Archie, who had gotten used to the dry, desert heat of Southern California, was almost knocked over when the doors to the plane opened at La Guardia and the humidity of the late New York afternoon hit him in a warm, moist blast.

Eww.

He'd forgotten how awful the northeast in August could be. And even though he walked straight into the terminal through one of those accordion walkway things, he could still tell it was a scorcher outside. He adjusted his shoulder bag and went in search of his driver.

He saw a familiar face as he approached the bottom of the escalator, and his spirits lifted.

"Clio!" he cried, running down the last few steps.

She was dancing from foot to foot in her eagerness, holding a massive bouquet of flowers to welcome him.

"Goodness, no one has ever looked so good," he declared, enveloping her in a bone-crushing hug and lifting her off her feet, flowers and all. She lifted her face to kiss him, and he couldn't resist, so he pressed his lips to hers, inhaling the fresh scent that always seemed to surround her, no matter what she'd been doing. She was wearing a green sundress white lace edging.

"I've missed you so much," Clio murmured as he carefully set her down.

People were looking at them, watching and smiling at the young couple, so obviously in love and reunited after their time apart.

"I missed you, too," he told her. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" He stroked her hair back from her face. It was in a pony tail, then braided down her back, with a few wisps curling around her face.

"Because you would've told me not to come," she correctly told him. "And I wanted to come."

"Well, you're here now, so let's find my driver and get to the hotel, yeah?" he responded.

Their driver was about twenty yards away, holding an iPad that said "Spencer" on it.

"A driver, huh?" Clio asked as they walked to the curb where the car waited. "Fancy."

"Oh, like Pete Santangelo's daughter has never used a car and driver?" Archie retorted. "I find that hard to believe. Besides, I look enough like my brother that it's almost a necessity. All it takes is for one nutter to say, 'There goes Heath Spencer!' and I'm done for."

Clio looked critically at him as they settled into the car. "You do look an awful lot like him, I must say. Or the way he would look if he went on some kind of totally unnecessary crash diet and lost a bunch of weight."

"Are you saying I'm too skinny?" Archie asked, patting his stomach.

"Not too skinny, just skinnier than your brother," Clio corrected.

"The girls used to say I was too skinny all the time, only they didn't know the word for 'skinny,' you know? We tried not to use words like 'skinny' and 'fat' in front of them? So they used to call me 'bumpy,' because they could feel my bones," Archie laughed. "'Uncle Archie, you're so bumpy,' they'd say."

"Were they really upset that you were leaving?" Clio asked as the car hit traffic and slowed down.

"Oh my god, you'd think someone had died," Archie declared, shaking his head. "I mean, I suppose it didn't help that I just told them a few months ago that wouldn't leave them to come here, you know?"

"Yeah, it was a bit short sighted of you," Clio agreed, grasping his arm and snuggling into him.

"'Why? Why do you have to go to Bumblebee University?' Lulu kept asking," Archie laughed. "Somehow Columbia got twisted into Bumblebee in her little mouth, and she can't untwist it. 'Can't you study to be an animal doctor here at home? We need you here at home!' It was awful."

"I can imagine," Clio commiserated. "I remember when my sisters first realized there was a possibility I'd leave home for college. Not even that I was going to, mind you, just the possibility, you know? We'd just come back from Los Angeles, I think I was, like ten or eleven, and one of my parents said that I wasn't going to leave them until I turned eighteen and had to go away to college or something like that, and Francie looked horrified and said, 'Clio's going to leave us when she goes to college?' Like I was going to fly to the moon and never come back. And they all started crying, one at a time, even Finn, who was still a baby, just because all the others were crying, and suddenly everyone was bawling, and my poor parents didn't know whether to laugh or cry themselves. I think it was Father's Day or something, Jesus, my poor dad!"

"Aww, I can picture you guys sitting around crying," Archie laughed, leaning over and kissing the top of Clio's dark head.

"We were in the hot tub, for some reason," Clio mused. "What a strange family we must seem to outsiders."

"Not at all," Archie reassured her. "Just very close, which is lovely. I often think the same about us. "I mean, I live with my brother, his wife, their children, and his father-in-law, which must seem very unusual to some people. I'm basically their live in baby sitter, you know? "

They were crossing the Queensboro Bridge now, entering Manhattan, the East River twinkling under them. The city rose up in the warm, afternoon light.

"Where are we going, by the way?" Clio asked. "You don't have an apartment yet, right?"

"The Plaza," Archie responded. "We always stay there when we come to New York. I'm hoping to find a place within a couple of weeks and be all moved in by the time classes start."

"And what neighborhood are you looking for? Someplace close to me?" Clio hoped this was so.

"Well, I don't want it to be totally obvious that I moved here to be with you," Archie told her with a smile. "I do hope to get some studying done, so I thought someplace midway between you and the school? Along the One, maybe? Near Columbus Circle? Central Park South? What do you think?"

Clio nodded. "Sounds good. It's convenient for a lot of buses, too. Unless you're going to buy a car? You're not buying a car, are you?" For most students in the city, a car was an impossibility, but Archie was so rich that who knew what he was considering?

But he was shaking his head. "No, it would cost a fortune just to find a place to park it. I think it would actually be cheaper to hire a driver to just pick me up and drive me to class, if I wanted to be that entitled, which I don't.

"Speaking of which," Archie lowered his voice a little as he turned toward Clio, indicating both a change in subject and the fact that it was to be kept between the two of them, "obviously everyone knows who I am, just like everyone pretty much knows who you are, right?"

Clio nodded. Santangelo was an unusual name, and her father, like Archie's brother, was world famous. She'd grown up knowing he was a superstar, and Archie was in nearly the same position, though his brother hadn't found stardom until he was in his teens.

"Well, I try my best to live as normally as possible, within reason, and one of the things I like about you is that you do too," Archie told her. "I mean, I'm talking about buying an apartment on Central Park South, and I'm sitting in the back of a chauffeur driven automobile, so I'm kind of talking out of both sides of my mouth, I realize, but you know what I mean, right? I don't go out night clubbing with my Gucci loafers on. Nor do I splash out for drinks for everyone in the whole restaurant just because, if you know what I mean."

Clio nodded. "And I know it can get weird, because some people expect you to, don't they?"

"I can be as generous as the next person, but I don't fly my friends to Monte Carlo for a weekend of fun on a whim because I can, and I've never bought a car for a girl I fancied," Archie said with a laugh. "Though I did once pay for every dog and cat on the spay and neuter wait list at the Los Angeles County Animal Shelter to have their surgery so they could be adopted out without having to wait for funds." He grinned. "Now that felt good, I'll admit."

Clio smiled at Archie. "You did that? How fantastic!" She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "My hero."

"My point is that I don't go throwing my money about, and I don't think you do either, am I right?"

Clio nodded. "I've been around some kids who do, but not for long. "I can't stand it. I'm glad you don't either."

"Good."

They arrived at the Plaza and went to Archie's room, which overlooked Central Park.

Clio went immediately to the bed and bounced on it, lying down with a happy, "Ouff!" as she grinned up at Archie.

"And that's another thing we're going to have to talk about, young lady," Archie admonished, purposely sitting down in a chair next to the window.

"What's that?" Clio asked innocently.

"All rumors to the contrary, I did not come to New York so I could hop into bed with you and start, erm, you know--"

"Fucking my brains out?" Clio supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, that," Archie acknowledged, avoiding her eyes.

"It didn't even cross your mind?" Clio asked, making a sad face.

"I'm not saying it didn't cross my mind," Archie conceded, rolling his eyes. "But not right away. We're going to spend time together, get to know each other, become friends and all that first, okay? We're going to fucking date, and make sure we like each other before we jump to the shagging bit."

"Okay, you old fuddy-duddy," Clio said with a smile. "I can wait, if you make me. I'll be more than happy to 'fucking date," as you so eloquently put it, if that's what you want to call it. But you realize I'm eighteen now, right? That's plenty old enough to be shagging, isn't it?" She rolled over on her side so she could look Archie in the eye. "How many people had you fucked by the time you were eighteen?"

"That is neither here nor there," Archie said, trying to sound stern and not laugh. "I'm talking about you and me. We're going to do this right. And that means we're going to go out on dates, and spend time together, and make sure we like each other and won't regret anything we do, and that's final."

Clio sat up on the bed and gave Archie a salute. "Yes, sir!"

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Never."

"Good."

"Sir."

"You brat."

Archie jumped on her, straddling her so he could tickle her.

"No! NO! Archie, you're going to make me pee! You know how ticklish I am! NOOOO!"

And Archie, who loved the sound of Clio laughing almost more than the sound of his nieces laughing, nearly did make her wet herself before he stopped. He only stopped because her dress rode up so high that he caught a glimpse of her knickers, which had sunflowers all over them and were so cute he nearly stopped breathing.

"Sorry," he said, releasing her and pulling her dress down over her hips.

In response Clio lunged up, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the mouth. "I'm so happy you're here," she murmured.

"Me too," he answered. He kissed her again before tearing himself away. "Now, how about some lunch, or dinner, or whatever is the appropriate meal for the time, hm? What would you like to eat?"

Clio kissed him again and nodded. "I don't care, whatever you want. I could go for some dessert, though."

Archie laughed. "Course you could. Let's head downstairs, then, to the Palm Court, see what they have, yeah?"

Clio nodded again. "Yeah, sounds good."