He smelled so good. Her hands burned with the sense memory of the solidness of his chest. Rose was around the corner from Dr. Conlon's office, back against a wall, processing what had just happened. This encounter was going to give her a lot more fantasy fodder and make it harder to ignore her infatuation. She sighed when she remembered that she had somewhere to be, and started making her way toward the bus stop while calling up her mum on speed dial.

It went straight to voicemail, thankfully. Had Jackie answered, she would have fussed the whole time Rose was riding to Dominick's. She loved her mum fiercely, but the woman could be a bit of an annoyance. "Mum, I'm going to be another ten minutes late, sorry the meeting ran long. See you soon, bye." She hung up and hopped on the bus.

The party was not a blowout, but it was decent until her ex-boyfriend Mickey happened to show up at Dominick's with his new girlfriend. She wasn't hung up on Mickey at all but it made her realize that she was lonely. They had split on amicable terms, promising to be friends, but he had begun to avoid her calls and stop responding to her texts soon after. Possibly the new girl had something to do with it. Their eyes met and she waved, but he looked away and never came over. Must've been right about the new girlfriend, she mused.

She let her mind wander back to John while Jackie told her friends stories she'd already heard loads of times. There were only four more weeks of class. Then it wouldn't be against policy if they were to get involved. If she suddenly made a high mark in the class right before they got together, then there could be an investigation if her fellow classmates complained. But she didn't know anyone in that class anyhow and there was no way for her to earn a high mark without grade tampering.

She was smitten and lonely and John was hot. Now if she could just keep her hands to herself for four more weeks and not scare him away.

John usually had a smile for everyone who entered the classroom, but on Monday, when Rose made it in, he looked down and uselessly shuffled some papers. After yesterday, she was almost certain he was attracted to her and she no longer felt guilty for using him as her sleep aid. Tripping because her foot fell asleep and brushing up against him were accidents - happy accidents - but accidents nonetheless and she would not take blame for them.

At the end of the lecture, John was obviously trying to hurry and gather his things to leave but Rose would not be so easily deterred. She wanted to ask him about the extra credit he had offered.

"'Scuse me, Mr. Smith? Were you able to ask Dr. Conlon about the extra credit?"

John hesitated, "-er yes. He said it would be fine since your attendance is perfect." He continued to make a show of getting his papers organized but was really disorganizing them for lack of paying attention. The fuss he was making caused him to knock his water bottle off of his desk. It rolled toward Rose and she bent to retrieve it.

"Thanks," he said, eyes still glued to the chaos on the table in front of him.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"You never said when to be at the observatory," she stated. "You said you had to let me in."

"Oh. Right. Yes. The main gate at 11:00pm. It'll be chilly; bring a jacket." Having finally gathered all of his papers up in a rather messy fashion, he turned to leave.

"Tomorrow night, right?"

He stopped and turned around, finally looking her in the eyes, "Yes, tomorrow night. 11. Don't be late, I have work to do."

It wasn't chilly, it was downright cold. At five minutes past 11, John had yet to show. She didn't know if he was already there or if he was going to be arriving. She heard a door slam from the direction of the building complex and turned her head. John was walking to the gates while sorting through a large ring of keys.

After selecting a key, he noticed Rose at the gate and began to jog to cover the distance. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," he fretted while turned the key in the lock. "Time got away from me."

"It's fine," she replied.

He said nothing more but when he opened the gate inwards, he stood behind it to allow her to pass. He locked it behind her and she walked behind him to the observatory in silence, their feet crunching on the gravel. In class, he was usually in a suit, but now he was in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and she couldn't help but enjoy the view that was presented to her.

After getting inside, he took her through a long hallway to the room of the main telescope. The dome was open making it only slightly warmer in the telescope room than it was outside. She stopped and gaped in astonishment at the sheer enormity of the telescope. It was something she'd seen it in pictures, but she could truly appreciate it once she was in front of it.

"There's usually one or two others here at night, but tonight it's just me. And you. Time was, at night observatories would be busy. You'd have to make reservations months in advance and your time was limited," John sighed. "Now, the lazy ones let the computers do the observing," he added distastefully. He stared up at the open dome for a moment then seemed to remember himself, cleared his throat, and he was off.

He traveled across the room at a fast clip stopping to put on his glasses and peer at at one monitor. Frowning, he shook his head and continued on to a table strewn with papers. He jotted something down and waved Rose over.

"I know it's here somewhere," he muttered to himself. She stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets while she waited for him whatever it was he was looking for. "Here we go," he handed her a slightly crumpled paper. "This is your extra credit assignment. I take it you brought a notebook?"

"Yeah, in my backpack," she replied as she shrugged it off.

He pointed at one of the nearby monitors. "This screen will have the information you need on it. I'll give you a few minutes to read the assignment but it's pretty straightforward. Just record the data at ten minute intervals and on your own time, make a spreadsheet, graph it, and write a short paper with three sources. You'll need about two hours' worth of data. Got it?"

"Think so."

He nodded and took his own notebook sat in a rolling chair and rolled over the the monitor he had stopped by.

Rose looked around for another chair, and finding one, made herself comfortable at the assigned monitor. After reading the assignment and finding it was something she shouldn't have any trouble with, she recorded her first bit of data and set her phone to vibrate every ten minutes. She slumped down in the chair and swiveled around. His back was to her. She blew her bangs out of her face and slumped lower. This was going to be a boring night.

Rose had given up getting this man to talk. Any statements she made were rewarded with a non-committal "hmm," and questions were answered with as few words as possible. I wonder if he is being monosyllabic because he's really that into his work, or because he is avoiding me. Probably both, she decided.

It was fun to watch him though, not that there was anything else to do during those 9 minutes when she wasn't copying down numbers. He'd occasionally mutter to himself and slide from one computer to the next, flip switches, type on a keyboard, write something in his notebook, or sit back and muss his hair. Rose was willing to bet he had completely forgotten about her.

Both Rose and John started when they heard shouting from outside. He stood up, tense, and made a motion as if to take something out of a breast pocket - of which he had none. A brief look of confusion crossed his face that was replaced with a stony hardness that was almost scary. Rose stood up as well and joined him in looking in the direction the voices came from.

"Should I call the police," she asked, gripping her phone.

"No, no. We have security guards," he turned back towards the work station he'd been sitting at and picked up the receiver of a phone. He had pressed but one number when a loud bang sounded from behind them. It came from the hallway that they had entered from.

Automatically, John put himself between the noise and Rose and took her right hand in his left, phone receiver forgotten. "Who's there," he shouted, his voice booming across the telescope dome.

Infinite seconds passed without a sound.

"I said, who's there," he enunciated forcefully.

When they heard footsteps coming down the hallway, he tightened his grip on her hand.

A voice said something she couldn't understand, but John must have recognized the voice, for his body relaxed and he let go of her hand.

A thin man in a security guard outfit appeared. "Oh hello, Mr. Smith. Caught some kids trying to get over the fence. Just wanted to come check on things in here. All right there?"

"Everything is fine, Earl, but what was that noise?"

"Oh, just my nightstick banging against the doorjamb when I came in. Echoes something fierce. Sorry about that."

John gave a quick smile to Earl. "Quite all right."

Earl nodded. "I'm going to get back to my rounds," Earl stated as he turned and walked away.

When John turned around to face Rose, they both noticed how close they were to each other. Their eyes locked and both were breathing a little harder than normal. Rose broke away first.

"Er- yes." He finally moved away from her. "I need a water, how about you? Water? Fizzy drink?"

"Yeah water I guess, thanks."

John exited through a different door to fetch the water. Her eyes were drawn down to his notebook and she noticed that this one was covered in the same kind of drawings and symbols that his planner was. Rose's phone buzzed again and she recorded yet another set of data.

She looked behind her when she heard the door that John left through shut. "That was more excitement tonight I think than there has been here in years," he offered, a slight smile playing on his lips. He sat down in his chair and rolled over to where Rose was sitting, putting a bottle of water in front of her. "May I see," he asked, gesturing to her notebook.

She pushed the notebook his way and watched him go over her notes. "I really appreciate the extra credit. My mum would flip if I failed a class now when I'm so close to graduating."

"One of those types, is she," he quirked an eyebrow at her.

"You've got no idea. I'm only started doing this because she wanted me to make something of myself and not be like her: struggling all of my life. She doesn't realize that she doesn't need to push anymore; I'm doing it for me now too. I guess she's nagging because she cares and that's how she thinks things get done. I don't know."

"Ah, parents," he murmured.

"Sounds like there might be a story there," she smiled, "what are yours like."

There was a long pause. "I don't remember," he confessed.

She peered at him curiously, waiting to see if he would elaborate, and when he didn't she asked, "I'm sorry, did they pass when you were young or..." she trailed off.

"No. Well, I don't know. The first memory I have is waking up in a hospital four years ago. I was told I had been in an abandoned building when it collapsed and had been in a coma for a week. Head trauma," he tapped on his temple with a finger and stared into the distance before beginning again. "They had found two bodies as well as me. I had had identification on me, so at least I knew who I was, and where I lived. But in the apartment where I had lived, there were very few personal items and no clues as to my background or family. I discovered one of the bodies had belonged a roommate I had no memory of." He ran both of his hands over his face. "I felt so much guilt for surviving and not remembering, and the police questioning my amnesia didn't help."

She touched his hand, "That sounds awful."

The corners of his mouth twitched down more and he sighed. "The only things I knew about myself were my name and that I was getting my doctorate in astrophysics. I've searched and searched. I can't find anyone that I knew before the coma. Even my advisor didn't recognise me. If it hadn't been for the therapist I was assigned after I was released from the hospital, I don't know where I'd be. Certainly not on the cusp of finishing a doctorate." John made eye contact with Rose, "He convinced me to go on with my doctorate because I must have been passionate about it. He believed it would eventually restore my memories. So far, they're still blank."

Abruptly, he stood and turned away, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He looked so distressed that it hurt Rose's heart. She got up as well and pulled him back round and wrapped him in a comforting hug. For a moment he wore an expression of panic, and didn't return the hug, but squeezed his eyes shut and gingerly put his arms around her back. They both mutually pulled slightly away, still touching, and when Rose stretched up to peck him on the cheek he turned his head at just the same moment and she ended up kissing the corner of his lips.

Rose's phone vibrated loudly against the table and John backed away as if Rose were hot.

For a while neither said anything and both were avoiding each others' eyes. "I think we have a problem," Rose spoke up.

"Yes, I've observed as much," he replied.