Thanks to everyone who is reading and commenting! Glad you all came back for Sam and Winn's story.
Every day, while others in the department were working on interesting projects, the only job she was given was data entry. And since she knew that job was not necessary, she wasn't sure why she was being told to do this.
She asked Beth one day when Jillian had left the office. The other woman shrugged and looked upset.
"I don't know. We have plenty of other work to do."
Sam was confused, but she didn't tell Winn. She was afraid he'd tell J'onn and she wanted to deal with the situation on her own. Jillian already felt she was too connected to those higher up.
Winn knew something wasn't quite right in Sam's job. Every time he asked her about it, she'd say, "It's fine," but wouldn't give details. He didn't push her, knowing that if she wanted to talk about it, she would. But he was worried about her.
The assistant department head, Paul, was not as rude as Jillian, though he seemed to get along with the boss. He would stop by Sam's desk and chat with her. He was a little flirty, but not too overbearing. Sam hoped that if they became friends, he might help her to do the real work and not just unnecessary data entry.
But as the days went on, she seemed destined to continue the drudge work. She overheard her co-worker, Beth, complaining about being overworked, but Jillian forbade her to give any work to Sam. Beth seemed upset about it.
One day, after Jillian left for the day and Sam and Beth were closing up, Sam said to Beth, "I don't know why I can't help you with your work,"
Beth looked upset when she said, "I don't think Jillian feels you're ready."
"Why don't you just show me a few easy tasks and see if I can do them?"
Beth bit her lip. "I don't know. Jillian always threatens to fire me if I don't do exactly as she says. I have two kids and a deadbeat ex. If I lose this job, my kids and I are out on the street."
"I can understand that pressure. I just feel bad, you seem really overworked."
"I am. And if I don't step it up, Jillian will give me a bad review like she did last year and I won't get my raise. And I need that raise. My daughter needs braces."
"Then why not let me help you? I won't tell Jillian and I'm good at hiding my screen when she's in the room."
"That would be great."
From then on, Sam had a little work to do. Beth was afraid to give her too much, in case Jillian figured it out. But it was better than nothing.
Sam tried to make friends with Beth, but the woman resisted. "Jillian told me not to. I'm sorry, you seem nice, but she doesn't like you and she has a lot of power."
"Can't you go to HR or something?"
"There's no HR here, it's in DC. And if I go to someone she would make up stuff to give me a bad review. The only reason she hasn't threatened you is because of your boyfriend. He's too high up, working with Supergirl and all."
That really made Sam angry. She'd come to this department to avoid that. She knew she could ask to be transferred and J'onn would do it, but she didn't want to be defeated by Jillian. And she felt bad for Beth and wanted to help her. So she did the little bit of work that she gave her and tried to stay out of her boss's way.
Jillian didn't realize that she was doing more work. Either she was stupid or too self-involved to notice. But her assistant manager, Paul, was not. He soon caught on.
One day, he approached her desk and spoke softly, "I know you've been helping Beth."
Sam looked anxious. "It's not Beth's fault. I asked her to give me some work. I was bored with the data entry."
"Relax, Beth isn't in trouble. I didn't realize you wanted more to do. Why don't you stay after today? I can give you some interesting things to do. And I can talk to Jillian about it."
"That would be great!"
She texted Winn: I have to work late.
Winn: Want me to wait?
Sam: Not sure how long I'll be. I'll take the bus.
Winn: Sure you know which one?
Sam: No problem.
After Jillian and the rest of the department had gone, Paul called her into the small conference room. "I want to show you what's up."
"Okay." She went in and closed the door.
"So here's the deal." He said. "Jillian doesn't trust you, but I think you can do the work."
"I can! I had stellar reviews at my last job."
"I'm sure you did. So I'll give you some projects, good ones, and once they're done, I'll let Jillian know that you did them and that she can trust you."
"That would be great."
"And we also wouldn't want Beth to get in trouble for helping you, would we?"
"Of course not."
"I will be putting myself out for you. Are you willing to put yourself out for me?"
"I, uh, guess. What is it you need me to do?"
"We'll start simple. A bj should do for starters."
Sam's blood ran cold suddenly, but she had to be sure he was saying what she thought he was saying.
"By bj do you mean…"
"I mean your mouth, my dick." With those words, he put his hand on her thigh.
She jumped up. "What-?"
"Oh, come on, don't act so shocked. You're familiar with sleeping your way to the top. Isn't that what you did with Schott? You must be pretty good, because he's had a few hot women, but he's never gotten them jobs."
Sam didn't know what to say. The shock overwhelmed her. She ran for the door, but as she did, she heard him say, "Think about it. I can help you."
She grabbed her purse and ran out of the building, getting on the first bus she saw. Which, of course, was the wrong one. She was halfway across town in the wrong direction when she realized it. She had to take another bus back before getting on the one that headed to their apartment.
By the time she arrived at her door, she was too upset to find her key. Tears ran down her face as she fumbled in her purse for it. Suddenly, the door opened and Winn was there.
"Hey, did you forget your key." He asked, then saw her face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I, uh, got on the wrong bus."
"You really need to learn to drive." But he could see she was really upset. "Sam, what happened? Other than the bus?"
She looked at him and knew she had to tell him. But first, she needed him to hold her. She fell into his arms and he engulfed her in them.
"Honey, what happened?" He pulled her inside, shut the door and led her to the sofa. "Did something happen on the bus?"
"No, it was at work." Slowly, she told him about the work situation and how Paul offered to help her.
Winn started to feel anger rise in him. "What did he do?"
Biting back a sob, she said, "He told me he could help me get ahead and work on interesting projects, but I had to do something for him."
He tried to keep calm for Sam's sake. "I assume he said what you should do for him?"
She nodded. In a small voice she said, "A bj to start."
Winn wanted to explode, but he held it in.
"And then he said, he said…" she had a harder time with the next part. "He said I slept with you to get this job, so what did it matter?"
He pulled her back into his arms and held her. "You know that's not true, don't you?"
"No, you had to practically beg me to come here and take the job."
He sighed. "All of this is a mess. You should have told me from the beginning."
"I wanted to handle it myself. I didn't want to come crying to you with every problem like I'm doing now."
"No, this is serious. Sam, I told you the work your department does is important. If field agents come up against someone or something, I need to be able to access any information we have on them so that the agents know what they're up against. Other agencies access our files as well. We can't have people messing around with that."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. But we've got to figure this out and we can't do it alone. You go take a shower and I'll get the others."
"Do we have to tell everyone?"
"Yeah, babe, we do."
She nodded and went to the bedroom. He texted Kara and J'onn and told them to come over and that it was important.
Sorry it got so dramatic so quickly. Yes, Sam doesn't drive. She lived in New York City all her life before this. And New Yorkers don't usually drive.