7 comments/ 21561 views/ 23 favorites 2. Illawarra Flame Ch. 01-03 By: inspirixis1 CHAPTER ONE Maya knew immediately that she had worn the wrong shoes. She could have gotten away with the business suit if she had have worn a pair of flats or a low heel, but the shiny patent leather high heels with the pointy toes that she'd chosen just screamed 'New York elite' when this office was clearly anything but elite. What she should be going for here was 'friendly and approachable'. Shit. First impressions make a huge difference to your chances of success in taking over an office like this. Most people believe that business is business, and a manager's work ethic and philosophy determine their success, but Maya knew better. Business is people. It was the motto that her dad had drilled into her since she was accepted into business school after she finished high school. It was the motto that had seen her quickly rise to the top at CommuTec. She knew very little about computers, but she knew how to manage people, and that is why at the tender age of just 26 she was standing in front of her very own brand new office full of employees. Well, to be exact it wasn't a new office and they weren't new employees, but it was all new to her. When she'd threatened to leave the company if she wasn't relocated away from New York there was a flurry of activity and finally an offer to take over the Denver office. She'd taken it in a heartbeat. She had never been to Denver before but the need to leave New York was becoming dire; hers were driving her nuts. 'This is Donna, our receptionist. Donna this is Maya Chandrasekhar, the new office manager," said Phil, the exiting office manager. 'Nice to meet you Ms. Chandrasekhar," Donna said, smiling nervously as she mispronounced her name. She was a rounded girl, pretty, with dimples in her plump cheeks when she smiled. 'Very nice to meet you Donna, please call me Maya," Maya responded as she reached out and shook her hand. Phil led her through the reception area and back to the workspace itself. 'This is your office back here," said Phil as he guided her past a row of cubicles to a glass box at the back of the open plan room. 'Your boxes arrived yesterday and I had them put in here for you," he told her. 'Oh good," she replied as she looked over the dozen or so boxes of her stuff. 'Do you mind if I go through them for a minute before meeting the staff?" She should have a box of shoes in here somewhere. 'Not at all, just come back out when you are ready." He closed the door behind him. She considered closing the shutters but decided against it, she knew that people would be sticking their heads up over their cubicles to get a look at her and she thought it better to let them see. She started rummaging through boxes, slicing the packaging tape open with the key to her rental car. Of course the box full of shoes was the second to last one. Thank god, she thought as she pulled out the options. She settled on a pair of sensible round-toed black flats and kicked off her heels. She had no idea what had possessed her to wear those ridiculous shoes, she was in Denver for Christ's sake, not Paris. It's not like she needed the extra height either, at 5 ft 10 inches she was taller than about half of the men that she met, and men tended to feel threatened by women who were taller than them. She sat on the floor below the level of the frosted glass and pulled a mirror and tissues out of her purse, this was something that she didn't want her employees to see. She rubbed the lipstick off her fat round lips and replaced it with sheer gloss. Thank god she had decided not to wear eyeliner, even with the flat shoes and little makeup she was still way over dressed for this office. She snapped the mirror shut and got up, removing her suit coat and throwing it over her desk chair before exiting the glass box. It was already a mess in there but she didn't care, there were more important things than keeping your workspace tidy. Phil was leaning on a cubicle divider about half way down the row, his legs crossed casually at the ankle, his demeanor pompous. His suit jacket was open revealing a fat gut that bulged over his cowboy style belt buckle. He threw his head back as he laughed loudly at something the man in the cubicle had said. It didn't take a genius to recognize that Phil was a large part of the reason this office was underperforming. Maya surveyed the office, there were 18 technical and 3 administrative staff stationed here. They occupied the western side of the eighth floor of one of the more prestigious office buildings in downtown Denver. From the western side of the building, the side her office was on, there was a view of the Rocky Mountains. The cubicles on this side of the office would be for the more favored employees, no doubt the man Phil was laughing with was his right hand man. Phil saw her standing there and motioned for her to come over. 'This is Graham, he knows how things work around here so you can ask him any questions you might have once I'm gone." Phil was grinning as he introduced her. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be asking any advice from Graham. Maya shook Graham's hand, 'Nice to meet you Graham," she said. 'And you Maya," he responded with a nod. She didn't miss the casual use of her first name even though she was his superior. Phil took her around the office and introduced her to everyone in turn. She made mental notes on each person, memorizing names and work tasks, and especially noting the way Phil interacted with them. He had a handful of favorites, all men, but that wasn't surprising seeing that the office was dominated by men, as was usual for the information technology industry. The last cubicle, the one farthest from the window, was occupied by a large sleeping man. Maya was shocked, she'd never seen anyone blatantly asleep at their desk before. 'Tyler... Tyler!' Phil shouted as he snapped his fingers beside the sleeping man's ear. He jerked awake and looked instinctively at his expensive wristwatch, then relaxed his massive shoulders as he seemed to realize where he was. His business shirt was crinkled and he had a post-it note stuck to the side of his face. Phil rolled his eyes. 'Tyler, this is your new boss, Maya Chandrasekhar." He didn't bother to conceal the contempt in his voice as he spoke. 'Hi," Tyler said as he stuck his had out and gave her a grin that she supposed would melt most women. Fortunately she wasn't most women. He had dark brown hair that was long enough to curl softly, fair skin with freckles and hazel eyes that were cloaked by long dark eyelashes. His mouth was just a bit too big for his face, which is why his smile came off as goofy rather than sophisticated. Of course it would be hard to interpret any smile as sophisticated when the wearer of it had a post-it note stuck to his face. 'Hello," she responded as she shook his big warm hand. She gave a perfunctory smile, she wasn't impressed by this man. She leaned over and pulled the post-it note off his face, it had a phone number on it, probably belonging to the reason he was asleep at work. He was probably up all night screwing some poor girl. She handed him the phone number. 'Well, that's everyone. I have a few things to tie up at admin., I'll see you both at the lunch party," said Phil as he turned and walked away. 'Lunch party?" She asked Tyler. 'Yeah, going away party... He organized it himself." Tyler's eyes were locked on hers, he was completely deadpan as he talked. He was wearing a green tie that made the jade speckles in his eyes shine. Maya couldn't help but smile as she nodded. Of course Phil was the sort of manager who would need to organize a going away party for himself. 'Okay, I guess I'll see you then," she said. The minute she dismissed him he turned around and started doing something on one of the three computers in his workspace, what she couldn't tell, he must be a programmer. When she got back to her office she took out her notebook and wrote down everything she could remember about each person she had met. She looked up the office files on each employee. Despite herself she became fascinated when she got to Tyler. Tyler Alexandrov Gray, USC computer science graduate, high honors. He was indeed a programmer and a poorly paid one at that. He made nowhere near enough for that watch, definitely not with the amount of leave he took. He had taken more unpaid vacation in the three years that he had worked there than most employees took in a lifetime. He only worked 35 hours a week. Two years ago he had requested to reduce his hours further and take Wednesdays off, Phil had denied him. That was weird. Usually when people want to reduce their hours they ask for Fridays off to give them a long weekend. Maybe he thought he deserved a rest in the middle of the week. Maybe he had a girlfriend who taught a yoga class on Wednesdays. Trust fund, she thought. His family must be loaded and he's living off his parents, probably vacationing in Europe in all of those weeks off. Now she was really unimpressed by him. She would probably have to fire him. She went to the stupid lunch party where everyone milled around and ate the pizza and cake. Phil gave a speech about himself. She made small talk with a few of the employees, learning about what they did at work, their hobbies, their families. She filed it all away in her brain to write down later. At one point she looked up and saw Tyler sitting at the conference table beside Donna the secretary, smiling and chatting with her. Donna looked admiringly at him. He wasn't eating the pizza, he had an enormous Tupperware container full of something else that he was shoveling in his mouth. After lunch she looked through the office productivity log, it listed all of the deliverables that the office had churned out over the past two years. It was decidedly sparse compared to the sister document from the New York office. She was surprised to find 'T. Gray' listed beside a large percentage of the products. It seemed that despite his poor attendance Tyler managed to have the highest output of anyone in the office by a long margin. She was relieved that she wouldn't have to fire him, but it didn't make sense. If Tyler was the best worker here what was he doing crammed up the back in the shittiest cubicle, and why did Phil roll his eyes at him and treat him with contempt? She read his performance reviews, all written by Phil. The first one was non-committal but all of the rest were blatant in their disapproval. 'Uncooperative," 'disrespectful," and 'not a team player', were some of the descriptors that stood out. He hadn't given him a raise since he was hired three years ago, not even the scheduled ones. She found his extension on the phone list and dialed it. 'Tyler Gray," he answered. 'It's Maya, can I see you in my office please?" 'Sure." The line went dead. She watched out the window as he approached her glass box. He made eye contact with her before he got to the door and entered without knocking. God, he was enormously tall, she hadn't appreciated his size when he had been sitting down before. He must have been 6 foot 4 inches at least, maybe taller. He was lanky, but not skinny. Definitely not skinny. She couldn't quite tell through his business clothes but she suspected from the way that he was holding himself that he was muscular. The luxury of the rich, she thought to herself. 'Ms. Chandrasekhar?" At least he had the courtesy to address her properly. 'Please, Maya," she corrected him. 'Okay, Maya, you wanted to see me?" He asked. 'Sit," she told him. She hadn't decided how to approach this yet, she was buying time. Tyler easily lifted a stack of boxes off the only other chair in her office and set them down on the floor before swinging the chair around. He sat facing her. He looked at her, waiting for her to say something, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. 'Do you always sleep at work?" She asked. His face broke out in an enormous grin. 'I didn't make a very good first impression did I?" He asked. She didn't want to, but she found herself smiling back at him, 'No." 'I'm sorry. I don't always sleep at work." 'Will it happen again?" She asked, already knowing the answer. 'Probably," he said. She was surprised. That wasn't the right answer. Nobody had ever openly admitted to her that they would probably fall asleep at work before. It annoyed her but he was her best worker, she needed to find a way to not get angry at him. 'Honesty. I like that. Is your work boring you?" She asked. 'No." 'What is it then?" He smiled as he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, 'I'm tired." Okay, this was getting her nowhere, she didn't care if staying up all night shagging his girlfriend was making him tired at work. She decided to change topics. 'Why doesn't Phil like you?" She asked. 'Maybe because I sleep at work?" He said with a sly grin. She couldn't help but laugh. 'Come on Tyler, I'm going to ask Phil the same thing, I'd prefer to get it from you." 'Okay," he said. 'I don't play the game." 'What game?" He looked unsure, 'You know, the game." She shook her head. He looked uncomfortable. 'I don't make jokes about women, and especially not about the women in the office." Now she was the one who was uncomfortable, she felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. He was staring at her. 'How do you like Denver?" He saved her by changing the topic, she was glad. 'Oh, it's nice. Quiet." 'I bet it is compared to New York City. You have a kid?" He asked. She looked at him quizzically, how could he have known that? He leaned over and pulled a framed photograph of Nicholas out of the top of the box that he'd moved off his chair. He looked at it for a moment before handing it to her. 'How old is he?" He asked. 'Three," she couldn't help but smile as she looked at the photo, it was from last Christmas, he was out in the snow in his puffy red snowsuit, his dark hair and eyes vibrant against the white snow. 'I have friends with a three year old, I could introduce you if you like." She looked up at him, surprised. She didn't think he was hitting on her, she guessed he was just trying to be nice. It was a really generous offer, she would love to meet other parents. Nicholas was being a real little shit lately, his terrible twos were starting to look like they would never go away. God, how she wanted to talk to other parents about it, to get their advice and feel like she wasn't the only one was verging on the edge of control. 'Okay, that would be nice." She couldn't believe she was taking him up on the offer. 'Good, you wont be mad at me then when I tell you that I have to leave early today to baby sit for them." He was grinning again, did he ever stop? 'What time?" She asked. 'Four," he replied. 'Why don't you come with me? They'll only be gone an hour and then you can talk to them, ask about day care and pediatricians and all that... parent stuff." He waved his hand in the air to signify that there was more parent stuff that he either didn't know about or didn't care about. 'I don't know, I don't want to impose...' 'Nonsense, they won't care," he dismissed her. She regarded him skeptically, this was a bad idea. He looked back for a moment and then pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons. He looked at the floor as he talked into the phone. 'I'm bringing someone over with a kid to play with Grace... She. Yes...' He looked up at her, 'Do you have any special dietary needs?" He asked. She shook her head. 'No," he said into the phone. 'Yep, see you then." He put the phone back in his pocket. 'Okay, it's all sorted. We'll leave at three thirty," he told her brightly. 'I thought you said four?" He smiled, 'I have to baby sit at four, I have to leave here at three thirty." 'You tricked me," she said incredulously. 'Yes, I guess I did," he admitted, 'but they're expecting you now. I have some things to finish before we leave." He got up and left. She didn't know how she should feel about this. At the beginning of the day she had wanted to fire this guy, and now she was leaving work early to baby sit with him? How did that happen? It was probably a bad idea, she had always made an effort to separate her work and private life, it made managing people easier. She would just go and meet these people and ask all of the questions she needed answers to and then never see them again. She would ask after them politely but never see them again. That's what she'd do. A few minutes before four o'clock she pulled up behind Tyler's truck in front of a suburban house in the northwestern part of Denver. It was a nice neighborhood, lots of trees. She felt nervous. Why had she agreed to do this again? She stepped out of the rental car and got Nicholas out of his car seat. Tyler was standing on the cement path that led to the front door, waiting for her. He had taken his tie off and undone the top button of his business shirt, and was holding the Tupperware container from his lunch in one hand. As they approached he squatted down so that he was closer to being level with Nicholas. 'Hello. My name's Tyler, what's yours?" He asked him. 'My name's Nicholas and my mommy says I have to be good," Nicholas replied. Tyler nodded, 'That's probably good advice buddy," he said as he stood up and walked up the front path. He knocked on the front door. A little girl appeared behind the stained glass panel to the left of the door. 'Daddy, Uncle Tyler's here!' she yelled. 'Okay, let him in," replied a deep male voice. The door handle started to move back and forth. She looked at Tyler, he was watching it, smiling. He glanced at her. 'She's really into opening the door lately," he said. Finally the child turned the handle far enough and pulled the door open. 'Uncle Tyler! Uncle Tyler!' She jumped up and down with her arms extended skywards towards Tyler. A black and white dog sat beside her, wagging its tail. 'Gracie my girl," he said as he swept her up into his arms, 'what did you do today?" 'Um... me and Daddy went to Zach's school...' 'Daddy and I," Tyler corrected her. 'Daddy and I," she repeated after him. 'What else?" 'We went to look at the cows but we had to leave because Amy wouldn't stop crying... Then we went to the store." Tyler nodded, 'That sounds like a good day," he said. 'This is Maya, and that's her son Nicholas. Why don't you take Nicholas to see your toys?" He said as he put her down. 'Come on," Grace said motioning to Nicholas. Maya was relieved that Nicholas responded to her and followed her into the house. 'Cassie, come," Tyler said to the dog. He was down on one knee as the dog greeted him excitedly, whining and wagging her tail as he scratched her behind the ears. He got up and walked into the house, she followed him timidly, behind the dog, closing the door behind her. She felt like an intruder in this slice of normal family life. They walked down the hallway and into the kitchen where a large athletic-looking blonde man was sitting on a bar stool cradling a tiny baby in one arm, feeding her with a bottle. 'Hey," said Tyler. 'Hi," he said, looking up. He saw her and smiled. God, he was gorgeous; square jaw, piercing blue eyes, tanned skin, straight teeth. He was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt. Stay at home dad. She had heard of them but had never met one. She smiled back at him. 'Hi," she said, 'I'm Maya." He nodded. 'Sam." He put the bottle down and kissed the baby on the head before using both hands to transfer her to Tyler. Tyler settled the baby into the crook of his arm. Sam got up and Tyler took the seat, he reached up and took the burping towel from Sam's shoulder and slung it over his own. He picked up the bottle and continued feeding the baby. 2. Illawarra Flame Ch. 01-03 Maya was shocked, she'd never seen men acting so tenderly before. In her experience babies were something that women dealt with and men complained and shied away from at the very sight of them. But there they were, two big men feeding a baby. Sam glanced up at the clock on the wall. 'I've got to go," he said. He extended his hand to her, 'Maya, I hope you're still here when we get back." She shook his hand, 'I expect to be," she replied. He walked out the back of the kitchen and she heard him talking to the children in the next room. Then she heard his footsteps on the stairs and a murmur from above them. There were more footsteps on the stairs and he poked his head around the corner. 'Gray can you check Zach's homework when he's done? It's geometry." 'Uh-huh," Tyler replied without looking up. And then Sam was gone. After a moment Tyler looked up at her. 'Sit," he told her. She smiled, the tables had turned. She stepped closer to him and pulled out another of the bar chairs to sit on. 'Is that Amy?" She asked. 'Yeah, she's gorgeous, isn't she?" He was speaking quietly as he stared at the baby. 'Mmm, how old is she?" 'Six weeks." She believed it, the child was tiny. And she was dark, her deep brown eyes stared intently at Tyler. She had a hard time believing that this child belonged to Sam, but stranger things had happened. Nicholas didn't look anything like her, Hamid's dominant Indian genes had taken care of that. From the looks of things Sam's wife was a small Hispanic woman, Grace was small for her age and she definitely looked like a Latina. When Amy was done feeding, Tyler set the bottle down and carefully maneuvered her onto his shoulder to burp her. He shook his head, 'This is the part that I don't get. You spend all this time feeding them and then you encourage them to puke it all up again." He had stood up and was wandering around the kitchen patting the baby on the back gently. 'I'm going to go put her down," he said as he disappeared out of the kitchen. Maya took the time to look around the kitchen. It was neat and tidy, not a thing like the kitchen in her apartment in New York. In this kitchen everything had a place, including the pots of fresh herbs growing on the windowsill. She was sitting at what she supposed you would call a kitchen island, although it was broader than most that she'd seen before, and it had a sister island just a few feet away. The room was enormous, these people must like to eat, she thought. Maybe she should get a house. It was the first time it had occurred to her, she had assumed that she and Nicholas would move into another apartment in downtown Denver. Maybe she should look at houses out in the suburbs? Nicholas and Grace were arguing in the next room. She got up and wandered to the far end of the kitchen and peaked around the corner to watch them. Grace had a set of oversized dominoes with big animal prints on them that she was laying end to end across the room, she was doing a pretty good job of matching the ends to each other. Nicholas was playing with a fire truck that had an extendable ladder, he was making various noises as he moved the different parts and rammed it into Grace's dominoes, ruining her work. 'Stop it!' Grace cried. Nicholas ignored her and continued messing up her dominoes. 'Nicholas, don't mess up Grace's dominoes. Play nicely," she told him. Nicholas looked up at her. She could swear he was deciding whether or not to obey her. To her relief he decided that he would, or maybe he just decided that he was sick of the fire truck because he got up and went to a basket of toys and looked for something else to play with, leaving the fire truck abandoned amongst the dominoes. 'Can I get you anything?" She jumped at the voice behind her and turned quickly, Tyler was standing behind the kitchen islands with a kettle in his hand. 'Tea?" He asked. 'Yeah, that would be good, thanks." He went to work in the kitchen, moving around as if it were his own house. 'Is Sam your brother?" She asked. 'No, he was my college room mate," he replied. She thought back to Tyler's file at the office. USC, University of Southern California, she thought that was in LA. She couldn't imagine these men in LA, they were too... real. 'So you're not really her uncle?" 'I'm as much her uncle as they are her parents," he replied. She was confused by that comment. 'What do you mean?" 'She's adopted. Not all family ties are through blood." 'Oh," she was surprised. 'Amy?" She asked. Tyler shook his head, 'Foster child, Zach too." 'How come they haven't adopted them too?" She asked. Tyler turned to her. 'It's not that simple, Zach has family who still want him and Amy... well Amy's situation is complicated." He gave her a look that let her know to stop asking questions and went back to the tea. She sat back down on the barstool and watched Tyler move around the kitchen. She shouldn't be watching him like this. He was her employee, she shouldn't be checking him out and noticing how firm his body looked under his clothes, or how his dark curls brushed along his shirt collar at the back. Oh well, there was no harm in noticing that he was good looking, she didn't want a man. After Hamid she had decided that she was done with men. She had everything she needed, a son, a thriving career, enough money to keep them comfortable and an extended family that would be there if she ever decided she needed them. Her life was perfect, the last thing she wanted was a man. Tyler set a steaming pot of tea on the island in front of her along with two cups, spoons and a strainer. 'Milk? Sugar?" He asked. 'Both," she replied. He went to the fridge and got out a carton of milk and took a canister from the far wall. He slid the milk and sugar in front of her and picked up the pot to pour the tea. 'Wait," she said, 'put it down." He did as she asked. 'You haven't turned it yet." She took the pot and turned it counterclockwise three times then clockwise three times. 'Okay, that's better," she said. He looked at her questioningly. She shrugged her shoulders, 'It's for good luck." He smiled that big stupid smile of his. Okay, maybe she could see why it could melt some women. She kicked herself mentally, it was one thing to recognize that he was handsome but another to let him get under her skin. You don't want a man, she told herself, and especially not this man. Not this trust fund baby who stays up all night screwing women and then falls asleep at work. Not this man who could get you fired for sexual harassment. They drank the tea and he ate baked goods from Sam and his wife's fridge. 'Don't you feel bad eating all their food?" 'What? She makes it for me," he claimed. 'Yeah, right. She has a husband and three kids to feed and she bakes muffins for you." 'Banana bread," he corrected her. 'I don't believe it," she said shaking her head. 'You haven't met Emma," he said, stuffing the remains of a piece of the banana bread into his mouth. A skinny black boy entered the kitchen holding some books, he was perhaps 12 or 13 years old. 'Zach, what up man?" Tyler's mouth was still full of food as he greeted the boy. 'Just hanging Gray," he replied as they did one of those fist-banging handshakes. 'Maya, Zach. Zach, Maya," he introduced them. 'Hi," she said. 'Hello," said the boy, suddenly shy. Tyler helped Zach with his homework while Maya went into the next room to play with Nicholas and Grace. She could hear him talking to Zach, explaining something about right angles and triangles. From where she was sitting she could see his legs and the lower part of his torso, he was standing leaning against the kitchen island where Zach was sitting with his books open. 'The three angles always add to 180 degrees," he explained. 'Why?" Zach asked. 'Hmm... That's a question for Sam, all I can tell you is that it always works. Here... I'll draw, you measure the angles and add them up." This was so nice. So much nicer than the apartment the company had put her up in downtown, she missed domestic life. In the corner the dog perked her ears up, alert. Maya hadn't even noticed her over there until she moved. There was a noise from the front of the house. 'Mommy!' Grace got up from her dominoes and ran out of the room, the dog following her out. Maya felt nervous again, what was she doing in these people's home? How had Tyler talked her into this again? The tall slim black woman who entered the room holding Grace on her hip was not what Maya had been expecting. For some reason once Tyler had told her that the children were adopted or fostered she'd assumed that Sam's wife would be white. She smiled warmly at Maya dispelling her nerves. 'Hi, you must be Maya," she said. Maya got up off the floor. 'Yes, and you're Emma?" She asked. Emma nodded her head. 'Thanks for looking after our kids," she was still smiling as she shook her hand. She had a very friendly, relaxed demeanor. 'Oh, not at all. I really didn't do anything." 'Look mommy," Grace pointed at her dominoes, which extended across the floor, took a turn and tracked across the room at a right angle to the original path. 'Maria Grace Watson, what a clever girl!' Emma exclaimed. 'Did you do this all by yourself?" Grace nodded her head proudly. 'You're sure Maya didn't help you?" 'No, I did it!' 'Well, I'm very impressed. You still have some left, why don't you finish it off? See how big you can make it," she said as she put Grace down. Emma motioned with her head for Maya to follow her back into the kitchen. 'How do you know Tyler?" She asked. 'We work together," Maya answered. 'She's my boss," Tyler corrected her. He was standing behind the kitchen island slicing tomatoes. Sam was adding ingredients to a pot on the stove. Again the domesticity of these men surprised her. 'Your boss? What happened to Filthy Phil?" Emma asked as she folded her arms around Zach's shoulders. Tyler's eyes went wide with panic, 'Emma!' Maya laughed. 'That's pretty fitting for him actually. He got transferred to the Houston office." 'So how long have you been here in Denver?" Emma asked. 'I arrived last week, had my first day of work today." Emma looked at Tyler, 'So you two just met today?" There was more than that question in her voice. 'What?" Tyler asked. Emma tilted her head to the side, there was some unspoken conversation going on. 'She was going to fire me, I didn't know what else to do," he said. 'I wasn't going to fire you," Maya said. 'Yeah, right." He was still speaking to Emma, 'She catches me asleep at my desk then calls me into her office and gets all annoyed at me when I tell her I'll probably do it again and then asks why Phil doesn't like me. That is firing sequence if I've ever seen one." 'Have you ever seen one?" Maya asked. Tyler turned to her, she was surprised to find worry behind his eyes. 'No." 'I wasn't going to fire you, I was going to give you a raise." The worry was replaced by confusion. There was a poignant silence as Tyler stared at her in disbelief. They were saved by Zach. 'Sam, why to the angles of a triangle always add to 180 degrees?" He asked. 'Hmm, good question," Sam said as he came around to where Zach was still working on his geometry. 'I can't answer that properly until you take trigonometry, I think that's in junior year. But here...' Maya dragged her eyes away from Tyler to watch Sam. He took the pencil from Zach and turned to a new page in the notebook. He didn't even pause before he drew a triangle and labeled it with all sorts of greek letters and started scribbling out lines of equations below it. It took him less than a minute. 'This is called a mathematical proof. It shows that in all cases this statement," he pointed to the first line, 'alpha plus beta plus gamma equals pi, is true." Zach frowned. 'Don't worry champ, you'll understand once you take trig., and if you don't, you know who to see, right?" Jesus, that was quick. Maya had taken trigonometry in high school and she didn't think she could understand what Sam had just written out, let alone do it herself. These people were full of surprises. She'd taken Sam to be a big dumb jock, why else would he be staying at home while Emma worked? Clearly he was not. 'Isn't there an easier way?" Asked Tyler. 'Look...' he leaned over the counter and took the pencil from Sam. He drew two parallel lines and a 'V' between them. 'Here's the triangle," he outlined the V and the part of the top line that formed the triangle for clarity. 'Because these lines are parallel this angle here, let's call it alpha," he labeled the top left corner of the V, 'is equal to this angle here," he labeled the angle on the outside left of the bottom of the V. 'Likewise for the other side," he did the same thing but called the angle beta. 'Now if we call this angle gamma," he labeled the bottom of the V, 'clearly alpha plus beta plus gamma is equal to 180 degrees." Sam smiled. 'You're right, and it's elegant, but it's not a proof. You haven't proven that these angles are equal, or that it holds true in all cases." 'Whatever, I like mine better," Tyler said as he gave the pencil back to Zach and returned to slicing vegetables. 'Me too," said Zach. Sam frowned. 'I think yours is lovely Sammy," Emma said softly as she reached a slender hand out to stroke along Sam's arm. It was such an intimate gesture, Maya had to look away, an old knot of grief twisting in her gut. They convinced her to stay for dinner, which was delicious. She hadn't eaten a meal like that for quite some time, just plain old normal food, home cooked from scratch. She asked all of the 'parent stuff' questions that she had resolved to, but at the end she found herself hesitating to leave. She liked these people. She was drying the plates that Tyler was washing while Emma fed the baby and Grace and Nicholas sat at one of the kitchen islands coloring in with Sam. Zach had gone back to his room. 'Hey Em, the banana bread in the fridge was for me right?" Tyler asked. 'You know it." Maya looked up at him, he had a superior smirk on his face. 'See, I told you so," he said as he passed her another plate. 'I can't believe you find the time to bake for him on top of everything else," Maya said to Emma. 'Why? It's Lance Armstrong's mom's recipe, it's his favorite," she responded. 'And Sam, you don't have a problem with your wife baking for another man?" There was a pause and then all three of them burst out laughing simultaneously. 'Baking for another man!' Sam was laughing hard, 'I'd like to know what goes on in the kitchen while you bake Maya." She didn't know how to react, obviously she'd said something stupid. She felt a weight on her shoulder, Tyler's hand, she looked up at his face. He was trying to suppress his laughter, his eyebrows raised as he bit down on his lower lip. There was no malice in his eyes, just laughter. She smiled and shook her head. 'Okay, that was stupid." He nodded at her as he let out a wave of laughter. After they finished the washing up she tried to make her exit but Nicholas wasn't cooperating. He started throwing a massive fit when she told him that no, they couldn't stay any longer. He threw himself off the chair and onto the floor screaming and flailing his arms and legs. She was so embarrassed. Completely mortified. The worst thing was that there was nothing she could do about it, she knew from experience that if she tried to pick him up he would just bite and kick and punch her. 'Ow, that looked like it hurt," said Tyler when Nicholas threw his head back into the floor. 'I know. He does this sometimes and I don't know what to do," she responded. They were all standing there watching him, Grace's mouth was agape in shock. Tyler stepped forward and picked him up by the ankle with one hand, hoisting him into the air as if he was as light as a feather. Nicholas struggled for a moment, whipping his arms and legs around wildly, trying to strike out, but Tyler's arms were too long. Nicholas quickly realized there was nothing he could do and went limp. Tyler looked at her, his head cocked to the side, it seemed he was asking her something. She didn't know what he wanted but she nodded anyway. He grabbed Nicholas' free ankle with his other hand and lifted him higher, so that his face was level with Tyler's, albeit upside down. 'What's all this about Nicholas?" 'I want to stay," his voice was tiny and defeated. 'But your mother said no. Do you know what that means?" Nicholas didn't answer. 'No means no Nicholas." 'Okay," his voice was hardly audible. 'Do you want me to put you down now?" Tyler asked. 'No." Tyler looked at her again, his eyebrows raised. He looked back at Nicholas. 'Okay, but I must warn you that I am very strong. And...' He shifted Nicholas' ankles so that they were both in his right hand. 'I have a propensity for tickling!' Tyler started tickling Nicholas on his belly and under his arms, the child was shrieking and giggling with delight. Tyler was chuckling as he dodged Nicholas' little hands that were trying to push him away. He stopped tickling and made to put Nicholas down. 'More!' Nicholas pleaded, still giggling. 'More? This child is insatiable! Grace, you'll have to help me." He walked over to where Grace was sitting on a bar stool and encouraged her to tickle Nicholas too. Grace looked up at Tyler as she ticked, a look of pure adoration on her face. It was amazing. How had he taken one of the most embarrassing moments of her life and turned it into something so innocent and joyful? When he finally put Nicholas down he grinned at her. 'I feel a bit like Michael Jackson, I just need a balcony to dangle him over." She laughed. 'Don't worry, I don't have a love glove or any Jesus juice," he added, his eyes sparking. She shook her head, still laughing. He was so goofy. She thanked them all and this time Nicholas fell in line behind her as she made her exit. 'I'll see you tomorrow Tyler," she said. He bit his lip and ran his fingers through his loose curls, a look of discomfort on his face. 'Um... about that. I'm not coming in tomorrow. I wont be back until next Thursday, Phil approved it." 'Thursday?" But today was a Thursday, he was taking four days off? Don't get mad, she told herself. She took a deep breath and let it out, all the time looking into Tyler's eyes to try and read him. He wasn't giving anything away. 'Okay, I'll see you on Thursday then." She walked down the hallway towards the front door. 'Oh, wait." Emma went to the entryway closet and rifled through a bag on the floor, finally pulling out a purse. She took out a business card and pen. She wrote on the back of the card. 'Incase you need anything," she said as she handed it to Maya. 'Thanks, I appreciate it." Emma put her hand on Maya's arm, 'I know how difficult moving is, call me." She was touched by Emma's obvious concern for her. When she had gotten back to the apartment and put Nicholas to bed she got out the business card to look at it. Emma Watson, Colorado Department of Human Services, Child Welfare Division. She had written her home phone number on the back. Maya sighed. What a weird day. CHAPTER TWO Maya knew she was somewhere near Emma and Sam's house, the streets felt familiar. The houses around here were nice and it felt safe, she'd been looking at rental properties with a realtor and was quickly falling in love with the idea of living out here. It would be great for Nicholas to have all of these parks to play in, and there were kids playing out in front yards all over the place, it just felt right. 2. Illawarra Flame Ch. 01-03 She got out her cell phone and Emma's business card. She had said to call. Maya desperately wanted to talk to her but she had been hesitant because of what it would mean for her professional relationship with Tyler. She had ended up feeling very grateful that he had pissed off on vacation for a week, it had given her a chance to step back and get herself under control. She could not and she would not enter into any sort of friendship with him outside of a strictly professional one. But she could be friends with Emma, couldn't she? She would just have to be careful. She dialed the number and waited. 'Hello?" It was Emma. She was glad that she wouldn't have to talk to Sam. 'Hi, Emma? This is Maya." 'Maya! I'm glad that you called. Where are you? What are you doing?" 'Actually I think I'm in your neighborhood, I've been looking at rental properties." 'Oh good, come over, I'm lonely." Somehow Maya doubted that was true, but it was nice of Emma to try and make her feel wanted. She explained where she was and Emma gave her the directions to her house. Nicholas was asleep in his car seat. She carefully unbuckled him and picked him up, trying desperately not to wake him. He stirred but went limp again. Emma opened the door for her as she was walking up the path. She motioned for Maya to follow her through the house. Maya glanced into the lounge room as she passed and saw Zach sitting watching sports on TV. He looked up at her but didn't say anything. Emma led her up the stairs and quietly opened a door. It was Grace's room, painted yellow with a fairy motif around the tops of the walls, Grace was asleep. Emma leant over her and grabbed a spare pillow then peeled the covers down from the foot of the bed and laid the pillow there. She nodded her head towards it and Maya laid Nicholas down and pulled the cover over him. Grace had a twin sized bed, so their feet didn't even come close to touching in the middle. He was passed out, his little arms sprawled where they had fallen. She followed Emma out of the room and back downstairs. 'So you are looking at houses around here?" She asked. 'Townhouses. I've always lived in apartments, I don't think I could make the leap to a house yet," she replied. Emma smiled. 'Good, we could be neighbors." Maya looked for any undercurrent of discomfort but there was none, she genuinely seemed to be happy about the idea. They chatted in the kitchen for a while, covering topics of no real importance. It was good to have another woman to talk to, and Emma was so damn nice. 'Emma, it's on," Zach called out. Emma motioned for Maya to follow her into the lounge room, where they sat on the couch. Zach was on the floor with his back leaning against the couch beside where Emma was sitting. There was some swimming racing on the TV, she'd never been big on sports so she didn't really understand what was going on. 'Next is the 200 meters breaststroke," said the commentator. 'I have my eye on Tyler Gray to break the world record today, he was looking very fast in the heats yesterday." What? Maya was trying to compute what was going on. The camera cut to a close up of a big pale skinned man wearing weird black tights, he was shrugging his muscular shoulders and rolling his head from side to side as he puffed his freckled cheeks out. Even though his cap and goggles obscured his face he looked familiar... That was Tyler. She glanced at Emma who was watching the TV calmly, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. She turned back to the TV and watched in a daze as the swimmers got onto the blocks and then dove into the pool. Tyler was in a lane right in the middle of the pool. He was so graceful in the water, he didn't even look like he was trying. The underwater camera followed him as he pulled away from the rest of the swimmers. 'It's going to be very close indeed," said the commentator. 'Gray is the world record holder in the 100 meters breaststroke, I'm sure he'd like to add the 200 meter title to his bag of records." The camera stuck firmly on Tyler as he touched the wall and turned immediately, looking for something. 'Oh, so close. Two-oh-seven thirty-four, just three hundredths of a second off the world record," said the commentator. On the screen Tyler's head shook in frustration. 'Damn it!' Said Zach. 'It's okay Zach, it's just the qualifiers, nobody breaks records at the qualifiers." Emma's hand came to rest on the boy's shoulder. The camera followed Tyler as he slunk over the lane ropes and pulled himself out of the water. Maya noted the broad shoulders that tapered to narrow hips and long solid legs. There was a poolside camera that continued to follow Tyler as he walked along the side of the pool, his bare feet plodding. He pulled his cap and goggles off. 'Tyler, you came so agonizingly close to that world record, how do you feel?" It came from an interviewer with a microphone. Tyler's hair was plastered messily over his head, his chest rose and fell quickly as he gulped in air. 'Ahh... I feel alright... A bit disappointed, but I still have the 100... which is really my favored event." 'And you're swimming the 500 free again, how do you feel about that." Tyler smiled. God it was a gorgeous smile. Maya's heart was beating quickly for some reason. 'I'm scared... I always lose count of the laps," said Tyler through his grin. The interviewer laughed. Maya glanced over at Emma and Zach, they were smiling as they watched him. 'Is there anything you will change in the lead-up to the word champs?" 'Yeah, I'm going to sleep more. I need a set of those glasses that have open eyes painted on them." The interviewer laughed again. 'Any shout outs?" Tyler looked into the camera, he was still smiling. It felt uncannily like it was her that he was smiling at, although she knew better. 'Zach man, keep it real," he said. He used his fist to beat on his chest twice and then held his palm up to the camera. On the floor Zach copied him, beating his fist on his chest and holding his palm up. Maya was shocked. So he wasn't vacationing in Europe, he was at some sort of swimming race. The qualifiers Emma had called it. He was a professional swimmer. It certainly went a long way to explaining his limited hours, all of the time off he took, and the sleeping. 'Do you think they'll play his add now?" Zach asked. 'I don't know, maybe. Watch and see' Emma replied. The programming cut to advertisements and there he was again. It was a professionally shot add, the lighting was dim, artistic. There were shots of his body, god what a body; sleek laterals, toned legs, chiseled abs and pectorals. Then there were shots of him diving and swimming. 'Tyler Gray, Olympic champion, chooses TAG Heuer: Because time matters." It ended with a shot of him standing under a spotlight in those weird swimming tights, his head down, his fists held out a short distance from his body, the watch obvious on his wrist. Shit. He was sponsored by TAG Heuer, that's why he had such a ridiculously expensive wristwatch. 'He looked cool," said Zach, his eyes sparkling as he looked up at Emma. 'Gray? Cool? Imagine that," she responded, but she was smiling. The phone rang and Zach jumped up to get it. Maya listened, it was rude but she couldn't help it. 'Hi... Yeah, we just watched it... Yeah, it was awesome, is he there?... Okay... Yeah, bye." He handed the phone to Emma. Maya pretended to watch the TV. 'Hey babe... uh-huh, I liked the turns... They just played his add, tell him he looks like a dork... You're up in what? An hour and a half?... You'll be alright, just don't think about it... Yeah, I'm good... Okay, good luck... love you too." She hung up the phone and turned to Maya. Emma smiled at her, a knowing look in her dark brown eyes. 'You didn't know did you?" 'No, I don't follow sports. It certainly explains a lot. Sam is there too?" 'Yeah, he'll be on later." An hour and a half later they sat around the TV and watched Sam race. Grace and Nicholas were up by then. Grace sat on Emma's lap and Emma pointed Sam out on the screen to her. 'Look, there's daddy," she said when there was a close up on him. His race went much the same as Tyler's had, Sam was the fastest by a long margin. When the interviewer asked him questions Sam answered politely, but he didn't joke and smile the way Tyler had. As soon as the interviewer dismissed him he walked away without ever looking directly into the camera. 'Sam's no good at the media stuff," Emma explained. 'Not like Tyler, he's such a ham." Emma wanted Maya to stay for dinner. Of course she accepted, Emma was lovely. That was the word for her, lovely. They talked for hours, it was wonderful, she felt like she was at home, like she did when she was with her sister. When Emma asked where Nicholas' father was Maya came straight out and told her. The words still broke her heart when they were said out loud. 'Car accident, killed on impact." 'Oh god!' Emma was holding Amy but she put her free arm around Maya. Emma started crying and then Maya was crying too. She hadn't cried in a long time, probably a year or eighteen months. Maya put her arms around Emma and rested her head on her shoulder. They hugged for a long time. When she pulled away Maya told Emma about Hamid's family, how they insisted that she live with them, how they wanted to raise Nicholas. 'They treat him like a prince, he is their only male descendent, he can do no wrong in their eyes. It's not healthy for him to live with them. When I moved out into my own apartment they still insisted on taking care of him during the day. That's why I moved to Denver." Emma nodded, 'I think you did the right thing." It was so good to hear someone say that to her. 'Nicholas is such a handful, sometimes I just don't know what to do with him. He's used to getting his way, like at Grandma and Grandpa's place, sometimes he just flips out when I try to discipline him. I'm scared that he'll hurt himself." 'Mmm, it's a pity you don't have someone with a six and a half foot arm span to dangle him," Emma said. Maya wasn't sure if she was implying anything by that. She let it slip without comment. 'So are you taking time off to look after the children while Sam's away?" She asked, trying to change the topic. 'I took Friday off but I don't work Mondays or Tuesdays and Grace goes to daycare on Wednesdays so it's not a problem for me, Sam's the one who's had to take time off." 'Oh, I had assumed that he stayed home?" 'We both work three days a week, I stay home on Mondays and Tuesdays and he stays home on Thursdays and Fridays." And Wednesdays Grace goes to day care. Something clicked in Maya's head. Tyler had requested Wednesdays off two years ago. He didn't want a rest in the middle of the week, he wanted to look after Grace. 'You guys are close with Tyler, huh?" She asked. Emma nodded, 'We named our first child after him, if that's any indication." Maya wasn't following. 'Gray... Grace, as close as we could get without burdening her with a stupid name." Maya felt small and stupid. She had made all sorts of assumptions about Tyler and none of them were correct. It was late when she finally left. The dog was curled up beside the front door, she looked up at Maya and Emma, her eyes forlorn. 'Oh, poor Cassie, he'll be back soon," Emma said as she knelt down to pat the miserable animal. 'She misses Sam?" 'Maybe, but she's waiting for Tyler. She's his dog." 'Oh." Emma was still petting the dog. 'She was my dog once, but she fell for Tyler. I didn't have the heart to keep her away from him." If Maya had ever doubted that animals could get depressed one look at Cassie the dog set her straight. The wretched creature looked like she would prefer to be dead than suffer one more minute away from Tyler. A knot of nervousness formed in Maya's stomach. Despite her best efforts she wanted to see Tyler too. CHAPTER THREE God he loved sleeping in. There was nothing like waking up at 4:45 only to realize that you could go back to sleep rather than getting up to go to the pool. Tyler dozed all the way through until 6:30, when he decided that he should use the time to take Cassie for a nice long walk. Emma had told him that Cassie had been moping all week without him. He felt good. He'd qualified for the world championships in all three of his favorite events plus the 200 backstroke, which was a surprise. He breathed in the crisp fresh air, enjoying the length of the morning. It was spring, a good time of the year. He took Cassie to the big park down the road and threw a tennis ball for her a few times. It wasn't until he got back to his townhouse that he started to feel anxious, he wasn't sure about his new boss. He didn't care what she'd said at Sam and Emma's place last week, he knew that she'd wanted to fire him, and she'd been angry when he'd told her that he would be away for almost a week. Tyler would not be surprised if she fired him today. She didn't make him suffer long, he'd only been at his desk for an hour when the call came. She wanted to see him in her office. 'Tyler, take a seat," she said. Her dark brown hair was down today, it fell in thick waves around her shoulders. He sat in the same chair as last week. Her office had changed remarkably little in the time he had been gone. There were still boxes on the floor, and a pile of shoes in the far corner. 'I've been on the phone with management in Boston," she said, her grey-blue eyes boring into him. Tyler didn't say anything, he knew she was about to fire him and he wasn't going to make it easier for her. 'I asked for a twenty percent raise for you but they're only willing to go to fifteen. I'm sorry, I did my best for you." He was surprised. She'd been serious when she'd said she was going to give him a raise, he thought that she'd just said it to get out of a socially awkward situation. Fifteen percent was a huge raise. What the fuck was going on? 'You're sorry?" He asked. 'Yes. I'm sorry. This company owes you a lot of money. It was unethical of Phil to withhold your scheduled salary increases and frankly, you deserved a promotion a long time ago." 'What?" He hadn't been expecting this. She paused. She pursed her plump lips together and leaned in closer to him from across her desk. She was wearing a cream colored satin blouse, the collar shifted to reveal a delicate collarbone. Tyler had to concentrate really hard to keep his eyes on her face. 'Don't repeat this to anyone. Phil was an asshole. He ran this office like an old boys club. He went beyond his authority in rewarding his friends... and in punishing his enemies." She looked at him knowingly. She sat back again. 'There are a few things that I can do to try and make this right. First, I've gotten you an extra five days of vacation. It was scheduled for your fifth year but I got it accelerated, it should show up on your next pay stub. Second, I've had your next performance review advanced to October, so you'll have the opportunity to get another raise then. Third, I want to give you the option of working remotely for one day a week." 'What day?" He asked. 'Any day you want, so long as it is the same day each week." 'Wednesday," he said before even thinking about it. Her lips turned up ever so slightly, she was repressing a smile. 'Okay, Wednesday," she repeated, 'but I reserve the right to revoke the privilege if your productivity falls." 'Okay." He couldn't believe this, today was turning out to be an excellent day. He wondered what had changed. 'Why are you doing this?" He was suddenly suspicious. He hoped that this bout of generosity wasn't because he had introduced her to Emma. She turned and opened a drawer to her filing cabinet. Her long slender fingers walked along the hanging files until they located what she wanted and she pulled out a document. She got up and walked around to his side of the desk, pulling her desk chair around with her. She sat beside him and crossed her legs towards him. She wasn't wearing any shoes, for some reason the sight of her bare feet below the hem of her tailored business trousers was incredibly alluring to him. They weren't particularly pretty feet, in fact they looked downright utilitarian, maybe it was just the unexpected glimpse of the woman under the suit. 'This is a list of every product this office has delivered in the past two years, this column," she pointed to the last column to the right, 'lists the person who did the work." She had a pink highlighter in her hand and she started circling all of the times his name appeared. There were a lot of pink circles on the page by the time she was done. 'I looked into this one, Persius," she was referring to a program that he'd written into an existing software package last year. She looked up at him. 'Tyler, Persius was responsible for twenty percent of the company's profit last quarter. I read the internal technical review for it... innovative, creative, superior...' Somebody had said that about his program? He'd had no idea. 'Did you ever wonder why Phil never fired you, even though he clearly didn't want you here?" 'No, I don't think about work much when I'm not here." 'He couldn't fire you Tyler, you are really, really good at what you do. You deserve to be fairly compensated for it." Tyler's head was swimming, nobody had ever praised him at work before. It made him feel... appreciated. She got up and walked back around her side of the desk, dragging her chair with her. She sat back down facing him. 'Now, do you have any questions for me?" She asked. 'Ahhh...' He couldn't think straight. He was sure there were a million questions he should be asking right now but all he could think about was how much he liked her. She thought he was good at his job. She was on his side. She was waiting, sitting still looking at him. She was in complete control. 'Don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, or if there is anything you need from me," she said, effectively ending the conversation. He was supposed to get up and leave now. She was sitting there waiting for him to leave. Her face was perfectly proportioned. After that day he had limited contact with her, she was a fairly hands-off sort of manager. She checked in with him once or twice a week, but more often than not she would ask what she could do for him rather than demanding work from him. Tyler liked working under her, she was organized and efficient and she had a no bullshit approach to running the office. When she told you she was going to do something she did it. He actually looked forward to going to work, and he certainly looked forward to those times when she would stop by his cubicle to ask what he was working on or tell him that she liked his work. He knew that she had kept in contact with Emma from Sam, but he never saw her over at their house. Every now and then Grace would say something about Nicholas or Maya, so she was still around, just not when he was. He wondered if that was by accident or design. Every Monday afternoon she held an office-wide meeting. She'd been the manager for a few weeks when she brought up the annual 'team building' camp. 'Okay, Phil had this scheduled for the first weekend in July." She looked around the room. 'Does anyone want to go?" Tyler felt himself smile. Everyone hates that team building bullshit. There were a few murmurs around the room and a lot of head shaking. 'Good, because I think it is a colossal waste of money. Nobody ever learned to trust anybody by completing an overpriced ropes course, and frankly the idea of having to catch Tyler while he's falling backwards towards me scares the crap out of me." There was laughter, Tyler was easily more than twice as heavy as Maya, there's no way she could catch him if he was falling. 2. Illawarra Flame Ch. 01-03 'But... it's in the budget. If we don't spend it the money goes away, so I have an idea... We take the money and go somewhere that we actually want to go... during the work week." There was a lot of murmuring around the room, people were smiling and nodding at each other. 'I'm going to write it in for June 22nd through 24th, attendance is not compulsory but if you don't come you have to come into work here or take your own vacation days. Donna is in charge of logistics, let her know where you want to go by the end of the day and I'll make the final decision." She was so cool. She had the whole office eating out of her hand. Everyone liked Maya. He liked Maya, probably a bit too much. She was obviously married, even though she didn't wear a ring. Chandrasekhar had to be her husband's name, Nicholas' father's name. Chandrasekhar was an Indian name, he knew because he'd googled it, and Maya did not look Indian. She had dark brown hair but her complexion was fair, she had the sort of skin that tanned rather than freckled and grey-blue eyes. In contrast Nicholas had dark features. Black hair, deep brown eyes and honey brown skin, all inherited from his mysterious father. Where did he want to go? He had never been that involved with the office before but now he wanted to be a part of it, he wanted to go on this trip. It was only three days, if he could fit in training on the Wednesday morning it would only be two swims and two weights sessions that he'd miss. Maybe he could work out wherever they went anyway. He wanted to go to San Diego. He wanted to go home. His parents were there and his little brother was in school at San Diego State, he hadn't seen him in ages. He emailed his choice to Donna. The next morning he got an email from Maya, it was addressed to the entire office. 'Pack your sunscreen, we're going to San Diego." He was excited, but it was still almost two months away and he was trying to figure out how to balance work, training and baby-sitting. He didn't know how Sam did it. Looking after Grace and Amy had turned out to be harder than he had thought, his Wednesdays were effectively shot, but a funny thing had happened. He found himself working at night and sometimes on the weekends too. He was really into it. He was excited when he made something work the way he wanted it to and when he finished something he moved straight on to the next task. At the beginning of May Maya called him into her office again. He wasn't worried this time because he knew that she couldn't be angry with him, he had been churning out work like it was going out of style. She didn't ask him to sit. She came around the front of her desk and handed him a piece of paper. She sat on her desk. She was wearing business trousers. She always wore trousers. Her bare feet dangled freely off the ground, she was pointing and flexing them, it seemed involuntarily. He pulled his eyes away from her feet to look at the paper she'd handed him. It was the log from the secure server, it showed every time Tyler had logged on and off over the past month. He looked up at her. She shook her head. "This isn't sustainable Tyler. I'm glad that you're enjoying your work but you're not paid to program in the middle of the night, or on the weekends." He couldn't believe she was annoyed at him because he was working too much. 'You want me to work less?" He asked skeptically. She nodded. 'I want you to find a better balance. I don't want you to burn out and get bored because you are thinking about it too much." 'Okay... I just wanted to make sure I got to keep my Wednesdays," he said. He knew that she must know that he was taking care of Grace and Amy. 'Tyler...' she squinted her eyes, she looked like she was searching for the right words. 'I've heard that there are ways to make it look like you're working without actually doing any work." What was she talking about? He was confused, she had just told him that he was working too much and now she was implying that he was cheating? 'But you've seen my programs, you know I've been working." 'Oh yes, you've been working a lot, I guess that came out wrong. What I'm trying to say is that, just hypothetically... if somebody was to, say, write a program that kept a remote workstation engaged with the server from nine to five on some particular day of the week..." She paused and looked up at him for effect. '...there would be no way of me knowing if that person was actually at their computer or not." What? Was she trying to tell him to skip work? She continued, 'And if that person still came to work on the days they were supposed to be here, and still operated at a high level on those days," she threw her hands up in the air, 'well there would be no reason for me to even care what they did on the day that they worked remotely." 'You want me to make it look like I'm working remotely, but not bother with any actual work?" She leveled her eyes on him. 'I never said that," she said in a sly tone. He shook his head. 'You sure are an odd one Maya." Woops, he'd said that out loud, he smiled to try and cover it up. She tilted her head to the side and smiled back at him, 'Why? Because I want you to be happy here?" 'Because you just told me not to bother working one day of the week." 'No, I never said that. I was speaking in purely hypothetical terms." Tyler couldn't help but smile. She must know about his Wednesdays. 'There's something else," she said. She looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, the smile fell from her face. 'I'm going to be at Gracie's birthday party this weekend. I thought I should let you know." She looked so concerned about it, it was pretty adorable. Tyler started laughing. 'What?" She asked. 'You'd think it was a death sentence. Does seeing me in public really upset you that much?" 'No, it's just that I don't want to impose, they're your friends." He shook his head, 'I think they're perfectly capable of deciding who they want at their kid's birthday party." 'I never did thank you for introducing me to them. They're good people." She'd dropped the manager act and was talking to him like a normal person. He nodded. 'How's Nicholas?" He asked. 'Oh, he's good, he has his moments, but generally he's pretty good. Sometimes he could use a good old fashioned Michael Jackson dangle." She gave him a shy smile, her pale blue eyes only connecting with his for a moment. 'How's Cassie?" Tyler smiled. 'Light of my world." Maya laughed. 'That's pretty sad Tyler, you just admitted that a dog is the best thing in your life." 'Have you ever had a dog?" 'No." 'Well you wouldn't know then. Cassie is always happy to see me, and she's helped me through some rough times." Cassie was the only thing that had made getting up each morning possible or worthwhile after Cinta. If it weren't for that friendly little mutt Tyler might have just slipped of the face of the earth too. But that wasn't the only time Cassie had saved him. Tyler thought back to that awful time after he'd found out Kelly was fucking someone else. It was right after he'd proposed to her, she was fucking someone else and she didn't even have the decency to say no to his marriage proposal. The worst part was that Emma had tried to tell him and he'd told her that she was a lying bitch. It spoke volumes that not only had she welcomed him back into her life after that episode, but that she'd given him her dog, the dog that Sam had given her after their first miscarriage. The first one had been the worst, at least from an outsider's perspective. They had been so naive, they hadn't even considered the possibility that she might not carry the baby to term. They'd already chosen names. She'd lost it at 13 weeks and had fallen into a depression so deep that Sam had quit the USC swimming team to go and live with her in Berkeley. He'd picked Cassie up from the animal shelter in a last ditch effort to save her from herself. It had worked. The second time had been devastating, but they were better prepared for it. They were older, wiser. It had happened at 10 weeks, he had been the one home, that was back when they were all still living together. Sam had been at the lab. Tyler still remembered the blood, the look of grief on Emma's face, Sam's panicked voice over the phone. He was supposed to move out that summer, to give them the space they'd need for the baby but Emma had asked him to stay a little longer. 'Everything is brighter when you're around Gray," she had told him. God he hoped she could carry to term this time, he couldn't stand to watch them go through that horror again. She was at 15 weeks, it was the longest she had carried yet, they were all quietly hopeful. 'Tyler?" Maya's voice brought him back to the present. She was still sitting on her desk, her brow furrowed with concern. 'What were we talking about?" He asked. 'Your dog," she replied. 'Oh yeah, Cassie. She's a good girl. I'll bring her on Saturday." Maya nodded. 'Thank you," she said. He didn't know what she was thanking him for. Was that a dismissal? He nodded at her and left her office. Sometimes that woman confused him.