DISCLAIMER: The story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K Rowling, and various publishers including but not limited to Warner Bros., Scholastic Books, etc. This story is intended as a fan made story and no money is being made. No trademark and copyright infringement is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So chapter 1 was mainly setting up Alex's new life in London, chapter 2 will be bringing the details about his life in London now. This chapter will also be introducing quite a few new characters as well.

Also giving early warning notice again. This story will be rated M due to partial/full nudity, sexual content (some very brief moments and possible in depth details later in story), choice languages, and etc.

Hope you all enjoy.

Word Count (approx.) – 6,731

Chapter 2 – New Year, New Girl

It had been a full year since Alex lived in London as the Executive Director. With the day almost over, Alex leaned back into his chair in his office relaxing a bit. Earlier this Thursday morning he was notified that he passed with flying colors on his evaluation and received another substantial sum in raise with his probation being officially over and even got an additional bonus to boot. Overall life was amazing.

He has expected to face lots of trouble but with a staff that was willing to try out some of the crazy ideas he had and finding them successful, he had a group of people working for him who trusted him.

Within the past year, many things occurred to him and he met many people.

He first met his assistant Katarina Delattre. She was with the company for two years before working for him, originally starting out as an intern before moving up as his executive assistant. She graduated from a school called Beauxbatons, apparently they focused at lot on fashion and class. While it was not a school that he was familiar of, he expected it was one of the many fashion schools that were in France. She graduated from her school a year before him and she was doing a superb job. He remembered the time when he first met her, he thought she was a model who got lost.

She wore a black one piece dress that stopped a few inches above her knees. From the top, it looked like a short sleeved button up blouse, but it was actually a full on one piece. She wore a silver belt with her accessories matching her attire wearing black heels to match the outfit with her shoulder length light brown soft wavy hair framing her face. She was pretty and Alex confessed to her that he thought she was one of the models for the company, which she laughed off with good nature, though she did thank him for the compliment. Despite their youth, two young adults tackled various projects together with a lot of success much to the surprise of many within the company.

With her help and taking a bit of risk, Alex was able surpass the projected results by a fairly wide margin. Alex had come to rely on Katarina on a lot of things that eventually surpassed a professional level, leading to a strong friendship between the two. As they just finished up a major project, he thanked her and told her to take the week off and visit her family and her boyfriend, providing her with a bonus as well so that she could truly relax and enjoy her time off. Considering what she did to help him in his success, she deserved it.

After that he met several others from the company including the maid and the chef. The chef was actually a student of Gordan Ramsay and came to him with a letter of recommendation from Gordan himself. Kevin Walker, a sandy haired man in his late thirties with a personality of that of an excited child, cooked meals for him whenever he wished and with Alex's urging tried out various new dishes. While some experiments were awful, it was fun to try Kevin's weekly "Mystery Dish." Despite the risks of the once in a while horrible or edible dish, Kevin came up with some dish ideas that were truly phenomenal. Although he did offer Kevin one of the rooms meant for the staff, Kevin declined stating that he had a family he needed to take care of and would arrive on a on call basis other than the weekly "Mystery Dish."

While Kevin was not always able to provide meals all the time, he sometimes made something that would last or could be warmed up and would leave it for Alex to eat. Of course there had been the odd time or two where Alex had to make due by ransacking the fridge and pantries. While it may not be the most appetizing meal when he makes them, it was still edible. When Kevin found out about Alex's poor attempts at prepping meals, he began to teach him a bit whenever they both had time off from their schedule. It was rather funny though since Kevin's teaching method was the complete opposite of Gordon Ramsay's style of teaching.

His maid Sienna Myers was a mystery altogether when he hired her. She applied to work for him as a live in maid at the age of seventeen. She graduated from a school somewhere around Scotland and was looking for job when she noticed this position. She begged him to give her the job and even offered to work the first two week for free just to prove that she could do the job. After her two week evaluation and seeing that there was not even a speck of dust anywhere, Alex hired her on the spot without negotiating on the price. He later realized that Apolline was probably setting the salary for his staff as well since the salaries offered for his personal staff had been ridiculous like his. If Apolline was not going to complain and the company was still making profit, Alex was not going to complain. Plus it did not hurt to have a pretty girl living in the house with him.

While he appreciated having Sienna work as a live in maid, it was distracting at times. He told her she was allowed to relax and treat the home like her own, but was not allowed to bring guests which she was fine with. But that meant she walked about at times in just her shorts and an oversized shirt at times which made it seem like she was not really wearing any pants underneath. While she has her work attire, since she also lives there and acts more like a roommate, she does not even bother with it and just cleans the place without her work attire on. It does not help that the dark-haired vixen loved to flirt as well bringing about some restless nights for him.

Needless to say, after a few months of living together, they did find some other activities to enjoy together. While they did not commit to each other in a relationship, they did sleep with each other on occasion with them feeling naked and sated while sprawled out on his massive bed. During the times they were not being intimate with each other, or when she was working, he found her reading through some odd books, one of them titled Transfiguration: Introduction to Fashion. When he asked her about that, she immediately closed the book and tell him that since she is working for him, she might as well read about things in regards to fashion. She would not let him read any of the books she brought with her and would keep them locked in a chest in her room when she was not reading them. As much as he would like to have read those books, he would not stoop low to violate someone's privacy.

Apolline eventually found replacements for the vacant positions in the London and New York offices and Alex continued to manage the London branch personally. His Assistant Director was a man named Eddy in his forties who had a true passion in his work. He was a hands on approach type of guy and was found running all over the place much to his amusement. This helped Alex considerably as Eddy was more than willing to take on extra tasks when needed.

Alex stretched for a bit as he took a break from his work and continued to recall things. There were many people he met, new friends made. He still kept in touch with the New York branch, who were all surprised about the rather large jump. Mr. Leroy over simply overjoyed that his "apprentice" was on the fast track to success. However, despite the success, keeping in touch with his old team, hanging out with his new friends and hosting parties at his place (which always ended in a blast and ended with many people staying the night over), and having a great sex life with Sienna and a few other friends and models (sometimes with both at the same time), for some reason Alex felt empty.

Sure he had many partners and gone to various outings. He befriended many of his business partners, but he never really found someone to be in a committed relationship. There were some girls who wanted to be in one with him, but all of them did not connect beyond the physical level with him.

As a young and very successful businessman who was single, Alex was sought out as a potential marriage prospect for many girls. Some of his business partners even tried to introduce him to their daughters in hopes of a good match only to have nothing come of it. While he became friends with some of them, he did not go beyond the friendship with them.

He looked at his clock on the computer.

7:12pm

He sighed and spend a few more minutes to finish up his report and forwarded it to his boss in France. He then powered off his laptop and went upstairs to his penthouse.

Kevin was in the kitchen finishing the last touches for dinner while chatting animatedly with Sienna who was sitting at the bar seat. He treated he like his favorite niece and they got along well.

"Alex! Welcome back!" Kevin called out when he noticed him walk into the living room.

Sienna jumped out from the bar seat that she occupied and gave him a hug.

"Hey, Kevin. Hi, Sienna." Alex greeted. "How are the kids?"

Kevin smiled as he brought the plates to the dining room.

"They are doing well. Andrew is back from school and is enjoying the summer. Lily is feeling better but misses her Uncle Alex. Sally is watching over her now."

Kevin was happily married to his wife, Sally, and had two children Andrew who was twelve and Lily who was nine. Every once in a while Kevin would bring the kids to the penthouse and Alex would let them play. While Andrew was gone to a boarding school in Scotland, Lily came over after school whenever her father picked her up from school. During those times, Alex would sometimes take Lily around the company showing her what he did and meet new people. When two of his senior designers got wind of this, they ambushed the two and made outfits in their spare time. So as the year went by Alex and Lily (and sometimes Kevin when he could be convinced) had some matching outfits, which Lily enjoyed. So with Alex's introduction, Lily had access to the latest fashion and was the envy of many girls. Sadly, a few days ago she came down with a fever and was resting at home.

"Hopefully she feel better soon. I miss having her run about causing chaos."

"Alex? Missing little Lily?" Kevin mimed fainting to Alex and Sienna's laughter. Alex always teased Lily that she caused too much trouble while at work and she usually sticks her tongue out and continue to have fun running about.

Alex and Sienna sat down and started eating their dinner. It was one of his "Mystery Dish" tonight and Sienna thought it was fun to try out his new creations and enjoyed them. Tonight though was actually pretty tasty. It Kevin was trying to go for a tropical themed dinner and actually use various citrus juices to accent the taste. While they all agreed it may not be the tastiest of his dishes, it was still a fun and enjoyable one.

Once dinner was finished, Kevin then got up and bid the two good night and left as the Alex and Sienna put the dishes away.

"Long day I take it?" Sienna asked.

Alex nodded as he washed the dishes and left them on the drying rack.

"Everything went well, just been busy."

Sienna come behind him leaning against him as she put her arms around him.

"Ready to head to bed?"

"Sorry, not tonight," he replied as he finished placing the last dish away and turning to face her.

She raised her eyebrows a bit from his reply and looked at him carefully and nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, you need your sleep. I will see you in the morning," she gave him a hug and headed off to her room.

Alex stood in the kitchen for what seemed like a few minutes. Eventually he head back to his room and took a shower feeling the water run down his body washing away the hard work of today. Eventually, he got out and dried himself and headed off to bed.

Habit made him wake up at 6:00AM. He was planning on getting out of bed to get ready for the day when suddenly he stopped with a thought coming to mind.

You know what, I think I will just take the day off and head out.

He called Eddy and notified to him that he was taking the day off. Eddy chastised him saying that he needed more than that and told him to take two days off. Alex rarely took time off and whenever he did, it always became business related in the end.

"And I do not want to see your face in the office for the next forty-eight hours!"

"So I can't come back to my apartment then?" Alex retorted.

"Spend the night at a hotel or somewhere! You spend way too much time here!" with that Eddy hung up the phone on Alex. While being his boss, anyone in Alex's position would have been offended. However, he merely chuckled and slowly got ready for the day.

Eddy knew that he could get away with talking back to him and they both have a very great partnership. He could count on Alex to not be a slacker and Alex in return could count on Eddy to take over whenever needed. Their relationship with each other was with great respect towards each other and it only continued to grow.

With that, Alex called Kevin and left a message to Kevin stating that he would be out for the next two days.

He then washed up and went over to his closet, contemplating on what to wear. He decided to not dress up this time and be a bit more casual. He chose some jeans and picked a white form fitting shirt and a dark jacket to go with the outfit. He had to admit that he looked better than he did a year ago. After starting work, one of the things he did was head to the gym on a regular basis and started working out, eventually that got him to get a nice lean body that even had a few people asking him to take the time out from his normal work and also model a bit, which he only did once recently. Feeling quite confident of himself and growing another inch or two as well, he had to say he looked pretty great.

"You look great," said a voice from behind him. "Got a date?"

Sienna leaned against the doorframe in her nightgown admiring him.

"No, just taking the today and tomorrow off," he replied. "Eddy says he kicking me out."

She smiled and pushed off from the doorframe.

"Maybe I should visit my mom while you are away."

Alex smiled.

"You do that. I think we all need to go out and get some fresh air anyways."

Sienna turned back and headed towards her room.

"I'll lock up so head on out whenever you want."

"Alright," he called back. "I'm heading out now."

He picked out some Suede Oxford and put them on and once getting his wallet, his Bulgari watch, and other necessities, headed out to the elevator around 7:00AM. Once the elevator arrived he got in and selected the garage level. As he arrive at the garage level the door opened and he walked out toward a man standing on in a booth.

"Good morning, Mr. Lee."

"Morning, Jake."

"Pleasure drive, sir?" Jake asked.

"Yes," he replied.

Jake called in on his radio and a few moments later, another guy drives up in a convertible Bentley. Alex thanks the guys and gets in the car and drives out of the garage.

Alex drove out for a bit and came across a lovely diner. He parked at a nearby parking lot and walked over to the diner. He ordered some breakfast and enjoyed the morning a bit looking out every once in a while watching the people passing by. The neighborhood was a fairly quiet one. While there are some people bustling about, there were actually not that many cars. He noticed a particularly run down building across the street with a sign that says The Leaky Cauldron. He looked in slight dismay at the condition of the building and shook his head and went back to finishing his meal.

He called for the waitress and paid for his breakfast, leaving behind a generous tip and head out. He looked around the see what was available around the area noticing some of the people passing by. Suddenly, he noticed a flash of bright blonde hair appearing as if out of nowhere and walking down the street. It was a young woman who just passed by the strange building. From where he could see, she was quite the looker. She had long flowing blonde hair walked about with an air of confidence around her. She wore a dark kitten heels with a tight form fitting blue jeans and a white loose shirt that flowed with her every movement. While some girls like to wear excessive jewelry, it looked like she went for something a bit simpler. Just a simple necklace and earrings that creates simple beauty without the unnecessary complication of too many accessories. In a sense, this was the style that Alex liked. He never understood why some models had to deck themselves out with some of outfits and accessories that he would have thought to be ridiculous but would never say out loud. Alex stared at her walking by until she turned around the corner and disappear.

He shook his head and decided to head on over to his car and decided may going to the nearby mall would be enjoyable. Once arriving at the mall, he took a look around. He decided to buy some presents and gifts and even asked them to be delivered to his home which the shopkeepers readily agreed. He got a lovely fountain pen from Montblanc for his assistant, Katarina, knowing how much she loved to write. For Kevin, he found a nice set of new kitchen knives. He got Sienna a new laptop remembering how her old one recently died. After all the purchases he grabbed a light lunch and eventually found himself at a bookstore.

At the bookstore, he browsed about selecting a few books that seemed to be interesting. Eventually, he came across a fashion magazine. It was one of the latest fashion magazines, Next Fashion, that his company printed and there was only one copy left. He remembered being notified about having his modeling pictures in this edition and refused to work on it, delegating the work to Eddy that time. Now, curious to see as he did not see the last issue himself he reached out to pick it up only to find another hand reaching out for it.

"Oh, I'm sorry." An accented feminine voice exclaimed the voice's owner withdrawing her hand.

Alex immediately pulled his hand back and gestured.

"Please, take the copy I was merely curious."

He looked at the girl and started a bit. It was the same blonde girl that he saw earlier. Her blue eyes looked back at him sparkling. She was very pretty. Her blonde hair had soft flowing waves that went past her hips. He noticed that while she looked to be around his age, he guessed she was probably younger than him, despite wearing heels, she was just a bit shy from his own height. He began to feel the need to draw closer to her but caught himself and pulled back slightly noticing the girl's eyes widen a bit.

"I am sorry about that. I do not know what came of me."

She looked at him thoughtfully and replied, "That is alright. I am was surprised myself."

She reached out and grabbed the magazine.

"I take it that you like Next Fashion as well?" he asked.

She nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! It is one of my favorites!"

"Glad you enjoy it," Alex replied stuck out his hand. "By the way the name is Alex."

"Gabrielle," the girl replied taking his hand and smiled at him.

Gosh she is gorgeous. Alex thought.

"May I ask where you are from?" Gabrielle asked.

"I was originally from Los Angeles but studied a bit in New York before coming here to work in London," he replied.

"Sounds a bit short," she stated.

"Oh, it is a quite the story," he warned her.

"I have time, particularly if it is amusing," she countered back.

"Then coffee at Costa?" he asked.

"Sounds good," Gabrielle replied.

So the two made their purchases and went over to Costa Coffee (a British coffeehouse). They placed their drinks which Alex paid for despite the mild protest from Gabrielle. When they got their drinks, they found a nice quiet spot in the corner and Alex related his story.

Gabrielle sympathized with Alex when she heard about his parents trying to control his fate. She laughed at how he was thrown into the fashion industry and had slowly come to enjoy the industry itself. She applauded his success in regards to his promotion.

"I am simply impressed," she stated as he finished his tale.

He shrugged, "Truthfully it was the people I met and sheer luck of having to be at the right place at the right time that I am where I am today."

She nodded in agreement.

"And now you are the Executive Director of what company again?"

"Oh, sorry about that," he replied. "The Delacour Group."

Gabrielle eyes opened wide in surprise to which Alex grinned sheepishly.

"I honestly had no idea how large the company was until I came here to London a year ago."

Gabrielle looked at him intently.

"So, you are Alex Lee then?"

Alex raised his eyes in slight surprise.

"Indeed. May I ask how you know Miss -?"

"D-Weasley. Gabrielle Weasley," she hastily replied. "As for how I know, I know of some people in the company and heard of you through them. Although, I am surprised that you would want to purchase a copy of Next Fashion when you are in a sense in charge of it."

Alex noted the slight slip but let it go. After all, if a girl wishes to not tell all and no one is going to be hurt, what is the worry?

"Well Miss Weasley."

"Please call me, Gabrielle."

"Alright, Gabrielle," Alex replied. "I was originally not going to purchase it until I remembered that it was the issue that I have not personally worked on with the team. I have not had a chance to see the final result of the magazine and was rather curious to see myself."

She grinned and pulled out the magazine. "Would you be interested if we share?"

He grimaced and nodded. "Please keep in mind that if I had no control over this issue."

Her grin grew wider. "Is there something in here that you are hoping to not see?"

"I will not say."

She immediately opened the magazine and the two began to look through the pages. After a few minutes they came across a section that caught his attention and he immediately placed both hands over the page with Gabrielle protesting.

"Please," he pleaded. "Just skip the new few pages."

"What are you hiding?" she demanded. Her curiosity growing as she saw from the corner part of the title listed Rising Exe-.

Eventually he relented and Gabrielle's eyes rose in approval. Alex raised a hand to his face in defeat as she clearly saw the page.

Rising Executive Director and the Runway to Success

Alex Lee (19), a new and rising star in the fashion industry…

The article goes on about his success and it was laid on thick. The article also showed pictures of him in various poses and styles. While Alex was not the best looking guy she seen, she had to admit, Alex looked pretty nice in those pictures.

In one picture, it showed Alex in a business suit leaning against a Ferrari with a sexy smirk with two other models sitting in the car in the background.

"Oh gosh, they added those too," Alex moaned when he took a peek and saw what picture she was looking at.

"I have to admit, these pictures are not that bad," she replied.

"It was horrible." He growled. "I go down to see if I can help them and then they decided to have a photo shoot with me. Ah, that one wasn't bad though."

She looked at the picture that Alex pointed too. It was a picture of Alex playing with a young girl around eight or so in the kitchen with a man in the background in his thirties. She read the caption below the picture.

Alex Lee with his chef, Kevin Walker (37) and Kevin's daughter Lily Walker (9).

She smiled seeing them in matching outfits with happy looks on all three faces.

"She is a spoiled one," Alex commented pointing at the little girl.

They spent a few more minutes look through the magazine with Gabrielle teasing him a bit. Eventually Gabrielle noticed the time and stood up a bit slightly horrified.

Oh gosh! she exclaimed in French.

Alex looked at his watch which read 4:48pm. "I take it you have an appointment later this evening?"

"Y-yes," she replied. "I have an early dinner with my mother and her guests this evening around six this evening at the La Sirene and I am have not gotten ready yet. My dress is still back at my place."

"Formal?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

"Come with me then," he said and took her to a nearby shop.

"Alex, I do not have time for shopping!"

"Do you live close by that you can get ready in thirty minutes?" he asked.

"No." she responded

"Then we might as well try and find something here," he said smiling and pulled her towards a set of dresses.

"Welcome!" the attendant said.

Alex immediately eyed a few dresses looked back at her and back at the dresses and selected a dark blue dress for her to try.

"Here try this one."

She looked at him for a moment of disbelief and took the dress with the attendant following her to assist her. A few minutes later she came out and Alex knew he made a good choice. Well looks like working in the fashion industry has some uses. He thought as he mentally chuckled to himself.

After helping various events, Alex developed a good eye on things and looked over her carefully. The dress would most certainly do. It was a sheath/column scoop neck dress that trailed stopping just an inch from the floor. It had a sequins split front that revealed a good portion of her leg showing off some sex appeal. Along one side there was a thin silver line that patterned from the shoulders down the dress adding a simple touch of style. Also on closer inspection, he decided that it went well with her simple accessories and her heels as well.

"Well?" she asked as she turned a bit looking quite surprised at the result.

"Yeah, I'm good," Alex stated nodding in appreciation.

Gabrielle blew a raspberry at Alex causing him to laugh.

"Miss, I think we will take this," Alex called out to the attendant.

"Very well please come this way."

They immediately purchased the dress with Gabrielle still wearing it and put her other clothes in a bag provided by the attendant. He offered to give her a lift to La Sirene which she accepted.

When they arrived to his car she stopped looking momentarily stunned.

"This is your car?"

Yes, he replied in French.

Her eyes grew big as she looked at the car and also noticed him answer back.

Do you speak French? she asked.

A bit, he answered back. I never really had a reason to tell anyone other than using a few simple words here and there.

That is more than a few simple words.

I guess you can say that, he replied grinning.

She stood next to the car momentarily staring at him for a bit. He walked over towards the passenger side and opened the door.

If you will, mademoiselle? he smirked as she stood still another second longer before taking a seat. He carefully closed the door and went over and hopped into the driver seat and started the car. Alex looked at the time.

5:18pm

With the current traffic, he judged that they would be about five to ten minutes early and began to head towards their destination.

So how do you know French? she asked as they drove down the street.

It was one of the languages I learned while I was at Harvard and interning. I did not take an actual course, but figured I might as well learn it.

She looked at him with some admiration.

So how is my accent? he asked.

Honestly? A bit awful, she replied laughing as his upset expression. You are trying too hard, you need to let it flow more naturally.

Alright. I will work on it the next time we meet.

Oh, next time? she asked.

Naturally, he stated as he looked at her and grinned.

Eventually they arrived in front of the La Sirene. The valet were walking up towards them when Alex waved them off.

"Just dropping off this beautiful lovely lady my friends."

They nodded and went back as Gabrielle giggled and blushed a bit at his compliment.

He opened the door and let her out taking her hand as she got out.

Well, it seems like our meeting for tonight comes to an end, he stated.

There might be another time, she replied nonchalantly.

Oh? Alex said raising one eyebrow.

Might, she stated again and smiled.

He pulled out his business card and handed it to her. If you do not feel like giving me your number, feel free to give me a call instead.

She paused for a moment as if thinking about it then took the card and grinned.

I guess we will see? she asked.

Indeed.

With that he watched her head inside before heading back to his car and driving off.

Alex decided to head back home deciding that he would probably just try and make something and enjoy an evening meal at home. While his cooking stills were still questionable, it had been steadily improving with Kevin's guidance. But just to be on the safe measure, he called Eddy's assistant as he head home.

"Welkins, speaking."

"Carla! Alex, here. I was wondering-," Alex began.

"Eddy left for the day if that is what you are asking," she replied.

"Perfect! Just what I needed to hear!"

"Are you heading back to your place? You know what Eddy said."

"Are you going to tell him if I do go back?" he asked.

"No," Carla replied.

"Fantastic! Will see you later then."

"Take care of yourself, Alex."

With that he hung up and drove on home. When he arrived, he dropped of his car to the valet and too the elevator back up to his office. He was going to make sure there was no news or updates before heading up. As soon as the elevator opened, he was taken aback seeing the reception room lights lit. He saw his assistant Katarina working sitting at her desk trying to look busy. As he drew nearer he noticed that her eyes were red and a bit puffy.

She looked up momentarily and immediately looked back down trying to avoid eye contact.

"Alex! I thought you had the day off."

"I did and was coming back. Aren't you back early? I thought you were spending the latter half of your break with your boyfriend."

She merely nodded and was busy sorting away some paper work. He stood there for a few moments and knew that she was merely trying to look busy as there was nothing do actually do, not even a letter or note that he was going to check on. The fact that she was pretending the act busy, her hiding the fact she was crying, and coming back to work early meant something wrong happened.

"Kat, please look at me for a moment," he gently asked as he walked over towards her.

For a moment she stubbornly refused, but eventually looked up sorrow showing in her eyes.

What is wrong? he asked. Alex does not normally flaunt his languages skills around but whenever there is anything that he would take about in private with Katarina, he would revert to French since it was easier for her to speak as she was originally from France. She in turn did not tell anyone else about him knowing other languages especially to their clients or partners as it provided an edge when the other side tried speaking another language and they understood what was being transpired.

Katarina burst into tears and Alex immediately went over to comfort her, That bastard, I come by to visit him and h-he had that bitch in bed with him!

So your boyfriend was cheating.

She nodded and cried into his shoulders again. Alex patted her on the back and tried to sooth her. While he himself had slept around with others, he made sure that his partners knew he was not in any committed relationship and that neither were they. If you were going to cheat on each other, why bother committing to one another in the first place?

He let her cry herself out a bit until she began to calm down.

Feeling better? he asked grabbing the box of tissue from her desk and offering the remaining tissue left. Judging from the lightness of the tissue box, she went through a lot.

Yes, she replied smiling a bit weakly.

Good, well next important question. Did you have dinner yet? I was going to go upstairs and grab something to eat.

She shook her head. No, I haven't ate anything since this morning.

Katarina Delattre! he yelled causing her to shrink back a bit. How many times do I have to remind you to never forget your meals? Work may be important and your personal life may have some trouble, but that does not mean you should skip any!

He grabbed her by the arm and starting taking her to the elevator. You are not working the rest of the day and you are going to sit down and eat something and forget about the rest of the day.

She numbly obeyed and followed him up to the penthouse and to the kitchen, taking off his jacket and throwing it on a chair. He made her sit on one of the bar stools and took stock with what he had. Despite Kevin's disapproval, he had some instant preheated food and canned food stored in a pantry. He quickly took some mac and cheese and prepared it along with some jelly sandwiches. He put the sandwiches and mac and cheese on two plates and brought them to the counter top and got the utensils. He motioned her to dig in and went to and went to grab something to drink.

"Drink?" he asked. He got no response and turned around and saw her alternating from staring at the food and at him.

"Alright. So I can't make a real meal," He confessed. "At least it should be edible. I at least followed the instructions this time."

That brought out a weak laughter from Katarina.

"This time?" she asked.

He glowered at her, "Don't make me explain all those catastrophes of a meal I made before. At least this is simple and easy enough to make. Now, what do you want to drink?"

"Something strong to go with this," she replied as she slowly tasted the food before wolfing it down.

"Scotch?"

"That is a start."

He grabbed a bottle of scotch and two glasses and walked back to the counter.

"There is more if you want," he reminded her indicating to the pot that still held some left over mac in cheese. He opened the bottle and was about to pour when her hand shot out and grabbed the bottle and she started chugging away.

He looked at her taking in large gulps of scotch and she put the bottle back down on the table, coughing. She finished off half of the bottle already. Alex raised his eyebrows and took the bottle and poured himself a glass.

"You know you are going to get sick from that." He said as he drank his glass and poured another.

"Don't care. Just give me the bottle," she stated as she alternated between consuming her food and chugging the bottle. Before she finished it off, he grabbed the bottle away from her resulting in her crying out in dismay. She struggled to grab for the bottle and he finished it off leaving an empty bottle.

"You... are such... an ass," she muttered glaring at him.

He her a look and shrugged, finishing the rest of his meal and urging her to do the same. After the meal, he took the plates put them away and excused himself for a bit to use the restroom. When he got back, he saw she ransacked his fridge and was drinking a London Porter as well. Well, she is most definitely going to be waking up with a hangover tomorrow.

He opened the fridge and grabbed one himself. He led her toward the living room (but not without her demanding to bring a few more drinks with them) and sat on the sofas. He listened to her rant and cuss and talk about how she broke up with the guy. All the while, her words became less coherent and turning from English to French. He merely drank and listened to her, offering her a shoulder to lean on as she vented and cried. Eventually her ranting starting coming to an end as the alcohol began to strongly affect her. By then, he was knew he was also pretty drunk himself.

Seeing her nodding off, he stirred her a bit.

"Kat, if you are going to fall asleep you might as well do so in bed. Come."

Alex placed the bottles carefully on the coffee table and turned the lights out. He then carefully pulled her up without much resistance as she mumbled a bit. The walk up the stairs to one of the was a task in itself as one drunk tried to led the other drunk up the stairs. He carried her to one of the guest rooms turning on of the lights on and walked over to the bed where he lay her on it. She struggled a bit, taking off some of her confining clothing and murmured her thanks as he tucked her in. He sat on the edge of the bed and watching for a few moments before getting up.

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed his and he turned, seeing pleading eyes.

Please don't go. she begged.

He looked for a moment and reached out to turn out the lights and pulled of his shoes and pants before settling in the bed with her. She moved closer to him, laying her head on his chest. He maneuvered his arm a bit so that it lay behind her, out of the way. They lay there for a moment and slowly drifted off to sleep.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 2. As for this story, I know that this chapter shows that Alex did get around with quite a few sex partners (Sienna being one of them, and maybe Kat? Who knows?) However, this is not going to be a harem type story. That much I will clear out of the way, sure there may be a few instance where people may or may not sleep around, but this story will not lead to a harem story. Hope you enjoyed so far! Review are always welcome.