A/N: Maybe I should include some brief bio on the individuals, but then that might interfere with the progression of the story. A little mystery wouldn't kill ya, would it?
"And we're off." Maria's smile didn't drop but it faded slightly as the cameras turned off and the program director reappeared on the floor.
"Great job, everybody," he praised, beaming. "I have a good feeling about this show."
"You always have a good feeling about every show we do," her co-host Jon teased.
"And I'm usually right," the PD tapped the clipboard in front of him. "Ratings never lie!"
"Maria?"
"Hmmm?" Turning her attention to Monica, one of the script supervisors, she waited expectantly for the nervous woman to speak.
"Uh, here's your, um, schedule for next, uh, Friday and the interview with Liz Turner."
"It got greenlighted? When?" Maria practically snatched the small packet of papers from Monica's hands, ignoring the other woman's small eep of surprise as she leafed through the packet.
"Y-Yesterday," Monica stuttered out, taking a deep breath before continuing on. "The producers want you to read her book before the show airs to produce better on screen chemistry."
It was a subtle insult towards Maria's rather pugnacious attitudes towards past guests and she knew it but was too pumped about this interview to give a rats ass.
"Already done," she replied, getting to her feet. "Excuse me."
The book was the whole reason she'd been so desperate to do the interview in the first place – she'd read it on a lark two months ago as part of a 'celebrity review' package right before it was set to be published and she'd been immediately struck dumb by two things: the author's uncanny retelling of a dream sequence that near perfectly aligned with the spectre's of Maria's nights since she was little and the second…
"Who are you, Liz Turner?" She asked the bio photo at the top of the info packet. "And why do I feel like we've met before?"
