"Do you have a minute?" Billy stood in the open doorway of the office. He'd spent the greater part of three days trying to determine how to approach her, what he might say to get through to her, and still – he'd come up empty. Finally, he'd resorted to doing the one thing she'd actually asked him to do – finish the marketing proposal. And now, here he stood – proposal in hand.

She looked up, more than a little surprised to see him standing there. With the way they'd left things in their last confrontation, she'd half expected him to request a transfer or perpetually work from home. She certainly hadn't expected this. "I think that depends on what the minute is for," she sighed. "If you're going to sit here and try to tell me over and over again how I shouldn't be spending time with Joe then …"

"This isn't about Joe," he huffed. It was a lie and he knew it and, he thought to himself, she probably did to. Everything he did at the moment was about Joe. He couldn't seem to shake the sinking feeling that this relationship was a disaster in the making and the fact that she was in the middle of it was something he couldn't ignore. "It's obvious to me now that you're not going to be honest with me about whatever it is that's going on here, so I'm wasting me time trying to get you to tell me the truth about what's going on …"

"The truth." He saw her eyes roll. "There is no truth, Billy. The truth is exactly what I've already told you. You just don't want to hear it. I'm marrying Joe because I want to. Because he's the man I've chosen to spend my life with. Just because you don't like it, just because you don't like him, just because he's not the kind of man you would have chosen for me – it doesn't mean it can't be true. It doesn't mean there's some deep hidden reason behind it."

"You can say it a million times in a million different ways, but I still don't believe it," he said quietly, his eyes not staring into hers. "Because I don't see it there." He reached up and touched her face for a fraction of a second before pulling away. "Your eyes always tell the truth. You're a damn good liar, Phyllis, but your eyes tell the real story." He held out the papers. "Here's that proposal you asked for. E-mail me if you have any questions, alright?"

He moved towards the door, stopping short at the sight of Joe standing there.

"I thought we understood each other," Joe said flatly as he sized him up. "What are you doing back in here bothering her?"

"Joe," Phyllis quickly moved towards the door, hoping to head off any potential confrontation. "Billy wasn't here to cause any trouble. We were just discussing some marketing proposals and …"

"And it's really not any of your business what we're discussing since Phyllis is a grown woman and perfectly capable of determining who she wants to have conversations with and who she doesn't. I'm sure if she doesn't want me here, she's perfectly capable of asking me to leave."

"I'm not questioning her ability to ask you to leave, but you don't seem to be very good at respecting her wishes, so I'm just making sure that you're not here giving her a hard time. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Joe took another few steps towards her, standing beside her now to send a clear message.

"I think Billy was just making the point that we were having a perfectly civil conversation. There's nothing for you to be concerned about." She looked up at him, hoping the assurance would be enough to calm the growing tension in the room.

"I'm pretty sure that's her way of saying she doesn't need a guard dog," he smirked.

"Billy," she warned, before looking back down at the papers in her hand. "I'll look over this and get back to you, okay?"

Joe smiled. "I'm pretty sure that's her way of telling you to hit the road." He watched as Billy sighed and began to move towards the door. "But before you go," he called out, "Make sure you clear your calendar for May 17th."

Billy swallowed hard. "And what's supposed to happen on May 17th?" he asked, "An engagement party? You can't honestly think I'm going to celebrate that?"

"Better," Joe beamed as he reached for Phyllis' hand and brought it to his lips. "May 17th is our wedding day." He looked down into her now wide eyes and squeezed her hand a bit. "I checked with the rooftop and made sure the arrangements could be worked out and everything's a go. You and I will officially be husband and wife in a little more than two weeks and I for one can't wait." He pulled her closer to him, his lips brushing against hers. "Isn't that great?"

She pulled back, and looked up at him for a moment before glancing over at Billy, the look on his face a mix of shock, horror, and disgust. "Yeah," she managed, "That's great."

"Thanks for coming down, Ted."

Ted stood in the doorway of the office as fidgeted with the pen in his hand. "It's no problem. I really shouldn't be away long though. I told Phyllis I just need to run some files down to HR and that I'd be back in a bit."

"That's fine," Billy nodded. "This won't take long. Please – have a seat." He gestured to the chair that sat across from his desk. "I'm sorry to put you in this position, but I'm kind of desperate here and to be honest with you, you're the only person I can think of that might actually have any kind of information about this."

Ted's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I'm happy to help if I can, but I'm not sure what kind of information I would be able to give you that …"

"It's about Joe Clark, the guy that Phyllis is engaged to …"

"Oh."

Billy watched as Ted's face immediately changed.

"Him. He's …. Well, he's … he thinks very highly of himself."

He laughed softly. "That's one way to put it. I know that Phyllis hired him to work with Jabot to help secure some real estate deals, but do you know any more about his actual contract and what his responsibilities are?"

Ted hesitated. "I …"

"Look, I know you're probably not supposed to tell me anything Ted and I get it. All I can tell you is that anything you say will never be attributed to you and I can find the stuff out on my own. It'll just take me longer and time isn't really on my side her. In two weeks time, Phyllis is going to be married to this asshole and …"

"What? She's actually going to marry him?!"

He could almost feel the energy in the room shift. Any hesitation that Ted had seemingly vanished and at once his fear of retribution seemed to diminish.

"Yeah, she is and I just know there's something else going on here. I'm hoping that maybe you can help me figure out what that something is."

"I don't know anything for sure, but I do know that Joe isn't exactly financially sound and I know that Phyllis has been bankrolling him for everything he's done since he got back here."

Billy leaned back in his chair. "So let me get this straight? She's paying his way, giving him a job and marrying him? And none of that is supposed to seem strange?"

Ted shrugged. "I don't really know what I can do to help, but I like Phyllis and …"

"I know," Billy sighed. "I appreciate it, Ted. You should probably get back to your desk. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Yeah." Ted stood up quickly. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you."

"Thanks," Billy nodded watching as the young man quickly disappeared down the hall. Ted would escape trouble today, but Phyllis was still in plenty of it.