From Grief to Glitter: Chapter Three
A/N: Once again, Nicole ( @dontshootmespence) and I are having a ball writing this story. PG is the best and penlyssa gives us all the feels. Hope you enjoy<333
Who was playing drums? Was someone playing drums? Was there a storm rolling in? Why was everything so loud? Her head was pounding.
Alyssa closed her eyes against the beautiful silence of the parking garage where she sat in her car, again wondering how the fuck she’d ended up in the position she was in.
Her job sucked. She already hated it. And now it was besmirching her integrity. There was a mini nuclear explosion going on in her brain. She was pretty sure if she looked in the little mirror on the visor of her car, she’d see a vein about to pop out of her head.
Thankfully, she knew where Penelope stood on her innocence, despite the fact that she had to maintain a professional front. Agent Mendelsohn was not the same case. Before, he’d been compassionate, understanding her position between the rock and the hard place, but this time his line of questioning had been more pointed and accusatory.
“How would someone else gain access to your computer? Why would someone else use it if it wasn’t you as you claim?”
“I don’t know!” She exclaimed angrily, throwing her hands up as she fell into the back of the chair. “All I know is that I did not email anyone about a meeting.”
“I’m a lawyer. You think I don’t know when you’re trying to twist my words?” His tactics were some of the oldest in the books. It was pretty laughable. The evidence on her computer didn’t look good, but it was by no means a definitive indication of her guilt or innocence. “I have set up plenty of meetings through my work email. However, the meeting you claim took place was not set up by myself and technically still hasn’t happened because you haven’t shown me proof that it has.”
Agent Mendelsohn sat back in his chair, mirroring her crossed arms. His haughty expression made her angry. It’s like he thought he had her all figured out. “That’ll be all for today, Ms. Mason.”
Turning the key in the ignition, Alyssa collected her thoughts, took a deep breath and pulled out of the garage, running through all the ways she could defend herself from the accusations that were currently being lobbied against her. She was thinking about the company’s case as well, but considering how much she hated everything about what she did for a living, her own integrity took precedence.
The inner workings of the office played out the same whether she was there or not, so when she walked in, nothing seemed out of place. People were still slaving away in their cubicles. The walls were still the ugliest beige imaginable. The carpet in her office still needed a steam clean; it was all as she’d left it the day before.
But as soon as she walked in, the phone rang; that never happened. Alyssa was pretty sure that ringing phones were becoming a bad omen. “Alyssa Mason, Mason Industries. How can I help you?”
“Ms. Mason.” The less-than-thrilled voice of her father emanated from the other end. Despite being his daughter, he never called her Alyssa in the office. “Business is business.”
Alyssa rubbed her temple. She already felt her headache returning. Wonderful. “Yes, Charles.”
“I need to see you in my office.”
Alyssa started down the hall, ignoring all the stares as heads popped out of cubicles like gophers out of holes. Though she never looked back, Alyssa had been alive long enough to know exactly what look they were burning through her skin.
It was the look that you gave a dead man walking or someone headed to their own beheading.
It was the look you gave someone you thought was already gone.
And maybe they were right.
Maybe today was the day her own father stabbed her in the back. But Alyssa wasn’t scared. She was elated. She’d never been religious. Faith was another thing only the weak needed to survive according to Charles. But maybe just maybe she would be now. If this was to be her end, it could also be her rebirth, into a life far away from this godforsaken place and people.
Alyssa should’ve known it would never be that easy.
“Effective immediately you are suspended. You are not to set foot in this office, speak to anyone associated with Mason Industries, or take any action related to the company. You will go home and you will wait for my call. At my discretion I will invite you back on a probative basis. That is all.”
He didn’t look at her, he looked through her, the exact same way he had every other person he’d ever met. This fucking ass couldn’t even look his own daughter in the eye. God she hated him.
For a moment there was silence. Alyssa just stood there, and stared right through him too. Apparently in this small respect she was her father’s daughter.
“Ms. Mason, you are suspended.” He repeated “please go.”
First, she needed to take her stand. Once her father was aware that she was not one to be trifled with and not one to be stomped on - daughter or not - then she could attack his general lack of humanity…she really wanted to lead off with that though. “No, I will leave when I have my files that are related to this case. I’ll be using them to clear my name, considering there isn’t a soul I can rely on here.”
She could practically hear the people behind her swallowing the lumps in their throat when her father looked up. His expression was fairly flat, mostly unreadable, but there was a small hint of astonishment behind his eyes that she could’ve basked in for a thousand years. “Then and only then will I leave this excuse of a company. I mean come on Charles, we both know you’re incapable of being a father but to fail as a businessman? You really ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
Alyssa turned to go then paused, and glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, and go fuck yourself, please.”
He always had to have the last word. “Ms. Mason, I made you everything you are. I understand the anger at your current situation. This suspension will be a great way for you to calm down and return in top form.”
Before he’d even finished his first sentence, she began walking again. In her head, she was flipping him a million tiny middle fingers. “Goodbye, Charles.”
For about twenty minutes, it felt like she was walking on air. Nothing could touch her. Not her father or the FBI or any other fucker. She was free…but then the door of her apartment thudded shut.
Now what was she supposed to do? Her life had revolved around that giant shithole she called a job. She’d actually told her boss…her father…to go fuck himself. She wasn’t going to be able to walk back in there. She was going to be out of a job. As the thud of the door resounded through her mind, she fell back against the wall of her apartment and slid down, staring blankly off into the distance. This job was the water in the desert, the ever-elusive mirage that seemed forever out of reach - but it wasn’t out of reach; she’d get there and then drink the water only to realize that it had sand and bugs and a whole mess of other bullshit in it; it kept her alive, but only barely. That’s how she lived her life, and now she didn’t even have that. She was sure her father was going to make her pay in his unique, Charles-like way.
It felt like an eternity that she was sitting on the floor, not moving - not really knowing what to do at all. If it weren’t for breathing being an involuntary thing she probably wouldn’t even be doing that.
No, but really…what the fuck was she going to do?
She’d been trained for nothing but this job. She was 31 years old. Pulling her feet into her frame, she pushed up from the floor and started to breathe more heavily. If she couldn’t go back to this job and she couldn’t begin life anew how was she supposed to get by? Her father didn’t give her anything. And even if he would, she didn’t want it. She hated the man.
When she stood up completely, her heart began to race. “Oh my god, where the hell do I go from here?” She whispered aloud. She just kept repeating it. “What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? What, the fuck…?”
Alyssa had never had a panic attack before, but she was pretty sure she was having one right now. Her hands were clammy. She couldn’t breathe. Her mind was a swirling torrent of thoughts, being thrown out here and there like random debris. Her heart was fucking racing. She had no idea why Penelope was the first person she thought of - not her mother, not her fiance - but Penelope.
She couldn’t do this alone.
Not just her expertise, she needed Penelope to be the friend she needed. With shaky hands she pulled out her phone and called. Tears started to fall from her eyes as she realized she was calling a friend of just a few days - because she truly had no one else.
“Everything. Every-fucking-thing is wrong. I-I can’t do this anymore. I’m so scared, Penelope. I don’t know what to do.”
Considering they’d only met a few days ago, Penelope knew it had to be bad. Her heart sank when she realized that Alyssa wasn’t calling someone she was closer with. “Okay, take a deep breath. In through your nose and out through your mouth and tell me what happened?”
For the first time today, Alyssa did what someone had asked of her. In through her nose, out through her mouth. In through her nose, out through her mouth. In through her nose, out through her mouth.
The room began to steady, maybe the sky wasn’t falling just yet.
“I got suspended from work today, by my father. And-I….I said a lot of things to him. Things I can’t come back from. So I’m lost, Penelope. I’m just lost.”
Penelope Grace Garcia was great in a crisis. Okay, so she tended to panic herself and cry a little - maybe a lot - but then she’d get it together and figure out a plan. “You got suspended because of the email?” It sounded like there was an affirmation on the other end of the line so she continued. “Do you have the files pertaining to the case?”
“Yeah-yeah I think so. But I have no idea what to do with them. It’s all just a bunch of corporate cyber bullshit.” Alyssa sighed, sinking down on her couch.
“Well, it just so happens that delving into the deep, dirty depths of cyber crud happens to be my specialty,” Penelope replied, injecting a bit of her trademarked positivity into her voice. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what she was going to be able to do, but she could but her skills to good use to at least attempt to get a friend out of a jam. “How about if I come over? As long as that’s okay with you. We’ll get some takeout and we’ll look over the files you have?”
For a moment, Alyssa was dumbfounded. Was she serious? “Yes, yes of course.” She hurried to agree before Penelope changed her mind. “Thank you,” she added, not wanting to seem ungrateful in her rush to lock down assistance. Before her mind could catch up with her mouth the words came flying out “How are you real, Penelope?” Alyssa found herself wondering aloud. “People like you-they don’t exist. Not outside of fables and fairytales, at least. I just…..thank you.”
“I’m as real as a unicorn, dear, and yes I believe unicorns are real. Friends help friends. That’s what they do, and I meant what I said that I wanted to be your friend. How about you text me your normal order when you grab Chinese food, I’ll pick some up and I’ll meet you at your apartment in 30-45 minutes?” Penelope always felt most herself when she was helping people - well that and when she was wearing her cat ears.
“Okay” was all Alyssa found herself able to manage in return. Penelope responded with a quick goodbye and then the line went dead. And she was alone again……
Only she wasn’t. She had a unicorn by her side. A unicorn. Alyssa couldn’t fight the laugh that began to build in her chest. And then she was laughing, she felt a wave of joy just begin to crest inside. This was real. There was a unicorn that was fighting for her, a person that Alyssa had never thought existed. And she was just so fucking good. Alyssa couldn’t take it. The laughter slowly faded into sobs that wracked her entire frame.
And she was terrified she didn’t deserve a sliver of it.
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