CW: PTSD, mentions of night terrors. Some of the stuff Helga says could very well be sexual harassment, so please do take note when coming in to read this. Helga gets very explicit with some of the stuff she says.

Phoebe refused to talk to her for a week after Helga finalised the transfer of CEO to her.

Well, it was understandable. Phoebe had profoundly refused the role at first but Helga, in her usual hardheaded way, kept going at it until Phoebe finally agreed. It was not the best way to do it, honestly. In a perfect world, Phoebe would accept the role willingly and the transfer would have been smooth and quick. Thanks to Phoebe's earlier protests the CEO transfer took two weeks longer than expected.

Once again, she had to thank her lucky stars for hiring a cut-throat lawyer like Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. When her old childhood nemesis back in high school came to her office one day asking for a job, Helga had at first refused her but her dogged determination to get any role in the company and much cajoling from Ludwig had meant that Helga finally threw her hands up and pulled some strings. Rhonda then started a job working for the Legal department in Pataki Corporation, and throughout time was promoted to Head of Department. During the Ten Rings debacle, she was the one Helga trusted to start the paperwork to close weapons manufacture and had once, when Helga was looking over the papers to finalise the closing, stood at the corner dawdling until Helga barked at her to say something, for fuck's sake.

It wasn't natural for the normally poised and snobbish HOD of Legal to look apprehensive, but she took a deep breath and said, " For what it's worth, Pataki. My family has lost men to the war and what you're doing…I think it's amazing. Don't doubt your choices."

That was one of the nicest things she had heard since she had announced the closure, and she would have broken down and cried, but old habits made her keep her composure. "I never do, Rhonda." She said curtly, making sure to keep her eyes to the right of Rhonda so that she wouldn't have to make any eye contact with her. Vulnerability was not the Pataki way, her traitorous brain would whisper.

Rhonda had paused a little, but turned around and left. They had never spoken of that experience since, but they had both gained a measure of respect for each other.

So thanks to Rhonda, Phoebe Johannsson was now the CEO and future owner of the company. The second part only Rhonda and Helga knew, of course. And thank god Rhonda understood the importance of secrets.

Helga was hoping against hope that Phoebe would start talking to her again like they used too. At the moment, Phoebe would only talk to her when necessary, such as letting her know her schedule, making sure she made it to meetings and signing paperwork. A part of her had regretted doing this but Phoebe would understand, she had to understand. It was a matter of time, and her time was running out. If this was going to be her legacy, she wanted to make sure it went to good hands. Pataki Corporation seemed cursed under the hands of anyone with Pataki blood, and it was time for a change.

Right now she was getting ready for a boxing session in her home gym, and the boxing instructor was prepping her for practice, doing quick warmups before the session started. She herself was wrapping bandages around her hands when she heard footsteps across the gym, two sets. She lifted her head and smiled a little when she saw it was Phoebe but then let it drop a little when she realised that Phoebe was once again in the company of the blonde football headed manmeat from awhile ago.

Faking a wide grin, she called out, " Pheebs! Manmeat! Welcome to my gym!"

Manmeat had rolled his eyes in exasperation, but called out, " Once again, ma'am, I don't appreciate the nickname. Please address me by my actual name."

Helga faked a long, exasperated sigh. " Fine….Football Head, welcome!"

Football Head sighed.

She didn't actually forget his name, of course. Her memory stored away names like a squirrel in the winter, thanks to her father insisting she made social appearances with her family, and long hours of social training memorizing names of all her father's business associates and partners. Sometimes Ludwig would join him, and the time she spent under hard tutelage from her father grilling her was sometimes met with sympathetic glances and an encouraging word from Ludwig-

Nope. Nope. No thinking of the rat bastard that tried to betray her and steal her company under her nose. No thinking of the man that was the closest thing she had to a father besides Big Bob. Nope nope nope nope nope. Bury that memory into the ground, find a way to replace it-

" So, Football Manmeat-" she began, deciding in the split second that the only way to distract herself and maintain a bit of normalcy was a little bit of harmless flirting. " What does it take for you to take off that jacket and show me how much you can bench press? Especially if you can do it shirtless."

Bingo, Feldman was blushing like mad right now, and it had the added benefit of getting Phoebe to look at her with something other than civil politeness. " Helga, get off Feldman's back, he's not used to you doing that."

" Oh really?" Helga said, pretending to muse over Phoebe's words. " He's into that? Well, I could say that I am experienced in getting people used to me from the back…and if he's not used to the pressure, I could go…slow. Let him get used to it…"

She could totally light a cigar from his face burning right now. She liked that. And it helped that Phoebe rolled her eyes and some of the exasperation showed in her face. " Stop teasing the newbies, Helga. He's a good worker, Rhonda actually thinks he has a future."

Well, that was actually impressive. Rhonda never liked newbies, she thought they were all imbeciles. Considering the fact that he had only just arrived, that was a record. "For real?" She said, dropping a little of the playful tone she had earlier, and looking at the man straight in the eyes. " That's actually good work. Rhonda takes ages to like the new people in the department, even if she hired them herself. You'll have a future here."

That made Feldman tilt his head in confusion for a split second and Helga rolled her eyes internally, it really shouldn't be that surprising that she was capable of praise and encouragement. She was a bitch due to careful cultivation and long years of practice, but not that much of a bitch that she didn't recognise good work. But then Feldman smiled, and goddamn if his smile didn't actually light something up in her head. " Thank you, that…means a lot to me, Ms Pataki."

Phoebe walked over to her just then, passing her a sheaf of papers. " I just need your signatures to confirm the final …transfer of the CEO position…" she said, and it didn't escape Helga's notice that she had paused right before the word transfer, and that did stab at Helga's heart a little, the fact that Phoebe was still angry at the fact that Helga making another impulsive decision. However, Phoebe did look at her just then, and quietly said, " I …don't understand why you are doing this. But I just want you to know that ultimately, I will stand by your decisions. You should know this."

Helga felt her heart leap straight into her throat and she nearly lost control right there, she was so close to confessing to Phoebe exactly what was going on, why she was doing this, and that she was so so so afraid, sometimes she woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air, that no matter how much she tried to breathe she still couldn't get rid of the heaviness on her chest that she knew was not solely because of the core that was killing her, that she couldn't look at her jacuzzi anymore without reliving the PTSD, but luckily, she steeled herself. Patakis had iron will and iron hearts, and in her case, she had both. Just because she was female didn't mean she was not going to live up to that.

So instead she went to a road she knew would never let her down: pretending she didn't care and being a playful perv. " Yeah, well…since you're leaving…I think I would need a new assistant. " She smirked and gestured towards the blonde man currently standing in the corner looking at the boxing ring with longing. " And I want him."

" Helga, please, Rhonda will kill you if you sleep with anybody from her Legal Department!" Phoebe cried.

" Who says I want to sleep with anybody from Legal?" Helga said, eyes widening in false innocence. " They're usually pompous shitheads. I want to sleep with my new PA, and I think he's the one."

The look on Phoebe's face was priceless and if it were not for the fact that Helga didn't have a camera, she would have taken a photo of Phoebe's face right there and then. She laughed. " Relax, Pheebs." She said, loosening her shoulders. " How long has it been since my last sexcapade?"

" One year, seven months and three days." Phoebe rattled off automatically. " I had to chase off that reporter that was trying to mosey around Pataki Corp, remember?"

" Yeah, once again, thank you for looking after me and my sins, Pheebs." Helga said carelessly. " I promise you, sex is not what I am looking for at the moment." Due to her night terrors, she rarely let people sleep over at her place anymore, and she didn't even feel like a casual romp in the closet anymore. Sex with another person really wasn't something she was super interested in at the moment, and she could do more with a good imagination and a vibrator that she had made herself when she was bored and drunk.

Anything was better than letting someone else see the façade drop when she was alone and couldn't let her armour do the fighting for her.

She continued, brushing past the darker thoughts, " I want a good PA, and for all the bad shit I have ever done, you were the best one, and nobody can ever fill your shoes. However, Rhonda likes him, and she is one of the most finicky bitches I have ever met."

" Helga-"

" Tell me honestly, then." Helga challenged. " You've seen his work. How's he like?"

Phoebe sighed, and Helga knew her impromptu bargain was about to pay off. " He's meticulous," Phoebe said. " Very careful in his work, detail-oriented. He spends hours making sure terms and conditions are written perfectly, his grammar is good, meets deadlines way before the actual time. His work desk is tidy, so he's well organized. Very well-liked by co-workers, eloquent speaker, speaks five languages…"

" Five?" Helga raised an eyebrow. That was interesting. " What is he, some kind of genius?"

" Well, he doesn't like to talk about it." Phoebe began. " His file only said three, but I know he speaks Russian because we did have a few investors doing a tour here and he happened to be nearby, so he helped do a bit of translation here and there. And the German bit I know because he bumped into me and Gerald when we were at the German restaurant and he was speaking to the hostess in perfect German. I did ask about it, but he was quite modest, only said something about how he picked it up here and there when he was working in Europe in his youth-"

Well, well. Arnold Feldman was full of surprises. She waggles her eyebrows at Phoebe. " Pheebs, come on. You have to let me have him."

" Helga please no-"

" I wonder if the boy genius is good at anything else…" Helga said thoughtfully. " I wouldn't mind seeing him do something …physical."

" Oh please don't let this be another sexual harassment suit." She could hear Phoebe whisper dolefully behind her back. She could almost laugh.

" Feldman!" she called out, from across the room. She took a spare pair of boxing gloves from her instructor, tossed them to Feldman with little warning, and went to get her own. He had great reflexes, and it was such a shame she really didn't feel up to actually having some hot sweaty sex with anyone, he looked like he could take anything she threw at him. Or at least strong enough to fuck her against the wall. If Phoebe was right in her assessment, he was probably the type who would be attuned to his lovers needs and would even go down on her, but once again, she really wasn't interested.

" Glove up." She said instead. " You were looking at the boxing ring like it dumped you on your wedding day. You box some?"

Feldman looked surprised, but he caught himself quickly and said. " Yeah, I do some. Helps me relax."

" Fantastic." She said. " Take off your jacket. I want to see you sweat."

Five minutes later, Helga could fairly well say she was more than impressed.

" When I said I wanted your jacket off and wanted you sweating, was this what you were expecting, manmeat?" she teased breathlessly, lying face up on the mat, panting. She was pretty sure she had a heavily bruised shoulder, but he was decent a good boxer.

He had clearly held back way more when they both started, but once Helga actually started gaining some good shots at his chest, he started letting go and got a few good shots of his own. He was careful not to hit the direct middle of the chest (And Helga was pretty thankful for that, the arc reactor was acting up so much she herself couldn't predict when it would burn out), but he got a few decent shots at her shoulder, and once even at her face. He was absolutely mortified when the glove connected with her cheek, but Helga didn't blame him. Feldman was clearly still holding back, yet he had a good stance and was clearly well-trained boxing wise. She wanted to know who trained him, he was clearly well-disciplined and his footwork was good.

" Ms Pataki, I am so sorry-" Feldman began, as he rushed over to her to check if she was alright.

"Oh criminy, fuck that shit." She snapped. She raised an arm and Feldman, taking a cue, reached over with his own to pull her up to her feet. " Firstly, don't apologise. I asked you to box with me and I knew what I was getting into. You're really good, by the way, though you are a little out of practice, I expect to see improvement on that."

She had to smile when his face dropped into a look of shock. Clearly, he wasn't expecting that. " Improvement?"

She took a few seconds to loosen her shoulders, crack her neck a little. " Well, yeah. " She turned back to look at him in the face. " That was a test, and don't look at me all shocked and doe-eyed, I'm surprised that it was a test too. You clearly have what it takes to work at Pataki Corporations, and I think Legal is really not the best place for your talents." Turning to Phoebe, who had been seated at the corner watching the entire display, she grinned. " Pheebs!" she called out. " It's official! I want him!"

Phoebe merely sighed, but nodded, way too used to her boss's shenanigans. Feldman was still where he was, looking shocked. " Want me?"

" No doy, Football Head. But don't worry, I don't want you for your pretty body. Well, actually I do need you for your body, but also your brains and your work etiquette." She grabbed a towel the instructor had placed near her end of the boxing ring. " You're going to be my new PA. How does that sound?"

Feldman still looked like he was very boggled over what had just transpired, but he then squared his shoulders, looked at her straight in the eye, and said. " Fine. But if I take the job, you have to stop calling me Manmeat."

Helga shrugged. " Suits me fine, Football Head."

" And I want you to call me by my actual name once in a while." He continued.

Helga laughed, " Also fine by me, though you are welcome to do the same to me when we're alone and need something to release the tension, Arnold Feldman. If needed, you can say my name multiple times, I've been told I respond very well to repetition. "

Feldman blushed, Phoebe face-palmed and Helga grinned.

Goddamn was it fun to have someone to play with in the last few months before she died.