I pushed through the door of Muddy's and scanned the crowd. Good, no Eric. I desperately needed to fill Amelia in on yesterday's revelation. I sat in my usual spot and found myself impatiently bouncing my knee waiting for her. At long last she brought me my latte and dropped into the empty chair.

"So, how was the first week on the new job?"

"Totally nuts. I've spent the entire week just trying to figure out who people are, what they do, what I do. It's such a massive place – it's going to take me a while to figure out how to navigate the system and the politics there. I didn't do a shred of actual work."

Amelia nodded at me with a sympathetic look on her face.

"And the hot blond guy works there."

"Who?" Amelia looked at me quizzically.

"You know, the hot blond guy." I said and pointed my thumb in the direction of Eric's usual table. "Eric."

"No!" Amelia's voice dropped in disbelief.

"Yep. He's a curator." I recounted yesterday's meeting and encounter with Felicia to Amelia.

She shook her head laughingly in disbelief. "I can't believe he works there. He was in here earlier, but left about a half an hour ago." We sat in contemplative silence for a bit before Amelia spoke again. "So do you really think he and that Felicia chick are an item?"

"I don't know. It seems weird to me. She's been awful every time I've interacted with her. And Eric seems like a decent guy, so if they are an item she must have some redeeming qualities. And I don't think she could have gotten to where she is today if she was all bad. She's got a pretty major job there."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Stop being so charitable, Mother Theresa. Sometimes people are just inherently evil."

"I don't agree with that. And don't call me Mother Theresa. I need to figure out what her deal is and turn the tide or my work life is going to be miserable."

"Well, good luck with that. I say you just take her out." We both laughed and Amelia got up to go back to work.

I worked on the crossword for a while but quickly gave up and left for home.

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Before I knew it, Monday rolled around and I was back in my office.

I clicked open my email and smiled when I saw a message from Bill.

From: William Compton
To: Sookie Stackhouse
Subject: Lunch?

Dear Sookie,

You've been working here a week now and I have yet to run into you.
Do they already have you chained to your desk?
Let me know if your schedule allows for lunch – I'm free all week.

Bill

From: Sookie Stackhouse
To: William Compton
Subject: Re:Lunch?

Bill!

I think they'll let me out on good behavior for lunch.
Let's say tomorrow – 1 p.m. in the cafeteria.

Sookie

"Sookie?" I looked up from my computer to see Diantha in the doorway and smiled.

"Would you have time to talk about Wednesday's Party of the Year meeting? I've been called out of town and unfortunately won't be back until the end of the week. I want you to know what you're walking into."

"I would love that. Should we sit at the table?" I picked up my pen and notepad and crossed the room to the conference table.

"You seem to be settling in, just fine. Do you feel like you're getting your sea legs?"

"Something like that." I smiled. "There's still a lot of ground to cover, but it will come with time."

"Oh, yes – in no time it will all be second nature to you." She nodded. "So about Wednesday's meeting - you'll soon see that The Party of the Year is of great interest to most everybody here. It's wonderful to have the support, but it means there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Ultimately this is Sophie-Anne's show. Your job is to execute her vision. So hang back and let her tell you when she wants your input or ideas." I nodded my understanding.

"Peter Threadgill is the Chair of the Costume Institute which is of course what we call the fashion department here at the museum. He and Sophie-Anne conceptualize the exhibition that accompanies the party. I imagine that Sophie-Anne is planning to announce the title of the exhibition at the meeting."

Last year's exhibition, Fin de Siècle: Creation of the Femme Fatale, had received a phenomenal amount of press coverage. It was a decadent exhibit exploring the sexualization of fashion in turn-of-the-century Paris. The designers fully embraced the theme, dressing the models and celebrities attending in jawdroppingly provocative ensembles. Madonna and John Galliano were Honorary Co-Chairs for the night. Madonna wore a racy Galliano design and photos of her rushing the stage during Dita Von Teese's performance were splashed across all the papers the next day. To say the evening caused an uproar among the museum trustees was putting it mildly. I couldn't wait to see what this year's theme would be.

"Who else will be at the meeting?" I asked.

"It always seems to be a cast of thousands, but the most important people are of course Sophie-Anne and Peter, a Costume Institute curator named Lorena Guinness, Pamela Ravenscroft who handles special events for Stila. Oh, and Felicia will be there to represent the Development Department."

I breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly through pursed lips at the mention of Felicia's name. It did not escape Diantha's attention.

"Has Felicia been difficult?" she asked

I simply cocked an eyebrow in response.

"I was worried about that when I saw her initial reaction to you. She's bright, charming and incredibly capable, but can behave badly when she feels threatened."

"Why in the world would she feel threatened?' I was stymied.

Diantha smiled at me kindly. "Felicia experienced a meteoric rise in the Development Department and has been treated as though she hung the moon for years. The administrative offices have been buzzing about your arrival and I suspect she feels she's going to be being bumped off by the new hot young thing around here."

"Huh." I grunted. As if. That was just plain stupid.

"I'm sure she'll settle down. She's not going anywhere and I certainly hope you aren't either." She smiled brightly and continued, "Let's get back to business, shall we? Lafayette Reynolds will be at the meeting, but other vendors like Sight & Sound won't get involved until later in the process."

Diantha glanced down at her list of items to cover with me and tapped her index finger on the final bullet point. "I don't believe you've met Andre Wolfe yet?" I shook my head no. She paused for a bit before continuing.

"Andre is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications and will be at the meeting too. He has some, uh, interesting ideas on how to make the Met more relevant. As you know, that's one of our president's concerns. He's long on ambition and short on scruples."

My eyes widened and Diantha laughed. "Don't worry dear. I didn't mean to make that sound quite so ominous. Just be careful."

Be careful? I wanted to ask her more about Andre and what she meant, but Diantha looked at her watch and jumped up to leave.

"I'll touch base with you later this week. Don't hesitate to call me if anything comes up." And with that she was gone.

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I was looking forward to seeing Bill again. We'd only met briefly, but I felt an instant connection with him. Dating him was obviously off the table, so it made pursuit of a friendship easy and uncomplicated.

"Hello, Ms. Stackhouse - fancy meeting you here." I turned to the direction of Bill's voice and he leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, you know I only frequent the finest dining establishments."

"Oh yes. I hear the mac and cheese here is divine. Shall we?" And he gestured toward the food stations. After selecting and paying for our lunches, we made our way through the crowded staff lunchroom to an empty table near a small water fountain.

"So, how is life up in Special Events?"

"It's good. I'm learning to navigate the waters. I did nothing but meet people last week, but this week I've been able to shadow the girls from my office to see the events they've been working on. Fortunately it's a slow time so we only have a handful of corporate parties between now and the holidays. How about you? All good in the world of art conservation?"

"Oh yes. All's peachy for us in the bowels of the museum. It's very glamorous." He said facetiously. I laughed

"At the risk of sounding completely ignorant, what exactly do you do?"

He laughed. "I specialize in art restoration and work almost exclusively with sculpture. They brought me here to work on Augustus."

I looked at him questioningly.

"You may have read that a couple of years ago here at the Met a wooden pedestal that held a marble statue of Emperor Augustus buckled. The statue hit the floor and shattered into thousands of pieces."

I took in a sharp breath. "That's terrible." The thought of the destruction of a piece of antiquity actually made me feel slightly nauseous.

"Yeah. It was quite the talk among the museum community and devastating for the department curators. There's a team of five conservators hired to exclusively work on it. We need to get it back together so it can be returned to the Greek Court. It's going to take another couple of years though."

"I can't believe something like that could be reassembled."

"You'd be surprise how many statues in museums everywhere have been restored. A lot of statues have heads, hands and arms that came from other statues, but it's imperceptible to the naked eye."

We chatted for a while longer about some of the work Bill had done over his career. It was fascinating.

"I'll give you a tour of the lab sometime. I need to be getting back to work though."

I trailed Bill back through the tables. He gave a quick wave across the room. I looked in the direction of his wave and saw Eric and Gary with a couple of other men seated at a table. I gave a little wave too since it seemed rude not to and caught up to Bill's side.

In a low voice Bill spoke into my ear, "Easy on the eyes, huh?"

I just gave Bill a little smile and continued on.

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I decided to wear one of my new purchases from my shopping trip with Claudine – a navy wrap dress - for the Party of the Year meeting. It was a little more fashion forward than my standard suits.

The conference table was nearly full when I walked in. I spotted an empty seat between Sophie-Anne and Felicia. My palms started to sweat a bit until I saw another empty seat across the table. I was beyond thrilled to see it was next to Lafayette and quickly made my way over to claim it. He squeezed my hand as I sat down and kissed my cheek. It was comforting to have a friendly face at the table. Holly and Halleigh were seated in the chairs on the back wall along with the assistants from various departments.

I glanced around the table to get my bearings. I assumed that the statuesque blond standing expectantly near Sophie-Anne was Pamela from Stila. To her left was a distinguished looking man who I assumed to be Peter Threadgill. A raven-haired woman with angular features and full pouty lips sat next to him going over papers – Lorena? I had yet to meet with their department.

Felicia wore a dramatically ruffled white blouse and those flat front high waisted black pants that look fabulous on tall, stick thin women and were a minefield for the rest of us. Just ask Jessica Simpson. She looked sophisticated and quite stunning. My attempt at fashion suddenly felt laughable. Felicia was deep in conversation with the man seated to her right. He wore his black hair slicked back. A lavender pocket square peaked out of the breast pocket of his dark pinstriped suit and I glimpsed a flash of a pinky ring. He looked up at me with a smarmy smile. This must be Andre.

"Let's get started." Sophie-Anne announced in a tone that instantly quieted the room. A quick look at my watch told me we still had 5 minutes before the meeting was officially to begin. Huh. I guess whenever she was ready was when we'd start. I made a mental note to always show up for these meetings early. In silence she moved her eyes around room from face to face. It was one of the most intimidating things I've ever witnessed. A little chill ran down my spine when her eyes swept over me.

"As you know, the Party of the Year is the most glamorous, chicest benefit in the city and probably the country. I intend to keep it that way. The team assembled is the best at what they do. You are charged with upholding the high standards of the event and pushing it to greater heights. Nothing less will be accepted."

General Sophie-Anne was apparently preparing us for battle. I had no doubt she could reduce the toughest warrior to tears with her own special brand of psychological warfare.

After allowing a dramatic few seconds for her words to sink in, she carefully recomposed her face so it bore a hint of a smile and began speaking with a slightly warmer tone.

"Peter Threadgill and I have determined the theme of this year's benefit will be Goddess." The announcement elicited a few gasps from the crowd and I could hear murmuring from the row of assistants behind me.

Peter spoke up, "We will explore the influence of Greco-Roman dress throughout the ages…fashions that have worshipped the female form and elevated women to something more than mortal. Flowing fabrics that cling to the body - seductively feminine and ethereal."

Before he could speak further Sophie jumped in, "Envision the beautifully and simply draped figures of the statues throughout the Greek and Roman Court, then picture a stunning avant-garde Yves Saint Laurent gown." On cue, Pamela popped up and held two prepared visuals for all to see.

"Isadora Duncan's dance costumes…"

Pamela swiftly dropped the original images and replaced it with a vintage photo.

"Cate Blanchett in Valentino on the red carpet…"

Again, Pamela did the old switcheroo.

"You get the idea. Tom Ford from Gucci and Angelina Jolie will be our Honorary Co-Chairs. We're still working on securing evening entertainment."

I looked to see if Pamela was at the ready with photos of Tom and Ange. Nope.

The Tom and Angelina news got a lot of smiling nods and some golf claps.

At that moment the door to the conference room swung open. When I met the icy blue eyes of the figure in the doorway I dropped my pen and fumbled to pick it back up. Eric confidently stepped towards the conference table and gave Sophie-Anne a kiss on both cheeks. Sophie-Anne gave Eric a smoldering smile in return. Lafayette kicked me under the table. I ignored him. Apparently no one was immune to Eric's good looks.

"My apologies for being late. I was on a call with Athens." He sank into the open chair between Sophie and Felicia. Felicia repositioned herself in the chair so she was slightly closer to Eric.

Sophie-Anne waved her hand dismissively to say it was nothing. "Yesterday I pressed Eric Northman into service for this year's benefit. Rather than mount the show in the Costume Institute space and hold the dinner in Engelhard Court as in years past, we will have both the dinner and exhibition in the new Greek and Roman Court. Exhibiting the costumes in situ will be more exciting."

The crowd was really ooohing and aaahing over this revelation.

"The new Director of Special Events, Sookie Stackhouse, will work with Eric to sort out the logistics of using the space."

This time Lafayette pinched my leg. I jumped slightly, but continued to ignore him.

I made quick eye contact with Eric and gave him the briefest of smiles before diverting my eyes back to my notepad and pretending to write a couple of notes. I didn't dare look at Felicia, but I could feel the icy blast of her gaze. This sure wouldn't do anything to help my relationship with her.

"As you know, every year Stila runs a photo spread to promote the Party of the Year. This year's shoot will happen in January and will run in Stila's March issue. Felicia, Lorena and Pamela will once again be in the shoot. To mix it up a bit, I've decided to add Eric to the shoot as a counterpoint to the three ladies."

I noticed that both Felicia and Lorena had smug little grins on their faces at the mention of the photo shoot. Pamela, however, remained expressionless. I got the feeling she could take it or leave it. Once again, more murmuring from around the room.

"Now let's go down to the Court for an initial walk-through."

Sophie-Anne perched her dark sunglasses on top of her perfect hair, flung her cropped fur coat around her bony shoulders, handed her large handbag to Pamela to carry and glided out the door with everybody else trailing behind her.

Lafayette and I took the stairs to avoid the wait for the elevator. On our way down Lafayette looked over his shoulder to make sure we were alone then turned back and said, "Did we really just find out we're going to spend the next few months planning a big fucking toga party?"

"Yes - yes we did." I cracked up. "I have no doubt it will be beautiful though. Sophie-Anne never misses the mark."

I pushed the heavy stairwell door onto first floor and we rejoined the rest of the group.

The Greek and Roman Court was majestic. I was excited to have the chance to plan an event here. The expansive space was dotted by exquisite sculptures on pedestals. A soaring two-story atrium in the center of the court flooded the space with light. Columns set in a rectangle defined the atrium. In the center of the atrium was a large round fountain. Additional galleries ringed the space outside the columns. It was a transporting venue and would be very special for the benefit.

I took the opportunity to introduce myself to Peter, Lorena, Pamela and Andre. Even without Diantha's words of warning I wouldn't have trusted Andre. As I spoke with him I felt like I could see the wheels turning in his brain, and I had no idea where they were taking him.

Fortunately, Sophie-Anne hooked arms with me and Eric and led us to the middle of the court away from the others. "I'm envisioning the stage at the far end of this space, and the tables extending to the outer galleries. Can we move that fountain?"

Eric shook his head no.

"Well, we'll just have to work around it, but please see if anything can be done. I'd like to look into setting up an outdoor lounge just outside those doors in the park." She gestured to several emergency exit doors on the far side of the court.

She continued on and I concentrated fiercely to process and remember everything she wanted. She still had my arm so I couldn't exactly take notes.

"Sookie, I want you to work with Jean-Luc to come up with a 'Feast for the Gods.' And start working with Lafayette on two different décor proposals. I like to have options. We'll meet directly after the photo shoot to discuss, so come and have them ready."

Sophie-Anne disengaged her arms from our elbows, turned and walked back to the others without another word to either of us. Eric and I looked at each other. He looked slightly shell shocked.

"Now, how did you manage to get yourself roped into this thing?" I smiled.

"I have no idea." He said, laughing and shaking his head. "And now I've got to do this photo shoot too. I'm never going to live that down."

I laughed and changed the subject back to business. "It will be great to do the event in this space – it's magnificent."

"Yes, it is." He smiled. "It is modeled on Imperial Roman architecture – this kind of court – with the columns and the surrounding gallery - is called a peristyle court." He pointed out the red and green marble floor and explained the significance of the pattern and then placing his hand on the small of my back pointed out how the galleries were arranged. The heat radiating from his hand through the thin fabric of my dress was making it very difficult for me to concentrate.

He dropped his hand from my back, stuck both in his pockets and faced me. "We should probably meet soon to talk about this in more detail. I'm a little concerned about some of the set-ups Sophie-Anne is envisioning – I have to make sure the art is protected."

No kidding – after the story Bill told me about Augustus I couldn't believe they'd allow anything like this to happen in the space.

"I completely understand. Would late next week work for you? We've got some corporate events earlier in the week and I'm just not sure what my time commitment will be for them yet."

"How about 3:30 on Friday?" he suggested.

"That works for me. Where should I meet you.'

"Let's meet at the fountain."

I felt a giddy rush - you'd have thought I'd just made a real date with him. I was broken out of my happy haze by the approach of Felicia.

"Eric, I'm leaving now but will you pick me up at 7:00?"

His face darkened. "Yeah. I'll be there."

Felicia turned and left. She'd ignored my existence today and that was fine by me. I wish I were capable of ignoring hers.

"I've gotta go, Sookie. I'll see you later." I watched his figure retreat and tried to make sense of everything. Nothing was making sense though.

When I turned back to rejoin the group, I noticed Andre seated on a bench, looking in my direction with a slight smile on his face. Those wheels were definitely turning.

A/N I should mention that The Party of the Year really does happen at the Met, and
they did use a Goddess theme a few years ago. It fit the story too well to change it.

Thank you so much to those of you who have added this story to your alerts,
and especially to those who have left reviews. They are very much appreciated!!

I have updated my profile and added in some links for the first two chapters.
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