Notes: Disclaimer is with the first chapter. I have no idea where this chapter came from. This wasn't what I had been planning on writing at all, but the story just seemed to write itself. More notes are located at the end. Thanks for all the reviews and please give me some more. Ok, so on with this unplanned chapter…
1:15PM, Monday, July 17, 2002, Blush Magazine Headquarters
Dennis Finch and Maya Gallo walked into the Blush offices talking animatedly. "I tell you Maya. You have to watch Sponge Bob Square Pants. It's a totally excellent cartoon…though not quite as good as Dexter's Laboratory."
Maya shook her head, "They're ok, but I'm partial to The Power Puff Girls. It's about time they invented a female superhero. They haven't really had any since Wonder Woman or BatGirl." Speaking in a conspiratorial tone, Maya said, "You know I always hated that cartoon The Smurfs. Talk about a cartoon that was written by a male. There were lots of male smurfs and ONE female smurf. What was she supposed to be…the town whore? It also teaches kids to ostracize smart people. Remember how they are always kicking that Brainy Smurf guy on his head all the time?"
"Well to tell you the truth Maya. I never really watched The Smurfs. Watching little blue people run around always saying smurf this and smurf that just wasn't my thing." Finch stopped walking for a second and scratched his head. "Exactly how did we get started on this conversation?"
Maya glanced at him and said, "We were discussing what to do when we watch Mikey on Wednesday. You suggested taking him to see the movie Hey Arnold." Shrugging her shoulders, Maya continued, "Somehow talking about that cartoon led to us discussing every cartoon in existence."
Finch started bouncing up and down excitedly, "Oh yeah, well so can we take him to see Hey Arnold? I've been wanting to see it for a while now." Giving Maya a puppy dog look that he knew she couldn't resist, he pleaded, "Please with a cherry on top…and some yummy whipped cream."
Maya smiled, "Hmm…whipped cream. I'm sold." Suddenly, a scenario involving her, Finch, and some whipped cream popped into her head. Maya instantly blushed a bright red.
Finch looked at her in concern and asked, "Are you ok?" Maya mumbled something about coffee and quickly took off towards the coffee pot. Finch shook his head in bewilderment. *What in the heck was that? Was it something I said? Was it the whipped cream comment? What's so embarrassing about that?* Finch caught Maya's flustered gaze from across the room and she gave him a watery smile. Finch suddenly had a vision of Maya wearing nothing but whipped cream. He smiled at the thought. His eyes suddenly widened as he considered that Maya was having inappropriate thoughts about whipped cream too. *Nah, this is Maya…straight-laced Maya. Though she's not anywhere near as uptight as she acts at the office. I'll have to investigate this further.*
Finch made his way over to the coffee pot and started rooting around in the drawer. He pulled out a packet of hot chocolate. Glancing at Maya through the corner of his eyes, Finch asked, "Maya, do you know if we have any whipped cream. Hot chocolate is so much better with whipped cream spread on top." Maya flushed again at the mention of whipped cream and Finch knew that he had been right. Smiling evilly, he said, "Yeah, whipped cream it does a body good…especially when you're licking it off someone else's body." Maya choked on her coffee and practically sprinted towards her office. Finch yelled after her with a naughty grin, "Was it something I said?"
Maya set her coffee mug down on her desk and started fanning herself. The thought of Finch and that whipped cream had her all hot and bothered. Laying her head on her desk, Maya thought, *But this is Finch. Dennis Finch. Yeah, only the sexiest man alive.* Maya repeatedly thumped her head on her desk trying to bring her thoughts under control.
There was a knock on her door and Finch suddenly stuck his head in. Finch walked into her office and closed the door behind him. Handing her a chocolate chip cookie, he said, "I come in peace." Maya glanced up at him and Dennis looked down sheepishly. He quickly took a sip of his hot chocolate before saying, "I didn't mean to embarrass you…well, ok so I did. But now I'm feeling all bad so just take the damned cookie."
Maya smiled slightly and rose from her desk. Walking towards Dennis, she couldn't help but giggle when she saw the whipped cream that was smeared on his upper lip like a moustache. Maya grabbed the cookie with one hand, and with the other hand, she started to reach towards Finch to wipe the whipped cream off his lip. Finch looked at her with a questioning expression. She smiled and said, "Umm…you have some whipped cream on your lip from the hot chocolate." Suddenly, Maya's eyes glinted mischievously and her smile became devilish. Before she could stop herself, Maya leaned forward and licked the sweet substance from Dennis' lip.
Finch's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. He was so taken by surprise that his body stiffened and the mug of hot chocolate slipped from his suddenly nerveless fingers and crashed to the ground. Maya pulled back from him and blushed a deep red as she thought, *Oh god, what in the hell am I doing?*
Even in his stunned state, Dennis could tell that Maya was starting to shut down…to cut herself off from him. Finch made an instantaneous decision. He grabbed Maya by her upper arms and pulled her back to him. He covered her lips with his and gave her a gentle kiss. Maya nearly pulled away but then seemed to give into the power of the kiss. Maya's lips opened under his and they deepened the kiss tasting each other. A continuous litany ran through Finch's head, *Oh god, I'm kissing Maya. I'm kissing Maya. I'm kissing Maya.* Finch was suddenly jerked back to reality as he felt other parts of his body begin to react to the kiss. *Work…work. We're at work. I'd be a dead man if Jack walked through that door. He'd kill me…so would Elliott.* Finch slowly pulled back from the kiss. Breathing hard, he raised his hand and let his fingertips softly trace Maya's lips.
Maya felt Dennis' fingers on her lips as well as his warm breath caressing her face. Dazedly, she blinked her eyes tying to get her emotions under control. Maya's eyes suddenly opened wide in panic as she heard her office door start to open. She jerked back from Finch and whirled to face the door.
Elliott stepped into the office and asked, "Is everything ok in here Maya? I heard some kind of a crash?"
Finch gathered his wits about him and pointed at the floor, "Uh…I just kinda dropped my mug. That was the crash you heard."
Elliott looked at the shattered mug on the floor and thought to himself, *Ah, I can get rid of Dennis for a few minutes so Maya and I can continue our earlier conversation.* Looking at Finch, Elliott asked with a slight smirk, "Well Dennis, shouldn't you be retrieving the cleaning supplies so you can clean up your little mess?"
Glancing at Maya, Finch said, "Yeah, I'll be back in a couple of minutes, ok?"
Maya nodded as she watched Finch exit her office. Turning back to Elliott, she cleared her throat and asked, "Is there something else you wanted?"
Elliott looked at Maya with concern and asked, "Are you sure you're ok? You look awfully flushed."
Maya gave a dreamy smile and answered, "Oh yeah, I'm just fine." Maya giggled to herself as she thought, *Except for the fact that my legs still feel like rubber. Oh man, that was some kiss.* Focusing her attention on Elliott once again, she noticed that he was still gazing at her as though he had something else to say. "Is there anything else Elliott? I do have work to do."
Elliott gave Maya a small smile and bit his lip. He slowly sidled up to her and ran his finger down her cheek. Maya jerked her head back from Elliott's hand and glared at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Taking a deep breath, Elliott said, "I know you didn't take me seriously earlier, but Maya, I really do want to get back together with you. I'm ready to commit now. I want to be with you. I want to commit to you."
Maya shook her head in dismay. She let out an aggravated sigh before she replied, "Elliott, I already went over this with you. I don't want a relationship with you…at least, not a romantic one. I'm sorry Elliott, but I just don't love you like that anymore. I've changed."
Elliott looked desperate as he pleaded, "But you could learn to love me again, right?"
Maya sadly gazed at Elliott as she responded, "It's not going to happen Elliott. Our love is a part of my past but not a part of my future." Maya silently added, *How can I fall in love with you again when I'm already in love with someone else.* Maya's eyes widened as the truth suddenly became clear to her. *Oh my god, I am in love with Dennis Finch! I'm head over heels in love with Dennis Finch! When did that happen?*
"How do you know that you can't love me again if you won't even try?" Elliott's despairing voice broke Maya from her thoughts.
"You know Elliott. A friend of mine told me that I was the one you wanted to be with once you got over you're fear of commitment…that you expected me to be around, to be available when you were finally ready to finally settle down. It's like you expected me to put my life on hold for you. I guess you could say that I was your go-to girl. And you know what? He…I mean, um this friend was right. The problem, Elliott, is that I'm no one's go-to girl. You had your chance and it's long passed."
Elliott's eyes narrowed as he pondered, "He? This friend is a guy?" Elliott's eyes suddenly widened as he said, "You mean Dennis…that little pissant. I can't believe your taking advice from someone who calls himself the Finchinator."
Maya shook her head and said, "It was good advice Elliott, and he was completely right. Now if you would please leave. I don't want any more reminders of a love that is long passed."
"I'll give you a reminder of how good we were together." He suddenly grabbed Maya by the shoulders and smashed his mouth down over hers.
Finch was approaching the slightly opened door when he heard the unmistakable sound of a hand striking human flesh. The door was suddenly thrown open as Maya practically bowled Finch over. Dennis grabbed Maya's hand and asked, "What's wrong Maya? What happened?" Maya glanced up at him and Finch saw the tears streaming down her face. She jerked out of his grasp and ran out of the office. Finch looked through Maya's office door and saw Elliott standing there. He had a noticeable red mark on his face in the shape of hand. Finch strode into her office and growled, "What in the hell did you do, you bastard?! What did you do to Maya?"
Elliott just stood there with a look of shame gracing his features. Dennis walked over to him and shoved the cleaning supplies into his hands. "You'd better be glad that I'm more concerned about finding Maya right now because otherwise…" Elliott dropped his eyes and looked at the floor. "Clean up the damn floor, Elliott. And if I find out that you've hurt Maya, you're going to live to regret it." With that, Dennis turned and ran in the direction he had seen Maya disappear moments earlier. Elliott looked miserably at the cleaning supplies in his hand. With a shaky sigh, he knelt down and started cleaning the broken glass and spilt liquid off the floor.
Notes: First, this chapter turned out nothing like I thought it would. Heck, it's not even close. I started out with one idea, but then the story just kind of wrote itself, and none of the stuff I was going to touch on was even in this chapter. I hadn't planned on the kiss happening for another few chapters or the admission from Maya that she loved Finch. I hadn't planned on the Elliott confrontation. I didn't plan to write any of this stuff so I really don't know where it came from. I think some spirit possessed me or something. But I hope you enjoyed it. And yes, I know Elliott is slightly out-of-character in this piece, but then again we've never seen how he would react if he wanted Maya and she didn't want him. I just kinda have a hunch that Elliott can be a very jealous and maybe even controlling guy so I'm portraying him here as a slightly obsessed ex…ok maybe more than slightly obsessive. Remember to give reviews. Adios until the next chapter.