The Ministry.

"But he was trying to hit on me Nick! I could have been raped!"

"Oh, come now. Blaine may be arrogant and mean, but he's not a rapist."

"How do YOU know?"

"It just doesn't seem like him, I don't know. And all women are falling head-over-heels for him--except you--so it's not like he has to force anything."

Nicolas was relaxing in his office. For once, he really didn't have anything to do. Blaine was seriously ill so she couldn't be there to boss everyone around--thank God, Nicolas thought, I'll get some rest. He even had his feet propped up on his desk, like he was a teenager again.

There was Dwayne, the poor guy who was horrible rejected at the interviews who dropped off the daily mail. No, there weren't owls in this part of the Ministry of Magic, too dirty. And the magic flyers were banned since for some reason they always ended up in Harold's eyes.

"Letter for Eric Kire from... ahh, his parents," Dwayne whined out and set it on Eric's desk with a vague scowl inside Nicolas' office. He left a few finger prints on the letter since he had been sweating. He had been yelled at again.

Eric was gone for a bathroom break, and considering how big it was he'd obviously be gone for a while. It was strange, though, he'd never EVER spoken of his parents, nor ever EVER got anything from them.

"His parents, eh..." Nicolas mumbled, kicking his chair back to get up and strolling over to Eric's desk. He didn't say a word to Dwayne. That guy plain scared him. Indeed, the return address on the envelope included the surname Kire, so it must be from Eric's family.

Despite this being for his subordinate, Nicolas sat back down at his desk and gently opened the letter. He was Eric's boss--he had the right to know about Eric's personal life, especially if he didn't talk about it. At all.

Nicolas stared at the letter in his hands, open-mouthed. There was no way any parent could feel that way to their kid... no way! Even if they did... to be so open about it?

It had to be a New Year's joke or something. Had to. Yep. No way could Eric, such a nice and sweet chap, could get such a hateful letter or come from such parents!

Eric came back now. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked looking at Nicolas. "I don't think you'd want Rachel to see you like that!" he said and laughed a bit. He went to his desk and saw the open paper which the letter had been in. He saw the familiar writing on the front, and frowned. "Hey, what's this?" he asked strangely.

"I-It's nothing!" Nicolas stammered, snatching up the paper. Even if the kid hadn't heard from his parents in ten years, he didn't deserve such a letter. "Nothing at all. Nope!"

Eric's frown deepened. "Then what's this?" he lifted the envelope higher. Then he decided to drop it. "Whatever. It's probably nothing." he tossed the envelope in the garbage. "Do we have any paperwork?"

"Uhh, no," Nicolas murmured, and after seeing the frown on Eric's face, he decided something. Nicolas tossed the letter over at Eric. "Except for that."

Eric eyed Nicolas confusedly, then looked down at the letter. A minute later, after he read it, he just sighed. "Why didn't you tell me you read it right away?" he asked avoiding eye contact with Nicolas.

"It was only a few moments' hesitation," Nicolas defended. "I didn't want you to see it, it's so..." He searched for the right word to say, but couldn't find one.

Eric looked up. "I was physically and mentally abused as a child. That's why I left them a while ago. I went to stay with a friend, but he passed away at the battle." Eric said quietly. "That's pretty much it," he lied.

"... Oh." Nicolas felt worse, now. "I'm sorry, Eric. I hadn't realized that before."

"Of course you hadn't! It's not your fault, I never told you. I'm sorry."

"It was wrong of me to butt in," Nicolas went on to say, trying to shoulder less blame on Eric. "It's perfectly reasonable why you wouldn't tell me about this."

Eric looked up eventually at Nicolas. "R-really?" he said nervously, then looked back down. It was like he was his old self again. He didn't look as confident as he had coming from the bathroom.

Nicolas, who had never really seen much of this side of Eric (besides how nervous he was at his interview), was a bit surprised. "Really."

"Okay. Good. Either way, we're like brothers now, I should've told you."

Nicolas sunk into his chair, propping his legs up on his desk once more. "Nah. I don't deserve to be your brother. You haven't told me the full story about you. I don't tell you about my life and all that's happened to me, either."

"Either way, I should have mentioned it."

"Hey, check out what I picked up during my trip in America!"

Two of Nick's coworkers were hanging out in the hall during a break from work. One them pulled out a magazine that had 'Amish Babes' printed on the cover.

The other coworker took the magazine and flipped through the pages, frowning a bit. "What the heck? They're just lifting their skirts above their knees! There's nothing good."

But the first one just laughed. "I know! It's just a joke. Besides, I had a funny idea..."

And since Nick just so happened to be in the little boy's room, he carefully went into his office, and slipped the magazine into his briefcase.

The second one looked confused. "Wait, what? Why Sawyer?"

"Don't you get it? They practically live like Amish people out there... he'll probably think it's funny!"

That made the second one laugh. "Oh, I get it!"

And the two of them returned to their offices sniggering like immature teenagers.