"Is that not still the case?" Sorber asked, curious at her choice of words.

"It's just that I find the situation somewhat unsettling, I didn't anticipate that there would be any danger."

Sorber thought for a few moments and drank the last of his coffee before wiping his mouth with a paper napkin.

"I guess that life seems to be all about dealing with the unexpected."

He looked up from the empty cup and into Kim's eyes as he spoke; they seemed to be saying something back to him, but in a language that he couldn't understand. He found himself lost in the moment of looking at her as, for a few seconds, their eyes locked.

"Come on, we'd better get going," he said, breaking the spell. "It's time we got home." He reached into his trouser pocket for a handful of banknotes and loose change to cover the bill.

Sorber parked the car across the street from the familiar presence of Waterloo Place and wished that he had a space in one of the much sought-after garages at the back of the complex. They braced themselves for another soaking and headed towards the apartment block, Sorber taking Kim by the hand as they dodged between the puddles and stacks of refuse that lined the alley at the building's rear. Sorber was conscious that Kim copied exactly the amount of pressure that he applied to her when she gripped his hand. The two found their way into the old brick structure through a maintenance entrance and Sorber laughed as he shut the door behind them. Kim regarded him quizzically.

"Guess I just never thought that today would happen, that's all." He explained, his spirits a little higher now that they had arrived home.

Wind whistled through gaps in the doorframe and rain battered against the old iron door, tapping out another uneven and unrecognisable rhythm, but they were safe from the elements now and Sorber, at last, began to relax a little more.

The building was peaceful, powerful almost. Many of its occupants were out at work, leaving the place with a sense of calm. Even though it was a little dilapidated, Sorber liked its character and idiosyncrasies - the aroma of the old dark wooden fittings, security lights that switched themselves off a little too soon, the ancient elevator and even its occupants' irregular comings and goings. Today, he decided, they would use the stairway to reach his second floor apartment - simply because he wanted to observe Kim's motor skills as she encountered a set of steps. He need not have worried, she climbed the sixty-two stairs as if she did it everyday.

Sorber slid his cardkey into its slot on his apartment door and waited for the entry light to acknowledge his code - the LED flickered red, barring their entrance. Sorber rolled his eyes and ran the plastic card through the slot again as Kim traced her left index finger around the brass coloured numbers on the door.

"Twenty-five." She spoke out loud as she felt the numeric characters. Sorber found the slow action of her finger on the symbols strangely unnerving somehow, its precise effect on him he could not quite define.

The door's security mechanism appeared to consider his second entry request more favourably and, with a couple of low metallic clicks, it unlocked itself. Sorber pushed gently against his blue front door which creaked on its dry hinges as it opened, reminding him that it needed his attention. Kim moved swiftly past him into the apartment.

"Why don't you step inside?" Sorber remarked wryly and then followed her in. Kim walked down the hallway and into the centre of the living room, where she stood and examined his home. Books and movies were crammed into every available shelf space - she noted works on human psychology, cybernetic systems, as well as an eclectic mixture of novels and reference materials. By the window opposite the door was a silver grey laptop computer on a table with disks and papers strewn everywhere around it, as if Sorber had left home in the midst of unfinished work that morning. On the back wall was another shelf unit, filled with more books and displaying a single colour photograph, slightly faded after too much exposure to sunlight, of an unknown woman - memories of another part of Sorber's life.

"So...." said Sorber as he stood in the doorway to the living room, "do you think we could be happy here?"

Kim looked over her shoulder at him, again puzzled.