*Cause I Mean It

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

She stood in front of her wardrobe, fluffy towel wrapped tightly around her body as she stared at the rainbow of colours and fabrics that lay before her eyes. Drake was taking her to the movies and then for a 'surprise' after-wards, but had told her to dress casually nice. She ran her fingers over her lips as she contemplated the choice between skirt and dress, before finally pulling out three dresses; modest but nice enough to show that she was putting some effort into this night.
The first was red; her signature colour, but Taylor wanted something a little different tonight and whilst the off the shoulder number was one of her favourites, it wasn't really the kind for a night at the movies. The next, an emerald green shade to bring out the colour of her eyes was a little too flashy for her liking; it was the kind of dress for a fifth or sixth date in a fancy restaurant. Finally came the light teal dress with the plunging neckline. It wouldn't reveal too much and danced gently around her knees - perfect. She slotted the other two back into the darkness of her wardrobe and changed quickly into the dress, realising that her bath had taken up more of the hour than she had intended.

She jogged quickly through her apartment to find a pair of suitable shoes from the cupboard, wondering whether to wear heels or flats, given that she was almost the same height as Drake to begin with; the downside to long legs, before opting with a set of heels. Taylor always felt more powerful with the added height that she didn't need, so hopefully the white pumps would ease the butterfly frenzy in her stomach. She still didn't know why she had agreed to this date, although it had rid her of her health worries and her fears for the rest of the afternoon as she busied herself through the rest of her shift in the morgue with thoughts of movie choices and imaginative theories of what the planned surprise could be. He had wanted to pick her up at her apartment too, but the independent woman had refused, insisting that it would save him gas and money if he just met her at the cinema at half eight.

Tousling her curls around her shoulders, Taylor looked in the mirror as she settled at her vanity to do her make up, but not before pouring herself a glass of red wine to try and ease her nerves just a little bit. Her jewelery box that was once her mother's filled the room with a delicate melody as she carefully lined her eyes with black and tinted her cheeks with a soft coral shade. Once the accessories were added and her bag was in her hand, she made her way to the door, feeding the animals along the way and making sure that all of the candles in the bathrooms were no longer lit. The last thing that she wanted was an amazing night to be ruined by her becoming homeless from a fire.

Hailing a cab, Taylor gave the location of the date and chatted happily to the driver, who was full of questions about her date and who she caught once or twice flicking his eyes down to the cleavage of her dress, making her worry whether she would've been better with the red one after all. The more 'suggestive' voice inside of her reminded her that Drake would probably like it and that 'if you have it, flaunt it' which took her back to her days of modeling when the agency would dress her in the shortest skirts possible to accentuate her long legs. Taylor hated feeling like a piece of meat though and she was more than happy when the cab pulled up at her stop and with haste she handed him too much money, but told him to keep it. She just wanted out of the car before things got more uncomfortable. However, once outside, the butterflies returned and she had no wine to control them this time, instead having to hurry inside from the bitter December air.

Taylor looked around, peering over the crowds for her 'date'. She still couldn't believe she was doing this. Her eyes never fell on Drake though, which caused her to consider running out of there and saying that she fell asleep on the sofa when she next saw him. After a few long seconds, she heard a small cough behind her, followed immediately by the voice that belonged to the man she was looking for. There was no backing out or running away now and with a deep breath and a soft smile, she turned around.

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• • •

TAGGED! Drake <3
WORDS! 898!
OUTFIT! Scrub up Well
LYRICS! Terrified - - - Katherine McPhee feat. Zachary Levi
NOTES! <3

[drake lochlyn wilde]

LIKE A RAINBOW CRASH

[/color]
as we bow and swirl
been a million years full of tears
BUT I FOUND MY GIRL[/color]
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Drake found this whole day somewhat surreal. Taylor Becks had actually agreed to go on a date with him, so to speak. There had been certain terms of course, such as, he wasn’t allowed to pick her up for their date and he wasn’t allowed to pull off anything too fancy or elegant, but he could live with that. Heck, he could live with anything she said after she agreed to spend time with him, alone, outside of the hospital where they worked.
He had instructed her to dress ‘casual formal’ but it was only after he arrived home and was studying his own collection of nice shirts that he realised that Taylor was a rather elegant woman who would probably dress more formal than casual. Not that it was a bad thing of course, but he simply didn’t wish to look a complete mess standing next to the goddess herself. Carefully selecting a shirt his sister had purchased for him last Christmas, Drake changed into yet another pair of black slacks and then chose another pair of black shoes; his career and his formal wear had a habit of blending into the same thing.

Frankie followed him loyally around the studio apartment as he got ready, her mouth open and tail wagging with the same excitement that was bubbling up inside of the young doctor. He bent down to give her some attention before handing her a soft chew bone and encouraging her to run away with it to the other room. He didn’t really want to smell like dog when he greeted Taylor tonight; it was bad enough that most of the time they both smelt like disinfectant and bleach. That was probably why he almost overdid the cologne that he splashed on subconsciously once he was dressed and pacing around his apartment. His nerves and excitement had led to him rushing, and now he was too early to leave without hanging around for a while in the car or the cinema, and then he may look overeager. Plus, who was to say that tonight was a ‘real’ date? Maybe Taylor just saw it as two friends hanging out in a mature fashion when she needed something to take her mind off the tests that Drake had ran today on her blood samples. He hoped not. He really wanted this to be a genuine first date for them both and he hoped that there may be another one at some point in the near future too. He liked Taylor too much for this night to be a failure in the romance area of his life.
He felt ready. Drake wanted a relationship with this woman and not just a meaningless fling or a one night stand, but to come out and just say that to her would be like telling someone that he killed puppies for a living; too terrifying for them to handle. Taylor was the kind of girl who played things close to her chest and he wanted her to be the one to let him in; he didn’t want to smash down the walls forcefully unless invited to do so.

His eyes drifted to the clock on the wall and then he realised that he had allowed himself to become so captivated in his thoughts that he had lost track of the time – he was running late! Frankie barked at his sudden movement, but Drake didn’t have time to settle the lab down as he grabbed his car keys and bolted from the apartment, racing down to the private garage reserved for residents.

Luckily, the cinema was only a short journey from his place and so, even with the chaotic traffic reserved specially for NYC, he was able to make it and find a space to park, running only five minutes later than planned.
Outside the busy complex, Drake took a second to compose himself after his hasty dash and made sure that his appearance was presentable enough to meet the amazing Taylor with. He pulled open the glass door and stepped inside; worried that Taylor may be annoyed at him for his tardiness. Finding her was not a difficult task, thanks to her tall build and silky chocolate hair that identified her to him in a heartbeat. Another deep breath and three steps forward and he was standing behind her. A small smile crossed his face and he cleared his throat so as not to startle the young woman.

When she turned around though…his heart almost stopped. He’d see Taylor outside of work before during medical galas and dinners, but this…she was devastatingly beautiful and part of him wanted to make a joke about her looks, but the side that wanted her to see how he really felt about her held him back. When Drake found control again, he smiled and stepped closer to her. “You look amazing, Tay.”

[/color] He kept his voice soft, words sincere as he met her emerald eyes and almost found himself getting lost in them so soon in the evening.
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Drake is talking to Taylor Becks with a little inspiration from Alexander when he sings about Million Years. There are 962 things on his mind and this on his back. His strings are pulled by Chastity, his heart is pounding lovingly.

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[Taylor Caroline Becks]

There was a strange butterfly sort of feeling in the pit of her stomach that had been building up all day ever since she had agreed to this date tonight. She couldn’t work out exactly what it was other than a bizarre case of nerves that made no sense; she never got nervous. The last time she had been nervous had been in high school. Taylor took pride in her calm and collected approach to everything in life and it was rare that she ever let anything bowl her over. Was Drake really doing this to her? Was he breaking her composure bit by bit? Normally, she would never had accepted this invitation in a million years, but something had happened when they were in her office – something had connected, and now she found herself actually nervous for a date with Drake Wilde; the boy in the playground who chased her constantly.

Taylor dated as much as most women her age did; the only difference was that her relationships never went anywhere and she usually knew that from the moment she accepted the coffee, the drink at the bar or the dinner. Truthfully, most of the guys she dated with the kind you wouldn’t take home to the parents and that was one of the reasons why she never stuck with them. They were attractive and satisfied her taste for danger and excitement, but she was the kind of girl who wanted, needed more than that. Eventually, she wanted to find the guy she’d spend forever with and Taylor wasn’t the kind of girl to fool around when it came to getting there. She broke up with every guy she had dated with college for that reason; she knew that was no magic in their ending – it’d fizzle up long before they made it to forever and that was something she didn’t want.

So would Drake be anything new? She didn’t know, but she didn’t pin her hopes on it either. Part of her still believed that he only wanted to make her another conquest; something to boast about, but whenever that tiny speck of a thought came to her mind, she knocked it back down with a very confident, ”You’re Taylor Becks. You’ve shown people their places before and you’re not about to let some guy own you like that.” On the other hand, there was a feeling in her stomach that she had never experienced with most of the other guys who she had dated and it made her feel uneasy. What if more came out of this date than either of them anticipated? What if this turned into a second, third or fourth date? She usually ended a potential relationship in record timing, so would that happen this time, or would Drake capture her heart?

She shook the thought from her head and pushed the hopeless romantic back inside the depths of her closed off heart. It was far too early to be thinking of such things and Drake hadn’t even turned up for this supposed date yet!
At the sound of his cough and as she turned around though, the hopeless romantic broke free of the chains that kept her buried in the dark corner of Taylor’s heart and an overwhelming surge of butterflies broke loose in her stomach. She couldn’t stop them, control them or tame them in any way as they surrounded her body, sending sharp tingles to the tips of her fingers as Drake took another step closer to her.

His words flooded her cheeks with a deep blush and she glanced down quickly, allowing her cool hair to cover the burning sensation of her face for a second, whilst she regained her composure. “You don’t scrub up so badly yourself.”

[/color] She told him in a soft voice, suddenly relaxing in his presence, melting in his eyes before dragging herself from them and turning to look at the big screen, listing the times and the movies that were playing that evening. “So, what are we watching?”[/color] She asked, flashing him a warm smile and subconsciously leaning a little closer to the Doctor.
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• • •

TAGGED! Drake <3
WORDS! 727!
OUTFIT! Scrub up Well
LYRICS! Terrified - - - Katherine McPhee feat. Zachary Levi
NOTES! <3

[drake lochlyn wilde]

LIKE A RAINBOW CRASH

[/color]
as we bow and swirl
been a million years full of tears
BUT I FOUND MY GIRL[/color]
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As closed off as she was, Taylor had been allowing Drake to sneak a few glimpses of the woman behind the scrubs today and that was setting his nerves off a little more than he expected. He had worked with Taylor ever since he had made the move to New York after his divorce from Holly had been finalised in Aurora, and not once did she ever reveal anything personal about herself to him. The only things he did know about her were things related to the hospital, or in the case of her HTLV-1, from the doctor who had been their attending physician when they began working together. That was way back when, before the morgue and before the ER and when Taylor was still an intern, bumbling her way around the ICU with medical charts and pens tucked behind her ear.

Now, things were so different and Taylor never once reverted back into the nervous intern she had once been with messy hair that refused to stay tied up. These days, she walked the corridors of the hospital with a glamour that didn’t belong there and a level of confidence no young doctor seemed to achieve and hold as much as she did.
As his blue eyes fell on her slender figure in a dress that was enough to make his jaw hit the floor, he wondered how exactly this girl had come to be the doctor she was today. No one would look at her and instantly assume she was in the medical profession and for a moment Drake congratulated the power of beauty supplies, before realising that this wasn’t thanks to any cosmetic equipment or brush, but that most of this was just Taylor herself. She always had taken good care of herself and the gentle curl at the bottom of her hair was almost all natural. No way was she intended for hospitals or morgues, but Drake was glad that something had happened to turn her up that path and into his life.

Now that he had this chance though, could he make it work? Could he make Taylor stay? He’d brought her to the cinema with no clue as to what her favourite movie was or even what genre she preferred. He was so used to being able to read people like an open book that suddenly not knowing anything about her was petrifying to him. How could he prove to her that he could be the perfect boyfriend for her when he knew so very little about her twenty six years of living? The only things he could guess were that she liked heels to be high and her clothing to be of a red or green shade, as those were what she usually wore to work. Aside from that though, he could guess nothing about her preferences and suddenly the pressure had increased tenfold to make this night a success. However, to choose a movie seemed like mission impossible and his eyes scanned the listings on the screen, his heart beating faster when he felt Taylor move just that bit closer to him.

It wasn’t like him to get nervous like this, but then it had been a long time since he had felt this way about someone and unlike the times before, this someone was a total enigma; a mystery that even Sherlock Holmes or Indiana Jones couldn’t solve easily. “Um, how about ‘I am Number Four’?”

[/color] He suggested with a slight shake in his voice. It had sound reviews in the papers and it seemed like the safest bet for them both to pay attention to. There was a lot to consider when picking out just one simple movie and all of a sudden Drake felt more pressure than when he needed to perform emergency surgery before a surgeon was available.
He had to get a hold of himself before he messed this up. He was usually so damn confident too, so why was he acting and feeling like this?
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Drake is talking to Taylor Becks with a little inspiration from Alexander when he sings about Million Years. There are 791 things on his mind and this on his back. His strings are pulled by Chastity, his heart is pounding lovingly.

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[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Maybe it was a biological clock thing that had convinced Taylor to date Drake. She was bordering on late twenties and could count the number of serious relationships on…well, there hadn’t really been one. Her longest relationship had lasted six months and whilst she had dated plenty of guys, she had never allowed them to flourish into an actual boyfriend or lover. She had been scared, nervous and slightly wary about letting someone in, for reasons that she couldn’t even understand. Nothing made sense, but there was something that told her to give Drake this chance that she had denied so many others.

With Drake, she knew that it could blossom into something more than just an innocent date and the idea of that both terrified and calmed her. She didn’t want to play around with her own heart for much longer and whilst this was still only the beginning of their first date, Taylor did wonder if Drake could become the boyfriend her father and friends had been waiting to hear about for quite some time and Taylor was aware of their eagerness to see her settled already with a man who could make her happy and who didn’t dress in leathers, have wild facial hair or ride a dangerous looking bike through the chaotic cities of New York.

Her date tonight was far from that though and she could imagine the excitement of her father if he knew his daughter was dating another doctor. Maybe it would ease his constant worries of his baby in the big city and make him see that Taylor did know what she was doing without his weekly visits to her, no matter how much she loved him and hated when he returned home to Fort Lee. She smiled at Drake’s evident nerves and couldn’t resist sidling a little closer to him. “Sounds like a good choice to me.”

[/color] She replied sweetly, sliding her hand into his, biting her lip softly as she struck up the confidence to take control of this date. Besides, it was just innocent hand holding and it didn’t mean anything serious at this point, other than stating to those around that they were here together.

She moved forward in the queue and pulled Drake along with her. “So, popcorn or nachos?”[/color] She asked him, making conversation whilst they patiently waited for the box office to call them forward to purchase their tickets. Taylor was getting a little excited by the prospect of tonight now and her curiosity was bubbling as to what Drake had planned for them after this movie was over. She wasn’t used to surprises and usually she hated not knowing something but tonight, it was like Taylor had lowered her defences, allowing Drake a fair chance to win her over and to convince her that he wanted more from this than just a one night stand that he could boast about in the hospital.

Taylor’s spare hand slipped to his arm and she rested it there as she turned to him again, a little startled by how she was just that little bit taller than him in the shoes she believed had a small heel. “Before I forget, I just want to say thank you now for the rest of tonight.”[/color] She smiled, a little shy now as she realised that tonight could actually be the start of something that could possibly change her life forever and she wouldn’t be able to stop it. That thought alone was a little nerve-wracking and it took a few seconds for the brunette to compose herself again and calm down before she bolted out of the door, down the street and was never seen again.

She was stronger than that though and controlling her emotions, she moved to the employee that waved them over and in that second, she realised that she had no idea how this was about to work. Was Drake intending to pay for everything? She didn’t exactly like being waited on like that, but she didn’t want to cause a scene either by fighting with him about it.
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• • •

TAGGED! Drake <3
WORDS! 721!
OUTFIT! Scrub up Well
LYRICS! Terrified - - - Katherine McPhee feat. Zachary Levi
NOTES! <3