{A/N: This takes place from the eyes of Rufus Shinra and Olivia Birch(OC) during and after the events of FF7. Some liberties will be taken and some influence from the Remake may be involved but I want to base this solely on FF7. Okay cool, context done. Enjoy, you guys!}

The hum of the lights coming to life echoed the buzz of frantic stress in her brain. The silence of the fluorescently doused conference room was invaded with the sounds of hurried rustling. There was so much to be done and little time, as this particular dawn had provided a devastating nitch in the usual routine.

In her years of working for the great Shinra Electric Company, she had never had as much to keep up with as she had in the past eight months of being an executive assistant. While the paycheck was more than perfect incentive, having attention to detail displayed on her resume had proved to be her undoing. Being perfectly agreeable had become her sentence. Many people would yearn to be in her position, and sure the perks were amazing, but those people did not have to rush to keep the morning from falling into disarray. This morning she had not forgotten any paperwork, follow-up emails, nor summons. If only it had been that simple.

No. She had found the box of honey jasmine tea that she kept by her side empty. It was a horrifying sight. Any other person would be reasonable and settle for something different, but not her boss. Not the president's son. Rufus Shinra was anything but forgiving and he always had honey jasmine tea with his breakfast before conferences. And for eight months, Olivia had delivered, surpassing all of his previous helpers by a few months, making her his longest employed assistant. It was a wonder that the Turks had lasted as long as they had, but then again they didn't have menial tasks like picking up laundry and getting a particular kind of tea.

Olivia, finding the tea empty, had a short lived mental breakdown, followed by the grim acceptance that she was no doubt fired, followed by frantic calls to any store in Junon that was open at 5:07 in the morning. Finally, she had gotten her call to go through after the umpteenth store and urged that they search for the exact tea she needed. When she met the store owner on the way to the Junon Shinra headquarters, she gave him a hearty tip and hurried with the tea in hand, her relief not daring to last more than a few seconds. It was a shame, she thought, such an easy way to get fired. It could all be over and she could move on to a pristine job. Surely being the assistant of a member of the Shinra family counted for something, and for as long as she had? With no scandals or shortcomings with the president's son? Tseng could write a mean letter of recommendation.

Yes, Olivia should have said fuck the tea.

She didn't and it was no secret why, at least for the people around her. A professional like her in her position had zero right to have any kind of emotions, any attachment involved in her position. Yet, it was not the paycheck that had her scurrying to set the tea set in order at the head of the conference table. The scent of honey jasmine tea drifted up to her, the scent of security and accomplishment that she half lamented. Taking a deep breath, she straightened herself up and took a glance at the time.

5:58

Any second, she thought, as she began to pull her purse out of the way and sticking her hand into the deep, designer leather bag to pull out the meeting agenda clipped to a clipboard and her notebook. She had to write down every point from the meeting for Rufus so that he didn't forget. If anything was omitted, it was her job. She took a moment to survey the agenda pages and make a few mental notes. The sound of the door opening quietly brought her attention away from the itemized list.

"Good morning, Vice President. I have your water simmering now." She greeted, looking at him briefly before she looked back down at the typo she found on the agenda. He shut the door behind him and gave her a glance, his icy eyes looked over the setup she had bothered over.

"So it's not done yet? Were you late?" He asked, making his way over to her. His eyes looked her up and down, casually suspicious yet she knew how he was. He'd never say a thing until he was condemning someone. He'd let them lie and mess up until they couldn't pull themselves out of the hole they dug for themselves. His silence always had a way of inviting and coaxing the ugly truth out of people.

"Yes sir, I had complications this morning." She admitted, "Everything you need for the conference is here." She provided the clipboard as a pro, letting him know that her tardiness wouldn't affect anything but the tea. There was no sense in lying.

He gave a disinterested hum and took a set at the table's head, the large red cushioned chair was meant only for him. His white suit jacket was stark against the burgundy, yet so very him. He preferred light colors in his wardrobe, making it a nightmare for any stain treatment. Olivia knew. She had been through that headache. Silently, he reached for the kettle and poured his preferred amount of water over the tea, clamped into a metal diffuser. The warm amber color swirled about the porcelain. Rufus looked up to find his assistant still standing in her place and waved his hand at her.

"You may be seated." The blonde granted and she gladly took her seat beside him, pulling her notebook towards her. She looked up to her boss, who sluggishly stirred sugar into his tea. He was frowning to himself and looked a little extra out of it this morning. Rufus was normally sharp as a tack, but perhaps he suffered from lack of sleep today? It wasn't uncommon for him to keep odd sleeping hours, but Olivia knew he was always more early than he was late. The morning conference started at 6:15 this morning, yet Rufus had not kept his normal routine of being thirty minutes early. She was extremely grateful, but it did strike her as odd.

"Yesterday I tried a new tea imported from Wutai. It was a sweet tangerine and ginger tea. I can't help but want that this morning." Rufus mused and Olivia felt her face pale. "I would like to start having it often. I'm tired of this jasmine tea. Find it for me today, Miss Birch." He ordered with a sigh.

After all that trouble. After everything she had done this morning and all the stress. Any normal employee would have gotten pissed, argued, maybe even left. Yet, she nodded agreeably as if what he asked of her was absolutely in her job description.

"Of course, sir." She began, "Would you like for me to replace your usual tea with that from now on?" Her question was posed as generous but she needed to know what trouble she was delving into. He looked up to think about it.

"My mood will change. Have them both prepared and I'll choose each morning." His answer was exactly what she didn't want to hear.

"Yes sir." Was all she managed as she tried to keep her voice from straining. Understandably, she was pissed but she knew she would get over it.

"I trust you won't mess it up. You haven't so far." Rufus acknowledged. Olivia perked up. He never compliments her and that was the closest thing to it. He never compliments anyone and she wasn't being admonished for her tardiness. That in its simplicity spoke so much. It was almost a compliment, right? Maybe it was a stretch, but it still felt nice anyway.

"I intend to make sure you're taken care of." She responded, trying to hide the beginnings of a smile. The blonde looked up at the clock, his neck displayed. She knew she shouldn't look but, in plain sight, as if to be a red beacon, a love bite bruised his skin.

"I-uh… um, sir?" She began, leaning forward in her seat, ready to push her chair back.

"Yes?" He asked as his eyes snapped to her. She pointed to her neck in the same place the love bite was on his.

"You have a…mark on you." She managed out and he instinctive reached up to let his fingertips touch it.

"So I do." He resorted, dropping his hand from it and back to the teacup. She stared back and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, sir, but that's not appropriate." She started and her mind worked to find a solution. Knowing what to do, she ignored the look he gave her as she dug through her purse to find her concealer. She was glad she was in a rush this morning and had left it in her purse. "Here, I'll fix it." She announced, pushing her chair back.

"No, that's not necessary." The blonde objected but Olivia shook her head, already uncapping the concealer.

"It very much is necessary. You don't need another love scandal. Last time that woman claimed all kinds of terrible things about you and the last thing you need is trouble right now." She insisted, "Now, please, tilt your head and I'll cover it up."

"You're worrying a lot." He observed, not taking any action to listen to her orders, and instead held his teacup up as if it was the stone wall between him and the concealer. Olivia took a deep breath.

"I understand that you have the best people at your call anytime you need to make sure that this doesn't affect you, however, when Tseng left to go to Midgar on assignment, he made me promise to look after you." Her explanation fell on deaf ears, so she continued.

"Rufus, I'm not being a worry-wart, I'm doing my job." She said, almost wondering if she had made a mistake. She had very rarely used his first name and would be in trouble or seen as suspicious if she did in front of anyone else. She still wasn't sure she could get away with it yet. As if to confirm her boldness was the right choice, he lowered his defense and set his cup down.

"Do what you will." He permitted and propped his head on his hand, his head tilted for her.

She leaned over him, quickly globbing a dot of the concealer on the mauvish hue of the hickey. Setting the tube to the side, she realized she had nothing to blend out the cream with besides her fingers. Trying not to hesitate, she smoothed the color over his warm skin, the coverage quickly taking care of the scandal in waiting. She was so focused on making sure the mark was covered, she hardly realized that his icy blues were watching her.

"I think you just want to cover that up so you don't have to look at it." He accused, his voice vibrated under her touch.

"This is nothing like that." She lied, hoping that her own concealer job for the morning hid her flushed face. "Tseng would do the same thing if he was here. This is nothing." She lied again. In honesty, she had never seen Tseng cover up Rufus's leftover love bites, but she could imagine that he would if he needed to.

With the job done, she pulled away and Rufus sat up straight, going back to his tea as if nothing had happened. Olivia hadn't thought much about her actions until he had said something, but now she couldn't get it off her mind. She put the makeup away, took her seat, and rustled through the meeting agenda to look busy. She wasn't absorbing anything she was reading, instead, rethinking her boldness and what he had said to her.

It wasn't a secret that her paycheck hardly meant anything. It wasn't a surprise that she would go through all the hoops to make sure every detail was taken into consideration. It wasn't for honor or recognition.

No, it was known to her and anyone who paid attention that tiny, fleeting and meaningless moments like that kept her as the vice president's executive assistant.