Willow smiled as she turned back around.

She was checking me out!

She rounded the corner and looked at the California offices of Evanston Dynamics, her place of work for the past 3 years, having been recruited
straight out of college.

She went through the large glass doors and shot a friendly smile at Steve, the guard on duty. She didn't know too much about him, with only their mutual greetings in the mornings to go by, but he seemed like a friendly guy and always had a smile on his face. By the time she was leaving for the day, the night guard was usually on duty.

I totally have a life. What's more, I have a date. First date in 2 years…

Willow wasn't opposed to dates, or relationships, or anything of the romantic nature. She just wasn't good at them. And she didn't like things she wasn't good at. She only went on the handful of dates that she did because Buffy made her in college. She had said "there's no point in being gay if you're not gonna be gay with someone!", a claim Willow vigorously denied.

Buffy Summers had been her best friend since freshman year of high school when they were assigned the same homeroom and sat next to each other. They stayed close friends throughout high school and into college where they were roommates. When she had come out their junior year at Sunnydale High, Buffy had pulled her into a big hug and defended her when the rest of school found out and didn't take it well. She had been there when her mother had dismissed it as "a phase" and Willow had cried on her shoulder, and Willow had been there for her when her first boyfriend had broken up with her and she thought her heart was going to break in two.

When Buffy had first told her she was moving to LA two years ago, to open a hotel with her fiancé Liam, but who everyone called Angel because of a tattoo of angel wings he'd gotten on his shoulder blade, in a rebellious streak as a teenager, Willow could be nothing but ecstatic for her best friend. She knew she'd miss her, but really LA was only a short car journey away and they could talk whenever they wanted.

So Willow got lost in work. And she liked it. She wondered if she should call Buffy and tell her about her date, but decided to keep it to herself for now. Keep it just hers.

"Morning, Willow. You're all smiley today."

"Hey Alan," Willow greeted the short, brown-haired man who inhabited the cubicle next to Willow's and with whom she often liased with on company projects, "Just looking forward to the weekend."

"Did you finish the update on the Naylor account?" Alan asked, straight to business.

"Weeks ago, I have the revised edition on a flash drive here," Willow responded promptly.

"Excellent. You know, Rosenberg, the quality of your work here; I'm surprised you still work on the floor. You should be getting promoted through the roof!"

"I like this kind of work. It would be a lot harder to come into work every day if stuffy management and board meetings were all I had to look forward to," Willow replied.

And she firmly believed it. From the beginning, her job had been about enjoyment and the fact that she was good enough at her hobby to make a career out of it was just a massive bonus. Getting lost in lines of programming and being able to solve software problems better than anyone else she knew would win out over promotion prospects any day for her.

"Well okay then. So you've got that file?" he asked, slightly surprised at the normally quiet redheads impassioned answer.

"Here you go," she said, handing it over and sitting down in front of her laptop, eager to get on with her work for the day.


Tara walked through the elevators of the 22nd floor and into the Human Resources department. Walking through the floor towards her office at the back, she got a mixture of non-committal glances and genuine smiles from the other workers in her department. The ones who resented her quick ascent through the ranks of the division, whether through bitterness from not getting the Department Head job themselves or just general animosity from the rapidity of it, would never openly show their disdain in front of her. No, they'd never risk that. So they resigned themselves to water-cooler bitching and communal emails.

Tara knew having such acrimony within any department was not good, but within the very one that had to work together to, among other things, try and solve employee disputes, could negatively reflect on her own ability at the job, a job she knew she did well. A job her superiors knew she did well, and more importantly, a job her employees knew she did well, whether or nor they'd admit it.

And she had plenty of members in her workforce that recognised her capability and genuinely liked her as a boss and a person. She decided, soon after she was promoted just less than a year ago, that she wouldn't let the few outweigh the many, a motto she reminded herself of when she noticed the dirty looks she was given when someone didn't think she was looking. And walking through the department that morning, not even rancour she could feel emanating from certain people could wipe the ear-to-ear smile she had on her face, her mind still lost in the events of the still-early morning.

She stopped briefly to collect her messages from her assistant, Miranda, the most highly organised woman Tara had ever met, and a godsend on most days, especially the rare ones like toady when she was running behind herself.

"Mr. Arnolds called," Miranda said, handing over a collection of note cards with carefully written messages on them, "He says he needs to go over the new internal recruitment policy before you present to the board on Tuesday."

"Can you call him back, organise a meeting? Today or Monday, you know my schedule better than I do. Did we hear back about the revised employee handbooks yet?"

"They are in full print and will be ready for distribution first thing Monday morning."

"I really don't know what I'd do without you, Miranda."
"Drown in a mountain of paperwork?"

Tara chuckled appreciatively and moved towards the front door of her office.

"I pretty much have that covered as it is. Can you have lunch organised for in here today?"

"That I can do. Sandwich bar?"

"Perfect. And can you hold my calls while I'm in appraisals?"

"Of course. Is there anything else, boss-lady?" Miranda asked, happy she was able to have a good rapport with her boss.

"That's all for now," Tara responded, smiling, then quickly added, "Thanks," before slipping into her own office.

She sat at her desk and prepared herself for the start of the month-long performance appraisals she, and her staff, were conducting, not the most difficult task in her job description, but somewhat tedious after the first 50 or so.

She turned on the computer that lay on her desk and waited as the screen filled with the company logo and a range of appointment reminders popped up.

"Thank God it's Friday," she muttered as she opened the file on her first appointment and started her last day before the weekend.

And the last day before my date with Willow!