The Astor/Rosensteel Household

"Oh. That's nice.." Serenity mumbled, stirring around her chicken. She never really had much of an appetite.

Ryan didn't seem to notice how uncomfortable Serenity looked-he thought that she was just listening to him-so, he kept right on talking.

"Yeah, I graduated school when I was eighteen, and then I went on to study in college in America, and then I decided to live there for a while. I was going to study at Law School, but I couldn't pay the tuition, so that had to be put on hold. About... two years ago, I moved back to England-you know, for a change of pace, and now I'm working in your office, trying to save up again for school." he said all of this in between bites of rice.

"I'm sorry," Serenity said, finally listening. "I should've gotten you a raise. I-- I've been too self-centered." Serenity rubbed her forehead. "You have a life too. You want to go to law school. I'm not paying you enough money! That's why you came here. You want a raise, don't you?"

"What?" he dropped his fork in surprise, and stared at Dianna. No, he didn't come here for a raise. He took the case to actually get some firsthand experience. But try explaining to that to Serenity.

"No-no, it's not about money-but I'll take a raise if you're offering it-I-I just thought that you needed some extra help, and I could get some hands-on practice."

"Whoah, calm down.. You don't have to stutter. It's hard to understand you. So, I'll give you a raise of fifty dollars more per hour. You're really useful." She said, pushing her plate away.

"Wait really? Wow this..." a huge smile broke upon his face, like the sun coming out after a thunderstorm. "This is great!" He got up, and shook Serenity's entire arm excitedly. "Thank you so much! I promise I will work hard and never take a sick day for the rest of my career!"

"I appreciate it. Hey," Serenity said, smiling and standing up. "Do you want to take a tour of the house? It's nice. And it's one of the few times children aren't running around."

"Okay." he consented. He looked around the kitchen, and he was still smiling. "How old is it anyway?"

"Well, parts of it are around ninety years old. The rest of it, though, I supervised myself, hired a construction team. It's around twelve years old. Here, this is the foyer. This is the kitchen, obviously. Over here's the entrance to the basement, here's the living room, this is the sunroom.." Serenity brought him through the whole house, and ended up in her room. "And this is my room, as well as my office."
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"Hmm..." Ryan didn't say much during the tour; he seemed to have just want to look around the place and soak it in. But he started to talk again when they had reached her office.

"I have to say that your entire house is bigger than my apartment complex."

Serenity laughed. "Really? It can't be that big. But I really like it.." She went over to her desk, gathering up a file folder. "These are all the papers you need."

"Thank you very much..." he murmured, as he took the papers into his hands, as they shook a little out of excitement. Finally, his one big chance...

He looked at Serenity. "Is this all?"

"Yeah, that's it. Thanks for coming by." Serenity looked back down at her papers, then looked back up at Ryan again. "Hey. Do you want-- Do you want to go out for dinner sometime?"

"Um okay..." Ryan looked extremely flattered, and his ears were turning bright pink. "But only if I pay. The money I'm earning now is going to burn a hole in my pocket..."

"Alright. Sure. Been a while since I haven't paid for my own meals. Although technically, it's my money in the first place.. Whatever. I shouldn't think that hard. If you want, you can choose the place."

"Um, okay... I'll let you know soon, and we'll go next week... is that okay?"

"That sounds fantastic. Thanks, Ryan. See you tomorrow. Do you want me to walk you to the door, or can you-- Dianna, honey, what are you doing home?"
Dianna, indeed, was standing in the doorway. "I threw up. Marcie's mom took me back home. Who's this guy?" Serenity came out from behind her desk and walked up next to Ryan. "This is my office assistant Ryan."
Dianna raised her eyebrows. "Why's he in your bedroom?"

Ryan looked down at Dianna, smiling a little bit. He liked kids, even older ones who are soon going to be at the eve of their angsty adolescence. Besides, her daughter seemed very kind as she was the spitting image of her mother.

"Are you Dianna?" he asked, reaching out to shake her hand. "I'm Ryan or, err... Mr. Summers. I work for your mother."

"That's cool." Dianna said, shaking his hand too. "So.. Why are you here, then?" She asked, looking Ryan up and down. He was so young.

"Um... I'm going to help work on a case for your mother, that's all. Nothing too big or spectacular, heh..." Ryan couldn't exactly tell why, but Dianna sort of intimidated him.

"You couldn't do that at the office? If you're trying to flirt with my mother, you should know that she's not easy."
"Dianna!" Serenity exclaimed.

"Um Dianna..." Ryan knelt down until they were eye level to each other, and placed a hand on her shoulder. Hey, that seems like what every responsible parental figure does. "I have to say, that I had no intentions on that with your mother... the papers we were originally going to use had coffee spilled on them, so I had to come to your house to get them, that's all." he exclaimed, hoping she would understand.

"Riiight." Dianna said. "She spilled coffee. A totally legitimate reason to come over to her house. And, why would you be so nice to me if you weren't trying to get into my mom's pants?"
"Dianna, that's quite enough."
"I see right through you, Ry-face." Dianna turned, stomping back to her room.
"Sorry, Ryan. She's kind of annoying sometimes.."

Ryan shook his ahead, and picked up the folder of papers. "It's okay... I had two little sisters. I know girls can be sometimes... but thanks again!" he exclaimed. "Can we go over the papers at work tomorrow?"

"The only free time I have is lunch, but I can go over them just as easily over a turkey and cheese sandwich. Just come in around noon. Bye, Ryan. Thanks for coming over."