So yeah, I watched the finale and I was very VERY boo hoo at what happened to Topher. I mean i was pretty pissed when they brought Claire back but not. In fact, I'd say the two of them were the most tragic in Dollhouse.

So lets go back to my world where they can have a love story.

Her lips were soft against his own.

Topher didn't think of how many men had kissed the woman who'd once been the Dollhouse's number one Doll, didn't think about how she had once been programmed to be a man's fantasy. All he was aware of was how gentle she was, almost as if she was unsure of herself. It hit him like a ton of bricks that, for all intents and purposes, it was her first kiss. The first kiss she choose out of her own free will. And the idea that he, Topher Brink, was the person she had chosen to kiss--in spite of all the incredibly strong and wealthy men she'd been with--was a crippling one. One that cleared his head enough to make him move.

"No--no," Topher tore his mouth from hers, holding her at an arm's length, "we can't do this."

Claire's eyes were wide, as if she too couldn't believe what had just happened, even if she had been the one to kiss him. Topher's hands gripped her shoulders as they stared at each other, neither sure of what had just happened. Claire swallowed thickly, feeling her lips tingle in a way that had nothing to do with the remnants of the anesthetic the doctors had injected her with during the surgery. Both of their chests struggled for breath, trying to calm alien hearts that pounded with unsteady rhythms. Claire made to step back but Topher's fingers tightened on her as the scientist seemed torn, torn between letting her go and pulling her closer. But both knew that there was no more tie to be torn.

"Why not?" Claire asked. Topher opened and closed his mouth, seemingly at a loss for words, "because I'm a Doll?"

"You know that's not why," Topher broke his silence, "you're--" he seemed lost, "you're Dr. Saunders!"

"And?" she demanded.

"And I--" Topher choked on his words as she stepped closer to him, disproving what he had thought was his strength, "I--"

"If you didn't want this," she said, her eyes searching his face, "why did you change your shampoo?"

It was funny, how something as simple as that question could make Topher's mind go from semi-rational to completely irrational. There was no grace in his movements as his hands lost their grip on her shoulders to cup her cheeks, pulling her face to his. There was no control as his lips captured hers almost desperately, his kiss not delicate or gentle as hers had been. Claire thought she must have been on a mission, been with a client who would like to kiss her like this, like he was kissing more than just her physical being. But she could not remember if she liked it quite as much. Her knees seemed to weaken as she grabbed the sweater vest he wore, her fingers crushing the fabric underneath. His hand came up to circle her waist, his touch almost chaste in comparison to the havoc his lips wreaked on her.

But that was Topher, full of contradictions.

Claire's fingers dug into his shoulder as she kissed him back. She felt like she was drowning in the touch. Who would have thought that Topher could make a woman weak in the knees? She realized then, just how big a difference it was between programmed memories and the ones she actually made. The programmed memory of her high school boyfriend's sloppy kisses or her Med School almost-fiance's possessive hold on her waist was nothing compared to where she found herself. Claire didn't know what he'd changed his shampoo to, but she was sure that whenever she smelled it again she was going to go positively weak in the knees. Whatever claims he had of not wanting to do this were obviously not strong, certainly not strong enough to prevent him from doing what he was doing to her.

His arms slid around his waist, his finger splaying across her spine. She fit perfectly in the circle of his arms, not too tall, not too short, just--well, just perfect. And that was something he couldn't have come up with. The software, sure, but the hardware? That was all her. She didn't think about the skirt of her dress getting crushed against whatever fabric was used to make his pants anymore than he worried about her lab coat getting scrunched in the palms of his hands. It was wonderful and dizzying and the most exhilarating thing she'd ever felt in her entire life. Making out with Topher Brink in the middle of her office. It took the rest of her a moment to catch up to her mind.

"Topher--Topher!" Claire pulled back finally.

"Huh? Wha--"

"Dolls--" she gasped out, realizing just how hard she was breathing, "we've got work to do," she tried to steady herself but found it impossible, "how are we supposed to explain to them what we're doing? Do you want another Sierra/Victor episode?"

"Spending three hours watching dudes in the shower? Yeah, no thanks," he said, his own breath as erratic as hers, "we should definitely get back to work."

"Right," Claire said.

"You have to let go of my shirts first," he said. Claire looked at her hand, forcing it to relax.

"You should probably let go of my waist too," she said.

"Right," he said pulling back his hands.

Claire smoothed down the polka dot fabric of her dress, trying to calm her pounding heart. Reaching up she ran her fingers through her hair in a vain effort to comb it down. Walking over to the mirror, Claire fixed what she could, until she looked at the very least, in control of herself. Topher continued to stand there, watching her as she fixed her appearance, amusement in his eyes. Her hands paused as she looked over at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said holding up his hands, "girl stuff, its weird."

"Topher, work," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm and amusement as she rolled her eyes.

Topher waggled his eyebrows in response before he turned around and walked back to his office. He tried to find the horror with the idea of what he had just done, willingly making out with Dr. Saunders in her office, but he was having trouble. Especially considering that he had just made out with Dr. Saunders in her office. He might not have been one for casual office hookups but even he could see the crazy awesomeness in what he'd just done. He knew, somewhere deep inside that he should find something wrong with the deed. He could say that she was Claire. That she was an imprint. That she was--

A really good kisser actually.

Topher shook his head, trying not to think about whether that was because of him or something else. He hadn't expected that. Well he'd expected her to be soft, girls tended to be soft. But there was something else. The same steely determination he'd kept when creating Dr. Saunders was still there. She knew what she wanted--which happened to be him--and she went out and got it. The funny thing was that was something he'd kept when creating Dr. Saunders, he'd taken in from Whiskey. Like Echo she'd been worked to be bone but that hadn't slowed her, not even for a second. She'd always had a special kind of determination, determination he knew he'd never really have.

"You're smiling," Ivy said glancing at him suspiciously, "why are you smiling?"

"I'm not smiling," Topher said, trying to stop his lips from turning up more, "not smiling at all--so what's on the agenda for today?"

Ivy was too smart not to know something was going on and too well trained to question her boss. Topher busied himself in what he was doing. Flicking switches, imprinting people, all of it was about second nature to him. Topher had always been rather good at burying himself in his work and this was no exception. Work was a solace, a place where he could find the answers the real world had always been dead set on keeping from him. He used to do it when things were bad. Now he wouldn't say they were bad so much as confusing. Like why the hell Claire Saunders had just kissed him. He hoped it wasn't a pity thing He'd had the pity thing before and it completely sucked. Or why he'd enjoyed it as much as he did. He'd made sure that when he'd created Claire Saunders he'd done it to help the Dolls. In a world of people who didn't really have a moral compass she needed to have one. But people with morals had always annoyed the hell out of him--her included. And yet he was sure that kissing her was probably the best thing he'd done in, well, in a very long time.

In her office Claire performed check ups on the Dolls, treating Bravo's twisted ankle and Oscar's cut that required two stitches. She informed Victor that Sierra was in the art room and let the new November pick two lollipops, one to give to her handler and one to take for herself. She filled out paperwork for the cases that needed it. Her mind was focused on the work. She'd always been good at focusing on work, especially when the world outside of work made it difficult to understand anything. But soon the Dolls that needed to be checked up on dwindled until, before she knew it, Claire found herself alone. Alone and with the insane thoughts that kept tumbling through her head. She had memories of other kisses, of course, and of having sex--one that she was not even going to ask Topher about. But she had just been kissed. Not an imprint, not a body, just her. Just Claire Saunders the doll who thought no-one was going to miss her.

She had made a memory.

It was hers. It had become easier and easier to think of herself and the body she inhabited as separate things. But what had just happened belonged only to her. Topher Brink, the man she had always thought of as a jerk, had kissed her. The polka dot fabric of her dress was still wrinkled from what he had done and yet she wouldn't trade it for the world. Scars and all he had kissed her. Claire might not have had much to go on, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would never enjoy kissing another boy as much as she liked kissing Topher. She smiled, reaching up and pressing a finger to her lips. Scars and all he had kissed her. He had been passionate about it too, much more than she would have thought for Topher Brink the scientist who, up until a few weeks ago, had slept on a cot in a server room. She had reports to file and work to do and yet all that she could accomplish was sitting at her desk smiling like an idiot and staring off into space thinking about how utterly wonderful her first real kiss had been.

"So I'm going to take the fact that you're not hitting me as a good sign," a voice said from the doorway. Claire turned to look at him, "because I programmed you with some serious butt kicking skills so I know you can hurt me. You're just choosing not to."

"Topher," she said pushing herself back from her desk and getting to her feet, "hey."

"Hey," he said, grinning in a way that made her fairly certain more than one girl had hit him after she'd been kissed. Though Claire couldn't see how they possibly could want to hit him after that.

Slowly Topher slid the door closed behind him as he stepped fully into the room. Claire leaned back against the desk, resting her hands on the wood to hide the sweatiness in her palms. But she did not object or throw him out. Her silence seemed to be consent enough for him as he stepped into the room completely with the sliding doors behind him closed to the world.

"I'm going to be gone in three weeks," she said looking up at him as he came to stand in front of her.

"I know," he said.

"And I'm still Claire. Still me, still everything you said I was," he nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking suddenly far more like the boy she was used to seeing than the man she had just begun to get to know, "so if you want to do--whatever this is--you should just remember that."

"Still hate me?" he asked.

"Not since you changed your sharmpoo," she returned evenly.

When their lips met, Claire felt a shiver of delight run through her as she tasted lemon on his tongue.

Kinda short, I know, but I wanted it to be just about their new relationship.

Don't worry the drama's coming. Next chapter spans a period of three weeks (almost) an takes us to the night before, well, you know. And lets just say I'm going to have to up the rating on this fic for that chapter.

Please review! Seriously enough of you have this on alert and fave that the fact only a few of you rock stars are coming out to review is really kind of annoying. I like faves and alerts but I LOVE reviews. They are what makes me want to update a story. so really, its a simple as this: if you want to see an update you have to review.

So please review!