Natalie Connors. 

The one and only woman who had ever broken it off with him. So, naturally, Max had been on a mission to prove to everyone what he already knew himself: that despite the fact that she had left him, she still wanted him. He had a simple three step plan to get her back into his arms and (more importantly) bed: 

Move In: Admittedly he was having some trouble with this first one. Moving in on Natalie was difficult because she was rarely alone and vulnerable. (Not that he needed her to be alone and vulnerable, of course, but it helped). It was hard to catch her without her boyfriend or her sister (who also really wanted to sleep with him, which was why she was trying so hard to drive her sister away from him). 

Accept Fault: Once he had her, he’d apologize for something (didn’t matter what) and confess his undying love. (The sex is always better after you say “I love you.” Chicks dig it.) 

X-Rated Ending: They bang. 

Max had done some recon work to figure out how to finally achieve Step 1 (once he did, Steps 2-3 would be easy). He had Noah follow her at first (which turned into a disaster, as Noah was not nearly as stealth as he thought he was), but then he’d taken over and he figured out that while she worked Tuesdays at the Sheraton, her boyfriend didn’t. 

She got off at 3:45pm, he’d noted, so he hung outside the hotel and walked slowly back and forth in front until she finally came out. 

Yo agaaaaain. Okay so boss/employee this time, wooot. So while I think Cassie kept up a very strict boss/employee relationship with her peeps before Owen happened, I think she’s a little freer now. I think she still maintains that professionalism in the work place and expects great things of her employees and is still very professional at work. But the difference now is I think she actually has relationships with her employees outside of work.

Ian wanted to sell the house, but it still meant something to him. He was going to let it go, but not to just anyone. He was curious to see the potential buyers -- although he doubted that few of them would be locals (the price range alone would deter most people). He assumed that most of the people who walked through would just be curious to actually see the inside. (Anyone who had that kind of money to throw down would probably schedule a private showing anyway.)

Still, the potential of a serious buyer coming through kept him around. 

He heard her voice before he saw her, but he would have known it anywhere. His back was turned and he didn’t know if she had seen him, but he toyed with the thought of leaving. He wanted to see her before he left, but this didn’t seem like the time or the place. 

Standing in the middle of the foyer with a realtor and a confused looking old couple wasn’t what he had had in mind. But part of him wanted to see her and talk with her now and if she had noticed him, he didn’t want her thinking that he was upset with her. He wasn’t. He hadn’t meant to throw that declaration on her and he would not have her return them if she did not feel the same way. 

He turned round and smiled. 

“Hey,” He walked towards her, “You looking to upgrade?” He asked, teasingly, “I kept telling the agent that we should remarket this as a commercial property, since it’s more maze than house. I think we could charge admission to this place, if we wanted ... but he didn’t like that idea.”

He didn’t want her to feel awkward or uncomfortable. He never wanted them to be like that. He didn’t know that he could stand around and be just friends with her, but for this moment, he found it was easy to slip back into the sort of friends they had been before. 

He just wasn’t going to mention his two year absence or the event that caused it, if she wouldn’t. 

“So, hey, how have you been? You look ... ” Beautiful was the word that came to mind, but instead he said, “... happy.”

Kara checked the clock on the wall. The one that had a bloody mind of it’s own. Time didn’t flow normally at work. It dragged or it raced. There was no in between. And today? It was dragging. Ugh. After two days of rain, Kara was back to work after her days off and now it decided to be a perfect 82 and clear? Right-o.

But let’s rewind a bit. I had decided to stop complaining quite so much, hadn’t I? She thought, drumming her fingers absentmindedly on her desk as she finished up logging payroll (Was it really so hard to remember to clock in? Trying to piece together when Brian was there and when he wasn’t was like trying to solve a rubix cube (where Kara was concerned both were equally unsolvable). Oh, oops. Right. We were trying to work on that no complaining thing, weren’t we?). 

Let’s just settle down and get this finished.

Or maybe it would all go just a little smoother after a break, yeah? I shall return replenished! A payroll processing goddess! Or something.