“There is confetti on everything.”
“There is.” He laughs.
“That’s going to take an hour to clean up. Did you clear this with the cleaners first?” I ask.
“Sure did.” Josh holds up his broom and dustpan. “I don’t mind at all. I’m going to have some cake first, though. You should go and cut it, sir.” He puts down the cleaning supplies.
“What did I tell you?” Flint says. “We wanted to welcome you back and then just to say that we missed you. Jess was beside herself with worry. We all were. What you did went above and beyond. You are a true hero in every sense of the word. I’m proud to have you as my leader.”
“Thank you. It’s easy being a good leader with such a good team at my side. You guys are the best. I couldn’t do it without you.”
Everyone claps.
I’m beaming at this point. It feels good to be needed. I let the room calm into the low hum of conversation and the sound of drinks being opened, and I make my way to the cake table. I don’t know what kind of cake it is, but it’s three layers, and someone has put a dragon figurine on the top, next to the icing that spells out “Welcome Back, Magma” in blue.
I look at Jess. “Did you organize the dragon?”
She grins at me. “I sure did. Don’t you think he looks like you when you’re in your dragon form? I thought it was a nice touch.”
I look at the little figurine for another second. “I like it.” I laugh quietly. “Thank you.”
“Allow me,” Jess says.
She cuts me a giant slice. It is chocolate, which happens to be my favorite. I take a forkful, and it’s damned good.
“This is delicious,” I say, already going back for a second bite. “I’m tasting real chocolate.”
“Thank you. I baked it myself,” Jess says.
“I appreciate it.” I look around the room at all of them. “All of it. I’m sure you had a big hand in all of this.”
She shrugs, which means that she did.
Someone puts music on, low and in the background. A few of my staff drift back to their desks, and the workday begins to reassert itself around the edges of the party. It won’t be long before everyone is back at work.
I pick up my plate and carry my cake across the bullpen toward my office. Jess follows me.
I take a forkful of cake in the doorway to my office and turn back to her. “When you get a chance, can you pull the current duty roster for me and the overnight incident logs from the last week? Leave them on the desk when they’re ready. Oh, and the Council briefing notes from the last three sessions. I need to catch up on everything I missed.”
She already has her notepad out. “Done. Anything else?”
“The security review from the Mistveil detail.” I pause. “Actually, pull everything from Mistveil. Briefings, updates, the works.”
She nods once and goes back to her desk. I watch her start typing.
I go into my office. I close the door and put my plate on the desk. The streamers from the bullpen are still visible through the glass. Out there, the noise is still going.
It feels good to be back, almost normal.
Flint comes in without knocking and sits in the chair across from me. He has a slice of cake on a plate too, balanced onone knee, and he has a look on his face that almost resembles a smirk.
“What?” I ask.
“Did you ask Brook out?”
I put my cake fork down. “There’s a question I didn’t expect first thing back at the desk.”
“Well?”
