"Chapter One…I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror. Damn my hair! It just won't behave…and damn Katherine Kavanagh —"
"Uhh…Ana? What're you doing?"
The dark brown-haired girl sitting at her desk turned, then fully swiveled her chair toward her aforementioned blonde-haired roommate. "Oh, I dunno…just…thought I'd…y'know, maybe start writing a book…to make a little extra money on the side." She paused with a shrug, echoing quieter "I'unno," pausing, "What're you doing?"
"YOU? Write a book?" Kate twitched. "Oh! Speaking of writing, shoot! I was supposed to do that interview with Christian Grey at Greyhouse HQ downtown today — but I've got this killer migraine. I know your major's Math, but…d'you think you could do it for me? Please?"
"What?!" Ana said with a squint and a snort, "Do YOUR interview for you? What's next, you want me to take your Lit. II Final for you, too?"
"I know, I know, it's stupid and crazy — but it's in like an hour and I don't have anybody else! PLEASE?"
"What about Jamie? And couldn't you just like…Skype this guy, anyway?"
"She's out of town this week, and my stupid harddrive crashed this morning. PLEEEASE, Ana?"
With a frame-wilting sigh, lids briefly lowering shut, the brown-haired girl relented "Okay, I'll do your interview for you. But YOU have to swear to DVR all my shows. And you have to be watching one of the three, so I'll know if you bail on me."
Simpering, Kate nodded. "I pinky-promise swear on Pythagoras's Theorem that I'll record ALL your shows. …Did I mention how awesome a friend you are?"
"Damn you, Kate Kavanagh!" Ana echoed in a hiss under her breath as she rose, striding off toward her closet. She assumed she wouldn't have to be in anything but business casual — and even if not, at the moment, she couldn't have cared less.
Feet already aching from walking several blocks to the Greyhouse main entrance from the only pay-for-parking spot available midday in downtown Seattle, she thumped a hand to the glass door, shoving it open and practically stalking up to the desk, with even more choice words for Kate and this rich idiot buzzing in her head.
"Hi. I'm here to see Christian Grey. For an interview. For the Washington State Weekly. Sorry if I'm late…" she blurted to the woman behind the main desk, not caring that she stared.
"Oh, okay," the clerk acknowledged, visibly scrolling down her computer screen, "You're Kate Kavanagh?"
"Y — no, uh…see…she got sick…suddenly, so I'm…filling in for her. That's all. My name's Anastasia Steel. That's 'Steel' with two e's."
"Got it. Okay, well, looks like Mr. Grey's last meeting ran late, so…you're just in time to catch him before lunch. I'll show you upstairs, follow me!" Walking out from around the counter, she smiled, pivoting and striding toward the elevator.
With a still-exasperated sigh and thousand-yard droop-lidded stare, Steel half-consciously followed her. The only thing keeping her from loudly suggesting this man and everyone in his company perform a physically impossible act and sprinting for the door now was revisiting a few theories she'd been trying to solve in her head; a Math major's crossword puzzles. Somehow her body continued walking and stopping and standing and waiting where it needed to like a ride on a track at a theme park while she pondered the differential geometry details of the Hopf Conjecture.
"Ms. Steel?" the clerk's voice finally pierced her perfectly logical reverie. "Ms. Steel, we're here."
Giving her head a clearing shake and briefly clutching her temple, the dark brown-haired girl forced a polite smile, saying "Oh, sorry, just…thinking."
"About your interview, of course!" the lady bid, smiling broadly. "Well, good luck! And don't be too nervous about talking to Mr. Grey — he might seem intimidating, but he's a great guy once you get talking to him long enough. Especially one-to-one."
"Okay, if you say so…" Ana said, grabbing the long door handle. She pushed — to no effect. "Huh?"
"Oh, it opens out."
The dark brown-haired girl gave the other quite a look. "That's a fire hazard! …this Mr. Grey isn't very smart, is he? Even if it's just whichever architect he hired —"
Raising flat palms, the clerk said "That's not my call. He just signs the paychecks and I just stick to my schedule."
"Right, guess that makes sense." Another tense pause. "Er, thanks. See you…around, I guess?"
"Possibly!" the woman said, then promptly strode back down the hall.
Tightening her grip on the handle, the girl took one last deep breath, venting ninety-nine percent of her frustration with a long purse-lipped sigh. Then finally pulled open the door and stepped in.
Christian Grey seemed to be poring over something, a mess of papers in a pile on his desk, scanning eyes jumping from one to another as he mumbled. Finally the door's loud self-closing slam made him jump and look up.
"Oh! Sorry!" he spoke up, bolting to his feet, ducking around his desk, and meeting her halfway in a handshake. "Youuu…don't look like the Kate I saw —" his eyes began darting almost comically "— that I…looked up…on Google…for our interview — I'm not a weird creeper, I swear!" and also defensively raised flat palms.
Despite everything, Ana belly laughed enough to snort. With another sigh and a quick shake of her head, she said "Don't worry about it. No, I'm not Kate — that…lovely person…is my English major roommate. Apparently she got super sick like an hour ago and her computer crashed and…I needed to get out of the apartment anyway, so…" Now she raised flat palms as well, upturned in a full shrug. "My name's Ana — Anastasia Steel. That's 'Steel' with two e's."
"I s-e-e," he said, smiling rather genuinely, "So…you more of an…indoor kind of person?"
"I guess —" she began, "— but hey! Who's supposed to be interviewing who, here?"
"You're right, you're right," Christian said, returning to his desk, leaning back. "Okay, ask away!"
"Okay, umm…" Steel took a glance at Kate's questions, facepalmed with the notepad in hand, before nonchalantly chucking it and the pencil over her shoulder where it landed with a thump and a clatter. "Look, what I really want to know is: you show up out of nowhere, and suddenly you're insanely rich. And popular. And…powerful. But I've Googled just about everything I could think of and you and your company hardly show up anywhere! Forbes, Businessweek — passing mentions, but no great history, no nothing! What do you even do?!"
"Didn't realize this was a shakedown!" Grey countered. "Don't tell me you're really with the FBI or something?"
She snorted. "Why? Have you been getting notices or something?"
"Not exactly…" he said, eyes darting briefly again.
Ana let their words fade into silence, simply staring, trying to solve the mystery of this place and this man like an algebra equation. Greyx2 + truth + wtf = 0 cares given. "What even are you?" she found herself finally asking.
Sighing, face sliding into his hands before sweeping them up his forehead and combing his hair back, he professed "Well, a liar for one…" He paused, but not enough to leave room for another comment from her. "My name's not Christian — it's Earl."
Ana sat there, slowly leaning back as she put two and two together. "Your name is Earl…" she repeated.
"Mmhm," was all he said, with a self-deprecating smirk.
"Earl Grey," she reiterated, slowly nodding, also smirking "Hot."
He tilted his head with an eye roll "That's a load."
Again, her grin broke into a chuckle. "Noooo, no…I mean…" And with a likewise short pause, gaze falling to her lap "My name isn't 'Anastasia', either. It's…Dani — Danielle. Danielle Steel."
"Famous authoress?" Earl asked, eyes widening.
"No, dummy! Name's the same, but I'm only twenty-one!" she shot back. "…sorry. That was rude."
"No, it's…it's fine," Grey said, shaking his head. "I've kinda been pretty rude to you, too…that's not how a famous billionaire should act, is it?"
"Depends on how many billions, I guess," Dani said. "I'm…sorry, I – I – I've been keeping you from your work for nothing — or I guess…just your only lunchtime, and —"
"No, nooo!" Earl bid, glimpsing his watch, "I've got plenty of time — for lunch. In fact, I know we just met, but…would…you wanna go…get something to eat? Unless you've gotta be back somewhere for a study group or something. Wouldn't want to mess up your grades or anything…"
Steel felt her stomach croak, though it didn't seem to be loud enough for him to hear. Putting a hand on it for just a second, she smiled. "No, I've got time — I'd love to!"
"Great!" he said, face lighting up. "What kind of food do you like?"
"Pretty much anything," she admitted. "As long as it's not cold or out of a dumpster or something."
"Darn!" Earl joked, "Guess the romantic spot behind the dumpster at Cioppino's is out, then."
She chucklesnorted. "It doesn't have to be super-fancy, either. Food is food, right?"
"That's true," he noted. "Okay, I've got the perfect place then…"
An hour later, they sat at a corner table under an awning on 1309 Northeast 124th Street, chatting between bites of mulitas and chicken taquitos for a whopping thirteen dollars and seventy-five cents plus tax.
Grey took another swig of his water, asking "So…ever hear about multiverse theory?"
'The many worlds theory?" Dani said, "Sure. The math is solid, but…wait, why do you ask?"
"Well, you wanted to know what my secret was, right?" His eyes darted again at the sparse lunch crowd before he leaned over the table, voice lower "Greyhouse has been working under the radar on a device to harness interdimensional travel possibilities."
Steel quickly swallowed her current bite before she choked in an incredulous snicker. "What?! No way…the technology's not —!"
"It is," he cut her off. "Solid, just like the math. But…not well-known. Or advertised yet, certainly. We're…still working out a lot of the bugs. But it's…well…let's get this to go and I can show you. Is that all right?"
"Sure," she echoed, revising her mental equation. Greyx2 + science-fiction + this has got to be a prank = I need to see this now.
The basement laboratory at Greyhouse Headquarters was only slightly bigger than Earl's top floor office, but much fuller with servers and computers and some machines Dani didn't quite recognize. She followed him, making wide visual sweeps, jaw half-wittingly slacked.
"This is…pretty amazing!" she said breathily.
"I know…and I'm sure you still think it's a joke, but…it's real…it's weird, I know — but…when you tell people that you can make something that can let them live out every life possibility they could possibly want, well, you have a lot of eager investors."
"I s-e-e," the dark brown-haired girl echoed with a grin. "So how did all this start? I mean...?"
"Well, it started with my father, actually. John Ottway Grey. He always felt he made a lot of bad decisions in his life —" he looked sheepish "— myself one of them — and he always wanted to just be able to do at least one thing over again. To make at least ONE better choice…for his future. So…he dedicated the rest of his life to trying to harness String Theory like some…quantum puppet master."
Dani nodded, silent, though her mind raced. t'=t√1-V2/c2. She looked up when Earl approached, carefully holding a device in both hands. It looked like something out of a Stan Lee-Jack Kirby collab. "What is that?"
"We don't really have a name for it, actually," Grey admitted. "We've been tossing some ideas around—"
"So how does it work?"
He lifted it, sliding it onto his head gently, looking up as he did so. "Well, you just put it on and…plug it in, and —"
"So like a…brain…plug?"
"Well, that's a little weird, but…I guess, basically," he said, going on "And then you set the dials on that machine, on that panel, and you can take your plugged-in brain ANYwhere! Well, anywhere you've been — or anywhere you didn't go after that…"
"But…isn't this just like that Philip K. Dick story?" she pressed.
"Not exactly," Earl said, removing the headset and setting it down where he'd plucked it up. "We can't just plug in any old false happy memories — they'd have to be based on something that COULD have ever happened to you. If you ever had a chance to go sunning yourself on a beach in the Bahamas, then sure, we could find that, and send you there — but…if nothing you've ever done and no one you've ever talked to would've ever gotten you there; then we can't make that happen."
"But…who's to say what choice could lead to what choice?" Steel persisted. "What if you turned down going to a party, but going to that party would've introduced you to somebody looking to hire you — and then you taking that job would've meant you had the chance to go to a yearly conference in the Caribbean? …or something?"
"Right. If you had the chance to be hired by a company who held yearly meetings in the Caribbean. But if that was never in the cards, it could never happen, and you could never go there."
"But — but…" Dani stammered, then rubbed her temple with a flinch. "This is all getting too confusing…too illogical, really…"
"Sorry," Grey said, "I didn't mean to make your head spin that much."
"No, it's fine," she said. "This has been kind of amazing; actually…you're — …yeah."
"Yeah, I think so too," he said. "Thanks for…coming along with me. Me and my…crazy story about my oh-so-secret-crazy-rich-crazy-idea family company."
"The odds were pretty high, but…I had fun," Steel said. "Do you think…would you ever…I mean…could we…that is…?"
"Do this again? Sometime?" Earl finished for her. "Sure! If I didn't scare you off by now, then…I think we could really work together. Er, spend time together."
"Well, I am gonna need a job after I graduate," Dani said.
"Oh, right. Well, then that's perfect! You can work here, for me! Er, with me, more like…" he said. "If that's okay with you, of course. …Is it?"
"Well…" She trailed off, then gave her head a shake, laughing despite herself.
"I know, it's a lot to take in — everything all just kind of happened at once. Interview, tacos, the ultimate fate of the universe…"
"Earl — uh, Mr. Grey —"
"Earl is fine, if it's not too silly for you."
"Okay, then, Earl… Earl Grey, I — let me just think about your offer for…a night or two, okay? I'm not trying to brush you off, I just —"
"Need some time to think. About everything. I get it! Hey, believe me, I get it! Can't make a great decision when your head's spinning, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, definitely…"
Seeming half-aware in as much of a pleasantly surprised daze as she was, he took her hand, shaking it again. "It was such a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Danielle Steel. And I hope to do it again — to see you again, I mean. Soon! Well, as soon as you're ready to…"
"Same to you, Mr. Earl Grey," she bid. Now they both snorted into snickering.
"So? So? Did you get the interview?" Kate asked, still clutching an icepack to her forehead, an open bottle of Motrin on the small glass coffee table along with a half-eaten box of pizza and a bowl of melted ice cream. "I sat through three whole hours of Awkward for you! Like I promised!"
"Oh! Uh, yeah…um…I…ended up…using my…voice recorder!" 'Ana' stammered. "And um, I just need to…copy it onto my computer. And…transcribe it…and…I'll send it to you on the school server!"
"Well, that sounds like BS."
Whirling around, Steel countered "Well, to be fair, Kate, your questions were kinda BS."
"So maybe I was just using it as an excuse to try and date him! So what?" Kavanagh admitted, flinging out her arms and the icepack with them, landing on the floor.
"WHAT?! But I thought —!" the dark brown-haired girl said, head tilting, jaw slack. Then with a quick clearing shake, she said "Y'know what? I don't care. We talked a lot, we ate some lunch, I had fun, we talked about a lot of things; it was great. So…thanks. For nothing — that turned out to be something. Something pretty great."
"Holy whoa! REALLY?" she said, "Well…if you guys are friends now, d'you…think I could tag along next time? PLEASE?"
"Sure. He said his company's hiring, I'm sure they could always use a PR person who knows what the hell an apostrophe is."
"Awesome! Thanks, Ana. And…sorry for all the times I've kind of been a total bitch to you."
"Same here, Kate."
As the brown-haired girl sat on the couch next to her, they hugged. Steel quickly nabbed a slice of uneaten pizza and gave her roommate a nod; Kate held out the remote and hit 'Play'.
Since everything that could have gone wrong to sabotage their graduation ceremony did, including speaker cancellations and the WSU President managing to literally break his leg the day before, 'Ana' and Kate found themselves stuck at home on the same couch. Though a storm reduced their cable to a pixelated screen.
Without even thinking, Steel dug out her phone and dialed Earl's number. She heard a lot of clicking and commotion before his voice rang out "Hello? Oh, Dani, hi! Didn't expect to hear from you! So soon!"
"It's been a few weeks — you really didn't expect me to call you back?" she asked, though grinned as she spoke.
"Well, I was hoping you would — but then I was thinking I probably made a really stupid impression and you were trying to avoid calling me back. And I wanted to call you, but I didn't wanna seem desperate…or, y'know, creepy…"
"Believe me, you're too much of a dork to be creepy," Dani said, leaning back on the couch arm. "So what're you up to? Been working on that…universal brain plug of second chance happiness? Or whatever?"
"Something like that," he said. "When I said we've been trying to work the bugs out, we've really been trying to work the bugs out — a lot of the base tech staff like to take their lunch down here and we've gotten some pretty fat cockroaches around. …Oh crap! Hang on, be right back!"
She heard him put the phone down and listened as what sounded like a distant chase ensued, ending with him loudly pummeling the apparent pest to death with a coffee mug. When he finally returned to the phone out of breath, she mused "Don't you have some…maintenance staff or something to take care of stuff like that? Or at least an exterminator you can call?"
"Yeah, sure, lots of 'em," Earl said, "But what kind of big, strong man can't take out a big sticky bug? Especially when there are ladies around…" Another pause. "That…probably sounded weirder and less sexy than it did in my head."
"Not too much," she said. "So did you get my email about hiring Kate, too? She is totally head over heels for you, by the way…"
"Yeah, no, I did — that's great! We did kind of need a new editor for our PR Department."
"That's what I told her. Glad it worked out."
"So…you sent your application in too, right? I've been checking, but I haven't seen it…"
"I'm…still working on it…" she admitted.
"What part are you stuck on?" he asked.
"The part where you're just hiring me because —"
"Because you're a Math major at the top of your graduating class? And you'd bring a lot of those smarts to the company and bump up profits and make a great update on your resumé? …not that you'll need it for another few years, hopefully."
She set the phone in her lap, resting her face in her hand for a moment with a sigh, then lifted her head, sweeping her bangs back. "Okay…I'll get it finished and sent in as soon as I can."
"How'd the graduation ceremony go, by the way?"
"It…didn't. A ton of things went wrong. Rain, no-shows, terrible last-minute injuries."
"So…are you saying it's…something we should try?"
"If you've already vanquished all the big sticky bugs, sure. Why not?"
He laughed. "Thanks, Dani. You are coming tonight, right? With Kate?"
"Yeah, I guess since we won't be able to graduate properly for another few days, we've got time. See you in a few, Earl."
"See you then!"
"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, this is SO AMAZING!" Kavanagh gushed, practically hopping in place like an elementary schooler as the elevator slowed to floor '2B'. When the doors opened, revealing the lab, she stood stone still in awe. "Oh my god…" Following her roommate out, she added "This is like Matrix weird crazy!"
"It's not crazy, Kate, it's just…math," 'Ana' said, "Lots and lots of math. And science."
"Well, good thing you're here because I can't math or science to save my life!"
"And I couldn't spell to save mine — guess that makes us a perfect team!"
"Welcome, ladies!" Grey bid, strutting toward them like another Hollywood-ized Marvel Comic hero. "Can get you some drinks? Nothing hard until we've actually gotten stuff done, though.
"He's right, drinking and deriving is a terrible idea. You should always stick to solving equations sober," Steel egged on, meeting the young man's gaze again.
"You and your math jokes," Kate said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Looking at 'Christian', she asked "Wait, don't tell me you're a math geek, too?"
"Uh, probably not anywhere as good as she is," Earl said, pointing to the dark brown-haired girl, "But yeah, a little bit. My major was Business, though. With a minor in Finance."
"Finance or fine ass?" Kavanagh joked in a whisper to Steel.
"Probably both," Dani replied in kind.
Grey heard them, but only grinned, pausing with his back to them for a moment before slumping down in a computer chair in front of one of three desktop monitors. "So…with all the cockroaches out of the way, there's only some number-crunching left…"
"What kind of numbers?" Steel asked, leaning against a desk behind her, arms folding.
"Well…so far, in all the tests we've done, we've managed to make it work, more or less — but the user can only stay in another dimension for about fifty seconds before they run the risk of not being able to come back."
"Wait…what do you mean 'not being able to come back'?" Dani asked, brow raised.
With an anxious sigh, hands sliding into his lap where he set his gaze for another moment, Grey looked up slowly and sheepishly. "Wellll…some of our test subjects…got stuck…and…their minds, uh…" He clutched at his nape. "Well…see…I – we, uh…"
The dark brown-haired girl's eyes went wide. "Oh my god, they turned into vegetables, didn't they?!"
"I…guess you could put it like that," he admitted with a finch. "We don't know why it happens — something about the…space-time continuum…fermions…bosons…relativity...we DON'T know…" He forced himself to look up at her again. "That's what we've been trying to figure out. I was hoping…such a…smart girl like you could maybe…figure it out. Or at least give us some idea."
"I – I can try…" she said, her eyes darting now, trying not to cringe at the thought of literally losing her mind.
"I have NO idea what you guys are talking about but it sounds pretty creepy…" Kate admitted. "Maybe I should just go check in with PR now?"
"That's fine," Earl and Steel unintentionally replied in unison, quickly eyeing one another warily.
After the elevator doors closed behind the blonde-haired girl, Dani found another wheeled chair and slid up next to Earl. "Fifty seconds…" she said, eyes hazy, "That's almost a whole minute. Wonder why it stops there."
"No idea," he repeated softly.
"Was it ever shorter? Did you manage to stretch it out to fifty seconds or…did it start out longer?"
He nodded. "At first, it was only a few seconds. Then on about the fiftieth try, it worked for fifty. Then everything just blew up in our faces — not literally, but…almost."
"Fifty seconds…for fifty seconds. So I don't know why it isn't five minutes now, by that logic. What were you guys doing different?"
"We don't even know!" Grey said, an edge to his voice, throwing up his hands before they banged noisily on the thankfully logged out keyboard.
"Did you try…men or women? For the experiments? With the…brain plug?"
"Both. A few more women, actually."
"Did they do better, or…?"
"About the same. It really depended on the individual. My sister Mia tested the best —"
"You tried it on your sister?"
"She volunteered! And yeah, she seemed to have the most success with it…even if it was short lived."
"I'm guessing…she doesn't have a lot of regrets?"
"She has some…she's not as bad as me, though. Or my dad who hates me."
"Then maybe that's it…"
"What's it?"
She pushed the chair back a little, idly. "Well, it makes sense that…someone with fewer regrets — someone with less desire to go back, or anywhere else…would want to stay there…so…maybe because she didn't get so caught up in it, she made it out okay."
"That…makes some kinda sense," Earl admitted, puffing a sigh through pursed lips. "But the investors are counting on marketing this exactly TO people who're gonna wanna escape the boring, stupid old lives they've decided their way into. That's this whole project. If we fail, then…well…" He craned his head back for a moment, letting his eyes sweep the room. "As much as we have, we'll be twice as much in debt. I might have to sell my organs just to buy a cruddy car to sleep in…"
"Nonsense! You can always crash in my cruddy car for the night," Dani said, "It's got plenty of room. Lots of extra fries between the cushions…"
"Fancy," he said with a nod and a grin.
She shook her head, though also grinned.
"Engineering Analyst at Greyhouse Industries!?" Carla May's voice gushed from the cellphone speaker. "Honey, that's terrific! Congratulations! I always knew you'd go far, and now look at you! Salaried for life only days after graduating! I'm going to be telling absolutely everyone."
"Thanks, Mom," the younger Steel bid, burying her face in her hand for a moment, "It's…not really that big a deal though, y'know?"
"What? Oh, honey, why not?"
"Well, see, so I ended up talking to this…erm, Christian Grey guy — who's the son of the company founder —"
"That's networking, Dani girl! Or, whoops, sorry, did you want me to call you 'Ana' now? Sorry, sweetie…"
"No, it's…fine, Mom…I'm your daughter either way, so…yeah."
"Well, listen, daughter o' mine: you need to be more confident in yourself! You might not think this or that is a big deal, but it is! And you did that all by yourself — your dad and I weren't standing there to hold you by the hand, this is all you. And you should be proud of that! OK?"
"Okay, Mom…thanks."
"You're welcome. Hey, how's Kate doing?"
"She's okay, she's feeling a lot better today. And…she's got a major crush on Christian, so…y'know, she's super-excited to be starting her job there, too."
"Ooh, I've seen pictures of him — he is quite a catch, honey. I wouldn't be surprised if you and he —!"
"MOM! I'm not…in love with Christian Grey, okay? He's a nice guy and…I guess good at business…and…kind of a dork — but…I don't feel anything, all right?"
"All right, you're right, I'm sorry…I didn't mean for you to feel like I was trying to arrange a marriage for you or anything. Just saying, if things happen…y'know."
"I know. Gotta go, love you, Mom. Talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay, sweetie! Love you much, gonna go shopping, text me or leave me a message if you need to. Catch you later, love you, bye!"
"Bye, Mom!"
She had barely thumbed 'End Call' on her screen before who of all her Contacts should be calling. Slipping the thin hot plastic-and-metal slab to her ear, she said "Hey, you…"
"Hey! Sorry, is this a bad time?" Earl asked.
"No…no time's a bad time for me, really," she said, sliding down further across the couch.
"So…you won't get mad at me if I ring you at 3AM right?"
"Okay, SOME times are bad times for me."
She heard him laugh, segueing into a sigh. "So…what're you up to?"
"You tell me, stalker," she jabbed with a smirk he couldn't see, "How long did it take you to hack my webcam?"
After a snort, he replied "It doesn't matter, because you have tape over it, I can't see a damn thing, anyway."
For a moment, she glanced at her laptop, tensing. "How do you know that?"
"Well, it's…just something I would do without even thinking if I thought for a moment that somebody was going to try and hack me. I dunno."
With a small relieved sigh, she snorted, shaking her head again. "So are you still down there fighting off feral cockroaches?"
"Nope. Called an exterminator this morning. Even if they start hoarding all the twinkies and ho-hos in the world down here, we'll be bug free! At least for the next three months, anyway…"
"What about the computer bugs? Haven't scarred anyone else for life, have you?"
"No…but, hey, I wanted to try something. Can you come over in, say, an hour or so? It can be more if you…need some time to get ready. Or…it can always be another time…if it's…not a good time."
Her mother's voice echoed in her head, and made its way to her lips. "Listen, Earl: you need to be more confident in yourself! You might not think that this is a big deal, but it is. And you've done…all — or most of this, by yourself. And…you should be proud of that."
"O…kay," she heard him say, "Thanks. I – I will, I mean, I'll try. I mean, yeah, I'll do that! …thanks, Dani."
"I'll be over in two hours, okay? But it'll be less if you reserve a spot for me that isn't two floors and five miles away."
"Well, I DO technically have my dad's old helicopter," he said, "but…I don't wanna be weird—"
"This is already weird!" she said, chuckling. "Besides, you'd be saving me a lot on gas and meter money. Or…does your dad not like people taking his helicopter?"
"Well, my dad's dead—"
"Oh, shoot! I'm…so sorry…"
"No, that's okay, you didn't know. But…well…I dunno. I'll give it a shot — but if we crash and burn, I'll probably just save you a parking spot next time."
"Works for me. Thanks, Earl."
"No problem, Dani. See you in…er…?"
"Well, if you're driving, or…flying…then I could probably be ready in about fifteen minutes."
"Sounds great! I'll be there ay-sap! See you soon!"
And in another thirty minutes, both had returned to the second-floor basement, standing by the main machine body, the dark brown-haired girl now cradling the 'brain plug' in both hands. She held it up, turning it to and fro and running fingers along it, noting the screws and wires and lights that would likely be lighting up and blinking once she donned it.
"I wanted to try it together," Grey said, "but…y'know, after…talking about…possibly never coming back and all…I figured…if you were gonna try it, I should stick around to make sure nothing bad happens."
"Sounds like a good, sound, logical idea."
"Like reinstalling all the doors not to be a fire-hazard, right?"
"Right."
Taking a deep breath through her nose, she lifted the device and set it on her head. It felt like a big plastic crown, lights glinting like jewels.
"Okay…now just think about a time when you had a choice…and the machine should take you there…"
"Okay…"
"So…what'll it be? You wanna go visit Washington State today?"
"Yeah, I — …well, is there another school we could look at, too?"
"Well, you did say you liked DigiPen Tech…that's not too far out, if you'd rather go there."
"Sure, let's do that."
She'd barely made it into the car before she felt a sudden yank, and opened flinched shut eyes to see Earl's, looking wide and worried.
"Sorry…you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah…that was…weird," she said, slowly taking the device off.
"Cut short, I'm sure," he said. "But…how did it feel?"
"Pretty…wonderful, actually," she said, face brightening. "It almost…felt like a dream…but…it was so real…for a moment, I forgot I was even…here…"
"Well, that's kind of the point," he said.
"But…wait — maybe that's it!"
"What's it?"
"Well, you're trying to take people back — to make better choices, right? But they've already — here, in the present — already made those choices, for better or worse. They remember the things they've done. But the way this thing works, the way it feels, you start to lose your memory…"
"Oh…right…!"
"So…how could you 'come back' to somewhere your mind and body doesn't even know you've ever been?" she asked, voice at a barely audible whisper.
"That's IT!" Earl said, face morphing between thrilled and horrified for a few moments like a male Mona Lisa before he whirled around with another fling of his arms. "THAT'S IT! DAD, I'VE GOT IT! I KNOW!"
Steel's eyes darted, once ceiling-ward, as if to politely smile at the late John Ottway Gray with an awkward wave as if to say 'Your son can be a little crazy, but he's very nice.'
"I'm —!" he began, turning to face her.
"Don't be sorry," Dani insisted. "It's fine. You're excited. So am I! And I'm sure if your dad is watching you, he's excited too…"
"Thank you," Grey bid, "Just…thank you SO MUCH for everything. I know it kind of came out of nowhere, but…now I'm starting to feel like it was meant to be."
"What was? Us?" she asked.
"Y-Yeah, kinda," he began, about to shove his hands in his pockets — then lifted his arms, looked down, paused, let them drop, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, sighed, and met her gaze once more. "I mean, I want it to be. You're so beautiful and smart and…you've already filled a lot of holes in my life — and I don't care how weird that sounds! I care about you, Ms. Danielle Steel. And I…I want you to be my girlfriend. And…I'm really hoping that you do too."
She smiled, briefly raising a hand to mask a snorting smirk, then let her arm drop, grinning broadly. "I want you in my life as much as you want me, Mr. Earl Grey. I think we make a great team together, and I'd like to keep working for you — with you. No matter how long it takes."
He beamed, and as they leaned in for a hearty contract sealing handshake, they both half-wittingly pushed further, meeting in their first albeit brief hug. With a few pats on his and a rub on her back, they withdrew.
Nothing more was said. But none needed to be — for now, anyway.