Me and Trott were opening some of the fan mail while we waited for Smith to come into the office. There was particularly large box filled with old Play Station games, and my coworker and I were forced into a nostalgia trip as we recognized some of the old games from our childhood and even some that we played together at uni.

        "In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have played some of these things as a kid," I observed, seeing a familiar M rated title.

        "It's probably why you're so messed up Ross," Trott joked, flipping over the case of some racing game to read the blurb on the back.

        I shrugged and laughed along with him, deciding that a lot of these games would be great for an Old Fashion Bashin'. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and quickly excused myself into the hallway.

        "Hey gorgeous," I greeted, feeling particularly happy that I was provided with such a nice distraction.

        Amanda only laughed at my comment. "Hey Ross Hornby," she giggled, "I'm finished with classes for today, you want to go out and grab some lunch or something?"

        I looked back at the door to our office just as Smith appeared out of the lift. "Hey mate!" he called, holding up a bag of food that he had just gotten from one of the local shops that were a few minutes walk from work. He gave me a wide grin as he walked down the hall, completely ignoring the phone that I held up to my ear. "Ready to eat?" he asked with his hand on the door knob.

        I only nodded and told him I'd follow in a few minutes. "Sorry," I said, wincing, "I was just about to eat..." I felt myself deflate at the thought of rejecting her; I had already been looking forward to meeting her the minute I had answered the phone. "We could go out to dinner tonight?" I suggested.

        There was a pause, and I could almost picture the pensive, analytically look she always wore when she was thinking. I waited patiently, leaning up against the wall and letting my mind wander to last week when she had spent the night. We hadn't really shared any intimate moments after that, but I felt like our relationship was beginning to change into a more comfortable familiarity. Even though we had mostly skipped the awkward phase between strangers and friendship (and perhaps something even more) at the hospital, I now found myself growing completely content with her being a major part of my life.

        "I have a Magic tournament to go to tonight," was all she said, sounding somewhat defeated. Once she had heard of the comic book store down town, she began spending an increasing amount of time there, playing some weird card game that only reminded me vaguely of Pokemon. I felt a little jealous at the thought of her spending so much time with the men down there, but I had to remember what had happened the last time I had jumped to conclusions.

        "You know you are allowed to come to the office," I offered, trying to cheer her up. We had recording to do, but I was sure that she wouldn't be too disruptive. Even if Smith and Trott didn't want her in the room during filming, there were plenty of other people around that she could hang out with during that time.

        "Oh...I don't know..." she said quietly, suddenly sounding very small. Amanda had voiced her fears about the office before, and I knew she was afraid that the people here might reject her because she technically didn't work here yet. She seemed even more terrified at the fact that we were all older than her and that she was still at uni but, considering her level of maturity, it should be us who were afraid of her.

        "I don't think anyone will have a problem with you," I laughed, remembering back to when we had introduced her to everyone around here; they had all loved her. I still couldn't figure out what made her so appealing, she wasn't exactly the 'social' type. "We're allowed to bring friends into the office," I told her, assuring her that no one would be bothered by her presence.

        There was another pause, and then a quick and nervous "Okay, I'll be there soon," before she hung up. I smiled at her apprehension, knowing she would probably be working here in a few weeks anyway and would have to get used to the foolish environment that we all drew our creativity from. There was a spring in my step as I returned to my friends, tucking into the burger quickly before my vegan companion could show up and silently guilt me.

 -------------------------------------------

        We started recording for cornerstone as soon as we finished eating, and I sent a quick text to Amanda to warn her of opening and closing the door too loudly when she entered. Smith and Trott didn't seem to bothered by the fact that she would be in here since she was so quiet and soft spoken, I just hoped that I would be able to restrain myself and focus on the game instead of her.

        We had to wait a while for everyone to get on the server, and a few technical difficulties and server crashes stalled us even more. I got worried when Amanda didn't show up, and though she had texted me she was here, I hadn't seen her yet.

        After about an hour or two of recording, we all decided to take a break, and I took the chance to wander around to look for the small girl. My exploration proved successful when I passed by teutron's open door to hear very loud talking and laughing.

        "What is that?" Teutron asked incredulously, barely able to get out the question as he laughed. Amanda sat at his desk with his wacom tablet on her lap, drawing something I couldn't see on screen. Tom Clark was also in the room, and both men were leaning down to watch the girl draw. They didn't seem to notice me, and I stood in the door way for a little to watch what they were doing.

        "Well," she giggled, barely able to keep herself from fully laughing, "That's the...hand..." All three of them started laughing again as she continued to draw something, and I could only guess they were playing some crude form of pictionary as the two behind her guessed what it might be.

        "Is that a toilet?" Tom asked, squinting his eyes at the screen.

        "It's part of a toilet," she laughed. She turned to look up at him and just noticed me leaning against the door frame. "Oh hey," she smiled, and the others in the room turned to look at me.

        "I was just wondering where you went," I said, glad that she was getting along with the resident artist and meeting some of the producers. I took a step inside and saw photoshop open with the beginnings of a drawing on it. There was an upside down woman and a very Arnold Schwarzenegger-looking character holding her over some broken bits of a toilet. "Is that from Terminator?" I asked, not remembering anything like that happening in the movie.

        "Thank you Ross Hornby!" she said, obviously elated that I recognized it and disappointed that the other two didn't get the reference, "It's during the final fight where he picks her up and slams her in the the toilet and it just breaks." All four of us laughed as we looked at the picture, and Amanda asks, "Does that count? Do I get a point?"

        She hands the tablet to Teutron, who agrees and pulls out another image with a scoreboard and gives her a tally mark. It looked like he was winning so far with three points, then Amanda with two, and Tom with none. "Yeah sure," he says, pulling up a blank image. "Now what should I draw..." he asked to himself, beginning to muse over ideas as he took the chair from Amanda.

        "I'll be right back," Amanda said, grabbing my hand and bouncing out the door, "Tom Clark, make sure he doesn't cheat." Tom saluted her and the two of us walked down the hallway a few paces so we could get some privacy. 

        I placed my hands on her hips and gave her a brief peck on the lips after making sure we were the only ones in the hallway. "Having fun?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her and smiling.

        "Yeah," she giggled, "I'm sorry, it's just that I didn't want to bother you guys and almost everyone else was recording Cornerstone..."

        "It's fine" I say, cutting her off. She needed more friends here in England, and seeing her so happy and laughing so much lifted my spirits. She deserved to be happy after everything she's gone through, and I never wanted to see her so distraught as I did that night. "We'll be done soon, but if you want to stay with those two you can," I told her, wanting to spend time with her but not wanting to pull her away from the game.

        "You sure?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting together as she turned her head up to look at me. I nodded and she went up on her toes to kiss my check. "Thanks," she giggled, about to run back to Teutron's office. "You know the tournament only goes to about nine," she added, "I can come over for a bit afterwards if you want." There was a mischievous glint in her eyes, and suddenly I grew very nervous, the blood pounding in my ears as my pulse increased.

        "Y...you can stay the night... uh, if you want," I stammered, sounding a lot more meek and scared than I meant.

        She gave me a half smile and my stomach flipped as she gave me a small nod and disappeared back into the artist's office. I didn't know what she was planning to do, but I only hoped tonight would be as amazing as last time.

-----------------------------------------------

        "And for grass, once I choose the seven different shading values, I just have to pick the wind pattern and the program animates it for me," Amanda explained, pointing at the screen as she drew a bunch of arrows onto a 3D plane. Trott and Smith were both busy working, but I had a little free time so I was sitting on the couch with an arm around Amanda's hip as she tried to show me a little environment animation. I didn't really understand any of it, but seeing her talk so excitedly was enough to struggle through a dull topic.

        There was a knock on the door and Lewis cracked open the door to stick his head through and make sure he wasn't interrupting anything. I removed the hand from around Amanda as soon as I heard the knock, but Lewis was more focused on Amanda than our PDA. "Good afternoon," he greeted, "Teutron said you'd be in here."

        Amanda looked a bit scared, and jumped up the minute he addressed her. "Uh, yeah sorry I was just helping with..." she started, grasping for an excuse as to why she was distracting me.

        "It's fine," Lewis said, obviously aware of her nervous disposition, "I just want to ask you something."

        Amanda only blinked, keeping her face neutral as she waited for his question.

        "You had a minor in computer science, correct?" my boss asked. Amanda nodded and Lewis smiled at her. "How would you like to work on the live streams as a temp employee until we get everything settled?" he asked.

        Amanda squinted and looked at him, not really understanding what he was saying. "Does this mean she got the job?" Smith shouted from over his computer.

        Lewis tried to remain serious, but he cracked a grin as he nodded his head. The two stood and walked over to join the three of us, and Smith suddenly threw his arms around Amanda and picked her up. "Congratulations newbie," he laughed, squeezing her as she looked very uncomfortably towards me. We all gave our compliments to her once he put her down, and she looked both elated and mortified at the same time.

        "Now," Lewis said, catching our attention once more, "We have a lot to discuss over the next month. Once we get you settled here you will have to use the live stream room for a while until we find you somewhere better to record."

        "She can use one of our computers when we're not working," Trott suggested.

        "There will be no need; once the live streams are over she'll be the only one using the room, unless we have visitors," Lewis explained, "So that's partly the reason I wanted to wait until after Christmas to officially put you on staff."

        "What will I be doing until then?" she asked, seemingly skeptical of the good news. 

        "You'll be working with Sam and Sparkles* to assure that the streams run successfully," he answered, "You should ask them for the details, I'm sure it's simple things like adjusting audio levels and switching view points; you will do just fine."

        "Thank you," she said quietly, looking a lot less excited than Trott and Smith, who both had large grins on their faces.

        Lewis exchanged goodbyes with us and was about to walk out the door when he stopped in his tracts and turned back around. "Oh, I forgot to mention," Lewis said, remembering what else he wanted to say, "Teutron requested for you to join him on the fighting fantasy stream this year as second artist."

        I saw Amanda's face twitch into a smile, and I knew it was the perfect job for her. Her and Teutron would make a fantastic team, and it would give her some positive exposure so the audience can start getting to know her. "Thank you Lewis Brindly," she breathed, her smile growing the more she thought of the prospect.

        "Please, just call me Lewis," he smiled, although my friends and I knew she wouldn't. "And Sparkles* will need to know how you two want to set up about a week before the stream, so go ahead and work that out with Teuts." He said his goodbyes again and left quickly, leaving Amanda to stand there looking a bit mystified.

        "See?" I said, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze, "You had nothing to worry about."

        "I can't believe I'm going to be doing the artwork for fighting fantasy!" she squealed, "It's my dream to do something like that!"

        "You're perfect for the job," I smiled, leading her back to the couch where we sat down. 

        Amanda grabbed her laptop and hugged it like a pillow. "And I'll be working with Orjan Aarvik!" she gushed, "He's such a good artist."

        I had nearly asked who that was, before I remembered Teutron's actual Norwegian name. He would have had an easier time just telling her his nickname, since she's only ever going to use his full name now, even on the streams. I had been thinking about that weird habit for a while, and I still wasn't completely comfortable with her calling me Ross Hornby all the time. "Why do you do that?" I asked suddenly.

        "Do what?" she asked, oblivious.

        "Call people by their full names all the time," I specified.

        She laughed and rolled her eyes, as if the question was ridiculous. "I do not do that Ross Horn..." she said, seeming to catch herself and instantly her smile disappeared. There was a pause where she thought it over, and then simply shrugged and said, "I don't know."

        "Are you ever going to just call me Ross?" I asked.

       "Probably not," she said nonchalantly.

        Trott and Smith were both laughing at our conversation. "Are you going to call your kids by their full names too?" Smith joked.

        She only rolled her eyes at him with an annoyed smile and changed the subject back to the streams. We all sat and talked about what the three of us were going to for our own stream, and explained to Amanda the responsibilities she now had. She already had a good idea of what went on from just watching over the years, and the more we discussed the streams the more her excitement for them seemed to grow.

A/N A bit of a filler chapter, sorry. I haven't been posting a lot recently because of finals and personal things going on in my life, as well as hitting one of my first writers blocks on this story. Even though my creativity and ideas continue to flow, I've just had trouble voicing my ideas to where it doesn't sound like a 12 year old wrote it. The next chapter should be more fluffy, cute stuff that we all know and love. Thanks for dealing with me, happy reading.