Reminder

Which one of your OTP would have their days completely planned out and organized and has a neat little planner that they take everywhere and is never late to their appointments, and which one struggles to remember what month it is much less what they're planning on a particular day?

"Katherine?"

Nick is wearing his tense face, which doesn't really mean much anymore since he's pretty much always racing around looking utterly stressed out at the moment. He's not dealing as well with the whole CEO thing as Katherine had, she has noted on many previous occasions. Sometimes she catches him looking somewhat enviously at a group of technicians working together on some techy thing. He'd evidently much rather be hands-on, scribbling down a hundred long-winded equations on a whiteboard or designing a new trait chip for one of their AI projects that Katherine herself has now been seconded onto. He's previously expressed to her how much he hates paperwork. Now he's got an abundance of it.

But life is what it is for both of them.

"What's up?" she asks curtly.

Nick wears that slight frown, where you can see the cogs visibly turning in his skull. "I think I might be losing my mind," he confesses.

Katherine raises an eyebrow. "It got that bad?"

"I can prove it," he tells her persistently. "What month is it?"

Katherine smirks. "October."

Nick looks bemused. "Is it?"

"No," Katherine amends, slightly worried for her coworker's sanity now, despite herself. "It's May. Why?"

He shakes his head distractedly. "I just have too much on. It's spilling out of my ears trying to remember it all."

"Maybe get a calendar?" Katherine offers. "I'll add it to the Christmas list."

"Well, that would be fine if it was October," points out the man with a weighty sigh. "No. I should probably make some attempt at organising what I call my life, shouldn't I? Work-life balance is supposed to be somewhat of a priority, after all."

"Work-life balance? What's that?"

He laughs, a thin, weary sound. "True." Nick slides into the seat next to her, spinning it slightly. "I'm not really losing my mind," he confides. "Just a busy week. Not seen my family much."

"Well, it's not showing any signs of letting up any time soon." Katherine accompanies this ominous statement with a meaningful look, referring to their looming company conference with the Board next week, where they pass across all progress reports and get much-needed funding for any new or continued projects that they want to work on. Of course, as the CEO – a new one at that, fresh meat – Nick will undoubtedly have speeches to give and be an integral part of getting their faltering business back on track. It's one aspect of the job that even she won't particularly miss.

Nick only gives her a very blank look.

Katherine's eyebrows shoot up. "You really forgot?" she demands, her voice incredulous.

"No," Nick replies defensively, meaning yes.

"The Calimov conference? The biggest and most crucial event in the calendar – which, oh, I forgot, Nick doesn't own. Trying to get on the good side of the Board so we're not shut down?" Katherine stares almost reproachfully at the scientist. "Ring any bells?"

"Oh, that." Nick's unperturbed tone is quite at odds with the harassed look on his face. "That's the meeting on Tuesday, right?"

"Thursday."

"Yeah, Thursday, Thursday. The April departmental meeting, right?" Nick nods, pulling at mental straws. "See, I know what's going on."

"Still May."

"I knew that!"

Katherine shakes her head doubtfully, making a mental note to find an excuse to go with Nick to the conference, since it was becoming increasingly evident that Calimov would not last long under his woefully incompetent hand. "What would you do without me, Nick?"

"Miss all the boring business stuff I don't want to go to, probably." Nick gives her a tired smile. "Thanks for the reminder anyway, Katherine."

Katherine stifles her own automatic smile, frowns forbiddingly instead. "Get a planner!" she instructs.

"You mean actually attempt to be organised instead of complaining to you about it?" Nick shrugs, rests his shoulder lightly against hers as their office chairs clash. "No, I'll take my chances, thanks."