"Guess who just got back today?

them wild eyed boys that'd been away.

Haven't changed, haven't much to say

but man I still think them cats are crazy...

The boys are back in town..."

Song: "The Boys Are Back In Town"-Thin Lizzy

*Monday-8:30a.m.*

"And this...is your office" the short woman said to her as she flipped the bright fluorescent lights on.

Allie blinked. "You're kidding me right?" she was in disbelief. This office was huge.

The woman chuckled light heartedly. "It's always the same reaction. Here at Jive we believe in treating our employee's right.  Especially our A&R department.  It's best to have a big, comfy office. We realize that you spend a lot of time in it, so why not have somewhere cozy to sit?" She smiled at Allie.

"Well I think I'll be utilizing this couch more than my chair." Allie said as she plopped down on it. "Seriously, I think I could fall asleep on this thing."

"Well I hope you're not in here that much that you need to use it for that reason.  All of your sign-on information is in the packet that's on your desk. If you have any questions I'm just down the hall and my extension is 5127." The woman headed for the door, but then turned around to say one last thing. "We're really excited to have you Ms. Taylor. We think you're going to be a great asset to this company." She smiled, and when she smiled the corners of her eyes crinkled up.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Donovan."

When she had left the room Allie got up from the couch and shut the door. She turned and looked around at her new office.  A large window took up most of the back wall. Her desk was made of maple wood and was shaped in an L with the longer part against the left wall. Shelves lined the walls above her desk and on the right side of the office were filing cabinets almost to the ceiling. On the entrance wall there was a tan suede couch and small maple coffee table in front of it with an assortment of magazines neatly fanned out.

Allie sighed. She couldn't believe it. She had finally realized her dream of working for a major label; she was in Cali, in this huge office that was hers alone-it was all a bit overwhelming.

Remembering the packet that Leslie had told her about on her desk she went and sat in the black leather chair. It squeaked under her weight, the leather still tight.  She flipped the folder open and placed the packet in front of her.  The front page had a welcome letter. Underneath was an invitation to a luncheon being held on Wednesday. Under that, a schedule of the weeks events. Venues she needed to go to, a few meetings she needed to attend and some people that she needed to meet with.

Looks like her "settling in days" had just filled up with lots of things to do. A few artists were coming into the building but none that had piqued her interest.  "Oh well" she thought; there'd be plenty of time for schmoozing with artists.

The next page was a list of contact information for people who worked in the building. It was a fairly large place. Six stories and who knows how many offices.  The last page was her sign-on information for the computer. She booted the computer up and when the sign-on to windows screen popped up she typed in Ataylor76 and the unique password given to her.  It prompted her to change her password so she changed it and hit enter. Windows loaded up and her desktop picture was a rotating Jive icon, silver in color, with a black background.

Microsoft outlook immediately started up. She already had three emails. One from Leslie the secretary for the A&R department whom had shown her the office. The second from Microsoft outlook thanking her for choosing them and the third from someone named Tatum, also in the A&R department. It read:

                Greetings Alexis! Welcome to Jive Records...you are in for a ride. My name's Tatum, or Tate, as most people call me. I'm also A&R and just wanted to say hello. I figured I'd let you get settled in your office before I just came and barged in. A few of us are going to lunch later on at Baja Fresh, just seeing if you wanted to join. We all know how it can be being the new person. We want to make it a little easier on you before you get fed to the sharks on Wednesday at the luncheon.  My office is just two doors down on the right. Feel free to stop in when you get a free moment. I hope you'll join us later!

~Tate~

Allie grinned. She locked her computer up and pushed back from her desk. She decided she'd meet people on her own. She ventured the few steps down the hall to Tate's door. It was closed so she knocked.

"Who is it?" A womanly voice answered. "Uhm, its Alexis, you said to stop by?"

"Oh! Sure, sure. Come on in!" she replied.

Even through the door Allie could tell she was smiling. Allie opened the door and walked in, looking at the girl sitting down on the couch, flipping through a magazine. Her office was set up fairly similar, just flip-flopped, and her couch was black leather.

"I just closed my door so that Leslie wouldn't bother me. The woman's a saint but I swear, sometimes she will talk your ear off." Tate sat up. Allie looked her over. She was a cute girl. Short brown hair, blazing green eyes, slender and fair skinned. 

"Where are my manners?" Tate stood up and extended her hand to Allie. "It's so nice to meet you Alexis! This whole floor has been a buzz about your arrival. Word is you're a genius at finding new talent."

Allie blushed. "You can call me Allie, actually. And I don't know about genius, but I've found a few people. I did a lot of freelance work when I got out of college. Most major labels won't take you unless you've got some experience under your belt."

"Oh pshh...didn't you find that hot new act ‘Breaking Point'?" Tate asked. "Yeah, but I had someone else with me who helped me out. So, I can't really take all the credit for it. I'm fairly new to doing this whole thing on my own."

"Not to worry, we are all here to help you out if you need anything." Allie smiled at her. "Thanks so much." Tate invited her to sit down with her on the couch so she did. "So how long have you worked here?"

"Not long. About two months I'd say.  Where'd you move from again? Florida?"

"Yeah, Orlando to be exact. I had to get out of there. It's not the right place for this kind of thing."

"I hear that. One of the other new girls here came from there too. You coming to lunch with us?" she asked.

Allie nodded. "Of course. I just got here on Friday night and did nothing all weekend except unpack and sleep. I need to meet some people."

"Trust me you'll be meeting so many in the next few days your head will be spinning with all the faces and names you have to remember." Allie's eyes got huge and Tate laughed lightly. "Most people react that way. It's not really that bad. You won't see them most of the time anyways. The people on this floor and the artist managers will be whom you see most often. And as for me and the other A&R people, we'll become your best friends. We're a close knit bunch up here." Allie was relieved to hear that.

"How many other A&R people are here?"

 Tate paused before answering. "Four, well, five now with you. There's you, Jessi, Trent, Alex, and me. Alex is the prized boy of the label so watch out for him and the kinds of things you say around him.  Other than that, he's a cool cat to be around. Very knowledgeable." Allie made a mental note of that.

"So...what is there to do around this town besides look for celebs?" Allie asked sarcastically. "It's Hollywood! Come on now!" Tate joked. "When the weekend comes you'll figure it out. Some of us go out on Friday's for drinks after work, and then the girls and I hit up some club. Friday's have become the highlight of my week, followed by very, very, late breakfasts on Saturday morning."

"Awesome. You can SO count me in. So do we get to cut in line and get VIP?"

Tate grinned. "You bet your ass we do! We're like key in the scene around here. Everyone knows us and everyone wants to be us. Live it up girl, this is the life right here."

Allie was excited. It was only Monday and she was already trying to figure out what she was going to wear out.  "Ok well, I guess I'm going to go look over my schedule for the week.  I think I've got a meeting with someone after lunch." Allie checked her watch. It was only 9:30 and her stomach was growling. "Hey where's the cafeteria in this place? I need some grub to tide me ‘til lunch."

"I'll walk you down there. I was thinking the same thing."

They made their way down the hallway to the elevator and took it up to the fifth floor.  The elevator doors opened up and dumped them in the cafeteria. 

Allie was expecting something large but this? It seriously covered the whole floor. It was like her high school lunchroom all over again.

"So what's your pleasure?"

Allie was scanning over the tables. It wasn't very busy but there were a few people in there. Her eyes stopped on one very curly head of hair and stayed there.

"Allie?" Tate asked, following Allie's eyes to what had her so fixated. Allie hadn't heard. She was entranced.

"Oh my god. Is that who I think it is?" She uttered quietly.

Tate's eyes finally saw who she was looking at. "Holy shit, it is." Apparently the two were equally surprised in who was sitting just a few feet away from them.

Allie's heart was racing. She wanted to squeal like a little girl and run over and ask him for his autograph.

But then she came back to reality and realized where she was. At work. At Jive records. Where they were signed. She should have prepared for this. With the recent statement made to the media that sent little girls and older women's hearts a flutter all over the U.S. she should have thought about it. They were making a comeback. It was only natural that some of them would be around the studios. Duh! She resisted the urge to smack herself in the forehead for being so stupid. 

"Should've known they'd be coming around here." Tate said to Allie.

"Yeah, no kidding. Even I was excited about their announcement when I heard. I was going to be one of the first people in line when the new album came out. Now here I am, and I'll get to preview the damn thing before it even hits stores. This job is getting better by the minute."

They grinned at each other and started walking towards the line. Allie grabbed a bagel with some peanut butter and Tate grabbed a blueberry muffin. As they were waiting to pay for their items they were both staring at the table.

"So which one was your favourite?" Allie asked. "Lance, all the way. Those green eyes. Oooh baby." They laughed. "What about you?"

With her eyes Allie said all she needed to say. "Ahh, I see. So that was the reason for the enchantment, eh?"  Allie could feel herself blushing. "Guilty. He is beautiful. And I must say, I'm SO glad he's rockin' the curls again." She started fanning herself.

 At that moment one of the other guys sat down at the table. "We have three of the five. If the other two show up I might faint." Allie snickered. "I'm right there with you. There's a table open by them. Quick! Go sit!" They picked up their drinks and a few napkins and tried to make it look like they weren't in a hurry to get to the table next to the boys. They sat down just as the remaining two Nsyncers joined the table next to them. 

"I don't even believe this." Allie whispered. "I know..." she was cut off mid sentence by a deep voice.

"Sorry to interrupt you ladies but can we sit down? There's no room for us over there."

Tate looked up and her eyes slammed into the same green eyes she had been swooning over minutes before. "Uhm...uhh...you sure can." Tate stuttered. Allie tried to cover up her laugh at Tate's reaction.

"Why don't you just push the tables together?" One suggested. "Yah, good idea Joe." Green eyes replied.

The girls got up and pulled their chairs out so that the boys could push the tables together.  Giving excited looks back and forth at each other they sat down again, this time with all the Nsync boys. "Hi, I'm Joey." He said, extending a hand to them. "Allie."

"Tate."

"Nice to meet you." He winked. "And these other guys here are Justin, Chris, JC, and Lance."

"Yah, we know." Allie smiled. "Hey guys!" She smiled, locking eyes with Justin.

"So, what do you guys do here?" Joey asked, breaking the silence. "We're both in the A&R department." Tate replied.

"Sweet. How long have you worked here? I don't think I've seen either one of you before?" Lance asked. "I've been here about two months, and Allie here, this is her first day."

Allie started to blush when all eyes were on her. "Aww. So you're the new baby of the company. Welcome girl!" Justin said, flashing a grin towards her. "Yah, I guess so.  What're you guys doing here today?" Allie asked.

"Just came in to visit Johnny, Wright that is."

"Oh cool. When are you guys starting recording? I heard the announcement a couple months back. That's pretty exciting. I think you'll make QUITE the comeback."

"We've actually been recording a lot of stuff up in New York but decided we wanted a change of scenery so we came out here," JC replied. "...and thanks for the compliment."

Tate sat and watched in awe at how Allie was handling herself. No wonder she made it up the ranks so quickly at such a young age. She could sure hold her own.

"Of course. We should really be getting back to work though. We'll see you guys around I'm sure." Allie said, standing up and grabbing her bagel.

"Most definitely. We'll stop in and say what's up." Chris said, getting up to throw his trash away. "OK. Bye guys!" Tate and Allie said in unison.

They walked the few steps to the elevator and wished they had a bag to put over their heads. They could feel the eyes of all five guys boring holes into the back of them, watching with curiosity as they walked away. Allie punched the down button a few times frustratedly. "God please just get me out of here."

The elevator doors finally opened and they rushed inside, pressing the button for the second floor. They waved to the five guys as the doors shut and then sighed with relief when they could no longer see them.

"Ok seriously, I wish I would have been warned that they were going to be here. I looked at my list of artists who were supposed to be in the studio this week and DEFINITELY didn't see their names on there. I SO would have dressed cuter!" Allie stated. Tate laughed because Allie had kept her cool the entire time they were at the table. It was funny to see her break down like this.

"Allie, I think we're going to be seeing a whole hell of a lot of them around here. It might be a good idea to dress cute every day." The girls laughed.

The doors opened up in front of them and waiting for the elevator was a stocky, young man, about 26 or 27 years of age. "Tatum! You disappeared on me again. I thought we were meeting each other to go out on that errand together...oh...hello...you must be Alexis, the new girl. I'm Trent." He extended a hand towards Allie and shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you." Allie replied.

He looked back and forth between the two. "Cafeteria run?" Tate nodded. "Yep, you know my daily."

"Oh, so I can expect a breakfast buddy in the morning?" Allie asked. Tate looked at her and smiled. "Of course."

Trent stood staring death eyes into Tate. "Ok Trent. We can go...jeez. We got held up by someone." The three of them made their way down the hall to Tate's office. "A few someone's." Allie grinned as she stopped in front of her office.

"Someone's? Who?" Trent asked.

"The boys of Nsync." 

His jaw dropped. "No freaking way! Are they still here?" Allie couldn't tell if he was actually serious or was just being sarcastic. Tate nodded. "Yep, upstairs. They said they'd be around a lot lately, with the recording of their new album and stuff. They had been up in New York recording but I guess there are some things out here that they need to take care of."

Trent began fanning himself. "I can die a happy man once I see Joey's fine ass around here." Allie cracked a smile at him as Tate laughed loudly at his antics.

"Well, we're out of here. We should be back before lunch, but if not, Jessi can give you directions to Baja Fresh. You can get my cell number from Mrs. Donovan if you need to get a hold of me for any reason." Tate said as the three walked down the hall towards Allie's office.

"Thanks so much, Tate! See you guys later!" Allie smiled at them warmly before she disappeared into her office to get settled in.

*A few weeks later

She tried to get comfortable in her chair. This meeting was taking forever and all she kept thinking about was going out with Miki and Tate that night. They were trying out a new club, Ivy or something like that, and she was hoping that a certain popstar was going to make an appearance. The guys of Nsync had been going out with them the past couple Fridays but other than that they hadn't seen much of them. They were all busy recording.

 Almost a month had gone by and the whole CD was almost ready to be mixed and mastered and sent out for reproduction. "Johnny asked a big favour of us. He would like to have an A&R person out on the road when the guys start touring. I know it's not necessarily in the job description of an A&R person but it would really help him out. We'd give it to Alex but his plate is already pretty full. Trent and Miki just aren't ready for it. So that leaves you two."

Allie swivelled in the leather chair and bumped her knee against Tate's.

"Well in my opinion Mr. Williams, Allie should get it. She's had experience being on a tour before. I'm not sure I like the idea of living out of a suitcase."

Allie was shocked. She was fully anticipating Tate to say she wanted the job. "I'd love to take it but...what would I be doing?"

Mr. Williams responded, "Well you'd be more of an assistant road manager rather than an A&R person. This tour is going to get pretty hectic just because everyone is anticipating the album and the tour. It's going to blow the roof off of the stadiums it plays in. It's gonna be bigger than Pop Odyssey. We all feel that the boys need a proper ushering back into the spotlight."

Allie nodded. It sounded interesting; crazy, but definitely interesting. Tour management was something she had always had an interest in. Here was a chance to try it out.

"Sign me up." She had gone on tour with Natural back when she was still in college getting her degree. But that was for a brief period of about two weeks. She had had fun though, so she could only imagine what this would be like.

"When is the tour set to start?"

"Much like Pop Odyssey, the guys are going to start the tour and then release the CD during it. They'll be in postproduction on the CD in about 2 weeks and during that time they'll start rehearsals. This tour has been in the works since they started recording so much of the layout of the stage and lighting has already been figured out. They just need the choreography and then the rehearsals on the stage with the crew and they'll be set to go."

It didn't sound like much but in reality they probably wouldn't be going on tour for about a month and a half. "When are you releasing the tour dates to the fans?"

"Advertisements to radio, TV, and the web will be going out next Wednesday. The guys will be doing interviews on TRL, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and many radio stations nationwide...to get the word out to more people. Their single is set to release around the country on the 1st of May. It's April 16th now and the tour is starting the beginning of June. That soon enough for you?" finished Mr. Williams.

Allie was hurriedly jotting all of this down to remember it for later so she could put it on her calendar. "How many shows are they going to do?"

"It's still in talks but the estimate is about 48-56 cities."

Allie's eyes widened. They really were going all out. Just hope that the fan base was still as large as it once was and still as eager to hear something new from the guys. "Whew. The guys are going to be busy." Tate stated.

"Yes they are. So you can see why Johnny has asked for help as he's not going to be able to be there all the time." Both the girls nodded. "Well I think that's about all I've got for you two right now. I'll call you if I think of anything else."

All three left the conference room and Mr. Williams went one way while the girls went the other. "Wait ‘til the guys hear about this one." Tate laughed. "I know. They'll get a kick of it for sure. You think they're coming out with us tonight?"

"I doubt it. From what Michael said, they're going to be pretty tied up for the next month and a half with preparing for this thing. Their schedules are going to be monstrous. I'd hate to be their planner. Sounds like he's going to have his hands full too."

"No kidding. I'm pulling my hair out already and it hasn't even started."

Allie checked her watch. 3:30. She had to finish up her review on this new kid Tyler before she left the office for the day. "Tate I'll meet you guys at the Blue Martini after work. I might be a bit late. I've got to finish up this thing on Tyler."

"Yeah that's ok. I think Miki's going to be late too. I'll just chill there with the guys." Allie went to open her door and Tate said "oh yah Allie, you're welcome. I practically handed that job to you."

"I know Tate, thank you SO much. I owe you one."

"Yeah, yeah. You don't owe me much. I hate tour buses." Tate laughed as she opened her office door. "I'll see you later tonight?"

"Count on it." With that Allie closed her door behind her and flopped down on the couch. As soon as she sat down she heard the IM on her computer. She got up and went to sit down in her black leather chair.

FatWonBlackberry: Congrats!

AllieAR: Wow. Good news travels fast?

FatWonBlackberry: Yeah! Mr. Williams came down to the studio a few minutes ago and told Johnny. Chris overheard them talking.

AllieAR: Now why doesn't that surprise me?

FatWonBlackberry: Because it's Chris.

AllieAR: lol

FatWonBlackberry: the blonde one is pouting because we can't go out tonight

AllieAR: pouting?

FatWonBlackberry: yes, pouting. Even at 27 he still pouts

AllieAR: aww how cute. We'll get a chance to go out before the tour gets started I'm sure.

FatWonBlackberry: of course! The sound nazi (aka JC) is calling us back. Talk to you soon girl!

Allie closed out the IM and shook her head. She leaned her head back on the chair and sighed. What had she just gotten herself into?