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"I thought English was their second language here," Adam groused. "That's what I was told."
"Well, it is true to a certain extent, Mr Lambert, with the more educated members of our society, but not with everyone. And when there are contracts and money at stake, both sides want to be sure that they understand what is being agreed upon."
"Well, shit! Now what can I do? It would take days to get someone here from the US and I don't know where to begin to look here in Helsinki."
"Actually, there is a service that most US businesses use, you can check it out if you'd like. They have knowledgeable translators and are very reasonably priced."
"I'm expensing it off, so I don't care about the cost, but I need someone who knows what the hell she's doing."
"So you want a woman, then."
"I don't care, man, woman, alien! I need someone and I need her today."
"Well..... today might be a little..."
"Today! I need someone today. I'm going back to the hotel and make some phone calls. Send whoever you choose over immediately. I'll be here for at least a week, maybe longer. Well, go on, get on it."
"Yes, sir."
"Hi, my name is Kaari, Mr. Lambert. I'm your translator."
Adam shook her outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you, Kaari. Have a seat. We have a lot of work to do. I'm going to give you these contracts and I need you to translate and re-type them for the people I'm seeing tomorrow. My meeting is at 10am, so we may be at this all night."
"But, sir, I have a baby. I can't stay past 5pm. My husband is out of town and the babysitter has to leave by 6pm."
"I'll pay the babysitter extra to stay the night. I need you to help me with this. It needs done NOW, and it needs done RIGHT."
Kaari's eyes welled up with tears. "But I CAN'T. I can't leave my child with a stranger overnight."
"I thought she was your babysitter."
"Well, yes, but not THAT kind of babysitter. She wouldn't know his routines. He wouldn't go to sleep for her."
"You know what, Kaari, this isn't going to work out for me. Have the service pay you for today, no hard feelings, but I need someone who has nothing on their plate except helping me get my work done."
"I could see if Sauli's available. He doesn't usually do translating, he's one of the managers, but he's the only one who might be able to help at the last minute... and he doesn't have a wife or kids, so maybe he can stay late. Should I call him?"
"Call your boss first, ask about Saul, and let me know. Here, call from this phone."
When Kaari got off the phone she was smiling again. "He said he'd do it, Mr. Heikkinen told him he had to. And his name is Sauli, sir, Sowli, not Saul."
"Great! Oh well, as long as Sowli can do the job, I don't need him to be happy about it. Thank you, Kaari. Sorry it didn't work out. Take care of that baby of yours. Boy, right?"
"Yes," she grinned, "His name is Niko. Bye, and thanks for not being mad."
"No problem," Adam said, gritting his teeth then mumbled, "I hope Saul gets his ass over here quickly, I'm already running behind."
An hour later Adam answered the door and took a step back as he looked at someone who in other circumstances would have qualified as his wet dream. Tiny, blonde, blue eyes, and looking intimidated. He liked that. But right now, his ass was on the line and they were on a schedule. His right hand went out to the newcomer, "Adam, Adam Lambert. You must be ummm, Sauli, is it?"
Sauli flushed and shook hands. "That's right. I am Sauli, your new translator. I'm sorry Kaari didn't work out. She's very good at what she does."
"And are YOU good at what YOU do?" Adam grinned.
Heat rushed to the boys face and there was fire in his eyes. "I am a very good translator, Mr. Lambert. THAT is what I do. Yes, I am very good at it. Actually, I am a manager trainee, but I was a translator for a few years. You will be pleased with me."
"I'm sure I will. Come right in, take off your jacket, and let's get to work. As I told Kaari, we will probably be here all night working on these contracts. If not ALL night, at least until very late. Is that a problem?"
"No, sir, no problem at all. Maybe we should start."
"Great idea. By the way, have you eaten? I'm starved. I was just about to call down for room service." Adam saw the hesitation and continued without an answer. "You know what, I don't want you passing out on me, I'll order the food, you can eat it now or eat it later. How does that sound? Now what do you want?"
By 3am the men had contracts prepared for the next day's meetings. Sauli was struggling to keep his eyes open and Adam wasn't much better. When Sauli finished putting the papers in neat stacks on Adam's desk, he grabbed his jacket and turned toward the door. "What time do you need me tomorrow?"
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"How far is 'home'?"
"Just 45 minutes or so."
"No way. There's an extra bedroom right over there. Toothbrushes, shampoo, everything in the bathroom down the hall. My bathroom is off the master suite."
"But, I can't. I don't have any clothes to wear, nothing for tomorrow..."
"The meeting isn't until 10am. Get up at 7:00, go home, shower, get some clothes and meet me at your office. I'll drive us from there. There is no way I will be responsible for you driving into a ditch when you fall asleep.
And tomorrow, bring some extra clothes. Plan to stay here for a few days. It's going to be a rough week and we have to be out late then maybe come back and re-do the paperwork depending on how things go. If I make you nervous, I'll book you a room down the hall, but there's a perfectly good room with a lock on the door right there."
Sauli's face flushed. "No need for another room OR a lock. I'm not a 16 year old virgin."
"Oh, really? Not a virgin, huh?"
"That's, that's not what I meant."
"I know, Sauli. I shouldn't be messing with you when you're dead on your feet. Go! Get a few hours of sleep and you can sneak out in the morning. There are 2 keys on the desk, take one so you can get in if I'm not with you tomorrow. Yeah, just in case. You never know," and Adam winked causing all sorts of scenarios to play through the pretty blonde head.
"Goodnight, Mr. Lambert.... I mean, Adam. I'll be at the office by 9:30. Is that enough time?"
"Plenty. Let them wait a little, it makes them nervous. I like nervous."
Sauli shook his head. This was going to be a strange week and Adam should be happy because he was already very nervous about it.
"Sleep well, Sauli. If you need anything, just look around and use what you need. Wait. Let me give you a shirt to sleep in."
"No, that's okay."
"Of course, it's not. Hang on. Who do you like, Queen or David Bowie?"
"What?"
"Tshirts, which do you want? Bowie or Queen. Never mind, I'll give you whichever one has the least glitter on it."
"Giltter?"
"Yeah, you know, sparkles. Most of it has washed off anyway. I've had a few of these since high school."
Sauli stood in the hallway as Adam disappeared into his room.
"Queen it is! Just leave it in the bathroom when you leave so the cleaning people can put it with my laundry to send it out... unless you want to keep it." He smirked.
"No, I wouldn't do that." Sauli stammered. "Why would I keep your shirt."
"Just teasing you, Sauli. See you tomorrow, oh, and bring some clothes to go out tomorrow night. We may have to go hear one of the bands play and you may have to tell me what's going on. Okay with you?"
"Sure! Sounds like fun."
"You know, that's the first time I've seen you smile. You should do it more often. 'night."
The following day was, indeed, busy. Adam relied on Sauli for both business and social interactions when necessary. It was much more pleasant to know what he was ordering for lunch than to guess. A short stop at the hotel for showers and clean clothes and they were headed out the door to a club where one of the bands Adam was scouting for a summer tour was playing. At first Sauli refused a drink, but then let Adam talk him into some blue concoction he was drinking. It was strong and before too long he found himself wilting a little as Adam socialized, talked music and business, and finally sat quietly as the band he was here to see played their first set.
"Sauli, what do you think of them? Any good?"
"They're okay," Sauli shook himself back to the moment. "I've seen them before and the crowd seems to like them, especially the dance tunes. They'll probably do more of those in the second set."
"Well, look at you, showing me up. No, no, just teasing. Where did you hear them before?"
"I don't remember."
"You do, I can tell by your face. What don't you want to tell me?"
"Nothing. It was at Jenny Woo's, just a mile or so away."
"Aha, isn't that a gay club?"
"Everyone goes there."
"That's not what I asked. Isn't it a gay club? Are you gay, Sauli?"
"Does it matter?"
"No, not at all. As a matter of fact, I'm gay. Did you know that? Had you figured that out by now?"
"I didn't think about it."
"Are you sure? You couldn't tell I was messing with you last night? Would a straight guy have done that?"
"Probably not."
"Well, there ya go then."
"Where?"
"What?"
"Where?"
"What do you mean 'where?'"
"You said 'there you go.'"
"Ha, I can see this is getting complicated. Between your broken English and my non-existent Finnish, we sound like a comedy team."
"I don't know what that means, either. Maybe I'm not such a good translator."
"You must be drunk to tell me that you're not good at your job."
They both laughed. Just then the band, along with their manager, came to the table and sat down. Everyone spoke enough English to communicate so Sauli leaned back to watch, listen, and relax. His relaxation was interrupted by one of the band members asking him to go to the bar and get them drinks. There was a waitress who took their orders, but when the boy, his name was Maacri, Sauli thought, insisted and Adam nodded his head, Sauli excused himself and headed to the bar. Not entirely unexpectedly, when he returned with 2 of the drinks and followed by their waitress, Maacri was sitting in his seat next to Adam, hand on Adam's thigh, giggling like a schoolgirl at the slightest provocation. The manager took note, too, and hustled everyone off with plans to meet the next day, but not before Maacri whispered in Adam's ear and with a chuckle, Adam whispered back.
"You ready to go, Sauli?"
"Yes, I'm ready."
"If you have any energy left at all, we can revise a few things then hit the sack. Tomorrow's a long day."
He got just a nod in return and if Adam noticed, he didn't mention it.
When they got back they had just started to work when there was a knock at the door. Adam jumped up before Sauli could move and to no one's surprise, Maacri stood there with a bottle of wine and a grin on his face.
"Come in," Adam purred. "Sauli, I think we've done enough for tonight. I'll see you in the morning."
"Of course, sir." Adam arched an eyebrow at him, but Sauli was already making his way down the hall to his room. "Slut." He murmured quietly. No one heard, but it made him feel better to say it.