Appraisal

Author's Note: This is set before Jack and Clarissa join the Lyell Centre.

Clarissa was busy typing away at her computer when he appeared in front of her. She'd noticed him lurking out of the corner of her eye for some time now, just watching her. Clearly, curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had slumped down in a chair opposite her.

"What're you working on genius?" Jack asked using the affectionate nickname he had coined for her

"Nothing," Clarissa said, deliberately withholding the information to annoy him

"Clarissa," he whined "Please tell me,"

"Haven't you got anything better to be doing?"

"Nope. Anyway I thought I'd bestow on you the pleasure of my company,"

"Oh joy," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes "If you must know, this is your work appraisal," she said gesturing to the screen

"My what!" he said leaning over the desk to get a better view "How come you're doing it?"

"No one else wants to," she shrugged "And I know you better than anyone,"

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Jack sighed sitting back down "Can I help?"

"No,"

"Please?"

"No,"

"Pretty please?"

"No,"

"Pretty please with sugar on top?"

Clarissa groaned, realising Jack was in one of those moods "Will you stop annoying me if I say yes?"

Jack considered this for a moment "Fine," he shrugged "What have you written so far?" he asked

"Not a lot, since I seem to be distracted by a certain someone," she sighed "So let's get started. First of all, your name. I assume you can still remember that?" she said eyeing the dark bruise on his forehead that had clearly been sustained from one of his fights

"Of course," he said "Jack Hodgson,"

"Job title," she said "That's easy: pain-in-the-arse,"

"You didn't actually write that did you?" Jack said glancing at the screen

"No but I will if you keep annoying me," Clarissa warned him "Next part is about your punctuality,"

"I'm always on time," he said leaning back in his chair

"You have a skewed concept of time," she said rolling her eyes "You were late this morning,"

"I got caught in traffic,"

"Your shift started at 5:00am, how much traffic is there on the roads at that time?" she said incredulously

"Loads," Jack muttered moodily watching Clarissa tap away at the keyboard

"Right so I've written: always on time except when he not on time which is very frequently," Clarissa read off the screen and watched Jack screw up his face trying to work out whether she'd just complimented him or insulted him

"What's next?"

"Conduct," she said

"Uh-oh," Jack said looking guilty. They were both aware of his hot temper and his knack for getting into arguments.

On more than one occasion Clarissa had had to intervene and calm Jack down. When he'd first joined the team, he had been almost unbearable, getting into fights and scrapes on a weekly basis. He'd even received a warning in his first week on the job for getting into a public argument with a SIO.

But she'd eventually realised that the macho front that got him into so much trouble was really just a defence mechanism. Once she'd worked that out, she was far better able to anchor Jack when he got riled. It wasn't fool proof but he was getting into trouble less frequently than he had been.

"How about 'improving'?" she suggested and Jack nodded, grateful for Clarissa's eloquence with words

"What's the next part?" he asked

"This is about your work," Clarissa said scanning the screen "Now we both know that I'm the one that makes you look clever…" she said and whilst Jack began to protest he eventually realised that she was actually correct and thus kept his mouth shut.

Clarissa typed away and Jack watched as lines of text began to appear on the screen. He craned his neck and read what she was writing "Jack has shown considerable improvement in his work since joining the team. Although is lack of experience sometimes holds him back, he more than makes up for it in technical skills and the former is improving with each case,"

"What do you think?" she asked

"I knew that you loved me," Jack grinned "Deep down, under that tough sarcastic exterior, you're just full of sunshine and rainbows,"

Clarissa glared at him and began typing once more "Of course, Jack insists on pursuing hypothesises that are sometimes lacking in credibility and thus still needs a firm hand from more experienced members of staff to guide him,"

"Ouch…" he grimaced "I was wrong about the rainbows,"

"Any future goals?" Clarissa asked him "Apart from spawning Professor Dalton's babies," she said referring to his borderline obsession with the pathologist's work which was a source of endless amusement for her

"Setting up my own forensic science franchise," he said "But it will never happen,"

"Don't be so negative," she scolded "You have potential Jack. Don't get me wrong, at times you're an insufferable moron,"

"Thanks," Jack said sarcastically

"But you are good at what you do. You just need to refine it a bit more: both the behaviour and the science,"

"Thanks," Jack said and this time he was sincere

"All done," she said clicking on the print button

"Good," he said leaning back in his chair "Do I get to do your appraisal now?"

"No," she shook her head

"Why not?"

"I don't need one," Clarissa said "I'm just too brilliant to need one," she said and Jack grinned knowing that although her statement might have sounded arrogant, it was in fact very correct.

"Since you seem to like admin so much, do you want to fill in the rest of my paperwork?" Jack asked

"No,"

"Please?"

"No?"

"Pretty please?"

"No,"

"Pretty please with sugar on top…"