2. 4. 6. 8. 10. These numbers might seem inconsequential to some but to Tristan they represented important points in his life. He always believed that numbers made up his life whether they were talking about his bank account, his punishment for bad behavior, his future. Numbers were always relevant. 2 represented the number of years he spent in military school. He would have thought it would be hell but the fact that he didn't have to come home or see his parents, made the hell worth it. 4 was the number of years he had spent in college at Princeton where he had double majored in business and political science. 6 was the number of years since he had been in Hartford since that fateful day of the Romeo and Juliet Play. His parents had moved to New York shortly after he graduated from military school and so there was no longer any relatives of his living in Hartford or Connecticut as a whole. 8 was the age he was when he realized he had no choice in his future career, school, or life in general. He was destined to be a lawyer and take over his father's law firm with a trophy wife and he would attend Princeton and then Columbia University. Now 10, that was the most important number for Tristan. That was the age he was when he had his first kiss, the age when he experienced his first heartbreak but more importantly that was the number of years it had been since he had seen the girl that was about to change everything in his life. The girl who would spill coffee all over his shirt just as he was about to head into the courtroom. The girl who he had been pining over since he was 16 years old.

Tristan had gone to Princeton for undergrad and was now in his last year at Columbia Law School interning at his father's firm in New York. He hadn't changed as much as his parents hoped in terms of his lifestyle choices. When he had left military school he had left with a new sense of respect and had outgrown his childish behaviors, however, he returned to his playboy lifestyle. His parents had hoped that he would come back interested in a more serious relationship and be ready to settle down but unfortunately for them, it was the opposite. He had been in no rush to give up his playboy lifestyle especially after he had no girls for two years while in military school. He found the lack of commitment to be less stressful and that was what he wanted as he needed to focus on his career.

This morning had already gotten off to the wrong start when his alarm did not go off. He never liked to go out the night before he was meant to be assisting on a case but he had stupidly gone home with a woman and had not made it back to his apartment until three in the morning, knowing he had to be up and out of his apartment by 7:30 so he could make it to the courthouse by 8:00. He had to rush through his shower and got dressed and out of his apartment in a record of twenty minutes, forgoing his morning run which usually cleared his head so he was focused.

He didn't have time to stop for coffee if he wanted to make it on time so he figured he would just grab some from the courthouse quickly if he had time. He was so busy checking his watch as he was heading up the staircase to the courthouse, as it was already 7:58, that he didn't notice the woman walking down the steps with her coffee and phone. Before he could stop it, they had walked into each other and as if it happened it slow motion, the coffee she had been holding slowly spilled all over his shirt, with none of it getting on her. Before he could even think to react, he heard her cursing lightly. He knew that voice but from where? Before he could think too much, he looked up and couldn't believe his luck.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention and I didn't see you there and I really should have been looking. I'm sure I have some napkins in my bag that hopefully can help clean some of the coffee…" She was rambling and still had yet to look up. If she had she would have seen him look up and seen the moment he recognized her. He was staring at a girl, no a woman, who had occasionally entered his mind through the years but he had not seen in ten years. He was starting to think that maybe ten was the magic number. She was too busy searching her purse and he was in a trance that he hadn't spoken yet. When she realized that the person she had spilled on had yet to speak or move, she looked up. That's when blue met blue.

"Mary."

"Tristan."

A/N: So, what do you think?