Scene – After the first conversation on the plane.
Colonel Tom Devoe gazed out the window as he finished his coffee, contemplating the conversation he had with Dr. Kelly moments before. She'd gotten the last word in and given him something to think about.
Yes, he'd done his "checking up" on her. Unlike what some of his cronies and apparently she herself thought, it wasn't necessarily that she was a woman in this position that concerned him, but rather how young and inexperienced she was to be taking on an assignment like this so soon into the job. She was ambitious but not to the point of pretentiousness, thoroughly intelligent, and very dedicated to her work, all of which impressed him but all the more reason why he wasn't going to sugarcoat anything, nor was he going to talk down to her the way he knew some of his associates could do just because she was a woman. Bureaucrat that she was, she was his comrade, and Dr. Kelly would be treated just as professionally if it were a man in her place.
He gave a small chuckle when he thought again. The only difference being, if this were downtime, the sex, and this example of it in particular, would make all the difference; he'd noted her loveliness along with her other attributes, and almost wished she had been frumpy and/or married, as her differing opinion wasn't the only thing that unnerved him. Though with the way she was now looking at him, a question delicately crinkling her forehead, with that guarded blue fire in her eyes, he wondered how good his chances were anyway.
Dmitri was going to get a kick out of his predicament.
After Colonel Devoe arose from his seat to check up on some documents, Dr. Kelly focused her attention back to her laptop, having been momentarily diverted by the man's sudden chuckle. God only knew what was running through that man's mind.
Devoe was proving a diversion again as Julia considered his words, "When you've been the boss for more than two weeks…" From the moment they met, they'd done almost nothing but clash with each other, and she knew that was only the beginning. But yet he'd just paid her such a compliment, whether he intended to or not. Implying that she'd actually keep this job? That's more than some people who she thought she'd known better managed to do. The irony struck her so and tickled her lips into a small smile.
He could still get his own coffee though. Her smile pursed into a determined and brief smirk as she went back to work.