Before I begin, I'd like to give some credit to kade32 on , who authored Bendy and The Ink Machine: The Novelization and gave me the idea to pair Susie Campbell and Henry together.

It was hard to believe that Sammy Lawrence, at the height of his career as music director, would start falling for one of his employees. As much as he would like to call himself sick for noticing her after years of working alongside her, he couldn't say that he feels much remorse. Susie Campbell was an attractive woman with an even more attractive talent- a singing voice. They were both artistic people, and with Sammy's lyrical gift and Susie's singing gift, he felt that they would make quite a duo. That idea crept into Sammy's mind far before he ever started having feelings for her.

No, Sammy's feelings were brand new, and he knew what they were the moment he felt something. These feelings were no strangers to him. One could even argue that they were old friends, ready to be entertained by him once again. Sammy was a bit of a hopeless romantic, and while he was bashful about the fact, he had his fair share of workplace crushes. At this job, he had feelings for at least four women around the studio. Susie was the fifth. However, Sammy's previous experiences with workplace crushes were never so convenient. She worked right in his department, and since he had power over her in the chain of command, he could have readily asked her out whenever he wanted.

However, Sammy knew his place. He was her superior, and superiors were not supposed to ask out their employees out on dates. There was a standard of professionalism to be held between Sammy and the people he was responsible for, and a workplace relationship would likely not keep that standard.

He sifted through music scores on his desk, searching for his newest one. Joey had requested it two weeks earlier while feverish and skittish; as if he were on drugs. This only increased Sammy's concern for his boss' condition. Yet he wrote the song, based on what he thought the lighter side of hell would sound like. Of course that was a strange score to write for the show, but it wasn't like the viewers knew what they were called.

Finally, he found his music sheet. He picked it up and headed out the door to his office. Sammy was in a hurry- he did not want to be late to this particular band rehearsal.

"Um, excuse me, Sammy?"

The ironically meek voice of Susie Campbell stopped him in his tracks. He turned to face her, eyeing her up and at the same time. Susie looked even more attractive up close than she did at a distance. He often kept track of her outfits for the week, to see if there was a pattern with what she wore. On Mondays and Wednesdays she wore this navy blue dress that seemed to be one size to small (she barely fit into it), coupled with a cardigan and sky blue flats. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she wore a black pencil skirt with a top of some random color (usually it was the lime green one). On Fridays she wore jeans and a dress shirt. Today was Thursday, which meant that she was wearing her black pencil skirt and her lime green top, with an equally lime green sweater. The skirt swayed when she walked. Sammy would watch her walk just so he could see it sway back and forth and back and forth.

"Sammy, do you hear me?"

He snapped out of his trance. "What did you say?"

She pursed her lips and sighed, as of annoyed. "I need to preview the next song you've written. I'm scheduled for a recording at 2 today, which means I've got to skip lunch just so I can go over it."

He nodded. "I'll get you those lyrics."

"Thanks, Sammy." She shut the door to her office after that.

He made a mental note to send Susie his newest song and continued down the hallway. The band was already playing when Sammy finally got there.

"It's about time," a voice spoke from up in the projection booth. Norman Polk.

"I know I'm late," Sammy explained in the most collected voice he could manage. "I had important business to take care of."

Norman scoffed as Sammy took his respective place at the conductor's stand, and began to play his newest song. His little conductor's wand directed his newest piece, The Lighter Side Of Hell. Conducting gave Sammy a rush that kept him coming back to work for Joey Drew. He felt that he had control over a group of people playing a range of instruments, to make a piece that he wrote come to life.

However, one drumbeat was off beat. Sammy felt the kiss of death on him once the drumbeat fell out of beat. Then it was the trumpets, the violins and eventually the entire piece was off beat. The director tried to keep up with the cacophonous chorus by waving his tiny stick about, hoping that his frantic, silent instructions would set them back in order. The more anxious he grew, the faster the piece went until eventually no one could keep up. The band lost all control of their instruments and stopped playing. Sammy groaned in frustration. He slapped down his conductor's wand and marched right out the door without saying a word. He couldn't be working under these conditions.

"I will quit this job, make no mistake."