The Real You

Untimely Interruption

"Sam? You have three messages. One from the pharmaceutical company that needs you to approve a new evaluation of their contract, another from Mr. Stevens, who wanted to change his three'o'clock meeting tomorrow to four-thirty..." Stacey was tipping the appointments off each finger as she listed them, barging into my office just before I started getting ready to go home.

"....and the third?" I asked with a smile.

"Malcolm Vaughn called" she said with a pointed look "He said he wanted to talk to you...he's on his way now"

Bloody hell.

I sighed, passing a hand through my hair and wondering briefly if the time had come. Which it had. Vaughn had seen me with Alan in the elevator, and now there'd be hell to pay. He was one of the Senior Partners at the company and would be wanting to know whet the hell was going on. Not that my personal relationships were any of his business, but I knew he'd be asking questions.

Groaning I went over to my desk, stuffing away all the paperwork of that day. It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door of my office. Malcolm Vaughn was friend of mine, the one who had given me my recommendation before I started working at the company,

"Hey Samantha, glad to catch you while you're still in" Malcolm told me with a smile as he entered the office and sat down in the chair across my desk.

"You told Stacey you were stopping by" I told him as I leaned back in my chair, wondering when the third degree questioning would start.

"Stacey?" Malcolm asked in a bored tone of voice.

"My P.A" I answered him tersely.

"Your....assistant" Malcolm spoke the word like it was something dirty stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

"Just because your assistants don't last more than four weeks on the job doesn't mean that I can't be bothered to learn the name of mine" I reminded him with a smile.

Malcolm's ruthless reputation as a boss preceded him, and with many an assistant fighting tooth and nail for a job as his assistant, it didn't come as a surprise that Malcolm changed assistants more often that he changed shoes.

"So eh.....as for me coming down here" Malcolm said, smiling at me "...Who was the gentleman you were with the other day?"

"You mean the one kissing me in the elevator?" I asked with a sarcastic smile.

"The very same" Malcolm said with a chuckle "You see....I thought...for a moment there-that it was Alan Rickman you were with..."

I froze.

.....I'll be damned.

Malcolm knew who he was.

I nodded, a small jerk of the head which Malcolm didn't seem to notice.

"...it wasn't-right?" Malcolm inquired with a smirk.

"Oh, but it was" I answered him with a wink.

He stilled.

"You're...-you're going out with Alan Rickman?" Malcolm stammered.

"Don't look so terribly shocked, Mal" I teased him "I'd almost think you don't believe me..."

"Well this is Alan Rickman we're talking about" Mal muttered.

I laughed "Would you believe that Stacey-my assistant-didn't even know who he was?"

He chuckled in disbelief.

"Unbelievable" Malcolm mused "You were snogging Alan Rickman in the bloody elevator..."