Morgan and Erik sat together in silence for a long while just enjoying each others company, until finally, Erik’s restlessness got the better of him.

“Hey babe, how would you like to get out of here?”

She pondered this for only a moment.  Already having broken one of her mother’s cardinal rules by having invited Erik over and bringing him into the house she thought, what harm could breaking one more rule do?  After all, she was sure to hang for this, so she might as well go out in a blaze of glory.  “I’d love it, but where would we go?”

His response was simple and came with a wicked grin.  “It’s a surprise.”  Now Morgan was truly frightened.  The last time Erik had surprised her, she ended up with a broken wrist and a mild concussion.  Even though his heart was in the right places, sometimes his idea of fun could get a little dangerous.

“One question, if someone catches us at this, in this, around this, seeing this or doing this, whatever it is you have planned, will we get arrested and or killed?” she asked him suspiciously.

“Most likely” he concurred excitedly.  

Make that very dangerous, Morgan thought as he leapt off of the couch and flung his leather jacket back on.  Then just as quick he pulled Morgan to her feet and told her to go grab a jacket and put on her shoes, because they were leaving.

Suddenly Morgan felt very tired.  Erik was like a ten year old boy and when he got excited about something, keeping up with him was about as easy as trying to outrun a cheetah.

All she really wanted to do was to go up on the roof of her building and lay with Erik under the midnight sky and fall asleep in his arms, dreaming of the stars.  But every time that she had ever seen Erik happy, his eyes shown with a glittering light, like those of an ecstatic child, bright and innocent, and she could never do anything to snuff out that light.

The next thing she knew, she was flying down the busy streets on the back of his Harley, heading into the center of the city, the blinding lights and the people and cars beneath them all one big blur to Morgan’s weary eyes.  She thought that perhaps a midnight movie in his apartment?  Maybe a trip to the bar or a club to go dancing?  No, he knew that she hated dancing.  

They turned onto 2nd street, away from all the things she thought they might do and Morgan became puzzled, and now had no idea where they could be headed.  Much to her surprise, a small, filthy alleyway was where Erik chose to stop and let the engine die.

She jumped off the back of the bike, trying to make sense of what they were doing here.  This was a part of the city she never really explored, as the grey area between the business and industrial areas was usually no place she wanted to go.  It looked like any other dirty alleyway, with its puddles of something most likely not water, the mounds of trash, decomposing beside the filthy, battered dumpsters.  But none of that was really what bothered her.  It was the fact that they were apparently in the back of what appeared to be a rather important building, Westcott Incorporated.  

She had no idea what went on here, but from the looks of it, and it’s placement, on the outskirts of the business district, that usually never meant anything good.  Morgan began to picture sleek black limousines pulling up into this alleyway, men in dark suits and glasses.  Flinching, she imagined the poor bastard who owed them money being shot and left for dead, his last images his own black blood mingling with the filth of the dark and dirty concrete.  It was at that moment that Morgan decided she really didn’t want to be here.

“Erik, what is God’s name are we doing here?” she cried, unstrapping her helmet.  Removing his own helmet, that devious grin still painted across his face, he replied, “You’ll see, just be patient.”

“You know damn well that patience was never one of my virtues.  And come to think of it, I’ve never been that good with surprises, either” Morgan said as Erik fumbled in the pockets of his jacket, looking for something, “So, why don’t you just tell me?”

Triumphantly, he extracted what appeared to be an ID card, and held it up for her to see.  “Where is your sense of adventure?”

“At home, where every good sense of adventure should be at midnight in a dangerous part of town.”

He chuckled and made his way over to a heavy metal door marked “Exit” in fading, red neon lights.  Sliding his card into the appropriate slot, a panel opened, and a number pad was revealed which Erik used to punch a set of numbers into it.

“Where did you get that from anyways, you don’t work here?”

“Let’s just say I’ve got a buddy who does work here who owes me a few favors.”  He answered mysteriously.  Morgan was pretty confident that she didn’t want to know anymore, though she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with people owing Erik the kind of favors that could get him access into a place like this.  

From somewhere inside, gears began to grind and turn, and a loud click announced that the lock had opened.  Erik heaved the door open and stepped inside, holding it for Morgan.

“Come on, hurry up”  he whispered forcefully, “Before someone sees us!”  With a deep breath, and an ever increasing sense of danger that make her stomach contort into knots, Morgan followed him inside, letting the huge grey door slam shut behind them, the noise echoing into the night.