Damages

He's baaaa-aaaaaaaack.

That's right, after a month or so of wandering about in the wilderness-foraging for berry smoothies and sustaining himself only with the finest raw fish his favorite sushi chef could provide-the home office's prodigal son, the incomparable #2, has returned.

Particulars are sketchy, but a couple credible details have emerged:

1. #2 was offered a big ol' tasty package from the Chopshop uptown, something like a cool mil base a year and untold dividends from reaping equity-partner-profit-sharing points. Plus, a name on the megafirm door, which would have made Mrs. #2 so very, very proud.
   
2. The clients in the Big Case, apparently not very happy with the Queen Bee's prosecution of their rights and pursuit of their restitution, gave her a vote of no-confidence and opted to throw the ball to #2, very much in clover at this point.

And yet, at the end of the day, what happens? #2 ends up right back where he started, in the very same dinky office down the hall from the Queen Bee's corner spread. She fires him-for no good reason, except for it being, perhaps, that time of month-he gets a job offer that any sane practitioner of the law would lop a limb off for, and he still comes crawling back to the Center for Co-Dependence and Underappreciation. #2 just can't take enough of the Queen Bee's #2.

(Note: when I say "that time of month," I don't mean to imply the clichéd euphemism for the fairer sex's menstrual cycle. Being at the far end of the menopausal spectrum, I'd be surprised if the Queen Bee's river was still a-flowing. When we say "that time of the month" around here, it generally refers to the phase when the gibbous moon is waxing, and odds are that someone on the home team is about to get their walking papers. Who knows why. Some have speculated that the Queen Bee has tendencies toward lycanthropy, but I think that's a little farfetched. Who sees werewolves in the city these days?)

So #2 comes back, and he brings the clients back with him. Everything in its right place, except we're just as screwed as we were before. The Queen Bee gets what she wants, but at what expense?