Harrison Wells grumbled to himself as he tried to get up the stairs to his apartment. He'd had a long hard shift at the ER where he worked and his leg was aching. The cast was heavy and he hated the way it felt on his leg. The crutches were hurting his arms and hands and he still had all the steps to get up. Sighing, he kept going. As he thumped up the stairs he heard a noise from the shop he lived above.

"Doc, you should have asked for help!" Alika Hogan, the owner of the building, hustled up the steps and stopped Harrison. "Come on, let me help!"

"Thanks but I'd rather not bruise my ego," Harrison grumbled. He knew how Hogan defined help. "How'd that date work out for you?"

"Not my type," Hogan declared. "Don't think changing the subject will stop me from helping you." With a big grin the monster of a man hefted Harrison into the air, cradling him like an infant and quickly carrying him up the stairs, crutches and all. "Here you are."

"You really know how to crush a man's ego," Harrison complained. "Why wasn't he your type?" He switched the subject back to Hogan's romantic life.

"He kept blabbing about marriage. You know me Doc, I'm not the marrying type, man or woman." Hogan flashed a bright smile. "Will you and Tess be going out tonight?"

"I was going to meet her at the Midnight Guardian," Harrison informed his friend. "Want me to check in on Lani?"

"Yeah. She's working the bar tonight. Let her know I will pick her up when she gets off."

"Will do," Harrison agreed. "I'm getting a shower and then I'll head out."

"Thanks Doc. Night." Beaming brilliantly, Hogan headed back down the stairs to his shop.

"Hey, Hogan, can I use some of your tools?" Harrison had a few modifications he had to make.

"Only if you help me with a new board I'm working on," Hogan countered.

"Deal."

"Okay. Come on into the workshop when you're ready." Smiling his beatific smile Hogan continued on to his shop.

Much later Harrison exited his apartment. He was dressed in comfortable shorts and a lightweight white short-sleeved dress shirt. Running a hand through his hair he frowned as his fingers brushed across the area the hospital had buzzed. While the hair was growing out, the patch was still very short. Sighing, he headed to his car. Arriving at the club he pulled on the blue newsboy cap that Tess had bought for him and headed into the thumping music. He loved the club and he was not only looking forward to seeing Tess but also Lani. He'd not seen Lani in some time. Smiling, he worked his way through the throng of people towards the bar where a beautiful dark skinned young woman was fending off the advancements of some lech in a cheesy suit.

Tess Morgan arrived at the club a little early. She kept her eyes peeled looking for her date. They had agreed to meet up in half an hour. Really she was hoping to surprise him. After being his caretaker for nearly a week they'd been apart for almost the same amount of time. She'd been working at the lab and she knew he'd also returned to work. Now she was practically buzzing at the thought of seeing him. Looking around, Tess was surprised to see Harrison at the bar leaning casually on his crutches. He was smiling at the bartender much to Tess's surprise. He also seemed to be glowering at the man next to him who was leaning in towards the bartender as well. Curious, and with a sinking feeling in her stomach, Tess moved forwards. Soon she was close enough to hear the conversation.

"Look buddy, get lost," the other man was snarling at Harrison.

"Hey, I'm not the one epically failing at hitting on the bartender," Harrison shot back.

"Get lost peg leg," snarled his opponent.

"Nice. Did you come up with that on your own? Look, take your single celled brain and get lost. The lady isn't interested in you." Harrison wasn't really snarling, just sort of dismissing the man.

"You're lucky I don't hit the obviously deformed," snarled the other man, grabbing a fistful of Harrison's shirt.

"Hey, lay off," the bartender said. She came around the bar, pulling the man away from Harrison. A pain started in Tess's stomach and then worked up to leave a nasty taste in her mouth as the bartender leaned up and planted a territorial kiss on Harrison. The taste and pain grew worse as Harrison returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around the woman and pulling her closer.

"Jesus. Get a room," the other man snarled, glowering at the two and walking away.

Horrified Tess watched the couple break apart. With a huge grin on his face, Harrison looked after the man and then pulled the woman closer. The bartender must have been ten years younger than Harrison but it didn't seem to bother the couple as the young woman wrapped an arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder. The two were now sharing a laugh. Seeing how close and affectionate the two were being with each other Tess felt anger build along with tears.

Striding forwards she placed herself squarely in Harrison's line of sight. Instead of acting upset that she had caught him, Harrison simply grinned wider at her. "Tess!" He actually seemed pleased and excited to see her. He started to lean forward to give her a "hello" kiss.

"Asshole," Tess snarled, slapping him as hard as she could. Blinking stupidly, Harrison put a hand up to his cheek.

"Huh?" He seemed totally confused.

"I'll leave you here with your other girlfriend." Glowering at the bartender, Tess stormed off.

"Tess! Wait!" His shout carried to her barely audible over the music as she stalked across the dance floor. "Tess!"

Harrison would have kicked himself if he didn't have a broken leg. Tess must have seen him and Lani. Sighing, he chased after the woman of his dreams as fast as the crutches would carry him. He called her name out again. "Tess! Please!" They were outside now, Harrison struggling to keep up. "Please let me explain!"

She heard him. Tess didn't know how he could explain away making out with another woman. Pressing her lips firmly together she decided to ignore him. "Tess!" Harrison called out and then shouted as he finally tried to go too fast on his crutches and ended up crumpling to the ground. "Damn it!"

Tess didn't want to stop but she heard the rather painful sounding fall. Harrison's string of colourful expletives also caught her attention. "Fuck it straight to Venus!" His frustration floated on the evening breeze to Tess and she stopped. Glancing over her shoulder she realized Harrison didn't know she'd stopped. "Help a friend out. No big deal. Giant ignoramous!" He was berating himself. "See it from outside."

Sighing, Tess turned and studied him. Crumpled in a heap on the sidewalk, Harrison had apparently thrown one of the crutches in anger. It was several feet away but he didn't seem to have realized he'd done it as he had his elbows on his thighs and was staring at his lap. The verbal bashing he was delivering was definitely directed at himself.

"Be honest though, you didn't think you'd be able to hang on to a beautiful woman like that," he continued. "I mean, no woman who can look that good pouring over data points could possibly be into you or at least stay interested. Moron."

"Not many morons have as many degrees as you," Tess said, taking a step back. She hadn't meant to speak but he looked so pitiful.

"Tess?" Harrison looked up at her, a smile filling his face. "I thought you left," he added. "I mean, I can understand why you left. If I had been on the outside looking in I probably would have left too."

"Harrison, shut up," Tess declared. She walked back to him as he snapped his mouth shut and looked up at her. "You threw your crutches." Managing a crooked smile he didn't break his gaze from her.

"They added to the miserable failure that was my attempt to catch you." His blue eyes were sparkling in the night and he seemed unable to tear his gaze away from her. "Can I explain what you saw?"

"I know what I saw," Tess countered.

"Yeah?" A shiver ran through Harrison and he started trying to get up. Taking pity on him, Tess grabbed the crutch he'd thrown and helped him up.

"Come on, let's sit," Tess ordered. Harrison followed her over to a bench that looked out over the beach. They sat and there was a moment of silence as they both watched the waves break and pull the water back out.

"I'm sorry I got so mad," Tess finally said softly. "It isn't like we'd said we were being exclusive."

"No, we didn't," Harrison agreed. "But it would have been pretty asinine of me to go on a date with a woman just before meeting you for another date."

"He's worth hanging on to," a female voice called out. Tess looked over to see the bartender standing a few feet away. She held two Styrofoam cups that were steaming.

"Hey Lani," Harrison said as the young woman approached them. "Lani, Tess. Tess, Lani." The two women nodded at each other, Tess watching the other woman worriedly. Had she come out to reclaim Harrison as her own?

"I brought you two some hot chocolates," Lani said, handing them the cups. "And I thought I'd help you with an explanation." Smiling, the young woman sat down on the bench next to Tess. "So, has Harry told you about the time I broke his nose?"

"I hate it when you call me that," Harrison grumbled. "And you didn't break my nose. You just bloodied it." He smiled sweetly at the young woman. "Oh, Hogan said to tell you he'd pick you up tonight."

The young woman swore in a different language and shook her head. "I tell you, that big brother of mine is so over protective. I may have to start treating his boyfriends and girlfriends the way he does mine." She let out a long sigh and shook her head. "Thanks for passing on the message. Also, thanks for the save back there." Smiling, Lani stood and leaned down to give Harrison a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Good luck." After a moment she hugged Harrison. "Back to work." She stalked back towards the club.

"She's a good kid," Harrison declared. "She's studying sports medicine. Smart as hell. Never play strip poker with her."

"She's Hogan's sister?" As soon as Lani had called Hogan her brother Tess had noticed the family resemblance. Instead of speaking Harrison just nodded. "And you were acting like her boyfriend to get that guy to leave her alone?"

"She gets hit on a lot and he was being particularly sleazy about it," Harrison explained. "I've known Lani since she was ten. If Hogan thought I was dating her he'd kick my pasty white butt."

"I'm sorry," Tess said. "I saw you kissing her and I just lost it. I felt like I'd been played."

"I'm sorry too. I didn't even think about how it might have made you feel. Part of me forgets you don't know everyone I know. I feel like I've known you for eternity so you must know all about me." Hesitantly Harrison reached out and took her hand.

"This is a very crazy relationship we've had," Tess said.

"Yeah, tell me about it. First I save you from drowning."

"Then my dad dies on our first date."

"Your mom and sister assume I'm gay," Harrison added.

"You break your leg on our hike."

"And spend a week whacked out of my head on pain meds while you have to take care of an overgrown toddler." Harrison sighed and played with her fingers.

"And then tonight happens. Our third date and I'm smacking you in the face." Sighing, Tess didn't like what she was thinking but she decided to say it. "Harrison, maybe someone is trying to tell us something?"

"Yeah?"

"Like maybe this relationship was doomed from the beginning." She hated saying it and the look on his face told her what he thought.

"Really? Seems to me that someone wants us together. I mean, if I hadn't been on the beach you would have drown." He held her hand a bit tighter.

"But if we hadn't gone on that hike you wouldn't have broken your leg," Tess countered.

"Tess, I can't believe that we would be brought together just so we could break up," Harrison told her seriously. "I mean, you can believe that whatever gods there are in the world are trying to tells us we don't belong together, but I don't. Even if those gods were to show up right here and now I'd just tell them to leave us alone."

Tess tried to decide if she wanted to respond but Harrison kept going. "I don't care if we spend the rest of our lives with your family thinking I'm gay as long as I get to have you in my life. Now, if you want to give up and move on, I won't fight you. I will, however, keep asking you out every week. I'll show up with flowers, chocolates, advanced data analysis programs, whatever might work. I'm not letting a few rough dates scare me away from the woman who means the most to me."

"You really like me that much?" She wasn't certain she wanted to believe him.

"Tess, you're the only woman who can listen to me go into all out science babble and just smile at me in amusement. No other woman in the world can put up and keep up with me the way you do. I love that and it makes me want to spend every minute with you," Harrison told her seriously. He reached out and started playing with her hair. "And no broken leg will ever change that."

Sighing, Tess sat back, leaning into Harrison. He was warm in the cool night air and she seemed to fit perfectly against him. "You feel that strongly about it?"

"How many ways do I need to say I want to keep dating you? Tess, maybe you're just misinterpreting the data. Maybe what all these crazy dates were just supposed to be indicator of how amazing our lives could be together." Harrison pulled her close as he spoke, inhaling the smell of her hair. "Sometimes you just have to look at the data from a different angle."

"Well, Harrison Wells, you certainly know how to argue," Tess said. "Alright. I guess we keep trying."

"How about tomorrow night we stay in and I cook you dinner?" He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"Why don't I cook dinner for you?" Tess smiled up at him and then looked down at their clasped hands, her gaze flowing down to his broken leg. "What the hell is on your leg?"

"An immobilization device to keep the bone perfectly in place while it heals," Harrison rapid fired. "I made some modifications. The other one was too heavy and bulky so I talked Hogan into letting me work in his shop. Had to come up with a new polymer to make it light enough but still strong enough, but whatever. Do you like?"

"It looks like a web," Tess observed.

"Yeah. I guess it does. I'll have some funny tan lines by the end of the summer." Harrison grinned and they fell silent. As they sat watching the waves Tess pondered the man beside her. Annoyed with his cast he'd made a new one and created a new kind of polymer to do it. To make it even more amusing he didn't even seem to see either creation as an accomplishment. He saw a different way to do something and he did it. Maybe that was why she loved the nut so much.