Rory entered the historic News Building, where the New York Daily News offices were located, just after lunch time. Uncharacteristically she'd been too nervous to eat lunch. Pausing for a moment to honor this auspicious occasion Rory admired the giant globe and weather instruments that adorned the lobby. This building and its lobby had been the inspiration and model for the look of the Daily Plant office in the first two Superman movies. As she continued to study the globe she steadied herself, preparing to head to reception and check herself in. She was a little nervous about today partly because she would be working under her husband and her father-in-law and was trying to keep that fact a secret; but more so because she had landed a job at the sixth largest paper in the United States, a paper that had won nine Pulitzer Prizes. She just hoped that she was as capable as her husband and father-in-law seemed to think she was.
Rory somewhat timidly approached the reception desk and when she'd gotten the receptionist's attention said, "I'm Rory Gilmore; I'm meeting Darin Wilson."
"Take the elevator up to the fifth floor, I'll call Darin and let him know you're on the way up," the receptionist said cheerfully.
In the elevator Rory straightened her already perfectly aligned skirt, smoothed her flawless hair and finally applied an unnecessary coat of lip gloss. Not feeling any better she let out a nervous little sigh before the elevator opened on the fifth floor. Rory stepped out and immediately noticed a stout, balding man rushing toward her.
"Miss Gilmore, I presume," he said excitedly. "I'm Darin Wilson. Thank you so much for starting a week early. Things have been a little shaky here since the change in management."
"Nice to met you," Rory said simply in reply.
"Like I explained on the phone this morning, today I just want to get you acclimated. Tomorrow we'll set you up with some assignments. I'll show you to your cubicle and then you'll meet with Helen Jennings, our Human Resources Administrator," Darin explained.
Darin led Rory to an area that she assumed housed the Lifestyles section of the paper. While she'd been told that several of the reporters in this section had quit this morning she still noticed several people poke their heads out of their cubes to get a look at the newest employee. Outside her cube a small plastic name plate had already been hung. It read, 'Rory Gilmore, Lifestyles Reporter." Rory felt a small thrill pass through her as she read this and looked around her small cube. Darin gave her a minute before announcing that it was nearly time for her to meet with Helen.
On their way to Helen's office Rory was trying to recall all the details she and Logan had built into her story to keep people from figuring out exactly who she was. She was so busy thinking she didn't notice Logan coming down the same hallway from the opposite direction until Darin stopped short suddenly and Rory nearly bumped into him.
"Miss Gilmore," Darin said formally, "I would like to introduce you to Logan Huntzberger, our editor in chief."
Rory's eyes widened as she looked up and saw her husband standing before her, "Nice to meet you Mr. Huntzberger."
"Lovely to meet you as well; welcome aboard," Logan replied with a twinkle in his eye, "I hope you enjoy working here."
"Thank you," Rory said.
"Helen is waiting to meet with Rory to go over her benefits," Darin explained as he started off down the hallway again.
"I'm off to a meeting as well," Logan said as he continued in the opposite direction.
"He seemed quite nice," Rory said in an effort to continue the appearance that they did not already know one another.
"Yes, well," Darin began, "He's married so don't get any ideas."
Rory wasn't sure if she should be offended that her new boss seemed to think that she might be someone who'd be romantically interested in their boss or amused. So she simply replied, "Don't worry; so am I."
Darin shot her a surprised look and said, "Really? You look too young to be married. I'm sorry about what my comment before implied. But you wouldn't believe the female attention he gets around here. All morning long, everywhere I went women were talking about him and how young, good looking and rich he is."
"Really," Rory said, trying to fight the irritation out of her voice.
"Ah, here's Helen's office," Darin said as they stopped suddenly, "Helen, this is Miss Gilmore, er, Ms. Gilmore."
"Maybe she prefers Mrs. Gilmore," Helen supplied.
"Actually Gilmore is not my married name, Ms. will be fine; but I'd prefer Rory," Rory said.
"Will you send Ms. Gilmore back my way when you've finished up here?" Darin asked.
"Certainly," Helen said, "Rory, come in, take a seat."
Rory entered the small, cluttered office, closing the door behind her and settling into one of the two chairs before Helen's desk. Helen had several forms for Rory to fill out in regard to health benefits, direct deposit for her paycheck, personal contact information, an emergency contact form and various others. Rory waived her rights to health insurance; as Logan had told her that he'd enroll her with him under her married name. Rory still had her own checking account from before they were married and had decided to give that account information for direct deposit. Logan had added her names to all his accounts after they'd gotten married; but it would raise some red flags if her check went to the same account that Logan's did. Her personal information form and emergency contact form presented some interesting challenges as far as what information to provide or not. Obviously she couldn't provide her real address; because it would be the same as Logan's. They'd considered several options including getting a P.O. Box, having her mail sent to the Branford address or her mother's house. In the end Logan arranged for the two of them to have separate mailboxes that listed different apartment numbers in the lobby of their building. He'd had to pay off a few people to arrange it; but in the end it appeared to be the best option. On her emergency contact form Rory listed her mother. Helen reviewed the form and asked why Rory wouldn't list her husband as her emergency contact; especially since her mother lived over an hour away from the city. Rory had also refused to list her husband's name and contact information on her personal information sheet and took this opportunity to explain both.
"My husband travels a lot for his job. It is better not to list him and instead list someone who would be available to come to my aid in a crisis. I prefer to keep him unlisted because even when I list my mother as my emergency contact if people see that I have a husband listed on my personal contact form they choose to call him first and if he's in China, he can't help and valuable time has been lost in contacting my real emergency contact. Not to mention that my husband is now worried, perhaps needlessly," Rory rattled off.
Helen still looked slightly suspicious about Rory's response but accepted it none the less. After all the proper forms had been filled out Helen gave Rory a copy of the company policy manual and had her pose for a headshot which would be used to make her new employee id and her press pass. Helen was about to send Rory back to Darin when she asked, "Can you at least share your husband's name?"
"Joe Johnson," Rory said simply; offering the name she and Logan had agreed upon.
"Would you like to list a phone number for him?" Helen asked as she scribbled Joe's name into the notes section of Rory's file.
"No," Rory said, "I can find my way back to Darin's office on my own. Thank you."
As Rory made her way to Darin's office she kept her eyes peeled for Logan. As odd as it was to be secretly working under her husband and her father-in-law; the prospect of running into Logan at work had its merits. Rory knocked quietly on Darin's door frame when she'd arrived at his office. Looking up from what he was working on he said, "Wonderful, you're just in time. Mitchum and Logan Huntzberger are making their way around to all the departments today to discuss the change in management."
Darin led Rory to a conference room where the rest of the Lifestyles staff was already waiting. The studied her openly as she took an open seat at the table.
"Everyone, this is Rory Gilmore, she is a new staff reporter in our section; we will get to know a little bit more about her after the meeting with the Huntzbergers," Darin announced.
Rory plastered shy smile on her face; but didn't feel that any of the forced smiles that graced her new co-worker's faces in response were genuine. Luckily she didn't have to suffer for long. Mitchum and Logan entered the room, effectively knocking Rory off the radar.
"Good afternoon everyone," Logan said warmly, "As you may already know I am Logan Huntzberger and this is my Father, Mitchum Huntzberger. We wanted to meet with all of you as soon as possible to discuss the change in management. We are aware that in this department alone several reporters quit in response to the news of the new management. We would like to assure you that while we intend to make some change to the paper, the paper will remain largely unchanged."
Mitchum jumped in at this point and said, "We feel that New York Daily News is an exceptionally strong paper. Naturally we will try to strengthen the areas that we feel could use strengthening; but over all we are happy to continue this paper as is."
"For those of you who might not know," Darin interrupted, looking specifically at Rory. "Mitchum is head of the Huntzberger Media Group and is now the owner of our newspaper. Logan is his son and had taken on the role as the editor and chief of our paper."
Rory nodded, trying to look as if this information was new to her. She was trying to appear to be paying rapt attention to Mitchum and Logan; without actually making eye contact with either of them. She hadn't realized that she'd be thrown into this situation so quickly; but from the briefest glances she had stolen; neither had they. After some Q and A, Mitchum and Logan left to meet with another department.
"I promised that we'd get to know Rory better after our meeting with the Huntzbergers," Darin said, "So we shall. Rory, would you care to tell us a few things about yourself?"
"Sure," Rory said nervously, "My name is Rory Gilmore. This is my first journalism job after college. I went to Yale and was the editor and chief of the Yale Daily News. I am very excited to be here and hope to get to know all of you better very soon."
"Are you married?" A middle aged woman asked bluntly.
"Yes," Rory said.
"How old are you?" Some one else asked.
"I'm not sure that's anyone's business," Rory said, "But I'm 23, if you really need to know."
"You were hired by the Huntzbergers," a young man asked, "Weren't you?"
"Yeah," Rory said, "So?"
"Are you going to be like a spy for them?" An older man asked, "Watch what we do and report back to them?"
"I am an employee of Huntzberger Media; just like all of you now are; plain and simple," Rory said.
When no one had any more questions for Rory, Darin went around the table asking everyone to state their name and position with the department. Rory tried to mentally note all their names but knew that she was failing. Her mind was still reeling from being accused of being a Huntzberger spy; which technically she could be considered. She had to make sure that none of these people figured out exactly who she was, before they got to know her and saw that she was not a threat.
After the meeting Darin said she could return to her cube and look through the employee policy manual until he had time to talk with her about how things worked in their department. Rory was thankful to have some time alone at her desk; she was beginning to feel like the enemy, rather than the newest NYDN employee. Back at her desk Rory was surprised to find two packages. Sure that one was from Logan she began opening them. She had guessed correctly; a cheerful arrangement of daisies and yellow roses arrived with a card that read, 'Rory, Happy first day of work! Dinner tonight? Text me your answer. Love, Joe.' Inside the second package was a cookie bouquet. Rory grinned, knowing who it was likely to be from before she opened the card, which said, 'Rory, Congratulations your first grown-up job! I'm so proud of you! Love, Mom.' Skipping lunch had started to catch up with her; Rory pulled a cookie from her bouquet and munched on it as she pulled out her sidekick to accept Logan's dinner invitation.
Rory: Where are you taking me for dinner? Thank you for the flowers!
Knowing that he was probably busy she set her sidekick down and opened the employee policy manual beside her. A half an hour later she hadn't heard from Logan and Darin still hadn't come to fetch her again. She'd read a mere quarter of the policy manual; which had to be the most boring thing she'd ever read. Setting it down on her desk she bravely decided to go in search of coffee. Slipping her sidekick into her pocket she rose from her chair and stepped out of her cube. Rory wandered around the Lifestyles area, not finding coffee. She expanded her search to the entire fifth floor and still didn't manage to find coffee. After a trip to the ladies room Rory headed back to her desk, coffee-less. Rory was contemplating asking on of her hostile co-workers where to find coffee when her sidekick buzzed in her pocket. Quickly pulling it out she read:
Logan: Your choice. How is your day going?
Rory: It has been interesting. BTW, do you know where I can get a cup of coffee around here?
Logan: Interesting good or interesting bad?
Rory: At the moment your priority should be directing me to coffee.
Logan: I've heard that there is supposed to be a coffee station on each floor; but I haven't found the one on my floor either.
Rory: What floor are you on?
Logan: My office is on the sixth floor.
Rory: I have one solution to my coffee crisis.
Logan: Do I want to hear this?
Rory: Tonight after dinner let's buy a coffee maker for me to keep at my own desk.
Logan: So you can be a hermit and never leave your cube? I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure that having a coffee maker in your cube is against fire code or something.
Rory: Dang.
Logan: Go ask one of your co-workers where the coffee is. I'm sure they'll tell you.
Rory: I don't know; they are really unpleasant so far.
Logan: Why?
Rory: We'll talk about it at dinner; I'm sure you have work to do.
Rory closed her sidekick and slipped it back into her purse just moments before Darin appeared in her doorway.
"Rory, forget about reading that employee policy manual. Sounds likes Huntzberger Media will be sending over a new one shortly," Darin said, "Why don't you join me in my office and I'll give you the lay of the land."
"Before we do that, can you tell me where I can get a cup of coffee?" Rory asked, "I can't seem to find any."
"It can be a little tricky to find," Darin explained, "If you go back toward the elevator there is a tiny, little kitchenette near the copy machines, against the back wall."
"Ah, the one place I didn't look," Rory said, "Let me grab myself some coffee and I'll met you there."
"Great," Darin said as he headed back to his office.
Rory followed Darin's directions and sure enough found the kitchenette he'd been speaking of. Rory poured coffee into a Styrofoam cup and drank a large portion of it in one gulp. After refilling the cup back to the top Rory turned to leave just as two women not much older than herself arrived, chatting animatedly.
"Did you hear that a new reporter started in Lifestyles today?" a blonde woman asked her friend.
"Yeah, Paige told me that Steve accused her of being a spy for Huntzberger Media since she is the first new employee to come on board since the take over," a chesty brunette replied.
Awkwardly they stared at Rory when they noticed her presence. Quickly Rory hurried past them, not wanting any more confrontation today.
"Do you think that was her?" One of them asked.
"Probably," the other replied as they collapsed into giggles over being caught talking about the new girl, in front of the new girl.
Rory rolled her eyes; she hadn't realized how much work might resemble high school. She continued onto Darin's office and shut the door behind her when she arrived. For the next hour Darin explained to her all the processes that the Lifestyles section had implemented. Rory diligently took notes in the notebook that she'd brought with her and asked questions as they occurred to her. Darin promised to have a few story assignments for her to start working on the next morning. He explained that once every two weeks the whole section would meet and brainstorm story ideas. From their brainstorming session two or three stories were assigned to each writer and every day three to four stories appeared in their section of the newspaper. Each of the 15 or so writers in the department could expect to see one of their stories in the paper once, maybe twice a week. As Rory rose from her chair to go Darin stopped her saying, "I know everyone was a little hard on you today. Please don't judge them too harshly. They will come around. They are a great group of people. At the moment they are still a little shocked over the change in management."
"Thanks, Darin," Rory said before heading back to her desk. She made a mental note to ask Logan what he knew about the buy-out. Obviously the employees had been blindsided by it.
Rory plucked another cookie from her bouquet as she settled herself at her desk. It was going on 5:30; she should reconnect with Logan about their dinner plans.
Rory: How about that little Italian place around the corner from here? I can't remember what it's called.
Rory set her sidekick back on her desk, giving him time to respond. She was surprised when it buzzed not thirty seconds later.
Logan: I think it's called Mario's. That sounds great. I will meet you there at 6:30.
Rory spent the last forty-five minutes of her day looking at the company intranet and familiarizing herself with any information she could find about the company and how it worked. At 6:15 Rory turned off her computer, gathered her purse and her cookie bouquet and headed for Mario's. As she walked toward the restaurant she thought about how disappointing this day had been compared to what she'd hoped for. She only hoped that things would look up in the days to come.
Author's Note: I'll get into their dinner in the next chapter. This chapter was starting to feel long enough and I wanted to get something posted for everyone to read. As always please review and offer any suggestions that you might have. On my profile I am going to include a link to a website about the News Building. It has a lot of pictures—it is neat, if I do say so myself, check it out.