Cityfolk

Because Ted and Alexis deserve a second shot. Several years after the series finale Ted and Alexis run into one another in the city and come to terms with the good and the bad of their past relationship.

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Author's Note: I don't own any Schitt's Creek content, nor am I the first to dream up a second (third?) chance for Ted and Alexis like this one. But it was time to see it play out. Enjoy!

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Chapter 1

Ted leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples, attempting to stimulate some blood flow to his still-foggy brain or, at least, to give himself a momentary break from the task at hand. He was having one of those mornings where you feel like you never quite wake up. Maybe his alarm went off in the middle of a REM cycle or something. In either case he was exhausted and couldn't focus. It was nearly lunchtime and he hadn't accomplished much yet today aside from sorting some emails and opening up some new files… which he was staring at now, blankly. Hm.

Maybe the long hours were starting to get to him.

This job had been very rewarding at first. When Terrance, his research lead in the Galapagos, had told him about the the lab research work he did for NYU Ted was intrigued, and even more flattered when T suggested he consider a position himself. Ted had loved the adventure of being away and trying new things while in the Galapagos. Frankly he was a little anxious when it came time to return to Schitt's Creek. It only took six months of being back in the small town clinic for Ted to give Terrance a call and tell him he was going to visit New York for a couple days, and could they grab a bite? He'd been working in the labs for the last two years now but was feeling a little, well, restless lately.

Maybe he should break for an early lunch. He'd get another cup of tea, take a lap around the building. He'd be more productive this afternoon.

Ted grabbed his phone and his wallet from the desk and slipped them into his lab coat pockets before taking off down the florescent-lit beige hallway towards the stairs.

"Hey Ted, how are you?" He heard a bright voice call from behind him. He turned back: Ruth. She was a few years older than him and was a lab celebrity in his mind. Ruth always had the most interesting research projects and seemed to get along with everyone. Ted figured she could barely be 40, but she practically ran this department.

"Hi, Ruth. I'm okay. Tired today. What's up with you?" He slowed he pace so she could catch up.

"I'm great. Actually I'm about to go meet someone for lunch. Where are you headed?"

"Lunch indeed. I think I'm going to hit the cafe. I ran out of time to pack something this morning."

Ruth smiled. "How unlike you! I always see you with your Tupperware in the lounge. I don't think I've ever seen you buy your lunch."

"Yes, well, desperate times," he shrugged.

"Something on your mind?"

"Not really," Ted said slowly, then backtracked. "Well, that's not entirely true."

Ruth stopped at the top of the stairs and tilted her head as if to ask him to continue.

"Uhm, well, actually the truth is I've been thinking about work a lot. I… I might need a change. I've been a little restless lately, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do about that."

Ruth nodded. "I've been there, you know. You're great here, Ted, and Terrance would kill me if I said anything to persuade you otherwise. But I also know that sometimes you should shake things up. You know… take on new challenges? Is it something I can help with?"

"Thanks, Ruth. Honestly, I don't even know what I'm looking for yet, so I can't believe I just told you that. It just kind of… slipped out. I don't think I fully realized I was feeling that way until you asked me how I was doing just now." Ted started to walk slowly down the stairs. Ruth followed.

"Ha, funny how that happens, huh? Well listen, Ted. I'm actually about to grab lunch with someone to talk through an opportunity of my own. I'm working on a new pursuit and need a little outside weigh-in. Might be interesting to you. Want to join? I think we're getting sushi."

"I really appreciate the offer, but not today. I don't think I'm up for meeting new people at the moment. I'm actually going to take a walk and clear my head."

"No problem. Let's catch up again soon, though."

"Thanks, Ruth," he said over his shoulder as he pushed open the double doors to the street. "But hey, don't take this as lack of interest. You'll have to tell me what you're cooking up next time I see you."

"You got it, Ted," Ruth smiled and waved him off.

— — —

A couple hours and a few data plots later Ted was heading out of the lab for the second time that day. He had to get back to his apartment in Brooklyn in 30 minutes to meet the electrician who was supposed to be doing some work in his apartment. These people never have convenient appointment times, especially if you work across town.

He checked his phone nervously as he pushed open the doors to the street. How long until the next bus? Phew… four minutes. Perfect - he always liked to time it so he wouldn't have to wait long at the stop. He sighed and dropped the phone in his messenger back and slid his hands into his pockets. He glanced up and set his sights on the bus stop on the corner.

His eyes widened when he noticed a woman waiting at the shelter still half a block away.

That looks like…?

No, no, he assured himself. He'd been listening to too much Taylor Swift on the radio or something. Lyrics going to his head. Man that girl really writes some earworms…

But he fixed his gaze on his fellow bus rider as he approached. Honestly wasn't that her silhouette, her posture - legs crossed at the ankle, arms folded over her bag? Tall woman, tan legs… Her hair was shorter than he remembered but honey-colored with a familiar wave.

He felt his pulse rising as he got closer. Was it his anxiety about getting home to meet the electrician or…

"Alexis?" The name tumbled out of his mouth before he could think through what he was doing.

She shot around quickly, lips pursed and frowning slightly. She was confused, but only for a moment. He watched her eyes blink in recognition, then widen.

He stood there eyes locked with her, mouth slightly open as if to speak, but he couldn't think of what to say.

"Ted?" She shook her head slightly.

"Yeah," he spat out. "Hi, uhm… Wow! Uh, how are you?" His eyes scanned her rapidly, involuntarily, familiarly… Then he caught himself and averted his gaze.

"Ted. Yeah… wow. Hi. I'm good. Uh, really good! How are you? What are you doing here?" She smiled, but the look of surprise was plain on her face.

"Here?" He pointed up towards the brick building he'd just exited. "I work here."

Her eyes widened and she laughed. "Right there? Brown building with the long windows? You're kidding me. I was literally just in there for a meeting. I, uhm," she fidgeted with her zipper on her blazer, which was just coming into focus for Ted now. It was cream colored and long and, if he was honest, made her look confident as hell. "Uhm," she started again and his eyes darted back up to meet hers. "I didn't know you were in the city."

He pushed his hands through the top of his hair and shook his head slightly. "Yeah, actually I have been for two years. I'm doing some research for the biology department."

"Two years! You're kidding, I was just talking to one of the researchers there! Do you know Ruth?"

He shook his head, grinning widely. "I know Ruth very well. Damn, you don't say."

"Ted!" Alexis laughed. "When did you start swearing?"

"Probably about the time I got to this town," he teased. "Oh, actually, Alexis — there's the bus. Can I do you the honors of swiping you aboard?" He stuck out his hand to take hers as the bus slowed in front of them. Shoot, was that flirtatious? He met her eyes searching for signs of approval as the front of the bus knelt down with a gush of warm air and the doors folded open.

"Actually I'm headed uptown. I'm the next one." She scrunched her face up into a playful scowl.

"Oh, uh, no worries," he said over his shoulder, stepping onto the bus and trying to say a proper goodbyes without aggravating the impatient-looking driver. "Hey, let me know next time you're going to be around, okay?"

"I will," she smiled slyly. "Good to see you, Ted!"

Ted dipped his card shakily into the reader as the bus pulled away. He slumped down into an empty seat in the middle of the bus, turning around to catch a glimpse of Alexis as they sped away, but they were already rounding the corner. He looked up towards the ceiling and let out a long, exasperated breath. Then he smiled widely and took out his phone, wondering who he could text to announce this unexpected encounter.

— — —

Alexis practically ran up the stairs to her apartment that night. She threw off her shoes one by one and mindlessly discarded her keys as she walked down the entry corridor.

She held her cell phone to her ear and through the speaker heard the third ring cut short.

"Uhm, hello?"

"David!" She flopped herself on the couch dramatically.

"Alexis is everything okay?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'm just trying to remember the last time you called me and… hm… no, not on my birthday…"

"Oh my god, David. You know that's not true. I called you on your birthday!"

"At like 10pm."

"I did not forget your birthday, David. Are you just going to tease me?"

"All right, jeez. I'm just joking with you. Is everything okay? You sound… distressed."

"Distressed? Oh, no, no. Just, well, something crazy happened today and I wanted to tell you! Guess who I saw?"

"Uhm… Paul Rudd."

"Ugh, no David."

"Ryan Reynolds?"

"No, David."

"Harry Styles?"

"Will you stop listing your crushes please? I saw Ted!"

"Ted… wait… Ted? Ted Mullens?"

"Yes, David! Isn't that crazy?"

"Yeah…" there was a pause. "Alexis, are you all right?"

"What do you mean, David? I'm fine. I was just surprised and wanted to tell you!"

"No, you're right. That is crazy. Where did you even see him?"

"I'm doing some marketing work for someone in his department at NYU. Apparently he's a researcher there. I had no idea."

"Huh… look at him. Way to go, Ted."

"Right? Love that for him."

"Wait so Alexis… Ted is in New York. What are you going to do?"

Alexis paused for a moment to contemplate her response. She hadn't thought through an answer yet. "Nothing, David. I don't need to do anything."

"Alexis… really?"

"Yes, David. I know what you're implying, but no. I'm not going to do anything. Ted and I were good… we were a good pair. But we learned from each other and moved on. I'm in a different place now."

She could hear David breathing on the other end of the line.

"Okay."

"Anyway, David, I need to go. I've got work to do."

"Okay Alexis, but wait. One more question!"

"What?"

"Did he look good?"

"Ew, David!" She laughed and hung up the call.

— — —

Electricity was pulsing through Ted's veins the entire time the technician was trying to fix the exhaust fan in his kitchen. He paced back and forth around his apartment, not able to commit to one task or another. He picked up the loose papers and books he'd left lying on the coffee table the night before. He watered his plants. He stared at himself in the mirror. Finally, the electrician finished the job, shook his hand, and left for the day.

I need to go for a run, thought Ted. He quickly changed into his running clothes and strapped his phone into the holder around his bicep, sliding a pair of earbuds into his ears. He took off for Prospect Park.

Ted let one foot after the other pound rapidly onto the dirt path in front him, trying to beat the brief encounter he had with Alexis into his memory. She'd looked good. Bright eyes, ultra-white smile cocked just a little to the side. It had only been minutes but image of her hair sweeping her shoulders and bare legs was burnt into his mind. She looked to him just as consuming as the night he last saw her in the booth at Cafe Tropical.

Had she been happy to see him?

A mile and a half in he realized he'd never turned on the music in his headphones.

Oh man, he mentally scolded himself, I've got it bad. But he didn't let up and for the next three miles let every detail of those three minutes together play over and over again in his mind.

He reached home panting just as the sun was sinking behind the trees. He knelt over the stone stoop to his apartment, stretching and catching his breath, before climbing the two stories up and collapsing on the living room sofa.

By his second glass of water he could feel the racing in his heart start to subside and the apartment start to darken as the sun set. He flipped on a few lights, sat back down, and pulled out his phone.

Ted flipped absentmindedly through the instagram feeds of his friends — drinks on the waterfront, a new adopted puppy (he liked this one), a long-awaited engagement announcement, a sideways shot of a curious passenger on the subway — until he suddenly found himself staring at his phone's address book and Alexis's old contact info stored in his phone from their time in Schitt's Creek.

Maybe he would text her to say how nice it was to see her today.

Maybe that would be weird?

Maybe she had changed her number after moving back to the city.

Ted tossed his phone onto the couch with a soft thud. His high from seeing Alexis today dissolved quickly into the realization that, no matter how serendipitous their encounter, no matter how many old stifled feelings it dug out of him, it didn't necessarily change anything.

He let out a deep, exasperated sigh and decided to hit the shower.

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