Mike had passed out grading papers for his history class. He was woken by the sound of some one fiddling with the door. He fell off the couch, scattering his notes every where. Muttering out a muffled curse, he frowned at the door. Blip wasn't going to be back for days; he was on a ski trip with Evelyn. Turning off the light, he stood, walking towards the door of the apartment. He waited until the door opened. A woman he didn't know walked in and put a bag of stuff on the ground. Robbery tools? Mike grabbed her and shoved her against the wall. "Who are you?"

She let out a shriek and elbowed him straight in the gut, causing him to cough and let her go. Pulling something from her pocket, he was hit in the face with a burning sensation. "Holy SHIT." He screamed dropping to the ground, clutching his face.

"That's what you get you creep." The girl said.

"Creep?" Mike gasped out. "I fucking live here, you're the one who broke into my apartment." He couldn't see anything and his entire face burned.

"Wait, are you Mike?"

The pain was getting worse so all Mike could do was whimper and nod.

"Shit, I'm so sorry." She said, kneeling next to him. "I'm Ginny." She said it as though it explained her presence in his apartment. "Did Blip not tell you I was coming?"

He coughed and shook his head.

"Typical." Ginny muttered. "Well, he gave me a key and told me I could stay for the week while I go apartment shopping. I thought he'd warned you."

"Must have been to busy with Ev." Mike muttered. Ginny snorted.

"No surprise there. Those two can't keep their hands to themselves."

"Try living with them." Mike groaned. "What was that? Poison?"

"Mace." She stood and Mike heard running water. A few seconds later a cool cloth was pressed to his eyelids. It didn't do much, but it helped. Mike pressed it to his face and let out a small groan.

"You usually mace guys when you meet them?" He asked.

"Only if they grab me from behind in the dark." She retorted. He chuckled.

"Fair enough." He tried to stand, but was still wobbly. Ginny helped him over to the couch. "So," He said as he collapsed onto the couch. "How do you know Blip?"

"He and I were on the same little league team."

"I didn't know Blip played softball." Mike frowned.

"And I didn't know I would need the mace again so soon." Ginny shot back. Mike chuckled.

"He's mentioned you." He said. "So what brings you to San Diego?"

"I'm going to start school next semester." She said. "And since I'm starting in the spring, I can't get a dorm. So I came early to look for an apartment."

Mike nodded. "Well it's the time apartments go on the market." He leaned against the couch. Ginny looked at the scattered papers.

"You a professor?"

"TA" He said. "I'm a grad student, which means the professor gave me all the grunt work of grading the papers from his 200 student lecture class."

"Sorry." Ginny said, running her hand on his back in soothing circles. Mike leaned against the contact, happy to have something to distract him from his burning face.

"For the mace?" He asked.

"No, you deserved that." Ginny said, laughing. It was a full laugh, one that was uncaring about being judged. Mike smiled, in spite of the pain. "I meant about the work overload." She clarified.

"You're mean." Mike muttered, giving her a smile to show he wasn't serious, but it came out as more of a grimace because of the mace. She moved her hand off his back, pressing her cool fingers to his cheek.

"I'm sorry." She murmured. Mike shut his eyes, her skin was soft but there were some callouses on the tips of her fingers. He drew in a shaky breath, pressing against her fingers. Ginny swallowed, pulling away her hand and moving back.

"So, what are you planning on studying?" He asked, trying to regain control of the situation and unsure why he'd felt he'd lost it. Ginny smiled.

"Well, they want me to play baseball, but...I'm not sure what my major's going to be yet."

"If I might offer a suggestion." He said, motioning to the stack of papers. "Avoid Frantz's history class."

"Why, don't think I'll be up for the challenge?" Ginny asked.

"No, I'm looking out for you." He said, picking up the stack of papers. "I don't want you to be an accessory to murder when I kill him."

"Wouldn't you telling me this right now technically make me an accessory?" Ginny asked. Mike opened his mouth, then shut it.

"Um..." He said. "We'll call it an excited utterance due to distress brought on by physical pain."

"You must watch a lot of Law and Order." Ginny commented. Mike tapped his pen against the stack of papers.

"I plead the fifth." He said. Leaning back, he looked at the ceiling, his vision still blurry. "I can't see." he groaned, how the hell was he supposed to grade the papers now?

Ginny reached for the stack. "How about I read them out to you and you tell me what to fix?"

Mike nodded, "There's Chinese takeout in the fridge." He said. "And beer. We're going to need lots of it."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"Well me to numb the pain from my face, you to keep your sanity when you read those papers."

"They can't be that bad." Ginny said.

Mike snorted. "Read the first sentence of the paper at the top of the stack."

Ginny frowned. "There was no history before Christopher Columbus landed in Mexico." She read. "...that is just so many levels of wrong."

"The best part?" Mike said. "Is that the class is on the industrial revolution." He laughed as Ginny got up and went to the fridge, pulling out the beer. "Told ya." He said, smirking.


When Blip and Evelyn came back from their ski trip three weeks later, they walked in on Mike and Ginny making out on the couch.

"Oh my god." Blip said, walking out. Evelyn grinned.

"Whaaaaaaat." She said as Mike and Ginny scrambled apart.

"Oh please." Mike grumbled. "With the amount of times I've seen Blip's bare ass."

Blip glared at him. "Meet me outside." He growled.

Evelyn waited until the two of them were out before grabbing Ginny. "So..." She asked. "How did that apartment hunting go?"