She has a date. The words are like cold water poured over Ben's head. And the momentary shock and blinding jealousy that coursed through him allowed Leslie to escape. He gathers his wits and gets in his car to follow her home.

How dare she try to move on. That look she gave him, she definitely still has feelings for him. Is she seeing someone? Has she really moved on, goddamnit it's only been one month. And they never officially broke up. Ben had to acknowledge it was over, that's how a breakup is supposed to work. And he would never let it be over.

Panic slowly creeps into him. What if it was too late? What if he waited too long to take drastic measures.

Parking on the curb, he runs to the front and tries the door knob first before knocking. When it opens, he barges inside and maneuvers his way to the bedroom, avoiding stacks of binders that tottered dangerously.

Leslie is unbuttoning her blouse when her bedroom door flies open, she whirls around, prepared to fight an intruder and is relieved to see Ben. Then remembers that she's supposed to be mad at him.

"What in the world are you doing?" She frantically tries to button her shirt close. Seeing him today in the office wrecked havoc with her mind and feelings. Seeing him now in her bedroom is slowly pushing her towards the edge of a cliff.

"We are not over." Ben declares hotly. And then he tries to calm himself because she was in the middle of undressing and he desperately wanted to finish what her small hands had started.

Leslie makes a noise from the back of her throat that sounded like a snort. "Oh wow, you couldn't tell me that, oh let's say, a month ago?"

"I tried!" Ben raises his arms up in exasperation.

"Well, you didn't try hard enough," Leslie snaps back.

"Well, you didn't make it easy." Ben says coldly.

Leslie is close to giving in, she can feel it. It wasn't a good idea to be in the same room as Ben for more than five minutes. She had to make him leave. "It's too late. I've— I've moved on."

"No you haven't," Ben contradicts her. "I won't let you. Who is it? Who are you seeing?"

"It's none of your business," she says, crossing her arms in front of her chest. But seeing Ben's eyes turn dark, she adds, "Ann set me up on a blind date, ok?"

Good. It's not serious, Ben thought, relief washing over him. "Where are you meeting him?"

"I don't have to tell you anything," and then quickly says, "We're meeting at the Snakehole Lounge, soon." She glances at her watch to make a point.

"You can't go on a date there," Ben's voice is low and almost growling, he takes a step closer to her. The bar was a dark seedy place, her date might take advantage of her. Her date might kiss her. And that thought makes Ben want to grab her and shake her to make her listen.

Her eyes widen, he is a foot away, if she reached out she'd be able to touch his face. Or if he touches her she might as well call it game over. "You can't tell me what to do."

"You said you believed me, why are you doing this?" His sounds desperate. His eyes drill a hole in her heart.

"I believe you, but I haven't forgiven you yet." Leslie shakes her head vigorously, making her dizzy. She's trying to shake away how much she wants to run to him. To comfort him.

"What do you want me to do?" Ben asks brokenly.

"Nothing!" Leslie gets agitated. Why is he doing this now? Why did he wait four weeks to say these things? "Do nothing. That's what you're good at." She's on the verge of crying.

"What are you talking about?"

Leslie inhales and counts to ten. She doesn't want to open a can of worms when she had to leave in fifteen minutes or she'll be late. "Ben, I have a date and I need to change. Please go," she says as firmly as she can.

On impulse or instinct or maybe even desperation, Ben moves quickly. Taking two steps, he grabs her waist and roughly pulls her towards him. And Leslie only had time to react by placing her palms on his chest before his mouth descends on hers.

And it's a deep and possessive kiss. Her heart drops and Leslie gasps causing her lips to part. Ben takes the chance to thrust his tongue inside. Her knees buckle and she grabs on to his shirt. This is what she was afraid of. Ben can melt her with just one kiss. And he doesn't hold back. His right hand slides to the back of her head and his fingers grip her hair. His mouth slants over hers and the kiss goes deeper than she thought possible.

Time has stopped. Leslie's hands snake around his neck and she pushes up on her tiptoes as she kisses him back, matching his hunger.

After what seemed like hours, he pulls back, both of them panting. Breathless. And his eyes are hot and her eyes are glazed. Leslie's lips are swollen from the rough kiss and her face is flushed and tinted in a shade of red.

"Something to think about while you're on your date." Ben says hotly.

Leslie snaps out of her reverie. Shaken and shivering, she manages to jump back into reality and she's frustrated because he has so much power over her. "Get out." She tries to sound angry. But even she couldn't deny how vulnerable she felt.

He leaves because he is satisfied that she still has feelings for him. She practically melted in his arms. Ben allows himself to feel a little hope.

Alone in her room, Leslie sits at the edge of the bed, hugging herself. She can't let him kiss her like that again. And she takes a few minutes to breathe and remembers that she needs to prepare for her date.

Crap on a freaking spatula. Leslie could not concentrate on her date. Sitting across from her is a good looking music teacher named Greg or George. Crap, she should have paid attention, now it would be awkward if she asked what his name was again since they've already had half an hour of casual conversation.

Greg/George is enthusiastically explaining to her about a trip he's planning with his students to watch an orchestra. And she smiles through it all. And she says 'wow' in what she hopes are the right parts of his story. If it wasn't for her obstinate tight-butt EX-boyfriend, she might have actually enjoyed this date with Greg. Or George. Crap.

"Greg…" She holds her breath and hopes it's the right name. When he pauses to listen and doesn't correct her, she exhales. "I would love to hear your students play."

"You do? Oh, that's wonderful. We have rehearsals tomorrow, do you want to come by around 4pm?"

"I'd love to," she says and she smiles easy. Greg is handsome in his own way, if only Leslie would stop comparing him to Ben. Her date has dark hair and grey eyes, and Ann sure knew how to pick them. He is charming, funny and gentle and maybe someone that can make her forget a brown haired, brown eyed elf king.

But then she felt his presence. And she knew he was watching her. She moves a little to the left and is not surprised to see Ben sitting at the bar a few tables behind Greg. Ugh, she should not have told him where she was meeting her date. He is staring intensely at her and he raises his lite beer in mock toast to acknowledge her. She rolls her eyes at him.

Turning back to Greg, she tries to listen intently. He seemed to be telling her about writing songs. She tries to focus. But she notices a pretty girl with short red hair slide into the stool next to Ben. And Leslie tightens her grip on her mug.

"Will you excuse me for a minute, Greg," she says through clenched teeth.

Walking with alarming speed, she makes it to the bar before the red-head could say hi to Ben.

"What are you doing here?" She asks venomously.

"I'm just hanging out," Ben says, feigning innocence.

"You are doing this on purpose."

"Doing what?" And he's staring at her mouth as he says this. And Leslie has to bite her bottom lip to stop herself from thinking of that kiss they shared an hour or so ago.

"Ruining my date," she says distractedly. He is still staring at her mouth and she wishes he would stop reminding her of what they had just done earlier. Because she is doing her damndest not to want an encore of it.

"You shouldn't be going out with anyone. We are not over."

"Stop it, Ben," Leslie says with exasperation. "We had a wonderful week. And I won't ever forget it. And I— And I thank you for it," she stumbles because there's a twinge of pain in her chest as she says this. "But it obviously doesn't mean that much to you so I don't know what the hell this is. Did you suddenly realize you missed me when you saw me today?"

Ben looks confused. "Why would you think our relationship doesn't mean much to me?"

But before she can explain further, Greg appears at her side, "Leslie, is this guy bothering you?"

Feeling embarrassed, she introduces them to each other. "Greg, no, it's all fine. Um this is Ben, someone I work with."

"Ben." Greg nods his head towards Ben. Leslie's date is thoughtful. The two had looked like they were arguing. He is sure there's more to the story.

"Greg." Ben says curtly.

Greg assesses the situation and feels a little threatened by Ben's rudeness. "Hope you don't mind if I steal Leslie and ask her to dance."

"I do mind actually." Ben is itching for a fight.

Leslie glares at Ben, "He's joking," she says to Greg. Come on, let's dance." And she takes Greg's hands and leads him to the dance floor.

Ben wants to chase after them. But the warning look Leslie gave him reminded him that he was being an ass. And maybe she was a little right. Seeing her today after a month had passed had made him too emotional. And he needed a better way to win her over. And he doubts if dragging her somewhere private to force himself on her would make her forgive him. For whatever reason, Leslie is blaming him for the one month they spent apart. He had sent her messages every single day. If anything, it was Leslie's fault why they didn't reconcile. And he had every right to be angry.

And he can't take the torture of watching some other guy's hands on her. So he goes home for the night, feeling angry, hurt and jealous. Tomorrow he'll find a way to talk to her. Tomorrow she'd be reasonable.