A/N: A time when Ned didn't have his shit together and Katie wished he did. Enjoy xx Mariah


Katie stood over him, a scowl on her face and a freshly brewed cup of coffee in her hand. She studied the way his back shifted with each breath he took, the muscles rippling under the skin that had, thanks to summer, become a warm golden color. And it was pretty much all over too - the black boxer briefs he'd obviously stripped down to the night before left little to the imagination.

She was glad he was at least lying on his stomach. The last thing she needed right now was Ned Banks' barely concealed junk staring her in the face.

"Mom!" she yelled, smiling with pleasure at the groan that emanated from him at the noise. "Ned is passed out on our sofa again!"

Looking over, she saw her mother come down the stairs, her hair a tangled from sleep, her eyes slightly open to the point Katie wasn't sure her mother even had eyes anymore. "Katie, babe, you gotta be so loud?" Melinda complained, heading straight for the coffee pot. "Not everyone was in bed at 10 pm last night like you were."

"Well, sorry, I didn't feel like being in bed until eleven," she retorted. "I like enjoying my summer."

"You'd think now that you're 18 you'd have a more adult summer," Melinda replied.

"I'm fine with my summer the way it is," she sipped at her coffee, glared back down at Ned. She hated when Ned crashed on their couch- he did it once a week, mostly because her parent's house was closer to the college parties than his mother's apartment was.

Melinda slunk into the living room, dropped onto the end of the sofa, jostling Ned. Another groan emitted from him, and Melinda poked at his back until he reluctantly lifted his head.

"What?" He muttered, and the look on his face gave both women a perverse sense of satisfaction.

Not even Mr. Handsome could look good all the time, she thought happily as she took in the bloodshot eyes and blond hair that stood every which way.

"Have a good night last night?" She asked, not even caring that she sounded bitchy.

"Did Jim bring you here on his way home?" Melinda asked.

He shrugged, then nodded, smiling, and damn if the asshole could still smile like he was in a Colgate commercial even when he was hungover. "I think he did."

"I thought he said something about pulling you off some beautiful girl," Melinda laughed, setting a bottle of water and aspirin on the coffee table. "But, he'll be up soon and then there will be food. Here's water and aspirin for now."

Katie rolled her eyes, dropped into the armchair across from them. "Why am I not surprised," Then her eyes widened, horrified. "You didn't bring a random here, did you?" She hissed, glancing wildly around the apartment as though a stranger would pop up at any moment, dressed in nothing but Ned's shirt.

Ned shifted himself so that he was resting on his side, laughing before his head dropped to the arm of the chair. "Come on, Katie, I wouldn't do that. Not here, at least."

"I know." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And I still haven't forgiven you for that girl walking in on me while I was peeing at the cabin last year, for God's sake."

Melinda snorted, then protested when Ned nipped the mug from her hands, drinking deeply. "You gonna drink all of that?" Melinda asked. He nodded absently, and with a huff, she yanked herself off the sofa, heading back towards the kitchen, and muttering about him getting his own damn coffee.

With her mother gone, Ned propped himself up higher. "You know I promised I'd never do that again, Katie. I was 20 and drunk, and I invited someone back to the cabin."

"Promises don't mean it couldn't happen again," she snapped.

"Well it didn't and it wouldn't have," he replied just as sharply. "And for starters," he began, then sat up completely, as though he was getting ready to launch into a long, lengthy speech. Katie screwed her nose up and took a sip of coffee; even higher up on her list of Things Not to Do before 10 am than 'Talking to Ned Banks for extended periods of time' was 'Talking to Ned Banks in his underwear'. "You know that that girl was just a friend and nothing happened; she just crashed there. So really, I was being super responsible even while intoxicated because I made sure she wasn't stumbling home alone drunk at two."

"Yeah, yeah I know, it was all innocent and Ned Banks being good, I've heard it all before..." She muttered under her breath. She couldn't help it - the roll of her eyes started before she could stop it. "You just like pretty and willing girls."

"I've got nothing against beauty, but that doesn't just do it for me." He drained the last of the coffee and stood, stretched in a way that made every part of his body demand her attention.

But she refused to. "Well that's nice and all," she replied into her coffee cup. "But I don't really care what your type is."

"You should," he said, then moved towards her, trapping her in by placing a hand on each of the arms of the chair. "Because prickly brunettes are right up my alley."

He grinned then, that stupid grin that she hated, before turning and walking into the kitchen.

It took her about two seconds to realize he'd meant her. And she dropped the empty coffee mug on the floor.