The light snow that had fallen overnight and into the early morning had already mostly dissapeared. While there were still a few piles of snow and ice scattered around, for the most part the sidewalk, streets, and grass was able to once again be seen.

After a relatively quick cab ride from Luke's apartment, he and Raina were now walking down the sidewalk past some of New York slightly more affordable shops. With the weather haveh cleared up there were plenty of other people on the streets along with plenty of vendors seeling hotdogs, pretzels, and other street food. Before they had left Luke had insisted on Raina borrowing on of his lighter jean jackets. Even though she promised she could stay warm it had seemed the gentlemanly thing to do and it also helped it to be clear to anyone watching that she was with him.

Dressed casually in dark brown hiking boots, blue jeans, khaki polo shirt, and lined jean jacket Luke did his best to continue to act like a truly blind person while still enjoying his time with Raina. After their evening where he had not had to pretend at all, it was just a little frustrating to be back in the situation of either holding onto one of Raina's arms or gently waving his cane back and forth.

"If our relationship does continue I'm gonna have to make the public announcement that I'm a mutant. I have to be able to enjoy time with Raina even when we're in public." He thought to himself.

"So what are you searching for Raina?" Luke asked as he gently rested his right hand on the young woman's elbow, apparently following her through the crowds, "Clothes or accessories?"

Raina was enjoying the crisp winter day and though having put up a fight about wearing Luke's jacket she secretly felt a little special and actually thought it looked pretty decent on her. She strolled through the sunshine with her arm looped through Luke's aiding in the blindness facade but generally enjoying being a girlfriend and all the duties that came with it. She had a silly smile on her face and it was easy to see by any passerby that this was a happy woman in a good mood.

She felt bad for Luke dragging his cane around- it seemed about as silly as she herself carrying one. They could both "see" perfectly fine. But people in this area of town likely knew Luke, or at least expected him to be blind... so if he showed up walking around like normal they'd wonder what happened.

"Clothes or accessories?" Asked Luke as they wandered the crowds.

"Well... " she began "I need some better tops for work. Something I can wear underneath my clothes that is durable and not flimsy like a bikkini top. I need something that's going to move with me and hold up in the salt water so I was thinking we'd hit a sportswear shop and see what we could find. Maybe something surfers use... or a really good sports bra,"she laughed. "Just something without strings"

She learned all about not wearing a top with strings the last time she had a playdate with Spook. "I'd also like a drawstring bag- relatively waterproof that I can put my tools in. A housecoat would be nice too..." she mumbled thinking to herself out loud. "One for work... but one for your place maybe too?" she turned her attention to him with a goofy smile.

"Do you need to pick up anything? I was joking about the crocs. Well.. sort of." she laughed.

Luke raised an eyebrow, as he tried to keep a grin from appearing on his face at the thought of Raina in a bikini. Sure he had seen her nude as she prepared to dive into the water but there was just something about a woman in a bikini. For a moment the blind man thought about fighting off the urge to make a comment before finally just giving in. After all, the last time he had checked couples were supposed to tease each other.

"Sometime I'm going to put you in a situation where you wear a bikini around me," Luke murmured softly as he quickly ducked his head down to where it was close to Raina's ear, "and I can't wait to see it."

Straightening up, Luke finally let the grin break through as he could almost visualize her flushing with embarrassment and maybe even a touch of flattery.

"Maybe after we pick up your items you can show me what you think should replace my crocs. But I warn you, I'm a hard sell!" Luke said dramatically, obviously hamming up the situation just a little bit.

Reaching out with his sonar Luke swiftly scanned the nearby stores to see if he could locate a place where Raina might find what she was looking for. Settling on one store Luke gently pulled in one direction, taking over the 'guiding' in order to get to the correct store.

Anyone paying attention would have seen that they were walking into the GAP store located on the corner of W. 34th St. & Avenue of the Americas. What Luke had noticed with his sonar was the swim wear and shoes which made it seem like a pretty good location for Raina to find what she was looking for.

"Need help picking out a suit?" Luke asked, his voice still a little bit teasing as he steered Raina toward the swim wear display, "Or should I go busy myself in the shoe section?"

It was nice to be with someone he could be this comfortable with. Spending time shopping and just being together was nice and it almost made up for the missed opportunity the night before. "Some day down the road..." Luke decided as he continued to smile at Raina, "After we're sure about how we feel."

Well, Raina had started a teasing war and Luke's comment confirmed it.
"Sometime I'm going to put you in a situation where you wear a bikini around me,"
She grinned like the devil as her face went red and she hid under her hair.
"and I can't wait to see it."

"I suppose that depends on how good of a boy you can be." she teased right back gripping his hand tighter as he led her. She tried to keep pace with him so it wouldn't look supicious to anyone else as he led her into the Gap.


"Need help picking out a suit?" Raina missed the joke for a second as her mind was wandering to whether or not shed have the same situation she did at Bloomingdales. Looking around she realized most the employees were men and wearing some pretty tight shirts looking pretty darn feminine and she knew she wouldn't.
"Or should I go busy myself in the shoe section?"

Raina saw an opprotunity to tease right back. "well, you're a pretty good looking guy Luke, if you aren't interested in exploring I think you should stick with me." the comment might take a minute to sink in while his sonar picked up that at least by what they were wearing not all of these people were interested in the members of the opposite sex. Then again, you never could tell by just looking and Raina wasn't the type to run up and ask someone since it wasn't really her business. But she had to admit she was seeing some serious flirting going on between two male employees.

"I guess I'm dragging you to the swimwear first." she grinned taking over the leading position again. "I just need a top, I wonder if they'll let me just buy a top?" she asked herself.
She made her way and started to route through the racks and look at the dislays on the walls. She absentmindedly hummed to herself and a few customers wondered if the heating system was malfunctioning but for the most part it went unnoticed. "Function or beauty?" she asked herself comparing a pair of tops. 'Most likely function" she said sadly sticking one of the tops in a reject pile despite how pretty it was.

finally she settled on Something less pretty but obviously what she was looking for in the functioning area. "It wont look like much to you I'm afraid." she said folding it up and checking out the price- nothing too unreasonable. "...but I think it'll do the trick."

She scanned the horizon of the store looking for the shoe department. "I think we should at least get you some good slippers. Everyman needs a pair of good slippers." she gave him a tug in the direction "let's go see"

(OOC: Raina, if you've got any issue with what I've written just let me know and I can edit it.

For a few moments Luke was lost as he tried to figure out exactly what Raina's comment might mean. What in the world did his attractiveness have to do with exploring? At first, because of his curiosity about Raina's statement he didn't notice how the other men were dressed but after just a few moments, his mind focused enough to recognize what his sonar was trying to show him. Now Luke was open minded in that he didn't mind other people choosing how they wanted to live but for himself he liked women... only women.

Following behind Raina as she went exploring through the swimsuits he waited, trying to time his movements just right. Finally as she turned to begin pulling him off toward the slippers Luke felt the moment had arrived. There were at least one or two employees looking and Raina was distracted. Slowly he slipped his free hand toward her before giving her a gentle but firm pinch right on her backside.

"Just want to make sure everyone knows what I like to explore." Luke said with as innocent an expression as he could manage, "Now... where in the world did you hear that all men need a good pair of slippers?"

It was nice to feel this kind of freedom and playfulness with someone and even though he knew they still had several more hours together, Luke was already beginning to feel small pangs in his heart from missing her. Once she was back at work Luke wasn't sure when they would see each other again. Was she working over the weekend or would there be time off? If she was working then when was her next day off? Would she be free to go on another date or would she be busy with her responsibilities back at the mansion? Doing his best to shrug off the thoughts that tried to race through his mind Luke made what he felt was a very good decision.

"Focus on the hear and now with Raina and deal with what comes afterward when it comes."

ooc: LMAO I re-read that a few times and actually LOLed for a good few minutes ! Nice come back. If that happened in real life I'd totally have that one coming.

IC:
Raina shrill squeal filled the room for a second sounding like a yipping dog confusing people. Thankfully no one realized even though she jumped that the noise came from her. Her face was redder than it had ever been before.
"Just want to make sure everyone knows what I like to explore."

"LUKE JACOBS!" she cried playfully smacking away his arm.

"Now... where in the world did you hear that all men need a good pair of slippers?"

"yeah, slippers. You know where I'm going to stick those after that?" she warned teasingly.

This was something totally different. Being so playfully in love with somone, bantering back and forth and- whoa. Did she just think about the L word? She shook her head to clear it.

"Well, I happen to know that all men need comfy slippers so their heads wont explode." she explained. "It's common knowledge that when a man wears socks and shoes that are too tight it can make his head explode." very matter-o-fact she was today!

She led him in the direction of the slippers and started looking through. "well what colour-" she stopped herself a little embaressed and hoped she hadn't just hurt his feelings. "I'm sorry... sometimes I... forget." she apologized

(OOC: *breaths a sigh of relief* Good... I hoped I wasn't pushing it with that post.)

IC:
"Oh really... socks and shoes make a man's head explode." Luke said, unable to hold back the grin that continued to appear on his face. A slight hand slap was more than worth getting to touch Raina in public so that the men in the store knew that he was interested in Raina and that she was, to put it bluntly, his. Sure he knew he didn't own her or anything but he still felt at least a little bit possessive toward the mermaid.

"Well what color- I'm sorry... sometimes I... forget." Raina began, stopped, and then continued, obviously at least a touch embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it Raina." Luke replied gently as his sonar focused on the various slippers, examining them as much as he could. It was true that color was probably the thing he wished most that he could see. While the sonar gave him a type of sight that was in some ways even more detailed than the normal eye, it still left some very important things out.

"Um... people tell me blue goes good with my eyes but burgundy goes better with my hair so why don't you pick?" Luke continued, obviously not really affected by her comment. Continuing on, Luke focused on keeping the conversation light as he continued to tease her, "You're one of the few people that will ever see me wear them so you better make sure you like the way they look."

Raina was a little shyer now, she felt she may have stepped on Luke's feelings. This was something she was going to have to watch out for if she was dating a blind man. dating. that made her squirm inside in a good way. "Well, I love the blue of your eyes." she said touching his cheek affectionatly. "Burgundy would match with more... but who really cares if your slippers match your clothes!" she laughed melodically.

She led him the rest of the way into the asile and sat him down on one of the benches while she rumidged through some of the boxes. A pair of baby booties caught her eye and she peered at them for a moment. She felt a pang in her stomach. Raina knew she was in no way ready to be a mom... but often moments like these reminded her of the little one she didn't even knew she had.

Raina had come to terms with a lot of things in her life but that was something she'd never forgive herself over. If she hadn't been so adament about the search party... if she'd only known she was with child... she'd have escaped back to Canada or something. Instead she was caught and her baby...

Her eyes were stinging and she faked a sneeze. No mellow drama today she told herself picking up a pair of cozy looking brown slippers. The fabric was soft to the touch and they looked warm and well insolated.

"Alright Mister Jacobs, try these." she said placing them in his lap. "There's a few other variations, so if they're too soft or small we can try others."

Simply sitting while someone else did the shopping was not a new experience for Luke. In fact, he had been forced to accept other people's opinions on his wardrobe for some time. He could tell good fabric from bad fabric by touch and he could tell the shape of clothes because of his sonar but color selection had always been the concern. That and pictures or decorations on the clothes. Except for a few pieces where the decorations were raised, so many were almost completely smooth that he really couldn't tell what was on everything.

But, even though people had shopped for Luke in the past, it had never been as enjoyable as watching Raina try to pick out something for him. Part of it was because she truly cared about how he looked and felt but another more carnal part just like watching Raina. Wearing her tight jeans it just helped to accentuate her curves in all the right ways as she bent over, rummaging through boxes and then stretched up on tip toes to get other boxes. Allowing himself to be completely distracted by the young woman's attractiveness, he completely missed the fact that her sneeze was hiding the urge to cry. In fact, he really didn't notice much of anything until she turned back around and flashed him that smile he was beginning to love so much.

"Alright Mister Jacobs, try these. There's a few other variations, so if they're too soft or small we can try others."

Slowly running his hands over the slippers Luke appeared to be concentrating on the fabric as he allowed his sonar to caress Raina's face one last time. It still amazed him just how beautiful she was and he had to work to keep from getting lost in just looking at her. Finally wrenching his attention away from the woman Luke truly focused on the slippers. The fabric felt nice and the seams felt solid but he could also tell, without even bothering to put them on that they were a touch to small.

"Good choice but I think we can go about two sizes larger." Luke said with a grin as he handed the slippers back to Raina, "They feel nice but I think you've under estimated my foot size just a little."

As Raina turned away Luke simply enjoyed watching her again when suddenly his cell phone began to ring. "Oh, great timing. Just wonderful." He muttered as he reached into his left pants pocket and pulled out his phone. Flipping it open he pressed it to his ear as he continued to watch the mermaid.

"Hello?" Luke said, his heart sinking immediately when the person on the other end began to speak. For several moments the blind man was silent as he listened to various details being given. "Wait on making the arrangements... I'll call you late tonight to give you the go ahead. Yes, I do need to wait that long. Thanks. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Closing the phone quickly Luke slid it into his pocket as he gave Raina the best smile he could muster. "Find the right size this time?"

Raina furrowed her brows. "You're right... they do seem too small. It's better to be too big than too smal with slippers." she commenting humming to herself again and spinning around to rumidge on the shelf some more and look in a few more boxes.

"hmmm... I found the same make but these ones are blue." she explained stretching up on her tip toes to bring the box down to eye level. "yeah, two sizes bigger." she plopped the box down on Luke's lap. "Got the right ones this time." she put her hand on her hip in a know-it-all fashion. "Try em on?"

He paused to answer his phone and she looked up him rather curiously studying his face and the patterns in his hair. She wasn't by any means as artistic as Sara but Raina liked the way Luke's skin pulled on his face.

"Was that work?" she asked concerned their visit would be cut short.

"Yeah... that was work." Luke replied as he pulled the slippers out of the box and ran his fingers over the seams. They seemed to have basically the same quality of workmanship as the last pair but they were a little bit bigger. Bending over at the waist Luke untied his sneakers and slipped them off before sliding the slippers onto his feet.

"They wanted to let me know about an upcoming install trip in a little over a week." Luke continued as he sat back up and focused on how the slippers felt on his feet. Flexing his toes slightly he found that there was plenty of room in them without being so huge that he was swimming in them.

Swiveling his head back over to Raina, Luke grinned as he noticed the young woman's stance. "Nothing super important though. You look cute standing like that. Is that your stance when you're having to boss your students around?"

He wanted desperately to change the subject. Even thinking about having to leave town for a few days was rather excruciating when all he wanted to do was find more time to spend with Raina. They had been fortunate over the past few weeks to find plenty of time to be together but her busy schedule combined with a few of his own trips could easily force them to be apart for an extended length of time. Luke wasn't ready for that yet.

She watched as he tried on the slippers- they seemed to work well. She smiled, pleased with herself. "I think those are good." she said passing him the empty box to put them in.

"They wanted to let me know about an upcoming install trip in a little over a week."

"Oh? Where will they send you?" she was curious about his work but there was that ever growing pit in her stomach about having to be away from him. "That's too bad, I was going to tell you that I have some time off in about a week. Just less than a week actually. I've got a week and a half off from the aquarium while some renovations are being done. Dr. Gray says there isn't much for me to do during that time so he'd give me vacation pay and everything. I was hoping we'd uh... spend some time together... but if you have to work you have to work I can't argue with that."

she was a little dissapointed to say the least. "Nothing super important though. You look cute standing like that. Is that your stance when you're having to boss your students around?"

She grinned and swayed her hips a little. "Yes actually." she grinned.

Luke had to wonder if Raina really knew what she did to him every time she moved like that. Obviously she knew that she was attractive but did she truly realize just how much little movements like that affected him? Especially since that hunger from the previous night still hovered just beneath the surface.

"If that's how you stand in class I'd be willing to bet you have quite a few distracted male student." Luke spoke up mischievously as he pulled the slippers off of his feet and put them back in the box. A glimmer of an idea was beginning to appear in his mind but until it solidified just a little bit more he didn't want to mention it to Raina. Quickly pulling on his sneakers and retying them the blind man stood up with the sneaker box in his hand.

"You've got good taste m'dear." Luke said, doing of a poor job of faking a southern accent before finally just giving up and going back to his normal voice, "I should bring you shopping more often... probably help me clean up a little more."

Walking closer to Raina he slipped an arm around her waist and just smiled down at her, "Anymore shopping to do? Personally I'm getting a bit hungry. I uh... probably should have eaten more at brunch."

"Luke Jacobs." she smerked. "Are you, hot for teacher?" she laughed quoting the famous 80's rock song. "yeah yeah yeah hot for teacher?" she laughed spinning around him with her suit top. She paused and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I think you are." she giggled to herself taking his hand.

"Well, let's pay for this stuff first." she said leading him to the cash

****

In a few moments they were finished and she held her shopping bag tightly in her hands. "I hope this works well for me, luckily they have a good exchange policy!" she commented.

"Anymore shopping to do? Personally I'm getting a bit hungry. I uh... probably should have eaten more at brunch."

She shook her head vigoursly. "Nope, I'm all finished this was really only the important thing I needed for this week, if I think of anything else I'll be sure to get it after we eat." as if on queue her stomach rumbled. "pizza sounds good, whadya think?"

ooc: sorry these are so short!

(OOC: No problem about the shortness. I know your busy.)

IC:
Oh, there was no question about it... Mr. Luke Jacobs was definitely hot for a certain teacher. Ever time she moved it almost took his breath away. How in the world had he ever met a woman that was such a complete package? Smart, kind, attractive, sensual, playful, and so much else. With every passing moment Raina was stealing away more of his heart and the strange thing about it was that Luke didn't mind.

"Pizza's always a good choice." The blind man replied after Raina had her bags and they were heading for the door, "If we just swing over and walk up Broadway there's a pretty nice shop just a few blocks away."

Swinging his cane slowly back and forth the blind man moved to the door and held it open for his beautiful mermaid before stepping out into the sidewalk and then, his sonar alerted him to the fact that there were several people pushing their way through the crowds toward them. Suddenly, the people on the sidewalk were gasping in shock as camera flashes filled the air, temporarily blinding some and simply surprising others.

"Mr. Jacobs!" A somewhat familiar female voice suddenly yelled out over the noise of the busy street, "Who's your lady friend?!

"Yeah, Jacobs! Is this your new main squeeze?!" A raucous male voice joined in from a slightly different direction, "Look this way gorgeous!

"Hot, hot, hot! How in the world do you enjoy a body like that when you can't even see it?!" An even more insulting voice yelled out as the sound of shutter's clicking filled the air.

"Crap!" Luke swore quietly as he reached over and slipped his arm through Raina's, holding on firmly. Quickening his pace and turning through the crowd to move toward Broadway he tried desperately with his sonar to find an escape from the scandal sheet employees that had somehow chosen him as the target of the day. "Sorry Raina... Let me know if you see a quick escape option!"