The after lunch coffee was starting to show its effect and Lilly shifted on her swivel chair from one cheek onto the other, crossing her legs under her desk to suppress the urge to pee just a little longer. It was almost 2pm, high season on the meat market.
Not that you think Lilly was working in food business. Oh no. Far from that. She was actually a secretary. Well, she was a little more than that but people from outside would see her sitting on her desk, typing reports, making phone calls, copying files and compiling things to hand to her team leader who then went to her team leader who then went to the boss, a man of mystery who Lilly had never met. Only heard stories of. Frightening stories. That was only one of the reasons why she looked forward to the upcoming event with apprehension: the infamous (and top secret) SHIELD summer barbecue. She was quite curious to catch a glimpse at the boss-man and she was pretty sure she could evade a talk with him, which she was far too nervous for. Not that she was talk-to-worthy anyway. In principle, she just needed to make a berth around all 6 feet tall black people with eye-patch and leather coat. Shouldn't be too difficult. But then, he was a spy. THE spy. The master spy.
Lilly was pulled from her thoughts when another wave of tightening sensation hit her bladder and she just could not wait any longer if she wanted to walk normally to the ladies rest rooms. Dreading what was to come, she got up and made her way past the other desks in the office down the hall.
A group of women had gathered at the wash basins and was animatedly talking.
"Sorry ladies. Agent Lukin is already taken. Mary from human resources has dibs on him. Earmarked since two years now."
"What about the new one from Houston? The curly blonde?"
"The senior ladies have priority picking from the fresh ones. But I put you on the list and tell Rebecca."
"Who else is still available?"
Rita from the European Travel department laid a finger on her lips as she searched the list in her head. Of course there was nothing written down about this 'allocation of resources'. It was probably the most secret operation going on in SHIELD. And it was the most elaborate part of the preparation of the summer party. Have I mentioned yet that this infamous (and top secret) summer party is so infamous (only among SHIELD personnel for obvious reasons) because it is the biggest coupling market north of the equator? Well, it is. And it is the only occasion where SHIELD agents meet SHIELD secretaries, which is probably why the hook up is so easy. No problems afterwards as they do not meet until next summer barbecue and no hiding/acting because they know exactly what each others job is. It is just one boozy party and for most of the SHIELD personnel one exciting night afterwards.
And to avoid cat fights and competition among the office ladies over the agents, they had taken the organization of this part into their own hands. Since years actually. The unsuspecting agents would boast afterwards to their colleagues who they got tangled in the sheets with and none of them has wondered yet that most of them find someone. A far better success rate than in the free dating scene. That this is due to the excellent planning of the ladies from administration, they had no idea. The system was based on the collectors and distributors, the ones would collect the pairing wishes from the ladies and then meet with the others each day between 1 and 2 pm in the ladies rest room 7th floor, who have the field agent list of SHIELD in their heads. The lists were of course split between several women for safety reasons.
Lilly flushed the toilet and went out to wash her hands.
"Lilly, darling! What about you? Changed your mind?" Rita from European Travel was asking.
"No, thank you. That is not … I am not … interested." Lilly stammered.
"Ah, come on! You are going back to the L.A. office in two weeks! Take a little adventure! Something to remember!" Rita encouraged.
"No, really. I …" Lilly had anticipated the new persuasion attempt. This is why she avoided the rest rooms at early afternoon.
"What about Mike Develey? He would be the perfect fit for you! I can show you some pics!" Sarah from Weapons and Equipment Service piped in.
But Rita interrupted that. "No, Mike is taken. Like, real life taken."
"Really?" Sarah raised her eyebrows at that.
"Lucille from the archive has her eyes on him and he seems to be interested."
That was one thing the ladies were careful about. If one of their own had a real interest and deeper feelings for one of the agents, he was off limits for all others. And woes betide him if he tried to hook up with someone else on the party. Cold shoulders everywhere.
It was a whole other story if the match making for the party night short term pairs did not work out. There could be made adjustments on the 'second chance market' at the party location. But later more about that.
"Need to go back to work." Lilly excused herself and fled to the security of her cubicle. Only two days left until the party. Lilly knew that her colleagues only meant good for her. She came here from the LA office with the SHIELD office rotation program and the ladies had immediately taken her under their wings. They reserved her a seat for lunch, they invited her to birthday parties, and they would share their field agents with her.
Literally.
She was just so damn shy and all this one-night-stand stuff was not really her thing. She was a hopeless romantic. She had browsed through the pictures of all the pretty agents, read some very dangerous sounding field reports (illegally, one might add, but who was she to say no if Laura from Evaluation and Assessment offers the most exciting stories?) and dreamed about her own adventures and a knight in shining armour to rescue her from the bad guy. And she was pretty sure that stories like this do not start with a one-night stand. She wouldn't be able to look herself in the eyes afterwards. Not that she was a virgin or anything. There had been boys at college, nice boys.
Boy, actually.
Just one.
He was oh so perfect but she was not. Obviously. Otherwise she would be married, live in a nice green tinted suburb house with an apple tree in the garden and a golden retriever. But no. She had been too boring for him. He said that to her face, can you believe it? A 'We are not meant for one another' would have been hard enough but what she got was a 'Look at you! You wear teddy PJs and pig tails to bed! You think more than two beers make me an alcoholic and no, a movie and home-made popcorn is not what I imagine for a perfect Saturday night.' And that was that.
Maybe she was boring? Maybe she could use a little adventure?
"Miss Rosewood. I need the flight plan to Italy."
Lilly snapped out of her contemplation, grabbed the file from her desk and hurried over to the office of her team leader. No more thoughts were spend on the summer party this day.