Carter sat back in his chair and thought for long minutes. Peabody had just dropped a crap-ton of information into his lap, and it took him some little time to process it all.
Finally he came up for air and looked at the two men.
“Peabody, you’ve just made so many excellent points, I lost count along the way. Yes, you’re right; we need to modify those regs, and for just the reasons you enumerate. And yes, you’re right; Nick does have the dual experience, and you have only the singular experience, though yours is somewhat longer…”
“But I still have to make sure that everyone here trusts me, sir,” Peabody pointed out, earnest. “That’s one of the hugest differences between Nick and me. And I don’t want to run a division if my people don’t trust me. I don’t want to run a division if the people in other divisions don’t trust me. Not in this current organization. I want to know everyone trusts me – and with Nick, they already do. And we all know it.”
Carter turned to Ashton. “Nick, are you okay with that?”
“With… with staying the division lead?” Ashton asked, uncertain and apparently slightly boggled.
“With being made the permanent division lead,” Carter corrected. “As in, you don’t get replaced unless and until you choose to step down from the job.”
Ashton turned to Peabody.
“You sure you don’t want it, Win? ‘Cause with those as the criteria, there’s really only us two, at least right now. Maybe if somebody transfers in…”
“There won’t be any more transfers into the Investigations division,” Carter said. “We ran out of those invitations a while back. Those who were going to accept have already done so, and transferred to Sintar. We’ll get newbies out of the Academy, and Maia’s told me the Team is available if we need extra hands. But no. It’s just you two at the top of the ladder.”
“And yes, I’m sure,” Peabody said softly, putting his hand on Ashton’s shoulder. “I don’t want it any more. You’re better at this, more understanding of the people under you, than I ever was. And maybe more than I ever could be. Though I plan to watch and learn.”
“You show promise, Peabody,” Carter said. “And you’re not really so very much older than Nick, here. You never know what’s in the future, and I’d like to see the two of you working together on a couple of little projects, I think. Nick? What’s your answer?”
Ashton scratched his head, then shrugged.
“I’ve been doing it this long,” he decided. “I guess I’m kinda used to it now. It’s starting to smooth out more and more, as we get things more organized and running. The fact that you’ve finally got a good leader over the beat cops took a big-sized rock off my shoulders, anyhow. Investigations, I can handle… I think.”
“And it will smooth out a great deal more in another couple of months, when we move into the new building,” Carter pointed out.
“True.”
“If it helps at all, Nick, I’m always around if you want to pick my brain on anything,” Peabody offered. “I think I can at least tell you how not to do a thing!” They laughed.
“Good. Yeah, Win, that helps,” Ashton admitted. “More than you know. So… yeah, Lee, I guess I’m all right with it.”
“And that’s just what I was hoping to hear,” Carter said. “What I think would be good, if I might suggest, is to make Peabody the backup, the assistant lead, if that’s all right with you both. That way, Nick – well, we all know that being a new parent takes it out of you, and there’s times you’re going to need to stay home with the baby, even with child-care…”
“That’s really true,” Ashton agreed. “I sort of wanted to take some parental leave after the baby is born, but there hasn’t really been any way…”
“I’d be glad to help out that way,” Peabody agreed. “And for that matter, so would Pete Stone.”
“True,” Ashton confirmed. “Backup to the backup, maybe. Or dual backups, sorta.”
“Excellent,” Carter decreed. “I like that even better. You put in for that parental leave, Nick. I’ll put out the official word tomorrow on all of this, at the same time I announce the revamp for the regs on who can run what, when. I’ll probably want to ping Consul Saaret, if not the Emperor, but it’s only a courtesy; I think it needs doing, and doing immediately. And I intend to rewrite those regs, personally, before I leave today.” He nodded at Peabody. “My compliments, Winston, if I may be so familiar. You are indeed a man of honor, and it shows.”
“Thank you, sir, and I’d be very pleased to have you call me Winston, or Win, as my friends do, on a regular basis,” Peabody said, shooting an aside smile at Ashton, “though I know that probably needs to be an off-duty designation. In
