The Personal Assistant.

Chapter 16

James was about to say something when Elizabeth's phone rang, it was only for a second that her eyes glanced over to it. The name Natalie was flashing upon the screen and a picture of her face appeared.

"Take it." He said with a sad smile on his face. "It's about time that I go anyways."

James stood up from his chair as Elizabeth said, "No that would be very rude of me." The words had left her mouth before she even thought about it. Startled at her own response she stopped for a moment. The ringing of the phone continued, or well the buzzing off it.

"Well, it was kind of rude of me to just expect you to let me in and have dinner with me." He said with a chuckle.

"Well-" Elizabeth started but once again the phone started buzzing. "Just take it." He said grabbing the empty food bags. "It's ok. really."

Elizabeth nodded as she reached for the phone and picked up.

"Hi." She said but was immediately cut off by Natalie's voice.

James couldn't hear what she exactly was saying on the other end of the line, but he did know that she sounded quite panicked.

He watched as Elizabeth stood up from the table and started pacing around and nodding to what Natalie was saying.

James took that opportunity to grab the dishes from the table and putting them in the dishwasher. He grabbed all of the paper and plastic bags and folded them all into one.

Looking over at her he saw an indescribable look on her face as she just kept pacing around. Then suddenly she started talking.

"Alright, calm down Nat, it will be ok. Just call the warehouse and ask for Justin, tell him I sent you. Next sent flowers to Mr. Webster and his wife, that will solve the problem most likely. As for Jack, thank heavens that he's sorta alright, you had me worried there."

She paused for a moment and listened to the other end.

At first, James had planned to leave when she didn't notice, but it was kind of interesting to watch her do her old job again for a moment. He had known exactly what Natalie was calling about and why she was calling her.

After Elizabeth left he had had three new assistants, one for each week. It seemed a bit off at first, but none were like the one he used to have. So he knew that Natalie was handling most of the PA's tasks, and calling Elizabeth when she didn't know what to do next.

"I can't talk about that right now..." Elizabeth said in a hushed voice.

"I... I'm just leaving, it was very nice having dinner with you." He smiled from near the door to her. "Thank you." She said. "Thank you for bringing me dinner."

"We should do it again soon." He said as he opened the door and left.

He knew that right then and there Natalie must have asked her something about the events of the last night.

He sighed as he took the elevator down and walked over to his building.

"Yes, Nat he was just here," Elizabeth said still pacing around.

"No, I'm not making any of this up."

The two of them talked about all of it for a while before they hung up. Elizabeth had said that she'd visit Jack at the hospital soon and she was actually looking forward to seeing him again.

She sighed as she glanced at the apartment across the way. The painting still hanging above the fireplace, illuminated by two lights that shone upon it.