Though Crane had dressed and left before dawn, a hint of his spicy, expensive cologne still lingered on the sheets and in the air. The scent, along with the soreness between her legs, reminded Emma that the events of the previous night were real, and they came rushing back to her in a tidal wave. It was a blur of skin and sweat and moans, but essentially, they had fucked until both of them were to the point of exhaustion, at which time they had collapsed into sleep. Surprisingly enough, he had stayed, and she woke up in the middle of the night to find his arm draped possessively over her, muttering angrily to himself lost in a dream. Similar to the last time, the night of sleep she had was the best and most refreshed she had felt in a long time.

It was an addiction, Emma thought to herself, that would be the clinical explanation. Fulfilling sexual experiences and orgasm leading to an increase of dopamine in the brain, binding to receptors in euphoria, leading the mind to continue to seek out the pleasure again. That despite every logical part of her brain not only screaming to her that Crane was trouble, into something he shouldn't be, and a potential knock to her career, still she couldn't stop thinking about another go. Another taste of him, another mind-blowing orgasm from his skilled hands. The only way she could think to curtail it was to pour herself into her work, which unfortunately was within close proximity to him, but the busier she was, the less time she had to let her mind wander to… other things.

Fortunately for her, there was no morning meeting on Tuesdays, which meant there would be no forced interaction between her and a certain bespectacled colleague. Also, she had very limited appointments, which meant she could easily hermit herself away in the lab. After quickly depositing her things and checking messages, she grabbed her lab coat and rushed down to the lab, passing friendly faces in the process, but luckily no Crane.

Hours passed as she swirled different liquids, and scratched random notes on her notepad. Everything had been progressing as planned, she was getting dangerously close to perfecting the formula, and hours passed by undistracted and fully engaged in formulating and testing. The lunch hour came and went, and she didn't even realize how late it had become until the evening shift technician came in to start.

"Dr. Avery, please don't let me disturb you if you're in the middle of something," Sabrina was in her twenties, Asian, with beautiful almond eyes and silky black hair. She was way too good for the Asylum, but she was stuck in between jobs and took the offer as a temporary fill-in. Emma would be sad to see her go, and tried to use her as much as possible in the process until the time came. She was thorough, which was a quality Emma valued most in a colleague.

"No worries, just finishing up."

"Oh, um, Doctor Crane was looking for you. Is there something going on with you guys? After the Halloween party there's been some rumors going around. I hope it's not rude of me to bring up, I just figured if it was me, I would want to know." Emma gulped and felt her cheeks turn red against her will.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. Just professional colleagues, I don't think I could stand his arrogance in a dating relationship. What was it he wanted?" Emma took a sip of water to try to act nonchalant.

"He just asked if I had seen you, he said he was working on a case, something really hard that only you would be able to help work out with him?" Emma inadvertently spit her water out and then wiped her mouth.

"Sorry, wrong tube. Well, I'll see if I can catch up with him about it tomorrow, thanks." Emma gathered up her things and exchanged pleasantries with Sabrina before heading back upstairs to her office. She shrugged off her lab coat and hung it up on the rack next to her desk, then grabbed her briefcase to deposit her notebook in and a few other files from her desk. When she went to grab them though, she paused, and she noted that the tie Crane had on the previous night was sitting there, neatly wrapped up and resting on her keyboard. It smelled like that same spicy, woodsy cologne, and she snatched it off of her desk and quickly shoved it into her bag out of sight.

She got back to her apartment and performed her usual after work routine: dinner, hot bath, television, glass of wine, bed. As her head hit the pillow however, she heard a strange noise at the bedroom window. Emma got up and pulled the blinds to look and see what it was, and gasped when she saw that the apartment below was on fire, the smoke beginning to permeate through the floor. Instinctively, she held her nightshirt up to her cover her mouth and ran for the door, coughing as the smoke started to cover everything. Once she opened the door, she was shocked to find that the hallway was in flames, and she screamed in horror as the floor burned and dropped out from under her feet and she fell.

When she woke from the nightmare, she was covered in sweat, and could swear that she smelled smoke, so much so she felt the need to get up and check out every door and window in her apartment to make sure there were no flames. What she found was nothing, except the smell of what she swore was Crane's cologne, which she shrugged off as reminiscent of the previous night or of the tie.

The next day she met with her patient Kevin yet again, this time to check on the results of the last iteration of her elixir. After their last appointment, Kevin still seemed to be struggling with random panic attack episodes, which were unresponsive to standard treatment. It seemed a safe and perfect opportunity to see if her work was worth it, and the pleasant sedative could truly serve its intended purpose. Her hair was securely fastened into a bun, and she smiled in the treatment room as she slid into the chair aside from Kevin, clipboard in hand. Today, somewhat out of character, she had opted to wear a pencil skirt with a simple blouse, and she carefully crossed her ankles as she sat.

"Good Morning Kevin, how are you doing today?" He looked very relaxed and at ease, slouching back in his chair and smiling with a toothy grin.

"Still great, better than great actually. That stuff you gave me really was the final touch I think. Even when things get really bad it calms me down unlike anything else. I actually feel normal for once, you know, whatever normal is." Emma couldn't hide the smile tugging at the edges of her mouth, utterly pleased that it seemed her diligent work had paid off and the medication was a success.

"Great. Well, I do have some good news for you then. If you're ready, we're prepared to set your release date to next week. As a reminder, we have an excellent rehabilitation program in place with job and housing opportunities if that's something you'd like to get more information on. Does that sound like something you're ready to do?"

"Yeah, I mean, yeah I would love to get back out there." Kevin's excitement and happiness was contagious, and after they shook hands, she smiled as she walked out the door and headed back to her office to record the progress.

As she rounded one of the corridors back to her office, however, her face dropped as she caught sight of tousled black hair and a sneer on full lips.

"Ah, Doctor Avery. I take it you got my message." He got within arm's length and smirked as he raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"I thought I made myself clear before, whatever it is that's going on with us, it needs to stay outside of work. People are already starting to talk." Her voice was an agitated whisper, although they were alone in the hallway, she didn't want to risk someone overhearing.

"Let them talk then." Crane rolled his eyes in annoyance and crossed his arms. Emma nudged past him and he followed closely behind her.

"May I ask what it is you're working on?" It didn't even come across casual in the slightest, in typical fashion, she was fairly sure he knew exactly what she was working on and was trying to pry out answers again.

"No, you may not." Her voice was somewhat irate and she kept a brisk pace.

"Oh come on, we're work colleagues remember? Close work colleagues share their cases and help each other out." He ran out in front of her and started walking backwards so he would continue to face her. With a deep sigh she stopped, raised her eyebrows and tucked her mouth back, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Fine then, I've tested my new formula out on my patient Kevin, and it's working stunningly well." Crane's mouth twitched slightly before opening into a shit eating grin, his fingers grabbing his chin.

"What exciting news. Guess this means your late nights and long hours in the lab are over?"

"Not quite. I figured you as a fellow perfectionist would understand that." Emma looked off to the side in annoyance.

"So if you've had the breakthrough then are you willing to share?" He took a step closer, close enough the familiar smell of his cologne was surrounding her senses and reminding her of their previous couplings.

"Not quite, I'm going to be summarizing my findings into a paper, you can read it once it gets published, how about that?" The snark in her voice was palatable.

"Ever the paranoid android aren't you Emma?" He reached down to her free hand and gently stroked the skin at her wrist, sending shivers down her spine.

"Maybe, I'd rather call it 'careful'." Her voice was softer now, quieter.

"What are you doing tonight?" The words were nearly whispered into her ear, she could feel his breath there, intensifying the shivers.

"I'm busy." Her voice caught in her throat and gave her away as she closed her eyes and leaned into him ever so slightly.

"Busy with what?" There was a dark edge to his voice, menacing.

"Busy with my own personal business."

"Fine then, what about tomorrow night." Emma chewed on her bottom lip, she turned her head to stare into his icy blue eyes, magnified by his sleek frames.

"Open." The words came out surprisingly confident and determined.

"I propose a change in scenery. How about my place. Don't worry I won't offer dinner since you are so vehemently opposed to it. I'll text you the address." He took a step back and took a wide stance, putting his hands into his pants pockets.

"We'll see."

"You'll be there. I'll see you then, don't worry you can continue trying to avoid me here as much as you'd like. I'll try not to get in the way." He winked at her and turned on his heels to leave.

Kind of a short chapter, but I'm already about halfway done with the next one, which will have a lot more going on. Should have it posted here in the next few days!