Mariana Adams Foster is having one of those dreams where you absolutely know that you are dreaming but are enjoying what is happening in your dream way too much to care.

It's kind of like a daydream, but more vivid, because you are sleeping. Or maybe it's more like a lucid dream, but one in which you are sleeping deeply enough that you don't realize that you are the one pulling the strings. And that makes the good things that are happening to you feel that much more well-deserved and awesome.

In the dream, Mariana is on stage at the Appy Awards in London. She has just been given the award for Best Lifestyle App for her activism application. Even though the app is technically the property of Speckulate, her name is still forever tied to it, as the main creator and inspiration for the app. As a result, she has been allowed to accept the award for the app on Speckulate's behalf.

In the dream, Mariana is wearing a gorgeous dress that accentuates her curves perfectly and minimizes her short stature (as do her Louboutin heels, which oddly enough, don't hurt at all, but somehow still manage to add four inches to her five-foot-one petite frame). The dress is silver and looks like almost exact replica of the one Lady Gaga recently wore at the Grammys.

As Mariana reaches to the stage to accept her award, she looks out at the crowd and instantly sees that everyone she wants to be there with her for this monumental moment has somehow, miraculously paid the ridiculously expensive airfare and secured seats, at the event. There in the distance, she spies: her moms, her fraternal twin, Jesus, her adoptive siblings, Jude, Callie, and Brandon, her friends and roommates from the Coterie (who are hooting and "Woo-hoo"ing obnoxiously loudly and generally making a spectacle of themselves), her sort-of boyfriend Raj, her mysterious boss Evan (who is staring at her in an enigmatically expressionless way, as per usual), her female colleagues from the Byte Club (because "Girl Power" obviously) and her jerky colleagues Alex and Sam, who, truth be told, are looking more sour grapes than truly happy about her successes, which only makes the moment that much more spectacular!

"Thank you so much, London!" Mariana says into the microphone, which has been perfectly positioned for her petite stature. "Everyone in this room . . . NO, everyone in this WORLD, has the unique knowledge to make Earth a better, kinder, more tolerant, more productive, and more environmentally friendly place to live, but few of us had the resources to make our dreams into reality . . . until now. I am so honored and humbled to share with you, on behalf of Evan Speck and Speckulate, this life changing platform. And I am so grateful, to my moms, my siblings, my colleagues, and my dear friends, for always supporting me, and helping me to turn my wild dreams and ideas, into a reality!"

It is at this point that a hole opens up in the ceiling of the banquet hall where the awards are taking place, and large golf-ball sized chunks of hail rain themselves on the head of Mariana Adams Foster. "Oh crap," mutters Mariana out loud.

She knows full well that when illogical, unexplainable, events find their way into dreams, it is nearly time to awaken. And Mariana doesn't want to wake up! Not when she was having such an amazing time!

Mariana blinks her eyes rapidly, as a ball of "hail" knocks her square between her eyes. It is in that moment that she realizes that what her dream recorded as hail was actually Nerf pellets, shot at her with sociopathic glee by her jerkface, Speckulate colleague, Alex with a toy gun. The time is now 9:15 a.m. and Mariana has just learned that she has fallen asleep at the office, having pulled an all-nighter working on her activism app, with her boss, Evan Speck, who is now, conveniently, nowhere to be found.

"Ha!" Shouts Alex loudly, motioning toward a sleepy Mariana. "Exactly fifteen Nerf Ball pellets woke up our Sleeping Beauty. Pay up, Sam. I accept , Zelle, and any other form of electronic funds transfer, in addition to the, always reliable, cold-hard cash."

"That's bull and you know it," Sam retorts. "Yes, you shot fifteen Nerf gun pellets, but only ten actually hit the target. The other five you shot so widely out of range that they couldn't possibly hit her. And you did that, because you knew that I was correct, that it would only take ten pellets to wake her up! As such, I demand a rematch."

As Mariana slowly and reluctantly awakens, she notices two things. One is a soft (possibly Down) feather pillow that has been caringly placed beneath her head at some point during the night. The other item she notices is a ridiculously comfortable, thick knit, orange blanket that had been draped over her shoulders while she slept. Truth be told, the notion that Alex or Sam would have taken such pains to make Mariana comfortable in her vulnerable position of passing out at the office grosses her out. Plus, her new boyfriend Raj has been out this past week on vacation, in order to attend a family wedding taking place across the globe. Therefore, Mariana can only assume that the deft and sensitive care taken to her body while she slept was the doing of none other than her cryptic and admittedly odd, but strangely charming, boss Evan Speck.

"I know the excitement of having woman voluntarily sleeping next to you is something you two cretins have likely never experienced before, and probably won't ever again. But still, don't you have anything better to do? Like. . . um . . . I don't know. Work or something?" Mariana asks her nemeses with a brittle smile on her face.

"Um, first of all I sleep with plenty of women all the time, OK!" Alex insists petulantly.

"Me too," parrots Sam, even less convincingly.

"Second of all, what's with the blanket and hotel pillow? Be honest, Mariana, are you secretly homeless? Do you live here?" Alex asks in a voice laced with faux concern.

"You got me, Alex. I'm homeless, and you are a virgin. We've all got secrets to confess apparently," Mariana responds, as she stalks out of the office with a pillow under her armpit and an orange blanket dragging behind her like a cape.

"Heh, she called you a virgin," Sam snickers, as Mariana slams the door behind her.

Mariana tries her best to ignore the prying eyes who follow her as she stalks toward the corner office with the words, Evan Speck, CEO, printed on the doorframe, and knocks aggressively until it opens.

"Oh, good, you brought back my bedding. I was just about to collect it, so that it could be laundered," Evan offers with an expressionless nod, as he extracts first the pillow, than the blanket from Mariana, his deft fingers nonchalantly tracing a smooth line against her neck as he collects the latter, sending a not entirely unwelcome warm feeling of warmth down her spine.

"So, you and I were working together last night. I, apparently, fell asleep. And then you left me sleeping and drooling alone in the office, so that I could found in the morning by my asshole colleagues," Mariana states through gritted teeth.

Evan regards Mariana silently with his head cocked in seeming curiosity for a maddening few seconds before speaking, "You just made an obvious statement to me, generating no new information. And you did so in an elevated tone of voice. I've been told that obvious statements delivered in this fashion indicate that the speaker of them is angry. Are you angry, Mariana? Did I not follow proper protocol, by providing you with bedding, so that the sleep you required would be more productive and comfortable?"

Mariana softens at this, and feels a blush rise in her neck and cheeks, as Evan continues to regard her with an intensity she can't quite explain. "No," she mumbles softly. "Giving me the blanket and pillow was sweet."

"Sweet," Evan repeats with a small smile. "I've never been described that way before," He admits. "Most people tend to find me a bit cold. So, thank you for the compliment."

"Thank YOU," Mariana responds, clearly confused, as she had sincerely thought she had come to this office to ream out her boss.

"And yet you still seem angry at me," Evan probes. "Tell me why."

"My colleagues shot nerf balls at me, when they found me sleeping in the office with your blanket around me. They called me homeless. It was embarrassing," Mariana insists seething.

"Are you homeless, Mariana?" Evan inquires solemnly, as he beckons her into his office, causing her to realize that the two have been conversing in the doorframe this entire time in clear view of her fellow employees.

"NO!" Mariana insists frustratedly.

"So, you have nothing to be embarrassed about then," Evan replies matter-of-factly. "You can be annoyed by the immaturity of your colleagues, perhaps, but you should not be embarrassed."

Mariana considers this for a moment, and reluctantly admits that Evan, despite his clear lack of understanding of basic social cues, is correct. She is surprised to find the anger that propelled her so energetically toward her boss' office to be leaving her body and being replaced by a sense of calm and well-rested-ness.

"What would you consider to be proper protocol for me in the situation you just described?" Evan offers, interrupting Mariana's thoughts.

"You could have woken me up, so I could go home, and sleep in my own bed, like you apparently did last night?" Mariana insists, lacking the conviction and self-righteousness she felt earlier.

"I disagree. That would have been improper protocol," Evan responds with a shake of his head. "Medical studies show that you should never wake a sleepwalker. It could be incredibly damaging to their health and well-being."

"I was sleepwalking?!" Mariana sputters, finding herself embarrassed again, but this time for an entirely different reason.

"Not exactly walking, but talking in your sleep, and sort of moving around a bit, so it was sleep-walk adjacent," Evan responds, as he walks back to his desk and settles calmly in his chair, leaving Mariana's recently slept in pillow and blanket on the corner of his desk.

"What did I say in my sleep?" Mariana asked nervously.

"Nothing I would ever reveal," replies Evan with a smile. "You worry too much about what others think of you, Mariana. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to complete."

"Sorry, I'll leave you to it,' Mariana hesitantly exits the office of the CEO of Speckulate only to find herself face-to-face with Raj, who responds by kissing her aggressively on the lips right in front of her boss, the latter of whom regards the pair with seemingly practiced nonchalance, before returning to his paper work.

"Raj! What the heck are you doing? People can see us! Also, I haven't brushed my teeth yet, and have killer morning breath," she insists, inclining her head toward Evan's desk, as she pulls her new boyfriend around the corner toward a more private location.

"I missed you," replies Raj with a shrug. "Besides, we have nothing to hide, we are equals at this office, after all. And I heard you slept at the office last night . . . with him," he continues, glaring in the direction of Evan's office. Alex and Sam were plastering out photos of you around the office with the label 'Hobo Mariana' on them. I made them take them down."

"How gallant of you," Mariana replies with an eyeroll. "Are you sure that's all this PDA was, that you missed me while you were on vacation?"

"Of course," Raj replies with a grin that belies the look of clear discomfort in his eyes. "Why else would I want to kiss my gorgeous girlfriend, after being away from her for a whole week?"

Mariana looks down at her feet, not quite able to meet Raj's eyes. "Well . . . it kind of seemed like an alpha dog sort of thing, like you were marking your territory . . . like you were . . . peeing on me . . . as a message . . . to Evan . . . OUR BOSS."

Now, it is Raj's turn not to be able to meet Mariana's eyes. "I don't trust him, Mariana . . . the way he looks at you . . . not to mention those rumors about what happened between him and Amanda."

"He told me the truth about, Amanda, Raj! It wasn't his fault," Mariana insists.

"And you believed him?!" Raj responds incredulously.

"He's not manipulative," Mariana replies. "In fact, he seems weirdly incapable of lying altogether, almost like a child. He's harmless, Raj. And he is not interested in me as anything more than a colleague, I swear."

"Well, excuse me, if I find that hard to believe, you being so incredibly hot and all," Raj responds, as he seductively kisses the sensitive spot on Mariana's neck that always makes her moan.

"Raaaaj . . . stop, I slept here. I need to get cleaned up," Mariana protests, but not very convincingly.

"Not too much, please. I like you dirty," Raj whispers in her ear, as the pair head in opposite directions, him toward the office suite, and her toward the bathroom.

At around lunch time, Mariana runs into Evan in the cafeteria, while she's extracting a strawberry yogurt from the snack bar. "Evan," she offers awkwardly. "I'm sorry about what you saw between Raj and me. That was unprofessional of us both. I promise it won't happen again in your presence."

"You owe me no apology," Evan responds stoically. "I'm your boss, not your boyfriend."

"Oh . . . I know . . . I just . . . OK . . . um, thank you . . . for understanding . . . I guess," Mariana fumbles out a reply, as she attempts to make a speedy exit from the situation.

"I did have to report it to HR though," Evan adds, almost as an afterthought.

"YOU WHAT?!" Mariana stops in her tracks, having not even considered this as having been a possibility.

"Don't worry," Evan insists. "You won't get in trouble. Raj isn't your superior, nor are you his. It's just proper protocol to report these sorts of things. HR will likely just have you sign some paperwork to disclaim liability of Speckulate if your relationship ends unpleasantly, and you'll be on your way."

"Oh . . ." Mariana responds with hesitant relief. "Well, I guess that's OK . . ."

"They will also likely move Raj to a different coding team," Evan posits.

Crap! Mariana thinks to herself. She can't even imagine how Raj is going to react to this! If he was suspicious of Evan's motives before, there's no telling what he will think about them now.

"Move me instead," Mariana offers abruptly. "Raj was part of the team first. It's only fair."

Evan seems to consider this for a moment, before firmly shaking his head. "No, moving you would be a benefit to Alex and Sam that they don't deserve."

Mariana gawks at this, clearly offended. "Why? Because I'm so awful to work with?" She argues.

"Because you are so much smarter than them both. They know it. And it kills them," Evan corrects, as he selects a banana from the fruit section of the cafeteria. "It's why they pick on you so much."

Mariana can't help but grin cheekily at this. "You think I'm smarter than Alex and Sam?" She inquires happily.

"From the work I saw you do last night, Mariana, I think you are probably smarter than everybody here . well . . except, me, of course," Evan responds, as he takes a bite of his banana and begins the trek back toward his office.

"How very humble of you!" Mariana calls after him, causing Evan to stop in his tracks.

"You are referring to me as humble, and yet what I said about my being smarter than everyone in this office was . . ." Evan begins, as he puzzles through this recent interaction in his brain. "Ahhh . . . that was sarcasm there, wasn't it, Mariana?"

"Yes, it was, Mr. Speck," Mariana replies with a wink.

"Hmmm . . . then, perhaps, I still have some things I can learn from you, after all, Mariana Adams Foster," he calls over his shoulder.