Beginnings

It wasn't the first time she'd seen him. In fact she couldn't now remember a day where he hadn't gone past her, all black leathers, green bike and sense of urgency. Same time every day...6.45am. She only saw him because she usually ran a quick 3k before working from home. Time to shower and change and start at 7.30 as she had for the last 3 months since moving to London.

Rosie had never been much of a runner, but working from home had made it harder to even do the most basic exercise so a run it was. If she was brutally honest it wasn't so much running as staggering with style, but she tried. And now, well now she had incentive. She had become used to the sight of him, and if she was completely truthful, his well formed rear on the bike. She smirked at the thought. Single, lonely and overworked she may be, dead she certainly was not! Sometimes she liked to think he noticed her too, but that was just fantasy. He must see hundreds of people on his way to ....where exactly? Commute? yes. must be , although 6 or 7 days a week?? Who knew. And she probably would never know. It was nice to wonder though she thought as she watched him disappear around the corner again that morning.

The day passed in a flurry of reports and spreadsheets and usual deadlines. Finance, investment finance, had been her world forever it seemed. It wasnt exciting but it was mentally demanding. Today was no exception and by 4pm she was done - and done in. Her head thumped. She shut the laptop and stood up , stretching awkwardly as she did so. Another run she wondered to herself? Why not, there was nothing else much to do . She wasnt that confident of the local area yet and she didnt want to splurge money by going to the West End too often. London had turned out to be expensive even if she was being subsidised by her employers.

Her apartment belonged to her employers so that helped enormously. It was a victorian style building and hers, a one bedroom one boxroom affair. Livingroom/kitchen and bathroom completed the compact floorplan. Being a rental, she couldn't put her stamp on it as such but it was filled with potplants, family photos and her extensive Marvel memorabilia collection. Boring accountant by day, Marvel Supernerd by night was how her cousin had once put it! Her real passion was Loki, misunderstood Antihero and brother of Thor. Bad boy he may be but that made it all the more exciting. She glanced at her pride and joy hanging in the office as she left - a photo of her and Tom Hiddleston who played him , taken at a ComicCon the previous year. That and a signed copy of Coriolanus. He'd done a little double take before signing but her mind had melted when ge spoke to her about it so now she beamed and cringed at the memory. Moving into the livingroom, she glanced out the window to check the weather. Her little office had no window to either inform or indeed distract her. maybe that wasn't such a bad thing , given her penchant for Asgardian Gods and Motorcyclists. For a moment she stopped, temporarily blinded by the bright sunshine. She waited for her eyes to adjust and it was then she stopped and stared.

Slowly out of the glare, she saw him.

Across the road, she was sure of it. This time not in leathers and not on his bike, just jeans and a blue sweater, baseball cap pulled low but, unmistakably, it was him. To her shock, amusement and embarrassment she recognised his body. Especially his rear. Now, in truth, she should have been afraid. Some random stranger staring at her house, effectivley casing the joint, but something familiar about him, other than the regularity of their encounters, made her more curious than afraid. His stance was strangely familiar. Not just the fact she'd seen him so often in passing but there was something else... she decided to face it head on. It had been a pig of a day and she was just in the mood to see what was going on!

Tilting the plantation-style shutters so they were fully horzontal, they could see each other clearly. Now he would know she'd seen him. She moved to stand in front of the window, arms crossed , head to one side. Challenging him. Let's see if you're a coward then Mr. she thought, a slight smirk on her face.

To her amazement and also amusement , he met the challenge head on. Briefly saluting her from across the road, a smile was just visible under the black cap. She wished she could see his face more, it was tantalisingly familiar. She had no idea why. A bus chose that exact moment to whizz by and when it had gone, so was he. Dammit she thought, just when we were getting somewhere. With a shrug, she pulled the shutters closed and went for that overdue run, all thoughts about him and the encounter put to one side for the moment.

In fact it wasnt until she hadnt seen him for 3 mornings on the trot that she began to mull over the encounter, now with less puzzlement and more wistfully. Pity, she mused as she trotted up the steps to her door on the 3rd morning, would have been nice to get to know him. She smiled to herself and unlocked the heavy black front door. Glancing down as she leant to open it, she noticed a single yellow rose at the side of the doormat. She bent down and picked it up - there was no note, no tag, nothing but she knew instinctively it was from her mystery man.... her head snapped up and round, looking for him. No-one was within 100 yards. Of course not, she smiled as she pushed the door open. He'd known she was away and left it as an apology. For staring. Yellow meant sincerity. Red would have been creepy stalker territory. Yellow was good. Picking it up and absent mindedly sniffing it, she went inside.

She put it in a bud vase and then in the livingroom window. Just in case he saw, she wanted him to know that she appreciated it. Apology accepted. Well, she reasoned, it would be rude not to eh?

The next day, the day after that and.for the following 10 days, each morning, when she got back from her run there was a rose on her doormat. Always yellow, always anonymous. Each day her window display got a little bigger. Then, on the 11th day however, nothing. She was inexplicably more upset than she ever thought possible, over someone she never had and was likely never to meet. She had grown accustomed to his presence. She had never seen him again since that day in the street, but somehow the roses had kept them in the same universe and that made her smile. Someone, for whatever reason, wanted her to know she wasn't alone in the world. Now, he too was gone.

Her life returned to running working and sleeping. Days turned into.a couple of weeks and the roses in her window all eventually died. With a heavy heart , one Saturday morning, she decided they had to go. She cardfully lifted the crystal vase of her mothers, left to her a couple of years ago but until now never used, and carried it through to the kitchen. Placing it in the sink she lifted out the withered blooms and put them in the bin. As she stood and washed the vase, memories of her mum filled her mind's eye. She still missed her very much. She watched as the suds frothed over the engraving in the glass, the sun glinting on it. Beautiful she murmured and carefully laid it down to dry. A big fat tear plopped down. She missed her mum, she was all alone now. She'd moved to London not long after her mum had gone, making a fresh start, away from everything. Away from....well, she wasnt prepared to think about that quite yet. As she looked out, she could feel the residual heat of the sun on her face ,shrugged and mentally braced herself. Come on Rosie, time for a run. Get all this out your head.. a run. But it wouldnt be the same without him. No bike. No rose. No ... ok girl get a grip she thought and bounded upstairs to change.

It was as she was changing thr doorbell rang. Inwardly she groaned, who could that be? She hated being interrupted on her way out. She had little enough motivation !Quickly dressing and moving downstairs to the front door she pulled it open with a forced smile"Yes?""Delivery Miss" came the voice from behind the largest bunch of yellow roses she had ever seen. As the flowers were passed to her, she saw the note. Thanking him quickly, she turned away and laid the flowers down in the office. Tearing the accompanying note open , her hands shaking.

"I thought you might like these....you do dont you?" was all it said. No name, nothing else. A sixth sense buried away in her head made her look up. Instantly she could see there was someone standing across the road. Jeans, blue sweater and basball cap pulled low. This time she didnt think twice, leaving her door wide open, bounded down the steps and across the road. He didnt move this time. She drew level with him and realised he was tall, incredibly tall. He was every bit as familiar as she'd remembered but now, complete.

Now, was she looked up at him she could see his face and her mind went into freefall. Ocean blue green eyes, cheekbones to die for and a smile that would make the flowers grow. She knew him instantly. " you're... you're Tom!" She blurted" that i am darling" he smiled sheepishly "and you are missing a few roses,I thought i might remedy the situation," he took her still shaking hand and kissed it gallantly." may I be permitted to know your name?""Oh! Oh my - i mean yes - sorry, Rose" she babbled, 'Rose Martin"" How appropriate" he acknowledged" Roses for a Rose" "You'd better come in before someone sees us" Rose said when the power if speech returned, suddenly feeling very exposed, " its just across...".she trailed off "Yes, i know " He caught her arm in the crook of his and winked. Together they crossed back over the road. Climbing the steps, she turned and looked at him again still in a state of shock. "Please, come in " she smiled, going to pick up her flowers from the desk. He beat her to it, proffering the flowers with that megawatt smile she knew so well."Beautiful" he murmured and she wasnt entirely sure it was the roses he meant, sending her heart rate soaring all over again. He walked in with a smile and Rosie clicked the door shut softly behind them. Leaning on it slightly, she stopped and watched him walk towards the kitchen. His height and confident walk more akin to an off duty Asgardian God than a mere mortal! Putting a hand to her face she looked up at him. " Oh.My.God." she breathed to herself, "Tom Hiddleston is in my house".