One minute

It was a slow Saturday morning, those who were early birds were already up and about, while those who preferred to sleep in were tossing and turning from one side of the bed to the next and among those of the latter was none other than Charlie.

He was trying to make up for the loss of sleep he had during the weekdays considering that he had to wake up early to go to work, but his plans to sleep in were interrupted by the sudden noise of a lawnmower who just decided to start mowing the lawn at this early time of the morning.

Charlie groaned as he cursed under his breath and tried to use his pillow to block his eyes but to no avail, which resulted in him throwing his pillow across the room as he lazily got out of bed.

"Whoever had the bright idea to mow the lawn this early is a psycho" said Charlie with a severely angry look in his eye as he ran his fingers through his messy hair and he sighed, so much for his plans to sleep till 11 today, he was forced to wake up at 8.

"I hate you" said Charlie as he lazily walked to where he had thrown his pillow as he threw it back on the bed, he was starving, he might as well start off his day with eating a nice breakfast.

Charlie groaned as he opened the door to his room and walked out into the quiet hallway as he shook his head.

Charlie walked to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of orange juice before proceeding to Michael's office.

Charlie opened the door to Michael's office as Michael was sitting at his desk, engrossed in whatever it was that he was doing that he did not even notice when Charlie walked into his office.

"Earth to Michael, what the heck are you doing so early?" asked Charlie as he did not even bother being quiet as he snapped Michael out of his concentration.

"I thought you would be out till 11, what are you doing here?" asked Michael as he looked up to see Charlie who had walked to stand behind him in order to see what he was up to on his monitor.

"Some idiot had the great idea to mow the lawn at 8, so here I am" said Charlie as he drank his orange juice.

"Be careful with that thing, you have a bad record when it comes to important files and liquids" said Michael in wary as he quickly packed up all the important files on his desk, to which Charlie scoffed.

"You know what, why don't you go bother someone else like Nine?" asked Michael as he frowned at Charlie who sipped his orange juice leisurely.

"That guy called Nine left really early this morning and refused to tell me where it was that he was going, he only said that he would be back on Monday" said Charlie as he scoffed.

"Where do you think he could have went?" asked Michael as he frowned, it was odd for Nine to just leave like that without at least telling him where he was going, it was odd.

"Who knows for that man?? He better not be starting his stupid disappearing acts again, or else I am going to follow him, and you can't stop me" said Charlie.

"Weird..." said Michael as usually if Nine was going somewhere he would at least inform him so he wouldn't worry.

"Very weird, he's been acting odd as always" said Charlie as Michael unlocked his phone and checked through his messages to find out that he had received one text from Nine.

"Ahhh he did text me, he says that he's going out camping with some friends and that he's going to be back on Sunday" said Michael as Charlie sneered.

"And which friends are those? Oh let's not lie to ourselves, Nine has no friends, that guy is lying to us" said Charlie as he laughed.

"That may be, or maybe he's actually telling the truth and he went camping, probably to find Bigfoot or something" said Michael as Charlie laughed even harder.

"I thought he would grow out of that nonsense belief, that Bigfoot isn't real, it's funny how everyone thinks he's the most serious out of all of us and yet he's obsessed with Bigfoot" said Charlie as he laughed.

"Yeah, yeah Charlie, and you are obsessed with cheese" said Michael.

"Whatever, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do when he gets back" said Charlie as he laughed and his eyes landed on the paused video displayed on Michael's monitor screen.

"Oh Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, can you tell me why you are watching this video again?" asked Charlie with a sigh as he shook his head and Michael put her phone down as she looked at him.

"I don't get what you are talking about" said Michael as Charlie scoffed.

"Oh right you do, that's the kitchen video of Natasha's crime from five years ago, why are you still watching it in this day and age?" asked Charlie.

"First of all, don't call it that, it's not her crime video, if Natasha hears you, I am sure she will beat you up or shoot you, depends on what she chooses" said Michael.

"Hey!" said Charlie as he frowned in offence.

"And secondly, she didn't commit the crime, I'm sure of it" said Michael.

"Oh you're such a hypocrite Michael, and yet when everyone blamed her you did to" said Charlie.

"Unfortunately I did, for the sake of my friendship with Dom, but I realize now that it was wrong for me to take sides, Natasha's innocent I know it" said Michael.

"Oh well that's good for you, I just don't know why you are bringing up this topic when it's nothing but old news" said Charlie as he drank more juice.

"A few months ago Dom asked me to reopen the investigation, probably he realized that he was wrong and there's something fishy, I just haven't had the time to focus on it fully" said Michael.

"So what exactly are you trying to do here? Because you have watched this video several times and yet it still shows the same thing, evidence of Natasha tampering with the wine, that's as clear as day" said Charlie.

"I know I have, but I did something different this time, I downloaded an app that slowed down the video to the lowest rate, and I watched it closely, and that's when I saw it..." said Michael as he paused.

"Saw what?" asked Charlie in curiosity.

"At exactly 2 minutes, 2 seconds and 15.5milliseconds of Natasha reentering the frame, there is a quick cut of the frame, as if there's a tampering of the scene, it's really easy to miss, but it's in the top right corner" said Michael as Charlie's face darkened.

"What are you trying to say Michael?" asked Charlie.

"The video was tampered with, I am sure of it" said Michael.

"This is crazy, if this really is true, and the security camera footage has been tampered with, and it's been the same video you have been watching for years, then it means we have a serious problem..." said Charlie.

"No it means that Natasha was definitely framed and it was by an expert who had access to our security footage, tampered with it to pass off Natasha as the culprit" said Michael as he frowned and Charlie frowned.

"This is absurd, you have no real proof a tiny quick flash doesn't prove anything, we clearly saw Natasha in the frame tampering with the wine" said Charlie.

"Well if you think about it, we most visibly saw her hands and the top of her head, we only saw her face once, in which she directly looked into the camera, almost as if she knew it was there, which could not be possible, only a few people at the time knew about the camera" said Michael.

"Michael, you are only speculating, all you are saying is nonsense except you can prove it" said Charlie.

"I will prove it, I have a friend who can help me make sure that it's tampered with" said Michael.

"Well good luck with that, and if you are right about this, it means we have a bigger problem to worry about" said Charlie.

"And it also means that we all blamed the wrong person for years" said Michael as Charlie sighed.

"Look at you ruining my day with this nonsense, I'm starving now, you continue on with your whatever and I am out of here" said Charlie as he walked out of Michael's office as Michael sighed and looked back at the screen, he knew he was onto something, he just knew.

...

Lia looked into her little pocket mirror as she fixed up her hair and makeup making sure she looked very nice and pretty for her date with Pete today.

She was excited and curious as to where he would take her, she couldn't wait to see him, she had never felt so excited to go out with someone before.

Lia closed her pocket mirror as in the same moment Pete pulled up on the driveway in his personal car as she smiled, happy to see him.

Pete smiled back as he saw her and he got out of the car to open the door for her.

"Hi Peter" said Lia as she smiled and gave him a hug.

"Hi Lia, I hope you didn't wait long" said Pete as he smiled.

"Not at all" replied Lia as she broke their hug and he opened the door for her as she got in and he got into the car and drove away.

"So how are you?" asked Pete as he smiled.

"Good and very excited for our date, where are you taking me?" asked Lia as she looked at him and smiled.

"It's still a surprise, you will see when you get there" said Pete as he winked at her.

"Aww, I'm so impatient though, I don't like surprises, I like always knowing" said Lia as Pete chuckled.

"Well you won't wait too long" said Pete as he took hold of her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles as that made her smile.

"Hey I have a question" said Pete.

"What is it?" asked Lia as she smiled and Pete was forced to stop due to traffic.

"How come you didn't let me come pick you at home? I picked you up at your friend's place, don't you want me to meet your parents or what?" asked Pete.

"Ahh no, no, why would you think like that?" asked Lia as she shook her head.

"Well every time I offer to take you home or pick you up from there, you don't let me" said Pete.

"That's because I'm being considerate, my home is miles away, it's really far from the city and driving back and forth is tiring trust me, I just thought it would be easier for you to pick me up from my friend's place" said Lia as she smiled.

"Really?" asked Pete as she nodded.

"And it's not because you don't want me meeting your parents, or them knowing about me?" asked Pete.

"Of course not Peter, my daddy already knows about you in fact he can't wait to meet you, and I can't wait for you to meet him, but I know you have a busy schedule, and I was planning the meeting somewhere next month" said Lia as she smiled.

"I see, because I was starting to get worried, I've never been this serious with someone before, and I just wanted to make sure that we are on the same page" said Pete as he smiled in relief.

"Of course we are, I feel the same... If I'm telling the truth, you are my first serious relationship" said Lia as she smiled and Pete smiled as the traffic cleared up.

"And your surprise is really killing me, at least give me a hint of where we are going" said Lia as Pete laughed as he began to drive.

"You will see soon Lia, you will see soon" said Pete as he smiled.