I haven't written a fanfiction in a while but decided to pull the pen back out just for Chloe King. I completely love this show for obvious reasons; I mean have you looked at Benjamin Stone? But anyways, please read the story. I hope you absolutely love it but I'm a bit rusty so please no flames. I love you guys so much and thanks for reading. Please review! And there's more to come soon.

This is a series of OneShots of Chloe and Alek moments. I absolutely love them together. NLOCK writers: WTF is up with the Brian storyline? I mean, really? I love the actor who plays Brian but this whole stupid love triangle needs to stop. Anywho ,I don't own any part of Nine Lives of Chloe King and all that other crap. Hope you guys enjoy.

Chloe stared into her closet.

What the hell am I wearing? In what twisted universe would this be appropriate for a formal event? The dress was a short, skimpy, neon pink and black bandage dress. It hugged every curve of her body, leaving nothing to the imagination, a clubbing dress if she'd ever seen one. One only perfect for getting her into clubs without being questioned if she was under 18. No one cared when she was wearing this dress. All I'm missing are the stripper heels.

She sighed heavily. Looking into her closet, Chloe couldn't find one thing to wear. What was up with all the formal events lately? Since when do people throw these kinds of parties? In two days there was the formal gala celebrating the opening of the Egyptian exhibit at the San Francisco Museum. Somewhat surprisingly, Valentina had graciously given the museum a few artifacts on loan from her personal collection to put on display. Apparently one of her Mai friends was the curator and a perk was a hefty pile of tickets to the gala. Many of the influential Mai pack leaders from the surrounding areas were going to be in attendance. Unfortunately she requested Chloe's presence at the event. At the event there was to be dancing, the kind of dancing she didn't do well. That paired with having to spin around in a formal dress she didn't yet own in high heels that would inevitably hurt her feet made the evening look less and less like a fun night off from training. Lately, it seemed like the world was conspiring against Chloe just waiting to torture her with pretentious parties. The joys of being the Uniter. To top it all off it was raining and was supposed to continue to do so for the entire week meaning that her hair would predictably be a fizzy, untamable, hot mess.

She made her way over to the window, looking out into the night sky. Even now she could hear the rain drops beat down on the roof as a flash of lightning reflected into her bedroom followed by the rattling of the windows from thunder. She turned back towards her closet full of disappointments before letting out a groan of frustration. If only she had Valentina's closet of couture or Jasmine's four figure allowance. Chloe walked back over to her closet and looked into the floor-length mirror in front of her.

"Damn it. What am I going to wear?" She had recently developed the horrible habit of talking to herself out loud.

"Well, I think what you're wearing looks just fine." She heard Alek say in his usual cocky, objectifying tone. She found his face's reflection in the mirror, catching him shamelessly eyeing her up and down. Alek's arms were crossed over his chest, leaning against the window frame. Chloe looked at him in annoyance.

"Remember what I said about the bell?" Alek rolled his eyes. "But, really?" Chloe spun around to face him. "You really think this looks ok to wear to the gala?" Chloe turned back to the mirror. Alek walked towards Chloe to stand right behind her, looking over her shoulder at her image in the mirror. He ran his eyes over her appearance once again, gliding them up her body to finally meet hers.

"Probably not," he admitted, "but I could think of about a thousand other things to do in that dress…" he told her devilishly. Without losing eye contact, he placed his hands on her hips and moved his soft lips next to her ear "…or out of it." He raised his eyebrows seductively trying to get a rise out of her. Chloe's eyes grew wider but she tried to hold back her reaction as best she could. Lately she'd been trying to act less shocked by his frequent yet not-so-subtle sexual teases but she knew Alek had felt the tension in her muscles. He chuckled then dropped his hands. He gracefully flopped down on her bed. He leaned against the headboard and placed his hands behind his head, propping himself up so he could still get a proper view of Chloe in her dress. Chloe pivoted to look at him.

"That's really mature Alek." She rolled her eyes. "Those disgusting comments are a real turn-on."

"I'll remember that." He winked.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will." She paused. He was soaked from head to toe, no doubt from keeping watch on the roof. "Hey!"

"What?" innocence flooded his expressions, honestly not understanding what he did this time.

"You're drenched!" She walked over to him and positioned her hands on her hips. Alek looked at her as if she was slow.

"Yes. Good job, Chloe. I am. That's generally what happens when you're forced to stand on a roof in the rain." He said, not moving from his relaxed position on her bed.

"You're going to get my whole bed wet." she slapped his leg, "Get up! Get up!" she pulled on his arm causing him to groan in irritation but he gave in. Alek let her pull him up and off the bed.

"I was comfortable." He whined.

"And wet," she pushed his chiseled body into the oversized chair.

"But most importantly, comfortable."

"I don't care. I don't want to be sleeping in wet sheets tonight just because the cat got tired of being outside."

"Ha. Ha. Chloe. You're hilarious." Sarcasm flooded his words.

"I think so."

"Well at least someone does." Alek murmured. She rolled her eyes in response, "So, what's the big problem here?" gesturing towards the floor of her closet, hangers and clothing strewn everywhere.

"I have nothing to wear to Valentina's gala and I hate wearing heels and I can't dance. This whole night is going to be a disaster. I mean, how am I supposed to do this? I can't wear sweats to this thing and I definitely can't wear this. I could pass for a two-dollar hooker in this dress."

"Don't be silly Chloe. You don't look like a hooker. Give yourself a little credit. If anything you look like a well-paid escort." He teased. Chloe glared down her nose towards him. "Ok, calm down. I don't really have a solution to the dress fiasco of 2011 but I can help you with something else."

"If this is another sexual innuendo…" she warned.

"Really, Chloe? Do you think my mind is always in the gutter?" she glared at him as if to say 'yes'. "Where's your radio?"

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Just tell me." He ordered.

"It's on my desk, Sherlock."

"You know, I'm trying to help you. If I were you I would be a little more appreciative." Alek lifted himself up from the chair and made his way over to the desk.

"Why would I be appreciative?" she mimicked, doing her best British accent while plopping herself down on the bed, "I don't even know what I'm thanking you for yet." By the time she'd finished her statement Alek had made his way to her radio. He pressed the on button. Kesha began blaring through the radio's speakers. Alek's face recoiled.

"Oh God! What is this?" he was clearly repulsed by the autotune glitter queen.

"It's Kesha." He looked at Chloe blankly. "You know? Kesha? K-E-dollar-sign-H-A? She wears a lot of glitter? Looks drunk all the time?"

"Oh! Kesha. Right…Is she the one on what you kids call the youtube?" He mocked before rolling his eyes at her and focusing his attention back to the radio tuner. "Of course I know who she is Chloe. I'm Mai. I don't live in a cave." Now it was Chloe's turn to roll her eyes. He could be a real jerk sometimes.

"Do you have an iPod dock for this? I know there won't be anything remotely good on these radio stations."

"To your left."

"Thank you." Alek swiftly pulled his iPod out of his jeans pocket. He fiddled with the thing before settling on a track. He plugged in the iPod and turned up the speakers. "Ok, it's on pause. Have to grab the remote." He stated as he placed it in his pocket. Alek walked over to Chloe and stretched his hands towards her, yanking her up from her seat on the bed. In one un-humanly swift move, Alek wrapped his right arm around her waist, bringing her close to him and raised her right hand in his left.

"Here we go." He stated, doing the uncomfortable close talking thing again. Alek was so close Chloe could feel his warm breath on her face.

"I didn't think this was normally how close people danced at these things." Alek shrugged.

"I guess you're right." He smirked. There he went again, trying to make her squirm. Alek took his right hand from around her waist and placed it gently on the small of her back adding about six inches between them, "This more comfortable?" Chloe nodded.

"Now what are we doing?" she asked pretending to be unphased by his latest attempt to rattle her.

"I'm going to teach you the simplest step I can think of. It's called the rock step. Just follow my lead, it's basically swaying. If you can master this, which God help us if you can't," Chloe shot him a look which he brushed off, "you'll get by."

"Ok," Chloe nodded in concentration. She lowered her gaze from his face to his feet.

"Ok, rule number 1."

"Uh, huh?" Chloe stared at her feet trying to align them perfectly with Alek's.

"Don't look at my feet."

Chloe's eyes darted up to his face to meet his eyes. "We haven't even started and I'm already f-ing it up."

"Will you please relax? I can feel the tightness in your muscles, you're incredibly stiff. I can help you with that later if you'd like," fully understanding the innuendo in his proposition. Chloe sent an irritated look in his direction. Alek ignored it and moved on, completely unfazed. "With as much tension as your giving off you could stress out Gandhi. Just breathe. The worst thing that could happen is you step on my toes."

"Good point." Chloe agreed. And even that wouldn't be entirely terrible. She suddenly felt more assured, somewhat glad Alek was helping her.

"Or fall and embarrass yourself in front of everyone." he smiled playfully. It instantly reminded her why she never liked asking him for help.

"Alek." She cautioned. He let out a small laugh. "That's not even close to being funny right now." Another laugh escaped his lips. "Alek!" Chloe dropped her hands from their assigned positions and slapped his arm. It was hard for her not to laugh in response though. He didn't laugh often and when he did, it was infectious. "Stop it! This is a big deal! I don't want to not screw this up in front of Valentina."

"I'm sorry," he chuckled "I can't help it. You take this so seriously like the entire survival of our race relies upon your ballroom dancing." She hit his arm one more time "Ok, ok." Alek conceded, he threw his arms up in surrender "I'm done." He extended his arms again, waiting for Chloe to place her hands in his. Once she did Alek arranged their bodies back into the correct position.

"Ok, now remember, all you need to do is follow my lead. You're a Mai so dancing should come easy to you. It's just like training. Once you learn it, it becomes second nature, completely natural." Chloe broke their eye contact for a moment to look down at her feet. "Stop looking at your feet Chloe." Alek reminded her sternly. "Alright, are you ready?"

"Sure." she said unconvincingly, "What the hell, right? You already let me know the worst case scenarios."

"True." He stated. "Ok, here we go." Alek released his hand from the small of her back where it had been resting comfortably to reach into his pocket and press play on the remote. The song was simple enough, just an old Billie Holiday recording of I'm Yours. Suddenly Chloe realized she was looking down at their feet again.

"Will you stop that?" he asked impatiently. Chloe focused her eyes back on Alek's and let out a huff.

"Sorry, it's not like I'm trying to suck." Alek rolled his eyes at her over dramatic statement.

"You don't suck at this, ok? You're just learning. You can't do everything perfect the first time you try. You're the Uniter, not a robot." He stated. As Alek moved his feet she suddenly felt nervous about stepping on his toes, she gave him an uneasy expression. "You're doing fine Chloe, just keep looking at me." he smiled encouragingly, "And remember to count. One and two, one and two." She smiled, recognizing that this wasn't as hard as she had thought it'd be. Alek wasn't a bad teacher really. He glided their bodies smoothly to the music with no effort at all. Although, by now the step had become routine for Chloe, it took no more thinking than breathing. Alek had been right, dancing was came much more effortlessly now that she had transformed.

"You're not too bad at this."

"You haven't seen anything." Alek smirked before taking Chloe and dipping her in his arms.

"Now you're just showing off." She told him with a playfulness in her voice. Alek drew her back up into his chest. "So how did you learn how to do this?" Chloe asked him, truly curious what would ever possess Alek to learn such a skill. "You don't exactly look like a Dancing with the Stars fan."

"Well, I do like to keep the ladies on their toes." Alek said as he guided Chloe into a spin before pulling her back effortlessly. Chloe shook her head at him lightheartedly, giving him a giggle. Alek looked down at her before breaking eye contact to look above her head at nothing in particular, their cheeks were almost touching. His voice dropped to a quieter volume where Chloe had to partially use her Mai senses to hear, "Honestly, my mother made me learn." Chloe felt her breath hitch. She knew this couldn't be easy for him to talk about. She'd never heard Alek mention his mother; really he'd never mentioned any of his family. This was a conversation reserved for someone he trusted. She pulled back slightly to look into his eyes. A sad, reminiscent grin crossed Alek's face. "She was extremely traditional. She used to drag me to etiquette school kicking and screaming the entire way." Chloe opened her mouth to make a quip before Alek continued, "I know what you're thinking. Clearly this must be the only thing that stuck." He joked before continuing with his story. "This was actually one of her favorite songs to dance to. She was always a huge Billy Holiday fan. Sometimes after my mother tucked me in I would sneak out of my room and sit on the stairs of our home to watch my father dance with her. It was sort of their nightly tradition." Alek paused and Chloe didn't know if she should fill in the silence but decided against it. Instead, she processed what he was saying and concentrated on the placement of Alek's muscular body against hers. It was comfortable just like the conversation. "I haven't thought about them dancing in a long time actually. I kind of miss that."

"Alek?" the name came out hesitantly from her lips. She was anxious to ask him anything about them but feared she might never have the opportunity to ask again.

"Yes?"

"What were they like?" Alek strained his head back to look at her in the eyes. Chloe could tell he was trying to decide what to make of her question. Alek let out a soft sigh and shook his head in concentration, breaking eye contact once again.

"My father's name was Edward and my mother's was Alicia. I don't remember much about them actually, just bits and pieces, but she had the most incredible green eyes and long brown hair. They were always so happy. She was a school teacher and my father…I honestly don't remember what he did. But they were great parents. They were good together. "

"They sound so perfect," Chloe pictured, imagining them in her head. A portrait of the two doting parents holding hands and smiling with their blonde headed little boy. "– like they would have come straight out of a storybook." Alek chuckled grimly.

"They were perfect…to me anyways, but I'm a bit biased." He smiled.

"You don't have to do that, you know?" referring to his need to always try to lighten the mood. The song switched to the next track, I'll Be Seeing You, another classic Billie Holiday tune.

"Do what?" Alek looked questioningly. Chloe shook her head, looking at him before resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Well," Alek said as he slowed down the dancing to a stop, "that concludes your lesson for the evening. I think you have successfully mastered the easiest step in ballroom. Congratulations." He grinned. "I should probably get back to guard duty. Jasmine's out there but I think we both know she's not the most observant." At that very moment they heard a loud thud from the roof, no doubt it was Jasmine voicing her opinion on his comment. He released her right hand and dropped his from the small of her back. Alek started walking towards the radio to collect his iPod.

"Wait a second," Chloe requested a little too desperately. For a reason she wasn't willing to admit to herself, she wasn't ready to be finished with her dance lesson. "I've always loved this song. Can't we finish it?"

"Are you asking me to dance?" Alek looked at her questioningly but Chloe could see his eyes light up as he spoke. He had read into her request. Chloe wasn't an idiot; she was well aware that some of the advances he'd made over the course of their friendship weren't entirely to make her uncomfortable. He often said what he meant shrouded in a blanket of sarcasm. Alek made his way slowly back over to her as she spoke. It made her nervous.

"No. I just thought you liked this song too since it's on your iPod and everything. And I was just getting the hang of the step. And-"

"You've had the hang of that step since 5 seconds after I taught it to you." Alek stated clearly. He was right, she had.

"I just thought—" Chloe had to backtrack. They were just getting comfortable with each other as friends. Getting involved in any other way than that, or letting him think she wanted to, would only complicate things further. Plus, it was painfully clear that anything other than a friendship with Alek Petrov would only lead to a broken heart and one less gallon of chocolate ice cream in the freezer. Chloe wasn't sure if she could trust him with matters of the heart. She still wasn't convinced that this wasn't just a game to him, another story he would inevitably brag about to his friends.

"If you want to dance, all you have to do is ask." He interrupted. There was no trace of sarcasm or teasing anywhere in his voice, no mask of flirtation. The candor of his statement flustered her and made her question her previous thought. Chloe knew she'd never get used to that; it always caught her off-guard when Alek said what he was really thinking. It was like he was flipping on a sensitivity switch. Alek gently placed his hands around hers and put them back in their correct places. "I don't bite." He hummed into her ear. It sent a chill down her spine. The proximity made her realize what a mistake this dance was. Despite already knowing the step Chloe looked down at her feet pretending to have to concentrate so she wouldn't have to make eye contact. She tried to steady her heartbeat as her pulsed raced inside her chest.

"Do I have to remind you to not look at your feet?" Alek asked.

"Sorry. I was just trying to remember where my feet went." She lied. Chloe was pretty sure Alek hadn't believed her. Looking up, she focused on a spot on her bedroom wall. She could feel Alek's gaze bore into her. Whatever I do, she told herself, do not look up at him. Alek was constantly all over the place with his emotions and Chloe couldn't risk it. She never knew where she stood with him. One moment he'd be a complete jerk or be flirting with some girl and the next he'd be the sweetest boy she'd ever met. Chloe didn't want to look up at him and give him the satisfaction of knowing she wanted him. She was not interested in some throwaway fling with Alek. It was a lot more to her than that but she wasn't sure if it would be anything more than that to him. And until she knew the answer to that question she could not allow herself to look up at Alek. If she did, who knew what would happen. She bit her bottom lip in concentration. A moment passed before Alek spoke.

"I was thinking…tomorrow night…I could teach you the box step. That way you'll know one more just in case." Chloe knew his offer was genuine but she didn't respond. She was worried her voice would be unsteady and give away her thoughts. "I mean, if you want…?" Alek's voice was uncertain, more vulnerability in it than she normally heard. She cleared her throat knowing she couldn't refuse his offer and she kind of didn't want to. Not after what he'd told her tonight about his family.

"Um, yeah…that would be fine." Chloe nodded her head, voice weak, but kept her eyes trained in front of her.

"Ok. Tomorrow night." He responded. As the music started to fade, signaling the end of the song, Chloe couldn't resist any longer and gave in, looking into Alek's eyes. They were oddly gentle compared to normal. She couldn't place where she'd seen that look before. Without words Alek leaned down, placed a slow gentle kiss on her cheek and as swiftly as he'd entered he'd disappeared. Vanished out the window into the cold rain leaving Chloe standing there alone in her room with his iPod playing, as the end of the song dissipated. Chloe raised her hand to touch her cheek which was tingling from the kiss Alek had gifted her with. As she touched it she focused back on her thought about his gaze, the way he was looking at her moments before. He was almost looking at her like…like Chloe's father used to look at her mother. Suddenly it dawned on Chloe…Alek was in love with her.

Thanks for reading! And again I beg PLEASE REVIEW! I love hearing what you think about the story and any possible thoughts you have on anyother OneShots. I'm always up for suggestions :) Love ya