Rude Awakening.

Who: Derek & Jules
When: 5 A.M.
Where: The phone, the car, the airport

No mirrors and darkness. That was how to stay clear of the shadows. After everything that day, Jules finally made her way back to her house, gun in hand. She shot the one shadow that lingered in her bedroom and found herself in her closet, clutching the handgun and her purse. A little after 3 A.M. she finally drifted to sleep in the darkness. However, her dreamless sleep was shattered by a ringing. Startled she threw the purse across the floor. After a moment the realization that it was coming from her purse hit her and she sifted across the closet floor for the purse, digging through it she realized it was her new business phone. "Derek?" she said aloud to herself. She flipped the phone open groggily and pressed it to her ear. She'd not even thought to call Derek in all the hysteria of the previous day. "Hello?"

"Ms. Martinez, it is time to wake up. I know your first day isn't until Monday, but you're starting sooner than that. Be dressed presentable and pack enough for three days and there will be a car to pick you up in two hours." Derek told her, and didn't wait for a response- the line went dead.

"But I.." she tried to say, but the line was already dead. "What the hell?" she said to herself as she flipped the phone closed and stuffed it back in her purse. She wasn't sure if there were shadows still lurking about, so she got up and opened the door slightly. It was pitch black in her bedroom so she clutched the gun in her hand and slowly made her way to the shadows. One finger on the trigger and her other hand on the light switch, she flicked on the light prepared to shoot, but there was nothing in her room.

She looked around a bit dumbfounded, unsure of how or why the shadows had disappeared. "A dream." she thought to herself, writing the whole situation off. "A really vivid dream. That's all." Though she really didn't believe that, she couldn't much say anything to the contrary, after all there was absolutely no evidence that the shadows had been there in the first place aside from the bullet holes in the wall.

That's when she looked at the clock on the beside table. "It's five in the f*cking morning." she said aloud. "I'm so not in the mood to deal with 5 o'clock phone calls." she grumbled. She wasn't about to start off her new job in a bad mood however, so she sucked it up and went about getting dressed. About two hours later she was ready. Overnight bag packed, laptop, cellphone, keys and all other necessities firmly in place amongst her things. She wasn't sure what he'd wanted her to wear so she settled on a few business type suits. Skirts just above the knee with various frilled blouses and jackets to match the skirts.

Almost exactly two hours after the phone call a car pulled up to the house, it was a town car and the driver climbed out and walked up to ring the bell, ready to assist with bags and whatever else.

Jules pulled the door open to reveal a man she didn't recognize. He went about collecting her bags and she followed him out to the car, locking her door on the way out.

He placed the bags down by the back of the car and opened the passenger door for her. Inside there was a silhouette of someone inside already positioned against the opposite door. The driver then went about putting the bags away before returning to his position behind the wheel.

Jules climbed in. Though she was still tired from the previous night, one wouldn't be able to tell this by her sunny demeanor and bright eyes. Make up works wonders for those dark circles.

Derek glanced over as the car took off. He was equally as tired as her, but couldn't let it show. "Did you get your deliveries the other day alright?" He asked, glancing over the file in his lap. "And had time to go over everything."

She nodded, glancing over at the man. "Yes, Mr. Price. I receieved all my packages and I did have time to go over everything that was included. Each syllable and punctuation mark of each page is memorized, so no worries." If there was one thing that Jules was, it was thourough and after investigating her new employer, before all the shadowy mayhem, she had been able to go through each page of the papers he'd included.

"Good." Derek reached down and grabbed out a file from the bag at his feet and passed it to her. There was a small scratch visible on his forearm which would have been covered except his sleeves were rolled up. "You'll want to have a look at this." He could barely focus on the pages before him he was so tired, he was sure she'd have the same issue.

She took the paper, seeing the scratch in the dimness of the morning light. She raised her free hand to her cheek and her own wound. They were eerily similar. "Um. Okay..." she said to him, flipping the pages open and doing her best not to stare at the gash across his arm.

Derek flipped the page as the car maneuvered through the streets, headed out of town. "Do you happen to speak a language other than English?" He asked her. Her file was all about an upstart car factory in Berlin that specialized in custom orders of major manufacturers. Like when someone wanted a Lamborghini with an automatic transmission instead of a manual one.

She shook her head. "No. I know a few Spanish words, but that's about it." she said. "Where are we going?" she asked. Curious as to where she'd be spending the next few days. She skimmed over the custom orders.

Derek hummed and nodded as he made a note off one of the pages. "Berlin." He informed her, not elaborating. "A reservation was already made, seeing as you hadn't officially started yet, but I will need you to call ahead and confirm that the room is being held, and confirm that the plane is waiting for us." He didn't elaborate, forcing her to figure it out.

She didn't bother waiting on him to give her the number. She was a crafty girl so she whipped out the business line and made her way to the internet, looking up the airport number and calling there first. "Yes, My name is Juliana Martinez, I'm the personal assistant for a Mr. Derek Price. Yes, that's correct. I'm calling to confirm that a plane is waiting for Mr. Price to board." She listened as the woman confirmed the plane. "Very good, thank you. Goodbye." she said. She flipped the phone shut and searched the name of the company on the paper on the internet, located the address and found the closest luxury hotel. Derek wasn't exactly the person to not use money. She called the hotel and confirmed the reservation as well. "Everything is in order Mr. Price." she told him.

Derek nodded. "Very good." He'd judged her right. "Now, I do realize that you may need to catch up on a bit of sleep." Seeing as it was still before dawn. "But I need you to be fully briefed by the time we get to Berlin." Derek nodded at the folder, his own reading had started to blur that he knew he wouldn't be able to catch up until he took a nap.

She nodded. "Yes sir." she replied. "I'll be prepared by the time we arrive." She could use a few hours sleep and the trip to Berlin by plane would be a long one. "An hour or two of sleep and I'll be ready and raring to go, completely prepared to handle whatever you need done."

"Good, because first impressions are everything, and this one will be very important." Derek sighed softly and closed the folder, resting his hand on his lap as he laid his head against the door. It would been another forty minutes or so before they got to the airport.

She didn't say anything further on the topic, instead she did as he did, moving her head against her door and letting herself fall into a light sleep.

A while later the car pulled into a private access area into the airport and down a private access road and up to a small jet waiting in the dawn sky. As the car came to a stop Derek woke up and stifled a yawn. His leg gently- but firmly- kicked Jules' leg to wake her up as he put the folder into the bag at his feet. A few moments later his door opened.

Jules awoke easily, shaking her head a bit to remove any lingering sleepiness. She gathered her purse and the papers that Derek had handed her. She waited for the door to open for her.

Derek got out, giving a nod to the driver who wet about getting the bags gathered- Jules' door went ignored. He pulled his bag over his shoulder and walked up to the aircraft, another man exited the plane and descended the stair to meet him. "Charles." Derek said, as they took hands and shook. "Glad you could make it, will you be joining us?"

Charles shook his head. "No Mr. Price, the issue in London has yet to be sorted so I will be leaving your company there." He looked around a bit. "You didn't bring your new girl?" He asked.

After a moment Jules realized that she'd not be getting the special treatment anymore, and went into servant mode, opening her own door and pulling her purse over her shoulder, clasping the papers in her hand. She made her way towards Derek and the man he was standing with, but kept silent. Speak when spoken to, first rule of working for anyone.

As Jules approached Charles gave Derek a look, which clearly questioned his state of mind in hiring her. "She's qualified… don't worry." He said under his breath as he turned to the girl. "Jules, this is Charles Herman, my first VP." There were no partners in the company, but the VPs might as well be at times. "Charles his is Ms. Martinez." Charles reached out a hand to greet her. "Charles will be joining us through until London."

Jules put her hand out, taking his in greeting. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Herman." she said sweetly. She caught the mans' eyes with hers as she released her grip on his hand.

"Shall we?" Derek asked as he gestured and started to the stairs. As he ascended the stairs he nodded to the stewardess. "Wendy." He greeted her with a smile to which she replied a 'Mr. Price.' Derek entered the single cabin of the jet and slid onto one of the lounge seats that counter-posed the cabin. Two tables with single seats on each side centered it out and a set of two larger comforter style seats donned the opposing corners as the lounge seats.

Jules nodded and followed Derek onto the plane. She didn't much notice his nod or friendly first name greeting to the stewardess. After all she had far more things on her mind than who he said hello to. "Where would you like me Mr. Price?" she questioned. She wasn't about to choose her own seat. Instead she gave him the choice of how close he wanted her to be to him.

Derek shrugged as he laid back and put his feet up. "Take your pick. It's just the three of us." He replied. "Charles, you wouldn't believe the night I had… I know we need to talk, but I fear I won't be very coherent without a bit more sleep." He told the man with a bit of a chuckle.
Charles nodded. "I've been up a tad earlier than normal as well. How about we chat over the ocean?" He offered as he sunk into one of the comforter seats. Derek nodded as Wendy came out with a pillow and blanket for each of them and questioned if the 'young lady' would want one as well.

Jules did as Derek said and found a seat. She shook her head politely at the woman offering the blanket. "No, thank you. I'm fine." she declined as she settled into her seat. She wasn't about to go back to sleep, she was going to get familiar with the paperwork Derek had given her. She flipped open the papers that her new boss had given her and went over them.

The plane taxied into place and eventually took off. Over the Atlantic Charles and Derek discussed the work Charles was doing in London. Wendy kept the passengers in comforts with food and drink. After the brief layover and re-fuel in London the plane took off for Berlin, when Derek took a seat at one of the tables and went back to reviewing the files he’d been doing in the car earlier.