"I need to give these back," Emily placed the company cellphone, laptop, and employee badge on the counter of the Human Resources window. The woman behind the counter had her back turned, looking all over the office for something. Emily could tell it wasn't the same woman she'd met yesterday at the window, she was slimmer, taller, younger. "Excuse me," Emily said a bit louder but politely, she didn't want to be rude but she wanted to get in and out of the DiLaurentis McCullers Drake offices as fast as she could.

The woman whipped her head around to face Emily, then looked around the office slowly. Emily thought she might have seen her someplace before, her wavy brown hair and dimple chin, but she couldn't be sure. "Uh…" is all she said as she turned the rest of her body, eyes still scanning the office for something and then coming back to settle on Emily. "How can I help you?" She finally approached the counter, reluctantly.

"I'd like to resign," Emily spoke clearly trying her best to sound dignified when she felt the opposite. "Immediately." She added

"Immediately." The brunette repeated with intrigue, picking up Emily's badge from the counter, "Emily Fields, Assistant to the Editor in Chief" She read it aloud, making it sound illustrious, but Emily noticed something else in her tone, humor. "This was just issued yesterday." she held the badge up between them, seemingly asking a question.

A feeling of defeat washed over Emily as she looked at the Badge. "I don't see a point in sitting around waiting to be fired. I rather just get it over with."

"First day with Alison going that well, huh?"

"Oh it's been terrific, when she's not insulting me or embarrassing me, I'm embarrassing myself." Emily's tone was sarcastic. "I made it all of 4 hours and 3 minutes."

The brunette behind the counter laughed, "I think that's a new record."

"So she said," Emily smirked. "I looked her up last night, all the articles said she was tough and intimidating…I thought I knew what to expect."

"No one knows what to expect with Alison, except that she's a bitch."

Surprised, Emily's eyes widened as she looked around the HR floor to see if anyone was near. "Are you allowed to say that?"

"If anyone is, it's me," She shrugged. "Alison has a superpower for getting under people's skin. It excites her."

"Is it a superpower or has she just had a lot of practice?" Emily looked at the phone and laptop on the counter, she started to wonder when Alison began using her superpower, and was anyone exempt? She stopped herself quickly, It didn't matter.

"It'll only get worse if you stay. You have the right idea to leave before you end up on a couch in a few years talking to a very expensive therapist about your time as Alison DiLaurentis' assistant." The woman replied, and the visual it conjured made Emily physically take a step back from the counter, ready to bolt out of the building. "But…" She started again.

"But?" Emily asked, curiosity peaked.

"GLOW is doing some incredible things and will probably go on to do even greater things. Alison is a bitch, but she's also a powerhouse, and she handpicked everyone on that floor because they are all the best at what they do."

"She didn't pick me."

"So earn your place," The brunette countered. Emily didn't need a background in publishing, journalism, or fashion to recognize that GLOW was special, she'd felt it when she got off the elevator this morning. She wanted to be a part of it. Emily hung her head. "Or should I find you a resignation form?"

Emily thought about it, it had been hard to trust herself, her thoughts, and her feelings, ever since Maya left. Maybe even before Maya, she wasn't sure. Half of her wanted to slink out of DiLaurentis McCullers Drake, go back to Toby's apartment, and start the job search all over again. The other half of her wanted to go back upstairs, walk through the glass doors of Alison's office, and finish her first day.

"No." Emily answered, "I'm going to go back. If my first day turns out to be my last, then so be it, but she's going to have to fire me. I'm not quitting." She decided.

"Ms Drake!" a familiar voice called out from behind Emily. She recognized it as Ms Gwen, the older woman she met yesterday while doing her hiring paperwork. "Are you down here stealing my blue pens again?" Ms Gwen asked the brunette, making her way behind the counter.

"Hastings." The brunette replied to her, an edge to her voice that wasn't there before. "If you refuse to call me Spencer, it's Ms Hastings." She said with an eye roll.

"Yes, of course." Ms Gwen replied, seeming flippant about it as if she'd heard the correction before, looking between Spencer and Emily she added. "I see you've met your sister's new assistant." she smiled, then turned to Emily. "Was there something I could help you with, Ms Fields?"

Drake? Sister? Emily felt like her brain was short-circuiting. Spencer looked nothing like Alison, but the sharpness in her tone when she corrected Ms Gwen, the eye roll, maybe there was some resemblance. Did she just get talked into not quitting by Alison's sister? Emily thought briefly, but she knew that wasn't the case. Spencer had only pointed out what Emily already saw, that GLOW was a special place, she'd slowed Emily down enough to make her think things through.

"I think Emily is all set," Spencer handed Emily her employee badge back.

"Yeah, Spencer helped me out, but thank you," Emily told Ms Gwen with a polite smile.

"So casual…" Ms Gwen huffed before going on about how the office culture had gotten so "lax" over the years, neither Emily nor Spencer paid attention.

Spencer came from behind the counter as Emily was gathering her things from the HR counter, she leaned in close enough so Ms Gwen wouldn't overhear. "If you ever need another pep talk I'm on the 7th floor." She said before heading to the elevator. "Thanks for the pens" she called loudly over her shoulder, which caused Ms Gwen to suck her teeth.

… …

As soon as Emily stepped a foot off the elevator onto the 12th floor she felt eager arms grab her up, she was whisked away a short distance and then pulled into….a closet. A very big closet. Emily looked around taking in the sight, shoes and bags of all kinds lined the walls, rows and rows of dresses and other clothing, a wall full of jeans and shorts, accessories all over the place.

"What happened?" Two voices chimed together.

It quickly snapped Emily out of the trance the closet had put her under, "Uh, what?" she looked at Aria and Hanna's awaiting faces. "Wh-What did Alison say happen?" Emily tried to play it cool and failed.

"Nothing," Aria said quickly.

"Well not nothing," Hanna corrected, "She said you repulsed her."

Aria swatted Hanna on the arm and gave her a firm look. To which Hanna rolled her eyes. Emily wasn't surprised, Alison's face had said as much when they were leaving the Jemma Wynna showroom.

"She seemed pretty sure you weren't coming back," Aria started walking to a table in the middle of the closet, Emily and Hanna followed.

"I wasn't." Emily pulled out a chair and sat down, looking at her hands. "I came back to quit. I went right to HR and turned in all my stuff." She confessed, and took a deep breath before continuing, "But then I met Spencer-"

"What was Spencer doing in HR-" Aria started to interject but was quickly swatted on the arm by Hanna just like Aria had done to her moments before.

"Focus," Hanna shushed her, nodding for Emily to continue.

"Spencer made some good points and I decided to come back." Emily summarized. When Aria and Hanna didn't say anything she looked between them, they were still looking at her expectantly. "But, you two want to know what happened at Jemma Wynne?" She laughed lowly, surprising herself. An hour ago she was mortified by what happened, now she was laughing at herself, it was progress.

"Yes," and "Duh," Were their responses. Which made Emily laugh a little harder.

She told them everything that happened from the time she and Alison left the office, her running for the car, Alison's jabs at her clothing, the shacket joke, Hanna visibly cringed at that. Then of course the champagne incident at Jemma Wynne. She wrapped the story up with how Alison left her in the middle of the street. They looked at her with baffled eyes.

"You spit your champagne back into the glass?"

Emily shook her head, "It wasn't that dramatic, I just kind of…" She stopped, realizing that's exactly what happened. "I didn't know what to do, she was giving me this look like I was dead either way."

"You swallow!" Hanna said as if the answer was obvious, "It's never failed me." She added, and a nonchalant raise of her shoulders made it clear what she meant.

"Hanna!" Aria laughed.

Emily laughed too as she checked her phone for the time, it was a little after 2 pm. "I should probably go to my desk now and face the music." Emily breathed in, still confident in her decision to stay. She stood up and tucked the chair in.

She was almost out the door when Aria called her, "Emily," she turned around to see Aria and Hanna staring at her, a look she couldn't place on their faces. "We're glad you came back," Aria said and Hanna nodded her agreement with the words.

"Me too." Emily smiled before leaving.

… …

Alison's eyes looked up from her computer as Emily pushed open the heavy glass doors. If Alison was surprised to see Emily return to the office her face gave nothing away. She didn't say anything either, just watched as Emily hung her jacket, took a seat behind her desk, and logged into her computer. Emily didn't need to look at Alison to know she was watching her, she could feel it.

If Alison wasn't going to say anything Emily wouldn't either. The silence was better than what Emily had imagined would happen, her walking through the door apologizing profusely and Alison stripping away her badge and calling security to drag her out. Yeah, the silence was better, she thought to herself. When Emily had worked up the strength to look in Alison's direction, she saw the blonde had gone back to working on her computer.

Then the silence went on too long. Emily looked to the corner of her computer for the time, roughly an hour had passed and neither of them had said a word. Awkward was an understatement, it felt like she was trapped in a room slowly running out of oxygen. She was finishing up transcribing the notes from the Jemma Wynne meeting. The soft click-clacking of her keyboard only amplified the uneasy silence. Was she the only one who was uncomfortable? Emily looked over at Alison, if the quiet was getting to her she sure wasn't showing it.

Emily turned her attention back to the computer to finish her notes. When her leg started to bounce under the desk, an outlet for the nervous energy she was feeling, she'd had enough.

"I'm sorry for embarrassing you," Emily blurted out the apology. "I can see now they only offered me a glass to be polite, I should have never drank from it, It was completely inappropriate." Emily watched Alison for signs that she was listening.

There weren't any. Alison didn't speak, she didn't even look up from her computer.

All of the emotions Emily had been feeling all day quickly turned into frustration. Emily wanted to tell Alison that if she was going to fire her just do it already and if she wasn't, then she was just being childish and petty by ignoring her. Emily had messed up and it probably wasn't going to be her last mistake, was Alison going to ice her out every time? Emily bit her tongue, not daring to say any of the things she was thinking, she turned back to her computer. She wanted to sync Alison's contact book to her company cellphone so she wouldn't have to fumble with the computer like she did this morning trying to find Alison's driver's number, besides she wouldn't have the computer when they were out of the office. If Alison decided to take her out of the office ever again that is.

Emily fielded incoming calls while her phone synced. It was difficult with Alison still not talking to her but she made it work, updating her calendar when necessary and taking messages that she split into two piles, urgent and non-urgent. She had just ended a call when it happened.

"The photos for the Mount Everest feature need to be re-edited, they look cold," Alison spoke without looking up from her computer. Emily turned her head to look at the blonde, she felt a rush of relief at the sound of her voice. "And this title 'Youngest Woman to Climb Mount Everest Twice' is terrible, it barely answers the questions of Who and What. It needs a title that answers Why. Why should anyone care?" Alison finally looked up, motioning to Emily that she should be taking notes.

"Oh, Right," Emily grabbed the pen and GLOW stationery from her desk.

"GLOW's Tiktok has been stagnant for two weeks. Set up a meeting for me with the Socials team, I want to hear their ideas for the rest of the month. There are 3 of them if they can't come up with something good I'll let them go and hire the girl that handles Dr Miami's socials. He's always going viral." Alison sat back in her chair a little. "Schedule some time tomorrow, anything after 10, for me to meet with Hanna, she had an idea about a style piece on the New York Liberty, I want to hear it. We don't feature women's sports enough."

Emily made note of the time, 'anything after 10', she wasn't going to drag Hanna into the office early again. That's….decent of her, Emily thought. "Is that all?" Emily asked looking down at her notes.

"A reservation for two at Clover Hill, they just received Michelin recognition. Once it's confirmed text me."

Scribbling down the name, Emily asked, "What day and time?"

"Tonight, 8:30"

A Michelin-star restaurant taking same-day reservations? Emily thought it unlikely. She looked up from her notepad slowly.

"Problem?" Alison raised a daring brow.

"No." Emily forced a smile.

Alison unfolded her arms and pulled herself closer to the desk again, her eyes fixating on her computer screen before looking back up. "One other thing," She started, "You didn't embarrass me this morning, you only embarrassed yourself." Alison's eyes went back to her computer, her gaze only lasting a few seconds but it made Emily shift in her chair uncomfortably, and her forced smile drop. So much for that feeling of relief.

… …

The host's snobby tone persisted as she told Emily once again, "Ma'am I'm not sure what I can do for you other than tell you once again, we are booked. Next time, I recommend calling at least a week in advance so we can accommodate you." She hadn't really given Emily a chance to speak.

"I understand but my boss-" Emily tried again, but like before she was cut off.

"Your boss will just have to understand that we can not accommodate same-day reservations. It's a very busy time for us, we were just awarded a Michelin Star." The words were filled with sarcasm.

Emily pulled the phone away from her face letting out an irritated grumble. "You're right. Ms DiLaurentis will just have to understand."

There was a beat of silence before the host spoke again, "Ms DiLaurentis?" she posed the name as a question.

"Yes, I'm calling on behalf of Alison DiLaurentis."

"Why didn't you start with that?!" Sounding surprised and dumbfounded, the host's fake old money accent was gone, replaced with one that was distinctly New York. She composed herself quickly. "What time would Ms DiLaurentis like to dine with us?"

"I thought you said you were booked?" Emily asked skeptically, a moment ago this conversation was going around in circles.

"We'll bump someone," The New York accent was back and thick with annoyance. "Time please?" She did her best to sound hospitable.

"8:30"

Emily heard the faint clicking of a mouse and keyboard, and then, "It's confirmed."

Before she could say anything the line went dead. Emily stared at the phone in disbelief, then sent a confirmation text to Alison who had stepped out for a meeting with Valentino's Special Projects Director. Emily checked her email, Hanna had confirmed her meeting with Alison tomorrow, and Avery, the head of the Socials team had confirmed as well. The only person she hadn't heard back from was Marcel, the editor assigned to the Mount Everest feature. She'd sent the email an hour ago. Had enough time passed to send a follow-up? Emily looked out the glass doors, she wasn't chained to her desk, she could go find him.

Hesitantly she reached for the office phone. "Hey Olivia, could you cover Ms. DiLaurentis' phone for a bit?" She asked the GLOW receptionist.

"Of course, just let me know when you're back at your desk,"

Emily said a quick thanks before hanging up and heading out into the main workspace she'd been enamored with earlier in the day. People moved around, engaging in different conversations and projects, shifting from table to table. Emily looked around but quickly realized she didn't know who she was looking for, she'd never met Marcel. She hadn't made many introductions yet. She asked the next person she saw where she could find Marcel and they pointed her to a bearded artist-looking type, his headphones on and laptop out. Emily tapped him on the shoulder.

Marcel slid his headphones back and looked up from where he was seated, "Hey"

"Hey, we haven't got a chance to meet yet, I'm Emily, Ms DiLaurentis' new assistant," Emily held out her hand and Marcel reached out his to meet her.

"Right," He nodded with recognition, "You emailed me about the Mount Everest feature. What did Alison say was wrong with the photos?"

It dawned on Emily then that she didn't have much experience delivering feedback, especially not face-to-face. "Uh, well, she said….they looked cold."

"Cold?" Marcel questioned, "It's a mountain," His words curt as he pulled his headphones back into place and turned his eyes back to his computer screen.

Emily started to turn around and return to her desk, she had done her job and relayed Alison's criticism. She was quickly realizing she had her own Mount Everest to climb, Alison was cold and unyielding. What Marcel did now was on him, but it didn't feel right just walking away when she felt like she could help. "Since I'm here, Can I take a look at the photos?"

Marcel appeared bothered but again he pulled off his headphones, reluctantly sighing, "I guess," before pulling up the photos.

Peering over Marcel's shoulder Emily saw a number of photos of a woman standing atop Mount Everest. There were a few different poses and some images that focused only on the mountain's peak. Emily pointed to a shot where the woman was smiling with her arms up. "It looks kinda blue, did you do that?"

"It's called color grading," Marcel responded, looking at Emily as if she should know. "It adds depth. Doesn't matter how good a story is if it doesn't stop the scroll, the color grading makes her worth looking at."

After enduring Alison's attitude for most of the day, Marcel's barely affected her, besides something told Emily it wasn't about her, at least not completely. Emily looked at the girl in the photos, 19 years old, and she's scaled Mount Everest not once, but twice, that should be enough to stop the scroll, Emily thought. She stared at the photos, they felt distant, moody, and just like Alison described, cold.

"She's the youngest woman to climb Mount Everest, and this is her second time doing it. It's the second biggest achievement of her life and these photos…" Emily hesitated, her opinion was unsolicited and she knew nothing about photo editing, nevertheless, she continued, feeling that what she had to say was important. "These photos make it look like it's already a part of the past. Like she's in the past, only to be brought up again as the answer in a trivia game." Maybe she didn't know what color grading was but she was speaking from experience and that had to be worth something.

Disregarding what she said almost completely, Marcel retorted, "Isn't this your first day? Maybe you should just sit and watch for a while, learn how things work."

"First day or not, Emily's right." Aria appeared, sliding into an empty chair at the table. "You wrote a great article, it's lively and passionate. The photos don't convey that."

Marcel scratched his chin, scrolling through the images for a while, "Sometimes I just don't trust our readers to know a good story when they see one. If it's not dramatic, or edgy, they'll scroll right past it." Marcel looked at Emily, his eyes apologetic. He gives Aria the same look before pushing out his chair and grabbing his mug from the table. "I'm going to get a refill, when I come back, maybe the three of us can work on this? Maybe come up with some new titles too?" Marcel suggests.

Both Emily and Aria nodded and Marcel disappeared toward the coffee station. Aria kicked out the chair across from her, gesturing for Emily to take a seat. Emily settled into the chair noticing an amused look in Aria's eyes.

"So," Aria began, the corners of her mouth curling up. "What trivia game is Emily Fields an answer in?" her eyebrows arched knowingly.