Summary: Numair, a professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, meets a certain lady on the bus (we all know who), and just happens to keep bumping into her. DN.

Disclaimer: I, sadly, don't own Numair, Daine, or anything else in this story except for the plot, which is mine!

This was originally going to be a series of songfics, but, I couldn't find enough songs that screamed at me, so most chapters will have a little bit of song that goes along with them in one way or another…This chapter was supposed to go completely different, but when I was typing it, Numair decided it would be fun to…well you'll see.

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Your Beautiful by James Blunt

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'Great, I can't find my papers. This year sure is starting out great…Now if I can just find those papers!' Numair Salmalin looked over his messy workroom. And that was an understatement. Books were in piles, some with paper in them, covered with scattered notes. Papers, maps, and other random things were lying everywhere. He went over to his desk and, under a rather large stack of papers, found the folder that was bulging with papers for the classes he taught at the University of Alaska Anchorage (A/N: just pretend with me that Anchorage is bigger than it is and that UAA is actually a top ranking school…like that could ever happen). Numair happened to be arguably one of the best professors in the US. He taught classes mainly dealing with the anatomy of animals, though he was known to be a private tutor to the few students he found exceptional talent in. But one thing was for sure, in his classes; you either make it, or break.

Numair hastily ran out of his penthouse apartment and called for the elevator. Running out the door, he ran, full on to the bus stop, arriving right when the bus pulled in. He fed his bus tokens into the machine, and made his way to the back of the bus. That is, until he heard a commotion behind him. A beautiful, no gorgeous, woman talked to the bus driver, obviously annoyed. Walking back up to the front, he heard the two arguing…

"I ran here and forgot one of my tokens. You know I am a regular, I promise to give them to you tomorrow," said the woman.

"I can't just start making an exception for you. You either need to give me the token, or else get off the bus," argued the bus driver.

By now, Numair had finally managed to push his way back to the front. He wordlessly handed the bus driver a token and then grabbed the lady's hand, pulling her towards a seat so the bus could start moving. Once seated, Numair let go of her hand and looked over her. She was quite a bit younger than him, about 5'5", with lovely brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders. She had stormy blue-grey eyes filled with determination and annoyance, full lips and a stubborn chin. Numair could tell she was not one to give up. He heard her mumbled at him, obviously quite mad. He replied, "what was that, sweet?"

"I said I could have handled it. And don't call me sweet," she replied bitterly.

"First of all, you had no way of getting another token. If you're mad at me for that, you can just pay me back, though, truly, I don't mind in the least if you don't. And secondly, I don't know your name, so unless you can give me something better to call you, I'll just keep calling you that. Okay, sweet?" He added this last part just to tease her and really wasn't expecting a response, much less her telling him her name.

"It's Veralidaine, but just call me Daine," she said, refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Nice to meet you, Daine. Numair, your knight in shining armor, at your service," he replied doing a mock bow, grinning mischievously, his eyes dancing never looking away from her stormy eyes.

Putting on a teasing voice, Daine said, "My, Numair, do you flirt so outrageously with every girl you meet, or did you just wake up this morning saying, 'If I meet some girl who needs to borrow a bus token, I will sit here and tease her, hoping to woe her maiden heart'?"

"Hey, how do you know I don't do this with every girl I meet? What makes you think I just decided to get out of my usual rut, just sitting on the bus, growling at those gorgeous women who beg to sit next to me, to help you? For all you know, I could do this with every lady who needs help," matching her teasing voice.

"Yah right, Numair, I think the whole gorgeous women begging to sit next to you is a little exaggerated," Daine replied, teasingly again, though Numair could see a flash of hurt pass through her beautiful eyes.

"What, you think I am lying?" fake outrage filling his voice. "Any gorgeous woman like that would just beg for me to help them, let alone sit with them," he said, gesturing to an old woman, making Daine burst out laughing, earning her glares from the people around her, mainly the old lady who Numair pointed at.

"I thought you would have a little higher standards, maybe ones at least within 20 years of your age," her eyes shining with mirth.

"You have no idea how hard it is to find a woman that meets those standards these days," mock sadness playing in his voice.

"Yah, like you have a lot of trouble finding a woman…"

"The same can be said with you…"

Silence filled the seat for a while. When the bus was pulling up at Numair's stop where he needed to switch buses, he asked Daine, "So where do you work?"

Seeming somewhat distracted, looking out the window while walking to the front of the bus, she managed to say, "Actually, right now I am a student." Obviously spotting what she was looking for, she turned to Numair and said, "Hope to see you again!" then rushed into the outstretched arms of a young man with blond hair and, unfortunately, strikingly good looks. A voice in Numair's head said, 'Come on Numair, you knew someone that beautiful had to have a boyfriend at least. It's not like you are ever going to see her again. You can have almost any girl you want, just not her.'

'Yes, but she is the one I want…'

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This is my first Modern Fic, so if the characters seem a little OOC, please give me suggestions on how to make it better. Numair just wanted to flirt with Daine, and who am I to face the wrath of a certain Black Robed Mage of ours? Please review and tell me if I should even bother continuing…