Peso

It wasn't even a full twenty-four hours later that Peso was standing in front of the Chief's office door again. Ready to underwhelm this Dr. Rogers and get back to his normal life without worrying about being shipped away to live on a submarine. Even with everything he and Alec had talked about the night before he still didn't think that he wanted this.

Alec had also unknowingly unlocked another negative of this job that Peso hadn't thought about, making friends. If he did make friends with the crew, he would have to leave them behind. That was something he had had to do a few times growing up and now that he was an adult, and he could make those decisions for himself, he didn't want to make friends just to leave them.

Peso knocked on the door and waited, shaking his head. This just felt ridiculous and he was ready to put it behind him.

Chief Attenburg opened the door swiftly and stepped out into the hallway, forcing Peso to step back, and before Peso could even protest, he blurted out, "Ok, there's been a small change of plans that I was not made aware of."

"What?"

"It's not just Dr. Rogers. Apparently, the board of directors wasn't aware that there wasn't a Medical Lead on the ship, so there's a board member here."

"Okay, and…?"

"Don't be mad."

"Well, I wasn't, but now I'm getting there."

"There is also the founder here."

"Founder of what?" Peso asked confused.

"Of the IORCE. Um, and he's under the slight impression that you're ready to accept the job." Attenburg held up a hand to stop Peso, "Dr. Rogers and I have already tried explaining that this is just an interview for a potential candidate, but I don't know how it got to this point. I think I hate this man, Guin. I really just might, and…and I just." Attenburg sighed, "I want this to be over."

Peso slipped his hands into the pockets of his lab coat, "Well let's go clear up some misunderstandings." He pushed passed the Chief and walked into the office.

"You should have informed me of all of this from the beginning –" a dark-haired man wearing a full suit stopped mid-sentence when Peso entered. The man still had his hand in the air pointing at another man who was leaning against the window. The third much older man was looking through the bookshelf inspecting each book carefully, he turned towards Peso and his face lit up.

"You must be this Dr. Guin I've heard so much about!" The older man said cheerfully. "I'm so excited to have you join our crew! My name is Derrius Inkling, you can call me Professor Inkling or Derrius or whatever you feel comfortable with."

The man walked over and extended his hand to Peso. The man was starting to bald, with hair that was turning white from age and a large mustache. He wore small round gold frame glasses. The combination of the white-grey hair and gold glasses made Peso instantly think he looked more like an average grandfather than the possible founder of an international research organization.

Peso stared at the man's outstretched hand for a moment before taking it, "Wow I can't remember the last time I shook someone's hand. I thought the 20s killed that tradition. Quite a relic, aren't you?"

Peso heard a shocked gasp from behind him, and the man against the window was biting down on his lip. But to his surprise, the Professor simply laughed. "Some of us still believe in the importance of a handshake."

"I see," Peso said not subtly wiping his hand on his lab coat. "Well let's get down to it, shall we? I believe you have been misinformed Professor as I have no intention of joining your crew, I'm sorry that you all have had to waste your time like this." Peso clapped his hands together and waited for anyone else to say something, when no one did he continued, "Well I do have a lot of work that I need to continue with, so I'll head out first, you gentlemen have a nice day."

Peso turned to leave but a voice called after him, "Wait, Dr. Guin, if we could just have a moment of your time." It was the dark-haired man in the suit. Peso sighed, but his curiosity won out in the end. He dropped into one of the leather chairs in front of Attenburg's desk.

"Okay, I have a few minutes I can spare I guess," Peso said, "but I don't understand why you would want someone who has already refused the job."

"We're looking for a certain type of candidate," the man in the suit started, "and sometimes finding the perfect candidate takes time and convincing."

"Look Dr. Guin I will be honest with you," The man who had been leaning against the window said stepping forward, "The crew is the problem."

"There's nothing wrong with my crew Dr. Rogers!" the Professor protested.

The man ignored him and continued, "It's become well known, I asked Attenburg for his strictest doctor who didn't care what others said and he said that would be Dr. Guin. He also mentioned that he gives you all the unruly residents."

"Well, that's just not true. All my residents were respectful and joys to work with, also I don't have residents anymore since I took over ER and Trauma, so that information is not current or relevant." Peso stated matter of factly.

"What's the problem with this crew anyway?" He asked, since he was curious, "Chief Attenburg implied that they had bullied the last doctor into quitting. So, I briefly looked into them last night and couldn't find anything truly horrible about them."

Dr. Rogers sighed, "I would say it was more of they broke his spirit than bullied David. His number one complaint about the crew was that they never listened to him. They also rarely showed up to scheduled appointments, one crew member, in particular, seems to be the biggest problem." He said crossing his arms, "But I will be personally speaking with the whole crew and letting them know that this behavior is unacceptable. We have doctors on all the subs and ships for their health benefits, not just as accessories."

"If there are members of the crew that you can single out as the problem why not just replace them? Wouldn't it be easier to replace the source of the problem?" Peso asked, not caring for the other doctor's explanation, patients skipped appointments and forewent doctor's advice all the time. If those were this David's biggest reasons for quitting, he might want to consider a career change.

"It's not that easy to replace these people, so that –"

"Why?" Peso interrupted.

"What?' Dr. Rogers asked, he hadn't expected to be interrupted.

"Why are they hard to replace? Anyone is replaceable, I mean with enough time and convincing of course."

Dr. Rogers paused for a moment, clearly not liking having their words thrown back at them, "…No, not these people. I mean Miss Bunswik designed all the major subs for the organization. Losing her would be crippling. I can't imagine what Miss Daughtry would do to us. Dr. Shellington is the co-founder!" Dr. Rogers flicked a hand toward the Professor, "You want me to tell the board to fire the founders?"

"If they're causing the problems then they should consider different positions within the organization. This Miss Bunswik doesn't need to be on the Octopod to design and maintain the vehicles that you use. I don't know what Miss Daughtry does, but she doesn't sound pleasant, and I'm positive that the founders would be welcome in any other part of your organization. Everyone is replaceable or at least in this case transferable, like I already suggested I would remove the problem at its source." Peso countered, crossing one leg over his knee.

"What do you want, Dr. Guin?" The dark-haired man asked. Peso could only assume that this man was from the board of directors, but he still didn't have this man's name.

"Your name and to return to work." Peso supplied.

"Director Reynolds. Do you like traveling at all?"

"No, I hate it actually." Lies, but Peso had thought they might try to use that as a bargaining chip.

"I don't understand, I was under the impression that you were on board with this." The Professor spoke up, "Dr. Rogers assured me that we would be getting a doctor today."

"You might be getting a doctor, but it won't be one from this hospital," Peso responded.

"Guin, what did you do?" Attenburg asked from behind him.

"Why would you just assume I did something? I did nothing, my part in this ended yesterday after speaking with Dr. Erez about our conversation. After that, I had no involvement whatsoever." Peso said holding up his hands, then quietly added, "Dr. Erez is the one who told everyone you were being forced to use your staff in this particular manner. There's nothing I can do if the other doctors in this hospital don't like the idea of what Dr. Rogers is doing."

"Didn't you just get done saying everyone is replaceable?" Attenburg asked with an obvious threat in his tone.

"And I am confident that I could easily replace another doctor at another hospital." Peso counter cooly, "But I have no interest in destroying my career by stepping away from my field of practice." Hoping that the Chief would pick up on his determination to get back into internal medicine, he wasn't going to be forced out that easily.

"What if the IORCE offered you a research grant?" Director Reynolds asked.

"What?" Peso asked taken back.

"We are an organization entirely dedicated to research, this applies to our medical staff as well. Rogers explained, "I don't know if you are interested in doing your own research but it would be funded by IORCE and you would be able to choose the topic."

Peso shook his head, "No, that sounds like a lot of extra work that I'm not at all interested in and I wouldn't want to do." He thought for a moment, "What would someone in the medical field even research on a submarine?"

"There are actually lots that can be studied and researched while on submarines," Professor Inkling said, "one of our subs is currently researching cancers that develop commonly among submariners, another is focusing this year on the effects of deeper dives on the human body. If you were unable to come up with a topic on your own you could easily get ideas from another Medical Lead on one of the other subs."

Peso ran his tongue against the inside of his teeth, "Wow cancer research, really?"

The Professor nodded and gave Peso a warm smile.

"When I learn that a patient has cancer I recommend them to an oncologist. I know nothing about the subject."

"I wasn't aware that you wanted a doctor who would be doing research," Attenburg chimed in, "Because of where Dr. Guin works within the hospital he has little opportunity to conduct any research, as the main focus of our ER and Trauma Center is to diagnose and stabilize patients so that they can get their proper treatments."

Dr. Rogers waved his hands in front of his chest, "Ignore the research element for now. There is also pay to consider, I've looked into the salary rates at this hospital, and we could easily match that. That wouldn't include the hazard pay that you would receive."

"That is quite the offer, but as I already said I'm not actually interested in the position."

"What if we doubled your current salary?"

Now that's a much harder offer to turn down.

"Rogers!" Reynolds whipped around to face the man. "You don't even know what this man makes."

"Yeah, I don't care; I think he could handle the crew and that's all I'm looking for. Dr. Guin, there would be quite a bit of training that you would have to undergo to be a proper member of the crew, but I think you would be perfectly capable in this position."

"Director Reynolds calm down I'm an internist, not a surgeon." Peso said, "But that's still a generous offer that I would need time to think about. Also, just to bring up something Chief Attenburg said yesterday he mentioned that you were just looking for a temporary hire until you could find a permanent replacement, but I'm guessing that at double the salary… would that then become a permanent position?"

"Is that really a question Dr. Guin?" Reynolds asked, still glaring at Dr. Rogers. "I'm not behind that offer at all by the way."

"That's unfortunate since it would be the only one I'm willing to accept at this point, with the research grant and extra hazard pay as well of course."

"That – no, I won't agree to that," Reynolds said quickly.

"How about this?" Dr. Rogers said gesturing to everyone in the room, "We take an hour break. That will give us time," pointing to himself, the director, and then the professor, "to get on the same page, get some information, and give you a real job offer. It will also give you time to think about if this is something you would like to pursue or if you would like to continue working for this hospital."

⸶ ⸳ ⸸ ⸳ ⸷

"It's a lot of money Guin." Chief Attenburg said, sitting behind his desk again, his chair slightly turned so he could just see Peso behind him.

"I still have a lot of debt," Peso said rubbing the back of his head and staring out the window.

"Don't we all."

Peso let out a deep breath, "I've only been able to pay enough to get my student loans to start going down in the last two years. It'll still take me over eight years to pay them off at this rate. But at double the salary… that's what? Three days of work per student loan payment. But that's if I ignore all my other debts, which I probably shouldn't. Also doesn't include taxes, probably want to factor that in too."

Peso shook his head, was he considering this? "But, no, it's still a step back from what I actually want."

"Were you serious about the research grant?" Attenburg tapped his fingers against his desk

"No, gods I don't want to lead a research project. I shouldn't have said I wanted everything, that might actually make them take back the offer." He spun to face Attenburg, "Not that I want the job," he quickly added.

"Rogers wasn't kidding when he said no one wants the job. They've done 'trial runs'" Chief Attenburg made quotations with his fingers, "with doctors from other subs, and they've all turned it down. I didn't tell you yesterday."

"So, they're difficult, I've handled worse than people ignoring my medical advice," He took a deep breath in, "I would have to leave everything behind, but I like my life the way it is."

"You don't know that for sure. I told them about my offer to give you personal leave for a year. So, it might not be permanent. Even if they do say that it'll have to be permanent they can't stop you from quitting and coming back at any time. I'm still willing to offer you that year and have a temporary replacement working Trauma and ER."

"It's a lot of money," Peso whispered.

"Calm down, you're an internist, remember?" Attenburg chuckled.

Peso laughed too, "He acted like they were going to have to offer me a million or something. I figured I should try to reassure him."

"I would take it," Attenburg said after a pause. "In a heartbeat. Plus, free travel."

"Yeah, to wherever they say, and it wouldn't be on land. It'd be on a sub, in the water." Peso walked around the desk and sank into one of the chairs on the other side, "It would be permanent, there's no way they would agree to just a year." He thought for a moment, "What if I can't handle it? What if it is actually a cursed position or something? Then what do I do?"

"Come back and work for me?" Attenburg leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers together, "Worse comes to worse, you quit, and we can't place you back in your current position we…replace Edmunds with you."

Peso stared at the Chief, a little shocked, "Does that mean what I think it means?"

Attenburg leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk, "I think you run both the ER and the Trauma Center at the same time better than any emergency medicine doctors who have worked under me so far. I hate to put you somewhere else, but I also would hate to lose you permanently.

"I know you want head of internal. I also know what Dr. Stone wants and what our board wants, and I know that they don't want the same thing. Nothing is set in stone yet. This job could benefit our hospital as well."

"How?"

"By demonstrating to the board that seniority doesn't always make a better doctor. Not that Edmunds isn't good, he does work very hard and is incredibly capable. Just I know how he handles large undertakings and with how short-staffed we are I don't know if I'll be able to provide the support he needs."

Silence fell between the two men for a while.

"Damn." Peso leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling, "I might actually take this."

"I wouldn't hold it against you."

"I like it here though." He was basically just whining now but he didn't care.

"You might like it there."

"The crew is so small, it'll be boring. Do people even get sick underwater?"

"I would assume."

⸶ ⸳ ⸸ ⸳ ⸷

They had moved to a conference room, where everyone was able to be seated, the three men from the IORCE on one side and Peso and Chief Attenburg on the other.

"Okay, Dr. Guin here's what we can offer you." Dr. Rogers started. He slid a folder across the table towards the two men. "Basically, we can offer you two different deals, I know that the offer of doubling your current salary caught your attention. We can do that, plus the hazard pay of course but not a research grant. You would be able to join Dr. Hale with her cancer research though. I already spoke with her, and she said that that should be fine.

"The second offer is we match your current salary, plus the hazard pay and a research grant for whatever you want."

Peso flipped through the papers in the folder. They just further outlined what Dr. Rogers had said. It looked like there were other documents about training and contract-type stuff, but Peso decided he could look at those later after he made a decision.

"What about the crew?" He asked.

"What about the crew?" Professor Inkling repeated, folding his hand over each other on the table and giving Peso a hard look.

"Well, this just seems like a lot to offer, plus the cost of training. What if even after all that I still can't handle the crew and walk away? You guys would take a big loss it seems."

"We would," Director Reynolds chimed in, "I can't make any decisions by myself about the crew, but I will be taking it to the rest of the board and hopefully we can work something out."

"Okay," that was barely an answer, "So, is this position a permanent one? Or are we still talking temporary until you can find a permanent doctor for the Octopod?" Peso asked.

"I'm also interested in this answer, as I would like my doctor back, which was our original agreement Dr. Rogers if you remember it," Attenburg added.

"Well…" Dr. Rogers hesitated.

Professor Inkling had no trouble continuing, "Yes, we asked Dr. Rogers if he knew what Dr. Guin was talking about because to me it almost sounded like blackmail for a moment. After having Dr. Rogers explain it to us it sounded less like blackmail, but still something I'm not interested in involving my organization with." The Professor gave a sharp look to Dr. Rogers, "Due to the nature of your previous agreement we are willing to keep somewhat to what Dr. Rogers had offered. I believe Chief Attenburg, you and Dr. Guin discussed a year of leave for him."

Peso exchanged a glance with Attenburg, then they both nodded.

"Then what we are willing to offer is a full one-year contract with us, it does contain certain penalties for resigning early. I will just say that now." Professor Inkling explained, "Although if during that year, and before another doctor was hired, you wanted to extend that into a more permanent position we would be willing to do that, there would be a renegotiation on your pay though."

Ah, Peso thought, a lot of Rogers fucked up going on at this table. "What could I bring?"

"Like to the table? Dr. Rogers asked, confused.

"No, like on board the ship. Could I bring my plant? Or my keyboard or things of that sort." Peso clarified.

"Those should both be fine to bring on board." Director Reynolds said looking at the Professor who nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll take the first deal then."

⸶ ⸳ ⸸ ⸳ ⸷

Professor Inkling

Yesterday had gone well but he still had an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was because Dr. Guin was so unwilling, maybe it was all the complaints brought up by Shellington or maybe he was just getting old, and doubting yourself was just something a person did more and more as they aged. Whatever the reason he now found himself once again sitting in Chief Attenburg's office, waiting.

He didn't mind waiting, he had arrived unannounced after all, and from what he had seen in the halls as he wandered the hospital, they did seem understaffed and overly busy. He couldn't help but wonder why though.

He fiddled with the pedant that hung around his necklace. "Briar, I hope I'm making the right decision." His lips curled in a gentle smile, "It was funny though," he spoke softly, "As soon as he said relic I –"

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Attenburg started talking as soon as the door opened, "I didn't know anyone would be coming back and I was needed elsewhere."

"No, no it's completely fine," the Professor tucked the necklace back into his shirt and stood to face the other man, "I understand you are a busy man running what looks to be an incredibly busy hospital."

Attenburg crossed his arms before rubbing at his chin, "With Silverwood closing permanently we've been taking in more patients. But what can you do?" he shrugged his shoulders, "What can I do for you today Professor Inkling?" he asked, walking over to take a seat behind his desk.

The Professor sat back down in one of the leather chairs, "I was just wondering if you could provide me with any more information about Dr. Guin."

Attenburg nodded his head, "That's understandable, you're investing quite a lot of money into him after all." He thought for a moment, "I could compile a peer review packet of some sort, or a patient one, and include some of his work history for what he's done at the hospital in there too. Would that work?" He suggested.

"I think that would be fine. I could even send it ahead to the rest of the crew so they could get a feel for him as well." Professor Inkling nodded his head, "But I was also hoping you could tell me more about him as an individual. If at all possible."

"Well for starters he's usually much more polite. I don't think he ever apologized for his comment when he greeted you."

The Professor smiled and tapped the pendant under his shirt unconsciously, "That didn't bother me one bit. It actually brought back some fond memories for me, as unusual as that probably sounds. I was more interested in your opinion of him, after all, you said you wanted him back, so you must be quite fond of him."

Attenburg leaned back in his chair, "Guin is one of my best doctors, of course, I would want him back. He gets along well with…most of the staff."

"Most?"

Attenburg clicked his tongue, "Edmunds and Guin haven't gotten along since the day they met. Never seen a resident so eager to go against an attending either, but despite their differences and mutual dislike, they work well together when they have to. He's good with patients, the nursing staff loves him. Hell Havoc would probably kill for him. He also came with quite an impressive surgeon too. I don't suppose you want that one as well?"

Inkling furrowed his brows, "We have no use for a surgeon."

"Damn, I'm never getting rid of that one," Attenburg mumbled though his face still held a smile, then continued in a normal tone, "The only problem I ever have with Guin is he picks at problems. You tell him to just leave it alone and next thing I know he's calling me at three in the morning with a whole damn crazed plan and then my hospital looks like this," Attenburg gestured vaguely with his hand before sighing, "He wasn't wrong though."

"Wasn't wrong about what? I'm afraid I don't quite follow." The Professor chimed in quickly when Attenburg paused.

"Don't worry about it, it doesn't affect you or your organization in any way. Just know Guin likes solving problems, and he doesn't stop when he gets it in his head that something doesn't add up. Not bad traits really for a doctor to have, just annoying when you're the person in charge of that doctor."

"I see, I will try to remember that."

The two spoke for a short while longer before the Professor felt somewhat satisfied, he was still curious about how Dr. Guin had affected the whole hospital, but Attenburg didn't bring it up again. Perhaps he could try to have Dashi look into the hospital history for clues. He gave Attenburg his email before he left so that the man could pass along that review file and then went on his way.