A/N Again the disclaimer. I do not know personally anyone mentioned. This is purely a fiction exercise. Also because English is not my native language you may have to excuse some mistakes I may write. That being said I hope you enjoy it. :)

Stella has just showed you some pictures of you together with Grant that were sent to her email.

You're pretty sure your face is now white pale and if you weren't already sitting down you'd fall down.

Stella looks at you. "Care to explain?"

You take deep breath. You try to speak but you can't. You can't think. You feel like you can't even breathe.

"Hey, hey, calm down, sweetie." Stella says as you seem to be having a panic attack. "Just breathe, ok? Even though these images speak for themselves, clearly someone is being a nasty bitch by sending this to me. I just want to hear your version first."

You try to breathe and close your eyes for a second, feeling dizzy again.

"Are you ok? Do you want me to call anyone?"

You just shake your head and after some moments you finally open your eyes. You take a deep breath. "I... Grant and I... I was gonna talk to you about this today... "

Stella waits for you to continue. "I'm listening. Take your time."

You decide to start from the beginning, like you had planned before. "Well, and Grant and I hit it off almost since the day we met. I knew this was wrong because of the contract we have but we couldn't just stay away from each other. We still tried but we couldn't. Our feelings were greater than that. So we started dating in secret. And it was... it is a nerve wrecking situation. Not doing anything in public, hiding from everyone and everything... But we survived that, we fell in love with each other, we do love each other and we had just decided that today I was gonna talk to you about this. I know I breached the contract we have with Grant. I know I'll probably get fired for this but I love him. Grant even wanted to break the contract himself and pay the agency the huge indemnity for doing that but at least we'd be free of this nightmare."

Stella takes her hands to her head. "Wow."

You nod. "Yeah."

"Where to begin... First, let me see if I got this straight, this is not an on and off thing, right? You two are actually dating?"

"Yes, as in a real relationship. For a month now, practically since we met." You decide that it's better to just tell the truth.

"It's serious, uh? So much that you don't mind losing your job and Grant doesn't mind paying us that obscene amount of money, which is probably more than he makes in a year, so that you two can be properly together?"

You nod again. "Yes. But of course I would never let him do that. That's why I was gonna talk to you today."

"You know why we have that clause in the contract, right?"

"Of course. Conflict of interests."

"Right." Stella smiles. "And I thought you hated Grant... Funny."

You shrug your shoulders apologetically.

Stella takes a deep breath. "What to do...? Well, this doesn't depend on me alone. We're gonna have to talk to the lawyers."

"I see." You were expecting her to be much more shocked and angry at this than what she is.

Stella looks at you with a mix of pity and tenderness. "You don't even look good today... You almost fainted earlier and now here... It's all the stress, uh?"

You nod.

"Poor you. You know, I'm a romantic myself. Right now, you remind me of a classic Juliet, suffering with a forbidden love..."

You almost feel like laughing at her dreamy expression but you refrain yourself.

She continues her fairy tale. "And Grant doing crazy things, like Romeo, saying that he would break the contract, paying all that money just so he could be with you..." She looks back at you with a smile. "Well, even before we talk to the lawyers, I'll tell you my opinion."

You nod. "Ok..."

"Your work here has been nothing but amazing. Since you started here as an intern till this very moment. Until a month ago I wasn't your direct boss but still all I heard about you was good things and most of the time excellent things. And this last month you've excelled yourself. You know, some people get sloppy when they receive compliments, the success goes up to their heads and they lose themselves. You're the opposite. You try to do even better. So I'm not afraid to say it: you're currently my best employee. And when this actress that wants you to be her publicist signs the contract you'll also be the most profitable employee. Meaning, you'll also be rewarded accordingly. So, tell me, do you think I want to fire my best and most profitable employee?"

You shrug shyly.

Stella giggles. "Right, I know why you think that, that you will lose your job. You breached a contract with a client. But the way I see it, you're not the sole person to blame. The contract has two parties, you and Grant. The clause applies to both of you and since this relationship is reciprocated and consented, you're both to blame. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm assuming that this means the contract is no longer valid and neither you nor Grant will pay indemnities. The important thing is, what to do next?"

You look straight at Stella waiting for her to continue.

"Well, assuming that you two keep being in a relationship, you can only be his publicist if there's no such clause in the new contract. Now this raises new questions. Do you want to continue being his publicist? Does he want? Do his manager and lawyers want that? Are you capable of doing that work impartially? You have accomplished it this last month but what about from this moment forward? Also, if you keep being his publicist what will happen if you two eventually break up? Will you two be able to maintain your professional relationship healthy? I have my opinion on all this but I'd like to hear yours first."

You try to process all that Stella has told you so far. Was she really saying she wouldn't fire you? You try to focus on her questions. "Well, Grant and I talked about that too... He wanted to keep me as his publicist but I honestly don't know if I can do it. I'm afraid I'll be too biased and end up ruining something even if involuntarily. So we both agreed that Grant could be assigned another publicist from our agency, if everyone else agrees. That way we wouldn't lose Grant as a client too."

Stella smiles. "And once again... You're right. That's my opinion too. And that's why you're the best. Even with all this mess you have the nerve to see what is best for everyone including the agency. I'm sure most people would insist on keeping the professional relationship, arguing that they could be impartial and maintain the good work."

You try to smile and Stella grins at you. "Seriously, do you really think I would fire you for this? Or... I don't know, make you choose between your job and Grant?"

You shrug again. "I don't know..."

"I'd rather keep you both." She smiles in a friendly way. "Well, assuming we have no opposition from the lawyers I'll even let you choose whoever you think is best to assume your position as Grant's publicist. Whoever you think is the most appropriate."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well... I'd pick you if I didn't know already you are so busy running this place and being the publicist of some top celebrities..."

Stella smiles amused. "Really? Well, maybe that's not such insanity... I could ask for your opinion now and then concerning Grant... I'll think about it..."

You raise your eyebrows surprised. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. That boy has potential. But let's not get ahead of ourselves... We have a bunch of stuff to deal it before that... And that includes lawyers, who are always a pain in the ass. Our lawyers and Grant's lawyers, his manager and Grant himself. Oh dear, and you have to prepare yourself for your new client and the meeting this afternoon. This is gonna be a long day..." She sighs. "Let's see if the head of our legal department can come here now." Stella reaches for the phone. "Hello, can you come here to my office? Ok, in ten minutes then, thanks."

You feel another wave of dizziness but you try to disguise it the best you can. Now that everything seems ok with your job, there it comes the dizziness to remind you of yet another problem. What would Stella do if she knew you might as well be pregnant?

Stella turns to you again. "Well, we'll see. In the meantime..."She looks disgusted at her computer screen. "Anyway, who's the poor nasty soul that had all this trouble to take pictures of you and Grant and send them to me? Any idea?"

You shrug your shoulders. "No idea..." You try to think of anyone possible but you refute them all. Nate would never do that you, Doug neither, Joan and Sophie only learned about you two in New Year's Eve and some of the photographs were taken at least two weeks ago.