Chapter 1

Alex comes to with a pounding headache and a throat drier than the sahara.

The state is not unfamiliar to her, but its still just as disappointing as always.

She cracks her eyes open carefully, not wanting to risk looking straight into daylight should she have failed to close the blinds like she normally does when drunk, but then opens them wide when she doesn't recognize the duvet cover currently draping her frame. The room is still in semi darkness, the unfamiliar blinds covering the windows drawn shut, but enough seeps through for Alex to immediately know that she is not in her own apartment.

Embarrassment and a sense of shame at having gone home drunk with yet another man she doesn't know sweeps through her and she lets out a string of curses at her unending stupidity, her voice low so that she doesn't wake whoever is occupying the other side of the bed, and then carefully turns so that she can lay eyes on the latest one night stand she no doubt picked up at the bar just off base.

Alex is surprised, but also relieved, to find the other side of the bed empty and containing no evidence that it held an occupant in the recent past. The pillow is still plump and in position, the easily recognisable head dent that signalled someone had slumbered there recently glaringly absent, and Alex lets out a sigh of relief at not having to try and creep out of the bed without waking them.

She throws back the quilt and sits up, but stops instantly as two things come to her attention. One, her hangover is a doozy this time: Lightning bolts of pain shoot down her temples and race across her neck, with a nauseous feeling rolling across the pit of her stomach warningly, and two: She's completely naked.

Alex pulls the quilt back over her body, not wanting whatever random she hooked up with last night to get any more of a free show than he had already had should he choose to walk back in at this instant, and looks around the room for her clothes. Her scan of the room is unfruitful however, and Alex lets out another curse, louder this time, at being stupid enough to strand herself in some guys room without her clothes close to hand.

She is just about to stand up and raid the nearby chest of drawers for anything she can use to cover herself with when the bedroom door cracks open and light from the room beyond spills in. Alex freezes instantly, her hands tightening on the duvet around herself, and squints as the light sends off a new pounding in her head.

'I thought I heard you awake'.

The voice is relaxed in its tone, even sounding slightly amused to Alex's shocked ears as its owner steps through the door, and Alex stares in surprise at the woman standing in the doorway.

Alex's eyes follow the woman as she enters the room, the attractive brunette walking with a confident but unhurried gait, and watch as she stops just inside when she registers that Alex is just staring at her.

'Are you okay?' A frown appears between the dark brows of the woman looking at Alex, concern etching her face at the lack of reply, and the humour disappears from her voice. 'Do you need me to get something for you?'

Clo...' -Alex has to stop and clear her throat, the copious amount of alcohol she consumed the previous night robbing it of all moisture, and she has to swallow several times before she can continue. -'Clothes. You can get me my clothes'.

The frown eases from the woman's brow at Alex's words, and a small smile appears on her face instead. 'Missing them now are you?'

'Of course I'm missing them, I'm completely naked!' Alex snaps at the woman, not liking being teased, and shoots her a dirty look.

The woman raises a single eyebrow at Alex's defensive tone, though the amusement remains on her face, and crosses her arms as she leans her body against the door behind her. 'You didn't seem to worry about that last night when you left a trail of them across my living room floor'.

Alex feels her face go bright red at the woman's words, her mouth dropping open in shock as her brain suddenly short circuits, and stares at her in dumbfounded shock as she tries to process the fact that she had slept with a woman last night.

No, no, NO! What have I done? I'm normally so careful!

Panic skates through Alex at the thought, knowing that she needed to get out of here fast, and tries to think of an excuse to make her escape.

She is saved the effort however when the woman across the room, who has been watching the emotions crossing her face, speaks. 'Your clothes are just behind the bedside cabinet there'.

Her voice in the otherwise silent room makes Alex jump, and she swings her eyes back to her in startled accusation. She finds the woman looking at her with an unreadable expression, the humour now gone and replaced with something much cooler, though her eyes still hold a hint of amusement.

Alex turns her eyes from the dark pair to glance at the spot indicated and finds her clothes in a neat pile tucked just out of her eye line, her bra and underwear folded neatly on top. The thought of sleeping with the woman just a few paces from her makes Alex feel funny, and a stab of disappointment at not remembering the night runs through her. The emotion catches her by surprise and she clamps down on it immediately, her walls shooting up to block it off completely.

'How do I know I was the one that took them off?'

The accusation is out of her mouth before she has time to even think, her tone full of hostility to cover the uneasiness about her feelings, and Alex swings her eyes up to look at the brunette just in time to see the shocked outrage cover her features.

'Excuse me?'

The woman has gone from relaxed calm to rigid indignation, her entire body now stiff with outraged ire, and her eyes blaze with anger.

'What I meant to say was...'

'Oh I think I understand what you meant perfectly!' Alex is cut off as she attempts to backtrack, the woman taking two steps towards her before visibly stopping herself and stepping back again, trying to keep a lid on the rage boiling through her. 'I knew I should have slammed the damn door in your face the second you showed up here, begging me to let you in!'

'I showed up here alone?' Alex is shocked to hear that, as she had assumed they came back from the bar together.

Let me get this straight'- The agitated woman runs a hand through her shoulder length hair, sending the loose waves tumbling about in a riot of glorious strands, as she counts the points off on the fingers of her other hand. 'You hit on me in the bar, then freak out when I turn you down. You turn up on my doorstep begging me to let you in so you can apologise, but then strip all your clothes off and try to jump me the moment the door is closed. After that you freak out, again, and burst into tears when I turn you down for a second time, and pass out on me just after I ask you to leave. Yet you STILL have the audacity to accuse me of sexual assault the moment you wake up?!'

Alex blanches as the avalanche of information about her behaviour the previous night hits her, the raw fury with which the diminutive woman spits her list of unacceptable actions validating the truth of her words, and Alex realises how awful her accusation sounds after everything she did.

'I...I should leave'. Alex's voice is small, sounding nothing like her normal forceful self, and she is unable to look the woman in the eye as she talks.

'Finally, something we both agree on'. The woman sneers at Alex's statement, her tone now cold enough to freeze ice, and full of condescension. 'I'm going to leave first though, as I suddenly have the urge to punch something at the gym, and I'd appreciate it if you tried to refrain from accusing me of anything else as you make your way out of my apartment'.

With that said she spins on her heel and leaves the room, the door slamming behind her, and then the fainter sound of the front door slamming announces her departure from the apartment. Alex raises her head to look at the closed door, then drops it into her hands and sighs heavily. 'Jesus Danvers, you are such a fucking screw up'.