Hello again! :) I am back with a new project where I am very excited about! I have been thinking about it already for a long time, but I always pushed it away because my daily commitments make it hard to write much. Nevertheless, more and more ideas came and the call to write it became too strong. You will see that there are a lot of differences with the series what actually excites me very much! And because of that, you will not have to worry that my inspiration will disappear the longer it has been since the series ended, maybe even the contrary will happen. Ok, now I will let you read, please enjoy and again forgive me for all kind of mistakes! :)

March 8, 1983 - Met Food, New York

After Victoria had put the last objects of her list in her shopping basket, she walked over to the cash registers. Of course, it was the busiest hour of the day again, with crying kids, frustrated mothers and tired cashiers. She was lucky to find a cash register which didn't have a very long row but after not even a minute she knew why. For once, she didn't check out the cashiers and their work rate and she already blamed herself for it. On a snail's pace, the cashier scanned the barcode of each product while giving totally irrelevant information about it and this was definitely one of the exceptions on the stereotype of women being multitaskers.

After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally Victoria's turn to place her goods on the counter and hear the woman's remarks. She let her get on with it and tried not to listen.

"Crackers? Is that what you eat for breakfast? Don't fall into the trap of those fake models. Real men like chubby women who express fertility. Gain some weight…"

"Excuse me" Victoria interrupted the woman, keeping her voice as calm as possible. "But if I wanted to hear your advice, I would ask. So, you can leave that behind now and just tell me as soon as possible what I have to pay. Is that alright?" She threw her a fake smile.

Clearly offended the woman continued her job but silently. Soon after, Victoria could finally pay and leave this place.

As she was walking towards the exit and going over her receipt to be sure nothing was incorrectly scanned due to that distracted cashier, David Clarke hurried inside to quickly buy some food before closing time. In his hurry, he couldn't avoid Victoria and bumped right into her.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" They both said simultaneously before looking at who they bumped into.

In front of her stood a good-looking, tall, young man with cute blond curls.

David was instantly mesmerized by the beauty of the woman in front of her and when she stepped aside and smiled to him, he was blown away. Before he could say something, she was gone. His eyes followed her walk through the doors, her hips swaying sensually.

He turned his head back and let out a sigh. Just as he lifted his foot to take a step forward, he noticed something on the floor close to the tip of his right shoe. As he bent to pick it up, he saw that it was a card. When he looked at it more closely, her picture caught his eye immediately. On top of the card was printed in bold: 'PRESS CARD'. Glancing a few lines down he read: 'Victoria Harper New York Times Journalist'.

Victoria, he said to himself. It sounded like music to his ears. He should better return the card to her as soon as possible before she would miss it and worry that somebody would abuse it in her name. And he couldn't let the opportunity pass to see her again. So, he quickly entered the shop and bought the first useful product he could find before paying and stepping into his car.

But when he wanted to start the engine, he came to the disappointing realization that he had no clue where she lived. Like always you were too enthusiastic, he thought by himself, but then an idea popped up in his mind.

It felt like a little victory when after forty minutes, he left his apartment with her address in his hand. Anxiously, he stepped into his car and headed to her place. It shouldn't be too difficult to find it as he remembered a fellow student living in that surroundings.

Later than he would have liked due to the busy traffic and the trouble finding a parking place, he entered the apartment block where she is supposed to live. He scanned the doorbells in the entrance hall for her number. His heart was beating fast and his palms were sweaty. 218, found it! He checked his note once again to be sure, then took a deep breath and pressed the bell button. He tapped his foot, waiting impatiently for an answer. Shortly after, her voice sounded over the intercom system. "Hello, who is it?"

"David Clarke, I bumped into you in the supermarket. You lost your press card and I thought that maybe you would like it if I came to return it personally." Dumbass, he reprimanded himself, why on earth did you accentuate that last word and how much more obvious can this sound? He quickly corrected himself. "I mean…before it would cause you trouble."

Did he follow her? Did she lose a contact card? What did he want from her? Maybe he set this up? She started panicking. "How did you find me?"

"That's actually not as difficult as it seems. A simple phone call to your work and the luck that they don't know anything about your appointments, was enough to get your address." After having spoken these words cheerfully and not hearing a response, he suddenly thought that his behavior was not really appropriate. Maybe she doesn't appreciate this at all. "I hope that you don't mind that I visit you here? I just felt responsible and didn't want you to worry tomorrow about your card being lost and having to ask a new one, which could cause others thinking incorrectly that you're irresponsible while it was actually my fault."

"You drove here only to give my card back?" The efforts he did to reach her and how he really wanted to prevent her from trouble touched her.

"Uh…yes."

"Excuse me for interrupting you, but could you be man enough to have your conversation face to face?" David turned to the man next to him who was clearly irritated as a woman further on the right added: "I would appreciate that too."

Only now, he realized that he had been telling her everything out of the entrance hall instead of asking her if she could let him in. On the other side of the intercom system, Victoria burst into laughter.

He was dying of embarrassment. He screwed it up, he totally screwed it up! How would he be able to face her again after this total blunder?

"Second floor, then second door on the right." Victoria buzzed him in.

When he reached the top floor and looked for her door, he couldn't miss it. There she stood, leaning against the doorpost with her left hip and her arms folded and the prettiest smile he had ever seen. She looked so beautiful! He swallowed the lump in his throat, smiled and made his way over to her.

As a broad beaming smile spread across his face, he made her heart flutter. She couldn't deny that he was handsome. He had something childlike but yet at the same time something masculine.

"Hello, Victoria." He greeted her when he stood in front of her, liking the sound and the feel of her name on his lips.

She was silent for a moment, surprised by how beautifully he had just pronounced her name but quickly found her cool again and said: "I think we just reinvented the phone, don't you?" She chuckled.

He felt a blush rising to his cheeks. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." "Don't be, you made me laugh… Besides I was responsible too."

"You have a pretty smile." "She didn't expect him to be so direct.

When a silence fell, he heard a male voice coming out of her apartment. She wasn't alone, of course she wasn't, she could get every man on earth if she wanted. He took the card out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Your card. I hear that you have company, I'm sorry for interrupting. It was nice to meet you." His voice suddenly sounded harsh.

Company, she wondered, if that could be true… but then she heard the television playing. "You are not interrupting anything, it's just the television… Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome!" He smiled to her before turning his back. Suddenly, Victoria grabbed his arm.

"Let me pay you a drink sometime in exchange for your efforts and time?"

His eyes lit up and he smiled. "That's an offer I can't refuse." He couldn't believe his ears, was this totally gorgeous woman asking him out?!

"Is Friday alright for you?"

"Friday is perfect! Do you want me to pick you up?"

"There is actually a nice bar only a few streets from here which I had in mind."

He was surprised, in the positive sense. A woman who takes initiative, he liked that. Usually, he was the one who had to choose a place to go out with his friends and dates.

Maybe she was being too intrusive?, she wondered."Unless, you prefer to go somewhere else…"

"No no, not all, it's a great proposition! I'm just not used to this."

"A woman going out with you?" She asked.

"No no" he laughed "Although it also doesn't happen very often. I meant, a woman who takes the initiative. That's refreshing!"

"Then we have a deal? Friday, 9pm, at Barvista? It's located at Perry Street."

"Deal! I'll see you on Friday! 9pm, Barvista. Bye, Victoria."

"Bye" David, she added when he descended the stairs and she closed the door. She didn't really know if this date was a good idea, but she couldn't help to be intrigued by this man.

So I hope you already enjoyed this start? Of course, it's again about David and Victoria, I just can't help! I'm dying to know your thoughts, so please let me know and if there's anything I can improve! That also counts for the next chapters, I will try to keep Victoria and David in character as much as possible, but please help me when it escapes my attention!

I hope to post the next chapter soon, but then comes the bad news...in two weeks I have a lot of studying ahead and I want to warn you already that I will not be able to write much during a month. I hope that you can forgive me for not updating very often during this time! I promise to do all I can to minimize the wait because believe me, it frustrates me that my writing time will be so scarce!

Thank you in advance for reading, reviewing and understanding! :)