Christian's POV

After a weekend filled with events, all of us had to return back to work. I was reluctant on going back to the old life. I started getting used to the fact that family time could be this fulfilling… more than work and anything.

Sera started to come on a daily basis at GEH. I could see her slowly becoming me in every aspect, and at times it scared me. I knew how this could get… she will drown herself in work exactly like I did. She says that she can handle it… and no matter how much I tried stopping her… she still brought paper work at home. My work had decreased by almost half with her helping me… but… I couldn't help thinking that maybe she's trying to keep busy with everything so that her mind wouldn't wonder. She constructed a perfectly detailed presentation for the meeting with the Brosnan Brothers. I never thought she could pull something this big, but she did. I kept watching her intently as she prepared and explained everything in detail. She was such a perfectionist. I was a perfectionist myself… but this… this was by far above my obsessive control. I was born to control things. A man's power is acquired by exercising control in all things.

'So… with this…' She continued as she turned to the last few slides. 'We can probably present the charts on how we implemented the stocks and how we think that the percentages will be… I mean I know they're prototypes… but still we're gaining some positive outcome…'

'Sera…' I tried as I rested my hands on the desk.

'You can also introduce the new mechanics that Duncan and Feinberg designed…' She continued barely noticing that I was trying to stop her.

'Sera…' I tried again.

'We can also try…' She continued as I stood up and held her from her shoulders stopping her from pacing anymore.

'Sera…' I looked straight into her eyes.

'Yes?' She finally realized.

'It's perfect! We have them… Stop fussing!' I said again as I realized her hand was shaking. 'Sera… how many cups of coffee have you taken?'

'I don't know 7 or 8? I spent the whole night finalising this so that this morning you can approve it for this afternoon.'

'Dammit… Sera… you should sleep! We could have finished it this morning.' I continued as I guided her to the couch in my office.

'We finished more work this morning…' She smiled as I kissed her forehead. 'So… any criticism? Do you want me to change anything? Is everything up to your standards?'

'Geez… calm down!' I chuckled. 'It's good as it's going to get Sera… I have the licence and contract ready, all we need to do is convince the brothers.'

'Out of curiosity dad… how old are they?'

'24 or something…' I replied. 'Why?'

'I was wondering why they had a whole company in their hands…'

'I started GEH when I was 21 almost 22… they're not that young…' I smiled as I brought out an envelope and handed it to her. 'This is for you…'

'What is this?' She asked staring at me.

'Open it…' I smiled as she obliged. 'That's your first pay check…' I smiled while she looked at me in disbelief.

'Dad… is this really mine?' She asked again astonished.

'Yeah… what did you think? That you'll be doing work and I wouldn't pay you?'

'Well… yeah…' She replied again. '…but I think you have a mistake with few 0's here…'

'No… it's as it is.'

'Dad! This is a $10,000 pay check for just three weeks! Normal employees get what $842 a week? And I'm getting a $10,000?'

'You earned it Sera… just accept it and that's all…' I said again. She was exactly like her mother in these things. 'Sera I make $100,000 an hour… That's nothing compared…'

'You make how much?' She asked in disbelief.

'Yeah… how do you think I'm a billionaire?'

'I don't know… So that makes you have a gross income of $2,400,000 in a day…'

'$12,000,000 every week…' I continued as she remained staring at me. 'I take it you never realised this?'

'Hell no! Who would?' She replied as she placed the check back in the envelope.

'So… what are you going to do with your first payment?'

'I'll invest it…' She smiled. 'Can you hold on to it for me please?'

'That's a good choice…' I smiled. 'If you want I can make you an account under my name so that you can get a better percentage…'

'You're the boss…' She smiled. 'I trust you dad… so let me get this straight this is my summer job?'

'If you want… yes… you can be my assistant… after all this will all be yours one day…' I smiled back.

'I will work here, but I'm not sure about the assistant thing… I'm not that experienced…' She admitted.

'Neither was I someday… but don't worry you'll get the hang of it… and who knows maybe next time I'll give you a raise…' I teased.

'I prefer if you'll let me use your black Porsche.' She teased back.

'Yeah… as if I'll be giving you a lethal machine in your hands. I value your life Sera…'

'Oh come on dad! Even Natalie has her own car… and I'm asking you to lend it… meaning that it will always be yours…'

'It's not on not giving you a car Sera… A car for me won't bankrupt me… It's just there are terrible drivers out there… I don't want you to get into an accident… If this wasn't the situation I would have given you a car a long time ago… but I'd rather you get a little bit older to one, start driving without adult supervision, and two, having your own car.'

'…but dad…'

'No buts Sera… you're still recovering and you still are getting dizzy spells and even fainting at times… I don't want that to happen while you're behind the wheel…'

'Can I drive us home today? I'll be with an adult… unless of course you don't consider yourself an adult…' She challenged. 'Ana taught her this trick… I have to have a teeny weeny talk with her at home…' I thought to myself.

'We'll see…' I replied as I checked the time. 'Before we get ready in the Conference room, I want to make one thing clear. Now that you are getting paid I don't want you to lash out on school. I dropped out of Harvard and I regret it today. If maybe I continued University I would have graduated and gotten a diploma. I want you to have everything that I didn't have because of my ignorance. I want you to still follow your dreams, graduate and become what you want, and when you see that you're fit and ready to take some full responsibility of GEH, then we'll talk about it… but till then count this as a temporary job. Besides you're here just to learn the ropes.' I explained.

'Dad… don't worry… I knew you were going to say that… mum, grandpa Carrick and grandma Grace already gave me the talk. Even uncle Elliott did so…' She smiled. '…although aunt Mia thought otherwise… but anyhow… I'll still continue studying.'

'I'm glad we're on the same page peanut.' I smiled as I pulled her to my side and hugged her. '…I don't want you to repeat the same mistakes I did…'

'…but you still succeeded dad…'

'Only because I have a business mind… and I can read people…'

'Not everybody…' She chuckled as she moved forward and unhooked everything from the projector.

'What do you mean?'

'Come on dad… you were never able to read mum nor me…'

'Well you two are the exception to the rule…' I smiled. '…and I won't have it any other way…' I continued. 'You know why?' I asked her again.

'…because we're family?'

'One of the reasons… but mainly because I want you both to be comfortable enough to tell me anything you want.'

'Despite all the mishaps we had…' she started. 'You are a great dad… I wouldn't change you for the world… not now not ever…' She replied as she hugged me. 'Now let's get ready for the bros. First impressions are the most lasting.'

After almost four hours of going into every detail of the project at hand, we managed to get the brothers on our same page. The discussions were never ending, and so were the questions. Sera managed to make a fully detailed presentation and she presented us with a fully tip-top condition file in details. There was everything in there, pros and cons, stock markets, sales… anything that a business would dream of having in every meeting. If we had this much time to prepare for every meeting, than we'd have more success that we'd already have. 'We…' I thought to myself finally realizing what was happening. 'I'm already counting me as us.´ I smiled to myself.

'Mr. Grey…' Calvin started again as he swift read the contract with his brother. 'The presentation and the file is fully explainable, however, give us one reason why we should sign this contract and work with… for you…'

'GEH has always had the best interest and moving towards a better life… towards a more renewable sources of energy. GEH is a global leader in communication technologies, eco manufacturing and next generation farming solutions.' I explained locking eye contact with both of them. 'Having you on our project will not only generate more resources along with expertise work, but also, we will be heading towards a mechanism that will change and renovate human life.'

'What you Ms. Grey?' Carter asked again as he turned his gaze to my daughter. 'What do you think about this? Do you actually see potential?'

'Mr. Brosnan…' She started professionally. 'If you fully read and paid attention to the presentation put up few minutes ago, you can see that I don't only believe and see potential in this project, but I also know that we will succeed. The facts are there. The prototypes are already giving results. I know this is going to work.' She continued. 'If my father and I knew that this was going to take us nowhere we would have stopped with it immediately. This little project had already cost us a quarter of a million dollars. I don't think anyone in his right mind would continue spending and wasting resources if they don't believe and are sure that they're going to succeed.' She finished as I smiled while rubbing my chin lightly.

'Mr. Grey… of course, if we'll be working for you, we'd like some percentage from your profit…' Carter said again still looking at my daughter.

'Yes. You will be having 12.36% of the profit. Everything is fully written in the contract…' I replied again as they both picked up the pen.

'Mr. Grey…' Calvin started. 'We're in…' He smiled widely as all of us stood up and both of the brothers handed us the contract. I could see my daughter beamingly smiling from our success.

'Welcome aboard…' I shook their hands. 'If you'd like you can join us for coffee?'

'We'd love too.' Calvin replied back.

'Peanut…' I started.

'Go… I'll catch up with you… I have to file these and unhook everything.' She smiled as she started closing everything.

'Are you sure?' I asked her concerned. Last time I left her alone, Earl attacked her.

'Dad… this place is surrounded by security… Taylor is outside… stop worrying…' She smiled. 'I'll soon be in the cafeteria.' She smiled again.

'Ok…' I finally agreed. 'Don't take too long…' I ordered gently as I kissed her forehead and made my way out with Calvin on my tail.

Sera's POV

I finally managed to get him off my back. He was constantly scared that something was about to happen. I wanted him to relax. All this stress on him wasn't going to do any good. He was already stressed out as he is. This is what he needed. As I saw him exiting the door, I returned back to my task and starting closing up everything, along with placing everything into the box file. I made sure the contracts were fully signed and that there were no loose papers.

'…and we did it…' I said to myself smiling as I looked at the signatures.

'Yes… you managed to convince us…' A voice from behind me took me off guard.

'Oh…' I quickly recovered. 'I didn't realise you were here Mr. Brosnan.'

'Come on Ms. Grey…' He smiled as he moved forward. 'We cleared all formalities last Saturday.' He smiled as he came forward helping me with the files.

'Yeah…' I smiled. 'Aren't you supposed to be with your brother and my father?'

'Well… I wanted to talk to you…' He smiled again as he unplugged the projector and placed it on the side of the glass table.

'About?' I smiled as I switched off my laptop and dad's laptop.

'Well… I was going to ask you if you had some free time tonight…'

'Why?' I asked surprised.

'Well… you beguile me Sera. So young yet so insightful, and now that we're almost colleagues, I'd like to get to know you better.' He continued.

'Carter, don't get me wrong, but this is a little short notice… not to mention, I practically don't know anything about you, and you're asking me to go out with you?' I asked. 'How do I know you're not a psychopath or some delusional guy with a super high ego.' I teased. '…or a serial killer? Or worse!'

'What could possibly be worse than that?' He joked.

'I don't know! Maybe your feet smell!' I joked back.

'I can assure you Sera, my feet do not smell…'

'I'm glad they don't…' I smiled.

'Let me tell you what… I still want to go out with you. Why don't we exchange numbers, and I'll call you, and text you some time? We'll be working together, we'll get to know each other, and maybe then I can take you out…'

'Out like… on a date?'

'Yeah…' He smiled. 'Don't tell me you never went out on a date, because I won't believe you!' He teased. '…but seriously…'

'Ok…' I smiled as we exchanged our phones and wrote our number down, and we exchanged the number again. 'Now let's go join my father because he'll get worked up over nothing.'

'Yeah… I realized…' He joked as I picked up the two box files with the two laptops on top. 'You have two hands… Let me help…' He smiled as he took the box files leaving me with only the laptops. 'Where too?'

'Dad's office…' I smiled as we made our way to it. I unlocked his glass door via fingerprint scanner. 'Um… I'm sorry but you have to wait outside. My father doesn't like it if someone enters his office without his presence.'

'Yeah sure… no problem…' He smiled as he handed me everything. I went to his desk and placed the files and laptops in his desk cupboard. I locked it making sure that no one manages to get his hands on them, and in little time we were in the cafeteria.

Christian's POV

Finally they both arrived. I was getting worried that something had happened, but seeing my daughter laugh at what anything Carter was telling her, made me smile. Finally they arrived at our table.

'What damn took you so long?' I asked as I kissed her forehead. 'I was getting worried.'

'Somebody kept me talking…' She smiled as she gave Carter a look. They seemed comfortable into each other's presence. Maybe I should run a more intense detail background about this guy.

'Ahh…' I realized. 'I was wondering where you were…' I continued as the waiter came handing us our beverages.

'We took the liberty of ordering for you two.' Calvin stated as he started sipping from his coffee. We engaged ourselves into some more talk outside work. We had been discussing methodisation for hours. It was time to find some peace of mind. However, soon we all headed home. It was a long day after all. However, there was something between Carter and Sera. They were acting different towards each other, and I could see a spark in both their eyes.

During the drive home I decided to bring it up.

'You and Carter seem to be really on the same page…' I started slowly. 'Is there something I should know?'

'Well… He kind of asked me out for tonight…' She finally said as she fidgeted with her fingers.

'Define kind of…' I said again. I could feel my brain going at a 1000 mph. A guy liking her… Carter seemed a good kid. But so did Eric in a way. I just didn't want her to get hurt again.

'I said no…'

'Why?' I asked surprised. 'You two seemed quite comfortable.'

'It was on short notice dad!' She replied.

'Oh…' I replied with uncertainty.

'…but we exchanged numbers and he said he will call me.'

'I have to run a background check on him again.' I stated again as I pulled at Escala's Garage. We made our way up to our floor, where Ana was already waiting for us. Sera, on the other hand was lost texting back to what I assumed was Carter. I was hoping that if there was going to be something between them, she wouldn't have to suffer again.

'Hey honey…' Ana greeted. 'How did it go?'

'We got them…' I smiled as I kissed her while Sera chuckled at something she was reading.

'Glad you did baby…' she kissed me back. 'Come on… dinner's ready…'

Ana's POV

'Sera, honey, can you put your phone down?' I asked her gently. She had been smiling goofily all evening. Christian didn't give anything and neither has she for the matter, but I could sense from her smile that someone else was involved… and this someone else had to be a 'he'… After dinner, she went straight to her room. She looked exhausted and we didn't want to keep her up, but I still wanted to talk to her. I went up to her room, and there she was, looking outside her balcony.

'Sera…' I started gently. 'Why are you out here?'

'I'm thinking mum…' She admitted.

'…it's getting late honey… I don't want you to get a cold…' I smiled as I guided her to her bed. 'Honey… I couldn't help noticing. Is everything ok?'

'It's that obvious huh?'

'It kind of is…' I smiled. 'Your father told me about Carter…'

'Yeah…'

'Why did you say no baby girl?' I encouraged.

'It was short notice…' She replied as she looked down.

'Come on… you may have made your father fall for that lame excuse… but I'm not going to fall for it…' I smiled as I lifted her face gently. 'Tell me honey…What is it?'

'It's just…' She started. '….we'll be working together mum. I mean I'll be seeing him daily, which is the upside of it… but… What if we do start dating and then it ends badly? If he breaks up with me I'll want revenge and vice versa if I break up with him…There's dad's business in the middle, and you always tell me not to have relationships with co-workers…'

'Honey, you're both mature. You know you shouldn't put the business in the middle.' I smiled. 'Sera, you may say only that… but your eyes are telling me something different…' I continued.

'It's not only that… you're right…' she started. 'It's just… I'm afraid he'll hurt me again… like…'

'Eric?'

'Yeah…'

'Honey not all men are like Eric. You've had it tough at first…' I smiled as I kissed her forehead. 'Honey, if you really think you like this guy, go for it. There are times were you have to take risks. Remember, we're always going to remain by your side, and your father is already running scans and checks on everything this Carter has.' I smiled as I kissed her forehead.

'Why are you taking it this good?'

'I am… it doesn't mean your father is!' I chuckled. 'He's already bombarded Barney, Sawyer and Prescott.'

'…but why are you taking it this good? After what happened with Eric I thought you were going to be all panicky like dad is. You had to see his face when I told him Carter asked me out.'

'…because unlike your father, I chose to try and see the good in people.' I smiled. 'Sera… give him a chance…' I hugged her as I checked the time. 'Come on now… it's bedtime honey. You need to sleep.' I smiled again.

'Mum?'

'Yeah?'

'Thank you…' She smiled.

'I love you baby girl…'

'I love you too…' She smiled as she hugged the pillow and I switched off her lights.

'Sleep tight…'

PLEASE REVIEW