All right, all, this is just a little scene that came to mind following the end of "Double Time". Hope y'all like it.

**********************************************

Erika walked into her apartment, leaning against the door as it closed behind her. She was so exhausted. The last couple of days had taken their toll on her both mentally and physically. All she wanted right now was to have a shower and a soothing cup of tea. Hopefully the combination would relax her enough to sleep comfortably throughout the night.

She pushed herself forward away from the door and slowly moved down the hall to her bedroom. Erika winced as she undressed, looking at herself in the mirror she could already see the bruises forming along her arms and legs.

She walked into her bathroom and stepped into her shower. She closed her eyes as she leaned her head back, allowing the water to just stream over her head. Erika could already feel the warm water relaxing her tired muscles.

Twenty minutes later she had finished and was putting on a pot of water to boil when she heard the doorbell ring.

"Who in the world?" Erika wondered out loud as she walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized it was Dwayne.

Erika opened the door. "Lieutenant Hunter? Is everything all right? Has something happened?"

"Easy, Doc. I just wanted to stop by and make sure you were okay," Dwayne answered, holding his hands up. He couldn't help but take notice of the fact that she was dressed in a tank top and sweat pants.

"Oh, uh, I'm fine. I'm just...." Erika blushed and lowered her head as she realized that he was looking at her. She was relieved to hear her teapot begin to whistle. "Umm, would you like to come in. Lieutenant? I'm making myself a cup of tea. Would you like one?" She smiled, looking up at him.

"Sure." He grinned back.

Dwayne walked in behind her. He smiled as he watched her walking barefoot towards the kitchen. He wondered if she would ever know how beautiful she was.

His thoughts were interrupted as she called to him from the kitchen. "How would you like your tea? Sugar? Cream?" she asked.

"A little bit of both, thank you," he answered, sitting down on the couch.

A few minutes later she walked out of the kitchen with two mugs. She grinned as she handed him his. "I hope I got it right."

Dwayne took a sip and grinned back. "Yep just like mom used to make."

She took a seat on the other side of the sofa. "I'm surprised to see you, Lieu..."

"Dwayne."

"Huh?" she asked.

"Call me Dwayne," he said.

"Um, okay. Uh, then I guess you can call me Erika. Although I do kind of like it when you call me Doc."

Dwayne laughed.

"So... uh, um, Dwayne, I thought you'd be wanting to get some serious rest by now. The Legion Ex Machina were really hard on you."

"Yeah, well, it's going take a lot more than those robots to keep me down. By the way, how's the kid?"

"Rusty is just fine. I had a hard time convincing him to power down but he soon relented," she answered, taking another sip of tea.

"How'd you do it?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"I promised him a visit with Big Guy. Although I did tell him that he wouldn't be able to talk to him. He thinks that Big Guy is shut down for some major repairs."

"Aww, you never know. The Big Guy might just want to talk to the kid, too."

"You don't have to do that, Dwayne. Rusty can wait. Besides, no matter how tough you think you are, you have been through a rough ordeal."

"And what about you? I know that my evil twin, so to speak, gave you a wild ride in that elevator," he asked, his hands gripping the mug tightly.

"But I'm all right. Rusty was there...." she started.

"But what if he hadn't been? What if he wasn't able to get to you in time? Doc, I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you," he said, looking at her.

Erika was speechless. Was she hearing him correctly? Was he saying that he cared about her?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Maybe I should just go," he said, getting up to leave.

"No, Lieu... I mean, Dwayne. Don't go," Erika said, grabbing his arm. "Please?" She looked up at him, her eyes pleading with him to stay.

Dwayne looked at her tiny hand on his arm and into her beautiful face. He knew that he would do anything for her no matter how simple or hard.

"In the last several months we've had face some pretty tough obstacles. It was hard for you to accept working with Rusty but you did. He looks up to you so much. When I found out that you we're the BGY-11's human factor I was so afraid that Rusty would find out as well. But," she said, reaching out to touch his cheek and turn his face towards hers, "I was always worried about you even more."

"Why?" he asked, searching her eyes.

"I don't know. I've never experienced the feelings before that I have found myself feeling for you." Suddenly all the pressures of the past few days seemed to hit her all at once as she burst into tears. "I... I was so afraid I'd never see you again."

Dwayne reached over to pull her into his arms. He held her as she cried, speaking softly words of comfort to her. "Shh. Erika, it's okay. I'm fine and I promise not to ever leave you."

"But how can you promise that? There have been so many times...."

"Shh, Doc. With you always there rooting for me, how can I go wrong?" He grinned down at her.

"I'm not the only one that cares about you, Dwayne. There is the Pit Crew, you know," she answered back with a sniffle.

"True, but I don't think they would appreciate this as much as you would," Dwayne said, lowering his head and gently kissing Erika.

Erika wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Her lips parted under his gentle insistence. As they ended their kiss she lowered her head onto his chest. She was too shy to look him in the face at the moment but unwilling to leave the comfort of his arms. Not that she could, considering that Dwayne wasn't about to let her go.

"Doc?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Yes, Dwayne?"

"I don't know where we are going to go from here, but whatever happens, just don't ever leave me."

"Never, Dwayne. Never."