"Houston, we have a problem."

"What now," Kate asked, smiling apologetically at Kevin, who was sitting across the table from her at the Genoa City Athletic Club. "Does this have anything to do with the Kiss and Tell section, because I am not moving it, and why should? When it goes nicely before the Tiger Lily ad?"

"No, but speaking of tiger lilies-"

"What did he do?"

"Which he," asked Colleen?

"Your ass of an uncle, that's who."

"Billy didn't do anything...this time."

"Ooh, so it's was the white knight in toolish armor?" Kate said, and ignored Kevin, who raised an eyebrow.

"Kate," Colleen groaned. "Must you?"

She gave Kevin her profile, before answering. "If he's done something to upset Lily, then yes, I must."

Colleen wouldn't admit it, because Lily might be able to hear her, but at the moment, she felt exactly the same as Kate. "You, have a point."

"This must be bad. And how can it be bad," She turned to glare at Kevin, "When they are suppose to be in paradise?" She moved the phone from her mouth and hissed, "Why didn't you tell me they were back?"

"One, it wasn't my place, and two, you didn't ask." He hissed in reply.

"What do you mean it wasn't your place?"

"What happens in Nick and Lily's marriage is between the two of them. And for the record Kate, I am not a got damn messenger boy."

"Telling me Lily returned to town has nothing to do with their marriage. I don't care about Nick, but I do care that my best-friend is back in town..."

"Earlier than you expected," Kevin finished.

"Hello," an aggravated Colleen called out, "would you two please argue, when I am not on the phone?"

"Sorry, so I take it she's with you?"

"Yep, and she's not alone."

"Really, who else is with her?"

"Not who, what," Colleen replied.

Kate turned as far as she could in the chair, covering the phone with her hand she said in low voice, "is it the can?"

"Yep."

"How many?"

"One,"

She sighed in relief, well that was good, but still. "Are you still at the office?" Kate asked, trying to wave the waiter down for the check. "I can't believe she went in like that. Does she at least look presentable?"

"Yes, she's wearing jeans and a t-shirt. And before you pitch a fit, she didn't come in to work. She looks very celebrity casual."

"Ok, well that's good. I think we need to close shop for today." It was unheard of, closing the office early on a Tuesday, when it wasn't a holiday, but they needed some alone time to sort out the mess that was obviously becoming their friends life. They could go to one of their places, or she could even have Colleen bring Lily to the GCAC. She relayed the last to Colleen.

"I don't think she'll want to go to the GCAC.  I could take her to my place, but I doubt she'll want to go there either."

"Ok, ok, I'll return to the office soon," she hung up, and looked at Kevin. "Don't be mad."

He sighed, "I'm not, besides we were finished with lunch, and I also need to get back to the office."

"I know, but I feel sort of guilty. I don't want you to think that I'm putting Lily before you."

Kevin leaned across the table and kissed her. "I love this side of you."

"What side?" She asked loving the way his breath fanned her face as he spoke.

"Your unsure side- you're always so sure of everything, so it's nice to know that I can bring that out of you."

"So do I," She said softly, and then kissed him again. "But don't tell anyone or else..."

Kevin laughed and rose, when she did, "Your secret's safe with me."

Laughing, she walked around the table, and kissed him again, before she departed.

Kevin watched her walk away with a surety that most people would never have. Kate knew who she was, where she was going, and how to get there. He knew that it had taken her a long time to get to this place. The fact that a confirmed Bachelorette was willing to be his wife, and perhaps someday the mother of his children, showed just how far she'd come. But beyond all that, her love for her mother and her two best friends, showed who she really was. Kate seemed tough, and she was, but she was so much more. It was hard to name it, she was simply Kate.

***

Twenty minutes later Kate entered the office, with a brown paper bag in one hand. The other held a dark red alligator clutch that matched her pumps, which complimented the charcoal high-waist skirt, matching bolero Jacket and the cream blouse she wore underneath it. After walking past the receptionist, who she told to follow her, she made her way in the central area, where most of the employees were gathered. Good, Colleen had sent out an email. She didn't waste a second, but got right to the point.

She paused, in the middle of the office. "You are all excused for the day," she said and then continued on her way, but stopped at the sound of murmurs. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's," she shook her sleeve once to glance at her Burberry watch, "It's a half past one, I expect for you all to be gone by twenty till." She continued on her way without so much, as a backwards glance.

The entire office was in a complete state of shock. No one moved or even dared to breathe. Of the three women who ran the magazine, Kate Valentine was the one most feared. Lily was kind. She only wanted you to do the best job that you could. Colleen expected you to give you best plus a little, but other than that, she and Lily were basically the same. If you made a mistake, you learned from it, and didn't make it again, because mistakes happened, and you were human. But Kate...Kate wanted perfection and she wouldn't settle for anything less. I you made a mistake, you may as well pack up your desk, because by the time she was finished with you, you would want to find another job. Kate liked things done, and she wanted them done her way. Restless Style was great company to work for, the pay was good and the benefits were great. But there where times when the pressure got the best of the most dedicated employee, and would have them contemplating a new career, especially after having a one on one with an ‘un-satisfied' Kate Valentine.

Roxanne glanced around at the startled faces. The new issue was in the last stage, before it was sent off for the final print. Most departments were usually burning the midnight oil, especially since this issue was behind schedule. Roxanne saw when Lily entered the office over thirty minutes ago.  Lily was her boss, but more important, she was her friend, and her friend didn't seem like her normal self. They weren't best friends, or even close friends.  Roxanne glanced down at her stainless steel Bulova watch, and spoke into the confused murmurs that had returned the moment Kate was out of sight. "You just wasted five minutes. I wouldn't waste a second more." Turning on her brown leather Mui, Mui wedges, Roxanne left for her office, in the same direction Kate had gone. 

 ***

She could hear them. They probably thought you couldn't, but she could. Their voices carried from where they stood by the office door, over to the couch that she currently occupied.

"Why the hell are they back?" She could clearly hear the irritation in Kate's voice.

"Business," this was from Colleen, who sounded slightly exasperated.

"Of course, I should have known."

Someone sighed, was it Colleen or Kate?" It sounded more like...Colleen. Did she know how Colleen sounded when she sighed? And why the hell was she dissecting this? Lily! Get a grip.

"I don't know what Nick is thinking. I know this deal is important, but so is his marriage," Colleen said.

HA! I was right, it was Colleen.

 "This is not the time for him to be slacking off in his marriage."

"I didn't know there was a time, when one was free to slack off in their marriage. Please don't ever mention this to Kevin."

"Kate be serious, you know exactly what I mean. Nick needs to be on his ‘A' game, because..."

Lily could no longer clearly hear what they were saying. She must of have moved on the couch, alerting them to fact that she might be eavesdropping. It didn't take a genius to finish Colleen's sentence, or to come up with something very close to her next words. But it did take a genius to decide not to finish that sentence, especially when the next few words out of her mouth, more than likely dealt with Colleen's Uncle.

Lily didn't want to think about him. She'd spent two days making love to her husband as frequently as possible in order to dispel the images of the kiss they had shared in her office. But it didn't matter. No matter how good it was, or how much she called out her husband's name. She knew within the marrow of her bones that Billy's promise- the kiss had very much been a promise- would have been better than anything she'd experienced in the last five years. It wasn't the sex that would make it better. It would be the awakening of her soul. She loved her husband, and she'd married him prepared to spend the rest of her life with him. But even as she stood in the church, and said her vows, Lily knew that her soul would never truly be engaged in their relationship.

This is wrong. I shouldn't be thinking about this. I should be... Her thoughts trailed off as she shook the can in her hand. She sat up a little on the couch, tilted her head back, and squeezed a large dollop of Ready Whip in to her mouth.

"No," Kate said, and walked over to the couch, where she placed the brown paper bag on the black oblong shaped coffee table and then held out her hand.

"What," Lily asked from her lounging position on the couch.

"Give me-the can."

Lily held the can to her chest, "no, it's mine."

Kate placed her hands on her hips, and glared down at her stubborn friend, who was now sitting up on the couch pouting at her like a six year old. Lily only went for the Ready Whip, when she was upset about something, and trying to get over it. Some people did drugs, while some drunk liquor, but not Lily. She had to eat whipped cream out a can. "Lily, whipped cream will not make your problems go away.

"I know that Kate. It just tastes really good," she said and to demonstrate, she ate a little more. "Hmm, hmm good-"

 Kate cringed at the sound.  She needed to breakout her secret weapon. "Fine, but you're whipped cream won't go with what I have."

Lily's ears perked up. "What do you have?"

"Yes, Kate, what do you have," Colleen asked, as she sat next to Lily on the couch.

"I'll show you...if you give me the can."

"I'll give you the can...if I think what you have is good."

"Deal," said Kate, who retrieved a bottle of Cristal, a tray of crackers, brie cheese, two large bento boxes, and a French silk cheesecake. "Pick your poison," Kate said, and plucked the loose can from Lily's fingers.

"One bottle," Colleen asked knowing it was going to be a long day.

Kate smiled, reached in the bag and pulled out a second bottle of Cris, "Of course not, this is one of the few alcoholic beverages that Lily will drink."

"Gee thanks," Lily said, plucking a cracker off the tray, and spreading some brie on top. "Where are the glasses?

Yep, thought Colleen, it was going to be a long one.

***

Two hours later, Colleen, Kate, and Lily were stretched out on the plush furniture in their private lounge, watching, You've Got Mail, on mounted 27in HD-TV. The small lounge was dark plush deep burgundy furniture with black accents from the tables, the dinning set, the cabinets, and the sink in the small kitchen to all of the appliances. Other than the everyday office use, lunch and coffee breaks, the lounge was mostly used for late night brainstorming sessions, and moments like these. The large sofa, love seat, and over stuffed chairs were comfortable enough to sleep in.

"I remember the first time he told me he loved me," Lily said. They hadn't talked, just moved from Colleen's office into the lounge, where Lily sat on the couch, ate, and listened to them talk about the next issue, until Colleen turned on the television.

Colleen reached for the remote to pause the movie.  She didn't speak, and shockingly neither did Kate. She looked over at Kate, who sitting on the love seat across from Colleen, who was perched in the plush arm chair. Kate shrugged, and lay back on the sofa. Colleen followed suit. What could they say?  It wasn't as if they didn't know who she was talking about. The wistful tone of her voice gave it away. Billy was a dangerous subject...but at least she was talking.  

 "He wasn't nervous. I was surprised by that, but he was just so...very sure of himself. Which you know is just so...very Billy.

***

Billy reclined in his office chair and stared at the pink book in his hand. Damn Kate was good. He'd phoned her last night, and she'd had it delivered this morning, with a note to return the other one first. If this were the fifties Billy would have said that she had moxie, but it wasn't, so instead he said, she had balls- brace balls. She wasn't in a position to demand anything from him, but he knew she wanted to cover her own ass. He could have refused, and there wasn't anything she could have done about it. Lily's diary had been as addicting as an old Steven King novel. The diary had been building, and with each page he grew more excited, because he knew what would come next.

Lily wrote about everything. Their relationship, her growing feelings for him, and her parents demand that she not see him. He hadn't like reading that. Lily had cared for him, but it had cost her a lot during their first year. And yet, when it would have been easier to stop, she hadn't. And there wasn't a single line or word that indicated that's she'd wanted to. She was so much stronger than she gave her self credit for. His Lily, was a fighter, and every bit as much her mother's daughter, as she was her father's. She was a combination of them, and her love...the way she loved was all her, it was all just... so Lily.

Billy ran his hand across the word THREE stitched on the spine. It hadn't been hard for her to fill the first book, but he'd been surprised that his younger self had yet to tell her that he loved her. When in fact he loved her from the moment she crashed into chest. He always remembered it being sooner. But they'd been dating for nearly four months by the end of the first book, and a few weeks over that in the second book.

"Five months, had I really waited that long?" He looked around the shadowed office, the blinds at his back were his only source of light, and it had been that way all day. He didn't know why he'd come into work, when he hadn't done much of anything. And why should he, when his plans were coming along so smoothly?

He smiled, today had been a plus...for him. He picked up the diary, a small smile still on his face, and traced her letters, something he did every time he retrieved it, before reading it.

***

"What the fuck do you mean she's not coming?" Nick asked nostril flaring, as he stared across his desk at Adam, who was lounging in a chair as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Her assistant, Maxie Jones- I think that's her name- called and said that she couldn't make."

"First, the assistant said that Mrs. Collins had to cancel the morning meeting, but she would be here by four. And now you are telling me that she's not going to come at all." Nick's voice rose with each word. "Did she even give you a fucking reason why?"

"She said that her boss forgot that she had a previous engagement, and that she would reschedule the meeting at a later date."

"Bullshit," he spat through gritted teeth. He was beyond angry. He'd disappointed his wife for the umpteenth time in order to rush back for a meeting that wasn't going to take place. Lily had been so distant last night...until he decided to call her own her night out with Billy.

***

Is this about us or Billy?" He asked, as she prepared to leave their bedroom to sleep in a guest room.

Lily turned to face him. He could see the shock on her face, and knew that he should back down, but he didn't. He had only just discovered that Billy had taken his place Thursday night, when he'd had to work late.

"This isn't about Billy" She said tiredly, folding her arms around her pillow.

She looked so vulnerable and innocent, in a lilac tank top with matching boy shorts, and not like the sex kitten, who loved to wear lace- barely there- lingerie. She was utterly enticing either way, she-devil or angel, his wife was a goddess.

"So you haven't forgotten how to speak." She didn't reply, "of course. I suppose I should say Billy, since his name is the only thing you will respond to.

She shook her head and turned to leave.

"Did you enjoy dinner," he asked, exiting their walking closet. "I heard you two got real cozy." Nick watched at her face turned three shades of red, before she narrowed her eyes on him.

"You want a fight, and I'm not going to give you the satisfaction. The problems in our marriage have nothing to do with Billy."

Nick approached her, "Are you so sure about that? I mean maybe my recent disappointments will give you what you want." He needed to stop, but it was as if he were possessed. "Nothing, so we're back to the silent treatment?

"What Nick, what do you want me to say?" She threw up her hands, causing the pillow to fall to the floor. "What would make you feel better?

 "Let's try the truth."

"That's rich...coming from you."

He disregarded her statement. "Why did you faint, when you first saw him?"

She blinked, "I hadn't seen Billy in seven years, so excuse me if I was a little shocked to see him suddenly appear as conjured by magic."

"Alright, I'll accept that.

"I didn't know my answers needed your approval".

 "Why did you have dinner with him?"

"He was there."

Nick stalked forward invading her personal space, which caused her to have to look up to see his face. "So that makes it ok. What am I...his fucking replacement?"

"No", she screamed.

"Then why did you have dinner with him?"

Nick watched as her chest rose and fell, while she tried to get a handle on her anger. He hopped she did, perhaps one of them wouldn't say something that they'd soon regret. He was sure that the person would be him.

"I was sitting alone waiting for you, and Billy sat down, I asked him to leave, and he wouldn't."

"So you what just gave in, and decided to let him feed you."

"I...I didn't...yes, I let him feed. Are you happy? I was hungry, but I didn't want to have dinner with him. He ordered an anti pasta platter, but I refused, and he just started feeding me and I ate the food. There was nothing romantic about, it was just me being stubborn and him not letting me starve, since I'd only eaten a small salad at lunch. Because I though that I would be having a big dinner with my husband."

Nick's jaw tensed. He and Billy were going to have words, and very soon.  "Wow," he said through gritted teeth, "Billy is just...so caring. I guess you danced with him as some sort of reward? I mean, he was basically you're hero."

  "Nick."

"Billy is really the same opportunist he was years ago." He watched her eyes drift away from him.

"You don't know anything about who he was years ago," she said in a voice barely above a whisper, and then shook her head.

She must have thought she'd said it in her head, Nick mused. "I know enough. I know that he took advantage of sweet young girl, and then walked away when something better came along."

Lily flinched as if he'd slapped her.

Nick was angry. He was angry at Billy and he was angry, because he did put his job before his wife, but she didn't realize that he was doing this for them, that it was only temporary. But most all in this moment he was angry, because she was standing in their home, in the room they made love, defending her ex-lover. "I know that he didn't come back, after he promised the young girl that he would."

"Are you done," she asked, looking him in the eyes. "Or do you want to continue, either way, I don't care what you do.

"Lily," he reached for her, but she spun on her heels and left the room and her pillow on the floor."

 ***

"Possibly," Adam shrugged.

I should have followed her, he thought. He eyed his brother. "You told me that she would be here."

Adam nodded once, "I did, but I only told you what her assistant told me."

"Adam, I rushed back for this meeting. I could be on an exotic island right now, making love to my wife, but instead I'm here, because of you." I stomped a bigger whole in my marriage last night, because of you.  Nick wanted to scream.

Adam stood, "look I didn't tell you to return to Genoa City. You decided that on your own, so don't try to blame this shit on me. I only told you, what I was told. I also told you that I could handle it. You are the one, who decided that Symphonic Smells was more important than spending time your wife." Adam finished and headed for the door.

"You don't know shit about my marriage, Lily means everything to me," Nick replied, standing with his hand pressed against the desk.

Adam turned at the door, "I do know that you're here, and that speaks volumes." He replied, and left without a backwards glance. My work was done here. Thought Adam, who began whistling as made his way to elevator.

***

August, 10

It happened! I...I can't believe it finally happened!! I'd been waiting in him to say the words...to tell me that...I don't know. I guess apart of me just wondered if this was real. If he actually felt the way I feel. If maybe, just maybe I wasn't a summer distraction for him. He's starting a GCU in a couple of weeks. Genoa City University is one of the best private Universities in the country. It's almost on the level of an Ivy League school. Billy would be there, why would he even want to date a high school girl, especially one who'd only just turned fifteen?

***

"Billy was so different. I never really understood why he was interested in me. It wasn't as if he couldn't have had, just about any girl he wanted." She smiled, when she heard a snort, which she was sure had come from Kate. "He could have, but he wanted me, his adolescent girlfriend."

"You were only three years younger than him," Colleen said.

"Three years and four months," Lily supplied. "It doesn't seem like a lot, but Billy was actually a lot older than me. And yet, he loved me, fifteen year old, skinny, odd looking, virginal me." She closed her eyes and whispered, "Why did you love me?"

***

"You were special. You are still special," Billy spoke to the fifteen year old girl in the book. Lily had been soothing balm to his troubled soul. She may have been younger in age, but her soul was older, much older than his. She was mature in ways that most people never saw. They saw this skinny cute elfin girl, who always smiled, and had the most adorable, and infectious personality. Guys liked her, and girls...well some liked her and the others were just jealous bitches, who wanted them to breakup. They thought they were better, but they didn't get it. Most people didn't understand what he saw in her, but it didn't matter to him. He hadn't cared. To him, Lily was...his comfort. She was his center, his balance, his life.

~~~

 I suppose it doesn't really matter, because well...HE LOVES ME!!!! OMG! Billy Abbot Loves ME! He loves Lily Winters! Billy Abbott <3 Lily Winters. I can't believe it. I just...I can't believe!!! But he told me, and I... I trust him. I trust Billy with my heart, because I told him, I loved him too. And I do, I love him so much, that sometimes it scares me. But tonight I wasn't scared. I felt...Loved. It happened at our place, that's where he confessed his feelings. He took me to the field and- Crap that's my mom. :^(

***

"Why am I thinking about this," Lily whined sitting up on the couch. "I should be thinking about my husband, the man who I promised to love, honor, and cherish through good times and bad." Frustrated, that was how she felt when she thought about her marriage.  She was so frustrated. Frustrated with Nick and all of his empty promises, and she was tired of playing second fiddle. She didn't even want to remember last night's argument. She had never witnessed that side of Nick, and she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.

 It was easier-talking about Billy-as long as it was in the past tense- was easier. Billy in the present was...a subject best left undisturbed. It was like a phantom that popped into her head, when she least expected it, at the most inopportune times. "I just don't know how we got here?" She reached for the bottle of Cristal, pouring half a glass she sipped the smooth crisp champagne, letting the alcohol go to her head. She wanted to be slightly inebriated, only slightly, because thinking clearly was not working.

"You love Nick," volunteered Colleen.

"I know, but"

"You love Billy."

"What, no Kate, I...I don't love Billy. I was just thinking about the past." At Kate's skeptical look she added, "Really, I don't love Billy." Liar, "Not the way I use to," she added, only to appease her conscience.

"You may not love him the way you use to, but it's obvious that you still love him."

"Really Kate," Colleen said glaring at her across the coffee table.

"What Colleen, it's true, you know it, I know it, Billy knows, and Nick would know it if he weren't so caught up with work. Or maybe he's just too blind to see it."

"Lily loves Nick."

"Guys I'm right here. I don't need you to talk about me as if I'm not here."

"Are you really here?" Kate asked sarcastically.

"What's that suppose to me?"

"Lily I love you, you know I do, but you haven't been your self for a while."

"Billy's reappearance has thrown me off my game."

"Lily this didn't just start with Billy."

"Kate, don't" Colleen pleaded.    

 Lily watched the silent communication pass between her best-friends, which tweaked her anger. "Have you two been talking about me behind my back?"

"No, Lily it's not like that." Colleen sighed. "We've just been worried about you."

"Why, if this isn't about Billy, then why have you been worried, and why haven't you said anything before?"

"We did say something...or at least we tried. It's not easy to tell your friend that she's loosing herself.

"Colleen I'm not-"

"Yes you are," Kate said, moving from the love seat to sit next to Lily, Colleen joined her on the other side effectively trapping Lily in the middle. "For the past-I don't know- six or seven months you've been... unhappy."

Lily tried to get up, but Colleen held her still. "I...I haven't.

"You act as if your marriage to Nick is perfect, and I'm sure that it has its moments, but for the most part it's as if you've become some stepford wife."

"My marriage has its problems, but I love Nick."

"But he doesn't make you happy," Kate continued. "Not truly happy, not as happy as you once were."

With Billy, her mind added. "I was a kid then, a stupid kid, who believed in true loves, and soul mates and things that don't really exist." She closed her eyes, and in her mind she was a young couple, a boy with dirty blonde hair was staring down at a younger version of herself. His hand gently cupped her face, and his eyes held hers, conveying the deepest most abiding love. She smiled at him, with a serene smile, a knowing smile, a smile that held so much wisdom for one so young, as if she knew what great love was, and saw it in the boy.  Lily opened her eyes, "I was young. We were young. We never love that way twice, it's...puppy love. " She said almost choking on the words. He heart burned and her mind rejected the word puppy love, they were not puppy love, they were true. Her mind screamed, but she wouldn't listen. She couldn't listen.  

Lily reached up and caught a tear. She hadn't realized she was crying. "I love Nick," her voice broke, "I really do."

"We know," Colleen said. "Sweetie we know that you love Nick, and as much as it pains me to say it. Kate is right."

"Wow, thanks Colleen," Kate mumbled.

"Lily we just want you to be happy. And for a while now it's as if you've been trying to convince you're self that you've been happy. You're trying so hard to make something fit, that just isn't working, and sadly I have helped you perpetuate this stage play," said Colleen. "And I'm...I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I made excuses for Nick every time he disappointed you. I know that marriage isn't always easy, but rather than suggesting you talk to him and go see a councilor. I just told you to accommodate him."

"CC," Lily said. She rarely called Colleen, CC, but she knew how much she loved the nickname Billy had given to her. "It's not your fault." Lily said handing Colleen the box of tissues, Kate had retrieved from sofa table. "I let this happen. I became accepting and Nick just...got used to it. It's not his fault. I set this tone in our marriage."

"Lily that's crap," Kate said furiously. She wasn't going to sit here and listen to her two best-friends-her only real friends- continue to take up for Nick. She believed that Nick loved Lily, but he didn't really appreciate her. He appreciated her forgiveness, but he didn't appreciate her. The person she really was, and not the one she'd turned her self into for him. "You may have given some, but that didn't give him leeway to take and take, until there was barely anymore of you to give.  A marriage is supposed to be balanced, with a little bit of give and take from each party. You are always giving, and he is always taking. "

Lily interrupted, "Kate its not-"

"What does he give you?"

"He gave me hope. He made me believe in love again."

"I didn't say gave. Nick provided those things before you married him, but since then, what has he given?"

"Love," she said simply. "Nick gives me love?"

"And?"

"And what?"

"Exactly," Kate said, "Exactly." Retrieving the remote control of the table, she pressed mute. Tom Hank's laughter penetrated the contemplative silence that had taken over the room.

Colleen and Kate stayed on the couch with Lily, who laid her head on Colleen's shoulder, while Kate sliced the French Silk cheesecake.

***

"Everything is going exactly as planned," She said.

"Where are you," asked the man on the other end.

 "I'm about go into a meeting." She said, and smiled, when he laughed.

"I hop it's a good meeting."

"O Billy," she purred, "It will be a meeting for the ages."  She replied, her heels clicking softly on the hardwood floor as she walked down the empty hall.

"Well then, let won't keep you."

"You could...if you wanted me." She said seductively."

He laughed, "Yeah, but you're to...spicy for me."

"Now that's a lie and we both know it. I think worldly would be a better description. Don't you "

"Worldly," he said testing the word, "I like worldly."

"Good, I'm glad that we could come to an agreement."

"Don't we always?"

"When it counts," she said, and then sighed, "I'm at my destination. I better go."

"Have fun."

"Always," She clicked the phone off and continued through the silent office.  It was after seven and most of the employees had gone home for the day. She probably shouldn't have been let in the building, but the security guard had been too enthralled by her double D's that he hadn't argued, when she said she wanted to surprise an old friend. It was the truth, although they weren't exactly friends.

"Um Miss," said a young blonde man sitting in the desk at front of the door of her destination. "I don't believe Mr. Newman is expecting you."

She gave the man on of her dazzling smiles and walked past, "O, but he is. He's been expecting me all day." She walked into the office, and closed the door, in the drooling assistants face.

Nick looked up, when his door closed, "What are you doing in my..." The words died on his tongue the moment she turned around.

"Hi honey, I'm home."