ONE

THEO

She leaned against the wall and sipped her bottled water just taking it all in. Her sister Sam wandered over and spoke up from beside her, drawing her out of her own thoughts. "If you stare any harder at him, you're gonna go blind, woman."

"Who?" Theodora asked, immediately tearing her eyes off of Dr. Griffin Munro and trying to clear her mind of any lingering mental imagery that might choose to rear it's head and replay, reminding her of the night they'd shared.

She didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't stop herself, either. Theodora swallowed hard and finally, she managed to make herself turn away from Magic Milo and the Wands, who were rehearsing their act across the room.

"You know who. Griffin." Sam stated, giving her sister one of those super annoying know it all smirks. The smirk only grew when Theodora stumbled over her words and tried to quickly tell her sister she definitely had not been watching Griffin like a starving woman at an all you can eat buffet. "You were watching him, Theo. Just.. Do us both a favor and don't stand there and pretend you weren't, alright?"

"Fine. Fucking know it all." Theodora grumbled under her breath the last part and Sam gave a gentle and teasing laugh. She cleared her throat and nodded towards the stage. "So you're a Leatherette, hm?"

"Yeah. I got roped into it. I think they asked me just to keep Brooklyn the hell out though, so yeah." Theo shrugged it off and took another sip of her bottled water, wiping her hand across her bare lips. "You're not mad, right?"

"No. It'll be fun. It'll be like a friendly little competition." Sam answered, laughing softly as she did. She cleared her throat, intending to get down to business. "Hey, if you see that little bastard Zacchara sniffing around your niece, give me a heads up, will ya? He mentioned he was going to stop by."

"Sam.. I'm going to remind you that Lila is an adult. And she's always had her head on her shoulders pretty well. Besides, it's not as if you have any room to talk, remember? Who was married to her father when he was in the thick of all that Godfather-esque bull?"

"And I'm going to tell you what I used to tell you whenever you tried to copy something I did when you were still in high school and had no business doing so. The same thing I tell Lila every time she reminds me. Do as I say, not as I do. I just.. Look, I want her to have a happy and normal life, alright? It took nearly a lifetime to find her, I don't wanna lose her to a stray bullet or something." Sam pointed out calmly.

"Whatever. We both know your daughter is her mother's daughter. She's stubborn. If she decides to do something, she's going to, regardless."

"Speaking of doing something, "Sam chimed in to change the subject because Theodora just wouldn't get it, she was too close to Lila in age, "Have you done anything about you know what?"

Theodora gave her a blank look and Sam leaned in to mumble quietly, "You don't just fall into bed with a guy twice because he happens to be there and you happen to be lonely. And whenever you two are doing that bizarre flirting thing you do, you look alive, okay? The guy has had a rough time. And if you don't finally get off of your ass and fight for what I know you want, Theo.. You're gonna lose out."

"I'm telling you, we just slept together a few times. And we haven't really talked that much, alright? I'm still trying to maintain sobriety and therapy right now, Sam. I have too many issues to even consider attempting it."

"I just think he'd be good for you." Sam suggested. Theodora bit her lip and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Don't you have a dance number to go rehearse?"

"Yeah, I should probably get back over there." Sam laughed as she glanced at the area immediately behind Theodora as if someone were behind her. The tap to her shoulder a few seconds later gave away exactly why Sam had been so quick to let the subject drop for once.

Theodora spun around and found herself body to body with Griffin Munro. She gulped and immediately made herself look him in the eyes, god forbid she get lost in the muscle definition of his biceps or his abs.. Or start replaying every single time they'd managed to fall in bed together over again in her mind and get all distracted. "Griffin, hi.. Uh, what's up?"

"So, apparently, Brooklyn isn't going to be dancing with me."

Theodora gave him a blank look. "And?" she asked, noticing the way they seemed to be drifting closer together without even giving it a second thought. Trying to ignore the way she felt her thighs starting to ache from the way she'd been clenching them the entire time she watched him do his number with Milo's big group.

Griffin chuckled. "And I know you're in ballroom lessons down at the gym. I see you come and go. I was wondering if.." he trailed off, taking a deep breath. Her body brushed against his just enough to send electricity racing through him. Theodora's quiet little breathy gasp indicated that he wasn't the only one who felt it.

As per usual, Theodora was going to keep him at an arms length.

Guarding herself.

Because she'd done it so long at this point, it was a thousand times easier than just letting go for once.

"If what?" she asked in a low drawl that caught her by surprise when the question left her mouth.

"If you'd dance with me. C'mon, it's for a good cause." Griffin asked. Waiting. Tension filling his body.

Theodora's mouth opened and she had every intention of saying no, but to her shock, "Yeah." came out instead. And she instantly wanted to melt into the floor.

Griffin gave that roguish smirk that always seemed to affect her in the most intimate areas of her body and Theodora finally managed to ask, "What's the dance?"

"Samba."

Theodora should've done the smart thing for herself and lied, told him it wasn't a dance she knew, but again, those damned eyes drew her in like a magnet and just as she started to get lost in them all over again, she found herself nodding. Even laughing softly. "I suppose I could try?"

Griffin chuckled and nodded towards the rehearsal space. "Shall we?"

Theodora took a few shaky breaths to steady and pull herself together before she looped her arm through his.

GRIFFIN

Maybe it had been a stupid and childish move, asking her to be his dance partner for the Nurses Ball performance. But it wasn't as if he had any other choice, she seemed to be nothing if not an expert at hiding herself and making herself scarce if he actually tried to seek her out beyond the handful of times they'd found themselves falling into bed together.

He wanted to clear the air. He wanted to tell her that it wasn't just a convenience thing for him and he wanted more. Those handful of times had really given him a true glimpse into her inner workings and he'd felt this pull to her that he couldn't even begin to explain. He'd tried and failed a thousand times to write it off, shove it out of his head.

He could feel Ava's angry and steady gaze fix on him as he lowered Theodora to the floor and slowly pulled her back up, but the brush of Theo's mouth against his own just slightly instantly shifted his focus so that it centered on Theo and the room and people around them just kind of faded away. The song ended and they pulled apart a few seconds later, to clapping and all manners of taunting and cat-calls from the group of guys he was to perform with first thing in the night.

"We can meet and practice somewhere quieter if you want?" he suggested. It wasn't hard to pick up on Theodora's discomfort with large crowds and lots of noise. It was probably the reason why she chose to take private lessons when she took her own dance lessons on her own time.

"I,uh.. Yeah. That'll be great." Theodora finally answered. "When?"

"Are you busy tomorrow?" Griffin asked.

"I have court until 3, but after that I'm free." Theodora answered. "The hell does Ava keep looking over here for? I hope you're not messing around with her again."

Griffin put it down to wishful thinking when he thought he saw just the slightest flash of anger or jealousy in Theodora's chocolate colored eyes. It couldn't be anything close to what he felt about her, he wasn't getting his hopes up.

Before he could answer or attempt to reassure her, Theodora was gone, hurrying over towards the area where the second of 2 larger female groups was gathered, warming up. Griffin leaned against the wall and despite telling himself not to, he found his eyes glued to her. Biting his lip as he watched the easy and graceful way her body moved. Watching her as she straddled a chair facing backwards and whipped her hair around.

A throat cleared from nearby. Griffin tore his gaze off of Theodora to find Ava lurking. "What do you want, hm?"

Ava stepped closer, giving him a pout. "Oh come on, don't be like that, Griffin. Don't we have fun together?"

"Not interested. Do yourself a favor and leave me alone."

Ava's eyes settled on Theodora, the brunette Griffin always seemed to lurk around or watch lately. She sighed. "You realize she's going to be a bore."

"You realize that when I said I was done with you and your sick games, I really meant it, right?" Griffin dead-panned, rolling his eyes as he walked out of the rehearsal area. Ava followed him out and he swore under his breath, stopping abruptly. Gripping her upper arms carefully. "I mean it, Ava. I'm not interested. We're through."

"You'll regret it. You'll come crawling back to me."

"No, I don't think I will." Griffin answered, side-stepping her and making his way back into the room he'd just left to avoid a scene with her. Ava Jerome enjoyed making a big scene. And he was finally about to get up the nerve to clear the air between himself and Theodora, nothing was going to ruin that.

Definitely not Ava Jerome and her toxic intentions…


A/N: This is my attempt at writing a fic for Griffin Munro. I know this part was short, but... I have plans for these two. Chaos awaits. Will they get their shit together? Or will it turn into a shit show? Who knows... I hope you guys like this.