"Stupid, idiotic, moronic, incompetent, dull, hideous, freak!" Dare threw her bag down on the floor in Lacey's house.

Lacey and Heath were nestled on the couch, but were shocked into upright positions when Dare slammed the front door shut.

Dare was still mumbling under her breath as she stormed into the living room where Lacey and Heath were.

"Bad day?" Lacey asked, shocked.

Dare scowled at her. "New employee! Oh my gosh I'm going to go insane!"

"Whoa, whoa. Stop. What's going on?"

"It's just the way he is! I can't stand it! Stab him in the face with a fork, I swear to you, I will!"

"Dare! Chill out! My gosh. Sit. Down. Now," Lacey ordered.

Dare sank into the armchair next to the couch in a miserable heap.

"What's the problem, Dare? Who is this new person?" Lacey asked condescendingly as Heath turned off the TV.

"He's perfect, though!" Dare yelled, as if continuing a conversation that had never started.

"Dare!" Lacey hit Dare's arm. "Focus! What is going on?!"

"Dr. Oldman hired a new tech," Dare said in a toneless voice.

"And?" Lacey coaxed.

"And?!" Dare asked incredulously. "And he's the most annoying, infuriating, maddening, exasperating being on this Earth, that's what!"

"Really, Dare? This isn't like you at all."

"Oh, if you just saw him!" Dare challenged.

"Dare, you aren't giving much substance to this hate," Heath said, speaking for the first time.

Dare growled at him.

"I'm serious!" Heath said defensively. "Why exactly is this guy so bad?"

"He just is," Dare explained stupidly. "That look in his eyes like he knows something you don't know. Like he's always laughing! God, I hate it! Everything about him makes me want to rip out his throat!"

"I think you're definitely blowing this out of proportion," Heath said professionally.

"Screw you," Dare mumbled.

"Both of you, stop arguing," Lacey said with authority.

"But she's being-!" Heath began, but Lacey glared at him and he stopped.

Dare folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

"Now, before Dare kills this guy, I think we need some intervention. Or a second opinion. So, I could go tomorrow with you and see for myself how horrid this guy really is."

Dare nodded agreeably. "Yeah, that'd be good!"

"Except for one thing," Heath interrupted. "Lacey's working tomorrow all day."

"Oh," Lacey muttered. "Well, you're not."

Dare glared at Lacey.

"Dare, be fair!" Lacey said. "Heath will go with you tomorrow."

Dare sighed. "Fine. But he makes one wrong move, I'm calling rape."

"What do you think I'm going to do?" Heath asked.

"Are you kidding me? Heath Ledger at Dare's job. This is shouting prank!" Dare exclaimed.

Heath shook his head. "I won't play any pranks, I promise."

Dare frowned. "Fine."

* * * * * *

"Good morning," Dare said grumpily to the receptionist.

Ms. Parker raised an eyebrow at Dare. Dare normally wasn't cranky, ever.

"Sorry," mumbled Dare. "I'm not looking forward to today."

The receptionist nodded. "Doctor Oldman wants to see you." She motioned behind her at the door to inside the other rooms.

Dare nodded and stalked off. To her relief, she found Dr. Oldman alone. Christian wasn't there yet.

"Good morning, Dare," he said half-heartedly while looking through a pile of papers on a desk in the corner of the room.

"Hi." She preferred to stay reserved today. Otherwise, she might explode… or something.

And that was when he walked in.

Yes, Christian.

"Ah, there you are, Christian." Dr. Oldman greeted him with a smile.

How come I didn't get a smile? Dare thought moodily.

Christian smiled back and it took all the strength Dare had not to scoff and roll her eyes. She instead shut down all emotion so her face became as unreadable as ever.

"Dare?" Dare looked at Dr. Oldman blankly when he addressed her. "I'd like you to accompany Christian, here, for today. Just to show him how things are done. I'm sure you'll catch on."

Dare's jaw dropped, but she quickly snapped it shut in a stern line. "I'm sure he's well-trained and good to go right now," Dare said, choosing to ignore Christian's presence all together.

"Dare," Dr. Oldman said sternly. And he meant it.

Dare glared at him one last time before turning on her heel and heading out the door. Not five seconds later did Dare pop back into the room. "Follow me!" Dare snapped at Christian. He looked worried for a moment before following Dare through the door and back out to the lobby area.

"Every morning you come here and just ask for today's appointments. I'm sure you can handle that. Thank you," Dare added as Ms. Parker handed Dare a clipboard. Dare looked at the first page to find a list of people's names and their pets'. Next to them were the last names of doctors. She searched for her last name and to her disgust found it. Except it was labeled "Belacqua/Bale". Her nose wrinkled in disgust. She wondered if anyone would notice if she used a little magic to…

"We have an appointment in five minutes."

Dare looked up quickly before she realized Christian was reading over her shoulder. She cringed to herself.

She ignored him and pretended to busy herself with reading the rest of the list for the day. Then, the phone rang. Dare placed the clipboard back on the front counter. It was for all of the techs to share.

"Dare?" Ms. Parker held out the phone and Dare took it curiously.

"Hello?" Dare inquired.

"Dare, I'm so sorry!" It was Heath. "I can't come in until two."

"Heath, you said nine! You should-!"

"I know! I know! But Kori wants to take off of work today. I'm so sorry. But I will be there. Okay?"

"Whatever," Dare mumbled. She'd been looking forward to getting away from Christian, if not for a moment. And most of all, getting someone else on her side.

"Dare, don't be like that." He sighed. "Fine. I'll change it to twelve. Is that better? We can even go out to lunch – my treat."

Dare grinned. "Thanks, Heath!"

"You're welcome. I've got to go."

"Bye!" Dare said happily.

"Bye," he said, frustrated, but Dare could hear him chuckle before hanging up.

"Thanks," Dare said, handing the phone back to Ms. Parker.

She nodded once and busied herself typing on the computer.

Just then, a patient entered and Dare smiled politely. She was a regular. "Hello, Zoey," Dare greeted the Weimaraner happily. "You can follow me," Dare said to the owner, Amy.

"Thanks," Amy said.

"How are we doing?" Dare asked as she headed into the first clinic room. She went over to a file cabinet and opened it. She found the file on Zoey and scanned it quickly.

"Great. Just here for routine shots, I believe," Amy answered.

"Yep, looks like it," Dare agreed. "Rabies and de-worming."

"I'm on it," Christian said nonchalantly. He left the room through a different door and Dare shrugged.

"Is he new?" Amy asked.

Dare nodded. "Dr. Oldman just hired him."

"Seems nice enough. Quiet. Very handsome," Amy noted with a smile.

Dare snorted. "Sure." She'd rather not get into how wrong Amy really was.

"You don't like him," Amy noted.

"You've no idea," Dare muttered under her breath.

Amy laughed. "What's so bad about him?"

"Don't ask," Dare said, writing on Zoey's file just before Christian came back in with two needles in hand. "Do you want me to hold her?" Was that the first time she'd addressed him directly? No, she'd ordered him before.

"Sure."

And the thing about that one word was that he wasn't angry! Dare would've preferred if he were angry. But he seemed perfectly at peace. Rather, he seemed to not care that Dare hated him for no reason. Which made her even madder, if that made any sense. But, it was like she didn't exist. Or she was a nothing, so it didn't really matter that she hated him. He just didn't care. And it bugged the crap out of her.

Dare grabbed Zoey by the scruff. Once Christian was bent over, Dare was able to look over his back and roll her eyes at Amy, who shrugged apologetically. Dare made a sickened face, too and Amy snickered quietly.

"All finished," Christian said blandly, capping the two needles and patting Zoey.

"What?" Dare asked, surprised. "That didn't take you thirty seconds!"

Christian shrugged. "I've been doing this for a while." He smiled.

Dare frowned. Stupid show-off.

And so it continued until twelve o'clock. Dare counted the seconds down on her watch until finally the hour, minute, and second hand aligned on the twelve. She took a deep breath. Thank goodness.

"Lunch break!" Dare announced happily.

Christian looked up from a clipboard he was marking on. They'd been sitting in the ER lobby in the back of the building, just waiting.

"Actually, it's not until 12:30 because we've got an appointment right now."

How the heck did he know this stuff?

"Oh," Dare said stupidly. Yes, always full of those quick-witted comebacks. That was Dare.

His lips twitched to the side and he looked back at the clipboard. Dare was going to scold him for laughing, but decided not to grace him with her attention. So she folded her arms across her chest and 'hmphed' like a twelve year old instead. So classy.

Her pager beeped once. New appointment. Thank you, Heath.

Christian and Dare met Heath at the front. He carried Demon, Lacey's orange tabby cat, in a cat carrier. Demon was huddled in the corner, shaking with nerves.

"Hey, Heath," Dare said with exasperation in her voice. "You can follow me." She began walking to the exam room before she noticed no one was following her. "Er. Hello? Heath?"

Heath and Christian stared at one another blankly for a moment before each burst into random sentence fragments that Dare couldn't figure head or tails of.

"But you-!"

"I thought-!"

"When you-!"

"Where were-?"

"How long-?"

"This is-!"

It continued for a good twenty seconds before each stopped short and hugged the other, cat carrier and all.

"Did I miss something?" Dare asked to no one in particular.

"I cannot believe it's really you!" Heath said excitedly.

Dare walked up, finger pointed accusingly at Heath, but she was given the cat carrier and ignored before she could say a word.

"How long have you lived here?" Christian asked incredulously.

"Only a little bit, you?" Heath asked, just as shocked-looking.

"Just moved here! Wow! I haven't seen you in… years! How did you know it was me?"

"Oh please," Heath said happily. "Same lanky punk you used to be."

Christian punched Heath on the shoulder in the manly way men do.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop!" Dare put the cat carrier down on the front counter before she could drop it. Or throw it at someone's head. "What is going on?!"

"Dare, this is Christian!" Heath said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Er. Yeah. I know. And this is relevant because…?"

"He's the same Christian from my childhood back in Australia!" Heath exclaimed.

Dare tried to think if he'd ever mentioned a Christian before. Some memory crossed her mind, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"I cannot believe this," Christian said again, smiling in that stupendous way he has.

"Me neither," Dare mumbled under her breath. She grabbed the cat carrier and trudged her way back to the exam room. "You and me, Demon. We've got something in common. We both don't want to be here." And she pried the poor cat from its carrier.

"Well, of course you can!" Heath was saying as he and Christian entered the exam room. Finally.

"Of course he can, what?" Dare interjected. She had a bad feeling…

"Come to lunch," Heath clarified.

Dare rolled her eyes and groaned, but neither of the boys noticed. Too wrapped up in manly conversation.

"I hate men," Dare mumbled to Demon. "Be glad you don't have testosterone, Demon. You're much nicer without it."

And then it occurred to Dare exactly who this Christian was. It was the same Christian that Heath had spoken of to Dr. House. The Christian that was a vampire. That had changed Heath in the first place back in Australia. What. The. Heck?

Dare gave Demon a quick booster shot before giving Heath a look of murder.

He saw her and looked taken aback.

"We need to talk," Dare said with acid dripping from her every word.

"All right," Heath said and shrugged at Christian. "I'll be right back," he told him.

Dare and Heath went into the next room.

"What the heck?!" Dare began.

"Dare, really? Christian? How can you hate him? He's been my best mate since… fourth grade!"

"Oh yeah, and I'm sure you guys had a bunch of fun in that sandbox of yours back in Australia. But this is England and he's changed! He's the most despicable, insolent, little-!"

"Dare!" Heath shouted. Then lowered his voice to a whisper. "I think you hate him because he's a vampire!"

"What are you-?" But Dare stopped. It kind of made sense. "What do you mean?" she asked instead.

"Well, I don't know exactly. But I do know that werewolves are supposed to hate vampires, right? So, maybe it's your instinct to hate him because he's a vampire. Truly Dare, he's done nothing to you."

"Shove it," Dare spat. But he was right. Christian had done nothing. She wasn't going to admit it, though. "But that doesn't explain anything. I would've hated Lacey when I met her. You would've hated Lacey when you met her!"

"Maybe… I don't know… I guess we could ask."

Dare groaned. "I don't want to go back!"

"I think it's time for an apology anyway. And we also should probably show him we're still 'keeping the option open'." Heath made little bunny ears around the phrase and grinned.

Dare nodded sadly. "Yeah, I guess."

"How's tonight?" he asked.

"Tonight's perfect."