Yes, I am working on a completely different story when I'm supposed to be working on a chapter of "Unfinished Business" that at least thirty people are waiting for. I'm sorry! But this just popped into my head one day, and I wanted to get it out before someone steals it or I forget.

It's a completely AU story. No Necromorphs, but Isaac and Ellie will still meet and fall in love because you know that's my entire reason for living right now.

I hope you enjoy it!

You think your life is perfect. Then, someone or something comes along and changes all that, and then you realize that without that someone or something, your life wasn't perfect at all.

ISAAC POV

"Fuck!"

He swears loudly when the wire in his hand touches the one he'd been hoping to avoid and delivers a nasty shock to his body. He jerks the injured arm back, shaking out his hand and glaring at the mechanism.

"Need some help?"

Isaac looks up at the woman leaning against the wall next to the panel. He smirks and says dryly, "Hey, Kendra."

Kendra Daniels works as a computer specialist on his workfloor. She often collaborates with him specifically on a repair project and the likes, and over the years Isaac had befriended the tech expert. Her funny quips and entertaining banter were things he looked forward to every day.

She grins and Isaac returns to the task at hand, this time focusing enough to avoid another nasty shock. He smiles as he rips out more wires, properly doing the hack job, and listens for the sound of the door functioning again.

As soon as he hears the familiar mechanical clang, he shoves the wiring back in, being careful to keep the wires in their new positions so he doesn't have to fix it yet another time. Then he replaces the panel and stands up, brushing off his hands.

"Damn door. This is the third time this month it's gotten messed up," Isaac says, and Kendra laughs.

"Oh, Isaac," she teases him. "What would we do without your engineering skills?"

"Everybody in our group would be screwed," he laughs, gesturing to their floor, filled with busy CEC employees in their cubicles. He turns back to Kendra and says, "So, what brings you here? Something tells me you didn't just drop by for a friendly chat."

"Oh, Norton just wanted me to let you know that we've got someone moving to our work group. She's new, and she's replacing the retiring pilot," Kendra explains.

At the mention of Norton, their so-called captain, Isaac rolls his eyes.

Norton had been a captain in an EarthGov battalion, but for reasons he refused to share with anyone he had moved to the CEC and somehow landed a job. Isaac always suspected he'd gotten kicked off the battalion and had come to the CEC for work, but it was beyond any of them as to why the higher-ups had given him the job. They didn't even really need a boss, and Norton was lazy. He didn't do a damn thing, simply "overseeing" the operations that their workfloor put on. It was like he missed having people to order around, and wanted to take the position of something similar to his old post.

"And the lazy bastard couldn't just come and tell me himself?" Isaac complains. He doesn't usually make an effort to cover up his dislike for his boss, unless he's talking to someone who actually likes the asshole, but since practically nobody does he doesn't bother trying.

"Of course not, you know how he is," Kendra replies.

"And who is this new girl anyways? I like our group the way it is," Isaac adds.

He sounds a bit like a whiny child, but he can't help it – it's been a long day, full of fixing the usual small things that tend to leave him irritated. He wants to fix something hugely important, maybe one of the giant planetcrackers, but an assignment like that doesn't seem like it'll come anytime soon.

He also wants to see Nicole, his girlfriend, but that's out of the question because she works in the MedicBay building two blocks away. Usually he doesn't get to see her until late evening, but things are just the way they are and he's not keen to mess up his perfect life.

Kendra eyes him as though she's not sure whether or not to laugh, but she answers, "Ellie Langford. Class Four heavy equipment pilot."

Isaac doesn't say anything. For some reason, this new arrival is bothering him more than it should, and he's unsettled by that fact.

Normally he's open to meeting new people, but today is just not his day and he's really, really impatient. He only wants to go home and be able to see Nicole after this long, hellish day.

Kendra continues, "Norton also asked me to let you know that she needs some help with her cargo plane. Apparently it's malfunctioning."

"Shit," Isaac swears under his breath. Just what he needs: another simple repair job, probably nothing interesting that could liven up the monotony. "Where?"

"I don't know," Kendra replies. "He didn't even tell me."

"Christ, he's dumb," Isaac mutters, and she nods in agreement, smirking. "See you later. I guess I'd better get going."

Kendra waves him off and he walks to Norton's office, rapping on the opaque glass door. His boss allows him to enter the room, and when Isaac opens the door, immediately Norton says, "Good, you're here. I wanted to talk to you about something."

This time, Isaac resists the urge to rolls his eyes and instead informs him, "If this is about the new pilot, Ellie, I've already heard."

Norton pauses during his browsing of some files on his holographic computer monitor. "Ah, I see. Then you know you're needed for a repair job?"

"Yeah."

"She's in the loading bay. Just ask one of the guys there where she is," Norton says, and it's a clear dismissal judging from the tone of his voice.

Isaac can't stop seething on the way to the elevator and the longish walk afterwards to the loading bay. First it was the lighting problem in the apartment he shares with Nicole, then it was running all over the freaking huge CEC building fixing random crap, and now it's his jackass of a boss sending him off to fix a damn plane. Just wonderful.

On days better than this, he's always happy with and grateful for what he has – it's not as though he's starving or fighting off horrific space monsters, but today, nothing seems to be going right. Nicole hasn't video-linked him once, which is weird, and he's just so damn tired for some reason.

He grits his teeth and tells himself that things will be better tomorrow. At least it's late afternoon; he can go home soon.

Isaac steps into the enormous loading bay, searching for an orderly. Idly, he thinks that it's crazy to be able to be part of a huge planetcracking corporation, learning and creating the machinery of huge ships while these pilots all carry parts to build them, advancing the human race as years go by. It's always such a wonder to be involved in something as big as this.

He manages to catch a harassed-looking orderly dressed in her CEC uniform as she walks by, asking, "Excuse me, do you know where Ellie Langford is?"

She points him in the right direction and he thanks her, jogging lightly across the vast floor to where a frustrated young woman stands by her plane.

Isaac takes in her appearance as he moves closer. Her blue eyes are lit with annoyance and agitation as she looks at another pilot, who appears to be examining the inner workings of the plane. Her lean arms are folded across the chest of her pink tank top, and her chestnut-brown hair, done in two casual ponytails below her ears, swings slightly when her head snaps up to watch him approaching.

Her voice is accented, alluring, with an interesting semi-British accent. "Oh, good, maybe someone who can actually help is here," and Isaac slows to a walk when he's within reasonable distance.

"Ellie?" he asks, and the woman nods, her olive skin subtly glowing in the harsh lights of the loading bay.

"You must be the engineering nerd my new boss told me about. Isaac, right?" she asks, and he nods.

He doesn't particularly feel like talking to this new girl more than necessary, so he takes a look at the plane parts, preparing to diagnose the problem.

And for some reason, the fact that she called him a nerd pisses him off but makes him feel like laughing at the same time.

Isaac ignores the feeling, simply asking, "So, what happened here?"

He can feel her blue gaze on him as though he can see her face himself. "I tried to get it going, and then all of a sudden it just stalled like mad. Could have something to do with the first problem I had, or the fact that one of your fellow nerds didn't fix it properly." Her voice turns hard towards the end of her sentence and Isaac scowls.

"Hey," he says, carefully removing one of the inner pieces of machinery. "Don't go blame me for that."

Ellie doesn't say anything, but Isaac doesn't need to look at her to see that she's still pissed.

Through his suit's gloves he can feel an oddly hot part of the plane's inner workings, something his engineer's intuition tells him shouldn't be warm at all, and he cautiously detaches it from it's place among the pipes.

"Found your problem," he says to Ellie, holding up the burnt-out cooling fuse. "It overheated."

Ellie narrows her eyes. "Thanks," she mutters quietly, almost like she doesn't want to say it, and Isaac clenches his jaw against the irrational anger this produces.

"I'll grab a new fuse," he says, walking away to dispose of the useless part.

As he retrieves a new one, he tells himself not to get too worked up – it doesn't matter and he probably won't talk to her much anyways. This is all just part of his job and he really shouldn't be complaining.

He gets the new cooling fuse and later replaces it inside the planes, covering it all up with the panel. As a warning, he tells Ellie, "Try not to run this one into the ground. They're not supposed to die that quickly."

Ellie glares at him, and Isaac has to wonder if she's naturally that unfriendly or if it's just today. "Well, excuse me for trying to do my job properly," she says sarcastically.

He bites his tongue to keep from snapping back, instead just turning around to head back to his group.

Ellie stops him by calling his name, almost tentatively. "Isaac? Thanks."

Isaac just nods in return and keeps walking, just trying to leave behind all the frustrations of the day, piled like the papers on his work desk.

Strangely, her accented voice keeps echoing in his head during the walk back, teasing him. "Nerd," she quips. "Engineering nerd."

It's almost like he can't get her out of his head, which is ridiculous because she's actually been kind of rude to him, and she hasn't exactly made the greatest first impression.

Sometimes he really just doesn't understand himself.

Frustrated, confused, and downright weary, Isaac slumps back to his seat in his little cubicle, massaging his temples.

The little irritating jobs he's sent to do later only add to his mounting frustration, and by the time he's done with work, he really just wants to go home, eat, and then sleep, maybe cuddle with Nicole if she's not too tired either.

Why did today, of all days, have to be bad?

As he drives home he ponders the question, thinking about what had happened to make things not occur in his favor. His life is usually rewarding, freeing, and the fact that his girlfriend adores him, his job is great, and his home is happy sets him up to be in the "perfect life" category. So it's no surprise that he's had a bad day; everybody has to have one in a while. No big deal – he'll just go to bed and everything will be fine, just fine.

He gets home and waits for Nicole to come back, since she takes the all day shift, and when she does he pulls her into a tight hug, determined to make his frustration go away and get back to his perfect life where he isn't tired and irritable and where new girls in his work group aren't mean to him.

And yet he can't stop thinking about Ellie all the same.

I hope this intrigues you! Please, do leave a review.

And I promise I'll update "Unfinished Business" soon! Just bear with me.