"Dunder Mifflin, this is Erin." The normal drone of the office played in the background and I fixed the spreadsheet that Dwight had sent over.

"Honestly Dwight. How did you mess up my client list so bad?" I looked over the top of my computer to see the man in question shrug. "Everyone is thrown all over the place." My gaze fell back on the sheet. "For crying out loud!" I gently kicked Dwight's desk while he looked at me with an innocent expression.

"What's wrong now (Y/N)?" his voice gave away that he knew exactly what was wrong.

"I think you know exactly what is wrong Schrute." I narrowed my eyes at him. Dwight just shrugged his shoulders and clearly bit back a laugh. "Why did you have to...." We were cut off by my phone ringing. "Hold up."

"Hello! This is (Y/N). How can I help you with all your paper needs today?" I put on a fake voice while I narrowed my eyes at Dwight again as he got up and leaned over my desk. He swatted my hand as I tried to stop him from accessing my computer.

"I'm emailing it to myself so I can fix it." Dwight whispered as he did what he said. "It was a prank. Jim thought it up." I shooed him away as the voice on the other end of the phone finally responded.

"(Y/N)! It's Jo." The CEO of Sabre rarely called Scranton but if she did, it was important.

"Oh! Hi Jo! Good to hear from you!" I dropped the customer service voice I was using. "What can I help you with?" Dwight and Jim gave me a look. I responded with a confused look of my own.

"I just wanted to let you know that the new manager is coming in today. He's going to need an assistant regional manager. After going over the possible candidates, I thought you would be perfect." Jo explained.

"Thank you very much." I said, my eyes widening at the news. "What do I need to do?"

"Basically what I want you to do for Robert California is what Dwight did for Michael." Jo said. I chuckled and opened my mouth to respond but she cut me to it. "But better. Without all the problems and issues that occurred while Michael was there." I nodded even though she couldn't see me.

"Sounds good." I noticed the pair of pranksters watching me so I asked for their benefit. "So it sounds like you went with Robert California after all." Jim's eyes went wide and Dwight looked between the two of us.

"Yeah. After all those other so called candidates he was the best candidate. Albeit a little overqualified." Jo clarified. I nodded and watched as Jim let his head fall on his desk.

"When should he be here and is there anything I should do before he gets here?" I was rapidly scribbling on a notepad trying to get a bunch of questions for Dwight down before Jo told me it was a lost cause. We jumped as the door opened with a bang. "Nevermind Jo. He's here. I'll keep you updated. Bye." I slowly hung up the phone before moving to stand up. "Mr. California! Welcome...." My hand hung in the air where I had held it out for him to shake. Robert California had turned around and walked out of the office after taking one look around the room. I ran to the conference room where I saw his car peeling out of the lot. I turned around and looked into the camera that had followed me and shook my head. I couldn't form any words as I rushed back to my desk and dialed Jo's number. "Jo?" I breathed when the phone was picked up.

"What's wrong dear?" From her tone, I could tell that either she was concerned by the way I sounded or someone had already called to let her know that Robert California had left as soon as he arrived. "(Y/N)?" I snapped out of my thoughts as her voice carried through again.

"He left." I choked out. "Robert California left. He walked in, saw Phyllis cough, and walked out. He just drove off. He left." I was close to hyperventilating and I could see Pam trying to get the cameras away from me as I leaned over my desk, trying to catch my breath and keep my cool as I waited for Jo to respond. "Jo I don't know what to do. He's gone. I don't know if he quit or is coming back or what. But he's gone Jo."

"(Y/N). Sweetheart. You need to calm down." Jo's calming voice came over the phone. "Where are you? In the office?"

"Yeah. My desk." I breathed out. Dwight was already unlocking the door to Michael's office. Somehow I knew that is always what it would be to me, no matter who occupied that space.

"Go to Michael's old office. Lock the door. Call me back. You don't need the whole office watching you right now." Jo hung up and I quickly made my way through the door that Dwight was holding open. I nodded in thanks and quickly sat down to call her back. The call didn't last that long and by the end of it, I had ushered Jim and Dwight into the office with me.

"It looks like one of us will have to take over until Jo can get out here and pick the new manager." I said. "Well, not you Dwight. Sorry." Jim shook his head as soon as I started talking.

"You'll have to do it. I won't. And Dwight can't." Jim held his hands up in defeat while Dwight nodded in agreement. "Don't worry (Y/N). You can do this." Jim put his hand on my shoulder. I watched in shock as they filed out of the office. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and walked into the main room.

"Can I have everyone's attention?" I called out timidly. Everyone turned towards me and Pam gave me a thumbs up. "Since Robert California left and Jo needs time to get up here to figure out the new manager, she appointed me acting manager. Jim is the assistant manager." I shot him a look that clearly said I was getting back at him. "Jo should be here by next week so you won't have to put up with me for too long."

"Does she have anyone in the running?" Andy spoke up. I turned towards him and shook my head.

"If she does, she didn't tell me." I told him. I turned back into Michael's office, just catching Erin's thumb's up to Andy. I smiled as I sat at the desk and started to catch up on the work that was piling up without a manager. It was going on the third day when Jo called back. "Hi Jo! What's up?"

"(Y/N), have Andy move into Michael's office. He's going to be taking over as manager." Jo said. I could tell by her tone that there was more she wasn't telling me.

"What is it Jo? There's something you aren't telling me." I worried my bottom lip as I motioned for Dwight to get Andy.

"You know me too well darling." Jo sighed. I held up a finger for Andy and furrowed my eyebrows. "It's going to come out sooner or later so you might as well hear it from me."

"Jo what happened?" I was becoming worried at this point.

"Robert California is now the CEO of Sabre." Jo finally told me. My jaw dropped.

"He's what?!" I exclaimed. "How did he convince YOU to give him your job?!"

"He's very persuasive." Jo muttered.

"How persuasive does someone have to be to give them your own job?" I was frantically trying to get the attention of Jim, Pam, and Dwight. Andy finally took pity on me and waved them in.

"Honey, I think you know." Jo said nonchalantly. I ran my hand down my face while nodding.

"Yeah. I think I do know." I muttered. I decided I was going to keep that little piece of information to myself. "So what happens now?"

"Andy takes over. Everything will run as usual." Jo calmly explained. "Robert California will be there either later today or tomorrow. I'm not really sure when. He will become your go-between with the board. Anything you would normally go to me for, go to him." I sighed and acknowledged the decision. "Don't worry sweetie. I will be there if you ever need me. You have my number. Everything will work out."

"I hope so Jo." I shook my head. "I really hope so."

"Good luck. Give the office my love." Jo hung up and I let my head fall onto the desk. Finally composing myself, I stood up and offered the seat to Andy.

"You're manager now Andy." I applauded him as he took his seat. "Remember with great power comes great responsibility. Use it carefully."

"So does that mean Jo made a decision?" Andy looked up at me. I bit my lip.

"Yes and no." I tilted my head back and forth. I was trying to keep the information to myself but I knew I couldn't. Everyone was looking at me expectedly. "Jo made a decision. But it wasn't about the manager."

"Then what decision did she make?" Pam asked. I sighed and hung my head.

"She decided that Robert California is going to be the new CEO and he will be operating out of Scranton." I finally told them. "Jo thinks he should be here either today or tomorrow. And I'm guessing I'm still the assistant manager." We stood in the office for a little while longer before we all went out to do our own work. True to Jo's word, Robert California showed up about an hour before the day ended.

"Andy. (Y/N). Would you please join me in the conference room?" Andy and I shared a look as we sat down at the conference table. Robert took a seat across from me while Andy sat next to me. "Since this is a new experience for everyone, I thought it would be a good idea to get to know each other. Starting today, I will be alternating between having meetings with the two of you. I'll start with (Y/N) and I'll see you tomorrow morning Andy." Robert stopped talking and waited for Andy to leave the room. It took him a while to get the hint but when he did, Andy gave me a sympathetic look before going out to join the rest of the office.

"So what are these meetings going to be about Mr. California?" I asked. I thought that if I kept it professional, I would get in his good graces quicker.

"Robert is fine." He said as he stood to close the door that Andy had left open. I nodded as he took his seat again. My eyes flicked to the door before focusing on him again. "The first couple will just be getting to know each other. After that, it will most likely be about the effectiveness of the office and what can be done to improve sales, morale, and so on." Robert pulled out a notebook, opened to a blank page and wrote my name across the top. I swallowed as I watched my name appear letter by letter.

"Sounds good." I choked out. Robert threw me a smile before focusing on the paper again.

"So how long have you been working here at Dunder Mifflin?" The pen was poised above the page in an almost taunting gesture.

"I think it's been about," I paused in thought. "3 years now." Robert wrote it down before looking up at me.

"That's been a long time. Was this meant to be a permanent thing or just temporary?" He looked slightly amused by the thought.

"At first I thought it would be temporary as they weren't really looking for someone to stick around but then they saw my sales reports and figured it would be a good idea to keep me around permanently." I explained. "Which honestly is rather amusing if you think about it. Especially considering that there were people from Stanford that were supposed to stay here but ended up leaving." Realization slowly dawned on me. "Which might explain why they kept me around." Robert chuckled and I smiled as he jotted that down.

"Is this a place that you would like to continue to work?" Robert looked up at me. My mouth moved but no words were coming out. Robert sensed my shock and quickly held up a hand. "Oh! No. No. No. I'm not asking that to fire you later! I'm just curious. You said you worked here for three years. That's a long time at one company. I'm just curious if this is something you would like to continue to do in your life or if you think there is something else out there for you." I sighed as his words relaxed me.

"I'm sorry." I apologized as I shook my head. "After all the calls with Jo and having to take on the role of manager for a while before finally becoming the assistant manager, I might be a touch..." I sing-songed my head, looking for the right word.

"Concerned?" Robert suggested. "Or would anxious be a better word?" I smiled softly at him.

"Anxious would be the perfect word thank you." I cocked my head as Robert reached across the table to gently touch my hand.

"You have no reason to be anxious. Especially around me (Y/N)." Robert soothed. "I have all the faith in the world that you are going to be an amazing assistant manager. Especially since I am very certain Andy is not going to be much better than your previous manager."

"You got to meet Michael Scott?" I questioned. Robert chuckled.

"No. Unfortunately I didn't." Robert patted my hand. "As much as I would have liked to have a conversation with him, I got all my information from Jo." I nodded and started to reach towards my pocket.

"That actually makes sense." I said as I pulled out my phone. "Okay. So there are actually two reasons for this." I held up the phone.

"First. I have videos of the various things that Michael did here. Pretty much all of them are funny. A couple are sad. And the last one is actually his engagement because no one else thought that it would be a good idea to get it other than on the documentary." I unlocked the phone and pulled up the videos. "Second. I have his phone number. If you ever want to talk to him, I can introduce the two of you." Robert smiled as he took my phone.

"Oh dear." He chuckled as he saw the thumbnail for the first video I queued up. "I take it, it is going to be very interesting." I nodded as he motioned for me to take the seat next to him. Once seated, I pressed play on the phone. The remainder of our meeting was filled with the two of us watching videos of the office's many shenanigans. When we exited the conference room, we were a little surprised to find everyone left. "We were in there for a while." Robert muttered as he looked around the empty office.

"We should have kept a better track of the time." I chuckled. Robert nodded as he went back into the conference room to gather his few belongings. I went to my desk and gathered up my stuff. I waited for him by reception. He joined me a couple of minutes later. We headed downstairs together in a comfortable silence.

"Do you need a ride?" Robert asked as we walked outside. I shook my head.

"Nah. I'm good." I pointed at the Ford that was left in the lot. Robert nodded and started to head towards his car. "Nice car." I smirked as I followed him. He looked at me astonished.

"You know cars?" he asked. I nodded.

"I know older ones better." I shrugged. Robert chuckled and shook his head. "I still know this one is a great one though."

"I'll have to take you for a spin in it at some point." We shared a smile as Robert got into his car. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow (Y/N)." He waved as he drove off. I waved back and headed to my own car. Getting in, I sat there for a couple minutes before a smile made its way onto my face. Shaking my head, I pulled out of the lot and headed home.

"Maybe he won't be that bad." I said to myself. Giggling, I couldn't deny the next thought that popped into my head. "Maybe I'll take that chance if it arises." When I got home, I went to bed happy and thinking of the man that had already wormed his way into my heart.