Connor re-read the letter a few times before finally handing it to Abby to let her look at it. He was sitting at the ADD, which he had invented himself, going over a few updates for it and Abby had been constantly at his side begging to read it. He thought about not letting her for a bit longer, mostly to tease her since he knew he'd let her read it at some point, but he was hoping she'd find a clue about the person's identity that he was overlooking and his curiousity won so he gave it over. Abby leaned back against the desk as she scanned the letter:

Dear Connor

I just wanted you to know that I think I have some feelings for you. I think you're super smart and funny. Or maybe brilliant and hilarious would be better words. I just really, really like you. I think about you all the time. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing, you are on my mind. This isn't the first letter I've written to you. The rest of them I signed, but then I was too nervous to actually give them to you. This one I'm going to leave unsigned and maybe that way I can get up the courage to actually let you read it. It's a start right? Who knows, maybe one day I'll have the nerve to tell you how I really feel and who I really am. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with these little notes.

Your Secret Admirer.

Abby frowned. "At least she could have written it in her own handwriting instead of typing it out, yeah? That'd have made it easier."

"I think that's the point, Abs. She knows I'm brilliant, see? The envelope was her own handwriting I guess, but my name was all in those fancy bubble letters that no one really uses for anything. I don't think we can run an analysis on that."

"No probably not. Any ideas who wrote it yet?"

"Well, Caroline's the only real suspect, but it don't really sound like Caroline, do it?"

"You knew her better than I did."

"I don't think she was the type that'd be too nervous to tell me herself."

"Could be guilt though?"

"Could be," Connor agreed, but he looked doubtful. "Okay, Abs. I'll put her on the list."

"List?"

"List of girls it might be. We need a list, yeah?"

Abby nodded and then looked around. "Okay, wait here, I'll get us a piece of paper."

She disappeared and came back a moment later with a notebook and then handed it to Connor. He took a pen from his coat pocket and wrote at the top: LIST OF GIRLS.

Then he put a number #1 at the left margin and wrote: Caroline.

"Okaaay," Abby said, drawing out the word as she pondered. "Who else?"

"Jenny?"

Abby burst out laughing.

"What? What's so funny? Why couldn't Jenny like me?"

Abby shook her head, "Sorry, Con, the idea humours me, but fine, write down Jenny if you want. I really don't see it though, she likes Cutter."

"Still, gotta cover all the bases, right? Jenny and I are pretty close. It could be Jenny."

"I think she's a bit old for you, Con."

Connor ignored her and wrote down #2: Jenny. Then he thought for a bit and put down #3: Penny.

"Who's Penny?" Abby asked, a bit confused.

"She's the girl that brings the mail. She'd have to know where I live, yeah? And I talk to her sometimes when she drops it off. Gave her a big tip at Christmas and the next time she came around she'd brought me some cookies, so ya never know."

Abby frowned; she hadn't known that. Since when was Connor on a first-name-gift-giving basis with the mail girl. She wasn't entirely sure she liked that idea, but she quickly masked her thoughts and then said, "Okay, well, if we're following that train of thought, what about the girl that brings the newspapers too?"

"The little blonde kid? Abby, she's like, fourteen."

"Doesn't mean she can't have a crush on you. She always asks me if you're home when I see her."

"That's because I give her lemonade when she shows up on hot days and hot chocolate on the cold ones."

"You really have to stop flirting with the delivery girls, Con."

"It's not flirting! I'm just trying to make her day a bit better. I had a paper route as a kid and I loved it when people gave me little things like that. Fine, I'll put her down." He picked up the pen and wrote #4. "Uh, Abby, what's her name?"

"I dunno."

"Okay, then #4 is Paper Girl. What about some of the people here, Abby? Could it be the lab tech? What's her name? Diana?"

Abby shrugged, "Which one is she? The blonde or the brunette?"

"The ginger actually, but who knows, could be the others too. Erin and Lissie, right?"

"Sounds right. Okay, put them down."

Connor wrote down #5 Diana #6 Erin #7 Lissie, and then looked up at Abby, "Could be that new soldier girl from Becker's army too, what was her name again?"

"Jaclyn."

Connor wrote down #8 Jaclyn. "Anyone else, Abs?"

"Not that I can think of. But keep your eyes open, yeah? Now we need to start narrowing down the list."

"How?"

"You'll have to watch how people react to you. See if anyone blushes a little more now that they know you've read their note."

"Good idea."

"And when you get another letter, maybe it'll come in their own handwriting next time."

Connor halted, "You think I'll get another one?"

"Yeah, it said that, didn't it?"

"Where?"

"Look at the last sentence in you letter again, Con. It's plural."

Connor re-read it and then nodded. "Can't believe I missed that. Thanks Abby." Suddenly he thought of something and grabbed the list of girls again, "I just remembered one more. Her name's Nina. Bumped into her in the park the other day, literally. Tripped on her dog's leash. We got talking and I told her where I lived. She seemed nice." He wrote her down.

Abby frowned a bit as she looked at the list. It was quite a bit longer than she'd expected and Connor hadn't seemed overly opposed to any of them, other than maybe Caroline and the fourteen-year-old. Exactly how often was Connor flirting around when she wasn't there? Was it possible he actually liked any of the girls on the list? He'd have to be thinking about them to have written them down, right? He'd said he'd only date a girl if Abby approved, but Abby knew she wasn't likely to approve of any girl Connor brought home. She sighed. Maybe she shouldn't have offered to help. She'd thought it would be a fun project to work on with him, but it was turning out to be slightly emotionally draining.

Connor glanced at Abby and suddenly grinned at her, "Thanks for helping me, Abs!"

Abby grinned back. Okay, that smile of his made it worth it.