Rude took them to a little bistro. Shalua felt a bit silly being there in her lab coat and her hair was probably messed up from work as well. Everyone else was dressed nicely, including the man with her.

"What's your name?" Shalua asked, realizing she didn't know.

"Rude."

"Rude?" Shalua said in surprise as she looked over the menu. What kind of name was that?

"And you're Shalua Rui, one of the best scientists at WRO." Rude said. "Reeve told me all about you."

Just then the waiter showed up to take their order. After he left, Rude asked Shalua about her work. She was still talking when their food arrived. While they were eating, Shalua used the time to collect her thoughts. It had been so long since she had talked 'shop' with someone outside the lab. Or about anything for that matter. And he actually seemed to understand some of her experiments, or at least the basic principles behind them. She tried to refuse dessert, but Rude insisted. After the bill was paid, Rude walked her home.

A week later, Reno and Rude were at the new bar again for their lunch break.

"So how are things going with that…what's her name again?" Reno asked.

"Shalua Rui. Things are going fine." Rude replied.

"She must have other remarkable talents besides science. You've seen her just about every night for the past week." Reno suggested with his usual innuendo.

"A gentleman never tells." Rude said primly as he took a sip of his beer.

"You haven't had sex with her yet? What in the hell's wrong with you? Why not?"

Just then, the blonde and brunette that Reno finished his lunch break with last week came over to their booth and threw their drinks in Reno's face before storming off.

"That's why not." Rude said, not bothering to hide his smile as he took another sip of his beer.

Reno gave him a dirty look before going into the bathroom to clean himself up.

Shalua was working through her lunch break, grateful for some peace and quiet with everyone else on their lunch break. Ever since that first dinner date, Rude had been hanging outside the building every night when she left work. There had been nonstop gossip and pointed remarks about her 'hot new man', so much so that it was hard to work sometimes. And she liked being at the lab surrounded by other pieces of machinery like her. Shalua wasn't even sure why she just didn't tell Rude to take a hike. She had figured out by his outfit that he was a Turk, and she had never forgotten that it was Turks who kidnapped her beloved sister. But as she was getting to know Rude, things were getting confused for her.

Two weeks later, they were having a lunch date at the park, and as they were sitting on a bench, eating their ice cream, a frisbee that some nearby kids were playing with accidentally hit Rude in the head as he was leaning towards his cone, and he got his face full of ice cream. Shalua burst out laughing as Rude wiped his face and glasses off, then threw the remainder of his ice cream cone in the trash. Shalua finished her cone and they got up to finish walking the trail, throwing her cone away first.

When he dropped her off back at home, she invited him inside. Shalua felt uncomfortable since she hadn't been with anyone since she quit being a whole human, so she decided to lighten things up. She told Rude to sit anywhere he wanted while she made them some tea. As soon as he sat down, wondering if he should leave since she seemed so nervous, she grabbed his sunglasses off his face.

"Hey, what are you doing? Gimme those back 'Lua!" Rude exclaimed, shooting up out of the chair and trying to regain possession of them.

Shalua held them behind her back with her human hand while holding him at bay with her bionic arm. "I thought so at the park, but just wanted to be sure…you look awfully cute without them."

"Cute? I'll show you cute!" Rude chased her around the living room, finally catching her by the entrance to the kitchen.

Half-trapped by his arms, Shalua held the sunglasses in her bionic arm, stretching it away from him as far as she could, and kissed him as her last diversion. She succeeded better than she had planned, they were both diverted by their reactions to that kiss.

Before either of them knew it, Rude had picked her up in his arms and she was directing him to her bedroom. Once they were on her bed, they started undressing each other. Shalua's nerves sizzled as she ran her hands over his well-muscled body as he ran his lips over her body. Rude was gentle and thorough, and as they in each other's arms afterwards, Shalua suddenly sat up.

"What is it?" Rude asked, concerned.

"You still never got your glasses back." Shalua said with a smug smile.

"I got something better." Rude pulled her back down to him with a matching smug smile and kissed her, and they soon forgot all other matters.

The next day at work, Reeve was just about to enter the laboratory when he heard an explosion. Rushing in, he saw Shalua with the fire extinguisher in her hands, putting out a fire in the centrifuge.

"What happened?" Reeve asked her.

Shalua whirled around and sprayed Reeve in the face with the extinguisher and then blushed when she saw her boss' face covered with CO2. "Oh! I'm sorry, Reeve."

Reeve coughed. "What happened?" he demanded again.

"I'm not sure, I…" Shalua started to say.

"You've been distracted all day, Rui." One of the other scientists interrupted.

"Okay, clean up here, I'll be back." Reeve left, wiping his face off.

When he got back to his office, Reeve turned on the security monitor and accessed the laboratory cameras to replay the time just before the explosion. He saw Shalua filling up vials properly, but instead of putting them into the centrifuge, she just stared off into the distance and started smiling, then started pouring the chemicals into centrifuge and walked away, and then the explosion happened.

Reno and Rude were trying out yet another new bar on their lunch break, and Rude was distracted as well. Reno watched in disbelief as Rude started pouring his beer into the pretzel bowl and started eating the pretzels.

"What in the hell's wrong with you today?" Reno peered closer at Rude. "It's that Shalua chick, ain't it?"

"I told you, a gentleman never tells." Rude reminded him.

"Uh-huh. You're hopeless, you know that, right?" Reno said.

A week later, Rude and Shalua were back at her place, enjoying each other's company after dinner. As she clung to him when she felt him enter her, she realized why she had kept seeing him despite the fact he was a Turk. She felt human when she was with him, not just half a machine.

After they enjoyed mutual satisfaction, Shalua curled herself against him, and Rude's arms automatically encircled her. Having her in his arms suddenly made Rude aware of why Reno had said he was hopeless. He was a Turk in love.