AN: If you have read the first two chapters before June 25, 2003, you might notice that I've changed Darien's role in the company a bit. This is to coordinate with a new idea I have for this story in some of the later chapters. I have updated the first two chapters to reflect this change though, so reread them if you wish! Please keep reading and tell me what you think of the story!

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Chapter 3

Serena hurried out of the apartment at a mad dash, purse tucked under her arm and still chewing on a piece of toast. She had hit the snooze button a few times too many and as a result was in danger of being late. It had been over a week at her new job and she was still trying to adjust to the nine to five schedule. Serena groaned to herself as she walked down into the subway station and inserted her token into the collection box. It was so unfair. To make it to the office by nine, she had to wake up at six thirty in order to have enough time to shower, have breakfast and then fight through the morning rush hour.

She managed to get to the office with two minutes to spare and was sitting at her desk breathing heavily. Who needs to take up jogging at the park when at this rate she'll be dashing to work each morning, and with high heels too, she thought, pitying herself. After all the physical exertion, Serena was ready to go straight back to bed. She put her head on her arms and slumped on her desk.

She peaked at Rei's desk and saw that Rei was already in. Her computer was booted up and her purse sat on her desk, however, the fiery brunette was no where in sight. From what she had seen so far, Rei was a workaholic. She was always in earlier than Serena and stayed later than her too. At the team meeting with Amy, Rei had given a very professional presentation which had made Serena feel inadequate in comparison.

She had also gotten to know more of the people at the office, thanks to Molly who knew everyone since she worked in reception. Most people had been very friendly, and nice, although a few of them had struck Serena as being odd. One guy from accounting named Melvin had been particularly strange and he annoyed Serena to no end talking about anything and everything under the sun. She had almost burst out laughing when she was first introduced to the short, skinny man with thick coke bottle glasses that looked like they came straight out of a comic book. The most fitting description she could come up for Melvin was that he was a know-it-all dweeb. He was also a huge gossip and seemed to know something about everyone in the office. His puppy dog syndrome where he followed her everywhere, interrupted her conversations with other people constantly, and invited himself to lunch with her and Molly every day was starting to annoy Serena somewhat.

However, she did manage to get some great information about Darien off Melvin, who seemed to especially love talking about the President. Being one of the youngest CEOs around, his track record was very impressive. A Harvard graduate with top honors, he had quickly made a splash in the business scene. He was renowned to be a sharp businessman who could either charm any client or ruthlessly cut off ties with any business he didn't favor. It was common knowledge that Global had been a failing company until Darien had taken it over. The PR department was one of the most successful divisions of the company since he had taken the initiative to represent savvy and young talents such as the Three Lights and Michiru Kaiou, marketing them into superstars almost overnight. He was able to speak Japanese too, helping him to establish business relations with Japanese firms and launching Global Consulting into the international scene.

Melvin innocently poured this information out and Serena absorbed it all with interest. So it seems that the annoying bully had made quite a success of his life. She wasn't surprised because she remembered that he had been the hard working, studious type, even back when they were young. It seems that Mr. Darien Shields was somewhat of a hero in the office. Every guy wanted to be him and every woman wanted him. Well, almost every woman, thought Serena with a smirk. It has nothing to do with her, she's just a lowly employee, she told herself, trying to dismiss him from her thoughts.

In fact, she hadn't seen him at all the past week at the office. After that embarrassing incident with him, Serena was just relieved that she didn't get fired. It also seemed that most of the people had forgotten about it since no one asked her for details, with the exception of Melvin of course.

Deciding that she needed an extra strong caffeine boost to get her through the rest of the day, Serena pushed herself off from her desk and headed for the kitchen. As she neared the little lunch room where the delicious aroma of Columbian was already teasing her nose, she heard a harried person half walking, half running behind her. A very flustered looking Amy with portfolios tucked under both arms was hurrying towards her.

"Hey, what's up Amy?" she asked the stressed girl.

"Oh hi Serena, sorry can't really talk. I've got to fax these over to the Borgens' accountants right away. They seem to be having a crisis, and I'm late for a meeting," said Amy, still speed walking towards the fax room.

"Maybe I can help?" offered Serena.

Amy stopped and looked at Serena gratefully. "Would you? I mean you don't mind. My assistant is off for a doctor's appointment and I really do have an important meeting."

"Hey no problem, glad to help," chirped Serena. This was a great way to make a good impression, helping out a stressed manager.

Amy handed the folders to Serena. "You just need to send a copy of each of these pages over to them. The fax number is on the cover sheet. Thanks so much Serena, I really appreciate this," said Amy already hurrying in the opposite direction towards the central board room.

Serena walked down the corridor where she vaguely remembered the location of the fax room. As she entered the small room, the smell of paper and the sound of humming fax machines greeted her. She looked at the rows of machines with some trepidation. Some were in the process of spitting papers out while others hummed idly. The multiple key pads with the array of coloured buttons on each indicated that they were the expensive, complex type that could sort, staple and fax, all with a touch of a button. Now, the only problem was which button?

Serena approached one of the idle machines cautiously. She had never used a fax machine that looked as high tech as one of these before. But hey, how different could they be, Serena mused. You just had to put the paper in on one end, punch in the fax number and it does the rest right? She looked at one of the fax machines spitting out papers from the left. Okay, so the paper spits out on the grey end. That means it must go in on the other end. Simple, she assured herself.

Serena took out all the papers from the four portfolios that Amy gave her and placed them all together in one pile on the fax feed. She placed the fax side facing down and silently congratulated herself for remembering that little bit of info. She pushed in the Borgens' fax number on the number pad and pushed start. The machine gave a shrill beep and the display screen flashed with the fax number for a moment before the fax number disappeared. What? Thought Serena puzzled.

She punched in the fax number and then the start button again. The machine gave the same shrill beep and once again cleared the fax number. Serena groaned a bit with frustration. She hated these so called time saving machines; they gave her grief more than help and they never really saved her any time. In frustration, she jammed the numbers quickly on the number pad and again pressed start. The machine gave a short whine, then a whirl. The sound of dialing and paper feeding almost had Serena cheering out loud. That moment quickly ended when the machine began making a loud grinding sound followed by a loud screech.

Serena quickly plugged her ears in reaction, but when the noise continued, she knew she had to do something. She started to wrestle with the machine which was eating the papers she was trying to fax. The more she tugged on the paper, the more it screeched. By now, she was in a panic. Amy's important papers! It seemed the machine was determined to devour it and then pin the blame on her.

Okay, don't just panic, she thought, run and get help! Serena ran for the door to grab the first person she saw to enlist their aid against the machine monster. As she neared the door, footsteps could be heard hurrying towards the room.

Serena was ready to launch herself at the mercy of this person and plead for assistance when she abruptly skidded in her tracks at the sight of Darien's surprised face. When he saw that it was her, his face seem to cloud up with annoyance and anger.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said rushing to the shrieking machine and pushing a few buttons rapidly, effectively stopping the screaming piece of equipment. Serena froze at his glare and unexpectedly felt the mortification of tears burning behind her eyes. Not him again? Blinking rapidly, she tried to dispel the tears before they could pour out.

"Don't just stand there like a stone, tell me what the hell were you trying to do to the machine?" he said, his voice tight with anger.

"Nothing," Serena whispered. "I, I was only, trying to, fax some documents," she said trying to keep from stammering but failing miserably.

He looked at the machine and then back at her, a frown still on his face. He reached to the back of the machine and pressed something, opening the top of the machine. A massive paper jam seemed to be suffocating the inside of the fax machine which Darien gingerly dug out and put back into a pile. Serena could only watch on, still stiff with embarrassment and apprehension. Of all the people in the office, why did it have to be him who came? Didn't he have an important meeting to be in or something?

He looked back at her after closing the machine. "Look Meatball head. I know this is a bit advanced for you, but listen carefully while I teach you how to use the fax machine," he said in a patient voice grossly strained with exaggeration.

"I know how to use a fax machine," snapped Serena infuriated by his condescending tone. Her tears were now successfully banished with the oncoming rush of anger.

"If that was true, what were you trying to do to the machine, choke it to death?" he sneered gesturing to the now silent machine.

Serena felt her face flame up with further embarrassment. She ruthlessly quashed it by resorting to the familiar angry feeling that she got in the past whenever she had a run in with him. "I was only trying to do a simple fax, it's not my fault that that stupid machine decided to have a hissy fit when it did," she spat.

"Oh sure, I don't blame the machine for having a "hissy fit" as you put it when it has two hundred pages stuffed in the feed when its max capacity is only seventy pages at a time," said Darien, his voice raising in that superior tone. "Not to mention you didn't even dial a nine before the number to fax to an outside line," he said sarcastically this time making Serena feel like an even greater idiot.

Serena could feel her tears returning again as the anger drained from her in light of her obvious ineptitude. She knew that he thought she was a complete idiot, and this incident with the fax machine even seemed to support his opinion of her. Unwillingly, a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek before she could stop it.

At the sight of her tears, Darien felt his anger drain away. He looked at the subdued girl in front of him. She seemed very vulnerable at the moment, standing amidst the impersonal fax machines humming away while he belittled her. He wondered for the umpteenth time why he blew his temper whenever she was near. Before he had even had time to consider what he was doing, he found himself in front of her, his hand reaching out to brush away the tear. Her eyes widen at the gentle gesture.

"Serena," he said, her name a soft whisper on his lips. "I-."

Whatever he had been going to say was cut off by the sound of footsteps hurrying towards them. Two familiar voices were heard along with the footsteps. Amy's voice was calling out for Serena, while another irate voice was complaining about hearing the screeching fax machine all the way from her desk.

Rei and Amy entered to room simultaneously. Two pairs of startled eyes stared in shock at the sight of Serena and Darien wedged against a fax machine in a somewhat intimate position. A moment of uncomfortable silence filled the room before Darien quickly moved away from Serena.

"What's going on here," asked an angry Rei looking from one to the other.

"Oh Amy!" Serena ran towards her manager, relieved to have Amy as a buffer between her and Rei. She felt numerous emotions wash over her from relief to disappointment and then confusion as to what exactly she was disappointed about. "I uh, had some trouble with the faxing and I think I messed it up, I'm really sorry."

"Serena, it's okay. It's my fault for not checking with you on whether you were familiar with the fax machines. I got out of my meeting because the client suddenly had an emergency, so I can take care of it," said Amy.

"Mr. Shields, I thought you were still at Tokyo finishing up with one of our major clients," asked Rei in an overly polite voice.

"Yes, I finished earlier than expected and flew back last night," said Darien, his expression unreadable. He looked at the three women before turning on his heels to leave. "Rei, please teach Serena how to use the fax machine so we can avoid this commotion in the future," he added before disappearing out of the room.

Serena could feel Rei shooting daggers at her even though she could not see the angry woman's face. She didn't want a fax machine lesson from her. She might never leave the fax room alive if left alone with the furious Rei. She latched onto Amy for dear life.

"How about I learn about the machine from you Amy, since you're faxing anyways," said Serena, forcing a laugh to dispel the negative vibes she felt emanating from Rei.

"Sure. Rei, you don't have to teach Serena, I will," said Amy and Serena inwardly gave a sigh of relief at her escape.

Rei stalked out of the room without a word.