Private Correspondents Only

[Teddy Zane]

TAG: Holly Starstorm​

Teddy Zane had learned a long time ago that press conferences were rarely about answering questions. They were about surviving them. Someone important would walk onto the stage, deliver a carefully prepared statement written by three aides and approved by another six, then spend twenty minutes finding increasingly creative ways to avoid saying anything that might actually become news. Teddy considered it his professional responsibility to help them fail.

He sat near the back of the gathering press corps with his datapad balanced against one knee, stylus moving across the screen as he worked through possibilities.

DISASTER OR DELUSION? OFFICIALS INSIST EVERYTHING IS FINE

Too early. He scratched it out.

"WE HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL"

That one had potential. All Teddy needed was someone stupid enough to actually say it.

Underneath it, he started building questions.

At what point did your office first become aware of the situation?

Boring, but useful. Establish the timeline before they had a chance to muddy it.

Who specifically made the decision?

Always make them put a name on it.

If everything was handled correctly, why are we here?

Teddy smiled faintly and put a small mark beside that one.

There it was.

He added another question beneath it, then stopped when his mind wandered somewhere considerably less useful.

Holly Starstorm had turned bright red.

Teddy frowned at his datapad. That had absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming press conference. He tried writing another question.

Instead, his mind helpfully supplied the image of Holly in the café, nose lifted imperiously while informing him that she had exactly the right idea about Teddy Zane. Apparently that idea involved women dumping him, published pillow talk, and Holly herself becoming his flavor of the week.

His mouth twitched.

The woman had spent an impressive amount of time considering his hypothetical sex life for someone who claimed she would not use The Core Examiner as toilet paper.

Teddy had considered making something out of that.

He still might.

HOLLY STARSTORM OBSESSED WITH TEDDY ZANE'S LOVE LIFE?

No.

Too obvious.

HNN REPORTER REFUSES TO DENY DINNER WITH CORE EXAMINER'S MOST ELIGIBLE JOURNALIST

Better.

Completely indefensible, but better.

Teddy erased it before anyone sitting behind him could see. There were standards, after all.

Somewhere.

Probably.

The room was filling quickly now. Teddy finally glanced up and realized he had spent enough time amusing himself that most of the useful seats were disappearing. He stood, tucked the datapad beneath his arm, and made his way farther down the row without paying much attention to the reporters already seated there.

There was an empty chair.

Good enough.

Teddy dropped into it, immediately brought the datapad back onto his knee, and began reorganizing his questions. "If they say ongoing investigation, follow with who is conducting it," he muttered under his breath. "If they say appropriate measures, ask them to define appropriate. If they say no comment, congratulations, Teddy, you have your headline."

He felt someone looking at him. Teddy stopped. Slowly, he turned his head. Holly Starstorm was sitting beside him. For perhaps one second, Teddy simply stared. Then the corner of his mouth climbed. Of course she was. The galaxy clearly wanted this. Teddy settled a little more comfortably into his chair and angled himself toward her, any thought of finding another seat immediately abandoned.

"Starstorm."

His eyes dropped briefly toward the empty space between their chairs before returning to hers.

"You know, when I suggested dinner, following me to press conferences wasn't really the response I expected." The grin sharpened as he opened his datapad again. "But I'm willing to take things slow."

 

[Holly Starstorm]

​

Holly had not considered the possibility that she might run into Teddy Zane today. At least, that was what she kept telling herself, and if she repeated it often enough, eventually it might become true.

Running into him certainly wasn't why she'd bought a new outfit on a credit card that already carried a balance large enough to make her stomach lurch every time the bill arrived. Besides, this was Naboo. Looking fashionable was practically a civic obligation. If anything, she would have stood out by not making an effort.

So really, the outfit had nothing to do with Teddy.

Probably.

Fortunately, the moment she entered the press conference, those particular neuroses were shoved aside by something far more important: a story.

Whatever else Holly might be, she was a serious journalist, and nothing quieted the chaos in her head faster than the promise of an unanswered question.

Her datapad rested across her lap as she reviewed the notes she'd prepared, crossing out questions, rewriting others, and drawing increasingly aggressive circles around the ones she refused to let the company dodge.

At the top of the page, she had written appropriate measures, with appropriate circled twice.

That was the real issue.

The company's CEO was here to perform the familiar ritual of crisis communication after a spill that may have contaminated several groundwater reservoirs. There would be apologies. Reassurances. Carefully rehearsed statements about investigations, safety procedures, and an unwavering commitment to the public.

Holly wasn't interested in any of that. She wanted to know what had spilled. How much, who had known about it, and exactly what the people drinking that water might have been exposed to. The citizens of the galaxy deserved more than polished corporate language designed to make a disaster sound like an unfortunate administrative inconvenience.

She was so absorbed in her notes that she didn't notice someone take the empty seat beside her.

Not until she heard a voice she recognized immediately.

An infuriatingly smug one.

Holly's head snapped toward him. Of course. Of course he was here. She stared at him for a long moment, making absolutely certain her expression conveyed the appropriate level of disgust.

"Starstorm"

"Zane." She huffed slightly at his name.

"You know, when I suggested dinner, following me to press conferences wasn't really the response I expected." The grin sharpened as he opened his datapad again. "But I'm willing to take things slow."

"Does being insufferable come naturally to you, or do you practice in front of a mirror?"

She turned back to her datapad.

Or tried to.

The words she'd been studying only seconds ago had become meaningless little shapes on the screen, and her heart was suddenly beating far louder than any reasonable organ had a right to.

She hated him.

Which was presumably why she'd become acutely aware of the fact that her new outfit might make her look ridiculous. Damn him.

Teddy Zane

 

[Teddy Zane]

TAG: Holly Starstorm​

"Naturally gifted." Teddy delivered the answer without hesitation, already turning his attention back toward his datapad. "Practicing would cheapen it."

His stylus hovered over the list of questions, but his attention did not quite follow. Holly had gone suspiciously quiet beside him after the insult, which normally meant she was either contemplating murder or searching for something sufficiently devastating to say in response.

Teddy glanced sideways.

That was when he noticed the outfit, not simply that she looked good. Holly usually looked good, an observation Teddy had filed somewhere alongside other facts that were both obvious and strategically unwise to mention. This was different. She had made an effort.

His eyes traveled over her for a moment before returning to his datapad.

Interesting.

Teddy wrote another note beneath his questions.

Ask whether contaminants have been independently identified.

"You clean up well, Starstorm."

He kept writing as though the comment deserved no more attention than that. A small smile betrayed him anyway.

"If I'd known you were going to dress up for our second date, I would've worn something nicer."

There. He could practically feel the exasperation coming off her without looking.

Teddy finally turned his head toward her, and the grin faltered slightly when he caught the expression on her face. There was something different underneath the irritation. Nervousness, maybe. Holly Starstorm, who had been perfectly prepared to verbally dismember him in a café, suddenly seemed very interested in her datapad.

For once, Teddy chose not to press.

Mostly.

His gaze dropped to her notes instead, catching the heavily abused phrase near the top of the screen.

"Appropriate measures."

Teddy gave a quiet snort.

"They're going to say it at least four times."

His attention shifted toward the stage, and the flirtation receded enough to expose the journalist underneath.

"They'll apologize for the spill without saying what spilled. They'll tell us there's no evidence of widespread contamination, which isn't the same thing as saying they've tested for it. Then they'll promise an independent investigation without telling us who's paying the investigators." Teddy tapped his stylus once against his datapad. "And somewhere in there, somebody is going to say public safety remains their highest priority."

His mouth curved.

"That's when I'm going to ask why they waited two days to tell the public."

Teddy glanced back toward Holly. This time there was something almost conspiratorial in his expression. Whatever rivalry existed between them, they were sitting in the same room for the same reason.

"What've you got?"

His eyes flicked toward her datapad before returning to hers.

"And don't hide it in your purse this time. I promise not to steal anything unless it's better than mine."