Sophia arrived first, her movements precise as she arranged files with mechanical efficiency. Her eyes tracked Juniper’s restless pacing, noting how her friend’s path unconsciously avoided the chair where Daniel usually sat. “I brought those voir dire questionnaires you wanted,” she said gently, raising her voice over another thunderous crack. “And Roma’s team just dropped off new…”

“We’ll get to that,” Juniper cut in, her hand rising automatically to smooth nonexistent wrinkles from her blazer - a tell Sophia recognized from watching her friend wrestle with uncertainty.

The door opened to reveal Daniel, looking slightly disheveled and definitely late. His tie sat crooked, as if he’d been tugging at it nervously. “Sorry,” he managed, wincing at a particularly loud screech of metal on metal from above. “Traffic in the bottom tunnel was jammed.”

“Traffic?” Sophia’s eyebrow arched as she watched him claim the farthest seat - not his usual spot closer to Juniper. “Since when do you not bullet?”