Can't I help you, ma'am? (Midori)

[Casper Cole]

Casper drank slowly from his coffee mug as he stared down at the workload in his arms. From his desk he'd extracted a few old, forgotten reports on some recruitment missions and bios on students who had long since graduated. He stopped to wonder who'd been in charge of the organization of those files before he'd come along a few months before. Shrugging it off, he took another pull from his mug and continued down the hallway.
The papers he was currently transporting were for an official named Midori Hawkins whom Casper hadn't had much of a chance to speak with in his brief time at the recruitment office. There were a few misplaced student bios (consisting of mostly their insurance papers, grades and semesterly progress reports) in which he needed their recruitment officer to sign off (in this case, Ms. Hawkins). Mostly, the signature just stated that an official had examined the kid and taken steps to ensure the child would be situated at the school well.

Boring as it was, it was the purpose for which he was crossing the whole damn office building.

He whistled quietly to a nameless tune that fluttered through his mind as he neared the office. Once more he took a strong pull from the black brew, welcoming it's awakening kick. Mornings were so hard sometimes.
After a good twenty feet, he reached her office. Balancing his now drained mug on the manila folder of papers, and rapped a quick tattoo on the door.

[Midori Hawkins]

Midori didn’t have time to be thinking about old files, or old trips, old students. She was trying to clear her desk, and it just wasn’t working. Between expense reports that hadn’t made their way to accounting yet, a few old coffee mugs (which had held hot chocolate, not coffee, thank you), and a few travel itineraries she wasn’t even sure were old or new. Yeah. Her desk was a mess. Which was unusual. She was usually very neat, and organized, and –

Okay, where the hell had just put her pen? She’d been signing off on some paperwork from her last trip, and the pen was MIA. She’d heard that being pregnant could make you forgetful, but this was insane. She’d just had it. She wasn’t paying attention to much outside the office. Lately, if she wasn’t on recruitment missions, she was holed up in her small office, trying to get things finishing up. She was well aware that she had a deadline. She’d need to hand things off to Willow and Stephen. And, if things went well, Casper. She hadn’t seen much of the boy, but she knew he’d started working as an intern. Eventually, he’d probably take over her job, while she was on leave. She sighed.

The knock disturbed her from her thoughts, however. She jumped and sat up straighter in her chair. Self consciously, she dragged her fingers through her hair, tucking it behind her ear and – there was her pen. “Come in?” Anyone she might have expected knew that knocking wasn’t necessary. And if it was someone like Vincent Verax, well... she didn’t exactly expect knocking from him.

[Casper Cole]

Cas was still balancing his mug on the folders when he took hold of the door and pushed it open. It opened all of about a foot and a half before colliding with an assortment of clutter on the floor. Unperturbed by the slight mess, he managed to slip in to the room and wiggle his way through haphazard obstacles to his supervisor's desk.

Sighing in relief, he turned to her desk and once again was forced to gape. Locating the most open portion of the desk (there really wasn't one), he grabbed his mug off of the folder and placed it on the paper-strewn tabletop. Clearing his throat, he stared down at his equally strewn supervisor. "Ma'am, I have a few reports that just need signing. I'll need them by lunch time, if it's not too much trouble." Sadly, Casper could see it might be a tad much for the poor woman.
He knew she was preparing for her future leave-- she could hardly do her work and juggle a baby. He could never do something so amazing as bring a child in to the world.

Then again, he could also never become pregnant. So...

Shaking the thoughts out of his mind. He tapped his cup and eyed her as she eyed the thick manila folder. She looked, he thought, a little distressed.

Or maybe a lot distressed.

"Ma'am, would you like some help with your... office?" He asked, spotting the multitude of coffee mugs from the other side of the room with disdain.

[Midori Hawkins]

Okay, so her office wasn’t that much of a disaster zone. It was just a touch disorganized. At least she knew where everything was. ... Sort of. Given enough time, she’d be able to find it. All she was trying to do was get things finished before she left. If that led to disorganization, so be it.

At least it was just Casper coming in. She recognized him, even if she hadn’t worked with him yet. She’d seen him in the halls, shuttling paperwork back and forth, going through files in an empty office. She really wasn’t sure what his job was, exactly, just that at some point, he would be starting to go on recruiting trips to learn the job. And as far as she knew, she was going to be the one showing him the ropes. Likely so the department wasn’t hit as hard when she went on maternity leave.

... God, she hated that phrase. Regardless of what Eli or James said, it made her feel like a complete invalid.

She looked up at the intern and nodded. Signing reports was easy. She held out her hand for them. At least they were something different from her current work stream. “It’s fine. I can do them now, if you have a few minutes.” At the very least, Casper was company. “... Ignore the mess. It doesn’t usually look like this.”

She had lots of things to be distressed about, but reports really weren’t one of them. They were certainly an interruption to her work flow, but at the moment, it was a welcome one.

At least until the question was posed. She scowled very slightly. It wasn’t that bad, was it? “... Is it really that bad?” She had to know. She spent nearly every day in here. She was used to it. So she’d forgotten what it might look like to an outsider. “You don’t have to. Really. I can do it later. I’m just... trying to finish things up, I guess.” She knew she had a few months yet, but it felt like so little time when she looked at her work. Maybe Casper would prove helpful after all.