"What in the heavens did you say to poor Selena?" Damien's mom, Celeste, gasped loudly through the phone. Damien fought the eye roll that wanted to ensue. "I honestly do not understand what or who it is that you are waiting for. You have a perfectly beautiful and intelligent and willing woman that will put up with you for the rest of her life-"

"Save her the misery, then, Madre." Damien cut her off, the elevator doors opening.

"It was a joke, Damien. I can't even say a simple thing without any of you getting offended these days."

"I have to go, Mom. I'm at work."

"Already?" Damien shut his office door, trudging to his desk to place down his suitcase when his door slammed open again.

"Now this is preposterous! Just how immature and ridiculous can this old man be?! She's a psychologist for goodness sake! Look! Look at this!" Kim shoved a paper towards Damien's face, shaking it furiously before pulling it back to his own face, glaring at it and not giving Damien a chance to actually read its contents. "Did you see that nonsense?! Makes no sense. No matter how I see it, he's just a controlling-"

"Mr. Kim!" Damien's office door slammed open before it slammed shut right behind Oliver. "Have you seen this?!" Oliver was intensely reading a file in his hand, his mouth pulled into a tight line that made him appear older than his actual thirty-eight years of age.

"Are you sure you're at work?" Celeste's voice reminded Damien that he was still on the phone. He quickly turned his attention to her.

"Yes, Madre. Listen, I have to go. I'll call you later." Damien hung up before his mother could protest or worse, call him to dinner tonight.

"Mr. Kim!" The young secretary, Hope, walked in with a few copies in her arms. The door slammed shut behind her. "The copies you asked for Parker's case."

Damien took one from her pile, baffled at the strong reactions that Oliver and Mr. Kim were giving based on what they were reading,

"Is it true?" His office door slammed open again, and Damien clenched his jaw. Why couldn't they meet up in the conference room? Why did they have to go and bother the person that was the most lonesome person there was in that building if not that state.

"They're wanting to prosecute her for this?" Damien frowned, looking down at the official order for a trail from the insurance agency.

"That's what I'm saying!" Kim exploded again, and Hope flinched back from handing him his own copy of the Parker case.

"This is clearly just pretty retaliation." Oliver scoffed, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

"Do they have evidence?" Damien was equally baffled by the sudden turn of events. He flipped furiously through all the sheets of paper that were in the file, but he came up blank.

"Not unless they have a witness." Katherine leaned against the wall. Oliver, upon seeing her get comfortable, sat down on a chair opposite to Damien's.

"This is absurd." Mr. Kim leaned against Damien's desk, and Damien sighed. Now they are getting comfortable. Great.

"What if we talk to the wife? Surely she won't go along with his lie." Hope perked up after peaking at the papers in Kim's hands.

Damien frowned. What wife? Jamie?

"What's going on in here?" The older secretary, Joselyn Barnes, peaked in.

"Jamie going along with whose lie?" Damien looked at everyone, watching as they all looked at him, bearing frowns on their faces with questioning eyes.

"What?" Mr. Kim was the first one to speak up.

"We've already talked to Mrs. Parker. What lie would she follow with her deceased husband?" Damien only received blank stares in return before Oliver sighed.

"Petrotti, come on, man." Oliver handed Damien his own copy of Ella's case. "Ella. Remember her?"

Damien ignored the copy Oliver wanted to give him. Instead, he gave Kim a hard stare. Kim only stared back before sighing. "Can everyone leave the room?"

Damien waited until the door slammed shut, courtesy of Oliver, before he spoke up. "I'm not taking her case, Mr. Kim." Damien sat down, picking his copy of the Parker case after having tossed it down.

"But why not?!" Mr. Kim whined, fixing himself in front of Damien's desk. "Listen, Oliver is taking care of this case right now, and you know how he is-"

"If Pruette is in charge already, why are you here?" Damien interrupted, picking up a black pen.

"Perhaps you haven't turned on your brain yet, Damien. I said Oliver." Kim pursed his lips at how dismissive Damien was being with Ella's case. "If you take charge of this, I can at least rest knowing that she is going to come out the least bit unscathed, but if Oliver takes it, well-"

"Mr. Petrotti," Ines entered the room again, knocking only after opening the door. "Sorry," she noticed the grim look on her boss's face. "Um, Cheryl is here." Damien looked at her blankly. He didn't know a Cheryl. "Cheryl Jones; the psychology analyst."

A knowing look crossed over Damien's features. Ines patted her back proudly for getting him the information he needed; more often than not, she always ended up looking silly in front of him. "Send her in, please." Damien ignored the appalled look Kim had the audacity to give him. "Let Pruette take care of the case, Mr. Kim. I can assure you he has his head and heart into the case more than I ever will."

"The wrong head, I'm willing to bet." Mr. Kim grumbled under breath, trudging out of the office. He had a glum look on his face, but that transformed as soon as he saw a very pregnant Cheryl waddling into his office. "Cheryl, what a pleasure to see you again. You and that adorable little bump!"

"Little?"

"I was trying to be nice."

"Right." Cheryl laughed, but then stopped due to her running out of breath. "Jesus. I can't even chuckle, now."

"What are you doing here?" Mr. Kim helped her sit on the stiff chairs Damien had.

"I need her to run some tests on Jamie." Damien wasted no more time to place the files in front of the flushed woman who seemed very uncomfortable in the chair provided.

"Seriously?" Kim gave Damien a scowl. "You bring her out of her maternity leave to do some work? And on top of that, you make her waddle here? You couldn't even go to her place?"

"I did not waddle." Cheryl rebutted, picking up the files. "Does anybody have a glass of water I can have? It's so hot in here." Cheryl was almost panting, using the file to fan herself. Damien tried to hide his frustration. He was going to go nowhere at his pace.

After finally getting Cheryl some water, kicking Kim and Ines out of his office, and getting Cheryl back on track, Damien sat down to actually discuss business.

"So she never claimed the insurance money." Cheryl took a deep breath, a grimace on her face. Damien had been too busy looking down at the information on his desk to notice how Cheryl would occasionally shuffle on the seat or have to pause to take in some deep breaths. She had been on house arrest by her husband since she was on the verge of giving birth, but she had managed to convince him to let her leave today. Now, it didn't seem like such a good idea.

"No. She didn't exactly have a chance to." Damien murmured, noticing just how close her house was to a couple of local businesses. "Wait a minute," he felt like he was finally catching a break. Looking up at Cheryl, he frowned. "Is it really that hot in here?" He took note of how sweaty her forehead was, some of the droplets even sliding down the side of her face.

"What?" Cheryl seemed out of it, and she felt out of it, too. The letters on the papers in her hands seemed blurry now, nothing but black ink smeared. "Oh, God!" Her voice got increasingly louder as she jerked forward, her back arching. Her face contorted into one of true agony. "Oh, God! Somebody call my husband!"

Damien winced, her loud shrills scratching at his eardrums. Nonetheless, he stood up and rushed out to the lobby. "Ines, Barnes, call Mrs. Jones' husband and an ambulance."

"What? Why-" Barnes' voice was drowned out by another ear-shrilling scream from Cheryl. Instantly, they jumped into action, rushing on and about.

"Why is there an alarm going off?" Oliver left his office, his head poking out from his door.

"Would somebody turn that off?" Katherine hollered from somewhere in the background, but Damien rushed back to his office to help Cheryl up.

"No!" Cheryl panted, dragging Damien back down with an unforeseen force. "Where is... my husband?!"

"The ambulance is on the way- we couldn't find Jones' husband's number," Ines rushed in, panting as she bent over her knees.

"My phone," Cheryl paused to breathe, her hand grabbing Damien's as another contraction hit her, a burning sensation flowing from her lower back to her front, almost shattering and tearing at her nervous system. "Holy- this one is coming fast!"

"Did her water break?" Oliver looked frazzled as he stared at the scene before with obvious fear and concern. "That rug was kind of exp- I'm sorry." He shut up after seeing Cheryl and Barnes toss him a glare.

"Should you carry her?" Mr. Kim asked after seeing the mess everyone was causing by being there. Almost everyone resembled headless chickens.

"Everyone stop what you're doing!" Barnes declared, ignoring Cheryl's loud wails. Everyone else stopped to listen, knowing the older woman who was also a mom would know what to do. After the game plan had been established and explained, everyone jumped to do their part.

Later, as they all sat in the waiting room, Damien couldn't help but wonder who he was going to rely on for the client evaluation he needed. He trusted no one else as much as he did Cheryl despite not being on the first-name basis with her.

After Cheryl's husband arrived, Cheryl gave birth to a baby boy. Damien tried to be as warm and gentle as possible with the baby and the new parents, but he also did not really understand how to do so. It was such a tiny human, he only stayed for moments before leaving for the office. Situations like those made him uncomfortable; he never really fit in.

After arriving at the office, Damien ended up staying overtime, something that wasn't new to anyone after everyone had called it a day despite only being in the office for a few hours at most. At least, Damien had thought everyone had left until he saw Mr. Kim enter his office.

"What's up with you?" Mr. Kim seemed tired, and after a day of running around before returning to the neverending piles of work and cases to work through alongside other people, Damien didn't blame him. "You left the hospital early and now you won't stop rubbing your forehead. Did you skip lunch again?" Mr. Kim sat on the seats meant for the clients.

"Don't you have to head home now?" Damien knew how much Kim detested being at the office despite the passion he had when he first stared the corporation.

"I asked you a question."

"I'm fine." Damien responded, still focused on the paperwork in front him.

"What are you doing anyway? I haven't given you any other new cases besides Parker's." Kim snatched the papers from Damien before Damien could see it coming, almost smacking him in the face. "Is this a list of women? Really?" Kim looked up at Damien to give him a panned look even though he secretly felt happy. "And here I was thinking of giving you an assistant for your supposed workload."

Damien lifted himself off the sit a bit and leaned over to grab the papers back. "I don't need an assistant."

"You don't want an assistant." Kim corrected, a smug look on his face. "Who are those women anyway?"

"Reputable psychologists." Damien was curt, looking at his computer screen, scrolling and reading before writing down another name on the list.

"Psychologists?" Kim frowned. He knew from the start that the list of women wasn't actually for Damien's pleasure, but he hadn't been expecting for them to be psychologists. "Why? Are you going to talk to them?"

"Yes."

Kim nodded, pensive. "Did your mom talk you into this?" He blurted out, and Damien looked up at him in confusion that Kim mistook for a scowl. "I mean, I think it's a great idea. Talking to someone, sometimes someone who doesn't know you and won't judge is helpful. I had to when- it doesn't matter, actually." Kim waved off.

Damien stared at him blankly, clenching his jaw briefly after he realized that Kim also thought something was wrong with him. "For the Parker Case. I need an evaluation."

Kim stayed quiet even after Damien tossed him a quick glare. That didn't even cross his mind. "Sorry." He tapped the seat awkwardly, nodding in understanding. "Wait," he paused, thinking. "Why don't you just talk to Ellie?"

To Damien, that name meant nothing, so he didn't bother to respond or to even look at Kim.

"She's going to have a lot of free time, so I'm sure she'd be more than happy to help." Kim reasoned. It would probably help her to not get herself into any more trouble. Trouble practically chased the poor girl.

"I don't know who you're talking about, Mr. Kim."

Mr. Kim's narrowed down even more than they already naturally were. "Ella? Ella Cortesa? My granddaughter."

That rang a bell in Damien's head. He frowned, wondering where Mr. Kim's logic was. "You want me to get Parker's meticulously watched case evaluation from a young, inexperienced, and sued psychologist?" The way Damien said it made it almost not sound like a question.

Mr. Kim only nodded. "She's actually just young because when she was in school-"

"No." Damien didn't bother to let him finish talking.

"No?" Mr. Kim asked incredulously. Damien didn't understand why he was so confused. It was so obvious that the young girl was not qualified for such an important case.

"Mr. Kim, I'm aware that this your... granddaughter, as you say. However, I cannot have her give me the most important evidence of the case."

"Why don't you give her a shot? If you, for some reason, don't like her work ethic, then fine, I'll understand."

"No." Damien closed the file and shut off the desktop computer before reaching for his suitcase.

"Fine, then." Mr. Kim grumbled. He was too tired to continue to argue with the stubborn, young man. If he didn't want Ella's help, so what? Ella might also just end up uncomfortable in his company due to his cold and quiet nature. "Good night."

"Good night." Damien gave Mr. Kim a firm nod as he left the office, tired.

It had been a long and loud day, something that Damien detested completely. Once home, he ignored the loud echo of his front door closing shut before maneuvering his way into his shower. Once finished, he collapsed onto his wide and expanse bed, not even bothering to cover himself even with the cold chill in the air before he fell into a dreamless sleep once again.