Never Judge

"Cedric." Ian greeted as he entered the office with Dave, Mae, and even Mien in tow.

Cedric looked at Mien and raised his eyebrow at Mae. 

"What? He wanted to help." She said with a shrug as she found a spot in the room to set up her things. 

"Mr. Cedric, my sister and I owe you way too much." Mien said as he sat down next to Mae. "I wanted to help in any way possible."

"Well, I guess Ayanna could use another set of eyes and ears." Cedric said as his sister entered the room with Nicole and Veronica right behind her.

"Nicole, what are you doing here?" Ian asked as he saw his pregnant girlfriend enter the room. "I said you could come to hangout but not to work."

"Cedric let Ayanna help." Nicole grumbled.

"Her pregnancy isn't as dangerous as yours." Ian said with a sigh as he tried not to raise his voice at Nicole. The last thing he wanted was for them to fight in front of everyone else.

"Ian has a point, Nicole." Ayanna said as she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. 

"I'm a doctor, I know my limits." Nicole argued.

"Maybe Nicole can help with some light work?" Veronica suggested as she joined the conversation. "I mean Ayanna can't do the task that Cedric gave her without Nicole."

Ian frowned and turned to look at Cedric, asking his friend for help. He didn't want Nicole to get mad, but at the same time he didn't want her to overwork herself.

She was already quite busy running Saints Hospital, helping with the plan against Lucius Ting would only make things more difficult and dangerous for her.

"Ian, I'm sorry." Cedric said with a frown, he already knew that his friend would not be happy with what he had to say. "I think the girls are right, we need Nicole to help and I know you just want to keep her and the baby safe, but we need her right now."

Ian frowned, he had somewhat already expected this answer from Cedric. He knew that there was nothing he could say or do to change things.

"Fine, but please keep work to a minimum." Ian finally agreed to what they wanted. 

"Mien will be there to help them and in addition to Nicole's bodyguards I'll have more people watch over them." Cedric said with a nod as he tried to calm his friend's worry.

"Why would they need more guards? Are they going somewhere?" Ian asked, confused with what Cedric had just said.

"There is a chance that they will need to go to the Chan family. Not everything is available online or can be done over the phone." Cedric explained to Ian.

"I thought this was all desk work?" Ian asked as he raised his voice at Cedric.

Mae, Dave, and Mien all slightly shrunk back, very few people would dare raise their voice at Cedric and they didn't expect Ian to be one of them.

Although the two were good friends, Cedric had still been Ian's boss for a long time and Ian owed a lot to the Reyes Family.

To the surprise of the assistants Cedric simply got up and patted his friend on the back. This was the last reaction they would have expected from Cedric.

"You are about to let your temper get the better of you again." Cedric reminded Ian. He knew about his friend's struggle.

"Can I speak to you?" Ian asked. "Alone." He added as he refused to look at the other people with them in the room.

"Sorry guys, but I think we need to settle this with just the two of us." Cedric said as he gave Nicole an apologetic look.

"I should be allowed to stay, I'm the mother of your children." Nicole said stubbornly.

"You're the reason he wants everyone to leave." Cedric said as he spoke for his friend who was about to snap.

"Please Nicole." Ian begged.

"He will lose his temper and he doesn't want anyone to be in harm's way." Cedric said with a frown.

"What about you?" Dave asked Cedric.

"Trust me, I've known Ian long enough to know how to handle him when he gets like this." Cedric said as he spotted Ayanna trying to get Nicole out of the room.

"Don't worry, I won't beat him up." Ian said with a laugh.

"I doubt you can beat him up, Cedric." Nicole said as she rolled her eyes and finally gave into Cedric and Ian's request, leaving the room.

Everyone else soon followed suit and the two men were alone in Cedric's office.

"You know full well how dangerous going anywhere close to the Chan family is for Nicole!" Ian shouted.

"It's for her family, Ian." Cedric said as he remained calm, unwilling to raise his voice at his friend. 

"We are walking into that fucking bastard's trap if you let my wife go and investigate this!" Ian said, still angry at Cedric for putting Nicole in a dangerous position.

"There is no other option." Cedric reasoned.

"She has a fucking older borther! She has Eric and Miguel, fucking send them!" Ian shouted. "Do you think Eric will let you risk his little sister and his nephew?"

"Of course he won't, but Eric won't get the answers that we need." Cedric explained. "To them Eric is still a threat, he is the rightful head of the Chan family and they will keep any plots and secrets they can use against him."

"And what of my very pregnant wife?!" Ian questioned. "To them she is the biggest threat, she is the one running the fucking company!" 

"It's like you don't know the Chan family, Ian." Cedric said with a laugh.

"What do you mean?" Ian asked as he slightly calmed down.

"Nicole is a woman, in that misogynistic family they will ignore her, they don't even think she's a threat." Cedric said with a grin. "Many of them think it's either you controlling her or her brothers. They will tell her things just because they think she is weak and could easily be manipulated."

"I'm not sure. . ." Ian said as he considered what Cedric had just told him.

"Ian, Nicole is like a little sister to me, know that I would never put her in harm's way." Cedric said as Ian slowly nodded, giving in to his friend's plan.

Ian might not like it, but he knew that arguing with everyone else at this point would do him no good.