When Dr. Liu hung up the phone, Andrew realised that she was staring at him.
Andrew turned, smiling, as Dr. Liu stared at him for a long, long mont before she gave him his phone.
"Andy?" She confird and Andrew was about to agree happily, before he halted. Oh shit. His na wasn’t Andy while he was here. It was Dr. Albert Nice. Not Andy. Uh oh.
Andrew paled while Dr. Liu narrowed her gaze. The elevator arrived but she didn’t move. She didn’t budge at all.
"Uh, well, uh." Andrew was trying to co up with anything, anything at all but he was coming up blank. Finally, he just hung his head and sighed. "It’s not done maliciously." Andrew muttered. Dr. Liu narrowed her gaze.
"Why wasn’t I inford?" She asked, her tone harsh and Andrew flinched.
"Richard only knows because he knows personally." Andrew told her, and that seed to unruffle her feathers a bit.
"Oh. I see. So it wasn’t a targeted thing?" Dr. Liu confird. Andrew shook his head. He could feel the other two ladies staring at him, as if sothing had just clicked for them as well. Andrew was going to have to explain himself, he could feel it.
"No. The less people who know the truth, the better." Andrew said, and Dr. Liu gave a nod. Her gaze looked him over, examining him for a long mont.
"Was the reason because you have to hide your identity?" She asked and Andrew let out a deep sigh.
"Well, not really? I don’t have to, I just think...well, I wouldn’t want the company to be sued, and this was the easiest away around it." That seed to spark interest amongst all three of them.
"Wait. Does that an you’re from a competitor?" Dr. Piper asked, her eyes wide and Andrew nodded.
"Yeah. I an, yes?" Andrew was pretty sure that they were competitors. Maxwell had said as much. Not so much in the field that Andrew had previously worked in, but in other ways. His exes departnt probably directly countered the departnt that Dr. Liu was in charge of.
That was actually quite funny. The fact that he was now allowed access to a departnt that he hadn’t been able to go to before. The sa, if not quite similar departnt that had basically gotten him ’fired’. He wasn’t even sure if he was.
"Mr. Beckett poached you?" Dr. Liu asked and Andrew made a face. He hadn’t poached him. He had planned to, but that hadn’t co to fruition because of what his company had done. From his expression, Dr. Liu was able to infer a few things. "So he didn’t."
"He planned to, but..." Andrew sighed. "So things happened. I was accused of selling information to competitors, which I hadn’t done, I didn’t even know Maxwell was a competitor until after the accusation, and then I was put on hold while they did the investigation. In case you were wondering, I am potentially still on leave without pay." Dr. Liu looked upset. So did Dr. Piper and Dr. Cox.
"What? How long ago was this?" Dr. Cox asked, angry and Andrew gave a chuckle.
"It’s probably been about two months, no, over that." Andrew answered and all three won looked pissed. Andrew honestly felt a little vindicated. Especially since Dr. Liu looked the most upset.
"They accused you without evidence? Did they even provide you with that? I think I have an idea of who you used to work for. We’ve had a flood of people leaving a certain company and coming to us." She said, grim, while Andrew brightened.
"Oh really? Would I be able to see the hiring list? I want to see if I know anyone." Andrew said cheerfully. "I never had any problems with the employees. Everyone was so lovely. It was the board I wanted to strangle." Andrew told her and Dr. Liu stared at him.
"I’ll let you look at the list if you co to my office. Given how strange your position in the company is, I don’t think I can outright say no to you, and it would also be a good vetting process in case so of the people coming from the company are not great. Resus and personal interviews only get you so far." She was quite practical about the whole thing, and Andrew just smiled.
"Sure. No problems here with that, but Dr. Liu, you can also just tell no. I’m not Max. I truly don’t have much sway on the company." Andrew said and Dr. Liu didn’t seem convinced. Nor did Dr. Piper nor Dr. Cox.
"Are you so sure about that? Was it not you who t with our largest shareholder of our company this morning, Dr. Nice?" Dr. Liu asked and Andrew rolled his eyes.
"That’s Max’s brother. I can’t exactly-"
"I also heard a little rumour that soone suggested a daycare at the company? And a cafeteria?" Dr. Cox said and Andrew’s mouth slamd shut. Dr. Piper’s eyes sparkled.
"So, you can’t deny that you hold so sway in the company, Dr. Nice. Or should I even call you that?" Dr. Piper asked, narrowing her eyes playfully. Andrew knew the jig was up and he sighed.
"You can just call Andy if you want. I don’t mind. Most people do, anyways." Andrew muttered and Dr. Liu chuckled.
"Alright. That’s enough teasing. Feel free to co down to my office any ti after lunch. Unfortunately, I need to make sure Dr. Gates is in good condition. We should be getting a call soon to go pick up his Father. Would you mind doing that and escorting him down to my floor? You know which floor that is, yes?" Andrew recalled where they had run into her, and nodded.
"The seventh floor, yes?" Andrew confird and she nodded. She glanced around the hallway.
"I’ll make sure that soone cos up and airs out this floor. We can’t have the scent of an in heat oga lingering, even if you think you’re fine. You just finished your rut. It’s honestly a miracle that you didn’t lose your mind." Dr. Liu said and Andrew smiled.
"He’s a brother to , Dr. Liu." She furrowed her brow.
"You’ve said that several tis. What exactly does that an? Are you two related sohow?" She asked and Andrew nodded.
"We were next door neighbours for almost 15 years. His parents are practically my second set, after my Mom. They helped a lot when she was dying." Andrew chuckled as the girls stared at him. "His older sister is practically mine as well. I’m happy to help out and grab Ford. Are you two okay with that?" Andrew turned to Dr. Cox and Dr. Piper. "We’re probably going to be down a Richard for a long ti. At least in person." Andrew told them and they nodded.
"We can do conference calls when he’s out of the worst of it." Dr. Cox said. Andrew was glad that they were easily adjusting already, even if this was quite the shock. Andrew wasn’t even sure if he’d fully wrapped his head around the situation. It certainly wasn’t what he expected to walk back into after being out of work for a while.
"Of course. Max did a lot of that while we were stuck at the house." Andrew confird. He watched as Dr. Liu pressed the button for the elevator again, and the door opened. No one else had called for it yet.
"Well, I’ll see you shortly then if you’re going to grab Mr. Gates. Dr. Cox, Dr. Piper." Dr. Liu inclined her head slightly before leaving, avoiding eye contact as she waited for the doors to close behind her.
Andrew, Dr. Cox, and Dr. Piper let out a deep sigh once she was out of sight.
Dr. Piper reached over and smacked Andrew’s shoulder.
"I can’t believe you didn’t let us know what was going on!" She exclaid, upset. Andrew understood.
"I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure how aware he was. I didn’t want to accidentally trigger him if I ntioned what I thought was going on. Hence why I called Dr. Liu as soon as I could and practically in code. I apologise if you two are upset I just..." Andrew trailed off, the nervous smile on his face fading as he thought back to what he had seen. What he was sure Richard was going through. "I just needed to make sure he got help as soon as possible." Dr. Cox remained silent, watching Andrew for a few monts.
It was Dr. Piper who broke the silence.
"Well, better late than never. I’m just glad we were able to get him so help. I can’t believe I didn’t realise he was in heat. Oh my gosh! Dr. Gates manifested as an oga!" She squealed. "This is so interesting! Wait? Is he even going to be able to work in this departnt anymore?" She asked, turning to the other two. Dr. Cox’s expression grew grim.
"That, Dr. Piper, is a rather good question. A question that we won’t know the answer to until Dr. Gates is better and through the beginning phases of his manifestation." She said, glancing at Andrew as if to confirm what she said was true. He smiled.
"Yes. We’ll get him sorted with a good Doctor, the kind that can do ho visits since he isn’t going to be well enough to leave. It’s rather overwhelming when you first manifest." Andrew told them and he could see the curiousity in both of their eyes. He just knew he was going to be answering all kinds of questions for the rest of the day. Not that he minded.
It was good to think about, so that he could make a little file for Richard to reference. He would ask Maxwell for his help too. He wouldn’t know about the oga side of things, but he could ask. This would also be a good excuse to reach out to a few friends, like Maria.
She would be delighted to help him if it ca to soone recently manifesting, and they could use it as training for her children as well. Andrew nodded, bracing himself for what the rest of his day was going to look like, and then his phone vibrated.
He didn’t need to look down to know.
Ford was here. It was ti to explain everything to him, and try to keep the peace. He was sure Ford was going to be a ss. Andrew swallowed. He wasn’t good with handling Ford’s tears. They tore at a very specific part of him.
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