a smile.

"I really am happy for you," she said. "When I said I was glad it's the last day, I just meant for me. I don't really think this government thing is what I want to do. But you're so good. I'm not surprised Ms. Jackson wants you to stay."

"Thanks."

"So I'll see you around, I guess. I know we play you guys in football, maybe I'll see you at the game. I'd love to meet Jess."

Cody smiled. "Yeah."

Bouncing up on her tiptoes, she gave him a quick hug. "Bye, Cody. Stay you, okay?"

"Okay." He waited as she went to her desk and retrieved her purse from a drawer. With a final smile and a little wave, she left.

Cody took a deep breath, looking around the office. He smiled and turned for the door, closing it behind him.

Deciding to share the news in person since he and Steve had made plans for dinner, Cody headed over to Iolani Palace after leaving the Capitol building. He signed in at the front desk and assured the officer he knew the way to Five-0's headquarters. Opening the double doors to the bullpen, he saw Steve and Catherine at the smart table closing out whatever files they had been reviewing. Everyone else had left for the day.

"Hey," Steve said upon spotting the teen. "I got your text. You said you had good news?"

"Yeah." He looked between the two. "Ms. Jackson offered me an internship for the fall."

Catherine smiled broadly. "That's fantastic, Cody."

"Thanks. She said they don't usually have high school interns during the school year, but …"

"But you're just that good," Steve supplied, smiling proudly.

Cody grinned. "I called Mom. She said I could as long as I keep my grades up at school."

"Which you will," Steve said confidently.

"That's really great," Catherine said, hugging him. "Congratulations, Cody. They're lucky to have you."

"They are," Steve agreed.

"Hey, how'd things turn out with the other intern?" Catherine asked. "Jordan, wasn't it?"

"I pretty much did what you said," Cody told her. "Just did my work and didn't let him get to me, but today …" He shrugged. "I had to reassess," he said, repeating the word she'd used after his first day at the governor's office.

Steve quirked an eyebrow, folding his arms, also familiar with the Jordan situation, and Catherine nodded for Cody to continue.

"I just told him that I did a good job this summer and if Ms. Jackson thinks I'm good enough to keep working there, then that's what I'm gonna do."

"He didn't get an offer?" Steve asked.

"No. I think that's why he was mad. He said I only did because I know you guys, but I know that's not true and I told him that." He shrugged again. "I don't know if he believed it, but it doesn't matter."

"Sounds like you held your own," Catherine said. She shook her head. "Some people will never get it because they don't want to. He can't admit to himself that you're the better intern, so he has to hang on to his own theory, no matter what evidence is in front of him."

Cody nodded. "Thanks for your advice about everything, Catherine. It really helped."

She smiled. "You're welcome. I knew if you let your work ethic and skills speak for themselves the right people would notice."

Steve nodded. "Always smart to take Catherine's advice," he said with a quick smile in her direction.

"And the right people did notice," she said, "since you've got a spot for the fall."

"We were going to celebrate your last day," Steve said, putting a hand on Cody's shoulder, "but now we've really got something to celebrate."

Catherine smiled at them. "I'll leave you guys to it."

"Wait," Cody said. "Why don't … I mean, do you want to come, too?"

"Oh, that's okay–"

"Please?"

Seeing the sincerity in Cody's expression, Catherine smiled. "Sure. I'd love to."

Steve looked on, smiling. "Okay, then. We just have to lock up and we can head out." He looked at Cody. "Pick somewhere good, otherwise we're gonna end up having sushi," he said, nodding toward Catherine meaningfully.

"I like sushi," Cody said innocently.

Catherine beamed. "Then I know just the place."

Steve sighed, and Catherine rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please," she said. "You like it, too."

Steve grinned. He gave a little shrug and admitted, "It is the best on the island."

Catherine smiled at Cody. "Then that makes it the perfect place to celebrate."

He smiled back, feeling their genuine happiness at his news. "Okay," he said, his smile widening. "Let's go."

Hope you enjoyed!

Note: Evaluation areas shamelessly swiped from the form I fill out for my own interns every semester. :-)

Ross Hedley first appeared in Mari's fabulous story Someone Like Catherine.

Keep track of all the REAL World stories on our Tumblr page - mcrollintherealworld at tumblr dot com - including a chronological list!

You can still join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with Add me, please! in the subject line.

And find Mari on Twitter asking your opinions on all things McRoll in the REAL World! at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller