Upon returning to the office much later than anticipated, Ella was quickly taken to Oliver's office where Katherine and Mr. Kim were. Damien was left a bit baffled before slowly making his way to his office. He pulled together Ella's notes and compared them to the evidence the police had. After finishing up on that, he was leaving to return Ella's notebook to her when Oliver's office door opened.

"Oh, sorry." Katherine almost ran into him. She gave him a tight smile before sidestepping him and walking away, leaving him an open view of the empty office with just Oliver.

"I thought Ms.- Ella was here," Damien murmured, peering in.

"No, she left to Mr. Kim's a few minutes ago." Oliver said, his eyes trained on many forms on his desk. Damien left for Kim's wordlessly. Oliver was clearly busy.

Ella wasn't in Kim's either. According to Kim, she had just left. Left with no choice, Damien figured that if anyone knew where she was, it would be the two ladies that heard and saw everything.

"Have either of you seen Ella?" Damien asked Ines and Barnes, surprising them by how he had been the one to approach them and not the other way around.

"I think she stepped out onto the balcony." Ines pointed back, and Damien nodded, walking back.

"That notebook must be important." Katherine murmured as she passed by from the breakroom to her office after having heard Damien's struggle to locate his poor secretary.

Ella was indeed in the balcony. She was leaning over the railing, looking out at the bustling city. Everyone had their own lives. Each individual with their own story, own problems and solutions, own happiness and sadness.

"Everything okay?" Damien startled Ella, making her whip her head back, some of her hair flying to land on the opposite side of her neck from it still being a ponytail.

"Yeah, yeah." Ella quickly reassured him, smiling. "Just... life happening." She shrugged, her eyes trailing back to the city.

Damien nodded, not sure if he should ask if she was sure. Typically, when people answered his questions, he would just take their answers. With Ella, he had come to understand that she would often lie about being okay. It was clear that she wasn't, but people wouldn't see that. They would hear her say yes and treat her like she was fine.

"I came to bring you your notebook." Damien realized how silly his excuse to go see her was. "I just didn't know if you were going to go head home after. I've overworked you enough for today, so," he trailed off, being at a loss for words for the first time in years.

"No, I'll be here for another hour or so." Ella sighed, almost in disdain as she placed her elbows on the railing. "Did you need something?" She looked at Damien, who was now beside her against the railing.

He was almost left speechless by her eyes, so he looked away. "No."

He was able to see Ella nodding through his peripheral view. "I'll be in Oliver's office for the meantime." She slipped her heels away from the bottom half of the railing, stepping off.

"Mr. Pruette's?" Damien frowned, turning to look at her as she mindlessly thumbed her notebook. "Does he need an assistant?"

"No, it's just about my case. You know, the whole IIED and confidentiality breach." Ella's eyes lost a bit of their gleam, but then she shrugged, looking away from Damien and down at her notebook. "Hey, don't you want to keep this? I don't know if its much of help, but we could just keep track of things."

"It's of help. I actually already took the liberty to print some of them out." Damien bashfully admitted, reach to grab back the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"That's good. We need copies in case something happens to this." Ella nodded, closing the notebook again. "I'll get going. I told Oliver I was just coming out for fresh air. He's going to think I left." Ella chuckled, a smile that glowed with the help of the sun's light.

Damien nodded, not really knowing what to say. If he knew her situation with the law better, he might have been able to give her some encouraging feedback, but he was at a loss. "Good luck. I'm sure the truth will come out." He offered instead, and he was rewarded with Ella's genuine smile.

"Thank you. Really." She said before slipping back inside. Damien stayed put, slipping his hands inside the pockets of his slacks. He only had a few moments of silence, the buzz of the city was farther below, far enough to permit him quiet when he heard Kim's voice again.

"Your butt looks nice in those slacks." Mr. Kim's comment made Damien take a deep breath in preparation for whatever came out of his mouth. You could never really tell with Kim, especially as he got older. "I heard you and Ella were out here." He looked around the balcony for the Spanish girl, but she was nowhere to be found.

"She went to Oliver."

"Right." Mr. Kim turned around, ready to head back inside when Damien called out for him.

"How is her case going?" Damien didn't particularly like asking him those questions. He felt as if he had no right to that after he had vehemently denied accepting it.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kim's face transformed into a smug and sneaky one. "I'm kidding," he chuckled upon seeing Damien's panned look. "Seems like Vanders is dead set on making this Ellie's worst nightmare. That's what we're about to go discuss with Oliver." Kim sighed, rubbing his jaw before waving his hand. "We'll get it figured out, don't worry. We won't bother you." Mr. Kim winked, patting Damien's shoulder before leaving.

It wouldn't be a bother to Damien. Maybe at first, it had been, but now... now things were different. Damien genuinely wanted to help Ella. She had dedicated most of her free time to helping him, leading him up to one of the most important revelations of his current case, and he felt as if it was only fair that he paid her back with helping her own case. He knew that Oliver was capable of handling her well, but he knew he could do it better. Besides, being involved might give Mr. Kim some peace of mind, and that, in return, would give Ella a piece of mind,

Regardless of his thoughts, Damien stayed away.

He would prefer to not get involved unless it was asked of him. Nothing good ever came out of being nosy anyway, so he ignored the rushing of the paralegals as they came to and from the copy room and Oliver's office. It did baffle him how he wasn't invited into the office judging by how three other lawyers were in there, but Damien guessed that it might have something to do with the fact that he had been nothing but eager than to push Ella's case away.

After having been holed up in his office for another two hours, he checked the time and realized that it was past office hours. Confused as to why his coworkers were still there, he stepped out of his office for a minute. However, just as he stepped out, he saw Ella stepping out of Oliver's. She pulled her black hair around her, creating a curtain to hide her face, but Damien had just gotten a glimpse of it.

Tears were fighting their way from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks quickly and steadily. The tip of her nose was red, but that was all that Damien managed to see before Ella rushed out of the building.

His feet froze on the floor, unable to move. Even if he had willed himself to go after her, there was nothing he could do for her. Aside from the fact that he had no clue as to why she was crying, he was no good at comforting people, especially women. Instead, he walked over to the two people who he knew would give him answers.

"What happened to Ella?" Damien paused at the front lobby, watching as a very stressed Ines was typing on her computer furiously.

"Freaking Mrs. Vanders is testifying against her."

"What?" Damien's eyes darkened, upset at the newfound information.

"Don't even start. Oliver and Mr. Kim are about to blow a fuse, and quite honestly, we can't have you blowing another one." Ines sighed, taking her glasses off her face to rub her eyes that were killing her from the dryness.

Damien didn't say anything else. He wanted to go over to Oliver's office and demand to know what exactly was happening and how the situation had gotten so out of control, but he knew it wasn't his place.

Night came, and Damien had begun to regret not asking Ella to stay, that he would help her resolve her case. He decided that when morning came, he would personally offer Ella to take over the case.

When morning came and he entered his office, Ella had yet to show up. Damien decided to get some work done in the meantime. Now that he had spent some time considering the new discoveries that Ella had made, he had decided that it was best to analyze that information and ask the police department for a copy of the case. Starting fresh would help gather his facts again before talking to Mrs. Parker once more. He needed to know if that woman was lying or if, in the heat of the moment, she had just gotten her facts confused, but for that, he needed Ella to read her.

His office door opened, and in walked Mr. Kim. "Good morning."

"Morning," Damien responded, looking at him expectantly.

"Ella won't be here today," Mr. Kim explained, and Damien tensed; he would have to reschedule the meeting. "She actually won't be coming for a while..." Kim trailed off, watching as Damien tensed even more, his hands freezing his movements.

Damien knew he should've gone after her to check if she was alright. He had a feeling though, that even if he trailed after her, it would've only made things worse. She was a mentally strong woman, and he didn't know how to console someone, so yes. It was better this way, but for some reason, his heart sped up a little at the prospect of her feeling bad.

"Her parents are here, and I don't know when they are leaving, but Ella is going to be with them during these times." Kim explained Damien's silent questions, he could see the question marks swimming in the young man's eyes.

"Is she... she said she's not leaving... right?" Damien cleared his throat. Not only had he just found someone to entrust with the Jamie case, but he also had an inkling that everyone was going to miss her.

"I mean... I don't know. Her parents may just be able to convince her." Kim shrugged, his face sort of saddened, almost as if he too wanted Ella to leave.

"Why do you want her to leave so badly?" Damien dared to not mind his own business. With him not being in charge of her case, he was unaware of how good or how bad things were going for her, so her circumstances were sometimes hard to understand.

"It's not that I want her gone," Kim sighed, rubbing at the tension in his neck. "Ellie is strong, and she can handle this, we all know she can," he trailed off, shaking his head. "We don't think she's going to win the case, Damien." Kim said in despair. "She's going to lose her license."

Damien was left in shock. He hadn't known Ella for long, but this was her passion. He could see it in her eyes and in her personality that psychology was something she was born to do. Losing that for her...

"Let me take her case," Damien declared, determined to not lose this for her.

"You're busy, Damien. Besides, Pruette is actually doing everything he can-"

"I have more experience in this field. Vanders is bound to have things to hide and under his sleeve. If we can prove that- lessen his credibility-"

"Damien, son. We've tried. I've got all hands on deck on this and the Jamie case, but... no one is willing to rat him out. Besides, Ellie wouldn't like that."

"She also isn't going to like losing her career." Damien grounded out. Could they not see that Ella was never going to be hard or ruthless on people? Someone else was going to have to do it for her.

"Listen, we've made the best decisions for Ella and for this case. You focus on what's in your hands. I only came to alert you of Ella's absence." Kim sat up from the sofa, leaving Damien in his own bubble of frustration and anger.

That frustration and anger was taken out the only way Damien knew how- by working. He had always been good at drowning out his emotions by working- or so he thought. His main way of venting was against the people he went up against.

In the span of the two weeks, he had managed to intimidate two judges with evident proof and jailed two police officers for tampering with evidence. He had also tormented Ines and Barnes whenever he required research or copies of documents. Then, after having postponed meeting Jamie for two weeks, he decided that he could no more.

"Women's intuition?" Damien was baffled upon hearing Hope's reason as to why she would be of help to read Jamie Parker.

"Yes. Didn't you know? Us women have a sixth sense." Hope almost tripped over a rock as soon as she said that, and Damien forced himself to look away so that she wouldn't see the obvious disappointment on his face.

He just needed a psychologist, that was all, he sighed mentally. Apparently finding one at all, forget about him or her being capable, was hard enough.

"You must remember: do not let her know-"

"I'm reading her. Got it!" Hope firmly nodded, her long brunette hair moving along with her head.

Damien bit back a remark. He wanted to send her back to the car. He doubted that Ms. Ines would be able to see something he didn't.

He was wrong, though. Hope did notice something: Jamie's hair was silky soft. Hope had even asked Jamie was hair conditioner she used.

"I'm really sorry." Hope sighed, collapsing in the passenger seat of Damien's car after their meeting. "However, that hair is no joke. Who knew that this would do her split ends good? Cause those pictures-"

Damien cleared his throat, annoyed. Not only had Ms. Ines not paid attention to anything that would be of use for him, but she had also made a ridicule of herself by asking unprofessional questions. Now, she was pushing her limits with him. He didn't know he had this much patience in him until now.

"Sorry." Ines squeaked bashfully.

Ines shrank back in her seat, minding her own business through her phone as Damien drove them back to the office. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he needed a break. He was running into too many dead ends that were leaving him restless. The amount of work that was piling up was nowhere near being finished, and he knew that it would take him a long while to get back into a routine where he worked solo.

Still in a frustrated haze, Damien was practically storming through the halls of the law department on his way back to the office when he could smell it. It was that same soft, almost lulling fragrance that knew one specific woman carried.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're back. Its been... rough here lately." Barnes could be heard fawning over Ella from the elevator.

Feeling relieved and elevated, Damien quickly rounded the corner, following the sound of the voices.

"The time off has done you well. Your skin is glowing!" Hope had arrived at a much quicker pace than Damien after having practically taken off from his car due to the awkward tension that pained both of them.

"You look breathtaking, Ella." Kim agreed, watching as the young lady blushed at being the center of attention.

And she did look breathtaking, Damien thought. Her black hair that would hang to her waist had been trimmed to rest just below her shoulders. Her skin was also glowing from being tanned, a stark contrast with her pearly white smile and outfit, which consisted of just a simple white dress that somehow seemed elegant and expensive on Ella.

At that moment, Ella looked straight at Damien, a warm smile replacing her shy one. "Hey," her hazel eyes lightened with recognition.

Damien gave her a small grin, glad that she returned healthy and happy. "Welcome back."