A/N: Title comes from the movie 'Sudden Impact' and is a quote said by Clint Eastwood's character Harry Callahan. I chose it because of the double edged meaning; on one hand, as you'll see, it's antagonistic. On the other, Alex and Blake have become the thing that makes each other's day, especially when they've had a difficult one.

Chapter 16 – Go Ahead, Make My Day

Alex pulled on her jacket as she walked through the now empty restaurant, sighing heavily and pausing briefly by the entrance podium where the pay slips were kept. Rifling through quickly and spotting her name printed on the top left hand side of the envelope, she shoved it in her bag and pushed open the glass door without a word of goodbye to anyone. It had been a busy night, and glancing at her watch, she saw it was a late one too – just coming up to midnight. It was the kind of night in a restaurant where everyone had fiddled around with the menu, deciding that they didn't want this with that, but they'd have extra of those instead. And to top it all off, they'd had a birthday party in – all ten year olds, all precocious, all high on sugar. Alex liked kids, but sometimes even her patience could be tested.

"Hey girl," said someone behind her. She was resting her back against the railings of leading up to the ramp which lead to the entrance, and so craned her head only slightly to see Frankie leaning across them and looking down at her with a grin. "Where'd you run off to? Moira wanted to say thanks for cleaning up that coffee machine problem."

Alex waved a hand dismissively. "I just needed to get some air. It's not a problem."

The girl shrugged and clambered over the railings to land beside her on the concrete. "Tough night huh? I'm wiped."

"Yup," Alex said bluntly, in the vain hope her curtness might deter the other girl from proceeding further. She liked Frankie, she liked most of the people she worked with but they never seemed to understand the phrase 'I want to be left alone' which, after a hard shift, she often did. Sure, being with people and having a laugh made the work go faster, but she was tired, and that made conversation was difficult. Besides, she had to concentrate on making coherent conversation with Blake at this time of night and that was hard enough work as it was these days, with all her stammering and blushing.

She still couldn't believe that he'd offered to come get her and take her home. Not that she considered such an act of kindness out of reach for Blake, but simply for the fact that it wasn't just for her – it was for her Dad too. Her father, who Blake had known less than a month - and he had offered to do something that would bring a little happiness to her dad's life. When William had offhandedly mentioned that he'd have to give up some Sox tickets because they fell on a Saturday night that Alex needed the truck, Blake had insisted that the man go, leaving him to chauffeur Alex. Her Dad needed time for himself too, Blake had argued, when they both told him it was fine. He actually wouldn't take no for an answer, she remembered with a smile. She wondered how William was doing; she'd heard that the Red Sox had won their post season friendly game, but the drive home was long, and she didn't know if the euphoria would get him home safely.

"You waiting for your Dad?" Frankie asked, now texting on her cell phone. Alex shook her head, brushing some hair that the wind had teased out of her ponytail, out of her face. There was little sense in lying – she would see when Blake pulled up that it wasn't William. Alex was dreading it truth be told; since Blake had eaten at Gutsy Pete's, she'd endured weeks of teasing from the girls, who had in turn told everyone else about 'Alex's Super Cute Dance Partner'. Something that felt a lot like jealousy began to surface as they went on about his looks and tried to convince Alex to make him come back.

"Er...no, I've got a different ride," she said carefully. Frankie popped some gum she was chewing and eyed her suspiciously.

"Oh yeah, who's that then?" she asked, pocketing her phone.

"This is where you guys went," Kelly interrupted, joining them out front. "You missed Antonio losing it with whoever put his grill pan back in the wrong place earlier. I don't think I've seen anyone turn so red so quickly." She paused seeing Alex's weary face. "Was tonight a bit too much?"

"I coped just fine," Alex said indignantly. "I'm just beat."

"Yeah, Al's the best waitress we have. Tonight would have been no sweat," said a male voice, ruffling her hair as he went past. Alex shook her head angrily and brushed her hair back into place, crossing her arms in fury when she'd done.

"Don't call me Al," she said in a low voice not bothering to look at the tall boy standing to her left.

Cooper Robertson was one of the very few male waiters they employed at Gutsy Pete's and the only member of staff she did not get along with. He'd grown taller over the holidays – he'd left for Utah for a couple of months over the summer, giving her some relief - and returned as brutish and cocksure as ever, now standing at about six feet and looking down his nose at Alex. He was good looking; all the girls at the restaurant whispered behind his back about how attractive he was, but he was hardly the sort of person who dated. He was more the sort of person who had their way with whoever they could con into believing they were a nice person, and then ditched them. Or at least, that was what Alex had observed. His latest target was Frankie, and she was naive enough to believe it was genuine.

"Oh hey Coop," she smiled, looking past Alex to look into his thin face.

"Hey Frankie," he said smoothly with a crooked grin. "You were on fire tonight with that birthday party."

The girl smiled to herself. "It was nothing – Alex did most of it."

Cooper grinned widely. "See what I mean? You're just the best," he laughed in a cutesy tone.

Alex simpered at him, before returning her gaze to the road, willing Blake to hurry up. She was wise to his game long before he had ever spoken to her, and so instead of trying to bed her, he'd made it his mission to make life as hellish as possible for her. And thus far, he'd done well. He called her names, humiliated her where he could, even playing subtle tricks on her at work to make it look as if she wasn't doing her job properly. On the surface, to other people, it seemed as if it were just simple teasing,

"You're not talking to me?" he said, putting on a voice of mock hurt.

"I have a couple of words I'd like to say," she muttered.

"Ouch. That's cruel."

"You two," Kelly said, scolding them. "Stop bickering. Can't you just get along?" she asked, looking pointedly at Alex who shook her head disbelievingly. Typical. Cooper always came out whiter than white as far as everyone else was concerned.

"It's ok," Cooper said to Kelly in the soft voice he often used. "It's been a long, hard night. Let's just cut Alex some slack, hey?" He flashed her a patronising smile.

Alex groaned loudly. "Cooper, just shut up. Its past midnight, and your irritating little voice makes me want to strangle you with your own tie. So just can it, ok?"

"Testy," Cooper said in low voice, next to her ear making her stomach turn. She batted him away, making him stagger a little. "Jeez Alex," he laughed. "You need to keep a lid on that temper."

The lights of a car pulled into the parking lot and slowed as it reached the outside where they all stood. Thank God, Alex thought stepping forward to the car, marvelling at how odd it was that she was relieved when Blake Collins showed up. She'd never been so pleased to see the pokey old Mustang. And there he was, stepping out of the car and leaning on the roof casually, looking a little sleepy.

"Sorry if I'm a little late," he said quietly. Alex shook her head, shoving her bag in the back of the car.

"No worries," she said all too quickly. "Can we just go?" she asked, more quietly and through her teeth. He nodded.

"Hey wait up!" Kelly called out, waving a cigarette in her hand, unlit. "I know you – you came in the restaurant a few weeks back didn't you?"

Blake paused, unsure for a second, noticing how he was under scrutiny from each of them.

"I remember you," Frankie smiled, and Alex didn't miss her meaning as she played with her ponytail.

"Yes," he answered with a polite smile. "Nice to see you all again."

"Come on Blake," Alex said urgently trying to climb in. He went to get in himself, seeing that she was eager to go, but Cooper jogged up to the car, laughing.

"Hang on a second – this is Blake?" he directed at Alex, who was half in the Mustang and half out. She sighed and got out, looking to Blake to answer, and to wrap it up quickly. He frowned; as if it was his fault. Blake nodded at Cooper, who let out a low whistle and grinned. "I've heard so much about you from the girls and Alex," he said cheerily as Blake walked around the front to where Alex stood.

"Are you friends?" Blake asked them both, looking from one to the other.

"No we..."

"Oh, we go way back," Cooper said over Alex. "So you two are dating now?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh, no, we're not a couple," Blake said with a weak smile.

"Ok, sure you're not," Cooper said with a wink, looking to Alex with his brown eyes. Blake stared at him, already irritated by Cooper; the boy was taller than him but not as well built, with a similar shade and length of hair, and a very angular sort of face. It gave him a piercing good looking quality and judging from the way that he stood and by his expression, he certainly knew it. He met Cooper's eyes with his own steely stare.

"So, you're a dancer then? Like Alex?" Cooper asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's right," Blake said with a firm tone, folding his arms.

"Wow – hard work?"

"Yes," said Blake curtly.

"I don't know, always seemed a bit girly to me," Cooper sniffed.

Blake clenched his jaw. "We should be going. It was nice meeting you..."

"Cooper Robertson," the boy said with a smirk, shaking Blake's hand. "I work with Alex."

"Right."

"We're a bit of a close knit family at Gutsy Pete's so...take care of my girl Al won't you?" Cooper asked Blake in a low voice, feigning concern, and touching Alex's shoulder lightly. She shrugged him off immediately.

"I'm not your girl," Alex said, snarling a little. "And don't call me Al."

Blake eyed them both with a frown; Alex's demeanour had put him on edge. She wasn't usually this touchy – at least, not with anyone but him – and she'd been uncharacteristically quiet and fidgety around this Cooper. He'd so long lived with this idea of Alex being indomitable, when finally confronted with the reality - that she was vulnerable like everyone else - it hit him sharply. And he didn't much like the idea of someone making her feel bad about herself.

"Well it's not often we're graced with such celebrity," Cooper was saying, casting a look over at the girls behind him. "I mean, you're Blake Collins. Your Mommy and Daddy started that school right? Maryland School for the Arts."

"That's true yes," replied Blake, walking to the driver's side, and gesturing for Alex to get in too. She smiled gratefully, but didn't make it as Cooper started forward.

"Being son of the founders has gotta have its perks," he called out.

"I work hard for my place at MSA," Blake retorted in a quiet voice, leaning on the top of the car. "I auditioned like everyone else."

"Yeah but when the panel's made up of people who know you, they're gonna turn blind eye if you do something wrong undoubtedly," Cooper shrugged. "Not saying you did, but I guess it's nice to know that you've got a secure place."

"There's nothing secure about my place," Blake said, wondering why he was still talking to him. "And I don't experience any perks."

"Oh come on! The best schools are open to you, the best teachers...the best partners," he added, letting his eyes skim over Alex, who glared at him in return.

Blake paused, bristling with anger and shut his door, walking all the way around back to Cooper. At the mention of Alex, that had done it. He'd snapped. He might have been taller but Blake did a good job of squaring up to Cooper with an icy expression.

"Why I'm wasting my time justifying my education to you is beyond me," Blake said in a low, threatening voice, aware that everyone was looking at him, including Alex. "But all the same – I worked damn hard to deserve a place at MSA. Any position I get in a company will be because I have earned it, ok?"

"Hey, look," Cooper laughed, a little nervously. "I was just mucking around."

"Really? Well, I don't appreciate someone I don't know making comments about my life, or passing judgement, jokes or otherwise. Especially when that person doesn't know the first thing about dance. As for Alex," he said calmly. "Back off and find someone else you can pick on to make you feel better about yourself."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do. And I promise you, that if you don't leave her alone – and that means picking on her, calling her Al, or doing anything besides being an exemplary fellow employee – I will use my perks as a Collins, and get some guys from school to come and show you how 'girly' male ballerina's really are. Bearing in mind that they spend most of their time lifting other people and not breaking a sweat over it." He leaned in a little closer to Cooper who looked as if he was chewing a wasp. "Understand?"

The parking lot rang out with silence after Blake's speech with Cooper glowering at him, and none of the girls feeling brave enough to say anything. Finally, Cooper nodded, defeated, and folded his arms. Alex stared at Blake with a new appreciation; he'd realised what a jackass Cooper was and how he treated her, and he'd done something about it. She would have blushed, had she not been so shocked - Blake Collins had actually threatened someone for her.

"Good. Like I said," Blake smiled at the girls as they stared at him. "It's nice to see you all again." And with that he walked back around to the driver's side of the Mustang and climbed in. Alex followed swiftly, ignoring the wink from Kelly as she did so, and slammed the door behind her.

"Blake Collins," she breathed as he started the engine and drove away, gripping the wheel intently. "I am at a loss for words."

"Well, at least something good came out of all this," he replied wryly.

"What was that?" she laughed. "You slaughtered him. You threatened him. It was so..." Attractive, she wanted to say, but it didn't make it past her lips. "Unlike you." That seemed safer.

Blake stiffened, wondering what he could tell her that wasn't the truth – that he hated the idea of anyone making her feel small, and he couldn't stand the way the Cooper kid looked at her. "I resent people making slanderous accusations about my education," he said curtly. Alex smiled, knowing that there was more significance in what he hadn't said.

"Thank you," she muttered softly. "Cooper's a first class jerk, and he needed bringing down a peg or two. Maybe working with him will be a little more bearable now I don't have to try and ignore his ego," she said, staring out of the window.

"You're not mad at me?" Blake asked, glancing at her sideways. She turned her head to him sharply.

"Why would I be?"

"You told me once to let you handle your own battles," he smirked, a little weakly. "I saw red, but you probably didn't appreciate the whole chauvinistic protector routine."

Alex paused pensively. "I did say that didn't I? Well, this is one battle I'm glad you stuck your oar into."

He laughed quietly to himself, thankful his display of temper wasn't going to cause a rift between them. "I cannot believe you have to work with that guy," he breathed after a while.

"Yeah, tell me about it," she snorted. "You only had the pleasure of five minutes. I've had a few years of the guy."

"Why has he singled you out?" asked Blake, concentrating on the road. Alex just shrugged.

"We don't get along."

"Like we don't get along?" he asked with a smirk, though his knee jerk reaction was to panic. He'd fooled himself into thinking their relationship was somewhat unique and now he was starting to wonder if Alex shared the same sort of thing with Cooper too.

She matched it. "No, I like you despite our fights. Cooper I loathe."

Blake inhaled deeply, feeling a little relieved and indicated left. "Well, that's comforting. But I doubt you'd let me get away with treating you as he did, and I'm sure he's far worse than that brief few seconds I was privileged to witness. Come on Alex," he said glancing at her. "You don't take trash from anyone – why him?"

She laughed to herself. "I don't – I give as good as I get. But there's no relief with Cooper. You see, he's a player, and I seem to be the only person, the only girl, that can see him for what he is. He doesn't like that, so goes out of his way to make my life miserable."

"How so?"

"Oh, just stupid things like calling me names, and winding me up. He moves things when I've put them down," she sighed. "Stupid, childish things. He acts like I'm put out because he hasn't tried anything with me. It works because all the girls were convinced I had some kind of thing for him," she said rolling her eyes. Blake paused.

"And do you?" he asked carefully, shifting in his seat.

"No! Please," she laughed, though she'd screwed her face up into one of utter horror. "I guess he's attractive but you know, there are only so many things good looks will let you get away with, and being a complete douche bag isn't one of them."

Blake gave her a crooked smile. "They were convinced?" he said.

Alex sniffed. "Yeah, now they just tease me about you, and ask me when you're coming back. You have quite the fan base at Gutsy Pete's," she admitted. He didn't say anything, but his heart had quickened in tempo and he flexed his hands on the steering wheel, where they were growing sweaty. He needed to get a better command on his emotions – they were running away with him. He cleared his throat.

"Well, I hope he took me seriously," Blake sighed. "I was bluffing a little with the threat."

"Cooper's not very bright."

"So I don't have to pay some guys from school to set him straight?"

"We'll see how it goes," Alex smiled. "But I doubt I'll have any trouble from him. He may not be very bright, but he's all about self-preservation. Just the girls to worry about now." She clasped her hands together and put on a sweet voice. "Oh Blake, he's so hot Alex! Can we come to the school? I bet he's even hotter when he dances!" she teased. He threw a glare in her direction.

"Shut up."

"Sorry," she laughed. "But if I have to put up with it, you do. We're partners, remember?"

He pulled a face at her. "They wouldn't really come to the school would they?"

"You underestimate the power of teenage hormones, and how desperate some of them really are."

"How comforting," Blake replied dryly, pulling up outside Alex's house. The ride home had been too short, but it had certainly been worth sitting up and waiting just for those snatched moments with her. How ridiculous that was in itself; he would see her Monday.

Alex didn't get out right away. Instead, she turned in her seat to look at him. "Enough about Gutsy Pete's. I want to hear about your day."

He groaned. "It was long – a massive shipment of new Adidas trainers came in and I was buried in stock. Chloe went home sick too." He'd struck up an unlikely friendship with Alex's friend, seeing as they had something in common, and truth be told she wasn't all that bad a person. A little chirpy at times and always humming, but they weren't necessarily bad traits. "She mentioned something about you meeting the old team for a baseball game," he teased gently. She simpered at him.

"No she did not, but points for trying. What is your fascination with me and baseball?" she asked with a confused smile.

What was his fascination with her full stop? "It's just hard to see you doing something other than dance."

"Why?"

"Because you're so good at it."

Alex laughed, crossing her arms. "So I can't be good at anything else?"

Blake opened his mouth and stammered. "Well, that's not what I...certainly not as good."

"Well, then you should have seen me play – because they were in talks for drafting me for the Red Sox."

Blake shook his head. "Right."

"I'll take you to a batting pen and show you some time," she insisted.

"If I need a demonstration on how well you can hit things, I can stay in the studio."

Alex narrowed her eyes threateningly, looking as if she might give him a demonstration right then and there but instead she laid her head on the head rest of her seat, looking at him intently. "Did you never want to be anything else?" she asked, with a pensive expression. Blake frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Dancing. If you weren't a dancer, what would you do?"

Blake opened his mouth again to reply but faltered. It was something that had never been an issue; he was a Collins and they danced. It was as simple as that, and had been written long before he was even a cluster of cells. To turn to his parents and say he wanted to pursue something else would be nothing short of suicide or involuntary emancipation. They'd disown him surely – he had started dancing because that was what was expected of him. It had merely been good chance he enjoyed it as much as he did.

"I...don't know. I've never thought about it," he said quietly, seemingly a little shocked. Alex lifted her head with a look of concern.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I just...I never considered anything else."

"But what if..." she bit her lip, wondering if she should continue. He looked at her with a stern expression she noticed he often gave people when he wanted them to do as he commanded. She swallowed her concern and smiled. "God forbid, but what if you couldn't dance – if you broke your legs, or had a terrible accident."

Blake paused, feeling sick. She'd touched upon something a little raw and instead of enjoying sitting in her presence, he felt vulnerable and panicky. "I don't know, maybe I'd teach dance," he tried to joke but his voice was too shaky to sound convincing. They sat in silence for a second before Alex touched his arm.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," she said quietly.

"You haven't. You just asked a question," he said, snapping a little. He took a deep breath. "You should go to bed, it's late and if you Dad drives up and finds us still in the car, he'll murder me for not getting you home as quickly as I could have."

Alex blinked and sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get much more out of him. She'd quite literally watched the moment where he shut down and cut her out. Pulling her bag out of the back and climbing out, she muttered her goodbyes, wincing a little as she walked back to the house and Blake's tyres screeched as he drove away.