Mary pulled open the door to the building, thankful for the ability to once again see her surroundings. It would have been a perfectly stereotypical October Seattle morning, were it not for the lack of rain. And the only reason it wasn't raining was because the clouds were already on the ground.

It was her first day back to work since she'd been out sick. Stone had left her a neat stack of assignments while she was away. It suddenly struck Mary as funny how quickly the steady paycheck of a commercial artist had gotten so tedious. Just a few short months ago, she'd thought she was on top of the world. Now she was most definitely beneath it, being slowly steamrolled. Surely it wouldn't be long before she could only be seen in two dimensions.

Mary settled in and prepared some materials to get started on her first project - This Velvet Oblivion's album cover art. Andrew left her a copy of the CD along with some notes.

Mary: "Dark, but fun, with a touch of romance. Right…"

She froze when she read the last note - both Andrew and James would have final approval on her work.

Mary: "Of course."

She dropped the notes, popped the CD into the player and stared at a stark white piece of paper as she listened, surrounded by pencils, pens, inks, pots of paint and brushes. By the time the last song had finished, the paint was starting to crust over and all she had created was a grocery list. She debated calling Emily to see if they were running out of laundry detergent.

Andy: "Mary, so nice to have you back to work. Things are going well, I trust?"

Mary jumped at the sound of Andy's voice.

Mary: "Well enough. But the muse is still out sick."
Andy: "I hope it recovers soon, or it's off to the glue factory for you!"

Andy: "That was a joke."

Mary had the sudden urge to stab him through the eye with a calligraphy pen, but held back.

Mary: "Ha-ha."

Andy: "Do you need anything?"
Mary: "Coffee would be great."

Andy: "I'll send someone up with some."
Mary: "Tell them I like it with two packages of pink, one hazelnut cream and about a quarter cup skim milk. Oh! And a shot of almond syrup would be heaven."

Mary: "Do you want to write this down?"
Andy: "That's quite alright. I'll let them know."
Mary: "Thanks! You're a doll. Shut the door on your way out, will you?"

Mary turned back to her list and pretended she didn't notice Andrew's eyes cutting holes into her back. A moment later she heard the door click softly shut. She took a minute before turning around to see whether Andrew had left, or if he had simply closed the door to muffle the sound of a shotgun. She was somewhat relieved to see that she was once again alone.

Mary: "Now then… dark, romantic… fun?"

Mary hit play again, struggling in vain to get even a hint of inspiration. The fog outside hadn't cleared yet, and she found herself staring out the window, trying to see shapes in the mist and failing even at that. Every spark of creativity fizzled and died before she could make anything of it.

She frowned at the CD player and shut it off. James' voice was grating on her nerves. How could she come up with anything genuine when the front man was so false? His words and tone seemed so real, so sincere, but she knew it was an illusion, another trick to keep the screaming teenage masses spending their babysitting money on concert tickets and T-shirts. Surely this image was manufactured in part by Andrew Stone. The whole thing smelled of rotting hamburger as far as she was concerned.

Mary shoved the paper and pencils aside, suddenly struck with the urge to paint something real, something for herself. As she began mixing colors, the need to put brush to canvas dissipated, and she was left with a pallet full of a dark, puce blob of paint. She sighed heavily and resumed staring out the window, realizing with a smirk that no one had ever brought up any coffee.

Mary: "Enough of this."

She sat back down at the desk and penned a resignation letter, admired it for a few moments, and then tore it to shreds with a heavy heart. There were too many bills to pay. Besides, she wanted to stay close enough to Stone to keep her eye on him, at least until she could find some way to show Emily that he was no good.

Mary: "Right then. Dark…"

Mary painted a midnight black background onto the paper in front of her.

Mary: "Fun…"

She added some blue, yellow, green and red colored bits of confetti.

Mary: "And romantic."

Finally, she painted a cherry red heart in the bottom corner. The finished product was awful. But it would do for a first draft. Might as well set the bar low from the start.