Jackson stepped out of the operating room, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. He just managed to replace a quite big piece of his patient's skin with a new one; the guy was a victim of forced tattooing of a gang stamp, a flying eagle with a swastika.

'Damn it.' Jackson snapped at his own reflection in the glass wall, separating scrub room from the OR. He spent last 5 hours in that place, sweating, tired and annoyed. There were complications, patient went into cardiac arrest, and Jackson wanted very much a bath, a beer and a bed.

He tore off his surgeon's cap and face mask and threw out the latter. His head was pulsating with mild pain, throbbing in his temples. Jackson shook his head slightly, trying to get rid of the pain, but unsuccessfully.

When he emerged from the locker room, freshly clothed and showered, he saw a group of people forming a line to the congratulate him. Jackson frowned. He has completely forgotten about exchange thing.

Owen signed their hospital up for a doctor exchange programme. They were assigned to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital from New Jersey, and the doctor from PPTH already came to have a walk around and get comfortable. He was as tall as Jackson, an Aussie with soft blonde curls and vividly mismatched ties and shirts. Nurses already gave him the nickname 'McRoo' because of his constant jokes about kangaroos hunting. He flashed his very white and very wide smile often and was rumored to already bang Stephanie the intern. And Stacy the nurse. And Lara the counselor.

Jackson loathed his new colleague. Not only he felt threatened, but he also was nonplussed to discover that he actually wanted him to be a bit more ugly. He always battled his problem with looks being the factor that made people judge him, but when this Greek god-quality beau arrived he started prowling around like a mating lion in his cage. Favors of his female coworkers turned to the Australian, leaving him be with April being all 'I don't know what do they see in him!' and secretly practicing her 'Yes, I'll gladly have dinner with you!' speech in front of the locker room mirror.

The worst part was that he, Jackson Avery, was chosen by the PPTH staff to be the one who will fly across the country and join New Jersey's hospital team. It was only for 6 months, but still…He didn't want to leave Seattle, but he knew that he can't give a bad example and he can't refuse to go. He sighed.

'Congrats doctor!'

'Way to go, Jackson!'

'Send us postcards!'

The news of him being the doctor who was to go was posted on the pinning board in the lobby. He was already packed and ready to go, and wanted very much to leave the hospital unnoticed. As if they would let him. Hands patted him on the back and shook his hands, lips kissed his cheeks, eyes winked to him. He was done for the day.

'Okay, people' Jackson gruffly accepted the congratulations. ' Thank you so much, but I really have to go. Thanks again.'

He turned on his heel and walked out of the hospital, sighing deeply. He inhaled the moist evening air and let a cocky smile wander on his lips. At least he would be closer to Baltimore; he always wanted to taste the famous lobster.

When he arrived at the apartment he rented in Princeton after a shopping spree, he was covered in sweat; it was the middle of June and while in Seattle rain was banging against the roofs and moss was spreading everywhere, Princeton was full of sunshine. So full of it, actually, that he felt like he was walking on a frying pan. He stopped in the front of the main entrance of the condo, sighed and turned around; as much as he tried to have a balanced diet, he now wanted a blue slushie, he wanted it so much that should he be a female, he would suspect a pregnancy.

He walked over to the nearby street vendor and purchased a large cup. He slurped at the cold beverage and grinned. The last time he had one was on his 15th birthday, when he went with his friends to the arcade and felt up Annie Roberts. The sweet coldness slid down his throat and made him feel a bit like a naughty teenager.

'Watch out!'

Jackson took a look over his shoulder only to be knocked down by someone. He was very surprised that who he saw was a young woman; her makeup was a bit smeared and her heels too high for walking up and down the streets. She sported a black, clingy dress with a v-neckline. Her knee was bleeding and her tights had holes in them. All in all, she looked like an escort whose client took a lot of liberty with.

'You alright?' Jackson offered a hand to help her get up, but she gracefully rose from the dusty pavement and pulled her dress down her knees to get at least a bit modest.

'Sorey, Ay tripped.' She spoke with an accent that bothered him; everyone in New Jersey seemed to speak affectionally. ' You droupped ye' drink.' She nodded towards the slushie that now was spilling down the street. She didn't say she was sorry for the fact that he lost his guilty pleasure or offer to buy him a new one. She just announced the obvious.

'Yeah, well, things happen.' Jackson wasn't sure how to respond. The stranger measured him with her eyes and had a questioning look on her feline face. 'I was just walking home.' He waved towards the condo they both stood in front of.

Woman smiled cockily.

'Looks laik weea neeighbohs den.' She produced a small key with a caduceus keychain and smiled at Jackson. 'Cahm on. Let's getcha feel at houm.'

Avery balanced on his heels for a second, unsure what to do. The woman seemed at least a bit weird but on the on the other hand she was the first Pricentonian who actually spoke to him, apart from the airport staff and the cab driver who bored him with a painfully long story about his daughter's junior prom.

'Sure, thanks.' He grabbed his duffel full of newly purchased clothes, more appropriate for the new climate, and followed the long limbed woman through the condo's front door. She dashed to the postboxes, hung on the wall near the entrance and checked quickly for any mail shoe could've received. She frowned in apparent disappointment and wrinkled her nose. She now looked more feline than ever.

Jackson chuckled. Woman turned around and faced him with a bewildered expression.

'Sorry, it's just – you look like a cat when you frown-' he stopped, not positive enough that she won't feel offended. Instead of that, woman laughed and threw her head back, her chocolate hair shiny like a horse mane.

'I heard that before.'

'Really?' Jackson took a hopeful step forward.

'No.' Woman – whom now Avery was more likely to call 'girl' in his head – grinned and walked straight to the wooden door with a brass '10' above the visor. There was something very juvenile of her, she seemed to be at most 30, but at the same time she could've been a minor. She was very fit, very dashing and very seductive.

Girl opened the door, went in, tore the battered heels of her feet and stood aside the door, waving welcomingly at Avery. He grinned and went inside.

Apartment was very classy, full of vases, dimmed lights and soft furnishings. Everything was either wooden or metal, and the color palette varied from moss green to slate grey. Floor was covered in rugs and a big, grey-blue carpet.

Woman pointed to a hanger, so that Jackson would hang somewhere is duffel.

'Wanna drink sometheen?' Avery nodded and the host moved to the counter of her kitchen peninsula. She bent over to pick up what looked like a cheese fork from underneath a bar stool and Jackson had for a mere second pleasure of admiring her legs from the thin ankles to firm thighs. She picked up the lost piece of cutlery and shot him a look that clearly told him one thing; she bent over on purpose. She opened a cabinet and took out two tall glasses, which she than placed on top of the counter. A bottle of grenadine standing next to the knife rack was what she motioned for when Avery took a step forward and grabbed her slim wrist.

'You wanna play doctor, eh?' He asked with a vicious smile.

Woman looked a bit alarmed and lustful at the same time. She raised one leg and rubbed her naked foot against Avery's shin.

'Why do ya theenk soh…' she leaned forward and licked away from his clavicle to ear, purring like a cat she was. Jackson smiled.

'Your keychain.'

Woman stopped all her ministrations and studied Avery's face. Once again he felt very confused by his new acquaintance.

'A caduceus.' She studied him further, so he carried on, blabbering away. 'I know that it's associated with medicine, and you probably knew that while buying it… but it's wrong. I mean, it's Hermes' staff. He was a god of thieves and finance, the deity who took care of physicians was Asclepius. He just had a staff with one serpent.'

Her ice cold stare froze him.

'How do you know that?'

Jackson shrugged.

'I'm a surgeon.' He could've imagined anything but not what happened next.

'Geroff me, geraut of mah apartment.' Woman just took his arms off her back, handed him his own duffel and pushed all the way from the kitchen counter to the door. She slammed the door behind him with an impressive amount of force.

Jackson stood on her doormat for a few second with a hard feeling of inadequacy and bewilderment. Then he just shook his head and fished a key out of his pocket. The door right vis a vis his frenzied neighbor were his.