The doctor could hear someone calling his name, but it sounded far away and he felt so oddly sleepy. At first he couldn't figure out why everything was the wrong way up but then he realized he had at some point in the night he had managed to wind the blankets around himself to the point that when he had begun thrashing in his sleep he had managed to slide halfway off the couch.

"John?" Mary's bemused expression brought him back to reality, "You alright there?"

He righted himself a bit too quickly and with an undignified flop ended up on the floor by her feet. Clearing his voice John grinned at her from the ground, "I'm just fine this morning, how are you?"

"Oh I'm fine, would you like some help up?" Mary stretched out her hand and John took it gratefully.

Once he was on his feet and the blankets were folded neatly once more Mary went into the kitchen to find breakfast.

"So what would you like to eat?" She asked over her shoulder as she peered into the fridge, "Sadly whatever we have won't be with milk, we're out."

John snorted, "How about a cup of tea and a biscuit or two?"

"Sounds good to me. Want some jam on them?"

"What kind?" John's voice came from behind her so suddenly that Mary nearly dropped the jar of jam she had been holding.

"Strawberry!" She whirled around to find John less than a foot away from her with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, didn't mean to sneak up on you." He carefully took the jam from her and set it on the table.

"Its alright," Mary pushed her hair out of her face, "I'm just not used to having another person in the house I guess."

"I can understand that." John gave her a wry smile, "Shall we enjoy our simple breakfast?" He gestured to the now set table.

"Sounds good to me." They had just sat down to eat when there was a knock on the door.

Mary stood up again, "Who in the world could it be this early in the morning?" She moved to the front door to unlock it but paused just before she did, "Would you feel more comfortable in your shift form?" She glanced back at John who shook his head no.

"I'll be fine."

"All right then." Mary pulled open the door to find Scott on the other side, "What do you want weasel?" She crossed her arms and heard John get up.

"That's not nice sweet heart, I thought I'd just come see how you were doing." Scott leaned against the doorframe, "Besides if I don't check up on my favorite gal every once and a while what kind of guy am I huh?"

"You aren't welcome here Scott, now get lost." Mary slammed the front door only for it to hit Scott's foot and bounce back to hit her in the face. She stumbled backwards as Scott forced his way in.

"Now that wasn't nice at all," He grabbed at her arm only to be picked up by the back of his neck.

"I don't think you're welcome here." John pulled Scott away from Mary who was leaning against the wall with her hand over her forehead.

"Who the hell are you?" The man's face contorted in shock and anger, "This is between me and sweet heart here, so let me go and get lost."

"I don't think so." John literally threw Scott out the front door, "Don't come back again, or else I'll have to get nasty." The blue-eyed blonde all but snarled the last few words at the smaller man before he slammed the front door and locked it.

He turned to examine Mary who was still leaning against the wall, "Let me take a look at that bump on your forehead."

Mary flinched as his rough hands came into contact with the already darkening bruise, "I don't think it's too bad but I've got a headache already."

John nodded, "You're right, it's just going to be tender for a bit, how bout you go sit down and I'll get you some ice for it?" He moved off to the kitchen while Mary carefully sank down into the couch still clutching her head.

"Thanks John." Mary gratefully took the icepack and placed it over the already swelling bump, "That little weasel is getting on my nerves."

"Do you mind my asking why you ever went out with him in the first place?" John sat down next to Mary on the couch.

She sighed and stared at the wall for a minute before replying, "I met him my third year of university, I was studying for finals on the campus lawn when I first saw him. Scott wasn't half bad at the time, at least that's what I thought. He sweet talked me into going on a date with him, I remember we ended up going to a little French café that was just off campus. I had never dated anyone before and I hadn't really ever had any experience in love before, so I pretty much threw myself into our relationship.

I did everything I could to please him, and he took advantage of that. Whenever I wanted to hang out and he couldn't he gave me the excuse of work, he always said he was busy selling cars or working at the downtown café. It wasn't until about a year of dating him I found out that his real job was selling not so legal items to underage minors." Mary paused in thought.

"When I confronted him about it he told me that he didn't view it as bad, he just thought of it as business. I got out of the relationship then but he keeps trying to worm his way back."

John shook his head, "I wish I had bitten him harder."

Mary laughed, "I wish you had bitten him a little higher up, then he would have been in real trouble."

"Bleck, his leg was bad enough, I don't think that man washes his clothing more than once a month."

"I bet its more like every two months." Mary snorted in laughter and John couldn't help but join in.

The two sat and laughed together for several minutes before John stood up and extended his hand to Mary, "Shall we finish our breakfast my friend?"

Mary took his hand happily with her free hand, "We shall."