Who: Sara and Izzy Where: Verdant When: Thursday 18th April, mid morning What: Discussing Izzy returning to work Warnings: Low/None Status: Closed | Completed gdoc
Izzy couldn’t believe she’d been off work for a year already, but then she and Johnny hadn’t realised Max had reached 1 year old when he did so maybe it shouldn’t be such a shock. Still part of her was looking forward to getting back to work, she assumed Sara would want her back to bouncer duties and not the office work she’d done for a few months when she’d gotten too obviously pregnant and it wasn’t safe for her to do the security work. But she’d do whatever Sara needed. She’d spoken to Johnny and they’d agreed the evening/night work would suit them well since Johnny worked in the daytime which meant Izzy could still be with Max.
Entering the club she headed to Sara’s office, knowing her boss was expecting her, and knocked on the door before popping her head around with a grin, “Hey” she said.
***
Sara was thrilled when she got a message from Izzy asking for a meeting, hoping it meant that her best bouncer was ready to come back to work. They’d been managing without her since she went on maternity leave, but Sara enjoyed spending time with the younger woman and definitely missed her presence around the club.
“Hey yourself,” she said, turning her chair around so she could talk more easily. “Have a seat.”
Once Izzy was settled, she grinned. “Please tell me you’re ready to come back. If you’re here to tell me you’re quitting for good, I don’t want to know.” Maybe it was a little unfair to lay a slight guilt trip on her, but Sara never cared about being fair.
***
Izzy laughed, “I am definitely coming back” she said with a smile, Sara was a great boss and a good friend and Izzy had definitely missed her and her other work colleagues while she had been off. “And I want you to know how grateful I am for the maternity leave, it’s been really nice being able to be with Max but I am so ready to come back. I really need to be back among drunk people who need keeping in line” she winked.
Generally they never had much trouble and the club goers were decent people who wanted a good time, but there was always one or two who had one too many and needed to see the error of their ways.
***
“I guess being a bouncer isn’t that different from raising a kid,” Sara said. It wasn’t like she had much experience with the latter, but she assumed that it involved getting puked on and dealing with temper tantrums from emotionally stunted people.
She was relieved that Izzy was coming back. “How is the little guy doing?” It was obvious that Izzy looked great and didn’t even look like she’d gone through a pregnancy.
*** “Not really, though it’s a lot easier with adults - man handling them isn’t as frowned upon” she grinned, and she missed adult interaction. She had to admit that was different.
“He’s great, definitely becoming his own little person. More each day. It’s a bit daunting sometimes when Johnny and I don’t feel like we know what we’re doing but it’s working so far” It was no secret that Max had been a surprise to the couple but they were doing their best.
***
It wasn’t like Sara would have any clue what to do with a kid, so she was pretty impressed that Izzy and Johnny managed to get this far with theirs. “You haven’t broken him yet,” she said. “I’d count that as a win.”
Sometimes her standards were probably a little too low.
“So when do you want to come back?” she asked. “You can start whenever and work whatever shifts you want.” Sara wasn’t going to be picky about that sort of thing. They’d managed without her thus far and she would be happy to work around whatever Izzy needed.
***
“That’s pretty much our outlook too” Izzy admitted with a grin and a shrug, they were fairly nonchalant with it all and so far it was working well for them.
“Thanks Sara, how about Monday? Weeknights should be easy as Johnny will be home when he’s finished work and we can work out weekends, if we can play that by ear for a while it’d be great. Just until we see what pattern we have with Max for weekends” She’d be flexible but she wanted to make sure they had family time.
***
Sara nodded. “Works for me. I’m just glad to have you back,” she said. “It hasn’t been quite the same without you.” And at this point, Izzy was one of the few employees she had that she hadn’t hooked up with. Sara wasn’t always the greatest boss.
“We can start off with just a couple days a week and work our way back up to full time,” she said.
***
“Aww thanks, I’ve definitely missed you too. Looking forward to being up with all the latest gossip too, I absolutely have been out of the loop” she grinned, Izzy didn’t think it was a bad thing for Sara to have fun - employees or not. As long as it was all consensual and good for all involved she didn’t think it made Sara a bad boss.
“Sounds perfect” Izzy said with an appreciative smile, “So how are things going? You okay?” she asked.
***
Okay was always a relative term in Sara’s world. “Things have been going pretty well,” she said. “We’ve been doing good business and haven’t lost anyone in a while.” She hesitated to even say that for fear of jinxing them, but she figured if it happened, it would happen regardless.
“You know how life is around here.” There was always something going on, but none of it had been particularly terrible for Sara lately.
***
“That’s always a good thing” Izzy said, losing people was probably the hardest thing about living in Madison. Even harder than the random crappy events that tended to be thrown at them all. Experience had made Izzy cherish the time her loved ones were here, because you never knew when they would be taken away.
“Oh yeah, I keep thinking we’ve been lucky not to be too involved in the last couple of weird occurrences but then I wonder if that just means we’ll be hit harder the next time” she gave a wry smile.
***
“It’s weird how being here is simultaneously calmer than home and yet somehow also more nerve wracking,” Sara remarked. There was a lot less chance of getting into a potentially fatal situation in Madison Valley, but you never knew when weirdness was going to happen. At least when she traveled on the Wave Rider, she knew that she was putting her life on the line.
She shrugged. “Oh well. At least we’re never bored.” And anyone who ever said they were tended to regret it pretty quickly. Yes, Matt Murdock, she’s looking at you.
*** “I know exactly what you mean, you can never entirely relax here, there’s always something lurking, ready to happen” Izzy agreed. Less life threatening for sure but definitely weird. Sometimes Izzy preferred life threatening, at least she knew how to handle that.
“That is very true. Madison Valley is never dull”
***
Life threatening was easier to deal with than emotions in Sara’s opinion. Not that she was going to share that thought. “You want a drink before you have to head out?” she asked. Nothing on her desk couldn’t wait another half an hour if Izzy wanted to kick back and relax for a few minutes.
***
“Sure, that sounds good” Izzy nodded, they could both enjoy a few minutes break from their respective responsibilities before they headed back to them. Izzy figured they both deserved it.