Riley sat at the dining room table with the other hosts, admiring her large assortment of breakfast foods she just prepared with Mori and Honey. Everyone at the table seemed to be enjoying their meal and were idly chatting with one another: the twins were pestering Tamaki, Tamaki was complaining to Kyouya, Honey was trying to figure out the true difference between cakes and a pancakes by eating a bit of both and Haruhi was busy trying to convince Honey that eating both pancakes and cake for breakfast couldn't be good for his health. Mori was the only other silent individual at the table who snuck looks at his baker when he was sure no one was looking.

Every so often, Riley would glance up at the right time to lock eyes with him which would cause both to avoid eye contact and blush. "Do you like the food?" She asked him while she picked at a now soggy pancake.

"Your breakfast was delicious," he said with a smile.

"Well," she returned his smirk, "I did have some help, you know." Both the host's and baker's cheeks flushed, making Riley look down at her hands and snicker in embarrassment, "I need to go... see if they need help in the kitchen." Even as she wobbled away, she could feel Mori's grey eyes follow her until she was out of sight. "Oh... boy Takashi..." she muttered and held a hand over her racing heart. Even with their quickly escalating relationship, she thought the tension between them would deflate with time and not continue to build but every time she found herself in the same room as him, she felt she could cut it with a knife. The kind of tension that was constantly between them wasn't the same as it was when they first met but a different kind completely. Suddenly feeling bashful, the baker tried to find an escape from her thoughts in the kitchens with the other help.

Takashi suddenly felt alone at the table with the seat across from him now empty. "So, Mori-senpai," Hikaru started as he appeared as if out of nowhere.

"I'm sure you thought that we wouldn't notice," Kaoru continued and also appeared out of thin air, "but we saw those looks you love bug you."

Realistically Mori knew that it wouldn't be long before the other hosts would notice but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly. "Don't worry," Hikaru quickly said when he saw Mori's look of dread, "everyone at the table is in their own little world right now."

"No one is going to hear us," Kaoru said while sitting in Riley's vacant seat. "Now we're not usually ones for idle gossip but..." he carried off, perfect for Hikaru to pick up the end of the sentence with, "we wanna help you out Mori-senpai."

"I don't think I've ever seen you like this with a girl," Kaoru stated in an almost surprised tone, "and we don't want it to end for you."

"So," Hikaru piped in, "you should take her out on a proper date."

The thought of just coming out and asking Riley as big of a question as going on a date with him was frightening enough for Mori to choke on the water he was drinking. "Are you okay Mori-senpai?" Haruhi asked when he was unable to stop himself from coughing immediately. In fact, his coughing scene was enough to bring the other hosts' attention from their own conversations and into his; his extremely one-sided conversation.

The twins looked at each other and smiled, "Well now that the cat's out of the bag..."

Kyouya took out his pen and notepad before adjusting his glasses, "And what 'cat' are you two referring to?"

Instead of answering, the twins turned their gaze upon Mori who had finally quieted down. Suddenly, all eyes were on the tall host and he could feel the embarrassment spread as they waited for him to say something. Sensing he wouldn't be able to keep his short lived secret any longer, he sat up straighter and cleared his throat, "... Riley and I..." For probably the first time in his life, Mori could not think of a single word to say. There were many times where he hadn't felt the need to say what he thought but the act of being unable to grasp a single word from his vocabulary was not something he was familiar with.

Kyouya smirked, "I see. I can't say it wasn't a possibility but I will admit I'm a bit surprised."

Tamaki looked on, a sort of distant look in his eye, "So you and our little baker have fallen for each other?" He then dramatically stood from his chair, "And we have been lousy friends Mori-senpai! We haven't even offered any assistance when you were trying to win her love but no more!" He exclaimed loudly, "We will make sure that by the end of the day she falls so madly in love with you that there will be a wedding in the near future."

With every word Tamaki rambled out Mori could feel his own embarrassment inflate until he could barely stand it. Haruhi, sensing Mori's distress, muttered, "Don't worry Mori-senpai. Tamaki may be a little excitable but you know he means well. And maybe it'll be a good idea to listen to what he has to say. It couldn't hurt, could it?"

Even though it embarrassed him, Mori knew that what Haruhi had said was true. Tamaki had much more experience with the opposite sex than he did. So, for Riley's sake, Mori sat and listened to Tamaki's very long but very well thought out plan.

"What am I supposed to do?" Riley nearly screeched into her phone, "This is all so... I dunno I just he is so very... I can't do this with him. Not now. I'm going back to school in almost four months now that's not... we can't do that and like he's technically my boss. Do you think he'd actually fall for a baker. He could have all sorts of babes."

"You are definitely not giving yourself enough credit," Dakota said on the other line, "I'm sure he doesn't think of you like that. He sees you and is probably 'whatta cutie'. Why else would he kiss you?"

Ever since Riley left breakfast, she couldn't get this impending feeling of doom out of her. No matter how she tried to calm herself down all she could think of was two things: she was a poor baker and Mori was a handsome host with a rich family. She couldn't imagine why he was showing interest in her at all and couldn't stop from thinking of the fact that no matter what happened between them it wouldn't last. So naturally she called Dakota in an attempt to calm her nerves but it seemed that she was only panicking more. "I don't know I haven't thought of that yet, but give me time and I will." As she was speaking, a note slid underneath the door of her room and skidded to stop near her feet.

"You always do this to guys. They take you out and show interest and you freak out and run away. You don't have to do this with every guy you meet you know."

Riley was only half listening to her friend and picked up the note to unfold it. Inside with perfect cursive were the words "Go out the front door and wear something warm." There was no signature to indicate who the individual was that wrote the note and the faint smell of chocolate seemed to be wafting from the paper. "Sorry Dakota," she apologized, "I gotta go bye." Whatever was waiting for her outside she couldn't contain her excitement as she hastily grabbed her jacket and mittens before bolting out the door. Ghost followed her out into the hallway but she shooed him back into the room, "Sorry to you as well doggo but you stay here. Be a good boy!" She gave her dog a quick pat and kiss on the nose before closing her bedroom door and trying to hobble as quickly as possible down the stairs.

In her own excitement, she tripped over her cast and tumbled halfway down the stairs before coming to a stop. She lied there for a second, the wind from her lungs gone and a new sort of ache in her burned hand. "Smooth..." she muttered breathlessly then stood up, "Good thing no one was around to see that." With the excitement knocked out of her, she waddled over to the front door and pulled it open. An immediate cold wind blew over her and into the building while simultaneously grabbing her mitts and flinging them to the floor. "Really?" Riley asked the inanimate wind.

Before she had a chance to reclaim them, someone with long slender fingers picked up the red mittens and were now holding them out to her. "Mori," she shied from his gaze and instead kept her eyes on her mitts, "was that note from you?" She could feel her previous feeling of doom returning now that she was with him again which brought on a whole new set of questions and suspicions.

Mori on the other hand had no such fears and immediately pecked her right on her lips. In that second all of her fears and anxiety dissolved and were replaced with a sense of comfort. "It was," he said when he parted from her. It took her until then to notice that there was a horse drawn sleigh pulled up to the front of the building.

"Takashi?" She asked, looking past him to the horse, "Is that... is that for us?"

The look of absolute delight in Riley's eyes made the host smile, "I hired it for the next thirty minutes."

"Well," she tried desperately to hide the thrill she was feeling but was mostly unsuccessful, "I suppose we should get going then shouldn't we?" The host took her hand in his and helped her clamber into the sleigh. Along the seat was a warm woolly blanket and a large blue Thermos. "What's this?" She asked and picked up the Thermos.

Mori sat her down and spread the blanket over her lap before sitting beside her, "Hot chocolate."

"Looks like someone thought of everything," Riley said while throwing half of the blanket over Mori's legs, "except for the fact that it might get cold under these blankets by myself." Sitting there with the blanket and her host and the sleigh made her feel positively giddy. "I can't believe you did this Takashi!" She exclaimed, "This is absolutely delightful I am so excited," she continued talking quickly and some of her words ever slurred together into a jumble of sounds from her sheer excitement.

She looked so adorable that Mori couldn't stop himself from cupping her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. "Oh Takashi..." Riley muttered when she pulled away, "you made me lose my train of thought." He smiled at her and gave the driver's back seat a small kick, making the sleigh pull away from the building and start the host's and baker's first official date.