"Do you know what this little soirée is about?"  He asked as he settled in.  She leaned over and let her hand brush against him.  They were both still fresh from their first date two days ago.  Shyness suddenly seemed like an invisible wall between them.  Even the mildest touch from Pam made Jim's skin tingle.

"I don't know, but Ryan called and will be here in a minute."  She spoke closely to his face and he could swear that he smelled the peppermint of her breath mint.  His lips tingled for a second as he remembered how she tasted of peppermint when he had kissed her goodnight.  He wished he could bend over and kiss her again.  As if reading his thoughts, Pam winked and sat back in her seat.  Karen, who was sitting across the room, glowered in their direction.  Pam noticed her and suddenly seemed to find her own hands very interesting.

"So they're going to make the big announcement?"  Jim replied, doing his best to ignore Karen's watchful eyes.  "But everyone already knows about his promotion.  It's been the office talk all day."

"I know, but maybe Ryan wants to make a big impression."  Pam said.

"If he wants to make a big impression, maybe he ought to raise my pay."  Stanley stated.  He was sitting to Jim's right.  "The idiot couldn't sell ice water in Hades.  But they put him in charge?  It makes almost as much sense of Michael running this office."

Jim and Pam gave a small laugh.  Kelly came into the room and took a seat in the back of the room.  Her eyes were puffy and she was carrying a crumpled tissue.  The room was arranged like an auditorium with the chairs all facing a small table and easel pad.  On the table were a small plastic coffee pot and some Dunder Mifflin mugs.

Dwight came in and sat in the front of the group.  After everyone was gathered, Michael and Ryan arrived.  Ryan was no longer wearing his standard temp uniform of basic shirt and tie.  He was dressed in a very expensive looking blue suit.  His hair cut looked fresh.  Jim noticed a small film of sweat on Ryan's forehead.  He could see that Ryan was not feeling as confident as he wanted to appear.  Michael came to the front of the room.

"Hello, we are meeting today to meet our newest corporate aficionado, our own Ryan Howard!"  Michael announced and clapped as if this were surprising news. There was a very uncomfortable pause as everyone stared at the two men in front.  No one seemed pleased.  Even sycophant Dwight seemed slightly disgruntled.  Michael reached over and poured himself a cup of coffee, then stood facing everyone ready to start talking.

"I know you are all happy..."  Michael began, but was interrupted by Ryan's voice.

"I'll take this from here, Michael."  Ryan said, with only a small squeak in his voice. He stood in front of Michael and faced the small crowd.  "Go ahead and have a seat and we'll begin."

"I thought since this is my office, I could run..."  Michael appeared disturbed that he would have to sit and partake, instead of run the show.

"No, I can handle it.  Please have a seat."  Ryan replied.  Michael stood for a second and stared at Ryan with an embarrassingly bright grin on his face.

"You sure I ..." Michael said and he gestured to the easel pad.

"Now, Michael."  Ryan said and cleared his throat.  "We have a lot to cover."

"But...I know."  Michael still stood in the same place.

"Now, Michael."  Ryan said again.  Then quietly, under his breath, "You want to call David?"

Michael's face fell and he glared at Ryan for a second before stalking towards a chair in the back.  Dwight's leg was halfway in the aisle and Michael tripped over it, his coffee went flying over the crowd and splattered onto Kelly's clothes.  The coffee mug rolled under a chair.  Kelly shrieked and her arms sprung out quick to wipe the brown, hot substance off her purple silk shirt and skirt.

"Damn Dwight!"  Michael yelled.  "Can't you keep those boat sized feet of yours out of the aisle?"  Dwight quickly stood and helped Michael up.

"I'm sorry Michael."  Dwight apologized, "I'm sorry."

"I'm the one with coffee on me!"  Kelly screeched. "You should be apologizing to me!"

"Why are you screaming?"  Dwight asked concerned.  "Did it burn you?"

"No, but it ruined my clothes, and you're apologizing to Michael!  He tripped himself over your huge feet!"  She said.  "I'm the one who got covered.  This shirt cost me a fortune!  No one cares about me!"  Kelly shouted and glared at Ryan across the room.  Ryan was opened mouth and had a deer in the headlight look.  "Certainly not the new management!"

Michael straightened himself up and shrugged off Dwight, who was brushing off Michael's clothes.  Kelly crossed her arms in and frowned.  Jim looked sideways at Pam who was struggling not to laugh. There was a loud snore from the corner of the room.  Everyone looked over to see Meredith with her head against the glass of one window, mouth open and asleep.  She let out another snore.  Kevin gave a little giggle.

"Way to take control of the meeting, Mr. Howard."  Stanley said dryly and everyone in the room laughed.  Ryan blushed slightly.

 "I know that many of you are surprised to see me here."  Ryan began.  He gave a forced smile at them and then pulled out an index card from his pocket and glanced at it.

"Look, Junior brought his cheat sheet." Stanley said in a low voice.  There was another round of giggles and Ryan straightened his tie.

"Listen, I know that some of you have a problem with this."  Ryan said in defense, "But they had a good reason to hire me."

"Because you, were so much more qualified than some of the others." Karen said sarcastically.

"I, uh, hope you can just listen to my ideas."  Ryan said and he puffed out his chest a little, trying to take charge.  Everyone was talking over each other now.  Ryan stood fixed and frustrated at the lack of respect being shown.

"Just go ahead." Jim interjected, feeling sorry for the other man.  "I'm sure we're curious about your ideas."  Everyone quieted down and focused on Ryan.  It was clear who ran the show in this room.  Ryan gave Jim an appreciative smile.  He cleared his throat.

"I feel that we need to bring Dunder Mifflin to the forefront of the future."  Ryan said in a practiced speech. "I hope to bring the Internet into major play in our future sales."

"But I don't know much about the Internet."  Meredith's voice sounded like she had woken up and joined the meeting.

"I use it to shop sometimes."  Phyllis said, "Is this going to be like EBay?"

"I have a very popular blog online."  Creed stated, "Maybe I could use my blog."

"How is this going to affect my warehouse?"  Darryl asked.

"What does this have to do with Accounting?"  Angela inquired tersely.

Ryan wiped some sweat from his brow.  He reached over and poured himself a cup of coffee.  Lifting the cup, Ryan took a large drink of the brew.  He placed the coffee cup down and then turned back to the employees.

"I see that there are alot of question."  Ryan answered and cleared his throat.  "I came here..."

Ryan stopped talking and started breathing heavily.  He looked towards the floor and reached up to his throat in panic, gasping for breath.  Jim and Oscar jumped up and ran over to him.  Everyone moved to see what was happening as Ryan collapsed to the floor. Jim yelled for them to get back.  Kelly gave a loud piercing scream.

Jim started to bend over Ryan for CPR, but then Ryan began to convulse.  There was another female shriek across the room and Andy shouted to call 911.  Dwight took off his coat and gave it to Jim, telling him to place it under Ryan's head.  Dwight withdrew a wooden pencil from his pocket and thrust it at Jim. 

"Jim, put this sideways in his mouth, so he doesn't bite his tongue!"  Dwight instructed loudly. Jim followed his directions. 

Kevin and Toby rushed to the phone to call for medical help.  Ryan's blue eyes were bugged out and his skin was bright red, warm and moist.  Phyllis was standing nearby with tears streaming down her face.  Meredith was wide awake now and looked as if she would vomit.  Michael looked catatonic and seemed not be able to move from his seat.  Jim held Ryan as still as he could.  He glanced over at Pam, who was pale and crying quietly.  Her hands were over her mouth in a silent prayer.  Jim felt utterly powerless. 

Seeing Jim's helpless expression, Dwight pushed him aside and leaned over to see if Ryan was breathing.  He detected the smell of almonds.  His face paled and he pulled back sharply.  Dwight looked toward the coffee pot.  Angela and Karen were standing in disbelief next to the table.

"Get away from the coffee pot!"  Dwight screamed.  "It's cyanide!  There was cyanide in that coffee!" 

Angela and Karen jumped way.  Kelly started screaming more loudly now.

"There's poison on me! There's poison on me! It's burning!"  Kelly shrieked and tore her skirt and shirt off.  She slung it away from her body.  It hit Creed, who deflected it in a heap against a wall.  Andy quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around Kelly's shoulder's, covering her bare skin. 

"Kelly, it hit your clothes, not your skin and it still wouldn't do that!"  Dwight screamed at her.  She started hyperventilating and Oscar went to handle her while Jim and Dwight stayed on the floor with Ryan.  

Kelly resisted Oscar and Andy's aid.  She flailed about and started screaming.  Angela walked up to her and slapped her across the face.  Kelly stopped screaming and looked at Angela stunned.  Everyone turned their attention back to Ryan on the floor.

Ryan had stopped breathing during the Kelly outburst and he lay staring into space.  Dwight felt for a pulse.  It was too late.  Jim felt a tear fall down his face and he reached over and closed Ryan's eyes.  There were eruptions of crying and sobbing from the women in the room.  The men stood stoically by, heads bowed in grief.

Kelly realizing that Ryan was dead went crazy.  She thrust herself at his body yelling his name and howling in anguish.  Jim and Dwight held her back, for fear of her ingesting any remnants of the poison. Phyllis put her arms around her and pulled her close.

"Ryan, don't leave me again!"  Kelly sobbed, "Please don't leave me again!"

"Call the police."  Jim said quietly, his head down, "Call the police."