A/N: I would have had this up sooner, but the site hasn't been letting me upload documents.

"I have to hand it to you, Lucas, this is a great place." Marshall said as he continued to gaze out of the large picture window. Lucas's new apartment had probably one of the best views in all of Manhattan. He could see the park, the river, even Times Square in the distance.

Unfortunately, a view that great came at a price. As in astronomically high rent. So Lucas was forced to get a roommate. Corrine was in the other room on his laptop looking over the ad he was going to out. She had banished him to the living room with Marshall because she said he'd been nagging her and she couldn't concentrate. Why shouldn't he be picky? He was choosing someone to live with, not a dog.

"So when's your dad getting in?" Marshall asked.

"In about an hour. He's really excited to see the place. I think he didn't believe I'd actually save enough to move out of the dorms."

"For such a great school, you certainly got the rejects, huh?"

Lucas laughed. It was true. The roommates he'd been assigned during his freshman year at NYU weren't exactly what he had hoped for. One was a germaphobe who sprayed Lysol on everything whenever it was touched and that sent him to the med center with sever asthma attacks on several occasions. The other was an insomniac who stayed up all night watching the Simpson's and insisted everyone be quiet so he could sleep from three in the afternoon until eight.

"But now they have each other and I'm fifteen blocks away." Lucas said and stretched his arms above his head in appreciation of the space.

Corrine walked in and handed him the ad. "All finished."

He scanned it quickly. "Hey!" he shouted, "You took out all the important parts."

"Lucas," she said calmly, "putting 'no freaks or jocks' would only guarantee you paying the rent yourself on a permanent basis."

"Fine. But if some weirdo shows up here…"

"You can blame me." She finished for him.

The buzzer by the door sounded and Lucas went to answer it. He returned a few moments later followed by his dad and an enormous bag of groceries and three take-out containers.

"This is a great place son." He smiled proudly at his son.

"Yeah, I just hope I get someone normal to share it with me."

"Maybe you'll get a cute girl roommate." Marshall said.

"Marshall…" Corrine said warningly.

"What? It's been what, three months since you set him up wit that Casey girl? He has to get out there." Marshall snapped.

"I agree with Marshall on that one." His dad said. He wasn't sure why his son had put a hold his love life but he knew it must have been bad.

"I'm just not ready yet." Lucas said.

"Lucas, it's been six months since J-" Marshall started, but Lucas cut him off abruptly with a very loud "I know!"

There was a heavy silence in the air for several minutes until Lucas stood and muttered that he was going out for a walk.

Corrine turned to glare at Marshall as the sound of the door slamming echoed around the table. "Why did you have to do that Marshall?"

"Corrine, you know as well as I do that he can't keep hiding forever. He needs to get over it."

"He will." She assured him. "He just needs time."

…………………

Lucas walked down the street in front of his building. Why couldn't Marshall just realize that he wasn't ready? He wasn't swearing girls off forever, just until he could think about Josie without wanting to punch something.

He missed her so much it hurt. But she was with her mom where she needed to be now and he understood that. He'd been trying to give her space, give them both space, ever since graduation.

When she had emailed last month him she had mentioned that she had been talking to Vaughn a lot lately and they were trying to figure out what exactly had happened between their parents.

He hadn't read any of her messages since then.

He wasn't jealous. He figured she would end up back with Vaughn. They all did. But he didn't need it rubbed in his face while he was trying so desperately to get her out of his system.

If he could.

……………….

"Hey Lucas, his dad said to him the next day after he got back from class. "You've got some messages on the counter."

He riffled through them, hoping one would instantly jump out at him and say 'I'm your new roommate!', but none did. They were all phone numbers and had tiny plus or minus signs in the bottom corner, what his dad thought of them. He threw the ones with the minuses in the garbage can and looked at the remaining four. The one with the Pennsylvania area code drew his eye.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah?" his dad walked over form the stove where he was cooking dinner.

"Who was this one?" he showed him the number.

"A woman whose daughter is interested. Apparently she went through a rough time and took some time off from school. Now she's been accepted to NYU and she's staying with a relative here in town."

"What kind of rough time?"

"She didn't really get into it. Something about her and her father having some issues. She said it was really hard on her."

"Okay, I'll call he back and set up a time for her to come see the place. She doesn't sound so bad."

No sooner than the words were out of his mouth than a thought occurred to him. "She's not on medication or anything, is she?"

…………………

"Thanks for being here with me guys." Lucas said to Corrine and Marshall. They had been there since noon helping him interview possible roommates. So far, they disapproved of all three people that had been there.

"Just one more. The girl with 'father issues.'" Marshall announced and handed Lucas his list of questions, as if he needed it.

There was a knock at the door and Marshall went to answer it.

"I hope this one's okay." Lucas said softly.

"Lucas?" Marshall said, walking back into the room, looking as though he had just seen a ghost.

"What's wrong? Is she here?" he and Corrine stood up.

"Yeah." A voice behind Marshall said. "She's here."

Marshall moved over to let the owner of the voice through. Corrine gasped and Lucas felt his heart (as well as his stomach) drop through the floor.

It was Josie.

………………..

A/N: I put Josie in Pennsylvania because it's my theory that's where BHH was. Both Victor and Z went to Penn State and the school is supposedly back east somewhere. Hope nobody minds.