"And we now turn to Hannah Hobbs, reporting on a new internet trend that apparently started right here in the Valley. Hannah?"

"Thank you Susan," Hannah flashed her brightest smile to the camera, showing off her All-American good looks. At 24 years old she was tall and thin, had medium length light brown hair and dazzling green eyes. Complimenting her eyes, she wore a dark green button-down blouse sporting the KSUN TV logo, tucked into a pair of snug khaki pants. She looked every inch the young professional journalist that sha aspired to become. Serious journalism was somewhere down the road though, and for now she was happily learning the ropes as she covered stories like this one.

"I'm coming to you this afternoon from downtown Scottsdale at a locally owned bakery called The Beckery, and while the phrase 'Internet Trend' may be a bit of an overstatement, there is definitely something going on here. I'm speaking to the owner of The Beckery, Becky DuBois. Becky, can you tell us how this whole thing started?"

The picture pulled back, revealing a cute brunette woman wearing a yellow oxford shirt with The Beckery's logo embroidered on it sitting next to Hannah. "Sure, Hannah. A few weeks ago, a friend and I settled an old argument using, well, pies and cakes and a few of our other fresh baked treats. I gave quite a bit better than I got, but after everything had been settled, my girlfriend walked in and saw me after I'd been hit by a couple of pies. She took a picture and turned it into a meme which she posted online. While I wouldn't exactly say that it went viral, it got a few thousand hits, and we saw a nice increase in business."

As Becky had been talking, the video switched to a screenshot of the meme with the words "A tough day at work takes on a whole new meaning when you own a bakery," superimposed over a picture of Becky resting her pie covered face and head in her hands, elbows on the very same small table that they were currently seated around.

Hannah involuntarily let out a small laugh and then apologized, asking Becky to continue.

"You don't have to be sorry," Becky said, "It's supposed to be funny. Things really started to take off when I hired Taylor." The camera pulled back again, this time revealing a third person sitting on the other side of Hannah. Taylor had curly blonde hair and wore her work uniform, jeans and a blue polo shirt, again with The Beckery's logo embroidered on it. Becky continued, "This girl is majoring in theater at ASU and is a born comedian. It turns out that she'd seen that meme we were just talking about and when she applied for a job she actually demanded that I throw a pie in her face right then during her interview. We posted that picture online as well, and a trend was born. Now barely a few days go by without a pie flying toward someone around here."

"Is that true Taylor?" Hannah asked, "You actually asked for a pie in the face?"

"Well, like Becky said, I'd already seen the meme and it looked like fun. And what better way is there to show that you're serious about working at a bakery? Our PR lady says it's good for business too, so every once in a while she'll smack one of us with our pie of the day when she visits. Usually it's me because I think it's so much fun, but you never know what's going to happen around here. Every once in a while when we're slow I'll announce that the next person to purchase a pie gets one to take home and one to throw. It gets the customers involved, you know. Every once on a while someone will get the extra pie and throw it at whoever they came in with. One time a girl did that to her boyfriend and then he did it back to her. I think those two had the most fun with it! But most of the time or customers wind up throwing the pies at me. Once we actually ran that as a special for the entire day, but the cleanup turned out to be too much for us to do it on a regular basis. Plus, the um, coverage was a bit much, even for me. I looked like a giant marshmallow by the end of the day! I was so covered that I don't think you could see my uniform." Taylor laughed at the memory.

The camera pulled back for the final time, revealing that the trio was sitting at a table lined with various cream pies. Hannah turned her attention back to Becky. "Well, this is all fascinating, and you've obviously found a sweet spot with your customers." All three young women laughed at the bad pun, but Hannah continued, "Do you think the two of you would be willing to put on a quick demonstration?"

"You mean you want us to *show you* what we've been talking about?" Becky asked, giving Taylor a nod and a smile.

Taylor took her cue and said, "Of course, we'd be happy to share with you," as she winked at Becky.

While they'd been talking, Becky and Taylor had each picked up one of the huge pies on the table. In perfect unison Hannah turned back to the camera and flashed her trademark smile just as the other ladies struck, sending their pies toward the unsuspecting reporter. Hannah wasn't quite so easily set up though and ducked out of the line of fire at the last possible second. Both Becky and Taylor's faces disappeared into a mess of whipped cream and pie filling as the pies sailed over Hannah's head. The pies had become just a little bit runny under the hot TV lighting, and the filling from the pie that had hit Taylor just a little too high flew back over her head and covered her hair as well as her face. The pie that had hit Becky was dead on target though, and completely covered her face and was dripping down and covering a surprising amount of her yellow shirt.

The girls were laughing and wiping pie from their faces as Hannah returned to the shot. She couldn't help but chuckle along with Becky and Taylor. "I can see how much fun you have here, but I've got to confess to being a bit relieved. When I got this assignment I figured there was no way for me to cover this story without getting covered myself."

Right on cue, as soon as Hannah had finished speaking a quick succession of pies flew at her from off camera and landed with amazing accuracy. The first caught her square in the face, followed immediately by two more from slightly different angles which landed to the front-left and front-right sides of her head completely covering her from the neck up. A pie hit her on the left neck and shoulder, then another hit her right around her mouth, sending plenty of cream and filling down into her cleavage. One last pie, again landing directly in her face, ended the barrage. All Hannah could do was sit there stunned for a few seconds, her mouth hanging open in shock. Then Taylor started to giggle, and soon all three girls were laughing as Hannah wiped some of the mess from her eyes and mouth.

"I knew that was going to happen and it's still quite a shock," she said to the camera. The picture dissolved into a split screen featuring a close shot of Hannah on one side and the main news desk on the other. "Well Susan, we're going to send things back you at the studio." Hannah had continued scraping pie from her features as she finished her report, even scooping a handful of glop from where it had settled inside her shirt.

"Thank you Hannah," Susan chuckled as she watched the remote feed on her monitor. "By the way, what's going to happen with the rest of those pies on the table?"

The scene shifted back to a full screen shot of Hannah and the Beckery girls with Hannah looking down at the table as if noticing the remaining pies for the first time. She looked back and forth at Becky and Taylor. "Oh, go ahead, I know you want to," she said in surrender, and the girls immediately sandwiched Hannah's head with two big pies. Becky picked up two more pies, plopping the first one right on the top of Hannah's head, and then surprised the reporter by picking a different target and leaning over to deliver her last pie into the side of Taylor's grinning face. Taylor, in turn, picked up the last pie from the table and shocked everyone but Becky when she shoved the pie squarely into her own face, pushing it up and back, finishing the job by completely covering her face and hair.
All three girls beamed at the camera from under various degrees of mess as Hannah signed off, "This is Hannah Hobbs, reporting live from Scottsdale at The Beckery for KSUN. Back to you Susan."

* * *

An hour later Hannah was greeted with applause as she walked into the newsroom, still smelling of banana cream.

As soon as she'd signed off from her remote shoot at The Beckery, Hannah's cameraperson and producer Sydney had informed her that the station manager, John Green, had called and wanted to see her in his office as soon as possible. Hannah had never met Mr. Green, but she'd heard around the station that he was a no nonsense manager with little sense of humor. Understanding that the head of the station was not a man to be kept waiting, Hannah scraped as much of the mess from her face and clothes as she could before she and Sydney got in the van and sped back to the station. Even though her hair was slicked back, a few cream covered strands hung loose, and there were still small bits of pie crust stuck in it, not to mention the odd piece of banana here and there. Her green blouse was stained from the shoulders to below her chest, where bits of pie filling and whipped cream had landed and later been scraped off. The neckline around the top couple of undone buttons had taken a good amount of punishment, and even now sported some milky white goop here and there. Pie filling had covered the thighs of her khaki pants and the tops of her shoes after falling from her face, and dark smears were left on her clothes wherever she'd wiped pie filling away. As the remaining banana cream had dried, her clothes had begun to stick to her, and she was certain that there was still some crust and filling running around inside her shirt, trapped just above where the blouse was tucked into her pants.

Hannah waved in acknowledgement of the applause while Sydney headed to their back-to-back desks, greeting some of her fellow behind-the-scenes colleagues. Hannah was a little jealous of the off camera people who could always wear comfortable clothes like jeans and KSUN t-shirts, but she was happy to maintain the better wardrobe that was necessary for her job. After all, she was on TV! Hannah headed straight to the Station Manager's office, where his assistant gave her a good natured laugh and let her inside.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Green," she said as she stepped into the office.

John Green laughed as he saw the state she was in. "First off, please call me John. Mr. Green was my mother. Secondly, you could have gone home and changed before we met, I'm not nearly as big a hard ass as they say I am."

"Okay John," Hannah replied. "That's good to hear, these clothes are getting a bit sticky" she said while tugging at her goopy shirt.

But the station manager had already plowed ahead, "As long as you're here, let's talk. Would you like to sit down?"

Hannah hesitated, looking at the state of her outfit and then at the expensive looking chairs in the office.

John seemed to read her mind and said, "Oh, don't worry about that. You're much more valuable to this station than a silly chair. Tell me, do you know which of your reports has gotten the highest ratings?"

"Of course," Hannah replied immediately, "Every reporter in the world knows the answer to that question. Mine was last year when I was covering the Renaissance Festival and I fell into the mud pit."

"Exactly!" John replied. "Most reporters would have stopped the remote right there, but you continued, covered in mud from head to toe, and filed your report without missing a beat, standing thigh deep in mud the whole time. If I remember correctly, you even handed off your mic and fell backwards into the mud again to sign off. It was brilliant!"

Hannah thought that brilliant was a stretch, but she wasn't about to argue with the station manager. "Thank you. It was a spur of the moment decision, but it was actually kind of fun. In a weird sort of way."

"That's the attitude I'm looking for!" John continued, "The early numbers are in, and they're exactly what I thought they'd be when I watched your segment from that bakery today. Would it surprise you to know that you're on track to break both your personal best, and the station's record for highest ratings ever?"

"I had no idea it would be anything like that. It was just a fun, light remote segment."

"Well, it seems like your sense of humor and your willingness to literally jump right into a story have struck a nerve with our viewers, Hannah," John was thinking that the young reporter's good looks were a crucial ingredient as well, but he kept that thought to himself. If Hannah was anywhere near as smart as he thought she was, she would be aware of this without being told. "Here's what I'd like to do. I'm sure you remember Mike Rowe's show 'Dirty Jobs?' I'd like you to do something along those lines, but locally. It'll be a weekly segment airing on Thursdays and we'll rebroadcast it on the weekend show. We'll come up with some cute name for it and you can even use your name in the title if you like. I'm thinking something along the lines of 'What's Hannah Gotten Into Now?' but you can change that if you like."

Hannah had a thoughtful look on her face. "I'm really not sure if this is what I want to be remembered for," she replied, indicating the state of her messy clothes and hair. "I know that I'm young and that the rookie has to do the puff pieces, but my goal here is to build a serious journalism career. If I wanted to be thought of as a clown I wouldn't have taken this job in the first place."

"I understand that completely, and I thought of it also. I have a new contract for you that I think will put your mind at ease. I won't insult you by lying to you - yes, there are going to be some puff pieces as you call them. Every year we cover the swimming pools opening in the spring, for example, and I'll expect you to do those stories. I'm sure you're aware that the reporter ends up in the pool at the end of that report every year. If you're covering the State Fair you'll be doing it from inside the dunking booth. After today's remote, I'm sure you already know what'll happen when you report about the circus coming to town."

Hannah opened her mouth to protest, but John cut her off.

"Please, let me finish. Like I was saying, there are going to be plenty of those stories where you get into funny situations and get dirty. In return, I'll back you when what you want to 'get into' is trouble on the border, or corruption in the police department. And you don't have to take my word for it, it's right there in your new contract. You also get a nice raise and a private dressing room here at the studio." John glanced at Hannah's outfit and added, "The dressing room has a full bathroom attached. With a shower." He could see that Hannah was just about ready to commit. "One other thing," he finished, "Valley of the Sun Outfitters has signed on to be your exclusive sponsor, so you'll be wearing their line of clothing on your shoots. They're expanding from their current line of jeans to include tops and casual dresses and even a limited number of shoes and some jewelry. They're interested in making you the new face of their company, so you'll also be doing some endorsements on the side if you're interested. Of course, any money that you earn doing endorsements will be in addition to your new salary. This could mean quite a lifestyle change for you, Hannah. What do you say?"

Hannah looked him in the eye. "I'll agree to everything as long as I get to keep Sydney as my cameraperson and producer. She and I have been through a lot together and we've developed a rhythm that I don't want to lose. And she'll need a raise as well to match this new position."

"Done!" John exclaimed, standing up and holding out his hand to shake.

Hannah shook the outstretched hand and then signed her new contract, leaving a smear of pie filling on the page from where it had been clinging to the cuff of her sleeve.

"Unfortunately, your new dressing room won't be ready until next week, so I'm afraid you're going to have to go home like that today," John told her.

"No problem," she replied, "I was planning on that anyway." Hannah said as she left the office. She greeted a couple of her work friends as she made her way back out through the newsroom, catching Sydney's eye and motioning for the producer/camera operator to join her. Hannah laughed to herself as a couple of guys in the elevator gave her a wide berth, no doubt due to her overall state of messiness. "We'd better get used to that," Hannah whispered to Sydney cryptically as the doors opened.

The two young women made their way through the lobby doors and around the fountain outside the KSUN Building toward the parking lot where she'd left her car that morning when Hannah came to an abrupt stop. Sydney had driven them to The Beckery and back to the studio in the TV van, and until Hannah saw her car she hadn't even considered what driving home in her current state would do to the upholstery. "Well, wet is better than goopy," she said, then turned to Sydney, who never failed to have a camera handy. "You're going to want to film this," and she said, and then strode straight into the fountain and let the jets of water clean the remains of the pies from her skin, hair, and clothes. She waved to the camera from under the gushing water and then posed with her hands on her hips while standing at the edge of the fountain where the water surprised her by still rising over her knees. Her dark green shirt and khaki pants clung nicely to her figure, and Hannah knew just how to pose to bring out the fun loving sexiness that was needed in her new position.

After Sydney stopped her recording Hannah untucked her shirt and sat on the edge of the fountain with her feet and lower legs still hanging in the water. Sydney sat down next to her facing the other way and Hannah explained their new assignment. She finished by telling Sydney that they'd each gotten a raise and that they'd both have access to tons of new outfits from Valley of the Sun Outfitters, a brand that Hannah knew Sydney was particularly fond of.

"The thing is," Hannah was saying, "Sure I'm going to be the one jumping into the pool, but there are going to be plenty of times that you're going to have to be right there with me, taking the same kind of punishment as I am to get the good shots. I know this isn't a glamorous assignment, but I have no intention of doing things halfway."

"You got it boss. I'll be right there beside you, no matter what we're doing," Sydney promised.

"That's exactly what I was hoping you'd say," Hannah replied as she grabbed a handful of the back of Sydney's t-shirt and pulled her backwards into the fountain.