Jeff yawned as he opened up his invitation to fellow Buy More employee Skip's birthday party later that night. After escaping from crazy bread stealing kidnappers yesterday, all he wanted to do was come to work and do nothing. Lester had been called out on an install job and Gloria was coming in a little later. It was just him manning the Nerd Herd desk. Well, almost...

"Hey, Jeff; I heard about what happened yesterday. Are you guys alright?" Chuck asked as he walked in the store and stopped at the Nerd Herd counter.

"We're fine. I don't remember much. I still wish they had pumpernickel," he replied in a monotone.

Chuck gave him a strange look before continuing. "Well, I heard through the grapevine that the kidnapper and that other guy working with him were apprehended last night. Good thing, huh?"

"Yeah. So, are you going to Skip's birthday party tonight?"

"Sure, yeah. You?"

"I might. Hopefully he'll have a naked lady jump out of the cake. Now that's what I call a birthday wish come true. Butter-creme frosting is kind of an aphrodisiac of mine."

"O-kay, not really something I needed to know, but now I'm rooting for whipped icing," Chuck ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I'll be in the back if you need anything."

"You got it," Jeff nodded before leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up. As much as he liked being alone with no one to bug him, he really wanted to talk to Lester. He had been extremely quiet after they had escaped. He barely said more than three words during the taxi ride home, which Jeff had to pay for. Lester still wasn't quite himself today, either. He looked as if he hadn't slept a wink and when asked to leave on an install, he left with no usual argument or groaning. A shiver went up Jeff's spine as he thought that perhaps his best friend was...maturing. Ugh; how horrible would that be?

Suddenly, the doors opened and Lester walked through, holding a large paper sack in his hands. Jeff sat up, taking note that Lester was wearing his rose-colored sunglasses and looking much more like the pal he knew.

"How was it?" Jeff asked as soon as Lester came up beside him.

"Piece of cake. Look what I got," Lester sang as he pulled the item from the sack. "Some delicious pumpernickel bread for my good buddy."

Jeff saw the bread and wiped his mouth. "Oh, boy." He looked at the bread longingly as he held it. "I'm going to devour you like the naughty bread that you are. Or would you prefer I eat you nice and slow?"

"Uh, Jefferson? That was officially creepy. Please keep all further provocative comments regarding grains of any kind to yourself. I'm going on break."

Jeff was about to reply when Emmett came up, seemingly from out of thin air. "Go ahead, Jeffrey; I'll keep an eye on things until Gloria gets here."

Jeff smiled, not paying attention to the unorthodox eagerness of the assistant manager's help. "Cool. Thanks. Hey, Lester; wait up!"


Morgan immediately spotted Gloria as soon as she walked through the front doors. "Gloria, hey; I heard you, Jeff and Lester had a bit of a scare from some crazy guy yesterday."

Gloria smiled thinly. "Yeah, but we're fine. No big deal. If you'll excuse me-"

"Glad to hear it. Jeff really thought you were going to murder Lester after he stole your necklace at the party and-"

Gloria spun around and Morgan noticed a vein in her forehead began to show. "Morgan, I have to work now. Thanks for your concern, but I am fine."

Morgan nodded, slightly hurt, and turned around to walk away. Oh, right; Chuck wanted me to remind her about the birthday party tonight, he remembered, turning back around, mouth open and heart in his throat.

"Well, good afternoon, Gloria," Emmett welcomed her before Morgan could say anything. Instantly, he knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. Emmett's voice sounded too...syrupy sweet. "I was wondering if you could assist a customer with the lighters," he concluded, flicking a lighter inches from Gloria's face.

Gloria gasped and jumped back. "C-can't you find someone else to help with t-that?" she stammered, not daring to look at the flame.

"Oh, but they asked for you specifically," Emmett grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Wouldn't want to have to...fire...you for insubordination."

"You l-leave me alone, Millbarge. Are you forgetting what I have in my purse?" she threatened, but Morgan could tell from the look on her face that she was losing her ground.

"What's the matter, Gloria? I thought you liked playing with fire. Guess you just got burned one too many times. And sadly this time, there's no good samaritan to save you," he replied before taking a small piece of paper and holding the lighter close to it.

Morgan looked from Gloria to Emmett. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew it was really bad. The color had completely drained from her face and she was literally shaking.

Finally, Gloria shoved Emmett with all her might. "I hate you!" she cried before running off to the back of the store.

"You, sir, are a despicable human being," Morgan told a stunned Emmett before he ran after her.


Lester was in the break room with Jeff, discussing Skip's birthday party and how lame it would be unless they could find a way for Skip to get laid.

"We'd either have to blindfold her or get her totally and completely wasted first," he said.

"I know a pimp that owes me a favor," Jeff chimed in, receiving a disturbing look from Lester.

Suddenly, before he could respond, he saw a blur of a woman run through the break room and straight into the bathroom. "Glor...," he started, standing up and staring at the bathroom door. "That was Gloria, wasn't it?"

"I think so."

The door opened again and this time, it was Morgan, looking concerned. "Did you guys see Gloria come through this way?"

Instantly, both Lester and Jeff pointed to the bathroom.

"Aw, man." Morgan looked back and forth from the bathroom to the break room door. "Guys, she's really upset. I can't just leave her alone in there."

"What happened?" Jeff asked. Lester wanted to, but bit his tongue and sighed with relief when Jeff did it for him.

"Emmett...need I say more?"

Lester grinned wickedly. "I wish you would."

Morgan took a deep breath. "Guys, I am about to go where no man-well, no Buy More man-has ever gone before. Wish me luck."

"Do it, Morgan. Waltz in there with your head held high and don't let the screams deter you from your mission," Lester told him, pumping his fist in the air.

"If you find a small camera in there, I know nothing," Jeff added.

Morgan rolled his eyes and marched inside, leaving Lester looking on in disbelief. "Does this woman have everyone under her spell?" he muttered as Jeff quickly got up and pressed his ear to the door.

"What are they saying?" he whispered after a few minutes.

Jeff opened his mouth to answer, but he instantly fell to the floor when the break room door flew open and Big Mike entered.

"Barnes, what in the hell are you doing on the floor? You know what? Never mind. I don't wanna know. Just get back to work; both of you."

Lester stood up. "You got it." As he started to pass by Big Mike, however, he couldn't resist. "Oh, by the way; Morgan is hanging out in the women's bathroom. Again."

As Lester passed and heard Big Mike yell Morgan's name, he chuckled. At least he would get the last laugh this time. Not to mention it took his mind off his genuine concern for Gloria's well-being.


"Gloria? Please don't hurt me," Morgan called out as he passed by the stalls, eyes closed.

Gloria hiccupped before she exited the last stall. She couldn't believe Morgan had followed her in the bathroom to check on her. But she knew he heard the whole thing. "What are you doing in here?" she sniffed.

"I had to see if you were alright," he replied. "I'm really sorry about Emmett. He's a total douchebag."

Gloria wiped her eyes with a wad of toilet paper. "Yeah. He is. Follow me; there's a secret door in the third stall that leads out of here. You don't need to get into trouble."

As the two of them entered the third stall and she pushed open a narrow door in the wall by the toilet, she felt her face get hot with embarrassment all over again. Emmett must have done extensive research on her to find out about her being rescued from the fire as a teen and the effect it had on her both then and now. How the firemen and paramedics couldn't get her to stop screaming long after it was over or how she even stopped breathing a few times from severe panic attacks. At least Emmett would never know about the nightmares she was having presently.

Finally, the two of them reached the long hallway at the back of the store and sat down on the tile floor. Gloria found it almost comforting as she revealed to Morgan the reason behind her fear and even the secret that the good samaritan was Chuck Bartowski, himself. "So, apparently Emmett now knows my intense fear of fire and why it haunts me."

"Wow; I mean...wow. I'm so sorry you went through that but I'm glad Chuck was there. I always knew my best pal was a hero."

Gloria smiled. "Yeah. And that incident sparked our friendship. He introduced me to his family and took me under his wing since at the time, I didn't know any of my real family. Because of Chuck and his fantastic computer skills, he helped me locate my mom. Well, Jeff's mom, too. I can definitely see Mom in Jeff. They are some kooky characters; but then again, so am I on occasion."

"Indeed they are. So I've noticed you and Jeff have gotten pretty close lately. Can't imagine that's going over too well with Lester."

"No. He pretty much thinks I'm scum. I haven't exactly been nice to him, either but he stole something valuable from me. That's hard to get past. And all because he has some ridiculous theory that I am trying to come between him and Jeff. I have absolutely no intention of doing that; never did. I'm not that cruel."

Morgan stood up and helped her up, as well. "I know that and Jeff knows that. But have you told that to Lester?"

Gloria scratched her head and looked at Morgan, realizing he had a very valid point. She had said it aloud, but not to Lester's face. "No, I haven't. But that's going to change. I need to let Lester know that I'm not a monster. And tonight at Skip's birthday party seems like the perfect time."

Morgan nodded. "Good. You're a good person, Gloria. Jeff is lucky to have you as a half-sister."

Gloria smiled, tears welling up in her eyes. "Thank you. You are a great guy, too. I feel terrible that I wasn't nicer to you in school. I actually was jealous of you. You and Chuck were best friends. You were always part of the family and I really wanted to be, too."

"You were. We were all just a little afraid of you," Morgan chuckled slightly.

Gloria threw her head back and laughed. She was really thankful that Morgan came to her rescue. He really wasn't such a bad guy, after all. Now she just needed to repair the damage between her and Lester before he tried to shove her out of the picture for good. And as much as she felt bad for Lester, she didn't take well to shoving of any kind. And Emmett Millbarge would learn that very soon. Very soon indeed.