A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favourited and thanks to my beta 'The Yankee Countess'. I'd be lost without her.

Chapter 3: At first sight

Sybil was drooling and she didn't even care. She had seen some pictures of the outside of the huge building that was now her father's place of business, but never in a million years had she expected it to be this beautiful on the inside. He had clearly not decorated the place himself.

She had just entered through a pair of massive glass doors and was now standing in front of a huge fountain, which was located in the middle of the lobby. People where eating their lunch on the benches that surrounded the space. To the sides there were plants and lounging areas, and right behind the fountain were six mahogany reception desks. Next to the desks were the elevators, but first one would need to pass through a heavily guard metal detector, before proceeding to them.

Sybil approached one of the receptionists, the only one who wasn't occupied at that moment. "Sarah O'Brian" according to her name tag.

"Welcome to Crawley Tech, madam," she said without looking up at Sybil. "What can I do for you today?"

Sybil hesitated. She felt slightly intimidated by the receptionist who clearly thought she had better things to do than helping customers. "I…" she stuttered, causing O'Brian to fix her with a cold stare. Sybil swallowed. "My name is Sybil Crawley, and I'm here to see the CEO; he's expecting me," she blurted out with as much confidence as she could muster.

O'Brian didn't seem very convinced and mumbled something under her breath that sounded a lot like '…and I'm the queen of England'.

"Can I please see some ID, Miss Crawley?" she asked aloud, with one of those big fake smiles plastered on her face.

"Sure thing," Sybil smoothly replied. She started dinging around into her purse and saw O'Brian roll her eyes at one of the other receptionists. She was convinced Sybil was lying.

It didn't take long for Sybil to find her driver's license and she roughly shoved it in the receptionist's face. O'Brian eyed her suspiciously as she reached for the phone on her desk, and didn't turn away until whoever was on the other end answered.

- 30 minutes later-

Sybil let out a sigh of relief. She had finally made it past security and the annoying receptionist who reluctantly allowed her to go up to the CEO's office, but never apologized for her rudeness. She was going to be an hour late due to this fiasco. 'Great way to make a first impression!' To make matters even worse, Sybil was facing a maze of corridors, staircases, and elevators without any idea whatsoever which way she had to go.

Lucky for her, a young redheaded woman spotted her and immediately identified her as a first time visitor. "Good morning ma'am, can I be of any assistance?" she asked Sybil as politely as possible.

"Yes!" Sybil exclaimed, a little louder than intended. "I'm looking for the CEO's office?"

The redheaded woman's cheeks flushed. "Of course," she mumbled, "Follow me please." Before Sybil had a chance to say anything else, the woman directed her gaze to the floor and awkwardly shuffled towards the elevators.

Sybil had no idea what to make of the woman's strange behaviour, but followed her anyway, more than happy to leave the crowded lobby behind. As Sybil stepped into the elevator, she didn't fail to notice the redhead's hesitation about whether to join her or not.

"I'm Sybil, nice to meet you," Sybil said in a weak attempt to make the other woman feel more at ease.

It seemed to work; the woman looked up at her and smiled shyly. "I'm Gwen," she said as she fully stepped into the elevator to shake Sybil's hand. Sybil felt her hand tremble a bit, and could tell Gwen was very nervous about something.

"Are you alright, Gwen?" she asked when the redhead turned around to press the button for the top floor.

Gwen turned red again. "I-I'm fine," she stuttered. "It's just…"

The elevator dinged or pinged and whatever Gwen was going to say, was lost. The doors opened and they stepped out into another small reception room, with a blue carpet and matching blue chairs. To the left was another wooden reception desk and to the left of it was another corridor which probably led to the CEO's office.

"Mrs Hughes?" Gwen called out as she shuffled out of the elevator and crained her neck to see if anyone was around. "Please take a seat," Gwen told Sybil, gesturing to the expensive looking blue chairs. "I'm sure Mrs Hughes will be here shortly,"

"But I have an appointment with the temporary CEO," Sybil pointed out. Her words seemed to put Gwen even more on edge than she already was.

"I understand," Gwen said, and her eyes dashed around nervously. "Just ask Mrs. Hughes; she'll help you further," and with those words, Gwen made a wild dash for the elevator and she almost made it too.

"Gwen?!" an older woman came around the corner and walked towards them. "What on earth are you doing here?" she asked, a stern expression on her face.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Hughes," Gwen looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I just accompanied Miss Sybil; she was lost."

Sybil nodded in agreement, not quite sure what was going on.

Mrs. Hughes's expression softened. "Well, hurry back downstairs; you know how he feels about you being up here." Gwen nodded, giving Sybil one last smile before allowing the elevator doors to close.

"You must be Miss Crawley!" Mrs. Hughes looked like a kind person, and Sybil instantly knew she was going to like the older woman.

"Nice to meet you," Sybil politely said as they moved down the hallway. As they passed the single desk, Sybil could just make out a nametag that read, Elsie Hughes, Chief Administrative Assistant, the letters had faded and some of them had disappeared completely. Sybil had noticed that all the employees wore similar nametags, but theirs seemed to be in a much better state.

They came to a stop at a set of double doors, which looked as if they were the size of a house. Mrs. Hughes knocked and waited patiently for a reply.

"What is it now?!" someone with a posh British accent snarled from behind the door.

Mrs. Hughes sighed tiredly. "Miss Crawley is here to see you, sir…"

There were a few muffled curses and some shuffling, before the door flew open and a gentleman around Sybil's age appeared in the doorway. He wore a perfect tailored suit, had perfectly styled black hair and pearly white teeth that gave a perfect smile. Yet there was something about him that Sybil didn't like, though she couldn't really tell what it was. After all she hardly knew the man.

"You must be Robert's daughter, Lady Sybil Crawley."

He extended his right hand, which was the size of a shovel, but had perfectly manicured fingernails none the less.

"And you must be Mr. Grey," Sybil stated matter-of-factly. "Nice to finally meet you."

She returned his gesture but instantly regretted it when he squeezed her hand so hard it caused her to wince with discomfort.

"How would you like a tour through our company?" The way he spoke made it seem like he already owned the place, but Sybil had no intention to allow him to stay on as CEO. She would sell the company to someone else, so that she would never have to hear about it again.

"Well…" Sybil hesitated. She wanted to get everything taken care of as soon as possible, but surely a look around the place her dad had been in charge of for over a decade couldn't hurt?

Larry took matters into his own hands before she could make a decision. "Great!" he said "Hughes, take care of things while I show Lady Sybil around, and try not to make a mess of things." Sybil felt sorry for the older woman and swore she would talk to Larry about the way he spoke to his secretary.

"Let's get started shall we?" Larry took her arm and escorted her to the elevators. Sybil tried very hard to look excited, but deep down she started to feel homesick once again.

- An hour later –

By the time they ascended the final staircase that would lead them back to the lobby, Sybil's spirits had lifted. She had met a lot of very nice people on their voyage through Crawley Tech, and everything looked amazing; so unlike her father.

All the floors had a big open office space; the desks, computers, and chairs all had the same make and colour and were all placed in a straight line. Everything looked so symmetrical and so…right, it was almost scary.

"Not what you expected?" Larry asked as they came to a halt.

Sybil's good mood instantly disappeared. She had noticed how the employees seemed reluctant to talk about anything that was not work related when 'Mr Grey' was around, and they always looked nervous, like Gwen had earlier that day.

"It's a magnificent building," Sybil commented, and Larry smiled proudly. "And the employees are very friendly!" This time Larry didn't give her any visual response. It was quite clear that the man loathed anyone that wasn't as posh and fancy as him.

When they were about to return to the lobby, Sybil noticed another set of stairs from the corner of her eye.

"Wait, what's down there?" she asked, pointing at the staircase behind them.

"Nothing important," Larry answered with a dismissive gesture. "Just the mailroom and the archives."

"We haven't seen those yet," Sybil replied, her face lighting up at the prospect of meeting more employees.

Larry rolled his eyes. "We don't have to," he huffed. "No one important works down there."

"I'd like to see that for myself," Sybil said stubbornly. She was already half way down the stairs when he decided to follow her.

"It might be a bit chilly down there," Larry warned as they stepped into the dimly lit basement.

He was right. The basement was much cooler than the rest of the building, but Sybil didn't mind.

They were standing in the middle of a long corridor that reminded Sybil of a hotel. There were a lot of doors on both sides and the grey walls made everything seem kind of boring. All the way in the back, a sliver of daylight filtered in from beneath the loading bay door, but it didn't reach them.

The sound of laughter and muffled voices could be heard from behind the door that read 'Mail Room', and as Sybil approached it, she could hear what was being said.

"I feel sorry for her…"

Sybil recognized Gwen's voice and was happy to know she would get a chance to thank the redhead for her help earlier that morning.

"I don't," a male voice replied. "If she had a meeting with the big boss man himself, she's probably a rich snob herself."

Sybil knew they were talking about her and couldn't help but feel hurt by the unknown man's judgement.

"Thomas!" Gwen exclaimed. "Shut up; you don't know that!"

Sybil slowly opened the door and had to let her eyes adjust to the bright light for a moment. The mail room was huge and brightly lit; the front office had a desk and a lot of shelves with all sorts of packages and office supplies on it. A smaller room in the back held the copying machines by the sound of it.

"Miss Sybil?" Gwen jumped up from the desk she'd been leaning on in surprise. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Sybil fully stepped into the room so Larry could join her. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me out earlier."

Larry looked from Sybil to Gwen and the redhead thanked her lucky stars he didn't pursue the issue any further.

"I don't believe we've met; I'm Thomas Barrow," the young black haired man Sybil had heard through the door earlier greeted, while stepping forward to politely shake her hand.

"Where are Lang and Branson?" Larry snapped before Sybil could say anything else.

"Mr. Lang went out to buy some supplies, and Mr Branson is…" Gwen turned slightly red and turned to Thomas, not sure how to explain to their boss why their colleague hadn't shown up yet.

"Right here sir," someone with a thick Irish accent called out from the backroom. Both Thomas and Gwen looked surprised, but managed to hide it well from their boss.

Sybil was about to walk over so she could properly introduce herself, but stopped in her tracks as a very handsome young man with the most wonderful blue eyes emerged from the backroom, and stopped right in front of her.

Sybil gulped and felt her cheeks and ears turn slightly red. "H-hi…" was all she managed to utter.

The man gave her a broad smile and opened his mouth to respond. Unfortunately, Larry had noticed the change in Sybil's behaviour and quickly stepped in.

"Branson, I'm glad to have caught you," he said, pushing himself between the two. "I want to have a word with you in my office."

Mr. Branson looked very displeased but held his tongue. "Whatever it is you want to discuss sir, you can do it here; I've nothing to hide."

Sybil could tell there was no love lost between the CEO and the mailroom employee, not that she could blame Mr. Branson.

"Alright, if you're sure," Larry said, smiling cruelly; this was something he'd been looking forward to for a long time. "You're fired."

TBC

Anyone else feel like shooting Larry? Please let me know what you thought of this chapter:-)