“There is no way I can do this.”

Thinking about the things Ione has done for him, even just in the past little while, Alex is both floored and incredibly grateful. Time and time again, she continues to surprise him and though they have joked that this is the honeymoon stage, if it is, he certainly wants to keep it going for as long as he can. He wants to have fun, build up that momentum, but also see that look on her face as she realizes what’s going on as he drops a surprise on her. One that she could have never suspected until she's actually in it. She dressed up as Emma Frost for him, she dressed up as Slave Leia. While they were seemingly simple costumes, it was the thought that went in behind them. She wanted to make him happy, she wanted to do something special, she went that extra step to use something that she knew he liked and personalize it on her. So now it is his turn.

Aside from the general knowledge of the film, and what it means to her, he eventually stumbles on an old conversation between them.

is that a favourite movie of yours or just the scene?

that scene's obviously the best part. the way he looks at her, the very end when he mouths the words of the song to her, when he kisses her nose, every time she laughs. i don't know, it's just really sexy. there's also a scene earlier in the movie when he's trying to teach her the dance and he does that move where he runs his hand down her arm and then her body and she keeps ruining it because she can't stop laughing, i love that, too. i am aware i'm a cliche.

so hot. so sexy.

hey, don't make fun. i genuinely think it's sexy. that was long ago cemented as the #1 non-alex milligan sexiest thing in the world to me, i don't need your judgment.

Suddenly an idea comes alive and he gets to researching.

“God, am I really going to do this?”

Laughing incredulously, Alex Milligan watches over the Youtube video. This was just the informational session round, where he surveyed the footage so he could see what exactly he was in for when it came down to this. Though he is a perfectionist, tried and true, he is not expecting any kind of perfection out of this in the slightest. He just wants to do something that she will enjoy. That she will be able to laugh at, hopefully, because he is already questioning the whole thing because it feels a little ridiculous on his end though he has a feeling she will really enjoy it. Time to press play on the video one more time, and another, and another, so he doesn't have to think about the logistics of that. Aside from trying to get a basic rhythm down (which unsurprisingly does not work out as planned) what he really plans on is mostly winging it to the beat of the music and hinging on the hope that she will find everything amusing. Still, he does try and get some basic movements down. If only she was there to see him now.

When Ione is in the shower, he takes his laptop downstairs and watches the clip a few times and tries to pull off a few moves.

When she’s making breakfast, he makes sure he’s got the all black outfit similar to the one Swayze wore. Check.

When he says he’s going out to walk Penny, he does, but he also makes a little stop at a few shops along the way for a dress similar to the one in the video. He goes so far as to screencap a few photos of the scene for reference to look back on so he makes sure he's got the dress right. As right as it could be with time limitations and an excitable dog jumping around the store.

When she’s in her room talking to Brooke about the meetings tomorrow and he can tell this will be a long phone call, with her making that face and sitting down on her bed, he mouths that he’ll be downstairs and shuts the door behind him to start preparing.

He dims the apartment lights, quickly putting around some of the led lights he bought to mimic the main general feeling that the clip had going on. He doesn’t exactly know how much time he has, but he knows that when Brooke is really into what she’s saying, she can go on for quite a while. He makes sure the surround sound system is set up with that one click of a button, and then he remembers the other most important thing: getting the dress to her so that she can see it. Of course. It’s already all packaged near the entrance so grabbing a pen and paper he scribbles a little note: Put this on and meet me downstairs. He tapes it to the box that holds her dress and then heads up the stairs, placing it right in front of her door. Now, all he has to do is wait.

“Guess I’m really doing this.”