Hey, everyone! So I know it's been a while since I've posted, but it's taken me this long to get this chapter finished! I hope you enjoy the many hours of sweat, laziness, and procrastination that I finally got to work as a cohesive chapter.

Ch. 5- "A Spanner in the Works"

Ulrich took a deep breath and tried to focus on driving straight. Once he was several blocks from the factory, he was finally relaxed enough to think about what just happened. There was no explaining it, the long and short of it was that he got scared. And just as he thought he was about to get some answers for Younger Ulrich. That factory was indeed connected to the younger version of the brunette, but he got scared by a noise and didn't stick around to find out what it was all about. Ulrich was cursing himself for chickening out and leaving the factory just because the elevator turned on. But there wasn't much he could do about it. He was long gone, and he didn't have the time to circle and go back. He was probably going to be late for work as it was. And to complicate matters further, the gas light on his dashboard flashed on with several kilometers to go. Ulrich rolled his eyes and figured he better take care of it and not risk running out before he got to work.

Ulrich pulled off the road to the first service station he could find and pulled up to one of the pumps. He hopped out of his car, ran inside and paid for what he thought would be enough to fill the tank which may have been more than he needed, but he realized that there were still some things about being an adult that he didn't know about. But no one seemed to question him or his intentions, so when he was done paying he went back out to his car to start pumping the gas. The fog from earlier that morning was starting to lift, letting the early morning light shine through. As Ulrich stood by his car, lazily pumping gas, he watched as a bright purple jeep pulled into the station. A man about his age with blonde hair got out of the car. He had on exercise clothing and a water bottle in hand. The music from his radio was blaring loudly for all to hear, and Ulrich could already not stand the style of music the man was playing.

"Whoo! That was a good run, huh Kiwi?" asked the man to the other occupant of the car, a small, yippy dog. "Yeah! A good run! A good run, huh boy?!" said the man very childishly to the dog.

The music from the man's car continued to blare, and the dog yipped and yapped as the man stretched and cooled down from his run out in front of his vehicle. His hair was long, going down to the nape of his neck. And it was splayed all around his head in a mess of blonde and sweat. As he stretched, Ulrich could see that a small streak of his hair, near his forehead, that was dyed almost the same shade as his car, bright purple. Ulrich was getting a certain "artsy" feel from the man, like everything he did scream "artist" or "film director." Ulrich was starting to feel like it was too early for someone to be acting the way that this man was, and it was especially too early to be blaring such awful music. Once the man was done stretching, he went over to the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the door. The dog hopped out of the car and started to follow the man. The duo walked towards the store, and the dog stopped right outside the doors and waited patiently for his owner to return. Ulrich scoffed, he didn't think that the dog could have been so obedient. It looked like a little ankle-biter that was not good for anything. But there it was, sitting, wagging his tail and waiting for the blonde man to come back out.

"Good boy Kiwi! Good, C'mon, let's go!" said the man proudly coming back out of the store after having paid.

The dog walked through the service station with the man, until it noticed Ulrich standing there pumping gas. The dog stopped in the middle of the road, and sat staring at Ulrich, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Ulrich was curious what got the little dog's attention so firmly fixed on him. The brunette was distracted when the gas pump made a clinking sound, signaling the end of his gas pumping. There was some change left on his purchase, so Ulrich went to the station to retrieve it. When he got back out, the dog was still sitting there, staring at Ulrich. He stopped and looked at the little mutt. Ulrich wanted to test this, however, so he took a couple steps to the left, and the dog's eyes followed. Ulrich took a couple steps back and then to the right. The dog continues to track him. He then decided that it was just a fluke because he was one of the only people in the station. But of the few people there, this dog was focusing on him the most. It wasn't even looking at its owner who was busy singing along to the song on his radio. Ulrich couldn't tell who was worse at signing, Nicholas or this guy. The brunette stepped off the curb and back to his car, but Ulrich still had the feeling that the dog was watching him the whole way. Ulrich paused at the door of his vehicle and spun around. Indeed, the dog was still drilling into him with his eyes.

"What?" mouthed Ulrich to the dog, but it just sat there and wagged its tail, "What do you want?" he said out loud.

The dog stood up on its hind legs and then shook even more and panted, like it was seeing an old friend, "What!?" queried Ulrich, a little louder.

The dog walked across the empty station until it was standing right in front of Ulrich, "Umm…" stuttered the brunette.

"C'mon, go away, go back to your owner!" said Ulrich gently, gesturing to the man and his jeep. But the dog wouldn't budge.

"C'mon, shoo! Get outta here!" No dice.

"Hey! Mister! You want to get your dog here?" shouted Ulrich to the man, but his back was turned, and he probably couldn't hear Ulrich over his music.

With not many options, Ulrich pulled a face and shouted to try and scare the dog away. The dog skittered away for a second, but then came back barking its little head off.

"Hmm?" hummed the man. Apparently, that got his attention, "Hey! What are you doing to my dog?"

"Nothing! He won't leave me alone!" exclaimed Ulrich.

"Kiwi! Kiwi, come here, boy!" called the man tapping his leg. The small dog turned and walked towards his owner with a certain flounce that Ulrich just couldn't stand. Once the dog was by his side, the man turned on Ulrich, "Hey, am I going to have to report this to the police that you're mistreating my dog?" shouted the man.

"No! Like I said, the dog wouldn't stop following me, it's not my fault!"

"Look, you better hope for your sake you're right. If not you're going to have to answer to me!"

Ulrich suddenly had a flashback to yesterday with William. William and this guy were about the same height, but if he had to guess, this guy was just barely shorter. And that was saying something. He had the same expression on his face that William did the day before, and was even holding a finger under Ulrich's head the same way that his boss had.

"Look, man, chill! I didn't do nothing to your dog!" urged Ulrich.

"Okay, but I'm watching you!" groused the man, "And in case I need to ever get ahold of you, you know to file a lawsuit? Here's my card." The man pulled out a small business card from his wallet. It was worn and ragged-looking from having spent too much time in there.

Ulrich didn't have the nerve to tell him that wasn't how business cards worked. If the man needed Ulrich's number, Ulrich would have to provide it to him, not the other way around. But the blonde just shoved the card into one of Ulrich's jacket pockets and turned to leave. Ulrich didn't want to pull it out after the arrogant display, and besides, the man was already in his car and pulling out of the station by the time Ulrich looked up. The brunette sighed and walked back to his vehicle. He reached into his pocket, and was about to throw the card away, but decided to hang onto it, just in case. Without looking at it, Ulrich shoved the card back into his pocket and got back into his car. After the usual routine to get his car to start, Ulrich pulled away and made his way to work. He was surprised. He actually made it to the office with five minutes to spare, even with all the distractions. He found a spot, hopped out and made his way to the parking structure bridge. It was a pretty uneventful ride down to the basement. When he got there, he saw that Herb was already there, but Nicholas and William hadn't arrived yet.

Ulrich removed his warm clothing and hung it on a small hook near the elevator. There was another set of clothes hanging up next to where Ulrich hung his. He figured that the second set belonged to Herb. But the funny thing was that he didn't see the nerd. Ulrich took the last few steps into the mailroom and saw that Herb was sat in a corner on a short stool, sunglasses on, and leaned up against the wall. Ulrich wasn't sure if he was resting or passed out, since he was wearing sunglasses, in the basement. Ulrich raised an eyebrow to that, it was suspicious, to say the least. Walking over to Herb, Ulrich could immediately tell why Herb was wearing sunglasses. He could smell it on him. Herb just reeked of alcohol, Ulrich could tell he had either gotten a hangover the night before or had recently gotten drunk, based on the stench around his co-worker. The glasses were probably used to cut down the light since the fluorescent lighting in the basement was kind of bright.

Smelling alcohol on someone like Herb was kind of frightening to Ulrich. He never pegged the nerd for an alcoholic, and especially not for someone to turn up to work drunk or hungover. He was such a good kid in school, both Ulrich's remembered that but apparently somewhere along the way, he had fallen off the wagon and gotten mixed up into it. Ulrich wasn't sure what the policy for showing up to work drunk was, but he was sure that William wouldn't be so keen on his subordinates working while under the influence. Ulrich wasn't sure what to do. He had never been presented with an issue like this before. He didn't want to be that guy that told on everyone, but he also didn't want something bad happening to Herb because he was hungover. Ulrich could just imagine the amount of trouble being drunk in a workplace could present. And many of those thoughts weren't pretty. Ulrich decided the only thing to do was to try and get him out of the office before anyone else showed up. He could try to call Herb a cab and hope that he could get him home before anyone else arrived.

Ulrich very carefully shook Herb, and the nerd was jolted awake. Herb looked around with clouded eyes to see who was shaking him. After regaining his balance and rubbing his eyes, Herb looked up to see Ulrich. Herb smiled a big smile and he even let out a goofy chuckle. Ulrich wasn't sure how long he would have until their co-workers showed up, but he knew he wasn't going to have long.

"Hey- Ulrich!" hiccupped Herb, "Whersh up?" he slurred.

"Herb! We need to get you out of here before anyone else shows up!" prodded Ulrich, trying to get Herb to his feet.

"Out of here?" said Herb, "Why do we need to get out of here? Don't we have work to do?"

"Yeah, but I think you have…um…the day off! So there was no reason for you to come into work today!" lied Ulrich, helping Herb up. Herb was kind of heavy, and his breath reeked of spirits, it was making it hard to Ulrich to think himself.

"I hash the day off?" slurred Herb, "But I could have sworn I had work today!"

"Look, buddy, I just don't think work is the best place for you to be when you're drunk," said Ulrich truthfully.

"Drunk? Drunk!? I'm not drunk!" stuttered Herb, "I'm jush fine to work right not!"

"Look, man," leveled Ulrich, "You're kind of tipsy at least, and we need to get out of here before the boss sees you like this," he said as he helped half-drag, half-limp Herb towards the elevator.

"No!" shouted Herb, trying to fight Ulrich's help, "I'm jush fine! I'm perfect…fine…to go to work!" he said with a hiccup.

"Hey! Herb!" cautioned Ulrich, trying to catch him as he almost fell over.

"Shush!" said Herb, rather inebriated, "You're too loud right now! All three of ya's!"

"Look, we can argue this after I call you a cab to go home, where do you live?"

Herb giggled, "At home…"

Ulrich sighed, "Yes, but where is home, like what's your address?"

Herb chuckled some more but provided Ulrich with the address. He tried his best to try and remember that information as he staggered with Herb to the elevator. Ulrich went to push one of the call buttons for the lift, but just as Ulrich pressed the button, the doors to the elevator flew open, and there stood William and Nicholas. Ulrich's heart plummeted, and he wasn't even the one technically in trouble. He was scared for what was about to happen to Herb. Ulrich stood there frozen, but he couldn't help Herb's tottering. William took one step towards them, moved past Ulrich and Herb and continued on to his office. After he had slammed the door, Ulrich was confused. He turned to Nicholas, who was still standing there in the elevator.

"Did he not see us?"

"No, he saw you, he just either doesn't care, or can't do anything about it," said Nicholas

"Can't do anything about it?" asked Ulrich, "But Herb is drunk!"

"Is this always a problem?" asked Ulrich, gesturing to Herb. Nicholas looked at Ulrich like he was crazy. Then he remembered he was supposed to be acting like he knew these things already, playing the role of "Older Ulrich." Ulrich quickly stammered, "Let's just assume that this is the first I've heard about this…"

Nicholas nodded his agreement slowly; apparently, he was still as slow as when they were in school, "Not all the time, but it seems to be coming up more and more in the past few months. I'm starting to think this is becoming a real problem," said Nicholas.

"Starting to?" scoffed Ulrich, "Have you smelled him?" Nicholas sighed.

"Well, Will can't do anything, technically we each have immunity because we have our own connections here in the company."

"Immunity?" asked Ulrich.

"Yeah, Herb's dad is head of the Legal department, and William doesn't want to have any problems with Mr. Pichon," informed Nicholas, "And, my dad is VP of Accounting, and your dad is-"

"President of Marketing, yeah, I know," Ulrich said, "But this doesn't seem fair!"

"Fair?" huffed Nicholas, "You call being able to keep a job no matter what you do not fair?"

"Well, yeah, you shouldn't be able to do that regardless of who your parents are," said Ulrich.

"Look who's talking there…" sneered Nicholas. Ulrich rolled his eyes. He knew he didn't have a spotless record, but that wasn't the point he was trying to make.

"Well, William can't fire any of us because then it will cause some awkward questions for him somewhere up the chain. But apparently that gives some people the idea to try and see how much they can get away with," said Nicholas with a disapproving look to Herb, "Plus, William has his own problems, if he goes to stick his nose out, he might be in the same trouble we're in."

"Trouble?" asked Ulrich.

"Yeah, the word is that William wound up in the mailroom because of problems of his own!" said Nicholas.

"Like what?"

"I don't know exactly what, and he certainly never wants to talk about it," said Nicholas looking at William's office door.

"Yeah, okay, I get you," said Ulrich, "But this just doesn't seem fair!"

"So what?" asked Nicholas, "How else do you think we've been able to keep jobs? You show up late all the time, Herb is drunk more often than not now, and I- "Nicholas stopped.

"You have harassment charges," finished Ulrich, remembering what Herb said yesterday.

"Yeah," said Nicholas, a little downcast, "Look at us, one big dysfunctional family!"

"I don't quite know if that's something to be proud of there, Nic," said Ulrich.

"Yeah, I know. Look, call him a cab," said Nicholas pulling out a twenty note from his wallet and handing it to Ulrich. Ulrich nodded and accepted the cash. "I'll get started on work and by the time you get back, we'll probably be ready to start."

"Okay, I'll take him from here," said Ulrich, hefting Herb back onto his shoulder.

Herb just shrugged and leaned even more on Ulrich. Ulrich had to brace to handle his weight. He didn't look it, but Herb was heavy. Suddenly everything was starting to make sense. Herb was here for the same reason he was, their dads helped them land the jobs. Which also meant that they got to keep the job, no matter what. That didn't seem entirely fair, but apparently, William might be under the pressure to ensure that they never got fired. The power seemed very unjustly tipped in their favor, but that also didn't mean that this was the ideal office setting. William seemed quite content in making their professional lives a living hell. No wonder he was always slamming doors. Nicholas stepped out of the elevator, and Ulrich could hear the mail system start up. Ulrich shambled with Herb into the elevator. After pressing the button for the floor he wanted, Ulrich pushed Herb gently up against the wall and let him slump into a heap on the floor so he wouldn't have to carry him all the way.

"Head of the Legal department?" asked Ulrich, looking at Herb, "Your dad is chairman of the Legal department?"

"Yeah…" breathed Herb, "It's really helpful for times like this… It makes me basically, untouchable!" he said with a shrug.

Ulrich rubbed his temples and sighed. He didn't like the attitude that Herb was having towards this situation. This was serious, and despite the way that he was at the moment, Herb seemed to care less about having to skip work because he was inebriated than he did about who he was related to.

"You don't appear to care all that much for your job…" remarked Ulrich.

"Job?!" shouted Herb, "You call the pity work we do a job?!"

"Well, all I'm saying is that you don't seem to care all the work that your dad did to help you land a job here is all I'm saying!"

"Pfft!" scoffed Herb, "Look who's talking here, mister 'I'm late to work every other day'!"

"That's not what I'm trying to say!" defended Ulrich.

"Then what are you trying to say, huh?!" said Herb.

"I- I- "stammered Ulrich.

"Uh-huh, that's what I thought," said Herb, "So just…can it!"

Ulrich scowled and turned to face the door of the elevator. Ulrich decided it was safest to go to the thirteenth floor where the bridge connecting the main building to the parking structure was. It was a much better plan than instead of stumbling with Herb through the lobby where everyone could see. That way, there was less of a likelihood that someone important would see them. Herb might not have cared, but Ulrich wasn't going to let Herb throw away his career like that. But that meant that they had several more floors to go before they reached their destination. Then it was just a matter of crossing the bridge, taking another elevator down to the ground level and calling a cab. Ulrich was starting to think that the lobby would just be easier at that point, just to save him the trouble. But despite his gut feeling, Ulrich decided to be a good guy and try his best to salvage what was left of Herb's career.

"I shouldn't even be here right now…" slurred Herb, Ulrich was surprised he was still conscious.

"Yeah, I know, you shouldn't have come into work today."

"No, that's not what I mean," said Herb, "I mean I shouldn't be working in the mail room!"

Ulrich was confused by that statement, but he decided it was best to let Herb finish, "I have a degree in Business and a minor in Foreign Languages and Law! I shouldn't be working in the mailroom; I should be working in the Legal department with my dad! Or Sales! All that Sales is, are is putting fancy words to something that no one wants to buy!" Ulrich snickered a little. It did sound like an apt description of that department. Ulrich was super bored when he went there, but Ulrich thought that of anyone he knew, Herb seemed to be able to hack it there.

Or I should even be running this company!" Herb shouted.

"Let's not get carried away there with those ideas, buddy…" laughed Ulrich. But Ulrich had to admit, Herb had a point.

The nerd had a couple degrees, why was he in the mailroom and not somewhere else in the company? Ulrich had a Business degree of his own, and an Art and Writing degree as well. Why was he working in the mailroom too if he was qualified to work elsewhere? Ulrich figured that the office was a very competitive place. And it must have not been what you know, but who. But it seemed like that even didn't get you very far. Even his dad, who was an executive at the company, was only able to get him a position in the mailroom. Ulrich had to wonder what kind of logic that was, and he pondered what it must take to earn a real position in the company.

The elevator slowly rose to the floor they needed. Thankfully it was a direct ride and no one stopped the elevator along the way. They were able to make it all the way from the basement to the thirteenth floor without any issue. The doors to the elevator slid open, and Ulrich bent down to hoist Herb up onto his shoulder. The duo staggered their way across the bridge that connected the structures, and then Ulrich found another elevator to take them down to ground level. Ulrich laid Herb down again and pulled out his phone. Going through his contacts, Ulrich found a number for a cab service. At first, Ulrich was confused why he had the number on his cell, but now it made sense. Ulrich dialed the number and requested a cab be sent to the CEM building. The dispatcher seemed to already know him and why he was calling. He couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not. The person over the phone said that there was a cab in the area, and would be waiting for him once he got outside. Once Ulrich and Herb got down to ground level, Ulrich dragged Herb outside to the waiting cab. Ulrich carefully sat Herb in the backseat and buckled him in.

"Look, man, you go home and sober up," said Ulrich, "And maybe think about getting some help…" he said. Herb nodded slowly, a dumb look on his face.

Ulrich walked to the front window and talked to the driver. The driver accepted Ulrich's money, and he told the driver the address that Herb had given him earlier. Ulrich peered over the cabbie's shoulder just to make sure that Herb hadn't given him the address for some bar or something. But it looked like it was in the middle of a residential area, so Ulrich breathed a sigh of relief that Herb had at least been honest about that. Once the address was confirmed, the driver nodded, and then drove off. The brunette sighed as he watched the car zoom away. Herb definitely needed to get his problem under control. In Ulrich's mind all it took was the right person at the wrong time to see him like that, and no matter who his father was, he was probably looking at termination. Ulrich then remembered he had a job of his own that he needed to do. So he went back inside and went back the way he came.

Ulrich returned to the mailroom to find Nicholas already plugging away at work. He acknowledged Ulrich and then pointed to two full carts with impromptu signs taped to them. One of them was for Purchasing, the other for Development. Ulrich grinned and grabbed the cart for Development. Ulrich enjoyed that department most of all, and it also granted him an opportunity to try and talk to Odd Della Robbia. Ulrich quickly pushed the cart toward the elevator and rode it all the way up to the right floor. He didn't even need his map to know which level he needed. Ulrich had it memorized from yesterday, or at least all the floors he liked the best. The doors slid open to reveal…not much. Many of the workers hadn't even shown up for work yet. Many of the desks were empty, and the ones that were filled were occupied by bleary, tired-looking employees. Ulrich didn't know what to make of it. He rolled the cart to the person who looked most awake and stopped to ask them a question.

"Hey, where is everyone?"

"Huh?" jolted the employee, still half-asleep, "Oh…most people aren't in 'til ten or later, gives most of us the sleep we need to pull the hours we do."

"What?" asked Ulrich.

"The boss said that we can come in late just as long as we work as long as we're supposed to and get work done. But some of us are still here early because we have deadlines to meet," informed the development worker.

"Deadlines?" queried Ulrich.

"Yeah, sometimes we create new shows and characters and pitch them at the development meetings. And sometimes the show ideas are given to us, and we have to come up with the details by a certain date, Y'know, or else…"

"Yeesh…" said Ulrich. He didn't work well with deadlines himself.

"Yeah, tell me about it," said the worker, "But I don't have time to chat, I'm one of those people that fall under the 'trying to make a deadline' category. If you have questions, it's best to wait until Mr. Della Robbia gets in."

"And when will that be, by chance?" asked Ulrich innocently. The employee sighed and rolled his eyes, but obliged Ulrich.

"Well let's see, it's Thursday, so not until…what? Noon?"

"Noon!?" whined Ulrich.

"Yeah, he doesn't have any meetings until the big executive meeting today at three in the head offices, so we might even be lucky if he shows up at all until at least five minutes before that meeting…" Ulrich quietly grumbled to himself, but there was really nothing he could do about it. He just guessed he'd have to try and find another time to try and talk to this Odd guy.

Ulrich sighed and got down to work. It wasn't as easy as yesterday, where all he had to do was call out names. This time, he actually had to walk around and try to figure out who was who. That was a little harder because most people didn't have a clearly visible name plaque. Or if they did, it was hidden under piles of work, garbage, or creative little decorations. But Ulrich was able to work through the cart quickly enough that by the time he was nearing the end, most of the other employees had shown up and were welcomed by piles of mail at their desks. The last few stack were for the executives of the department. Ulrich liked looking at the signs and wondering what kind of work they did. His eye wandered to things like 'Head Artist' or 'Lead Developer', whose offices seemed to be filled with all sorts of brightly colored characters of all shapes, sizes, and forms.

Ulrich noticed that the office labeled 'VP of Development' was currently empty, one of the few empty spaces on the floor. Ulrich wondered if the job was open, or if the person who worked it was just not working out of that office at the moment. But the office labeled 'President of Development' was filled to the brim. That was the post of Odd Della Robbia, and every available square inch, from the front door to the back wall, seemed to be filled. Ulrich carefully maneuvered into the office around all the clutter and the mess and placed the stack of envelopes on the desk where he hoped they would be noticed in all the confusion. Ulrich then carefully extracted himself from out of the office and worked his way back to the elevator. By the time Ulrich had returned to the mailroom, several new carts were awaiting him. Nicholas seemed to be running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Between sorting mail, packages, and putting it all in the right cart, Nic seemed in desperate need of help. Now Ulrich knew why it was the Herb said the mailroom needed at least three people to run smoothly.

"I gotcha buddy!" said Ulrich, abandoning his empty cart to join in the fray, "What do you need?"

"Um- Uh- "stuttered Nicholas, "Packages! Um- for these carts!" he said pointing to the wagons in front of him. He had one for Sound, one for Marketing, and another for the Servers level.

"Okay got it!" said Ulrich, and he set out on that mission.

Nicholas continued to sort the never-ending stream of mail, and Ulrich sorted the packages they had there in the basement, focusing first on the carts that Nic had singled out. Once Ulrich had found all the packages for those levels, he kept sorting until was out of parcels. Nicholas informed Ulrich he should be good for a while, and it was probably okay for him to get back to work delivering the mail while he held down the fort best he could while Ulrich was gone. Ulrich gave a look to Nicholas, and it seemed incredulous at best. He knew that as soon as he was to leave, work would pile up again, and they'd be right back to where they started just a few minutes ago. But Nicholas swore he would be okay, and Ulrich just shrugged and grabbed the handle to one of the carts. It took them most of the rest of the morning, and part of the afternoon to finally get caught up and most of the mail out. William finally did the nicest thing Ulrich had seen him do since working there and bought them all lunch from the cafeteria. It wasn't fancy, and looking at it, the food was probably the cheapest thing William could find on the menus there, but at least he was looking out for them.

Ulrich was just finishing his food when Nicholas rolled up the next cart, a nervous look on his face. Ulrich didn't know what was going on. But one look at the wagon's contents made it immediately apparent why it was that Nicholas was upset. And Ulrich was starting to feel some nervousness as well. That was the cart for the Executive Offices. Nicholas couldn't go back up there for long, and Ulrich didn't want to.

"That's for the…?" said Ulrich through his mouthful of food.

"Yup…" said Nicholas, reading Ulrich's intent.

"But you can't go up there, and I don't want to…" clarified Ulrich.

"Yup, well one of us has to, and between the two of us, you have the better chance of not getting in trouble," said Nic.

"Uh- But- "stammered Ulrich, "Rock, paper, scissors?" offered the brunette.

"Well I don't see what good it'll do, but okay…" said Nic, holding up his fist.

"On three or on three then go?" asked Ulrich, wanting to be clear on the rules.

"On three…" said Nic, pumping his fist up and down in the air.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" shouted the two, and they threw their decisions. Ulrich opened his eyes to see he had thrown paper, and Nicholas had thrown scissors.

"Damn," cursed Ulrich, "Best two out of three?"

"I don't see why you are doing this, out of the two of us, you're the only one that can go up there without getting in that much trouble, or at least not any problem that will result in a write-up!" said Nicholas.

"Yes, but you can't get fired for it I thought!" said Ulrich, trying to reason his way out of this. He didn't want to face the source of his dating problems so soon without having the time to prepare.

"My dad may have my back, but he's getting on his last nerve, he told me one more major issue, and he might consider just letting HR do to me what they want."

Ulrich groaned, "Look, just one time? Can you keep it together just one time?"

"It's not my fault anymore, most of the time, the people up there just see my presence as offensive and threaten to file a report if I don't go right away!"

Ulrich groaned a second time, "Best two out of three?!" he said, holding up his fist again.

Nicholas sighed but held up his fist again, "But if I win, you're going up there every single time from this point on, you need to learn to kiss and make up with the girls up there," he joked.

"Well, all I need is just, this time, if I win, you'll go for me just this time," said Ulrich.

"Deal." The two shook on it.

Ulrich and Nicholas pumped their fists in time through the air, and on the third time, Ulrich threw rock, just as Nicholas threw paper. Ulrich shouted out in frustration and threw his hands in the air.

"Ha!" laughed Nicholas, "Better luck next time Ulrich, oh wait, there won't be a next time!"

"Ugh! Nicholas!"

"Hey, a deal's a deal, looks like the Executive Offices just found a permanent mail person for the foreseeable future!"

"Best three out of five?" tried Ulrich, but Nic just shook his head.

"Nope, you shook on it, now get going there lover boy, the Executive Offices await!"

Ulrich's heart sunk. He was hoping to have at least a week before he decided to head up there. That was foreign territory to Ulrich's missing memories, and apparently, everyone up there knew him and had a bounty on his head, figuratively speaking. Or at least everyone of the opposite sex. According to what Nicholas and Herb had been saying, Ulrich had dated almost every single one of the available girls in the Executive Offices. And it was surprising to find that there were a lot up there. Almost every single business professional had a secretary or assistant, and they all just so happened to be women, all about his age. Ulrich couldn't believe his luck, or apparent lack thereof when it came to that. And since being at the company for such a short amount of time, he had dated almost every single girl there and had to dump almost every single one of them in that time too. His parents were really riding him to find the perfect girl. But Ulrich knew the definition of 'perfect' was a French or German girl, preferably German above all else. But besides Ulrich and his dad, the brunette mail guy had a feeling that they were the only two Germans at the entire company. There was no way he was going to be able to date anymore inside the company, and Ulrich was really starting to feel like it wasn't advisable either. His reputation was starting to proceed him.

But Nicholas wasn't leaving him with many options on that matter. Ulrich knew that eventually, he'd have to go up there, he just didn't expect it to be so soon. Ulrich glanced at his watch, it was almost three, and it would take him at least five minutes or so to get up to the top floor from the basement, especially now that the office was full of workers, and they would all be moving about from floor to floor now. But then he remembered all the talk going on about a big meeting happening on the Executive floor in a few minutes. Maybe he would luck out, and everyone would be at the meeting, and he would avoid having to see anyone. Ulrich took a little more courage in the thought that he might be able to get in and get out without getting any flak for it. Suddenly he was feeling a little bit better about his current situation.

"Fine, I'll go…" said Ulrich, still feeling a bit of disappointment and anger.

"See, there's a good man…" patronized Nicholas.

Ulrich scowled, he still didn't like Nic's attitude towards this. Ulrich grabbed the handle of the first cart labeled 'Executive Offices' and was about to leave when Nicholas stopped him and pointed to another cart. It was then that Ulrich then realized there was another, equally large cart filled to the brim with all sorts of mail and packages all labeled with the name 'Cardiff.' This was all the letters for the owner of CEM, Winston Cardiff, and his sons Sean and Seth. There was also another small stack sat on top of the pile for another Cardiff, Amelie Cardiff. Ulrich didn't recognize the name, but it seemed like all of the Cardiff family must have worked here. Ulrich's earlier thoughts about nepotism in the company returned to him. That appeared to be the way to get a good job around here, was to be related to the important people around here, like those in the executive offices. But what really confused Ulrich was some letters in the cart that were in frilly pink or girly envelopes, with feminine styled handwriting and the smell of a million different perfumes. Ulrich disregarded it since it wasn't really any of his business.

Ulrich awkwardly rolled both carts towards the elevator. It wasn't easy since he needed to push one and pull the other, but no matter what he did, the carts just didn't seem to want to cooperate. They both appeared to have a mind of their own, and Ulrich had to fight them all the way to get them in the elevator. Once there, Ulrich relaxed and pushed the button for the top floor. It took much longer than five minutes to get to the upper part because the elevator seemed to stop almost every level along the way. And despite the lack of room in the elevator between Ulrich, his two carts, and the growing amount of people in the lift, people still seemed content on squeezing themselves into the small car even if it was to go a couple floors. As Ulrich neared the top floors, he noticed that many of the executives of the building were piling into the elevator. Ulrich looked down at his watch again and saw that that big meeting was starting any second. Ulrich crossed his fingers that everyone would be gone or at least busy with that meeting to not notice him and delivering the mail.

At the Sound floor, the woman with pink hair that he had seen earlier that week stepped in. She had a package under her arm and a briefcase in her other hand. She was balancing the box at the same times as she was trying to talk on her cell phone. Besides her hair, she seemed to be mostly professional. She wore a three-piece woman's business suit in a dark black color. It seemed slightly off compared to her hair, which was bright pink. Ulrich wondered if that was her natural hair color, or if she dyed it to keep it that shade. It wouldn't be the craziest thing, William had some interesting shade of blue or purple that verged on black, and Ulrich knew that he never dyed it to keep it up. But pink wasn't a shade he saw often enough in public. Ulrich couldn't help but overhear what she was saying on her phone because she was speaking so loud that anyone that wasn't deaf could have heard her clearly.

"I just picked it up," said the woman looking at the package she carried, "Yes, I need it for my gig this weekend!" There was a brief pause and then the woman shot, "Look, Dad, I know how you feel about my hobby, but not only do I enjoy it, people actually say I'm good at it! Yes, it is music, I don't care what you say!"

There was another, longer pause in the conversation as the woman listened to the person on the other end. Then she started back up, "No- No- "she stammered, "Dad! No, look I have the day off that day, and I'll be able to go there no problem, I'm not shirking anything! No dad, I am going to that club, and that's final! Look, I have to go, I have a meeting I'll call you later…" The woman pulled the phone away from her ear, pushed the button to hang up, and then she shoved the phone into a pocket in her suit coat with a sigh.

Ulrich wanted to try and get the chance to talk with this mystery woman, whoever she was. But there were several people pressed up against him, blocking his way. But then he realized that if he could talk to her, he didn't even know what he would say. He guessed figuring out her name would be a good start, but there was no telling she would even talk to him, she seemed irked by her phone conversation, and impatient to get going where she was going to. She was tapping her foot and looking at a watch almost every few seconds. She was so anxious, she was making Ulrich anxious, and making him want to look at his watch every few seconds as well. Time seemed to move so slowly in the elevator, and Ulrich was thinking that the woman was so anxious that she was just checking to see if her watch had stopped at this point. Ulrich expected her to get off on one of the several floors between the Sound floor where she entered and the Executive Offices where he was exiting, but she rode in the elevator with Ulrich and the rest of the company executives all the way to the top floor.

But the trip itself seemed to take even longer once that woman stepped in it was making Ulrich antsy, so he pulled out his own phone and clicked one of the buttons to turn on the screen. There were a couple missed notifications in the display. A couple application notes and some missed calls and texts. Ulrich swiped his finger through the alerts and saw that most of the calls and texts were from his parents. Ulrich swiped to look at those. The phone opened, and the brunette opened the discussion with his dad.

09:07 AM "Hey son, just checking to see if you made it to work. Your car was gone when I left this morning, and your mom is worried you might be dead in a ditch somewhere. I'm just afraid that you skipped out on work, and you're not here, but you're in Italy or something! Call or text me when you get this! Then call your mother, she's worried sick!"

Ulrich felt terrible. He didn't think anyone would notice, let alone care that he skipped out of the house early and took a drive. He quickly composed a message back.

02:50 PM "Dad, sorry…I just got your message. I'm alive, I'm at work, and I'm fine. Talk to you later."

Ulrich then quickly switched conversations to the one between him and his mother. There were several messages and missed calls from her almost every hour or so since he had been at work. Ulrich was surprised he didn't hear the notifications. But then again, the mail room was quite loud, it was a surprise he heard anything at all down there. Some messages were asking where he was and checking to see if he was answering. Then came the angry texts that threatened to kill him if he wasn't already dead. And then there were the pleading ones that begged him to call or text back. Ulrich felt sorry; apparently, this wasn't like his childhood where he could just go away for a few hours, and things could blow over. Clearly, his parents cared more about him than he initially thought. This was new to Younger Ulrich, who remembered several times being largely ignored by his parents if he wasn't acting up in some way. Now suddenly Ulrich felt like the bad guy. He composed a short message similar to the one he sent to his dad that affirmed that he was alive, well, and at work and would call her later when he had the chance.

With the time that he had left Ulrich checked the rest of his notifications. Most of them were for frivolous little apps and games that he had to pass the time when he wasn't at work; they reminding him to come back and check on certain things or take certain actions. But there were a couple other things mixed in there that Ulrich thought was interesting. One was a missed call again from another unknown number. Ulrich couldn't be sure if it was the same unknown number that had called him yesterday or a new one. But of course like the one from yesterday, Ulrich couldn't call it back to see who it was that was calling. The next was a text message from a number that Ulrich didn't recognize. But before he could check to see who it was from, his phone died. The screen went to black, and a small battery empty icon flashed across the screen. Ulrich wanted to swear, but he contained himself since he figured he was surrounded by many of the company's executives, and he didn't want to leave a bad impression.

Ulrich found out the hard way a couple days ago that this new technology needed to be charged more frequently than his old phone when he was younger. And he was still getting used to the fact that he had to charge the device almost every night before he went to bed. He figured he forgot to plug in his mobile last night, and so it just died. He knew he had a charger hooked up to the cigarette lighter outlet in his car, and so when he was heading home, he could charge his phone. But that was still at least two to three hours away. He wasn't sure he wanted to wait that long to find out who was texting him. Ulrich slid his phone back into his pocket and then waited for the elevator to finally reach the top level. The elevator came to a stop, and the doors slid open, and many of the people in the elevator rushed out into the spacious lobby of the top floor. For most of the level, there was a wrap-around window that opened up to see all of Paris, Ulrich fought the carts to exit the lift, and when he finally did, he couldn't help but gasp. With the height that they had, Ulrich could see out to almost all of Paris, including famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. He joked to himself,

"I can see my house from here!"

He figured it could be true granted how high they were. Ulrich walked all the way to the edge near the big glass window and looked around. He even braved looking down very briefly. Everything looked like the size of ants at this height. But then Ulrich had to pull away, the height started to get to him. Ulrich passed a long reception desk near a couple of large frosted glass doors that separated the lobby from the rest of the office area. The carpet was a rich red color and very soft. It padded each of his footsteps and made almost no noise. The wood of the reception desk matched the wood in the lobby, but instead of dark stone and metal, the Executive Offices had light-colored materials in contrast. And anything that wasn't stone or metal was light, frosted glass. The wall along the elevators had plants and topiaries in each of the spaces. And one of the spaces had a little fountain that ran down the polished rock wall into a small Zen type garden. The space was very ornately decorated, and it seemed that no expense was spared. There were a couple meeting areas near the glass doors that had lavish seating and tables in unique designs and looks. There was definitely a vibe going on around the office, but Ulrich couldn't put his finger on what. If he had to say, it would just have to be, 'unique.'

Getting down to business, Ulrich rolled the carts through the atrium and up to the frosted doors that separated the lobby from the rest of the offices. He pulled on one of the doors, but it didn't budge. He tried a couple times to pull on the door, but all it did was a rattle in place. He pushed, no dice. There was a sharp sound over Ulrich's shoulder as someone cleared their throat. Ulrich looked around and saw the receptionist sitting there tapping her fingers on her desk. Ulrich grinned in awkwardness, but his smile was quickly replaced by a frown as he realized who he was looking at. Of all the people that he could have run into, it had to be the one person he did remember. Sitting across from him at the receptionist's desk was none other than Elizabeth Delmas—Sissi…

So! We finally get to meet some of the main characters! Stay tuned, we're going to see even more of them in the next chapter!