Eric stood outside of the break room for a moment and curiously watched the expression on Marion's face.  It slowly became more and more severe, likely as she let her guard down because she thought she was alone.  He surmised that she was even more unhappy than he was about Gonzales' promotion.  The man didn't deserve to be bumped up to a higher paygrade, if anything demotion should've been the reward for the quality of work he'd done lately.  Most everyone knew she deserved what he got, that was probably why she sat alone.  The others were smart to give her wide berth.<br/><br/>Throwing caution to the wind Eric entered the break room and sat across the table from Marion quietly.  He picked at his black polo shirt for a moment in silence, adjusting the seams so that they took the proper perpendicularity, then finally spoke, "That's not the end of this round of promotions.  Like the boss said, they're looking for a few more sargents.  I happen to have the list of candidates that are up for promotion... He wants a review of their cooperation with Forensics.  Gonzales is on the list, but I was every bit as surprised as you were today, I figured that he wouldn't be selected..."<br/><br/>"Looks like the boss jumped the gun just so he could get outta here sooner and leave less crap for his successor to deal with.  You're on the list -- I've been thinking about what to say.  I told him I'd put in a factual report, but we both know you can make numbers say anything you want.  The numbers, unaltered, don't exactly say much positive about your relations with Forensics though."<em>Do I admit I feel a little guilty?  No, no, any sign of weakness and she pounces on it.</em>"I want to give you a good review but you don't make it very easy for me to.  And I kind of doubt you're going to change the way you do business."<br/><br/>"So... Guess we're at an impasse.  You want a promotion, and I want a coworker who is less of a bitch."