A Lovely Affair (shared past fic with Joseph)

Meg made her way to her dressing room after the concert, she was tired but slightly grateful things had gone off without a hitch. She entered her dressing room and started to change out of her too poufy gown and sighed as she pulled the hairpins out of her hair and let it fall down to her waist as she shook her hair out. She smiled as she thought about Joesph...she wondered if he had felt the sexual tension in the room everytime they met. She didn't know much about sex or anything but the sparks that she felt whenever she was around Joseph made her wonder more about what could happen between them.

Joseph made his way backstage, with a bouquet in his hand.

Some random patron handed it off to him and said "Give it to Miss Megara for me." and walked away, leaving Joseph growling.

He didn't have to give it to her, he could throw it away. But, he usually went and gave the girls their flowers whenever they were tossed on him.

They deserved to be shown praise after the hard work they do.

He sighed as he walked up to the door. He looked at the roses in his hands and shook his head. He should have handed them off to stage hadn to give to her.

Lately he's been feeling like he was getting too close to the line with Megara. Yeah, sure, he was known to flirt with a few of the actresses/singers every now and then, take them on a date or two, have a nice one night stand or something...

But he had not done any of that with Megara...

They would flirt, but keep it at a professional level. Sometimes he would find himself alone with her in the theatre and she would say one thing that would send him over a bit.

He silently wondered if he could let her be a one night stand...

He shook himself from his thoughts, before giving the door a light knock. "Megara?" He called, used to calling people by their first names when they weren't in front of the patrons or Mrs. Parker.

Once she was out of the puffy gown, Meg slipped into a dressing gown that was much nicer and didn't feel like she was wearing a tent, she had just started brushing out her hair when she heard Joseph's voice. She froze, her hand stopping the motion with the brush but the brush slipped out of her grip and landed with a small thud she cursed and stooped to pick it up, "Uh....um come in!" She called once she had straightened, and then her eyes widened as she realized she was only in her dressing gown and it was hardly considered appropriate attire.

Joseph opened the door the moment he heard her say come in.

"Yeah, some guy asked me to give you these-" He said, as he came into the room before pausing when he notice the dressing gown that didn't leave much to imagination.

He cleared his throat, before giving a nervous chuckle. "You were waiting for me or something?" He joked, before he moved to step out of the room.

"I'll come back once you're... yeah..." He said, halfway back out the door.

She blushed, "Or something like that...I'm sorry...I uh got distracted." She said and tugged at the dressing gown to try and cover herself better, "Uh wait, who gave you these?" She asked as she turned to look at the roses, she frowned when she saw the note.
You looked great up on stage, so close to me really...its a shame we haven't met in person yet. When that day arrives, it'll be your last
Signed Anonymous
Meg gasped and dropped the note as one hand flew up to her mouth, was she a target then?

"Just some random admirer." He said, rolling his eyes.

He watched her reaction when she read the note. "What's wrong?" He asked, worried, before he picked up the note and read it himself.

He looked at it in surprise. "The hell?" He mumbled, before tossing it in the trash pin after crumbling it up. "Damn prankster..." He said, before throwing the flowers in the trash and moving over to Megara.

"Hey, don't worry about this guy, it's probably just some kid wanting attention from the actors, but going about it all wrong. We'll find him and put a stop to this, all right?" He said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded but a few tears slipped out and before she was quite aware of what she was doing she was hugging Joseph and trying her best to calm herself down.

Joseph looked down at her, surprised, before wrapping his arms around her, gently. He rubbed her back, helping her to calm down. He did his best to make soothing noises, having had comfort a few actresses before when they had stage fright or something.

Even though this was different, he was glad he knew what he could do to try and comfort her, instead of standing there like an idiot.

Once he had wrapped his arms around her Meg relaxed and her sobs slowly ended but she didn't move out of his comforting embrace, "Thank you." She said quietly as she looked up at him with a small smile on her face.

He gave her a small smile. "Any time..." He said, still rubbing her back. "Need some water?" He asked, figuring she could use something to drink.

She gave him a small smile and then bit her bottom lip, "I think I would need something a little stronger." She admitted as she pulled back slightly.

Joseph chuckled. "Well, we got nothing back here, but if you want to grab a coat or something, I've got some scotch in my office." He stated, winking at her.

He gave her a smirk as he let her go so she could decide what she wanted to do.

She smiled at him, "You know how to charm a woman." She teased lightly as she went to get her coat, she was secretly excited but she tried not to let it show as she pulled her coat on. "How do I look?" She asked with a small smirk.

"it's a gift." He said, leaning against the door frame, crossing his arms. He smirked when she asked him how she looked. he thought about giving a kind of sarcastic flirty remark.

But, he went with how he really felt instead. "Radiant."

She blushed and then looked down, "Thank you." She said quietly before she stepped up to him, "Now then...scotch time...and I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into." She said lightly as she smiled at him.

He chuckled as he stepped off the door frame. "I think I can manage." He said, before opening the door. He gave a little bow. "After you, Madame." He said, smirking at her.

Her smile widened and she gave a mock curtsey, "Why thank you kind sir." She said lightly before she stepped out of her room and waited for him to join her before she kept walking. "So do you always invite girls to have a drink with you or am I special?" She asked teasingly as she smiled up at him.

He shrugged as they walked. He had his hands in his pockets. "Eh, usually I take them out, never to my office." He stated, with a nonchalant tone.

"So, yeah, you can think of yourself as being special." He said, smirking at her as they walked.

She laughed, "Good to know and don't worry I'll keep this a secret." She said as she winked at him.

"Good. Don't need it getting around that I take women to my office now." He said, smirking.

Once they reached his office, he pulled out his key and unlocked the door. "I never leave it unlocked unless I'm in there; don't need anyone stealing my scotch or cigars." He stated, wiggling his eyebrows a little when he looked back at her.

He opened the door for her. "After you." He said, smirking at her again.

She couldn't help the laugh that left her once again when he wagged his eyebrows at her and shook her head smiling at him until he had opened the door, "Thank you." She said graciously as she stepped inside his office. It smelled faintly like cigar smoke which made sense as he had just admitted he smoked them, she glanced behind her and watched as he entered the office. "Nice office....its weird I have never actually been in any of the offices until now." She said as she looked around herself.

"You've never had to ask me something outside of rehearsals either." he stated, as he shut the door behind him.

He walked over to his stash of scotch and poured two glasses. He handed one to her and offered her a seat in one of the chairs.

He sat on his desk as he drank his scotch. "You know..." he said, looking off into the distance for a moment. "I've always wondered why you picked the Opera House to join; seems to me you could have done anything and yet you chose here. Makes me wonder why..." He said, softly, before taking another drink of his scotch.

She smiled softly as she took a sip of the scotch and once she swallowed she studied him thoughtfully, "I chose the Opera House because I loved to sing and dance....most other places I applied for were looking for exotic dancers." She said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "When I grew up I had this...fantasy about performing at the Opera House...it was always a dream of mine and so when I was told I had a great voice I decided to try it out. And at first it wasn't exactly my dream come true but I love it here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." She said softly.

Joseph smirked, but his eyes were gentle. "Looks like we've all had the same dream." He stated, before taking another drink of his scotch.

"Tell me, the blonde girl, Aurora, right?" He asked, referring to one of the maids in the house. "She's your sister, isn't she?" He asked, taking another drink of his scotch, before realizing his glass was empty. He got up and filled his glass again.

Meg took another long sip of her scotch and then watched him, "Yeah...I actually recommended her to work here at the Opera House, she's got talent too she just hasn't really done much with it yet. However I've had to keep Gaston from touching her." She added with a dark look in her eyes as she spoke.