Cupid's Last

Such a Pretty Mess

November. II

"And this one?"

"Goes here." Amy frowned, slightly confused.

"But what about that one?"

"It goes with the rest of them." Zeke waved off in a general direction that might have extended to Tibet for all she knew.

"The rest of what?"

"The things that I showed you earlier, don't you remember?"

"Oh for the love of- Zeke!" Amy threw up her hands in frustration, causing about dozen papers to come flying down on them.

"Why'd you do that for?" Zeke demanded, looking down at the pile of charts and graphs cascading to the floor. "I hope you realize you're cleaning up this mess."

"This mess?" Amy questioned incredulously. She gestured to Zeke's entire station that made her paper clump on the floor look like stepped-on anthill by comparison. There were two "IN" boxes yet no "OUT" box in sight, at least ten different binders in several stages of disarray and damage, and a sea -no- an ocean of paper that would've had the fairies of Fern Gully and Pocahontas in a rage. "Zeke, I say this with all the affection this budding friendship can afford us, but why on earth do they let you keep working here?"

"Because I'm devastatingly handsome." He replied matter-of-factly. This lovely comment was, of course, accompanied with a lovely flick of his auburn gold ponytail over his shoulder.

Amy stared at him, largely in horror at realizing this fabulous man with an IQ that would've given her a run for her money was just about as egotistical as she had established at their first meeting. Granted now, weeks after he'd brought her back [in an almost romantic gesture], they were getting along well, but Amy was slowly resigning herself to the idea that Ezekiel Niveus really was an ego-maniacal slob. Of course, he could afford vain comments like that because, let's face it, the man was prettier than she was, "But that doesn't mean you should leave your workstation looking like this. How am I supposed to find the results charts from the fifth?"

Zeke then stuck his slender hand into the endless abyss of data and, after tossing something that might have been edible sometime last week, pulled out a packet and plopped it into her outreached hands. "Ta-da." He said with a mock flourish before leaning back and laughing at her with those gorgeous green eyes. "No, Amy, you aren't seeing things. I really am this amazing."

"..." Her eye actually twitched! "Remind me again why I'm back here after you essentially verbally and emotionally abused me?"

"I regaled you with my apology and a bouquet of roses." Zeke replied with an indulgent smile. "And my presence, of course."

"I can't believe you spend most of your time admiring your own reflection and still manage to get more work down than me." Amy muttered.

"Like I said," Zeke shrugged. "I'm amazing. And I'm pretty good at time management too."

Amy stared at him for a moment before just shaking her head with a grudging smile. "Whatever works for you, your awesomeness." She rolled her eyes. "Just find me the rest of last week's results in that black hole you call a desk and we'll be fine."

"Yes your highness." He saluted her back as she walked off. As Zeke turned back to his desk (which really wasn't as bad as Amy was making it out to be) he mused over how, he hadn't thought it was possible but, that girl wasn't half-bad. After their slightly rocky start and subsequent 'reconciliation' (he could've sworn his foot actually itched to run away at the very sight of her to this day), he found himself enjoying Amy's presence in the lab. Granted, she still had a couple of klutz habits to get a hold of but he'd manage to train her to breaking/dropping something important only once a week now.

Zeke hadn't exactly been a model superior to her before, but he was getting the hang of not looking down at her every time she had a question about the equipment or why something wasn't looking the way it was supposed to through the microscope. Of course, Amy was at least a foot shorter than him so it was hard not to look down at her, but she wasn't nearly at idiotic as he thought she was.

"Zeke?"

He glanced up. "Hey, doc."

Dr. Watson had long given up trying to get Ezekiel Niveus to call him anything remotely formal so he simply said, "Would you like to be my date tomorrow night?"

Up until that moment, Zeke really thought that face-vaulting was only in those mangas Jason would probably never outgrow.

"Not like that you ridiculous boy." Watson huffed, puffing up his moustache. He reached into his coat jacket, pulled out a ticket and passed it to Zeke. "Lunablanci Hospital is holding their annual gala tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of these things but an old colleague insisted I come along."

Watson watched Zeke shuffle in his seat at the prospect of socializing and decided it was time to play the trump card, "Ana and I are old friends and she's mentioned wanting to meet my student for a while now."

"Ana?" Zeke's mouth turned into a teasing smirk. "Doc, you dirty devil you."

"If I had a cane I'd whack you with it." Watson retorted before carefully phrasing his next line slowly. "Anastasia is an old and respected friend of mine and-"

There was a clatter and Watson tried to hide his amusement as Zeke leaped to his feet and grabbed Watson's arms.

"Anastasia?" Zeke demanded. "As in, Anastasia Anderson??"

"I take it you're familiar with her work." Watson drawled in the face of the fanaticism that was currently looking at him through Zeke's glasses.

"'Familiar?'" Zeke choked the word out as if Watson had asked him if he'd ever heard about the Beatles or Megan Fox and plopped back into his seat, shocked.

Dr. Anastasia Anderson was in the forefront of thoracic and cardiac surgeons in the nation. Her work with heart transplants and new research treatments were being predicted to usher in new medical legends and scientific miracles. To be in her presence…

Watson suddenly found himself being stared at by Zeke's intensely grateful eyes. "Thank you Doc. This is an amazing opportunity." He stood and grasped the older man's hands, genuinely joyful and lowered his head out of respect, saying once more, "Thank you."

Dr. Theodore Watson laughed, slightly uneasy as he said, "Oh, don't thank me, boy." 'Really. Don't thank me. I'm setting you up at the behest of two of your potentially psychotic friends.'

"Oh hey," Zeke suddenly said, straightening. "Did you invite Amy to come along too?"

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but Zeke could've sworn he just saw something flash through his mentor's eyes that seemed akin to...panic? But why...

"Ah, well you see, now," Watson coughed and purposely avoiding looking straight at Zeke. "I believe she mentioned that she was busy tomorrow night."

"Busy?" Oh boy, he was getting suspicious.

"Yes, yes," Watson prodded on jovially, still not meeting his eyes. "She mentioned something about a date tomorrow night so I didn't think it'd do any good to ask her to come along." Dr. Watson lied, internally laughing at himself: over the hill and lying in an effort to match-make oblivious geniuses. Oh, what his life had come to…

Zeke frowned. "A date, huh?"

"Of course!" Watson knocked the wind out of him by slapping his back with over-enthusiasm [a Watson by-product of deception]. Serena's crooked grin suddenly occurred to him and he added, "After all, she needs to relax once in a while too."

Zeke glanced over the brunette putting in data into the computers and annotating all over her paperwork. "Yeah...I guess so..."

"You really shouldn't work outside of the lab." Darien offered that Saturday night. "Relax once in a while."

Zeke frowned at his reflection, idly wondering why the phrase seemed to be repeating itself in his life recently.

"I am relaxing tonight." Zeke insisted half-heartedly, too busy with his own reflection to really pay attention to Darien's words. "Should I wear my glasses?"

"…Do we look like fashion consultants to you?" Jason asked after a moment of awkwardness between men.

"Jase, I'm meeting an amazing medical icon." Zeke stated. "I need to look professional."

"Because three-piece suits don't scream 'I need a life!' loud enough do they?" Jason retorted with a smirk, eyeing Zeke's formal wear and tied back hair.

"Just wear your contacts." Darien said, recalling what Serena told him. "You always touch your glasses when you get nervous like your hand's surgically attached to them."

"No I don't." Zeke protested. Then when no one replied, he turned around and asked, "Do I?"

"Yes." Came from four different directions and Zeke grumbled, wiping of his glasses from his face and looking for his contacts.

"Is this really necessary though?" Keith asked from the sidelines. "I mean, it's not like you're going on a date or anything."

"That's not the point though!"

"Serena, calm down." Lita looked at her friend curiously. "It's a banquet. Not prom."

"But…" Serena looked pained. "In that?"

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Amy demanded sourly, gesturing to her outfit.

"Aside from the fact that you resemble a librarian?" Mina teased from the sidelines.

"I do not look like a librarian." Amy retorted, then spun around and stared at her high-waisted pants, and stiff collared shirt. "Do I?"

Serena shared a glance with Mina and Amy found herself being shoved behind Serena's changing screen while Serena and Raye went to ransack Serena's closet. In a matter of seconds, dozens of dresses were excavated from the fashion chasm that was Serena's walk-in closet. A red velvet gown with a plunging neckline dropped on the floor as a cotton sea foam green sundress sailed through the air and landed on Serena's bedspread. Lita caught a slinky silver cocktail dress that would've smacked her in the face but she ended up being covered underneath a handful of dresses in five different shades of pink from Serena's 'pink phase' during freshman year anyway.

"Wow, Serena," Raye murmured, touching some of the dresses. "I forgot how beautiful Trista's designs could be."

"I know." Serena smiled, rummaging through layers of sequins and satins made especially for her from her aunt. "But there's this one dress that I know would be perfect…" Her voice trailed off.

"Serena, this really isn't that big a deal." Amy insisted, poking out her head and bare shoulders from behind the screen. "And I don't know why you turned down the ticket I gave you if you were planning to make me your life-size Barbie."

"Yeah…" Lita piped up suddenly. "I thought you said you had something to do tonight that you couldn't make it to Lunablanci Hospital's banquet."

"I do." Serena insisted, not looking anyone in the eye. 'I have to go spy on Amy and Zeke tonight and make sure everything goes great.' Her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Found it!"

"Thanks, man." Zeke said as Keith threw his previously-missing keys at him. Checking his wristwatch, he said, "Alright, I'm leaving. See you guys later."

"And try to relax while you're at it!" Nevan shouted at his retreating back and the birdie Zeke threw in before the door shut.

"Zeke hasn't relaxed since junior high." Jason laughed after a moment, and then turned to look at Darien over his cup carefully. He paused and took a moment to consider his next words, "Hey Darien," Darien acknowledged him with a nod. "Were you over at the Temple recently?"

"The one you work at?" Darien asked after furrowing his brow for a moment.

"Yeah." Jason replied, watching him closely.

"Hmm. No," Darien finally replied. "I don't think so."

"Really?" Nevan and Keith had turned to watch them now at Jason's tone. The kind a person has when they think they're being duped and not liking a moment of it. "Because I could've sworn I saw you at the temple the other day."

Darien shrugged, his face bland. "Like I said-"

"I saw your bike." Jason interjected, lightly narrowing his eyes now.

It was only a split second. But it was there.

"Jase, I'm not the only one in town with a bike." Darien reasoned, raising a laughing eyebrow.

"Yeah," Jason allowed. "But you're the only biker Serena knows."

"Serena?" Keith asked at the same time Nevan intelligently offered, "Blondie-Buns?"

A moment passed as Jason looked intently at Darien, with the dark-haired man looking back at him, passively, blankly…

"I saw your bike at the temple the other day."

"I might have passed by, maybe." Darien reasoned slowly and Jason watched. And he saw it again.

The trail of a lie.

"Are you laughing at me?"

Dr. Watson merely peered at Zeke from the corner of his eye with a smirk. "No, my boy. I'm just amused at how active your hands are tonight." He gestured to Zeke's hands that had shredded four napkins in the ten minutes they had been sitting down.

Zeke gave a half-weary smile. "I'm a little nervous." He offered honestly.

"No, really?" Dr. Watson breathed sarcastically. He chuckled. "Although it's much better than you with your glasses."

Zeke looked at him oddly before saying, "You know, my friend said the same thing today."

His mentor smiled. "He's got the right idea. Your hand really does look like it's surgically attached.

"Ah! Dr. Anderson."

The little part of Zeke that was alerted at the fact that his mentor and his best friend said the same exact sequence of words was pushed aside when he turned and saw the woman approaching their table. She was actually shorter than most women, of slight frame, but the way she held herself with such elegance and grace gave her the air of a woman large and in charge. Dr. Anastasia Anderson was turning this way and that, greeting friends and colleagues with a serene smile and a joyful laugh. Zeke should've been ecstatic (albeit insanely nervous) to meet such an amazing woman since he'd learned so much about her achievements since he was in high school. He should've been wondering what to ask her first, about her most recent research article or how she planned to run the new cardiology unit at Lunablanci.

And yet…

His eyes ended up straying to just above Dr. Anderson's chiffon-clad shoulder to something else…

A back. An essentially bare back the color of ivory with a figure that Ezekiel Niveus, for some God-forsaken reason, found so damned sensual; heightened by the trailing tails of a silky navy bow tied at the nape of the woman's neck…

"Mr. Niveus," Zeke startled himself out of his reverie and turned to Dr. Watson, who was gesturing to Dr. Anderson at his side. The woman, looking nowhere near her true age, smiled up at him. "Ana, this is my student, Ezekiel Niveus."

"Just Zeke is fine." He replied, holding out a hand, somehow forgetting the fact that this was the woman he had been so bent out of shape on meeting. As Dr. Anderson took his hand in reply, Zeke got the time to pay attention to the older woman's features. And as he took in the familiar bone structure of his idol, he began to notice how the slope of her nose and even the curvature of her lips reminded him of…

"…wonderful to meet you, Mr. Niveus." Dr. Anderson said, breaking his train of disturbing thoughts. "Teddy has told me wonderful things about your research and how much you've been a help to him since he's become old and crotchety."

Zeke's lips quirked. "'Teddy?'" Dr. Watson blushed.

"Now Ana-"

"Mr. Niveus," Dr. Anderson said fluidly. "After you remove two clots from, and suture your mentor's chest, you're essentially entitled to call him whatever you wish."

"She got the nickname from my wife." 'Teddy' grumbled and reached out to take one of Ana's hands. "Sophia says she's sorry she couldn't make it tonight, but she hopes that this one," He gestured archly to Zeke, "Can make up for her absence."

Dr. Anderson laughed. "Well, if he can't, I'm sure my date can compensate."

"Date?" Zeke repeated. Did she mean her husband? No, her hands were ring-free. But there was no man escorting her so...

"Yes." Dr. Anderson beamed with pride, "My daughter."

"Daughter?" Zeke repeated dumbly.

"Yes, she's actually graduating this year and she's been telling me how great it's been working alongside Dr. Watson as well." A slither of dread that had been lying underneath Zeke's skin was starting to creep a little more and ultimately manifested itself into Zeke's reality when Dr. Anderson gestured to someone behind her. Well, more of a something…a back.

The back; the beautiful ivory back that had caught his attention was turning around now and showing a petite figure in a high-halter silky navy dress, the hem of its skirt pooling at her feet from the two thigh-high slits.

"Mr. Niveus, this is my daughter, Amy - Oh!" Ana Anderson suddenly laughed and, in the process, missed the surprised expressions of recognition that passed right over her pretty head. "What am I saying; you two are already good friends aren't you?"

Zeke wasn't sure how to reply to that. He and Amy were friends of sorts nowadays, but he had no idea who this woman standing in front of him was. Sure, she looked a lot like Amy, the lab intern, and she even had that surprised lil 'O' she made when she was caught off guard But this woman's blue-black hair was styled with jeweled barrettes and there were glittering diamonds in her ears and neck, allowing the light of the room to ricochet against the gems and cast an ethereal glow on the face of this woman; this woman whom his foot didn't seem to want to run away from.

Serena smiled. It didn't take a genius like the ones she was watching to understand the appreciative glances they were giving each other. Amy was always so shy, but all it ever took was a splatter of makeup and a proper dress and the bookworm could be transformed into quite a pretty butterfly. She glanced over at Zeke and noted with satisfaction that her favorite lazy-ass pretty-boy genius was giving Amy a thorough once-over...and approving of what he was seeing apparently.

Serena leaned back in her chair and kicked her feet up on the table. Ralph glanced at her in light annoyance.

"Girly, put your feet down."

"Ralphie," Serena said sweetly. "Eat your pizza and hush."

Ralph the security guard snorted but didn't complain as he wolfed down another slice of his Hawaiian pizza, a gross concoction that had Serena gagging when she hauled two large pies of it through the backdoor of the banquet hall.

"Weren't there supposed to be two of you helping me out?"

"Ralph, you sit on your sizeable ass and watch old doctors and pretty nurses eat bad food for a couple of hours." Serena said plainly. "I hardly think you need any more help than what you've got in front of you." She gestured to the collection of videos in front of them, each portraying different angles of the banquet hall. At present, she was focusing one of the cameras on her two friends, who were both pleasantly surprised even if they were trying to reign in their expressions at seeing each other.

"Girly you're hurting my man pride here." Ralph complained lightly.

Serena reached over and grabbed a handful of Ralph's belly fat and jiggled it for good measure. "That's a lot of man pride to hurt."

Ralph 'hmph'ed good-naturedly and swatted her hand away. This crazy girl had shown up out of nowhere last week with a Board member in tow and she basically demanded Ralph let her into the security room with a friend to do "vital reconnaissance," which was apparently teen-speak for "spying on bffs." He merely shrugged and reached for a chicken wing and thanked the Lord his first daughter wasn't due to hit puberty for another 15 years.

Serena glanced at her watch, a pink bunny contraption with sparkly ears for the hands. She drummed her fingers mindlessly. "Where is he...?"

Ralph grinned. "Got stood up?"

She smacked his fat one more time just as the door clicked open. As if conjured, Darien walked in, helmet in hand.

"There you are." Serena waved him over with a smile and a cherry slurpie. "What took you so long?"

Darien paused, reached for a pepperoni slice and, as he stuffed his face mumbled, "Jason's on to us."

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what?' " Amy rolled her eyes and blew a bang out of her hair.

"You've been staring at me for the last ten minutes." She said stiffly. "Cut it out."

"I have not been staring at you." Zeke insisted, his eyes unabashedly not straying from her face. Amy glanced at him out the corner of her eyes in mild irritation, noting in slight bitterness that the slob still managed to look good no matter what the idiot wore. He could probably pull off a trash bag if he got too lazy to wash his own clothes.

"Stealing glances at me is the same thing." Amy argued, shaking herself out of her reverie.

"Then added up, it'd be like five minutes of watching." Zeke reasoned. "Not ten."

She stared at him. "…are you seriously applying math to leering at me?"

"I have not been leering." He protested.

"Fine. Sneakily staring at me." Amy muttered, shifting uncomfortably.

"I can't really help it." Zeke shrugged unapologetically.

"And why not?"

"You look hot." Zeke looked even more amused as Amy spit up her water.

"Are you *cough* hitting on me?"

"Well, I'd hit on your mom," He gestured to Dr. Anderson who stood with Watson in the center of an animated discussion. "But she's busy at the moment. Plus," He grinned wolfishly and leaned closer to her. "She's not flashing about a mile of leg."

Amy's face tinged in light pink as she failed at trying to cover up her practically bare legs in Serena's dress. "It's not mine." She said unnecessarily.

"It should be." Zeke said leaning over and propping his chin on his hand. "Who knew you were hiding something so nice underneath those glasses and coat?"

"Zeke!" He almost laughed at how uncomfortable she seemed. Suddenly, somewhere in the room, a sweet tune was struck and the sound of violins singing filled the air. Amy turned her head to look at the source of the music, and Zeke found himself strangely captivated. It might've been the sparkly barrettes or the shiny diamonds, but he couldn't help but think that, if only for tonight, Amy was glowing. He had thought it earlier when her mother had 'introduced' her to him, but he was still in slight [albeit delighted] shock.

"I didn't realize she'd be playing here tonight." Amy was musing.

"Hmm?"

"Michaela, the violinist," Amy explained, without turning to him directly and noticing he was staring again. "She and my friend Raye have collaborated a few times in the past, and her music is always so beautiful." The last word was said with a happy sigh and Amy's face melted to contention as a piano joined the melody. "Isn't it?"

Some part of Zeke agreed with her statement (whatever it had been) and he mildly wondered if his face looked at much at peace as she did listening to this music, as he was having staring at her.

Something was wrong with him. And as an internal struggle began to fight itself inside of his mind, he didn't notice a shadow approaching until it hovered above Amy's head.

"Good evening Amy."

In an instant he watched the peace in Amy's face dissipate as her eyes snapped open in wild panic when she turned to face the speaker. Zeke watched her swallow, hard and he made the decision to not like whoever just interrupted the pretty picture he had been staring at.

"Greg?"

"Who?"

"Jason." Darien said, cocking an eyebrow. "Tall, blonde, skirt-chaser to all female humans?"

"Yes you jerk, I got it the first time." Serena ground out as Darien sat down between her and Ralph. "But how? Why? He's usually a gigantic ditz!"

"Well, apparently even a gigantic ditz can identify your insane hairstyle on the back of my bike at the temple." Darien ran a hand through his hair. "I guess we weren't careful enough..."

Serena sat back in her chair, her chicken wing forgotten. It wasn't exactly the end of the world, but the point of the whole thing was to make sure her friends didn't suspect her hand in anything. If they realized she was setting them up...

She bit her nail, mind racing. It was fine, no reason to worry for now. Jason was just one person out of the entire bunch that noticed something was off, but that wasn't too big a problem at the moment. Serena straightened herself, resolved. She'd just have to rush things a bit faster. Did she have Ryan's number on her cell phone? Maybe. If she didn't it couldn't be too hard to look up...

"What did you say to him?" Darien turned to look at Serena over his slurpie. She wasn't looking at him, her eyes seemingly staring into space, her focus on her cupid battle plan.

"I told him I saw you a few blocks down, picked you up and brought you home."

"..." Serena stared at him. "Do you realize that you made me sound like a prostitute?"

"Don't think it's the first time either." Darien quipped before having a chicken wing smack into his face.

"And you're telling me," Serena said in disbelief. "That Jason actually bought that kindness-act crap?"

"I don't think so," Darien said, wiping the sauce from his cheek then biting into the wing. "But Keith and Nevan seemed to. I think they were less suspicious and more grateful that you and I were 'finally getting along.'" He mimicked Keith's fatherly voice.

Serena blanched. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Darien nodded, eyes watching cameras 12 and 15. "So it's a little hitch on the project, but nothing to panic over." His eyes narrowed and he suddenly leaned forward. "Unlike what your little friend is doing now. Tyler what the hell is wrong with Amy?"

Serena glanced at the screen, smirked, and kicked back. "Do you remember chemistry, Carson?"

"Refresh my memory," Darien muttered, watching his old high school's resident brain begin to semi-hyperventilate. "And tell me what it has to do with your alien-haired friend looking like she's having a heart attack."

"Think of this as...a catalyst."

"...What?"

"I said," The blond man said, staring Greg down with hostile green eyes. "That I'd appreciate if you stepped aside."

Gregory Goodman tried to avert the other man's stare, but found that his physique effectively blocked his line of vision to Amy. Speaking of whom,

"Zeke, wait," Amy had risen from behind this imposingly tall person and actually grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, honey," The man named Zeke replied sweetly to her. Greg narrowed his eyes at him. "I was just telling, Greg, was it?" At this, he gave the shorter man a pointed look that was anything but pleasant.

"I was just saying that I would appreciate it if he stepped aside so I could lead you to the dance floor." His arm turned in an effortless, elegant manner so that he now held Amy's hand in his and he smirked at Mr. Goodman for good measure. "Amy is a fan of this violinist so, if you'll excuse us." And, with a barely-there tug and a swirl of midnight blue, Amy Merquise disappeared from his sight. The hell?

"No idea what that was about," Zeke mused stopping on the floor next to a few couples on the floor, arm going around Amy's waist. "But I think you at least owe me a thank you. Or an explanation." He shrugged. "Either of which work."

"You didn't have to do that." She wasn't looking at him. Shit. Did he make her mad? Was Mr. Goodman actually someone she wanted to see?

"No," Zeke said aloud to her statement and to his own thoughts. "You were looking like you needed a paper bag the second he showed up."

Amy looked up at that and gave a helpless smile, eyes still troubled. "Did I look that upset?"

"I've seen you upset, oh blue-haired one," Zeke smirked, just happy that she wasn't pissed at him. "But I've never seen a chemical explosion that made you look like you'd rather be at the cafeteria during lunch hour in your underwear."

Amy threw her head back and laughed. And Zeke smiled at the sight.

"You know, Zeke," Amy said after a lingering giggle. "I honestly figured you to be an asinine snob when we first met-"

"Thank you, I think?"

"-BUT, you're really not as bad as I thought you were." She finished with a smile.

"'Not as bad?'" Zeke repeated incredulously. "I save you and all I get is 'not as bad?'"

"You did not save me." Amy laughed at him. "You stood between us and glared at him with hate in your eyes for two minutes."

"Hey, those are two minutes of my life that I will never get back." Zeke protested, a little part of him cheering that she wasn't looking like an imprisoned animal. "And I don't even know who the hell I was glaring at."

"Gregory Goodman was an old friend." Amy explained slowly after a thoughtful pause. Zeke snorted.

"Pretty sure I never went into shock at seeing 'an old friend.'"

Amy shot him a look to hush him. "Greg and I had a ... thing a while back, but it wasn't anything serious."

"Really?" Amy smiled at the disbelieving man.

"Considering that he confessed to being around me for a letter of recommendation and connections with my mother," She said thoughtfully, ignoring the change of Zeke's expression. "It was pretty understood that whatever we had wasn't serious. We were cordial when I last saw him, but it's not like I spend my days wondering if he's ever thinking of me. I was just...surprised when I saw him today. More so that he's talking to me when I haven't had any need to reach out to him." Amy mused aloud.

Zeke stared at her in silence and Amy laughed at the face he made at her. He made a non-committal sound that substituted as his response and a comfortable silence fell between the two of them. The music had changed, Amy noted, but she thought it was nice to keep dancing with Zeke so she didn't bother to point it out to him.

"...I already have a letter of recommendation." Zeke suddenly said, meeting Amy's eyes honestly. "Actually, I have quite a few. I am a big fan of your mom's work, but that's because I think she's insanely brilliant." At that, Zeke suddenly remembered that the whole point of tonight was talking, or at least trying to talk, to Anastasia Anderson. And yet, with this strange, funny, pretty nerd in his arms, he figured the night wasn't a complete loss...

"Well," Amy was saying before quirking up at him with a smile. "Thank you for being so honest Mr. Niveus."

"I just figured if we're going to have a relationship that we should be honest with each other."

"A relationship?" Amy was more amused than embarrassed to actually blush.

"Well, at least the one we're faking while your little boy-toy stares at you in wonderment from the sidelines." Zeke quipped a little too happily when he spun them in a certain way, allowing her to catch a glimpse of a perplexed Greg over his shoulder.

"You're terrible." Amy said, smile notwithstanding. "I think he's just trying to be nice to me."

"And yet you're not stopping me." Zeke pointed out.

"Why would I?" Amy asked innocently. "When you put in so much effort just for me."

Zeke laughed and shook his head at her. "I'm honestly surprised more people at this shindig aren't shunning you for your evilness."

"You know, I'm actually surprised that you're here." Amy said. "My friend couldn't make it to tonight's event so we passed on our extra ticket to Dr. Watson." She explained. "But I didn't realize that he had passed it on to you."

Zeke's eyebrows furrowed. "That's weird. The Doc mentioned that you had a date tonight but I didn't realize it was your mother, let alone that it was supposed to be here."

Amy suddenly laughed after a pensive lull. "Do you think he's trying to set us up?"

Zeke actually scoffed. "Like what? Playing Cupid?"

"You say it like it's an impossible idea."

"Not impossible." Zeke mused. "It's just, a man as smart as the Doc would know that you would've fallen for my amazing awesomeness no matter what." Zeke said with all the confidence a man with girl-length hair could have. "Cupid or no."

At that, he twirled her around and brought her back close to him with a snap of his elbow, boring those blaring emerald eyes into her own. Some medical part of Amy's brain recognized that a heart skipping a beat wasn't a particularly safe notion, but she figured if Ezekiel Niveus could make it happen a few more times with just a simple cocky smile, it couldn't be too bad...

"Geez, didn't she turn firetruck-red and then pass out that one time a guy gave her a love letter?"

"No, she didn't." Serena was quick to correct Darien's awe. "She just blushed extremely heavily before breaking out into hives."

Darien smiled indulgently. "Either way," He nodded to the images of Zeke smiling a smile Darien wasn't sure he'd ever seen on his friend. "It's a nice improvement."

Serena watched the identical smiles on her friends' faces on cameras 18, 22, and 24 and felt her heart lighten at the sight. It was happening. Slowly but surely, it was happening.

Granted, it would've happened anyway without her or Darien's interference...but Serena didn't have the patience to wait for her friends to grasp perfection so she had to make it happen with the time she had left.

Love.

It was finally starting. And Serena thought it was worth calling in a million favors to make it happen.

'And not a moment too soon.'

Like a reliable reminder, a spasm went through her chest but she forced the coughs down. She smiled to herself wryly, turning away so Darien, who was so engrossed in his conversation with Ralph about the perfect pizza toppings, wouldn't notice the grimace she would make for another few minutes. Serena clutched at her chest and stood her ground.

'Not yet, silly. I'm not done yet...'

chickay: Well, 2 years and nearly 2 months later, CL is finally updated!! To rejoice in an update [FINALLY!!!!] or to groan in anticipation for the next installment [which I swear will not take another 2 years and nearly 2 months], I leave it up to you, my faithful readers. If someone has read this (probably my longest chapter of CL) and still finds it fantastically appealing, do let me know, you know where the REVIEW button is :D If you haven't figured it out yet, my ego likes to be fed.

This chapter is a little longer than the usual, but I really hope you all liked it...or stomached it well enough to not flame me. Constructive criticism is welcome, since I'm assuming my writing style has changed in the last 2 years, but I'm still hoping you'll be able to stand me as I am and wait for me and my brain to get its act together. Hope you enjoyed it and I'll be around...maybe sooner than you think. Til then, =]

posted: 8/17/09

edited:10/24/09