Dave rolled over, stretching. He slowly opened his eyes, then closed them again. He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. He took a deep breath, before opening his eyes and glancing around the room. No, he hadn't been dreaming. He was in Abby's bedroom and Abby was curled up asleep beside him. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and considered making his usual bolt for the door. He scanned the room and managed to locate all of his clothes except for his left sock. He quickly calculated how long it would take for him to get dressed, gather his things and make it out of the apartment. He guessed that as long as he didn't stop to look for the missing sock, he could escape before Abby woke up.
He shifted position carefully, trying not to wake Abby. Taking another look at her, he paused. He sat up and studied her for a moment. He was suddenly left wondering why he was planning on running out on her. This was what he had wanted and he didn't regret it. Maybe for once he should stay and face the consequences of his actions. Or not. Before he could make a decision, Abby began to move. Panicking, he lay back down on his side, and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He felt the bed move as Abby sat up. He stayed where he was. He heard her get up and half opened his eyes. She was picking a top out of her wardrobe, frantically pulled it over her head and then grabbed some pants. He watched her struggle to get dressed for a moment and then spoke. "You know, it's not normal for a person to run out of their own apartment."
Abby trying to finish getting dressed, nearly fell over. "Jesus…" She stood, looking embarrassed, refusing to make eye contact with him. "I have a shift." she lied.
"Who's looking after Ryan?"
Abby pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Ok, I don't have a shift." She moved back to the bed and sat on the edge. "I just didn't want to deal with this right now."
"If it makes you feel any better, I was considering making a run for it."
"What changed your mind?"
Dave grinned. "I thought you'd send Susan after me." He leaned towards her. "She's one scary woman."
Abby smiled, then quickly looked away again.
Dave sighed. "Abby, last night…"
"Don't…" Abby interrupted.
"Let me say this, please."
Abby glanced at him for a second, nodded, then went back to studying the carpet.
"Last night…what happened, it meant a lot to me. I just wanted you to know that. Even though I can tell you regret it, and that I'm about to receive my first rejection from a woman…"
"First?"
Dave shrugged. "Yeah."
"Find that hard to believe." Abby laughed.
Dave ignored her and continued "What I'm trying to say is that I don't regret sleeping with you. Whatever happens from here, I just wanted you to know that." He looked away and stood up, beginning to get dressed.
Abby watched him. "How much is it worth to keep quiet about how sensitive you really are?"
Dave laughed. "Not enough you break my heart, you gotta blackmail me too, Lockhart?"
Abby stood up and walked over to him. "Do you have a heart to break?"
Dave picked his shirt off the floor. "Have you seen my other sock?"
"Dave…"
"I'm sure I had two of them last night."
Abby yelled "Dave!"
He paused and looked at her, but didn't answer.
"I don't regret last night either."
Her response surprised him and he stood in silence for a moment. "You don't think it was a mistake?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Well, I'm not exactly shocked." Dave smirked. "I've never had any complaints in the past. Women are normally left satisfied."
Abby rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying a word."
"Cause you'd have to admit I'm fantastic." Dave beamed.
Abby shrugged. "Nothing special." She watched his expression fall, then grinned and turned away, leaving the room.
After a while Dave followed her out, fully dressed. Abby was busy in the kitchen. "I just checked on Ryan and he's still fast asleep. That's the first night he's slept so long. You're gonna have to stay over more often."
"That a promise?" Dave joined her, leaning against the worktop.
"Maybe. You want coffee?"
"No, I really should get going. I gotta get to work. And unlike you, I actually have a real shift."
"You wanna come over after you finish?" Abby turned to look at him.
"You not on today?" Dave moved to the couch and picked up his jacket.
"Nope."
"Yeah, I'll see you later." He opened the door to leave, then paused. "Abby, you really want to make a go of this?"
Abby hesitated, then nodded.
"Ok. I'll see ya." He disappeared outside.
Abby sat down on the sofa and ran a hand through her hair. She reached for the phone and made a call. She heard it ring a few times before the answer machine clicked on. "Hi, this is Susan. I'm not home right now, I'm probably at work. So if it's important try me there, otherwise leave a message."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Abby rolled her eyes. She was hit by a sudden feeling of déjà vu, finding an incredulous Susan stood on her doorstep. "Ok, Susan, remember the little talk we had about starting conversations with hello?"
Susan pushed past her and entered the apartment. "When you leave a message on my answer phone saying you slept with Malucci, then you don't get a hi, how are you. You get me asking, how stupid are you?"
"Thanks." Abby laughed.
"Were you drunk?"
"What? No." Abby shook her head.
"Sorry." Susan paused. "So not satisfied with kissing the guy when drunk, you have to go and have sex with him when sober?"
"You know me, always gotta be making things more complicated." Abby crossed the room and picked Ryan up from where he had been playing.
"He's sitting up on his own?" Susan walked over to them.
"Yeah, started last week. If you'd been about, you'd have known."
Susan sighed. "Look, he's not my kid. I don't have to take care of him. I help out cause you're my friend."
Abby carried him to the sofa and sat down, Susan following.
"I know. I'm sorry." Abby picked up a stuffed giraffe off the floor and handed it to Ryan.
Susan smiled. "Cute."
"Dave bought it for him." Abby frowned as Ryan put it in his mouth. "Though, you're not supposed to eat it, honey." She tired to take it off him, but he began to whimper. She got up and moved to the kitchen.
"We gonna talk about the Dave situation?" Susan glanced quickly over to Abby, then returned to watching Ryan.
"I don't know what to do." Abby came back, took the toy off her son and before he could start to cry, replaced it with a dummy. "At first I thought I'd made a huge mistake, now I'm not so sure."
"You shouldn't lead him on."
"I'm not." Abby sat back down. "I care about him. I do."
Susan looked at her, sceptical. "The guy's crazy bout you. He doesn't deserve you playing him."
"I thought you were meant to be my friend?" Abby leant back and closed her eyes.
"I am. I just don't wanna see you make a mistake."
Abby took a deep breath. "As long as we both go into this knowing it's not something serious, just a bit of fun, it can't do any harm right?"
"As long as you both feel the same." Susan warned softly.
Abby opened her eyes and sat up. "We do. I mean, it's not like Dave's in love with me, right?"
Susan raised an eyebrow.
"This is Dave we're talking bout. He's never had a long term relationship in his life, and I don't think he ever will do. He's not the settling down type."
"You sure bout that?"
Abby nodded, more to convince herself than Susan. "Yeah, I'll just see how it goes. Nothing'll come of it."
"How long do you reckon it'll be before he starts crawling?"
Abby entered Ryan's room to find Dave on the floor playing with Ryan's building blocks, while Ryan was watching him quizzically.
"Babies normally begin around seven, eight months I think." She sat down beside them.
So, another month or two?" Dave placed another block on top of the tower he was busy building.
"You having fun there, Dave?"
He looked up embarrassed. "I was just showing Ryan what to do."
"That right, Ryan?" He glanced at her, then reached out knocking down the tower.
"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side here, man." Dave shook his head.
Abby laughed. "Even he can see right through you."
Dave scowled at her. "He's got an evil streak in him just like his mom." He stood up, stepping over her and walking towards the door. "Should've called him Damien."
"Hey, that's my son you're talking about. You'll be sleeping on the sofa tonight if you keep on." Abby grinned at him.
"I don't think so." Dave paused in the doorway "I'd just go back to mine place."
"You remember where you live?" Abby looked up at him.
"Yeah."
"Just as you're practically living here, I thought you must have forgot." Abby teased. "Or been kicked out."
Dave came and knelt down beside her. "Nope. Just knew that you'd miss me if I weren't here." He placed a hand on her cheek and turned her face towards him, leaning in and kissing her. When they parted, he leapt up and returned to the door. "You want a cup of coffee?"
"Yeah." She grinned as she watched him leave. Turning to Ryan, she noticed him smiling at her. "You like him too, huh?" He responded by trying to eat a building block. "Evil, you may be, but not too smart yet are you?" she muttered taking the block off him and shaking her head.
