I'm so thankful to all of those who have added my story to their Favorites and Follows, as well as those of you who have had the courage to stick with me for all this painstakingly long time of me being super lazy when it comes to finishing my work (no matter how much I love doing it!)

I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little short and unnecessary, I'm hoping that it will be the last filler chapter before I start with the plot that I'm (trying) to do...

Lewiki came back to the Pierce residence about 8:37, his arms filled with a week's supply of groceries. He whistled to himself as he lazily flipped through his key ring for the one that matched the front door's lock. The young man stopped his actions abruptly as he heard voices coming from inside the house. They were too hushed for him to identify them at the moment, but, as far as he knew, Dr. Pierce hadn't been expecting any company.

He quickly plucked the key from the set on his key ring and hastily opened the door. Setting the bags down in the entryway as quietly as he could, Lewiki crept toward the kitchen where he had heard the voices originating from. Suddenly, they went silent, sending the whole house into a startling state of quiet.

"I thought I had heard something…" the voice sounded like a deep feminine one, which Lewiki couldn't currently place under a person he knew.

The young man silently plucked an umbrella from beside the doorway and, with all the courage he could muster, leapt out into the kitchen in an attempt to catch the intruders off guard.

It barely took more than a heartbeat for Lewiki to realize his horrible mistake. These weren't intruders, it was Dr. Pierce and the girl they had met the other day, who he couldn't quite remember the name of at the moment.

And, as for scaring off the 'intruders', Lewiki had only managed to startle the teenage girl into Daniel's arms. The younger man had to admit it was a strange sight to behold; the redheaded girl gripping to the older man's shoulders for dear life while said man held her up stiffly and somewhat involuntarily.

Everyone seemed to relax significantly when they all realized who was who.

"L-Lewiki, why on earth would you come bursting in like that?!" Daniel spoke with exasperation as he recomposed himself, "We were just trying to lead on a reasonable conversation!"

Crystal chuckled at what she took as sudden defensiveness from the older man, although, internally, she wasn't that far off either. She and Daniel had been previously discussing some of his future lecturing plans for his classes, the teen girl finding the subject extremely interesting.

"I-I was just worried, Doc. I had heard voices from outside the door and it got me worried…" the assistant quickly said in his own defense. "I just thought that-"

Lewiki stopped abruptly when Crystal moved in front of him and laid her hands on his arms, which were at his sides. "Well, everything seems okay now thanks to you, ya' big hero." she said with a hint of sarcasm and giving the other man two soft pats on the cheek.

The redhead swept past Lewiki, making her way to the front entry of the house. It wasn't until she was gathering her coat from the rack that Daniel realized what was happening.

"A-are you leaving already?!" he said rising from his seat and starting to make his way over to join her.

"Pierce, I've been here for the past three and a half hours, and we've been just talking for the most of it." she explained with a slight chuckle as she showed the older man the time from her cell phone, "I think it's time to call it a night…"

The girl couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness from the utterly crestfallen look that the professor gained at her words. To make up for it, she did what she knew best: the redheaded girl came and rapped her arms firmly around the other man and hugged him somewhat tightly.

Lewiki took in the sight with bulging eyes and an agape mouth, especially since Dr. Pierce seemed to be taking the girl's action so well. He quickly regained his composure when he caught sight of the murderous glare he spotted their departing guest giving him.

"Well, I better start walking if I plan to get to the FBI building by a reasonable hour so that Cassandra doesn't have to send a search party to find me...now that'd be a mess!" Crystal stated as she drew back from her victim and slipped her arms in her jacket sleeves. "I'll try and see if I can get some free time tomorrow. Can't wait to see you again, Daniel." The teen threw the older man a playful wink—for emphasis, of course- before slipping out of the door and sealing it firmly in her wake.

Lewiki resumed his utterly surprised and shocked state of being after the girl had left. "D-Doc, did she just call you Daniel?" he stumbled over the words, hardly believing that they were leaving his mouth, "And then she w-winked at you!?"

Daniel, with the calmest demeanor the assistant had seen him possess in quite some time, simply waved a hand dismissively at the dumbfounded questions. "I swear Lewiki, I thought I hired you because you have a young and able mind."

Just a little note, for those of you who may not know, I'm not following the show's storyline past Season 1 (so no Caroline, no Miranda, no Quitting his job to go to Paris) but I might include some aspects from the newer season.

Also, now that school is soon to come into session, I want to say that I will try to update this story every two weeks, a month at most, but I'll try to keep it as short of a window as I can!

Thank you all so much once again! And please do have a look at my FictionPress account, for more information, see my Profile!