Is it silly that I'm excited we've got a scroll bar for the chapters now? Because that totally set me into a giggle fit. xD
Now that the Harvest Hobbies plot bunny is out of the way, we can focus on wrapping up our story. And good gracious, my deadline felt eons away, and now it's here! I don't want to speed run this and have it turn out poorly though, so I'm going to do my best and see how much of this gets done before Christmas is over – staying true to my goal as close as possible!
In the meantime, thanks to the last chapter reviewers teamBLAZE, XxBlue and CrimsonxX, ScipioPB, and CAPJHMPAgirl! I'm glad you all seemed to be properly confused with Basil's end. Well, not death per say, but we just don't know how or what or why. And that's how he was meant to leave our crew! Poor intern. Couldn't say I ever really gave him much of a break, eh? (You can see I'm really torn up about this xD)
A Wild Vacation Appeared
Hamilton could be seen from the office window, heartily spraying Terry's weed killer on a pink pansy. Because he wouldn't have any remnants of Basil's criminal lifestyle left imprinted upon his safe, little building, thank you very much.
Vaughn turned from where he was watching his boss ferociously kill a flower and nearly ran headlong into Allen. His coffee sloshed, and he tilted his mug just enough to keep it from dribbling down his shirt front.
Allen held up two of his fingers, paper clips hanging from them each in strings. With the way he attached them, it made a little paper clip puppet man. Allen looked much too pleased with this discovery. "Isn't he the cutest~? I think I'll name him Basil."
"Going through withdrawals?" Vaughn guessed, moving past him to get to his desk. He sipped his coffee and set it down, picking up his headset and fiddling with the microphone.
"A bit," he admitted, hanging his puppet down over Vaughn's cubicle wall and making him dance. "Rod's not as fun to torment without his double."
"We looked nothing alike!" Rod shouted, his voice muffled from within Basil's abandoned cardboard box. He hit his head on the ceiling and scrambled out to show his finds. "Hey, guys, check this out!"
Vaughn peered over Allen's desk as the red head met Rod where he was sitting halfway out the door of the box. Allen tossed his puppet aside and picked up the Ziploc bag Rod handed him and examined the contents in the light. Vaughn wrinkled his brow skeptically. "Should you be going through that? Don't you think the secret police will need it?"
"Well, they haven't come back for it yet… so why not?!"Rod answered enthusiastically. He tossed a booklet to Vaughn, and he caught it just in time. "Look, that's one of six I've found so far!"
"Is this marijuana?" Allen asked, shuffling the clear bag and holding his glasses to focus.
Vaughn opened the passport and gave it an incredulous look. "Dirk? Who the hell is Dirk?"
"Who knows? He's got a ton of fake ID's in here. His picture's on all of 'em," Rod said, diving back in. His voice came trailing out from the cubby hole. "Here's another for a Phillip… hey, he was a woman named Alisa in this one!"
"This is definitely marijuana," Allen deduced. Louis crept up beside him, inspecting it for himself in disbelief.
"Why all of the aliases?" Vaughn asked, leaning his elbows on the wall and letting his arms hang down on the other side. He tossed the passport to the floor next to the box.
"Maybe he was a spy!" Rod guessed.
Vaughn nodded in speculation. "Would explain the Russians…"
"How did we not smell this?" Allen whispered. Louis shrugged his shoulders.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rod cried. He wacked his head on the box again, sending it bouncing before he crawled back out with a piece of paper in his fist. "Jackpot! It's a hit list!"
"Hello~" Allen greeted the evidence, snatching it from Rod.
Rod jumped up and down to read it over his shoulder. "Look! I'm number one!"
"Hm… I suppose that punch I gave him earned my spot under you," Allen proudly smirked at his name scrawled second. He snorted. "I expected Gill not to be on here, but it disappoints me not to find Vaughn as well."
"Guess I've got nothing to worry about," Vaughn shrugged, sitting down in his chair and disappearing.
"Why am I number seven?" Louis peeped, looking at the list in fear. He had right to be afraid; some crazy spy with a dozen disguises could pick him off after Santa Clause who was number six. "What did I ever do?!"
The elevator chimed and Hamilton wiped his brow as he stepped out. He tossed the weed killer aside, successfully crushing Basil's vacated box with the heavy jug. "Ah! Now that that's done… what a lovely morning! Good morning!"
Alice jumped into attention, realizing her boss was addressing her. She straightened up her cluttered desk as she weakly smiled up at him. "Good morning, sir!"
"Good morning!" He returned again with a wave. He repeated the action for the men gathered in Basil's corner and skipped around by Dan. Hamilton mussed up his hair on his sleeping head as he passed, humming a merry tune. He saluted to Molly who giggled and saluted back.
Vaughn nodded as Hamilton passed him by. Though he was sleazy, cheap, and a total creep, it was nice to see Hamilton looking happy again. Back to his old self without a care in the world.
"Vaughn! Good morning!" Hamilton decided they would be best friends now as he hunched over his monitor and held his cheeks in his hands.
"Morning, sir," Vaughn said with a polite smile. It was hard to focus on the screen with his boss leering over it. "Sir…? Um… got some mail?"
"Ah! Yes!" He nodded enthusiastically, turning the thin envelope he was holding over and reading the address line. "Gill stopped retrieving the mail, so I decided to take a gander at it. It's such a delight! Like a present waiting every day!"
"Right," he agreed. Vaughn spotted his phone light up with Molly's number in rescue. He gladly answered it and pretended she was a customer. "I'm going to have to take this, sir – Persuasive Papers, Vaughn speaking."
"My, how formal. I wonder what kind of call this is?" Molly teased, snickering on the other end of the line. Vaughn could see her twirling her pen out of the corner of his eye.
"Yes! Of course! Later, alligator," Hamilton whispered carefully, shooting him a thumbs up. He fist bumped the back of his computer and spun off.
"I owe you again," Vaughn mumbled. Speaking clearer with Gill's eyes on him, he opened his contact book and said: "No, I'm afraid we don't have fuchsia in our standard print package."
"I could get used to constant debt," Molly held a hand over her heart and spun around dramatically in her chair, her phone cord getting pulled around with her. "Oh, but how will I live without fuchsia!?"
"We'll figure something out," Vaughn replied with a light smile. Luckily, Gill didn't find it odd enough to keep watching him, and he was back to plugging in numbers at his desk.
Hamilton popped back up over Vaughn's computer, making him blanch in surprise, throwing himself backwards and losing his headphones. He could hear Molly stifling her laugh as he reeled in his headset by the cord and placed it back on his head. "Uh, sir?"
"I have a favor to ask of you!" Hamilton came right out with it.
"Um… what's the problem?" Vaughn asked warily.
Hamilton waved off his fears with a careless flick of the wrist. "Nothing too brutal, I hope. You see, business is picking up again, and we've got a new farm and town to explore! Gotta get the dirt on the dirt. You get it? You get my joke?"
"Yes, sir," Vaughn winced slightly.
"Well!" Hamilton clapped his hands soundly, startling most everyone on the main floor. "As Luke's off on his honeymoon with a belly dancer and Tina's in the hospital—"
"What?!" Alice screeched, aghast she hadn't heard of this.
"Is she okay?" Allen quickly intervened. "What happened?"
Hamilton paled at their concern, chuckling uneasily. "Oh, it's nothing! Nothing at all! Her doctor said she needed surgery on her eyes after taking too many selfies with the flash on, but she'll be tip top after a few weeks!"
They should have known Tina would hurt herself someday with that camera. Though most were surprised it was selfie induced.
"So!" Hamilton wound the subject back around, giving the floor to Vaughn. "We have two rooms booked in Zephyr with no one to go. I'd be happy if you'd do me this favor and… take their place?"
Vaughn was surprised. A trip? To Zephyr? He hadn't even heard of the place. But it was definitely tempting…
He didn't know much about what Luke and Tina did on their trips, but their reports were always a little baffling coming back. Like the time they went to Oak Tree Town. Alice and Dan couldn't read it, and it was passed around for everyone to try to decipher. When no one else could make heads or tails of their notes, Oak Tree Town was pushed to the side, and they still hadn't made a brochure for them to this very day.
In the end, Vaughn supposed this could be a good thing. Maybe get some organized, helpful information from the town for the advertisement, and he'd get a miniature vacation out of it. After all, he was the one always saying how anything was better than being stuck in the office. What was there to lose?
"Yeah…" Vaughn answered carefully. The ruse of a customer on his headset was completely forgotten, but Molly was still on the other end of the line listening to all of this. "Yeah, I can go."
"Splendid!" Hamilton cheered, scaring Vaughn in his chair again. "Since we have two rooms and two plane tickets all booked and reserved, you'll need to choose a partner to go along with you. It can be anyone you like! Feel free to pick anyone in the office!"
All eyes were on him, but Vaughn didn't seem too worried. From the get-go, there was no way he was taking Allen. He'd had that obligatory slumber party already. Rod was much too enthusiastic, especially with Basil gone, and although he could be helpful, Vaughn wasn't sure he could handle his unbearable sunniness. Louis was on the same level, and it would feel more like babysitting. Dan wouldn't get any work done at all, but he could be a contender. Alice was out of the question, and that left…
Gill cleared his throat. "Ahem… I have personally shown a great interest in the town of Zephyr and would be a useful travelling partner with my knowledge of its economy, regions, and infras—"
"Hey, Molly, you wanna go to Zephyr?" Vaughn called, blatantly ignoring Gill's pitch.
Molly winced at the volume of his shout in her ear, quickly slamming down her phone and smiling bright and innocent. She waved in acknowledgement. "Sure!"
"Wonderful!" Hamilton approved the decision. He shot him a wink as he handed him the tickets and paperwork they'd need. "You leave for a three day weekend in June. Have a nice trip~!"
"Thank you, sir," Vaughn received them and nodded as he left. Gill was gaping at him, insulted, but he was still going ignored. Vaughn turned over the plane tickets and noted they weren't coach but first class. Between the pages he found a piece of stationary with an angry pumpkin printed in the corner. His brow furrowed in confusion as he read it.
Consider this all expenses paid trip as more of a vacation and a thank you.
I still expect a brochure though, so don't get lazy!
Right. Have fun.
Yada, yada, yada.
-Vivi
Her name was signed with a flourish. The informal note made him smile, and he tucked it behind the Zephyr Hotel information so as not to lose it. Vaughn supposed there was actually quite a bit of work to be done before they left, so he closed his Excel windows and got online to do a little research and see when he could get their boarding passes.
"Well, well, well, well, well!" Allen hummed behind him. Vaughn turned and saw the paper clip puppet at his nose, apparently doing the talking. "What an interesting companion you've chosen! Such a shame it's two bedrooms and not just the one—"
Vaughn roughly pulled on the paper clip man, dropping it in a clinking pile on his side of the cubicle. He whirled back around and clicked on the web page that had the Zephyr Hotel's information.
"Asshole," Allen pursed his lips.
"Ooo! Ooo! Is this a real date this time?" Rod popped up beside Allen.
Allen fondly ruffled his hair, making the goggles strapped to his head go askew. "Aw, you're learning how to ship! How cute."
Rod frowned, clapping his hands protectively over his head. "It's not like that! I'm just… curious… to see if it's a thing or…
"That's shipping, darling," Allen explained with a smirk.
Rod stubbornly crossed his arms. "Well, whatever! There's no harm in speculation! I'm sure there's got to be an ulterior motive in Vaughn asking Molly to go with him."
"And what if there is?" Vaughn asked, resting his chin in palm as he scrolled the pages in boredom. "What business is it of yours?"
"Whose business?" Molly asked, a wrinkle in her brow as she stopped in front of his desk.
Though they were sure he was going to go blushing bonkers, Vaughn just casually shook his head. "Ah, it was nothing. What's up?"
She perked up immediately, bouncing on her heels. "I can't believe you picked me to go! I'm so excited! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"It's in a month," Vaughn shot down her anticipation.
"Well…" Molly hopped onto his desk, shoving his stuff to the side to get a good spot. She took a sip of his coffee and kicked her feet back and forth as she thought. "It's still a good change of pace. I can't remember the last time I took a vacation."
"You all took a vacation day on February the third," Gill placidly answered her, smugly staring at them all in condescension.
"What? We didn't get paid?" Rod blinked.
"We were stuck here all night. What did you expect us to do?" Vaughn asked.
Gill lightly shrugged, folding his hands together on his desk. "Perhaps you should all be thinking less about vacationing and more on your work ethic?"
"Ah! Yup," Vaughn snapped his fingers, nodding. He quickly deadpanned and went right back to his own monitor. "That's why I didn't want you going to Zephyr."
Gill indignantly puffed out his cheeks as Vaughn high-fived Molly. "I'll have you know you're making a mistake! I'm prime, travelling companion material!"
"So it's the first week of June," Vaughn held out half of the paperwork to Molly. "Did you want to hold onto your tickets?"
"Okay! I'll post it on my wall to keep me motivated!" Molly hugged them close. She shot Gill a snide look. "But I'll keep an extra careful eye out in case someone tries to kidnap them…"
"Oh, come on!" Gill whined. Rod and Allen lost interest and ducked back down, and Molly blithely skipped back to her desk. He pointed after her. "What does she have to offer? She answers a phone for a living! I've done all of the necessary research, and I've known about this trip all week."
"Hey, she's—!" Vaughn stopped himself from defending her before he made a fool of himself and paused, giving Gill a serious, questioning look. "Why are you so eager to get out of the office?"
"I… I'm not!" He retorted, awkwardly rolling his shoulders as he tried to focus on his work. Gill was obviously made uncomfortable with Vaughn watching him, but he was willing to let the conversation drop there. "Don't be ridiculous…"
Vaughn shrugged and went back to staring at his screen. He had the oddest, familiar feeling he was missing something big, but he couldn't pinpoint why.
As everyone settled back into the rut of the work day, Hamilton's office door slowly opened. A letter fluttered from his hand to the floor. It was postmarked with an official seal that was a hauntingly familiar emblem.
The eerie silence caught their attention, and heads peered around to see Hamilton standing teary-eyed before them. He held out his arms wide, full of emotion to a horrified looking Gill. "My son!"
"NO!" Gill screamed, falling out of his chair with a thud. He scrambled around his desk to escape his estranged father's embrace. "Who told you?! I mean – what are you talking about?!"
Hamilton was jumping up and down and dancing like he'd won the lottery. "I got a copy from the bank! I can't believe I didn't know all of this time…"
"No!" Gill denied, throwing his arms out in defense.
"They said my donor child requested my identity! I know you're angry I wasn't around, but I can be a good dad now. I know now!" Hamilton elaborated, growing closer and closer to him.
"No!" He backed into his computer and sent it tottering off balance. He righted it and hopped over his desk to freedom.
Hamilton chased after him. "So they sent me your information, too! We have blood ties!"
"No!" Gill repeated, holding his hands tightly over his ears.
"Gill! My boy!" Hamilton dived for him.
To everyone's surprise, Gill's last defensive maneuver was a quick punch straight into Hamilton's round nose. He stood before him, shocked, as Hamilton held his nose without a hint of anger or determent. "It's okay! I'm okay! We'll work it out! As father and son!"
"Don't come near me!" Gill ran for the elevator, beating it relentlessly until the doors opened. He rushed inside and forced them closed. As the button wasn't fast enough for him, he manually yanked the door and slammed it with Herculean strength.
"Gill! Wait! We can talk this over! I can teach you how to ride a bike! I'll write you into my will!"
Everyone was standing as they watched Hamilton make a run for the stairs to catch up with Gill, both literally and figuratively. Vaughn couldn't help but look down at his plane ticket. "Maybe he does need this vacation more than us."
"You giving it to him?" Allen's eyebrows rose in surprise, a sassy hand on his hip.
Vaughn shook his head and folded it into his shirt pocket. "Hell no; I'm out of here."
And they could hear Gill screaming from the parking lot.