Tess held her folders close to her chest, and rocked back and forth on her heels waiting for Healer Donovan to arrive. She knew he was the Head Healer, and she felt her stomach clench at the idea of having to prove herself to him. She was lucky, at lot of her colleagues told her that.

No first year resident had been able to get a hold of him, and she was lucky. Luck was not always good to her, and relying on luck seemed foolish, but that's the type of girl she was. She had heard things too, all about him, and little things were good.

She knew he was a hard worker, but demanding, and apparently no one got it right on the first time. She wrinkled her nose as she realized that the other Healers gave her pitying looks, that was never good. Biting her lower lip she waited, like a lost child for him to arrive.

Chale walked from his office and towards the ground floor where he was to meet this supposed amazing healer who had broken all records of becoming a permanent healer. He walked through the halls with his chin raised high, giving occasional nods to people passing by. He was contemplating on how to find out how strong this woman actually was. He reached the floor and walked until he saw a woman who was holding some folders and rocking back and forth. That would be her. They were always so nervous. What did they think he was going to do? Jump down their throats?

He looked around at the other people who sometimes sent her compassionate looks, or even glares of jealousy. He rolled his eyes. "Do you not have anything better to do?" he asked annoyed at some of the nurses who were standing some feet away from her, simply staring. They scattered of as if he'd burned them.

He walked over to the woman. "Miss Black I presume," he said shaking her hand, "I'm Chale Donovan. Follow me." Chale turned on his heels and walked towards a conference room. He then looked behind himself. "Quickly. I don't have all day," he said impatiently.

Tess was wide eyed as everyone scattered like cockroaches. She looked around, as if she was abandoned and she was wide eyed as she first stared at him. He was handsome, they were right. Tall, but held a presence, something that she first took in by them all scattering by his gaze.

As he stuck his hand out, she tentatively moved her hand from the tightly gripped folder and shook it, her cheeks blushing automatically without meaning to. She was frustrated at her shyness, especially when he kept walking, his Healer cloak swishing as he did so.

She felt frozen to the spot, his gaze intimidating, she bit her bottom lip tighter.

"R-right!" she sputtered and rushed off behind him, trying to catch up to his much longer strides. "Thank you for taking your time on me"

Chale didn't look back when she thanked him. He simply nodded and made a sound saying he heard her. He then reached a conference room and walked in without knocking. People were sitting everywhere, laughing, chatting, eating. But when they saw him, everyone quieted down. Chale made a face. "This is a conference room. I trust you all have enough sense of direction to know where the cafeteria is, if not, I'm worried about whether or not you will understand the difference between a person's toe and a person's ear. Get out," he said.

He didn't have to repeat himself. The people quickly rose, making way to much noise in trying to be the first one to leave the room. He sighed when the last person left and closed the door. "Please, sit," he asked, his voice a bit lighter now as he looked at Tess.

He walked over to a chair and hinted to the chair opposite him. He then reached his hand out for her papers. "Your papers, please," he said calmly.

Tess was wide-eyed at how all the happiness was sucked out. It seemed as if he demanded power and people automatically gave it. She was impressed, and frightened beyond belief. She found herself simply standing beside him, her head peeping in trying to see what the fuss was all about, and once she did she realized those were the Healer's she looked up to and felt her stomach clench once more.

As they all dispersed, she gulped and walked in, only having the door closed behind her. She sat down across from him, cheeks red as she forced herself to calm down, with her heart pounding against her ears. She looked at her folder and handed him the folder carefully, not wanting to be the clumsy person she usually was.

Chale started reading through the files. It was impressive, indeed. He almost worried a bit. He then looked up at her with small eyes before looking down at the files again. "This is very good work. I see you managed to get yourself into the pediatrics within the year. That's an impressive feat," he said calmly, eyeing her.

She wasn't suffering of anorexia or anything, she didn't have more bags under the eyes than what was normal of a resident, and she didn't look sick. Maybe she had a knack for it. He leaned back in his chair, still studying her, not caring if the intensity of his eyes were uncomfortable. He wondered if there were any spells that had gotten her through it, but the healers training them would check every day, so no. She must be a natural then.

Chale leaned forward again. "Why do you think I agreed to see your files today, miss Black?" he asked her slowly.

Her nervous posture was clear; she was nibbling her bottom lip. Check. Her hands wringing together. Check. She was lucky that they were hidden under the table. The last sign of her nervousness was that she avoided all eye contact simply staring at the file before her. Only one thing was different from her usual nervous expression: she had a small smile.

She might not be able to be confident, or demand attention from a room like Healer Donovan, but she worked hard. She had studied, studied hard, had sleepless nights, stressing over her tests. She found herself in her flat, crying as she heard the rumors roaming in the Hospital, but now she was stronger. And while she saw herself as more confident, it seemed that with him, there could be no one to match his intellect nor his power, and no one could match his confidence and especially not her.

"Thank you" she said breathlessly at the compliment, a smile fulling gracing her face, her cheeks showing her glee she desperately tried to hide.

But as he stared at her, her smile dimmed, and her gaze landed on him accidentally. His gaze was too strong,and looked away to stare at the window, and ignored her flushed state travelling down her neck.

Merlin he'll think I'm always red!! she thought forlornly.

She cleared her throat trying to gain some composure, but she wiggled uncomfortably in her chair as she felt his intimidating gaze.At his question, she looked right at him and lowered her gaze once she noticed he was still staring.

"I-I-I think.." she stuttered, before closing her eyes and taking a breath. Once she was ready, she tried to speak once more. " Today you are looking at my files, because you are questioning whether I am qualified to move from the nursing and pediatrics department, and perhaps if I have enough moxie to specialize"

At the end of her short comment, she looked at him, at least as long as she could, showing her determination, though it wavered through his expressionless face. Her cheeks were cooling down, and she found herself ignoring her sweaty palms and trying to be the grown woman she told herself she was.

Chale looked at her when he was done with the file. He noticed that she didn't look up at him. He cracked his neck a bit, feeling a tingle of annoyance at the woman for being so nervous. Sure it was about her career, but he wasn't going to sack her or anything. Why would she be nervous?

He decided to let her be for the moment, knowing that demanding her to look at him wouldn't exactly calm her nerves. He didn't say anything when she thanked him for the compliment he gave her. It was enough to say it once. Otherwise it would lose it's impact when he did decide to say more about it. He noticed the red color on her cheeks, and another tingle hit him, but he ignored it. He then raised his eyebrows as she started speaking. Or stuttering at first.

He listened to what she was saying and then shook his head slowly, looking up into the roof. "That is not why I have summoned you here. That is just a contributing factor. Yes, I will evaluate how good your medical skills are, but that I will do on everyone else as well. Why I brought you here is because it is not usual for a person to reach this far in such a short amount of time. You are here because I got curious on how you managed. Not where it will lead you, but why it got you here already," Chale said calmly.

He then looked back at the file before putting it down next to her. "It is quite obvious that someone with the qualifications that you do, should not stay in the pediatrics. However, it is not as simple as to just throw you over onto another field. We do not have enough Healers, and we can't afford to lose a Healer from the pediatrics before a new one can take your place. But that shouldn't take long. I've studied one of the files of another Healer in the same group as you were in, and that person should be fine in the pediatrics," Chale said.

He leaned over the table and looked at her. "Now. What's the secret to how you got this far so quickly. And tell the truth, otherwise I will jump to conclusions," Chale said calmly.

Tess tilted her head as he explained. Part of her was humming in glee at the fact that she would be able to work more professionally and have someone take over the pediatrics wing. She was thrown into that position because people wanted to avoid children finding it either too tedious or some other excuse. This was a way out to something more, and though she might be competing with all the other Healers, she didn't care.

But at his mention of jumping to conclusions, she felt something in her, and she realized it was anger. Her pink cheeks, disappeared and she lowered her gaze trying to control herself. Closing her eyes she breathed in and out trying to be as mature as possible.

"You wouldn't be the first to jump to conclusions" she muttered.

She looked up at him, her frustrations were hidden, as best she could. But was it so hard to believe that she studied.

"Is it so hard to believe that I'm good at something; that I studied and made a commitment to my academics?" she asked him curiously. "Did anyone question you when you became the youngest head Healer since the construction of this building?"

Chale looked at her as he was giving her a rather kind speech when it came to him. He noticed how she seemed to be a bit pleased, and he instantly knew that he'd have to work her hard to get her at the level she ought to be. But he also noticed the rage. His curiosity spiked instantly. He studied her face and wasn't surprised at her tone when she spoke.

Chale kept his face calm, though he had heard of the rumors of this healer sleeping with the higher ups to get here there. Chale shook his head exasperatedly. Honestly. "You do realize that those conclusions people jumped to would've hurt me equally as much as you? Nothing, I repeat, nothing goes on in this hospital that I don't know of. Upgrades goes through me under every single circumstance. In other words, for you to sleep yourself through the medic classes, it would have to be with me. As far as I know, no such thing has happened," Chale said, though her rage pleased him; she'd go far.

"What I meant by jumping to conclusions was pills that got you more energetic and would give you more time to study. Not taking shortcuts. However, it is illegal to use medication to achieve your goals of this hospital, apart from on patients that need it, of course. I can see that you haven't used pills, and I am very aware that you're a hard worker. My question is why you are a hard worker? Why work so much harder than the others?" he simply asked her.

"As for conclusions people made about me, they said stupid things, but they all knew it wasn't true, because no one could sleep themselves to take over the highest position in St. Mungo's. Besides, I never let it faze me as I made it pretty obvious that I am good at what I do," Chale said calmly, his face in an unreadable mask.

Tess looked wide eyed and she instantly felt foolish. Of course the rumors would affect him as well and she wiggled uncomfortably, blushing at the insinuation that others made. For her, before when the rumors began to rise, she had no idea exactly what the people she was connected with were, they were like figures that she'd never expected to even be near. But now Chale, was one of them, the main one and she flushed at the idea that he knew of the rumors and she had misunderstood him.

"I'm sorry" she murmured lowering her head and tried ignoring her embarrassment as best as possible.

She felt that she was mucking everything up by her defensive nature. Merlin now that they had the meeting those people that left must have thought the worse. But she forced herself to avoid those thoughts, after all as long as she kept a job in general, it'd be good enough for her. But she felt that she had a shot, at doing better, since he didn't ignore her question rather answered it and showed that he had a faced a similar prejudice when he moved to the position he was now.

All these thoughts though, were interrupted at his unexpected question. It seemed like such a simple question but knowing him he didn't want a simple answer.

"Why am I a hard worker?" she repeated.

Mulling it over she sighed and knew exactly why. It was a personal question, something that she knew that she couldn't outright respond with, because for one thing it seemed childish and prideful. Clearing her throat, she placed her hands on the table gingerly as she tried to word her answer properly.

"In my family Healer Donovan, we get what we want and we all do well in our work positions. I work hard because it's necessary. Everyone expects so little of me; my age and my position bring speculation, and while I can't control my age nor the rumors, I figure I can give them one less thing to complain about. So I do my fourteen hours sometimes even more. And you know what I run on? Coffee, lots of it."

She forced herself not to roll her eyes, so she steadied her gaze instead.

Chale looked on as he saw her demeanor change. He raised an eyebrow. "You're sorry?" he asked, letting his annoyance shine through, but refraining from rolling his eyes. No guts after all then? He frowned as she seemed to be thinking harshly at everything he was saying and asking. She mulled over her answers and it did not please him. She was insecure. Tomato face.

"The only time you ought to be sorry, Black, is when your diagnosis is wrong and a patient dies or gets sick from it. In this job, everything you do has to be with a steady hand, no less. Not how you write your reports, not how you carry your food tray to a table. Everything must be with a steady hand. If you cannot do this..." Chale refrained from saying more, knowing she'd understand the consequences.

He looked at her in annoyance as she thought about what to reply to his question. Well, at least she took the question seriously enough. He then felt the annoyance ebb away a bit when she replied to his question with a fierce voice that seemed to grow stronger and stronger, its strongest being when she told him she ran on coffee. Maybe she wasn't completely lost. But red she was nonetheless.

"I see you're not a completely lost cause, tomato face," Chale said and rose, gathering his papers. "I'll make a healer of you yet."

He turned to the door, hoping she had guts enough to snarl or shout at him for his use of nickname.

Tess tried not to think of the consequences, she really didn't. But in reality she hadn't diagnosed someone incorrectly, always kept a steady hand when necessary, but she shivered at the consequences that hung in the air with his comment. He was annoyed by her, as if that was something new, but she was mad.

She dug her hands under the seat, gripping it tightly to reign in her rising anger. Her whole anger turned to absolute shock as she heard him calling her a name. 'Tomato face?' She looked at him shocked.

"TOMATO FACE?!"

She then realized that she had actually yelled it and froze. She stood up and her body tensed as she glared at the back of his head. How dare he?! She needed to be a respected, she worked hard on her job! And she was a Healer!

She gritted her teeth and her whole face got redder despite herself. She wanted to hex his bollocks off, and remove that smug expression of his face. She definitely got why people disliked him, hell she did too. She just hoped she could avoid him.

"That fucking git" she hissed to herself.