The head office of Daniels Corporation Australia.
A man in a crisp dark suit sits on the edge of his desk, nervously mouthing the contents of the sheet of paper he holds in his hand. It appears to be written in a foreign language, but a closer inspection would identify that the words are spelled phonetically.
A woman wearing the latest in wide-shouldered power-suits looks over to him, reassuringly she hopes. "You only have to say a few sentences you know, not recite the constitution."
He sighs in response. "Can't you do this, Gail? You made the initial approach, sorted out the particulars, you know this guy inside and out. Besides which I think he likes you."
Gail blinks. "Don't be silly. He's married."
"I'm a man, I know that look."
A slight smile dances on her face. "Used it a lot have you?"
"Well... not lately." He clears his throat and stares at the paper again.
Gails puts down the file she's working on and gets out of her seat, walking over to him. She lowers the hand clutching the phrase sheet and neatly plucks it from his grasp. "You've been going over this all week, you know it already. You'll be fine. Don't you trust me?"
"You know I do, but-"
"I'll test you," she says, looking at the sheet herself. "How do you greet him?"
"Konichiwa Udugawa san," he responds automatically.
"See?" Gail smiles.
"C'mon Gail, that's the easy part. Even Max would get that right."
Gail rolls her eyes. "Alright. Offer him a seat."
He thinks for a second, then rattles off a series of words, finishing by looking at his number two hopefully.
Gail frowns. "You've just told him his wife has a face like a dead mackarel."
His eyes shoot wide. "What?" He grabs the sheet back and scans it quickly, his expression growing more confused as he reads. Isn't this what he just said? He goes over it under his breath, then looks up.
Gail is rather pathetically trying to prevent a smile from splitting her face.
His eyes narrow. "Gail!"
Gail loses it, letting loose a short giggle before she catches it and slams it back shut underneath professional decorum. Mostly. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. You said it perfectly, Des. You and Daphne will floor Udugawa tonight, I'm sure of it. And that contract will be as good as signed."
Des breathes out. "I hope you're right. This is worth... how much is this worth again?"
"Ten million dollars," Gail answers quietly.
"Ten million dollars," Des repeats with a pained expression. "If I mess this up, Rosemary's going to castrate me."
"I've been working with you for six months, Des. I know you're more than capable of this. Do you think Rosemary would have trusted the company to you if you weren't?"
"Gail, if Pacific hadn't scaled back, you wouldn't have seen me in this job for quids. This isn't exactly chump change we're chasing you know."
Gail doesn't get it. "You were responsible for large amounts of money at the bank. What's the difference here?"
"We were a local branch, I never handled more than six figures, at the most. I can deal with six figures, this is eight. We're talking millions here. Not thousands, or hundreds of thousands. Millions!"
"So the number has an extra zero or two in it. Look, if it bothers you that much, just don't think about it. Blank it out. We're all going to dinner with a very nice Japanese couple. No expectations, no pressure, just dinner."
Des nods nervously. "Yeah, just dinner. Just dinner... and ten million dollars."
"Des!"
"I'm sorry. It's just dinner." Des closes his eyes and controls his breathing. "It's just dinner," he repeats. He opens his eyes. "Did you find a date?" he asks suddenly. "Please tell me you found a date!"
Gail momentarily hesitates, but then nods, lowering her head a little. "Um... Paul is taking me."
Des' demeanor changes. "Ah, Paul. This would be Paul Robinson right? Paul 'I wouldn't even date him if he won the lottery' Robinson? My next door neighbour, Paul?"
"Yesss!" Gail hisses.
"What happened?" It's Des' turn to smile, his quiet panic about the upcoming deal put to the back of his mind for the moment. "Surely that little black book, well I say little, it's about as thick as my appointment diary; surely that didn't fail you?"
There's a pause. Des crosses his arms. Gail turns and starts to walk back to her desk. Des follows her.
"Alright!" She turns around. "Married, joined the navy, emigrated to Hawaii, in jail for jaywalking, married, gay," she hurries. "Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
"Did you just not notice?" Des asks, referring to the last one.
"He wasn't gay," Gail states emphatically.
"Not then anyway," Des grins. "Are you sure one or two of those aren't just, y'know, excuses?"
"Gee, let me think."
"I'm sorry. Really," he replies more seriously. "So Paul ended up your knight in shining armour after all?"
Gail is loathe to describe it like that, but Paul did help her out of a hole. "Well it was either Paul... or Jeremy."
"But you're not that desperate," Des finishes for her.
"I came within one number of calling him," she admits, somewhat embarassed now, but refusing to show it.
"Really?" Des asks skeptically.
She looks at him and shrugs. "Hey, if you mess this up, I want to still be here to take over when Rosemary castrates you."
Des' face falls. "Thank you!"
Gail smiles at him before returning to her work. "You're welcome!"
This story was originally posted to the Neighboursfans .com forum on 18th April 2006.