"Charlene!" Robin exclaimed from behind him, and he turned around,
wondering if he'd actually managed to screw up.  She was smiling,
though.
     Charlie took a chance and smiled at her, like he had every right to
be there, and asked, "How do you two like your waffles?"
     "Oh, Charlene, you didn't have to go to all that trouble!" she
protested.  But she was still smiling.

     Tucker realized he was attempting to fold into a small ball, small
enough to hit a Schwartzchild limit and pop out of threespace.  And the
worst part was, he knew it wasn't going to work.  He tried to unfold
himself, and as he was gingerly stretching his legs out, Greg caught his
eye.  "What?" he asked nervously.
     Greg just shook his head.  "And NOW you have stage fright."  Tucker
shrugged, that being the best alternative to attempting to burrow
through the floor.  He was gonna start shaking soon, he noticed; he
could feel it building up.  "What are you worried about, especially
NOW?"
     Tucker knew it was stupid, but he couldn't help it.  "I dunno, I
just hate it when it happens..."
     Greg shook his head, but he was still smiling.  "Well, you
certainly have a great voice.  Have you had any training?"
     Tucker nodded.  "Yeah, I started taking choir this summer.  And I
had some singing training back, uh, back when I was little."  He glanced
at the dark-skinned young man.  "You?
     He laughed, an infectious chuckle.  "This is my day job.  I'm a
dancer and singer, and I've been trying to make it in theater.  But,
this pays the bills, sort of.  And it gives me time to memorize lines
and stuff."
     "Oh?  Where you from?" Tucker asked.  "I shoulda known you weren't
from New York City - you're too nice."
     He laughed out loud at that, throwing his head back.  "What makes
you say that?" he finally asked.
     Tucker shrugged.  "You're not acting like an asshole to someone you
just met, like my aunt would."  He grinned at her, then reflexively
scanned the area for her.  She wasn't there, which he was glad for, but
the FedEx guy was approaching the front door from the outside, which he
was even more glad for.
     As Greg's laughter echoed throughout the lobby, Tucker got up to go
open the door and get his boxes.

     "And you fixed this?"  Andrew couldn't believe Charlie either,
apparently.  "It's great!" he exclaimed, sounding surprised.
     "Well, yeah!  Marie taught me how to cook," Charlie grinned at him.
"Have you ever had one of her dinners?"
     "Oh," he said confidently, and turned to Robin.  "Oh, Robin, you
have GOT to come down there one time with me, so you can sample her
cooking!  It's fantastic!"
     Robin smiled and nodded, then turned to Charlie again.  "And she
taught you how to cook there?"  When Charlie nodded, she sighed and
looked at the table.  "Maybe we should have sent our children there."
     "Maybe we should have," Andrew commented, which finally exceeded
Charlie's self-control.  He knew that falling off his chair was bad
manners, but it beat banging his head on the table...

     "And what are you doing with all this?" Greg asked as they rode the
elevator up to Andrew's suite.
     "Doing some computer repair," Tucker replied, not wanting to say
too much.  He was getting paid, after all, and silence was golden.
     "Looks more like replacement," Greg commented.
     Tucker just smiled.

     Mike looked at the new engine for his car, and grinned.  *Oh, boy,
this oughta fix lots of things...*

     "You're insane," Greg commented, as Tucker went for the next
ceiling girder.
     "Yeah, I've been told that before."  He pulled himself up,
unclipped the rear line, and moved forward just enough to re-clip it to
the next support.  "On the other hand..."

     "Well, I was thinking we could go shopping," Robin said tenatively,
looking at Charlie for approval.  Charlie nodded before he really
thought about it.
     "Just you girls," Andrew added, neatly removing himself from the
trip.  Charlie figured he knew what would be going on, and he didn't
want to sit through it.  Charlie himself could have skipped it, but it
wasn't every day he got to wander through New York's women's departments
and checking out what the babes were wearing at close range.
     Besides, he really hadn't packed enough.

     Robin was definitely giving her Bloomie's card a workout today, but
it was so nice to go shopping with someone who looked so good in what
they sold AND didn't already own half of it.  Certainly, shopping with
her own daughter wasn't like this...
     "Oh, look at this!" Charlene enthused, holding out a cashmere
outfit.
     Robin eyed it and Charlene, and nodded.  The girl had a good eye,
though it was somewhat immature.  Though that was only to be expected,
of course.  "I think you should try it on," Robin smiled.

     Tucker was sitting back, watching server number two go through its
init routine, when the half-felt discomfort finally caught his
attention, as well as telling him what was wrong.  "Duh!" he smacked
himself in the forehead.  "You forgot to eat, stupid!"  Almost noon,
too.  No wonder he was feeling kind of woozy.  "Woozled," he commented
to himself, then shrieked, "Heffalumps and woozles!" and started typing
frantically on server number one.

     "What about this?" Robin asked Charlie, holding up a dress.  A very
nice one, in fact.
     "Oh, let me see," Charlie said, eyeing it speculatively for several
seconds before nodding.  "I'll have to try it on first, but I bet it'll
look great!"  Robin had a fantastic eye for what would look good on him.

     Mike wondered, idly, if he was ever going to get the oil and grease
and slime off his hands.  He supposed so, since at the very least his
skin would wear off in a couple of weeks.  Not that his mother would be
any happier about it.
     On the other hand, he was about two-thirds finished installing the
engine into his car, which was now looking like an unexpectedly wise
choice in vehicles, no matter what Tucker thought about it.  "Hnh,
wonder how he's doing," he asked no one in particular as he walked
around the car, making sure it was chocked securely.  He had no real
desire to try and un-impale himself if the car slipped off the ramps.
There were more amusing ways to use up his karma.

     "The Four Seasons?"  Charlie was impressed; even HE'd heard of the
place, all the way on the other side of the country.  "Sounds great!  I
mean, if you want," he hedged, realizing the price of that kind of fame.
"I hate to be costing you all this money...."
     Robin laughed happily, so happily that it caught Charlie too, and
he started to giggle.  "Oh, dear, Charlene, you have no idea how NICE it
is to be with someone who appreciates what we've taken for granted!"  He
almost frowned at that comment; how could anyone take this sort of stuff
for granted?  *Much be a rich people thing,* he decided.
     "Well," Charlie stated, "I DEFINITELY appreciate it!"
     "I know," Robin agreed, and hugged him.

     Julio sighed.  He missed the girls.  A lot.  Kenneth was just not
the same.  Besides, he still wondered if Kenneth was romantically
interested in him, which bothered him, especially since Jane was having
the two of them dance in the ballroom.

     Tucker found himself groaning in pain from stomach cramps, and it
took him several seconds to figure out why.  "Sheesh, did I ever eat
today?"  He thought about it for a long while, and couldn't remember.
That usually meant no.  "At least I should have something in the
refrigerator," he told himself as he got up.
     However, the refrigerator had no happy styrofoam in it.  Tucker
frowned, wondering what the hell he'd done with it.

     Charlie sipped at his tea, glad now that Jane's daily routine
included teatime.  Although he was more used to serving, or being a
training aid for Jane at the very least, not sitting and smiling
politely at the gorgeous brunette in the cute outfit that was pouring
for them.  And at Robin and Andrew, of course.
     "Have you ever been to the Plaza before?" the nice brunette asked
him, and he blushed slightly and shook his head, embarrassed to be
caught acting like a tourist, even though he was one.  "Would you like
to hear more about it?" she asked.
     "Well, sure!" he said, smiling back at her.  He was a tourist,
after all, and if she didn't mind...

     Tucker looked at the top of the bread, which was coated with
mayonnaise.  Which, everyone knew, was just full of salmonella and
botulism and other unfun microbial life just waiting to warm up before
they started eating and breeding.  And they'd been warm for hours...
     He sighed, and dropped the bread, and picked the whole container up
and dumped it into the trash.  As he turned to Greg, the guard was
already holding out a Chinese takee-outee menu.  And chuckling.

     "Eloise?"  Charlie wasn't sure if Wendy was making fun of him or
not.  But she looked sincere, and when he looked at Andrew and Robin,
they nodded earnestly too.

     "You sure you'll be okay?" Greg asked.
     Tucker nodded.  "Yeah, I just forgot to eat for..."  *When did I
eat last?*
     "Valerie?!"  Greg interrupted his thinking, sounding overly
worried, and Tucker focused on him again.  "Look, I can call an
ambulance-"
     "No way in hell," Tucker said, the adrenaline dribble of fear
being enough to get him upright and out of the chair Greg had guided him
to when he had a dizzy attack.  "I don't need to go to a hospital, and
if you call them I am going up to Andrew's suite and locking the doors,
I am not-"
     "Okayokayokay!" Greg said, holding his hands up, Tucker guessed, to
show that he didn't have a phone hidden in them.  "You're sure it's just
food?"
     *That and a lack of sleep and too much time hanging from straps,*
Tucker thought, but he didn't say it out loud.  "All I need is a big
thing of shrimp and beef lo mein and I'll be fine.  Really."  He put on
a big smile for Greg's benefit.  It seemed to help a little, and Tucker
was glad he'd remembered to check his makeup before he went downstairs
this time.  Otherwise, the dark rings and blotchy skin on his face would
have given it away.

     "Horse and buggy?  You mean like, like..."  Charlene was at a loss
for words, and it made Robin giggle.
     "Horse and buggy as in horses and buggies, as in around the turn of
the century," she confirmed.
     "If you want to, of course," Andrew added.  Robin was a little
upset that he'd thought it necessary to add that - she hadn't questioned
his suggestions - but the way Charlene's face lit up at the idea erased
her resentment.
     And Andrew took her hand when they stood up, and held it as they
walked outside.

     "Yeah," Mike said, happy with what he'd done.  "I got the engine in
today, and if my dad will let me work on Stupid tomorrow-"
     "Stupid?" Kim inquired, and Mike realized he'd never told her why
his car was named that.

     Charlie couldn't help laughing.  Here he was, in one of the biggest
concentrations of modern civilization, and he was riding around in a
horse-drawn wagon!
     "Having fun?" Andrew confirmed, and Charlie nodded.  Both Andrew
and Robin smiled, and she rested her head on Andrew's shoulder.

     "Please, Mom?" Debbie begged.  "I'll be with all the girls, and we
won't get into trouble, you know that."  It wasn't actually a lie; if
they stuck with the plan, they never got caught.
     "But it's such a long way!" her mother pointed out.

     Charlie was glad, for once, that Jane had 'graduated' him to the
larger size of breast forms, because without some kind of real padding
in the new cashmere dress he was wearing, it would have looked stupid,
instead of spectacular.  He turned to one side, noticing how the skirt
clung to his nylon-clad legs, revealing just a touch more of his thigh
at the slit, and smiled at the beautiful young woman in the mirror,
because she looked awesome tonight.

     Julio tapped his heels on the floor quietly, to the beat of a song
he remembered, waiting for Jane to get back from powdering her nose in
the downstairs bathroom.  It was worse than boring to be stuck in the
house, on a Saturday night, with nothing else to do but practice girl
shit.  If he ever got to be President, he'd make it illegal to do this
to a teenager.

     The lo mein was doing Tucker good; he could feel it.
     "When did you learn to eat with chopsticks?" Greg asked him.
Tucker sighed mentally; answering would require that he stop eating.

     "Sure," Kenneth admitted to Pauline, "a movie would be fine.  A
good one," he added.
     Predictably, she asked, "Well, what's good?"  He shifted the phone
before answering.

     Mucho carbs, a bit of protein, and a fresh dose of Dew later,
Tucker almost felt like suicide could be put off a few hours.  But he
knew that it was just his body whining; he wouldn't be in real trouble
for several more hours.  Especially if he got back to work.  "Hint
hint," he said to himself.

     Kenneth grinned to himself as he fished a twenty out of his wallet
to trade for the drinks and popcorn.  It was kind of sad, in a way, that
Pauline was that much poorer than he was.  On the other hand, it gave
him a certain good feeling to realize that this problem, of all the
problems she either had or could have, was something he was particlarly
well-suited to fixing, at least temporarily.  And, she didn't argue too
much about it, either.  That was a welcome change from most of the women
he'd dated.

     "Alright, Deb, spill it."  Kathy had had enough of putting up with
whatever Debbie's latest idea was.  "Tell, or I, for one, am not going
to help you any more."
     "I was just waiting until Mom went to bed!" she protested.
     "She's in bed now, you know," Sabrina pointed out, and Kathy was
glad.  She'd been friends, off and on, with Debbie for a long time, but
there was a limit to her patience, and she'd reached it Friday.  If it
hadn't been for her calling a sleepover on Saturday night, she'd have
caught Debbie that morning and tortured it out of her.
     Debbie sighed, then motioned everyone together into a close circle.

     Charlie had rarely, if ever, been so glad to get into a nightgown
as he was tonight.  *No,* he corrected himself, *this morning.  Oh,
jeez, my feet hurt...*  It had been a wonderful evening, and Charlie had
been happily fielding compliments from people all night, even ones he'd
never met, but he was glad it was finally over.  He slid into the
made-up bed with a sigh as his body relaxed, and was asleep almost
before he had time to miss Valerie.

     Andrew was realizing just how much he enjoyed his wife's company,
when they weren't arguing.  It seemed rather puzzling to him - this was
the woman he had proposed to, not the one he'd been living with lately.
Of course, she still had the signs of aging he'd come to know; somehow,
though, they really didn't matter nearly as much as the way she laughed,
or the way she smiled, or the little moans she was making now as he
kissed her neck.

     Tucker blinked at the window.  After staring blearily outside,
trying to focus on something more than fifty centimeters away for the
first time in hours, he realized that it was either dawn or one
big-assed forest fire.  "Or maybe New Jersey caught fire," he told
himself, and then laughed for too long a time.  Though it was possible.

     "Where were you last night?" Teresa asked Kenneth at breakfast.
     He grinned at her before answering, "Oh, I went out to see a
movie."  He didn't understand why she glared at him so fiercely before
turning back to her eggs.

     "Have you heard from Valerie?" Charlie thought to ask Andrew at
breakfast.
     He frowned as he thought about it.  "Not since Friday morning,
actually.  And that was Miranda calling."  He chuckled a bit, then
frowned some more.  Then he pulled a cell phone out of his robe pocket
and dialed.

     Tucker ignored the phone ringing, again, as he carefully judged the
distance to the next wall.  *Gently, gently,* he thought to himself as
his arm moved back and forth, practicing.  Finally, he moved just a
little faster and let go of the spool of cable, and watched it bounce
across the ceiling tiles into roughly the right place.  "Oh, YE-"
     The spool of cable disappeared as the ceiling tile crumbled, and
Tucker just missed grabbing his end of it before it disappeared out the
new hole.  "Well, shit," he commented.

     Charlie got dressed as quickly as possible.  He couldn't think of
anything that could have happened to Valerie... on the other hand, he
already knew he couldn't think like her.  Nor imagine the stuff she'd
already done.

     Tucker had just managed to find enough ceiling tiles to replace the
broken ones, if he cannibalized the entire networking room ceiling, but
he needed a shower, because the asbestos or whatever was making him
itch.  "Lucky I remembered to bring a towel," he told himself as he
carefully locked the office door, picked up his toiletries bag, and
headed for the elevators.

     Charlie stared at the carnage that was Andrew's business.  There
was dust everywhere, and ceiling tiles missing from all the rooms, and
the computers were blinking strange messages that no one understood, and
there were spools of cable piled here and there, and hanging out of the
walls...
     And, worst of all, no Valerie.  Anywhere.

     "Iiiiii touch, rooooooses," Tucker sang lustily as he spun under
the shower head.
     "If you try to talk to talk with me,
      if you try to copy my
      pocket full of pohhhhh-ses...."
     "You still can't touch my roooooses...."  He felt much better
already.

     "What do you mean, you haven't seen her!?"  Andrew was pissed, and
Charlie was very very glad that it wasn't at him.
     "Sir," said the guard carefully, "she said she didn't want to be
disturbed, and-"
     "I don't GIVE a damn what she said, she is a young girl, and you
just left her ALONE?!"  The guard winced, and Charlie almost felt sorry
for him.

     Tucker was hanging from the ceiling again, ready to try once more
to string some 100BaseT cable across the ceiling, when he heard the door
open.  He twisted his head backwards to see who it was, hoping suddenly
that it was Greg with some more food.

     Andrew was shaking his head and muttering darkly, and Charlie was
trying to calm him down, but it wasn't working too well.  Partially
because he was scared himself.  "Look, I mean, she couldn't have gone
too far-"
     "I'm not worried about her running away!" Andrew snapped as he
opened the door to his office suite again.  "I'm worried about her being
kidnapped!"
     "Kidnapped?" Charlie echoed.  He didn't think that sort of thing
happened nowadays, unless there was some kind of custody battle going
on, and as far as he knew, her parents were-
     "Who got kidnapped?" asked a disembodied voice, and Charlie almost
yelped.  He did make an extremely un-masculine noise of surprise when a
dark head popped out of the ceiling.  Then again, so did Andrew.

     Tucker shook his head as they started eating.  The yelling had been
intense, and while he'd managed to at least hold his own against Andrew,
it had been tiring in the extreme.  One thing he did not really enjoy
was face-to-face yelling matches with his employer.  At least Charlene
had stayed out of it.
     He glanced at her out of reflex, and she was looking at him.  "We
really were worried about you," she mentioned.
     Tucker shrugged, feeling bad like he hadn't earlier.  "I'm sorry, I
didn't know anyone was worrying.  I mean, everything was fine, it's just
kind of hard rewiring the cables, and I can't keep dropping down every
time the phone rings, especially when it's not my business."  He
shrugged again, and offered the blonde girl a sheepish smile in apology.
She finally smiled back, and he breathed a sigh of relief before turning
back to his shrimp lo mein.
     Andrew, in an attempt to be polite again, asked, "When did you
learn to eat with chopsticks, Valerie?"  He sighed.

     As they - Charlie and Andrew, anyway - were about to leave, Charlie
turned to Valerie.  "Just, I mean..."  He sighed.  "Don't scare me like
that again, okay?"
     Valerie shook her head, grinning at Charlie.  "Shar, I lived here
for several months.  I do know what I'm doing."
     "But-"
     "AND," she emphasized, "I won't.  I promise."
     Charlie sighed, and hugged the girl fiercely.  "I just don't want
anything to happen to you," he whispered into her hair.
     "I know.  You be careful too, okay?" she whispered back, and
Charlie nodded.

     "Greenwich Village?" Charlene repeated with that note of doubt in
her voice, and Robin couldn't help grinning.
     "You'll love it," she assured the girl.

     "And good morning to you too," Tucker said back to WiNTwo, which
was now talking to the server that was up.  Seventeen more to go...

     "Mike?" Kim confirmed.  "We need to talk."
     "What'd I do?" he asked, sounding persecuted.
     Kim sighed; he could be so paranoid.  "Nothing!  We just need to
make some plans."
     "What kind of plans?"  Now he sounded suspicious.

     Charlie stared at the tattoo fiend; he was covered in colorful
designs, from his head down to his waist (he was at least wearing pants)
and all over his arms.  Charlie had never seen the like.
     "There's a lot of interesting people around here," Robin commented,
and smiled slyly as she sipped at her espresso.
     *I think we'd better not let Valerie around here,* was Charlie's
thought.  *She'd want a tattoo or five, and knowing her, she'd get 'em
too.  And then Jane would kill me.*

     Tucker watched the sun set, feeling tired all the way down to his
bones.  At least everything was going as he'd expected.  And, with the
usual number of additional problems, everything should be finished by
eight A.M. Monday morning, just like he'd promised.
     "And then, ninety-eight hours of pay, muwahahaha," he chuckled to
himself.  That was a great deal of money.

     Charlie sighed to himself as he readied himself for bed.  *Nothing
like another great dinner, and an early night, to make you feel good.*
That, of course, and clean soft clothes, and a comfy bed to climb into.

     Tucker sighed, and got up, and wandered around for at least half an
hour, checking on everything, before he was satisfied that he was done.
*Done.  What a nice word...*  Everything was working, his laptop was
hooked into the office LAN which was hooked into the Internet, and
everything was talking to everything else, and his dad had confirmed
that the firewall was working properly - completly worth the hundred
dollars he would have to pay when he got home.
     Hell, it wasn't even sunrise yet!
     Tucker decided that some sleep would do him good, so he pulled his
sleeping stuff from where he'd hidden it, and changed from his work
clothes, which went into a plastic bag to wait until he got back to
Jane's, into one of the softer dresses from the Cotton Spott, before
unrolling the pad and climbing into the sleeping bag.
     He just remembered to set an alarm, using one hand tapping on the
laptop, before he passed out from exhaustion.

     A brisk knocking on his bedroom door roused Charlie from a dream
that dissipated instantly.  "Charlene?" Andrew called through the closed
door.  "We need to go see Valerie this morning.  Get dressed and come
on."
     Charlie checked the clock, and figured that he just had enough time
to shower and get ready.  He was washing his face in the shower before
he realized the actual time; it was just after six.  "Oh, God," he
groaned to himself.  "I hope there's coffee ready..."

     Andrew was surprised at the prompt appearance of the girl; he had
expected to be late this morning, but she was ready in enough time that
they could make it by eight.
     She also looked quite the young lady, too, which pleased him.
"Good morning, Charlene," he said to her, and she blinked at him a
couple of times.  *Ah, still not quite awake yet,* he smiled.  "Why
don't you get a travel mug of coffee and then we'll go."
     "Thank you, Andrew," she replied, smiling, and went to the kitchen.
About the same time she disappeared through the kitchen door, he heard
the stairs creaking, and looked up to see Robin coming down.  She was
also dressed for the day, which was highly unusual; she usually went
back to bed when he left for work.
     "Good morning," she said, and kissed him on the lips when she got
close enough.  Naturally, he had to hold her when she did that, and the
two of them were smiling at each other happily when Charlene came back.

     Charlie wondered about the couple in the front seat.  *I mean, they
said they had kids and stuff, older than me, but they keep acting like
they just met each other or something.  Huh.*  His parents sure hadn't
acted like that, when he knew them.  *Maybe they did before the
divorce,* he decided.  Robin and Andrew were sure looking a lot like
gooshy-movie materiel.
     He sat back in his seat and sipped at his coffee, looking out the
window at traffic.  At least he could watch something else.

     Andrew led both women through the office building towards his work,
holding doors for the two of them like he hadn't done in years.  *I
don't know quite what is going on,* Robin decided, *but I think I like
it.*  She hadn't been to his offices - hadn't been invited - since the
last Christmas party.
     When he opened the actual front door, the receptionist was
collecting papers out of a printer.  She looked up as the door swung,
and smiled happily at Andrew.  "Mr. Callaway!" she chirped.
"Everything's working again!"

     Charlie was amazed that Valerie had managed to do so much in so
little time.  He'd thought she was going to screw it up, but even the
ceiling tiles had been cleaned up and replaced.
     Unfortunately, she was gone again, and no one had any idea where.
     "I swear, if I ever see that child again, I'm going to handcuff her
to a desk," Andrew was fuming as he opened the door to his office.
"This s the second time she's done this, and it's making me a nervous
wreck!"  It wasn't making Charlie feel good either, but he decided that
his best bet was to stay quiet and invisible.

     Tucker sat up suddenly as he heard voices, and slammed his head
into a low ceiling.  *Ahhhh!* he screamed silently as he clutched his
throbbing head.  *Where the fuck am I?*  He could see light past him,
down by his feet, but it looked as though he was stuffed into a filing
cabinet.
     He blinked, and cleared his eyes.  No, he was under a desk.  Memory
was just starting to filter back to him when someone heavy stepped on
his leg, and the shock caused Tucker to sit up again, right into the top
drawer.  Again.

     All Charlie saw was Andrew stumble and fall, and a thump which
sounded like someone's head hitting a door.  *Valerie,* he knew in a
flash as he ran around the desk.  Robin did the same thing, and Charlie
let her get Andrew.  He looked under the desk and found Valerie, who was
looking rather dazed by this time.  "Are you okay?" Charlie asked.
     "Nuhg?" Valerie said, staring at him.
     "Are you O. K.?" he repeated, louder.
     "Uh.  Muhbe," she replied, and reached beside her and opened a
soda and started drinking it.  Charlie heaved a sigh of relief.  If she
was drinking caffeine like that, he knew she was basically alright.
     "Ahr," Valerie commented after a large swallow.  "Bathroom."

     Tucker was glad he'd brought some Tylenol with him; his head still
hurt from waking up, not to mention his leg where Andrew had stepped on
him.  At least Andrew hadn't yelled at him again.  Tucker wasn't at all
sure he could have controlled his temper this time.
     When he got done applying his morning makeup, he smiled at
Charlene.  "Well, I got everything done, and even got some sleep."
     "Under the desk?"
     Tucker sighed.  "I THOUGHT, I would be out of the way there.  And
my alarm didn't go off, or something."  That was rather troubling,
actually.  "I was supposed to be up and dressed by now."  He checked his
watch; he should have been ready forty-five minutes ago, actually.

     Robin looked up as the two girls re-entered Andrew's office.  She
had managed to calm him down, miraculously, so he didn't bark at the two
of them as they came in.
     "Robin, Miz Callaway," Charlene fumbled for a bit, "may I present
Valerie."  The other girl had a strange two-toned hairdo, but other than
that she looked nice, dressed in a long flowing cotton gown with
matching sandals.  "Valerie, Robin Callaway, Andrew's wife."
     "Good morning, Miz Callaway," Valerie said, walking towards her and
extending her hand.
     "Please, call me Robin."  They shook hands gently.
     "I'm sorry about the, uh, confusion this morning," she apologized,
"but I was supposed to be up by the time you all arrived."
     "No, no," Andrew intruded.  They all looked at him.  "Valerie, I
thought all these files were gone?"  He sounded puzzled.
     Valerie let out a sharp chuckle.  "Like I said, sir, whoever that
moron was, you're better off without him.  He couldn't even take revenge
right.  Everything's back, I think."  She shrugged.  "At least,
everything up until Wednesday..."
     "We can re-create anything from Thursday," he replied.
     She nodded.  "That's what I thought.  You've also had a major
rewiring of the entire office - that's what all the cable was for -
which will make everything faster, and enough extra hardware that minor
problems like this shouldn't cause you so much confusion."
     Robin only had a vague idea of what had happened at the office, but
she knew her husband, and he wouldn't have reacted as he had unless it
was something much, much worse than a 'minor problem.'  And he never
looked at anyone like he was gazing at Valerie unless they had done him
a very large favor.

     Robin had led Charlie around the office as Valerie and Andrew
talked, and had introduced Charlie to everyone.  Naturally, he wasn't
going to remember any of their names, but he didn't think that would be
a real problem in his life.  And they all seemed happy to see the two of
them, especially when Robin had ordered pastries for the entire office
while she was waiting for Andrew to finish talking computers with
Valerie.

     "And this is it?" Andrew confirmed, checking over the purchase
orders Tucker had generated.
     "Yes sir, that's it.  I had a feeling that most of the hardware was
sound, basically, and it was, so most of it didn't need to be replaced.
I just upgraded the network stuff and the servers, and got replacements
for your two oldest systems.  Those things should have been retired ages
ago," he grinned.  "But everything got transferred over, so it should
work the same, except faster."
     "And it only cost this much?"
     Tucker shrugged.  *Maybe I should have padded the bill,* the Debbie
part of his mind said, before the Dad part of his mind smacked the
Debbie part in the chops.

     "Well, Andrew," Robin said, "if that's everything, then I'll take
the girls home, and you can arrange a flight for them as soon as
possible, and I'll make sure they get to the airport on time."
     "Thank you love," he said, and opened his arms for an embrace.  As
she nestled against him, he whispered to her, "You know, if they are on
their way by five or so, I think I can get out early, and then we could
have a nice relaxing evening at home."  He nibbled on her ear to
indicate that he hoped it would be quite frantic before they actually
relaxed.
     He wasn't sure how Robin would take the suggestion, but when she
chuckled deep in her throat, and gave him an extra squeeze, he knew that
she approved of the idea.

     Charlie was stunned.  "And he gave you HOW much?" he whispered.
They had the bedroom door closed, ostensibly to pack, but some things
just shouldn't be talked about loudly, in his opinion.
     Valerie grinned.  It was a tired grin, but a happy one.  "A little
under two thousand pay, plus a thousand bonus."
     "Dollars?"
     She snorted.  "No, Barbie, Japanese yen.  Of course dollars you
twit!"
     Charlie sat down on the bed, stunned.  He could barely conceive of
that much money... and this girl, who was only as old as he was, had
worked almost four days straight, and gotten it from a New York
businessman.

     Andrew smiled to himself as he examined the files.  Everything was
running faster, as the girl had claimed it would, and it looked as
though everything he'd thought lost was reclaimed.  Including his
profits for this month, which now did NOT have to be spent on a rush
hiring of a consultant.  Even at eighteen thousand dollars, the girl had
been a rock-bottom bargain at the price, and she'd done a much better
job than he'd hoped.  *Hell,* he thought, *I probably won't even have to
hire another computer geek like I'd been planning.*  His hiring Valerie
had been a stopgap measure, intended to give him enough time to pick and
choose a replacement, but she'd actually gone and done what he wanted.

     "Hello?  Andrew!  How are you?"
     "Just fine, Jane, just fine."  He sounded much happier than the
last time she had talked to him, Jane decided.
     "And how are the girls?"
     He chuckled.  "Well, your Valerie just about wore herself out, but
she got everything done on time, and much cheaper than I expected.  I
tell you, Jane, that girl is a miracle worker!"  He chuckled again.
"And Charlene was wonderful company, a fine young lady."  Jane breathed
a silent sigh of relief.  She'd been almost completely sure about
Charlene, but it was that 'almost' that had been ruining her sleep
lately.  "Robin and her got along famously.  And, she's got some extra
luggage to take home; Robin took her Shopping."

     "Cashmere looks great on you," Valerie commented, and Charlie
smiled back.
     "You think so?"  The girl nodded, looking serious.

     Robin was surprised to see Valerie's outfit when she reappeared.
She had changed back into the suit Andrew had described, and she had to
agree that it looked stunning on the girl; it combined elegance,
professionalism, and femininity into one fabulous package.
     Charlene was wearing the cashmere outfit they had found together,
and between the two of them, Robin felt underdressed.

     Tucker sighed as he tilted his head back in the cab.  All he wanted
was a nice warm place to sleep for about a day, and he'd be fine.
     "Valerie?" Robin asked, and he pushed himself upright.  *These two
are so tight,* Tucker figured about Robin and Andrew, *if I want any
more business from either of them, I'd better not piss her off.*

     "See, Jane?" Kenneth said, pointing to a section of the New York
Times.  He quoted, "'Killer Virus Released, World Economy Collapses.'"
     "What?!" Jane exclaimed, shocked.  "Let me see that!"  Before
Kenneth could stop her, she had snatched the section of the paper away
from his grasp and was frantically scanning it.  After several moments
in which she saw nothing like Kenneth had described, she glanced up at
him.
     The grin on his face told her that she had been had.
     "Oh!  YOU!" Jane shrieked, partly in relief, and swatted his head
with the paper before she started to laugh.

     "So tell me," Tucker said to Charlene once they started taxiing,
"what did you do for four days?"
     "What did YOU do?" Charlene wanted to know.  "And how come you
didn't want to stay longer?"
     Tucker shrugged.  "Because, like I told you, I already lived in New
York for a couple of summers, and it's not that interesting to me.  And
I am beat, and if I'm gonna spend a day or two recuperating, I might as
well do that at Jane's."

     "Jane?"  Jane looked up as Teresa stood in the doorway of her
study.  "Um, Jane, can I please go with Kenneth to pick Valerie up at
the airport?"
     She was more than surprised.  "You want to go with him?" she
confirmed.
     Her latest boy-girl nodded sharply.  "I, I need to get out of the
house for a little bit, and Marie said they had a little plane, so I
wouldn't even have to get out of the car at the airport, but I need to
get out, just for a little while, please?"
     "You realize," Jane reminded her, pulling her glasses down her nose
and looking over them, "that you will have to be on your BEST manners
and femininity while you are out?  Otherwise, I cannot say how anyone
will react if they find out you are really a boy under all that frilly
finery."
     The girl gulped a few times, but nodded resolutely.  "I, I know,
Miz Thompson," she quavered, "but I thought I could stay in the car, and
I, I just need to get out for a little while.  I promise I won't run
away or anything..."

     Tucker thought the flight had lasted only moments, because he
passed out almost the instant the gear locked up.
     After that, it was the noise and commotion of landing, and then
getting their luggage out of the plane, and walking through the little
building the airport had for 'small' planes, and meeting Kenneth and
moving their stuff, and then they were in the car and headed for Jane's
place, and a bed.

     "Why is she so tired?" Teresa asked, looking at the comatose
Valerie in the back seat.
     Charlie shook his head.  "She said she got about twelve hours of
sleep while we were gone.  The whole time," he emphasized.
     "No way!" Teresa gasped, while Kenneth cast a doubtful look at him.
     "I swear!" Charlie protested, "That's what she said!  And you
should have seen her this morning; she looked deathly ill.  She's got
black rings under her eyes, they make her look like a raccoon."  Teresa
looked suitably impressed.

     Kenneth sighed as he looked at Valerie.  She refused to wake up,
even to come inside and get into bed.
     "Well, there's one solution," he said to himself, and reached into
the car carefully, cradling her in his arms and gently lifting her out.
She mumbled something unintelligible and nestled against him.
     Carrying her wasn't so bad, but waiting for Marie to get the camera
and take a picture was.  He was glad when she finally snapped off four
shots and put the camera away.

     Charlie shook his head as Kenneth walked past him, carrying Valerie
in his arms.  *That is just too cute,* he grimaced.

     Julio was just coming out of his room when he saw Kenneth ascending
the stairs with Valerie curled up in his arms like a little girl.
"Teresa," he asked as he lifted himself up the last steps, "could you
open the door to Valerie's room?"
     Julio nodded and took quick steps to get ahead of him, managing to
get the door in time for Kenneth to carry her in.  He figured that
Kenneth would place her on the bed, so he made another dash and pulled
the covers back enough that she wouldn't be lying on them.
     "Thank you," Kenneth said, sounding strained, as he gingerly knelt
at the edge of the bed, lying Valerie atop the mattress, and pulled his
arms out from underneath.  Julio was impressed; the girl couldn't weigh
that much, he knew, but carrying her from the car, up the stairs, to her
bedroom was a LONG way to carry something.
     And she still hadn't woken up.

     Kenneth looked at the small, soft face, and smiled.  He pulled the
covers up to her chin, and shortly thereafter she uncoiled from the ball
she'd rolled into when he let go of her.  Her hair had fallen into her
eyes, so he gently stroked it out.  She didn't wake up at that, either.
     "Sleep well, Valerie," he said softly as he turned to leave.
     "G'night Daddy," she murmured in reply.

     'Daddy?' Julio mouthed at Kenneth as they both left.  Kenneth
shrugged, looking almost as confused as Julio felt.

     Tucker's dream of being carried to his room by his dad soon faded
into the blackness of deep sleep.

     Charlie yawned uncontrollably for a third time while trying to
report to Jane.  When his eyes cleared, she was grinning at him.
     "Well," she said, "it's apparent that I'm not going to get much out
of you until you've rested some.  Why don't you go upstairs and take a
nap, and come down for tea?"
     "Thank you, Jane, I'd really appreciate that," he said sincerely.
"I know I slept more than Valerie did, but it was still kind of tiring."
     She nodded.  "New York can do that," she agreed.
     Charlie curtsied, and Jane nodded acknowledgement, and so he turned
and left.  He went into his room to change into a gown, but the empty
bed kept attracting his attention.  A quick look into the bedroom across
the hall showed that Valerie was in her own bed, for once.  A longer
look said that Kenneth hadn't done anything to her but remove her shoes.
Charlie snorted, and sat on the edge of the bed long enough to remove
her gloves and unbutton her jacket.
     *It'd be a shame if she had a nightmare now,* he realized, *after
all the work she did, and staying awake on the way to the airport and
everything.* He didn't know if Robin had noticed how she was hanging on
every word like it was some sort of lifeline, but he had.
     Well, he was ready for a nap himself, and her bed was big enough
for the two of them.  So he got up and went around to the other side,
pulling the covers back and sliding underneath them.
     Valerie shifted enough to press herself against him, but that was
the only acknowledgement she made of his presence.  It was enough for
him.
     *I really did miss her,* he admitted before sleep overtook him too.



 
Copyright 1997-1999 Ellen Hayes, all rights reserved