Eve went to work the next day, eager to see Brian again. It was a relief not having to focus all her energy on memorizing everything that happened in the office, and she felt that she could be friendly with everyone without being self-conscious about the fact they would be either jobless or in jail because of her. During lunch hour, she waited outside for Brian, but the instant she looked at him, she realized that something was wrong.

"Hi, Brian!" she walked up to him and tried to sound as cheerful as ever, telling herself that she was imagining things.

"Lauren, we need to talk."

"Oh, okay." After a moment's hesitation, she told herself that he was probably going to propose, or at least ask her to go steady. He walked to The Davis Diner without holding her hand like he usually did. She trotted next to him, not even trying to make light conversation, until they reached their usual table in the corner of the Diner.

"Can you explain this" he took something out of his wallet, his voice tight with anger. She looked at the picture he had pulled out, and felt her blood run cold. It was a postcard for The Bobcat from a few years ago, one that had been plastered on so many buildings and bathroom walls that she knew it instantly. It was a picture of her in nothing but a sparkly G-string and nipple tassels to match. She had been laughing at something Lyds had said off-camera, and unfortunately her smile was immediately recognizable, as was her naked body. At the bottom of the card, of course, was the number and address of The Bobcat.

"What is that?" She tried to sound as angry and confused as possible, knowing that her last hope was to act innocent.

"I think you know what it is, Lauren. I found it in my mailbox this morning."

"That's not me. I mean, someone must have altered a picture, because I would obviously never-"

Brian held up a hand. "No, Lauren. That was my first thought too, but then I called the number and asked about the picture on the card. They knew who I was talking about, and said that Eve-I'm assuming that's you—was still an employee, but had found work somewhere else for the time being."

"Shit." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Brian, I had just arrived in Metropolis, and I needed food, I needed to live, so I had no choice but to-"

"Sell yourself?"

"Well yeah, but it wasn't that bad. It's not like it changes anything, right?"

"No, Lauren, I can't—I can't see you anymore. I thought you were a good girl, and I saw you as the type of person I'd like to have a family with, and who would support me in my career. But now that I know what you are, that's just not a possibility anymore."

"But you loved me."

"I didn't know who you were. You lied to me, Lauren."

She wanted to say something back, but didn't for fear that the tears welling up in her eyes would start to fall. Without another word, Brian left the table. She scrambled to the bathroom, and let herself cry for a few minutes. She knew who had put that postcard in his mailbox, she knew but she didn't care; Brian should have loved her anyway. Brian should have never mentioned it, or told her it was okay, told her that it didn't make a difference. Lex had never done that. No matter how what he had done to her, she knew he treated her like he treated everyone else.

That was the problem with nice boys, and nice girls; they only liked you as long as you were one of them. She could only imagine that the other women she worked with would start to freeze her out if they ever found out, not to mention the fact that Mr. Hendricks would fire her immediately out of disgust.

But none of that was going to happen. It wasn't going to happen because she would get them first. She went back into the building, stopping at Brian's empty cubicle on the way. She walked into Mr. Hendricks' office with her back straight and her face fixed into a determined yet friendly smile.

"Miss McAfee, you're back early." Mr. Hendricks commented.

"I know sir, but I finished lunch early, and so I thought I should come back to work instead of just wasting time."

"Good God, Miss McAfee, why can't everyone in this company be like you?" She smiled for a second, then let the smile fade. "There is one thing though, sir. Do you know Brian Freeman in accounting?"

"Yes, vaguely, the one who looks like Rudy Vallee. You're close with him, aren't you?"

"That's the one. Well, I heard him talking the other day, and he mentioned some facts about" she lowered her voice "'the Singelton matter' that I had thought were only between the two of us. So I just wanted to know what the new privacy policy is on that."

His eyes widened, and her anxiously ran a hand through his hair. "Oh God, really? How much does he know?"

"I'm not sure. You know what; he's on break, so maybe we should check his cubicle for any papers, just to see what he knows."

"Let's do that, Miss McAfee."

She tried to hide her triumphant smile when he found the relevant papers she had hidden in his desk. She had copied them right before the split with Lex, and had almost forgotten she'd still had them in her purse.

"Miss McAfee, I'm going to stay right here until that rat comes back, so that I can fire him on the spot!"

"Absolutely, Mr. Hendricks! But, if you could keep my name out of it. Like you said, we were acquaintances, and I wouldn't want him to try and, I don't know, get revenge on me."

"Good point. Why don't you go back to my office, and check the filing cabinet to see if anything else looks amiss? Here are the keys, and report anything suspicious, okay."

"Okay." She trotted back, clutching the keys so tightly they left an imprint on her hand. He had never trusted her with the keys to the file cabinet before, and she had certainly never looked in it unsupervised. Immediately upon opening it, she took out her pen and pad and began writing down all the important names and details she could find. There wasn't much, but the papers that were there were all incriminating. She still didn't understand a lot of it, but she was sure Lex could get some use out of it. She was finished before Mr. Hendricks arrived, and calm enough to seem unsuspicious.

"How'd it go?"

"He didn't admit to anything, of course, but he's gone."

Hendricks sat down. "I just can't believe it. Just can't believe it. But thank you, Miss McAfee. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we could have been ruined if it hadn't been for you."

"Well, I wouldn't quite go that far-"

"Miss McAfee, you're getting a raise. And the rest of the day off. I don't think either of us will be at their best after such a rattling experience."

She nodded and hurried out of the building. She didn't want to leave the photocopied papers at her apartment, and she couldn't go to Lex right after such a major incident at the company, so went to the first place she could think of, The Bobcat. She'd been back enough times so that her appearance didn't instigate much fuss, and the papers quickly went into her makeup drawer while Sandra was getting help from everyone in trying to squeeze into a corset. She sat at her old makeup table and told everyone what had happened with Brian.

"They always do find out, don't they?" Sandra sighed.

"They always care, that's the problem." Added Lydia. "And guys who know in the first place don't want you either!"

"You know what you're gonna do, Evie?" asked Sandra.

"I don't know. I mean, right after it happened, I really wanted to go back to Lex. But, I don't know if that's the best idea after what he did to me."

"Wouldn't you have done the same, though?" Lyds asked, raising an eyebrow. "Come on, if Lex were dating some chick who didn't know anything about him, you honestly wouldn't be tempted to let her know what he'd done? Just a little bit?"

"Well, I might be tempted, but I wouldn't do something like that."

"Evie, you just got a guy fired because he hurt your feelings, you're not really the saint in this situation."

She sighed and leaned back against the table. Lyds was right; of course she would tell any girlfriend of his what he had done in the past. She loved him, but not enough to be willing to see him happy with someone else. And there was the possibility that he felt that way about her.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll see him one more time at least; just to get everything straightened out with the money he owes me. And then we'll see."