Tara followed behind Warren and forced a smile as they walked toward the entrance of the FBI headquarters. On the plane, Warren had tried to reassure her that there was no way she would lose her job, but she had seen a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, which made her feel increasingly uneasy.

As much as Tara wanted to believe it, there was a part of her that knew Reindhart wouldn’t take kindly to the rash decisions she made. After all, she defied him. She made a decision that could’ve gotten her killed, that could’ve gotten Warren killed, and she knew that even though it solved the case, it was unlikely that Reindhart would be okay with all that led up to it.

Tara and Warren reached the elevator and stepped inside. The doors closed and Tara felt her palms sweat as she watched the elevator rise above each floor. One. Two. Three. Each time, the elevator made a ding noise as it moved past the floor. They were getting closer and they stood in silence until Warren looked over.

“Relax, Mills,” he said as he patted her on the back, clearly aware of her anxiety.

She didn’t even have a second to respond before the doors opened onto their floor and Warren walked ahead, soon reaching the large glass doors of their division and holding them open for her.

She could hear the hustle and bustle of the office before she even stepped through the doors—people talking, footsteps with purpose—but the second Tara and Warren entered, letting the office door shut behind them, it all stopped. The footsteps came to a halt, and the chatter lowered into gossiping whispers. Tara and Warren stood there a moment and Tara looked around her. All the faces that a second ago had other thoughts on their mind, now looked straight toward her.

Tara felt her face begin to blush. All eyes were on her and Warren, and she knew exactly why. She watched as the eyes around her stared at her bandaged arm and Warren’s sling before moving up to study their faces. Tara’s eyes shot to the floor.

But all of a sudden, she sensed movement and Tara lifted her head. An agent, who was sitting at his desk a moment ago, now stood with a smile on his face as he started clapping. The rest of the room looked toward him and Tara began to relax as one by one, each person at a desk stood up and began to clap too, while the others standing followed their lead. She felt a hand pat her on the back and she looked next to her to see Warren smiling.

“All right, settle down!”

The moment came and went quickly as eyes shot behind them to see Reinhardt standing at the end of the row of desks. Each person quickly turned back to what they were doing as Reindhart locked eyes with Tara.

“You two, come to my office,” he said as he abruptly turned on his heels.