Keira was someone who valued her weekends, no matter how many days off she had taken during the week. No obligations to deal with unless a project was giving her more trouble than usual, just two days to relax. Usually she was left with nothing to do and she loved every minute of it.

Well, not this weekend.

Apparently unable to get it through her head, Keira finally woke up at 8:45, fully prepared to lounge around all day. She stretched and sighed, the sunlight streaking through the gaps in the blinds. She could practically smell her coffee pot simmering.

...coffee?

Shit!

Keira jerked out of bed, throwing off the covers in a flash of pale green. Her foot caught on the edge of a blanket that had halfway fallen on the floor, leading her to practically faceplant onto the carpet. Groaning, she heaved herself up, grabbed her glasses, and ran for her closet, pulling out clothes a mile a minute, almost uncaring if anything matched. Grabbing a plain shirt, yoga pants, and a thin grey cardigan, she threw them on while reaching for her hairbrush in an attempt to make her deep red rats nest look presentable.

Keira hadn't stopped thinking about the morning all day yesterday, why in the world had she forgotten? Throwing on some flats and grabbing her wallet, she clambered out the door and opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator. She looped the wrist strap of the wallet around her wrist as she hit the ground, running in the direction of 16th street. It wasn't too far away from where she lived, but it still involved extensive cardio. At this point, she didn't need the coffee; she was wide awake now.

Apparently it wasn't alert enough to watch where she was running. Next thing she knew, Keira had slammed right into someone, irritating her already sore face from her fall earlier.

"Oh, fuck." She hissed, grabbing her nose in pain. Being prone to nose bleeds after even the smallest blunt force to her nose, she waited a second before doing anything else to make sure no blood was leaking. Once the tremor passed, she sighed.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were doing this on purpose." She finally looked up at who she had run into and began hacking in surprise. Norman smirked down at her with his hands on his hips like he was chastising a child.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Osborn, I..." Keira tried to defend before trailing off.

"What's the hurry?" He asked.

"I woke up ten minutes ago and didn't want to be late." She admitted. "I usually wake up later on the weekends."

"I don't take very many weekends off. But this is an exception." Norman smiled as Keira flushed, trying to hide her expression. If Yvette saw her like this, she would never hear the end of it.

Keira wasn't as familiar with this coffee shop because her usual place was in another direction along her way to work. It smelled fresher in this place than the other one. Looking at the prices, she understood why. Swallowing, she forked up the two-fifty and grabbed the cup with a weak smile. No on the go coffee for three days.

Norman led her back outside and they sat at one of the small two person tables under the awning. For a moment, she avoided his gaze and drank the coffee with two hands like a child.

She knew what this probably looked like, sitting so casually across someone as high profile as Norman Osborn. Her eyes shifted around uncomfortably in search of any cameras around. Yvette seeing this was one thing. Tabloids seeing this was a thousand times worse. At least with Yvette, the taunts stayed within the lab.

Perhaps noticing her anxiety, Norman got her attention away from the busy streets.

"I never asked you, but how did you come up with the formulas for the fuel?" He asked, knowing this was a subject she was comfortable with. Keira let her shoulders drop a little bit, releasing a little tension. She raised them back up again to shrug.

"It just kind of came to me over my lunch break. I had finished my last project and wanted to find something new to do. I wrote it down on a napkin... I'm not sure if my supervisor was impressed or disgusted when I showed it to him to ask for approval." Keira opened her wallet and managed to fish out the now wrinkled hot dog napkin, passing it to Norman. He took it, handling the crumpled paper delicately as if it would disintegrate if he held it too hard. Her notes written on it were a mess, but Norman understood it easily enough. Her messy handwriting piqued his interest, remembering how cleanly his secretary or other women he knew wrote.

"Do you have an idea for your next project?" He asked, passing the napkin back to Keira. She carelessly stuffed it back into her wallet and tapped the paper around her coffee cup.

"Applying for a promotion." She said. "I wanna supervise all the labs on my floor. I submitted the paperwork to the office yesterday afternoon. If that gets denied, then I don't know."

"I don't understand why you would be denied that promotion. You're one of the best chemists I've seen." Norman said, raising an eyebrow. Keira blushed, hiding her face again behind her coffee cup as she took a sip.

"Well, I always run the risk of not getting promoted because a guy is 'better suited' for the job. That, or I'm 'right where I need to be.'" Keira shrugged. "I applied a few months ago and got rejected, so I figured I'd see where the next project went before I tried again. Seeing as the fuel was sold, I figured that would up my chances. I'll find out by the end of the week."

Norman didn't let on how bothered he was by Keira's nonchalant attitude. He'd seen people with far less talent than her get higher executive jobs than she was looking for. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat before changing the subject.

"Tell me about yourself." He blurted, only realizing after he had said it how awkward that had sounded. Keira was the one who raised an eyebrow this time.

"You mean beyond what's in my employee file?" She asked. Norman shrugged, now realizing he couldn't take it back. Keira sat back, contemplating her answer.

"Well, I have no siblings, it was just my parents and I growing up in Queens. My mom was looking into being a midwife before she got pregnant with me and my dad worked in construction before and after he went to Vietnam. He was deployed when I was three and came home when I was six. He can't hear out of his left ear and sometimes gets bad migraines because of the aftershock of an explosion. He didn't ever talk about what happened, but I found some journals when I was sixteen that filled in the blanks." Keira paused. "Here I am talking about my parents when you asked about me."

"No, I don't mind." Norman said, non-verbally encouraging her to continue. "I think it's nice. My father wasn't exactly..." he trailed off, leaving Keira to interpret his words.

"When my mom was studying, she learned about medicines and other solutions. When I was about eight, she found some that were long past date and let me mix them around, knowing I knew better than to try and take them. Ever since, I've been fascinated by chemistry and knew that's what I wanted to do with my life. I got my degree at MIT and applied for the job not long after that."

She found it amusing how captivated Norman was by her words. Her cheeks went pink as she finished the last of her overpriced coffee.

"One of my friends thought that I had a future as a singer, but I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere. Now he has the music degree and teaches choir at Midtown." She added.

"You sing?" Norman asked, perking up.

"I was in choir in high school. I never got any solos or anything, but I liked to think I had a decent voice. I guess singing along with my record player wasn't quite enough. I thought about keeping with it in college, but I never had the time."

"I'm sure you were a lovely singer. But I agree with your choice. I don't know what we'd do without you." Norman said. Keira waved the comment off, tossing her empty cup into the trash can.

They continued talking for another thirty minutes before Norman had to make his leave. They separated amicably in different directions, which Keira was silently thankful for so he couldn't see the red on her face. Even so, she was unaware of a similar visage on Norman's face as well.

***

Every day that next week, Norman made sure to visit Keira's desk at least once a day. What started out as just crunching numbers or asking about substances turned into casual chatting by the time Thursday came. After Norman left her alone for the day, Keira couldn't suppress the stupid grin on her face or the red on her cheeks. She rested her chin on her hand as she watched him leave.

"Uh oh..." Yvette said, walking over to Keira's desk and resting her elbows on top.

"Uh oh what?" Keira asked, slightly dazed still.

"Methinks somebody's in love~" Yvette drawled, drawing a heart with her finger in front of Keira's face.

"What makes you say that?"

"Keira, seriously? Your face is red, your grinning from ear to ear, and you make that stupid giggle whenever Mr. Osborn is around. You look like a lovesick teenager."

Keira just let out a blissful sigh and didn't meet Yvette's eyes. The other chemist scoffed lightly.

"Well, when you come to, put in a request for more rubbing alcohol, wouldya?"

"Sure, sure..."

Yvette threw up her hands and walked away.

Friday morning was a different story, Keira walking to her desk in the morning to be greeted by a yellow file on her desk. She opened it and studied the paper carefully. Once she understood what it was saying, she let out an excited whoop.

Promoted.

She'd still work in the same lab, she would just need to make the rounds every day, extending her supervising duties to the other labs on the floor.

"Congratulations." She heard Norman say from the door. Keira looked at him with an accusatory smirk.

"You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" She asked. Norman just shrugged.

"I'm not really allowed to discuss that with you." He said impishly. Keira pouted before smiling again. Not really knowing what else to do, she approached him and gave him a large hug. Norman seemed surprised by it at first before he accepted it, hugging her back. Cheesy as it sounded, she felt like she was in exactly the right place in his arms.

Maybe Vette's right, maybe I am a lovesick teenager.

Once Keira pulled away, she sat back at her desk and folded the paper back into the file. Norman stood next to her as she did so.

"Do you have any plans for the weekend?" He asked her.

"Ah, I was going out to dinner with some friends for my birthday, but they all had to cancel for one reason or another." Keira said, shrugging. "Maybe I'll just swipe a Klondike bar from my parents' house and stick a candle in it."

"Nonesense, I'll take you out to dinner." Norman said. Once again, he realized what he said only after he had said it, knowing he couldn't backpedal. Keira jerked her eyes to look at him, surprised.

"No, you don't have to do that. Coffee was more than enough." She said. Well, too late to take it back now.

"I'm insisting. Anywhere you want." Norman said firmly. Taken aback for a moment, Keira considered the offer. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, anyways. She shrugged.

"Olive Garden at six tomorrow?" She asked.

"Just give me your address and I'll pick you up."

"Sure thing." Keira wrote down the address on a sticky note and passed it to Norman. He folded it and stuck it into his pocket for later. Norman gave her a coy smile as he left the lab. Yvette walked in just after he closed the door. She saw Keira's face again and rolled her eyes.

"Listen, I'm all for you being happy and all, but for the love of God can you stop looking like a doofus with a crush every damn time I see you?" She groaned.

"Shut up, Vette." Keira said, still smiling like an idiot.

***

At six o' clock sharp, Keira left her apartment and descended to the ground floor. She had her short sleeved blouse and cleanest pants on, ignoring the slight evening chill. A few minutes after that, the nicest car Keira had ever seen pulled up in front of her. Norman stepped out of the back seat, opening the door for her on her side before reclaiming his own seat. The restaurant wasn't too far away, so Keira chose to enjoy every second of the drive. She sat closely to Norman, barely resisting the urge to rest her head on his shoulder.

Thank God Vette can't read minds. Keira thought. I'd never hear the end of this.

Once they had been dropped off, seated, and ordered their food, Keira couldn't hold back from the basket of breadsticks. Once again, Norman found himself entranced by her behavior. People usually tried to act their best around him because of his status. Yet here Keira was, ripping apart the breadstick in her hand like she hadn't eaten in ten days. Her genuineness never ceased to amaze him.

Once their food had been served, they entered a comfortable silence as they started to eat. Pausing, Norman reached into his pocket.

"I got you something." He told her. She coughed on her water, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"You didn't have to do that." She said. Norman just smiled and presented her the gift, no bigger than the palm of his hand.

"You're always saying how your hair keeps falling into your eyes." He said. Keira took the hair clip sporting a large, royal blue rose and examined it.

"It's my favorite color, too." She said, pinning her hair back with it with a large smile.

"I know." Norman replied. The conversations lulled for a moment before Keira spoke up.

"I feel like I've told you so much about me that I barely know anything about you." She said.

"I like hearing about you. But if you have to know..." Norman said. Keira nodded and he chuckled. "Well, you know I'm a chemistry graduate from MIT as well. That's where I met Caroline."

"Caroline?" Keira asked. Norman let out a sad smile.

"My late wife."

...Oh.

"Oh, I...I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Keira said.

"She was an artist. A good one, too. Not long after she gave birth to Harry, my son, she started declining. She had a heart condition..." Norman trailed off after that. Keira's mouth hung open, shocked by what she was hearing. There was so much she had no idea about. Perhaps noticing her expression, Norman gave a half smile. "Now you get why I don't talk about myself a lot."

"I'm sorry to hear that. She seems like she was a good woman." Keira said, gently resting a hand on Norman's arm. He didn't shy away from the gesture.

"She would have liked you a lot. Your genuineness and kindness."

"That's very sweet of you."

The conversation fell again as the pair suddenly found their half finished plates incredibly interesting. Norman was probably still not over Caroline, and if Keira didn't know better, she would take this as her cue to back off from here on... yet clearly Norman saw something in her that he liked. That he was drawn to.

If Yvette could see the signs in Keira, then Keira could see them in Norman, too.

The rest of the dinner continued with light conversation and a short argument over who was paying that Keira ended up losing on the grounds of "it's your birthday." She pretended to be mad on their way to the car, but she loosened up once they were back on the road. This time, she did let her head rest on Norman's shoulder. She let out a yawn that reminded Norman of the way a cat yawned with its wide open mouth. Strangely, yet not strangely, adorable.

Her apart in view, Norman offered to walk her back to her door. Climbing the stairs, Keira fumbled for her keys once her door was in sight.

"I had fun tonight." She said, finally finding the right key and inserting it into the lock.

"Me, too." Norman replied. Keira looked back at him with a tired smile. She turned around to go inside, but Norman gently grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Wait."

"Yeah?" Keira looked at him curiously as he seemed to fidget a little. Sighing, Norman cupped her face and gently kissed her. Shocked but not upset, Keira shut her eyes and kissed back, allowing the warm feeling to spread around her body. She pulled back with a dazed smile to match Norman's.

"Have a good night, Miss Browning." Norman bade her. She chuckled.

"You as well, Mr. Osborn." Keira replied, finally retreating into her apartment.