Miss Ericks sent me a get well card! *tears well up* Awwwwwwwwww….. Domo arigato gozimasu!

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The rest of the morning went fairly well, or at least it did after Anne managed to get Knives out of the bathroom. She and Mark went their separate ways upon entering the plant, he to catch up on some paperwork, and she, off to be available in a crisis. Walking into the lab, Anne went after her second cup of coffee before entering her office and settling down to look productive.

Or trying to. One very unconscious Effie was sprawled over her desk, one of the pages from near the end of her file flickering above her head and adding oddly colored highlights to her hair. Anne set her coffee down on the edge of the desk with a quiet thunk, then reached down into a drawer and pulled out the blanket she kept for when she pulled all-nighters. Gently, she pulled it over her shoulders and smiled down at the sleeping woman.

She felt a little guilty. She had forgotten that Effie had just learned about her file, that she was probably trying to come to terms with what was in it. She sighed as she picked up her cup and sipped at the hot liquid. It wasn't as if her night hadn't been busy, but she should have been able to spare a thought or two.

But she hadn't. What a horrible friend she was, she thought with a wry smile as she left her office and found a seat nearby. It was probably for the best, though, since living in a house full of mind readers who would love to find out about her… She sighed again. Poor Effie. As soon as Knives got wind about what family she came from, he was going to have kittens, or maybe even full grown cats. She could just picture his face now as he tried to figure out how she could be useful. Of course, Effie was no Legato. She wasn't going to sit around and wait fro direction from on high, from the lips of her god like he had. Likely, she would argue every decision, every thought process, every little thing that Knives wanted her to do.

No, Effie was not a tool of any sort. But it would probably take Knives a bit of time to see that, thanks to Legato. Anne sighed as she pondered just how bad a situation that had been. One megalomaniac's delusions of godhood reinforced by the most mentally powerful human on the planet. The true wonder, the more she thought about the situation, was that Vash had still managed to overcome the two of them.

She wasn't sure that he would be able to now. Vash, sadly, was seriously crippled by the loss of his arm. The arms held the power generators; it was why Legato had been able to accomplish so much while just a human. While the boys were flailing about with Angel Arms and the like, the power difference between him and his brother was minimal. But now that the techniques were becoming more refined, the power disparity was going to show up.

She pondered what it would take to get Vash to let her work on his arm, grow it back some more. If things did devolve into a war again, if Knives did decide to take up his old role as exterminator, she could use the help. He knew his brother better than she did, would be better able to predict his moves and actions, but even more important than knowing the enemy would be the ability to take him down fast and hard, before he had a chance to hurt too many people.

She shook her head to try to chase the gloomy thoughts away. With luck, the genealogy of her friend would never come into question, so the whole problem was moot. And it wasn't like she would blindly follow Knives, not with her already stated displeasure with the entire plant breed.

Noticing that her cup was empty, she got up for another dose of caffeine. While at the break table, she was cornered by her boss.

"Why aren't you working?" she asked with a touch of asperity. "You're finally at work on time; I would hope that you would actually be utilizing these hours we're paying you to be here. I mean, after you left for a couple hours yesterday morning, then early for the evening, I guess I just wished to see you doing something worthwhile."

"Sorry, ma'am," Anne said with a slight smile, "but my office is rather occupied at the moment. Is there anything I need to do? Any fires to put out?"

Her boss shook her head a little. "No. You're lucky; everything seems to be coming together smoothly, amazingly enough."

"Then don't worry. I have a couple things going on right now, what with family visiting from out of town, and that whole conversation with Mr. Herman yesterday, but rest assured that I'm still very committed to the outcome of this project, and shall work to my utmost when the situation calls for it."

"But you don't feel that this is one of those times," she said sourly. "I know that I've been instructed to give you a long leash on this one; be careful you don't hang yourself in the slack," she said before turning and walking away.

Anne looked after her, slightly bemused. Given some slack, huh? Not that she couldn't use it, but she wondered why it was given to her. Upon further reflection, she decided that they were hoping that she would hang herself, and save them the trouble of trying to find a reason to do it for them.

She wandered back to her office and gently closed the door. Sitting behind it so no one could enter, she watched Effie sleep and thought of ways to get out of this mess.

Or at least she tried to. Sadly, ways out seemed to be lost in the tangle of problems that faced her.