It took all of Don's willpower to calmly walk out of the director's office and not to slam the door behind him. What was the director thinking? His team had been through a lot recently, what with Megan's assignment to the DOJ and Colby's whole spy affair. Don knew that his team needed to relax and get back into their normal groove. In fact, he had just promised them that nothing would be changing. But of course, the director had taken it upon himself to predict that Colby would leave the team for some better position. It would have left Don a man short, so the director acted quickly to find a new agent for the team. Even after Colby's decision to stay, the director thought that Don's team could still use some fresh blood.
It could be worse, Don tried to convince himself as the elevator doors closed in front of him. He could have not let Colby stick around. Sighing, he hoped that it would be enough for the team.
Several moments later, the elevator chimed and Don stepped back into the bullpen. He took a moment to study his team from a distance. Liz and Megan were collaborating over a file. Liz had fit right into the team's dynamics and everyone had accepted her right off the bat. Maybe they could all do the same with someone else new. David and Colby were laughing in their cubicle. It hadn't taken them that long to rekindle every leftover aspect of their friendship over the last several days. In fact, outside of work, it looked like nothing had ever happened. Their teamwork on cases however, was not up to par. They were off; they struggled to read each other, struggled to remember how things flowed before. Don knew that eventually it would all work itself out, but maybe with a new agent learning the ropes, it would be a lot quicker. Deciding that maybe a new agent was indeed a good idea, he took a deep breath and headed over to the team.
"Hey guys," he called his team together. They all gathered by him and gave him their full attention. Don looked at his watch; he was beginning to second guess this whole thing again. "Alright, I know I just said that it was too late to start making any changes around here, but the director apparently had other plans." He paused, trying to ignore the worried looks on David and Colby's faces.
"Is everything okay?" Liz asked.
"Yeah, look, long story short, we got assigned a new agent and the director's not going back on the decision."
They all exchanged looks. Don checked his watch again when no one said anything. I knew they wouldn't like this.
"This happens all the time, completely normal for the bureau," Megan finally said after a few minutes. "I think we're all fine, this might be a good thing."
"Fresh start," David added.
Don let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
"Exactly. Guys, there's no denying what's happened over the past couple months and..and there's nothing we can do about it. We do, we need to move on, start fresh..." Don trailed off.
"Have a little fun with the rookie?" Colby suggested, a playful gleam in his eye. Any leftover tension or doubt seemed to be released as everyone laughed.
N3N3N3N3N3
Don greeted his father as he walked into the house. He plopped himself down on the sofa and opened the file he was carrying. Alan glanced over the top of his newspaper.
"New case?" he asked.
"No," Don started, but was interrupted by Charlie and Amita coming in from the kitchen.
"Hey, Don. You know, Amita and I were thinking about heading to that new restaurant downtown next week. We thought, if you were interested, we could make it another double date."
"Yeah, yeah, that's sounds good," Don said, making eye contact with his brother briefly before looking down at the file again.
"Did you need our help with something?" Amita asked, realizing what Don was holding.
"No, it's not a new case. Actually, I'm getting a new agent on the team."
"New agent?" Alan set his paper down. "I thought Colby is staying on."
"He is, but, you know, apparently the director didn't think he would. He says it's too late to assign now so we'll just have to go with it."
"It can't be too bad; it's another hand, isn't it?" Amita tried to help.
"It is, don't get me wrong. You know, a couple months ago I would have been more than happy to welcome in someone new. We were...back then we were..."
"Strong," Charlie finished. "You're worried that it's going to be too much stress on the team after everything that's happened."
"Well, yeah. We all agree that we're taking a fresh start here, maybe some fresh blood will help that, but you know, can't help but think otherwise."
"So, what's this guy supposed to be like? What's his background with the bureau?" Alan asked.
"Actually she has quite the background in law enforcement," Don said thoughtfully, looking down the agent's file.