Okay, now this chapter was originally much longer, having the first part of the next chapter squished along with it, but I decided it would be better for my sanity (and the readers' eyeballs) if I broke it up. I do not own Slayers, Major League Baseball, Portland, tear-jerker date movies and awkward moments.

Ni-juu

Increase Ratings Week! Be Careful You Two!

Amelia looked at the clock and sighed. It was one o'clock in the afternoon and her stomach was telling her it was time for lunch. She peeked warily into the door adjacent to her and saw that Zelgadis appeared very busy with some paperwork and would be concentrating long enough for her to go and eat some food. Taking her instant noodle cup out of the desk drawer, she quietly walked out the door of the office and down the hall to the staff lunchroom.

"Hi there guys!" Amelia said cheerily as she greeted a pair of her female coworkers. She did not even realize that the two of them were talking about her as she put some water in her styrofoam cup and placed it in the microwave to heat up.

"So how is it working here?" asked one of the women seated at the table. Amelia turned around and saw Lynn from Marketing giving her an acidly sinister glare.

"Oh, fine, I guess," Amelia answered casually. Her eyes wandered from Lynn over to the corner of the room where a group of men had a television set on the last baseball game that was to be played between the Slayers and Gladiators that season. Amelia smiled deftly as the camera zoomed in on Lina as she had to jump to make an important catch, then throwing it to Takashi at home for a double-play. The small huddle of men cheered as they heard the ball make a loud cracking noise in Kurt's glove.

"I can't believe you pay attention to all that dumb shit," Lynn scoffed, bringing Amelia back to their side of the room.

"Of course I pay attention!" Amelia snapped. "I have good friends on the Slayers and I know at least one would try to blackmail me if I didn't pay attention to the games... though he really doesn't need to threaten, since Mr. Liam knows I'll always do so..."

"Well, rumor has it that you have dated both of the star rookies," said the other woman, Sara from Accounting. "Is that true or was someone just pulling my leg? I mean, how could you get the attention of not one, but two professional athletes?"

"I've only dated Mr. Kurt," Amelia replied smugly. She enjoyed the look of envy on the other women's faces, though she knew that it was not very right to take relish in such things.

"So, then you were able to snag the hottie out of the pair," Lynn observed shrewdly.

"No, I thought we both agreed that Liam Inverse was better looking," argued Sara.

Oh, just wait until Miss Lina hears about this... Amelia thought nervously as she took her noodle cup from the microwave and placed it down on the counter to cool.

"I guess it does not matter," Lynn said, shaking her head as she ate a puffy rice cake. "All that matters now is who's secretary you are."

"Why is that?"

"Amelia," Lynn said with a dark laugh. "Don't you know what the man does with his secretaries?"

Amelia raised her eyebrow. The woman was trying to warn her about Zelgadis! This she had to hear.

"The man's a total, cold-hearted lech," Sara said, waving around her fork-full of salad as if it were a fact of life. "Poor Frances packed her things in tears when she quit."

"That tells me nothing," Amelia replied.

"...but they had been sleeping together!" Lynn exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down. "That creep will probably go through secretaries like bottles of cheap wine until he's about fifty or so and then settle for some bimbo with fluff for brains and only looks good with makeup on once he decides to call it quits."

"Funny, Mr. Zelgadis doesn't strike me as that kind of man," Amelia said as she picked up her noodles and began eating with a plastic fork from the counter. "He's taken me out to dinner before and never once was I given any inclination to him being a pervert."

"Wait... he's already taken you out!"

"Yes Miss Sara. Why?"

"You are definitely in for it," Sara sighed.

"In for what?" Amelia asked through her noodles.

"Utter heartbreak, unless you don't go out with him again," Lynn said before Sara could even speak.

"You two are mental."

"You just watch yourself Amelia. Sara and I will be right. He'll space out to where you can't tell by his face what's going through his mind; unless of course, you know that all any man ever thinks about is sports or sex and since we can pretty much rule out the sports..."

"You two can take your opinions and shove 'em," Amelia snarled, becoming severely frustrated and accidentally letting a bit of the Lina in her show. She stormed out into the hall, noodle cup still in hand, and went back into her office. Nearly slamming down her noodle cup, she slumped back down into her desk chair and let out a furious groan.

They don't think I can take care of myself, she thought angrily. Besides, all I had wanted to do was eat my lunch in peace...

"Amelia...?" a voice called out from nearby, startling Amelia. She turned her chair and saw Zelgadis standing there by the doorway to his office.

"Yes Mr. Zelgadis?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to come over to my place for dinner later tonight," he asked. "Would you care to join me?"

"S-S-Sure...?" Amelia stammered. I'll show Miss Lynn and Miss Sara!

"Then my house at about seven?"

"Yeah. That's fine."

"I'll get you the directions," Zelgadis said, emotions oddly lacking in his voice.

Well, Amelia mentally sighed. I guess this is it. Be right... or be naive. I do hope I am right...

80808080808080808

"Is something the matter Amelia?" Zelgadis asked as his dinner companion picked at her food. Amelia looked up from her plate of lasagna with a guilty look upon her face.

"No," she lied softly.

"If I am that bad of a cook, you can tell me; I will not get offended," Zelgadis assured. "I am personally not all that thrilled with the results myself..."

"It's not the food Mr. Zelgadis! Trust me. I do like it. I just don't feel very hungry right now."

Oh! I can't get out of my mind what Miss Lynn and Miss Sara said earlier, Amelia thought as she glanced at Zelgadis while he ate. Mr. Zelgadis is not a bad man, right? I mean, he kept his grandfather's baseball team after he died, even though he doesn't even like the sport all that much. Still, Miss Lynn and Miss Sara have known him longer than I have. Should I trust them?

"Thank you for coming over Amelia," Zelgadis forced himself to say, interrupting Amelia's thoughts. "I sort of missed cooking and I really wanted to try it again."

"I never realized that you could cook Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia said. She then decided to buck up and be polite and began eating some of the food before her.

"I may not look like it, but I am quite artistic," Zelgadis said with a sly smile.

"What does cooking have to do with art?"

"Nothing and everything. Oranges and lemons."

"Oranges and lemons? What do you mean by that?"

"Things that may seem different are actually very similar. Most people disagree with me, yet my perception stays the same. You see, cooking is like an art, as are many other things in life. One can find striking similarities in nearly any pair of otherwise unrelated items as long as they keep in mind 'oranges and lemons'. They are both fruits with seeds and inner sections, juice, rinds one has to peel in order to eat one. Though many people say they are very different, they are actually almost identical."

"Oranges and lemons..." Amelia quietly repeated out loud. The man's learned, yet blunt. Just my luck. At least he just seems philosophical...

"Amelia, do you like baseball?" Zelgadis asked, changing the subject completely from out of the blue.

"Yeah, sure I do. Don't you like baseball Mr. Zelgadis?"

"No, not anymore, but I asked because you seemed very into the job I gave you concerning my late grandfather's team, I was just wondering if you at least were enjoying yourself with it."

"Why don't you like baseball anymore Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia asked in a jovial, nearly teasing manner. She really did mean no harm by this, yet Zelgadis looked at her with eyes that suddenly transformed into those made of cold steel.

"My father played baseball," he sneered spitefully. A shiver ran down Amelia's spine, sending her brain off into panic mode.

Now I think that Miss Lynn and Miss Sara might have been right. Mr. Zelgadis is pretty scary like that! I only asked a harmless question. He didn't even have to answer me. Is that why he was so cold towards Mr. Rezzo?

"I am sorry Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia apologized, placing her fork down and briskly standing up. "I really think that I should be going now."

"No, no, it is alright," Zelgadis said, mindful that he had possibly frightened her. "I just do not tell that to many people, so I have not exactly gotten good at keeping my emotions in while saying it."

"So... you aren't mad at me?"

"No, I see no reason to be mad at you."

"Oh..." Amelia said softly as she stood in the middle of the kitchen and blushed ferociously. I am so confused! Is he nice? Is he mean? I don't know what to think!

Zelgadis then stood up and began to walk over towards her. What's going on! What is he going to do!

"Would you like to watch a movie?" he asked.

"Wha...?" the taken-aback Amelia exclaimed.

"Dinner and a movie. We had the dinner already. Now I think it is about time for the movie, right?" he asked, the steel from his eyes still not fading, but becoming a bit softer.

"Okay..." Amelia agreed warily. "Shouldn't we clean up dinner first?"

"We can always do that later. Go pick out a movie from in the living room and I'll be there in a moment," Zelgadis said. With that, he walked out of the kitchen and out of sight.

Lord help me... Amelia whined internally. What have I gotten myself into? Please Miss Lynn... Miss Sara... don't be right...

80808080808080808

Casablanca, Zelgadis thought, more than slightly irked. She just had to pick Casablanca, didn't she? He sighed heavily as he stared at the television screen. Alright Rick, just do yourself a favor and let Laszlo die. Let him and that stupid slut Elsa be taken by the Nazis and you will save yourself a whole hell of a lot of trouble.

Zelgadis heard the soft sound of Amelia's sigh and felt something brush up against the side of his leg. He looked down and saw that Amelia had curled herself up on the couch, the very top of her head just barely up against him in an innocent manner.

I can still barely get over how drastic of a change she is from Frances, he thought. That woman would have been all over me by now. It is nice not having that for once. I do have a feeling though, that she picked this movie for a reason...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh, I love this movie, Amelia though, her brain having long before floated off to a far-away and dreamy state. It is so romantic. Mr. Bogart's character is risking his life for justice... all to save the woman he loves. She felt something next to her as she snuggled into the couch. Without even thinking about it, she rested her head on the object next to her. It made her feel much more comfortable, relaxed and even safe. Amelia felt so much at peace that she began to lose focus in the movie and slowly drifted off into nothingness.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ah, shit, Zelgadis swore as Amelia unconsciously nestled herself into his lap. I knew it was too good to be true. She is advancing after all. Hopefully, this is a far as she goes.

"M... m..." Amelia murmured in her sleep. She moved slightly and Zelgadis could then catch her profile in the soft light from the television screen. The world itself seemed to lose its color in the crescendo of angelic peace.

Crap, Zelgadis panicked, his face changing color with nervous blushing. He tried to move to the right and escape the unconsciously cuddling woman, yet he was already against the armrest of the couch. He looked down at the sleeping Amelia and tried to think up of a possible solution to move her without disturbing her. After finding nothing, he decided to act upon the only other possible alternative.

"Amelia. Wake up."

"Huh...?"

"Amelia, please get up," Zelgadis reiterated. Amelia slowly came to and she once again attempted to nestle into what she had clearly thought was a pillow in order to get back to sleep. When the "pillow" moved on its own however, her eyes snapped open and she pushed herself upwards. This did no good, for her face ended up about five centimeters away from Zelgadis's. Both their faces grew hot with color as they turned away quickly.

"I'm sorry Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia muttered as she retreated to the other end of the couch. "I didn't mean to..."

"Just do not do it again," Zelgadis quickly interjected. He looked over towards the television to try to concentrate on the movie once more. He found it utterly impossible.

"Maybe... maybe I should go now..." Amelia muttered. She stood up and walked over to the door to the living room that lead to the foyer. "Good night Mr. Graywords."

"Amelia..." Zelgadis started, but he was too late. Amelia had already began rushing out to her car in a bundle of embarrassment.

Damn it... he thought when he heard the door to the house open and close quickly. He slumped down into laying on the couch and sighed. Just my luck. Just my God damned luck...

Things To Know

Lynn and Sara: Classic examples of the Office Gossips. Meant to be annoying, Mary Jane-esque OCs.

Oranges and Lemons: Yayness! I sort of explained my 1984 reference from Chapter Nine!

Casablanca: The movie that my film teacher says I'm immune to. Huzzah. Zelgadis's thoughts on the movie are a fair mirror image of mine. Amelia on the other hand, thinks like a member of the Academy. I don't get them peoples real well. You might. I don't.