Chapter 13: Awaiting Sunrise

I awakened to an upside down view of Ana glaring at me. Apparently Ally and I had fallen asleep on the couch. I looked around disoriented my movement jostled Ally enough to wake her too. She rubbed her eyes and looked around at the Grey family who seemed more than interested by our positioning. It wasn't be any mean indecent, it just looked romantic, like I was cuddling her, and to be truthful I probably was. Alex parted from me slowly as she tried to gain her composure.

"What going on here?" Mia asked at she sat in the leather recliner in front of us.

"We fell asleep," I commented only admitting to the obvious. She gave me a looked deserved by my simpleton statement.

"Jose' was helping me get a few things ready for when we leave here. I need to find a new dance studio and I have to audition." I was surprised that Alex was so forthcoming. Mia sat on the other side of Alex and studied her for a moment before starting to ask more questions.

"So what songs did you decide on?" Mia asked the girls began to chat and eventually Alex pulled up old videos she had downloaded on her laptop of her dancing for the others to watch. It seemed to distract everyone from our positioning when they arrived. I slowly removed myself from the equation so they wouldn't remember what had them so flustered when they walked in. I needed a drink … I wanted a beer. I looked in the fridge and was left disappointed. Why did Christian only drink champagne? It really annoyed me it wasn't that I didn't like it, it just didn't taste well with chips; I wouldn't have minded some chips either. Nonetheless, I grabbed a glass and poured. As usual the taste was crisp, cool, and fruity I stared at the contents of my glass and wondered how many glasses I'd have to take to become drunk. I felt my eyes being drawn back to Alex I looked at her and she was looking at me. Her hazel eyes were not only that, but they acted as magnets where I was concerned.

All the females where gathered around her laptop and Alex seemed a little unnerved. Although Ally was friendly she was just kind of reserved. I could tell she was kind of uncomfortable. I looked down so she couldn't tell that I was laughing at her. She had reason to feel uncomfortable. Those women were some of the nicest women I knew. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Grey, take a call and walk out onto the patio. Elliot and Ethan sat contently chattering about something while they waited for their counterparts to be ready to head upstairs.

"You can watch them all if you want," Ally said as she got up and stretched. "I'm going to grab water." She came over into the kitchen where I was. She glanced at me as she opened the fridge and grabbed bottled water. "You better not sneak upstairs Rodriguez; I will hunt you down and hurt you!" She whispered before taking a sip of water. I slightly choked of my sip of champagne.

"You know me too well Alex, I was about to bail. You claim I'm so old it is well pass nine, I'm too tired to stay up." I teased while my lips still touched my glass.

"I will hurt you!" She said once more before joining the others. I snickered before following her back into the living room.

"So Jose' did you get any good pictures?" Kate asked as she looked up from the laptop. I was taken back, what pictures? I sat down on the arm of the chair where Alex had sat down.

"Huh, oh I actually stayed in with Alex. I didn't want to leave poor Alex all alone." Alex twisted toward me and glared at me then rolled her eyes.

"What he means to say he wanted to stay here and annoy me and he's nosy. He was on his way out the door and what so consumed by his curiosity that he stayed and monitored my internet habits." She was pretending to be annoyed but smirking at me the whole time.

"I'm sure you hated having me here," I murmured dryly. She looked down at her fingers and chuckled slightly.

"So you two were here alone?" Mia looked at Alex with narrowed eyes. Alex rolled her eyes and drew her thumbnail to her mouth.

"Yeah." She shrugged as if to say so what.

"Well Mrs. Taylor is here but she's been upstairs with the kids all night," I added for some reason the look Mia was giving me made me feel guilty. I have no idea what for. I hadn't broken any laws, I had a really good time and was kind of annoyed by the feeling I was now having.

"Oh speaking of which!" Ana hopped up and hurried toward the stairs. "I should probably relieve her of her duties and kiss my babies." Kate handed Alex's laptop to Mia and motioned for Elliot to follow her.

"Yeah us too, I have missed my little Ava. I am starting to think that I've gotten too old for the club scene. You dance beautifully Alex; I actually did a couple of articles for my magazine about art and dance festivals. I can give you the name of some of the studios I talked to."

"That'd be great Kate, thanks." Alex beamed at her happy to get another lead.

"Don't mention it. I'll look them up when we get back and forward the information to Jose'." Kate and Elliot bid us all goodnight and followed Ana to the nursery.

"And then there were four," Ethan murmured as he looked at his all too nosy girlfriend. She had started watching one of Alex's videos for the second time when he cleared his throat and turned to us.

"So the sky is very clear tonight I know you said you wanted to capture so night photos for the gallery." Ethan began his halfhearted endeavor to make small talk.

"Yeah I actually got a few good ones already. A few more wouldn't hurt. The stars weren't as clear as I wanted them to be." I offered, "Are the stars out tonight?"

"Nah, it's cloudy." He nodded and gave Mia another look.

"Mia, I think your Ethan is ready to go upstairs." Alex chuckled as she gave Mia more than a little hint about Ethan's disposition.

"He can't wait, he's got me waiting," she grumbled and Ethan snorted. He said something under his breath about the woman having no patience. Alex turned to me and gave me a comical expression in response to their disposition. I simply shrugged, relationship sometimes goes through phases and the only thing you can really do is shrug and deal.

"Well, I'm tired Mia, I've been staring at that screen for most of the night and my eyes want to desperately close," Alex looked at Ethan and then Mia. She stood and shuffled over to collect her laptop. "We can look at more of them tomorrow and I can show you some of the studios I plan to audition for, but right now I'm headed to bed." She shut her laptop and carried it under her arm.

"Night," Alex offered us and she headed up the stairs. The little minx had done exactly what she'd asked me not to do. She'd left me down here alone. I knew it would look to weird if I went up after her. So I excused myself to try to capture memory of the early morning hours here and to await the sunrise.

Author's Note: Hi all I would love to know if you're still with me so please, please, read, REVIEW, and no flames.