Loving Maverick

Get It Together Mav

"Yeah, I'm rescheduling the meeting. Well, your boss seems to have understood, Garrett." Maverick said as he packed his laptop so that he could go out and do some work on his lunch break.

 With Stevie being absent for the day, he had to fend for himself, though he was used to doing so anyway. Wasn't like he didn't have to before she came along. He shuddered to think about the fact that he did miss seeing her during those times of the day and even in between when he'd glance up and see her from afar in her office working.

He left the office and made his way to the elevator. "I told you, my assistant had an incident yesterday and so I gave her the day off." He explained to his friend. "Tomorrow, she'll be back. The meeting will be around noon-" 

The conversation was halted when Maverick bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, it's fine." Maverick knelt to help pick the contents of his folders up. "I should have been watching where I was going."

"No, it's fine, Mr. Singh." She said. "I'm sure it was an important call."

When Maverick realized who was talking he stopped and looked up at her. "Ms. Vidal?" 

Stevie glanced up at him for a moment and gave a small smile before finishing up with the folder. She straightened out and gave it to him, along with the phone. "Looks like your call is still going." She said."

Maverick ended the call immediately. "I'll call him back." He said. He watched her, her eyes were still a little weak but it only made her look seductive. She had a white collared shirt, short but not short enough to reveal anything and a pair of pants with some flat shoes. Her hair was loose in its curls as they fell down her back. He could tell that she hadn't done much to it but it still looked cute as it framed her face. "What are you doing here?" He finally asked. "I gave you the day off."

"But I can work, I'm fine now." She said  "No need." She started for the office and Maverick stopped her. 

"Wha-I no, I'd prefer you to stay home and take some time." He said.

Worriedly, Stevie looked at him. "You-I still have my job right?" She asked but before Maverick could even answer her she went into a spiel. "I know that I had a little incident. Sometimes they can get bad but I promise I don't make a thing out of taking them all the time because  I don't like how they make me feel. I mean sure the headaches can become debilitating at times but I can still do my job, I promise it won't happen again-"

Maverick grabbed Stevie's shoulders. "Hey, calm down!" He said. When she stopped talking, he chuckled. "First, you cannot promise that it won't ever happen again because it probably will happen again. Second, your job is safe, Ms. Vidal." He reassured. "But the next time that something like that happens again just, let me know ahead of time so that we can take the proper precautions." He said. 

Stevie sighed. "Oh." 

Maverick smirked and shook his head. "Now can you go home and rest?" He asked.

"But, I am fine," Stevie said. 

"I'm not one to tell you how you feel, Ms. Vidal but I'd prefer if you just took a day to replenish. You had a rough night last night and-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She said. If she were being, she really didn't remember what happened the night before. Fortunately, according to her cousins, Maverick felt the need to tell them step by step what happened to reassure that nothing inappropriate happened while he was around Stevie. "Thank you." She said. "For everything last night. I'm so sorry that you had to-"

"Don't." He interrupted her. "It was my pleasure, Ms. Vidal." He said. "I'm just glad that you're alright."

"Well, I wouldn't be if it weren't for you." She said. "So, um, where you headed?" 

"Lunch," Maverick said. "Going out for about an hour. Might leave early, depending on how I feel." 

"You can do that?" Stevie asked. "Last I checked, you had quite a few appointments today. Are you sure that you should-"

"That assistant downstairs rescheduled them all."

Stevie tried to stifle the grimace that was fighting to appear across her face at the mention of that receptionist that was on the first floor.

"How did she manage to have business all the way up here?" She asked, a hint of sarcasm in her tone that was only meant for her to hear.

Maverick shrugged as he didn't think about that. "She said that she didn't see you come in so she would pick up the slack."

"Slack, huh?" Stevie picked up exactly what she was putting down. 'Is that right?" She asked. "Where is she?" 

Maverick shrugged. "I really don't know." He said. "I guess she's at lunch or something. After she finished fiddling around with the appointments, she left."

"In my office?" Stevie asked. She was starting to become territorial about her little space and she knew that that girl was up to no good.

"Yea?" Maverick replied reluctantly after Stevie didn't say anything he shrugged it off. "She said something about staying and helping out with something but I had it covered from there." He said.

"Right," Stevie replied. "Well, if you're leaving early for the day then I guess I'll just head out too." She said and started for the elevator with Maverick.

"I didn't say for sure whether I was leaving-"

"I said since you're leaving early for the day, then I guess...I'll just head out too." Stevie looked up at her boss. 

Maverick looked down at her, confusion in his mismatched gaze as he looked at her. "I-I heard you." He said though he was unsure whether that was supposed to be his answer. Gathering the look on her face, he could clearly then see that it wasn't the right reply to her comment.

"You heard me, sure, but I don't think you heard me." She muttered. "So let me say this clearly." She looked at him with a serene smile across her face. "If you don't leave early then, I don't stay home for the day." She said. "Understand?" 

"Listen, Ms. Vidal I-"

"Stevie." She said. "You've seen me in quite the compromising position too many times to not call me by my first name." 

Maverick sighed. "Listen Ms. Vid-" When Stevie glared at him, he cleared his throat. "Stevie." He said. "I don't want your day to depend on mine-"

"Yours did last night." She said. "And I'm sure that's why you are thinking about going home early. You're probably tired because of me so you need help." She pressed the button for the elevator to close. "So if the boss doesn't get rest then his assistant-the the one who caused this mess, will not get any rest either." She said. 

"I-it's not that easy for me-"

"Hey, son!" 

Abhimanyu stopped the elevator and stepped in. "Is everything alright?" He asked when he saw his son in a tense staredown with his assistant.

"Yes, dad. Everything's fine, I jus-"

"Sir," Stevie said, cutting him off. "I had an incident late yesterday evening and your son was helping me out and now he's tired because of me and-"

Abhu looked at Stevie, brow raised before returning his gaze to his son. "Is this true?" He asked. He then looked at Stevie. "Again? It seems you have a habit of getting my son into compromising positions, Ms. Vidal." He said. "I'm starting to wonder if whether his initial decision to let you go was-"

"No, dad." Maverick intervened; he gave Stevie a stern look. "I've got this under control." He said. 

"But son-"

"She's my assistant, alright and she has done nothing wrong."

"But-"

"Ms. Vidal!" Maverick snapped.

Stevie immediately closed her mouth and looked down, suddenly regretting trying to explain herself to her boss' father.

Abhimanyu curiously looked at the young lady and then at his son; what was going on? "Maverick?" He said.

"We'll talk later." He said just as the elevator opened. 

Abhimanyu stood there looking at him and then his assistant before reluctantly agreeing with his son. "Alright." He said. "Have a nice day, Vidal." He said and took his leave.

"I apologize," Stevie said, her eyes still too ashamed to meet his. She felt like a chastised child after what Maverick's father said.

"What exactly were you trying to do?" He asked.

"I...well I thought that maybe you didn't want to leave because you would get in trouble by your father so I wanted to explain to him that it was my fault and maybe ask if he could give you the day off so that-"

"Stevie." He cut her off. He sighed. "You have nothing to explain to anyone-my father above all." He said. "You are my assistant and as such, I handle the decisions as well as the situations between you and me." He was frustrated but not because of what she was trying to do. In fact, he was flattered that she even cared enough to try and get him the rest of the day off. He was frustrated because unbeknownst to her, his father had just that quickly formed an opinion of her that wasn't even true because of how she initiated the conversation.

"I'm sorry Mr. Singh." She apologized.

"Stop apologizing." He said as he looked down at her. He could see that she was upset by what his father said and that, in turn, upset him a little. He gave himself a mental not to confront him about the recklessness of his words later but for now, he had to see to his assistant and her feelings. He could see that she felt guilty over what happened the night before and now even more so at that moment. "Look, go home." He said. "For me. I'll call you and I will check in on you later." 

"And who's going to check in on you?" She asked. She dropped her face to her hands. "If I wasn't so stubborn yesterday and-"

"Stevie, whether you had waited or not, you would have been a bad situation. You wouldn't have been able to do your work had you taken the pill earlier so you waited until you were finished and then took the pill. I was here to take you home and look after you. Just because I am your boss does not mean that I don't look out for you." He said. "You had a bad day and even through that you were great at your job so believe me when I say that you are secure in your position at Maverick Industries and that you can afford a day off." He said. "Okay?"

Stevie sighed, she rolled her eyes. "Okay, I guess."

"So you'll go home and get some rest?" He asked her again. 

She still was fatigued from the pill and even felt a little jittery because of it. She could use the rest. "Fine, I guess." She said as the first-floor elevator opened. 

"Thank you." He smiled.

"You can thank me by answering the phone when I call to check on you later." She smirked. "Later boss."

Maverick watched her walk away and could not help the smile that she put on his face with her concern. When he noticed the receptionist looking at him, he quickly cleared his throat and diminished his smile. "Have a nice day, Ms." He had forgotten her name. "Thank you again for your help earlier." He figured that would hide the fact that he didn't remember her name.

"Uh, we-you're welcome, Mr. Singh." 

Maverick kept walking, the thought of Stevie Vidal on his mind. He was suddenly annoyed with himself. "Get it together, Mav."