A/N – Hey everyone still interested in this story! *Sheepishly smiles* I have a couple of reasons why this story hasn't been updated since February. One; because I had writer's block with it. That two; led me to forgetting about it. So I'm really sorry. But thank you very much for your patience. Especially when it comes to this chapter. I just woke up, sat and wrote it. But I hope some of it is reasonably okay, lol. Thank you so much for the reviews, faves and alerts with it! It's what's made me pick the story up and dust it off. :) I hope its okay, please review. *Hugs for all*

And the lyrics aren't mine.

I'm weak, it's true, 'cause I'm afraid to know the answer; do you want me too? 'Cause my heart keeps falling faster...

True

I walked through the halls of the hospital after my short, stand-in shift for someone, clutching an unnecessary chart in my hand as I looked around me, wondering again if what I was about to do, was the right thing to do. It didn't quite sit right with me. It was an invasion of privacy for one thing; and almost immoral. But ever since our date the night before, non-celebrating Valentine's Day together, I just couldn't do nothing to make an effort to see Susannah again. The kiss I initiated at the last minute . . . I'd tried to get my head around it the whole way home. The driver even smirked at me in the rear-view mirror and I couldn't help but grin back and shake my head out of the daze.

It had been even more perfect than I had expected.

Not only did I take the plunge and ask her out on a date she more than accepted. I put myself out there, more than prepared to get laughed at like I almost believed I would be. But when she had said yes, all but making my face split apart from relief and a barely restrained excitement, I just knew the connection we had in just two scant meetings wasn't my imagination. The rest of the night and the kiss only reinforced that belief. And I had spent the better portion of the night and my first few early hours of my shift trying to decide how I was going to somehow see Susannah again.

And that was when I remembered what she had said about her hospitalized friend, Gina not getting discharged until the next day. And suddenly it all seemed a little brighter. I didn't want to seem like a stalker to Susannah. But at the same time, I knew she wanted to see me again as much as I wanted to see her. It's not every day I have the opportunity of a beautiful, intriguing woman like Susannah walk into my life. And as much as I don't know about her, I'm more than willing to use my initiative to see her again and see if we can develop it. Even if she just wishes to be friends.

When I looked up I was surprised to find myself closer to Ms Augustin's room than I realized. I could hear voices drifted out to me from the door propped ajar and the sounds of laughter. Intrigued at what was going on behind the door, I walked up and lightly rapped my knuckles, leaving it a few seconds before I stuck my head around the door and caught sight of a doctor, a male nurse and Susannah's friend, all smiling and beckoning me in. Stepping around the door I nodded at Gina sitting up in bed, a smirk dancing across her face. I glanced between them all, picking up on the light atmosphere surrounding them.

"Dr. De Silva," The male nurse nodded to me before smiling at Gina and walking around me to leave the room.

"Dr. De Silva?" Gina questioned quickly, her smirk suddenly widening along with her eyes. She pulled herself to sit up in bed more fully and looked me over. "As in, Jesse?" She carried on. I could feel my friend Brian's eyes darting between us both, curiosity burning the air. Not just from them, but myself too. Obviously Susannah had mentioned something to her friend about me. I just had to wonder what and why. Although, I had my suspicions as to the latter. "You're the guy that nicked my friends cab yesterday, aren't you?"

I felt the blood rush to my face at that estimate and ignored Brian's snort. "I didn't 'nick' Susannah's taxi, Ms Augustin. We shared it as I recall," I answered, stepping into the room more fully, the chart I was still holding passing from one hand to another. "Susannah told me of your accident. How are you feeling?" I asked, turning the conversation away when I saw her wink. Finally realizing she was doing nothing but teasing me. "I know Susannah was worried about you yesterday." I continued making senseless talk that wasn't really necessary. I just wanted to fill the void and her hard penetrating stare on me.

"I'm okay. Hey, here's an idea! You're a doctor; maybe you can help convince Dr. Jones here that I need to stay in longer. He wants to get rid of me," She pouted, batting her eyelashes at my friend and colleague, whose real name is actually Brian Anderson. But I got the sense she was also teasing him too. And he didn't appear to be completely immune to it either. Susannah told me Gina would be driving the doctors here wild. And I was starting to see why. "I think I might have suffered a concussion after-all. You wouldn't want me to go away and get hurt again would you?"

"There's nothing wrong with you, Ms Augustin," He chuckled crossing his arms over his chest in a weak display of guarding himself from her flirting.

"Spoil sport," She winked. I covered my laugh with a choke, ducking my head to hide my humor. This only seemed to be making her worse. "I was going to send you a fruit basket as thanks for taking such good care of me. I don't think I'll bother now," She sniffed, casting a glance to me. "Maybe you and Suze can share it, Dr. De Silva." She coyly grinned. This time it was my face that was flaming and Brian that was openly laughing at me. Gina looked extremely smug with herself too. Raising a hand to my jaw I scratched it and dropped my eyes.

"As much fun as I'm having here, I still have other patients to see too. I'll be back with your discharge papers soon, Ms Augustin." Brian intoned. He nodded at Gina and shot me a glance as he came up to me; whispering, "Be careful with this one." Before patting me on the shoulder and closing the door behind him. When I turned back, Gina was narrowing her eyes at me.

"So, let me take a wild guess why you're here, Jesse," She started, throwing the blankets covering her back and swinging her legs out and off the side of the bed. She was wearing sweatpants, but I could still see the bandage covering her ankle and wrapped around her foot peeking through the bottom. She waved me over and much to my better judgement that was telling me to turn around and leave, I walked over. "You want to know about, Suze. Because you want to see her again, am I right?"

I swallowed audibly and scratching my chin again. "Yes, that's right."

If her smirk wasn't scaring me before, her genuine smile definitely did. "Great!" She clapped, moving about to get herself more comfortable again. "She told me all about your cab-sharing adventure yesterday you know. And about your date. It's a girl thing," She waved off when I raised my eyebrows. "I knew something was up before she even told me. Mainly because she wouldn't stop smiling this morning. So you want to see her again, huh?" She asked, speaking everything for me. I shifted uncomfortably on my feet and met her stare head on.

"Yes I do," I boldly declared. Chuckling a little I shook my head. "Susannah is . . . definitely amazing. So yes, I am here for your help. If you don't mind giving it."

"Hell no! After the shit-eating grin she was wearing, I got no problem with it," She confirmed, relaxing me just the slightest bit. "She said you didn't make any plans again last night, so you need a way to casually bump into her again," Gina said, seeming to think aloud. "She's supposed to be taking her cousin's son to the American Museum of Natural History today. That would be a great place to start. Although . . . hanging out with a kid too isn't exactly date material – "

"No, actually that's perfect," I cut her off, much to her surprise. "I have the feeling she would enjoy the company," I smiled, the idea growing in my mind without much effort. I glanced down at my watch hoping I would have the time to run home, shower and shave. "What time is she supposed to be taking him?" I asked, glancing up and already back-pedalling to the door.

"Um, about 11 o'clock I think. Suze'll be tearing her hair out with the kid alone, but you sure? There are other times you can bump into her you know." She argued, just to be certain. I stopped walking and opened my mind a bit more. Susannah spoke very highly of Gina the night before. Telling me that they are as close as best friends can be. And the way Gina was helping me, was something I took great pride in. That I had obviously made a good enough impression, that Gina was willing to help me 'bump into' Susannah. "Jesse?"

"It's fine, Ms Augustin, honestly. Thank you for all your help!" I grinned, turning to leave the room.

But she was soon calling me back. "Jesse wait!" I spun around and looked at her. "Take this, it's my phone number. If you need any-more help, call me. I can give you a head's up more. Oh and one more thing," She continued as I stepped forward and took the slip of paper she had torn from a receipt and written her number on as she spoke. "Call me Gina, okay?"

Slipping the piece of paper into my pocket, I nodded. "Thank you, Gina." Spinning back around I left the room. My anxious steps carrying me back down the hall to sign-off from my shift. My grin I was sporting, I suspected was just as it was last night, after I kissed Susannah.

A moment I couldn't wait to experience again.

xXx

Keep calm. You will not snap. You are in control.

I'm pretty sure those words of calm were supposed to work if I actually believed them! Daniel, my cousin's son was driving me mad without really having to do anything and I was seriously regretting the decision to take him out for the day. I didn't want to be stuck inside with him for hours and I didn't want to take him to the park or something in-case I lost him. Like the Museum Of Natural History would be any better, I rolled my eyes at myself. But I was holding out the hope the giant bone structure of a T-Rex and the like would hold his eight year old attention long enough for me not to give up, call his folks and ask for an exchange. If I hadn't have promised I'd look after him weeks ago, I would have cancelled.

"Can I have a hotdog?" He asked, tugging on my sleeve. I took a deep breath and said no. "Can I have a balloon?" He prodded. Again, I took a deep breath and said no. "Can I have a Coke?" He whined, kicking my shoe with his. And seeing as I was wearing wedge heels, he skipped the shoe bit and kicked me in the ankle instead. "Mommy said you have to buy me whatever I want. And I want a hotdog, a balloon and a Coke. Now!" He demanded, stomping his foot hard.

Letting out the deep breathes I'd been taking; I bent down and looked at him. "Your Mom said for me to sit with you for the day. She never said anything about buying you whatever you want, Daniel. Now quit with the tantrum, or we'll go back to my apartment and you can have the fun task of organising my shoe collection by colour and design. Got it?" I asked sweetly.

But all he did was pull the face that meant a killer tantrum I was trying to stop, was about to start and I was going to be deafened.

"Oh for crying out loud! Fine, you can have a hotdog. But don't blame me if you don't feel well," I grumbled, marching over to the vendor near the bottom of the steps and asked for a medium hot-dog with no sauce and no onions. "I can't believe this," I felt him come to a stop behind me and stiffened. If my day was going to keep going this way, where I give in every two seconds, I'm going to be broke before the months through. I took the hotdog from the vendor guy with thanks, pulling out my notes and paying for it. "Don't say I never – "

The words died on my lips as I turned around to hand the hot-dog to Daniel, just to come face-to-face with the one guy that had been running through my mind on constant ever since he left me at the top of my steps after kissing me. The most perfect, amazing, blood-searing kiss in the history of mankind. I snapped my jaw shut and pulled my eyes away from his casual t-shirt and dark jeans, up to his stylishly scruffy, wavy hair. Would he notice if I just quickly ran my hand through it? I thought, wanting to do just that. But the small smile edging the corners of his thin, soft lips made that thought die before my hand really did do what it wanted to. I watched those same lips as he spoke to me.

"Do you always give in that easily?" He asked me teasingly, my eyes riveted to the movement of his mouth.

Maybe with you, I almost said. "Definitely not," I answered, finally snapping my eyes back up to his cool dark brown ones. "Didn't yesterday prove that?" I quipped, unable to resist. I wanted to shove the words back in my mouth and kick myself around Central Park. But luckily all he did was laugh, the sound so deep and warm, it shot through my body and made me want to drop the hot-dog and throw my arms around his neck. Reality check, Suze! My brain warned. Hardly know the guy! Although, he is a great kisser. Better than great. Soul-shaking good.

"Suze! What about my hotdog?" Daniel intervened, stepping between Jesse and me. Distance, good thing I told myself. I looked down at the kid and passed the hot-dog greasing up my hand to him. The time for wondering if it would have been smarter to give in to a balloon instead of junk-food already passed when he took a huge bite out of it and munched down happily. At least it kept him semi-quiet. He still managed to talk to Jesse around a mouthful of food. "Who're you?" He asked curiously. Quite polite for a kid talking with his mouth-full.

Jesse laughed again and got down to Daniel's level. "I'm Jesse," He answered, handing over a tissue I passed to him when Daniel got grease down his shirt. "I'm Susannah's friend. It's nice to meet you . . . ?" I filled in the blank and he continued. "Daniel. You're not giving my friend too much trouble are you?" He prodded.

Lowering the hotdog, Daniel wiped his mouth and shot a guilty look up at me before glancing back to Jesse. "Maybe just a little, Jesse," He said quietly, dropping his head. But two seconds later he shot back up with a grin before either Jesse or I could say anything. "Are you coming to the Museum too?" He asked excitedly. I cringed, waiting for not only Daniel to be disappointed, but me too. Turning around to find Jesse standing behind me was like clear Californian sunshine on my murky day; bright and irresistible. So I braced myself, laying a hand on Daniel's shoulder to offer my silent support for his rejection too.

"I'd love to, if Susannah doesn't mind," Jesse answered carefully, glancing up at me. If I'd have been eating that hotdog right then, I know I would have choked on it with that silent question. Jesse looked up at me with a raised eyebrow and Daniel grinned a gruesome teeth missing smile. Practically bouncing on his toes for me to say yes. And suddenly, it was me that could end up disappointing Daniel. And Jesse? "We promise to be good, don't we Daniel?" He continued, filling the awkward silence. His little side-kick nodded emphatically.

"With a tempting offer like that, how can I refuse," I smiled back, getting a sudden bear hug from Daniel and a secretive grin from Jesse as he climbed to his feet. When Daniel pulled away, he ran over to a bin and chucked over half of his hot-dog away before he came running back. "It's quite the coincidence you just happened to bump into me here, Jesse."

"I was walking past and happened to see you both," He shrugged, a coy smile making shivers race through me. Who cares if it was coincidental or not? I'd been replaying the kiss from the night before over and over and wondering if or how I was going to see him again. Short of walking up to the hospital and wandering the halls in the hopes of seeing him, it seemed useless. But seeing him again, not even 24 hours after the kiss and . . . Well, it was the best surprise I've ever had. "Shall we go? I think a certain young boy wants to see the T-Rex waiting for him."

"Oh, just Daniel wants to see it does he?" I laughed, letting Jesse guide me up the steps with Daniel running on ahead. He didn't deny it and I didn't question it further. Boys will be boys, right? But just before we stepped into the museum, Jesse slipped his hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. When I glanced up at him, he just gave my hand a small squeeze and looked ahead. Biting my lip to hide my smile, I squeezed his hand back and left it the way it was.

"Come on you two!" Daniel called, jumping up and down on the spot.

"Last chance to back out," I quietly said to Jesse, pulling him to a stop.

His answer was to cup my cheek with his free warm hand and lean down to kiss me. Just a lingering meeting of the lips that pulled temptation out to the surface and coiled through my body. The connection between us as intense as it was the night before. I curled a hand around the back of his neck before he could pull away, making it last a little while longer. When I did let him go, my hand slowly falling down his shoulder and chest, he smirked. "I think I'll stick around for this one." He answered huskily, dropping his hand from my face and pulling me over to Daniel.

And I couldn't stop the nervous butterflies dancing around my stomach at that almost promise.

I know when I go; I'll be on my way to you. The way that's true...

Anonymous Reviews:

Jess – Hey, hun! I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote this story. I feel so bad, I actually forgot about this one. *Hangs head in shame* Thank you so much for taking an interest in this story and reviewing! If you still remember it, lol. I had to go back and re-read the first chapter to reacquaint myself with it. But I'm kinda glad to have this one out of the way. It's been bugging me for a while. I'm really glad you like this story though. Once the idea hit I couldn't wait to write it. :) Thanks again for reviewing! Take care. :D *Hugs, peace and love* x

Morgan – Hi there! I am so sorry for the delay in writing the second chapter, if you're still interested. :) I never intended on leaving it so long. It feels good to have it done now though. Hopefully the block I've had with it will have passed now. :) Aww, I'm thrilled you think it's a romantic story! And I have a little something planned when it comes to how they first met so good call on that. :D I hope you continue to enjoy this story. I'll try and make sure I update a lot sooner than I have. Thanks for your patience! Take care. *Hugs, love and peace* x