"You'd tell me if you were expectin' right?" I rolled my eyes at the man in front of me. Was he really so concerned about this?

"Angus, if something like that ever happened to me while I was here, you'd be the first to know," I assured him.

"I feel so honored," he replied rolling his eyes as well. We were back in the hotel room getting the couch ready for bed. I stuck the blankets in a dryer I found so they were warm and snug. Angus wasn't so sure, he thought it would get too hot. But after some clever negotiating, and sneaking the blankets inside before he noticed, we had a pile of cozy laundry. Angus gave me a snarky look whenever he picked one up and set it on the couch.

"We should make a fort," I stated out of the blue. I felt his gaze as I stared at the set up in front of me. A couch, coffee table, pillows, and blankets.

"A fort?"

"Sure."

"How do you figure that one out?" He crossed his arms and gave a slight frown.

"Easy. Just take a blanket and..." I admit I stunk skunk at building forts. But if it meant it wasn't gonna happen, Angus didn't need to know that.

"And? You got an idea?" I frowned back at him.

"Maybe not this minute but, I thought you could build it with me." I couldn't read the expression on his face. Something along the lines of 'Should I?' mixed with 'What is she, three?'. Instead he came out with,

"If you're gonna build a fort, you're gonna do it right."

"Move that pillow here. No, here."

"That's where I put it the first time," I said.

"Put it where my foot is. No, where my foot is."

"That is your foot!"

"Other foot, Han Banan!" I clenched the throw pillow in my hands and lightly bonked him on the head. He smiled. "Not even close."

"You don't screw around when it comes to fort making do you?" I asked.

"I don't like a half-assed job, that's all," Angus replied. "With anything, doesn't have to be a fort." He took the pillow with his free hand and placed it exactly where I did a hundred years ago. "'Cept my homework," he laughed.

"You spent your time wisely, doing more important things instead."

"Yeah. Like building forts." I laughed a little too loudly again and let out my infamous snort. I brought a hand to my mouth and looked away. Looking back up at him he was fixing the top blankets of the fort. With a smug smile.

"Like you've never snorted before," I muttered.

"No, can't say I have." He started laughing at the double meaning and I shook my head.

"You're ridiculous."

"You made the comment, sweetheart. Not me."

"Just fix your pillows." After ten minutes of pillow fluffing, blanket folding, and minor disagreeing, our fort mansion was complete. It went from the sitting area to the kitchen. All blankets, pillows, and nearby furniture.

Angus went behind me and placed his hands over my eyes. "You ready to see your new house?"

"I helped build it Angus, I know what it looks like."

"Don't ruin my fun. Alright, open." He removed his hands and I saw the same fort we finished building two minutes ago.

"Impressive on the outside, but how does it look on the inside?" I asked.

"Hopefully good, we spent a long time putting this together. Come on, let's go in." We crawled our way through an opening and settled down on the carpet. It was even darker under there. "Hey, come here." Angus held his arms out and leaned against the couch. I sat beside him and rested my elbow on his shoulder.

"Thanks for helping me," I told him. He took a lock of my hair and observed it in his fingertips.

"Anytime, love. Needed a good activity."

"What are you doing?" He rubbed his thumb over my hair.

"Every time I see your hair it just gets darker and darker."

"'Cause it's dark in here?" I suggested. He gave me a look.

"I can see that, smartmouth." I laughed. "Even in the sun though, looked dark. I don't know. Maybe I'm just gettin' old. Eyes don't work as they used to."

"Maybe 'cause it's shorter it just looks different."

"Maybe. I hope so," he laughed. "I'm gettin' my hair cut soon."

"Can I do it?"

"Sure. But..." He reached into his pocket. "Will this cover it?" A dirty penny lay in his hand. I smiled and snuggled into him more.

"I hope Georganne has a girl," I said. "She can use that shirt she bought."

"Which one? Oh, the one from that store?" I nodded. "Okay. Yeah, it'd be-it'd be good to put that to use."

"I know that name is a boy's name too but she has the girl's spelling."

"You two just got that shirt to freak us out?"

"Maybe." He shook his head.

"You're nuts, ya' know." I smiled and closed my eyes.

"Ich spinne."

"What?"

"Ich spinne," I repeated. He blinked at me.

"I have no idea what that means."

"It means I'm nuts. Took German years ago."

"Oh. See, Ellen taught me a bit of Dutch. Not so familiar with German you know."

"I guess they're similar," I said.

"I'm fluent in English you know," he grinned.

"Really? You don't say, I am too!" Angus eventually released my hair and leaned in closer.

"So how do you say, how are you? In..." He motioned with his hand. "In German."

"Wie geht's." He nodded his head.

"Hm. How do you say, I'm fine, thank you.?"

"That's-Es geht mir gut, danke." He nodded again and leaned in even closer to me. A warmth radiated from him onto me.

"Now, if a man is sitting next to a girl, doesn't matter where, and he wants to tell her how he feels," he said giving me a cheeky smile. "how would he go about saying so?" I could feel the fort losing air and it was hard to breathe. He wasn't this close when we first sat down, was he? Sneaky little...

"I-it depends on wh-what you want to-to say," I stuttered. His grin widened.

"How would he say he likes her?"

"Ich-ich mag dich."

"Dick? Is that what you said?" I laughed.

"No! Dich!"

"Oh. Alright then, what about if he loves her?" My smile shrank with a blush. "What uh, what would he say then?"

My mind was drawing a blank. All those days spent rehearsing and telling stories auf Deutch were going out my window. Either it's been a while, or Angus was closing the distance on purpose. He knew exactly what he was doing. His breath mixed with my own as he waited patiently for my answer. Maybe I could tell him there is no direct translation for that...but he's not stupid. He'd ask me all night for some form of a decent answer. With no hurry to leave of course.

"You do remember don't you?" he asked softly. His voice was close to my ear and a hand reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind it. "Not too challenging is it?"

"It's-Ich liebe dich," I managed to finally say. "Dich, not dick."

He smiled. "Interesting. I hope I won't forget that."

It was probably two in the morning when I woke up. I was holding something like a teddy bear and something fuzzy brushed my nose.

It's not fun waking up to a socked foot in your face no matter how much you like the guy.

I pushed Angus' leg away and sat up. My head grazed a blanket above me. We were still in the fort. After talking about other various subjects, we must have fallen asleep on the floor. Though I don't know why I was snuggling with Angus' leg...

I sat up and stretched. I was tired, but I also really had to use the little Hannah's room. Crawling out of the fort as best I could without knocking it over or waking Angus up, I was met with the chill of the outside air. Now, I'll never be sure, but on my way down the little hallway, I heard a radio playing.

It wasn't loud, but I could clearly hear music, static, and voices. The only radio in our hotel room was in the living room. But just in case, I checked all the spare rooms down the hall. Not a single one hosted the noise I heard. In fact, it got quieter when I stepped outside the hallway. The music didn't seem to come from next door or upstairs, it sounded like our room.

I checked back in the fort to see Angus curled up in a ball sleeping. The radio in the living room was completely shut off. But I still heard it...

Getting a little freaked out, I headed back to the bathroom. Better get business done before things get messy. The darkness got eerily spookier and I rushed to get back to the fort. Angus was gone. I never heard him leave, and I didn't hear him walking around outside. Yet right where he should have been, he wasn't.

I lifted the blanket up a bit to check around. Not an Angus in sight. Or at least from what I could see in the dark. The radio wasn't as loud as it had been, but it was still there. This time it was people talking, like they do in between songs. I crawled back out from the fort and checked the kitchen. A cold rush brushed by and there were suspicious shadows on the wall. Angus could have gone to the bathroom too so I headed over there.

Well, Angus wasn't there either. The water was running in the sink which he must have forgotten about. But I never saw him leave the bathroom. How do you like that, guitarist by day, magician by night. If this was all a joke to scare me, he was gonna get it.

I shut the water off and came back to see a kitchen cabinet open. Oh, so now he's sneaking around for a midnight snack. The fridge light was on as well, letting all the cold air out. Angus is a slob at night. But of course he wasn't in the kitchen. I closed both doors and went back to the fort, which was still empty. How in the...

It's a good thing I already went to the bathroom 'cause I would have been soiled by now. Angus keeps disappearing and leaving a mess in his trail, and that stupid radio was playing another song.

"What are you doing?" a voice whispered in my ear from behind me. A hand touched my shoulder at the same time making me jump in my spot.

"Don't freaking scare me like that, you piece of..." I grumbled as I punched his shoulders. He took my swinging fists in his hands.

"Stop, stop, what did I do?"

"I'm looking everywhere for you, it's dark and you're nowhere to be seen! You left the water running, and the cabinets open-"

"It's 'cause I got hungry. I don't remember leaving the water on," he whispered. "You shut it off?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "But you're like, three pounds and just float around the hotel like a ghost who likes to scare people!" I struggled out of his hands but he responded by trapping me in his arms instead.

"Stop! Stop struggling, I'm sorry."

"You're not sorry, you sack of-"

"Shhh! Shhh, you're okay." His voice never left a whisper, unlike mine. "I honestly didn't know you were awake, I was just minding my own business." He leaned forward so our noses touched. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Yes you did."

"No, I didn't," he laughed. "I didn't. Honest. I'm sorry. Hey, how do you say, I'm sorry in German?" I sighed.

"Es tut mir leid."

"Well, then, es tut mir leid. I'm sorry for scarin' ya'." I calmed down as he rubbed my back. It was still two in the morning and I was still tired. "What are you doin' up?"

"Had to use the bathroom. Good thing I went before you popped out of nowhere." Angus laughed again. "What were you doing in the kitchen, having yourself a midnight beer?"

"No. I was hungry. Just wanted a sandwich or something." He yawned. "Now I'm too tired for food. All this excitement's worn me out."

"How do you think I feel?" He smiled.

"Ich lieber dich. I love you," he whispered.

"Liebe," I corrected.

"Oh, same thing. I still do."

"Yeah right," I pretended to grumble. He kissed my nose then my forehead, then once again on my nose before he took me back to our fort. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"Probably best to sleep on the couch the rest of the night," he said picking me up. After he got situated, I was placed on his lap and I lay down on top of him.

"Angus, did you hear a radio or something when you went down the hall?"

"No. Why?"

"I went to the bathroom before you and I heard a radio in the hallway."

"Was it the one over there?" He pointed to the corner.

"No. And no other room has one."

"It was probably comin' from upstairs."

"It sounded like this room."

"Hmm. That's funny." He placed his hands behind my back and mine rested on his chest. This was much better than snuggling with a leg and sock foot on a shag carpet.