**I DO NOT OWN THIS SHOW OR THE CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW, I AM JUST BORROWING THEM**

~Catherine~

As I'm gathering my things to prepare to leave, I can't help but feel excited to get to actually hang out with Vincent. I know he said it wasn't a date, but can't a girl dream a little? I walk into my father's office to let him know I was leaving when he asked me to come back, "Yes?"

"Catherine, I was wondering if you and your sister would like to go out for dinner tonight. Maybe around 6:30pm? If you have plans, I can resch…."

"No, dad. It's fine….let me just take care of a couple of things and I'll meet you…where exactly?"

What am I doing? What about Vincent?

"Sure darling. Does the Red Lobster sound okay?"

"It's fine. I'll see you there."

Well I guess me and Vincent will have to take a rain check on coffee.

As I leave the building, Vincent is waiting outside, and he looks rather nice leaning on his car….Too nice actually. What do I tell him? He shouldn't be upset about it, but what if he is? Think Catherine, think!

"Hey Vincent…..uhm, can we do the coffee thing another time? You see, dad is taking me and Heather out for dinner and…" before you knew it, dad had somehow snuck up from behind me and began talking to Vincent, "Hi, I'm Catherine's dad. You a friend of Catherine's?"

They shook hands as Vincent responded, "Yeah, actually. We live in the same apartment building. I was just leaving."

Oh no, I can see the wheels turning in my father's head. My cheeks started to turn red when he said, "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Really dad? Why are you doing this to me? Although something in my gut tells me that I kind of wish he says yes.

"Uh….actually, I had plans to go grab a coffee and head home, thanks anyways…..I'll see you around Catherine?"

I nod and he turns to get into car, and leaves. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings, he looked pretty disappointed…especially the way he looked at me when he made that last comment about coffee. Sighs.

~Vincent~

Mad? No…not mad. Upset? Definitely not. I am sort of disappointed though. I really wanted to take her out for coffee….well, not really. I actually wanted to maybe get to know her better so that hopefully she would want to go out again, and actually call that a date instead of neighbors going out for coffee. Sighs. Pulling out of the parking lot, I notice sadness on her face in my rearview mirror. But I can't just impose on her and her family's dinner night. It just wouldn't be right, even though I was invited. We don't even know each other that well yet. Maybe more cleaning at the club will help me shake this off. But what is 'this' anyways? Neighbors? Friends? Who knows, all I know is that I feel like she turned me down and obviously it is affecting me bad enough to keep thinking about it. I guess I'm over thinking too much, I have no right to be upset at all. I mean it's not like were together or anything…and we probably never will be. Friends would be nice though, and it's a start, right? And I still have the guilt of how I talked to her about Zeke, I still want to make it up to her. But how, since coffee is now out of the question? Ugh! I just need to stop thinking about it completely and move on.

I sat in my car for what seemed like hours, in reality I was only sitting there for maybe 20 minutes before going inside the club. When I go inside, JT comes in behind me, "Oh, hey JT. Didn't see you outside. What's up?"

"I met somebody."

"Okay, and?"

"And, she lives in the same apartments as you do."

Oh God, please don't be Catherine. I don't think I could really handle it.

"…and?"

"Well, her name is Tess. We met at the Midnight Café."

Thank God, I can actually breathe now.

"That's good JT. I'm happy for you."

"Do you know her?"

"No…just because I live in the same apartment building as she does, doesn't mean I know her."

I know that from experience because of Catherine. All this time that I lived there, I not once noticed the beauty that lived above me.

"Hmmm…Okay then. So when do you have to have this place ready to re-launch?"

"You was there JT, don't you remember? Sighs. It has to be ready for one more inspection by next Thursday and the re-launch is set for next Friday. Wanna help?"

~Catherine~

The whole time at dinner, I couldn't stop thinking about Vincent. I feel so horrible about canceling my plans with him for coffee. I really wanted to go with him, but I didn't want to let my dad down neither. I think either way I would feel bad, so it's a lose, lose situation. I hardly touched my food, its kind of hard to eat when your mind is somewhere else and I think dad and Heather noticed it too.

"Catherine, you okay?" said Heather.

I snapped out of my thoughts to finally answer her, "Yeah….I'm fine." I really wasn't fine, but I was hoping to convince them otherwise.

"Catherine, as your father I know when my darling girl is bothered by something. I raised you. Please tell me, what is wrong?"

I swear my father makes it so hard to lie to him.

"You remember that guy that came to the office? Well, he was there to pick me up."

"Cat! You have a new guy in your life, and you didn't tell me?"

"Heather, it isn't like that, I hardly know him. We were just supposed to go grab coffee, that's it."

Dad had one of those looks on his face like he was disappointed in me for lying to him.

"I thought you said you didn't have any plans? I could have rescheduled."

"Dad, I can assure you that you had no need to cancel dinner plans. Again, I hardly know him and I can handle canceling plans with a stranger rather than with my own father."

My sister shook her head while she was smiling, "Doesn't look like your handling it."

"Look, I wanted to go with him, yes, but I am not canceling a family plan for this. I can go another time with Vincent."

"So that's mystery guys name. Is he hot?"

Of course Heather had to ask about his looks, but luckily for me dad saved me from having to answer that, "Catherine, go to the coffee shop and have fun. Please darling, don't not have fun just because of me. I love you sweetie, and I want you to be happy."

"Dad, I am happy. I am only upset about it cause I think he was upset about it. Its no biggy dad, really."

"Go. Have fun, and I love you. And I won't take no for an answer this time."

I didn't hesitate a second. I got up and thanked him, followed by kissing his cheek and I left the restaurant. I hope Vincent is still there.

Upon arrival of the Midnight Café, I began to feel nervous. I took a deep breath as I walked up to the tiny coffee shop to find out that Vincent wasn't there. I felt sort of disappointed that he wasn't there, but I guess I deserved it for my sudden change of plans. Sigh. I suppose ill just head home. Maybe I can find him there.

~Vincent-Earlier~

"Hey JT, lets call it a night. Besides, we don't have much more to do to the place and we have plenty of time to finish. We could meet here tomorrow if you want…say 4pm?"

"Sorry big guy, but I got a date then. I can meet you here tomorrow morning instead?"

"Don't worry about it JT, I can take care of it. It's no problem. You have fun on your date and I'll catch up with you later this weekend."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll see you later JT."

I grabbed my keys and felt a sudden urge to head over to the coffee shop. On my way there, I started thinking about Catherine again. She really has this hold on me somehow and I don't know how or why….it doesn't make sense because we know little about each other.

As I arrive and get out of the car, I froze when I saw Catherine standing there staring into the window. Wait, why did she leave? Where is she going? I realized that I still had a chance to make amends with her for the previous night and I went inside the coffee shop.

"Hey Bernice. Two coffee's, black."

"Why, Vincent Keller. Long time, no see. I haven't seen you in here since your brothers passed. How have you been?"

Bernice was like a mom to me and my brothers back in the day. The little woman sure could get herself around at her age especially with her coffee shop. She lost her husband 4 years before my brothers passing and used the benefits from his death to open up a coffee shop. I guess it was better than giving up on life itself and she's been here ever since. After my brothers passing, I didn't go back in there as much…and finally not at all.

"I've seen better days. I finally decided to re-open Kellers. It starts business next week."

"That's great sweetie. Your brothers would be so proud of you. You know, William use to come in here everyday with his usual of a brownie with almonds and a cup of coffee. When 9/11 happened, he sat in the very spot you are sitting in when he got radioed to head to the station. I never knew that it would have been my last conversation with him. He was such a nice boy, as were Michael and you. Life is precious dear….you never know when it's your time to go to the heavenly sky above us…..here's your coffee's."

"Thanks Bernice. It was so good to see you."

"Hey, don't be a stranger. Come back sometime….SOON. You take care Vincent." We hugged and I left to head back to the apartments.

I finally arrived back to the apartments and I noticed Catherine was out on her fire escape. I walked inside and looked for Catherine's apartment number on the wall of residents meant for the postal people to refer to in order to deliver our mail. She was in Apt. 405 on the 4th floor. I sort of skipped steps as I walked upstairs heading to Catherine and I froze momentarily when I actually made it to the door.

~Catherine~

I stood on my fire escape, thinking about Vincent. I find myself thinking about him a lot recently. Is that even normal? Ugh, I just wish I had went with him today. Maybe to have gotten to know him better than just being my neighbor. This is so complicated for me, I just don't understand why I even care. Humanity….which in this world that we live in is so blinded by the word itself, to have found somebody who seemed more human than anybody else I have met. Vincent…. He doesn't seem like other guys….he can't be real. Is somebody at the door? I could have sworn I heard a knock. Maybe I'm hearing things, or not because there is the same sound coming from my door. When I go to open the door, I'm surprised to see that Vincent is standing in my doorway.

"Vincent…." I breathed, "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping we could still have that coffee….I brought you a cup."

Wow, I'm impressed. And if he was at the coffee shop, then why didn't I see him there?

"Thanks! You uh….you want to come inside?"

This feels so weird having him inside of my apartment. I closed the door behind him as he entered, and we sat down at the table. Silence surrounded us….not one word was said for the first few minutes. I decided to speak first, but right when I said his name, he said mine at the exact same moment. He then said, "You go first."

"Nope, I insist you go first."

"Okay….Catherine, I'm sorry about I what I said about Zeke….it was none of my business and I had no right saying what I said. I had been drinking for one, and my ex had pissed me off earlier that day, amongst other things that has happened in my life and I took it out on your relationship and I shouldn't have. I truly am sorry."

"It's fine Vincent. Really it is…I don't know what has happened to you, so I can't say that I know what your going through. But I do understand that shit happens….to everybody. I'm actually use to being treated the way Zeke has treated me, so I guess you could say it feels normal to me."

"You don't deserve that kind of treatment at all…no woman does."

How on Earth did I end up meeting such a wonderful man? He sure does know what to say.

"Thank you."

He nodded as he said, "Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Vincent, I'm sorry I canceled our plans earlier. I know you seemed upset about it, and I wanted to apologize for it. If it makes you feel better, I left dinner and went to the coffee shop to find you…but you weren't there."

"You have no reason to apologize to me Catherine. I understand fully. You have family, they should always come first….and I have a confession to make….I saw you at the coffee shop but you were leaving. That's when I picked up these cups and came here."

"Well you are a life saver then because after I had made it back home, I wanted a cup of coffee."

We laughed and when he was looking back up at me, I was looking back up at him. Another friggin glance!

"Can we call it truce and be friends?" he said and I didn't even give 2 seconds to respond, "Of course."

"Good cause I wanted to take you out again, this time maybe dinner instead of coffee? If you don't want to Catherine I totally under…."

"Sure!"

Okay, he just totally asked me out. I think I'm going to faint….instead I find myself going out onto my fire escape for some fresh air and he followed behind me.

"So you like coming out here too? And I thought I was the only one who thought a fire escape was pretty awesome."

I laughed at his sarcasm as I said, "Well, not everybody knows how cool it is to have a fire escape. I guess you could call mine my sanctuary of some sorts."

We talked for hours about me….then about him. I found out he owned a club which belonged to his brothers. His brothers passed away on 9/11 in the towers. How awful is that? He told me about his ex-girlfriend, Tori too. How could she be so cruel to such a sweet guy? Before you knew it, he was leaving. I walked him to my door as he turned around and said, "I had fun. This was nice, thank you Catherine."

"Your welcome. Oh, and thanks for the coffee. I had a nice time too, Vincent."

We said our goodbyes and he walked away as I closed the door and turned to find myself leaning back against it. I released a huge sigh and locked the door, then headed for bed.

~Vincent~

What a woman. She was just amazing at heart. I felt pretty good to have finally got to actually sit down and get to know her a little better. She has had a bad past involving boyfriends, one who needed his neck snapped for laying his hands on her. Who the hell does that? And to a woman?! I'd hurt somebody if they ever did that in front of me, I don't who you are. Men should NEVER place their hands on woman unless it is to show love. Ugh! I enter my apartment and repeat the same steps as always, lock the door, throw keys on the table, take shoes off….this time I went straight to bed.

I wake up an hour later from just going to sleep when I hear a knock at the door. Who the hell is up at 3 in the morning? Again, another knock, "I'm coming!" I shouted, and I got up out of the bed. I slipped on a buttoned up shirt, but left it unbuttoned. When I open the door, Catherine is standing there….and she seems kind of off.

"Catherine…Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Vincent…there is something that I need to tell you, can I come in?"

"Sure." I backed up as she entered my apartment. She leaned up against the kitchen table, running her hand through her hair. "What's going on Catherine?"

"Vincent, I need to be honest with you…."

Why is she coming near me like that? The look of seduction came straight out of her….hunger in her eyes.

"Yeah? What is it?"

Before you knew it she jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck and began kissing me. She backed away and said, "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have done that….."

I shut her up with a kiss back, this time it was way deeper than that. She opened her mouth to give me access with my tongue and we kissed so passionately. I picked her up, her legs wrapped around my waist, and shoved everything off the kitchen table as I laid her down, not breaking from the kiss for one moment. She ripped my shirt off and began kissing my neck, and god it felt so good. Not just her kissing my neck, but when she kissed me in general.

I jump out of bed, breathing hard, sweating, and looking around. I tried to collect my thoughts with what had just happened while my heart raced.

I finally realized, that it was only just a dream.

**A/N: Hey my darlings! Thank you for your reviews and answers on Chapter 2. Totally appreciate it. This chapter I had fun with as well as Chapter 2. Hot dream? Yes? Lol! Sorry to leave you all in such a way, but if you haven't noticed in my other story, I have to throw in a cliffhanger. Haha. Okay, the real question is what do you think Vincent is thinking right now? Try to unravel what is in his head and post your answers in a review. Anyways, you know what to do, Love you guys! I'll try to update soon. I love you all, you all are truly amazing!**