Author's notes: Two more characters on the canvas, plus more Carly/"Andrew". ;P

Carly squirmed in the chair, straightening her suit jacket for the hundredth time. She looked around the room. Through the glass walls behind her, she could see agents just arriving to work. She'd been told to come an hour earlier to be cleared by security. She didn't really understand why, she'd already been cleared when she had accepted the position. And she'd now had nearly thirty minutes to think about it. She turned back to the empty desk in front of her. Maybe she should call Andrew to speed this up.

"Ms. Benson?"

Carly turned to see her new boss in the doorway. "Good morning, Mrs. Milner," she said, standing and extending her hand to the older woman.

The stern, petite woman, in her 60s Carly guessed, had no reaction. "Come with me, Ms. Benson. We need to get you settled before Deputy Director Braden gets in."

"Uh, okay," Carly replied,

Mrs. Milner handed her a file. "Look these over," she said strictly, walking back out the door quickly.

Carly sat stunned, not quite sure what to do. Realizing she was supposed to follow, she rushed to catch up with her boss. "What about my IDs?" she asked, trying to keep up with the much older woman.

The woman stopped at the elevator. "Your identifications and security clearances will be delivered to you when they are ready. Deputy Director Braden likes his secretary to be ready when he arrives," she told Carly as they entered the elevator. Mrs. Milner pressed the button for the 10th floor.

There was something severely off-putting about this woman, Carly surmised. Not one ounce of warmth in the old woman's demeanor. "No problem."

"You need to read those papers, Ms. Benson." The elevators doors opened and the two women exited. "The first document is a confidentiality agreement. Same as the clearance you already signed, but this is regarding personal lives of the people you'll be working for," she told Carly as they walked down the hallway. "You'll be privy to personal details. Those details are expected to remain private."

"Okay," Carly answered, struggling to keep up the older woman's brisk pace and take in everything she was being told.

"I need the forms filled out and returned to me by afternoon. The other document is the rules, regulations, and expectations of our secretaries. I expect you to commit them to memory."

"Okay."

Mrs. Milner stopped at a desk, just outside of an office. "This is your desk. Your computer logons and passwords are in the papers I gave you, so are all the telephone numbers you will need."

"Okay."

"The phone is self-explanatory. Supplies are in the file cabinet," she pointed to a row of file cabinets against the wall. "Bottom drawer. He'll give you his current schedule, but you'll be expected to keep it up to date."

"Okay."

"I'll leave you to get settled. The deputy director should be in shortly. Familiarize yourself with where everything is so you can be prepared to get to work as soon as he gets in." She turned to leave, but looked back at Carly momentarily. "Welcome to the World Security Bureau, Ms. Benson."

"Thank you, Mrs. Milner."

Carly sat down, sighing heavily. She looked around her desk. She didn't think a phone could have so many buttons and most of them weren't labeled. "Self-explanatory my ass," she grumbled. She spotted another young woman sitting at a desk sort of cattycorner a few feet down the hall from hers. The blonde smiled and waved at her. Carly waved back and started looking through all the papers Mrs. Milner had given her.

"Hey!"

Carly looked up to see who the heavy Texas accent belonged to. The blonde was standing over her, smiling broadly. "Hi."

"I'm Faith. I work for Deputy Director Reyes, just down the way there."

"I'm Caroline. It's nice to meet you, Faith."

"I know Mrs. Milner isn't very, well, nice, but she really is a pussycat," Faith told her, almost reading Carly's thoughts. "Just show up on time and do your job, you'll have no problems with her. Is this your first day or did you transfer from another office?"

"First day," Carly answered guardedly.

"Where are you from?"

She wanted to say New York, but thought better of it. "Florida."

"Oh, really? What part of Florida? I was down in the Miami office for a while. I loved it down there."

"Uh, Tampa Bay," Carly answered, trying to figure out the phone.

"I know how confusing that silly thing is. It took me a week just to figure out how to dial out. I'll be right back!" Faith ran back to her desk and shuffled through the drawers. She pulled out a piece of paper and disappeared a moment, before rushing back, paper in hand. "Here you go! I made some notes on how to work the phones when I first got here, since they don't bother telling us secretaries. I copied them for you."

Carly smiled. "Thanks!"

"Oh, it's no problem, honey! I better get back to work. If you have any questions or need any help, you just come right on over." She leaned in, close to Carly. "And watch Braden's hands. He tends to be a little friendly, if you catch my drift."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Remember, if you need anything at all, I'm just right over here," Faith said, backing towards her desk.

Carly chuckled and waved at the perky blonde. "Thanks, Faith." She went back to the paperwork.

~*~

By noon, Carly had figured out the phone, thanks in large part to Faith's notes, and most of the computer system, the parts she would need anyway. Braden seemed nice enough, but she'd barely met him. He'd been in meetings out of the office all morning. But those few minutes were enough for her to realize what Faith had warned her about. Although he hadn't touched her inappropriately, his leers were proof enough for Carly. This was not going to work out.

She glanced at her watch. She was supposed to meet Sarah for lunch and she still had to drop her paperwork off at Mrs. Milner's office. Reaching the older woman's office, Carly was relieved to find the woman had gone to lunch as well. She just left the papers on her desk. Now on to the cafeteria.

~*~

The building was huge, Carly had discovered. From the outside, it didn't look that big. But once you got down into the sub-basements and passageways to the surrounding buildings, it was very easy to get lost.

She glanced down at Faith's directions. Not paying attention to where she was walking, she was caught off guard when she ran into something hard. Or someone, to be specific. Andrew, she noticed with pleasure.

"Funny running into you here," he said, grinning.

"I was wondering if I was going to see you around, babe." Carly matched Andrew's grin. "You want to join me for lunch?"

"I'm sorry, I can't." He rolled his eyes. "Too many meetings to go to today," he said, clearly irritated.

"Sounds like my boss."

"Who'd they assign you to?"

"Deputy Director Braden."

Andrew just shook his head knowingly. "I give you two days before you deck Mr. Sticky Hands."

Apparently her new boss had a reputation. "You're the second person this morning to warn me about him."

"Lemme guess, first one was Faith."

"You know her?" Carly asked, her suspicious side coming out.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "I report to Reyes. I see a lot of Faith. She knocked him one in the middle of a staff meeting once."

"You're kidding me!" She stifled a giggle as he shook his head. She glanced back down at her watch, realizing she was late and he probably was, too. "Well, I have to go. I'm meeting a friend for lunch."

"A friend, huh?" he asked warily.

"Yeah, a friend."

"Okay then," he said, flustered. "You enjoy your lunch and I'll see you this afternoon."

Carly leaned up and kissed his cheek. "You're cute when you're jealous," she told him, beaming.

He feigned offense. "I'm not jealous!"

"Uh-huh," she replied, unconvinced. "Goodbye, Andrew." She walked away without waiting for an answer.

"Bye," he said, watching her amusedly. She glanced back and smiled. He didn't continue on to his meeting until she was out of sight.