Chapter 1

Nadine was tired and cranky.

They were two very foreign moods to the usually perky and bright nurse, and she wasn't quite sure how to feel about being so damn annoyed with her surroundings.

Most mornings she breezed into the Emily Bowen Quartermaine Clinic, four cups of house blend from Kelly's in her hand, feeling hopeful that today might be better than the one before. She handed a cup of coffee to the receptionist at the front desk, one to the doctor on call, one to the very owner of the clinic, and saved the last for herself. Even perky, bright nurses needed their pick-me-ups. She was always on time, always grinning, and always wildly happy to see the first patient of the day come through the door.

Patients meant the clinic wasn't a complete failure, that she wouldn't have to go back to working full time at General Hospital, and that her best friend hadn't made a hasty, bad investment like everyone said when he originally pitched the idea. Thankfully, the endeavor had been a success, which gave her a reason to be so damn perky, bright, and hopeful.

It was also very kind on her wallet thanks to Nikolas Cassidine. She would have come to work for her best friend for free had she been able to afford it, and he'd more than overpaid her for her commitment to seeing his project through. When so few people had faith that he could do something as wonderful as giving free medicine to the less fortunate of Port Charles, he had Nadine's belief to lean on.

Granted, it had taken a hell of a lot of believing on her part, but she understood his struggle. It wasn't everyday that a man lost the love of his life in a horrific accident, and he was forced to shove aside plans of marriage and babies and white picket fences. She was touched by Nikolas' determination to do something in honor of his late fiancé, and it may have been that very love that allowed her to believe in him.

"Nurse Crowell, can I manage to steal a moment of your time?" Dr. Hunter asked sarcastically, glaring at her as she stood next to their fourth – or was it fifth – gosh, it may even be sixth or seventh patient of the day.

"I'm sorry. I'm just-"

"Not doing your job," he hissed, motioning her to the other side of the curtain. She forced a timid smile at the patient before following him out, all too prepared for a scolding. "Is there a problem? You were late this morning, distant and short with each patient, and this afternoon-"

"Afternoon?" she grunted, furrowing her brow. "It's only…" She hung her head when she looked at the clock across the room. "I'm sorry, Matt. I'm just exhausted and-"

"I'm not Nikolas," he interrupted annoyed. "I don't give a damn why you're so upset, but I do care when the only nurse on duty is acting incompetent."

"I'm sorry," she said stiffly, pursing her lips together tightly. "Can you please keep this from Nikolas?" Matt rolled his eyes, muttering about her silly crush under his breath, and she chose to ignore his comments because it was the least of her worries. Nikolas had been under enough stress rounding up investors for the clinic and the last thing he needed to question was his staff. Sure, he was a billionaire, but the clinic only needed money. He wasn't making any of it, so he needed investors. "He has enough problems as it is."

"Whatever," he shrugged, tucking his clipboard under his arm. "Just try not to stab anyone with a needle in the wrong place again."

"It was one time," she hissed, stalking past him as she started towards the desk. He called out something she didn't quite hear, and she just glared over her shoulder. "I'm taking my break."

She tossed her stethoscope down on the counter, smiling briefly at the receptionist before starting towards the break room in the back of the building. The more she worked with Matt, the more she despised him. How in the hell he'd managed to come to work for Nikolas – someone who actually cared about the people the clinic helped – she'd never know.

Ha.

Stupid medical fellowship.

Damn Nikolas and his desire to find the best new doctor in the country.

And damn the size of Matt Hunter's ego.

Groaning, she kicked open the partially closed door of the break room and tossed herself down on the first piece of furniture she reached – an expensive, Italian leather sofa that probably cost as much as some of their monthly medical supplies – curled into a ball and let out a shrill scream.

"Bad day?"

She sat up, her cheeks flushing as she pulled herself up on the couch. "Something like that," she admitted, forcing an embarrassed smile as she looked at the very attractive, very well dressed man sitting across the room.

He chuckled softly, his eyes softening as he grinned – one of those wide, toothy ones that you just knew was sincere. "Well, don't let me keep you."

"From being miserable?" she asked, shoving her hair away from her face. She suddenly felt inadequate next to him in her nurse scrubs and messy ponytail – when was the last time she'd washed these? He looked so handsome and dapper in a pair of jeans and buttoned down shirt that he'd tossed a suit jacket over. She assumed all of it was designer, that the suit jacket was for that whole laid-back (but not really laid-back) look that was quite popular.

He looked amazing, and she hated him for it.

See?

She really was tired and cranky.

"Looked like you were ready to take a nap or…hurt someone. I suppose if I'm keeping you from the latter it's a good thing," he quipped, arching his eyebrows curiously.

"Nap," she repeated, smoothing her hands over her wrinkled scrubs.

Sleep.

She didn't even know what that was exactly. Between two jobs and Nikolas and worry over life in general, not to mention an all too hellacious move across town, she hadn't had any in days.

Weeks.

Maybe even a month?

"Unfortunately you don't get to rest much around here," she murmured, grimacing at the attractive man. Was it okay to grimace at a man who looked like this? "Too many egos and annoyances and peeves."

He grunted, looking surprisingly interested.

"I work two jobs," she ranted, not sure why she felt the need to explain herself to this stranger. He was looking at her as if she was either really amusing or completely insane – she wasn't quite sure which. And honestly, she didn't want to be either one. "I'm always at this clinic, which I don't mind because Nikolas is a very good friend of mine. I'd do anything for him, so if he asked me to roll out a sleeping bag and sleep in the waiting room, I probably would."

"I see," he muttered, his eyes twinkling as if they were holding some kind of secret. She tried to ignore how much that annoyed her; twinkling eyes were supposed to be endearing, so this had to be the lack of sleep getting the best of her.

"So I'm always here working or helping out and then there's General Hospital, which I couldn't leave even more understaffed. Epiphany would probably curse me if I did, and I have enough bad karma and luck in my life as it is."

She leaned back against the couch as she continued. "I also moved recently. It's funny because when I first moved here I was so excited about having a place of my own, something all mine. Of course, I couldn't really afford anything, and when Jason Morgan says that a certain part of town is dangerous you listen." He cleared his throat at the mention of the well known mobster and she didn't even want to imagine what was running through his head. "Not that I hang out with Jason Morgan or anything. Besides he's married with kids. Anyway, my – I – uh, my friend, Spinelli works for him, and we just run into one another from time to time. And unfortunately being Spinelli's friend means having Jason baby-sit you constantly because problems seem to arise whenever Spinelli's involved. Or maybe that's my bad karma again."

"Anyway, that's not important to what I was saying," she rambled, shrugging her shoulders. "I finally saved up enough for a nice apartment, and thanks to Nikolas' extremely high raise, I could afford to move. And you would think that they don't let just anyone move into Riverton Place. Jasper Jax seems like a business man who cares what kind of image he puts out there and-"

"Riverton Place?" he interrupted curiously, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"Yes," she answered, tilting her head to the side as she looked at him. "Wait a second, uh, who are you?"

"I have a meeting with this Nikolas you're so fond of," he replied, scratching a finger over his brow. It was a safe enough answer. Besides it wasn't like men in designer clothing would be lounging in the break room of a free clinic if they didn't have to. Unless they were insane, and well, in this town anything was possible. "So, uh, tell me more about this Riverton Place."

"Are you looking for an apartment?" she asked, not giving him a chance to answer. "If you are, I don't think I'd recommend – well at least not the tenth floor. Because there is the most annoying, loud person I've never met living there and they've become the bane of my existence."

"That's harsh," he chuckled, shaking his head.

"It's not funny. I haven't slept in an entire month. He – well, I assume it's a guy – because there's always some woman over there harping on him constantly. And the door slams after he tells her to leave, and he immediately starts blasting horrid, classical music. I mean, sure Bach and Beethoven are amazing, but when you have them turned up so loud that the walls shake – well, they just aren't-"

"Maybe he likes them. If he's in a bad mood, maybe they calm him down," he interrupted, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Well, I like Britney Spears when I'm in a bad mood, but he wouldn't appreciate having her shake his walls."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

She glared at him as the sexual innuendo sank in. "That's not very attractive."

"You have a lot of opinions about people and things you don't really know about," he commented, causing her cheeks to flush even more than they had when she first discovered him in the room.

"You don't even know me," she hissed angrily. "I'm just trying to take a break from my job, and you shouldn't – you shouldn't even be here. Nikolas has an office down the hall."

"He asked me to wait in here," he replied, rolling his eyes. "You're not the only who has a job and annoying co-workers and loud neighbors, you know."

"I have to get back to work," she muttered, pushing herself up from the couch. She jerked open the door to the hallway, stopping long enough to rethink how rude she'd just been. "I'm sorry. I'm just having a bad day. Please don't let mention this to Nikolas."

It was pathetic of her to beg a stranger to be on her side, but she was that desperate. Nikolas didn't need the stress, and she didn't need to worry about upsetting him.

"I won't," he murmured, clearing his throat as he got up from the couch, tugging at his collar. "Maybe instead I'll mention my own extremely annoying neighbor."

She gritted her teeth, refusing to let him get to her. If he wanted to make fun of her, that was fine. He would just be another bullet on the list of reasons she should have never gotten out of bed. If only she could just tell him to go to hell.

"He might even agree that she's annoying," he continued, his eyes twinkling again. "She has this bright, pink doormat outside her door and she cackles really loudly when she watches I Love Lucy reruns." Nadine's eyes widened, her slender fingers tightening around the doorknob. "She sings show tunes when she vacuums – at least, I assume that's what she's doing. It could be anything."

"This is a sick joke," she murmured, her cheeks turning a shade of red that she thought might never go away.

"And there's also this whole Ricky Ricardo thing. I don't know if she's doing an impression. Hell, she could even be dressed up as Lucy, but she's always yelling at him – or it – or the character-"

"He's a cat," she interrupted, shaking her head. "And you are a jerk."

"Me?" he scoffed, laughing in her face. "You stumbled in here and started talking-"

"This is a joke. Did Nikolas put you up to this? He knows how stressed I've been and he's always trying to calm me down." He just looked at her. "This isn't a joke."

"Uh-uh," he clucked, sticking out his hand. She swallowed hard as she took it, grimacing when he squeezed tightly and flashed that stupid, pearly grin. "Johnny Zacchara. 10B of Riverton Place. New to Port Charles. Nikolas wants me to invest in the clinic."

Shit.

This is precisely why Aunt Rayleen said to never talk to strangers.