A/N: Hey. Sorry this has taken so long; its been sitting on my desktop for weeks, I've just been swamped. :p Next chapter is half way done, but no promises as to when it will be updated, especially as I really need to give some love to my other fic. ;)

Joss hadn't always been so awkward or at least that's what her mother had told her once when she got exasperated with her for doing something socially embarrassing. There had been a time, as a child, when she had more confidence; she never knew what had caused her to change, but she suspected it had something to do with the sessions her father had made her go to where she had been analyzed and questioned constantly, all because she had failed to stop Emily from touching a pot on the stove and she had consequently burned her little hand. Due to her awkwardness Joss didn't have a lot of friends growing up and Emily had been her constant companion as well as her sister. When she was in the tenth grade she met Julian and immediately stuck her foot in her mouth, which she figured wasn't all that surprising as it seemed to happen on a daily bases. Despite this the two of them managed to somehow become friends, first being partnered together in biology and then branching out to actually spending time together outside of school. Having someone else aside from her sister, in her life, that believed in her and actually liked her for who she was, had been heaven sent and had allowed her to become more confident if not less awkward. In their first year if college, both pre-med, Julian asked Joss out on a date and everything just seemed to spiral from there. Before she knew it he was saying he loved her and they were moving in together and then he was down on one knee asking her to be with him for the rest of her life.

Everyone, all their friends and family, especially hers, were ecstatic and Joss was content. She had felt pushed her whole life, pressured by her parents expectations and judged by her father, that to make the choice to be with Julian felt like the only natural step to take. Of course that all changed when she had been camping one night with two of her friends and had been savagely attacked by a creature, which she now knew was Ray in his wolf state, and left for dead. After that night Joss stopped being awkward and just became afraid. She withdrew from her family and her Fiancé, something within her slowly rebelling, tugging unerringly towards something else.

The first night she had changed in to the wolf she had been terrified and the agony that suffused her body, as her organs rearranged themselves, her joints popped and bent and her body basically ripped itself apart only to reform into a monster, had almost been too much to bear. The next day she had seriously considered killing herself but found that she just couldn't go through with it; it would go against everything she had ever been taught as she grew up and she wanted so badly to hold on to what had been normal. Instead she ransacked Julian's apartment, took a few basic things while he was in class, and then left a note for both he and her family. Then she had left and eventually found herself working in a small greasy spoon where, after nearly receiving a beat down from some crazy blood suckers, she had met Aidan.

She found that from the very first she was able to be herself with him, that for whatever reason she felt comfortable with him. Aidan didn't care if she was a werewolf and he didn't care about her awkwardness or lack of social graces. If anything he seemed to find it highly amusing, but in a fond way. In the past years since leaving her family she had of course met other people, a few who were friendly and a few who were just looking to get into the pants of what appeared to them to just be a shy leggy young woman. Knowing that a guy just wants to take you out back and rut against you before moving on really hadn't been appealing to her, especially in her confused state of trying to cope with her condition. But Aidan treated her as an equal from the moment they met and he still did. She shouldn't have felt all that surprised when she started having feelings for him; he was easy to talk to, he genuinely cared about her and she knew that as much as he may roll his eyes or smirk at the things she did and said that were less then appropriate, he never judged her as most guys aside from Julian had and would.

When she was in her comfort zone, and being with Aidan and Sally constituted that, Joss was far less awkward then when in public and with people she didn't know. First impressions were key, her mother had always said, which was probably why she tried so hard and failed spectacularly most of the time to make a good one. Talking to men apparently was one area where she was destined to always make a fool of herself.

"Hey doe eyes."

The voice held an amused tone, which added warmth to it. She had been staring into space she realized as her gaze refocused and she found herself meeting a pair of bemused green eyes. She blushed and of course started stammering; later she would recount this encounter to Sally, in a rare moment when the ghost was actually around, in the relative safety of her room and would be amazed that she hadn't made a complete botch of the whole thing.

"Uh, hey, I mean hi…Nate?" somehow it turned into a question although of course she knew who he was. They had only ever spoken twice before but both times had left a lasting impression. The first time he had yelled at her for something that really wasn't her fault at all, and gave her a new nick name apparently, and the second had found him apologizing for the first encounter and trying to buy her coffee, an offer to which she had responded rather rudely if she was honest. She had been having a horrible day and Aidan and she had had an interesting encounter, chalk full of repressed tension or lust or whatever the hell it was between them, in the kitchen the night before; her mood had not been the greatest.

She continued speaking before he could confirm the queried identity, although again it really wasn't necessary; she wasn't likely to forget him. "Listen, I'm really sorry about how I acted the other day with the uh, with the coffee thing. I was just really stressed and tired and getting weird sexual vibes from my roommate and,"

She blinked rapidly then and he looked like he was forcing himself not to laugh. He's really good looking, she thought dazedly; he's got better hair than Aidan too, its very blonde, although not as thick looking…she forced this thought away and began stammering again, her brown eyes wide. "And wow, I am completely over sharing with you, like you would care about …I am just going to shut up now before I say something really embarrassing, not that, that wasn't embarrassing. If you want to run away now I wouldn't blame you at all."

He smirked, laughing slightly. "Wow," he said conversationally, "Its as if you're an artist and awkward is your medium. Why don't we start again? I'm Nate, the guy who bit your head off a while back for doing your job." He extended a hand and Joss found herself smiling and taking it in her smaller one.

"Joss, the raging female who threatened you in the cafeteria last week, when you tried to apologize."

"Well, I figure we're even now when it comes to bitchy tantrums." he said lightly, letting go of her hand, but still gracing her with amused eyes.

Joss raised a brow, but smiled and reached up to push a piece of her hair out of her eyes. "Bitchy tantrums? Are you sure you didn't just loose your man card there, using that word."

He laughed; it was a nice sound she thought. Warm, like his voice. "I'm pretty sure I'm good; we get a few free passes a month before they come and take it away."

Someone came through the doors just at the end of the hall closest to them and Joss found herself inhaling deeply, although hopefully not obviously, as the familiar smell of vampire reached her nose. Aidan was close by.

"Uh it was nice talking to you," she found herself saying. "We should maybe do it again?" Inwardly she winced, why do you always make everything sound like a question? She could practically hear Emily in her ear yelling, confidence! "We should do it again." She reasserted.

Nate still seemed to be trying not to laugh, but he nodded. "Yeah, definitely. I'll buy you that coffee I offered last week."

"It's a date," she said quickly and then of course reverted into stammering mode, "I mean, not a date date, obviously. Its just an expression, unless you want it to be."

"I have a feeling your never boring," he laughed. "Whatever you want it to be Joss."

"Right." She needed to get out of there before she chased him away with her awkwardness. "Um, well I need to get going. I'll see you later." She was so glad it didn't come out as a question.

"Yeah, later." He replied as she hurried away, seeing Aidan out of the corner of her eye seemingly looking for something on a med cart. Had he seen her and Nate? What did he think if he had? She wanted to run up to him and tell him everything that had just occurred, get his opinion as she always had, but that could just lead to some absurd and awkward conversation. She knew what he would say, what he always said; she owed it to herself to try. Still, she would definitely try to talk to Sally about it if she could. She hoped that she wasn't getting ahead of herself, but she had felt a connection of sorts there with Nate; definitely worth exploring if you don't mess this up like you always do, she chided herself. If part of her felt like she was betraying what she felt for Aidan, she ignored it.