I apologize guys. Please bear with me as I try to figure out where I'm wanting to go with this. This one got away from me and became a story, probably a short one but a story nonetheless.

Thanks for the love and support everyone, keep it comin! :D

(Friends...How many of us have them?...Friends...Ones we can depend on...Friends...How many of us have them?...Friends...Before we go any further, lets be...Friends - Friends by Whodini)

The next week Dean kept busy working house shows and spending his days training or hanging with friends. Thoughts of Miranda were few and far between, as his mind was purely focused on work and the activities of the day. Well at least if you asked him it was.

The same could be said for Miranda. At first she found herself disheartened by Dean's quiet, disappearing act but eventually chalked it up to a busy schedule because, come on, dude had a life. It was ok though, work had kept her pretty busy as of late. Lots of people were coming in with different injuries that needed the best of the best when it came to a speedy recovery process. She was also able to do more like...clean up her apartment, giving it the ol spit and shine..almost like a late spring cleaning if you will. And she finally extend an invitation out for her mom to visit. It was long overdue.

"You should come out with us," One of Miranda's coworkers Charlie said the following Friday as they were finishing up with their paperwork for the night. "I know this good place. We can have a couple of laughs, knock back a couple of beers...or whatever it is you drink, just have an all around good time."

The brunette studied her friend as he watched her. He was practically on the balls of his feet in excitement. He was one of the younger workers here and as soon as Miranda was hired he immediately took a liking to her, trying to get her involved in anything and everything there was to do around town and just be an all around good friend. But no matter how good a friend Charlie was to her, the underlying look of longing lingered in his eyes when around her and she couldn't help but feel a tad guilty when around him...

It wasn't that she was purposely leading him on or anything, matter of fact she had let it be known she wasn't looking for anything serious and thought of him as nothing more than a friend. But here he stood. Nearly a year after starting this job and he was still as bright eyed and eager to hang and be with her as the first day she walked in.

"Who's we," She asked, immediately wanting to kick herself for even giving him hope she'd go out tonight. She really wasn't feeling the greatest, worn the hell out and to be honest, not all that social right now.

Charlie shrugged, pushing his skinny rimmed glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. "Oh...you know, Tracy...and a couple of the guys I used to hang out with back in the day. Just some old time fun," He finished with a shrug.

Miranda squinted a bit, worrying her bottom lip for a second before sighing. She really didn't feel up to partying with Charlie and his crew. She'd feel terribly out of place despite reassurance from him she wouldn't be. He often joked that the crew needed more female members anyway.

If Miranda could recall, Tracy was the younger, very attractive, very perky blonde who sat outside the building sometimes waiting for Charlie to finish his shift. Every time her eyes spotted him in the facility doing whatever it was he was doing it was as if the sun shined down upon him and nothing else mattered. Miranda couldn't understand for the life of her why Charlie didn't go for it with his hot female friend.

She looked up after sliding the folders into their slots and gave him a small, hesitant shrug. "Sure."

Why not? If need be she could always skip out early and head home. There was the matter of most of her energy disappearing over the course of the day, not to mention a slight tickle bothering her at the back of her throat. But what could it hurt right? Besides Charlie, she really had no one else around here.

Dean took a swig of his beer as his buddy, Brian Jennings took his turn up at the bowling lane.

He wasn't sure how he got talked into bowling but here he sat watching as his friend got strike after strike. He wasn't doing too bad himself but...his head wasn't really in the game. He took another swig and looked over at Jenny, Brian's wife who was staring a hole through him.

Dean cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

The brunette continued to stare at him for a moment, squinting her eyes a bit.

"Where's your girl," She questioned a moment later. He watched her take a sip of her own drink and narrowed his eyes.

"Who-" He started but could barely get his question out before she was gesturing around him wildly, giving a little shrug.

"You know, the pretty blonde. I keep forgetting….Renee was it? Yeah, Renee, that's it! Where is she?"

Dean sighed.

Ah yes...Renee. For the longest him and the beautiful blonde spent hours upon of hours of time together. Text upon texts, visits upon visits...until Miranda…

'Someone else has occupied a huge portion of my time so anything other than bagging that has to be put on hold...until taken care of.' Dean thought.

"She's probably out, far, far away from me without a second thought," Dean shrugged, waving a hand.

'It's been awhile since I've kicked back with her...should I?'

Jenny tilted her head in confusion and opened her mouth to speak but the arrival of her husband, dropping a kiss on her cheek and him announcing Dean's turn left her in the dark as Dean shrugged again her way and hopped up to take a swing with his ball.

It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

Miranda felt her cheeks flame up with mirth as the comedian delivered another successful line causing the whole room to erupt in laughter. She looked over at her friend and met his gaze at he stared at her unabashedly. She felt her cheeks grow hotter and looked down at her drink, swirling the red liquid with her straw.

Tracy, Charlie's other lady friend, looked over between the two and nearly groaned in annoyance as laughter surrounded them from the other people in the place. She was really trying here but it seemed everything she did went unnoticed by her slightly geeky, yet extremely handsome best friend. She nudged up against the shaggy blonde, giving him a wink.

"Having fun," She purred, turning to face him. Charlie's eyes widened and he slowly turned his gaze to his friend.

"Ye..yeah! Loads!"

He dared a glance back at Miranda and she gave him a reassuring smile, taking a sip of her drink. She cleared her throat a second later and stood up.

"I'll be right back, need to visit the ladies room. " She excused herself, quickly making her way to the restroom in the back of the building.

Between the starting from Tracy, the laughter and bright lights...and wait a minute, missing people in the group, Miranda felt the urge to break for a bit.

Perhaps it had been one too many drinks? Nah...off of two glasses? She wasn't that much of a lightweight.

Shaking her head, she took care of her business studying her face in the mirror as she washed up. The flush to her cheeks was still there. She rubbed at them, clearing her throat again. She felt a bit off. Clearing her throat again she rubbed at her cheeks once more not noticing the bathroom door open and close signaling the arrival of someone else.

Tracy scanned the woman before her and stepped into Miranda's view via the mirror, the brunette jerked.

"He-Hey," She greeted a ring to her voice. "What's up?"

She fanned at her face trying to get the color to leave her tanned cheeks and she looked at the blonde behind her who was openly scowling at her.

"Trac-"

There was a tense silence as the woman continued to give her a hard look before she dropped the facade, moving up to stand beside the brunette.

"He really cares about you, you know?"

Miranda noted the look in her eyes and felt horrible. It wasn't one of resentment more so defeat and she couldn't help but feel bad.

It wasn't even like that. She was still trying to figure out what the crap she was doing with Dean. It wasn't a relationship, far from it...but...

"It wasn't my intention to…" The blonde held up a hand stopping Miranda's response, moving to dig through her purse and grab a tube of lip gloss, giving off the pretense of touching her already luscious looking lips.

'God. Why Charlie is into my short and stubby self I'll never know. This girl is a knockout. I might be in shape...but I feel like a blimp compared to her.'

"Hey," Tracy gave a small shrug, sliding the applicator across her bottom lip. "We can't help who we love can we? I've been in love with Charlie for nearly ten years now."

There was more silence as Miranda just stood and watched the other woman cap her item and throw it back into her purse. She looked back up and their eyes met in the mirror.

"Look...just don't hurt him, ok?"

All too soon after, the blonde turned with a swish of her long locks and the click of her heels, leaving Miranda standing behind a confused look on her face.

"What just happened," She asked to the now empty room.

"I'm...I'm just saying," Jenny slurred as she sloshed her drink around, her eyes glazed as she moved to scoot closer to Dean. "They were fucking adorable…" There was a second of silence before Jenny turned her attention from the TV to nudge her husband's back with a knee. "Don't you think?"

Dean, Jenny and Brian had eventually finished up bowling quickly, the female of the group surprising both guys with a pair of wins which only led to the guys quitting lest they get their asses kicked again. The trio now found themselves in the couples' place for the rest of the night.

Brian grunted as he mashed at the buttons on his controller in concentration, his attention barely on what his wife said. "Yeah..sure, of course!"

The brunette narrowed her eyes and leaned down between the two staring at the side of Dean's face. "Any way...ignore him. I thought you two made a cute couple. What ever happened to her?"

Dean gritted his teeth as his guy was tackled causing him to lose this round. Snatching at the drink beside him he looked over at the woman out the side of his eyes, giving her a little nudge with his head against hers. "Ah...she deserves better."

The copper blonde quickly stood, stretching and turned the empty bottle upside down shaking it as if to look for more. "I'm gonna go get me another one alright?"

His friend grunted again and Jenny continued to stare at him. She couldn't for the life of her let this conversation go.

"Is it someone else?"

Dean groaned and quickly scurried to the kitchen.

There was a sharp gasp.

"It's totally someone else," She exclaimed, slapping at her husband with the back of her hand. "Dean! You can't hold out dude!"

Rolling his eyes, Dean sighed as he scanned the contents of his best friend's fridge and shook his head.

It was going to be a long night.

Fifteen minutes after two and Miranda was back at home. The night ended up being more enjoyable than the young woman had suspected after making it back out at the table. Charlie's two school buddies had shown up throwing the whole awkward filled tension up in smokes as they ranted and raved, joking with their buddy. Slaps to shoulders and relentless flirting with both females in the group followed everything after as another comedian graced the club with his jokes and punchlines.

Miranda had thoroughly enjoyed herself if she was being honest. She wouldn't mind another night like that again.

After her random meeting with Charlie's bestie things had been slightly better. Everyone was a bit more relaxed and at ease and there wasn't as many weird glances between the females, some but not many. Matter of fact Tracy was kinda a joy when she wasn't sending scathing looks and remarks. Miranda had definitely noticed the occasional glances Charlie gave his blonde companion when his friends threw on the charm though. There was something there...she only hoped dude would wisen up to it.

Dabbing at her watery eyes with a Kleenex, Miranda huffed as she lay in bed, sniffling a bit.

The random onslaught of watery eyes and incessant coughing and clearing of her throat only seemed to get worse as the night wore on. It had all started at work earlier and once she had made it back out to sit after the whole bathroom debacle it only seemed to intensify.

This was shit. If there was one thing Miranda couldn't stand it was getting sick. She always felt like she'd miss it all if forced to rest and recuperate.

And with the way this "bug" seemed to be knocking her down...it was only going to get worse.

Reaching for her glass of orange juice off her nightstand, Miranda rubbed at an eye before popping in a few NyQuil pills, taking a sip of her drink.

'Gotta nip this shit in the bud. I can not have this…' She thought.

No such luck.

It was days later and Miranda was pulling into the apartment complex parking lot, a bag of prescription medication in one hand, her apple juice, more Kleenex, some soup, crackers and a trash mag in the other as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. She was so out of it she nearly missed the man walking towards the parking lot.

Dean took a long, hard, look at Miranda and felt his heart rate pick up. An immediate scowl followed and he nearly growled at his stupid reaction but could only admire as he took in the woman's appearance.

Even dressed down this woman was beautiful to him. Decked out in a pair of Capri tights, a shirt that was a couple of sizes too big, huge sunglasses that nearly framed her whole entire face, her hair in some messy up-do, she looked every bit as perfect as one of the supermodels he'd see on TV..

He tried to ignore the bit of skin showing from her shirt hanging off a shoulder, her sports bra making a peek to his eager eyes.

Miranda glanced over his way and nearly dropped her bags in surprise. 'Dean?'

He was here?

Simply opting to play it cool, Miranda turned from his stare to continue on her trek.

Dean frowned.

'The fuck? She avoiding me?'

The brunette moved as quick as her small legs could take her.

'Oh shit...shit, shit..shit! Not how I wanted him to see me. Definitely not the time. My eyes are puffy, nose is red and itchy...my face is just a mess. Probably have tracks all over my cheeks...God Dean, why now? Oh hush Miranda...you know why now! He's off of work!'

She rounded the corner just barely daring a glance back and Dean's questioning eyes met her sunglasses gaze.

'Just keep walking.. Keep walking….keep walking.'

"Surprise!"

Miranda dropped everything, bringing her hands up to her mouth.

"Frickin hell! Mom?" She squinted, slowly stepping into her apartment. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, you sent out that invitation last week so…" The smaller woman extended her arms outward motioning towards the living room which was now adorned with a couple of streamers and a banner or two.

She rolled her eyes. Her mom did always tend to have a flair for the dramatic, no matter the occasion.

"Welcome home sis," Miranda heard behind her, followed by a hard pat to her back, nearly causing her to collide with the back of her couch.

"Jesus," She hissed. "Hello to you too...doofus."

Miranda's step brother chuckled, chucking her bags up on the bar top outside her kitchen. He immediately started ruffling through them after and Miranda snatched them up walking into her kitchen.

"What you got there?"

Ignoring her brother the brunette looked over at her mom. "I..I was at least expecting a call before you just showed up, maybe a text…" She trailed off at the look her mom gave her and sighed.

The older woman waved a hand. "Honey...you know me much better than that. Sides, it's been nearly a year," She exclaimed. "Now lets get you in bed...you look like death my dear," She finished, firmly pushing her daughter towards her room.

"Oh thanks mom," Miranda droned. The older woman just chuckled, leading her to her bed to lie down.

She didn't even question how her mom knew she felt like crap...

Another day had passed before there was a knock on the door. Miranda's mom and step brother were out doing some shopping and sightseeing.

She trudged through her apartment, blanket over her shivering shoulders, nose dripping a bit as she held a tissue up to stop the fall.

She was hitting the last of this horrible, horrible bug, her fever from days back, broken. But boy was she left feeling sore and worn and honestly she was ready to be back out in the real world now.

Pulling open her door Miranda opened her mouth to greet her visitor but snapped her lips shut as she was greeted by empty space

"Hello," She tried.

She knew it was silly but...

She popped her head out around the corner, her hands gripping the frame tight. First left, then right then left again.

Honestly if this was another one of those dumb ass kids down the hall...she was about to have some words with some parents.

She was nearly in her room when a bag on the ground caught her eye. The aroma of food reached her senses after she lifted it. Pursing her lips, she studied first the paper inside of the plastic, looking for clues as to what this was or who it was from. Cradling, the bag Miranda reached in pulling out a plastic container clearly labeled 'Soup' on the top. She blinked in confusion then pulled out the wrapped sandwich turning it to and fro studying the wrapper. BLT it read back at her.

There was a note at the bottom of the brown bag Miranda noticed and she pulled it out, opening it up quickly.

You know, for a moment there I thought you were avoiding me...Your mom, talkative lady she is...but nice...basically told me and a couple of others down the hall to keep an eye on you while she went out for a couple of hours. Got you something cause who knows if you're feeding yourself over there or not. Don't make it bigger than it is. The soup I know you can down but the sandwich is for when you feel up to it. No matter if it's the same day or as leftovers this place's food is sick... ...sorry, poor choice of words. Anyway feed yourself and hopefully I'll see that banging bod back up and running soon.

Dean.

P.S. Does this say thank you for the handy or do I need to keep trying? HaHa.

P. S. S. Don't go getting a big head or anything but I'm leaving my number you know..in case you feel like croaking or what not...

Miranda sat there after reading and rereading the letter. She felt an array of emotions ranging from wanting to strangle her mother to trying to refrain from melting into a puddle of goo from Dean's sweet gesture. Yeah he was a bit crass with it but it was nice that he tried to reach out and help.

Closing the door to her apartment Miranda carried the bag to her room, a smile slowly finding it's way onto her face.

And here she thought he was completely through with her...not that this meant he wasn't but...

The young woman lifted her phone up, typing in Dean's number as she settled in her bed Indian style.

Should she bother?

She looked up at the TV in contemplation, the cartoon running before her eyes yet her mind not registering anything.

She looked back at her phone. Her fingers ran over the screen before she could even think to stop herself.

Thank you, Dean.

Miranda.

There was just something about this man that got to her.

One could only wonder where the two would go from here.