Elwood mirrored her smile, he squeezed her closer, then kissed her again, "So, tell me about why you joined the Ministry?" he asked.

Lizeth shrugged. "I just needed a job and I heard about an opening so I applied. But I like my job. It's pretty cool. Why'd you join?"

"Well, it's sort of a long story, at first I wanted to be a teacher, and it didn't really work out, I got into an argument with the headmaster at Hogwarts, and I stayed until the year ended, then I resigned, I looked for a new job for a while before settling on working at the Ministry, and I applied for a job as an Auror, I didn't think I'd get it, I thought I was too old, but I got it, and ever since I've been coasting along, until I met you, that is." Elwood said, kissing her and holding her with both arms.

Lizeth smiled. She loved being with him, he made her feel special, and her headache was going away. Today would improve, she could tell.

"You have the most beautiful smile I have ever seen." Elwood said kissing her again, he was glad she was there, he felt happy and safe, the world could go on, but if time stopped right where they were, he would be the happiest man on earth.

Lizeth looked up at the clock. "Not that I don't want to be here, but I have to get back to work." She kissed him on the cheek. "Maybe I'll come visit you sometime."

"Alright." he said kissing her back, he moved his arms so she could move, "Until the next time we meet." he said conjuring a rose from thin air and kissing her on the cheek as he gave it to her.
After she had gone, he stretched and went back to his office.

After leaving office, Angelina made her way to Level Five.
She spend the whole week practically running from level to level, office to office, she was tired and she needed a coffee.
Well, slightly tired.. but she still needed a coffee.
She decided to stop on level five's break room and order one, she didn't want to shut down in front of .... well actually she wasn't quite sure about who should she talk to about the flying carpers.
Hum.. she would find out in a minute, besides she could always ask someone about it.
And the break room was the perfect place to do that..

Not.

The young woman widen her eyes in surprise when she walked into break room, it was definitely very well decorated , the warm colors.. whoever decorate that place did a great job.
But the break room wasn't just amazingly well decorated, was also.... empty.
Angelina assumed that people in level five were all working, since there was no one in there... taking a break.
Hard working people eh? she thought to herself while she ordered a plane coffee.

Rico was more than relieved to be out of that conference; now that it was over, he could have a bit of peace, quiet, and most importantly, he could have some coffee.

Whistling a merry tune, he strolled into the break room with his papers shoved under one arm and headed straight for the coffeemaker. His focus was entirely on the coffee...the warm, addictive, aroma of those Columbian beans, ground to perfection....the dark, silky color of the coffee....and then there was the taste.

"Aaaaah," Enrico sighed happily, downing half a cup of black coffee in one gulp. The beverage was more than just tasty to him, it was like relieving the burn of an addiction. He was so enamored by the coffee his mind barely registered the only other person in the break room. He squinted at her for a moment and took another long sip of his coffee, trying to recall where he'd seen her face not so long ago.

"Angelina....Gilmore?" Rico muttered faintly, a slight smile crossing his face. If he recalled properly, she was THE Coffee Chick. The Cute Coffee Chick, actually....

After taking a long slip of her coffee, Angelina wrinkled her nose.
Hum.. but what was that funny taste in the coffee?
Oh no. No, no,no.
No.
Eeekkkk! It was sugar.
Sugar in her coffee, how did that happen?!
Angelina was about to turn her head to the coffeemaker when she heard someone calling her.
She was sure that no one knew her in there, after all it was the first time she visited Level five.
But it seemed that she was wrong.

Hum, there were so many people calling her these days.

Moving her eyes to the person who had called her, the young woman raised both eyebrows in surprise, she had forgotten that she actually knew someone who worked there.
The coffee guy she met during something that she couldn’t remember at the moment.
Wasn’t it a memorial or something?
Oh well..
With a smile, Angelina opened her mouth to answer to the man when she suddenly forgot what the man’s first name was.
That was odd, really, really odd in fact.
Angelina was good with names, and faces.. extremely good to be precise..
…and she was feeling extremely embarrassed for not remembering it.
Trying to keep the embarrassment inside of her body, the young woman finally spoke. She was staring too look funny with her mouth open but no words coming out. “ Mr Serio...?”

Rico curiously watched as the woman took a sip of her coffee and then nearly spat it out again. Then she seemed to undergo some sort of mental deliberation as she blinked at him. Er, she was a curious one alright. Either that or he had mistaken her for someone else.....

But at last she spoke. Whew, Rico thought in relief. She does remember me. I mean, it's not like I stalk her or anything...she just happens to share my love of coffee...er....she did....

"Rico, just call me Rico," he said politely, offering her a handshake. Well, it was like they were meeting all over again. "How are you, Ms. Gilmore? Enjoying your, uh, coffeee?" He raised an eyebrow over his twinkling brown eyes. She certainly didn't look like she was enjoying her coffee...

Rico
Angelina felt like hitting her forehead with her free hand, it was the first time she had forgotten someone’s name and she didn’t like the feeling.
But she didn’t hit her forehead because.. humm well.. because that was something that she simply didn’t do.
In fact, she didn’t even know why she felt like doing it.

It must be from the sugar.. yes it must be that.. she thought to herself before changing her coffee to the other hand.. her cold hand.
Angelina’s hands were always cold.. even during the summer, that was something that she hated, and that was the reason why she changed her coffee to her other hand, since the coffee was hot, she hoped the hand that had been holding it wasn’t cold anymore.
She smiled at him and stretched her hand.

“Not Ms. Gilmore. It makes me feel like I have the double of my age. Angelina is perfectly fine. she said, still smiling, even though some people thought Angelina was a mouthful.
“The coffee? Yes.. Its great.” Gah, she was such a lousy liar and she knew it very well.
This time was not her fault, though. Those words just came out of her mouth..just like that. “Well.. to be honest .. it isn’t.” she finally said. “It has sugar.. I dislike sugar in coffee.”

Well, perhaps all this woman had needed was a little coffee. She seemed to be feeling or behaving better now and at least her handshake seemed normal.

"Angelina. I'll remember that if you can remember my name," he chuckled and took another sip of his own delicious, bitter beverage.

"No sugar?" Rico raised an eyebrow. Ah yes, that was how he remembered her. "I recall you telling me that...er...when we first met. You like it plain and black.....right......?" He tried to say this as nonchalant as possible but it still came out sounding, well, odd. And now Rico was starting to blush just thinking of how strange he must look right there.

"Er, just let me take care of that for you," he said quickly, trying to cover his slight embarrassment for remembering a stranger's coffee preferences. With one gentle movement, Rico slipped Angelina's cup out of her hand and two steps later the foul, sugary coffee was down the drain. "Just regular coffee for you, right? No decaf?" Rico winked at Angelina and went ahead and filled hers up from the same coffee maker he'd used.

"There you go. Good as new - a delicious plain brew." He smiled proudly and waited for her to take a sip. He wasn't being to brash, was he? But it wasn't every day that a gorgeous, fellow-coffee-lover wandered into the office...

Ryan Jacobs wondered into the breakroom. This is excactly what she needed, coffee and time to relax. As she walked in she smiled and said hello to the few people that were in there too. Hmmmm should she get coffee or tea, she just couldn't decide. She decided to go with coffee.

After getting a cup Ryan wondered back to a chair and pulled out of copy of the prophit. What new was going on that she didn't know about already. The paper couldn't quite keep her attention though, she just sipped her beverage glancing back at the paper in front of her every now and then.

Donia trudged into the breakroom. She had been trying to concentrate on work out at her cubicle, but found that quite impossible. She she walked into the breakroom and made herself a cup of coffee. She took a sip and made a face. Yuk. Plain black. She pulled out her wand and waved it over the cup, which immediately turned a creamy brown and the delicious scent of french vanilla wafted from the cup. She picked up her coffee and went and sat down next to a woman with a paper.
She glanced at her and then decided to introduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Donia. What's that you're reading?"

Emma trudged silently in, pushing the door forward, walking directly toward the coffee urn like an automaton. Her disheveled hair did nothing to dispel the notion that she looked confunded. She grabbed the first empty cup that she saw and quickly transfigured it into a large mug. She really needed a large amount of caffeine to lift this fog that was hanging inside her head.

After adding one lump of sugar and some cream, she took the first available seat and plunked down. Plopping her purse on the table, she plucked her agenda book out and opened it to today's date. She knew she had something to do today, but couldn't recall what it was. Her eyes traveled quickly down the rows of dates, finally stopping at today's date. Her brows knitted together as she saw that nothing was written down. Blast it!, she thought furiously. She knew that something had to be done today and she hadn't written it down for some obscure reason. Drats!

This morning wasn't shaping up to be anything but irksome. She really shouldn't have read that book on wizard mercantile routes of the Orient. What had seemed like a dry read, had turned into a fascinating exploration of the different ways wizards had adapted their sales missions around muggle territories. Some techniques were quite clever and rather daring. Avoiding detection was the name of the game, and some wizards had come up with unheard of slights of hand.

But today, she paid the price for her curiosity... lack of sleep and the grey 'fuzzies' in her head. Taking another gulp of coffee to stay alert, she suddenly saw her boss across the room. Half sputtering her coffee she had been trying to swallow, she quickly clamped her hand over her mouth, trying to avoid letting people see the brownish liquid dribbling down her chin. Scrambling back to the counter, she grabbed the first napkin from the teetering pile that was there, and briskly wiped her mouth and chin. She only hoped that Mr Serio hadn't noticed her absolutely mortifying manners.

Ryan looked up to see some more people walking into the room. She turned the page of her paper and then looked back up to see someone sitting with her. "Oh hello Donia, I'm Ryan." She looked down at what Donia was indicating that she was reading. "Oh its just a copy of the prophit, nothing really new, as always" SHe said with a soft smile.
"How are you today?" She had never been one to come up with small talk but this would have to work, she needed a break from looking at papers and paper work anyways.

Donia smiled at the woman. She looked kind of shy, so Donia tried to make herself come off a little more friendly, "Oh, I'm doing pretty okay. Nothing to great, considering...well, everything. But pretty good." Donia nearly smacked herself in the head for babbering, "So have you heard about all the work for this International Confrence thing?"

Rico was still nervously waiting to hear Angelina's response when he noticed a bit of movement from across the room. He raised his coffee cup to take a sip when he suddenly recognized the movement. He nearly spat out his coffee, he was so shocked.

"Er....Ms....Brown?" Rico choked out after recovering his composure. After all, she was the one who had run across the room - he was just hovering by the beverages and napkins.

"Are you, uh, doing okay?" he added politely, wondering if he should get her a bucket or something. She wasn't looking too....together...this morning...come to think of it, when was the last time she'd been to the office?

Emma cringed inwardly, she really didn't want to look foolish in front of her boss. Wiping her chin once again, making sure she had removed all the evidence of her 'drool-fest', she passed a trembling hand over her frame to straighten her attire.

"Mr Seri..." cough, "Rico... nice to see you here." She just wished a dementor could pass by, suck her soul out and give her a way out. She knew she felt god awful, grey 'fuzzies' and all, but by the way he was looking at her, she seemed to look the part too.

She decided to grab the bull by the horns and continue on with this most uncomfortable situation. "I seem to have missed an appointment or something this morning. But for the life of me, I can't remember what it is..." she went back to get her agenda, sticking it under his nose. "I was sure of it, but nothing shows in my agenda." She ended with a weak voice. "I'm feeling quite at a loss." She whimpered miserably, looking more and more like a ghost.

Uh oh, uh oh...it was worse than he'd thought. Emma literally looked like she was fading away, piece by piece. Not a good reflection of Rico or his department...and not a good reflection right in front of Angelina...who worked real close to the Minister....

"Excuse me just a moment, Miss Gilmore," Rico said in an apologetic tone, nodding to Ang and setting his coffee down on the counter.

"Miss Brown," he then said gently, putting a firm, tan hand on her shoulder and directing her a few paces away. Just enough to be out of earshot from any potential eavesdroppers.

"First things first, are you feeling...er...healthy?" His forehead crinkled up a bit as he locked his dark brown eyes on hers, searching for a sign of some cause for her pasty, drab state. "Don't worry about any appointments, at the moment, I think I just completed the invitations...." he trailed off thoughfully.

Now wait, that seemed to jog his memory for something....

"Er....what does your agenda book say, by the way...?" Rico added in a lower voice. Maybe Evaline had mentioned something...about the legality of carpets?

Emma had moved over a few paces, feeling quite overwrought and spent. "I'm feeling... tired, i guess. I got caught up in that book about Trade routes of the Orient and didn't sleep enough." She passed a weary hand over her eyes, trying to wipe away the tiredness. "I learned a lot about the legal and illegal trades that went on in China and its whereabouts. Magic carpets seemed like the most widely used vehicle for transportation, specially for the illegal traffic of banned substances and small animals."

She stepped back to the table where her purse still sat, taking a seat as she riffled through her agenda. "My agenda mentions something for tomorrow; Find translation charm for invitations and search for foreign laws about magic carpets. Does that help you in any way?" She asked with a frown, wondering if she should take another sip of coffee or just get something to eat. Both possibilities seemed good to her right now.

Rico listened carefully to Emma, not entirely sure if she was just tired or contagious or not telling him the truth. But what option did he have besides believing her?

"So...you've just been working too hard," Rico said casually, shaking his head a little. Damn, she makes me look like a slacker, he thought as he glanced at her agenda. "Maybe you should take a weekend, sometime." He grinned in jest and then turned back to the little book.

"We don't need the translation..." he muttered, "since I finished those already....but..uh....what's this about magic carpets?"

He took a step back from the book and rubbed his forehead with one hand, as if that would help jog his memory. "Carpets.....carpets...car--"

And then it hit him. The meeting! The meeting that he had probably missed!

"Uh oh...."

Emma nodded distractedly, a weekend off... maybe she needed a physical at St-Mungos. She definitely needed something to get back her energy... and her memory. She was still wondering what had happened that morning; well... up to the point she got to the Ministry. She remembered waking up, showering briefly, having a light breakfast...then nothing. Emma sighed, she must have been doing too much lately for her to forget such large lapses of time.

She heard Rico talking about not needing a translation charm; that was a pity, since she had researched a few already while still in school. She shrugged a shoulder and returned her attention to Rico. He seemed suddenly perturbed by something or other.

"Excuse me, Rico... I was lost in thought for a moment there. What do you mean by that 'uh oh...'? Is there something I missed?" She blinked up at him, seemingly clueless. Emma now knew that something was amiss, since she never forgot appointments or drifted away from conversations like that. Specially with a superior! And a handsome one at that... Oh Merlin, where did that thought come from? She would never, ever, look upon her superiors like that. She felt herself blushing profusely by the mere thought of it. Could lightning strike her right now inside the Ministry? She wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.

Oh no oh no oh no I'm going to be fired....Big Boss Bass will have my head...she's going to hex me to Australia and back....why did I ever take this job if I can't keep track of meetings?!!!

Rico sighed in frustration with himself and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. He definitely needed more coffee. It was just the lack of caffeine, yeah, that was the reason I totally forgot about the most important meeting ever....

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he hardly heard Emma speak again. "Uh oh? Yeahhhhh..." Rico drawled in his American accent, avoiding eye contact and blinking at the ceiling instead.

"See, there was supposed to be this big conference...between our department and the transportation floor...and it's pretty much setting up our stance on the legality of flying carpets...as in...all of Britain's stance on flying carpets...that we're going to share at the International Conference...." He trailed off with another huge sigh as he shook his head. Good going, Suave, great way to show leadership in front of your employees.