Labels

Nate's eyes opened a split second before his alarm went off.

The sun hadn't quite come up yet, but he had gotten so used to starting his mornings early, it really didn't make a huge difference if he set his alarm or not. Besides, today was a big one.

He rolled out of bed, letting his feet touch the old, curling hardwood of his bedroom floor. The window was open, and there was just a touch of the ocean in the air... he didn't let himself notice the other smells. It WAS Los Angeles, after all.

He stretched, and yawned... he hadn't gotten to bed as early as he should, but the Label had a lot riding on tonight, and they had wanted to make sure that their girl was ready. Even three years in, he still couldn't make them understand that he couldn't GUARANTEE them anything. he could reassure them that things were looking good, that their girl was in good spirits, that she was eager for the evening, that she had found a very reasonable dress, that she might even seem willing to walk the red carpet and smile for the cameras without doing anything crazy... but you never knew for CERTAIN. She could decide to wear her pajamas, and there wasn't a whole lot you could do about it.

He showered, shaved, and did his morning routine, and dressed fairly casually; jeans and a shirt and tie... he wouldn't have much time today for a jacket. His tux was hanging in the backseat of his car... he'd change before the show tonight.

The sun was starting to come up by the time he had dressed. The main room in his apartment got a lot of light, and the deep amber light of the wee morning hours filled the space with a seeping warmth. When he had come out to LA and scrimped to make ends meet by waiting tables and working at a record store while he hustled at his internship at Intercoast Records, he had dreamed about affording a place that took the light like this, with the small but functional kitchen, the matching microfiber furniture, the exercise bike, the tv with actual cable...

but as he grabbed his blackberry and his keys, he couldn't even remember the last time he had USED any of them.

He backed his car out of the parking lot, and into LA traffic. It was a bit of a drive down to Cameo Shores, but he had managed to beat most of the morning traffic. He drove south through East LA, through Whittier, and finally stopped in Knott's Berry Farm to pick up his breakfast. Odds were, Chuck would have something waiting for everyone as they got to work, but it could just as easily be some sort of Taiwanese fried grasshopper and mealworm delicacy as it could be an omelet, and he had learned to keep his options open.

He bought a pair of breakfast sandwiches.. bacon egg and cheese on a hard roll with tomato, and rested them in the carrier next to the pair of coffees.

Sometimes, she didn't eat. Chuck never pressed her, and sometimes...

He got back in his car, and started up down the long roads into Cameo.

The house had been finished for over seven months now, and he still got a small sense of vertigo as he came up over the rise in the residential area her home was supposedly part of, and saw it sprawled out across the distant beachfront. The Label had suggested that she build a home somewhere isolated... they wanted her near at hand, but out of the way of the media, and had even offered to buy the land for her. He still wasn't sure if they had any idea how much she was actually worth. She had made a ton off the first album, they had known that, but she had done SO much investing. He had handled a lot of it for her, and hired people for the rest... just another part of being her assistant. He had no idea where she got her ideas, either musically or financially, but there was no denying that somewhere in that spirally little brain there was some sort of genius. She was already set for life before her second album had out-grossed every other release that year... dwarfing the output of whole LABELS. The house the studio had been asking her to start building finally broke ground...

They couldn't have known she was going to build THIS, he mused, as he pulled around the gardens that marked the beginning of her property.

He pulled around into the rounded culdesac outside the upper garage. He turned off his car, and pulled out the breakfast, nodding to Johnny, one of the two mechanics that maintained her cars for her. Three of them were already on the lifts, but they were bringing a fourth up from the lower storage garage. the hidden hydrolic elevator had was lifting up a corner of the culdesac, slowly revealing the Veyron...

"Something wrong?" He asked as he approached.

Johnny shook his head. "God no...sexy as ever. She took her out last night, and you always want to go over a Bugatti afterward..." he looked up at Nate with a wide grin. "it's like performing maintenance of a fighter jet."

Nate smiled, realizing the look of sheer glee on the kid's face. She had a way of finding exceptional people like this and putting them to work doing what they loved. He passed the lifts in the garage, and opened the door into the house proper...

It never felt like it should make sense... it was too surreal, to full of what seemed to be random insanity. but somehow, all the chaos, all the swooping curves and strange shapes, all flowed together into something that felt immediately familiar and soothing. It was just like her music... you couldn't place it, couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be, what it was built of... like something completely out of outer space. and yet, when you heard it, it felt like it was coming from inside you. The label had signed her to a development deal at first... the strange girl that kept staging strange guerrilla performances all over LA, but once she started using their studios, they knew she was something special, and resigned her to a two album deal. they hadn't been able to GET an album out of her until one of their lowly office workers had managed to get her to focus, and had subsequently been made her assistant... but then she became the biggest act in the county when her first album broke dozens of sales records. And then her second album made HISTORY. She was going to be a legend... people were going to count her among the greats...

He stumbled, looking back down at the imported Italian marble floor. Someone had been finger-painting a set of bongos, and left out their mess. it had to have only been minutes ago... the girls were usually pretty good at picking up after her...

"Dani?" he called across the central foyer... his voice carrying out over the wishing pool, mingling with the soft rush of the waterfall that spilled down into the pool below. He rounded the room on his way toward her bedroom. He almost never found her there, but there was bound to be a first time...

"She's upstairs." came a voice from the kitchen. Nate looked around the corner into the wide space, finding a musclebound bear of a man taking off his motorcycle jacket and hanging it by the outer door.

"Morning, Chuck..." Nate said, rounding the floor-to-ceiling fish tank that jutted out from the wall between the sitting room and the kitchen. "You've seen her?"

He shook his head. "nope... she called me at home and told me she wanted to have breakfast on the roof."

-----

There was no door up onto the roof... it's wide sloping structure was meant to be part of the house's artistry. He found a step ladder set up in the upper patio, and climbed it, carefully balancing a coffee in either hand as he headed toward the tiny redhead that was facing out toward the water, her head moving softly the way it did when she sat and listened.

"Morning, Dani."

http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww248/soylentmatt/168476.jpg

Danielle, you’re lonely again. Yes, I know that but I don’t want to write a new song today. If I do that then I might not make it to the party and Nathan would be upset. You know bongos don’t talk back, right? Yes you do. Even though you were not very pretty you still sound pretty on the inside. Well, not inside – inside. You’re all hollow inside. HEY. That’s how I feel right now, hollow. I’m hungry.

Danielle left the bongos in front of the fountain and wandered to the kitchen. Her black toe nail polish complemented the floor rather well. She knew because she was watching her tiny feet step from one marble tile to the next. In the kitchen she rummaged through the fridge wondering about what in the world she was going to eat. It was a very cold process, being dressed in black tights and an alpaca poncho but at least the fine wool kept most of her warmth in.

Nothing she found seemed actually appealing. So she opened the cabinet door and tapped on the screen hidden within; moments later she was listening to the very gravelly voice of her favorite chef of all time coming from the built in speakers. Her entire house had hidden communication panels. She had three phone lines, well four if you included her assistants’ line: one that was the house itself, one was her cell phone and the other was her studio and office. The house line was known by very few people, her cell by even fewer and her studio by only one. If the house rang, the whole thing rang in all the panels and could be answered by voice command. Her office line only blinked little red lights in her studio and office. Her cell was another matter completely. She only used it when she was away from the house and away from Nathan. IT had a full tracking GPS to it that could be viewed by her manager and by Nathan at any time they wanted to know where she was. It was a prudent measure but one akin to putting a collar around her neck. It happened to really annoy her sometimes so if she truly wanted to be alone she would text Nathan that she was going off radar and leave the infernal collar in the men’s room at the VFW hall. She respected him enough to do that. After all, he could get fired for not knowing where she was. Him getting fired didn’t mean a damned thing to her aside from the fact that the label would stop paying him and she would start but she wouldn’t cause him undue stress like that.

“Ello… Danigirl… where are you?” Charles’ voice hauled her out of her musings.

“Oh. Morning Charles… I thought it was later than it is… I was hoping to catch you before you passed the market… I haven’t started cooking. Not yet anyway… I can boil eggs all by myself! Especially with this stove… Yes I want boiled eggs. And Lamb curry. And baby spinach. Better make it all in burrito. Why? Because you can’t put a table on the roof without cutting its legs part way off, silly bear!”

While she was talking to him she pulled out a large-ish pot, opened the fridge and transferred a dozen eggs from the door to the bottom of the pot. Once it was salted and the eggs were covered with enough water for cooking she placed them on the stove and programmed it to boil them for 9 min and then shut off all by itself; then left the kitchen. She didn’t hear if Charles had replied at all to her conversation. She was simply done talking and walked away but he was used to it, thankfully.

Stepping out her patio door the ocean breeze raced right through her tights. She shivered and stared at the waves in the pre-dawn light thinking of yet another song about the ocean but she couldn’t write another one, not yet. The water and waves had yet to say something new. The seasons would be changing soon though, she hoped she could record the change of the tides and the tilt of the earth as it changed the tone of the waves on the shore. She would just have to see if it happened like she thought it might but she really didn’t know what to expect from this coast, it was very different from the one she grew up near.

Light steps brought her to the edge of the roof, where it met the ground. Looking it over she knew she couldn’t walk up it at this hour. The dew was thick and running in rivers all the way down into the grass and rocks. She bit her lip and watched it for a while only looking away when she heard a soft cough. Paul was just a ways away watching her watch the roof. He smiled and she smiled back. He shook his head and patted a step ladder he placed up against the roof. She giggled and grinned while she ran straight up the ladder without another thought.

Everyone hired to work in her home kept eyes on her even if she didn’t see them. She didn’t know if one of the maids heard her talking to Charles in the kitchen or if Paul himself had merely seen her come out of the house and stand staring at the roof but he did do exactly what she wanted, just like he was paid to do, like they were all paid to do. It fascinated the hell out of her. IF she went swimming in the foyer fountain pool and tracked water into the kitchen it was magically gone by the time she even thought to go back and clean it up. This was a long way from what she thought about ever having in her life.

Not that she wasn’t used to being financially well off, she just wasn’t yet used to it being all hers and not having to think about every obsolete thing imaginable. She managed to get a scholastic scholarship that brought her to the other side of the country and away from her parents. She had assured them that she would be ok. That she had, after all, managed to graduate with honors and get her own funding for school. It shouldn’t matter that they wanted to send her there with a chaperone. She didn’t need one of those anymore.

Dani walked to the middle peak of the roof and listened to the waves sing. She sat right on the edge and tucked her legs into her poncho. The only one she let chaperone her now was Nathan. He didn’t waggle his fingers at her or cluck his tongue at her. Sure the head housekeeper did but she was supposed to. She was a 50 year old woman running a very large household, a house whose mistress found dust bunnies when she climbed on the cabinet tops for a nap, so yes she did cluck her tongue. She didn’t scold Dani though, she scolded the maids. She reminded Dani to take a blanket with her because it was hard to see where she was when she did that. Dani liked it up there, she could watch the whole fish tank from across the room and it was the only place in the kitchen that she could actually hear the hum of the refrigerator. When building the house the entire shape and layout of each room was specifically to deaden sound; all sounds, from footsteps and voices to the electrical sounds of every piece of equipment used to keep the house running smoothly.

"Morning, Dani."

“Nathan.” Dani stated. Like she knew he was there the whole time. She didn’t. He actually scared her half to death but she didn’t move. She sat there replaying the sound of his voice in her head, over and over. IT was one of the reasons she liked him. His voice was soothing and genuine. It just added to the list of reasons she even bothered to learn his name at first. Because he didn’t treat her like some mythical creature that would sprout wings and fly away if it wasnt firmly tied to a rock.

“The seasons need to hurry up and change the oceans song. ‘Winter’ is now sounding boring.” She turned her head and saw him there in a tie with coffee, correction, coffees. Sliding back from the roofs edge she stood and kissed his cheek before taking her caramel caffeinated hand warmer. Sipping she purred at the liquid and watched him for a bit. The sun was rising behind him.

“You would look like an angel if you were not on a roof, in a tie, holding coffee… Are you hungry? We’re having burritos.”

“The seasons need to hurry up and change the oceans song. ‘Winter’ is now sounding boring.”

Nate sighed. It sounded so sweet when she said little nonsense things like that, but it really didn't make his job any easier. Every time one of her statements found their way into In Touch magazine, the Label would lose their minds.

"I think the groundhog saw his shadow..." He said absently as she came over to him and kissed his cheek, taking her coffee. He didn't know where he was going with that, but it really didn't matter. Sharing coffee together wasn't exactly a ritual for them, as sometimes she didn't want any, but it was pretty close to one. He had taken to waiting to start his own coffee until he saw her.

“You would look like an angel if you were not on a roof, in a tie, holding coffee…" she said, in that soft, drifting way of hers as she happily held her coffee in both little hands. "Are you hungry? We’re having burritos.”

He smiled at that... it could honestly go either way, that one.

"I grabbed a sandwich on the way in... but I'll sit with everyone. Are you excited about tonight?" He said, reaching into his pocket as his Blackberry buzzed an e-mail alert. He sipped his coffee, thumbing it open and reading it... the Label did most of their communication through e-mail, and as he was their main channel of communication to their most successful artist...

He stopped thinking, and went back and reread the e-mail. They weren't serious, were they? He tried to find some way out of it, but this was from Jack Golyvin himself. Didn't they see how this was going to end? He tapped out a reply...

When looked up, he realizing that Dani was already heading down the ladder. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and followed her. "Looks like we have an appointment this afternoon..." he said as he started down the ladder. Where had she found this thing anyway, he wondered for a second. "They booked Evelyn Chambers to do your hair and make-up."

He had heard of her, of course. You don't work around celebrities and not know who Evelyn Chambers is. Getting her to actually come and do one of their artists before an award show was a MAJOR coup for Intercoast, but why couldn't they have had her do one of the R&B vixens or little inguine poptarts? Still, whether he thought this was a good idea or not, the only way to get it to happen was to be all business about it.

"She's seen your dress, but apparently she'll want to see it on you..."

Chuck was preparing something that smelled fantastic, if decidedly non-breakfast-y. He followed alongside her, and felt like a bit of a jerk for doing this to her. She really was a sweet girl, and she deserved better than to be a commodity for them to regulate.

"I told Mr. Golyvin I'd ask you whether you wanted to go see her, or to have her come here..."

"I grabbed a sandwich on the way in... But I'll sit with everyone. Are you excited about tonight?"

She opened her mouth to reply but the infernal thing in his pocket distracted him. IT was nearly the only piece of technology she could really hate. It wasn't even after breakfast yet and 'they' were already bugging him to bug her about stupid shit that could wait until after the sun came the rest of the way up. The only thing that kept her from tossing it off the roof was that it was on vibrate and she didn’t have to hear it effing chirp. Not that she was listening to anything now.

Dani turned on her heel as he tapped on the screen and she let herself down the ladder. The relaxation she was seeking was completely gone. Blessedly the tone of his voice changed to all business so she could; in turn change hers to match. It was how she could coexist with the Label and still get along with him. He treated her like a human being, they did not. She knew he took on a lot for her so she tried her hardest not to take out her frustration on him but direct it firmly where it belonged.

"Looks like we have an appointment this afternoon..." She nodded biting her tongue. "They booked Evelyn Chambers to do your hair and make-up." internally she groaned. It wasn’t like she disliked the woman but for heaven sake, she was not the last makeup artist on the planet that knew how to wield a hairbrush and apply mascara. "She's seen your dress, but apparently she'll want to see it on you..." he continued and she paused in the kitchen, nearly to her plate. She was hungry and angry. Looking at Charles she could see by the way he was moving things around that he was already preparing to plate everything, he was only hesitating to see what would transpire before putting anything that could be thrown, onto a plate. Then she heard Nathan again. This time saying something that made her smile."I told Mr. Golyvin I'd ask you whether you wanted to go see her, or to have her come here..." He had told them he would ask her. Apparently they had already told him when she was supposed to show up, and that would never fly before breakfast.

She closed her eyes and counted the colors that she could remember from the fish in the tank. Rolling her shoulders after she reached 22 yellow dart fish she turned to Nathan in an almost mock serenity and said "Thank you." but she didn’t stop there she reached into his back pocket and took the phone. "Please sit and eat. I have a question to answer as nice as I can before breakfast." With that said she put her finger on his lips, grinned and sat right where she was in the middle of the kitchen floor. Then she went through the timeline of the day on his calendar, adding notes. She counted out the hours in the day compared to everything the label wanted her to do before dinner was even to start. She sat for a long time, silently thinking. She was grateful to get paid for doing what she loved to do. That is what she tried to keep in mind every time they started treating her like a highly trained show poodle. "Bark Dani, bark, good girl."

Hitting reply she typed out her own response: "Dear Mr. Golyvin I, Dani, will be ready, properly dressed for Evylins arrival promptly at 2pm; despite having to plan every second of my day before the sun rises and have my breakfast delayed by these intrusions. If she is early I won’t be ready, if she is late I won’t see her. If there is anything else I can help you with I'm sending you my schedule. It's very detailed, right down to when I'm supposed to take a shit (I wrote that in because it’s one of the only things that hasn’t been dictated for me.) So if you have any other surprises you would like to spring on me I suggest that you try to slip them in somewhere between me giving a rats ass and me wiping my own damned behind. Other than that I'd like to go eat my breakfast and get ready to have a pleasant evening. Yours Musically, Dani." She read it over and hit send, then forwarded a copy of her schedule. The entire time she could feel Nathan standing over her. He might have said something, she didn’t know, she wasn’t listening. Now she was getting grumpy and overly hungry.

She handed Nathan the phone and stood in time to see Charles watching them both as if someone was going to explode at any second. Her head cocked to the side "BOOM!" she yelled into the dead silence of the room. The look on Charles’s face as he screamed was too priceless for her not to giggle. She ran up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck standing on tiptoe and kissed both his cheeks. "Sorry bear-bear, but you looked like you were going to pop", she kissed his cheek a third time, and said “Breakfast smells divine... No cilantro, right?" One of his eyebrows lifted nearly off his face and a growled in reply, "No, but there should be. Go eat before its cold." "Well if it got cold I'd just have to eat you, now wouldn’t I?” she purred at him before giggling, slipping from his arms and grabbing her burrito.

She looked up to find Nathan staring at his phone. He didn’t look pleased. "I wonder if Mr. Go-oil-ly butt would like to talk to the fish?" she stated to her burrito. Apparently Nathan heard her because he looked even less pleased. Daniella sighed and walked out of the kitchen talking to herself.

"It's not like I’m not going to their stupid dinner... fucking big deal... dinner, a show and people crying over trophies.... Damned overgrown 5th grade talent show............."

"Thank you." she said sweetly. He sighed a breath of relief. The last thing he needed was ...

He froze. Her tiny hand was reading around him, slipping into the back pocket of his jeans... her face completely inscrutable.

"Ah..."

She shushed him with a finger to his lips. "Please sit and eat. I have a question to answer as nice as I can before breakfast."

And with that, she slipped down to the kitchen floor, sitting indian-style in a small little bundle.

"Oh.... okay... so... that's happening..." he said as he watched her sit quietly for a moment. He tilted his head, trying to catch a glimpse of her eyes, but she was pretty lucid... she just seemed to be thinking about something. then, she quietly said "Bark Dani, bark, good girl" to herself, and with her tongue held firmly in the side of her teeth, she began to type furiously away.

He looked up at Chuck, who was the middle of putting some artfully wrapped burritos on a plate next to some seasoned home fries, and using a ladle to drizzle some sort of light sauce over them. He was always finding ways to turn Dani's strange requests into something delicious and artful... but he was barely looking at what he was doing. He got along well with Dani... maybe even understood her better than anyone else. But he wasn't the best at dealing with conflict. Watching her sit there and pound purposefully at Nate's phone, he looked like he was waiting for something to happen.

Of course... if Chuck thought that, there was a good chance that he was right.

He moved behind her, leaning down a bit. "Well... whenever you're finished, could you leave a copy in my outbox? I'll probably have a little explaining to do." he said. He wasn't really worried about what she'd say... it was more about who she said it to. they never really listened to anything she said, but the second she said it to anyone that might talk to the press...

She passed the phone back to him and stood, looking between him and Chuck. He blinked, trying to figure out what she was thinking... she turned her head slowly... and shouted "BOOM!" at the top of her lungs. Chuck screamed, and Nate found he had to laugh. He didn't understand a lot of what she did when she got like this, but her relationship with sound always came through... she was reacting to the long pregnant silence by making a make-believe explosion. She twittered over chuck and their breakfast, stretching up to wrap her arms around his burly frame and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

He looked down at his phone as it vibrated in his palm. He turned it, and saw that it was a reply message from Jack Golyvin. He clicked it open, and saw that it included the text of the e-mail he had just been sent... he read over slowly, and felt himself grimacing inwardly. He had to remind himself, it was all in house... they wouldn't really start going nuts on him as long as it was all internal. Still, she had basically invited the chief VP of the label to kiss her ass. Golyvin had replied with a short message:

"Please refrain from giving Ms LaTrise access to my email address. I have too much going today to have to worry about one crazy little girl. that's your job."

Nate felt himself scowling. That fucking...

"I wonder if Mr. Go-oil-ly butt would like to talk to the fish?"

He looked up, watching Daniella pick up her burrito and take a big bite. He exhaled, trying not to let her see his frustration... but she didn't seem to care at all. she turned, and headed out of the kitchen, talking to herself.

"It's not like I’m not going to their stupid dinner... fucking big deal... dinner, a show and people crying over trophies.... Damned overgrown 5th grade talent show............."

He sat at the counter,tapping out a quick 'don't worry, this is a good thing, she's under control' back to Golvin, hating every bit of it. once it was sent, he slipped the phone back into his pocket, and ran his hands through his hair, letting his frustration pass.

"You alright?"

He looked up at Chuck, and smiled, pulling the plate with the breakfast burrito toward himself. "Yea... yea, I'm good. thanks man..." he said, idly turning the plate before he picked up the burrito and took a bite.

His eyes widened, and he swallowed hard. "Is... is this lamb curry?"
-----
The camera outside the main entrance had alerted him that someone had pulled onto the property. He was on his way to the main entrance when the doorbell rang. He pulled the door open, and found an elegantly made-up woman in her late forties standing before him, her silver hair draped regally around her neck, her fashionable clothes accentuating what might otherwise have been a fairly run-of-the-mill figure to look absolutely stunning.

"Ms. Chambers..." he said, holding the door open. "thank you so much for coming out, would you please come in?"

She nodded politely, stepping through the threshold. no one entered the house without having a moment of awe pass over them, but she somehow made hers both cursory and haughty. "I was intrigued at the idea of working with Ms. Latrise... she would be quite lovely if she would simply stop trying so hard to be difficult..."

Nate rolled his eyes inwardly, keeping his smile firmly in place. "Well... I'm sure she's going love it. would you come with me?"

Dani finished of her breakfast with a very self satisfied sigh. She was always extremely pleased when her appetite didn't wander away while she was eating. Especially when she was eating something that tasty. Charles had done it again. Which was no wonder in the least. She would never let him leave her sight if he wasn't gay. She loved him to pieces and he could cook like a god, so that just left vicious flirtation on both their parts.

She wandered in almost aimless fashion ending up right where she needed to be. In her bath room. Which was nearly an apartment for several small villages. Shaking her head at the extravagance she picked up a bottle of bubble bath and poured it in the enormous tub and turned on the taps. She pulled her poncho over her head and scooted her leggings over her pale, pale skin. Looking up she caught her reflection and she stopped, then stepped... and then stepped closer still. Her hands reached out and caressed her reflection. Tracing the outline of her round hip, her waist, the swell of her breast, the long curve of her neck... Her fingers stopped as she stared into her own eyes. This is the way every one saw her. She didn't understand how or why but its not the way she saw herself. They all saw Dani; The living translation of music in compact feminine form. But she was Daniella through and through. Herself, on the inside was less stark, softer, like a gymnast not a musician. She ran her hands back over her reflection and sighed. She couldn't feel the touch, not like she could when she touched the painting. The one in her room that she painted when she wrote her heart song. She could touch that painting and hear the song play across her skin.

Running her fingers over her lips she backed away till her fingers couldn't touch her reflection anymore. Then stepped back, and back again. Her arms spread and she fell back in to the tub sending water and bubbles in every direction. IT didn't matter. The entire floor was sloped to run water back into the tub. Floating to the surface her hands rose steaming and dripping from its depth and plucked the air as though it were the strings of a harp, and she hummed the tune it was to be. She played and played lulling herself into a false sleep, where she could dream wide awake. There, where music was a living thing she was free.

"Miss LaTrise?"

Daniella's eyes fluttered and focused on the echoing, bell toned voice. It belonged to one of the maids that was her same age. Her raven hair was braided over her shoulder and tied with a ribbon that matched her uniform. "Morning Beata..." Daniella finally added to the resonate room.

"It's not morning anymore Dani. It's just after eleven. You should get out so you wont still be pruny when you go to the award show." Beata replied in her ever calm manner. Beata was new, only highered some time after the house was finished. Daniella liked her. "I'm getting out. Than you very much." she submerged herself blowing out fish bubbles before coming back up. Daniella opened her mouth to ask for a washcloth but one landed on her head. "Thanks again Beata!" she yelled, knowing the girl had already left the room. Dani finished her bath time routine and emerged from the room at nearly eleven thirty. She was primped and dried and fluffed and clean but someone today would check under her nails like she was still five years old.

Stepping into a patch of sunlight she let the warm light bath her even more as she did her daily exercises. It was a delicate mix of Thai chi and yoga that reminded her of the flow and measure of a lotus blossom. Even among the muck of a pond that flower shown proudly understated. It made her smile from the inside out. her final stretch done and she crossed to her bed where her dress was laid out. She stepped up on the bed and shimmied herself into the wispy fabric, it was overall black in color, corseted with Gauzy, wispy black and purple shreds of fabric woven into the top to create the skirt of the dress. Holding up the bodice she jumped of the bed and skipped to the door running smack into Charles. "OH! I was hoping i would run into you!"

Charles raised his eyebrow at her, "I bet you were." he growled taking her by the shoulders and spinning her to face the other direction. his hands smacked hers off her bodice and properly squished her breasts in the dress giving the top a shake. She took a breath and his fingers slipped the zipper up, tugging her here and there, making sure she wasn't falling out, pinched or out of sorts. As she went to turn around and show off her dress he stopped her and lifted the entirety that was the back of her skirt baring her bare behind. "Knickers girl, go put knickers and stockings on before I butter your buns!" He barked and tried to smack the buns in question but Daniella was already in a screaming run for her wardrobe closet.

Laughing Charles left and she came out of her closet with shimmering stockings, kitten heel black boots on and matching knickers all covering her bits. Still she peeked around the corner before leaving the room to go meet Mz Fabulous. Skipping through the house her guests voice cut through the air and slowed her feet.
"I was intrigued at the idea of working with Ms. Latrise... she would be quite lovely if she would simply stop trying so hard to be difficult..."

She pulled herself up to all five foot 2 inches of cool grace and cleared her throat before replying in a tone that matched the stylist, "Ms. Chambers, I'm sure you are being well paid for my multitude of various difficulties. Please keep in mind whatever undue temper you retain in your tone of voice you can be sure I will compose in a song that will never sell due to the amount of ears that will go deaf from the daggers laced within it." Daniella curtsied and lead the way to the salon.

She stayed far ahead of the little entourage and slipped into the room and her seat after shaking out a haughty breath of her own. She sat tall in the salon chair and brushed her hair till everyone arrived. The last thing she said to the woman wasn't really even a audible word. She put her finger over her lips in a shushing motion and then remained still as she her hair was coiffed and her face was painted in a style to match her dress. Rising silently when it was over she stretched and took the lipstick from the makeup case that was used on her lips and tucked it in her bodice; leaving the woman standing there, mouth agape.

Daniella found Nathan and stopped silently in front of him. She turned in a slow pirouette and told him, "I took the lipstick that matched my outfit so I can eat and still match. I'm going to find Charles and see what he's doing... Oh. Thank Mz.Cambers for me and show her out. She stayed quiet so I did." she added an affirmative nod and took off toward the kitchen.

"Well... I'm sure she's going love it. Would you come with me?”

Nate turned to lead Ms. Chambers into the salon, but suddenly there was Dani. She rounded the corner like a vengeful pixie... her dress making her look like something someone was imagining. He would have smiled at seeing her like that (he somehow could miss the fact that she was so pretty, sometimes, and it was nice to suddenly be reminded like this) but for the expression on her face... it was a perfect little mimic of Evelyn' s haughty expression.

"Ms. Chambers, I'm sure you are being well paid for my multitude of various difficulties." She said in a tone rich with disaffected elitism. This was how she sometimes got at the people she didn't like, by reflecting whatever attitude or temperament she was right against right back at them. She could be an incredibly effective mimic, but it never, ever ended well.

"Please keep in mind," she continued, "whatever undue temper you retain in your tone of voice you can be sure I will compose in a song that will never sell due to the amount of ears that will go deaf from the daggers laced within it."

Nate reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Dani retreated, and Evelyn turned to face him, her face looking incredulous. "I have never..."

"I know... she can get really touchy when she's nervous” he lied.

"More than touchy, she's downright impossible!"

He shook his head as he reached down and grabbed his phone from his back pocket. "She's not sure if she can pull off this whole glamor thing, and she's just terrified." he said, dialing the number for the Chinese restaurant by his apartment. "I begged the studio to get you in here, because I knew you were the absolute best... but now you're not going to want to help her, and I have to find someone sub-par... and she's going to cry herself to sleep..." he sighed heavily as he held up his phone to his ear. "Hello? Is Beautrice there?"

Evelyn turned her shoulders backward, folding her arms introspectively. "Come now, Nathan... Beautrice Lablanc? She’ll make a butchery of her."

Nathan put his hand over the receiver, so the person shouting into his ear in broken Cantonese couldn't hear him. "I know that, but what else am I going to do? The poor girl is going to be heartbroken, and there's nothing I can do about it... all because she lashed out...” he rolled his eyes. "I should never have... hello? Beautrice? Nathan..."

Evelyn watched him for a fraction of a second, and then clicked her tongue tiredly, shaking her head. "Nathan, hang up the phone. I never said I wouldn't work with her... "

He looked up at her for a moment, then turned back down to the phone. "Beautrice, I'm sorry, I need to call you back..." he said, not bothering to wait for the person on the other end to respond. "Yea... thanks..."

He tapped the end button, and slipped the phone back into his pocket. "You're a godsend, Evelyn... really....” he said, starting to walk her toward the rear staircase. "She's just wound so tight right now; this means a lot to her..."

She looked at him with a long, martyred sigh. "You really are too much, Nathan..."

He smiled at her, holding his hands together and mouthing the words 'thank you'. she turned, and went up the stairs toward the salon.

He waited until she was out of sight, and exhaled hard dropping back into one of the giant chairs. he turned is head, and looked into the big fish tank. A triggerfish was eying him with what looked like pity.

-----

He couldn’t hover in the room while the Evelyn worked with (with?) Dani… he would just have to put out any fires that kicked up afterward. He went to Dani’s office, and made some calls. The Label had pushed him like crazy to bring in an entire team of designers and stylists…he had negotiated them out of it, but the fact that they blindsided him with Evelyn meant he needed to make sure they hadn’t screwed with any more of the evening’s plans.

Even as he spoke with the event coordinators, he mused that this wasn’t as bad as the Grammys. She had been up for nine awards, and after she had won Best New Artist the year before, it had been a total circus. Thankfully, she was performing, so Dani seemed to focus only on that, but he had barely survived the evening.

Still, he thought as he looked up to the encased shelf where all those little golden gramophones sat unobtrusively against the wall… it had been worth it. Dani deserved every bit of praise she got.

After an hour or so, he turned to go check and make sure that she hadn’t sent Evelyn storming from the house in a rage… and found himself stopped dead in his tracks. Dani looked up at him with a pretty little glower, her mood still seeped in bitters from the woman’s comment earlier. She looked like an angry flower pedal. He smiled despite himself as she pirouetted before him.

"I took the lipstick that matched my outfit so I can eat and still match."

“Well, you look fantastic.” He said thoughtfully.

“I'm going to find Charles and see what he's doing… Oh. Thank Mz.Cambers for me and show her out. She stayed quiet so I did.”

He watched her disappear toward the kitchen. Her dress fluttered a little behind her. The hanging strips of gauzy fabric were subtly interlaced to give the skirt weight, so it held its form, but it seemed to dance around her in waves of black, with subtle hints of purple and dark blue…

“She stole one of my lipsticks.”

He turned, and found Evelyn coming down the stairs. He shrugged helplessly. “You’re Mother Theresa, Evey…” he said, holding out his hand to shake. “She told me to thank you. She looks stunning.”

She tugged her bag over her shoulder on her way toward the door. “Well, she IS stunning, Nathan. I thought this would be a challenge, but I barely had to do anything.” She shook her head as she pulled on her designer sunglasses. “It’s a shame, really.”

Nate raised an eyebrow at that, waving goodbye and closing the door behind her. He rubbed the back of his head a bit…

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked, and felt himself relax a little.

“Hey, babe.” He said.

“Hi, sweetie.” the voice said in a soft, familiar Wyoming accent. “Are you busy?”

“A little…” he said, looking down the hall toward the kitchen. “MTV music awards tonight… but what’s up? We haven’t spoken since Monday.”

“My cousin Brenda sent out her wedding invitations. The date is in four months, so I was hoping you could get the time off… it’s going to look weird if I’m there without my fiancé.”

“Yea…” he said absently “yea, no… we can do that.” He thought absently about how impossible it would be to get time off, but it wasn’t really something he could do anything about right now. “I need to get going, but can you e-mail me the date so I can make sure I get it off?”

“Great… I miss you, pumpkin!”

“I miss you too… bye…”

He rounded the corner into the kitchen. Chuck was nowhere to be found, but Dani was standing up against the fish tank, pressing her ear as she spoke two the fish. He watched her for a second, smiling at the light tone of her voice and the nonsense words she used. He crossed over to the wide sub-zero refrigerator, and pulled it open. “I feel like something before we take off for the evenings… do you want some grilled cheese sandwiches?”

He twisted open a loaf of bread, and started buttering several slices. “I don’t know if I said it today, but you’ve been really accommodating through this whole thing. I know you hate these shows.”