A/N: Here's the second chapter! Sorry for any weird mistakes, my computer has been freaking out lately whenever I try to upload a new chapter and it messes some stuff up. In any case, please enjoy!

Chapter 2

It was a couple days before either of them saw Nadia again. They resumed their lives as if nothing had changed, because really, nothing significant had happened, and yet something had. Dan now heard Phil go locking up every night now, and he took his time with it, and later Dan would go too, but obviously not because he was watching for Nadia or anything. Phil was a scatter minded person, after all, and he might not lock up properly one night. It was Dan's duty to ensure that a maniac with a baseball bat wouldn't break into their apartment because Phil forgot to lock the door. And if he took a while to stand there and listen at the door, or even poke his head out into the hall for a minute, well, he might as well check that there wasn't a sopping wet, freezing cold neighbor standing out there.

If Dan was perfectly honest with himself, he was actually worried about Nadia. Why had she been out so late in the first place? Why hadn't she gotten a cab home instead of running through the rain? And why did she look so...defeated, he supposed the word was. Phil had explained that she had left her keys at her boyfriend's place and her boyfriend had left for the weekend, but something in his voice had shown that Phil didn't believe it for a second. While Phil could be extremely daft and clueless sometimes, he was remarkably good at reading people. Besides, Dan could sense that Nadia wasn't telling them the truth about, well, basically anything.

Dan could tell that Phil was worried too, but there wasn't really anything to talk about. For all they knew, Nadia had just had a rough day and was now perfectly fine and happy. But something kept nagging in the back of Dan's mind. Nadia had the look in her eyes of someone who had experienced something dark. To be honest, it frightened Dan.

Phil had his own concerns about their young neighbor. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was really bothering him about Nadia's reaction to his questions about her boyfriend. Maybe it was nothing, of course, but it wasn't going to leave him alone any time soon.

The next time they saw Nadia was a completely unexpected encounter. It was getting close to Mother's Day, and Dan and Phil had decided to go shopping together to find some chocolate or something for their mums. They had been wandering around the department store for a while, going through the chocolates and Dan snagging a few extra treats for himself, when Phil said in surprise "Isn't that Nadia?"

It was her, standing at the counter with a man next to her. The man was paying for a box of expensive chocolates and was shooting Nadia adoring looks every few seconds, while Nadia stood very stiff and still, a polite smile on her face as she answered a question from the cashier.

"Should we go say hi?" Dan asked quietly.

"Why shouldn't we?"

"I don't know, it's a bit weird." Dan frowned as he studied the man with Nadia. He was tall, probably in his mid-twenties, with black hair and green eyes. He was rather attractive, and he had the air of someone who knew it. He had just slung his arm around her shoulders and gave Nadia a quick squeeze. She just stood there, still politely smiling at the cashier as she bagged up the chocolate. "Do you think that's her boyfriend?"

"Must be," Phil said, also studying the stranger. "Seems like a nice man."

Dan nodded. The man was smiling and joking with the cashier, who was doing a great deal of blushing and giggling.

"Let's go over," Dan decided. "We might as well go say hi at least."

At that moment, Nadia looked right at them. Her eyes widened in recognition, and the polite smile she had been wearing changed into a look akin to panic.
"Maybe not," Dan muttered.

Nadia s apparent boyfriend seemed to feel her tense up, as he glanced at her and then followed her gaze to the two young men. With a slight frown, he bent over and whispered something in Nadia s ear. She shook her head quickly, plastering on a fake smile and whispering back. The man relaxed and nodded in a friendly manner at Dan and Phil. They hesitantly waved back.

"Something tells me we should leave them alone," Dan muttered. Phil nodded in agreement, and they both moved back towards the candy. Phil glanced back right before they turned a corner, and he met Nadia s eyes for a brief second. Her eyes were dark green in this lighting and they were filled with almost the exact kind of emotion that he had seen that night in the hallway. But then she turned back around and Phil turned the corner.

The next few weeks passed normally enough. Dan and Phil both made more YouTube videos, worked at Radio One, and spent a lot of time scrolling mindlessly on the internet. They had actually almost forgotten about Nadia after some time had passed.

It was cloudy outside, but the weather was fair, and Dan had felt the need to go to Starbucks and get a diabetes-inducing cup of sugary coffee. Phil was occupied playing Mario Kart, and Dan left their flat to the sound of Phil coming very close to swearing as he was hit with a blue shell and was bumped to sixth place.

Dan wasn t really paying much attention to his surroundings, having walked this way countless times, so when he accidentally ran into the back of someone while checking his Twitter, it took him a second to react.

"Oh, god, I m so sorry," he exclaimed, grabbing the person s arm to keep them from falling over. The person jerked away quickly and spun to face him.
"Dan?"

"Nadia?"

She blinked in confusion. "Um, hi. What are you doing here?"

"I was going out for coffee. What are you doing?"

"Same thing, actually," she said with a shrug. "Just needed to get out of the house for a little bit, I suppose."

Dan returned her smile. "Care to join me? I could use the company." Nadia looked hesitant for a minute, but she nodded. They continued their walk to the coffee shop.

"So, um, how long have you lived in London?" Dan asked eventually.

"About two and a half years," Nadia answered. "I used to live in Cardiff, but I got a job offer here and couldn t pass it up."

"Really? What s your job?"

Nadia rolled her eyes. "I'm an intern at Google."

Dan raised his eyebrows. "Damn, that s a pretty sweet job. How d you get it?"

"Friend of a friend of a cousin of an acquaintance sort of thing," she said, the corners of her lips tugging up into the slightest grin. "Honestly, I don t even know if I m qualified for the job or not, but it s not like I do much anyway. I just sort of stand there and get the actual important people coffee once in awhile."

Dan grinned. "Do you like your job?" Nadia paused and looked thoughtful.

"Actually, I kind of hate it." Dan snorted with laughter and Nadia s mouth curled upwards a little more.

They got their coffee and sat down to talk some more. Dan learned a little more about her life, like that she was an only child and her parents lived in Canada.

"They moved there right after I started university. Couldn't wait to get out of the UK, and once I left they jumped at the chance."

"They just left you here by yourself?" Dan said incredulously. He couldn't even fathom the idea of someone s parents moving across the world from them at one of the most important times in their life.

Nadia sighed, taking a gulp of coffee. "They figured I could handle myself just fine on my own. Didn't even tell me they were going until two days before I started school." She snorted a little. "My parents aren't exactly the touchy-feely type. They hugged me, told me good luck, and left. The most abrupt goodbye I've ever had."

"Do you see them a lot?"

"If you call once every two years at Christmas a lot, then yeah," she replied with a wry grin. "Like I said, not the touchy-feely type. Family isn't really their thing, they prefer to just stay inside and not deal with the world. They didn't even go to my grandma's funeral."

"Seriously?" Dan was stunned.

"Technically, she wasn't really my grandma, I suppose. My dad's mom died, and his dad remarried, and then she was the one who died. But yeah, I mean, she's still family. That's just how my family works, I guess." She shrugged and took another sip of coffee. "But I've been more open with you in fifteen minutes than I was with my old roommate at school for four years. Tell me about you."

Dan sighed. He really didn t like talking about himself. "Well, I've lived in London for about four years. I've got a mum, a dad, and a younger brother."

"I've always wanted a younger sibling," Nadia said a bit wistfully. "Suppose it'd get to be a bit of a pain after a while though. Sorry, keep going. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Dan glanced at her cautiously, but she didn't seem like she was asking in the hopes of something. She just seemed genuinely curious. "Nope, haven't found a girl yet who can put up with me for more than five seconds before realizing what a terrible mistake she just made."

Nadia snorted into her coffee. "Ah, trust me, dating is a mess. Best to stay away from it. Where did you go to school?"

Well, that topic had changed fast. "University of Manchester, but I dropped out."

Nadia tilted her head. "How come?"

"I was studying law, and I just couldn't do it anymore," Dan grinned and shook his head. Nadia had made a face the second he had said law.

"God, no wonder, you picked just about the most boring thing in the universe to study. I would have gone mad. So what do you do for a living?"

Damn. He had kind of hoped to avoid this topic. "I make YouTube videos."

Instead of making another face, like he half expected her to, Nadia merely raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really? That sounds fantastic. Actually, I thought you and Phil looked familiar. Don't you work at Radio One too?" Dan nodded.

"Yeah, me and Phil do shows there once a month."

"Iive probably heard you at some point then. But that's bloody brilliant, making YouTube videos. Takes a lot of creativity, not everyone can do it."

"Thank you," Dan said sincerely. It was one thing to hear it from fans, but it was another thing to hear someone who didn't even watch his videos appreciate what he did. Not everyone understood so easily, shown by the occasional snide comments he stumbled across on his videos. "Do you watch a lot of YouTube?"
Nadia shook her head. "Hardly ever, actually. I just never have the time. I wish I could do it more, though." She glanced at the time on her phone and her eyes widened. "Bloody hell, I've got to go. I was supposed to be at a meeting at work five minutes ago." She quickly began gathering up her stuff, but then she paused and looked at him. "It was really great talking to you, Dan. Say hi to Phil for me, yeah?"

"Of course. Have fun at your meeting," he replied with a teasing grin.

She rolled her eyes in response and hurried out the door, calling over her shoulder, "See you later, Dan."

Dan settled back in his chair and took a gulp of lukewarm coffee. They really had been talking for a while. He had enjoyed it, getting to know their new neighbor. Something was bothering him though. She had asked about his dating life, but before he had a chance to ask her the same, she had quickly changed the subject. He supposed it was nothing; some people just didn t like to talk about their personal life. After all, he already knew that she had a boyfriend. Maybe she figured he didn't need to know any more. Dan shrugged it off, drank the remainder of his coffee, and left the Starbucks.

A/N: Is this too sappy or over dramatic for anyone? Sometimes it kind of feels that way to me. Tell me if I need to tone anything down. Reviews are love!