He raised his hand and knocked on the door. Even now, his heart was pounding, even though he'd been there many times before. The anticipation of seeing those sea green eyes again was killing him.

"So you didn't come through my window tonight," the joking voice remarked.

Lewis Kiniski pulled his face from behind the bouquet of half-dozen roses. "I figured I'd better be a man and use the door."

"Well, I'm glad...stepping into the pile of dirty clothes on my floor didn't work well with your balance." Madison Lyndsey took the roses from his hands. "They're beautiful. Let me put them in water."

"All right." Lewis stepped into the foyer, breathing deeply of her country apple scene. He couldn't remember when he hadn't been able to smell it.

Five months ago, a prospective new buyer for Lewis' company, DrugCo, had walked in. He was a domineering man with brilliant vision. Accompanying him as his personal assistant had been Madison. Lewis smiled at the memory...

He'd been mopping in a hallway where an experiment involving color-changing kangaroos had gone horribly wrong. The buyer and Madison had walked right past him...after all, Lewis was just the janitor. He had happened to look up to see Madison's flowing curly hair bouncing down her back as they continued down the hall, and then her scent had floated back to him. It had intoxicated him...more than thousands of bottles of Buzz Beer ever could. The moment they were introduced, they had been inseparable.

"Lewis?" Madison was waving her hand in front of his face. "We're going to be late to the Warsaw."

Lewis' eyes flickered over her pink-toned skin, her thin frame hugged by a clingy sleeveless top and blue jeans, her curls piled on top of her head....

Lewis shook his head. "Sorry. Let's go!"

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

"I had the day from hell," Kate O'Brien sighed, dramatically dropping into a chair.

"What happened....any sweet but sour temptations?" Drew Carey smirked, sharing a secretive glance across the table at Oswald Harvey.

"Not for me...but my supervisor certainly fell into your little trap. I loved the part where he grabbed the candy from me, reprimanding me for eating behind the counter, and then taking a huge bite."

"Apparantly, bosses aren't subject to their own rules," Oswald commented.

"So, what happened?"

"Let's just say my clean glass case isn't so clean anymore."

Drew and Oswald burst into laughter.

"I'll get you guys for this," Kate said angrily. "I so need a beer!"

"Hey, there's Lewis and Madison," Oswald said.

"Hey, guys," Lewis said. "What's wrong with Kate? She looked like she just swallowed Tabasco sauce again."

"We hid some candy in her purse this morning," Oswald said.

"Uh-oh....what'd you do to it?" Madison asked, sitting down beside Lewis.

"Whatever makes you think we did something to it?" Drew asked in an innocent tone.

"She knows you guys," Lewis commented, sliding his arm around the back of her chair.

"Well, we wanted to get her back for that trick she pulled on me last week, so we took some of Speedy's poop, wrapped it up and sprayed chocolate-flavored perfume on it. Her boss ate it," Drew laughed.

"That's awful, guys!" Madison said as Lewis joined in the uncontrollable laughter. She picked up her beer, and suddenly she moved her arm and threw it on Lewis' lap.

"Hey, what the hell?" Lewis asked, jumping up.

"Lewis had an accident!" Kate taunted, coming up behind him.

Lewis looked down at Madison to see her holding her arm.

"Are you okay?" Drew asked.

"Lewis...I'm so sorry! My arm had a spasm," Madison said.

"Oh, babe, it's okay," Lewis said. "I can just change..."

"Lewis, my God...my arm hurts so bad..." Madison whispered.

"Guys, we'll be right back. I've gotta go change," Lewis said, taking Madison's other arm and pulling her up.

As they crossed the floor, Lewis kept glancing at Madison. She wasn't saying anything, just letting him guide her across the floor. With each step, her arm swelled.

Lewis carefully helped her upstairs to the apartment he shared with Oswald. As he reached out to open the door, Madison's legs gave way and she collapsed against Lewis.

"Lewis, what's wrong with me?" Madison whispered.

"I don't know," he said, helping her to the couch. She sat down and he knelt on the floor in front of her.

"Go change," Madison said.

"I can't leave you here!"

"I won't move, I promise."

Lewis sighed, kissed her head and reluctantly got up. He quickly pulled on a new pair of jeans and went back to Madison.

She was standing by the window, staring at her arm. Lewis went up behind her, slipping an arm around her waist to support her.

"Lewis, look." Madison held out her arm.

"It...it looks fine!"

"No swelling. I feel perfectly normal now."

Lewis and Madison shared a puzzled look. Lewis knew Madison was pretty shaken, but she was the type to pretend things didn't bother her.

"Come on, let's go back downstairs," Madison said, starting to the door.

Lewis grabbed her arm, pulled her back to him and kissed her. Madison tried to pull away, and Lewis let her, but their eyes met. Lewis leaned down and kissed her again. Madison flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Maybe we should stay in," she murmured.

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

She heard him coming downstairs. She flung herself underneath the table and crouched in the shadows.

Drew Carey flipped the light on and saw the display on the table. He laughed. "She sure is unoriginal," he said to himself, looking over the chocolate bars on the table.

Then he saw the note. "Try a new beer flavor we invented...go out back to the brewery."

Drew sighed. "Maybe it's a good idea for a change." He crossed to the back door and walked outside. Kate stood and sat on the seat, looking out the window expectantly.

Drew stepped inside the door and immediately noticed a smell....an awful one. He took another step forward and heard a squish. He looked down.

"Kate O'Brien!!!" he screamed.

Part Two (Slipping Through a Smell)