Disclaimer: I still don't own Mort or his sexy body…though I wish I did!

AN: Sorry for the late update, but I've been miserably sick and it hasn't been pretty. Anyway, here it is, the moment people have been waiting for…the moment that Mort and Kayla finally talk to each other! (Gasp) Yes, that's right! Keep reading to find out what happens! Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Unusual Encounters and Emotions:

Third Week of Work: Kayla's POV:

Work was boring as hell, but what could a person do about it? Well, except find a way to keep themselves amused, that is. Either way, Kayla was bored out of her mind. Even though she constantly had papers to file or organize, she usually managed to finish those by early afternoon. Finishing early meant having at least two free hours to find something to do, so in the end, she began to bring her textbooks to work so she could keep up-to-speed with her education.

Throughout the day, Holly came by occasionally to chat, and the two women would talk about everything from Hollywood gossip to what was going with the staff members. The topic of Alex trying to "woo" Kayla was something that cracked Holly up constantly, but Kayla flat-out refused to date the guy; she'd seen him flirting with the single females of the staff (as well as female visitors that weren't wearing engagement or wedding rings), so she declined every date invitation he offered her. The other topic of conversation was the infamous Mort Rainey.

Sighing, Kayla put down her book and glanced over at the window where Mr. Rainey was currently amusing himself with his usual paper and pencil. Every day he sat there and scribbled out who-knows-what, and every day Kayla felt that he was watching her, waiting for an opportunity to walk up to her and…well, who knew what the man would do, but she didn't think for one minute that it'd be good. No, being at the mercy of an insane author couldn't be a good thing.

'Well, it could be,' whispered a saucy, teasing voice in her mind. 'Who knows, it could be fun.'

Shivering at the thought, Kayla squashed the voice. Insane people tended to be, well, unpredictable and possibly even violent. No, there was no way she wanted to end up in Mort Rainey's hands. And yet, somehow, Kayla couldn't help but feel that a face-to-face meeting with him was unavoidable. She'd just have to keep her eyes open and pray that he never managed to get anywhere near her anytime soon.

That Day, Mort's POV:

It was three weeks since she'd physically first come into his life, and Mort still hadn't had a chance to talk to her. He would say that it was driving him mad, but that would be a bad joke, considering where he was currently at. Still, if he weren't "crazy," the situation would most certainly be driving him out of his mind. It didn't help that Frank or one of the other orderlies were constantly watching him, steering him clear of the reception area whenever he tried to make a move for her.

Growling, he turned his frustrated mind back to finishing the drawing that he was presently perfecting. This was the second on this week, and he had several of them already. The staff members had decided to let him keep his work from now on, and Mort had begun plastering his portraits of Kayla on the back of his door so that the staff couldn't see them when they peeked inside his room. It was funny that the nurses though that he was just writing and not drawing (which was a secret talent of his), and it was a good secret to keep. Still, a portrait was a poor comparison to the real thing…

Sighing, Mort picked up a new sheet of paper and began writing, hiding his portrait from Frank as the orderly came to check up on him.

A Week Later, Kayla's POV:

"I hate Mondays."

A growl of annoyance followed the statement, which in turn was followed by a stream of curses as Kayla raced for the front door of the hospital. The fact that it was pouring rain and she was running late really wasn't helping her morning, either. After pulling the hood of her jacket off and shaking the rain off of her, Kayla took a look around the entryway and noticed several nurses crowded by the front desk. Confused as to why they were meeting there instead the staff room, she walked over and tapped one on the shoulder.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked, hoping she wasn't interrupting something she wasn't supposed to.

The nurse turned around and Kayla saw it was Holly, a very worried Holly. Her blue eyes were panicked and confused, and her hair was frizzy from either the wet weather or because she was frazzled from whatever was bothering her.

"Oh, Kayla, thank goodness," she said. "We've got a small problem and we need your help."

"Okay," Kayla replied slowly, inwardly flinching.

The last time they'd needed her help was when one of the medication guys was late and she'd had to help give pills to the patients. Fortunately, she'd only been needed for ten minutes, and had made it out of there before Mort Rainey had made his way to the window for his turn. She was not looking forward to hearing what they expected of her this time!

"Jacob is gone today, called in about three minutes ago, thank you very much," growled Sally, one of the other nurses. "So we need you to slip the food to some of the patients through the feeding windows in their doors."

"You want me to feed the patients?" Kayla squeaked.

Holly put a hand on her shoulder. "We don't have a choice," she softly replied. "Frank is caught in traffic, and with the roads so bad, we're short several staff members. Furthermore, with such bad weather and the trouble it takes to get up here, there won't be any visitors to deal with. We really need you, Kayla." She leaned in. "You'll also have to feed Mr. Rainey, but with a solid door between you, there's no chance he'll be able to lay a hand on you. Okay?"

Sighing, Kayla nodded. "Okay, so what do I have to do?"

Twenty minutes later: Kayla's POV:

Handing out food to patients wasn't that bad, except for the fact that they gave her weird looks as soon as she passed in front of their doors. It was a pretty basic job: slide the little window open, set the tray of food on it and wait for it to be taken inside by the patient. Oh, well, at least she was getting a bonus by doing this…

'Not a big enough one, though,' Kayla thought to herself. Nothing could make up for the freaky looks she kept trying to avoid, nor the strange mutterings that stole through the small windows when she opened them to deliver the food tray.

At the last door, she slipped the little door open and slid the tray on top of it. She was just taking her hand away when something grabbed her wrist. Squeaking in surprise, she looked up and saw tousled brown-blond hair and dark brown eyes peering at her through the window in the door. Frozen with shock and surprise, Kayla stood motionless as a range of emotions filled the eyes of Mort Rainey. For a moment, as her gaze locked with his, she saw sadness, confusion, desperation, and heartache, all of which made her heart flutter in her chest and filled her with pity at the same time.

'He looks so sad and lonely,' she thought, watching him watching her with heart-wrenching need.

'But he also looks like he wants to drag you into his room and, well, do some pretty bad things to you,' murmured another voice in her mind.

But the pity in her mind could not be driven away by the voice. All four emotions touched something deep inside her, made her want to help him more than anything in the world, and in an attempt to comfort him, she smiled.

The transformation in his face was remarkable. His eyes seemed to light up and a tiny smile quirked the corners of his lips. The hand on her wrist loosened its grasp, slowly becoming a soft hold instead of a desperate grip. Upon feeling his hand loosen, Kayla made to pull her hand back, but he refused to let go, tightening his fingers once more.

"Please don't go," he whispered to her, deep-brown eyes pleading for her to stay.

Kayla hesitated. She really did feel sorry for the man, but if Mort Rainey was hostile or something dangerous, she'd better not stick around. Her heartstrings were pulling at her to stay, but her common sense told her that she was only going to put herself in danger. Still, Kayla knew that she wasn't the type to leave someone in a horribly lonely situation…after all, she, too, was a lonely person, but the people in here needed more affection and attention than she did. Deciding to follow her heart just this once, she decided to give him another smile.

"I'm afraid I have to go, Mr. Rainey," she said, smiling tenderly at him. "I have things to do elsewhere." His eyes became sad and empty. "But I'm sure we'll see each other soon."

"Do you promise?" he whispered, almost as though he didn't fully believe her. She nodded. He smiled again, reluctantly releasing her hand.

"Good day, Mr. Rainey," Kayla said, pushing the cart down the hallway.

"Call me Mort," he called through the window.

As she turned the corner, she swore she could still feel his eyes, as though they were following her.

That Afternoon, Mort's POV:

'In my dreams she'd said we'd see each other soon,' he thought, happily scribbling down the events of the day onto a piece of paper. 'And she'd been right!'

It had taken well over a month, but he'd actually gotten a chance to touch her, speak to her…and the moment had been far too short for his liking. Her wrist was small and delicate, fitting perfectly into his hand, and her skin had been so soft that he never wanted to let her go. And after she'd smiled at him…he could have melted on the spot from the tenderness she was showing him.

And now she'd actually said she would see him again soon! It might even be later today!

He nearly started bouncing in his chair from the joy he felt. At least she wasn't avoiding him and hadn't run away screaming in fear…he couldn't have borne that if that had happened. The mere fact that she had simply stayed long enough to give him his breakfast and give him a smile told him that, although she might not care deeply about him, she wasn't entirely frightened out of her wits by him.

"Which is a good thing," Mort muttered, scribbling more words down on the page.

"What's a good thing, Mr. Rainey?" asked a deep voice from the doorway.

Mort looked up and saw Frank standing there with his lunch in his hands. Should he tell him that he'd talked to Kayla? No, they'd make sure that he'd never see her again, and he couldn't risk that!

"Uh...," he trailed off. "It's a good thing that it stopped raining," he said, glancing out the window. True enough, the rain had stopped and a beam of sunshine was falling through the still-dark clouds and onto the trees behind the hospital.

"Yeah, looks good," Frank said, setting the tray on the table. "How's the writing coming along?"

"Good," Mort said, setting his work aside and heading for his lunch. "Do I get to go outside today?"

"Sure, if you want. There'll be several staff members out there if you want to walk around out there." Frank hesitated a moment. "I won't be able to keep an eye on you today, so you're free to wonder around the grounds. Just be careful." He turned and walked away.

"Thanks," Mort called after him, taking note of the three words of advice he'd been given.

When someone tells you to be careful in a mental institution, it usually means that you shouldn't try any 'funny business' with the staff. So he'd just have to be careful on how he approached Kayla today, that's all. As long as he didn't try to be too forward with her or scared her in any way, everything would be fine. He'd just have to be cautious in his moves towards her. Patience was going to be very important, but he could wait. The problem was Mort didn't know how long he could wait before he managed to stake his claim on the woman of his dreams. He just had to do it before anyone else did.

That afternoon, Kayla's POV:

When she'd said that she'd see Mr. Rainey 'soon,' she was actually hoping that it wouldn't be this soon. It had only been a few hours (it was now one o'clock in the afternoon), and he was already by the window in the Sun Room, watching her. He hadn't approached her yet, but he looked like he was going to any minute now, and Kayla was extremely glad that there were a few orderlies close by. Still, she doubted that they would be able to stop a determined Mort Rainey. Sighing, she turned her attention back towards the files she needed to organize for that afternoon's staff meeting. She was about halfway through her task when she felt someone watching her through the plastic. Thinking it was one of the patients, Kayla ignored the feeling and focused her attention on her task.

"Hello," a soft male voice came through the sliding window that she'd accidentally left open.

Her eyes snapped up and met soft brown ones framed by messy blond hair. He looked much different from the man she'd seen being dragged kicking and screaming down the hallway. Then again, he no longer seemed the lonely and sad man she'd seen that morning through the little feeding window. In fact, he looked eerily chipper, a bit of a spark showing in the depths of his dark-brown eyes. It sort of creeped her out, but Kayla refused to let it show. Instead, she'd try and be nice to the poor man and hope that he'd go away under his own power.

"Hello, Mr. Rainey," she said, giving him a small smile. Trying to be polite would keep him calm and hopefully wouldn't give him hostile (or any other) ideas.

Glancing subtly around, she noticed that the two orderlies left in the room were closely watching the situation, but weren't interfering. Instead, they seemed to want to see how she could handle the mentally ill man before they took action. Inwardly signing, Kayla sat there and simply tried to look friendly and at ease with him, silently praying that he wouldn't try any sudden moves on her through the window.

He smiled at her. "Please, call me Mort," he said, leaning on the counter outside the little sliding window, his head close to the opening, as though he were trying to make himself clearly heard.

'Okay first name basis with a mentally ill patient is not a good thing,' she thought, but forced herself to smile at him anyway. "Okay, Mort," she said, playing along with it and hoping that she wasn't encouraging his illusionary attraction towards her.

As a quiet moment settled between them, Kayla tried her best to think of a way out of the situation. She didn't want to call the orderlies since he wasn't being violent towards her, and he was only standing there watching her without any sort of hostility showing, so he seemed safe enough. Well, she couldn't stand there and try to make conversation with him all day; after all, she had a job to do, and she didn't want to be talking to this man any longer than she had to.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Mr. Rainey - I mean, Mort," Kayla said, correcting herself on his form of address. "But I really have to get back to work." Inwardly, she hoped that he'd take the hint and leave.

"Oh, okay," he replied, smiling at her. "Maybe we can talk again later, during one of your breaks?"

A hopeful gleam flickered in his eyes, and he looked so eager and desperate for companionship that Kayla didn't have the heart to say no.

"Maybe," she said, smiling at him. "Have a good afternoon." Being polite never hurt, and it was her job to be nice to people.

"You, too," Mort whispered to her through the window. "I'll see you soon, Kayla." He gave her a warm smile and walked away.

Kayla turned back towards her work, shaken that he knew her name even though she was sure that she'd never given it to him.

Twenty Minutes Later: Mort's POV:

He knew it was time for her break when she began pulling food out the drawers and the refrigerator. A bag of Doritos caught his attention, and, seemingly drawn towards the snack item and its possessor, Mort slowly approached the sliding window so as not to scare her. He knew that his earlier appearance at the desk had unsettled her, and he wanted to make sure that he didn't do that again…he couldn't bear the thought of him frightening her, possibly to the point of her fleeing from him forever. He'd have to be careful approaching her from now on.

Walking up to the window, he gently tapped on the plastic. Her beautiful red hair - pulled into a tail at the nape of her neck - tossed as her head jerked towards the sound and her eyes sought out the cause of the noise. Her eyes lock with his, and Mort could swear that his heart had stopped in his chest. A timid smile quirked the corners of her lips, but it was a smile, nonetheless, and he was grateful for it. He would sooner jump out a window than frighten her.

Gathering up some courage, he pointed towards the sliding window and pleaded with his eyes for her to open it. Mort could have sworn that she didn't want to, but the fact that she actually did what he asked absolutely thrilled him. As soon as the window slid open, he placed a small gift on the counter and slid it inside. He saw her eyes widen in surprise.

It was a rose. Not a red rose (they were too cliché, in his opinion), but a perfect, lovely white rose with gold and pink gently coloring the edges of the soft petals. This particular rose grew in the furthest corner of the hospital grounds on one single bush, and Mort had thought it appropriate that she get the first flower of the season.

'After all, she's one of the rarest beauties around,' he thought, watching her look at the flower as though she'd never seen it's kind before; it was possible she hadn't.

Mort watched as she carefully smelled the flower and inspect each and every petal, almost as though she were searching for an answer to some sort of question. When her eyes looked up and met his, they held some sort of confusion and just the smallest hint of fear. He quickly gave her a friendly smile to cover his eagerness, hoping that if he appeared to be approaching her as a friend and not a potential lover, she would relax more in his presence.

It apparently worked, for her body instantly relaxed and a tiny smile appeared on her face. She then reached over and placed the flower on the table before getting out a bottle of water and opening it. A quick motion of her hand, and the rose had found a new home in its makeshift vase, which was then placed up by the front of the desk. Mort felt warmth flood his veins and encompass his heart, hope seeming to shine within every aspect of his body.

"Thank you," Kayla whispered to him.

"You're welcome," he softly replied, wanting desperately to hold her hand but knowing that it was not yet time to do so.

She then reached for her bag of Doritos and opened it before offering it to him. "Would you like one?" she asked softly.

Mort smiled. "Thanks," he said, taking one and putting it in his mouth.

It was the best thing he'd ever eaten in his life.

AN: Aw, Mort's getting all romantic and sappy! Isn't that cute? Review and I promise I'll put more sap in later chapters (hint, hint)! See you next chapter!