'One Night'

Summary: Margaret receives a mysterious letter with a time, date, and a place to meet inside it. She decides to respond. What happens next?

…

Margaret Tate,

December 24 8pm.

Meet me at 2407 5th St. Apt 3701.

Please come.

…

Margaret walked into her office for the last day of work before the holiday and found a note on her desk. "Who the hell would want me to meet them?" She began to think on it for a while. That was tomorrow night and it was Christmas Eve. All thoughts disappeared as Andrew walked into her office. It caught her off guard.

"Morning boss." He was wearing his usual fake smile and his cheap tie and suit. I don't ever say anything but at times he does look rather attractive. I don't see why he is always alone because women normally jump all over men like him. The only thing different about him was that he did not have my coffee in hand.

"And where is my coffee?" She looked at him.

"There was a long line, and if I had waited I wouldn't be here now."

"Excuse me?" She turned her head.

"I can go get it if you would like."

"Go." She excused him to go get her some coffee.

20 minutes later he returned coffee in hand.

"Here's your latte. Your usual unsweet cinnamon light soy. Anything else I can do for you?"

"Help me read over these manuscripts. I need them to be finished by tonight."

"You have a date or something?" He was serious.

"How would you know?" She looked at him furious.

"I can tell by that look on your face, Margaret."

"Yes, and well I'm not exactly sure what it is. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No not at all. Its Christmas and I'm glad you are getting out of the office." He picked up a stack of papers and walked over to his area and began to edit them. In his mind he kept thinking about Margaret and how she was planning on meeting someone later. But little did she know that he had indeed planned this. Lately Margaret had been working 24/7, well close enough. It was more like 14/7 or maybe 20/7, but she needed to relax and he had planned this for her to be able to do just that. Especially since it was Christmas. He wanted to help her escape the office for a few hours and for her to be able to not be alone on Christmas. He just hoped she didn't kill him in the process of this evening away from the office. He smiled.

…

Margaret arrived at the address on time, and was a bit nervous. Never in her life had she met someone like this. She only agreed to it because it was Christmas Eve and she had no friends nor family, except perhaps Andrew, but he was just work related, even though he did do special errands for her. "If this is some kind of joke someone is getting fired tomorrow." She knocked on the door, thinking whoever lived here must be rather wealthy to a certain extent, but not poor. As soon as the door opened and she seen Andrew standing there she felt relieved but didn't understand. "Do explain." She crossed her arms.

Andrew was nervous. He had invited his boss to dinner. Even though all this time she had been rude to him and making him work late nights and do tampax runs and buy her lattes, he wanted her to know that in spite of all that, she did have someone out there who cared for her as a person. It was that time of the year. He knew she had no friends or family and was always alone. He figured one night wouldn't hurt. One night. No one would ever have to know about this one night together. Plus it was Christmas Eve. "Come inside." Once she was inside he could tell she was surprised with the way his home looked.

For a man it was rather clean and well kept. Unlike herself he had a small Christmas tree in his living area. It was kinda cute for a man, it was decorated in red and green. No presents. She wondered why he was alone in this huge apartment, again she thought about how girls should be throwing themselves at him and worshipping him, but she pushed that thought aside as she realized he wasn't that type of person. "So uh, why didn't you just ask me at the office?"

"Ask you what Margaret?"

"To come join you, instead of keeping me in suspense and worrying about who I was going to have to fire tomorrow!"

"You were going to fire me?"

"If this was a prank, then yes Andrew, I will fire you. So please explain why you have brought me here to uh your apartment?" She placed her hands upon her hips and stood there waiting for an answer.

"Margaret its Christmas Eve, do you really want to spend it alone?" He was so calm as he spoke.

No, she thought to herself. I have for nearly 16 years, I'm tired of being alone.

"You have been working everyday since July, Margaret, and you need a vacation, so please, just this one night, enjoy it?"

"Okay, but if you make me mad I will fire you!" She was not being serious. How could she ever fire someone as good as Andrew was to her. He was her best assistant and she appreciated the work he did for her. She just didn't understand why he had invited her over for dinner, she assumed that's why she was here, and why he even cared for her. All these years she had treated him like shit and he was being kind to her. You should be ashamed of yourself. He is being so nice to you, and you treat him like dirt.

"I cooked some spaghetti, would you care for some dinner?" He offered which shook her out of her thoughts.

She for once smiled. "I normally don't eat carbs but I would love that. I haven't had it since I was a child."

Together they sat down and had a nice dinner.

"Would you care to watch a movie with me? Its tradition that I watch 'A Christmas Story' on Christmas Eve."

"I would love too." They walked over to his couch and sat down.

He couldn't help but smile as he watched his boss laugh and enjoy something for once. He had never seen her this happy before, and he wished she could be this way all the time.

"Margaret,"

"Yes?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you are a very beautiful woman."

She smiled, did he really just say what I think he did? He told me I was beautiful, in spite of everything we had been through together, he still cared. "Thanks?"

Andrew continued watching the movie and was surprised when she rested her head against his shoulder. She dozed off after a few minutes and he continued to hold her. The movie ended over an hour ago, and he couldn't get over how beautiful she was when she slept. He didn't want to wake her, so he just held her. He ran his hand through her long brown hair, which smelt of raspberries. When she awoke she apologized for being rude and falling asleep. "Its alright."

"I guess I better get going." She stood up and walked towards the door, he followed her, but before he opened the door he looked into her eyes.

"Margaret?" She looked at him then realized they were standing under a mistletoe. He touched her cheek, then placed a soft kiss upon her lips.

"Merry Christmas." He smiled, and seen she was surprised.

"You too." He walked her outside to catch a cab and once she was gone he walked back inside. He had just kissed her, he was so going to get fired tomorrow. But it was worth it. He grinned then went to bed.

During the ride home she could not stop thinking about their kiss. She had not been that close to a man in nearly 2 years. She smiled, then thought to herself, he is so fired.