Thanks to my reviewer!

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

Chapter 5

Earnest Lyon, that's Lyon like the animal lion.

Mac wore her most professional suit five two days later and stood in the front of Lyon Campaign headquarters-a store that no one had been able to have a successful business in. Mac hoped it wasn't an omen. Samantha Lyon was right beside her.

"Well this is it," her tone of voice was disgusted. "My son, who I thought I had raised to have better taste then this insisted upon it, thought the place had charm or some rubbish like that. Obviously he was wrong. I hope you can correct that mistake." Mac merely smiled down at her. "Yes, I thought so," said Samantha turning back to stare quite evilly at the building. "Well I can't stand looking at it any longer, let's get inside were hopefully the tacky use of columns is not made a theme throughout. But somehow I doubt it," and with that the two woman headed into the building.

The place was tragically lacking in people. Which made their sudden direction changes upon seeing Sam, just that more obvious. A man who was slightly balding and just heading out the door the two women walked in actually recoiled from them.

"Good morning Mrs. Lyon!" he greeted, his voice unusually high.

"It would seem not to your staff," said Sam, nodding her head as the various people who were scrambling to get into a single office.

"Oh, yes, hum. Well there just....er.... well I think it's always lovely to see you, Mrs. Lyon!"

"Not always, Mr. White and now might be one of those times if you don't tell me were he is," hissed Samantha as she slowly backed the man into the corner. Mr. White had gone white in the face and if Mac wasn't mistaken seemed to be trembling ever so slightly.

"Yes, yes, he's in the back."

"Thank you. By the way this is your new Campaign manager, Micheala Thomas." The jittery man did a double take and then visibly began to start sweating.

"How wonderful! Did um, purely out of curiosity of course, did um, did you, get this okayed by your son?"

"No."

"Oh." Suddenly Mr. White looked like he wanted to cry. "Well welcome to the staff Miss. Thomas, God help your soul cause he certainly isn't helping mine." Nodding at Mac with a sad sort of smile Mr. White shuffled with a defeated look out the door.

"I would fire that man if he wasn't such a political expert." Mac just wisely said nothing and kept smiling. Soon they arrived at a door. Samantha did not knock.

They arrived at a door. Samantha did not knock.

They walked into an office that was cramped, without a window and an interesting color of puke green. Sitting in the middle of this was Samantha Lyon's son, or so Mac assumed. He was wearing a horrible purple tie that clashed with his surroundings, a suit of a particularly interesting color of blue and a scowl on his oval face. He was easily over 6 feet tall and annoyed. He had brown hair. Classical music could be heard playing in the background. He didn't look up as they walked into the room.

"Hello, Mother," he said, "from your footsteps, I hear you brought a friend." The most intense brown eyes looked up at Mac in annoyance.

"Yes, she did," spoke Mac glaring back completely unimpressed.

--------

Atticus Thomas quickly looked down at the book he had randomly taken off the library self at school. Quickly opening it, he began to hastily read a passage feigning a look of interest over what he was reading.

The Peacock when trying to find a mate struts across....

Atticus slowly looked up from his reading and saw the eyes of Tonya Black looking right at him. Startling he returned to his book. He looked up slowly again, she was still watching. The third time he looked up though, she was gone. Randomly placing the book back on the shelf, Atticus slowly began wondering up the isle. As he turned the corner he came upon the apple of his eye, Tonya. She was glaring.

"Why are you following me?" Atticus sputtered.

"Everywhere I've turned for the past week and a half there you are." Atticus began to slowly back away.

"Well!?" Atticus found himself backed against a wall and unable to escape.

"I er.. was wondering...." SMACK. WHAP! Atticus was unconscious before he even knew what was happening.

-----------

"Earnest, I would like you to meet your new Campaign Manager, Micheala Thomas." Earnest Lyon, youngest son of Samantha and George Lyon turned his glaring eyes on his mother.

"WHAT?!"

"Earnest don't get all dramatic. You need someone to lead your campaign and I have found you someone suitable. I will not ask you to thank me, but I will warn you now that if you do not follow her advice I will cut you off and gut you like a fish." With a swish of her coat Samantha dramatically turned on her heel and walked out the door. Mac took a seat.

"So, shall we get started?" asked Mac calmly. Earnest's blazing eyes turned to her. His whole body reeked of his fury as he desperately tried to suppress it, his whole very large and powerful body. He opened his mouth. "And don't look at me like that. You aren't scaring me, not even a little," interrupted Mac before Earnest had even began.

"I'm trying not to scare Miz. Thomas, but I must make it very clear that I do not want you here and I request that you leave." He spoke very clearly and calmly with a look on his face showing anything but that he actually was.

Mac laughed in his face.

"No. I need this job and I have already burnt enough bridges that I can't just leave. Besides you need my help," she said after she quit laughing.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, yes, you do."

"No, no, I don't."

"Look we can do this all day, I don't care but," began Mac leaning foreword in her chair and speaking in a calm voice, "by the end of it, I will still be here."

"Not if I don't want you to be."

"True. But am I worth you losing 3.6 million dollars as well as all funding for this little campaign that will fail?" Earnest studied her.

"Why are you so sure it's going to fail?"

"You have absolutely nothing going for you except the fact that you are breathing."

"Really."

"Yup, even your name is against you." Earnest sat down and leaned back in his seat. Mac was impressed, she had expected to have to argue with the guy for at least another hour.

"You look familiar."

"Do I? Look, I'm not your enemy. I'm stuck with you, you're stuck with me and quite frankly I think I got the worst end of this bargain." Earnest looked mildly insulted, but before he could speak, Mac continued, "Look I need a job and you need help. Let us leave everything else at the door and save a lot of time and effort and just accept the situation. Once that's done all we have to do is win a campaign you can't possibly win."

"Where the hell did my mother find you?"

"Jail. Now about your name."

"What about my name?"

"Well it's very bad."

"Excuse me?"

"And since we're on the issue of bad things, so is your headquarters, dressing style and everything about you politically." Earnest merely looked at her like she was crazy. A look Mac had received many times while in the company of an O'Connelly and her Aunt Karen and thus she merely ignored it. "Now are you married?"

"No."

"You're just trying to make this as difficult as possible aren't you?" Mac got that are you nuts look again. "By the way, call me Mac."

--------

"Addie, Atticus, ATTICUS!" The boy in the bold print very groggily began to open his eyes. Before he could get them fully open though, he felt a sharp slap across his face.

"OW! FINN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"WAKING YOU UP YOU MORON! You might have a concussion you know and DON'T YOU DARE YELL AT ME!" It was only then that Atticus realized he was on the floor of the library and there was a throbbing in his head that felt like it was trying to beat it's way of his skull.

"What the hell happened?"

"You got beat up by a door and a girl. Though mind you that girl had a text book in her hand."

"I did." Suddenly the memories of what had transpired before it had gone all dark came back to him.

"Yup, looks like Tonya cornered you right in front of the door. Mrs. Saunders opened it and smacked you right in the back of the head. Anyway, you understandably stumbled a bit. Tonya freaked out and instinctively clobbered you with a textbook, thinking you were attacking her, since you seem to have been stalking her for the last week and a half you CREEP."

"Ow."

"Yah, I bet. Dad's on his way, Mrs. Saunders went to get him."

"Ow."

"I should think so."

------