…
Um.
Hi?

:3 It's been a while.

Honestly, I had made a vow to myself that the next thing I posted on FF wouldn't be Assassin's Creed related, but, hell, that didn't turn out very well, now did it? Not to mention that it's related to "Just Beyond My Reach" too.

But only slightly.

It's more of an AU, but with same characters.

I hate to place AU fics in the present—especially when the characters come from a different time and a different country (I don't know enough about other countries besides the US to write about them—and I'm too lazy to look up information too.) I try to work around it as best that I can.

SO!

This is a "Just Beyond My Reach, My Assassin" AU story that popped in my head one day. :3 So, it will involve Narina and Ezio and all that goodness. No, you will not have to had read Just Beyond My Reach, My Assassin to understand this story.

I expect this thing to only be around four to five chapters...but it'll probably pan out to be more, knowing myself. X.X

THE ORANGE COMPLICATION

"'Oh Darling, I love you so.'
'If you'd ask me for my heart, there's no way that I'll say no.'
'Oh Darling, just take a chance please.'
'So we can stay together 'till Hell starts to freeze.'"

-"Oh Darling" by Plug in Stereo ft. Cady Groves

My hands smelled like oranges.

Frowning, I held them stiffly away as I rolled over in my bed, automatically reaching for the bottle of lotion of knew was sitting there. It wasn't that I hated the smell of oranges—hell, I loved them. But for the moment when the memories were still so fresh, I wanted nothing to do with them. The Bath and Bodyworks lotion was rubbed ferociously into my palms, smearing the cool substance up my arms. The smell of cinnamon and apples replaced the citrus smell and I finally was able to roll out of bed, yawning loudly as I sat at the edge of the bed.

As I stared at my feet against the wood floor, my mind wandered to the events that had happened the night before, causing me to lift my gaze to look around the room. His jacket was gone from the back of the computer chair and his other clothes were no longer strewn about haphazardly.

Although I had known it was going to be a one-night-stand, I still felt my mouth twist into a deep frown. I hope we could still be friends despite everything.

Pushing aside the thoughts and the images, I stood from the bed and walked over to the dresser to begin picking through the clothes, trying to find my jacket and shorts. It wasn't as early as I normally started exercising, but 7:00 AM was enough. As I dressed, I idly wondered just how early Federico had to have gotten up to leave without me noticing. A sad thought occurred to me when I considered the option that perhaps he merely just left in the middle of the night, still tipsy from the drinks we had and the sex we had both guiltily enjoyed. A small part of me was angry, but the more logical side of me understood and hoped that he had made it home safely.

A growl suddenly pushed from my throat as I grabbed my I-Phone from the nightstand and stormed out of the room. I had just gotten myself in deep shit, even if no one knew yet. But knowing Federico and how he was close with his family, Ezio probably already knew. I would forever be tagged as 'the girl who Feddy cheated on' in Ezio's eyes. And yes; Federico had been married for two years now. I felt terrible about everything that had happened.

I imagined that Federico did too.

Once I had pulled my hair back, I walked out of the bathroom and into the hall that led to my living room, small, but nice for being an apartment. I was lucky that I had a job at the Auditore Inc. building to help me pay for such luxuries, and I was roughly reminded that if Federico hadn't kept his mouth shut, I would probably be kicked out onto the streets by noon. Giovanni was kind, but I don't think he'd put up with anything that would try to tear his family apart, AKA: me.

Gazing up at the clock and judging how much time I would need to get ready for work, I set an alarm on my phone, plugged in the headphones, blasted the music up high, and jumped up on the treadmill, losing myself in the rush of the constant motion and the thudding of my heart.

It was about thirty minutes later that I decided to turn off the machine, holding onto the side bars to help me slow down and hop off. Sweating head to toe, I grabbed a towel that I had slung over the table, rubbing it against my face, huffing into the soft cotton. The clock read 7:32, and I decided that it was time to take the shower I was so desperately needing. Although the warm water washed away the sweat, I also wanted it to wash away the memories, the filth that seemed to be burned into my skin. When I looked in the foggy mirror, clean and fresh, the only thing that I could think was 'home-wrecker' and 'despicable'. Groaning out loud and rubbing my face, I prayed that Federico would find it in his heart to forgive me. If I hadn't pushed him into going to the bar after work the night before, then maybe the whole thing wouldn't have happened.

But I couldn't not show up at work. Not only would that look bad on my part, it would tag me as a coward, and I wouldn't be labeled that if I could help it. I was going to try and be the bigger man and confront the problem first, knowing that it must be devastating to Federico. At least I was single—Federico had been with his wife three years before marrying her and being with her for two.

As I walked back to the bedroom, I got on my phone and looked at the schedule for the day, seeing that I had a meeting at three with some of our sister companies in the city and Giovanni had wanted me to help Federico present. I frowned at that—the meeting was the whole reason we decided we wanted to go out last night. Be the bigger person, Narina, I thought to myself as I dug through my wardrobe to find my nice suit. Just get this ugly mess cleaned up.

The garage was packed by the time I pulled in at 8:52, barely making it to work on time. Finally finding a spot, I parked my car in between two big trucks, my puny white car looking even more insignificant between the giant, dark vehicles.

Gathering my purse and turning off the car, I stepped out, taking a deep breath to try and calm myself from the rising panic when I thought that the first person I needed to talk to this morning was Federico. I quickly locked the doors, slammed the door, and scurried across the parking garage, the click of my heels echoing loudly. As I walked into the building and headed to the elevator, I suddenly realized that mine and Federico's idea about stripping off stress last night actually just added more to everything. Squeezing into the already packed elevator, I sighed loudly and wondered just how this day was going to pan out.

"He didn't come to work today?" I exclaimed in shock, staring at Giovanni.

"He said something about not feeling well," the elder man, my boss, said, smiling. "Personally, I think he decided to start his weekend a little early. I canceled the afternoon meeting today until Federico is able to present. I trust you will still help him?"

I felt like me eyes were about to pop out of my head, my mind processes a thousand thoughts per second. He ditched out on work today! Judging from the smile Giovanni was flashing me, Federico must not have told his father about what had happened, otherwise this innocent inquiry of where the eldest Auditore brother was would have turned out to me getting my ass fired.

"O-of course," I answered, trying to compose myself. "I...I'll just get back to work then. Thank you, Mr. Auditore."

"Please, Narina, it's Giovanni." He smiled at me. "Have a good day."

I had known the Auditore family since my second year in college, having met Federico in one of my humanity classes. We weren't really friends until Ezio came into the picture and began inviting me out to hang out with them, play some video games, go to concerts. Soon, I got really close to their family, their parents, their little sister, their little brother who was still being home schooled due to his illnesses. When college was over with, I had moved away for a few years, back to my home town in Nebraska. But once I decided I needed a job, I complained to Ezio over the phone one night. The next thing I knew was that I was offered a job in New York at Auditore Incorporation, a Design and Production office that usually dealt with logos for other main companies. I wasn't about to turn it down, and moved over to the big Apple. Both the Auditore brothers worked at the office, and they found me an apartment to stay in. It was nice to be reunited with a family that I had fallen in love with, somehow more of a family than my own ever was.

My job was a personal assistant for the 23rd floor, the floor that Federico managed. I hadn't been given the job—the only favor I got was getting a job in the building itself. I spent a good two years working hard and climbing to the top. It had been all going smoothly...until I slept with my bosses married son.

Returning to my work area, I began to shuffle through my papers, trying to busy myself so my thoughts would no longer sway over to images that seemed to doom me. Since I had been focusing so hard on trying to distract myself, I didn't hear someone approach me from behind. I was thumbing through a file, trying to find a document on our latest commission.

"Hey, Narina."

Jumping and nearly dropping the file, I spun around at the voice. Ezio stood behind me, a half smirk on his lips. He always looked somewhat silly to me in his suit, a little too uptight for his personality. But, I had a strange attraction to men in suits, so it didn't really bother me.

I quickly composed myself. "Hello, Ezio." I turned back around, not wanting to give myself away. Ezio could read me like an open book.

"What are you doing?" he asked innocently, his presence moving closer and making me feel extremely nervous.

"Working. Like you should be. Don't you have your own floor to worry about?"

"Someone has to see to this floor since Federico isn't in today." A slight pause. "I wonder why."

"Your dad said he was sick," I mused, moving away like I needed to look in another area in the cabinets.

"Hm." He didn't saying anything more and followed me to where I was standing...a bit too close than I would like. Slamming the filing cabinet close, I spun around and glared at him.

"What are you doing?" I snapped. He had his head inclined forward, like he had been trying to get closer to me without stepping forward..

An insincere smirk played his mouth, moving in just the right light that the light scar on his lips barely showed, a mark from his younger days he had told me of before.. "I was seeing if you still smelt like oranges," he whispered, his eyes taking a wicked gleam.

His words seemed to punch me in the gut, and with the same effect, I collapsed down against the cabinet, finally caught by my own mistakes. "He told you," I whispered. Not asking, for I already knew. There was no other way Ezio would have luckily chosen oranges.

"Of course he did." Ezio bent down to take a hold of my arm, tugging me up lest someone walk in the room and see me collapsed. "Called me at four o'clock this morning blubbering."

My heart sank and I stared up into my best friend's golden eyes. "He didn't tell Amelia, did he?"

"As of this morning, no." Ezio let go of my arm and put his hands in his pockets, still smirking at me. I should have known that he wouldn't be too broken up about Federico cheating—especially since it was me. "But we do have family dinner night tomorrow—I wouldn't be surprised if he broke right then and spilled everything."

I wasn't scared that Ezio would tell anyone—he was extremely good at keeping secrets. My secret how I had peed my pants once from watching a scary movie was never told, and the secret that I was the one that had thrown up all over Federico's bed back in college had never been put into light again. And there were plenty more, some of my deepest darkest secrets all planted with trust in Ezio. I think the only reason he was so good at keeping the secrets was because Ezio liked to hold things above me, to remind me that I owed him a lot.

Sighing, I turned back to the cabinet and tugged it open. "So, I should plan to be fired by next week, then?"

"Oh, please," Ezio mused. "Yeah, my dad would be mad, but he wouldn't go and throw you out on the street. He thinks of you like his own daughter, you know."

"Which would make me sleeping with his married son even more scandalous," I muttered, finally finding the file I had wanted and turned to go sit down at my desk. Dropping the files on the desk, I followed after them, resting my head against the manilla folders as I groaned. "Ezio, I'm so screwed!"

"From what I heard, yes, you are."

Throwing him an evil look, I folded my arms on the desk and rested my head against them. "I feel terrible about it. Remind me to never drink again."

Laughing, he seated himself at the edge of the desk. "Don't worry about it. If Federico does end up spilling the beans, I'll make sure to control the anger."

I rolled my eyes, sitting up straight again and flipping open the folder. "How reassuring," I muttered sarcastically.

He hummed under his breath, a small laugh, before I felt him watching me. Glancing up, he had one brow raised at me, his infamous smirk on his face. "So," he mused, the grin growing larger if that was possible, "all I have to do if I ever want you to sleep with me is get you drinking and then offer you oranges?"

Exasperated, I slammed my hands on the desk and jabbed my finger towards the door. "Out. Now."

Raising his hands in defense, he pushed off the desk and walked (more like danced) over to the door. "Fine, fine." He paused once he had opened the small office's door. "You should call and talk to him though," he offered, more serious this time, making me look up at him. He had grown less silly and was giving me a true-blue friend look. "He may have skipped work today to avoid the awkward encounters, but this is something you both need to discuss."

"Thanks Ezio." Right then the phone on the desk rang. "I'll have to consider that," I continued before I reached over and picked up the phone, putting on my friendly voice. Ezio left then, and I fell into the flow of the work day, taking calls, explaining that Federico Auditore wasn't in today, writing messages, and planning on emailing them to my immediate boss. The one I had slept with the night before.

Rubbing my face, I realized that I was basically screwed—it was against the rules to have office relationships, especially if it was boss/employee. Even if Giovanni went 'easy' on me, it was his job to fire me for breaking the office rules while also committing adultery, something I'm sure he took personally. Trying to distract myself once again, I pulled out my I-phone and looked over the schedule for our plans the next few weeks. Next Thursday, nothing is going on, I thought idly, touching the day to expand the notes to be written. I guess I'll request for that day to be the meeting. I paused once the digital keyboard popped up. What if I wasn't even working anymore by next Thursday? I certainty wasn't making myself feel any better.

I glanced at the clock and planned out the rest of my day. While my day consisted of dealing with client calls and set up for trips that needed to be planned, I decided that I would take my lunch hour to call Federico and try and talk about our situation.

Some of the office girls popped in once noon rolled around, asking me if I wanted to go with them to lunch. I declined politely, saying I needed to catch up on work, even though in reality I had nothing to do. The next person who popped in was Ezio, offering to go grab me something to eat when I told him I was planning on getting a hold of Federico. Declining, I waited until he left again to pull out my phone. I stared at the screen for a long moment, trying to go over the conversation in my head.

Finally, after a good five minutes of contemplating, I opened the contacts and scrolled down to Federico. Sucking in a deep breath, I pressed 'call' and held it up to my ear, already feeling myself start to panic. When it rang three, four times, I started to hope that he wouldn't blow me off, that we needed to talk about this as soon as possible.

"Hello." A mix of relief and fear washed through me at his voice. "Hello, Na-na."

I swallowed. "Hey, Feddy."

Neither of us said anything for a moment.

"How is the office today? Any major developments that I've missed."

"Oh. I've emailed you all the messages that I've gotten throughout the morning."

"Hm. So you have."

Another silence.

"Look, we have to talk," I whispered, standing up and starting to pace about my small office.

He sighed, and I could imagine him rubbing his forehead. "Yeah. We do."

"First of all, I want to apologize for all of this," I started out, feeling my heart trip a few beats. "I mean, I didn't want it to turn out like this."

"Yeah. Neither did I," he whispered.

I took a deep breath. "I know this is a big deal, that both of our jobs are on the line...as well as your marriage." Closing my eyes, I rubbed my forehead and went through my thoughts quickly. "I...I'm willing to take the bulk of this onto my own shoulders. It was my idea to go to the bar last night."

"Na-na, no," Federico cut me off. "It's as much my fault as it is yours. I should have recognized that it wasn't a good idea in the first place." He went quiet. "Besides, I'm the one that is married," he muttered.

"Don't beat yourself up over this," I demanded. "We went out as friends. Neither of us knew it would..." I trailed off, not wanting to admit the words out loud.

A few moments passed where we both just sat and listened to each others breathing. One of my best friends on the other line, and I had nothing to say. It was a sign that we were both in deeper than we had first thought.

Finally, Federico breathed deeply, his voice raspy even over the phone. "I have to tell her," he whispered. "Amelia needs to know. I can't stand keeping a secret from her."

I swallowed, already having expected this, but still felt the panic flood through me. "I understand...Your dad needs to know too."

He hummed in agreement. "I'm sorry, Narina."

"No, I am." I sighed, collapsing in my chair. "I'm so, so very sorry, Federico."

I couldn't bear to say goodbye to him, for I felt like I was saying it like I was really going away forever, so I simply hung up. Then I started crying because I k new that I had just lost my job, the trust of my new family, and the long friendship of the Auditores.

Slamming my I-phone on the desk, I buried my face in my hands, trying to calm myself before a worker would walk in and see me in such a mess. It was no use, though; I felt the tears stream down my cheeks. Wiping them away while trying not to smear my make-up. I stood from my chair and began to shuffle through my desk, deciding that I needed to start getting packed up since I was going to be fired next Monday.

Surprising myself, I kept it together as I started to gather my things, keeping my mind on the task at hand, not focusing on the reason why I was doing the task in the firsthand.

The door opened and closed, a thick, saucy aroma filling the room. Turning around, I found Ezio grinning at me, holding out a Hot Pocket on a plate.

"I know you said you didn't want anything," he mused, placing the plate on my desk. "But I figured you'd be hungry anyway." His golden eyes flashed up at me, his grin dropping. "Did you call him?"

I nodded slowly, turning back to the files I was going through.

"Na-na?"

I didn't know what it was, but the nickname that he and Federico had adopted to calling me caused made the panic overwhelm me. Trying to keep myself calm, I fidgeted and started to touch everything with my shaking hands. Please, please give me something else to think of. Instead of that, the tears started to spill down my cheeks again.

Then I found myself in Ezio's arms, his head resting on top of mine. "It's going to be okay, Narina. I promise."

"No," I sobbed into his chest, letting it all go. "No it's not! He's telling everyone! I'm going to lose my job, lose my family, and everyone that I love! I'm going to have to move back to Nebraska!"

His fingers were running through my hair, trying to comfort me as he whispered softly to me. Then he held me away at arms length, bending down to look me in the eye. "Look, I promise you that you won't lose your job. I'll talk to my dad about it."

I rubbed at my face, ridding the tears before Ezio pulled me into another hug. "You're too into this family for him to throw you out on your own."

No matter his promise, I still felt terrible and a foreboding feeling darkened my thoughts. Sniffing, I finally caught a hold of myself, pulling away from Ezio. "Well, I'm going to be transferred if that's the case. So can you help me pack up my office? Just a little bit so I won't have to do so much on Monday."

Ezio stared at me quietly, letting me go. "I'll make him go easy on you, Na-na. I promise."

Although I smiled at him, I knew that I was going to get what I deserved.

So I hope that I can get this story done within three to four short chapters.

Also, I will try to get this done, but I have a lot of school work to do, and I'm really getting into my own novel right now. Not to mention getting everything in for college.

Thanks for reading and please understand that this is something I am merely doing for fun and as an opportunity to expand on my OC and romantic situations. :3

Thanks! And Review!