David climbed out of bed, letting out a loud yawn as he did so. He stumbled over to the mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, chugging it loudly. Alexis groaned as his noisy rustling in the refrigerator woke her up.

"You're like a raccoon, David," she complained, peeling off her eye mask. "Is a decent night's sleep too much to ask for?"

It had been hard enough without David waking her up. The person in the next room clearly appreciated Cher and had blasted Believe on loop all night long, and outside, critters had squealed and squawked for hours. Every time she heard the snap or crack of a twig breaking outside, her eyes would fly open and she'd be wide awake again.

David didn't seem to have the same trouble. Every time she woke, his soft snores taunted her. She even flicked water at him once, from the glass on her bedside table, but he only flinched in sleep then went straight back to snoring.

"First of all, it's almost afternoon," he said. "Second of all, I wasn't aware that you needed a decent night's sleep for a long day of doing nothing."

"I'm not 'doing nothing'," Alexis replied. "I have a lot of plans for the day, actually."

"Like what?" David asked, turning to face Alexis, who had by now pulled her phone out from underneath her pillow and was tapping furiously. "Oh, my God."

Alexis looked up, a glare darkening her face. "What?"

"I hope you're not going anywhere today with that." He nodded to her collarbone, his lips curled up. "I didn't realize one date would result in quite so many hickeys."

"What's this?" Johnny called from the other room. He crossed the doorway and looked at Alexis, his dark eyebrows knitting together. "Aren't you a little old for that?"

Moira followed close after him, a wig in each hand, and rolled her eyes. "Let the girl live, John. Isn't it bad enough that we have to live in this hellacious — good God, Alexis, I hope you got paid extra for that."

"What?" Alexis scrambled to the bathroom mirror. "Oh, no. No no no. This is not a hickey, David! I think I've had some kind of reaction to a bug bite."

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Moira said with a small chuckle. "Do you remember, John-"

"I remember," he said with a grin, coming round to put one hand on Moira's waist, the other hand clutching a growing ever colder mug of coffee. "You had to put on that silk scarf so your mother wouldn't see, and-"

"Um, can we focus on me for once?" Alexis cut in. "Stavros is supposed to be coming up today and I can't look like this."

What she didn't say was that Stavros had promised to take her back to New York. Back to that plush apartment with fluffy blankets and chefs and cable...

David looked at her, resting his chin on his hand. "Oh, I really wanna see you introduce your real boyfriend to your fake boyfriend. And you know what, I'm not even sure which is which."

"I really wanna see you get a boyfriend at all," Alexis said back. "Or girlfriend for that matter. You have double the choice I have, and yet…" She tilted her head.

"I'm working on myself right now, actually, so you can shut your-"

"David, Alexis," Johnny said in exasperation. "I thought the bickering was supposed to stop when your kids grew up."

"Your father is right! Besides, one mustn't worry about amatorculists," Moira said with a wave of her hand. "The right person will come along eventually, Alexis."

"That would involve David actually growing up," Alexis muttered as she pawed at her skin in front of the mirror. She ignored her mom, because truthfully she had no idea what she was talking about. "What do you think this is?"

"A reminder of your bad choices," David offered.

"Like your tattoo," she shot back. "You know, the one on your-"

"Maybe some aloe," David interrupted, raising his eyebrows pointedly at her. "You know, for your bite. Stevie has some at check-in."

"David, that's an artificial plant," Johnny exclaimed, looking up from his newspaper. "I take it you've been the one watering it? The styrofoam is going moldy."

"A tattoo where?" Moira asked, edging closer to David. A heavy sigh escaped from her lips. "Now both my children have marked their bodies with indelible ink. I hope it's at least more stylish than Alexis'..."

David looked at her for a moment. "I'm done talking about this," he said, turning to Alexis. "What time do you have to meet Stavros?"

"I'm meeting him at the café at one, but I can't go looking like this!"

"Why don't you just wear your turtleneck?" Moira suggested. "It might look a tad like you've joined a monastic order, but it will cover those nasty blemishes nicely!"

"I'm wearing the snakeskin print dress," Alexis insisted. "I'll cover it another way."

"You'd better get dressed," Moira said, raising her eyebrows. "I feel as if we have a lot of work to do to cover those up…"

Alexis slumped down in the booth, scratching at her neck. The snakeskin print dress clung to her every curve and she shuffled, trying to get comfortable. Stavros had given it to her the last time they'd met. He always hated the way she dressed, but she knew he liked this. She pulled at the sleeves.

Was it always so hot in here? She wondered as she flapped her hand in front of her face to cool off. Having found no better option, she'd gone for her mom's silk scarf to cover the blisters, but that only made the problem worse.

Though she hated to admit it, and would vehemently deny it if anyone asked, she prickled with sweat. The scarf wasn't luxurious and sultry; it was a pain in the ass. She rubbed her shoulder against her chin to try and relieve the itch, but all that did was mess up her makeup. Resting her head on the table, she let out a little groan.

It was more than the rash flustering her.

One o'clock had come and gone. An hour and a half had passed. Despite Twyla's assurances that the traffic along the highway was horrendous, it didn't look like Stavros was coming. Another broken promise. He was probably with his wife, she thought miserably. Probably on vacation somewhere beautiful, somewhere far from here...

A kind voice interrupted her torment. "Hey, Alexis. You look all dressed up."

Ted playfully waved his hand in front of her face as she didn't respond, leaning against the booth. His hair was messier than usual, and despite the scrubs, she didn't mind when he reached over to touch her shoulder. He frowned at her.

Sitting in the middle of the café wearing a dress that probably cost more than the other patrons' cars, with lipstick on but no smile, she looked out of place. Like a diamond cut and cleaned then placed back in the mine from where it came.

"You okay?"

Was she? No. Being stood up felt like a thousand tiny paper cuts all over her body. It felt like the drop of a roller coaster in her stomach. It felt almost worse than coming here to begin with, because he had thrown her tiny breadcrumbs of hope and then snatched them away again. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she painted on her best smile, and nodded.

"Of course," Alexis said. She made sure her eyes crinkled just so, and then leaned forward on her hand, letting out a little laugh. "I just missed the sale of the century at Nordstrom. You wouldn't understand."

"Right," he said with a nod, and then he lingered wordlessly for a moment. "Well, let me know if you wanna take your mind off of...the sale."

"Thanks." Alexis smiled back at him, dipping her straw in and out of her smoothie. As he walked away, her shoulders hunched and the smile fell. She didn't know what she wanted, but she did know that when he walked away, she didn't like the feeling that spread through her.

He looked back and found himself turning around again. Something about the still way she was sitting, about the slight frown lines marring her forehead, about the way her voice had sounded so...heavy. When he reached her table once more, he slid down into the booth this time.

"No you're not," he said, ducking his head. He leaned over to look at her properly. "Sorry, uh, you just don't look like you're okay to me."

Alexis let herself smile. And although it was smaller, more apprehensive, it was real this time. "I'm just...I'm having a rough day."

Ted nodded. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Alexis shook her head. "Not really."

"You look hot."

"Oh, thanks," Alexis said, perking up. "I just threw this look together, you know." If throwing together meant three hours in front of the bathroom mirror, she thought.

"Oh, I actually meant, like literally hot...why don't you take your scarf off? It's like 90 outside and Twyla said the aircon is still broken. I only came in here for a glass of water, I was out running."

"Yeah...I can't do that."

"Why?"

Alexis looked around. Deciding that it was sufficiently empty, aside from Bob and a couple of old ladies, she leaned in. "You're like a doctor, right?"

"Well, not really—"

Alexis peeled back the scarf for half a second and then quickly covered herself back up again. She pressed her lips together as she waited for his reaction, wondering why the hell she had just shown him when she had sweated her ass off for hours trying to cover it up.

"Oh, God," Ted said. He didn't look disgusted, though, and relief spread through Alexis as he leaned closer to take a better look. "What is that? A spider bite?"

"I have no idea," Alexis whispered.

"You don't want that to get infected," he advised. "They can get nasty, quickly. Come on. Come with me. I'll clean it up for you."

The thought of Ted getting close to her in order to disinfect her felt distinctly icky. She didn't want any cute guy looking at her rash. But with seemingly no other choice, Alexis nodded.

"Fine," she said. "But not a word to anyone, alright?"

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable," Ted told her, flicking on the light as they walked into the consultation room. "I'll get something to clean that up with."

"Oh, who's this cute little guy?" Alexis asked, peering into a cage sat on the side. Inside, sat a small bundle of fluff, crying to be heard. His ears pricked up as she spoke. She stuck her finger inside the bars and he pressed his face against it, desperate for attention. "Good boy."

"Oh, that's Roo," Ted said. "He's a mutt, really. Something mixed with chihuahua, I found him dumped by the river. I'm trying to find him a home. Get him out if you want. He loves people. Looks like he likes you, too."

"Mm, maybe not," Alexis said. "Those little sharp claws and teeth, I think not."

"He's just a little guy, he won't hurt you," Ted laughed. He opened up the crate and lifted Roo out. "Look at him. How can you say no to that face?"

It wasn't Roo's face Alexis couldn't say no to. So she held him close, scratching him behind the ears. And she had to admit, he was very sweet. He rested his chin against her chest as Ted worked behind them both. A small smile crossed his lips as he watched her.

"This might sting a little," Ted warned as he dipped a cotton ball into antiseptic. "Next time, don't wear perfume in the great outdoors."

Next time? She kept her head down, focused on the puppy as, with the softest touch, he unwrapped the scarf from her neck and placed it down on the table next to her. His hands were warm and he didn't hesitate as he gathered up her hair and moved it to one side. A shiver ran down her spine.

The antiseptic did sting. A sharp shock went through her as he dabbed as gently as he could, fingers working like he was defusing a bomb. She kept still, waiting for him to finish. Her heart pounded as he rested his other hand on her shoulder, his touch soft. His breath tickled her ear as he inspected his work, and she was breathing in his aftershave. She found that she wasn't hating it as much as she thought she would. In fact, when he straightened, she felt disappointment creeping in.

"Um, Ted?" Alexis said, her head suddenly snapping up. "Why are my legs warm?"

Ted looked down. "Oh, uh…"

"Please tell me Roo didn't just pee on me."

Ted scooped the puppy up, and sure enough, a tiny puddle remained on Alexis' dress. They both stared at it for a moment.

"We could take it to a dry cleaners. Or maybe take it off—I didn't mean that like it sounded," he stammered. "I have some spare scrubs you could put on and we could try to rinse it off."

"This dress is a—" she stopped herself.

It had been almost a reflex to say the brand, to assert how much it would cost to clean...but why? She'd only put it on for Stavros, and he hadn't even bothered to turn up. Without paying much attention to Ted, she began unbuttoning the dress.

"Sorry," he said. "He doesn't usually do that. I think he was too relaxed."

"It's fine," she said. "Got those scrubs?"

Stepping out of her dress, she looked at him, wearing only her underwear and a pair of stilettos. In the past, she would have shown up to dates wearing only that.

"Uh, yeah," he said, heat spreading over his cheeks. He spun around to rifle in a drawer. "They might be a little big, but they'll do so you can go home without being covered in pee."

He handed them to her, trying not to let his eyes wander. She smirked as she watched him, but stepped into the scrubs without any comment. Her dress remained in a heap on the floor. He bent to pick it up when she didn't bother.

"Do you want to rinse this off? I have tons of shampoo - dog shampoo, I mean - but I don't think we have any laundry detergent. The strawberry one smells pretty good, though. I've been known to use it when I'm in a pinch."

"No," Alexis said. "Just throw it out."

"Throw it out?" Ted asked. "But I thought you said—"

"I know," Alexis said. "I know what I said." She paused for a moment. "It just has bad vibes. You know, to me, my wardrobe is like photographs. I think of Christmas in Paris when I look at these shoes." She clicked her heels together like Dorothy. "I think of my seventeenth birthday when I look at this ring. That dress..." she shook her head. "I don't think I want to remember any of that. Not anymore."

"Come on," Ted said. "Being peed on by a puppy isn't that bad, is it?"

Alexis smiled. "I think that's one of the nicer things that's happened whilst wearing that dress, actually."

"Oh," Ted said. "I'm glad to hear that." He frowned. "I think."

"I'd better get going," Alexis said, picking up her purse. It was starting to feel too intimate; she had let too much slip to him, and so she painted on that smile again. "My dad might think I've been kidnapped again. I've told him it's pretty unlikely to happen twice, but dads, right? Once bitten, twice shy." She gestured to her neck. Like I'm finding out!"

"Right," Ted said with a laugh. "I hope you feel better soon."

"Yeah, me too," Alexis said quietly.

"Oh, before you go, take this," Ted said. He rifled through his desk drawer and handed her a pill and a bottle of water. "It'll help bring the swelling down."

"Lucky I trust you," she quipped, downing the pill with one quick swig. "'Cause this is how I got kidnapped last time."

"It's just an antihistamine." He let out a little laugh, never completely sure if she was joking or not. "Bye, Alexis."

"Bye," Alexis said, turning to give him a little wave over her shoulder as she headed out. "Oh, and Ted?"

"Yeah?"

"See you around, I hope."

A/N:

Happy July! Always happy with comments if you have anything you'd like to say. :)