When Erik stepped foot in his apart, he immediately knew he wasn't alone. Not that Nadir was trying to be subtle, seated in Erik's favorite arm chair as if he owned the place.

"Care to explain your atrocious behavior?" Nadir barked the moment Erik shut his door.

The masked man didn't answer at first, taking his time to hang up his keys and coat, before slowly turning to face his uninvited guest. "You'll have to be a bit more specific."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't act smart."

Erik hummed thoughtfully as he walked right past Nadir and headed to the kitchen. His friend followed him with an impatient sigh.

"Why were you so late? You obviously planned on coming, yet you couldn't be bothered to show up on time? Do you have any idea how highly I praised you?"

"Well that was your first mistake," Erik quipped as he retrieved two glasses and a bottle of scotch, setting them on the counter.

"So it would seem. So are you going to explain yourself or not?"

Instead of answering at first, Erik poured the scotch, took a long sip, and sighed. He swirled the liquid in his class, making eye contact with his impatient friend.

"No."
Nadir growled as he grabbed his own drink, downing it in one gulp. "Fine. I'm sure I can find you something else."

Erik frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean there's plenty of jobs out there. Maybe I can even find you something at one of our theaters. Granted it likely won't pay near as much as this position would have, but-"

Erik held up a hand to stop him. "That won't be necessary."

"Erik, come on! You refuse to search for anything yourself, what choice do I have? If I let you get evicted, your sorry hide is going to wind up on my couch, and that's simply unacceptable. I know you miss your old job, but-"

"No, Nadir, you misunderstand," Erik interrupted again. "I got the job."

The Persian's mouth dropped, thoroughly stunned. He took several seconds to process this before speaking. "You got the job?"

Erik nodded.

"They offered it to you on the spot?"

Another nod.

"How… how on earth? Why on earth?"

Erik scowled. "What, now you don't want me to have it?"

"No no, it's just… you were twenty minutes late! You didn't even apologize! You walked in looking like you'd rather be anywhere else…and they offered you the job on the spot!?"

The masked man shrugged. "I guess your good word is worth quite a bit."

Nadir shook his head, his mind spinning in confusion. "No, there's no way my word alone would have made up for all that. You must have really wowed them."

Erik gave a short bark of laughter. "Certainly not, I have never 'wowed' anyone in my life."

"Still, you must have-"

At that moment Nadir's phone rang. He fished it from his pocket and smiled when he saw who was calling. "Well, perhaps now I'll get some answers." He answered it, "Hello Mr. Daae!"

The volume was just loud enough that Erik could make out his new employer's end of the conversation.

"Nadir, sorry to bother you on your break,"

"No problem sir, what can I do for you?"

"Nothing at all, I just wanted to let you know we offered the job to your friend, and he accepted."

"Well, that's excellent news, though I must admit I'm rather surprised, what with his tardiness and all. I did want to apologize for that, that was very unlike him." He gave Erik a pointed look, which was ignored.

"I admit that didn't bode too well at first, but he more than made up for it."

Nadir smirked. "Did he now?"

"Oh yes. He's a very sharp young man. And he seems to have that balance Christine and I were looking for. I wanted someone stern and confident, she wanted someone she could get along with personally, and I think we found that in Mr. Destler."

"Really? I knew he had the attitude you were looking for, though I must admit I wasn't so sure Christine would like him."

Gustave laughed. "Well, I'm not sure she did at first. She gave him a rough time to begin with, asking him questions we hadn't asked anyone else all day,"

Erik raised an eyebrow at that.

"But he didn't miss a beat, and by the end I think she warmed up to him just a bit. He may take some getting used to, but I think they'll get along just fine."

"I think so too."

They spoke for a few more moments about work before Nadir finally hung up, turning to Erik with an amused smile. "Well, it appears you did in fact, wow them."

Erik rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored the comment.

"When's your first day?"

"Monday."

"What are you going to wear?"

He gestured to his current ensemble of black suit with a white dress shirt. Nadir frowned.

"Can't you at least wear a tie?

"No."

Monday came and Erik found himself following Nadir through the sterile lobby of the office building that housed Daae Enterprises. So far, with them commuting together and now Nadir giving Erik his tour, it appeared his promise that they wouldn't be spending much time together had been a lie.

"Daae Enterprises is on the 12th floor, but I'm sure you figured that out yesterday," Nadir was explaining as the elevator doors closed. "That reminds me, how did you figure out where to go? I was assuming you'd let me know when you were here so I could show you up."

Erik shrugged. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. Sign in the lobby says what floor. Receptionist told me where to go from there."

Nadir simply shook his head. Erik was either completely nonchalant or obsessively passionate about each thing he did, and he never knew which side he was going to get.

When they reached the 12th floor Nadir showed him where to find the conference room, office cubicles, and break room. The entire floor was the picturesque vision of a run of the mill office. Erik was glad he wouldn't be spending too much time there. Nadir finally led them back to his own office for a complete run down of duties.

"So, obviously, your main concern is to just be at Christine's side whenever she leaves. Which is quite often, since she's the one who makes the rounds of the theaters, goes out for client lunches, things like that. She's usually only here for about an hour first thing in the morning, then at the end of the day."

"And I wait here until she's ready to go?"

"Yep. You can sit here with me, grab a coffee downstairs, chit chat with the office minions, whatever floats your boat."

Erik gave him a long-suffering glance and Nadir snickered, knowing "chit chat" was the last thing Erik desired.

"He explained your hours on Wednesday didn't he?"

Erik nodded.

"Good. He also wanted me to ask you'd ever be interested in some overtime. Christine does have a life outside of work after all, and he wants her to be just as protected then. They know you can't be with her every waking moment, so they plan to try and hire another part time guard eventually. But until then, interested in some extra hours?"

He gave another nod. Might as well, not as though he had anything better to do at the moment.

"Great, I'll let him know."

They whiled away the next hour, Nadir working from his computer, Erik asking the occasional question, mostly just sitting in silence. Erik was just on the verge of getting bored, when at long last Christine poked her head in the door with a smile.

"Good morning Nadir! Mr. Destler!"

He stood to greet her. "Erik."

She smiled brighter. Erik tried to return it, realized how incredibly unnatural it felt, and gave up. Fortunately she didn't seem to notice.

"Erik then. I was just heading out for the day if you're ready to go?"

He resisted the urge to laugh. He had been ready for the last hour. Instead he just nodded.

"Fantastic! Then let us begin the first day of our glorious new partnership."

Erik quickly learned that Christine was incredibly upbeat and optimistic. When they got caught in the rain between the office and her car waiting out front, she laughed it off despite her hair being soaked. When they arrived at the first theatre and learned that half the lead cast for their production of Annie had walked out, she took the problem on with a determined smile. When their biggest prospective client cancelled brunch, she shrugged and decided she would get them next time. In each thing she did, Christine was the picture of positivity.

Erik found it incredibly annoying.

Still, he had to give her props, since he knew he would have likely thrown several things and fired several people had he been in her shoes.

And now, with them walking several blocks to her lunch appointment as a result of the driver running over a nail, he decided he should make an effort to tell her as much.

"I must say your determination is rather impressive," he said casually. His words were directed to her but his eyes never stopped scanning their surroundings.

"Oh, well thank you," she said with a laugh. "Dad says I get it from my mother. Though I don't think he gives himself enough credit, since I never met her, and he's the one who taught me to work hard after all. I mean, our business wouldn't be where it is today without him. And me, technically, but he's the real business man, I'm more of the people person. That's why we make such a good team."

Erik smiled inwardly. She sure liked to talk.

As if reading his mind, she said, "But goodness, I've talked about myself so much today, and yet I've hardly heard a peep out of you."

He chuckled. "I do believe that's what my job entails."

Christine waved her hand dismissively. "Nonsense. I know my father made this big deal out of having this angry looking, silent guardian by my side at all times, but he's rather dramatic. I see no reason why we can't get to know each other."

Erik hummed thoughtfully. "What would you like to know?"

"Well…let's see…"

She knew very well what she wanted to know, but Nadir had made it clear that was off limits, so she tried to think of something else. She bit her lip as she thought, making little humming noises.

Erik finally glanced at her, his eyes drawn to the lip between her teeth. Once again he found himself on the cursed train of thought that led to him finding her attractive. He beat it down quickly and returned to his task of watching their surroundings.

Christine finally remembered something he had said in his interview and decided to work off that. "You said you're a musician right? What do you play?"

"Piano," He answered shortly.

"Just piano?"

He could hear a teasing smile in her voice. He resisted the urge to look at her again.

"A bit of everything I suppose. But mostly piano."

"You'll have to let me hear you play sometime."

A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Perhaps…"

A few moments passed as she endeavored to think of something else.

"How old are you?"

This time he did look at her, a quick glance that didn't quite move his head. Shouldn't that have been on his resume? Maybe she forgot. Or maybe Nadir neglected to include it, which wouldn't surprise him.

"Thirty five."

Her eyebrows went up slightly. "Really? And here my father has been referring to you as 'that young man'."

He fully faced her then, eyes narrowed. "Calling me old?" He attempted to keep his tone light, hiding the irritation he actually felt.

Christine's eyes grew wide and she quickly back tracked. "No no no not at all!" She insisted, waving her hands slightly to emphasize. "I just meant, he talks about you like you're a young boy, and…well, I just thought…"

He smiled slightly as her face turned red.

"All I meant was," she tried again through a breathy laugh, his smile setting her at ease, "I think that term is more befitting of our college intern. You, on the other hand, are certainly just…" she turned to him, their eyes meeting, "…a man."

Their gaze held as the last word left her lips just above a whisper, Erik briefly forgetting his post of vigilance. Christine's eyes flickered to his sharp jawline before meeting his again.

The moment lasted just a heartbeat too long and Erik suddenly looked away, once again scanning the area with a face of stone. Christine turned as well, now finding the pavement vastly interesting.

Erik cleared his throat and attempted to dispel…whatever it was that just occurred. "Yes well, don't tell your father I said this, but I've heard people his age often see anyone much younger than them as childlike."

Christine laughed. "You can say that again. I'm a few years younger than you, so you can imagine how he views me."

"He seems to put an awful lot of trust in you. You do own half the business after all."

Why was he still talking to her? He never exchanged more than three sentences with anyone unless he had to. Yet here he was, actually contributing to a conversation.

"He does. And I do," Christine admitted, "But in his eyes I'll always be his little girl, no matter how grown up I get."

Erik nodded. "I suppose that's how most father's are."

The conversation finally ebbed and Christine jostled her brain for something else to say. She enjoyed talking to him. It was surprisingly easy to do so, considering his stoic manner. Not to mention his voice was wonderfully smooth and deep. She was saved the task however, as they finally reached their destination. She spotted her clients waiting outside.

She looked to Erik with a grin. "Show time!"