A/N: Mwah ha ha!

Disclaimer: Really? Yeah...no.

"He'll be okay, Babe," Rude assured his girlfriend as they pulled away from the bar. "Tifa's good with the kids and Zack took right to her."

"Fucking Rufus and his fucking 'no babies in the office' policy," Kandi grumbled, crossing her arms over her rather full chest. "How does he expect me to work with my baby away from me?"

"The same way he expects the other girl's to," Rude told her. "You work with Andi away from you."

"I didn't know Andi existed until about two years ago," she explained. "By that time, she was practically a grown up."

"She's only ten now."

"Regardless, she's more mature than me sometimes."

"I won't argue with that," the bald man chuckled, clearing his throat when the lactating, post-partum mess beside him sent him a glare that made his blood run cold. "I mean..."

"None of the other girls have baby babies," Kandi shot back. "Damian is seven now and he's the next youngest. This fucking sucks. I hate my fucking job."

"You sound like Trina," Rude told her. "Speaking of which, you'll notice a change in her when you get back to the office."

"What do you mean?" Kandi asked. "What have I missed?"

"A lot."

Kandi walked down the hall toward the office she shared with Katrina and Ram. She hadn't seen either of them for a few weeks. They had stopped by while she was on maternity leave a couple times, but work had been psycho since she had Zacky, no one really had a chance to stay for long. Not that she minded. It gave her more time with her new born son and her daughter before she went back to school.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside their office. And stopped.

Sitting on top of her desk, legs crossed and hands resting on either knee was Katrina. Her eyes were closed and she was chanting; meditating. However, something was off. In each hand, she held something. The right hand held a small, lit cigar; the left, a glass of Scotch.

"Uh...Trina?"

Katrina opened one eye and grinned. "Hey Sista!" she exclaimed, taking a puff off the cigar. "Welcome back! We got you...stuff."

Kandi looked over on her desk and saw a six pack of beer, a fifth of Scotch (which had been opened, obviously by the meditating, boozing chick in front of her), and a bunch of flowers and balloons, saying 'Welcome Back!' and 'About Damn Time'.

"Yeah, thanks," Kandi said, going over to her desk and sticking the beer in the fridge by her desk. "Okay, what the hell are you doing?"

"Ah, this shit is all the Bossman's doing," Katrina answered taking a drink of her Scotch. "Apparently, I have anger management issues, so he forces me to do morning pre-work meditation exercises to help eliminate the need to punch someone in the balls."

"Who did you punch in the balls?" Kandi asked warily.

"Tseng."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"Interesting," Kandi observed, crossing her arms and leaning against her desk. "So how does it work?"

"Well," Katrina said, repositioning herself and closing her eyes again. "I'm supposed to take deep, cleansing breaths in and let calm, soothing breaths out."

"With a cigar and Scotch?"

"Well, that's my own variation of it," she answered with a grin. "I mean, just sitting here breathing ain't gonna do shit for my anger issues. I figure I need some alcohol and nicotine as relaxation enhancers."

"And how is this working?"

"Pretty damn good," the red-head answered. "I haven't had the urge to punch anyone in the balls recently."

"I suppose that's a good thing."

"Bossman thinks so," Katrina replied, taking another drag off the cigar. "I mean, in the last year or so, you kneed him in the groin with the whole Akalara incident and I punched his jewels. One way to ensure Laney don't get knocked up, I guess."

"Okay, question?"

"Shoot."

"Why did you punch him in the balls?"

"He told me I needed to stop drinking on the job."

Kandi laughed. "Yet, you still are."

"He sees the flaw in his logic," Katrina stated. "I'm a happy drunk. I am at peace with the world."

"How Zen of you."

Ram came in just then and grinned at her red-folical based friends. "Welcome back, Kandi," she said, giving her a hug. "I see you've met the Dali Bitch."

Kandi giggled. "Yeah, I have," she answered. "She seems more...I don't know. Relaxed? At peace, maybe?"

"I burn opium incense, too," Katrina snickered.

Ram and Kandi looked at each other and grinned. "High," they said at the same time.

"It's been interesting."

"I hope it stays interesting," Kandi said, plopping down at her desk. "Help me keep my mind off missing Zacky too much."

"I'm sure you won't be disappointed," Katrina replied. "I mean, when have things not been interesting around here."

"True," Ram said. "With the Turks, you never know what to expect."

"Bring it on, Bitches," Kandi said, leaning back in her chair, fingers steepled together. "Bring it on."

A/N: Small set up. I have some shit planned. I hope you all keep this on alert. Peace out, Bitches.