Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Revenge - Chapter 38 – Part 1 of 2



Revenge
By Karen Singer


Chapter 38 – Part 1 of 2

Blessed freedom!  That’s all Steve could think as he finished getting dressed for work.  No more women’s underwear.  No more women’s clothes at all.  And the witches weren’t going to pester him anymore.  Hooray!  Hooray!  Hooray!  He only hoped that it was true. 
No more women’s clothes at all, but he was still wearing panties.  That was only because Diane had spent the night last night and he never got a chance to go out and buy any new men’s underwear.  But that was at the top of his list of things to do as soon as he got off of work today. 
He looked at himself in the mirror.  His newfound confidence showed – he thought.  And why shouldn’t it.  The witches were gone, and he was up for a promotion.  Feeling great and more like himself than he had in a very long while, he straightened his tie, buttoned his jacket, and preened in front of the mirror, admiring himself like he hadn’t done in some time.  Yes, he was still a great looking guy.  Now he just needed to find someplace new to pick up women since those witches had pretty much destroyed his reputation at all his usual places.  Something inside of him didn’t seem as happy with that thought.  And for some reason, thoughts of crazy Diane moved into his head. 
Crazy Diane.  The two of them had wound up falling asleep last night, in his bed, handcuffed to each other.  She hadn’t left until very early that morning.  Early enough that Steve had gone back to sleep for a little while afterwards.  Man could that woman make love – over and over and over again.  She had worn him out several times last night, and she was still ready to keep going.  What a woman!  It was just too bad that she had to look so…dull.  As he thought that, something inside of him felt angry about it, as if he was mentally kicking himself.  Why?
With an air of total confidence in his step, Steve headed out the door for work.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Susan hadn’t gotten an email from Karen the night before, and now reading the email Karen had sent early that morning, she knew why.  Handcuffed to Diane all night long?  Without a doubt, Karen had a pretty good excuse for not writing Susan the night before.  It was everything else in the email that now had Susan concerned.
What the heck was happening out there with Monica and her little group of fake witches?  What was going on?  No more games?  That’s the way Karen had described it.  They were suddenly not requiring him to do anything anymore?  Setting him totally free?  It was all so…sudden.  As far as Susan could see, there had been no warning at all. 
So if that was the case, was Steve now all hers to play with?  Were Monica and her friends now totally out of the picture?  She wanted to believe that, but it was just that one thing that Karen had said that Diane had seemed to stress a few times.  Monica and her friends were out – for now!  And Karen had the distinct impression that they would be back for more fun sometime in the future. 
There was one other thing in Karen’s email that had Susan concerned, Steve was looking for some way to get revenge against not only Monica, but all her friends too.  He was looking for some way to get them all fired!  That was a nasty thought that Susan was going to keep a close eye on.
So now Susan needed to know what the heck was going on with Monica, her friends, and of course, their relationship with Steve.  She quickly wrote an email to Monica asking just that.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

It was quiet in Mel’s office.  You could hear a pin drop.  More often than not, that’s the way it was.  But Mel didn’t pay any attention to the quiet.  She was totally focused on what she was working on – the same thing that had kept her up and working most of the night, and had her in her office earlier than usual that morning.  The case of Ruth H. McGruder versus Hudgens Technology…and more truthfully, Gerald Hudgens, the president and founder of Hudgens Technology.
This would not be a “normal” case by any stretch of the imagination.  Hopefully, it wouldn’t be any kind of case at all that would actually reach the court system.  But of course, the courts were always a possibility.  She doubted it would happen though, because in some ways this case would be pure and blatant blackmail – under the guise of a very legitimate sexual discrimination case. 
She had spent most of last night redoing all of Ruth’s demands.  Completely!  Yet everything that Ruth had originally asked for was still represented.  Including the one really stupid one that Mel already knew would most likely never happen.  But since Ruth seemed to place such a high emphasis on it, Mel had paid it very special attention as well.  In fact, extra special attention, just because she was curious…for personal reasons.
She had been up most of the night redoing that list, and she had been hard at work this morning making her own list of things that needed to be done and arranged for.  She looked that list over carefully, trying to find additional problems and things to add.  She couldn’t.  It was time now for the next phase, drawing up the contract.  And contracts were the one thing she enjoyed working on the most.  She was an expert.  In fact, she was now considered to be a noted expert on them.  And this contract was going to be like nothing she had ever put together before.  
More often than not, she worked on things for Harry Feinbaum that involved the sale or merger of companies.  This wasn’t that kind of thing at all.  More than likely, this contract would never get filed anywhere – except in some very secure safes, in her office, Harry’s office, and of course, at Hudgens Technology.  With her notoriety as a contract lawyer, she had moved up into the really bigtime as far as legal work went.  Sexual discrimination cases weren’t anything she would normally handle.  But this case was different.  This case had far reaching implications. 
In the last few years, she had learned to play hardball with the legal system in ways she never believed she ever would.  But when you reached a certain pinnacle in the game, it came with the territory.  With this case, she would be playing hardball once again.  And she was looking forward to it.
With her newly created list of demands as her guide, she began working on something that for her was nothing but fun and interesting.  And the contract she would create would be about as ironclad as she could make it.  It had to be!

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Monica read the Sorceress’s email.  Once again she was somewhat amazed at how much the Sorceress seemed to know.  How did the woman do it?  How did she do anything for that matter?  Monica had been reading everything she possibly could about magic for the last week, and she was no closer to knowing how to do real magic than when she had started.  According to most of what she had read, what the Sorceress was capable of doing was simply impossible.  Yet it wasn’t impossible.  Monica had seen the proof, time and time again, with her own eyes.  And now this email was another little bit of that proof.  The Sorceress had ways of finding out.  But evidently, she couldn’t find out everything.  Only those things that pertained directly to Steve.  So therefore, the Sorceress was asking what was going on.  Well, Monica was wondering what was going on as well – with Ruth! 
She quickly typed her own reply to the Sorceress.

Dear Sorceress,

We don’t know what’s going on ourselves, but we got word that something is going on and we think it’s something serious.  Just to be cautious, we have stopped everything we’re doing with Steve until we know more.  None of us want to lose our jobs.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Susan read Monica’s short email with great interest.  It explained everything – and nothing.  As far as she could see, she once again had Steve all to herself to play with.  The only problem was that Monica had said something was definitely going on.  And if they were concerned about losing their jobs, then that something sounded big…and serious!  Did any of that have to do with Steve wanting to get all those women fired?  Were they somehow related?  Karen hadn’t told her of anything Steve had done yet towards trying to get any of them fired.
She decided to be cautious about whatever she chose to pester Steve with next.  She wasn’t sure if she would do something to him, or wait and see like those fake witches were doing.  She’d ask Karen to keep her up to date.  That was probably a better way to go about things…for now.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

On Thursday morning, Steve felt even more like his old self as he stood preening in front of his mirror.  Part of that feeling was because he was no longer wearing anything at all that was feminine.  Looking at himself in the mirror, he realized that he should have tried wearing a tie and jacket to work a long time ago.  As far as he was concerned, he looked really good.  Successful!  The women would be dripping off of him.  That is, if he could ever find anywhere to go where nobody knew him.  Damn witches.  With a spring in his step, he set off to work, still trying to come up with some way to get every last one of those witches fired.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Mel picked up her desk phone and dialed.  Her call was answered quickly.  “Hi Dottie,” she said to Harry Feinbaum’s personal secretary.  “Is Harry In?”  A moment later her call was put through.  “Hi Harry, it’s Mel.  Can you make time for me this morning?  We need to talk.  Oh, and it might be a good idea if Dick is there too.  We’ve got a lot to go over.”

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Steve got up from his desk and made his way toward the elevator.  Since Mr. Carter had given him the go-ahead to handle everything with his latest little project, he needed to confer with someone on who the best people were to work with.  Carter had suggested he talk with HR about it.  So now Steve was on his way to do just that.
As he entered the elevator though, he had more on his mind than just the right people to help with his project.  He had layoffs on his mind as well.  Particularly, layoffs for all four of those damn witches.  Was there any way that he could accomplish that while he was up talking with Human Relations?  He would just have to wait and see. 
Once upstairs, just outside of the HR section, he passed Ruth’s small office.  He noticed her inside hard at work on something.  Not that he cared one bit what she was working on.  He entered the HR office and two minutes later, was going over with one of their the people who might work out best for his project.  Ten minutes after that, they had a list of three of the five people Steve figured he would need.  As they discussed the next person, another of the HR people poked his head into the office.  “Got a minute?” the man asked the guy Steve was working with.
“Uh…sure,” Steve’s contact replied.  He turned to Steve.  “Just give me a minute.”  He got up from his desk and walked out.
Steve turned around in the chair he was sitting in and saw the two men walking out of the entire department.  Knowing he would have a minute or two, he quickly got up and went around to the other side of the desk.  He searched quickly through some of the papers and folders, but didn’t see anything that might pertain to layoffs, or who might be up for a promotion either.  He checked the doorway, they still weren’t returning.  Since the guy’s computer was still up, he quickly checked some of the files there, but again he didn’t see what he was looking for.  No luck. 
Instead of sitting back down, Steve wandered out of the office, just to wait for his contact’s return.  While he waited, he looked around for any other possible avenues he could see to find out who might be getting laid off…or who might be on the promotion list.  But as he expected, he found nothing evident.  Two minutes later, the man he was working with was back, and the two of them sat down to discuss the final two people for Steve’s team.  When they were done, Steve asked.  “You’re sure these will be the best?”
“In my opinion,” the guy replied.  He smiled.  “Besides, we picked them all out together.  You know what each of them are qualified to do.”
“Yeah.  And I think they’re all going to be perfect.  I’m just making sure none of them are going to get…laid off or something before this thing is finished.”
“Laid off!  Why the heck would you worry about something like that?  And trust me, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to you who was in danger of that.”
Steve could only thank the man and go back to his desk.  No luck as far as finding the list of people to be laid off.  But it had almost sounded to him like such a list might actually exist.  But the real question remained.  How could he get all of those damn witches on it?

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Mel sat in Harry Feinbaum’s office.  Dick Feinbaum was there as well.  The discussion had been long already as they discussed everything on the list that Mel was concerned about. 
“So that leaves just the one last thing,” Mel said, “the safe-house for Ruth and her family.  And for obvious reasons, I’m not going to put them up at my house.  As much as my husband loves kids, Sissy is not the kind of person her children need to be around…when I’ve got him in the state he is now.”
“Definitely not!” Dick Feinbaum agreed whole heartedly.
“Heaven forbid!” Harry said at almost the same time.  “Besides, since we’re concerned about the men this company hires to do their dirty work, then I think we need someplace we can post security guards around them all the time.”
Mel nodded.  “Like it or not, they’re going to be needed.  Until we know for sure that they’ll be safe, Ruth and her family are going to be stuck there.  Personally, I don’t think they should even be allowed to leave.”
“That would be best,” Dick agreed.  “But we can’t actually make her stay there.  We have no legal authority to do that.”
“I know,” Mel replied.  “But it will be for her family’s safety.  Her entire family.”
“I’ll have my people find someplace out of the way,” Harry offered.  “Maybe someplace that will seem like a vacation for all of them.  That should help keep them happy.”
“Do you want me to contact the security company?” Dick asked. 
Harry nodded.  “Yes.  Let them know what we’re going to need.”
Mel looked around.  “Any other suggestions?”
“None that I can think of,” Harry replied.  “When do you think you want to get started with this?”
“I need to talk to Ruth first and prepare her.  This isn’t going to be easy for her.  And I have no doubt she’s not going to be happy with some of it.”
“No doubt,” Harry agreed.
“If you think you can have everything ready,” Mel continued, “then I’d like to get this over with as soon as possible.  Perhaps Monday might be a good day to drop the ball?”
Harry looked to Dick.  “You see any problem with it?”
Dick shook his head.  “No.  None that I can see.  Unless there’s some problem with the safe-house.”
Harry shook his head.  “I’ll have Dottie look into finding somewhere right away.  I know she’ll come up with something.”
Mel nodded.  “Then I’ll call Ruth as soon as I get back to my office and see when she can talk.  And Monday morning, we send a courier to Hudgens Technology.”
Harry nodded.  “And I guess it’s time then for me to arrange another golf game with an acquaintance of mine in Washington.”

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Ruth’s cell phone rang and she automatically checked to see who was calling.  Her attorney!  “Hello?” she said somewhat quietly.
“Ruth?  It’s Melissa.  How soon do you think you can come in to talk to me?  Is it possible that you can you arrange to get off of work today?  We have a lot to go over.”
Ruth thought about it.  It sounded to her like her lawyer was finally ready to get off her ass and do something.  “I’ll see if I can get off this afternoon.  Will that be okay?”
“Perfect!” Mel replied.  “Just let me know if you can’t.  I’ll be here all afternoon.”

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Friday, November 24, 2017

Revenge - Chapter 37 – Part 2 of 2



Revenge
By Karen Singer


Chapter 37 – Part 2 of 2

Booties.  Boots.  High top shoes really.  Or short boots.  Either way, they were women’s shoes – period!  And the biggest problem was, they looked it.  They weren’t at all like the pair of women’s flats he had been able to wear last week.  No, these had to look more like women’s shoes…or boots…or booties.  Which is what Diane claimed they were.  What he claimed they were, was embarrassing!
Yes, they were brown.  And yes, he had owned brown shoes in the past.  Brown men’s shoes.  No, they didn’t have a high heel or anything like that, although the heel was just a tiny bit higher than he was comfortable thinking about.  Hopefully, it wouldn’t be noticeable.  But he had never owned or even seen a pair of men’s shoes or boots that zipped up the inseam.  And to make matters worse, there was a decorative strap with a gold buckle that ran around the top of the boot, and a long dangling gold chain that ran just under it from each side of the zipper.  Hopefully, they wouldn’t be noticeable either.  And then there was the entire shape of the part his foot went into that was a bit different than men’s shoes.  Definitely more feminine looking – without a doubt.  Hopefully, that wouldn’t be noticeable as well.  Hopefully, nothing about the booties would be noticeable.  Hopefully.  He hoped, but if his pants moved just the wrong way, it wasn’t a lot of hope.  That darn gold chain hung down just a bit too low for comfort.
Tugging at his pants legs to make sure they covered as much of his shoes…booties…as possible, he headed out the door to go to work.  He was going to kill those witches someday.  Well, Monica’s magic kept him from doing that.  But one of these days, soon now, he was going to get his revenge on all of them.  Including crazy Diane.  He knew what he wanted to do, he just had to figure out how to go about doing it. 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Ruth was late getting to work because she had stopped at her lawyer’s office to drop off the confession she had…taken…from Monica last night.  In its place, she now had the photocopy she had made of the thing the night Steve had signed it.  Once she had deposited her things on her desk, taking note that nobody even knew she was late, she grabbed one of her notebooks, put the copy of the confession inside, and headed down to the shipping department.  There was a young guy working out front when she got there.  “Is Monica here?” she asked.
“In the back somewhere, I think,” the guy replied.
Ruth headed towards the small office that Monica and Diane shared.  But she spotted them both unpacking some boxes in the big room.  “Monica.”
Monica looked up and saw Ruth standing there.  She immediately stopped what she was doing, and so did Diane.  Both of them went over to talk to Ruth.
“Ruth, what’s going on?”
Ruth’s reply was almost a whisper.  “I can’t tell you that, and it would be best if you don’t ever ask.  In fact don’t even talk about it with anyone.  And I mean that!” 
“But Ruth…last night…”
“I know.  And I’m sorry.  But it was necessary.  Trust me.”
“What did you do with the confession?”
Ruth opened her notebook and pulled out the copy she had made.  “Here,” she said.  “Take this instead.  I can’t tell you what I did with the real thing.”
“But Ruth!  That was important to me.  I want it back!”
Ruth shook her head.  “What I did was for your own good!  You too Diane.”
“But what did you do?”
Again Ruth shook her head.  “I can’t…and I won’t tell you.  Just trust me.  And like I said last night, I suggest you stop playing with Steve!”
“Ruth,” Diane said, “did you turn that confession over to the police?”
“No.  Nothing like that.”
“Are you trying to get Steve arrested now?” Monica asked.
“No,” Ruth said again.  “And like I said, don’t ask, and don’t even discuss it with anyone.  Just trust me.  What I’ve done, I’ve done for not only me, but both of you and Carla too.  In fact, more than just the four of us.  So for your own sakes, don’t talk about this, and like I said, I recommend you stop playing with Steve now.  Just…drop it.”
“But…”
But Ruth shook her head, turned and hurried away.
“What the heck is going on?” Diane asked Monica.
“I’d like to know the same thing.  I needed that confession!”
“I know,” Diane replied.  “I wonder if we should see if Carla is free for lunch today so we can decide what to do.”

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

It was nearly lunchtime and Steve still hadn’t gotten a text from any of the witches demanding their daily pictures.  He was tempted to just go and take care of it before any of them could ask.  The only problem was, he was reluctant to get up from his desk and walk anywhere if he didn’t have to.  He was too concerned with that darn flash of gold from the chain on his booties showing below his pants as he walked. 
His desk phone rang and he immediately thought about the witches, but the name on the screen showed it was his boss, Mr. Carter.  “Hello?”
“Steve.  Before you go to lunch, can you come to my office?  I’ve got something new I want to run past you.”
“Uh…okay.  I’ll be right there.”  Damn.  Now he had to get up.  And most likely, some people would be leaving early for lunch to beat the crowd. 
Standing, he pulled down on his pants legs to make sure they would cover as much as possible.  He walked slowly and carefully, taking smaller steps than usual to make sure that gold chain wouldn’t show.  He passed people, and people passed him.  Fortunately though, it wasn’t far to his boss’s small office.  “You’ve got something new for me?” he asked as he walked in?
Mr. Carter glanced up from his work and pointed to one of the chairs in front of his desk.  Steve sat, glad that Carter wouldn’t be able to see his feet.  But as he sat, he looked down and saw that small flash of gold.  He pulled on his pants legs to try to cover it.  Which didn’t entirely work.
“Steve,” Carter said as he tossed a file folder to the other side of his desk.  “This came in this morning.  I want you to look through it and let me know what you think.  If you think we should go with it, I’m going to let you lead the project and all the coordination on it.”
Steve was surprised.  It was an obvious step up in responsibility.  And hopefully, a big step toward getting a promotion.  “Sure!” he agreed quickly.  “I’ll do what I can.”
“Just don’t go jumping on it if you have any reservations at all.  If that’s the case, then we want to scrap it completely.  I’ll find something else for you to head up instead.  But if you do decide to go with it…or not…let me know your reasons.  Got it?”
“Yeah.  Sure.  Not a problem.  I’ll look into it right away.”
Carter smiled and nodded.  “Good.”  He glanced at his watch.  “But it’s lunchtime now.  Take a break and relax for a while.  Then get to it afterwards.  There’s not that much of a rush on this thing.”
“Uh…yeah.  Great!” Steve replied happily. 
There were more people in the hallway as he made his way back to his desk, and a couple of times he noticed someone looking strangely at his feet.  He looked down as he walked and noticed that tiny flash of gold.  He had been walking too fast!  He shortened his steps.  Doing nothing but constantly watching his feet.  If he was careful.  If he took small steps, that darn gold chain didn’t show at all.  He just had to…walk funny.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

“What the heck is going on?” Carla asked as the three women sat down to lunch. 
“That’s what we want to know,” Diane replied.  Ruth acted so…strange!”
“For our own good?” Carla asked.  “How can she do anything for our own good?  Especially if she won’t tell us anything.”
“I don’t know,” Monica replied with a touch of anger.  “All I know is that she took that signed confession from me, and now all I’ve got is a photocopy.  And I have no idea if a photocopy will do me any good or not if I ever need it.”
“So what do we do about Steve?” Diane asked.  “Ruth seemed awfully insistent on that too.  And the way she was acting, it seemed like something serious was going on.”
Monica nodded.  “That’s what I keep wondering about too.  It was the way she kept saying everything that has me worried.  Very worried!  Almost as if our jobs are on the line.”
“She works outside of HR,” Carla said.  “Actually, I think she’s somehow part of the HR department.  Maybe she’s heard something she can’t tell us about.”  Her face suddenly turned more worried as she thought of something.  “Oh my God!  Maybe the company’s getting ready to start laying people off!”
That brought wide-eyed worried looks from Monica and Diane.  “Do you think?” Monica asked.
Carla shook her head.  “I have no idea.  But I guess it’s possible.”
Monica thought about that.  Getting laid off would be the worst thing that could happen to her.  She liked her job.  She liked the people she worked with.  And she quickly realized, that if even a hint of what they were doing to Steve ever got out, her job would be history – revenge against him or not.  “Girls,” she said, somewhat fearfully.  “As much as I hate to say it, maybe we better lay off of Steve.  At least until we find out what’s going on for sure.”
Diane and Carla both nodded in agreement.

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Steve’s desk phone rang right after he got back from lunch.  What surprised him, was that the screen showed that it was Diane calling him.  It was only surprising because she usually called his cell phone instead.  Knowing she was going to ask for pictures, he picked the phone up.  “Hello?”
“Steve,” Diane said.  “Don’t bother sending us any pictures anymore.  I’ll come over to your place tonight to explain it.  So don’t worry about it.”
“No more pictures?” Steve asked, surprised and happy.
“Nothing else either,” Diane said.  “I’ll talk to you tonight.  I gotta go.”
Steve hung up his phone.  No more pictures?  Nothing else either?  He wondered what that meant.  It sounded awfully good if it was true.  But the fact that Diane was coming over later to “explain it” sounded all too worrisome.  He had no doubt that those four witches had something else in mind that would make his life far worse than it already was.  He immediately worried that Monica had finally figured out whatever she had been looking for from all the magic research Diane had said she was doing. 
So if Monica now knew how to do something worse to him….  His thoughts turned immediately to something he hadn’t had much time to think about yet.  His way to finally get back at all four of those witches.  He just had to figure out how to do it.  No matter what Monica did to him later, he had to figure out how to get all four of them – fired!

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Mel took a large forkful of the salad Sissy had made for her earlier that morning, and stuck it in her mouth.  As she chewed, she picked up the tiny baby spoon from out of the baby food jar, filled it with mush-like food from the jar, and stuck it into Sissy’s mouth.  He couldn’t exactly protest since he was currently trapped into the custom made highchair in his office/nursery.  This was the way they spent most of their lunches…whenever he was under her thumb, and whenever he was actually in the office, and whenever she didn’t have any prior lunchtime engagements.  Feeding him his baby food meals three times a day had somehow made her feel even closer to him than ever.  He was forced to depend on her, and she was forced to give him the close loving attention he craved. 
“I’ve spent all morning going through those files you sent,” she told him.  “Thank you for boiling it all down and recopying everything so that all I have to read, or look at, is the important stuff.”
“Youw wewcome,” he replied before she shoved another tiny bit of the baby food into his mouth.
“I see where you rearranged things too.  It does kind of put things into a different perspective.”
“Fankth,” he said, waiting for more of his lunch.
“Tell me,” she said.  “You know we’ve got to present this differently than anything normal.  You know this can never go to court.  How do you think we should play this?”
He shook his head.  “I don’t know,” he replied, one of the few phrases that ever left his mouth clearly.  “As far as I can thee, thhe’th twyin to bwackmaiw them.”
Mel nodded.  “That’s my impression too.” 
“Tho don’t do it.  Don’t take the cathe.”
Mel shook her head.  “No.  I’m going to take the case.  There are other aspects of this that are entirely legal and justified.  In fact, those are all the aspects that pertain directly to sexual discrimination that she’s suing them for in the first place.”
“Tho what awe you goin to do?”
“I don’t know yet,” Mel admitted.  “I’m still looking through everything.”  She smiled.  “But the way you’ve rearranged some of that material is giving me some unique…options.” 
She shoved another spoonful of baby food into his mouth.  Yes, once again she was glad she had let Sissy look that material over first.  He had rearranged things and presented her with several spreadsheets, regrouping and outlining several different subjects and factors.  And based on those new groupings and outlines, Mel was starting to see her way out of some major problems.  That just left a ton of other major problems to figure out now.  But that was her job.
Sissy had done well for her yet again.  Just like he always did.  Once again she figured he deserved some kind of reward.  But rewarding Sissy was far different than the rewards anyone else would think.  She briefly wondered how Sissy would enjoy another trip to Europe.  This time dressed and acting the entire time just as he was now.  She had no doubt that the humiliation of having to do that would drive him absolutely crazy.  Yes, just as soon as she could wrap this case up, maybe it was time for them both to take another little vacation. 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

Later that evening, Steve was still in his girly underwear, and was still wearing the girly booties.  Knowing that Diane was coming, he didn’t dare take them off.  He finally heard the knock at his door.  “Diane,” he said as he opened it and saw her there.  He quickly looked around.  She was alone again.  He stood back and let her in.  “So what miserable things has Monica cooked up for me now?” he asked with more than a hint of frustration in his voice.
“Nothing,” Diane replied.  “Nothing at all.  In fact, like I told you earlier, you don’t have to worry about sending us any pictures at all anymore.  In fact, you don’t have to wear anything you don’t want anymore.”
“Nothing?” Steve asked, not believing it.
“For now anyway.  I can’t say what Monica will want to do later.”
“Later?”
“Um…in the future.  You know?”
“So what the hell is going on now?”
“Uh…nothing,” Diane replied.  “We’ve just decided to lay off for a while.  That’s all.”
“For a while,” Steve asked suspiciously.  “What’s that mean?”
“For a while,” Diane replied.  “Until we decide otherwise, I guess.”
Steve still wasn’t sure if that was good news, or just the calm before the real storm started.  “So how about my underwear?  That too?”
“Of course.  Whatever you want to wear.  We’re not forcing you to wear any of it anymore.  We’re…done with you…for now anyway.”
It was the ‘for now anyway’ part that Steve was the most suspicious of.  “You’re sure,” he asked again.
“Yes Steve.  We’re done.  For now anyway.”
Steve shook his head.  “I guess that’s good news.”
Diane was clearly surprised.  “I thought it would be something you’d really want to hear.”
“Oh it is.  Trust me.  It’s just that I don’t trust Monica.  I’m just waiting now for her to hit me with something even worse!”
“Steve,” Diane said, “I told you, we’re stopping for a while. Laying off completely.” She smiled.  “But of course, if you want to wear that stuff, I certainly wouldn’t mind,” she said playfully.
“Forget it!” Steve said, now grinning.  “I’m going out tonight to buy all new underwear.”
Diane giggled, then she turned more serious.  “Hey Steve, you haven’t heard anything about the company doing any layoffs have you?”
“Layoffs?  No,” he said cautiously.  “Why?”
“Because…um…I don’t know.  Just something Ruth mentioned that has us all worried.”
“What?”
“That’s just it.  She wouldn’t tell us.”
Steve knew that Ruth worked up by the HR department.  And if Ruth was worried about it, then that didn’t sound good at all.  He thought that he was safe though, especially since Mr. Carter had just given him that new assignment to head up.  Because of that, Steve wasn’t worried about getting laid off.  He was worried about not getting that promotion.  And then another thought hit him.  If the company was indeed looking for people to lay off, then how could he get the witches on that list!  If he could somehow manage that, then the company would do his dirty work for him. 
“So you haven’t heard anything about that?” Diane asked.
Steve shook his head.  “Nothing at all.”
“I just hope we’re wrong,” Diane replied, obviously worried about it.
But now that Diane had told him that he could wear normal underwear again, Steve had more important things on his mind.  “Um…Diane, if you don’t mind.  Since you say I can wear men’s underwear again, I’m going out tonight to buy some.  I can’t wait!”
Diane’s mood suddenly changed as she giggled.  “Maybe not tonight,” she said.
“Why not?” 
“Because we still have one last piece of business to figure out.”
“What?”
She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of pink handcuffs and held them up.
Steve stared at the handcuffs suspiciously.  “For you…or me?” he asked.
  Diane giggled.  “Well, that’s the part we need to figure out.  Flip a coin?”