Gemma and Jenny lay in bed staring up at the ceiling needing a moment of silence after hours of early mornings calls this company board members from both Ivo Tech and Kord Industries. This was all knew to both Gemma and Jenny they both had no idea how big companies were run. Not to mention that everyone considered them two naive girls that didn't know what they were doing.

"I'm still exhausted." Jenny muttered.

"I don't even know where to start." Gemma replied looking up at the ceiling wishing that she could just go back to sleep and pretend the last couple of days didn't happen. But there was still so much that they needed to do and take care of that any kind of real rest seemed impossible. 

Jenny groaned as she sat up knowing that they couldn't waste anymore time staring up at the spieling and feeling sorry for themselves. "Well, I need to go to my apartment and change. I'll meet you at Ivo Tech in two hours?"

Gemma nodded as she also sat up ignoring the headache that was slowly creeping in. She had pushed through sleepless nights before but this was different. "Yeah see you soon."

It was only 8:30 in the morning when Gemma slipped out go the house, the Reyes were all still asleep and after everything they deserved to rest well. She knew that they had a lot on their plate too with funeral preparations and dealing with what was left of their home so she tried to make as little noise as possible as she left. Now she waited anxiously for Javier to come to the front with the car. All the cars were parked in the garage that was located a little ways off from the main house. 

Her ringing phone snapped her out of her thoughts, but she felt her heart stop at Tom's name on the screen. He had been calling and sending her messages since she left and initially she had been ignoring him but after she simply hadn't found herself willing to deal with him. But there was only so much that she could put off answering his calls.

"Tom." Gemma said answered not entirely sure how angry he would be with her. 

"Gemma."  Tom said sounding surprisingly relieved that she had answered. It was a relief to know that he wasn't angry or at least he was being gracious enough to wait and be angry with her.  "You haven't answered any of my calls. I've been really worried."

"I know I'm sorry. But the last couple hours have been a little hectic." Gemma replied as she began to pace in front of the house the though alone of having to recount what had happened giving her anxiety. It was all something she definitely was still not ready to talk about. "I'll explain everything when I get back."

"Well, like I'm sure you already know that board is not happy about any of this. I also don't think I can push back your surgeries for the trails anymore."

Gemma groaned in frustration having completely forgotten about all the surgeries that they had scheduled for their trails. Not only was it going to delay all of their research but it was also unfair to all their patients that had to have their surgeries pushed back. "I'm taking the flying back tomorrow there's just a couple things I need to take care of here before I go."

"Gemma I'm really sorry about what I said when we last spoke."

"We can take about it when I get back." She dismissed quickly as she stopped realizing that Javier had now taken a long time to bring the car around. She still had a feeling like something bad was going to happen at any moment, and she recognized that was simply being paranoid at this point. "Thank you for taking care of everything while I've been away."

"You know I'm always here for whatever you need."

"Bye." Gemma said as she ended the call not wanting to go any further into the fight she and Tom had last time they saw each other. She had enough on her plate and having to worry about her friends currently wasn't at the top of her list of problems. But their fight needed to be addressed at some point Tom was her partner, her intellectual equal and they worked on everything together. 

"You look stressed." Jaime said causing Gemma to jump in surprise as she turned around to find him standing by the door. She wondered how long he had been standing there or how much of the phone call he had heard. 

Gemma nodded not wanting to say much because everything she was going through felt unimportant compared to what he was. The last thing she wanted to do was complain to Jaime. "There's just a lot of things I need to take care at back at Metropolis."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow." She replied and although Metropolis was her home she wished she could delay going back, but she didn't really have the luxury of pushing back her problems anymore. 

He nodded and as he stepped away from the doorway to stand in front of her and now that he was closer she couldn't help but notice that it looked like he hadn't slept all night. "No chance you can stay a little longer?"

"No, things were already rough when I left." Gemma admitted wishing that she could give him a different answer. It felt like there was still so much she needed to fix here with the Reyes. But the plane tickets were already books and she already had scheduled meeting beginning not long after her plane would land. "But how are you feeling?"

"I woke up this morning and... I just can't believe he's gone." Jaime said his voice almost a whisper   "A part of me feels like it my fault."

"It's not."' Gemma said immediately not sure what else to say. She had never been a very social person and she wasn't really sure what the right words were to console someone who was grieving. She didn't have many people in her life that would warrant her being someone that was good at giving advice. "I only knew your dad for a couple of hours but it couldn't be more clear how much he loved you. How much he loved all of you."

Jaime reached forward taking her hand clearly needing some kind of comfort. As his thumb caressed her hand she wondered if maybe she should have hugged him to give him comfort, but it felt too late for that. Or maybe it was because she really didn't know him and she didn't seem like the right person to console him in a moment like this. 

"Gemma." Javier called out as the car came to a stop in front of them. Gemma pulled her hand back as Javier opened the car door for her. There was a part of her that felt grateful for the interruption because she really didn't know what was expected of her in these kinds of moments. 

"Go. I don't want to hold you up." Jaime encouraged having noticed her hesitation to leave, it just didn't feel right to leave him when he was being vulnerable. 

"I'll see you later." Gemma told him as she walked away but she stopped before she got inside the car turning to Jaime who hadn't moved from the spot that she had left him. "If you need to use one of the cars the keys are in the box by the door the code is 2433."

Not waiting for his answer Gemma sat down knowing that if her father knew that she was giving someone who was technically a stranger to her access to his car collection that he would have her head. But she didn't car about cars or taking care of any of her father's processions in fact it brought her a little joy knowing that she was doing something that would make him so angry. Not that any of it really mattered. She had no plans of ever seeing him again, and he wouldn't never know considering that he was going to spend the rest of his day in a high security prison. 

Gemma was seated behind her desk watching Jenny pace back and forth. They had scheduled a press conference for tomorrow morning which they now had to prepare for. And after three hours of meetings and discussions they were far from done with all the work that they needed to do. 

"I've never had to do a press conference before." Jenny admitted her frustration making it impossible for Gemma to process it herself. Maybe it was the exhaustion that was driving them both a little insane. Though that wasn't a thought that Gemma enjoyed considering that the last thing she wanted to think about was that she could lose her mind her in her work the same way that her father had. 

"They're as awful as you're imagining they are." Gemma said remembering the one that she had to do two weeks ago after her father had been sentenced. It was crazy to think about how much had happened to her in a span of two weeks. It it had become clear that for her a normal life was impossible.

Jenny groaned as she practically let herself collapse into one of the chairs. "Thanks that makes me feel so much better."

"I'm sure you'll do great. You have one of those faces that cameras just love." Gemma stated firmly knowing that Jenny simply had the kind of presence that demanded attention. It would be easy enough for Jenny to get through it as she had experience talking in charity events, Gemma spent all her time in a lab or operating rooms.  "And anyway now that you're CEO of Kord Industries you're going to be doing a lot more press conferences."

Jenny remained silent for a moment gathering all her thoughts, the first time that they had actually given themselves time to really process everything that they had gone through and everything that they still needed. "I know it's awful that Victoria died but some part of me is excited to do this. To make the company what my father had envisioned again."

Gemma let a small smile tug on her lips knowing that in many ways Jenny was write. Victoria being gone was the best thing that could have happened to Kord Industries and Palmera City. Now Jenny could enact real change the way that her father had intended. "I'm sure you're going to do an amazing job."

Before Jenny could say anything her phone began to ring causing her face to drop in annoyance. "I'm sorry I have to take this."

"Use the conference room across the way." Gemma told her as Jenny walked out the door. 

Gemma picked up her pen and began to tap it against the glass surface of her desk feeling grateful for a moment too herself. Solitude was something that was her normal and being surrounded by so many people the last couple of days was overwhelming and new for her. 

Before Gemma could fins any kind of peace in her solitude a soft knock was heard from the other side of the door before Brenda Del Vecchio stepped into the office a large stack of files in her arms. All the papers were clearly difficult and heavy for her to carry on her own but she had somehow found a way to manage on her own. 

"Here are all the files you requested Dr. Ivo." Brenda said as she placed all the files down on her desk. Normally Gemma would looks everything up on the computer but after hours of staring at a screen she didn't think that her eyes could take it any longer. 

"Thank you." Gemma said as Brenda immediately turned away to head out almost like she was afraid that staying too long would be in the way. "Brenda wait."

"Yes Dr. Ivo?" Brenda questioned as she came to a stop, she was ready for whatever instructions Gemma was going to give her. At first Gemma didn't know why she had asked Brenda to wait, but it suddenly clicked what she had wanted. In Metropolis it felt as if she didn't have many people in her corner working at Ivo Tech, sure she had Tom but she more people that would be loyal to her. Everyone that was working there currently was hired by her father and she wanted her own people.

"Have you ever thought about transferring to our Metropolis location?"

Brenda looked confused and like she didn't fully understand what Gemma was asking her. "Metropolis?"

"I'm really behind on a lot of work back home and could really use an assistant." Gemma clarified knowing that she was asking a lot of Brenda. Asking this from her was a little crazy and Gemma was fully prepared to be rejected. She knew that Brenda wanted more than just being an intern or an assistant, and that was exactly what she was going to be offering her. "After that we can talk about getting you a position on the marketing team."

"Dr. Ivo... I don't know what to say." She replied a look of disbelief on her face, and Gemma realized that not everyone could just move at such a short notice. 

"Of course the expenses for your move will be covered if you accept."

"Yes! Thank you so much for this opportunity." Brenda exclaimed louder before looking a little embarrassed about her outburst, but Gemma like the excitement. She wanted people that would be as excited about the work as she was. "You really don't know how much it means to me."

Gemma felt an immediate sense of relief knowing that once she got back home she wouldn't be completely alone. With Brenda, Tom and Javier she felt like she could build a sold team that would support her through her work. "I know it's really last minute but I go back to Metropolis tomorrow morning. Would that be okay with you? You can have the rest of the day off to get all your affairs in order."

"I'll make it work. Yes."

"Perfect I'll book your flight and send you all the appropriate paperwork." Gemma told her knowing that this was only going to be more work that she would need to get down by the end of the day, but this was actually something that she was excited for. 

"Thank you again." Brenda said quickly before heading out of the door.

Gemma knew that once she got to Metropolis she wouldn't have a moment to herself to breath, she would be drowning in every more work and responsibilities. But now she felt a little more motivated and confident in herself that she would be able to get it done. 

A/N: Sorry you all now I'm a slow burn kind of girl. I personally like writing romantic tension and I know it can be kind of frustrating to wait, but I do promise that the wait is going to be worth it. Also considering everything Jaime has gone through it just doesn't seem like the right time for him to want to purse anything with Gemma. But I hope that you are all enjoying.