Sue lay in bed halfway between sleep and wakefulness, unwilling to relinquish the warm, drowsy state of complete and utter calm. She'd even allowed herself an extra hour long lie-in, not quite ready to face the inevitable problems that came with a brand new day. Her dreams had been filled with the events of the night before... dancing with Jack holding her so close and then kissing her with a passion that had stolen her breath away. A sandpapery rough tongue licked her cheek, bringing her back to the real world with a thud and she opened her eyes to see Levi's doggie face barely an inch from her own.

"Sorry Buddy, I'm afraid your kisses are no substitute for Jack's." The dog pulled at the bedcovers insistently. "Okay, okay, I'm up."

Dragging herself out of bed, she grabbed her robe and walked to the bathroom for a shower; the cascading water gradually washing away the warm fuzzy feelings and replacing them with nagging doubts. By the time she made her way back to her room she'd almost succeeded in convincing herself that it hadn't really happened at all.

Crossing to the chair she picked up the dress she'd worn for the party, bringing it to her face and breathing in, in the hope that the scent of his aftershave would have remained there as a validation but she was disappointed. Levi nudged her and she looked down at him sternly. "I'm getting dressed as fast as I can. Didn't Charlie take you out last night?"

Picking up her evening purse she took out her blackberry to transfer it to her pocket, jumping when she switched it on and it vibrated in her hand indicating an unread message. On impulse, she went to the inbox and scanned the earlier messages first, smiling happily when she saw the one Jack had sent her the night before. "Guess what Buddy? It wasn't a dream after all." She opened the new one but sighed and deleted it when it turned out to be a routine network update. Levi fidgeted impatiently at her side so she quickly pulled on a sweatshirt to go with her jeans, attached his leash and headed for the dog park. Well that had been her intended destination but instead she found herself standing across the road from Jack's apartment building.

"Okay Buddy, just how did we end up here?" She asked her bemused companion. "I suppose we could always drop in for a coffee." Looking up she saw that the curtains were still closed. "...Or maybe not. Come on boy, looks like the park and a latté after all."

o-xxx-o

Jack stirred and stretched languorously, blowing out a breath which sounded more like a contented moan as scenes of the night before played themselves out on the inside of his eyelids. The dance had more than fulfilled one of his fantasies and the kiss, especially when she'd reciprocated, had been the proverbial icing on the cake. Grudgingly, he opened his eyes and checked the clock, surprised to find that he'd slept until lunchtime. To be fair he had woken once before, at his usual alarm time, but his dreams had been too good to forsake so he'd turned over and shut out the world again. With a sigh he threw back the covers and made his way to the bathroom, where he took a long, leisurely shower, slipped into his bathrobe and headed for the kitchen to make himself a very late breakfast.

Returning to the bedroom, he picked up his suit from where he'd left it the night before to hang it in the wardrobe, his body reacting pleasurably as he caught the lingering fragrance of her perfume. Having no concrete plans for the day he decided to give himself a special treat, so slipping out of his robe again he climbed back into his still warm bed, closing his eyes and replaying the warm memories until he drifted back to sleep.

o-xxx-o

When Sue let herself and Levi back into the apartment she saw that Lucy had finally made it out of bed.

"Good morning," her friend greeted her in a croaking voice, her eyes still bleary with sleep.

"I think it's more like afternoon." Sue corrected with a grin.

"Who cares? I'm surprised you managed to get up so early."

"Someone... didn't leave me much choice." She looked down at her canine companion who immediately put a paw over his nose.

"Aww, he feels bad. Never mind Levi, when you've got to go you've got to go."

"I just wish that sometimes he could do it on his own."

"Perhaps you should have called Jack, I'm sure he would have taken him."

"He's still in bed."

"Really..?" Lucy's face lit up in a brilliant smile. "And just how would you know that?"

Sue cringed but tried to sound blasé about it all. "We walked by his place earlier on the way to the dog park."

"But surely that's in the opposite direction?"

"We took the long route."

"Uh-huh."

Sue turned away to see to Levi. "Any coffee left?"

"Sure, help yourself. Did Scott call?"

"No... Why would he?"

"He said something about it last night." She took a sip of orange juice. "What about Jack?"

"What about him?"

Lucy shook her head in disbelief. "Have you heard from him since that dance?"

"No."

"Oh..." She moaned disappointedly.

Sue stood in front of her friend, a determined expression on her face and her hands on her hips. "Luce, please don't start that again."

"What? Okay, okay... any plans for the rest of the day?"

"No, not really..."

"Then how about I get dressed while you throw the washing in the machine, then we hit the mall and get some dinner afterwards?"

"Sounds good... as long as you don't mention Jack's name for the rest of the day..."

Lucy agreed albeit reluctantly. D-E-A-L.

o-xxx-o

A/N: A short addition this time, I'm afraid but I'm hoping to add another later on tonight. :-) In the meantime, enjoy!