Finding Mr. Right

Friday - 7:45 a.m.

It was another lousy day, and it was only eight in the morning. When had this series of bad days began? Oh yeah, when Miss Crane crashed her car into his police cruiser, Luis thought angrily. And if that wasn't bad enough, the judge assigned her to do a hundred hours of community service at the Youth Center, his Youth Center. What had he done to deserve that, he wondered? That woman really knew how to pull his strings and raise his temper to dangerous levels. Ever since meeting her, she'd been a thorn in his side. Rich and spoiled didn't even begin to describe her. If he thought of all the reasons he disliked her it would take up the whole day.

The sound of the door opening brought his gaze up. They didn't smile at each other, they never did. "What are you doing here so early?"

She huffed angrily as she stared at him from across the small office. She probably would have planted her hands at her hips if not for the stack of papers she was holding against her chest. "What's it with you?" she asked irritably. "Yesterday you berated me for being five minutes late and now you're mad because I'm early?"

"You know it really pisses me of the way you twist around everything I say. Why can't you just give a simple answer to a simple question?"

"I wanted to spare myself another lecture from you for being late again so I came early, is that simple enough for you?" she said, finishing with an insincere smile. Then stalking into the room, she slammed the stack of papers in her arms onto his desk.

"What's this?"

She gave an impatient look. "The YC newsletter, what else. You know, the one you asked me to make copies of. The one that goes out every Monday. The one that-"

"Why is it pink?" he asked tightly.

Folding her arms loosely across her front, she raised one shoulder in a shrug. "White is so boring....don't tell me you're angry. I didn't realize I had to ask your permission before changing the color of a newsletter."

Keeping his voice calm and composed, he said, "Well you do. You have to ask me before making any decisions regarding the Center."

Her eyes were incredulous with anger. "You're unbelievable, you know that? You're also an a*shole."

His composure snapped. "And your-" But he stopped himself. He wasn't going to stoop to her childish behavior. And he wasn't going to start another day off getting into a fight with Sheridan. And right now she was just itching for one.

One perfect eyebrow raised, she asked, "I'm what?"

"Never mind. I don't think you want to know what I think of you. Furthermore, I have too much work to do today to be wasting time arguing with you."

"Then don't. The less time I spend with you the better. So just give me my list of tasks for the day and I won't bother you again."

"I haven't made one yet. But you can start by cleaning out the storage room." The storage room which was located on the other end of the building, looked like a disaster area. He'd been meaning to clean it and organize everything in there for months now but he'd never got around to it. Volunteers at the Center were scarce and since the only other employee was on maternity leave and Sheridan was a complete screw-up, he was stuck with more work than he had time for. Having Sheridan around wasn't helping either, she was more in the way than anything. He resented her constant presence, her unwelcome suggestions and especially her infuriating opinions. He didn't need a Crane who didn't know the meaning of the words hard work telling him how to do his job. At least cleaning out the storage room would keep her busy and out of his sight for a few hours. He hoped she would work at a slow pace and take even longer than that.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked when she just stood in front of his desk, hesitating.

"I don't like going into the storage room. It's dark and creepy. I thought I heard mice when I was there the last time," she said with a shudder.

Luis almost felt satisfaction at hearing her admit her weakness. He knew it wasn't easy for her to give him an opportunity to deride her. "Don't tell me you're afraid of a few harmless mice," he said calmly but tauntingly.

"I'm not," she said testily. "I just don't like rodents. They're gross."

"And?"

Instead of getting riled up, her voice softened, but only slightly. "Can't I clean out the equipment room instead?"

"The equipment room doesn't need to be cleaned out. The storage room does," he said. Her lips thin, she looked at him defiantly. "Unless you want to clean out the basement instead-"

"No," she said quickly. He could see that the mere thought of going into the basement was enough to make her pale. "I'll take the storage room."

"Good. Now get to work," he said, in that authoritative voice he knew she hated.

~*~*~*~

Friday - 6:30 p.m.

Gwen studied her reflection in the mirror of her dressing table. What she saw was a lonely pathetic woman staring back at her. She needed to snap out of it. Ever since Ethan had dumped her for that slut Theresa, she hadn't been herself. She'd loved Ethan for as long as she could remember, and he'd betrayed her. He'd hurt her in the worst possible way. Why couldn't she just forget him and move on with her life? Ethan didn't love her anymore. He was in love with Theresa now. And nothing she could do would change that. All her efforts to get him back had failed. It was time she stopped sulking and started living again. When was the last time she'd actually gone out, seen another human being? She couldn't even remember. Sheridan had left several messages on her answering machine, she was worried about her, but Gwen hadn't returned any of her calls, she hadn't wanted to speak to anyone, not even her best friend. She'd wanted to be left alone to her misery. She hadn't wanted anyone telling her she would be fine, that she would get through it, find someone else, and she especially hadn't wanted to hear her mother's promises that she would get Ethan back. The truth was she wasn't sure she wanted Ethan back. The more time she spent apart from him, the more she was coming to realize that maybe they truly weren't meant to be. Still, she'd loved him. She'd devoted herself and her life to him. That's what hurt the most. The realization that her love wasn't good enough for Ethan. 'Stop it Gwen,' she told herself angrily, 'you're doing it again. This isn't the end of the world.'

Springing up from the cushioned bench, she went to her closet, making the decision to start her new life today, now. She looked through her clothes and picked out something sexy. Something she wouldn't ordinarily wear, something she'd bought on impulse. Tonight she was going to go out and hopefully have some fun. With no particular place in mind, she headed out of the house.

Two hours later she was out of gas. She hadn't thought to check her gas meter before leaving the house. She couldn't believe it. Of all the stupid things. She'd been driving aimlessly around town hoping something fun would present itself. But her mind was only half into it. The other half was still thinking about Ethan. At least the bastard could have saved her some embarrassment by breaking up with her sooner. Why did he have to do it only days before their wedding. This was a bad idea, she wasn't ready to face the world again. She needed more time to heal. She realized she was doing what she'd promised herself earlier she wouldn't do. "Damnit!" she swore, and brought her fist down hard on the steering wheel. "Ow!" Massaging her hand with the other, she slumped back into the seat of her car.

She was aware that she was very far away from home. This wasn't the part of town she'd visited often, maybe only once, maybe never. It wasn't familiar to her. Reaching into her purse, she took out her cell and dialed the Hotchkiss' chauffeur to come and get her. It was too dark to see the street signs and had to leave her car so she could tell him the cross streets. After disconnecting the line she walked back to her car and found it locked. She'd locked the keys inside the car. "Great, just f*cking great," she said out loud. This really wasn't her day. What was she going to do now? She couldn't just stand there in the dark until Jeffrey arrived. At least she'd had her purse in her hand when she'd gotten out of the car. The building on both sides of the street were old, some of them didn't even look like they were in use. There was a small bar on the other side of the street. She wasn't sure that was the best place for a single woman to go when she has locked her keys inside her car. But it was either go in there and wait or stay out here and risk getting mugged or something even more severe.

To her relief the bar wasn't filled with cigarette smoke and blubbering drunks. A group of guys were seated in the back in front a small TV. They were too consumed in the football game they were watching to notice her. The TV was loud, the men's voices even louder. She ordered a drink and carried it to a small table near the front window where she could see her car parked across the street. It was several minutes later that she realized she was being watched. She didn't see who had her in their sights of course, it was just a feeling. Turning her head towards the bar, her eyes connected with the ones that were already on her. She felt her heart sink to her tummy. He didn't look away, and neither did she.