Rotti announced his engagement to Marni with tremendous pride and uncontained joy. Nathan had smiled tightly at his employer, from where he stood in front of the older man's desk.

"Congratulations, Mr Largo." Nathan said, although his voice was a little strained.

Rotti laughed in his full, throaty way, "Mr Largo?! Please Nathan, I've told you that Rotti is fine."

Nathan just nodded mutely, wondering how long Rotti was going to detain him. He was the first person to have been told the tremendous news of Rotti's engagement. They were holding a press conference in a few hours to announce it to the world. People were terribly interested in their savior's personal life, it seemed. Nathan kept his face emotionless. If things had turned out differently the other night, would Marni still have gotten engaged to Rotti? He didn't really want to think about the answer either way. Sensing Rotti watching him, he feigned interest,

"Where is the bride to be?" He asked, with false bravado that quite sickened him.

"Oh she's being pampered in the beauty parlor," Rotti laughed, "She needs to look her best for the press conference."

Nathan took note of the use of 'needs' rather than 'wants'. He remembered Marni's breathless admission.

Sometimes I feel like no more than a trophy…

He clenched his jaw, driving such thoughts away from his mind. She was marrying him, for God's sake.

This was her choice.

(Two days earlier)

At last, the day was over. He had performed several complicated surgeries today and felt quite tired and in need of relaxation. A new kidney for some alcoholic rock star, a new spine for someone else. Cut them open, rearrange, add, subtract, put it all back together again. There was an easy sort of pattern to it all. Nathan liked order, liked to sort things out, fix them. That's all surgery was really. Fixing things. Fixing people. Making them work better, faster, longer. He was damn good at it, too.

He made his way from the operating theatre and towards the staffroom to collect his briefcase. He was a little surprised to see Marni sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria outside it. He stopped in his tracks and made his way over to her, rather than the staffroom door. She was reading a magazine, flipping through it with her uncanny zest, her long hair free and wavy around her face.

"Marni?" Nathan said, cocking his head to one side in puzzlement, "What are you doing here?"

She looked up at him and smiled, "Oh Nathan, I'm afraid I've been stood up again."

Nathan rubbed the back of his neck – damn, his muscles were sore – and looked at her blankly.

She stood up from the table and held out her hands, gesturing at her clothes. She wore a very pretty black dress, all ruffles and taffeta and netting. Combined with knee high black boots with blue ruffles. She really did look gorgeous.

"Look at me, I got all dressed up to go out, but now Mag has to do more Geneco commercials tonight and she can't come with me." She looked at Nathan hopefully, a small smile quirking the corner of her mouth,

"I see, and where do you want to go?" Nathan asked, trying to look annoyed, but failing.

Marni grinned, knowing that she had gotten what she wanted. She hooked her arm through Nathan's, guiding him to walk to the staff room, "Where else?! Drinking and dancing!"

That night was, to say the least, a little bit of a blur for Nathan. He'd been very careful in the beginning to monitor his drinking, since he didn't partake in liquor very often at all. They started out in a soft lounge club, sitting on cushy armchairs in the chill out section, drinking champagne from cold glasses. Nathan told Marni about his childhood, the horrors of his school years. She listened with her cheek cupped in her hand, sipping from her glass every now and then.

He's really cute….She caught herself too late, the alcohol having made her head a little fuzzy.

"Well I didn't really uh, have friends as such. I mostly kept to myself." He looked a bit embarrassed at his admission, and drank hurriedly from his glass.

She noticed the way he got a little blush right on the tops of his cheekbones. Damn, the guy really had some impressive cheekbones. And his voice was husky and smooth at the same time.

"I didn't have a great time at school either." Marni admitted, "I was head cheerleader, captain of the sports team, the prom queen and top of the class as well, it was very hard to juggle everything."

Nathan looked at her with horror for a moment before he realized she was joking. She laughed, just about doubling over – why were things so much funnier when you were drinking?

Marni stood up, declaring it time for another drink and then a dance. She saw Nathan visibly flinch at the mention of dancing and she ruffled his hair affectionately from where she stood in front of him.

"Don't worry Nathan, it's a scientific fact that the more you drink, the better you dance. Ask any GENtern, they'll tell you!" She smiled sweetly.

"Well in that case make my next drink an entire bottle of absinthe." Nathan deadpanned.

Marni giggled and stalked over to the bar. Nathan couldn't help noticing her long, shapely legs as she walked. Dammit. He forced himself to look away, instead fixing his gaze on the large, sweeping area that made up the small club. He appreciated that it was not too loud, at least. He just hated places that you went to, where you couldn't hear yourself think, let alone hear what anyone was saying. How were you meant to socialize in a place like that?

Marni returned with the drinks. Thankfully, she hadn't gotten him an entire bottle of absinthe, but it was probably the largest glass of beer he'd seen in his life. If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was trying to inebriate him.

Marni was a very good dancer. He'd known that she would be for she had that quiet grace about her. Perhaps she had been right about the alcohol, because although he expected to feel supremely clumsy on the dance floor, it wasn't actually too bad. The music changed and the beat got faster, and Marni started doing incredibly graceful yet ludicrous moves. Nathan laughed. This woman seemed to have such a love for life. Such an adventurous spirit. She seemed to light up the world around her. Even this dank, industrial city seemed a nicer place with her there. She smiled at him, and took his hand, leading him back to the chairs to sit down once more, after grabbing a couple more drinks from the bar. The club wasn't especially packed tonight, just a few people here and there. Nathan was glad of it, because it meant they didn't have to fight for a seat, or wait long to be served at the bar. They sat for a moment, and Nathan looked at Marni, noticing that she suddenly looked a little serious, which was an almost unfamiliar thing for him to see on her.

"Nathan…" She began, before trailing off and fidgeting with her hands.

She started to chew her nails, which he'd certainly never seen her do – she always had perfect manicures.

Nathan felt a foreboding which swirled in his stomach. He was fairly certain it wasn't from the drinks. He took a sip of the odd, fluorescent green drink which Marni had bought for him – dear God, what exactly was she giving him at this point? It tasted like green apple. He made a face. It made her smile, and she leaned forward towards him, resting her hand on his knee.

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked, carefully.

Marni looked extremely troubled suddenly and she moistened her lips nervously, "I think that Rotti's going to ask me to marry him." She searched Nathan's face, gauging his reaction.

Nathan however, gave nothing away, leaning back into the chair and away from Marni, "Oh! That's…great news. Is it?" He wasn't sure, himself.

Marni shrugged, removing her hand easily from Nathan's knee, fixing her attention on her purple and pink drink instead. It had an umbrella in it, and this, she said, was what made drinks taste good. You can always tell a good drink, by whether or not it has an umbrella in it.

"Will you marry him?" Nathan asked.

Marni looked at him, her eyes shining, "I don't know."

Another hour passed, during which increasingly strange drinks were consumed, and they danced at least twice more.

"Won't Rotti be expecting you home?" Nathan asked her as they wandered through the streets, weaving a little and leaning on each other for support.

Neither of them had broached the subject of going home, although it was now the early hours of the morning and the lounge bar had closed. So they had wandered the streets, debating where to go next.

"He probably will." Marni said, and her voice was a little sad, enough to make Nathan look at her in concern. "He wants me to be a lot of things." She said, her words a little slurred, "Sometimes…I feel like…no more than a trophy."

They had stopped walking, and were standing in the glow of a street lamp. Nathan looked down at her. He was aware of how close she was to him now, of the heat coming off her body in waves. Her hair smelt like vanilla. He breathed her in.

"He never makes me laugh." She said, so softly he could barely hear her over the thrum of the city which surrounded them.

He found himself nudging her chin up with his index finger, looking at her face. And she kissed him. Soft, warm lips crushing against his. It was a chaste kiss, but it was also the most powerful thing he'd ever felt. She moved in closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, touching his cheek with her hand. He pulled her into him, desperately clutching at her. He thought the word love. She made to deepen the kiss, he felt her tongue on his bottom lip. Wait, this wasn't right… No! He jumped back as if she had burnt him.

"What are you-" His breathing is heavy and he finds he can't get the question out, "We can't do this, Rotti is…he trusts me! You're dating him for God's sake!"

He hadn't meant to raise his voice at her so, and he regretted it instantly, even before he saw the pain in her eyes that were usually so full of happiness. Why the hell did they go and drink all those weird drinks for?! Even in the grips of inebriation, he could see that things were getting seriously messed up.

He threw his hands up in the air and turned to walk away, "I'm going home, I can't do this." He stated, "I'm sure when we sober up this will all be…"

He wasn't sure what it would all be, and didn't have a chance to work it out. She grabbed his arm, trying to stop him leaving.

"Nathan, please. Please don't walk away!" She tugged on his arm, clung to him.

"He's my boss." Nathan said, firmly, "He wants to marry you!"

He spoke to her as if she was a child, and it hurt him to do it. He wasn't sure how he managed it, but he did walk away from her that night. He was pretty sure that he loved her. He was almost positive. But she could never be his. Rotti could give her the world! What could he, Nathan, possibly give her? They had a wonderful friendship, why did she have to go and wreck it!? Was she just trying to make him look like an idiot? Like he didn't know his place? He knew it, alright.

Marni's shoulders drooped as she watched him go. She had acted rashly, yes. She had felt the attraction to him for so long, ignored it for so long! And now she may have ruined their friendship with her stupidity. Her stupid scheme had backfired badly. Because…Nathan was a good person. He really was. She wasn't sure if Rotti was. She definitely didn't think that she was. So maybe, she belonged with Rotti after all.

She and Mag had never actually had plans to go out that night.