After a week, Zelena was beginning to get bored. Working felt like a long series of answering phone calls and sending emails, but not getting much done. Mister-Monsieur, Zelena corrected-Maladra's response to Zelena's first email was quite possibly the most exciting thing that had happened for several days. Nonetheless, there was a lot of this boring work to be done and Zelena, along with the small army the company had hired for their new branch, was responsible for doing it.
Every new hire was sworn to secrecy and came in bursting with excitement, only to fall into the same trap Zelena had. When she dared to ask Annette about it the woman had shrugged and said, as though it was a Commandment from God, "That's work."
Zelena hadn't been lying to the interviewer when she confessed her lack of ambition, but if it could get her out of this situation, she was beginning to consider accruing some.
She took her coffee break with as much relief as the rest of the team, although as Ms. Jaclyn Mills she only drank light tea. Her weekend was spent exploring the city and talking to Nicene, hoping against hope that she wouldn't bump into her soulmate. She didn't. But destiny wasn't going to wait forever, and it was on the Monday of the next week that Zelena entered her floor to a buzz of low voices.
She sat down, then leaned towards Annette to ask what was going on. Annette flushed. Her response, when she gave it, was quiet and hurried, almost embarrassed.
"The Viziers are coming by today."
Zelena's brow furrowed. "The who?"
"One of the marketing teams."
Annette stared into her eyes. Zelena just sat back in her swivel chair. "And why is that so special?"
Annette jerked a little and Zelena froze, afraid she'd been a bit too cold for Jaclyn's character. Then Annette broke into a smile and folded her hands in her lap.
"Oh that's right, I forgot, you're new."
Annette's fingers slipped in and out of each other without her noticing. "The marketing division is famous around here. They're arguably the most efficient in the company and their they've had a streak of successes since they got a new head."
Zelena smiled, unsure how to respond. Annette filled in the silence. "Well anyway, they're going to check in with our department today. It's a company tradition: there's a constant rotation between departments to work together for a day. It takes a while, and only now have we gotten lucky enough to work with the Viziers."
Zelena tapped her hands together. "Awesome. It sounds great. When will they get here?"
"In about ten minutes."
Their conversation stopped as Mrs. Levino clapped for attention. She was standing at the front of the room, looking out over the workers.
"As you well know, the Viziers will be working with us today."
There were muffled squeals of excitement from all genders. Mrs. Levino glared in their direction.
"I know you may be excited to meet our company's most popular team…" She waved her hands at the word. "…But they are our most efficient for a reason. You will be expected to work harder and smarter than you have up until this point and I will not tolerate disappointment."
Zelena tensed at the tone but the rest of the office seemed just as relaxed and joyful as they had before. A silence fell, the workers still staring at Mrs. Levino. She scoffed.
"Dismissed, get to work. Your partner in the marketing division will be here shortly."
Chairs swiveled on the carpeted floor and computers began whirring, despite frequent glances at the door. Zelena wanted to be interested, she really did, but it was a Monday, and she had been away from her magic, away from Storybrooke, for too long to be excited. She gave her colleagues a perfunctory smile, then got right into her work.
The volume of talk rose a bit when the glass double doors opened but Zelena didn't look up until a seat was moved over next to hers and a laptop set on her desk. Then she noticed the shocked faces of her coworkers, staring at whoever had just stepped into her cubicle.
She spun from her work for a moment to see what all the fuss was about. Her spine stiffened. Mentally she cursed Regina, Rumple, Glinda, and her mother, because, why not? The tanned hands of the man next to her were ringed by that telltale glow of green magic that she'd been dreading for days. To think she'd been avoiding him only to have him sit down right next to her.
He was tapping away on his keyboard, booting up the system, but his fingers moved too haphazardly to be the focus of his thoughts and his body was half twisted to face her. The minute he was comfortable he would turn to her and introduce himself, she was sure. So however long that took was how long she had to school her expression to the blank, positive mask of Jaclyn Mills, hoping he wouldn't recognize the woman on the street. In a couple of seconds it was done.
Then she almost caught herself and fell into her own identity. The question struck. If she wanted to get rid of this man and run back to Storybrooke, why would she hide her real self from him? It was more likely to drive him away.
Zelena mentally sighed. It would be problematic to have an outburst here, with so many people around. She was only so strong physically and using magic to get out of the ensuing situation, revealing its existence, wasn't ideal.
In the couple of seconds it took for her to run through her options her soulmate had finished his task, and then raised his head to meet her eyes. She trailed her eyes down from the top of his head to his feet, trying to be quick about it so she'd seem more interested than flirty. God forbid.
The man had short black hair that partially swept across his forehead and partially stuck out like a crew cut. His suit jacket had been discarded in his office and he wore a white button down with no tie and the top two buttons undone. The shirt fit him perfectly, not too tight but still accentuating his lithe frame. His slacks were navy blue and a silver watch gleamed on his left wrist.
His eyes struck her the most in the midst of a kind, amused, and attractive face. They were a brilliant green, almost unreal. His eyes were the towers of The Emerald City, the smoke of her own magic, the previous color of her skin. For some reason, the last thought didn't give her as much pain as she thought it would.
He gave her the same cursory once over and held out his hand. She took it and shook it, unable to resist shaking with her normal strength rather than Jaclyn's soft caress.
"Nathanial Thomas."
She nodded. "Jaclyn Mills."
"Hmm," he mused. "Nice to meet you Ms. Mills."
"The pleasure's all mine, Mr. Thomas."
He moved his chair closer to hers and leaned over to look at her screen. "What are you working on?"
She hid her irritation behind confusion. "I somehow ended up dealing with all of the jewelers and a couple of the material distributors. Why?"
Nathanial shrugged, his shoulders going up in that perfectly tailored white button down.
"We should be working in conjunction with each other. I'm working on our internet publicity campaign. Jewelry is the centerpiece of any outfit, I have to incorporate any information I can in my pitches."
Zelena nodded. "And the materials?"
Nathanial leaned back in his chair and smiled. "What is the biggest selling point of material?"
Zelena knew this one from years of intimate observation in Oz's marketplaces. "Pedigree."
Nathanial snapped. "Exactly. Our target market is much larger than just those who have swallowed fabric encyclopedias. We only need to have vaunted quality to catch someone's attention."
Zelena set a finger against her lips. "Is that your philosophy for evaluating people as well?"
She was teasing him. He leaned forward and set his elbows on his knees, all play draining from his expression.
"Of course not. Humans are much more complicated than fabric types. Therefore, they require more of a complicated touch."
Internally Zelena approved. Outwardly she just smiled and turned back to her work.
"I'll send you the names of the companies I'm corresponding with and if you need any information regarding their pedigree, I have some."
Nathanial laughed. "It sounds as though you've done my job for me, Ms. Mills."
Zelena offered that an utterly feminine giggle, resisting the urge to scoff. "I highly doubt it, Mr. Thomas."
By the end of the day Zelena was exhausted but her opinion of her soulmate had improved with shocking rapidity. Nathanial was as efficient a worker as she was, and he had an innate sense for working with a partner, something she suspected came from working intimately on a team.
Together they had crafted the beginnings of several social media campaigns centered around the reputations of the companies Zelena was working with. She sent off emails to the companies in question informing them that they were in the campaign, slightly as an incentive, a suggestion of Nathanial's, and slightly as a threat, which was her all over.
She didn't know for sure, but she suspected none of the other pairs had even come close to their level of accomplishment.
The Viziers left early to finalize some work on their own and it was then that Annette leaned over the cubicle wall to squeal at Zelena about Nathanial. And after fielding several minutes' worth of incoherent excitement, Zelena learned that her high opinion of Nathanial was justified, as he was the leader of the Viziers.
For a moment she entertained the idea of the two of them together and found great hilarity in how clichéd they were. A low level new hire and the experienced businessman. Office relationships indeed. How ridiculous.
Nicene was waiting for Zelena the minute she walked in the door and demanded a detailed explanation so Zelena took dinner in Nicene's apartment. They talked through the entire day, cracking jokes about the work atmosphere and the hero worship that existed around the Viziers. Nicene had made a particularly appropriate joke about what leadership made Nathanial, and Zelena didn't think she'd ever be able to look him in the eye again without thinking, "Grand Vizier Nathanial."
She was surprised to find herself not participating in the beginnings of jokes that crushed the people she had told Nicene about. Nicene herself noticed this and stopped making them, but Zelena kept the fact in the back of her mind for pondering over later.
Nevertheless, the dinner was pleasant and it was quite the change to have someone else cook for her and be the one waiting for the food. Zelena felt guilty and uncomfortable throughout the whole process, thinking she should be getting up and helping somehow. Nicene shot her a look from the kitchenette when she asked for the fourth time, her answer within and tinged by an unidentifiable sadness.
Zelena was just settling into bed when she thought to maybe call Regina and tell her what had happened. But her sister's misplaced enthusiasm would just wear her out more. Zelena settled for texting a simple, "Ran into my soulmate at work today. We worked on a project together," then setting her phone to the side and ignoring all one hundred and thirty six insistent buzzes it made throughout the night.
Author's note:
Just a little meet-cute for you all, in case the "saving you from getting hit by a car" wasn't enough. I may or may not be updating a bit more often soon…maybe…I may not update the story you want over and over, I may update multiple stories, chapter by chapter. (I'm trying to keep a chapter ahead so I'm not just pulling plotlines out of thin air for content) Thank you so much and, as always, please R&R. There is nothing that makes my day faster than a well-articulated review or just a kind comment. Find me on tumblr ragingstillness.