Ryan was nursing a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach as he drove to work that morning. Since putting Emmy into bed last night, he'd been thinking about her.

He'd already decided yesterday that he was going to force her to quit today by giving her the special Stark treatment he was so famous for. He estimated that she wouldn't even last until lunch, but today he was having second thoughts. In fact, thoughts of her were all he was currently having. Because ever since last night, she was all he could think about- Doris Granger.

Strange Doris with the bad hair, cracked glasses and terrible clothes who had hugged him and left her scent on him. He'd been able to smell her all evening. It wasn't the greatest smell, by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, it smelt more like cheap drug store perfume or scented deodorant than anything else. But it smelt like her. It was only after his extra- long hot shower that he'd managed to wash her smell off him.

He'd laid in bed, his huge, soft, Egyptian cotton bed and wondered what her bed looked like. He could still see her mud-soaked legs as she ran to that building. It couldn't be safe for her there. His mind had wandered for ages as he tried to imagine what kinds of people lived in a building like that? Not the kind of people he would ever let near his daughter. Then he wondered if Doris had a father? And if he knew what kind of circumstances she lived in? Did he care? Was he in a position to help her...

"For fuck sakes." he shook his head and hit his steering wheel in a desperate attempt to dislodge her from his thoughts. He turned into the parking lot of his office and pulled into his space just as he'd made a rather uncharacteristic decision. Instead of treating her like shit and driving her off today, he would simply tell her that he'd found someone else for the position. She was far too under qualified for the job anyway, and he'd only hired her on a stupid whim. It had been a momentary lapse in judgment- something he never had. He'd even give her a full weeks salary and send her on her way.

He hated the idea of seeing her cry again too, perhaps a more gentle approach would work better this time?

But when he got to his office, it was empty! He stared at her abandoned desk willing her to magically fill it, but she didn't. Irritation and anger bubbled up inside him. So fucking much for a gentle approach! He marched into his office and slammed the door, ringing straight down to reception.

"Has Miss. Granger come in yet?" he asked, maybe the strange creature was downstairs in the cafeteria, or the bathroom or... something. Why the hell did he want her to be here so badly?

"Yes, she did." The response came back and his heart thumped against his chest.

"Well, where the hell is she? She's five minutes late!"

"Uh... sir, Mr.Stark, you told me to throw her out of the building if she came back again."

"I certainly did NOT!" He huffed down the phone feeling doubly irritated now.

"Uh, sorry, but you did...you remember? Yesterday?" She stuttered and sounded nervous, and suddenly he remembered saying it. But that was before he'd decided to stupidly hire her. He let out a long exacerbated breath.

"Sorry. I did. But that was a mistake. I hired her."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry... I had no idea, she came and security threw her out and... I wish I'd known. I'm very sorry Mr.Stark I--"

"It's alright." He cut her off. He couldn't bare her apologetic rambling; it was making his head hurt. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know." The voice returned.

Ryan slammed the phone down, walked over to the window of his office and looked down at the street below. No sign of her. It was probably better that way anyway, then he wouldn't have to get rid of her. In fact, it was all working out perfectly...

But then why did he have a desire to go and find her?

He pushed the thought out of his mind and sat at his desk taking out his laptop and opening his emails. He pressed some buttons meaninglessly, all the while wondering where she was.

"For heaven's sake!" He got up from his desk, grabbed his car keys and strode out of his office.

It didn't take him long to find her. He could make her out in the distance struggling to walk up very steep hill. She looked a total wreck from behind, and he wondered what she looked like from the front. He put on his hazard lights and slowed all the way down, coming up next to her and winding down the window.

"Miss. Granger." He called. She turned and, oh God, she did look like a wreck. She was dripping with sweat, she had a twig stuck in her hair, and her skirt looked like it had been ripped, not to mention those stains on her shirt and... was she bleeding? "Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay?" she shouted over her shoulder and sped up. He easily matched her speed.

"Do you need medical attention?" He asked, feeling strangely concerned for her wellbeing.

She stopped momentarily and looked down at her grazed knees, "I'm sure my legs won't fall off or anything." Her tone was snappy and sarcastic, and she quickly started walking again.

"Where're you going?" He was having to shout loudly now over the sounds of traffic flying past him

"Home." She yelled over her shoulder without looking at him. He could hear she was on the verge of tears again and he didn't feel irritated by this for some reason.

"There was a misunderstanding this morning. I forgot to tell Angela at reception that you were coming in."

She finally stopped and huffed at him, putting her hands on her hips. The movement caused her shirt to pull tightly across her chest, and he noticed her breasts for the first time. They were very ample, very. He quickly looked back up at her face before she noticed he was staring.

"Angela? What an angelic sounding name for a hell witch!" She shouted at him and started walking again.

"I apologize for that. Angela didn't realize that I'd hired her. It was my mistake." Mistake! What the hell was he saying? Had he just admitted to making a mistake? He never made mistakes.

She stopped once more and glared at him through those silly broken glasses. "What did she say again? Something about you thinking I was mentally unstable?"

He sighed again. He had said she was potentially, mentally unwell- she still could be. "I apologize again." He said quickly. She shook her head and tried to march up the hill as fast as she could, he sped up and she glanced back at him with disdain and then started jogging. Ryan smiled to himself, he was finding this somewhat amusing.

"Miss. Granger." He tried to hold back his smile and sound serious. "Just get in the car and come back to the office."

"NO!" She tried to sprint but looked like she was going to collapse at any moment.

"This is ridiculous. Just get in my car, and we'll go back to the office together."

"Your office?" She burst out laughing, it sounded somewhat manic. "But I'm sure you don't want to hire a mad, crazy mental woman like me. You never know what I might do." She turned and looked at him, making crazy gestures with her hands, "Be careful... I could explode, or snap at any second and staple myself to a wall or make photocopies of my ass and post them to people or throw chairs around the office in a psychotic meltdown." She tried to start sprinting again.

A small chuckle escaped his lips. She was dramatic, he'd give her that! "You know my car's top speed is well over 170 miles an hour." He bit back the smile again as he watched her power march to the other side of the road in an attempt to get away from him. He crossed the road quickly and was right back at her side again. He opened his passenger window to continue their conversation.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" he called out.

"I told you. Home."

"You're going to walk all the way home?"

"Yes!" She snapped breathily before finally coming to a stop. "Oh God, it hurts!" She moaned loudly and dropped down at the waist totally out of breath. Her skirt climbed up her thighs in that position, and for the second time, he found himself distracted by one of her body parts. The skirt was ripped and a large portion of her thigh was visible. Once again he willed his eyes to look elsewhere.

"You can't walk all the way home. It's way too far." He stopped his car now.

She didn't say a word. Instead she continued to heave in a desperate attempt to catch her breath.

"Besides it's hot and it doesn't look like you're going to make it in the state you're in." That seemed to get her attention. She snapped up and gave him another death stare.

"I don't need you telling me what I can and can't do!" she sounded genuinely pissed off and started walking again. He started his car and continued his slow crawl after her.

"It's not safe for you to walk alone like this." He tried a different tactic.

"I've been in worse situations than this, trust me." She was picking up her pace again and he believed her. He was sure she'd been in worse situations - especially living where she did.

"Miss. Granger. This is insane, you can't walk all the way home."

"Watch me!" She yelled and picked up even more pace.

"Well, if you insist then. I'll just have to follow you all the way home." He closed his window and settled back into his chair, fully prepared to crawl along at this speed right behind her as she walked home.

She turned and looked at him, her face contorted into an expression of total confusion. Then she shook her head, rolled her eyes so wildly that he thought they might fall out of her head and started walking again. He continued to follow her.

Why the hell was he doing this? He had work to do. He had calls to make and people to see. But for some reason, he couldn't leave her alone like this. He sighed. He was sighing a lot today. This woman made him sigh. He called Anglea at reception once more.

"Hi. Yes, it's Mr.Stark. If anyone calls for me, please give them my mobile number I'm just in the middle of something and probably won't be in the office for the next hour." The voice on the other end of the phone sounded shocked. He didn't blame her. He was shocked!