Hey again! I hope everyone's doing well, wherever you are in the world. It took me a little while to write this new chapter because I wanted it to be a longer one, but then I ended up writing 15 pages, and wasn't sure if I would be able to post all that in one chapter, haha! So I decided to divide those pages and make several chapters out of what I wrote, instead!

This is the first of those chapters. It may be a bit short but it's importan, in my opinion, because it sort of sets the tone for what's to come.

I hope you like it and, as always, thanks for reading!

CONSCIOUS OR SUBCONSCIOUS?

4:38 a.m…

Her chest moved up and down with each one of her heavy breaths as he kissed her neck and moved on top of her in a perfect pace, not slow, not fast, just perfect. Their fingers intertwined as he held her hands above her head and she moaned right next to his ear, completely lost in the moment as their warm bodies skimmed against each other with each one of his moves. He pushed in over and over again taking her to the edge until she was no longer able to hold back and finished, moaning out his name…

"Shaun…" Her own voice startled her awake. She sat up confused and sweaty. She looked around, it was still dark and quiet outside, the only noises in the room came from her heavy breathing.

"What the hell was that?!" She asked to the air and buried her face in her hands shaking her head some and took a deep breath, then thought —Why the hell am I having those kind of dreams with Shaun?!— She thought her mind was really playing her a joke that night.

She looked down at her sweaty t-shirt, groaned and pulled it off, leaving the top part of her body naked, then threw the t-shirt away without caring about where it could land. She was so confused and yet so tired, so she just laid back down and fell back asleep in no time.

Now…

—Wait… did I just…?— She stood by her now closed door inside her apartment, thinking about what just had happened in the hallway with Shaun.

"Did I just flirt with Shaun?" She mumbled asking herself as she just stood there, in shock, and what had just happened played in her mind over and over for a moment.

A couple minutes ago…

She had gone out for a quick run to clear her mind from the weird dreams she had the night before and then got back to the building. She walked out of the elevator and saw Shaun standing by his door with a woman. The first thing Lea though about when she saw him was the dream she had, which made her blush some, but then she focused on the woman who was talking to him. She had never seen Shaun with anyone else other than Dr. Glassman who'd visit him every now and then and Shaun had told he was his friend and the president of the hospital where he worked.

She stared at the scene for a second then walked to Shaun as the woman left. Lea looked at Shaun and arched her brow up.

"So, who was that?" She asked teasingly and pointed at the woman who had just walked into the elevator.

"A housekeeper" He replied.

"Leaving your place at 7:00 in the morning?" She teased again, just being nosey and narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

"I was interviewing her" He said.

"You're hiring a housekeeper for a studio apartment?" She asked with surprise and some sort of excitement.

"I'm not hiring her. Her clothes don't match" He said shaking his head slightly.

"Right…" She said and thought that was the most random thing she's ever heard, not hiring someone just because their clothes don't match. —The woman is a housekeeper… since when is being fashionable a requirement to be a housekeeper?— She wondered playfully but then realized the clothes she was wearing at the moment also didn't match —What does he think of me then?— She asked in her mind amusedly, then looked at Shaun and chucked softly.

"You're such an asshat, Shaun Murphy" She said sassily reaching out for his arm and giving it a quick squeeze and push, then she just turned around and walked to her apartment leaving him alone in the hallway.

Now…

"That wasn't flirting… right?" She asked to the air as if having a conversation with someone and looked around for answers. "Why would I flirt with Shaun?" She chuckled —First, he's in my dreams and now, I flirt with him? What the heck is wrong with you today, Lea?— She thought and shook her head like trying to shake her thoughts away then walked to her bathroom to take a shower.

Lea was no stranger to flirting, it was like a natural thing for her and people had mentioned it before; the thing was, most of the time, she did it subconsciously, she wouldn't realize she was doing it until some random guy would come over and ask her out telling her he saw her and got her signals; "What signals?" She would ask. Like the 30 something guy who used to live where Shaun now lives.

She hated how she wasn't really in control of her flirting, because sometimes it would attract some truly weird guys. Luckily Shaun wasn't like them, but she repeated to herself in her mind —That wasn't flirting…—

For Lea, it had been just one more of their many hallway encounters, and the same for Shaun, until a few hours later when he told his co-worker about it and she made him rethink things, so much that he spent all day learning about flirting and the cues people use to do it.

Unaware of it, Lea had just opened a door in Shaun's mind and maybe even in his heart, too.

That day, Lea's brain was full all over the place. It went from dreaming and flirting with Shaun to work stuff, random chats with her co-workers about new and old cars, watching informative videos about autism to be able to understand Shaun in a better way, what she was going to have for dinner, and a pet, suddenly she wanted a pet, but pets weren't allowed in the building where she lived.

After getting home from work, Lea went to the shop nearby to buy a few things, still thinking about what kind of pet she would have. She wanted a dog but that meant she would need to move out of where she lived and she didn't want that, also, Armen wasn't fond of her already and, probably if he saw or even smelled a dog in the building, he'd immediately kick out the owner. So if she wanted a pet, she would need to think of one she didn't have to take out for walks or something, so Armen wouldn't find out.

When she got back to the building, Shaun was just arriving from work and she saw him and automatically smiled but blushed some again as the dream kept creeping into her mind and random times.

"Hey doc!" She said with her usually happy voice to him as they walked into the building together and headed into the elevator.

"Hi" He greeted her back with a smile but her brain was still going on about the pet she wanted.

"So, I was just thinking" She blurted and added "I want a pet… Do you think Armen would kill me if I got a pet hedgehog? I mean, I read that they're actually pretty…"

"Lea…" He interrupted her as he had his own things in mind, and they weren't pets

"Yes, Shaun?" She replied with a small chuckle. She didn't even know what she was chuckling about, it just came out.

She had no idea what Shaun had been up to all day and also had no idea that he was about to put in practice everything he had learned that day. He basically just wanted to test out what his co-worker Claire had told him about flirting. "Sometimes people say the opposite of what they mean. They use teasing as a way of saying something they don't mean instead of saying something that they do." He remembered.

Lea looked at him and he replied "You look absurd in that sweater" He looked down at Lea and the sweater she was wearing. She had the habit of often wearing quirky sweaters or tops, but she was a quirky person in general so it suited her personality.

His comment caught her completely off guard, she was not expecting him to say something like that, ever, but he just did. She knew he didn't mean it though, but —What the…? Is he…?— She thought, not really knowing what to say, her mind went almost blank. No boy had made her go blank in a while. It was like a tug of war with the person you like but are shy or afraid to tell them you like them, except she didn't like Shaun in that way, or at least that's what she thought.

Her body rocked from side to side a couple times and with a motion of her head, while glancing around like looking for answers, she managed to move a strand of hair away from one of her eyes, and there was a small awkward silence between them.

"The pretentious giggle, the squirm, and the hair sweep" Claire's words crossed Shaun's mind again and Lea had basically just done all of them in a matter of seconds, without realizing, again; then she finally replied with the first thing that crossed her mind, looking at him again.

"I have apples… Do you want an apple?" She randomly asked raising a brow. —What? What are you doing?— She thought but It was like her mouth had a mind of its own and, at that moment, there was no connection with her brain.

Shaun smiled softly and nodded once, not only answering her question but because Claire was right.

"Yeah" She smiled and nodded back then bit her lip, turned around and unlocked her door. She had just literally invited Shaun into her place for the very first time. She had no idea what possessed to do such thing but she kept telling herself in her mind that Shaun was just a friend, her best friend, and there is nothing wrong with inviting your best friend into your place to eat an apple and chat…—He just flirted with you, Lea… that's what he did, right?… So he understood what I accidentally did this morning? Crap…— She thought as if mentally having a conversation with herself.

She just couldn't believe it. Did she really flirt with him that morning? Had Shaun really flirted with her a minute ago? —Why? Of all the people in the world, why would he flirt with me? But more importantly, why would I flirt with him? He's a friend, I'm not attracted to him… God, you're a mess…— She told herself in her mind.

In the meantime, Shaun walked in and curiously looked around at all the things Lea had there. Pictures and posters on almost every wall, several bags, several shelves, miniature cars, her closet was open, there was no specific order. It was a bit too much for him.

"Your place is a mess" He said and she chuckled.

"Well, someone's being extra honest today, huh?" She said in a sassy way heading to the kitchen to pull what she bought out of the bag and Shaun smiled some at her comment as he stood in the middle of the living area.

"You can put your bag down and sit on the sofa, Shaun. No one is going to steal your things." She teased and grabbed an apple from her table then walked to him. "Is this one okay?" She asked handing him the apple as he sat on the sofa, he then looked at it and nodded once before taking it from her hand, gently.

"Thank you" He said.

"You're very welcome" She replied with a smile then walked back to the kitchen and asked "Have you had dinner yet?" Wanting her mind to stop thinking about flirting.

He shook his head and simply replied a "No." but then he remembered the pasta she had cooked for him the other day, so he looked in her direction and asked in a somewhat excited tone "Are you making bolognese pasta again?"

She grinned big but she wasn't facing him. After that time she left a plate of pasta by his door, he didn't really say anything about it and she had forgotten to ask if he had even liked it, so now, hearing about it just made her happy.

"You remember! Of course you remember…" She exclaimed happily and turned around to look at him. "Did you like it?" She asked pushing herself up on her toes for a split second, a very Lea move she used to make when she was excited or just happy about something.

He had a soft smile on his face "It was good. It did make me feel better." He said and nodded some.

She grinned again remembering the note she had left along with the plate "I'm so glad to hear that, Shaunie! I'm not making bolognese pasta today, though. I'm making creamy gnocchi. But it is store-bought gnocchi. I just didn't feel like making it from scratch today. Do you know what gnocchi is?"

"Yes" He said as he had seen a video about it somewhere, one time.

Lea excitedly asked "Have you tried it? Would you like some?"

"No and yes, please" He said in a mildly excited tone, again. It wasn't very normal for Shaun to feel excited about trying new foods but, seemed like Lea and nonna Dilallo had won over his palate, so he was willing to try new things, or a least the ones Lea cooked.

She let out a happy little squeal, getting even more excited about the evening. "I'm turning you into an Italian food eating monster, Shaunie!" She giggled.

"You are a good cook" He nodded some.

She chuckled at his comment "Not really. The only things I cook well, are Italian. You can thank my nonna for that." She said and he smiled nodding again.

"I will thank her when I meet her" He said.

She smiled at the thought of Shaun and her nonna meeting one day. "She's going to love you."

The rest of the evening went well and they had a relaxed dinner together, Shaun loved the gnocchi and Lea couldn't have been happier about it. Luckily for her, the dinner was enough as a distraction for her to not think about the previous night, what had happened that morning or what had happened a couple hours ago. They chatted about random things and Shaun told her about Glassman wanting him to see a life skills coach and how frustrated he was about it. Lea offered him her support by listening and trying to give him advise; she told him that no one should force anyone else to do anything they don't want to, and she also felt bad for him because the topic seemed to really upset him, so she just changed the topic, and they kept chatting about random things.

Later that night, Shaun went back to his apartment and THE thoughts creeped into Lea's mind again. She sighed, took her phone, and texted someone to get herself some company for the rest of the night.

TO BE CONTINUED…