"Diana, why aren't you in bed?"

Diana looked up and saw Beck making his way towards the kitchen. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cooking."

"Why are you out of bed?"

"I'm not tired. I've been sleeping for what feels like an eternity."

"Your doctor said that you need to be resting."

Diana rolled her eyes. She had been home for about a week now and all she had been doing was resting. She was tired of being in bed all day, and her mother was smothering her. She needed to get out. And she needed Patricia to go back to Chicago.

"I don't want to rest, Beck."

Beck pinched the bridge of his nose. Leave it to Diana, a car crash victim, to not follow doctor's orders. "What are you making?"

"I was searching through this kitchen and noticed we had no macaroni and cheese here, so I had my mom go buy some. That's what I'm making."

"Just macaroni?"

"That's all I want to eat. I cooked boxes of Kraft all the time in college."

"You cooked?"

"I'll ignore the dig." Diana said. She ripped open the box and poured the pasta into a pot of boiling water.

"I didn't mean for it to be."

"Sure you didn't. You're always saying that I don't cook, and now that I am, you're shocked." Diana leaned against the counter so she wasn't putting pressure on her broken leg.

"Are you feeling okay?" Beck asked.

"I'm fine. I'll tell you if I'm not."

"I just worry about you."

"I said I'm fine. You're starting to annoy me."

"Sorry. I just don't want anything to happen to you."

Diana shifted uncomfortably. She was tired of standing, so she managed to hobble over to the kitchen and sit.

"How are you? You start back at work tomorrow. Are you excited?"

Beck was a bit anxious to get back to work. He had been at Diana's side for two weeks, considering she needed a lot of help and his mother threatened to have him fired if he thought about working.

He told Jill to find him a new assistant by the time he got back, no questions asked. He could tell she wanted to ask questions since she and Jade were good friends, but hopefully she just did her job.

"I'm ready to go back to work."

Diana nodded at the answer. Her mind went to Jade, but she tried to shake the thought out of her brain. Jade West was not going to be on her mind anymore. The child was nothing more than a thing of the past.

While Diana was still in the hospital, she asked Beck to sever ties with Jade, permanently. She wouldn't tolerate any more disrespect. If they were going to try, they had to actually try.

"Well, I hope you have a great first day."

Breaking in a new assistant was going to be irritating. By the end of Jade's first day, he wanted to strangle her. "I hope I do too."

"Just promise that you'll cut back on your hours." Diana said. "I don't want you in that office for twenty-four hours anymore."

Beck nodded in compromise. "Okay, I'll try."

Try wasn't exactly what Diana wanted to hear. She wanted him to say that he'd be home at a reasonable time. She wasn't necessarily in the mood to start an argument, so she dropped it.

The timer on the stove went off. Diana pushed herself up.

Beck watched her. "Should I get your crutches?"

"No, for the umpteenth time, I don't need any help." Diana huffed. "I'm going to have to figure stuff out by myself."

"Sorry, I'm just worried."

"I'm not a porcelain doll. If I happen to fall over, I promise you I won't shatter into a million pieces."

Beck released a sigh. "Okay."

"This macaroni will be done in about three minutes. Do you want some?"

"No, I'm pretty tired. I'm just going to head up to bed."

"Oh. Okay, goodnight."

Diana's eyes followed Beck as he went upstairs.

He had been so distant this past week. He was constantly asking her how she was feeling, or if she needed anything, for which she was grateful, but other than that, he could barely stay in the room with her.

She made it very clear that he didn't have to stay, so why was he only putting in fifty percent of the effort? Why was he acting like he staying was such a life saver to her? If Diana was going to try, he had to as well.

"Jill, you better be dying." Jade warned. She sat up in her bed and stretched. "That should be the only reason you're calling me at this hour."

"Do you still work for Oliver Pictures?" Jill asked.

"Of course I do." Jade answered. If it were up to Beck, she wouldn't be working there, but it wasn't really up to him.

"He's coming back to work today." Jill said.

"Okay." Jade's brain wasn't fully functioning and she didn't like being on the phone this early.

"Are you sure you didn't get fired? I mean, Beck usually runs these things by me, but-"

"Jillian Glover, what is the point?"

"And he got a new assistant." Jill said quickly.

"What?"

"Her name is Hanna Page, she's twenty-three, and she's going to be in the office in about an hour. I have to show her the ropes."

"A new assistant?"

"Beck said you quit, and he said I had to find you a new assistant, and I saw her resume, so I picked her. But you just said you're still working here."

"I didn't quit." Jade said, jumping out of bed. She practically ran to her en suite to start getting ready. "I'll be there in about forty-five minutes."

"Okay. I'll see you when you get here."

Jade hung up and put her cell phone on her bathroom counter.

Beck thought he was just going to replace her? No, that wasn't happening.

It was going to be a great first day back.

.

.

"Have you seen this girl?" Jade asked, pacing in front of Jill's desk.

"I saw a picture of her." Jill said. She was sitting at her desk, her tea mug in her hands.

"Well is she pretty?" Jade pressed.

"She's not ugly. She has an innocent look to her." Jill sighed. "You know I'm not mean, so if you want me to trash her-"

Jade walked over to her down desk and sat down. She spun her chair around so she could talk to Jill. "It was just a simple question."

"She's blonde."

"Beck isn't into blondes."

"Diana's a blonde." Jill pointed out automatically.

"Beck isn't into blondes." Jade repeated.

Jill took a sip of her tea. "So what's going on with you, Beck, and your blatant lack of communication?"

"Beck and I had a falling out, we haven't talked in two weeks. He said I needed to quit, and I guess he just assumed that I did." Jade explained, skipping over all of the vivid details. The long version of the story would stress Jill out, and the poor pregnant woman didn't need a spike in her blood pressure.

"Oh."

Jade scrolled through the calendar on her computer and wrote a few things down. Beck had two meetings and a dinner to attend. The first meeting was with a few big wigs from ABC. She made a mental note to write down a few talking points for him so he could win them over.

The elevator doors could be heard. Jade quickly stood up and walked over to them. She spotted a young blonde woman looking around anxiously.

"Hi, you must be Hannah!" Jade said brightly, plastering the biggest (fake) smile on her face.

"That's me."

"Welcome to Oliver Pictures."

"Thank you."

"Come on, walk with me. You and I can talk in the board room."

"Okay."

Jade turned around and started walking, Hannah just a few paces behind her.

They made it to the board room, and Jade gestured for Hannah to take a seat. She did and Jade decided to sit on the opposite end of the long table.

They didn't talk for a few minutes. Jade just stated at Hannah for a long time, making the younger woman squirm under her gaze. It worked because Hannah wouldn't look her directly in the eye.

Finally, Hannah spoke, "So where is Mr. Oliver? Do I need to go see him? Is he coming in here to talk?"

Jade shook her head. "I'm sorry. Did you really think you already had the job? This is your last interview."

"What? No, but some woman told me I had the job. Jill something."

"No, I'm sorry. You don't have the job yet." Jade lied. "I'm actually the one who has the authority to hire you."

"But Jill said-"

"I adore Jill, but she's been a little absentminded lately. She's pregnant."

"Oh that's so exciting!"

"Yeah, it is. But she's been having crazy pregnancy brain. I mean, yesterday she came to work in a pair of slippers." Jade wasn't sure where she was pulling the lies from, but she was going to run with them. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Poor thing."

"Yeah, but it's okay. Now Mr. Oliver is very...oh now what's the word I'm looking for? Specific. Slightly OCD, and extremely rigid. There's no wiggle room with him."

"Okay."

"He gave me a list of things to look for while talking to you."

"Great."

"How well do you perform under pressure?"

"I think I'm pretty good." Hannah replied.

"Okay, here's a hypothetical situation. You have to go to Beck's house in Bel-Air to pick up his lucky cuff links, drive to Beverly Hills to pick up his dry cleaning, get him his coffee, which he only takes from one place unless he's traveling or at a restaurant, and he takes it black, dark roast, with two packs of Sugar In The Raw. After you get his coffee, you have to come back here, then you drive to the pharmacy to pick up his medication, order his takeout from his favorite Thai restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard, and get back here before twelve-thirty. That's just a normal day at the office."

Hannah let out a low whistle. "Wow."

"Repeat what I just said."

"What?"

"Repeat back to me what I said."

Hannah rubbed her temples. "Okay I go to Beverly Hills-"

"Bel-Air." Jade corrected. She tsked. "So you've driven out to Beverly Hills, now you have to drive to Bel-Air. You've wasted about forty-five minutes."

"Sorry, sorry. Okay, I go to Bel-Air, pick up Beck's lucky cuff links, then I go to Beverly Hills to get his dry cleaning and coffee."

"How does he take it again?"

"Black with two sugars."

"Light, medium, or dark?"

"It matters?"

Jade sighed. "There are roughly five women, give or take a few, in this office, excluding two female board members. And these men have the hugest egos on earth. They're misogynistic and sexist. Think of Mad Men. Can you handle a workplace like this?"

"How sexist?"

"Very. The only person who won't try to sleep with you is James, the CEO. He's been happily married for over thirty years. And maybe Beck. He's also married, but that marriage can't hold water. Plus you're not his type. But these other men, oh these other men will take one look at the doe eyed girl, chew you up, and spit you out, baby girl."

"But I am a-"

"This isn't the job for you." Jade cut in, standing up. "I'm sorry. Try again in a few years."

"Did I say the wrong thing?"

"You need something a little...slower, cushier. Besides, Beck already has an assistant. I think she's pretty good and he would never get rid of her, so I don't even know why I'm wasting my time on this." Jade reached for the legal pad sitting in the center of the table. She grabbed a pen and scribbled a phone number on the piece of paper.

"Now you seem like a nice girl, so I'm going to do you a favor. Call this number and see if you can get a job. Ask for Richard or Adam and tell Jade suggested you." Jade ripped the piece of paper off of the legal pad and slid it to Hannah. "Have a nice day, Hannah. It was so nice to meet you."

Hannah didn't say anything. She was too stunned by Jade's fast talking, swift demeanor. She just stood.

As Hannah walked out of the spacious office, Jade called out to her. "Jill can validate your parking."

.

.

"Beck, it's so good to have you back." Jill practically jumped out of her seat to pull Beck into a hug.

"Nice to see you too." Beck wrapped his arms around Jill's shoulders and squeezed. "Please tell me you've been running things smoothly in my absence."

"Of course." Jill let go of Beck. "How's Diana doing? Is she feeling better?"

"Diana is recovering quite well considering her condition."

"Oh, that's so good to hear."

Beck checked his watch. "Are our guests already here?"

"Yes, I set them up in the board room, with coffee and snacks."

"Thank you. I made it here just in time."

"Your dad's in there too." Jill added.

"Okay. I just need to drop something off in my office and I'll be good to go."

"Wait!" Jill called out. "Before you go in there I should tell you something."

"No time. Tell me in an hour or so." And with that, Beck headed to his office.

When he got there, he nearly had a heart attack.

Jade was there, sitting in his huge leather seat, her legs crossed over his desk. It looked like she was reading one of the random business magazines he kept around.

"Jade?"

Jade looked up and smiled. "Why hello, Mr. Oliver."

"Jade, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you to get here." Jade removed her feet from the desk and slid a cup across the desk for Beck. "Your coffee."

"But I-"

"Tried to force me to resign." Jade finished. "Yeah, I know. But you and I both know that won't happen." She got out of her seat and walked around the desk so she could stand in front of Beck. "You tried it before and it didn't work. I mean, what is it about me that scares you? I don't bite. Well, I don't unless you want me to."

"Where is Hannah?"

"I told her this wasn't the job for her, and gave her my dad's work number. He might give her a job, he might try to sleep with her, or both. I don't care either way. But why does any of that matter? I mean, you already have an assistant. And a damn good one if I do say so myself."

"Jade-"

"I'm not going anywhere. You are going to have to fire me, but you can't do that because I'm an exceptional employee. I think I've going to above and beyond for you, more than once don't you think? So unless you want a nasty lawsuit, you and Diana are just going to have to suck it up."

"Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to ask you about Diana." Jade continued. "How is she?"

"We aren't going to talk about her." Beck warned, finally finding his voice again.

Jade frowned. "That's no fun. Anyway, as interesting as this reunion has been, you have a meeting to get to." She turned around and grabbed a piece of paper off of the desk. She handed it to Beck.

"What's this?" Beck asked.

"A list. You're meeting with Nathaniel Carter and Margaret Christy right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I did a bit of research on them for you. Their likes and dislikes, hobbies, idiosyncrasies, et cetera. You need to build a rapport with your audience in order to win them over."

Jade reached for Beck's tie and straightened it for him. She smoothed out the lapels in his jacket and adjusted his pocket square.

"There you go. You look much more polished." Jade stood on the tips of her toes and gave Beck a quick peck on the lips. "Now go in there, and knock them out of the park."

Beck pushed his office door open and walked past Jill's desk. He glared at her. "I want you in my office as soon as I'm done."

.

.

Being in Beck's office reminded Jade of having to go to the principal's office after you get caught doing something horrible at recess.

Beck wasn't a horrible tyrant of a boss, but when he got mad, he was really, really mad. And he was mad at her.

The door opened and in walked Beck.

"Hey!"Jill greeted brightly. "Did the meeting go well?"

Beck closed the door. "Where the hell is the new assistant you got me? Hannah. Where is she?"

"She got turned away."

"By?" Beck asked.

"Jade. She's still your assistant, so why did you have me get you a prospect?"

"I told her to quit!" Beck hissed.

"You can't force someone to quit."

"Diana is going to kill me. Do you understand that? I am going to be dead. Diana has been eerily calm about this entire ordeal, and when she finds out about this, she's gonna flip."

"That's not my problem, and that's not Jade's problem. It's your problem. No one told you to get involved with Jade, make a huge mess, and then do a really poor job at cleaning it up! And next time you get yourself in a situation like this, do not get me involved. Please."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Jill sighed. "Apology accepted. I hope Diana doesn't stab you in the chest when you get home. I'll pray for you."

"Diana, I'm back."

"I'm in the kitchen." Diana called.

A few seconds later, Patricia walked into the kitchen, two heavy grocery bags in her arms.

"I cannot believe we are actually doing this!" Patricia squealed. "We're finally going to cook together."

Patricia had been trying to get Diana in the kitchen since she was about fifteen years old, but Diana expressed no interest in really learning. That must have been from her father's side of the family because being Italian, cooking was in Patricia's blood.

"Calm down mom."

"I've wanted this day to come for years." Patricia started pulling groceries out of the bag. "You're allergic to the kitchen."

"That's not true."

"Well you're allergic to food that takes more than a few minutes to make." Patricia said. "You like having chefs come to your home. Baby, no one will ever cook better than your mother."

Diana rolled her eyes at her mother and chuckled. "No one's cooking will ever compare to yours."

"You don't have to tell me what I already know." Patricia teased.

"So what are we making?"

Patricia rinsed off a few mushrooms and put them on a paper towel. She grabbed a knife. "Chicken Marsala."

"That's my favorite."

"I know, that's why I'm cooking it for you."

"This isn't for me." Diana said.

"Okay, then who is it for?"

"Beck."

Patricia dropped the knife she was holding. "Why?"

"What do you mean? Because he's my husband. Isn't the way to a man's heart through his stomach?"

"Yeah, you're about six years too late. And Beck does not deserve my amazing cooking."

"It's never too late. And if Beck and I are going to make this work, I have to be a wife. And wives cook for their husbands."

"And husbands don't cheat with their assistants." Patricia countered. "Diana, he was going to leave."

"But he didn't! He was always saying I wasn't a normal wife, so I'm going to try."

"Diana, you almost died."

"Mom-"

"Let me talk, please. You almost died and your husband was getting ready to serve you with divorce papers. That's the reason I came out here, remember? You needed me. You almost died, and here you are breaking your back and jumping through hoops and cooking for a man who doesn't deserve for you to go out and buy him Taco Bell. What is he doing for you?"

"He's getting rid of his assistant."

"That's all he has to do? Diana, you are selling yourself short in this relationship, and I for the life of me can not figure out why."

Before Diana could respond, the doorbell rang.

Patricia wiped her hands on her pants and sighed. "I'll go get it."

She walked out of the kitchen. About a minute later, Diana heard the front door open.

Patricia walked back in, carrying a bouquet of white roses. "These are for you."

"Who are they from?" Diana asked.

"I don't know."

"These are gorgeous." As Patricia put the bouquet down, Diana searched for a card. She found it and read it aloud. "A woman as gorgeous as you deserves flowers that do said beauty justice. Xo."

"How sweet."

"Beck really knows how to pick a bouquet. Did you know white roses symbolize marriage, love, and new beginnings?"

"Roses do not make up for-"

"Mom, can we just drop it? Just be here for me, and let's just cook."

Patricia threw her hands up in exasperation. "Fine."

"Thank you."

Beck was so glad the day was over. As soon as he stepped into the foyer of his house, his body visibly relaxed. Today had been hell on earth.

He heard noise coming from the kitchen. He automatically assumed Patricia was cooking something.

Imagine his surprise when he saw that it was Diana, not Patricia in the kitchen.

"Diana?"

"Hey." Diana greeted. "How was work?"

"I really don't want to talk about work right now. Work was awful today."

"Why?"

"Let's just say everything that could've went wrong, went wrong." Beck replied. "How are you feeling today?"

"Good. Great, actually. My cast is really annoying and itchy, but everything else is fine." Diana pointed to the flowers sitting on the kitchen table. "Thank you for the flowers. They're so pretty."

That caught Beck's attention. "What?"

"My roses."

Beck turned his attention to the table, and lo and behold, there was a bouquet of white roses.

"Diana, I didn't send you these roses."

"Look at the card. Who else would send me these?"

Beck grabbed the card and read it. The color drained from his face. Jade sent them. "I'm gonna go to bed."

"No, I cooked!"

Beck shook his head. "I'm not hungry Diana, I had a dinner meeting."

"Come on, it's chicken Marsala."

"It could be food from Heaven, but I still don't have an appetite. I'll just take some to work tomorrow."

"Okay, you complain that I don't cook. I actually cooked for you. I stood on my broken leg for all this time to make you food, and you don't want to eat it."

"I don't want to eat it at the moment." Beck clarified. He tiredly rubbed his head. "Goodnight."

Beck walked out of the kitchen. Diana groaned and slammed her hand down on the marble countertops in irritation.

Upstairs, Beck was pacing back and forth in his bedroom. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Jade's number.

It rang for about forty-five seconds, before it stopped.

"Hi, you've reached Jade West. I'm sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but leave your name and number, and I'll try to get back to you at my earliest convenience."

Beck angrily ended the call. First, Jade doesn't quit and then, she sends Diana flowers.

Jade West was fucking with him. And there wasn't too much he could do about it.