A/N: Glad you're all enjoying this! Yes, this Laura is a little different. I'm writing all sorts of different spins on Laura lately. I think that this is what Laura might have been if she came to the school before too much damage was done...and when she was still in a very formative stage, around 10 years old or so. As for Julian, you will get insight into what he's been up to a little later in the story. It's a mystery, enjoy it! :)

Chapter 3


Laura wakes in the hotel room the next morning, and for a little while lies perfectly still, her eyes fixed on the ceiling.

Then she reaches for the iPhone sitting on the nightstand, selects contacts, favorites, and then presses on the top listing.

A few rings, then the receiving end picks up the call.

"Laura!" Comes a familiar voice, sounding full of excitement. "I've been waiting since yesterday! You said you'd call right after-"

"I know, Jubes," Laura answers, sitting up. "Things didn't go as planned." She pauses, looks out the window of the hotel. She can see the skyscraper of the office building from here, and even at a distance, it looks impressive. Forbidding.

He's probably in it right now.

"What do you mean?" Jubilee demands, her voice full of suspicion and contempt. "You chickened out, didn't you? I just knew it, I should've come with you."

"Well..." Laura winces. "That's not quite what happened." She swallows. "I…I did it. I got into the building and met the first guy on the list face-to-face. He's the CEO of his dad's company now."

"And?" Jubilee asks.

"I couldn't do it." She pauses. "I can't really explain what happened...but he offered me a job, and I kind of took it."

A moment of silence.

"Are you on crack, Laur?"

"No." Laura rubs her face. "He was really...nice...and not at all what I expected. I-I just couldn't-"

"Was he hot?"

"That's not the issue here," she says, trying to sound indignant.

"He was, wasn't he?" Jubilee's voice is accusing.

Laura winces. "Very."

"Damn. I guess when you fuck things up, you really fuck things up." Jubilee sighs, probably shaking her head. "You're still going to tell him though, right?"

"Of course." She pauses. "I just need a little time."

"Right." Her friend's tone makes it clear that she doesn't believe her.

"I will!" Laura protests. "I just-it's hard, okay? I didn't expect to actually care about what he would think of me!"

"Because it's fine if your apology isn't genuine," Jubilee says, sarcasm dripping from her tone. "I can see how that's a step towards redemption."

"I didn't mean it like that." Laura rubs her face again. "He...I looked at him and my brains just completely went out the window. I actually ended up saying some really stupid, embarrassing stuff. It was like I was a kid in high school with a crush. It was just so bad."

"I shouldn't have let you do this on your own." Jubilee sounds amused. "Should I come out there?"

"No, I've got it." Laura pauses. "Just give me time. A week, say."

"You're not planning to sleep with him first, right?"

"Because that would really make me an asshole." Laura bites her lip.

"Of the third degree." Jubilee pauses. "Seeing as you and Josh had something going on...fourth degree."

"Of course I'm not planning that." She stares glumly at the bedspread. "Damn."

"Just do it and get it over with. Do it today."

"Yeah." Laura's voice is full of resignation. "Okay. I guess putting it off won't help."

"You never know...maybe he'll understand the circumstances and forgive you," Jubilee says. "Remember, I had the chance to get even for what happened to my parents...and I didn't. And the dude didn't even have a reason like you did."

Laura pauses. "Would you want to date your parent's murderer, though?"

Jubilee thinks about this. "Yeah, not a very strong possibility."

"I hate my life." Laura swings her legs over the edge of the bed. "Listen, I have to show up there at nine...so I'd better get ready. I'll call you tonight, okay?"

"Okay." Jubilee sighs. "Take care of yourself...and just be strong."

"Yeah. Bye, Jubes."

"Bye."

...

Laura enters the office building at five to nine. She is now dressed in a grey-and-pale pink gingham skirt and matching pink blouse she'd purchased yesterday, along with a pair of more modest black pumps on her feet. Uncertain of what to do with her hair, she'd settled on sweeping it back into a ponytail and clipping her long bangs back in a pompadour, as she'd often done for the danger room sessions in school. It looks about right.

She cringes as she sees that the receptionist is the same one from yesterday. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath and heads for the front desk.

The secretary looks up at the sound of her heels on the floor, and her eyes narrow. "The answer is no."

"This is going to sound crazy...but I work here now," Laura says, pulling out the keycard given to her by HR the other morning and showing it to the woman.

"Yeah, right." The woman reaches for the phone. "I'm calling security."

"Wait!" Laura says. "Seriously, call Julian. He hired me."

The secretary ignores her.

...

"Okay, what the HELL is going on here?!" Julian snarls as he enters the security room, looking quite irritated. He's wearing a brown suit today, with a tan tie and a beige shirt. "I told Meg I was not to be disturbed today! And-" he breaks off, as he takes in the scene: Laura sitting in the holding cell in the back of the room, her head hung and her hands cuffed together behind her back.

"I'm sorry, sir," the security officer says. He's a tall, heavily-built man with stubby features and heavy blond eyebrows. He has a very beaky nose set between brown eyes, and thick lips. "This lady showed up yesterday claiming to know you. Lisa at the front desk turned her away, but she came back this morning with some bull-shit story about being hired...and she resisted arrest." He pauses. "I decided you should know about this since she might be a threat to your personal safety."

Julian gazes at the girl in the cell, who refuses to meet his eyes.

"I did hire her," he says. "Didn't she have a keycard?"

The security guard looks confused. "Yes, but...Lisa said she wasn't admitted to see you yesterday."

"For god's sakes, don't you guys communicate?" Julian demands. "I explained it to Gary. She's my new lunch and miscellaneous assistant."

"Oh." The officer flushes. "I'm sorry, sir."

"See that it doesn't happen again." He turns to Laura again. "What have you got to say for yourself?" He sounds amused now, the edge gone from his voice.

Laura looks up, and remembers what she's actually supposed to be doing today. She pictures herself telling him at this moment: I killed your parents. And she can't. She closes her eyes. "This is really embarrassing," she says.

"Yeah, you made me yell on your first day." He grins. "Let her out."

The officer complies, wielding his keycard and sliding it into the slot beside the keypad to the holding cell. He enters and fumbles in his pocket for the keys to her handcuffs, not meeting her eyes.

Laura allows him to unlock the device, then moves out of the cell.

"Lunch better be spectacular," Julian comments.

"Shut up," she mumbles. They exit the security room.

"Did HR give you an office?" he asks.

"Um, no." Laura pauses. It's easier to speak when they're walking and she doesn't have to look him in the eye. "There isn't really a position called Lunch and miscellaneous assistant, is there? I mean-did you just make that up?"

"I thought you'd find 'lunch girl' a little degrading." He grins. "Everyone needs a purpose, you know? Although, I guess personal entertainer would also have worked."

Laura wrinkles her nose.

"There's an empty office at the end of my hallway," he says. "I'll have you set up in there...and maybe I'll have them find some other stuff to keep you busy. I feel like it would be irresponsible to leave you with free time, seeing as you love getting into trouble."

"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?" she asks.

"Not really." They reach the elevator, and he presses the Up button. "Do you want to hear the end of it?"

"Um, no." Laura realizes he's looking at her again, and she flushes and lowers her eyes. Jubilee's words ring in her ears: third-degree asshole. "Oh, god. There's something I need to tell you."

Julian's amused look fades slightly. "Is it serious?" he asks.

"Kind of." She closes her eyes. "I-you're not going to like me very much when I-"

Ding!

They both look to the side as the elevator opens-and as a short, older man peers out. The first thing Laura notices is his long, almost white beard. The second thing she notices is that he's bald. "I was just looking for you, sir!" he says.

Julian enters the elevator, and Laura follows, after a moment. "What's up?" he asks.

"Meg was in a meeting with the HR department this morning, and she began to experience pain. She was taken to the hospital. No word yet."

"Oh, god." Julian looks alarmed. "Is she okay? Is the baby-"

"We don't know." The man frowns. "I think she'll need a few days off, at least. She really shouldn't be working anyway."

"Maybe I'll send her on maternity leave a bit early." Julian pauses. "By the way, this is Laura. She's new here. Figured I'd better start spreading the word so no one else calls security on her."

Laura flushes.

"I'm John," the older man says, reaching out and shaking her hand. "I work in HR, one of the senior directors. Pleased to meet you."

"Um, hi," Laura says.

The elevator reaches the top floor, and all but the older man exit. The doors close again, and Julian turns to her. "So, what was your first impression of him?" he asks suddenly.

She blinks. "Honestly?"

He nods.

"I think he could achieve a pretty impressive comb over with his beard," Laura says.

"I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that!" He grins. "I call him Dumbledore in my head. But anyway, what were you going to say to me down there?"

"Oh, um-" Laura feels slightly nauseous as she remembers.

"Wait a minute. I just got an idea." He pauses. "How are you at answering phones and scheduling stuff?"

She hesitates. "...I know how to use a phone," she says cautiously. "And I can tell time."

"Awesome. Want to be my Personal Assistant for a while? Just until Meg is back on her feet."

"Uh," Laura says. Again, this is hardly going as planned. Julian looks hopeful, though, and is expecting an answer. "...I guess I could try," she says.

He looks pleased, and pats her on the shoulder. "Thanks...and sorry about interrupting you. What were you going to say?"

"Um." Laura blinks at his touch. "It can wait."

"Okay," he says easily. "Here, I'll show you Meg's office, and-I'm no expert-but I think I know how to run the outlook program for planning stuff. We can look at the plan for the next few days so you know when I'm too busy to come pull you out of jail."

"Shut up!" Laura groans.

He grins. They head toward the hallway, and he stops at the office next door to his, and opens the door. She follows him inside, and is surprised to see that it is almost exactly like his, only a bit smaller.

"Meg usually works off a tablet, but she updates the PC on a weekly basis. Hopefully she did that recently." He turns the computer on. Silence, for a moment, as he waits for it to boot.

"Uh, when do you want lunch?" Laura asks.

"Noon is fine." He glances at her. "Get something for yourself, too. We can eat in my office."

She hesitates. "I don't have enough money," she admits. The outfit she now wore had cost the rest of her cash. Logan was paying for her hotel bill, but hadn't given her anything beyond that, due to the school being extremely tight in finances this year.

"Did they not give you a card?" he asks.

Slowly, Laura shakes her head.

"I seem to have hired a bunch of incompetent fucks!" he fumes. "I really need to go on a witch-hunt in here. I do that every few months, to keep people on their toes."

"Oh." She pauses. "Please don't fire anyone because of me."

"They're a liability to the company when they don't follow rules. And when things happen that personally effect me, I get annoyed." He pulls out his wallet, selects a card and passes it to her.

Laura stares at him uncertainly.

"Take it," he says, sounding impatient.

"But-" she hesitates, then accepts it: a platinum MasterCard, with golden raised words stating in capital letters: 'Keller Inc.', and a line below it, his name.

"Just no surprise Porsches, okay?" he says, grinning.

Laura nods, and slips the card into her shirt pocket. She sees his eyes follow her fingers, linger for a moment, and then he looks down at the screen quickly. She raises her eyebrows, fairly certain that he had been checking her out.

He gestures for her to move closer, and she does, barely daring to breathe.

"You ever used Outlook before?" he asks.

"What is it?" she counters, now standing very close to him. She can hear his heartbeat and sense the movement he makes while breathing, and she's worried she won't hear a single thing he says.

He grins. "Okay. See this button?" he points with the cursor at the icon of a sheet of paper with a check-mark in front of it. She nods. "Click it and..."

...

Laura is sitting alone now, in front of the desk, watching the time pass. She still has Julian's schedule in front of her, and she finds it odd that she's in a position of power that many women with crushes would probably kill for: the knowledge of where he will be-and what he will be doing and who he will be seeing-almost every minute of the day. Except for after five o' clock. The schedule abruptly ends there, since that's when he's supposed to go home.

Her eyes focus on this blank space.

Where does he go? What does he do? Does he spend his evenings with anyone? She leans her head against her hand, and scolds herself. Bad Laura. You're supposed to be apologizing for KILLING HIS PARENTS, remember? Her thoughts are spoken in what suspiciously sounds like Jubilee's voice.

The phone on her desk rings suddenly, and her eyes widen in horror. It rings a second and a third time, and finally she picks it up with a meek expression. "Um, hello?" she says.

"Hi there," a man's voice says-a very deep baritone. Laura has heard it before, at the school.

"Tony Stark?!" she asks.

"Uhh-" the man pauses. "Meg?"

"No, Laura Kinney." She pauses. "Wolverine's daughter, remember?"

A moment of silence. "Why are you answering the Keller line? Wait a minute...Logan can't be that tight on money, can he?"

"The school is tight, yeah, but no, that's not it." Laura rubs her neck. "It's super complicated. Listen, what did you want? I'm a temp here and I have abso-fuckin-lutely no idea about what I'm doing."

Tony chuckles. "I need to meet with the Keller kid for lunch on Monday, if that's possible. Funny, both of our assistants are off on the same week."

"His is pregnant, and there were some complications or something."

"Ouch. So those two finally got together, huh?"

Laura freezes, her eyes wide. "Uh-I don't know, sorry. Where they a thing?"

"You could cut the tension with a knife," Tony says easily. "Listen, sweetheart, I have a meeting in ten, according to my schedule...so I'll have to keep the gossip to a minimum for now. Does he have time at twelve-thirty this Monday?"

"Give me a minute." Laura scrolls through the schedules, and sees a blank expanse for Monday, 12:30-2:00. "You're in luck. Where should he meet you?"

"The usual place."

Laura's forehead wrinkles. "And that is...?"

"Sorry. Ginza Sushiko. Rodeo Drive."

"California?" she clarifies. "I want to make sure I'm not booking him for somewhere in Alaska."

Tony laughs again. "Yes, in Beverley Hills. I can see why he hired you-you have a knack for logical thinking."

"Well, I am Logan's daughter," she points out as she types this booking into Julian's schedule. "He would've killed me if I didn't learn to think on my feet. Survival of the fittest and all that."

"True." Tony pauses. "I've got to go, kid...but it was sure nice chatting."

"Same here. Take care."

"You too." Click! as the phone disconnects. Laura saves the booking, then looks at her door. Should she tell him about this? No-she glances at her clock. She can tell him at lunch...which she should be fetching right now. Sighing, she pushes her chair away from the desk and heads for the door.

...

A half hour later, she enters Keller Inc. again, holding a paper bag of food. Lisa the receptionist glares at her with a sour expression.

"You again," she says.

Laura ignores her and heads for the elevator, knowing she does not need to worry about the woman anymore. The secretary has obviously been yelled at, and is looking to transfer the blame. She hears Lisa murmuring 'dumb bitch' under her breath, and instead of going to correct her, waits for her car to arrive.

A few moments and a ding later, she steps in, and hits the button for the top floor.

The elevator pauses at the eleventh floor to let in a plain-faced, red-haired woman in a blouse and slacks, and then again at the fifteenth floor to admit a younger man with brown hair, and a somewhat pleasantly composed face. He gives her a smile as he enters, and his brown eyes quite obviously flit downward. "Hiya," he says.

"Hello." Laura looks at her shoes.

"I'm Ed Cullen...from Financial." He extends his hand.

"Laura Kinney," she murmurs uncertainly. "Miscellaneous."

"Eh?" Ed asks, then his eyes widen. "That Laura? I got a head-email this morning. Wow, so you impressed the big guy already?"

Laura's nose wrinkles. "I guess."

"I'd be pretty impressed with you myself," he says, giving her a charming smile. His eyes flit downward again.

She considers her course of action, and decides on saying nothing. The elevator pauses at the 29th floor, and the other lady gets out, then they resume their upward trajectory.

"Say, there's a little get-together happening at a bar downtown tonight...you'll be there, right?" he asks.

The elevator doors open with a ding! noise.

"I'd rather lick a toilet plunger. Excuse me." Laura exits the elevator and comes face-to-face with Julian, who is grinning.

"A toilet plunger?" he asks. The doors of the elevator close, and it descends downward again, but Laura isn't really paying attention.

"That wasn't for you," she says.

"It better not have been." Julian looks down at the bag in her hand. "I assume that's food?"

"Yes, sir."

He looks at his watch. "Go hang out in my office. I'll be up in five minutes, just running down to meet someone."

"Okay." Laura watches him as he moves to the elevator, her eyes slipping downward slightly to his behind, nicely displayed by the pants of his suit. She wonders what he would look like without any.

"Try not to get any food on my papers," he says as the elevator door opens.

"Okay," she says again. He turns around, presses the number and then catches her looking at the area his rear had just occupied. She flushes, and he grins, and then the doors close and the car descends.

She is suddenly reminded of Tony's words about his personal assistant, Meg. A little absentmindedly she makes her way to his office and enters.

...

She hears the elevator coming up, and his footsteps approaching, and so is prepared for his arrival to his office. The door opens and he heads in. "Sorry. That was more like fifteen minutes."

"It's your lunch," Laura points out.

"I don't like keeping people waiting," he says as he sits behind his desk. He meets her eyes, and she feels a flush cross her face. "So what did you accomplish today?"

"I-I scheduled you an appointment," she offers. Pause. "I hope that was okay."

He grins. "That's what you're supposed to do, yeah. Who's it with?"

Laura closes her eyes. "Tony Stark. For some sushi place in Beverley Hills, for twelve-thirty on Monday."

"Damn...the big shots always call in at the worst times, huh? Sorry. I wouldn't have had you speak with his assistant first off the bat, she's a little uptight."

"Oh, no...it was Tony himself." Laura pauses. "My father and him are friends, so it's not like I've never met him."

Julian raises his eyebrows. "Seriously? You've spoken to Tony Stark before?"

"First time was when I was thirteen," she affirms. "He's a nice guy."

"Brilliant and shrewd, too." Julian pauses. "Who is your father?"

Laura freezes. Parents. "Wolverine," she says, knowing this is more likely to be familiar.

"Fucking A," he says, giving her a recalculating look. "That...I didn't expect that. You look too-" now it's his turn to be embarrassed.

"Pretty?" she guesses. "Hairless? Breasted?"

"All of those," he says, grinning. His eyes slip a little lower. "So, what did you get me for lunch today? Hopefully it's a re-heatable food."

"Chinese," she says, pulling out the cartons from the bag. "It was steaming hot when they put it in...so I'd imagine it's okay."

"Great."

Laura hands him his carton, and a pair of chopsticks, and they set down to eating.

"So..." she starts, finding it a little easier to talk to him now. A little. "Did you get an update on your real Personal Assistant?" she asks.

"Yeah." Julian swallows. "She's okay...but they say she's been too stressed out, and she almost went into early labor. I'm going to send her on maternity leave earlier than planned."

"Oh." She hesitates. "Is she married?"

"No." He hesitates. "Don't tell her I told you...but I'm surprised. She's quite a catch."

Laura feels a kind of choking feeling, and says nothing.

"How's your boyfriend?" he asks suddenly.

She is startled by the change in topic. "Um, I don't know."

"Haven't called him?" he probes.

"Not since I arrived, no." She pauses. "I think I'm going to break up with him."

"Oh?" He raises one eyebrow.

"It was never that serious...and he couldn't understand why I had to leave the school."

"Neither can I, to be honest. Why did you?" Julian's eyes are fixed on hers, and she feels—again—that odd sensation that he is drawing the truth out of her. Then she remembers the truth-how horrible it is, and how all of this will end if she reveals it to him. She shakes her head slightly, her eyebrows drawing together.

"To see the world," she lies, her voice slightly strained.

"Just another college kid, huh?" he asks.

"You could say that."

A few minutes pass filled with just straight eating. Then Julian puts down his chopsticks, and gives her a very straight look. "Look, we do have something to talk about. Something serious."

She eyes him uncertainly, her mouth full of Chow Men. A noodle actually hangs out.

He starts to grin. "You can swallow, if you'd like."

Laura force-swallows the entire portion, and has to take a sip from her drink before she can stop blinking in pain. "Go for it," she gasps.

Julian opens his mouth to speak, and the phone rings. He rolls his eyes, picks it up and answers: "Keller."

"Hi, Boss-man." A woman's voice. With her finely-tuned hearing, Laura can decipher what she is saying as clearly as if they are in the same room.

"Meg! Are you okay? Is the baby-" Laura winces at the concern in his voice.

"It's all good, but like you may have heard...I won't be in for a while."

"Yeah, anything for you. I just want you to be okay. You're the most important person here, you know?"

"I know."

Laura feels very awkward, and stabs at her food a little too viciously-her chopsticks go through the Styrofoam box, and a mass of Chow Men explodes onto her lap. "SHIT!" she explodes.

Julian glances at her, and begins to grin.

"What the hell was that?" Meg asks, on the other end.

"My temp assistant, trying to master the art of eating...and failing."

"Oh." Meg pauses. "Wait a minute-what temp?! I've been out one day and you get a replacement for me?!"

"I'll tell you all about her later."

"Is she hot?" Meg asks.

"No-I know what you're thinking. The answer is no. Just-I'll call you back later, okay? We're eating lunch, and apparently she needs help."

"She can use my office if she wants," Meg adds.

"Okay. I'll let her know. Take care."

"Later."

He hangs up the phone and turns his eyes back to Laura, who is attempting to clean up the mess. Rice has joined the noodles, along with a piece of wilted bok choi and a few nuggets of sauce-laden meat.

"You're like a five year old," he says in wonder.

Laura feels like crying. Instead she grabs the bag from the food rather violently and holds it under the hem of her skirt. Food rolls off, making plop plop noises into the bag.

"Hey-I wasn't being mean," he says.

She doesn't answer.

"Laura, I'm sorry." He gazes up at her. "I was joking."

"Tell that to your real assistant," she says. She grabs her almost empty container of food and stuffs that in too, then heads to the door and throws the bag into the trashcan nearby. She yanks open his door and heads into the hallway, where the heel of her shoe suddenly breaks (possibly due to the fact that she is stomping her feet) and she is deposited into a sprawled heap on the carpet.

"Laura-" he appears at the door and takes the scene in. "Wow."

She sits very still and looks down the hallway toward the elevator, trying to fight the burning in her eyes. She almost succeeds.

"Laura..." he kneels down beside her. "I was just fooling around."

She refuses to answer him.

"I'm serious. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Silence.

"Why are you sitting on the ground?" he asks finally.

"My heel broke," she says, in a small voice.

He pauses, and she hears him trying not to laugh. At her expense, again. She reaches forward and removes one heel, then the other, and stands up, bare footed.

"Please, come back to my office. I think I can fix it."

"No." She pauses. "Can I go home?"

"No." He runs a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure why you're so upset. I-I don't think what I did was that bad."

"You're a piece of shit!" she snaps, her temper getting the better of her. A trait that-unfortunately-survived the cloning process. "I mean, my god. Could you have possibly painted a worse picture of me to your-assistant?!"

Julian raises his eyebrows. "I'm confused," he says finally. "I really didn't mean to offend you. I thought-well, I thought we were kind of hitting it off. I had no idea you were that touchy."

"Yeah, well, you don't know me," Laura says, her nose wrinkled, but already the flare of her temper is starting to die down into embers. She kicks the ground.

"Give me that," he says, reaching out for her shoe. She lets him take it, and watches as he turns it over in his hands. "I have superglue in a drawer somewhere. Give me a sec." He disappears, and she listens as he walks to his desk, sits down and begins rummaging in drawers. Then there is a slight vibration noise-energy-and he gets up again.

"Here...hold the heel against the rest for like a minute, that should keep it together," he says as he hands the shoe back. "Seriously, Laura, I didn't mean to piss you off, and I'm sorry. If you don't want me to tease you, I won't."

She hesitates. "Well..." and wrinkles her nose again. "Stop putting me in corners," she says.

He grins, then glances at his watch. "Crap. I've got to get back to work...can we continue this conversation later?"

"Okay," Laura says.

"Five sound okay?"

"Huh?" she raises her eyebrows.

Julian leans on the doorframe. "We could go out for drinks. Or something. Wait, are you old enough to drink?"

"Of course," Laura lies. She pauses. "Are you asking me out?"

He grins again. "If I say yes, will you tell me you'd rather lick a toilet plunger?"

"Oh, shut up." Laura finally smiles. "Okay."

"Good." He pauses. "See you later, then."

"Later," Laura says. He closes his door and she hears him move to his desk again, but he doesn't sit down for a while. She stands in the hallway and examines the heel of her shoe. It is flawless once again.

Continue this conversation later. What does he want to say to her?

And what had he been about to say before Meg called?

Laura returns to her temporary office and settles herself behind the desk, to wait for five o' clock.