Alone time was good. It gave her a chance to settle, to mull things through, and mostly to let her temper smolder in the privacy of her own thoughts. Of course, such a luxury was not afforded with a man like Eric in the building, and thus she found her sense of quietude rudely interrupted. Where most other officers gave her space, unwilling to deal with her explosive, irrational temper, it was no surprise that the lab geeks would instead march right up and incite the bear right in her cave.<br/><br/>"Okay, really?" she grumbled, leaning back in her seat with her arms folded tightly across her chest in a blatantly standoffish way. "Isn't one instance of blackmail in the last twenty-four hours enough for you? I thought I kept my so-called crazy and improbable hunches to the side quite well today, and already you're back to antagonize me some more."<br/><br/>She sighed, shaking her head. "But this just fuckin' figures. I work my ass off and it comes down to<em>you</em>getting to decide." She gave a harsh, bitter laugh to punctuate the irony of the whole situation. "Well, great. Guess you get to fuck with my job as well as my pride, that's really fantastic, man I love how this place operates. You certainly seem quite chipper to be in the position you're in, as well."<br/><br/>Pushing her chair back slightly, she tilted her chin up, looking at him with a scrupulous gaze. "You know, I'm just not so sure this is worth all the times I get fucked in this place. At this point it's not a matter of if, it's merely a matter of when."