A/N: ok so I was able to get this up much earlier than I thought!! What can I say; the reviews and seeing how many hits I have gotten on this story inspired me!! Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Josef, Mick or anyone else that you may recognize. Riley and all of the others that come out of my head are of course mine. No copy write infringement is intended

Chapter 6

Ten days had passed since I had talked with Mick, Beth and Josef; I went back to work yesterday. I could tell that Josef was a little upset that I had come back so quickly. He had asked me to take a few weeks off. I had a feeling that I was going to be just as 'unwelcome' today as I was yesterday. Oh well, he was just going to have to deal with it. I grabbed my jacket and sun glasses and walked out of my building. I jumped into my car and sped off to work.

I parked my car and walked into the lobby of the corporation. I smiled as I passed the security guards, secretaries and everyone else that was running around. I couldn't help but wonder if any of these people knew what was really going on, how many of these people knew what Josef was. How many of the people in this building were like Josef and Mick? It was something that I would have to talk with Josef about at some point.

I walked into the waiting elevator, the only one that went all the way up to the top floor. I punched in my code to the elevator security system and rode in silence up to my office. The doors opened and I walked into the dark office. I passed our secretary, Marie, as I walked back into my office. I took care of my jacket and started getting my computer and desk ready for the day.

As I was in the middle of this the phone rang. Frankly I had expected this the moment I walked into the room. "This is Riley." I smiled to myself waiting for what I new was coming.

"Riley, it's Josef. Please come back into my office." With that he hung up. I knew that as soon as I walked back there, I was going to get yet another lecture about how I should be taking the week easy. I should be at home relaxing. I had heard all of this yesterday and I really didn't want to have to listen to it once again. I was ready to be back, ready to get to work. That damn man was far too stubborn. I picked up a few stacks of papers that had to be signed in order to make it out in the mail tomorrow and walked back to his office.

I knocked on the door and then let myself in without waiting for a response, like always. I walked over to his desk and started to set out the different forms that had to be looked over. "Mr. Konstantin, I was hoping that you could look over these papers and sign them so that they can make it out in the main on time." He sighed and looked slightly frustrated.

"Riley, I have already told you to call me Josef, so that is what I expect you to call me from now on. Also, we talked about this yesterday. I don't want you here. You need to take some more time. I appreciate you being so dedicated, but I need you to take some time to yourself. You have gone through a lot. I need to know that mentally you are completely ready for whatever I may need you to do in the next few weeks. The only way that I can be sure you are ready to be back here, that you aren't afraid to be back here, is if I know you have taken time to deal with these fears."

"Listen Josef, I know that you are worried. I have heard it from you more than enough times. I have gotten phone calls from both Mick and Beth, checking up on me. I need to just be left alone. I want to get back to my work. I want to get back on a schedule. I am asking you to back off a little bit. Let me do what I know I need to do right now. Can you do that for me?"

"I don't know. I don't want you to push yourself too hard to fast. I also don't want you here if you are afraid. You are no good to me if you are scared to be in the same room with me. And frankly that is what I think you are trying to do right now. I can feel you when you are on this floor with me. We have already talked about this; I can hear your heart beat increase in fear."

"Then isn't that my problem. You are supposed to be running a business here. Just because I may fear you doesn't mean that I shouldn't continue to do my job."

"I guess I will let you do what you want. I can tell your not going to give this up. I am telling you right now though, if I think you are under to much pressure, I will start to back off on your work load. I can make you take a break even if you choose to come in to the office."

I was frustrated to say the least. I stood there while he signed the papers that I had brought in with me. I then walked back out to my desk and closed my eyes. I could not believe that he was doing this to me, because I wanted to get more work done. Unbelievable.

I tried to stay focused on my work for the rest of the day. I was starting to see my work getting pulled out from under me. All of the non urgent questions were being directed to Josef's AM assistant. And of course nothing seemed to be really that urgent any more. Josef also started directing his scheduling issues to Marie. By lunch time, I had relatively little left to do. I tried to stay calm and reasonable about all of this but I could feel my blood boiling under the surface.

When I got back from my lunch break, I went to start on the list of phone calls I had to make, only to find that they had already been handled. That was the last straw. I couldn't take any more of this. I stood up and walked back to Josef's office. I pushed the door open without knocking and again found Josef catching his lunch. He was able to compose himself much quicker this time and sent the girl to his side room.

"Josef, we need to talk." I tried to keep my pulse and breathing under control. He might have been able to compose himself this time but I was again threatening to lose it.

"Riley, you really need to knock. I want to be able to protect you, but I can't do that if you refuse to knock. There is no reason why you should have to see that, especially when you are still scared of what I am."

"Shouldn't it be my choice as to what I can and cannot handle? And going off of that idea, what the hell are you doing Josef? Just because you think I need to take some time off, your passing off all of my work to people who won't get it done as completely as I do. Are you really willing to put your pride in the way of getting the best work out of your employees as possible?"

"I already told you that this was going to happen, Riley."

"You are unbelievable. Let me do my job. You can't play me like this. I accepted your protection, but if this is how you view protection, then I don't want it. When I am in real danger, that is one thing, but this is abusing your power."

"Fine, I am abusing my power. You're still getting paid. You would be getting paid even if you were at home. So take your time coming back to the office and then I will give you all of your work back."

"You really think that the only reason I am here is because of the money. I enjoy working here, or at least I did."

"If you don't want the money and you don't enjoy it any more then why are you still here? Listen, if you really want to leave, I will pay you well enough to keep your lifestyle up until you find another job. I will even pay you to keep your mouth shut about what you have learned. Just remember that I can get someone else to take your job, someone who will be grateful, in less than five hours." Jesus Christ, how had this gotten so blown out of proportion? All I wanted was my work back, I didn't want to leave. But now it seemed as if he didn't want me here. Had I really been missing this all along? I didn't know, but I couldn't stick around to find out. I should have known that this was going to be a problem. Both of us have egos and pride that would never work well together.

"You know what, I get it now. I was stupid not to see it before. If you didn't want me to be here any more, then all you had to do was to give me my pension and tell me to clean off my desk. I would have been gone long before now." With that I turned around and walked back to my desk. I threw all of my personal belongings into a bag and left.

I made it back down to the lobby and walked out of the building. When I was outside, I took one look back at my old office window. While fighting back tears, I walked to the parking garage and got into my car. When the door was finally closed the tears started to come. My life has gotten so totally screwed up. Two weeks ago, I came to work, I did my job, and I went home. I went on dates when I had the time, I had a social life. Now, I had been welcomed into this new world. I had no job, I didn't know if I could continue with a social life. I would always be looking over my shoulder, wondering if the person walking next to me was human. Mick had made it clear that there were many of their kind that wouldn't have a problem with feeding off of humans.

Josef had offered me his protection as long as I worked for him. Now that I had quit, where did that leave me? If others found out that I knew about them, would I really be in danger. How valuable was the protection that I had just thrown back in his face? I didn't know what to do at this point. I started to drive with no idea as to where I should go.

I eventually found myself at Buzz Wire. I needed to talk to someone and I felt that Beth was someone that I could trust. I walked into the news office and was immediately thrown into the news room. I looked around for Beth, not really sure where she would be. I jumped a little as I heard a voice behind me.

"Riley, what are you dong here?" I turned around to look the speaker in the face. Exactly the person I was looking for.

"I was actually going to ask Beth how to get a hold of you, Mick. I really need to talk." He looked at me and I could see the concern in his eyes.

"Ok, let me go say goodbye to Beth really quickly and we will go back to my apartment." He walked over to a desk and knelt down to talk to the person that was hidden from view, presumably Beth. He stood up again and walked back over to me. He put his hand on my back and led me out of the crazy news environment. We both got into our respective cars and I followed him back to his apartment building. We walked upstairs and Mick went to get us drinks as I sat down on the couch.

"So, I see you took Josef's advice and are actually taking a few weeks off. That's good, take it slow." I sighed. I should have known that I was just going to run into more support for Josef, no matter who I talked to.

"That isn't why I came Mick. I went in to work today, Josef and I fought about the amount of work I was doing. He thought I was taking on to much and started to pull all of my work out from under me. I went into his office and started yelling. I quit. I don't know what to do any more. While we were talking I got way to defensive and everything he said started to feel like he was trying to fire me, without really doing it. It seemed like he wanted to get rid of me, but it had to be my idea, ya know? I know that I probably over reacted, but it's done now. I really don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I feel like I can't go home, because Josef is paying for it and I feel like I don't know who to turn to any more, because I cant even tell who is and isn't human. I don't know if I can deal with all of this."

"Listen, Riley, go back to your apartment. Get a drink and try to calm down a little bit. I will go in and talk to Josef. If you really want to be at work, then I will see what I can do. Even if you quit, Josef will most likely take you back. We will figure something out, I promise. Just go home and get some rest right now and I will call you when we have figured everything out. And as for who you can and cannot trust, Beth and I are both here for you. If you ever need anything you call one of us." I took a deep breath. I had made such a mess of things at work. Mick was really the only person that could talk any sense into Josef at this point. And he was right, no matter what he was I felt safe with him. I knew that I could call both him and Beth if I need to.

I said goodbye to Mick and drove back home. I let myself into my apartment and walked back into the bedroom. I slipped out of my work clothes and pulled on my pajamas. I walked back out to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

As I was standing there, I thought I heard someone knock on the front door. I walked over and started to walk down the hall.

With no warning I was grabbed from behind and felt a cloth placed over my nose and mouth. The glass that I had just gotten from the kitchen slipped from my hand. I heard it shatter on the edge of the wood floors. I started to struggle but eventually my eyes closed and I felt myself fall into unconscious.

-Mick's POV-

I had just finished talking with Josef. I had managed to get him to back off and try to work things out with Riley. I pulled my phone out to let her know what had happened. It rang and rang and rang before eventually dumping into voice mail. Oh well. I will try her again later. Maybe she is actually taking things easy, getting some sleep. I'll try later. I hung up without leaving a message and started back to Buzz Wire to pick Beth up.

A/N: I know I know evil cliff hangers. I will try to get the next update up soon, but I make no guarantees. But the process will probably go a little faster if I get wonderful fun reviews.