[admin] For Your Consideration

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Welcome to the Artists' Portion of this year's Big Bang Challenge!

Behind the cut are the fifteen stories of Round Two for your consideration. Please post a comment with the NUMBER AND TITLE of the story you'd like to create art for. You can comment with your first and second choice in case your first choice is already claimed. A mod will reply to your comment to let you know which story you've been assigned. If all stories have an artist assigned, we will be opening these stories up for a second artist sign-up.

ETA: The second round of artist picks has NOT started. The second round of artist picks will begin later today, after the mods have confirmed that all first artists have received their assignments. An announcement will be made in the community at least ONE HOUR BEFORE the second round starts; no second round claims will be accepted prior to that. Currently, we anticipate that the second round might begin at 4 PM MST, 6 PM EST. Please watch the community for further updates.

ETA2: The second round of artist picks will begin at 4:00 PM MST, 6:00 PM EST, in a NEW POST. This post will have comments closed; please watch for the new post.

Now, with no further ado, drumroll, please!

1. Title: Adagio - FIRST ARTIST: hjsnapepm
Pairing: House/Cuddy, Cuddy/OC
Rating: NC-17
Length: 30 000 words
Spoilers: Through 5.06, "Joy".
Summary: Lisa Cuddy thought her dream of having a baby was finished. She thought her dream of a strong, loving partner would never come true. She was wrong on both counts, as well as in her assessment that Gregory House would have nothing to do with either of them.
Excerpt:

House watched this performance impassively. "Hot flash," he said conversationally. Cuddy threw him a murderous glare and patted her face with the damp bar napkin. "Alcohol just makes them worse..."

"So you're the expert on this, too?" she returned. The light suddenly dawned on him.

"Bender plus hot flash equals bad news for Cuddy from the gynecologist."

"House, just drop it, would you," Cuddy pleaded wearily. "Please?"

House settled back, watching her while she looked at the table. "Is there anything I can do?"

She looked up at him. "Not unless you happen to have a brand spanking new pair of ovaries on you," she said. The pain in her eyes tugged at him.

"Are you in full-on menopause?" he asked.

Cuddy shook her head. "Not quite," she said shortly. "Still bleeding."

"Then it's still possible..."

"No, House, it is not possible. I couldn't have a baby before my body decided it was too old to reproduce," Cuddy said. "What makes you think it'll happen now, with this diagnosis?"

"Ever hear of change-of-life babies? More middle-aged women have abortions than teenagers."

"Yeah, well, God hates me. The closest I'm ever going get to being a mother is in my dreams..." Her voice caught and she put her face in her hands, not caring what anyone, even House, thought. "I actually dream about it sometimes," she said, her voice muffled by her hands. "About being pregnant and giving birth..." Cuddy spread her hands on the table, stared at them as if they held a clue to her future. "I dreamed about Joy once..." She shook her head sadly. "I was so happy in that dream... and then I woke up..."

2. Title: Air Conditioner - FIRST ARTIST: bridgetmc
Pairing: House/Foreman
Rating: PG-13
Length: 39,477 words
Spoilers: Begins about a month after the end of s4, and takes a different path, ignoring s5.
Summary: After Head&Heart, House is physically damaged. A previously existing coworker-with-benefits relationship with Foreman is the only connection he has to rely on afterwards.
Excerpt:

House was sprawled out on the couch, wearing only a pair of boxers, a fan blowing over his sweaty chest.

Foreman had seen his scar before, so it wasn't a big deal, and he personally had no objections to seeing House mostly naked. Or completely naked, if it came to that.

"Dude. Brain-damaged cripple dying of heat exhaustion here. What took you so long?"

"Nothing, I just wanted you to suffer."

House snorted.

He really did look miserable though.

"Where is it?"

House jerked his thumb towards the closet.

The first real heat wave of the summer, and House needed help with his air conditioner.

Foreman grunted, lifting it.

"Damn, how old is this thing?"

"Like ten years. Still works though."

Foreman grunted again, setting it down and opening the window House had indicated.

It slammed shut as soon as he let go.

He sighed, looking at House, who shrugged.

"The rope holding the weight rotted. I've been meaning to fish it out with a magnet, but you have to take the whole window apart to do that."

Foreman shook his head, looking around.

He couldn't see anything the right height to prop the sash open.

"Gimme a hand with the window?" he asked, uncertain.

House considered for a moment, then slowly started working his way to his feet, grabbing one of the elbow crutches resting beside on the floor beside the couch, and staggering his way over to the younger doctor.

3. Title: And All Our Little Agonies - FIRST ARTIST: chickloveslotr
Pairing: Gen: House, team, Wilson, Cuddy.
Rating: PG
Length: 24 900 words
Spoilers: Through season 3.
Summary: When two new, unwanted patients throw his world into disarray, House questions his own medical ability. As the ketamine treatment for his thigh fails, House's friends begin to desert him.
Excerpt:

House had forgotten how easy it was to get used to pain, to act as if something was normal, even if it wasn't. He'd woken up over an hour ago, pain clawing at his thigh like any other day. But the vicodin bottle which stood sentinel on his desk, a bastion against all his agonies, big and small, had nothing but air underneath its plastic helmet.

He had to stare at the bottle, had to remember what it could do for him. Because, although his vicodin was missing in action, he knew exactly where a squadron of relief could be found. The little bottles of liquid underneath his bed, tucked in next to a small pile of syringes and a line of surgical tubing; the little army was calling to him, a siren song of pleasure and freedom.

If the vicodin sought to protect House, to bolster his confidence by freeing him of pain, the morphine obliterated it. But it obliterated everything, and he needed his wits today, couldn't stay abed dreaming in Technicolor while his morphine regiment sang him to sleep.

So, he got up.

4. Title: Bounty Hunter Bedlam - FIRST ARTIST: diysheep
Crossover Fandom: Stephanie Plum
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: PG-13
Length: 27 000 words
Spoilers: Through 5.11 'Joy To The World' for House; through Fearless Fourteen for Stephanie Plum.
Summary: How much havoc can a crippled Princeton doctor wreak for a disaster-prone Trenton bounty hunter? Stephanie Plum meets House and Wilson in a crime caper with absconding brothers, monster trucks, and a man with sinister eyebrows.
Excerpt:

I thought it time to get down to brass tacks. "Dr. House, Dr. Wilson. We're actually not patients at all; we're here on business. We're bond enforcement agents."

"Bounty hunters," Lula amplified.

"Bounty hunters?" Wilson repeated.

"Like Boba Fett?" House said hopefully.

"Well, not exactly," I said. "My name is Stephanie Plum, and this is Lula. We work for Vincent Plum Bail Bonds."

"Oh crap," Wilson said suddenly, and looked away from House.

I addressed Wilson. "Your brother Jonathan didn't show up for his court appearance yesterday, so we're looking for him. We thought he might be here, as you stood bond--"

"You did what?" House shouted, turning towards Wilson. "You stood bond for your useless piss-head brother? Wilson, you're an idiot!"

"Oh, I'm only allowed to bail someone out if it's you?" Wilson said, a defensive note in his voice. "He's my only brother, House, he asked me for help--and he wouldn't have done if he wasn't desperate--I couldn't just leave him in the lurch."

"Always with the excuses for him!" House picked up his cane and slammed it into a nearby table. "What did he do this time? Pick a fight with a defenseless cripple?"

"It was just a disorderly charge. Jon explained it all to me. He had a few drinks, there was a bar fight, he got arrested, he was unlucky. It happens, right?" Wilson spread out his hands. "He's had a hard time financially recently, since his divorce--he's paying alimony through the nose--"

"Yeah, and you can empathize with that alright," House said viciously.

"House," Wilson said simply, pleadingly, and House looked at him, and Wilson looked back, and House fell silent.

5. Title: Deaductive Reasoning - FIRST ARTIST: alexwhitewell
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: R
Length: 25,500 words
Spoilers: AU. Departs from canon after the beginning of S5
Summary: A serial killer stalks the halls of PPTH, and patients are being murdered. House investigates. By the way, Wilson is a vampire and House is his partner and unlikely minion.
Excerpt:

The hammering on the door went on forever. Wilson called down to hotel management advising them that a lunatic was banging on his door, but they ignored him.

Damn the connection. Just as he could tap into House's energy to locate him, House could do the same, but on a lesser scale.

Surrendering, he unlocked the door and gestured for House to come in.

Taking command of the conversation…House didn't miss a beat…"You're locking yourself in your office all day and never coming home at night. We have to talk. Do you want to start or should I?"

Wilson clicked on the TV and slumped into a chair, ignoring him.

House began to pace. "Fine. I'll begin. You've been behaving strangely – not that anyone but me would notice. I mean, you successfully hid the fact that you're a vampire from everyone for over fifteen years."

Wilson turned, raising one quizzical eyebrow at House.

"And I'm the most happy fella' to be your partner and minion. After all, you have to be superhuman to put up with me. I live to disobey."

Wilson looked back at the set.

"But, dude, you are outdoing yourself in the odd behavior department.

"Have nothing to say? What if I tell you I know that you're in touch with Zehava, your patients are dying left and right, and you look like crap?"

That got a rise. Wilson was the picture child of misery. "This is none of your business."

"The hell it isn't. There's a spike in deaths for you and other doctors. I'm concerned the same will happen to me. At fifty patients a year, Cuddy wouldn't be tolerant about letting me hang out with Coma Guy if I lost more than two or three."

Now he had Wilson's attention, "No. It can't be."

Throwing the papers Lucas had given him onto the table for Wilson to see, House waited for a reaction.

He expected to see a wide-eyed look of surprise. Instead the universe ripped open and out spilled its guts.

Wilson dragged his hand over his eyes. "House, I'm out of control. I've become a murderer."

6. Title: Eucatastrophe - FIRST ARTIST: oldblue
Pairing: Gen: House, Wilson, Thirteen, Cuddy.
Rating: PG-13
Length: 50,400 words
Spoilers: Through season four; some AU for season five.
Summary: Dr. House believes there is something unusual living in Lake Carnegie. Strange events unfold as he attempts to prove his theory.
Excerpt:

"You notice anything strange about Wilson this morning?" asked House.

Foreman shrugged. "Did you?"

"You're supposed to tell me. That's why I asked. I'm pretty sure that's the way it works, anyway."

"My guess is, you've already noticed something strange about Wilson, and you just want an excuse to stalk him when you should be treating our patient."

House made a face. "I don't stalk Wilson. Wilson's boring."

Foreman raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Okay, except for... all those other times," said House.

Thirteen poked her head into the room. "Uh... we have a patient."

"You're right," said Foreman. He turned to glare expectantly at House. "We do."

"Oh, well in that case, let me get my who-gives-a-shit on," said House. He cleared his throat. "Please, Doctor Foreman. Do describe our drug addict's drug addict behavior."

"You still think drugs?"

"I don't think anything," said House. "Because I don't care."

"Should I tell him to come back tomorrow?" asked Thirteen. "Would that be easier?"

"Wilson's apparently more interesting," said Foreman.

"Erno Rubik is more interesting," said House. "Wilson's a canker sore by comparison. Irritating and totally unavoidable."

"What are you doing?" asked Thirteen. She'd noticed the the disassembled Cube on House's desk.

"Did you know--" House picked up his screwdriver and continued snapping corners off the center axis of the toy--"that this cube has about forty quintillion possible arrangements? Of course, now that I've disassembled it, that's increased to about five hundred quintillion possible arrangements."

He put down his screwdriver and snapped off the last few pieces by hand, leaving only the fixed center pieces on their axes. He spread all the pieces out with a sweep of his hand.

"Nice work," said Foreman.

"Some pieces you just can't move," sighed House.

7. Title: Go Baby Go - FIRST ARTIST: chemina42
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: PG-13
Length: 25 700 words
Spoilers: Takes place mid-season 3.
Summary: House finds out about the woman in Wilson's life.
Excerpt:

"What do you think you're doing here?" Wilson hissed. House was close enough to see Wilson's natural flush beneath the foundation which was, damn it, well applied, just like the rest of the make-up. How long had Wilson been at this cross-dressing farce? Months, at least. Maybe years. And never once telling his supposed best friend about it.

"Finding out more about your secret double life," House said, his voice cold. Wilson's flush reddened as he stared intently down at the floor. House crossed his arms even tighter, his anger twisting inside him. "What's up with that? Watched too many noir films, wanted to play the femme fatale?" Wilson covered his face with both hands. Coward. "You look the part."

"It's not about that," Wilson choked out, his head further tucking into his chest, hands still over his face.

"Oh, no?" House sneered. "It's got nothing to do with the pearls or the girly get-me-fucked perfume?"

Wilson finally came out of hiding, his hands clenching into fists and lowering down to around his chest. "It's not a get-me-fucked perfume," he snapped. He hadn't argued the 'girly' part. Then that much was undeniably true.

House leaned forward and breathed in deep through his nose; it smelled like a get-me-fucked scent. He studied the way Wilson's clothes fit him, how they curved and flared in all the right places. Wilson looked great, unfortunately. He could give fashion designers a run for their money, with that sense of style. "Does it get you all hot and bothered? Feed some long-repressed desire?"

8. Title: In My Darkest Dreams - FIRST ARTIST: tli
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: NC-17 (dark themes)
Length: 41 400 words
Spoilers: Throughout season four. Particularly '97 Seconds and 'House's Head/ Wilson’s Heart.' Diverts from canon after the finale.
Summary: A tour through House's mind as he deals with the psychological fallout from Wilson's actions and the events occurring throughout season four.
Excerpt:

For three days, he can't sleep. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees Amber, lying in her casket, heavily made-up to hide the facial contusions, or how she looked at the moment of impact in the bus crash, hair haloed around her head, neck snapping forward, eyes wide with panic and confusion. Or he sees Wilson's cold glare, telling him in no uncertain terms that he is unwanted. Sometimes the image morphs into a sickening combination of the two that makes him want to tear his eyes out of his head, or vomit, or scream at the top of his lungs that nothing is as unfair as this.

9. Title: Lead You Into The Night - FIRST ARTIST: sadpie
Pairing: House/Cuddy
Rating: PG
Length: 34 800 words
Spoilers: None
Summary: What's the differential for a woman who says she hates her baby?
Excerpt:

Cuddy shrugged. "I'm doing okay."

"Just 'okay'?"

She faced the crib, where the baby was wrapped up tight in a blanket and fast asleep. Maybe she was just fatigued, but she didn't seem herself. He frowned.

"Can't believe I'm heading home tomorrow," she finally said. "It's going to be weird having a baby in the house."

"You've had plenty of time to get used to the idea."

"Preparing for a baby, House, and having one..."

"Thought you'd be jumping for joy."

"I thought so, too."

10. Title: One and Two - FIRST ARTIST: euclase
Pairing: Amber/House/Wilson
Rating: NC-17
Length: 31 700 words
Spoilers: Diverges from canon starting from episode 4.14 Living the Dream.
Summary: Amber decides to make Wilson happy by adding House to their relationship, and realizes that by doing so, she may have subtracted herself.
Excerpt:

Remember the idea I mentioned, earlier? Yeah. It came to me then, with a James who seemed so fantastically happy with so little, but what I alone couldn't provide for him. And that's why I said it. It came out easier than pulling his shirt over his head. "We should have sex with House."

Like I said, it made sense at the time.

James' languid jubilance fled the scene. He sat up, staring at me. It was comedic, really, because with his poor motor skills and that glare, he looked like he was imitating a cartoon villain. His hair was so tousled it was hard to take him seriously. "What?"

"You heard me." I ran my fingers around his abdomen, exaggerating the movement of my lips. It gets him going when I do that, if you know what I mean. Even drunk as he was, it had an effect on him. "A threesome: you, me, House."

He tried to put a hand over mine to stop me from caressing him, I guess, but he lost his balance and fell onto his back. "I knew I drank too much," James blinked, staring up at the ceiling.

11. Title: The Other Conversation - FIRST ARTIST: shutterbug_12
Pairing: House/Cameron
Rating: PG
Length: 21 000 words.
Spoilers: Through Human Error.
Summary: He understands her mute conversations with everyone. She is on the edge of a cliff.
Excerpt:

Sound was everywhere. Plates crashing into each other, people talking over tables filled with food, the line reaching well outside the door filled with talking people, the hollow and mechanical beeping of the cashier. Everything had been so quiet before this, she had forgotten how loud sound could be, how close it could get to you, how it almost became you.

"What did the doctors say?" Dana asked him as a worried frown creased her eyebrows as she glanced over at her, curled up in the wheelchair, looking more and more scared as she constantly searched the cafeteria they were sitting in. He sighed patiently, having explained this several times already.

"They will call us when the results come back, and then we're going to go up to Ally's room and meet the doctors there," he smiled a sweet smile at his wife, carefully stroking her hair out of her forehead and then kissing her quickly on the lips before returning to his food.

"Did you call Mrs. Andersen about picking Less, you know she forgets."

It could not have been that long ago she too sat in this cafeteria, with her own lab coat on, or scrubs, proudly calling herself a doctor. She couldn't understand why they had brought her here, out of all places, could they not understand the humiliation of meeting them now? If they noticed her they would strike up a conversation with her, and then Dana and him would have to explain everything, and it would get awkward.

Outside, the last leaves had left the trees, leaving them naked as they tried to reach the grey sky with their naked branches. She tilted her head and squinted her eyes to look at the trees more closely, but they were just as scary as before. There was no beauty in the dead.

12. Title: Stay Away From the Glass: Tales of Petty Crime and Self-Punishment - FIRST ARTIST: anna_bm
Crossover Fandoms: Arrested Development, Batman.
Pairing: House/Wilson, House/Gob Bluth, House/Bruce Wayne, Wilson/Joker
Rating: NC-17
Length: 21 700 words
Spoilers: No specific timeline for any. Batman is a mix of comic!verse & Nolan!verse.
Summary: It's a crazy world out there, and unfortunately Wilson's about to get shoved right into the middle of it.
Excerpt:

After his long winded speech, Wilson took his seat next to House and slowly drummed his fingers against the table.

"So," he said after a few moments hesitation, "I didn't realize that you and this Mr. Wayne knew each other?"

House reached for his glass of Scotch, and finished it off in one gulp. "I hardly remember him."

Wilson raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I believe you."

"And I'm not sure that I care what you believe." House reached forward for the carafe of Scotch, topping off his glass, almost emptying the carafe.

"Don't you think you've had enough?"

"The more you talk, the more I drink." House raised his glass to Wilson, and took a long sip. "My fate is in your hands."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Are you ready to go?"

House widened his eyes. "What? No. There's a magician."

"Yeah...for the kids."

"Well I'm just a kid trapped in a man's body. Same difference."

"No, you're not. You're just drunk. Big difference."

"Shhhhhh!" House put a wavy finger in front of his lips. "It's starting."

Wilson sighed, and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms.

He watched as Cuddy introduced "A Magician named Gob." Wilson could tell by the look on her face, that she too, had no idea what kind of a name that was. She stepped off to the side of the stage as all of the lights in the ballroom went out.

Wilson had a feeling that they were in trouble. "What kind of magician performs in the dark?" he whispered.

"The talented kind, obviously."

Wilson wasn't so sure.

13. Title: Woodwinds - FIRST ARTIST: yanjara
Pairing: House/Wilson (Wilson/Wendy, House/Foreman)
Rating: NC-17
Length: 39 000 words
Spoilers: Through season three.
Summary: Wilson doesn't end relationships; he launches himself headfirst into something even more disastrous instead.
Excerpt:

"My leg hurt," House says.

Wilson feels like House has shoved him out onto a tightrope, blindfolded. The wind pushes dead leaves along the rain gutters outside. He remembers the last time he asked House for anything--the last time he went to House for comfort. He was drunk, and lonely, after seeing the divorce papers all neatly written out. Wilson kissed House.

House had kissed him back. Wilson never imagined that House might turn him away. He remembers the exact pressure of House's lips, the soft dryness, and then the more desperate need that followed, in a slick twine of tongues. He remembers House's breath in his ear as he pulled away. I'd be flattered if I thought you meant it.

How many times, this summer, has Wilson held back from telling House that he's going to kill himself on his skateboard? To take it easy with the running, just in case? House would have shouted him down if Wilson had breathed a single word of caution while House felt good. Now he thinks one cramp means the pain is coming back, when it's probably nothing more than a little soreness, no more than House deserves forpretending he's still a teenager.

"The surgery worked, House," Wilson says, avoiding what he wants to say. "You're fine."

House nods, as if he hadn't expected anything else from Wilson. He walks out of Wilson's office without a word, closing the door too softly behind him. Wilson sighs and rubs his forehead, looking back at his desk, and the piles of undisturbed work. The ketamine treatment worked. House is fine. He's almost certain of it.

Wilson has to believe that House is happy, after all.

14. Title: World of Weeping - FIRST ARTIST: aolian
Crossover Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: James Wilson, Gregory House, Captain Jack Harkness, but with allusions to Wilson/Jack, Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Length: 25 700 words
Spoilers: Set during House Season 5 -- after "Birthmarks" but before "Last Resort." Set after Series 2 of Torchwood.
Summary: House is consulted by a secret organization led by a mysterious man who seems to know Wilson just a little bit too well for House's comfort.
Excerpt:

House had never been very good at following orders. He was exhausted and aching, but while he couldn't keep up with Harkness, he wasn't far behind when he heard an unearthly wail coming from the direction of the patient's room. It called to mind stories of spirits moaning the names of the soon to die, and he picked up his pace.

Ahead, he saw Harkness pull out a gun, but before he reached the room, a figure slipped out and glided down the corridor. House was too far away to get a clear look, but he was certain of one thing. It wasn't Wilson.

Harkness kept running after the figure, but House knew he wouldn't be able to catch up, and he didn't care. The patient -- and Wilson -- were his only concerns. The monitors emitted a different kind of wail altogether when he reached the room, though it too was a death portent. A code team crowded into the room behind him, but House knew it was too late. He turned his attention to the living.

Wilson was pressed against the wall, his dark eyes huge in a shockingly pale face. House made his way to Wilson's side, looking him over for any sign of injury. "Are you hurt?"

Wilson recoiled slightly, but he shook his head and his breathing calmed. He straightened up. He was still pale, his skin almost translucent in the harsh hospital lights, but House didn't think he was going to have to call for a sedative.

"She's dead," Wilson said, looking at the bed. The code team was still working, but she was asystolic and there had been no response to the chest compressions and vasopressin.

"Let's get out of their way." House led Wilson out of the room. There was nothing they could do until time of death was called. House hoped the ever-resourceful Jones had booked a post-mortem room for him.

Harkness ran towards them, his greatcoat billowing behind him like some B-movie action hero. "Are you all right?" he asked Wilson. He relaxed slightly at Wilson's clipped nod. "I lost it at the stairwell," he said. "I got a good look, though, so that should help with the search. Ianto's already trying to track it through the CCTV network."

"It?" House asked. Maybe Harkness really didn't discriminate between gender.

"Technically a female," Harkness replied. "But it wasn't human."

15. Title: your rosary beads under the bed - FIRST ARTIST: isaytoodlepip
Pairing: House/Cameron, Chase/Cameron
Rating: PG
Length: 22 935 words
Spoilers: General spoilers for season five.
Summary: The truth is she's had the letter since June. We carry our memories in too many ways.
Excerpt:

House is starting to walk past her.

Her mouth tightens, twists, but he barely glances back at her. There's no sense of acknowledgment and her shoulders relax, lowering as she passes him.

"Hey."

Or not, she thinks.

She stops, turning slightly. She waits for that obnoxious, almost imposing drawl of her name. But he's just standing there, studying her, as if he were waiting for her to push back. She blinks, confused, and shrugs, all the same, as if to say that she doesn't know anything at all.

"Hello," she murmurs.

His mouth curls slightly, his amusement more than obvious. He steps forward again, but she ignores him, still aware of him following her to the soda machine.

"So I met a guy at the bar."

He's teasing her. It's like a joke. She's not exactly sure how she's supposed to respond. Last night, it was the same thing - she's almost beginning to think of these moments as funny, crazy or not, and the way they still seem to walk into each other like this. She doesn't mean to, but it still seems to churn in its own direction. The case, months ago, was nothing more than incidental, and the little minutes that spun out where merely to subdue boredom, all on his end.

She doesn't want to talk what's happened recently, preferring to reengage herself with what she knows and what has stayed faithful to her. Familiarity is comfort at its best.

"What?"

But she can't help but be concerned, the sharpness in his voice making her stop and tense, underwriting any sense of quiet that she had been hoping to get before she heads home. He leans against the wall, watching her, and all she can think about is the locker room and how it's only a few turns in the other direction.

"A guy," he drawls, "at the bar."