"Piper will you slow down. John did offer to return the keys last night. If you didn't trust him, why didn't you accept his offer?"
"First of all, were you there last night? None of us could really think clearly. Second, it's not that I didn't trust him, it's just that I don't now."
"What did you just say? That makes no sense."
"Phoebe shut up and let me drive!"
Phoebe snapped her mouth shut. Piper had that tone in her voice that told her not to push her luck. Within minutes they arrived at the club. Piper didn't even turn off the car; she jumped out of the car and ran inside.
"What is it with this family? When their in a hurry, they leave it to me to turn off the car when I'm not even driving."
Phoebe got out of the car, walked around to the driver's side and turned off the engine. Taking the keys out of the ignition she closed the door and pushed the door lock button on the key ring. Once she saw the head lights blink, she knew the car was secure and headed into the club.
Arriving inside they didn't need to look for John long, they found him sitting at the bar. In front of him was stacks of money, Piper's accounting books for the club, and the receipts from the night before.
"What the hell do you think your doing?"
"Piper!"
John jumped from his seat; he seemed so shocked that they were standing right behind him.
"Don't Piper me! Answer my question."
"I tried to call your cell. I know what this must look like, but it's not. I knew you wouldn't be able to open the club for a while, and I didn't want you to worry about the money. I came in here to get everything logged for you, and put a deposit together. I was going to drop it at the hospital after I was done."
Piper looked from him to the money, then back to him. She couldn't tell if he was lying or telling the truth. She stayed quiet; she didn't want to say anything she would regret later. John just stepped out of the way and allowed Piper to sit down in front of her ledger book. Only then did John feel comfortable enough to continue.
"All the receipts are in order and logged for you. The club did very well last night. Everything seems to balance out, we were a quarter off, but I took one from my pocket, so it's all good. Tell you what, while you look that over, how about I make you guys something to eat. You look starved."
"You know I am hungry."
"Phoebe you're always hungry. Besides John, you aren't on the clock right now are you?"
"No I'm not, but it's not a problem. I'll see what I can find. Oh and Piper by the way, I did call all the staff, they said they understand, and are ready to return whenever you say so."
Piper watched as John exited through the double doors that lead to a small kitchen they had in the back. Once he was out of sight and earshot, Piper returned her attention to her books. She still had yet to even crack a smile since they entered the club, she was all business.
"Piper you need to calm down. If he was going to rip you off, he would have done it last night. He certainly wouldn't have the money spread out across the bar in nice neat piles. He's great."
"Pheebs please be quiet, I want to look over all this stuff. It's so easy for people to steal from their boss, if they aren't paying attention."
Piper focused her attention on the sales receipts, journal tapes, and ledger. She was looking for any evidence that it had been tampered with in any way. She cross checked each receipt with the log, then double and triple counted the money to make sure it all balanced. By the time John came back she was satisfied that he really wasn't up to anything bad.
"Here you go ladies, sorry we didn't have any breakfast stuff, but I you small burgers and fries. So Piper how did I do, everything alright?"
"John you balanced this almost as well as I do."
"Well it took a while for me to figure out your system of logging. Everyone does things a little different. I majored in business management and had to take an accounting class. Actually I had to take several, so it wasn't difficult once I figured out your system."
"You have a business degree? Not that I'm complaining, but why are you working here?"
"Jobs are hard to come by, even with a degree. People don't want to hire someone with no experience, even if they did graduate in the top five percent of their class."
"Still doesn't explain why you did this for me?"
"I would think that would be obvious Piper. You really take care of your employees. People work here, not because of the money, but because of the respect you give us. I went to college for four years to learn what it takes to manage a business, but they didn't teach me half as much as I've learned working for you."
"I'm nothing special."
"Sure you are. How many bosses out there know not just their employees, but every member of their family as well? You really care about us, and that makes us want to go above and beyond for you. It meant a lot to me that you trusted me to lock up last night for you. You handed over you your keys without a second thought, that's rare."
"Piper, you know who he reminds me of?"
"Who?"
"You. When you worked at Quake."
"Not exactly, but this has got me thinking John. I feel terrible that you did all this work on your own time. I don't ever want you to feel that you have to sacrifice your personal life for your job."
"Hey, what else was I going to do today? I was supposed to work tonight, remember."
"Yes I do. I also remember that I promised myself, when I became a boss, that if an employee showed promise, I would make sure I would do everything I could to help with that. So this is what I was thinking, I still need a new assistant, especially now. Nancy's surgery went well, but I'm going to be pretty busy for the next few weeks, helping out around the house. I need someone I can trust to run here for me."
"Sounds reasonable."
"I would like to promote you to assistant manager, with a raise, and I'll find a way to get you some kind of benefits. We'll make it temporary for now, and if it works out, I'll make it permanent. How does that sound?"
"Are you kidding? That's great. When do I start?"
"Tonight. Your first job is to take these keys, go and make a copy for yourself. You will also need to contact the staff; the club will be open tonight, under your management.
"I'll just go get the list from your office and make the calls on the way to the key place."
"By the way, when I'm not here, it's your office."
"Thanks."
John grabbed the keys off the bar, ran into the office, grabbed the list, and then ran out the back door. Phoebe continued to eat her sandwich and fries. Piper began to put the money into a deposit bag then picked up her sandwich and took a bite. They both jumped when the door swung open and John was standing there.
"Did you forget something?"
"Yes, you guys. Unless you plan on staying here till I get back, I have the only set of keys to lock the door."
"You heard him Pheebs, let's go."
"Piper you didn't finish your sandwich."
Piper didn't pay attention, so Phoebe picked up what was left of her sandwich and Pipers before heading out the door. Piper paused in the front of John, handing him the deposit bag.
"Listen, I'll pick my keys up later. Can you drop this off at the bank; it's on your way. I'll stop in tomorrow, and we can figure out the schedule for the next couple of weeks."
"You bet. Sounds good."
With that he locked the door, ran back to his still running car, and took off. Phoebe handed Piper her sandwich as they watched him drive away, then got into their car.
"You know he's great, you're really lucky. Not to mention, he's not bad looking either."
"Don't even think about dating one of my employees. I'd hate for it to go bad, and then I'm screwed. I would have to fire you as my sister."
"What?"
"Well like you said he's great. I wouldn't want to loose him."
Piper laughed out loud, and as a payback, Phoebe grabbed Piper's sandwich taking a big bite out of it.
"I wasn't hungry anyway."
Piper replied as she turned on the car and took off for home. Right around that time, Prue was walking off the elevator at Bucklands. Walking past her secretary she knew she was in for a lot of explaining.
"Prue, Mr. Caldwell has been looking for you. He's really pissed."
"Yea, well what else is new? I'm about to piss him off more. Where is he?"
"In his office."
"Figures. Thanks Monica."
Walking down the hall she passed many workers who were rushing through the halls carrying many of the items that were about to be auctioned off. She felt bad for them, but knew she didn't have time to stop and help. Not even bothering to knock, she walked through the door before she lost her nerve.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Where the hell have you been? The auction starts in an hour and look at you. You look like you slept in those cloths."
"That's because I did. Listen, I'm not going to be able to work today."
"What? Are you crazy?"
"Jack can handle the auction. He's been working with me the whole time, he knows every detail."
"Jack is not my best employee. You are!"
"Well your best employee needs some time. My cousin, the one I just got custody of, was hurt really bad. She's in the hospital right now, she almost died last night. I need to work half days for a while, but I need the rest of this week off."
"But.."
"I'm sorry, if you can't give me this then I'll have no choice but to quit and find a company that will give me the time."
"Alright, alright you win. I sure as hell don't want to loose you. Take all the time you need."
"Thank you. I'll be back here next Monday, we can arrange a work schedule then."
Prue shook Mr. Caldwell's hand and walked out of the office. Walking toward the elevator she bumped right into Jack.
"Prue, where have you been? Caldwell is going nuts. You look exhausted."
"I am. Listen, call me tonight and I'll explain everything."
"Wait a minute, you're leaving? What about the auction?"
"You can handle it. I have total confidence in you. I'm taking the rest of the week off. Like I said, call me tonight. I promise to explain everything. Right now I have to go."
Giving Jack a quick kiss on the cheek she walked away, leaving him totally confused. She quickly grabbed a cab and headed home. Arriving almost at the same time as Piper and Phoebe, they fought for the shower, changed cloths, and headed back to the hospital.