"Why can't he stay with you?"

"Because I am leaving in two weeks remember? The person that's subletting my apartment had started bringing some of her stuffs in."

"I'm mad at you Riley Matthews."

"Yes, pumpkin, blame little old me. It's my fault that your brain child creation got famous and it's also my fault that the big ups in your network hired my uncle whom by the way is trying to help you get even more famous."

"Grrr…so not helping Matthews."

"Of course I am."

Just the first day and I am exhausted. I stayed at work until 10 or 11 at night just so I don't have to go home with Joshua. I had to stay after Veronica and John left. I was jealous that they each got to go home with each other, while I was working just as hard and about to go home with a guy who's messing up my somewhat sane life.

They were both really talented, definitely better animators than I was (are you kidding me, of course I'm better) but the main thing is they seemed to respect what I said about Marley. I noticed the character was starting to look different from the one I originally created.

If you ever watch early episodes of The Simpsons, you'll notice a difference between then and now. Marley was evolving in another animator's hand. She was looking a lot better than she looked when I drew her by my self. The differences were subtle; I doubted the audience would notice, but I did. My baby was growing up.

"Maya, are you ready to call it a night?"

"Sure."

Don't get excited. We got home, I showed Josh the couch and bounced off some ideas for the story lines and literally fell asleep on our faces. What do you expect? Romance? I'm stressed and over work so that's so out of the question.

Hackett insisted we have a status meeting on Monday so I could update him on progress. That meant I had to go in on Saturday. I slept until a decadent 9 and then went to work, Josh was already there. I did say the guy is perfect right?

I found Lauryn typing away in her cube when I got in. Veronica and John were also at their workstations. I hadn't asked for or expected anyone to be in on Saturday. I was impressed with their dedication. At the same time, I felt guilty for being the last one to get there. It was beginning to look as if we were a team.

"Hey," I said, smiling. "Doesn't anyone have a life anymore?"

"Not 'til after the board meeting," said Veronica, downing the last of a can of soda and throwing it into the trash. "Three points. John, can you toss me another one."

I sat in my office for a while, trying to iron out the second segment of the pilot. Animated shows were sometimes broken down into two 11–minute segments. Veronica and John were working on a device to link the four minutes I had already almost completed. It was a stretch, but I think we'd found something that worked. I had to find another adventure for Marley to go on.

Around two I hit a block. I felt as though I'd blown my Marley load on all the other short stories. What was I going to do if the show got picked up? I poked my head out of my office.

"Hey guys," I said. "If I buy pizza for lunch, can we have a quick brainstorm?"

John, who hardly said much, swiveled toward me in his chair. He nodded and said, "Need more caffeine."

The brainstorm went really well. It was the first time I got a sense of where everyone was coming from. John had some totally wacky ideas for adventures for Marley. Veronica, like me, was into developing her character, making her a real girl. And Lauryn was remarkably attuned to curriculum, in other words, making sure the kids who watched the show actually learned something from it without knowing they were learning. As for Joshua…well he's the guy that put it all together. Crazy, wacky, and educational –he made them all come together.

We all heightened each other's ideas. With a belly full of soda and pizza, I went back to my office and jammed out two possible scripts. I was feeling good. It may have been all the caffeine, but I was literally buzzing. The scripts were solid and Hackett would love having a choice.

Joshua insisted in treating the entire team to a night out. Sort of a celebration and getting to know his team better thingy. At 9:30, we all decided to leave. I made them swear to the gods of caffeine and industry that they would not show their faces around here on Sunday.

In the cab to the bar I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and applied my favorite gloss. We decided to try the new "Vietnamese, Senegalese wheat–free fusion with a South American " place Veronica had suggested earlier. I had no idea what to expect.

The place was packed and rocking with Cuban music when we arrived. We made our way through the crowd to the tiny table that supposed to fit six people. Talk about cozy. Or cramp. You get to choose.

"Maya, are you okay? You look really tired," Lauryn said, looking into my face. I was, but I didn't want to admit it. I had my game face on.

"Nah, my eyes are bothering me from staring at the computer all day."

"You should be wearing your glasses," Veronica said, tapping the side of her hot–pink cat–eyed specs.

I have no idea what I ate. As usual, we let Veronica do the ordering, since she had done the research. She was usually pretty good about picking restaurants, but something about all these tastes didn't really mesh. No one wanted to admit it to her. We just kept drinking the Latin drinks.

"So, we have three more days to complete the pilot," Lauryn said.

"No work talk please." Veronica complained.

"So Maya, is it true that you and Joshua were childhood friends?" John asked.

"Maya is the childhood friend of my niece Riley, but yeah Maya and are friends." Joshua said as I nodded.

"Joshua is three years older than me." I said.

I only managed two mojitos before exhaustion set in and I had to go. Thankfully everyone else were also exhausted. Of course Joshua and I shared a cab, we live together after all.

In the cab, I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat.

"Are you doing okay with everything?" Joshua asked.

"Yeah," I said not wanting to have to talk about it. We arrived at my place and I started for my bedroom..

"Maya, wait," Joshua said. "I want to ask you something."

And that, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, was the start of a conversation I didn't want to have.