They started to refer to the times Quinn dropped by as movie nights, even if they didn't watch a movie. TV shows and movies always told him that doctors had long, hard hours but it still kind of surprised him that she dropped by so often. Very rarely did she come dressed up like she did that first time. Most nights, it was just a pair of jeans and a t-shirt or a casual dress or, like tonight, a simple skirt and blouse. The smile on her face and the laughter she brought to his place made him not mind the frequency of her visits.

"We're finishing Lord of the Rings tonight, right?" Quinn asked as she walked back from his kitchen with a half-full bottle of pinot noir, two glasses, and a bag of Smartfood Popcorn.

He probably should have thought something other than it was awesome that he didn't have to get up now that Quinn knew where pretty much everything in his place was.

"Yea, get ready for four hours of orc killing goodness," he said as he poured a glass of wine for each of them while she took a seat next to him.

"I still can't believe that they made a four hour version of each movie."

As the movie started and the story of how the One Ring was found again was shown, he said, "Still can't believe that you like these kind of movies."

"What? I can't like them or something?"

"It's just that I never saw you liking all these sci-fi/fantasy things." He turned up the volume a little bit and smacked her leg with the remote. "Very nerdy of you."

She hit him back. "Says the guy who owns all of them on Blu-ray." And because she just had to do him one better, she hit him again. "And what made you think I wouldn't like nerdy things?"

"You know, you were a cheerleader and everything…"

"Didn't think you'd be judging me."

For a second, Mike thought he had hurt her feelings but she grinned and just hit him again and he knew she was fine. It made him glad because she had become visibly more open in her reaction to the movies and shows they watched and he didn't want that to stop because of some stupid comment. Those little reactions quickly became his favorite part of movie night.

Tonight was no different, as he glanced at her every so often, this is what he saw: Shimmering eyes as Pippin sang his song to King Denethor. A wistful look as Éowyn confessed her unrequited love to Aragorn. Grins bordering on wicked as Aragorn led the Army of the Dead against Sauron's forces and the Eye of Sauron fell. Tears rolled down her cheeks as every man bowed to the four hobbits.

That last thing caused him to grin and smack her in the leg with the remote again. Without looking, she hit him back half a dozen times, each one harder than the last until he slid across the couch so she couldn't reach him. That didn't stop a pillow from being thrown his way.

"Well, that was twelve hours of amazing," she said as Sam finally returned to his wife and children in the Shire.

"It was."

"I really should get a Blu-ray player. Things look amazing on it," she said before stretching her arms, leaning over, and kicking him in the leg.

"What was that for?"

"That was for making fun of me."

"When did I make fun of you?"

"You know when. And don't think I didn't hear you sniffling over there while I was crying over here."

"What about those times you hit me in the arm? And I plead the fifth about the sniffling."

She rolled her eyes. "That was for hitting me with the remote."

"Want me to walk you home?"

It wasn't often that she took him up on this offer, but every once in a while she let him tag along. Surprisingly, her apartment was a couple of blocks down the street from his. The only difference with hers was that it was a brand new building filled with high-end, modern condos. His was a much older building with a heating system that barely worked, which he found out about when he moved in near the end of winter.

"No, I'm okay. I'm just glad I caught you here tonight." she said before she yawned, arched her back, and stretched again. "It's annoying when I drop by and you're not here."

"What?" He turned his head and found a look of panic on her face that quickly disappeared.

"Nothing," she said much too quickly as she looked away.

"How many times have you come by and not found me?"

In reply, all she did was purse her lips.

"Quinn," he said, trying to sound stern which never really worked for him.

"Mike."

"How many times have I not been here?"

She dropped her head and, after a few seconds, said, "A few."

"How many times is a few?"

"Less than ten, more than five?"

He couldn't believe that she had dropped by that many times. He knew that Andrew was a doctor doing his residency and that meant 60 hour work weeks, but the amount of times Quinn dropped by was ridiculous. It wasn't exactly his place to say anything though.

"You could call me."

"No, it's not a big deal," she said as she shook her head. "I don't want this to become some sort of… planned thing."

"We don't have to plan these nights. Just call or text before so you don't waste a trip."

She stared at him for a moment before looking away again. "Can I send you a quick text before I come over?"

If he didn't think this was such a serious situation, he would have laughed at the question. Instead, he said, "Of course you can."

XXX

The first time she texted him he had no idea what it was about because all she sent was i/o?

What?

Are you in or out?"

I'm in. Come over.

The first time he told her he was out he thought nothing of it. The third time he sent "out" back to her he felt bad. The fifth time he had to do it he was at a bar with a few friends and it sucked all of the fun out of the bar for him.

XXX

One summer night when she dropped by, she was carrying a small pink box which was strange since all she usually ever brought was a bottle of wine as a replacement for one of his that they had drained some previous night.

She set it down on the little kitchen table where he ate breakfast and dinner then headed straight for his little wine rack. A bottle of red was pulled out and the label was considered for a few seconds before she placed it on the counter and headed to the fridge. From there, she pulled out a jug of milk and filled two tall glasses with the 2% he drank. She brought them back to his table and put one down at each end and sat down by the side closest to the living room.

"Can you get two plates?"

Standing by the kitchen, he had been watching her go through all of this with an amused smirk on his face and didn't move.

"Please?"

"What's in the box?" he asked after he grabbed the requested items and took his seat.

"Do you know what date it is?"

"June 8th… I think?"

She pulled the box closer to her, opened it, and said, "That's right."

"What's so important about today?"

Two chocolate cupcakes with mounds of frosting and a sprinkling of sprinkles on top were pulled from the box and one was placed on each plate.

Noting the logo on top of the box he said, "These are from Georgetown Cupcake."

"They are."

If Mike could, he would've arched an eyebrow. "You waited two hours in line for two cupcakes? Today must be important."

"It is. And it was only one hour," Quinn said before clasping her hands and bowing her head. It wasn't something she did very often, but she did it enough for Mike to know that he should bow his head as well.

After half a minute he heard her say, "It's Beth's birthday."

His head shot up and he found her staring at him. "I— What?"

"She's fourteen today."

"Quinn…"

"I'm sorry for springing this on you. I just—"

"No, it's fine, but shouldn't you be with Andrew?"

"He doesn't know."

He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

"It's not that I'm embarrassed about it or anything. I just never got around to telling him and now I don't really know how to."

"I'm sure he won't care and he'd be glad you shared this with him."

She drank some milk.

"What about Puck?"

"What about him?"

"You talk to him today?"

"No," she said while playing with the lip of her glass. "After our last breakup we decided that it'd be best if we didn't talk again."

"Oh." He took a drink of milk, which was kind of weird to have this late, even if they were having cupcakes. "Do you ever talk with uh…"

"Shelby?" He nodded. "Yea, I called her before I came over."

"What about Beth?"

She shook her head and said, "No."

"Are you going to?"

"Maybe," she said with a shrug. "Shelby said she wouldn't mind and Beth already knows me as her Aunt Quinn."

"Aunt Quinn?" he asked with a grin.

"I send her a birthday gift every year so I get to be an aunt."

"What'd you get her this year?"

"A Fender guitar." She grinned. "Shelby says she'll ship Beth out here if she makes too much noise."

They laughed then stared at their respective cupcakes for a moment before he said, "Why'd you come over tonight?"

"I don't know. I usually spend this night alone but I didn't feel like it tonight and you knew about Beth so I guess I thought… I hope this isn't too awkward for you."

"Just a little," he said as he grinned and held up his thumb and index finger slightly apart. "But it's fine. If you can't make things awkward for your friends then who can you make 'em awkward for?"

It made him glad that the edges of her lips lifted in a small smile at his stupid comment because it wasn't one that she used out in public and rarely used in private. That smile vanished right before her throat constricted in a swallow.

"Shelby says Beth's been asking about her birth mother." This wasn't what the night or the conversation that Mike had signed up for but, like he said, this was what friends were for. "She said it was up to me."

His finger poked at the paper lining surrounding the cupcake as he tried to gather his thoughts. It didn't seem like Quinn minded that he was taking his time as she played around with her glass of milk.

"I'm not gonna presume that you need, or even want, my advice so I'm not going to give it to you, not that I have any. I just want you to know that I'll be here with all my geeky movies and TV shows if you need them."

The small smile reappeared on her face. "Thanks."

"But seriously, what can I do to help?"

"I don't really know." She took a sip of her milk before continuing with a bigger smile. "But, you're doing a pretty good job."

He picked up his cupcake and saluted her with it. "To Beth."

After a moment, she returned the salute. "To Beth."

The cupcakes were delicious.

XXX

As with all writers, there were moments when Mike sat in front of a half-finished paragraph, stumped and not knowing what to write next. This was one of those moments.

He looked at the last sentence he wrote for this paper that he no longer wanted to think about. So he didn't. His head dropped back against the headrest of his chair and, after blindly flailing his hand around for the volume control on his iPod, he let thoughts be drowned out by the music coming from his headphones. Annoyingly, his cocoon of sound didn't last very long since someone plucked them away from his ears.

"I've called your name like five times already," Heather said after he spun around.

"Uh…"

"What're you listening to anyway?" she asked as she brought the headphones up to her right ear and smiled. "Taylor Swift? My God, I remember listening to her back in high school and loving it." Her head began gently bobbing. "I still love her music."

"They say you'll always love the music you listened to in high school," he said with a shrug.

"I can't believe you listened to her in the first place."

"What? She's was pretty good."

Heather smirked at him then tossed him his headphones and said, "C'mon, you're not doing any work; let's grab a snack."

He looked back at his document and still had no idea what to write next. With a sigh, he saved what he had written and stood up.

"That's the spirit."

They walked towards the elevators and he said, "I don't see how you get any work done around here."

"Oh, that's what Quinn is for. All she does is work." She wrapped an arm around one of his and hugged it. "Now, what'd you want to eat?"

"Dunno. Not really hungry, but I could use something to drink."

"I'm guessing you don't mean alcohol," she said as she pulled him closer.

He chuckled and shook his head.

"CVS it is then."

Mike let her chatter away about office gossip as they waited for the elevator. He couldn't care less about who was dating or hating whom or how some secretary had stabbed the receptionist the back, but Heather never liked talking about actual work and they didn't have anything else in common. So office gossip it was.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Quinn, along with some attorney from the office, stepped out and paused in front of Mike and Heather. The latter let go of Mike's arm and took a small step away from him.

"Hey, we're going to CVS." Mike said. "Wanna come?"

Quinn's eyes darted from Heather to Mike before she said, "No, I've got work."

"Want me to bring you back something?"

Her eyes glanced back to Heather. "No."

"You sure?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Fine. An Arizona Arnold Palmer."

Mike grinned and stepped aside to let the other pair pass. "You got it."

The elevator ride began with blissful silence but that was quickly shattered as Heather resumed her one-sided conversation on office gossip. Thankfully, they didn't have to stop at any other floors so the ride was short. Although, if someone else did get on the elevator Heather might have stopped talking. A real catch-22.

"Thanks for listening to me ramble," Heather said as they exited the building. "I know you don't care about all the gossip but it helps me unwind."

Mike chuckled. "No problem. You can talk my ear off all you want. Just don't expect me to have an opinion on that stuff. Or remember any of it."

"Noted, but I think you'll want to pay attention to this juicy bit of news."

"Hmm?"

"You know that lawyer we saw with Quinn?"

"What about him."

She looked around, grabbed his arm, and pulled him closer to whisper into his ear. "He's got a big ol' crush on her."

"Does he now?"

"He does. And I hear he was none too happy that you were the chosen one when it came to her lunchtime companion."

He sighed and said, "Does he know that I'm her friend from high school. And that she has a boyfriend?"

She grinned up at him. "Yes and yes, but when has that ever stopped anyone from being jealous?"

"Never, I suppose," he said after considering her statement for a second.

XXX

Heather's statement didn't really hit home until later on that day.

Quinn had texted him right as he walked into his apartment with her usual "i/o?" and he told her to come on over. He did have plans to meet up at a bar with some people from work, but those were easily and quickly canceled with a text. It didn't require a second thought from him because he had a much better time watching movies and TV shows with her than drinking beer with a bunch of people he didn't really know.

As usual, there were piles of his stuff all around his apartment so he spent some time cleaning up because Quinn had made one too many comments about the mess. He knew she wouldn't come right out and say it, but the mess bothered her and those comments were her way of expressing it. Whether his place was clean or messy didn't matter to him but he usually didn't feel like cleaning after work or on the weekends or any time really. But if it bothered Quinn that much that she had to comment about it every time she came over then he'd spend a little time cleaning up beforehand.

He had just finished dropping off a load of crap into his bedroom when he heard the notification sound for a new text message. That was ignored because he had to wash some dishes in the sink that had been there for a few days. When that was done he checked his phone and saw that the text was from Quinn.

Won't be able to make it tonight. Andrew is surprising me with a night out.

No worries. Have fun.

He stared at the text message from Quinn and felt way more disappointed than he thought he would.

XXX

"Mike," he heard Quinn say after she knocked on the wall of his cubicle, "you doing anything Friday night?"

He tried to remember if he had any plans for tomorrow night and came up with nothing. "Nope."

"Can I come over?"

This was new. She had never asked him if he had plans before coming over. It had always been that quick text message.

"Uh, sure."

"I want pizza for dinner."

"Uh, okay."

"Great. I'll see you then."

XXX

The pizza arrived minutes after Quinn did on Friday night and she grabbed a slice from the box before he had a chance to put it on the table.

"Hungry much?"

She ignored him and poured herself an extra full glass of wine before taking a seat on the couch. It didn't take her long to finish her first slice and demand that Mike bring her another, which he did before getting his own dinner ready.

Back to the Future was the feature presentation for the night and when they both said Doc Brown's iconic line about not needing roads with the character onscreen, they looked at each other and laughed.

Quinn drained what was left of her wine and curled up against the armrest opposite of him. It took her a bit of flailing to grab the remote so she could channel surf. He finished his own wine and looked over to find her staring at him. It didn't take long until he started to feel self-conscious so he picked up the now empty wine bottle and glasses and brought them to the kitchen.

"Thanks for tonight," she said when he sat back down. "I really needed it."

"Well, I'm glad I could help."

He heard her shifting in her seat and when he looked over she was sitting up again, still staring at the TV.

"You remember that night I had to cancel on you?"

"What about it?"

"Andrew and I got into a fight." She changed the channel. "I— I think we're finished."

"What happened?" he asked after a few seconds.

"He surprised me with dinner at a nice place."

"Sounds romantic."

"It was. Then he asked me to move in with him."

"Oh."

"I told him that I needed to think about it and that he shouldn't have surprised me like that."

"Sounds reasonable."

"Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. All I know is that we got into an argument and I have no idea how it happened no matter how many times I go over that night."

It was few more seconds before he asked, "Do you want to move in with him?"

"No. Yes." She sighed. "I don't know. This is a huge decision and he just sprung it on me like it was some sort of weekend getaway." Another sigh. "How could he do this to me?"

To buy himself some time, he licked his lips and swallowed. "I think that he thought that this would be a surprise that you'd be happy about. I've seen you two together and you guys have always looked happy." He heard nothing but the sounds from the TV so he continued talking. "How long have you guys been together?"

"Almost two years."

"And he does make you happy right?"

"He does."

"Then you should probably talk to him. I'm sure you guys can work this out."

Before excusing herself for the night, she said, "I'm sure we can."

XXX

It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that he heard from her again and even then it was only a single text.

It's over.

XXX

Quinn spoke even less than usual the following work week and not even Heather's extensive gossip network could figure out why. That meant Heather had bugged him every day trying to see if he knew what was going on with Quinn. Needless to say, he kept his mouth shut. Not that Quinn had spoken much to him either. So it was a bit of a surprise to find she was the one knocking on his door late Saturday afternoon.

"What happened to texting before coming over?"

"What happened to the guy who never talked?" She dropped her head and sighed. "I'm sorry."

He waved her inside and said, "Don't worry about it."

"I need a drink," she said as she walked to the kitchen. "Something stronger than wine if you've got it."

"Single malt scotch work?" he asked, following her to the kitchen.

"I can't believe you've been hiding the good stuff from me after all this time."

He opened a cabinet, pulled out a bottle from the top shelf, and handed it to her. "That good enough for you?"

She examined the label then looked up at him. "Why do you have Macallan 18? Do you have a drinking problem I don't know about?"

He laughed. "No, sometimes you just wanna have something good. A bottle of that lasts about a year for me."

The bottle was handed back to him. "This is perfect."

"How do you take it?"

"Straight, please."

"Look at you being all sophisticated," he said as he pulled two lowball glasses out.

She smiled and said, "Shut up."

With a smile of his own, he poured two fingers of the brown liquid into each glass then handed her one. She quickly drained it then held it out for a refill which he gave her.

"So you savor the cheap wine but not my expensive scotch?"

"C'mon," she said as she rolled her eyes and left the kitchen. "Bring the bottle."

It didn't usually take them very long to settle on a movie. They had done this enough times before to know each other's tastes and could always find something they both liked. Tonight was different though, Mike didn't say a word while Quinn took her time browsing with the remote in one hand and her drink in the other.

After about five minutes of her endlessly scrolling through Netflix, he said, "You have any idea what you wanna watch?"

Her head jerked up like he had startled her. "Sorry. I kinda zoned out."

"It's okay."

"Do you want to pick something?"

"No, take your time," he said as she went back to her scrolling.

It didn't take too long for Quinn to speak again.

"I haven't thought about him since Monday and I'm completely fine with it. And with us being over. What does that say about me?"

He barely got "Uh…" out of his mouth before she continued to talk.

"I couldn't have loved him if I don't care at all, right?"

"Uh…"

"But then staying with him for almost two years would've been a complete waste of time."

"I'm sure you have some good memories of your time together."

She exhaled loudly. "Yea, that's true."

"And I'm sure it wasn't a waste of time because the Quinn I know wouldn't have put up with that."

She exhaled again but said nothing this time. Instead, she picked up her drink and sipped. But it wasn't long until she spoke again.

"I did some soul searching during the week and I don't know why I keep ruining my relationships. I've been doing it since high school and I haven't stopped." She paused to take a deep breath and her voice quivered as she said, "There's something wrong with me, isn't there?

"God. This is ridiculous," she said as she wiped at her eyes. "I haven't cried all week and now I'm doing it in front of you."

He slid across the couch, put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her closer. It was a bit of a surprise when she wrapped her arms around him after a few seconds and cried into his chest. The fact that she cried silently and with little movement wasn't a surprise.

"There's nothing wrong with you. No one gets it right, until they get it right. Everything before that is just progress."

"If I knew they make their graduates so wise, I would've gone to Stanford instead of Yale."

He chuckled then said, "Don't beat yourself up because you're like the rest of us. We've all gotten it wrong sometimes. And I didn't learn that from Stanford."

It took a few seconds before she looked up at him and said, "You and Tina were never like the rest of us."

Mike laughed, but Quinn shook her head and said, "It's true. While everyone else was always dealing with their drama, you two were together and happy all through high school. If I wasn't stuck in my relationships like I was in a revolving door, I think I would've been jealous of Tina."

"The most popular girl in school jealous of the once-stuttering gothy girl?" He chuckled and shook his head. "Crazy."

"It's not crazy. I wish… I wish I had what you guys had."

"No you don't," he mumbled and immediately hoped she hadn't heard the words.

No such luck.

"What'd you mean?"

"Nothing. It's not important."

"You're lying."

"Quite possibly."

"Fine. Don't tell me," she said as she dug her elbow into his ribs and tried to slide away.

"Nice to know all I need to do to get you to stop crying is make you mad."

Her shoulders rolled his arm off and she began to shift away from him. The way her mood could shift so suddenly would always surprise and amuse him, even if it meant being given the cold shoulder every once in a while. But most of all, he was honored because it meant she was comfortable enough with him to actually show emotions rather than the casual indifference she presented to everyone else. Though that didn't mean he liked it when she gave him the cold shoulder.

"Fine," he said then let out a sigh. "But you're gonna think I'm an asshole."

That got her attention as she stopped mid-shift and said, "I wouldn't think—"

"Don't say anything until you've heard the story." He took a long look at the remaining bit of the dark amber liquid in his glass before adding refilling it with an extra-long pour. "I'm going to need a new bottle when this night is over."

It didn't take too long to tell the story because most of the details had been forgotten, but that didn't stop Quinn from listening with rapt attention as he told her about the final stages of what became a long distance relationship with Tina and all his shortcomings: the lack of attention, the arguments, and his general awfulness during the last few months.

"So that's how it went through the last few months of my freshman year." He ran a hand through his hair. "Wouldn't exactly make my greatest hits album."

He felt her hand touch his forearm before he heard her say, "Long distance relationships are hard. I'm sure you both did the best you could."

"That's not the worst part," he said as he stared down at her hand. "We tried to fix it that summer after she graduated from McKinley even though I think we both knew things we over. And it was. We broke up right before we went off to college."

"Yea, I kinda remember that. We were all pretty sad when we heard."

"Well it gets better. We slept together one last time before breaking up—In fact, it was the night we broke up—and I get a call from her a few months later and she tells me that she's pregnant."

The gasp from Quinn paused his story for a second.

"Yea, I think I made that same noise when she told me. I mean we talked now and then, but this came out of nowhere because she was on birth control. And you know what?" That feeling of surprise, terror, and joy hit him again, muted through the passage of time, and he looked up at her. "I was fine with it because we were still in love and I told her that. And I told her that the choice was completely up to her, but I would be there for her either way.

"She didn't call for a few weeks, but when she did she said she was going to get an abortion." As soon as that last word left his mouth he felt her hand tighten its grip on his arm. "I— I couldn't believe how relieved I felt."

"That's understandable. It would've been almost impossible to raise a kid at the same time while you guys were basically starting at two different schools."

"I know. That's what she told me but it still made me feel awful but what could I do? It was her choice so we made plans to get it done over Thanksgiving weekend."

The grimace on her face made him put on a wry smile before he said, "Yea, not exactly the best way to spend the holiday weekend."

"I could think of better options."

"Well… we uh, never got around to it. About a week before Thanksgiving, she called me. Only this time she was crying because she had a miscarriage."

Tears reappeared in her eyes as she said, "Mike…"

Seeing as how both of her hands were involved with the death grip being applied to one of his forearms, he used the free hand attached to the other to grab a tissue and held it up to her. He waited until she dabbed her eyes dry before he continued.

"Here's the best part. I was so angry at her. I mean, it's not like it made a difference. The end result was the same, but I couldn't even look at or talk with her over Thanksgiving break. It took months before I could actually think about her without getting angry. I was being fucking ridiculous and I know I hurt her by not being there for her."

"Mike…"

"I never thought I'd be that guy who would hurt someone he loved, you know?"

"You didn't mean to," she said as he finally noticed that her hand had been gently stroking his arm and it seemed like she didn't realize she was doing it either. He didn't say anything about it because, well, it felt good.

"That makes it worse doesn't it? Anyway, that's the story as to why I'm an asshole."

From the silence coming from her, it was pretty clear that she agreed with him. He picked up his glass and took a sip, just to have something to do.

"You would have made a good father."

He laughed then gave her an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my own life back then. There's no way I could've been a dad."

"That doesn't matter. I know you would've made a good father," she said with a tone that made it sound like she was going over a position paper she had written and was completely certain in its arguments. And like listening to her talk about those papers, he didn't know if she believed in what she was saying, but she sure sounded like she did.

"You would have been a good mother."

"I wasn't ready," she said as she finally pulled her hand away his forearm, much to his disappointment, and picked up her own glass.

Throwing her own words back at her, he said, "That doesn't matter. I know you would've been a good mother."

She smiled softly and rolled her eyes.

He continued, "I'm not kidding."

"Could've fooled me."

It was his turn to roll his eyes, something he didn't do very often. "Out of all of us, you were the most mature."

"Are you sure you know what that word means? Because I think you're forgetting when I turned into a chain-smoking crazy person."

"Forget you with pink hair? Never."

That made her eyes roll again.

"I'm serious. You would have made a great mother, pink hair and all."

"Thanks."

He grinned, nudged her with an elbow, then said, "And you would be a great mother now, even without the pink hair."

XXX

"So, what're we doing tomorrow?"

Mike looked up from his food and found Quinn leaning towards him from across her side of the table.

"Hmm? Don't know."

"There's an exhibit at the Hirshhorn we can go to."

Mike made a face. "Modern art?"

"Yes, modern art," she said as she kicked him in the shin, causing him to grin. "There was this guy who did some really beautiful things with wirework. His stuff was amazing and it's interesting how—"

"Okay okay, we can go to the Hirshhorn. But I get to choose what we're watching tonight."

The look on her face didn't make it seem like she was too thrilled with getting what she wanted before she looked down and stabbed a few pieces of pasta with her fork. Mike spent a few minutes watching Quinn eating in silence until she looked up and spoke again.

"I know I've been coming by here pretty often ever since Andrew and I broke up. I appreciate it, but I know I'm taking up a lot of your free time so just tell me if you need a weekend or two to yourself."

Mike swallowed the pasta in his mouth, looked at her, and said, "If I minded you dropping by, I would tell you. Plus, if you're only going to give me two weekends, there's no point is there?" That earned him a grin and another kick in the shin. "More wine?"

XXX

"Mike, you know I like you right?"

"Hmm?" He glanced up from his work at Heather who was leaning against his desk. "Yea, I kinda figured that with the way you're always grabbing my arm and pulling me around."

"You know it's just as a friend right?"

"I kinda figured that too since you've told me all about your dates."

"Good, as long as we're both clear on that."

"Okay then," he said as he typed a bit. "Glad we cleared that, uh, confusion right up."

"Don't be a jerk."

"Just restating what we've learned like any good conclusion should."

He could feel her eyes rolling as he went back to work, not that he minded since the paper he was writing was simple and she wasn't distracting him by dragging him out of his cubicle for some reason or another.

"Good. Because I wanted to ask you something as a friend."

"Hmm? What's that?"

"How do you think a woman would feel if the guy she liked got back after being away for a few days from say… a wedding and didn't notice that she had gotten her hair done and was wearing nicer clothes just for that guy?"

"She'd probably be pissed— Wait, I just got back from a wedding." He spun around in his chair and looked Heather over. "You don't look any different."

"Not me, you idiot," she said as she kicked his chair.

"Uh, who then?"

"Are you serious?"

"Uh, yes…?" he asked, pretty sure that wasn't the right answer.

She pushed away from his desk and stuck her head out of his cubicle, quickly looking around for a few seconds. Satisfied with whatever she saw, or didn't see, she went back to his desk and quietly said, "You haven't noticed anything different about Quinn today?"

"No, seems like the same old Quinn. Wait. You're kidding." Heather shook her head before Mike continued, "There's no way she did all that for some guy."

The look Heather gave him said otherwise and made his stomach unsettled because Quinn had never once mentioned liking anyone. Then again, he and Quinn never talked much about relationships and dating.

"Who is the guy anyway?"

"You know, I never took you for one of the dense ones."

"You're talking about me?" he asked with a finger pointed at himself.

Heather grinned and nodded.

"That's crazy, Quinn doesn't like me."

Uncharacteristically, she didn't say anything at all choosing to just smirk and shrug instead.