A/N: This has been sitting on my hard drive since the pilot first aired, so I wanted to just post it and get it done with. Un-beta'd.
Kelly has been a talent scout for two years now. Or rather that's what she was supposed to be doing. She figured that she would be sent all over the place to find whatever the industry was looking for: singers, actors, dancers. She never expected to be saddled with Gustavo Rocque.
Right after the now infamous interview in Rolling Stone, she'd been recruited to help him find his talent. 10 months later, she was now driving to Minnesota. Driving, because only Gustavo flew (first class), in a crappy compact rental with sucky heating. She tried to stay upbeat, even after searching 22 different cities and watching countless people have their hopes and dreams crushed by her boss, she was certain they would find someone to meet their needs. They had to.
Though he never mentioned it, she knew time was running out. She knew with every city they went to, every audition they sat through, every dream of being famous crushed by Gustavo's harsh criticisms, that the clock was tick, tick, ticking away.
With each city they went to, each audition that passed, he got angrier. Normally sarcastic comments now became colder, crueler. More than once, she felt a lump in her throat and tears pricking her eyes at some remark directed at her. Useless, foolish, stupid.
It might have been years since he was prominent, but she knew he still had connections. So when he said, she would never find work in any town again, he wasn't being overly dramatic. So she sucked it up and ignored him the best she could. Made sure to have extra tissues for people whose feelings he hurt, cash for things he broke.
In the beginning, he'd had two assistants. Sasha, an overly sensitive girl, only lasted a handful of hours before she cracked and ran away with tears in her eyes. Robert, to his credit, lasted longer than Kelly thought he would until one night a screaming match involving a cappuccino without foam resulted in him stomping out. Now, it was just her doing double duty. Trying to do her actual job and be Gustavo's running partner/assistant/babysitter.
But this city was different. She could feel it.
They would find their talent here. The singer who would have their wildest dreams come true, whisked away to LA to record a demo cd. Griffin would be pleased and Gustavo would be praised. And all of Kelly's hard work would have paid off.
They would find their talent here.
They had to…