12.

Several days later…

Maxwell replaced his spectacles and sat at his desk, pondering over a script. The young actor in his cast was right about a few of the lines needing to be changed for a new scene that was recently added not too long ago. The old, original wording simply just did not do and needed some revision. Even though to the naked eye it appeared as though Max really was tactfully scrutinizing the sentences, his mind had traveled very far elsewhere.

He laid down the packet and began to fiddle with a stack of post-its atop his desk, flipping the yellow cube over and over again until some of the edges curled up. For some reason he couldn't focus on any of his work—and that reason was Miss Fine. He couldn't help that his mind just constantly wandered onto the topic of her almost immediately these days when he paused for just a moment to think. Usually he was able tuck away any non-work related thoughts of Miss Fine away in a safe hiding place, but recently it seemed as if the dam of restriction in his body had let his feelings for her break lose—rushing them freely around his head. His thinking space. It wasn't right—he knew that. It wasn't proper—he knew that also. But he also knew that she was pretty damn gorgeous and who could blame him for admiring someone such as her who just happened to be in his employ.

Her. HER.

HIS NANNY!

Maybe it was this business of her and Julian's sudden long-term relationship that just scared him. Or perhaps it was that every single time something touched his mouth, whether it be a red delicious apple or even a slice of homemade chocolate cheesecake that Niles baked, he skipped over to ideas of feeling her lips against his own. Then again, it could be the fact that she was in such a positively rotten and dismal mood lately that it seemed as if she was carrying a storm cloud above her everywhere she went. Because of this, he felt bad for her and desperately wished to provide her some sort of comfort.

C.C. burst into the small office, halting his train of thought (or rather throwing it off the tracks,) with a cell phone securely pressed to her ear and clearly yelling at the person on the other end of the line. In short, she did not appear happy and since C.C. didn't have a lot of buddies, Maxwell just knew it was most likely work-related. He, therefore, frantically tried to grasp onto every word in an attempt to decipher the meaning of the conversation.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE INJURED?!"

"And you didn't tell us this before…"

"Uh huh."

"Uhhh, huh. Sure…"

"OF COURSE YOU CAN'T BE IN THE SHOW!"

"No."

"VERONICA DOESN'T HAVE A BROKEN LEG OR A FRACTURED COLLAR BONE IN THE DAMN SCRIPT WOMAN! We can't exactly add that in…"

"Uh huh."

"YOU CAN'T DO THE DANCE NUMBER ON ONE FOOT!"

"You're ridiculous."

"Yeah?

"You're just making a fool of yourself right now."

"Mhmm…"

"Is that so?"

"YOU'LL NEVER WORK IN THIS TOWN AGAIN!"

Click.

C.C. irritated, flipped her phone closed and started to pace the floor, huffing. She also began to flail her arms about.

"Who does she think she is? I can't believe this is happening…"

"What was that about C.C.?" asked a nervous Maxwell to his business partner. "Surely, you weren't talking to our lead!"

C.C. angrily nodded her head in response.

"We're a week away from opening!" wailed Maxwell in desperation, rubbing his throbbing temples. "What in God's name are we to do?"

"Well, for starters we're going to have to postpone the show and since the back-up quit entirely, she's totally out of the picture. This means the opening probably won't be for another month or so because it will take at least a couple weeks to have the new girl memorize and practice her lines and all the dance moves for the part," elucidated C.C.

"I knew we should have found another back-up in the beginning just in case. Just goes to show you…"

"The others weren't fitted for the part and you know that Maxwell. Finding an understudy would have taken weeks more of casting and we were pressed for time then… the girl seemed great and we—well, we were fools."

"This is terrible… absolutely dreadful." said Maxwell in monotone, shaking his head glumly.