"Thanks again so much for coming." Bonnie reaches out and shakes her hand.

"Absolutely. It's not a problem." Mackenzie greets her with a smile, trailing behind. "I was just a little surprised to hear from you."

"Hmm." She glances over her shoulder at the younger woman as she pushes the button to the elevator. "I was under the impression that he told I'd be calling you."

"He?" The confusion is completely evident on her voice and all over her face. "I'm sorry. I'm just really confused right now."

She chuckles. "He's a little bit of a trouble maker that boy." The elevator dings and the doors open. "The hospital is going to be opening a new wing to the children's ward, largely due to the money that was raised during the New Years Eve party."

"Justin?" She chokes out. "Justin told you to call me?"

She nods, waving at a group of small kids gathering around a TV. Two of them wearing face masks but they waved just as enthusiastically as the others. "To be fair, I have a party planner and won't need much from you. But since you worked with him for the fundraiser, he thought you'd want to be a part of this."

Mackenzie still feels a little shell shocked as they enter a small office. She hasn't really talked to Justin in several weeks, only in passing when they happened to bump into each other at Preston's house.

Things with Preston were in a weird limbo state. After the thing with Justin, she had been pretty distance from Preston, in regards to their sexual relationship. She was always available to him on the phone or when he was back in town after being away in Chicago for so long. But anytime it seemed like he was going to make any kind of advance, she'd find a way to avoid it. He sensed something was different but never mentioned it. A man like Preston knew that his age was a big issue for her, even if she never said anything. But he was happy to have her around, any way she'd allow it.

"So you just need my help?" She sits across from Bonnie.

"Kind of." She flips through some paperwork. "You won't need to be involved in the party afterwards, that's completely under control. But the actually ceremony is where I might need a little help. At the very least, I'd like it very, very much if you were there."

"Um, sure. Anything I can do." She nods.

"Great!" Happiness plastered over her face. "There's going to be so much chaos with the ceremony and all the people, the kids with their families that the only way this is going to work is if I have you and Jackie work together to make sure it all runs smoothly."

She nods, her pen moving across the paper of her notebook. "Anything in particular you're looking for me to handle?"

"Jackie's got a good hold on the logistics of the actual presentation and who's who but there are a lot of families that want to be involved too. Mostly it'll be those whose children have been here the longest. The general consensus is that the kids want to do something for Justin.  This is actually going to be kept a secret from everyone." She pauses and grins. "A few of the kids are really hoping to make him tear up."

Choking back a laugh, "Justin? Cry?" She shakes her head. "That'll be the day."

"I don't know," She leans back in the chair. "I'm sure he's somewhat of a cad but inside these walls, he's a completely different person. Everyone here loves him and all that he does. I'll admit, the first time I met him, I thought maybe he was only becoming involved to hook up with a nurse. But he proved me wrong." She shrugs and Mackenzie is almost in awe at the tone that Bonnie's voice takes as she speaks about Justin.  "He's been amazing for this place."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The door swings up and the man standing in front of her is visibly shocked to see her.

"What is wrong with you?" She demands, hands on her hips.

"Hi Mack, nice to see you too. I'm good, thanks for asking. I was a little under the weather the other day but I'm doing much better now." Justin leans against the doorframe. "How the fuck'd you find my house?"

She rolls her eyes and pushes past him into the house. She tries not to notice the stark cleanliness of the dark hardwood floors and bright white walls. The living room screams of clean and modern living. Everything looks like it's right out of a magazine and it is the farthest thing from anything that she could have ever pictured.

"The call girl working the corner was more than happy to point it out." She whips around to face him.

"First off, I've never paid for sex." The smirk on his face getting harder and harder to hide. "Second, I never bring women back to my place."

"Pig." She mutters, eyes fighting to look him in the face. The sweats and gray t-shirt he's wearing making it very difficult. "Why'd you give Bonnie my name? Don't you know that I have my own job to do? Did you not think I'm-"

He holds up a hand to cut her off. "Breathe." He steps across the room and she holds her breath as he comes close enough to smell his aftershave. Moving past her he settles on the couch. "You're gonna give yourself an aneurysm one of these days."

She huffs and he clicks the TV off.

"I just thought that maybe you'd be interested in being there." He crosses his arms and she swallows hard when she notices the way his arms strain against the soft material. "But if not, you can let the kids down. Break their hearts. No biggie."

"You know that you're an asshole right?" She narrows her eyes at him, both of them knowing that she wasn't going to say no to this.

"So you keep telling me." He grins and in that second they both realize that they're alone.

She does her best to avoid looking directly at him, her brain clouded with thoughts of the kiss. Much as he was angered that she had kissed him like that then in the next second, pushed him away, he can't help but love that he's getting a reaction from her.

"You should go with me." He speaks up.

"Go where?" Her voice coming out with a snap and inwardly she cringes. She hates that he gets under her skin with just a look.

"To see the kids." He shrugs. "I was thinking of going tomorrow afternoon. Might be nice if you got to meet some of them. See all the good you did."

"I didn't do anything." She shuffles, uncomfortable with his praise. "It was your fundraiser."

"Yeah but it wouldn't have happened without you." His voice soft. So much so that if she hadn't be alone with him, she'd have never know it came from him.

She finally meets his eyes and doesn't look away this time. The moment breaks when he unconsciously licks his lips.

Blushing she hoists her purse higher over her shoulder. "I gotta go."

He chuckles and stands but she's halfway out the door. "Let me know about tomorrow!"

If she heard him, she didn't let on. Only closed the door behind her leaving him standing there, wishing she had stayed.