Javier Peña sat at his desk, staring at the mountain of files and paperwork that cluttered the surface. The weight of it all seemed endless, each sheet adding to the growing stack of responsibilities that had become all too familiar. Through the fogged glass that covered one wall, he could see the faint silhouettes of people passing by, but he didn’t pay them any mind. There were bigger things on his plate, things that needed attention more than the noise outside his office.

Around this time, he had been assigned a new partner—one he wasn’t particularly fond of. The two of them were oil and water, but Peña still made an effort to get along. He’d learned long ago that partnership, no matter how begrudging, was still partnership. With a small grunt of annoyance, he glanced over at his partner, who was doing their best to stay focused on their own stack of work.

Despite everything—despite the tension, the differences—they were still his partner. And for better or worse, he had to make this work.