Chris got help for his depression after the election which means I'm implying that he never got the help he needed. Enjoy.

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Jennifer Barkley sat in the booth of the shitty diner (she honestly forgot its name already), looking down at her watch. She had convinced her sibling to meet her here for a few minutes to catch up and find out what was going on in that little brain of theirs. What were they thinking? This little hick town was filled with idiots (one of those idiots who paid her a hefty sum not too long ago but that was irrelevant) and yet they decided to move down here? Ugh, it was just asking for trouble and if anyone gave her little baby sibling trouble she would have little problem with tearing off heads and devouring hearts. She's done it before and she would continue to do it.

Jennifer took a deep, calming breath and looked at her watch again. Where in the world were they? She wondered if she should call. Then again that big baby hated when she fretted. Honestly this was the only person in the world she wouldn't sue for going over the hour limit and the only person in the world who purposely showed up late. She was going to—

There he was! Jennifer jumped to her feet, relief flooding through her body even though she kept it from her face. And yes, today was a boy day for Severus. She could tell because she knew him like the back of her hand. He sauntered over with a certain subtle pep to his step and graciously fell into her open arms, barely complaining about how tightly she held him.

"Hello to you too Jennifer," Severus smirked into her hair. Jennifer reached up slightly to pluck him on the tip of his nose causing the other to give her a highly offended look. Being twins awarded them with certain shared features and the nose was one of them. Hooked and a bit crooked although Jennifer got hers less crooked as soon as she had the money for it.

"That's for being late," she taunted, sliding back into the booth. She didn't particularly want to eat in this dive bar but it was the only place she could remember in this fucked up town. That and where the Big Idiot lived although that's because he stilled owed her a couple thousand and she was ready to sue him if he didn't pay up. Frankly he should be sued for opening his mouth. The man was dangerously stupid. Jesus, why had she tried to help him again? Oh yeah, she was paid to.

"So how have you settled in?" Jennifer started, trying to keep a cheerful tone.

"These people are dunderheads," Severus deadpanned in his normally blunt way, "I was hired at the local hospital but I watched as a doctor poked himself with a needle then immediately administer the shot to a patient. The person who hired me has never seen a PhD much less obtain one and even the waitress is rather dull. She has stood here whilst I rant rather than walking away or announcing her presence. If you spit in my food, I will be able to tell and I will be highly upset."

Severus turned his glare onto the woman. She looked back at him with eyes that blinked far too much and a sort of energy that had to come from the amount of sweets each person in this nutty town consumed. Hell, she was chewing on gum that was probably rotting her teeth with each bite.

"What can I get for y'all?" she tilted her head and smiled brightly. Yup. Those teeth would have to go in another year or so. Severus passed her his menu without a word seeing as he hadn't looked at it and didn't plan to. He wasn't hungry. Jennifer sighed loudly and passed over her menu as well.

"I will have a glass of water—just water. No sugar, no salt. Nothing in it. Only H2O. My brother here will take your waffles. And yes you can make it a stack of five," she stated. She vaguely remembered someone saying that the waffles here were edible. Or the best. But probably just edible. Not that she would eat it. Her body was a temple that she worked hard to keep that way so that meant she had already eaten a healthy, full breakfast.

Now Severus on the other hand ate like a bird and seemed to find that to be appropriate despite having several PhDs that proved him wrong. She looked back at him, ready to mention the fact that their Mother was getting ready to marry a man who was young enough to be one of their sons much less Mother's. But she paused as she saw him check his phone, frown then look back up at her with a certain look in his eye. Hey she knew that look. Oh. She KNEW THAT LOOK! Jennifer smiled nice and big.

"You have a date," she smiled nice and big, leaning across the table. Severus's eyes widened, his face caught on flames and he immediately began to choke on air. Oh man, she missed being able to play with her baby brother like this. They were far too busy.

"I—I do NOT!" he sputtered. He was lying. Jennifer grinned and leaned forward, propping her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Yes you do. My little brother is going on a date! Which of these idiots could have possibly caught your eye?" Jennifer teased in a singing voice. She honestly wanted to know. Her brother was, as far as she could tell, pansexual. Or, at the very least, bisexual. They didn't really talk about that sort of thing but she was pretty sure after seeing his dreaded Lineup of Stupid. So the list was endless as to who had caught his eye but then again Severus had a hard time dealing with stupid.

"He is not quite an idiot… just painfully optimistic," Severus smiled fondly. He and Chris were planning to meet for a coffee meeting (not a date). They thought it would be best to not just jump right into dinner. Coffee was simple, easy. Just drinking and a bit of talking. If it went well then they'd try for a dinner date or a movie together. Then they would go for another time and then… well, Severus wasn't quite the 'third date is when panties fall' kind of person but it had been quite some time since panties have fallen.

"Painfully optimistic huh?" Jennifer smirked, raking her eyes over her little sibling's body language. The other thought that that kind of wording would set her off but she wasn't born yesterday. She could see right through her little brother like an open window. Severus really liked him. She had to find Lily's number again so they could devise a way to tease the young doctor for hours on end. That ginger would enjoy it immensely.

"So when's your date?" she teased.

"It's not a date. Just coffee," he attempted to deflect once more but the shark smile on the woman's face obviously hinted that she was falling for it in any way, shape or fashion. He knew he should have waited until after the date to meet with her. He wasn't expecting Chris to be a disappointment but if that would happen then at the very least Jennifer wouldn't know about it. He would have just swept it under the rug. He frowned in thought of this not going perfectly but it seemed as though Jennifer assumed he was frowning for a different reason for she held her hands up in defeat.

"Okay, okay. I'll stop with the questions. C'mon. Stuff your gob and we'll talk about your job in a little while," Jennifer pushed the newly arrived plate under the skinny being's nose. Severus smiled gratefully then proceeded to pick at his food. Jennifer took a sip of her drink and spat it directly back into the cup. Dammit, it was sugar water!

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Severus looked at the clock again. His brunch had ended around thirty minutes ago which meant that he had but a couple of hours left before his date (not a date!) with Chris. He could have sworn three hours had passed but the clock said that only thirty minutes had. He sighed and looked back to his patient. It seemed as though he was covering for someone's clinic hours but he didn't very much care. Patients were stupid—didn't matter if they had money or barely two pennies to rub together.

This man, however, seemed to be slightly below the idiot limit. He was a little pudgy with a face covered in hair and smile that was too dopey to be real. His eyes were bright but it was obvious that he couldn't see with how he squinted every now and again to look at something. There was a large, yellow bruise around his neck/shoulder area. To put a little cherry on the cake, he had flipped into the room and, after being helped off the ground, limped to the chair. Severus breathed in deep through his nose and then out with his mouth. He directed his attention to the woman. She was Hispanic with long dark hair that framed her face which was screwed up in a dark expression as she stared at the doctor with large dark eyes. It was obvious that she didn't like him and he was glad because he didn't like her either.

"Who are you?" he raised a brow. She silently lifted her left hand to display the large ring pop on her ring finger. That was surprising. Severus had been hoping that the girl was the large man's sitter. Instead, it seemed as though she was actually married to the buffoon.

"I am sorry," he intoned then turned his attention back to the man, "What brings you here?"

"Well, at first it was this nasty pain in my shoulder arm area. It's been hurting for a while now. And a little while ago I fell so now my back hurts. And I think there's something wrong with my knee because it's green. My tongue has this fuzzy stuff on it and my eyes hurt," the man listed. Severus stared at him, looked down at the file in his hand then looked back at the man. He could just leave at this moment and rope some other doctor into doing this. But this could distract him for a couple of minutes. Severus sighed again and approached the man.

"Take off your shirt," he sighed.

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Two hours. Severus had worked on this man for two whole hours! His shoulder had been dislocated—for a week, according to his wife. A lump on his back proved to be housing spider eggs which had been crushed in his fortunate flip. His knee had mold growth on it (Severus had to rush out of the room to vomit) and his tongue… actually there was nothing wrong with his tongue. He simply wasn't drinking enough so his mouth was dry and felt fuzzy. If this man made it to forty, it would be a miracle. Severus dearly and truly hoped that the sour disposition of his wife would make sure that they never had kids. Or Severus would be calling Protective Services to check on those two every other day.

For now, Severus was going home early. He didn't care what emergencies, what idiocies or what punishments he would receive for leaving early. Tomorrow he was going to have some strong words for those down at the clinic and most of them would involve not ever seeing or hearing the name Andy Dewyer ever again. Coffee was not going to solve this, the young doctor needed a stiff drink first.

"Severus Snape!" a chipper voice called out and suddenly there were flowers under his nose. Severus paused and blinked at the brightness assaulting his eyes—oh and the flowers. Chris stood in front of him, all shining teeth and glittering eyes.

"Chris Traeger," Severus murmured numbly, taking the flowers out of the other's hands. It was a dozen but there seemed to be a flower of every color in the bunch. The man bounced on the balls of his feet, waiting for a reaction.

"I was in that flower shop talking with the flower assistant—amazing girl named Luna. She is an inspiring journalist who graduated top of her class all the way in the UK. She told me that roses are traditional but I thought I would be more out of the box and she showed me a project she was working on. They're tulips but she dyed each one a different color. A rainbow of tulips!" Chris was practically clapping his hands in delight over the beautiful arrangement.

And it was happening. Severus could feel the infectious happiness taking over his own body. His lips were pulling up into a smile and he closed his eyes as he buried his nose into the flowers, breathing in the intoxicating scent. He opened his eyes to see Chris looking as though he were about to jump up and down with joy. This man was amazing. He made Severus feel so relaxed. All the troubles and anxiousness in his day just washed away like they never existed.

"They're beautiful," Severus stepped forward and pressed a soft kiss to the other's cheek.

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Chris was pretty sure that he was going to run around the entire city of Pawnee fifty times just to calm down the happy energy that surged through his body. He had talked to Ben hours after the most amazing, simplest date to ever exist. He couldn't even exactly describe how perfect that date had been. They talked until the store closed, learning about each other's interests and lives.

He got to listen about Severus's best friend Lily and his godson Harry who he absolutely adored. The doctor had millions of stories about the two of them as children and his many misadventures babysitting for even a few hours. ("That child is a trouble magnet," Severus had said dryly)

Chris himself talked a bit about his blood disease and his goal to be the first person to reach 150. He talked about his stepbrother who lived in London but that was brief because his brother hadn't stayed in touch for very long. It was unfortunate but he was still close to his mother in Wisconsin.

It was a great time and, when they had arrived at Severus's apartment, the other had given him a kiss that still made him touch his lips tingle. Oh yes, he couldn't wait to tell Ron tomorrow. And to text Severus. Oh maybe he could introduce the two tomorrow. Chris fell asleep with a bright smile on his face, no longer scared to sleep. Maybe the creeping darkness was finally gone for good.

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TBC

I hope this was enjoyed by all. Hope it doesn't feel as rushed as I think it is.