SOUNDTRACK: "Good God Damn" - Arcade Fire

Kate rolled over in bed and stretched, looking at her phone. She hadn't slept in this late once since she moved in with Jared. She could hear his voice drifting in from the hallway as he had a conversation on the phone and she wondered why he hadn't woken her up yet. It was a quarter past ten and the interns would have already been at it for two hours. She sighed and got out of bed. Other than practice in Santa Clarita at seven that evening, her day was unplanned. All she knew was that she'd be working with Reni and Emma on Camp prep.

After getting dressed, she wandered through the house toward the sound of voices in the kitchen. Jared was leaning against the counter eating a bowl of cereal, having a conversation with his phone on speaker. He ended it when he saw her.

"Good. You're awake," he remarked.

"I thought you would have woken me up," she said, opening the fridge.

He shrugged. "I figured I'd let you sleep in."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Thanks?"

"When you're done, find Reni in her office," Jared instructed, downing the rest of his milk and putting his bowl in the sink. "I'm going to be gone all day."

"Where are you going?" Kate asked. Usually if he was going somewhere for the day, he would tell her in advance.

"Hiking in Malibu with Chloe and some friends," he answered. "But I'll be back tonight."

"Oh, okay," she said. In the past, he would have taken her with him. But he was allowed to have a life away from her. "Taking the day off?"

He nodded. "I need it," he chuckled, running his hand through his hair. He looked at his watch. "I've gotta go. Have fun."

"Sure. I guess I'll see you tonight, then," she replied. "Don't fall off any cliffs."

Jared nudged her shoulder affectionately as he passed, leaving her alone in the kitchen. It was suddenly strange for her to be alone in the house with all of his employees. For the most part, her interaction with many of them had been minimal. She knew their names and would greet them, but they didn't really talk much. Aside from Samir, Reni, Shayla, Emma, and now Jared's new assistant Joie, she wasn't particularly close with any of them. No time like the present to learn new things.

After finishing her breakfast, Kate walked through the house to the opposite side of the Compound where all of Jared's employee offices were. She found Reni in her "office". It was really a walk in closet with a large table she would use to spread paperwork out on, but everyone called it her office. Kate knocked on the door frame and Reni looked up from her laptop.

"Kate! Good morning," she remarked, walking over to the teen.

"Hey," Kate replied. "Jared said I should come find you here."

Reni nodded. "Yeah. Come with me and I'll show you what you'll be doing today." The older woman led Kate through to a larger common space where several stacks of big cardboard boxes stood next to a long conference table. "You'll be working with Meghan and Tyler counting and labeling passes for Camp."

A blonde sat next to a laptop and a tall black man was sifting through the contents of a box. Reni nodded to them and then left.

"Sure," Kate replied eagerly. She walked over to a box and pulled it off of the stack with ease. "So just count the passes?" she asked.

Meghan nodded. "But divide them accordingly. Day passes and 3 day passes. There are also passes for different camps." Kate gave her a confused look. "The campground is big. We'll split up campers into different camps within the grounds based on the packages they buy. So pay attention to the types of passes you're pulling out."

Kate set to work, pulling out bundles of brightly-colored passes from each box. Before long, the table was covered in cardstock passes and Meghan was counting each stack while Tyler logged it into the laptop.

"That wasn't so bad," Kate remarked. The two adults laughed. "What?"

"That's just the beginning," Tyler said. "We're programming the stock into the website next. I hear you're pretty good with that type of thing?"

Kate smiled. "I'm decent at coding, sure."

"More than decent, if Shannon's to be believed," Tyler answered.

Kate settled behind the laptop as Vedder meandered into the room, looking lost and lonely. He lay down at her feet under the table with a sigh, clearly missing Jared.

~~~

The sun came through Kate's window and hit her face. She rolled over in an attempt to escape it, but only met Vedder's snuffling nose as he tried to wake her up to go outside. She groaned and sat up, shuffling through the house to let the dog out through a back door. On her way back to her room, she noticed a Post-It tacked to her door. She peeled it off and read it.

Didn't fall off a cliff. Chloe's in the guest room.

Jared made it home, then. They had gotten into the routine of Jared just leaving her a note when he would come in late. It was less disturbing than him texting her. Whenever he had a late dinner meeting or event to go to and he was coming home later than eleven, he'd just drop her a note. Kate wasn't fazed by his note, but she was surprised that his hiking excursion had kept him out so late. But Chloe was known for spontaneous outings and it wouldn't surprise Kate if the stylist had made a random suggestion and Jared had just gone along with it.

Shrugging, Kate tossed the note into her trash can and climbed back into bed, hoping to catch a little more sleep. Unfortunately, Vedder started barking at the back door and she had to get up to let him in. Jared had joked about getting a Doggy Door, but for Vedder that would have meant literally sawing off the entire bottom half of a door just so the huge animal could fit through. It wasn't as practical as it sounded. She let Vedder back inside and fed him. Too awake to go back to sleep, Kate went about getting breakfast for herself.

She was halfway through spreading avocado on toast when she heard footsteps in the hallway. "Late night, Chloe?" Kate called, assuming it was the other woman.

"Not Chloe," a new voice replied.

Kate's eyes widened as a new woman appeared in the kitchen. She was tall, thin, blonde, and screamed Los Angeles Model with beachy waves and perfect sun-kissed skin. It didn't take anything higher than a third grade education to figure out what the model was doing there.

"You must be Kate," the woman said, extending her hand. "I'm Audrey." Kate looked at the hand like it was infected with flesh-eating bacteria and didn't shake it. "I was out with Jared and Chloe all night."

Kate was shocked into silence and resumed spreading avocado across her bread to give herself something to do. She moved through the kitchen to the dining area and sat at the table mutely. Jared had a sleepover. With a woman. She couldn't remember the last time he had someone over. For a brief moment, she was happy for him. Then she was treated to an image of him and Audrey rolling around in his bed and suddenly, she lost her appetite.

"Good morning," Chloe sang as she came into the dining room. Audrey hovered uncertainly near the doorway. Chloe froze when she saw Audrey, her eyes darting between Kate and the blonde. "Shit."

"Yeah," Kate grimaced, staring straight ahead at a painting of her mother's on the wall.

"This is awkward," Chloe remarked.

"You think?" Kate whispered.

"Coffee?" Chloe asked Audrey, taking the model into the kitchen.

Kate was still sitting in a traumatized state when Jared appeared a few minutes later. He froze, mid-stride, and winced when he saw her.

"I thought you'd still be asleep," he said.

Kate shook her head. "Nope. Vedder woke me up," she said softly, picking at her toast.

"Sorry I didn't tell you I'd be gone so late," he apologized. She nodded in silence. "Have you...did you meet Angie?"

"Audrey," Kate corrected him with annoyance. "Jesus, if you're gonna bring them home and fuck 'em at least learn their names," she rolled her eyes.

Jared blushed at her forward statement and hurried away from her, muttering about coffee.

~~~

Five hours later, after Jared had sent both Chloe and Audrey home, showered, and returned a few business calls, he found Kate down in her studio, looking at photos she had put up on the wall. Vedder was laying on the large bed she had placed in the room for him, gnawing on a bone. The dog didn't even look up when Jared entered the room.

"You're getting pretty good," he remarked, nodding to the pictures. "Keep this up and I'll just hire you as a tour photographer the next time we go out."

It was a poor attempt at breaking the ice and Kate had mercy on him.

"I guess. I've been wanting to show these to Terry, but I haven't had a chance to talk to him since we were there over Spring Break," she said, sitting down.

"About this morning," he started.

"Please don't," she replied, holding up her hand. "I don't need an explanation."

He blushed and tucked his hands into his jacket pockets. "I just - I know we had an agreement about...that. I'm sorry. I thought I could get her out of here before you woke up. That was my fault. I didn't expect her to spend the night."

She didn't respond and looked at the wall of photos in front of them. There was no point in being upset with him; she couldn't very well expect him to never hook up with anyone. He was single and not unattractive. The issue Kate realized she had was that the model wasn't much older than herself.

"I'll be seventeen this year," she remarked. He looked at her in confusion. "Audrey wasn't a day over twenty-one."

Jared had a vague idea of where she was taking this, but he wanted her to say it. "And?"

"And I don't think it's too much to ask that you keep your harem's average age more than five years older than me," she explained.

He tilted his head slightly in acknowledgement of her request. "Fair enough." They were silent for a minute. "What if I sent you to New York City for a week to make it up to you?" he asked.

Kate's face lit up. "Really?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. You can hang out with Terry and the twins. I'm sure he can use the help with them," he said with a smile.

"I used to think my love couldn't be bought. But now I've come to realize bribery is extremely effective," she responded.

Jared laughed. "If it works, I'll take it."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Do you have a Jared Leto or Mars fan fiction that you'd like to share with others? If so, check out the Jared Leto/Mars Fan Fiction Contest! You can find more information in the book on my account.

Do you like reading Jared Leto/Mars fan fiction? Interested in judging the contest? Check out the About section in the book on my account for more information!

Are you an author and would like more attention for your work? Message me or comment on the About page in the book about doing an interview for the contest!

S.