Hey ya'll! 6 reviews! Oh My GOD! Do you know how great you are? Well, you
guys rock! Thank you so much for your reviews! I am definitely going to
keep this going so keep on reading okay! Thanks so much, and those of you
who are in love with Vaughn, I've got a few alias fics up too, so please
come and check them out!!!
Lataz, Total Vaughn Lover
Chapter One
"Good morning, Josie!" Anita greeted her good friend and fellow reporter when she arrived through the double-doors at the entrance that morning, looking fairly rustled that morning. Once again, Anita was doing her typical thing of being late, hence the reason she'd been fired over five times.
She was just lucky Gus was her boyfriend.
"Good morning Anita," Josie hollered back, grinning from ear to ear, trying not to laugh at Anita's appearance. She herself was dressed in a pair of nice black slacks and matching suit jacket, a purple camisole peeked out from underneath showing enough of her clevage to indicate today was a special day.
Yes professionally she was dressed but there was something definitely differently about her.
And Anita couldn't quite put her finger on just what that was.
"There's something going on with you today," she accused, pointedly as she fell into step right beside her.
"Really? You think so?" Josie giggled as she made her way to her cubicle. She waved at Merck, the young man sitting near her telling whoever on the phone that he should write down what he was saying and he waved back, looking astounded and it wasn't because of the lacey camisole.
"Did you just wave at your assistant?" Anita demanded after a second passed, her hair characteristically flying out of place.
"Yes," Josie replied pleasantly, not shook up as Anita was.
"Yup, there is something definitely up with you," Anita diagnosed, narrowing her dark eyes at her companion. "The Josie Geller I know wouldn't have waved at her assistant, not unless he didn't hear you the first time when you asked him for your notes," the brunette went onto declare, leaning against Josie's desk as the owner of the desk settled in for the day.
"Maybe there is something about me that has definitely changed," Josie proposed, "I know I've become a different person since I met Sam Coulson, but you know that," she reminded her as she took post-it's from Merck who had approached her table.
"Okay, but there is something different about you. I mean, did you curl your hair?"
Josie flipped her head, bouncing her normally bouncy blond curls. "My hair has been curly for an year now, Anita."
Anita studied her thoughtfully then began mumbling, "Oh yeah, you're right. Okay then you must have changed your makeup?"
She shook her head.
"Your clothes?"
She repeated the action, but this time she was trying to keep from laughing.
Anita continued to sit there, rambling as she stared at her as though believing that if she stared long enough somehow the answer would appear.
Josie came to the conclusion that Anita was a lost case and instead focused on her work. She pulled a disk from it's case and uploaded it onto the computer. She glanced over at the clock. She needed to get her article to her boss, Rigfort, if she wanted him to put it in the evening newspaper.
"Uh~~~is there a Josie Geller Coulson at this address?"
Josie snapped her head up upon hearing her name being mentioned. Standing there was her boss, Gus.
He was presently looking very irritated as he conversed with the man he was talking to. He was carrying a huge bouquet of flowers and two balloons.
"Whoa, what's with the flowers," a fair-sized black lady interrupted, bumping Gus on the hip. "You getting flowers for your girlfriend now?"
She was referring to Anita and Gus flustered noticeably at the mention of her name.
"Actually these flowers have arrived for a Mrs. Coulson," he huffed as he gathered his bearing then pointed to a desk at the other side of the room. "Second desk on the right, it's that bouncy blond."
"Thanks sir," the flower delivery man said to him then lifted the parcel and headed over to the desk.
Gus harrumphed, glared at the happy people and then went into his room, after telling somebody to ask Josie to come into his office within the next minutes.
Josie was meanwhile hurridely trying to erase all the little graphic hearts her husband had added to her document. He'd claimed he was editing it when he'd taken a go at her laptop but it seemed as though he hadn't found a thing wrong with her article and had decided to, at the least, decorate her work.
They were cute and it made her heart swell to see them but she couldn't possibly hand it into her boss in that condition, not since Gus was against anything cute, flowery or romantic, to the dismay of his girlfriend.
"Are you Mrs. Josie Coulson?"
"Um~~~yes," Josie replied, not looking up.
"Great. I have a delivery for you."
"A delivery," she wondered as though she'd never thought she could receive flowers are work, and raised her head.
Standing before her was a handsome young man carrying a bouquet or roses.
"Wow, those are for me?"
"You are Josie G. Coulson?" he repeated, looking a little unsure of himself as he re-read the name on his clipboard.
"She is," Anita broke in, and the man turned to the brunette.
"Okay, can you sign this? You seem a little less flustered than the real Josie," he asked her, extending his clipboard and his pen.
"Certainly," she told him and jotted Josie's name down onto the paperwork. She returned it to the delivery guy.
"Thanks Miss," he grinned as he glanced appreciatively at her figure then smiled at the blond as he gently set down the gift. "Enjoy your flowers."
"T~Thank you," she replied, flustered, the vase of flowers sitting on her desk.
Anita watched the young man leave, winking at him when he glanced back. Then he turned toward the blond. "Okay, now I know this is a special occasion. Spill! Is it your birthday?"
Josie didn't hear her companion and instead reached for the message tag she spied, buried underneath the roses.
It read:
"My dearest Josie, "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East and you, Josie, are the sun." Okay~~~but you know that. I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking about you and I'm struggling through teaching "Romeo and Juliet," because I can't remember what I'm supposed to be teaching. I am anxiously looking forward to seeing you tonight. Meet me at the Ice Rink this evening at six o'clock, I've got a surprise for you.
Love, Your Adele Penguin."
"Oh My God!" Josie squealed. "It's from Sam!"
Anita gave her a look. Josie was acting like this Sam was not her husband but perhaps some guy she'd been chasing for some time and had finally noticed her.
"I would hope so. I mean, I can understand a woman cheating on a guy because he's boring or unromantic, excluding Gus," she added carefully, making sure her boyfriend/boss wasn't in earshot of their conversation.
Josie just chuckled.
"But you've got such an adorable, good-looking and caring husband who's obviously extremely romantic too," Anita gushed. "But then that's a given. He reads, teaches and breathes Shakespeare after all. So what special holiday is this that obliges Sam to treat you like a queen?"
"Mmm~~~"Josie sighed as she inhaled the fragrance of the flowers, it was almost as sweet as he was. Almost.
"Josie!"
"O~Oh, it's," Josie mumbled, coming back to reality. "~~~it's me and Sam Anniversary! Our first anniversary of marriage!" she blurted out, and Anita was sure the whole office had heard the announcement.
It took a moment for the information to sink in and then Anita and Josie began screaming uncontrollably.
"Aagh! That's so great! I'm so happy for you Josie! I can't believe it's already been one year!"
"Read the message he wrote me!" she urged her best friend, shoving the card in her face.
Anita obliged, read it through again and then continued her screaming.
"JOSIE GELLER! You have got to have the most romantic husband in the world! Oh God! Does he have a cousin!"
"Just wait till I tell you what happened last night!" Josie beamed, feeling like she was in high school again and was gossiping over the one line her crush had said to her.
"Um girls, sorry to interrupt this little rendez-vous but Gus wants to see Josie~~~Now!" Merck apologized.
"Okay. Tell him I'll be there in a minute," Josie promised as she knelt under her desk to retrieve the papers from the printer. "Sorry Anita, after the meeting we can have coffee and I'll tell you all about it."
No reply.
Anita was staring at the batch of papers clasped in Josie's hands. "Is that what I think it is?" Without waiting for an answer, she snatched a copy out of her grip and gasped. "It is! It's the anniversary edition of Sam and Josie! Oh you've got to let me have this!"
"No, I've got to get that to Rigfort if I plan to have it headlined in the evening paper!" she lamented, holding out her hand, actually expecting to get it back.
"PLEASE! I've been waiting, oh, about a YEAR to read this!"
Josie was touched by her insistence. It just proved there was actually people who were waiting for her stories. And that never ceased to amaze her.
"Okay, just can you print out one more on my computer so I have one to give to Rigfort when I get back?" she gave in while straightening the left over papers in her hand. Being organized was key if you didn't want to be ridiculed by Gus during a meeting.
"I will! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she cried, placing the article against her chest. "You have made my day! Tell Sam "Happy Anniversary!" for me!"
"I will and you're welcome," Josie giggled, shaking her head as she watched her friend dance around the office, waving her article around gloating, "I'm the first in Chicago! I'm the first in Chicago!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Josie Geller," Gus drawled, turning from the window to face his desk when he heard her come in.
"It's~~~It's Coulson," she corrected immediately. "I'm married!" she gushed, like a newly-wed should.
"I remember," he shot back. "I expect that you've got you article?" he added with a huff.
"YES!" she piped up and confidently handed him the pink folder containing her prized-article, minus the hearts.
"T~thank you." Josie scrutinized him as he pulled the document from the folder and skimmed it for a second then slammed it down.
"So what do you think? You think Rigfort will put it in the evening paper?"
"Rigfort might, but I'm certainly not interested in on an update of the story that almost cost me my job!" Gus barked, throwing the article back at her. "The article I'm trying to get a hold of is the exclusive I asked you to compile on the President of "Cookies n' Milk Co."
"Oh~~~right," she stammered, struggling to keep her bearings. "It's also the story that saved your butt!" she thought to herself and if she wasn't careful, she might have said it.
She dug into her briefcase for her purple folder and handed it to her boss who practically yanked it out of her hand.
"YES!YES!" he shouted, his frown replaced by a big greedy smile. "Cookies n' Milk Co: 50 mil or BUST!" You're a GENIUS! The title alone is Pulitzer Prize material!"
Wow, were those tears coming out of Gus' eyes?
"T~thank you sir. And." She took a deep breath, thinking carefully before she said anything. "Mr. Gus um~~~I've been a major reporter for over an year but it seems the only types of subjects you're having me cover are the not so major ones, like "Cookies n'Milk Co, they aren't going to be on the market till next Spring."
"True."
"And the other article you have me write was about that d.j that didn't want to be a d.j," Josie continued.
"Yes, and how wonderful a job you did that you got him out of a job he didn't want to do," Gus reminded her, absorbed in her chocolate chips and butter cookie filled front page article.
"Gus, I know I screwed up my first undercover but I~~~it's been a year and a few months. I really think I deserve another chance," she stated in a low voice.
Gus pulled himself away from the statistics of how many almonds they planned to use yearly to produce their chocolate chip almond delight to give Josie a surprised look.
"You do, do you?" he snickered.
Josie felt her stomach plummet to the ground but nodded politely but firmly so he could tell that while she was professional, she meant business. She was putting herself out there, she wasn't going to back down now.
"S~sit down for a second, Josie," he suggested and gestured to the seat.
She lowered herself down and stared nervously at Gus, starting to feel nauseous. Ugh! She knew she shouldn't have chowed down that big breakfast. She'd been feeling unwell earlier that morning.
"I'm getting fired," she thought, panicked. "He's going to make sure I don't work in the news business again!"
"You're~~~"
"Oh God! He's serious!" she groaned. "Serious!"
"~~~absolutely correct."
She blinked twice, so sure she had heart him wrong. "What did you say? I thought I heard you say that I was correct."
"And I did. Sweetie, we have been giving you those deadbeat articles to see what you can do with them and you've passed with flying colors!" he beamed, back to being the supportive boss who had sat at the baseball game last May, waiting with her and the rest of the crowd for her "teacher," to appear. "And you've certainly earned yourself a story."
"Uh~~~thank you," Josie murmured as she got to her feet to shake his hand, feeling even more sick to her stomach. "So, when do I get the details?"
"This afternoon, maybe even this evening."
"Oh um~~~boss, I~~~it's my first wedding anniversary and I'm meeting my husband for dinner later," she protested, feeling terrible.
"Not a problem," he said to Josie's relief. "We can arrange for you to get the information tomorrow. I'll take this and send it up and give Rigfort his article," Gus assured her.
"Uh~Okay~~~I will."
Gus looked at his reporter strangely. "Josie, are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just, you look like you're drunk," he explained, watching her with worried eyes as she wobbled over to the door. "And you're sweating."
"I feel a little nauseous but I'm sure it's not a problem. I'll just go out and get some fresh air, maybe get something from the vending machine," she told her boss.
"Okay, just~~~take is easy, okay," he cautioned her. "You're one of our star reporters and we can't have you getting sick now."
"I won't," she promised, and exited the door, wondering why she was so breathless.
"So, what did Gus want?" Anita demanded the moment she met Josie's gaze, standing with a group of females also wanting to know, and perhaps, wanting a copy of her "lovey-dovey," article as well.
"Oh uh~~~it seems that I was~~~pr~~~pro~~~"
She never finished her sentence and instead collapsed onto the floor.
Anita walked to the side she was facing and knelt down. "Josie? Are you okay?"
No reply.
Anita let out a scream that was answered promptly by Gus, who came out the room looking characteristically irritated. "What? What's going on here? Can't we keep order? This isn't high school you know," he was barking when his foot hit the body sprawled on the floor. "O~okay. Anita. Call 911. She's dehydrated."
"You sure that's it?" she chittered nervously, biting her nails while Gus seemed to have total control.
"Yeah, she was acting strangely during our meeting," he reported then with a smile he repeated. "So do you wanna dial that number for me, sweetie?"
Anita blushed when he called her "sweetie. "Y~yes, I'll be right back," she replied, then got to her feet and hurried over to the phone.
Okay! Chapter One for ya! Please review! And I left ya'll with a nice cliffie!
Oh wait~~~ I think I can hear Sam's footsteps, and they're getting faster! Give me a review and you'll know what I'm talking about!!!
Lots of love for ya!
Lataz, Total Vaughn Lover
Chapter One
"Good morning, Josie!" Anita greeted her good friend and fellow reporter when she arrived through the double-doors at the entrance that morning, looking fairly rustled that morning. Once again, Anita was doing her typical thing of being late, hence the reason she'd been fired over five times.
She was just lucky Gus was her boyfriend.
"Good morning Anita," Josie hollered back, grinning from ear to ear, trying not to laugh at Anita's appearance. She herself was dressed in a pair of nice black slacks and matching suit jacket, a purple camisole peeked out from underneath showing enough of her clevage to indicate today was a special day.
Yes professionally she was dressed but there was something definitely differently about her.
And Anita couldn't quite put her finger on just what that was.
"There's something going on with you today," she accused, pointedly as she fell into step right beside her.
"Really? You think so?" Josie giggled as she made her way to her cubicle. She waved at Merck, the young man sitting near her telling whoever on the phone that he should write down what he was saying and he waved back, looking astounded and it wasn't because of the lacey camisole.
"Did you just wave at your assistant?" Anita demanded after a second passed, her hair characteristically flying out of place.
"Yes," Josie replied pleasantly, not shook up as Anita was.
"Yup, there is something definitely up with you," Anita diagnosed, narrowing her dark eyes at her companion. "The Josie Geller I know wouldn't have waved at her assistant, not unless he didn't hear you the first time when you asked him for your notes," the brunette went onto declare, leaning against Josie's desk as the owner of the desk settled in for the day.
"Maybe there is something about me that has definitely changed," Josie proposed, "I know I've become a different person since I met Sam Coulson, but you know that," she reminded her as she took post-it's from Merck who had approached her table.
"Okay, but there is something different about you. I mean, did you curl your hair?"
Josie flipped her head, bouncing her normally bouncy blond curls. "My hair has been curly for an year now, Anita."
Anita studied her thoughtfully then began mumbling, "Oh yeah, you're right. Okay then you must have changed your makeup?"
She shook her head.
"Your clothes?"
She repeated the action, but this time she was trying to keep from laughing.
Anita continued to sit there, rambling as she stared at her as though believing that if she stared long enough somehow the answer would appear.
Josie came to the conclusion that Anita was a lost case and instead focused on her work. She pulled a disk from it's case and uploaded it onto the computer. She glanced over at the clock. She needed to get her article to her boss, Rigfort, if she wanted him to put it in the evening newspaper.
"Uh~~~is there a Josie Geller Coulson at this address?"
Josie snapped her head up upon hearing her name being mentioned. Standing there was her boss, Gus.
He was presently looking very irritated as he conversed with the man he was talking to. He was carrying a huge bouquet of flowers and two balloons.
"Whoa, what's with the flowers," a fair-sized black lady interrupted, bumping Gus on the hip. "You getting flowers for your girlfriend now?"
She was referring to Anita and Gus flustered noticeably at the mention of her name.
"Actually these flowers have arrived for a Mrs. Coulson," he huffed as he gathered his bearing then pointed to a desk at the other side of the room. "Second desk on the right, it's that bouncy blond."
"Thanks sir," the flower delivery man said to him then lifted the parcel and headed over to the desk.
Gus harrumphed, glared at the happy people and then went into his room, after telling somebody to ask Josie to come into his office within the next minutes.
Josie was meanwhile hurridely trying to erase all the little graphic hearts her husband had added to her document. He'd claimed he was editing it when he'd taken a go at her laptop but it seemed as though he hadn't found a thing wrong with her article and had decided to, at the least, decorate her work.
They were cute and it made her heart swell to see them but she couldn't possibly hand it into her boss in that condition, not since Gus was against anything cute, flowery or romantic, to the dismay of his girlfriend.
"Are you Mrs. Josie Coulson?"
"Um~~~yes," Josie replied, not looking up.
"Great. I have a delivery for you."
"A delivery," she wondered as though she'd never thought she could receive flowers are work, and raised her head.
Standing before her was a handsome young man carrying a bouquet or roses.
"Wow, those are for me?"
"You are Josie G. Coulson?" he repeated, looking a little unsure of himself as he re-read the name on his clipboard.
"She is," Anita broke in, and the man turned to the brunette.
"Okay, can you sign this? You seem a little less flustered than the real Josie," he asked her, extending his clipboard and his pen.
"Certainly," she told him and jotted Josie's name down onto the paperwork. She returned it to the delivery guy.
"Thanks Miss," he grinned as he glanced appreciatively at her figure then smiled at the blond as he gently set down the gift. "Enjoy your flowers."
"T~Thank you," she replied, flustered, the vase of flowers sitting on her desk.
Anita watched the young man leave, winking at him when he glanced back. Then he turned toward the blond. "Okay, now I know this is a special occasion. Spill! Is it your birthday?"
Josie didn't hear her companion and instead reached for the message tag she spied, buried underneath the roses.
It read:
"My dearest Josie, "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East and you, Josie, are the sun." Okay~~~but you know that. I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking about you and I'm struggling through teaching "Romeo and Juliet," because I can't remember what I'm supposed to be teaching. I am anxiously looking forward to seeing you tonight. Meet me at the Ice Rink this evening at six o'clock, I've got a surprise for you.
Love, Your Adele Penguin."
"Oh My God!" Josie squealed. "It's from Sam!"
Anita gave her a look. Josie was acting like this Sam was not her husband but perhaps some guy she'd been chasing for some time and had finally noticed her.
"I would hope so. I mean, I can understand a woman cheating on a guy because he's boring or unromantic, excluding Gus," she added carefully, making sure her boyfriend/boss wasn't in earshot of their conversation.
Josie just chuckled.
"But you've got such an adorable, good-looking and caring husband who's obviously extremely romantic too," Anita gushed. "But then that's a given. He reads, teaches and breathes Shakespeare after all. So what special holiday is this that obliges Sam to treat you like a queen?"
"Mmm~~~"Josie sighed as she inhaled the fragrance of the flowers, it was almost as sweet as he was. Almost.
"Josie!"
"O~Oh, it's," Josie mumbled, coming back to reality. "~~~it's me and Sam Anniversary! Our first anniversary of marriage!" she blurted out, and Anita was sure the whole office had heard the announcement.
It took a moment for the information to sink in and then Anita and Josie began screaming uncontrollably.
"Aagh! That's so great! I'm so happy for you Josie! I can't believe it's already been one year!"
"Read the message he wrote me!" she urged her best friend, shoving the card in her face.
Anita obliged, read it through again and then continued her screaming.
"JOSIE GELLER! You have got to have the most romantic husband in the world! Oh God! Does he have a cousin!"
"Just wait till I tell you what happened last night!" Josie beamed, feeling like she was in high school again and was gossiping over the one line her crush had said to her.
"Um girls, sorry to interrupt this little rendez-vous but Gus wants to see Josie~~~Now!" Merck apologized.
"Okay. Tell him I'll be there in a minute," Josie promised as she knelt under her desk to retrieve the papers from the printer. "Sorry Anita, after the meeting we can have coffee and I'll tell you all about it."
No reply.
Anita was staring at the batch of papers clasped in Josie's hands. "Is that what I think it is?" Without waiting for an answer, she snatched a copy out of her grip and gasped. "It is! It's the anniversary edition of Sam and Josie! Oh you've got to let me have this!"
"No, I've got to get that to Rigfort if I plan to have it headlined in the evening paper!" she lamented, holding out her hand, actually expecting to get it back.
"PLEASE! I've been waiting, oh, about a YEAR to read this!"
Josie was touched by her insistence. It just proved there was actually people who were waiting for her stories. And that never ceased to amaze her.
"Okay, just can you print out one more on my computer so I have one to give to Rigfort when I get back?" she gave in while straightening the left over papers in her hand. Being organized was key if you didn't want to be ridiculed by Gus during a meeting.
"I will! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she cried, placing the article against her chest. "You have made my day! Tell Sam "Happy Anniversary!" for me!"
"I will and you're welcome," Josie giggled, shaking her head as she watched her friend dance around the office, waving her article around gloating, "I'm the first in Chicago! I'm the first in Chicago!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Josie Geller," Gus drawled, turning from the window to face his desk when he heard her come in.
"It's~~~It's Coulson," she corrected immediately. "I'm married!" she gushed, like a newly-wed should.
"I remember," he shot back. "I expect that you've got you article?" he added with a huff.
"YES!" she piped up and confidently handed him the pink folder containing her prized-article, minus the hearts.
"T~thank you." Josie scrutinized him as he pulled the document from the folder and skimmed it for a second then slammed it down.
"So what do you think? You think Rigfort will put it in the evening paper?"
"Rigfort might, but I'm certainly not interested in on an update of the story that almost cost me my job!" Gus barked, throwing the article back at her. "The article I'm trying to get a hold of is the exclusive I asked you to compile on the President of "Cookies n' Milk Co."
"Oh~~~right," she stammered, struggling to keep her bearings. "It's also the story that saved your butt!" she thought to herself and if she wasn't careful, she might have said it.
She dug into her briefcase for her purple folder and handed it to her boss who practically yanked it out of her hand.
"YES!YES!" he shouted, his frown replaced by a big greedy smile. "Cookies n' Milk Co: 50 mil or BUST!" You're a GENIUS! The title alone is Pulitzer Prize material!"
Wow, were those tears coming out of Gus' eyes?
"T~thank you sir. And." She took a deep breath, thinking carefully before she said anything. "Mr. Gus um~~~I've been a major reporter for over an year but it seems the only types of subjects you're having me cover are the not so major ones, like "Cookies n'Milk Co, they aren't going to be on the market till next Spring."
"True."
"And the other article you have me write was about that d.j that didn't want to be a d.j," Josie continued.
"Yes, and how wonderful a job you did that you got him out of a job he didn't want to do," Gus reminded her, absorbed in her chocolate chips and butter cookie filled front page article.
"Gus, I know I screwed up my first undercover but I~~~it's been a year and a few months. I really think I deserve another chance," she stated in a low voice.
Gus pulled himself away from the statistics of how many almonds they planned to use yearly to produce their chocolate chip almond delight to give Josie a surprised look.
"You do, do you?" he snickered.
Josie felt her stomach plummet to the ground but nodded politely but firmly so he could tell that while she was professional, she meant business. She was putting herself out there, she wasn't going to back down now.
"S~sit down for a second, Josie," he suggested and gestured to the seat.
She lowered herself down and stared nervously at Gus, starting to feel nauseous. Ugh! She knew she shouldn't have chowed down that big breakfast. She'd been feeling unwell earlier that morning.
"I'm getting fired," she thought, panicked. "He's going to make sure I don't work in the news business again!"
"You're~~~"
"Oh God! He's serious!" she groaned. "Serious!"
"~~~absolutely correct."
She blinked twice, so sure she had heart him wrong. "What did you say? I thought I heard you say that I was correct."
"And I did. Sweetie, we have been giving you those deadbeat articles to see what you can do with them and you've passed with flying colors!" he beamed, back to being the supportive boss who had sat at the baseball game last May, waiting with her and the rest of the crowd for her "teacher," to appear. "And you've certainly earned yourself a story."
"Uh~~~thank you," Josie murmured as she got to her feet to shake his hand, feeling even more sick to her stomach. "So, when do I get the details?"
"This afternoon, maybe even this evening."
"Oh um~~~boss, I~~~it's my first wedding anniversary and I'm meeting my husband for dinner later," she protested, feeling terrible.
"Not a problem," he said to Josie's relief. "We can arrange for you to get the information tomorrow. I'll take this and send it up and give Rigfort his article," Gus assured her.
"Uh~Okay~~~I will."
Gus looked at his reporter strangely. "Josie, are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just, you look like you're drunk," he explained, watching her with worried eyes as she wobbled over to the door. "And you're sweating."
"I feel a little nauseous but I'm sure it's not a problem. I'll just go out and get some fresh air, maybe get something from the vending machine," she told her boss.
"Okay, just~~~take is easy, okay," he cautioned her. "You're one of our star reporters and we can't have you getting sick now."
"I won't," she promised, and exited the door, wondering why she was so breathless.
"So, what did Gus want?" Anita demanded the moment she met Josie's gaze, standing with a group of females also wanting to know, and perhaps, wanting a copy of her "lovey-dovey," article as well.
"Oh uh~~~it seems that I was~~~pr~~~pro~~~"
She never finished her sentence and instead collapsed onto the floor.
Anita walked to the side she was facing and knelt down. "Josie? Are you okay?"
No reply.
Anita let out a scream that was answered promptly by Gus, who came out the room looking characteristically irritated. "What? What's going on here? Can't we keep order? This isn't high school you know," he was barking when his foot hit the body sprawled on the floor. "O~okay. Anita. Call 911. She's dehydrated."
"You sure that's it?" she chittered nervously, biting her nails while Gus seemed to have total control.
"Yeah, she was acting strangely during our meeting," he reported then with a smile he repeated. "So do you wanna dial that number for me, sweetie?"
Anita blushed when he called her "sweetie. "Y~yes, I'll be right back," she replied, then got to her feet and hurried over to the phone.
Okay! Chapter One for ya! Please review! And I left ya'll with a nice cliffie!
Oh wait~~~ I think I can hear Sam's footsteps, and they're getting faster! Give me a review and you'll know what I'm talking about!!!
Lots of love for ya!