The Journalist (Norman Reedus fanfic)

New Adventures

Elle started her day just like any other day. She woke up in her small hometown in New Jersey and started getting ready for work. She was a bit of a procrastinator and enjoyed sleeping way too much and as usual, was rushing around trying to get out the door on time. She wasn't sure her boss was going to forgive her another time for being late. Her coworkers kept bugging her to move to the city so she was closer to work but Elle loved being at home in Jersey. They were all from different parts of the country and they didn't quite understand what it meant to be from a small town in suburban New Jersey. She was a 20 minute train ride to New York City, 3 minutes from a supermarket, 5 minutes from the park, and only 10 minutes away from her family. She grew up here, went to school here, and everyone she loved was in this town. The bars she frequented all had bartenders that knew her since she was 18 with a fake id. She still ran into her kindergarten teacher every so often. This was home. Besides, the train ride was always her quiet time to think.

Elle worked in Manhattan for a small publishing company. She started out there as a graphic designer. However after a few years and some downsizing, she wrangled two jobs becoming a part time journalist as well. She enjoyed her hectic job. She was well respected in the small office and loved the working atmosphere with her small amount of coworkers.

As Elle was staring at her closet trying to decide what to wear she realized she had to catch her train in 10 minutes. She gave up trying to look decent that day and threw on the first boring outfit she saw: a black button down shirt dress and ankle booties. She threw her hair up into a messy bun and ran out the door taking her makeup with her to apply on the train. Once on the train she decided red lipstick would complete her look. Thank god that red lipstick is in because it made getting ready that much easier.

As she walked into the office, she noticed everyone was mulling about whispering and gossiping. Being a very small environment and being close friends with everyone, she ran over to see what all the hullabaloo was about.

"Hey Patty, what's going on?"

Patty was the office's resident gossip whore and also a good friend of Elle's.

"Girl, you missed all the drama! Eric quit!"

Eric was their leading journalist and got to do all the interesting juicy biographies. He had been working there since way before Elle got there so this was interesting gossip. She tried to pry more information out of Patty.

"What the hell happened??"

"Nobody knows. He was screaming at Bruce when everyone got here and then stormed out taking all his stuff from his desk with him. Kept saying something about being here for so long and never getting a raise"

"Damn. What are we gonna do without Eric though? Hire somebody new?"

"Maybe it's time for someone's promotion..." Patty said in a sing songy voice.

Elle scoffed. "Don't get your hopes up, P. Bruce loves me but that means I wouldn't be able to do graphic design anymore and we can't afford to hire a new designer."

Startled by the news, Elle went about her business working on a book cover for Donald Trump's new book. She was getting sick and tired of looking at his combover when her office phone buzzed signaling someone from the office was calling her.

"Hello?"

"Hey Elle its Bruce. If you're not busy, would you mind coming to my office? I need to speak to you about something."

"Uh yea sure thing, chief" Elle said shakily. What if she was being promoted.

Elle and her boss Bruce had a special relationship. When Elle first started, she was very young and naive. But Bruce gave her a chance and was almost like a second father to her. She was even invited to his house sometimes for barbecues with his family. Hearing what happened with Eric quitting had her worried about how Bruce was handling it.

"Hey Brucey, heard you had an interesting start to your day." She said sympathetically.

"So you've heard then I'm assuming." He said and continued after seeing her nod her head.

"Well you know money has always been tight around here, and with Eric gone I can't afford to hire a new head journalist. I was hoping, well praying, that you would take on some Eric's accounts. You would get a raise, obviously. And we'll see how that goes for a while before we decide what to do about all your design work."

Elle began to open her mouth to say something and Bruce interrupted her knowing exactly what she was gonna say.

"I know I know, you don't want to quit designing. I know you love it. Especially that Trump book right?" Elle snickered. "But I need you to step up here, E. You're the only one I trust to take on this huge client"

Elle was puzzled. "And what client might that be?"

Bruce paused and took a deep breath before blurting out "Eric was about to travel down to Georgia to work on our newest biographical editorial on The Walking Dead. you've seen the show right?"

"I've seen a couple episodes, yea." She was taken aback by the news and was struggling to find the right words to use. "Sooo I would be traveling to Georgia, to what? Interview the cast and crew or something?"

Bruce nodded his head and stood up walking around his desk and sitting on the edge of it closer to Elle.

"Pretty much. You'll be down there for 3 weeks while they're filming. You'll be interviewing each cast member and director, producer individually. Then there's gonna be a group interview with everyone. Jeff is gonna go with you to film some of it for a dvd feature for the book."

Elle was stroking her hair, something she did when she was deep in thought.

"Brucey, you know I would do anything for you. Of course I'm up for the challenge."

He let go a deep sigh of relief he seemed to have been holding in and chuckled as he lifted Elle up into a hug.

"Easy old man, you're gonna throw out your back again"

Bruce laughed at her and told her there would be a whole packet of information on her assignment waiting for her on her desk and that her flight to Georgia was leaving on Friday.

Elle couldn't wait to tell Patty about her new promotion.