Ritsuko sighed as she switched off her laptop. Once again she was the last of the day-shift staff to leave Nerv central and she knew that she would probably be the first one in tomorrow morning, but that didn't really bother her. After all, she loved her work, didn't she? She slipped off her lab coat with a sigh, picked up her jacket and began to make her way out of HQ. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The corridors leading out of the building were by now usually more or less deserted. Ritsuko was therefore somewhat taken aback by the sound of sobbing coming from the ladies' bathroom near the exit. She was even more surprised to find, upon opening the door, one of her senior technicians curled up in a corner, knees drawn to her chest with her head in her hands. "Maya?" The younger woman did not look up. Ritsuko paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. As much as she liked Maya and wanted to put a stop to whatever had happened to cause her upset, dealing with human emotion was not exactly a strong point of hers, nor was it something she was particularly comfortable with. She decided to act on her first impulse to comfort Maya, abandoning any professional boundaries, she knelt down next to her and placed an arm-somewhat awkwardly-around her shoulders. The older woman felt her stomach wrench as her compassionate side observed the pain expressed by her assistant. Without warning Maya wrapped her arms tightly around Ritsuko's waist and wept into her shoulder. The words muffled by her jacket, she just about managed to pick out the phrase "Sempai.I'm sorry" repeated several times by the brunette. "Maya, shh, it's okay, it's okay, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Maya pulled away slightly and her appearance pained Ritsuko even more than her plaintive sobs had. The usually pretty, smiling younger woman looked completely drained, her face pale and her eyes red, with grey circles that hinted at several nights of insomnia. This was not the content, motivated console operator who worked so well during the day, it was almost difficult to believe that this was the same Maya Ibuki with whom Ritsuko was familiar. "I'm sorry sempai, I shouldn't.I shouldn't behave like-this-I mean.I guess I knew she was.but I thought.I mean, hoped that we could.we could work through it like last time but now, now, she's left, with a man.she's.she's." A fresh wave of tears began their descent along Maya's cheeks. Ritsuko's heart went out completely to her. The breakdown of a relationship was almost always devastating and from what little she had learned of Maya she and her partner had been living together happily since before Maya had joined Nerv. She hadn't known however that Maya's partner was another woman, not that it mattered, the fact barely registered as out of the ordinary. Not that it should, to Ritsuko of all people, but for now that was irrelevant, Maya deserved all of her attention at the moment. She had clearly lost something of great importance to her and the removal of love went hand in hand with such dreadful pain. The bathroom of Nerv HQ certainly wasn't the best place for the exchange of the comforting words and reassurance Maya was so desperately in need of right now. "Maya, do you want to go for a walk? We can get coffee or something, if you need somebody to talk to now, I'm willing to listen if you want me to." Maya looked shocked for a moment, then nodded gratefully with a weak smile. They stood up simultaneously and, feeling more than a little protective of the other woman, Ritsuko took Maya's hand firmly but gently and led her out of the building. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Maya was shivering in the night air, so Ritsuko placed her jacket over her protégée's shoulders, a move received surprisingly enthusiastically, Ritsuko noted. The doctor observed the "closed" sign on the final café of the street they were on and glanced at her watch. "I can't believe everywhere is closed, it's barely 10pm, I'm sorry Maya." She sighed "The least I can do now is walk you home." Ritsuko's proposition made the petite girl begin to weep softly again. Ritsuko was a little alarmed by this, not sure which of her words had triggered Maya's reaction. "Oh God, Maya, I'm sorry, what did I do? I didn't mean to-" Maya shook her head and managed to reply, "I don't have a home to go to at the moment, I've been staying in a hotel for the past four nights, on the other side of the city." Maya coughed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "After I found out about her.I couldn't stay there, not under her roof, not knowing that she had betrayed me like that, and it was her apartment anyway, so I left. It's happened before, but she usually asks me to come back after one night. Then yesterday I called her." Maya's voice was nearing hysterical through her convulsive sobbing. "She said she doesn't want me back this time, that she's so sick of the amount of overtime I have to do, and that I never see her, and she's had enough of me, and that I was fun but she needs someone else, a man, and I was no use anymore." The younger girl crumpled into Ritsuko, who walked her slightly away from the roadside. She didn't want to draw any more of the unwelcome attention they had been attracting from the usual night time crowd of drunkards, juvenile criminals and prostitutes. Many a time she had wished that her area of Tokyo-3 was a nicer place to live and tonight was no exception. Maya had suffered enough for one day without being sniggered at by the dregs of society. "Maya." Her hysterical crying had calmed to silent tears and erratic breathing, but her despairing state was no less distressing for Ritsuko to see. She spoke to her softly. "Maya, I have a spare room in my apartment. It's yours if you want it for a night or two, just until you get back on your feet. I only live another three blocks from here and you're very welcome to stay tonight if it would make you feel even a tiny bit better." Maya looked up at her superior, a tiny glimmer of joy glinting in her deep, tear-filled eyes. "sempai.thankyou.thankyou so, so much." Ritsuko smiled benignly, once again embracing Maya gently.
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