But for the Future.

Steven:

For a time Steven just held Nicole in silence, it felt good to have a woman in his arms again. But then, He started thinkind about Aileen, or rather Lexi. "Nicole... About Lexi... What all did you turn up today?"
 
Seth thought he could almost feel her tremble slightly as his hand made contact with her skin.

"It's good to meet you too Aileen."

He listened to her as she spoke and he held her gaze after he slid his shades to rest in the spikes of his styled hair. His gaze roamed as he talked to her, to the surrounding patio, her body, her eyes.

"I know what you mean by living in the same building as your boss, mine lives here as well. Leah is cool though." A look of recognition comes over his face. "Hey, you work for Replapet too? I'm an engineer working on the new Fido model." Seth leaned closer to her in his chair, and hadn't even realized he was still holding her hand in his until he was letting it go. He rested his forearms on the table in front of him and clasped his fingers in an easy manner, trying not to blush too badly nor put too much attention on it.
 
Aileen O'Shaughnessy

His lingering touch on her hand was exhilirating, something she was enjoying very much. When he withdrew it, she attempted to hide her disappointment. She almost altered her hormonal balance and then remembered that she wanted to feel everything a human female felt. That made her cheeks flush even more and she glanced away as he spoke.

But she started visibly when he said Miss Campbell's name.

"Leah? Leah Campbell is your boss, too? I just signed on today; also an engineer. Wow, this is a small world."

She leaned back into the chair, allowing the breeze to ruffle her now-drying hair. She was aware of his admiring gaze, the one he was trying not to make, glancing away, then returning to take in her curves. She enjoyed the way her body was responding, her heart beating faster, her breath shallow.

She yearned for more tactile contact and reached out her hand, lightly tracing her finger along his arm.

"So, Seth, tell me about yourself. I haven't been here long enough to have made any friends and am craving interaction. I will soak up everything you want to tell me."

She looked into his eyes, holding her breath in anticipation.
 
She had visibly flinched as he mentioned his bosses name. For some reason he had used her first name, perhaps because he hadn't thought Aileen would know her anyway. Seth had never called her by her first name to her face, it was just the way he was, to him it was common ettiquette.

"Yeah, it is a small world, eh?"

His gaze moved to the side of the pool for a moment, the water gently lapping at the smooth surface. His skin prickled to attention as her finger slid along his arm. Once again he pierced her eyes with his intense gaze.

"Well, not too much to tell really... heh. I majored in engineering at the academy with a concentration on replicant technology. I made good grades, but it's when I showed them what I could do in the lab that really got me the job."

He told himself to shush before he made himself out like too much of a brain.

"I'm not really into the club or bar scene, don't see a point in partying my head off and wasting my braincells on chems. So... I'm pretty much a home-body. I probably sound pretty boring to you, huh?"

His eyes followed her hand on his arm for a moment, then looked up at her again, smiling.
 
Aileen O'Shaughnessy

She was enjoying touching his arm, the sensations it was creating in her body so pleasurable. She was lost in the feeling, listening to him speak.

"No, not boring at all. I think as engineers we're...oh, I don't know...more into structure, the inner workings, rather than all the fluff that the rest of the world surrounds themselve with."

His eyes went to where she was touching his arm and she started in surprise, pulling it back hastily.

"I'm sorry. What was I thinking? I apologize for being so forward."

She looked down in embarrassment, color flooding her cheeks.
 
"Fluff," Seth chuckled, "thats a good way of putting it."

He immediately regretted letting his eyes trace her hands movement on his arm, she pulled back quickly and looked down. She seemed ashamed. His eyes swept down with hers, and he found himself having to force his concentration from the valley between her breasts. He eased forward in his chair a bit more, his knee coming between her bare legs as he rested his hand on the back of hers. His other hand moved up toward her face and he brushed a lock of her bangs from her forehead.

"Hey... don't think anything of it, I'm enjoying your company very much. I've hardly met anyone since I've been here."
 
Nicole

Ravenloft said:
"Nicole... About Lexi... What all did you turn up today?"

Nicole takes a deep breath. She really wasn't wanting to think about reality.....but she know this subject would come up soon.....

"The company is taking a great interest in this matter. They are consulting some experts.....they may consider creating a 'false' replicant to ship up here.....and have it try to leave the state.....hoping to draw out this bounty hunter. I don't get too involved with specifics of these kind of matters.....so they may not involve me in the planning and actual operation. But since I am their only contact, they will let me know what they have decided to do. You should let Lexi know we are working on a solution for her.....and to try to lay as low as she can."

Nicole didn't want to share this next news to him, and tried to think of a gentle way to deliver it.....

"One thing I need to let you know.....we think this guy went to NY and murdered a man simply because he worked for the company that makes these." she pulled out her communicator the SRZX Mote-AR 720, and showed it to him. "This is supposed to be untraceable, but this bounty hunter knew that they could collect some information while it's being used, if they would give him the codes.....uh, perhaps you should let her know this."

"As far as we can tell," she went on, "we think he may have a pic of her, but doesn't know her current name. He still thinks she's in Seattle.....which is why we may try to make it look like she's trying to leave here."

She settled back to let all that information sink in.....this will not be pleasant business for either one of them, and she really hated this I SPY like operations.....
 
Steven:

Laying next to Nicole as she explained all the information she had gathered, he was impressed, more than impressed actually. He'd not come up with anything anywhere as useful as she had.

He nodded. "Yes, a decoy... They can do that?" He asked in surprise. "And we will keep her as low profile as possible..." Steven tenced when she mentioned the murder. "I... I will let her know about her comunicator first thing in the morning!" He said, barely able to keep his voice from shaking. He frowned then, as it seemed to be his turn. "I... Shit... I didn't come up with anything... Nothing we can use..." He lowered his head, biting his lower lip as she placed a gentle hand upon his back, he rested his head against her chest then, and just enjoyed the comfortable warmth of her embrace.

The next morning:

Both Steven and Nicole woke before 6 am, he gave her a long, deep kiss before he got up and ready for work. In less than an hour he was in his office, arranging a meeting with Aileen AND Leah. He needed to speak with both of them ASAP.
 
Ravenloft said:
"Yes, a decoy... They can do that?"

"Yes they can, and will, but you MUST get Lexi to understand she must lay really low......like not using her communicator at all. As a matter in fact.....we should give hers to the decoy. If she needs to use one...have her ask me to use mine. I can get her anything she needs."

"I... Shit... I didn't come up with anything... Nothing we can use..."

Nicole smiles sweetly at this statement.

"Well I guess you really need me.....in more ways than one." she finishes.

Steven dozes, as Nicole watches for a while. Eventually she gets up and presses a lever inside her closet. This opens up a capsule specifically designed for her body. She steps inside and pushes a couple of buttons.....

Before Steven leaves in the morning, she gives him a big kiss.

"I'll see you later, lover."

At work later that day, she finds herself deep in conversation with *Chuck* from the company. He has several ideas and wants to know the *status* of the situation.
 
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Aileen O'Shaughnessy

She blushed at his touch on her hand, his fingers brushing away her hair from her face. The touch of his knee against hers was exciting and daring.

She looked into his eyes, her lips parted, not daring to breathe. He gazed back at her and she realized she didn't want the moment to end.

She reached up to his face and caressed his cheek.

"Seth, I feel as though we've known each other before, in a different life, or...something. I'm so comfortable around you and I don't want this moment to end. But..."

She withdrew her hand and looked down at his hand holding hers. She smiled and looked back up.

"It's late and we both have to get to work early in the morning. I imagine we'll see a lot of each other at work, though. I'm looking forward to it, actually."

She blushed and rose, his hand still holding hers. Leaning down, she placed a quick kiss on his cheek, her hand snaking around his neck.

"Good night, Seth. I'll see you at work."

She gathered her towel and headed toward her apartment.
 
Leah Campbell:
The morning found Leah grinning at her computer monitor with an almost predatory delight, "Gotcha Steve you bastard, god dammit I've finally gotcha!" She mouthed softly. I had taken the good part of the night to get copies of all the pertinent documents, but now she had everything she needed to stick it to the bastard once and for all. All that was required was that she play her cards right, and the whole board would finally be united against him, they would have no choice: this wouldn't be one of her or Steve's little power grabs that the members had learned to ignore, this was real, this would hit them where they'd feel it, this was about money!

Leah made it a point to befriend the workers that were beneath the notice of everyone else at Replapet: the cleaning staff. She learned their names, remembered their birthdays, pulled strings with the buildings management to get them extra vacations days, etc... As a result, she had a small but fiercely loyal team of informants who could go anywhere in the building, even into the offices of top executives of other companies during important meetings, and remain utterly unnoticed.

It had been one of the newer members of the staff who had given her the ammunition with which to remove Steve from her life once and for all. Travis, a very intelligent man, but one whose past history of social disobedience disqualified him from all but the lowest of professions. Leah cared little about his past, but intelligence was something she prized and her gamble in befriending him had paid off in spades yesterday.

Travis had been in the elevator when Steve got off on an unusual floor, intrigued, Travis had followed to the office of Fulstein & Rander, seeing the initial part of what looked to be a very friendly reunion with a Ms. McBeth.

She had recognized the name of the company as one that had been mentioned along with that of MegaCorp Consolidated, at a rather dull wedding reception some months ago: desperate for a pastime with which to make the hours move at a slightly faster crawl, a number of the gathered business people had amused themselves by attempting to trace the corporate family tree of the newlyweds. F & R had come up somewhere on the brides side via the wife of a second or third cousin, and the groom's grandfather's illegitimate eldest son had married into the family of a CEO of MegaCorp. It was a ridiculously flimsy link and she knew it, but for her purposes the appearance of a connection, no matter how remote, was all that mattered.

MegaCorp Consolidated was the holding company for Pantechnology, a local high-tech firm that had just recently expanded into the pet market, and was now in direct competition with Replapet - something that had made the highly profit conscious board of directors at Replapet very nervous. For the already skittish board, the slightest association with MegaCorp was all the evidence that would be needed to cause them to instantly lump F&R in with Pantech as corporate rivals - Leah had long ago learned that, in business, the cool head of reason did not apply when a person's pocket book was on the line.

Just imagine the board's dismay to learn that Steven, co-CEO of Replapet, was romantically involved with a high ranking employee of a ‘rival' company! One or two offhand remarks and she'd have the lot of them convinced that Nicole was quite possibly a corporate spy for Pantech, seducing poor, foolish, trusting Steve so she could use him to gain access to Replapet's research and development. And, based on her assessment of the cognitive abilities of the board, it would be a very short step from admitting possibility to erroneously accepting the thing as fact.

Leah arrived to work early so that she'd have time to stop in at central housekeeping and leave a message in Travis' locker telling him of her success, and her phone number with the request that he call when he got off later in the day. She hadn't decided how she ought to repay him for his part in this yet, she was leaning towards either a substantial pay bonus (under the table of course), or an extended, paid vacation. In the end, she thought it might be best to leave the choice up to him.

Arriving in her office, she ignored the blinking message light, first sending out copies of the information she had collected to the members of the board under the pretext of informing them about their new rival. She made sure that F&R's name, and the names of its highest ranking employees, including one Nicole McBeth, were prominently displayed. Only after completing this task, did she accept the message.

It was from Steven, requesting a meeting of all things! He couldn't possibly have found out about her plan, but what other reason could there be? Suddenly, she recalled his little coup yesterday of foisting Aileen upon her - no doubt he wished to gloat about it now: Leah chuckled with amusement as she replied to the request, informing him that she and Ms. O'Shaughnessy would come to his office immediately following their own meeting to go over work that actually pertained to design and engineering.

Of course, that meant postponing her meeting with Seth until after lunch. She put a call through to his office...
 
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Seth watched her rise with an odd sort of sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. When she had leaned in toward him, his eyes met hers, he thought she was going to kiss him full on the mouth. Her lips on his cheek brought a faint blush to his pale complexion but that probably wouldn't be noticed in the pool-side lighting.

"I'm looking forward to it too."

Her arm draped nicely around his neck.

"Sleep tight Aileen," he called in a low voice to her.

"Sleep tight," he whispered to himself as he watched her leave. His gaze had a hard time lifting from her rear, the way it swayed. But then she was gone out of sight, into the building. His attention snapped back from a small day dream. He craned his neck this way and that to crack it, a quirk of his.

After eating his favorite selection of chinese cuisine slowly and enjoying the night air, he slipped his laser shades back down over his eyes and made his way back to his pad.

Ugh, the Fido schematics. They greeted him as he walked in, splayed over his kitchen table exactly as he had left them. With a sigh, he told the computer to play the current cd again, and 3 Doors Down filtered to his ears. He was going to need a Nuka-Cola for this. He popped open a can and took a sip of the icy stuff, propped his chin in the palm of his hand, and started reading over Fido.


Next morning, Seth was working up a report in his small office when the phone rang.

"You've called the mad lab, Dr. Seth here," Seth answered, a grin in his voice (as there usually was).

Seth took pride in adding a tinge of Chaos to everyone's day, and did it with a good deal of good cheer and humor.

"Oh, hey Mrs. Campbell, what can I do for ya?
 
Leah Campbell:
"You've called the mad lab, Dr. Seth here..."

As usual, Seth's utter disregard for office decorum brought a smile to Leah's face, it was nice to have a few real people mixed in amongst all the obligatory stuffed shirts. "Good morning Seth,..."

"Oh, hey Mrs. Campbell, what can I do for ya?

"Well actually there has been a slight change in plans for today, our meeting will have to be postponed until after lunch I'm afraid, and I'm going to have the newest member of our engineering staff join us, a woman by the name of Aileen O'Shaughnessy. She seems to know her stuff, I'd like to assign her to your department if you have no objections. Actually, why don't we make it a business lunch, perhaps at that new PeerView restaurant? I've heard good reviews about it. And yes," she added, affecting a tone of stoic forbearance, "I am quite certain that they offer a full range Chinese selections."

His favoring foods of that nationality, at the expense of all others, was something of an ongoing joke between them.
 
Thankfully, Mrs. Campbell never had a problem with Seths relaxed and casual personality that he constantly fit into his (and other staff members) work habits.

"Aileen O'Shaughnessy...my department?," he repeated.

"Oh, no... no problem at all, Mrs. Campbell."

Seth listened another moment and his ears perked, brows arching as he murmured with exagerated awe, "Ch...Chinese?" That grin of his snuck into his voice, "Full range of selections? Sounds great, and hey, you might even get a good fortune this time!"

"If you and Aileen want, meet me out front of the main Repla' entrance around one, we can car pool, I can drive. Yup, uh huh, you bet, cya later Mrs. Campbell."

Hot DAMN! Seth grinned. Aileen transferred to the lab!

Seth turned back to the model of Fido and reached into the replicant to plug in a set of wire connectors by feel alone, as he looked at the schematics.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He pulled his hands from the flesh-like jelly and fluids that he had filled the chest cavity with. It would make the replicant dog very life like, almost indistinguishable from other canines.

Pink gel smeared upon the surface of the paper schematics as he flipped a page to the outline of the neck and head. He looked from the plans to the head and opened a panel on the neck. There were definitely more optic wires than necessary. With his fingers and an eye on the plan he felt out farther into the neck. They were running right into box where the main processing CPU was housed.

Half of Seths mouth twisted in puzzlement. "Hmm..."

He wiped his hands on his lab coat and touched a few numbers on his phone.

"Yeah, Keith? Seth Daikannon, over in A&T (assembly and testing). Do me a flavor? Send me over a copy of the intelligence specs? Nope, I didn't get them, eh, you know how the high ups do ya. Oh sure, sure, it's on its way down. Three days later and still no plans. Haha, yeah, tell me about it man. Hey, I appreciate it. If I'm not around, have Tanya throw them on my desk. Thanks Keith."

Seth did a mental inventory of schematic sections, and drummed his fingers on the lab table as he thought...
 
Aileen O'Shaugnessy

She arrived at work to find a message to report to Seth in his department. Her stomach was assailed with butterfly feelings as she thought about the evening before.

She inserted a probe into the office dataport and accessed the information about Fido and the location of Seth's department. Making her way through the company, she nodded at people in the hallway, smiling, calling out a cheery hello as she walked.

She found the door and pushed it open into...controlled chaos. She looked around in bemusement, a smile breaking out on her face as she located Seth.

"Hi, neighbor. Looks like we'll be working a lot closer together than I'd originally thought."

She beamed up at him, hoping she was making as good an impression in her work clothes as she did in her swimsuit.
 
"I guess we will," Seth says with a smile.

In his best German accent (which isn't that great), "Velcome to vhat I like to call, zee mad lab!"

Seth sweeps an arm out around the lab.

"Az you may hav guessed I," Seth bows dramatically and straightens, " am Dr. Seth."

"But uhh... seriously, don't take things around here too seriously. Come on, I'll show you around."

Seth showed her around the lab while doing his best to keep his eyes from roaming. He pointed out where everything was, a desk she'd be able call her own, the nearest restrooms, and the last two, probably the most important. The local china house menu, and the snack machines. Speaking of lunch..., he thought to himself.

"I guess Mrs. Campbell told you, we're meeting for lunch later?"
 
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Aileen O'Shaugnessy

She couldn't help but chuckle at his antics. This was going to be fun, much different from running a city.

"Yes, Miss Campbell said something about lunch in her note. Something about a full range of Chinese selections?"

Her eyebrows went up quizically and she laughed at the well-worn Chinese food menu.

She turned to him, putting a hand on his arm and gazing into his eyes.

"Seth, about last night. I'm hoping that was a start of something. And I'm hoping that working together won't interfere with our personal lives. I'm very capable of being professional when I have to and letting my hair down at the end of the day. I've been known to be...very friendly with the right person."
 
After going through her files, and arranging several transportation issues, she puts in a call to Steven to call her when he has time. She knew he'd be deep up in meetings most of the morning, so she cleared her appointments in the afternoon for him.
 
"Yes, Miss Campbell said something about lunch in her note. Something about a full range of Chinese selections?"

Seth laughed. "Yeah, Chinese. It's a running joke between Mrs. Campbell and I. What can I say, I like their food!"

He felt her warm hand fall upon his arm and he looked up to find her watching his eyes.

A smile came to his lips. "I hope work won't interfere either, I don't think it will though. Working together should be fun. Keeping it interesting shouldn't be so hard with you around. Don't get me wrong, I find Fido very interesting." Seth turned and scritched the non-functional replapet under the chin. "Isn't that right Fido, eh?"

"Friendly is a good thing," he said as he turned back to look at her once again. "and so is letting your hair down, as long as it doesn't cover that beautiful face of yours too much."

He wanted to kiss her. It'd been a good length of time since his last girlfriend, at the academy. Seth hoped this would progress into something more. Now that they were going to be seeing eachother much more frequently, it could mean they would become very fast friends.

"Well hmm, it's almost 10, we have a couple hours before lunch. There should be a girl dropping off some plans for the intelligence specs of our furry friend here, but I don't know when. I need the plans from a few other departments too. It's odd. I should have the plans for every aspect of Fido for testing, but they never came down the line. It's a pain but I don't know how much work I'll be able to get done while running around grabbing the copies. We need to get this bad boy into the final tests as soon as possible."

Seth was trying not to lose himself in her eyes as he spoke to her, thankfully he did a pretty good job.
 
Leah Campbell:
Glancing at the clock, she realized that she couldn't reasonably delay her meeting with Steven any further. She buzzed her secretary: "Nigel, could you please page Ms. O'Shaughnessy and have her come to my office? Thank you."
 
Aileen O'Shaughnessy

OOC: Sorry for the delay all. Am moving cross country by car (from Indiana to California) and will only post at night at the motel.

IC: She blushed at Seth's comment about hiding her face behind her hair and awkwardly brushed it back. She was enjoying the reparte and the discussion of Fido's inner workings when she heard the page.

Seth helped her access the micropaging device located in each room of the company and she begrudgingly excused herself to run to Miss Campbell's office.

As the receptionist wasn't at her desk when she arrived, she knocked tentatively on the door to her boss' private office.

"Miss Campbell? You wanted to see me?"
 
Leah Campbell:
Looking up, she saw Aileen in the doorway. "Yes Ms. O'Shaughnessy, please come in, I'm afraid our discussion of your thoughts regarding the updated plans will have to wait until lunch, you did get my message concerning lunch I hope? Right now Mr. Polaski requires the pleasure of our company." Although the expression on Leah's face remained perfectly cordial, the last sentence was spoken with a definite air of hostility.
 
Aileen O'Shaughnessy

She regarded her boss with an astonished look.

"He requires my attendance? I don't understand. You're in charge of engineering. Why would he need to speak with me?"
 
OOC: Shouldn't you be in bed resting up for the next leg of your trip? Ok, ok, I'll stop being a mother hen :D

Leah Campbell:
"He didn't feel the need to share that with me, I can't imagine why he should require seeing either one of us." A look of annoyance crossed her face, but was swiftly replaced by a practiced smile. "Well, we might as well go then, we wouldn't want to keep Mr. Polaski waiting."

Leah closed her office door behind them, then headed down the hall to Steven's department.
 
Aileen O'Shaughnessy

OOC: Thank you, Mother Hen. :D I'm in the Central time zone for now so it was only around 10:30 when I posted. Got 9 hours of sleep and am about to head out onto the road. See my trip thread to see my progress.

IC: She followed her boss out the door and attempted to get to know her a little as they walked.

"Thank you so much for the lead on the apartments. I got moved in and even managed to furnish the place. It's very luxurious and I think I'm going to enjoy living there. Even discovered Seth lives there when I went for a swim last night. Of course, he was eating Chinese food in the patio."

She chuckled at the thought, warm feelings spreading into her limbs.

"He's quite a character, isn't he? Very refreshing from the usual engineer types. Hard to believe such a brilliant mind lies beneath the jovial clutter that surrounds him."
 
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