(Disclaimer: I don´t own the OUAT characters.)

"You idiot!" It sounded more frustrated than insulting when the brunette yelled at the quiet intern. "It wouldn´t hurt if you paid more attention, dear. What part about ´watering the flowers´is so difficult to comprehend?" Regina huffed while dabbing a napkin along her skirt where half of the water had accumulated after the vase on her desk had been knocked over. All the while Felix was fidgeting with the notebook that was soaking wet by now, trying to get it out of the water´s path and out of harm´s way. "I am so sorry. Het spijt me heel erg! It was an accident."

He shouldn´t have said that. He regretted it the moment the words had foolishly rolled off his tongue. The brunette´s head jerked up in one violently sharp move and brown eyes burned into his. "Correct me if I am wrong, Felix, but I am under the impression that you´re of the opinion little accidents like this", she frantically gestured at her water soaked documents, "are acceptable."

He squinted. It almost looked comical, the way he tried to bury his head between his shoulders in order to appear smaller, less attackable. "It won´t happen again, Miss Mills, I promise. I am going to take care of this and, like I said, this won´t happen again."

She hesitated replying for a moment, looking sternly, yet, thoughtful. This young man was the only intern in the Amsterdam branch office who had been here long enough to know his way around. The thought of having to teach another intern wasn´t appealing at all. Especially with the upcoming expo. "You´re right", she agreed, "it won´t happen again." And with those words she turned around, heady footsteps leading her towards the door and out of her office.

"And Felix", he heard his boss requesting when she had almost left the room, "There are going to be new copies of each and every one of those documents on my desk when I come back."

She sighed when the cold winter air hit her as she stepped out of the building and right into the busy lane, finding it difficult to cross it even though it was so ridiculously small. Not being knocked over by a bicyclist seemed to be top priority and not an easy task to accomplish. Yet, she hadn´t heard of it actually happening so far. She soon found herself staring at the town canal absent mindedly for a break and a breath of fresh air. Why did she even have to be here? What had she done to deserve this? Couldn´t she just close her eyes, make a wish, click her heels or something like that and be back home? Home. Where was that now? Ever since her mother had past away a couple of months prior, Regina had had to move from one place to the other, taking care of branch offices all over Europe when she had always been responsible for the mother company in Maine. Mother company. She almost snorted at the ridiculousness of that. How ironic. It had always been her mother who´d done the travelling. She had had her hands and heart in every single one of the European offices. She sighed and allowed to admit to herself that the real reason for not making Felix pay for his unfortunate clumsy behaviour today was the fact that he had know her mother and he had been one of the last people to work with her, who had seen her before -

"Excuse me?" Regina was ripped from her thoughts by the voice of a boy, probably not older than twelve, who was trying to get her attention. She looked at him, scanning him up and down. He was balancing a tray with two to-go mugs on top of a pastry take it away box, all the while grinning at her in a perfectly happy state. His brown hair a bit damp from the winter drizzle, his red scarf utterly impractically tied so that it couldn't possibly keep him protected from the cold. He didn't seem to mind though.

"I am sorry, you were saying?" Regina was wondering how long that boy had been trying to get her to listen. "Erm, I would just like to pass, please. You're kind of blocking our driveway."

"Driveway?" she looked around, confused and the boy lifted one elbow trying to point into the direction he was headed to, the steaming to-go mugs swaying dangerously. When Regina's eyes followed his indicated target she sucked in a breath of realization. She was standing right in front of the part of the balustrade that gave way to tiny steps let into the concrete below. Tucked in neatly between other boats was a comparably big boat coated in bright yellow paint. Talking a closer look it became apparent that the boat was in need of a new layer of paint.

Her eyes wandered back to the boy. "You live on that boat?" she inquired wrinkling up her nose in disdain. The boy merely shrugged, leisurely puckering his lips as if it were nothing unusual. Taking a glance up and down this town canal Regina decided that the boy's reaction was understandable. It probably wasn't that unusual to meet people around here that spent more than the usual socially acceptable time on boats. And by that she meant a couple of hours of sailing. Then again she was confusing these boats with sailing boats now.

"Um..." the child cleared his throat and nodded towards where he was attempting to access the boat. Regina shook her head, clearing it from her thoughts. "Of course." she stepped aside to let him pass and watched him struggling down the tiny steps, which weren't really steps after all, were they?

"Are you sure you don't need help with that?" She frowned at herself in disbelieve, not being the type who'd offer help to random strangers on a daily basis. Was she turning soft? Certainly not. Yet, this boy clearly wasn't going to succeed in taking those beverages home safely. So she bent down, took both box and tray from him while he climbed down to then reclaim his breakfast of choice from her once he had stepped down securely. "Thanks!" he exclaimed smiling and stepped onto the boat.

When Regina walked back towards the building that was hosting the office, she could still see a blonde head coming to view in her peripheral vision.

"Who was that?" the woman asked. "Just some nice lady who helped me." The tone in his voice told Regina that the boy was most likely shrugging his shoulders again and she found herself smiling at the thought of that.

"Come on, kid, it´s cold, and I´m starving." The blonde stated, the boy following her inside. "Got you some bearclaws, mom."

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Massaging her temples frustration slowly crept over her. She ran one hand through her hair and slammed her other palm onto her desk. "Then track him down, Sidney." Regina snapped at the man staring at her from her computer´s screen. This Skype conference had been nothing but disaster. As had the rest of her day. Nothing was working out the way it was supposed to. The little water inferno this morning had just tipped off a chain reaction of tiny little catastrophes that, bundled up, made one big Armageddon. "It surely can´t be that difficult to find him. He must have been hired by some other company by now." Sidney stared back at her from the screen emotionless. "Believe me, I have checked with the competition." Regina was growing more agitated. "Has it crossed your mind that maybe the competition is keeping their mouths shut? He has got valuable information after all." A field service worker running off with all the important information for the expo. Fabulous. Apparently no one knew what Henk had promised the clients for their stay in Amsterdam. Apparently no one knew whether he had taken some of the clients with him when moving on to some other company, either. "Our clients are expecting a certain standard when they come to the expo, Sidney. And while the clients from most countries have been taken care of, we have no idea what the delegation from Spain is going to expect when they come here. And don´t you dare tell me to just go and ask their group leader!" When she said that she looked to the other end of the room where Felix was dusting book racks and books minutely. Obviously paying for innocently mentioning that calling the clients in Spain would do the job. "Such display of embarrassment is not going to happen under my watch." They´d have to sue Henk. They would sue Henk. They would sue his children and generations of future Henks. "Miss Mills?" there was a careful knock at the door. "What?!" Regina thundered at the man who was trying to get her attention and was now charging towards her desk. "You need to sign these documents today so that..." This was a practical joke, wasn´t it? Who in their right mind would be stomping in here like some horse because of documents on a day like today, after business hours, knowing what had gone down with Henk? "This will have to wait until tomorrow." she hissed and turned back to resume her conversation with Sidney. "There is only so much I can do from here, Miss Mills." Sidney stated matter-of-factly. "In which case you should have been on your way over here hours ago. Make sure you catch the next possible flight. I am expecting you here tomorrow afternoon." And with those words she shut her laptop. "Miss Mills? I am terribly sorry but I am afraid I have to insist you sign these documents today so that the arrangements for accommodating the Spanish clients can be-" She snatched the papers from his hand. "The Spanish clients, you say?" Finally a glimpse of hope. Finally something that could be accomplished today. Her eyes quickly scanned the pages before she put her signature on the last paper and sighed relieved, dismissing both Felix and the intruder. At least she now knew where the Spanish clients would be staying. Apparently Henk had promised them a stay on a houseboat of some sorts. The obsession with boats in this city was beyond her she thought while moving over to the window. She shook her head and yawned, looking down at the shabby yellow boat. Dim light glowing through the tiny windows, making it possible to make out the silhouettes of a blonde mother and a lean boy having dinner. Tomorrow would be a better day.