Title: Devoted, Outvoted
Fandom: Bartimaeus
Rating: G
Length: 386 words
Content notes: Unrequited love.
Author notes: —
Summary: Rebecca sees the writing on the wall.

Rebecca Piper knows she has the best job in the world. It's an honour, really, to be working for someone as captivating as John Mandrake. He's nice to her, treats her well and often spares her a smile.

That smile makes her heart beat faster, makes her hope against all odds and it hurts, because she knows he will never look at her the way she looks at him. She doesn't blame him, though. It's not John's fault she has a weakness for men she knows are unavailable.

They have breakfast together. John always pays for it. A quirk of a smile, a hint of amusement as he says, "don't worry about it, Rebecca, we both know they pay me a fortune," and "you're essential to me, Rebecca, the least I can do is buy you breakfast."

It's her skill of observation that makes her fall in love with him and also lets her know that it's hopeless.

Rebecca is smart enough to know that he's wearing a mask. Smart enough to understand that behind all that charm is exhaustion, misery and desperation. Smart enough to realise that the single being who knows John better than she does, doesn't seem to like him much.

She isn't entirely sure what it is about the demon Bartimaeus that John makes exceptions for, but she knows they have a bond of some kind. Something that breeds bitterness, something toxic that neither party seems willing to let go of.

There's something about the form the demon takes. It's a rather pretty girl — a tall brunette with all the right curves in all the right places — and every time John sees her, he looks as though he's seen a ghost. Selfishly, she hopes she's not a former lover the demon has chosen to taunt him with. Sometimes she questions if John's even inclined that way. For a seventeen year old, he seems remarkably indifferent to women, choosing instead to bury himself in paperwork. He must be working towards something.

But then comes the day of the Spirit Revolt, Rebecca meets the mysterious Kitty Jones and it's like a knife in her heart, endlessly twisting. Because she knows — of course she knows — that if Nathaniel makes it out alive, she won't stand a chance next to Kitty Jones.