A knock at the door jerked her head upwards. It couldn’t be Alec. He never knocked. Knocking at an office door seemed absurd when you’d peed in the toilet while the other person showered.

“Come in.”

When the door opened, she suppressed a groan. Frazer? Why? Just why?

“Hey! Sorry, am I interrupting?”

Cora leant back against her chair and gestured to the one across from her that Alec hadn’t bothered to sit down in. “No, take a seat.”

If there was anything Cora hoped for, it was that Frazer hadn’t heard the tail end of Alec’s exit. Like something toxic, she and Alec couldn’t bury it down until they were in the safety of their own home anymore, smaller things echoing repeatedly in the shadow of themselves, building to a cacophony. It made her…sad. And tired. And mostly frustrated that while it seeped into Cora’s consciousness, it was often Alec instigating it.

“Thanks.” Frazer slid into the chair like she’d done it every day of her life. How was she so comfortable in an environment she’d never been in? “So, I have a favour to ask.”

Startled, Cora laughed out loud.

Over the desk, Frazer simply smiled at her. “Shocking, I know.”

If Frazer wasn’t so arrogant, she could almost be charming. So that was why she’d been conversational in the hall.

Frazer shifted in her seat. “It was made apparent to me that, for some reason, if you need a favour, it’s more polite to simply ask with a please, rather than beat around the bush.”

“You’re attempt to talk to me this morning was um…”

“Obvious?” Frazer asked.

“With hindsight, yeah, that’s a good word for it.”

“I need help.” The words were said rapidly, as if Frazer had to force them out.

Well, that was unexpected. Cora blinked rapidly. “Wait, did you say you need help?”

“Yep.” That grin Frazer so easily gave popped a dimple in her left cheek again. It was a little crooked, quirked higher on that side. It was almost endearing. “I really do. I need this project to get off the ground, Cora.”

“And Alec is trying to cut down your funding to—what was it you said? Leave you throwing condoms at people?”

Something like a sheepish look flashed over Frazer’s face at that comment. “I need the funding. If you could meet some of the people this could help…”

“People? I thought it was focussed on women?”

“It’s focussed on all pregnant people.” The emphasis threw Cora off for a moment, yet Frazer continued as if she hadn’t noticed. “To begin, I’ll focus on teens, though we’ll broaden it to focus on a larger population when we find our feet. We already have a waiting list. We want them to have somewhere they can go and not feel judged, with a mentor they have access to throughout the pregnancy and into postnatal. The focus, in the long run, will be after birth, the support for the parent.”

Frazer crossed her legs, her fingers locking together over her knee. Clearly, she’d been in the delivery room today. She was no longer in her clothes from that morning but in baby blue scrubs. Sometimes Cora eyed those scrubs with jealousy—she’d love to dress so comfortably. They were like pyjamas. Instead, she was stuck with staff polo shirts or smart casual clothes.