It had been a week since Alex last spoke to her stepmonster Regina. She decided to contact the Ainesworth corporate attorney to confirm that their arrangement had been set up properly and that Regina had received her first monthly deposit. After Alex received her confirmation she asked the attorney if Regina had left any information in regards to Nicholas. Apparently Regina had left a letter with instructions for Alex, but the stepmonster had specified that the letter only be viewed by Alex, so the attorney was having it messengered to Alex's house. She was anxious to read the letter, but feared the worst knowing who the author of the letter was. She decided it was best to keep her mind occupied until the courier arrived.

Thinking about Nicholas reminded her of Mokuba. He seemed to have a sweet tooth, so she thought it would be nice if she baked him some cookies. As she prepared to put the dough into the oven, her doorbell rang. Expecting it to be the messenger, she ran to the front door, thoroughly surprised to see Charlie.

"Hi Alex, I'm not stalking you or anything, I just remembered where you lived from the last time I dropped Mai off at your house…I hope I'm not here at a bad time, you look as if you were expecting someone and that person is surely not me." Charlie said with a teasing snicker.

Alex responds," I was expecting a long awaited package that's all. Please come inside, this is a pleasant surprise to what has been a rather mundane week for me. So tell me, how do I get the honor of your visit today?"

Charlie sighs and says," I have to be honest, I'm here for purely selfish reasons."

"Is that so", Alex asked with a raised brow," I'm not so sure how I can help you out."

"It's Mai, she's driving me crazy. I've never been so taken by a woman. It's like she's cast a spell on me and I can't get enough of her. I've tried to play the cool card, but as soon as she's close…well, let's just say I'm not my usual self."

"Hmmm, Mai does have that affect on men, but I admit I'm a little surprised she's had that affect on you. No offense Charlie, but your reputation proceeds you in regards to your romantic ventures."

"You have such a tactful way with words Alex. Well, not to sound big-headed, but I do usually have my way in the realm of romance. Tell me Alex, could Mai possibly settle down one day or am I fighting a loosing battle? And if so, what can I do to finally win her over. I told you, I'm really going crazy."

"Charlie, I don't know what to tell you. I think one day Mai will be ready to settle down, but I don't see that happening in the near future. My sincere, honest advice to you would be to move on. I'm not one to give advice on love games. I don't like games, I'm more of a shoot from the hip kind of gal."

"I appreciate your honesty."

The doorbell rings and Alex jumps to meet the courier at the door. After signing for the letter, she immediately rips it open. She quickly reads the short hand written letter.

Alexandria,

Upon receiving the monies in my account, I feel comfortable enough to tell you that Nicholas is not ready to see you and I doubt he ever will be. After much coaxing, I was able to arrange an online chat session between the two of you which I will be supervising for obvious reasons. Log onto your messenger service at 3PM tomorrow afternoon.

Regina

Anger and pain surge through Alex's veins. How could this be true? Was Regina telling the truth that Nicholas didn't want to communicate with Alex? How was a chat session going to resolve years of separation? Alex was about to storm upstairs and tell her corporate attorney to cancel the arrangements previously made for Regina, but she quickly remembered that Charlie was in her living room. She took in a deep breath and walked back to the couch she was seated on earlier.

"Doesn't look like the package contents are meeting your satisfaction."

"I'm sorry Charlie, this is just an ongoing issue I've been trying to resolve for some time with no luck."

"Sorry to hear that, maybe its something I can help you with since you've been kind enough to listen to me rattle on about my issues."

"You're kind to offer, but don't you worry, I'll get to the bottom of this soon enough."

Charlie and Alex continue to chat more about Mai. Alex spends most of the conversation listening to Charlie go on and on about how he had fallen for Mai. She felt bad for Charlie now too. First it was only Joey that she felt bad for, but knowing Charlie's feelings now, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Charlie also. Alex decides what would be good for both herself and Charlie was to get together with their friends tonight and have a few drinks. They decide to meet at a great lounge in a trendy part of town where Charlie was friendly with the staff. For a second, Alex thought she should cancel their plans for the night in case Mai got upset that Alex was hanging out with Charlie, but Alex figured they would be with a group of friends so it wouldn't be weird. Besides, its not like Alex had any feelings for Charlie, she was still confused about Seto. 'Seto…."thought Alex, would he be there this evening? A beeping sound interrupted Alex's thoughts and she realized the cookies were ready.

She had some errands to run and decided that she'd drop off the cookies to Mokuba while she was out and about. Luckily, no one was home at the Kaiba mansion and she was able to leave the cookies with the butler. She was glad to have avoided Seto. About 30 minutes later, Alex's phone rings with an unfamiliar number. She hesistates and then picks up the call.

"Hello?" answers Alex

"Hey, it's Mokuba! Thanks for the cookies, they are awesome. Way better than the cookies Ms. B makes."

"Oh Mokuba, I'm glad you like them. Uhm, who is Ms. B?"

"She's the head housekeeper here at the mansion. Man, I must have just missed you, because when I walked in the door the butler told me you had just dropped off a package for me. I wish I had gotten home a few minutes sooner, but Seto was taking a long time wrapping things up at the office."

"So you spend the day at Kaiba Corp. with Seto? Don't you get bored there?"

"Sometimes, but Seto let's me get involved in some of the Beta testing, so it's not that lame. Besides I'm only there when I'm not in school. I don't have a nanny or anything so Seto thinks it's safer for me to be there with him than alone at home, even though I wouldn't really be alone. I mean we have a huge staff at the mansion, guess Seto's just not that trusting."

"Well, you're safety is obviously importance to him. I'm surprised he didn't test those cookies for poison or something."

"No he didn't, actually as soon as he saw me eating one and found out you made them, he had a few himself. I think he liked them because he usually doesn't eat sweets, and he ate at least a handful of those cookies."

"Well, I'm glad you guys are enjoying the cookies. By the way, I think it best that you don't tell Ms. B what you told me about the cookies."

"Don't worry, I am aware of proper social etiquette." Mokuba stated teasingly.

With that statement, Alex came into the realization that Mokuba was probably a lot more mature then he previously led on. He did go through similar hardships as his brother; loosing his parents at a very early age, living in an orphanage, dealing with an unwanting foster father. You decide to offer to take him to the park after school tomorrow and keep him company until Seto came home from work. Mokuba was excited at the offer, but he asked if Alex wanted to just hang out at the Kaiba mansion instead of the park. Mokuba said there was some cool stuff he could show her, so she agreed. She made sure that he ran it by his older brother first and when he agreed, she wasn't too surprised, it was clear now that Seto was comfortable with her growing relationship with Mokuba.

Later that night Alex and Mai met up with Charlie and a group of his friends at a local hot spot. Alex decided it was best to invite Mai so she wouldn't feel that Alex was hanging out with Charlie behind her back. Mai still hadn't told Alex about her 'encounter' with Joey, so Alex didn't think twice as Mai choose the seat next to Charlie. This forced Alex to sit amongst Charlie's crew and chat with his friends from college. Surprisingly Charlie didn't spend the whole night cozied up with Mai. Instead, he joked and chatted with the rest of the group. The night turned out to be a refreshing change from the hum drum rhythm Alex's life had recently taken. She learned that she actually had a lot in common with Charlie and even felt a sort of platonic bond forming between them. She jokingly thought that they may have been brother and sister in a past life. When the new friends decided to make plans to hang out again, the plans were made between Charlie and Alex which did not go unnoticed by Mai. Somehow it didn't really bother Mai that much as she began to think about calling Joey for a late night rendevouz.