It took three days for Genevieve to get out of bed, and another two before she finally started work again. As much as she was glad to be stimulated once again, she couldn't help but feel grateful for her day off. She was still tired most of the time, and the days she had worked, had often come home and gone straight to the couch for a rest. Whilst not very productive, it sure had given her a lot of thinking time.

She hadn't seen Matt since he had visited her, and she was glad. Well, mostly glad. She had always been someone, who when sick, became quite homely and sought out those creature comforts she wouldn't usually – blankets, orange juice, romantic comedies, affection... She had been worried that she had made a fool of herself in front of Matt when she had thanked him for helping her, and she was worried he would be put off by her forwardness. She hadn't meant to imply anything, but rather just express her genuine gratitude. She was still slightly embarrassed by the situation, and that was half of the reason she hadn't stopped in to thank him in person. The other half was that she wasn't sure how she would react seeing him.

Whilst she was certain she had been delirious when he had been in her apartment, there was a part of her that had been thrilled he had wanted to see her. He had been so gentle and had shown such care, that she had actually dreamt about him that night, a situation that expressed slightly more then friendship...

Genevieve shook herself out of her daydream. Her problem was that she had forgotten what it was like to have a genuine friend who truly cared about her and her wellbeing. Not a work friendship, not people who cared more about themselves and were only around you to fill their time, but someone who liked to be around you.

With that, she took deep breath and dialed her phone.

"Thank you for calling Ink. This is Karen, how can I help you?"

She exhaled, slightly dejected. "Hi, it's Genevieve. How are you?"

She heard a pause, "Oh. Hi. I'm fine. What can I help you with?"

Genevieve chuckled at Karen's obvious distaste for her. "Is Matt free for a sec? I need to talk to him."

"No, he's not in today. He might be back later. Sorry."

She thought for a moment, and then cautiously asked, "If he comes in, do you think you could ask him to meet me at The Green Bird at about seven? I need to give him back his, uh, thing."

----

Genevieve arrived at the Green Bird at 6.45. With a book in tow, she ordered a coffee and settled herself into a booth in the far corner. At least if Matt didn't show, she wouldn't look as though she had been stood up. She made herself comfortable and opened her book, but couldn't get past the first page. She kept getting distracted by her surroundings: first the barista, then the child at the next table, a man in a suit clicking his pen, and then, the figure of Matt walking up to the door at 6.50. She straightened up as she tried to force the smile off her face whilst watching his figure approach the door, but she saw him stop. Genevieve watched him look up the door, down at his watch, back up at the café and frown, before walking away. She felt her heart sink, feelings of confusion and hurt washing over her, and she pulled her coffee and began swirling the liquid around the mug as a form of distraction.

The old-fashioned bell above the door jingled as it opened, drawing her out of her distracted state, and she felt a smile form again as she saw Matt casually looking around the room. Obviously not seeing her, he ordered a coffee at the counter, and was about to sit at a table by the window when he finally noticed her. She gave him a small wave, and he gave her the brilliant lopsided smile she had dreamt about.

"Hey, you" he continued to smile as he sat down, and leant in close to her over the table. "How're you feeling, sunshine?"

She rolled her eyes as she shook her head, but didn't lose her smile. "I'm so tired, but I definitely feel better."

He grinned and nodded, settling into the chair. "Good to hear. You were in pretty rough shape."

She nodded and sighed, "I'm still feeling it too, honestly. But that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Ahhh." He folded his arms and leant back, "Karen was shooting daggers at me all day after your call. I couldn't for the life of me remember giving you my..." He paused, a cheeky grin he was obviously trying to prevent crept onto his face, "my thing."

She felt her face flush slightly, but she couldn't help laughing. "Oh shush you. I just wanted to thank you in person, and I didn't think she needed to know all my... your personal business."

"No problem. Happy to help." He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, "but why couldn't you tell her that?"

"Because," she said with a smile, pulling out a large container from a bag under the table and pushing it towards him, "I wanted to thank you. I wasn't sure if I should buy you a bottle of something, so I made you something instead."

He nodded, looking inquisitively at the tub. "Good thinking. I've been dry for eight years."

She smiled proudly, "That's amazing! Good on you!" As she saw him gingerly reach for the container, she continued, "Like I said, I wasn't sure what you liked, so I played it safe and made cookies. Salted dark chocolate chip." She added with a grin.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You like cooking?"

"Baking," She correcting him. "Cookies, pies, cakes. You name it, I bake it."

He continued to give her a curious look she couldn't quite decipher as he opened the container and took one out. "And you made me cookies?"

She grinned sheepishly, not knowing if this was a good thing or bad thing. "Sorry?" she preemptively apologized.

He took a bite, and burst out laughing. "Dude," he chuckled in surprise. "You should definitely give up your day job."

She heaved a sigh of relief. "You like them?"

"These are amazing! Why aren't you selling these things?" He asked in awe.

She shook her head in embarrassment. "No way! That is a secret recipe, reserved only for special occasions. Besides," she paused dejectedly, "I'm way too busy with work."

"Well why don't you quit?" He asked nonchalantly, reaching for another.

She scoffed, "Oh yeah, I'll just quit. Because I have so many ways to make a living."

He said nothing, but looked straight at her and held up a cookie.

She laughed and shook her head. "Forget it." She took a sip of her coffee, trying to shift the subject away from her, "How's work?"

He shrugged, running his hands through his hair as he screwed up his face. "It could be better."

Concerned, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing exactly." He rubbed a hand over his face, and for the first time she noticed the black rings circling his piercing blue eyes, causing her to frown. "What?" he asked, questioning her expression.

"You look tired. Are you feeling ok?" she asked, worry etched into face.

He nodded. "I'm fine. It's just," he paused, biting his lip in thought. This small action caused her breath to catch.

"I feel like we've plateaued. We were doing so well, and then all of a sudden we've just paused. It's always the same - nothing new, nothing exciting. It's growing boring around there." He sighed, "It should never be boring."

She semi-gasped. She felt shocked, but confused at the same time. "You guys have so much going for you. You two have so much to offer."

He shrugged, "I still want it to be us, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be great to get noticed. You know, grow a little."

She nodded sympathetically, patting his hand that had been resting on the table without thinking, "I can imagine." She then stopped and retracted her hand, slowly scratching her head in thought.

"What?" He asked curiously.

"I just," she stopped, not sure how to explain all the ideas she suddenly had running through her head. "There is so much you can do. You have so much undiscovered talent, that the right person could probably get you your own TV show if they tried hard enough."

He laughed at that, running a hand through his hair again and looking uncomfortable. "I don't know about that, but are you still looking for a job? I know a tattoo shop that would be keen to have you!"

At this, she looked at his earnest face and couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm serious! Karen could be gone in a heartbeat. We'd actually pay you to get coffee, you'd get a decent wages, chill job, and," He added with a grin, "the bosses aren't terrible either."

She smiled and shook her head. "Two days before Christmas? What kind of heartless person would quit an orphanage two days before the most family-orientated time of the year?"

He leaned into her, with a sly grin forming on his face. "What kind of heartless person doesn't give their assistant time off over Christmas?"

At this, she sat back in her seat and looked down. "Somebody needs to be there." She paused, and added quietly, "They need me."

At this, she heard him scoff and looked up. She found him, arms crossed and biting his lip, clearly trying to analyze her. "Well," he said finally. "If you ever need a job, God knows we'd kill to have you." He grinned at her again and added, "Well, Mark would."

This made her smile at him. She noticed him fidgeting, somewhat uncomfortably in his chair, before he added softly, "I... We'd love to see more of you around."

---

I have one thing to say to all you readers: Stick around lovelies. It's going to get good very soon (at least I think it is haha).

And don't forget to let me know what you think by commenting and voting on this chapter. Thank you all. I love each and every one of you!

G xx