#10 - "The Perfect Mate"

"Jessica, this is Tom Braden," Sheryl Campbell casually explained. Tom stood about 5'10" in height with brown hair and matching eyes. He was handsome and was wearing a well-tailored suit. "Your new personal assistant."

"I'm looking forward to working with you," Tom stated as he shook my hand and flashed an infectious smile. It was Monday morning and I had stopped off at Sheryl's office before going to work. I had presumed that Sheryl wanted to give me some last minute instructions or something similar. Boy, was I wrong.

"My what!?", I stammered out as soon as my brain was able to process just what was going on. Stunned, I just shook his hand by reflex. This had come as a total surprise to me.

"I'm sure you two will get along just splendidly," Sheryl added with a light smile.

"What a dreamy guy," Jaime sent me with a sigh.

"Could I speak to you for a moment, Sheryl?", I quickly asked. I needed to clear a few things up right away.

"Certainly," Sheryl answered. "Would you please excuse us for a moment?", she told Tom.

"I'll be waiting outside," Tom answered. "We've got a very busy schedule ahead of us today. Our first meeting is in twenty minutes, Ms. Flynn."

"Thanks," I mumbled. Tom departed the office while Sheryl and I stepped back towards her desk.

"What's this all about?", was my first question once we were alone. "I've already got my own personal assistant in Jaime."

Sheryl put her hands up as if to defend her self. "I am quite well aware of Jaime's talents, but my hands are tied in this instance. Company policy clearly states that all executives of your statue have personal assistants. It would be suspicious for you not to have one."

"Uhm, she's right, Jess," Jaime informed me. "I guess we forgot to check on it when you were considering taking this job. At least he's cute! A twist like this is like something from a soap opera!"

"I see," I said aloud, covering my responses to both Sheryl and Jaime at the same time. Still, I wasn't very happy. "You realize that this is going to greatly complicate things as far as me being the Scarlet Sabre?"

"I honestly thought you knew that this was going to happen before you accepted the position," Sheryl admitted. "My apologizes if this has come as a surprise. Still, I'm sure that you and Tom will get along splendidly."

"I guess I'll have to try and make the best of this situation," I grumbled. "I better get going. It's going to be a busy day."

"We'll chat later," Sheryl stated as she moved back towards her desk. No doubt she had a small mountain of work ahead of her. "See you at the meeting later this morning."

I stepped out of Sheryl's office to find my personal assistant waiting for me. Almost like a puppy waiting for its master to take him for a walk. I had to admit he was kind of cute, but this was only going to make my life more difficult. Slipping away to become the Scarlet Sabre was going to be problematic at best. I always hated secret identity issues.

"All ready to begin, Ms. Flynn?", Tom inquired as I approached. I'll give him one thing; he did seem energetic and all ready to go. That eager puppy analogy might not be too far off. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. I could always ask him to fetch my slippers.

"As ready as I'll ever be", was my answer. "Please, just call me Jessica. I've never been big on formality."

"In that case you can call me Tom, Jessica." Together we walked out of Sheryl's office and down the hallway. As we walked, Tom began to refer to notes in his organizer. No doubt they were my schedule for the day. Thanks to Jaime, I already knew it, but I suppose I'll have to humor the man.

"What's next on the agenda?", I inquired innocently already knowing the answer.

"You have a meeting with the prospective contractors about the security upgrades to the Tyler Labs complex in ten minutes. After that, I figured you would want to stop off at your office and get settled in. There's at least a forty-five minute window between meetings."

Getting my own office was something that I already knew about, but I never imagined that I would put it to much use. I just figured I'd work more out of my apartment more than any office. It was assigned to me to keep up appearances. But now that I was saddled with Tom, I guess it was going to be doing this executive thing as real as possible. Simply marvelous.

The meeting with the security contractors was brief and to the point. Jaime had already done the necessary research on the subject. We knew what we wanted to add, how much it would cost, and who we wanted to have install them. All in all, it went smoothly. There was some haggling over prices, but in the end we arrived at what I considered to be a fair price.

Tom was performing his job very well thus far. He certainly had studied up on our day's events and pretty much confirmed the information that Jaime had acquired. My mood towards him was softening. It certainly didn't hurt that he was on the hunky side as well! We chatted a little bit as we walked along after the meeting, the typical getting to know someone stuff. He certainly seemed the helpful and down to Earth type.

Work had started last week on repairing the offices at Tyler Labs. That particular project had been approved and started before I had assumed my current position. I was well aware of the specifics, as Jaime had come up with the original estimates and proposals.

I considered the security upgrades to be of great importance. The attack by Feurgeson had proved existing security measures to be inadequate. Feurgeson had disabled the security system before his forces had moved in for the attack. Hence facilitating the need for an upgrade.

After the meeting was over with, Tom and I made our way to what was referred around here to as the 'Executive Loop'. It was an area that housed offices for company Vice Presidents, Directors, and other executives. In the center of the area was a secretarial pool, with offices surrounding them. There were outer offices for the personal assistants and a lavish inner office for the executive.

Tom checked in with the head secretary, letting her know that we were here and found out if there were any messages for me. Thankfully, there were none at the moment. Typically, more than half of the executives here were away on company assignments. That was the case today as well.

While Tom settled into his office, I explored mine. It was a large area, with windows looking outside along the back wall. The office was very nice, if not extravagant. The desk was large and made out of oak. A high backed leather chair sat behind the desk. A pair of matching chairs were placed before the desk on an angle. There were a few bookcases lining the walls and a couple of leather couches with end tables and coffee tables to round out the room.

To tell you the truth, it was so nice that I was bit embarrassed by the whole thing. I couldn't help but wonder how that little Indiana farm girl ended up in this big, expensive office. However, I knew the furnishings were standard for someone of my stature in the company. Heck, this stuff was better than what I had in my own apartment! Guess I would just have to live with these opulent surroundings. Oh woe is me. Maybe I would bring some pictures in to liven up the place.

The next meeting was an important one and I arrived a few minutes early. Sheryl headed this particular meeting. This was where she met with the other high level executives to discuss business matters for the week to come. Those execs not physically present were connected by conference calls. A few even had video connections as well.

Looking around, I felt almost naked, as I was the only person present without a briefcase or an attaché. I didn't need one as I had everything memorized, but I suppose I should pick one up to keep up with appearances. Maybe I'll keep a spare sabre in it.

An older gentleman was seated on my left by the name of Theodore Brazington. He was a Vice-President and had been with the company back when Sheryl's father was still in charge. He introduced himself and congratulated me on my promotion, but I got the impression he was just being nice instead of honest. The man seated on the other side of me turned out to be far more interesting.

"Jessica Flynn, isn't it?", he stated as I was approaching my place at the table. "How do you do? I'm Kyle Sherwood."

I turned around to find this gorgeous guy standing there in a two thousand-dollar suit offering his hand to me. He instantly reminded me of the prototypical California surfer. Kyle had bushy blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and a golden tan.

"Hello, Kyle," I somehow managed to answer as I shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you." And that was no lie! I guess I needed to get out of the lab more often.

"If I had known just how many hunky guys were in the upper levels of CII management, I would have pushed you to become an executive a long time ago!", Jaime added in the back of my mind. "He could easily be a model!"

"Welcome to our little club," Kyle continued in a smooth voice. "It's nice to have someone so charming around who will brighten these drab meetings up. I must compliment you on that outfit. It suits you perfectly."

"Why Mr. Sherwood, you're making me blush," I coyly responded. Which, at the moment, didn't take a whole lot to accomplish.

"Just stating the facts, Ms. Flynn. We'll talk later. Here comes the Ice Queen herself."

Glancing towards the front of the room, I saw Sheryl enter and greet everyone good morning. Ice Queen, huh? I had known Sheryl for years now and never got that impression of her. Of course, my being the Scarlet Sabre did change things. Kyle helped me into my seat before taking his place to my right.

Sheryl called the meeting to order. I was a bit nervous at first when she introduced me, but that quickly passed. Almost all the people present I had never actually met before. I was familiar with their names, but had no personal interaction with them up until this morning. Thanks to Jaime having reviewed the personnel records, I had no trouble identifying who was who.

I actually paid attention during this meeting. There was so much going on with a corporation like CII it was almost impossible to keep track of everything. Turns out that Kyle was one of the contract managers. Among his portfolio were the business dealings between CII and Henderson Electronics. Talk about a small world.

Sheryl made her way around the table as the staff brought her up to date on what was going on. Sometimes she would comment or ask further questions. For the most part, this meeting was going very smoothly. I could see what Sheryl meant by tailoring these gatherings to her own tastes.

Kyle was called before I was. He stood up and briefly ran down his current business dealings. He mentioned the press conference announcing the new version of the HE 4000 computer series with the exclusive Lore 3000 processing chip was this afternoon. Kyle also rattled off some impressive sales projections that would net the company a lot of money.

Of course a portion of that profit was going to be mine as well. My savings account was going to be looking very healthy in a few short months between my executive job and my chip designs. Maybe I should think about getting a place to call my own?

By the time it came my turn to speak, I had the format pretty much down. I made my report as clearly and concisely as possible. Fortunately, I didn't have too much to report at this time around. The current situations at Tyler Labs and LawTech were all I had to report on. I relayed how the contractor meeting had gone this morning and that LawTech should be receiving our first shipment of Monitor and Security Drones this morning to boost their own plant security. This was all information that Sheryl was aware of already, and so my presentation lasted only a few minutes.

"Done just like a pro," Kyle leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Thanks," I smiled back. Was it hot in here or was it him?

The meeting lasted another half-hour before breaking up. There were plenty more project updates and financial reports that had to be covered. Some of it was interesting; some of it was very tedious. Once finished everyone rose and began to file out.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Jessica," Kyle stated as he shook my hand again. He grabbed his briefcase with the other. "I'll see you later this afternoon at the press conference."

"I'll be there," I promised with a grin. I watched Kyle walk off before heading towards the exit myself. He exchanged greetings with Sheryl before leaving the conference room. I made my way towards Sheryl.

"So how did I do?", I inquired. By now, we were alone in the room.

"You did fine, Jess," Sheryl answered. "I see you've been meeting the rest of the staff."

"Yeah. So far so good, I guess."

"Don't worry, you'll be just fine. I've got more confidence in you than majority of the people in the meeting. It's just a matter of knowing whom you can count on. And who you should never take your eyes off of."

"I'll take that as a compliment then."

It was back to the office after the meeting for a little bit. Since the Press Conference was in downtown Manhattan, I wanted to allow myself plenty of time to get there. You know how New York traffic can be. Tom signed out a company car for our use.

We left a bit early and stopped off for a light lunch. Tom and I chatted a bit more as we ate. He did seem like a nice guy. He seemed quite impressed with my computer breakthroughs. I guess he's something of an amateur computer buff.

After lunch, we made our way to the Marriott Marquis in downtown Manhattan for the press conference. Tom and I were directed to the backstage of one of the conference rooms. Donald Henderson and his entourage were already there. Kyle Sherwood was also present. Spotting me, he made his way through the crowd.

"And here's our star," Kyle stated upon seeing me. "The technological whiz that made all of this possible; Jessica Flynn!"

I bowed in response to that glowing introduction. "Thank you, thank you," I announced. "You're too kind. Kyle Sherwood, this is my personal assistant, Tom Braden. Tom, Kyle."

The two men coolly exchanged handshakes and greetings. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn the two were sizing each other up. Must be a macho posturing thing. Of course I could have just been imagining things too.

"We're just about ready to begin," Kyle said turning back to me. "We've got a full house of reporters out there. Just knock'm dead and we'll all be watching our bank accounts grow."

"Is that all you think about? Money?", I countered with a grin.

"I think about a lot of other things besides money," Kyle answered with his winning smile. "But it's easier to have fun with money than without it. If you know what I mean."

"That depends on your idea of fun, doesn't it?"

"You got me there, Jessica," Kyle admitted with a small laugh. "But it is easier to impress an attractive woman by taking her to an expensive restaurant for a romantic dinner than a hamburger joint."

"Ooh, he's flirting with you!", Jaime informed me with a giggle.

"You think?", I shot back gleefully. It mirrored a conversation from the night before, only with me being on the teasing side.

"Smart-ass," she sent back. "So what are you going to do now?"

I didn't answer Jaime, but instead responded to Kyle. "You know, we just might have to put that theory to the test one of these evenings. Being a scientist I'm always interested in proving or disproving theories and hypothesis."

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity," Kyle answered. "Scientific investigation can be so fascinating."

"They're ready for you, Jessica," Tom interrupted. While Kyle and I had been verbally sparring, Tom had been talking to the man in charge of this presentation. Looks like the curtain was about to go up.

"Thank you, Tom," was my reply. "Looks like we'll have to continue this research at a later date," I said back to Kyle.

"It's a date," he responded with a grin. "Let go meet the press."

Kyle put his hand on my shoulder but I didn't mind. In fact I was kind of enjoying all of this. It had been a long time since I had been in this kind of situation. I had forgotten how much fun flirting could be or having a handsome man pay attention to you.

Kyle and I, with Tom tagging along behind, walked to the edge of the stage. I exchanged greetings with Donald Henderson once more. Kyle ran over some last minute do's and don'ts for the presentation. It was quite clear that he wanted everything to go perfectly. Of course putting this deal together was going to be quite a feather in Kyle's cap. Not to mention the sizeable financial rewards that would come from this.

The event announcer introduced us, then Donald Henderson and myself walked out onto the stage. There was the flash of cameras and news footage was shot. I had forgotten what the hot lights of the media had felt like. It had been a while since I had done this sort of thing.

Donald Henderson spoke first. I tell you this; the gentleman was a great pitchman. He tantalized the crowd and drew in their attention. It was easy to see how such a talented and charismatic man had risen from obscurity to become one of the leading businessmen in the field of electronics. He finished up his presentation and turned things over to me.

I moved up to the podium and adjusted the main microphone to my smaller height. I paused and looked out over the crowd before beginning to speak. I had done enough public speaking before that it really didn't bother me all that much. Still, this was not something I wanted to do a lot of.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen," I began, but never got any further. The far door of the conference room burst open and a man in a purple jumpsuit with white accessories stormed in. Trailing behind him was a squad of men in military gear. As if that wasn't a big enough shock, five of those annoying robots from the night before flew in as well!

"Fuergeson the Great!", I thought in astonishment. Thankfully I hadn't said that out loud!

"It must have been Fuergeson who sent those robots last night!", Jaime rationalized. "And, Jess, if he's here then he's not after any of our projects-he's after you!"

I couldn't help but pause at that thought. After all, the robots did break into my apartment and not my laboratory. Could it be that their target all along had been Jessica Flynn? What the heck did Fuergeson want with me? I was almost afraid to find out.

Gunfire from Fuergie's goons attracted everyone's attention as they shot up the ceiling. His robots spread out over the crowd. The villain himself strode forward, almost oozing confidence. Well, as much as a man about my height could while wearing a purple jumpsuit and coke bottle goggles. Muskateer was right; he did look like a demented Easter Bunny!

"Thank you all for being here on this historic occasion," Fuergeson spoke aloud. "And a special thanks to the media. An event of this magnitude needs to be recorded for all posterity. Jessica Flynn has proven herself to be one of the most intelligent and gifted scientists in the world today. Not to mention one of the more attractive of ladies."

Well, I won't disagree too much with Fuergeson on that one. This seemed to be my day to receive flattery.

"In my eyes, that makes her the perfect mate! On this day shall the Emperor of Technology claim his Empress! Please come with me, Jessica. Such a highly intelligent mind as yours can only conclude that this is the logical thing to do."

There have not been many times in my life were I was at a complete loss of words. This was one of them. I mean on the one hand, I suppose that I should have been flattered. Jaime had been moaning about the lack of men in my life and just today alone three men had entered my life.

But this was Fuergeson we were talking about! Hunky was not a word you would typically use to describe him unless you have the letter 'c' in front of it! I mean, he was about as attractive to me as coleslaw! Geez, he didn't even bring flowers!

"Uhm, I don't think so," I somehow managed to stammer out.

"You will come to regret your mistake in time, my dear. They always insist on doing things the hard way. Go get my bride, boys!", Fuergeson commanded.

The men and robots began to move forward and there I was at the podium, completely unarmed. I knew this job was going to make my life as the Scarlet Sabre more complicated! I just never imagined how much.

A split second later, some type of energy blast connected with one of the flying robots causing it to explode over the startled crowd! Who the heck did that? Where did that come from?

Following the beam back to its source, I discovered Microwave to be hovering on one side of the room. "Take cover, Ms. Flynn," Microwave announced aloud. "I'll deal with these miscreants."

"What the heck is Beth doing here," Jaime wondered in my mind, echoing my own thoughts. Not that I was to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe Sheryl had asked Beth to keep an eye on me during the presentation. It was certainly an understandable precaution.

I turned and took two steps towards the backstage area and ran smack dab into to Kyle Sherwood. Tom Braden was just a step behind him. Kyle took me by the hand, concern clearly etched on his face. "Come with me, Jessica," he told me as he wrapped his arm around me for protection. "I'll get you to safety."

Before I could say anything, Kyle started to drag me off stage to safety. At this point, I wasn't offering any resistance. Seeing that I was taken care of, Tom vacated the stage as well. Like most sensible people, he was probably going to take cover until this all blew over.

Event security rushed past us and onto the stage. Kyle grabbed the last of the guards by the arm. "Is there a place I can take Ms. Flynn for her safety?"

"Just follow me," the security guard advised.

I could see that Mr. Henderson and his entourage were also being taken to safety. At this point there was little I could do to get away from these people. Since my Scarlet Sabre costume and equipment were back at the apartment, there was no real reason to break away. There was no reason to risk my secret just yet.

We were quickly led along the backstage area of the hotel. Our destination was the hotel security command center. It was reinforced chamber that held a large computer console with multiple monitors. On it were images from the security cameras out in the conference room. I was pushed inside along with Mr. Henderson. Somehow during all the commotion I had become separated from Kyle. It wasn't a big concern as he shouldn't be in any danger as long as he didn't do anything foolish.

And so all of us were crammed into the command center. Apparently I was just going to have to ride this out and hope that Microwave would be able to fend off Fuergeson and his goons. Having little better to do, I watched the video monitors. If I couldn't get involved in this conflict, at least I could watch it!

From what I could see, Beth was using her typical strategy. She was pretty quick and used her speed to her advantage. By using her maser intensity blast, she was able to easily destroy Fuergie's robots. Since they were just machines, Beth had no qualms about using such a powerful attack against them. Most of the media had vacated the area, but there were still plenty of cameramen about taking pictures. The things these people will do for a story!

Microwave would fire away and then alter her body's property to that of microwaves. Predictably, the enemy would fire back at her and the attacks would pass harmlessly through her ethereal body. Then she would turn solid and go on the offensive once more.

Yet another robot was dropped by Microwave. I sincerely hoped that Fuergie picked these things up wholesale. Otherwise, he spent a whole lot of cash and got very little return. Maybe Professor Malevolence was having a fire sale or something.

"I'll deal with this annoyance, men", Fuergeson suddenly announced. As he did so, he took aim with a bizarre looking rifle. "My Adjusta-Rifle will ensure this meddler's defeat!"

I couldn't tell if Microwave was taking the threat seriously or not. If she hadn't, then she changed her mind after the light beam fired off by Fuergie's ridiculous looking rifle struck her while intangible! Microwave cried out in pain and was thrown back by the blast. She disappeared through one of the conference room walls. He better not have hurt her!

It was at this moment that this whole bizarre situation took yet another unexpected twist as a new player took the stage. This one wore what appeared to be medieval armor, but it had a high-tech edge to it.

"Be gone, villain!", the stranger announced. "Ms. Flynn is under the personal protection of Starguard!" As 'Starguard' made his announcement, a mace materialized in his right hand. It glowed with power.

"Who the heck is Starguard?", Jaime couldn't help but wonder. Me as well for that matter. "I have no record of such a super in my database."

"More importantly, when did I come under his personal protection?", I chimed in. Gee, if I'm going to have guardian angels looking after me, at least they could let me in on the secret! I mean, is that too much to ask?

Starguard's armor was black and silver in color. The black parts appeared to be more like an unmoving star field. It was a pretty cool looking effect. Almost something like Nebula's face. Just who was this guy and what was his interest in me? I guess I was now up to four men who either I found interesting or they found me interesting. I wonder if things like this ever happened to Morning Star?

Fuergeson was not impressed by the new arrival. "Bruce, Gordon, Joe! Deal with this miscreant!"

"Sure thing, boss," Bruce responded. I remembered him from the fight between Fuergie's boys and Muskateer and myself. Bruce activated the controls on his metallic gauntlets and arcs of electricity began to play about them. As I recall, they were called Shock Gloves and were invented by Fuergie.

Starguard didn't respond to Fuergeson's ravings. Instead, he let his actions speak for himself. Moving forward, Starguard struck Bruce first with his energized mace. One solid hit later, Bruce had traveled a dozen feet through the air and was done for the count. Gordon and Joe didn't fair any better and both went sprawling.

"Now I'm coming for you, coward!", Starguard threatened, pointing his mace directly at Fuergeson. "You should be ashamed of yourself! Attacking defenseless women!"

I've been called many things, but defenseless was never one of them. Still, I suppose that Starguard, whoever he was, rushing to my defense was touching and somewhat gallant. It's a very rare occurrence that someone actually rescues me!

About this moment Microwave flew back on the scene, having recovered from being blasted by Fuergies 'Adjusta-Rifle'. Geez, where did he get that lame name from? Maybe I'd rather not know.

At this point, Feurgeson realized that he was not going to win the day and decided to make a strategic withdraw. "The day is yours, heroes!", Fuergie announced very much sounding like the mad villain stereotype. "But mark my words, Jessica Flynn will one day be my Empress!"

"Over my dead body," was my immediate response to that comment! As if I would actually have the slightest romantic inclination towards that twit! My skin crawled in disgust.

The remaining robots flew in towards Microwave and Starguard, sacrificing themselves for their nutty master. The goon squad picked themselves up and beat feet as well. By the time Microwave finished off the last of the robots, Fuergeson and his cronies were long gone. Even more mysteriously, Starguard had vanished during all the confusion.

Hotel security moved in and the local law authorities arrived as well. Just like that the whole chaotic mess was over. Fuergie failed in his mad scheme and you won't hear me complaining one little bit. Empress of Technology? Sheesh. Still, you have to admit that it does have a nice ring to it.

Finally, we were let out of the control center. About time too, it was getting too claustrophobic in there for my tastes. I could see Microwave approaching me, flying over the crowd.

"Are you alright, Ms. Flynn?", Microwave inquired. Obviously we were going to be more formal in public then in private.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Microwave," was my response.

"Think nothing of it. Ms. Campbell thought it prudent that one of the Freedom League shadow you during this event. Looks like her hunch was right on the money."

"Lucky for me," I added. Before I could say anything further, someone else called out my name from the crowd.

"Jessica!" Glancing in that direction, I could see Kyle making his way through the crowd. "Thank goodness you're safe! Who was that madman?"

Much to my surprise, Kyle gave me a big hug. I don't know if he thought he was being protective or that I was the frightened female type. Not that I really minded having this hunky guy wrap his arms around me! Nice cologne.

"I'm okay, thanks to Microwave and this Starguard fellow," I answered. "I've gotten used to have weird stuff like this happen to me over the years."

"It seems that everything is under control here," Microwave spoke up. I imagine that she was very pleased by what she was seeing. She had always been badgering me about dating more. "Good day, Ms. Flynn, Mr. Sherwood." With that Microwave flew off and passed through the walls.

"It's a good thing that she was here," Kyle continued. I think he finally realized that he was still holding me and released me. Maybe he was genuinely concerned for my safety. "And Starguard as well. He was most impressive in action, if I say so myself."

The crowd parted once more and Tom Braden joined us. "I'm glad that you're okay, Jessica," Tom stated. "This has been a very exciting day thus far. I never imagined that my first day on the job would be anything like this."

"Hopefully, the rest of the week will be less stressful", I added playfully.

"It's a shame that the press conference was ruined," Tom continued.

"Nonsense, my good fellow," Kyle spoke up. "You can't pay to get publicity like this! This will make all the papers and news programs. We'll easily make our sales projections now!" Tom just snorted in response.

That seemed to be typical Kyle for you. Watching out for the bottom line and how much his bonus will be. "I don't know about you gentlemen, but I think I'm ready to go back to the quiet and sedate office for a spell. I've had enough excitement for one day."

"I'll bring the car around," Tom offered and then he was off. I guess Sheryl was right. Things were going to work out well between him and me.

"I know that this must have been a very traumatic experience for you, Jessica," Kyle stated, "but do you think you could do me the honor of taking you out to dinner tonight? As I recall, we were discussing some researching earlier this afternoon. What do you say?"

"Say yes!", Jaime nearly shouted at me. Not that I needed much encouragement.

"I think that I would like that very much."

"What say I pick you up around seven?"

"I'd say it's a date," I coyly responded. This evening was shaping up to be very interesting. I just hope that I had something nice to wear for the occasion!