Meetings

"Oy, you."

Katherine gives her newfound boss a poke in the side, at which Nick coughs and jerks upright in his office chair, blinking blearily at the dull office room that he had come to sit down in over fifteen minutes ago. "No sleeping during meetings," she instructs severely. "It's not good form for a CEO, I've learnt."

"I wasn't asleep," her co-worker lies, his voice rough.

Katherine rolls her eyes. She's very good at it. It's an art which she's had the spare time and the right job to perfect over the years. "Yeah, right. Anyway, if I have to stay awake through this drivel, therefore so do you."

"Yes, boss," sighs Nick somewhat sarcastically, settling back into his seat and folding his arms over his chest.

Katherine casts him a sharp glance at the comment, but unusually doesn't retort.

"This is taking for-ev-er," The second-in-command complains under her breath two minutes later, drawing out the last word for added emphasis. "What do they seriously have to tell us that's so important that we have to wait around while they 'get some things ready'?"

"The Board has never been particularly welcoming towards any Calimov managers, have they?" Nick noted. "And we've never exactly been their favourite people in the world either."

"They probably enjoy making us wait," Katherine summarised.

"Ever since the spiderbot incident last year –"

"And the recent PRICE/government scandal."

"Not to mention the childbots that you created –"

Katherine shoots another slightly accusing look at Nick at the reminder. "Yes, I'm fully aware that it's me the Board is really against, not angelic Nick Clarke, new CEO."

Nick actually half-smiles, although a frowning Katherine doesn't return it. "I've been your accomplice too many times for me to get away scot-free," he points out.

"They still made you permanent CEO, implying they must trust you to an extent more than me," reasons the woman bitterly.

"Well, that wouldn't be difficult."

For the third time, Katherine's gaze directs itself swiftly at Nick, irritation plain in her expression. "I didn't think you were one to boast, Nick."

"Maybe I'm getting more like you now I'm the CEO."

"No need to remind me." Katherine crosses her arms moodily, returning her gaze to the floor as they continue to wait for the meeting to begin – which doesn't look likely any time soon.

A/N) The first one I've written set in Series 3, just short but full of typical Katherine resentment at Nick, the new CEO ;)