"What's up, Scola?" Maggie asked as she and OA looked up from the reports they were currently in a friendly competition to finish.
"I need advice," answered Scola. He sat down in his desk chair, pulling it close to Maggie's desk.
"About?" asked OA.
"My partnership with Tiff."
Maggie looked at her partner, then shook her head. "I'm confused," she said, "what's wrong with your partnership?"
"It's just... I mean, we don't seem to work well, and I don't understand why. I look at the two of you, and it's like you can communicate without saying anything to one another. But Tiff and I, it's like words aren't enough. We don't even know anything about each other."
"Well... I mean, I guess I've noticed that the two of you don't seem to enjoy each other's company much, but you're colleagues. You don't have to like each other, as long as you watch out for each other."
"I do like Tiff. I can't tell you if she likes me- we seem to argue a lot. I don't want her to hate me or anything."
"She doesn't hate you," said OA. "You probably just don't know each other well enough to warrant anything more than being partners for work."
"You and Maggie are friends. You've both told me that you do things outside work together."
"We've worked together for a few years now, Scola," Maggie stated. "When OA and I first partnered with each other, we didn't do much together. We never spoke of personal things. It took us a little while to work it out."
"You wouldn't know that."
"When OA became my partner, I'd had a recent personal tragedy, plus a string of bad partners. I didn't even want to work with him, but I didn't have a choice."
"It took Maggie six months to tell me about her personal life and what had happened in it," OA continued. "And the first four months of our partnership, she couldn't trust me to keep her safe, no matter what I did."
"We did eventually learn to talk to each other, though. Something that we probably should have done from the start, but nobody knows how to talk- and I mean really talk- from the moment they meet. OA was pushy, and eventually, I realised he was right. We couldn't work properly if we didn't talk to each other."
"The first time we hung out outside work was ten months into our partnership, and all we did was get takeout and eat it on Maggie's front stoop." OA grinned at Maggie. "I made her laugh that night."
Maggie snorted. "Yeah, right. You made an idiot of yourself, though. I'll give you that."
Scola looked at the two partners. He could see that they were just messing with each other, and both were smiling. "I want that," he finally said.
"Want what?" asked Maggie.
"What the two of you have. I want Tiff and I to get along. I want to hang out as friends with her, not just colleagues when the two of you or Isobel and Jubal join us. I want to laugh at her stupid jokes, and for her to laugh at mine."
"That will happen, Scola, but only if you let it happen. Talk to her, maybe it will make a difference. She might just not be comfortable talking to you yet. She did come into a close knit team when she started, and that can be hard," said OA, "trust me. I came into this team and Maggie and Jubal were very close, so was Kristen. It'll happen when the two of you are ready for it to happen."
"Just talk to her," Maggie said. "See what happens when you talk to her."
"You sound so sure about this," said Scola.
"I am sure. I know neither of you are big on talking, but the only way you can make a partnership work is by communicating with each other. It will make things run smoother."
Scola nodded slowly. "Alright," he said, "I'll give it a shot. Thanks, Maggie, OA." He smiled a little as he stood up.
"Call if you need us," said OA as Scola walked away.
Maggie waited a moment, then said, "do you think they'll make things work?"
"Yeah, but not without some extra work. You and I worked well right from the start, they've had a rocky road to travel. They'll be alright," OA answered his friend.