I walk to the first apartment. It's the best opportunity to take a closer look at my possible new neighborhood. The apartment's close the hospital. I have to walk through a little park with a pond and a gazebo. Some people lie in the grass, enjoying the sunshine. The sun burns on my skin and I'm glad I wear a blue dress and some black wedges, instead of my usual jeans and t-shirt. I hope Megan doesn't miss them today. I wanted to ask her if I could borrow them, but she wasn't there.

It takes me about ten minutes to walk to the building. It looks modern, it's all glass and steel. The place is well maintained. The apartment itself is on the second floor and I'm glad there's an elevator, which might be useful when I move here. It's not big, but I don't mind. A small apartment means less cleaning, I loathe cleaning.

The living room is light, it has large windows on the south, and although it's sunny the room isn't too hot. There's a small bedroom and the bathroom is tiny. The kitchen isn't bigger than necessary, which is fine by me. I will probably eat mostly at the hospital anyway. But the best thing is that the place looks well maintained, it's so different from the place where I live now. I love this place already, but the key money is ridiculous. I already know I can't afford it, but I tell the landlord I'll let him know tomorrow if I'm in or not. Maybe I can ask my parents to help me, but I have my doubts.

The second apartment is further up the road. I don't have to walk far, but I see the environment change from a well-maintained area to a place where people leave their garbage on the street. The apartment itself is as big as the first one, but it looks a lot shabbier. I think I can immediately move in the first apartment, but this one needs at least a fresh layer of paint, new flooring and I think there will be some surprises, like a leaking sink or the heating that needs some fixing. Also, it's on the fourth floor, and there's no elevator. When I walk around in the apartment, it's darker than the first one. There's no balcony and the heat in the bedroom tells me I probably need a new airconditioning. But at least I can afford this place.

When I walk back to my car, I make my decision. For me it's a no-brainer. The second apartment will be my new home. I'm glad I found a place, but it bothers me I can't afford the place I really want. I know I still have a night to think things through and ask my parents if they can help me, but I feel like I have no choice then renting the second apartment.

I walk back to the hospital to pick up my car and I start the ride back. I open the windows, the wind blows through my hair and a feeling of complete freedom overwhelms me.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I think it's around six o'clock when I'm back home. When I park my car I see some impressive guy standing in front of my door. He looks like he's someone's bodyguard. He's all muscles, wears a black suit, even his shirt is black, and shiny sunglasses. I'm wearing a dress and I'm sweating already, but I don't see a bead of sweat on him.

"Excuse me, sir?" I say. "You're standing in front of my door, could you please move a bit?"

Cooly he turns his head towards me. "Miss Morgan?"

I look around. What is going on here? Is someone pulling a prank on me? What to say to an unknown impressive man who's blocking your way? I hesitate before I answer him. "Yes."

"Would you come with me, please?" Emotionless he says the words as he points to a big black limousine.

This is one of those moments I wish I was a little bit taller and that I worked out a bit more so I appear a bit more impressive. I hope I can outrun this guy because no way in hell I'm coming with him.

"No." And I brace myself for what is coming. I'm ready to kick my shoes off and make a run for it, but I'm not sure how smart that is after what happened Saturday night.

The man isn't impressed and puts his hand in his jacket. I duck down slightly, afraid of him pulling a gun, but it's just a phone.

"My boss isn't going to like this." He says while he brings the phone to his ear. He keeps staring at me from behind his sunglasses. It's warm and I feel beads of sweat trickle down my spine. I shiver involuntarily.

"She's not coming, sir." The man says. "No, I didn't tell her."

He hands me the phone. "It's for you."

A bit cautious I bring it to my ear.

"Hello?" I say.

"Hello, Elise." I hear a familiar voice say.

"Dan? What's going on here?" I'm confused now.

"I'm staying in a hotel in the center, want to come over?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After Dan explains to me the dude in front of my door isn't a killer or a kidnapper, but one of his bodyguards, I step into the big black limousine that will bring me to the hotel where Dan is staying. It isn't that far from my apartment and I wondered why he doesn't come over to my place until I see the incredible mass of screaming girls. I think I get permanent hearing damage.

No one notices me, I'm a random person walking into a hotel. Dan's bodyguard escorts me to his room. It's one of those rooms you always see in movies, but you never get when you stay at a hotel.

When I walk into the room, Dan hugs me and gives me a small peck on my lips

"Did they give you some time off?" I say while he gets us some drinks.

"Yeah, I have an interview tomorrow and they already booked the room." He says. "Why didn't you get in the car?"

"Hello? Stranger danger? I'm not stepping in a car with someone I don't know." I look around and admire the place. "And it was kind of scary, that dude blocking my door when I came home."

"What did you do today? I saw your picture. That white coat looked hot on you." Dan grins. "I thought you started in three weeks?"

"I went to the hospital to impress my new colleagues and bribe them with Jerry's cookies. I think he has an army of secret admirers now." I sit down on the giant cream-colored couch. It would never fit in the apartment where Meg and I live.

"Nice, so you made some friends already?" Dan sits next beside me and hands me a glass of juice of some exotic fruit.

"At least one, the most important one. The lady at the reception. She probably sees and hears everything." I turn towards him. "How's the promotion coming along?"

"The schedule is killing me and next week will be even more hectic. I'm not sure if I will be around during the weekend." He wraps his arms around me and kisses me on my forehead. "So please stay away from socially awkward serial killers."

"I will avoid that place like radioactive dog shit." I cuddle up to him, laying my face against his chest. He smells nice. There's this faint whiff of aftershave and something else, muskier.

"Will you go to the premiere with me?" He whispers in my ear. "As my date? Kate normally accompanies me, but I think she will be happy to skip this time."

"Sure," I say, thinking of the screaming girls outside of the hotel. Will they be there as well? I better bring earplugs then.

"We will go with Jess." He says.

"Who's Jess?" I ask.

"It's actually Jessica, she plays my wife in the movie."He trails my lips with his fingers.

"Do I have to be jealous now?" I play a game with his fingers, I'm trying to catch them between my lips. When I catch one of them, I wrap my lips around it and

"I don't think so. She's happily married as far as I know." He says, slowly removing his finger from my mouth, cupping my face and kissing my lips.

"Something else, can you please tell me if you see someone keeping an eye on your house?" He looks serious now.

What a weird question. "Why would someone do that?" And then it hits me. "You mean journalists?"

"I don't want the paparazzi to scare you away." He wipes a strand of hair out of my face. "And believe me, they will hunt you down as soon as they find out about us. You should have seen them when they thought Kate and I were a thing."

I promise him I will be careful and keep an eye on strangers in my neighborhood, but then something crosses my mind.

"Isn't there a big problem with this whole plan if I go to that premiere with you?" I say. "It must raise some questions when I walk beside you, right?"

"I'll tell them you're just a friend. Everybody is pretty much used to me taking friends to these occasions."

"Just a friend?" I say, while my hands glide under his shirt, running over the bare skin of his back. "Because that worked for Kate as well?"

"A very special friend, but they don't have to know yet." He kisses me again.

My eyes glide to the giant bed that's also in the room. It has like a thousand pillow on it and after my busy day, it looks really inviting. I take off my shoes and I walk to it, leaving a confused Dan behind.

"What're you doing?" Dan asks.

"There's this one thing I always want to do if I see an inviting bed like that," I say.

I step on the bed, standing straight up, trying to keep my dignity and not fall down immediately. When I look at Dan I see I have his full attention. I start to jump around. Yep, this bed is definitely as bouncy as I thought. After a couple of jumps, I let myself fall on the bed.

"I thought you were going to do something completely different." I hear behind me.

"I can't think of anything else you would do." I say, making my eyes as big as possible to feign innocence. I immediately regret it, because I don't see the pillow coming.

"Hey, that's not fair!" I say while I grab two pillows to protect myself.

"Who's talking about fair?" And another pillow hits me on the head and I start to fight back.

We laugh and rummage through the bed. In the end, we're lying breathless next to each other.

"So, did you bring your white coat?" A sparkle in his eye betrays his intentions.

--------------------------------

AN: Song: Only you - Smith & Burrows

Thanks for reading this, vote/comment if you like it, or stay silent and just read the story. I just love it that the read counter goes up even if I don't keep to my own update schedule. Sorry about that. I rewrote this part several times, I wasn't happy with what I wrote before.