Holy eight reviews! To ScipioPB, imagine believe, MikariStar, and CAPJHMPAgirl – seriously, thank you for dropping in once again. Crazy. It's just so crazy! Reviewers like you guys give me hope I can become a better reader myself! :)

Also, wow, how did so much time pass?! I didn't even mean to walk away. I just got lost in the routine, and it's like I just woke up and realized I haven't had time to write in a week. Eugh. I'm going to try to not let that happen again.

Thanks for reading!

Murphy's Law

The square ceiling light buzzed like a fly was trapped inside of it. Though he usually wouldn't have been able to tolerate the annoyance, Vaughn didn't have the time for it. He slowly leaned back in his chair, holding the headset close to his ear.

"There, too, eh?" he muttered, staring up at the blinking light above him. His silence caused the person on the other end of the line to start asking questions, so he rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "No, I'm still here. Just… surprised, I guess. Never paid much attention, so it's what we deserve."

"You're awfully calm about this," Neil said, leaning back in his own chair and propping his feet up on his desk. "You know, if your hunch is right. But it could be nothing. Not everything's a big, conspiracy theory."

He was right. It could very well all be in his head as he hoped, but Vaughn knew more than anyone that if something could go wrong – it would. And with the third buyout over by Neil's place, things were getting pretty suspicious. He frowned. "No, but you and I both know business is business… I'll talk to you later, man. Thanks for the heads up."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep in touch. City air makes you sound nice," Neil ended the call in his usual, back-handed way.

Vaughn smirked and pressed the button to end the call. He pulled out his contact list and added the new property to his research notes. It wasn't like it was a mystery what they were doing, but… how to stop it before it was too late?

"Vaughn, my favorite flat chest!" Hamilton folded his arms atop his thin monitor screen, rocking the stand. "Do you have that sale to Flower Bud cinched? Ties all tied? Knots knotted?"

Vaughn blinked at his boss, quickly closing his book and running through his mind for any light bulbs blinking on. Nothing. "Flower Bud, sir?"

Hamilton's usually chipper face fell slightly. "The, uh, property in Flower Bud. They've got an abandoned family farm. They wanted to send out the brochure Monday, but you were supposed to get back to them for the estimate…"

There was no hiding the incredulous look on the sale rep's face. He had forgotten. Somehow, Vaughn had completely looked it over. Now, the sale was in jeopardy, and there was no one to blame but himself.

Molly had noticed the awkward silence, as had many of the other workers in the office who were also looking at Vaughn. She rose from her seat in worry. She had to think of something, some way to help him out. A lie, an excuse, anything! But all Molly could think was: people get fired over stuff like this!

Vaughn was just as frozen, only hearing his heartbeat in his ears. Well, it was a good run. Maybe he could flip burgers.

"Oh, that was my fault."

Everyone was floored except for Hamilton who was looking on with interest as Allen swept around the side of the cubicle and leaned against Vaughn's office wall. Vaughn just gaped dumbly at him.

"Vaughn was helping me with a few stubborn carriers," Allen smoothly lied, lightly crossing his arms over his chest. "I've been borrowing him for a bit to keep up, so I'm afraid I'm to blame for the deal being so late."

Hamilton's smile quirked up. "Well! Then get busy, busy, busy! Pick up the pace, boys – I want the credit information on Flower Bud on my desk by tomorrow morning!"

"Yes! Of course, sir," Vaughn managed to choke out as he stood and all but saluted.

Hamilton winked at them both, blew a kiss to a cringing Tina as she passed them by to get to the copier, and disappeared behind his office door.

Once the office went back to normal, Vaughn lost no time in turning on him. "Why would you do that?"

"I don't know what's been distracting you at work lately," Allen stared down at his nails in a superficial gesture. His eyes snapped up to icily study Vaughn's. "But I trust you'll be able to keep up with your work from now on. Yes?"

"That doesn't explain why you just covered my ass," Vaughn found himself being more angry than grateful. It was second nature. Allen was someone he had never trusted, and this was a great opportunity for blackmail. He wouldn't put it past him to use it.

"Well, maybe I'll need a favor someday," Allen smiled and waved a thoughtful hand in the air. "And your sorry ass might be able to help me out."

"Okay, before this gets any gayer…" Molly interrupted, tapping Vaughn on the shoulder. She bit her lip as she held up his coat, and she was already wearing her own.

"Right," Vaughn remembered. He promised to take lunch with her today to go illegally spread her cat's ashes in the park. He threw his coat around his shoulders and draped the red scarf around his neck. He turned off his computer and pointed a threatening finger at Allen. "Don't mistake my gratitude, but I'm not doing you any favors."

"I'll come to collect when my time comes," Allen confidently waved him off, heading back to his own cubicle.

"That was a close one…" Molly mumbled as Vaughn found his keys and packed away his contact book in his briefcase, locking it.

Vaughn suddenly stopped and stared up at the buzzing light that had gotten increasingly louder. He curiously eyed a few other lights on the floor that were doing the same. He shrugged, pushing Molly's shoulder to the stairs. "Let's get this over with."

"Thanks again for doing this," Molly mumbled, hands already in her coat pockets as she focused on her ballet flats.

"Don't thank me until it's over with," Vaughn retorted. He wasn't mad he was missing out on work, of course. Any excuse to get away from the office for any amount of time was heaven sent, but he couldn't get over the strangeness of it. Vaughn had seen countless animals go when their time had come in his teenage days as an animal dealer. In fact, it's how he met Neil in the first place. They had transported hundreds of livestock to farms all over for minimum wage and business experience. It's how they eventually landed office jobs. Animals were business. Sure, he'd had his share of favorites, but Vaughn had never owned a pet. He couldn't understand, but he felt the whole thing was too clingy for his preference.

"I guess you're right," she smiled, totally oblivious to his pessimism. Or perhaps she had become adept at overlooking it. That was a greater possibility. Almost as if she knew just what he was thinking, Molly asked: "So, do you have any pets?"

Vaughn tried to ignore the eyes on them from the soda machine as Molly kicked open the lobby door and held it open with her foot. Vaughn caught it and followed her out, pretending he didn't know Terry was spying. "No. Apartment won't allow them."

"Oh," she answered shortly, squinting up at the grey sky. A light drizzle was coming down, but it was threatening sleet, and the air was stinging with the chill. She stopped beside the passenger door of his car as he manually unlocked his own door. "Well, have you ever had any? A dog maybe? You look like a dog person."

"Never had the time or money," he shrugged, finding her sentiments odd. A dog person? He supposed dogs would be more useful in general… He ducked into the car and knelt on the seat to reach the lock under Molly's window. He pulled the tab up, and Molly quickly hopped in.

"Huh," she ended their conversation as she buckled her seatbelt.

Vaughn turned the key in the ignition and relaxed into his seat. Just as he was about to go into reverse, he noticed Molly's face had paled considerably. Her knuckles were white as they gripped her seatbelt. "You car sick already?"

"N-no…" Molly shook her head.

They left the parking lot and jerked into traffic, bouncing off the curb. Molly gasped and reached for the dash as Vaughn slammed on the gas and careened them in line with the other cars, successfully cutting off a white maintenance van.

"It's just—!" She squeaked, grabbing for a good hold of anything. "I just realized I've never really driven with you before except for that thirty second trip to that diner, and Denny told me that you're an awful driver—"

"What?" Vaughn frowned, speeding under a yellow light. "I thought you said you weren't seeing Denny."

"We're not dating…" she said, still with her eyes glued to the precarious road ahead. "But we talk. I guess we're friends."

"Friends? With Denny? What's the point?" He wondered aloud, zipping by a patrol car. "What do you even talk about? Fish?"

Molly closed her eyes and prayed for no sirens. Apparently, the officer was distracted since he didn't bother to chase Vaughn down and pull him over for going forty-five in a thirty-five zone. She heard his question late. "What?! No!"

Vaughn innocently slouched his shoulders, perfectly at ease as he wound his way through city street chaos. "Maybe he talked too much about fish, eh?"

"No, we decided not to date each other for perfectly sound reasons. Stop asking me about it!" She snapped.

"Fine!" He held his hands up in surrender, making Molly clench her teeth at his recklessness. There were a few awkward, quiet minutes after Molly found out his radio was busted, and there was nothing else to say. The windshield wipers squeaked at the lack of moisture, so he clicked them off. Vaughn cleared his throat and looked her over, noting her handbag was too small. "So… where is it? The cat, I mean."

"Wha— I wasn't going to just cart him around…" Molly glumly looked out the window.

"So where is he? Your apartment?" Vaughn poorly disguised his exhaustion with the errand.

"It's on the way, yes! Just make a left when you see Center," she blew the bangs from her forehead and sunk into her chair. "Grump…"

Vaughn testily rolled his eyes and focused on the street for once.

Back at Persuasive Papers, unbeknownst to Vaughn and Molly, all hell was about to break loose. In fact, the pair had left just in time.

"Interesting…" Terry muttered, rubbing his chin. His knees were in his face in order to fit in the machine. He watched through the decal as the silhouettes disappeared out the front door. "Sneaking out of work, eh? Heh-heh. Rascals."

He was so amused with his clever, useful hiding spot that Terry hadn't realized that the door had shut completely. Usually, this wasn't much to bother about except the light of the soda machine's front lit up like the Fourth of July whenever it was closed. People would think it was working, and Terry couldn't have that. It currently flickered like a candle in the wind.

"Well, time to stretch the old legs and use the John," Terry said aloud to himself. He pushed against the door and realized it was locked. Just as he was about to release the electronic latch, the light of the front zapped out. Along with every light in the office building.

Power outage.

"Not now…" Terry grumbled, futilely shaking the lock. He slammed his fists against it but to no avail. "Not again! I thought the no power plot points were over!"

From the lobby, anyone could see the soda machine rocking back and forth in the janitor's rage. Soon, people were yelling and colliding with one another and waving spare flashlights around.

"Do you hear that?" A fellow from the first floor's accounting shouted. "Someone's trapped in the elevator!"

"Hold on! We'll get you out soon! The power's out!" Another voice called up to the distressed riders.

"Hey, where's the janitor?"

"Yeah, Terry can fix this!"

"Terry!"

"Hey, Terry!"

Terry froze as calls for him echoed throughout the lobby. He listened as they knocked on his door down the hall. Beads of sweat collected under his brown cap as he realized the absolute horror of his situation.

He couldn't be found. Not here. Not in his hiding place. He had waited years for an opportunity like this soda machine, and he wasn't about to lose it! So quite simply, he'd just have to wait until the power came back on, so he could free himself and escape. And whoever was unfortunate enough to be stuck in the elevator would just have to wait, too.

"This is ridiculous!" Alice waved her hand that wasn't holding her to-go box. "We've been in here fifteen minutes already! Where's the power?"

"We just have to be patient," Gill calmly replied, ruing the day he decided to use that gift card for the Panera down the street. He should've used it another day. He should've gone hungry. Quite simply, anything would have been better than this result.

Alice squinted down at the button panel. She studied it a moment before rapidly pressing them. She held her index finger, thumb, and ring finger on buttons B, 2, and 3.

"What are you doing?" He couldn't help but ask as he tried to make out what all the clicking was in the dark.

"I read online once that there were certain button combinations you could press in an emergency," she said, trying another one and nearly dropping her leftovers.

Gill rolled his eyes, holding his half empty coffee cup to his chest. "Don't be ridiculous. It's obviously pointless to try when there isn't any power anyways."

"Isn't that what back-up generators are for?" Despite her defense, Alice gave up. She perched her lunch on her other palm as her arm got tired. She tried to look around, but she couldn't see a thing. "Any idea how long this'll be?"

"Terry just needs to figure out the circuit breaker in the basement," Gill explained, now an expert on this after his one trip down there. He unbuttoned his coat. All of her huffing was making the little box hot. "I wouldn't give it much longer."

"Well, I'm sick of standing," she announced. Gill heard her high heels hit the walls as she kicked them off. The elevator bounced slightly as Alice fell into a sitting position. She spread her legs out in front of her since her pencil skirt prevented any other comfortable seat. "Do you hear anything? What floor are we even on?"

Gill would have preferred to suffer this in silence, but since she insisted… "Probably between floors two and three. Hopefully, we're closer to one or the other in case this gets bad enough that we need to be freed manually."

"I am not crawling out of this thing," Alice refused. "What if it starts back up while I'm halfway out, and it slices me in half?!"

He wasn't even going to argue. His legs soon grew tired, and though he didn't want to appear so silly, he succumbed to sitting in the opposite corner that was still vacated. He carefully sat down with his knees propped up, his coffee now lukewarm in both of his hands.

The Styrofoam container squeaked, and the smell of chicken engulfed the elevator. Gill frowned. "What is that?"

"A half-bitten Panini," she said. The toasted bread crunched as she bit into it.

Gill's stomach growled. He quickly pressed a hand to it, but there was no hiding it now.

There didn't need to be a light for Gill to feel Alice's smirk. "Hungry~?"

"No," he lied terribly.

She sighed. "Well, I was going to ask if you'd be willing to trade a sip of that coffee for a bite. I'm dying of thirst."

It was a fair enough trade… Gill remained stubborn. "No thank you."

They didn't speak for awhile. Just waited. Alice munched on her sandwich, and Gill clung to the coffee he wished he traded.

"What are the odds?" Alice suddenly asked.

Gill ignored her.

"Would've pounced on this opportunity…" she held the small bit of sandwich in her lap over the take out container, giving a sideways glance to the darkness his way. "You're taking this rather well."

"I can't believe you're still hung up on that," he stared at the wall next to his face, boggled that he couldn't see right in front of his nose. Without even the emergency light, the elevator was like an abyss.

"How dare you think I wouldn't be," Alice barked, taking a massive bite of her grilled chicken Panini.

Gill sighed. "I honestly don't know what you want me to do."

"Oh, we both know you're not the most… showy guy," her tone was light-hearted but the words were scathing. "There's really nothing to do about it."

"Then why even bring it up?" He smiled at his logic, winning silence in return.

It didn't last long. Alice had grabbed one of her shoes, and she was beating it against the floor. "Hey! Anyone hear me?! Get us out of here!"

"Will you stop yelling?!" Gill nearly dropped his drink as he attempted to cover his ears.

"'Will you stop yelling?'" She mimicked in an annoying, deeper voice to imitate him.

He set his coffee safely aside and blindly crawled across the floor until he found her arm and snatched it before she could bring her heel against the floor again.

She snarled at him. "Don't touch me!"

"Then stop banging your shoe against the floor! You're giving me a headache!" Gill complained, his own voice rising.

"Have your headache!" Alice scoffed.

"Take the coffee!" He shouted, knowing it was what she wanted.

She paused before instantly calming down. "Thank you."

Gill sighed again as he handed over his cup, and she downed the rest of it with a satisfied smack. He went back to his corner and rested his chin in his palm, morbidly wondering if it really was possible for the elevator to cut a person in half.

Vaughn held the umbrella, his wrist slowly giving out. The rain had picked up by the time they had gotten to the nearest park. Just as he predicted, there was a grody sandbox close to the slide and monkey bars not twenty paces from them. They were on the outskirts of the play area in the line of trees of the small woods.

Though he had expected a watery-eyed ceremony, Molly quite unceremoniously opened the plain box and tossed the grey ashes out like she was emptying a bucket of water. They fluttered down and created a streak across the leaves and mud underneath a tall hickory tree.

"Was that it?" Vaughn asked.

Molly slowly nodded her head, closing the box and holding it close to her heart. "I… I couldn't stand having him in this box. This is better. Plus, this way, I can always just come and sit on this swing set and remember coming here with him."

"I wanted to ask about that," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head as Molly shivered after another cold wind. He held the umbrella tighter over their heads. "How did you get your cat to the park? Wouldn't it just take off?"

"Of course not," Molly shook her head and smiled. "I put him on a leash."

"You put your cat on a leash?" Vaughn almost laughed.

"It's really not that weird," she chided.

"No, that's pretty weird," he held a fist to his mouth to prevent further chuckles.

Molly glared, but she didn't pursue it further. Genuine tears came to her eyes as she squatted down where she threw the ashes. "I'm going to miss you, baby… I already do. You were the only family I had around here. My last bit of home I took with me. Thank you… for everything."

Vaughn was starting to understand the seriousness of the loss, but the depth was broken when Molly's brown eyes were blinking at him. "What?"

"Well, you don't have to say anything…" she exaggerated a shrug.

"Uh…" Vaughn bit his tongue, hiding his bare hand in his pocket. "You were a good cat… uh…?"

"Biddy," Molly provided.

"Biddy?" Vaughn repeated in case he heard her wrong.

"I named him when I was little!" She defended.

"Biddy then," he threw his hand in the air. "Good cat. Family… is important. Sorry you had to go."

"That was nice," Molly nodded, wiping both eyes but careful not to smear her makeup. She spritely turned on her heel and marched back towards the asphalt path. Vaughn turned and had to struggle to keep up with her, so she could have some of the umbrella's shelter. "Let's get the heck out of here! I'm freezing my tits off!"

He snorted and presented his keys, sifting through them in his palm. "Glad you could get this off your chest then."

She sassily eyed him but didn't retort. Once they were safely back in the car and the umbrella was thrown into the back, they let the engine run until the heater was blasting welcome warmth their way.

"This was really nice of you to do," Molly said, holding her fingers over the vent closest to her.

Vaughn rubbed his hands together before taking the wheel and backing out of the parking lot. "No problem. I'm always up for a trip away from the office."

"But really," she insisted, her voice dwindling, "thank you…"

It was his turn not to reply. He pulled out onto the quiet road and started the twenty minute journey back into downtown. On the way back, Molly was more lax about his driving and concerned herself with the passing trees and telephone poles out the window. Without the radio, it really was deafeningly quiet. Vaughn made a mental note to take his beater to the shop to get that fixed.

Molly nibbled the inside of her lip, clicking her thumb nails back and forth. She stared at the upholstered ceiling for a solid minute before jumping in her seat to face him. "Okay, look, there's actually something I wanted to—"

A sudden pop and hiss erupted from the hood, and Vaughn slammed on the brakes. Luckily, no one was behind them. He easily pulled to the side of the road off of the shoulder, coming to a rocky halt as his brakes felt slippery and loose.

"Shit," Vaughn said, eyes locked on the smoke. He opened his door and went out to inspect the damage.

Molly unbuckled her seatbelt and fought with the door for a minute before following him out. They had both forgotten the umbrella, and the cold rain had only gotten worse. It pounded down around them, thoroughly drenching them to the bone.

"What do you think it was?" She asked, watching as Vaughn yanked on the hood for a few seconds before finally releasing it.

"No idea," he propped up the rusty hood and poked his head in, fanning away the black tendrils of smoke. Some raindrops made their way to the hot engine and sizzled.

"Good gracious," Molly's eyes widened as she ducked in beside him to look around. She pulled at a pair of tangled, disintegrating lines. "I don't know a lot about cars, but even I can tell this is a mess. When was the last time you had this serviced?"

"I don't know. This isn't really the time for could have should have, Molly," Vaughn growled, running a hand through his wet hair. He realized how bitter cold it really was outside the car. He shook his head. "We're going to have to call for a tow. Do you have your phone? Mine died this morning."

"Yeah, I'll be right back!" Molly stopped her fiddling and ran around the side of the car. She carefully made her way along the ditch and managed to get back into the car to check her purse. A few seconds later, she returned without her cell phone and her purse wrapped around her shoulders. "I must've left it back at the office! Now what do we do?"

"Now what is right…" Vaughn folded his arms, inspecting the damage. He didn't want to just leave his car, but… what else could they do? They had no way of calling a tow or even a taxi. "Hold on, take the keys. Can you start it up? I'll try to see what the problem is."

"Are you sure that's okay?" Molly asked, doubtfully taking the keys from him.

"Better than walking back to town," he said grimly.

She disappeared. After a few seconds, Vaughn looked around the hood at the window. "Well? Are you starting it?"

"It's not working!" Molly called.

"No response at all?!"

"None!"

"Great…!" Vaughn took the bar and dropped the hood, slamming it shut.

Molly shut the car door. She took a double take when she saw he was starting to walk along the side of the road. She ran to catch up with him. "We're going to walk?!"

"Got any better ideas, mechanic?" Vaughn grouched, looking back along the road and his expression only souring as no cars seemed to be approaching.

"Don't get upset with me," Molly threatened, teeth beginning to chatter as she fell into step behind him. Her shoes squished unpleasantly in the water.

"You just had to throw your cat in the woods…" Vaughn sighed, kicking a rock out of his way.

Molly gaped at him as a car sped up behind them. He turned, hoping they'd slow down to help, but the headlights didn't even flinch as they passed the duo by. Vaughn cursed. Molly's temper didn't waver. "Hey! This isn't my fault!"

"Of course it isn't!" He said, his voice rising.

"It's your old, stupid car's fault!" The rain had slowed up, but it was too late for them now. Molly's hair was in wet tendrils, and Vaughn's scarf was like a heavy noose around his neck.

"You think I don't know that?!" Vaughn barked back.

"Then why are you yelling at me?!" Molly was flabbergasted and incredibly annoyed.

"I'm mad!" He shouted. Vaughn wasn't happy he was taking out his frustration on Molly, but all he was seeing was red and thinking how cold and miserable it was and how much the repairs were going to cost him. It wasn't fair, but the only apology he could muster was a clipped: "Just ignore me, alright?!"

She accepted his excuse, admitting to herself she was quite moody, too. This whole day felt like a landslide. Speaking of, her ballet flat slipped off the road and into the mud. She squealed to keep her balance, throwing her arms out and stopping the fall. But her shoes were stuck deep in the cold mud and slush.

"Oh, crap… wait!" Molly hollered for him to hold up. He stopped his angry gait and turned. He watched as Molly pried off her shoes and held them in her hands, opting to go barefoot. She jogged to catch back up with him.

Vaughn sighed in irritation, staring down at her bare feet. "You can't keeping walking like that."

"Well, I definitely can't keep these on," Molly said, shivering even more violently.

He let her have her way, continuing to plow forward. "I can't believe you wore flats today. It's freezing rain, and you knew you were going to the park…!"

"I have to wear dress shoes for the office!" Molly retorted gruffly. Glaring, she said: "Besides, it's not like I knew I'd be walking along the road."

"You could've just worn boots!" He provided, thinking of his own cowboy boots that were perfectly waterproof and according to dress code.

Molly huffed, hugging her stomach to keep as warm as possible. "Fine! I'm sorry I didn't wear boots to the office. Good God, I can't believe this is what we're fighting about."

Fighting. Right. They were fighting… They were fighting. And it was bothering him. Bad. He'd never really fought with Molly at all. Sure, they bickered, but they'd never yelled at each other like they had the right to. And at this point, he couldn't tell what was worse. Their situation or the mood of it.

After he had shamelessly berated her, Vaughn wasn't surprised that she had completely clammed up for the rest of the walk. To make up for his lack of tact and decency, he held up his coat and roughly made sure she was safe underneath it. The damage had been done though. They were back to not speaking terms.

Luckily, they didn't have to hike for long. A kind truck driver found them and gave them a lift back into town. Vaughn called in a tow at the first pay phone, and they were soon waiting for a taxi. There was no way they were going back to the office today.

The power buzzed once… twice… and three times before it remained steady.

"Aha!" Terry gleefully proclaimed, kicking open the door. He face planted and sunk the rest of the way to the floor before he composed himself enough to stand and finally scamper off to the bathroom.

On the first zap of light, Alice and Gill were on their feet in anticipation. The elevator kicked back to life, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

Alice shoved the empty coffee cup to Gill's chest, and he took it from her with a glower. She licked the tips of her fingers of any sandwich residue and stared at the doors before they opened on the third chime. "I just want you to think about why I'm angry. Long and hard."

Gill watched her briskly step out onto the office floor like nothing had interrupted her day, and he was forced to act just as casual. But no one on their floor seemed too concerned about their whereabouts anyways…

Once the lights were back on, the employees groaned for the missed day off. Everyone got back to work and forgot about the entire incident, also forgetting how Vaughn and Molly never returned from their lunch break.