Surprisingly when Nightmare learns where his cookies went, he isn't angry.

"I know who it was", - he smiles amusedly, - "Has been a while since last time he showed up"

"Please, don't tell me he is a regular", - Alice pleads, her hands occupied with a cup of Gray's hot chocolate. God, she really needed one.

"You can say so", - Gray replies instead, bringing two more cups of chocolate for Nightmare and himself, - "I call him Clockman"

"What a weird nickname", - "Rapunzel guy" certainly suits the man better.

"He wears clocks on his persona", - Gray shrugs.

Alice tries to remember if the man wore any, but can't. She was too stressed to notice anything, really. She is surprised she managed to notice as much about him as she did.

"Anyway, don't mind him much. That man is a coffee-addict and a particularly difficult one to please as well", - Gray shots her a reassuring smile.

"Tom told me you handled him very well. Didn't even raise your voice once", - Nightmare says approvingly.

Gray raises his cup of chocolate in a fake toast.

"That is quite an accomplishment. Clockman is the worst nightmare of any barista"

"Hey!", - Nightmare protests, not appreciating his rare name being used like this.

"And you are the worst nightmare of any doctor", - Gray retorts and turns to Alice, not paying the slightest attention to Nightmare's pouting, - "Can you imagine what he had done today?"

For the life of her, Alice can't. As usual with Nightmare, each visit to a hospital is a story worth being turned into a movie. The creativity the silver-haired man demonstrates when trying to sneak out long ago turned him into a legend within the local hospital. Honestly, she thinks the boss of theirs would run out of ideas sooner or later..

"Did he hide inside the broom closet again?", - she takes a wild guess.

"Ha! If only", - Gray sighs, clearly chagrined, - "Actually he.."

Alice's eyes widen as Gray quickly describes what took place earlier today. Apparently no problems with ideas yet.

"Nightmare..", - she is beyond surprised, - "You stole a lab coat and pretended to be one of the doctors?!"

"The scary part is that they actually listened to him", - Gray adds, despite himself sounding almost awed.

"Just proves how awesome I am", - Nightmare looks smug for a couple of moments, but his bubble of confidence quickly bursts under the scrutinizing gazes of his subordinates. "In my defense I was left unsupervised", - he quickly supplies in a quieter voice, attempting to hide his face behind the rim of his cup.

"For lousy five minutes which I took to fetch you some water you asked for!", - Gray gets worked up and is glaring daggers. To his credit, Nightmare has the decency to look apologetic.

Unable to stay mad at his boss for too long, Gray sighs in defeat and proceeds with the story.

Alice can only shake her head in disbelief.

"..and when a nurse wanted to prick his finger for a blood sample, he screamed bloody murder and run up the wall. Literally"

Alice gasps.

"But how?!" Nightmare is many things, but certainly no acrobat.

"I did nothing of the sort!", - Nightmare vehemently denies.

"Oh really?", - Gray raises an eyebrow, - "Then pray tell me, Mr. Gottschalk, who was it, clinging to the chandelier, when frantic nurses called me in? Spiderman?"

Alice takes a sip from her cup, only half-listening to her friends' usual bickering when a sudden idea strikes her.

"Mm, Gray?"

"Yes?", - as usual with Gray, no matter how busy he is explaining to petulant Nightmare why exactly wailing like a banshee and scaring the daylights out of the rest of the patients is a bad idea, he is quick to pay attention to her.

"You said this Clockman guy is a regular here?"

After a moment of contemplation, Gray nods.

"He drops in from time to time, yes. Always orders black coffee only. So I am quite surprised you managed to bribe him with cookies", - his lips curl into an amused smirk.

"My cookies", - Nightmare pretends to sulk.

"Does that mean he can possibly come again?", - Alice prefers to ignore her boss's pretense, knowing fully well what he aims at – to get her to bake another batch.

"Quite likely", - Gray shrugs, - "Don't worry, I will deal with him if he drops by"

"But what if he comes when you're not around, like today?"

"You handled him marvelously well, Alice. Surely you can do it again", - Nightmare lazily twirls a spoon in his cup of chocolate.

"I am not sure I will manage to pull it off again", - really one talk to that man left her more emotionally drained than the whole twins-trying-to-burn-a-table ordeal.

"You have something in mind?", - now her boss is looking at her with curiosity shining in his one good eye and as it often happens Alice has a disconcerting sense that Nightmare is reading her mind.

"I think it would be better if I learn how to make coffee. You know, just in case", - Alice tries to sound nonchalant. Though making coffee isn't a part of her duties, it makes total sense to prepare beforehand, she quickly assures herself.

Both men chuckle good-naturedly.

"Not sure if Clockman is worth your effort, Alice, but if you want, I can give you some pointers", - Gray smiles warmly at her.

Today is just not her day, Alice firmly decides as she hurriedly makes her way from the bus station to Clover café. First, she made a stupid mistake in her practice test (something her tutor warned her against so many times in the past). Then some guy with pink(!) hair and way too many piercings pestered her throughout the whole bus ride for her number. He was so insistent the girl had to resort to lies and tell him she had a boyfriend already. Which is certainly not true, not after everything she went through. She is done with romance and is doing just fine without it, thank you very much.

But it seems that her day had more in store for her.

"Alice!", - having both Laura and Ann look at her as their last source of hope was a bad sign. A very, very bad sign. Still Alice pretends nothing is out of ordinary.

"Is something the matter?", - the girl asks as she changes into her green uniform. Ann and Laura exchange quick glances.

"We're running low on some supplies, and turns out Mr. Gottschalk forgot to make a call and confirm the delivery..", - Ann starts.

"So Mr. Ringmarc went straight to the suppliers in order to fix it", - Laura finishes for her.

So far, so good.

"So what is the problem?", - just like Nightmare to forget to order things beforehand. But it's evening already. Surely, they have enough of everything to last one evening.

"He is here", - Laura announces in a sepulchral voice.

"Who?", - Alice is busy, trying to tie her hair neatly. She is really not in the mood to guess. Heaven knows they receive enough of challenging customers on a daily basis.

"Do you even need to ask? The coffee freak, of course!", - Laura gives her a pointed look, - "Tom refuses to even try to make coffee for him"

Okay. This certainly qualifies as an emergency situation.

Cursing Tom below her breath, Alice makes her way to the main area.

The Clockman is there, looking even more displeased than the first time she saw him (no surprise if no one bothered to take his order). However, as Alice hurriedly makes her way to his table, she realizes that there might be another reason for his obvious irritation. The man is actually speaking to someone on the phone and his voice is downright annoyed.

"Its just two blocks away. How the hell did you manage to get lost?"

Whatever is said in response clearly doesn't raise Rapunzel guy's spirits.

"Ask someone for directions!", - he tiredly leans against the back of his chair, - "What do you mean, no one around? Just where the devil are you?"

The response makes the man facepalm in exasperation.

"How did you get there of all places?", - Rapunzel guy's frown deepens, - "You know what, never mind. Just catch a damn taxi"

He presses the off button with more force than necessary and scowls at the screen, before sliding the phone back into his pocket.

The scowl intensifies, when he finally spots her beside his table. Alice barely manages to murmur greetings when her practiced speech is cut short.

"Don't tell me Lizard is out again", - the man doesn't even bother to at least nod a greeting.

Good evening to you too, Alice mentally says, meanwhile forcing herself to smile apologetically.

"I am terribly sorry, sir. It is an emergency"

"Stupid Caterpillar probably messed something up yet again", - the man mutters, but he sounds more resigned than angry. It seems, she is not the only one who is having a bad day.

He looks tired, though he still manages to look impeccable in his black button-up coat with a grey shirt and black neck-tie. Now that Alice can take a proper look at him, she scans him for the clocks Gray mentioned. She expected a wrist-watch, maybe a clock chain of some sort, and is quite surprised to see instead a long clock earring hanging from his left ear, half-hidden by his long tresses of hair (which looks as gorgeous as she remembers).

As she takes him in, Alice can't help, but feel sympathetic (Nightmare is spot on when he accuses her of being partial to good looking men).

"Can I get you anything, sir?", - but of course, her sympathy is grossly misplaced.

"A cup of poison, perhaps", - he eyes a cup of cappuccino Tom is busy concocting and Alice notices how Clockman visibly shudders when some strawberry syrup is being generously added into it.

"I can make you a cup of black coffee, if you would like", - Alice offers. She has been dutifully practicing under Gray's tutelage the whole week and though her coffee obviously doesn't reach her teacher's level of expertise, she feels more confident suggesting it. After all, that cute guy in a funny hat drank a whole pot and even wanted to give her a kiss to express his gratitude! Not that she allowed him, of course, but his praise seemed sincere.

"As if it isn't the same thing", - Rapunzel guy's expression is sour, - "Even if you learned how to grind coffee beans"

Alice feels her anger rising. So much hard work and this is all she gets?

"Why don't you give it a try, sir? It might be better than you expect", - she challenges him.

He gives her an evaluating look for some seconds, then sighs.

"I suppose this day can't get any worse", - he folds his hands across his chest and looks straight into her eyes, - "Fine. Go ahead. Surprise me"

And something about his cold tone makes Alice's blood boil.

Challenge accepted.

"Hey, Alice! Look!"

"Coffee freak is here again"

As expected her co-workers didn't like the "Clockman" nickname, preferring to refer to the man as "coffee freak" instead (obviously, first making sure the said man is out of earshot).

Alice sighs heavily but makes her way to a sink to wash her hands.

It became some sort of a routine. There is an unspoken agreement between her colleagues and her that Alice is to deal with this particular customer if he chooses to come during her shift. If he shows up, no matter how many waiters are there on a duty, she has to stop whatever she is doing and attend to him. If Gray is not on a shift, it is her responsibility to make coffee as well as serve it.

Just like now.

As she is making her way to the secluded corner of the café he prefers to sit at, Alice once more marvels at his hair. Really, no matter how many times the girl sees it, she can't help but admire it and wonder which hair products he uses. In all honesty, hair isn't the only appealing thing about his appearance. His face is handsome and he is nicely built. Too bad that the sour expression he usually wears as well as his grumpy tone of voice ruin the whole impression.

Alice doesn't bother bringing a menu, but she greets him with her politest smile and her little notebook ready.

"Good afternoon, sir. What can I get for you today?"

"Black coffee", - he orders brusquely, - "And make sure not to over grind the beans like last time"

"One black coffee coming right up"

She makes it back to the kitchen, mentally bracing herself for yet another mean comment on her coffee-making skills. He always makes some. The man even has the gall to grade her coffee! However, she is not the one to back down from a challenge. Alice may not be as beautiful and perfect as Lorina, but she is used to being praised for her diligence and hard work. Even her tutor considered her a fast learner.

She will show this guy she is worthy of being praised!

As Alice is trying to remember everything Gray taught her so far, she can't help but wonder if it's just her imagination or does the Clockman really turn up during her shift more often lately, though she made sure to provide him with the details of Gray's schedule. The mere idea makes the girl snicker. Probably, that's just her getting overworked.

"Thirty points", - the infuriating Clockman comments as soon as he gulps a bit of her latest concoction.

"Out of thirty, sir?", - she is trying to lighten the atmosphere with a small joke, just to cringe inwardly at the cold look he shots her.

"You wish. Out of a hundred"

Alice slightly winces. She isn't used to such low grades, no matter the subject, but the girl knows better than to argue. Instead she takes out her small notebook again.

"Any feedback, sir?"

Clockman shots her a long look before he starts speaking. It is a sort of ritual between them: after a cup of coffee would be tried and given a score it was time for a small lecture about the ways to better it. Each time it happens, Alice can't help but feel impressed at how knowledgeable this man is about coffee. Definitely, a coffee-addict. Even his voice changes when the Rapunzel guy starts describing the correct way of handling coffee tools. As he continues listing what exactly she'd done wrong this time, its as if he witnessed her making it. He can even tell she used cloth filter!

"You surely know your coffee, sir", - Alice admits as his comments take three pages to write down. At this rate she will need a new notebook soon.

"I wouldn't have any right to grade it if I didn't", - he shrugs, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

But thirty points worth or not, the mug is empty when she comes to clean the table later. Alice has no idea why she finds the fact so satisfying.