Author's Note: I received this prompt from PockyGirl of the Phoenix Souls...
'I want to see a part 2 to (Harassed)... Maybe see Andrea or Alex handle the workplace bullies.'
Okayyy sounds good let's go :D
Also like, dudes, I needed to post something happy (or at least... happy by the end lol) I've been so depressing lately!
Summary: Brainy and Nia go in to discuss Nia's harassment with Andrea, but things get worse before they can get better.
Spoilers: Spoilers for Harassed Pt. 1 LOL
"Let's just go home," Nia said suddenly.
She and Brainy were standing two feet away from Andrea's office. Brainy had just raised his arm, preparing to knock once they were close enough, when Nia spoke. He looked over at her in surprise, but with some understanding. "I will be with you every step of the way," he reassured her gently.
Nia shook her head, fiddling with the hangnails on the side of her thumbs anxiously. The two of them had received quite a few looks walking from the elevator to Andrea's office. Most of them were from the people who had been so hostile to Nia for the past few months, morbidly curious to see what she was going to do after not being at work for almost a week.
But a few of the glances were more friendly, regretful, sympathetic, even. Those were almost worse because Nia had to wonder where those people had been for months on end while she was struggling with her adult bullies. She had thought the people at CatCo were her support team and her friends, but they had completely let her down. She hadn't just been hurt by the people who had actually done things to her... she had been hurt by those who hadn't done anything at all.
So everyone, she supposed. She had been hurt by everyone and she just didn't want to be here anymore.
"Nia," Brainy said gently, taking her hand and stopping her from rushing straight back to the elevator and out of CatCo. "We need to talk to Andrea if this is going to get any better."
"But what can she even do?" Nia asked desperately. "It's not like she can just- just put those people in a time out or... suspend them or something."
Brainy shrugged. "Harassment charges could get people arrested. At the very least, Andrea can give them a stern talking to about being absolute children and maybe take them down a few self-righteous notches."
He nodded, as if agreeing with himself, and turned back to Andrea's door. Panic suddenly exploded in Nia's chest and she grabbed his arm, dragging him backward. "Brainy just- just wait."
He looked at her seriously. "Nia-"
"What if she's just like them?" Nia blurted, gripping his arm so hard that his sleeve creased. "What if she just- just agrees? Brainy, I just want to-" Her eyes welled up with tears. "I just want to go home and forget about all of this. I can get other jobs, I can-"
"No," Brainy said firmly, reaching to grab her arm with just as much force. "You are a fighter, and the things that you have gotten through... you are strong. I will not let you quit on this, Nia."
"Fine," Nia breathed, and broke away from him to shove open the door to Andrea's office.
"I was wondering when you two would come in," Andrea said without a hello as Nia and Brainy stepped inside her space. She glanced up from the work on her desk with a smile so quick it was impossible to tell if it was fake or not, and then got to her feet to greet them. "Your appointment started seven minutes ago."
"Sorry," Nia murmured. "Umm... Miss Rojas, this is my boyfriend, Brain- I mean, Querl. He set up the meeting with you."
"Querl Dox," Brainy introduced himself, reaching out to shake Andrea's hand. "Please call me Brainy."
She raised her eyebrow slightly but nodded and sat back down. "Andrea Rojas. Please, take a seat."
The two of them chose their chairs and Brainy reached out, pulling Nia's hand into his lap. "Miss Rojas, Nia has been-"
"Nia can speak for herself," Andrea interrupted. "I understand the need for moral support but you are not her lawyer, Mr. Dox. Nia, I've been told that there have been certain things going on in my workplace that I wouldn't be pleased to know about. That being said, I'd like to know about them right now."
"I'm being harassed," Nia replied simply, deciding that it wasn't worth hedging around the issue. "You may not know this, but I'm part alien. Over the past few months, some of my coworkers have been outright hostile to me; spilling coffee on me, leaving me out of email groups. Someone even stole my computer last week which is when I walked out."
Andrea let out a long breath, leaning back in her chair. "And your sure it's direct harassment?" she confirmed. "And not just your perception?"
"I'm sure," Nia said certainly. "My lunch was taking a little while ago and in it's place was the note 'roaches don't need to eat'."
"I see," Andrea said. "And you know who's doing these things?"
"I've got a general idea," Nia replied. "But even those who aren't actively hurting me aren't doing anything to help me, either."
"I see," Andrea repeated. She reached up and rubbed at her face, shaking her head. "It truly disgusts me that people can be so completely blind to the fact that differences do not give you the right to be a bully. You would think that a group of mature adults would be able to control themselves a little more. Or at least that the rest of your coworkers would remember spending their entire childhood being told by guidance councilors about the importance of not being a bystander who does nothing to help."
"It's somewhat psychological," Brainy spoke up. "It is, unfortunately, human nature to believe that someone else will do something. I suppose it also comes down to Nia's coworkers not wanting to get involved because they don't want to be a target for harassment themselves."
"I just want to be able to do my job," Nia said with a deep sigh. "Fine, if no one wants to be friendly, I'll deal. But some respect would be... would be great."
"Of course," Andrea agreed. She got to her feet, walking around the side of the desk. Nia and Brainy stood up as well, unsure if this meant their meeting was over. "I would like for you to come back to work, Nia. I'll send out an email reiterating CatCo's policies on workplace behavior. If something happens again and you can get a specific name, I will fire them under charges of breaking those behavioral codes."
Nia felt her shoulders drop with relief. "Thank you," she said seriously. "I'll be back to work by tomorrow morning."
Andrea nodded and shook hands with Brainy and Nia, then saw them out of her office.
"See?" Brainy said once they were safely in the elevator. Nia sighed, rolling her eyes fondly. Of course he wouldn't waste any time in reminding her that he had been right. "Everything went fine. You might even say that went well."
He had a point, "Alright, you were right," Nia teased, nudging him. "Do I owe you a coffee or something?"
"It's not about that," Brainy huffed.
"Uh huh." Nia smiled over at him. "So no coffee?"
"I'll accept a coffee," he relented, taking her arm like it was the 1900s and leading her out of the elevator.
The next day, Nia sat down at her desk at CatCo and tried to act like everything was normal; like she hadn't take an entire week off for fear of getting harassed. In the time she had gone, someone had replaced her computer at her desk, and she opened it warily, expecting to find some sort of hateful note.
But there was nothing, just a dark, blank screen from her dead battery.
Nia made it through the morning without mishap. Some of her coworkers even told her how glad they were to have her back, though none of them mentioned why she had left. Nia kept to herself and stuck with her work, but soon her growling stomach told her it was time for lunch.
She would text Brainy and see if he wanted to meet up. She was happy with how her day had gone so far, and she wanted to share that with him because she knew it'd make him happy, too.
Nia reached into her purse, rooting around for her phone. For a moment, all she felt were the usual things: her wallet, an mint EOS chapstick, a spare pencil.
But then something... moved.
Nia felt her entire body freeze up. She forced herself to extract her hand very slowly from her purse and resisted every urge to shut her eyes tightly and not see what it was she'd just pulled from her bag.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at her hand.
There was a giant cockroach crawling across her palm.
Nia choked on her scream and waved her hand wildly in the air. The cockroach flew and this time the scream escaped, making everyone in the workroom jump and look over at her in alarm.
Nia darted up from her chair, staring wildly around her. The cockroach had vanished, but that, if anything, made her feel even less safe.
And then she heard the laughter. Nia stared around her with wide eyes to find a few people sitting behind their desks, trying to hide their smirks of amusement. She felt her eyes well and grabbed her purse.
"What is going on out here?" Andrea demanded, hurrying out of her office. She had heard the scream, no doubt, but Nia didn't want to explain it to her. She ran away from her desk and forwent the elevator, racing down the stairs instead. Her foot slipped off the last step and Nia tripped, crumpling onto the ground.
She was shaking all over, her heart still pounding from the scare of having an enormous cockroach in her purse. Just remembering the large, creepy bug made her realize that there might be more hiding in her bag's pockets that she hadn't found. She scrambled to get her phone from her purse and then shoved the whole thing away from her so hard it hit the opposite wall.
Then she called Brainy.
"Nia!" Brainy greeted, sounding chipper. "How has your morning been?"
"Cockroach," Nia gasped, her voice barely making it out of her mouth. "Cockroach in my- my purse."
Brainy tsked. "Take a deep breath, Nia, it's just a bug."
"Brainy!" Nia yelled. "What would you do if someone had put a snake in your bag?!"
Whether it was the mention that the bug had been put in her bag by someone or Nia had just played into Brainy's remarkably realistic "possible scenarios generator", his tone immediately changed. "I'll be right over."
Nia heard him hang up and let her head fall back against the wall of the stairwell. Her heart rate had lowered slightly and she was no longer panicking, but every tickle from her sweater's tag against the back of her neck, every regular prickling of itchiness on her skin made her feel like there were roaches crawling all over her body. Like she'd roll up her sleeves and just see herself covered with them.
Nia shuddered, rubbing frantically at her arms, and then she heard footsteps on the stairs.
"Brainy?" she asked weakly, before realizing that 1: it would have been way too soon for Brainy to have arrived, 2: the footsteps were coming from above her, and 3: there was the distinct sound of heels on concrete.
Andrea Rojas stepped off the last stair and stood in front of Nia. "Are you alright?" she asked seriously.
"No," Nia murmured. She swallowed, trying to stem the last of her panic with a deep breath. "I'm going to go home."
Andrea nodded. "Let's go wait in my office," she suggested, and fear immediately rose in Nia's chest at the thought of walking through CatCo's reporting floor. Andrea must have seen something in her face, because she added, "My Obsidian North office. It's downstairs, if that helps."
Nia nodded her agreement. "I just need to text my boyfriend and tell him where I'm going to be," she said, and Andrea helped her up with a surprisingly gentle hand on her arm.
Most of the time, Nia forgot that she and Kelly not only worked in the same building, but two floors away from each other. She was reminded of that, however, when she and Andrea stepped into Obsidian's research sector and Nia caught sight of the psychologist walking quickly towards her office.
Kelly saw her at almost the same moment, and her face lit up. "Nia!" she cried, going in for a quick hug.
There was, of course, no way for Kelly to know what had been going on. But the moment she was being hugged, Nia burst into tears. "Oh my gosh," Kelly breathed, tightening her grip. "Nia, what's wrong? What happened?"
Nia pulled back, swiping at her face in embarrassment. "Oh God, I'm so sorry," she muttered. This was reminding her a little too much of the many days she would walk down the hallways of her high school with her guidance counselor after some sort of drama (usually in the girl's bathroom, a tough place for her growing up as a trans woman), only to see her mom had been called to pick her up and to break into sobs the second comforting, loving arms were around her.
"It's totally okay," Kelly said, reaching out again and rubbing Nia's arm. "What happened?" Her gaze flicked to Andrea and confusion shuttered over her expression. "Miss Rojas! It's um..."
"Why am I here?" Andrea supplied, knowing that Kelly would be too polite to ask. "Nia and I are just working through some workplace issues together and were going to talk in my office."
It was about then that Brainy burst through the doors, panting from racing up the staircase because he'd been too impatient to wait for an elevator. "Nia!" he cried, running forward and grasping her biceps. "Are you alright?"
She shook her head, stepping closer to press her forehead against his shoulder. His arms instinctively raised to wrap around her back, rubbing firm ovals on either sides of her spine. Nia focused on the close-up view of the fibers of his shirt, allowing his arms to turn into a little cave of privacy and comfort.
"What happened?" Brainy asked, but with the hard edge to his voice Nia knew he was talking to Andrea and not her.
"I'd love to know that myself," Andrea admitted. "I heard a scream and came out to see Nia pale as a sheet and running out of the room." She glanced around her, realizing that between the Brainy's unfamiliar face, Nia's tears, and her presence, they were beginning to attract a bit of a crowd. "Let's take this into my office, please."
Brainy nodded and turned Nia so his arm was around her shoulders. She leaned into his side, letting him tug her towards Andrea's Obsidian office. "I'll go make you some coffee," Kelly offered, setting off towards the workers' lounge partway down the hall.
"Alright, Nia," Andrea said once they'd settled. "Tell us exactly what happened and I will do something about it."
"I don't know who did it," Nia admitted. "I was- I was getting my phone out of my purse and I found a giant cockroach in it so I freaked out, because it was, like, the size of my hand, and everyone started- started laughing."
Andrea shut her eyes. "I want to apologize," she said after a moment. "CatCo is a workplace, yes, but it's also supposed to be a safe, supportive, healthy environment. I wouldn't wish this kind of treatment on my enemies, not to mention my employees."
"I just- what if-" Nia shuddered violently. "Could one of you check my purse and make sure there aren't any more? I have no way to know if they were put in all of my belongings. What if- oh God what if there's one in my jacket or-"
Her breathing kicked up a notch and Brainy moved over on the couch they were sharing to put an arm around her. "I will look through all your things and make sure there aren't any more," he promised.
"And I will spend the next chunk of time looking through security cameras to find out who did this," Andrea added. "I'm as fed up about this as you are, Nia, and I'm truly sorry I can't just snap my fingers and make it all disappear."
"If only things were that easy," Kelly agreed as she slipped through the door. She handed Nia her coffee and stroked a hand down her hair. "You alright, honey?"
Nia started to nod, and then let out a sigh. "I guess," she said, wrapping her hands around the mug off coffee. "Thank you for this."
Andrea got to her feet. "I'm going to find that security footage," she said. "You stay here as long as you want, Nia, and feel free to take the rest of the day off. For the rest of this week I give you full permission to write your reports from home and send them to me through email. I don't want you in this kind of work environment any more than you want to be in it."
Nia felt her eyes well at Andrea's unexpected thoughtfulness. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "I really appreciate everything you're doing for me, Andrea. Really."
Andrea cracked a smile. "Don't tell anyone," she said. "I can't lose my street cred as the monster who ruined CatCo."
As Nia winced over the fact that that's exactly what she and Kara had complained to their friends that she was, Andrea offered them one last smile and swept out of the room.
Nia let out a sigh and rested her head against Brainy's shoulder, letting the warmth of her coffee cup seep into her hands. "Why do people have to be like this?" she wondered, somewhat rhetorically.
"I don't know," Kelly replied, taking the chair that was sitting adjacent to the couch. "Nia... I am so sorry that people have been acting this way. If this ever happens again and you need a shoulder to cry on or a hug- I'm right downstairs. Okay?"
"Okay," Nia agreed, reaching out to give Kelly's arm a squeeze. "Thank you Kelly. I don't know why I always forget that we work in the same building. We should do lunch more often."
Kelly laughed a little and stood up to give her a quick hug. "I have to get back to work," she excused herself. "See you guys on Friday for Game Night? I think Alex is making nachos."
"Of course," Brainy said.
"You had me at nachos," Nia agreed, somewhat predictably.
The sense of normalcy and love she always got when she talked about or with her friends was settling her a little. Nia yawned, curling a little closer to Brainy. "Thank you for showing up," she murmured.
"You always show up for me," Brainy replied with a shrug.
After a long moment, Nia sighed and shifted away from him. "We need to go back up to my desk and grab my stuff," she said. "I left my coat and some of my files up there and I'd hate to think what would happen to them if I leave them overnight."
Brainy nodded, getting to his feet and pulling her up after him. He paused before they left the room, busily brushing her hair away from her face and wiping the small smudges of mascara on her cheeks away with his thumb. "There," he decided after a moment. "Now you're good as new."
She huffed out a laugh, and he put his arm around her shoulders and lead her out of Andrea's office.
Linebreaker
The next morning, when Nia opened up her computer it was to a message from Andrea.
Nia,
Great news! I went over the security footage last night and found our perpetrator. For the sake of discretion I'm not going to name names, but rest assured that he has been removed from his position.
That being said, feel free to work from home from the rest of the week. If you continue to be harassed, don't hesitate to tell me and we'll deal with each problem as it comes.
-Andrea Rojas
Nia sat back with a deep sigh of relief. "Brainy," she called into the bedroom, where he was getting ready for the day. "Andrea fired the guy who put the cockroaches in my purse."
He poked his head out, beaming brightly. "That's wonderful news! So you'll be headed back to work?"
Nia considered the question. It was true that, just because this one guy had been fired, it didn't mean that everyone who had harassed her was going to leave her alone.
But it was a start. And a start was more than she'd had yesterday.
"Yeah," she said finally. "Maybe not today. But I think I will."
Author's Note: Okayyyyy that was a pretty dang good Part 2 if ya ask me. Which. I am asking me, soooo XD
Hey, Jennifer Baratta! Thanks for the prompt on Nia's sister meeting Brainy. I'm working on it right now and will be posting it as soon as it's done :))
