Sam chuckled a bit. "You could do a lot worse than taking Hank Landry's advice. He's a good man, and he's gotten damn good at standing up to the IOA when he needs to."
When Max said she would be fine, she raised her eyebrows, suddenly pretty sure that she wasn't actually going to be fine. She was about to ask what was wrong, only to have her jaw drop at the explanation. Sighing, she rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. Here she thought Atlantis was home to some of the best ad brightest adults from Earth. Turned out there was a lot more children there than the IOA seemed to think.
"I am so sorry, Maxine," she said, looking up with her. "If I had known, I would had done something to make sure it was stopped." She understood why she wouldn't want to be seen as a snitch, especially considering the circumstances under which she came to the city, but that kind of behavior was really unacceptable, and Sam was going to make sure that something was done about it.
And when she mentioned her dog Bailey, Sam felt more anger rising. Woosley really was a bureaucratic bastard. "Don't worry. I'm going to make sure all of this is dealt with."
She knew, though, that just dealing with the problems Max had wasn't going to solve everything. Something needed to be done to actually make her feel welcome here. And she knew that started with the senior staff because that - really - was where the animosity had started at well.
"Look...several of us on the senior staff are having a picnic on the mainland in a couple of days. I'd like it very much if you'd come. It'll give us a chance to start over again."