A few moments later, she heard the voice of one of her coworkers speak to her.

"Officer Winchester?" he said.

"You look a mite stressed." he commented.

"Care for a drink?" he asked.

"There's fresh coffee in the break room, meaning there's still some precious few minutes before it turns into the swill we're all used to." he told her. "If you like, I can grab you a cup." he then offered.

The one known as Vic just smiled softly.

"Sure thing, Averie." he replied.

"I'll grab one." he told her. "Back in a sec." he said.

With that, he disappeared from where he was, and returned a few minutes later, a piping hot coffee in his hand, made just the way she liked it.

"Current case stressing you out, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think the guy's either tweaked, or he's doing this because he knows our evidence is flimsy, at best."

"This could go either way." Vic sighed.

"And yeah, it's no secret the boss resents you." he told her.

"Just... yeah, nobody can prove it, but the department knows it." he went on, shaking his head slightly.

"Don't be surprised if you get called in to get yelled at for letting the guy play the lawyer card." he then said further.

"But other than this case, how are things going for you?" he asked.

"....there's no reason for you not to get it." Vic responded after a pause.

"But the boss is... well... he's been in a bad mood lately." he told her. "Like, even for HIM." he said.

"Good luck." he then told her.

"If I could help, I would." he said.

"Sadly, we're all pretty much powerless against him." he then lamented.

Vic just chuckled lightly.

"It's rare, but it DOES happen." he said.

"And... well, as I said, good luck." he repeated.

"You may need it." he told her.

He then excused himself and left the room. He still had work to do.

There was silence on the other side for a moment, before she heard a growly grating voice.

"Unless it's important, scram." he said.

Averie merely sighed, and entered the office, causing the man to look at her, and narrow his eyes.

"Oh." he said.

"Winchester." he greeted her, formally and bluntly, with derision in his tone.

"I assume you're here because you've got a break in the case." he then said. "Can't be any OTHER reason you'd show your face here so soon." he reasoned.

Charles stopped writing for a moment, and Averie saw the pen his was holding start to shake and bend a little. It was clear that anger was coursing through him, and the pen was on the verge of snapping right there.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"You've come here to say that, not only has there been no progress, you've allowed him to stall and lawyer up..." he went on, trailing off a little.

"...but you have the GALL to bring up TIME OFF!?" he exclaimed, throwing the pen down on the floor.

Charles was gnashing his teeth now, and she could hear it.

"You've got quite the attitude, Winchester." he snarled.

"Ever since you got all chummy with that quack of a so-called 'doctor'." he went on.

"I don't know what you're doing to him, or for him, behind the scenes, but it's still bull that he comes to protect you on this." he growled further.

"Don't like him, anyway." he then muttered.

"Pretty sure he's one of those freaks." he mumbled further.

Charles responded to this by narrowing his gaze at her.

He then shuffled through his papers, before finding her request for the time off.

He lifted it up, showed it to her, and then crumpled it up in his hand, letting the ball fall to his desk.

"Get out of my office, and get back to work." he ordered her.

"NO time off until this case is SOLVED!" he then barked.

On her third try, the phone was answered.

"Hello, Dr. Fyrane speaking." Lindsay answered.

"It's Averie." Averie responded.

"Averie? Is there an issue?" Lindsay asked in response.

"....hang on." he then muttered, before there was some shuffling.

"Does this have to do with lunar cycles, perchance?" he asked her.