In Love and War

Plot: Stacey and Mary Anne are working at the same company during their summer from college, and have become unexpected friends. When a new guy joins the company, it threatens their friendship as well as Mary Anne's engagement to Logan.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Baby-Sitter's Club. Ann M. Martin does.

A/N: I stopped reading the BSC books before Mary Anne's house burned down, so this story takes places as if those events never happened. This is my first fic so I appreciate any comments on what I might be doing wrong!

Chapter One

I struggle to pull on my black pants while giving another glance at my alarm clock. 7:34. I am running late. Stacey will be here in six minutes to drive us to work. I don't know why my body is not cooperating with me. I feel like I am moving in molasses.

I grab a lilac V-neck sleeveless shirt and pull it over my head. Shoes. Where are my shoes? I find them underneath my bed and put them on. I head to my full length mirror and brush my hair until it shines, hitting several snarls along the way. No time to worry about hair breakage. I've got to grab my makeup bag and finish in the car. I hear Stacey's horn outside and dash out the door.

"You're running late, aren't you?" Stacey greets me as I slide into the passenger seat.

"How'd you guess? I don't know why I didn't hear my alarm clock this morning." I pull the sun visor down and quickly apply pressed powder, blush, and matching lilac eyeshadow. I turn to Stacey. "Does it look okay?"

"Not bad for two minutes work," she says with a smile.

Stacey has a right to tease. It wasn't too long ago that I didn't put much effort into my appearance. Logan has never really minded the natural look. However since Stacey and I have become friends she's somewhat rubbed off on me. I now actually enjoy shopping. My taste is still classic and tailored, but I'm much more fashionable then I used to be. I begin to think back all the way to middle school when Logan and I first met. I remember seeing him in the hall and thinking was my favorite movie star Cam Geary. As it turned out, his real name was Logan Bruno, and he soon gained the admiration of many girls in school. I just assumed he would remain an unknown crush. Somehow, though, we got together. I know all my friends thought: Imagine that! Shy, sensitive Mary Anne Spier is the first one to have a real steady boyfriend. I never thought Logan and I would be together as long as we have, especially given some rocky moments we've encountered. But almost eight years later, here we are engaged.

"Mary Anne!" Stacey's voices shatters my thoughts.

"What?"

"I said, did you hear about the new guy that's supposed to be starting today?"

"Yeah, I heard Kate mention it, but I don't know much else." Kate Matthews is the human resources specialist at the company Stacey and I work at. IMG Construction. It's just in the outskirts of where we live, Stoneybrook, Connecticut. We both decided that we had wanted to work together, and hit a lucky break. A friend of Stacey's mom had a daughter that was deciding to go back to school, and they needed an administrative assistant immediately. She told me to go apply, which I did. I'd been here for a week when the A/P person was fired for some shady things she was doing with the cash flow. I recommended Stacey to Dan, and the rest is history. We've both been here for about a month. I think it's going to be a pretty exciting summer.

I've lived in Stoneybrook my whole life, but Stacey moved here when she was thirteen from New York City. We probably never would have become friends if it weren't for Claudia Kishi. Back when we were in middle school my old best friend Kristy Thomas had the brilliant idea to form a baby-sitting club. Claudia was the one who introduced Stacey to all of us. They had hit it off right away, mainly due to their taste in clothing. I realize now that we were mainly friends of convenience at the time. We didn't really have much in common with each other. We were just a group of girls who got together by a love of baby-sitting. The Baby-Sitters Club was an important part of my life back then, but the club slowly dissipated as we grew older and grew apart.

Claudia was interested in anything having to do with art. She eventually became interested in fashion design, and now studies at FIT in New York. Her parents were thrilled at the fact that she wanted to go to college since school was never really her thing. Kristy stayed with her lifelong interest, sports. She plays baseball at Arizona State. Her father is a true millionaire so she pretty much had her pick of schools. Stacey and I stayed local because money was tight for us, and Stacey didn't want to leave her mom alone.

"Mary Anne!" Stacey sounds impatient.

"I'm sorry Stacey. I'm totally out of it this morning."

"So I've noticed. We're here."

I look up at the big gray building and step out of the car. Even though it's only eight, I can feel the warmth of the sun. It's going to be another hot one today.

"Hey Becky!" Stacey calls to the receptionist, Becky Robertson.

"Good morning, Stacey. Good morning, Mary Anne." Becky is seventeen years old. Her dad works here as well. He's the general manager, so by default we try and be nice to Becky. She's pretty annoying, though. She was blessed with good looks, but unfortunately feels she needs to play dumb to get attention.

"I'll see you during break," Stacey tells me, as she heads upstairs to her desk. Stacey works in Accounts Payable. She's always loved math, so it's no shock that she would make it her career. She's taking classes at Stoneybrook University to become an accountant. I'm also taking classes there. I'm studying to be a teacher. I've always been told how organized and patient I am, so it seemed like a natural choice.

I head upstairs to my own desk. I work as an administrative assistant for Dan Robertson, Becky's father. He's a pretty good guy and surprisingly down-to-earth. I guess being an administrative assistant is a nice transition career for me too. I was the secretary when Stacey and I were in the Baby-Sitters Club, and she was the treasurer. I would have never thought keeping all those record books in order would come in so handy.

I find a note on my desk when I get there. It reads: Mary Anne, Please put together a spreadsheet of all new accounts in the past three months. Include the markup percentage, total revenue, and costs associated with the sale. Have it on my desk by lunch. I sigh. Well, at least the morning will fly by.

Twenty minutes later I'm so engrossed in my work I don't notice the shadow hover over me. "Mary Anne?" Kate says gently.

I look up and suck in my breath. There is a very good looking guy standing next to Kate.

"Mary Anne, this is Lorenzo Forelli. He's going to be working in sales. I'm introducing him to everyone."

Lorenzo has dark brown hair that's buzzed close to his head. He has light green eyes and olive toned skin. He appears to be well built, even underneath his gray suit. He can't be more than twenty-five or twenty-six.

I can feel my cheeks flush. I wish I weren't so shy sometimes. "H-Hello." I manage to stammer.

Lorenzo smiles and extends his hand. "Hello, Mary Anne. Nice to meet you."

I attempt to discreetly wipe my clammy hands on my pants before taking his hand. I hope I succeeded. If he notices, he doesn't say anything.

Kate's moved on to the next person before I can recover. I return to my work and try to regain my focus. Ten o'clock rolls around I am eager to escape to the break room to talk to Stacey. When I get there, there's already a line of people standing in front of the coffee machine. I'm glad I don't drink coffee. I find Stacey in our usual back table, eating some plain yogurt. Stacey has diabetes and has to limit her sugar intake.

I purchase a bag of Wheat Thins from the vending machine and join her. "So, did you meet the new hottie?" she asks as soon as I sit down.

I feel my cheeks flush again. "Yeah," I say, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Oh, I hope he's single. I would love to get to know him better." She smiles deviously. She's got the Stacey McGill twinkle in her eye. The twinkle that has zeroed in on something she wants. And when Stacey wants something, or someone, she usually gets it. They'd probably be flirting heavily by lunch.

"So what'd you think of him?" she asks.

"He seemed nice. He is good looking, I must admit."

"Hey watch it, future Mrs. Logan Bruno. I'll tell."

I shove her playfully. "Right. Sure you will. I didn't say I wanted to bed him. It sounds like you've got that taken care of." I'm sometimes surprised at how much bolder I've become since Stacey and I have become good friends. The things I say now would have made me blush twelve shades of red when I was younger. I'll always be shy, but I'm definitely more confident. I wish sometimes that I had Stacey's confidence. Maybe it's from growing up in New York, and leading a faster lifestyle than I did here in Stoneybrook. I used to want to roll my eyes every time she talked about how "sophisticated" she was, but in a way, she was right.

Stacey scoops out the last of her yogurt and tosses the empty container in the trash. "Well, I'm going to get back to work. I've got a ton of checks to run for Dan before lunch. Where do you want to go today? Want to go to that new sandwich shop down the street?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you at noon."

The rest of my morning goes by uneventfully. I leave the spreadsheet on Dan's desk and see a stack of checks sitting on his chair. I smile. Good. That means Stacey's ready. I walk to her desk. She's applying some mauve colored lipstick.

"Stace, we're going to lunch. It's just going to come off."

"Yes, but we're walking by sales area on the way out. I want to make a good impression." She tosses her blonde hair behind her shoulders. She's thankfully behind her "fluffy" stage, and now is a slave to her flat iron.

I manage not to roll my eyes. We head downstairs and walk past all the sales desks. Stacey flashes Lorenzo a huge smile and walks right up to his desk. "I just wanted to welcome you to IMG. I really hope you like working here. Everyone here is just so great." She bats her eyelashes. "Have a great first day."

She walks up to me trimphantly. "Always leave them wanting more," she whispers. I stifle a giggle. I look past Stacey to Lorenzo, who appears to look confused and pleased at the same time. John Martinez, another salesman, leans over and punches Lorenzo on the arm and raises his eyebrows, as if to say, "She totally wants you." He'd be right.

I shake my head and follow Stacey outside. It was going to be an exciting summer, all right. In more ways than one.