And… the end.

Happy New Year. :)

And So It Goes

Vaughn let out a deep sigh, rolling his shoulders as he waited for the rickety, old elevator. He could hear the ancient gears squeaking as it brought someone from the one of the upper floors down to the second. It paused for a minute before churning to come answer his arrow key.

"Finally," he breathed as the familiar ding! rang and the doors opened.

"Late again?" Inside was old man Terry, leaning against his mop and bucket.

Vaughn boarded next to him, struggling to hold onto his coffee cup and press the button for floor three. "Are you surprised or something?"

Terry scoffed, itching his nose. "Nah… just commenting on the routine, boy."

"Routine…" Vaughn wondered aloud as the elevator took them up. He gave the bucket a wary glance. "You're not cleaning, are you?"

"What makes you think that?" He barked defensively, appalled at the idea.

Vaughn shook his head with a smile. "No reason."

Floor three opened up to bright, fluorescent lights and clacking keyboards. Allen was holding Rod's mouse out of his reach high above him, and Alice and Dan were bickering over his work ethic. Louis was balancing a heavy stack of invoices on his way to his office, kicking open the door with his foot. Luke and Tina were running around in circles with a cheesecake. Molly was juggling tasks as she simultaneously texted Denny and redirected a call. She spotted him looking at her and smiled.

Vaughn stepped out, taking it all in. Nothing had changed. Not really.

"Hey."

He turned just in time to catch a Coca-Cola can soaring for his face. Terry tipped his cap to him, pressing the button to go down and hide from Gill. Vaughn nodded back, raising the free soda in thanks before the janitor disappeared behind the closing doors.

"Morning!" Molly saluted as Vaughn dodged Tina holding the cheesecake over her head as Luke chased after her shouting intelligible nonsense.

"Morning…" Vaughn watched as she hung up the phone. He pointedly looked at the source team hurtling over desks. "Anything I should know about?"

"Just the usual," she shrugged with a good-humored eye roll.

"Right," he nodded. He ruffled her hair in passing, getting a whine of annoyance out of her as he went to his desk and she fixed her hairdo.

Gill glared as Vaughn sat and unpacked his things, lazily going about starting his work day. He angrily tapped the papers together on his desk, giving Vaughn the stink eye the entire time. "Just because you think you're so special doesn't mean you can waltz in whenever you please."

"Yeah, yeah…" Vaughn grumbled, resting his chin in his palm as he rolling his mouse around the loading screen.

"Twelve minutes late!" Gill reported with authority and rising pitch in his voice. "Twelve minutes! And are you the one who put the tack on my chair? That is so juvenile!"

"Funny how you think I'm the only one here who finds you an easy target," Vaughn said, sending a proud nod to Molly. She gave him a thumbs up without looking, concentrating on playing a game on her phone with her free hand.

"Hm, hm, hm," Allen hummed behind him. At this point, Vaughn knew better than to turn around and acknowledge him. "A lot on your mind, Vaughn? Lady trouble?"

"You wish," he snorted, typing in his password.

"Mr. Gill!" Rod cried, still hopping up and down beside Allen, unable to match his height. "Tell Allen to give me my mouse back!"

"Mr. Allen, control yourself," Gill ordered listlessly, still peeved at Vaughn.

"It's an involuntary reflex," Allen explained, his arm straight up in the air out of the way of Rod's waving arms. "It's all too true! I'm a kleptomaniac! I need to be punished!"

"What?" Vaughn actually turned at that one, too baffled to know where he was going with this.

"You heard me~" Allen waved his hand in a flirty way. He tossed Rod's mouse at last, and the ginger scrambled after to retrieve it like a game of fetch.

"What are you two doing?" Gill snapped from across the way.

"Oh, we were talking about how your mother is a total knock out," Allen winked, hoping to get him riled.

"Get back to work!" Gill clenched his fists but made no move to use them. Sticking his nose in the air, he looked to his computer to do his best at playing the ignoring game.

Hamilton's office door burst open with streams of All About That Bass trailing out. Hands placed proudly on his hips, the Regional Manager stood before his employees with a grin. "Morning, everyone! We're going to start our day in the conference room! Meeting time! Hut, hut! March!"

"Yeah, yeah, the hot line – we've got it," Louis grumbled, trudging out of his office to get in line.

Alice happily skipped to the front, eager to lead the pack of hotness for the last time. As the haphazard, arguing group entered, everyone found their usual seats beside one anther crammed in the little space.

Pink curls bouncing as usual, Popuri stood brightly before them at the front of the room, the emergency hatchet giving her confidence. Her projector wasn't with her today, but she had her flyers at the ready. "Hello, everyone! Please quiet down, so we can begin today's topic!"

"Popuri!" Hamilton suddenly realized, ogling her shirt front. "Of course! Why hadn't I thought of it before? Why don't you come join us down here? Care to be an editor?"

She smiled, holding up the glimmering blade. "Don't think I won't sever your testicles!"

"It was worth a shot…" he weakly laughed, gingerly sitting at a safe distance from the girl.

"How many of these do we have to go through?" Molly whispered to Vaughn.

"Not sure… Maybe until we're not dysfunctional anymore?" He guessed, making her snicker.

"Guess we're in it for the long haul then," she sighed, shaking her brunette head. "Poor Popuri."

Right on cue, Popuri spritely began to pace back and forth. "Today, I'm here to talk to you about office improvement."

"Oh my God, does this mean we're getting a hot tub?!" Luke stood in delight, tossing the cheesecake and having it land squarely on Tina's head.

"No! No…" Popuri warned, pointing her axe around to regain control. She took a deep breath and pushed back her headband in relief. "This is about making the office a happier, more productive place."

"We could put it where Basil's box used to be…" Dan speculated with a thoughtful hand to his chin, his pillow sitting in his lap.

"No hot tubs!" Popuri yelled.

"Ugh, I'm so glad this is my last day," Alice filed her nails, slouched in her seat next to Gill. "If I was sticking around, this seminar would actually be useful. I have a million ideas on how to improve the office!"

"Alice, you're going to be here visiting almost every day," Gill calmly pointed out, though he was wary of her short fuse. "The senator's office is just down the block—"

Alice lovingly tapped his cheek. "Of course! We're going to have lunch together all of the time! But I'm just saying, darling, that this place is falling apart. It could have used my expertise."

"Expertise?" Allen challenged, a rising grin growing. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Alice, honey, your only skill is matching your shoes with your tops."

"B-but what ideas do you have? I think it's worth discussing…" Louis piped up, scooting up further in this chair. He was pretty tired of getting stepped on, so it was hard to blame his enthusiasm.

"Well…" Alice hummed, all eyes on her. She blew at her cuticles. "I should have gotten a promotion long ago."

"And what would that fix?" Dan asked. "I vote for a designated resting period. Probably after lunch. Everyone could relax and unwind, stimulating our brains for better work in the afternoon!"

"Dan, every day for you is nap time," Gill crossed his arms. He adjusted his bolo. "I personally believe the Assistant Regional Manager should get his own office."

"Pfft! Of course you would!" Allen threw his hands in the air.

"I think we should have more hand sanitizer!" Louis volunteered his ideas.

"This is good? I think? I think this is good?" Popuri watched as the arguments became more heated. But they were all on the topic of office improvement… right? Her hatchet was conflicted.

"There should be a board to review vacation days!" Tina waved her hand, getting several nods of approval despite the slight disgust of her being covered in lukewarm cheesecake she didn't seem to be bothered about.

"I could tell you fools what to do at a safe distance, so you can't screw things up…" Gill continued to argue.

"What about the bathroom key?" Luke asked. "That's bogus! We should be able to piss whenever we want!"

"It's really dirty in here is all… Germ-X would be nice…" Louis fiddled with his glasses frames.

"Can we get a decent coffee machine?" Rod asked.

"Ooo! Ooo! A dance hour!" Hamilton bounced in his seat, building off of Dan's nap idea. "Endless, motivational music!"

"Bathroom key? What bathroom key?"

"Who are you kidding, Gill?"

"Yeah, no decaf!"

"Ooo, a karaoke machine!"

"I kid not!"

"Seriously, what bathroom key?"

"You're hopeless! You're all hopeless!"

"Office?! If anyone deserves an office, it's me!"

"Wait…! Wait!" Popuri began to move about the room, desperately trying to regain order.

Chairs were being thrown and a wrestling tournament began to determine the Alpha. Hamilton was at the center, rolling up his sleeves. "Alright, you get one round. Whoever's still standing gets their idea sent to HQ!"

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" Popuri couldn't intervene at this point. It was far too late.

"Come at me, old man!" Gill challenged, all too prepared to fight his father.

"This is the greatest day of my life," Allen mused from the sidelines, not very eager to get a turn in the ring and muss up his expensive outfit. He was determined to send Rod in swinging for him if need be.

"Okay, ready?" Louis held his hand between the various fighters. He waved down. "Go!"

"No! Don't go!" Popuri leapt in. She screamed as she was pulled into the dust cloud.

The floor shook and heads looked up and down curiously throughout the building at the ruckus coming from floor three. Dry wall dust rained down into the coffee mug of a man on floor two, and the entire desk of a woman on floor four rocked, forcing her to hold down her things like there was an earthquake.

Back on the Persuasive Papers floor, Hamilton had his estranged son in a headlock, screaming 'who's your daddy?' Alice was shouting to her fiancé in support, and Luke was telling him how he should be using an uppercut. As Rod was too short to see the squabble, he was sitting high on his good friend Allen's shoulders. Louis was playing referee, and Popuri was fruitlessly trying to tear the father and son apart with threats of using her hatchet on them. Tina was taking pictures of the whole event at every angle.

Vaughn watched the whole ordeal with a sense of detachment, seeing all of these people acting like animals and yet feeling it was completely normal. He supposed that's what happened with enough exposure to crazy.

He turned in surprise as Molly took his hand, smiling from the seat beside him as she stared up into his eyes with her dark brown ones. She tightened her grip as he often did, giving him reassurance. Vaughn smiled back, losing touch with the chaos around them.

Well… just another day at the office.