I’m so excited for this chapter because it’s just a lot of fluff (mostly). 

Chapter Quote:

“This isn't the age of spies. This is not even the age of heroes. This is the age of miracles... and there's nothing more horrifying than a miracle.”

~Baron Wolfgang von Trucker

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Chapter 8

Bucky 

Annabeth and I ended up getting trapped for a week inside the house due to rain.  The driveway flooded and we couldn’t get anywhere.  It was a miracle our hideout didn’t get any water.  To pass time, she told me stories that she’d read about of me and Steve during the war.  Sometimes I remembered them, sometimes I didn’t.  It was when I couldn’t remember that I became angry and stressed.  I should’ve scared her when I became like that.  I was unpredictable when I was angry and stressed.  But she refused to leave me, and somehow always managed to distract me from my thoughts, calming me down.  Annabeth would be very subtle about it, but I noticed her tactics soon enough.  The first time she did it, she called me over to watch something on her laptop.  It was a video on this place called YouTube of these men in panda costumes wreaking havoc in Tokyo.  I think they called themselves Jackass… nonetheless it was entertaining and calmed me down.  Another time, she chose to grab a newspaper and roll it up.  Curious, I asked her what she was doing, and she pointed to a spider on the wall.  Apparently Annabeth is terrified of them.  I offered to kill it for her which she gratefully accepted.  You get the gist of what I’m getting at here.

It was still a gloomy morning, with a light drizzle going on outside, but it was clear enough that we could actually get out of here.  Annabeth came downstairs in shorts and a tank top.  I sat at the bar, drinking water.

“Good morning,” she greeted.

“Morning.”

“So I was searching for barbershops for you and I found one.  It’s not too far from here, and it has some shopping centers and diners.  What do you say we go today?  I checked the weather and supposedly it’s going to clear up by the afternoon.”

“Where’s the town?”

“Althea.  It’s about twenty minutes from here.”

“Do you know how to get there?”

“Sure do.”

“All right.”  We left after Annabeth threw on a brown leather jacket.  She got in the driver’s seat and I got in the passengers.  She hooked up her iPod, telling me I was the DJ for the ride there.  I scrolled through her songs, hitting a random one.

“I love this song,” Annabeth remarked.

“What song is it?” I asked.

“Sunday Afternoon by Rascal Flatts.  They also happen to be one of my favorite groups.”

“It’s a good song,” I agreed, listening to the tune. “What else do you like?”

“What do you mean?”

“What other things do you like?  I’ve spent the past week with you and it’s dawned on me that you seem to know everything about me but I hardly know anything about save for the things I’ve observed.”

“There’s not much to tell.  I like music, particularly country and some of the older music from the forties and fifties, particularly Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.  Reading is my favorite pastime.  I’d rather be reading a good book than going out to hang with friends.  But you have me curious now.  What have you observed about me?”

I shrugged. “Simple things really.  You fidget a lot at night, telling me you’re tired and the movement keeps you awake.  You twirl your hair when you’re focusing on something but you can’t control what you’re focusing on.  Like when we’re on your laptop, and I’m using it while you’re sitting next to me, that’s when you do it.  And you’re a deep but restless sleeper.  You’ve slept through all the thunderstorms at night.”

“There were thunderstorms during the night?” she queried, appearing genuinely surprised. “And how do you know I’m a restless sleeper?”

I smiled a little. “Yes there were, and I couldn’t sleep during them.  Your lamp was on one time, so I thought you were up.  When I entered your room, your bed covers were practically on the floor and you were sprawled out on the bed, completely unaware of anything going on.  I covered you back up and turned your light out and left, but that’s how I figured out you’re a restless sleeper.”

“You kind of nailed all my quirks.  I can’t think of anything else to say.  I’ll add this to the list though.  I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“You’ve never had a boyfriend?” I was rather shocked.  I knew I’d been off the dating scene for a while, but enough memory came back to me to know that a girl like Annabeth never having a boyfriend was an anomaly.

“Yeah, I was too focused in high school to get into a good college to have a boyfriend and then all the guys in college that I liked were partiers or were jerks or were stupid.  I don’t mean to say I didn’t party, but I never got so drunk that I couldn’t stand up or that I was sick in a bathroom all night.”

“So does that mean you’ve never been kissed or…?”

“Never been kissed either.  I don’t share that with a lot of people.  I’m oblivious, but I’m not stupid.  I don’t want to sound conceited when I say I know guys find me attractive, and so people are always so shocked when I say I haven’t been kissed and they look at me with pity and it pisses me off, so I just don’t say anything about it.  I’m not a girl that needs a guy.  Sure, I’d love to have a boyfriend, but I don’t need one.  I’m willing to wait for the right guy.  I’m sorry,” she suddenly said, “I don’t think you wanted to listen to me rant about my nonexistent love life.  What about you?  Did you have any special girls?”

“I think I had a few girls, but none that were really special to me.  I think I would’ve remembered them by now if I had.  And don’t feel sorry.  I want to know who you are, and never having a boyfriend is one of those things.”

“More men need to be like you Bucky Barnes.”

“Amnesiac assassins?” I suggested.

She snorted. “No, honest and accepting with a not so subtle side of sarcasm.”

I smiled and looked out the window.  We’d arrived at the town now.  It was small and quaint.  A few people were out and about walking.  Annabeth parked the truck and we got out.  I shoved my hands in my jacket pocket to avoid people seeing my metal arm.

I followed Annabeth down the sidewalk, keeping close to her.  She seemed to know where she was going which was more than I could say.  She led us to a barbershop at the end of the street.  When we entered, no one was in there except for an elderly old man.  He had to be in his eighties at the minimum.

“Hello, how may I help you?” he inquired kindly.

Annabeth smiled and said, “My friend here would like a haircut.  We didn’t make an appointment though.”

“That’s all right dear, I don’t have any right now.  Come sir, please, sit down,” he said, motioning for me to sit in the chair.  He threw a cape around me and pulled out a pair of scissors.  The man started cutting and Annabeth made conversation with him.

“Have you always owned a barbershop or did you do something before this?” She questioned, sitting down in the vacant chair next to me.

“I was in the military most of my life.  I fought in World War II in the one-o-seventh,” he explained.  I felt my heart start pounding.  Annabeth’s eyes widened but she caught her reaction and returned back to looking normal but intrigued.

“Didn’t the one-o-seventh get captured at some point during the war?” she queried.

“Sure did.  By HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division.  Some of us were used as test subjects.  Only one ever returned, and that was because Captain America saved us and him.  In fact, I think the guy he rescued was his best friend.  I never met his friend, and I only caught a glimpse of Cap, but I owe him my life.”

“The war was brutal,” I agreed, glancing down at my lap.

“Did you meet Peggy Carter?” Annabeth inquired.

“I did actually; first time I actually saw her was when I was in the room when she shot at Steve.  He did something to tick her off.  Howard Stark, Tony Stark’s father, was practically cowering in the corner with a look of absolute shock.  I laugh every time I think about his expression.  Peggy was a firecracker.  One of the best women in the war too.  I started dating a private during the war, and she was acquaintances with Peggy.” The man looked over at Annabeth.  She was holding back a question, I could tell, and so could the barber. “If you’re wondering miss, I did end up marrying that private.” The old man smiled, a spark flaring in his eyes. “She was and still is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

“That is so sweet,” Annabeth said, smiling wistfully. “I hope one day, when I get married, that my husband is as in love with me as you are with your wife.  What’s her name?”

“Lorraine.  Sweetest woman, although, I’ll admit, she was quite the vixen back in the war.

“If you two don’t have anywhere important to be and if you’re willing to stay for another five minutes, you can meet her and my grandchildren.  She’s heading over here right now.”

“Oh we’d love to, but we have some errands to run,” Annabeth answered. “Thank you so much for the offer though!”

“Any time sweetie,” the man said.  After she paid him for the haircut, the two of us left in search of something to eat.  Both of us were starving, something our growling stomachs could attest to.  The waitress sat us in a booth in the back of the diner we chose.  After handing us menus and asking what we’d like to drink, she left.

“What should I get?” I asked, staring at all the choices.

“Whatever you want.  Besides, it’s on me today,” Annabeth responded, flipping the menus page.

“I can choose?”

An expression of confusion settled on her face. “Why couldn’t you?”

“HYDRA always… chose for me.”

“Oh god, I didn’t think about that.  Bucky, listen to me.  You do not have to ask my permission about what you want to order off the menu, what you want to buy, and more.  You’re a free man again.  HYDRA doesn’t make your choices for you anymore.”

“Sorry,” I said, looking back down at my menu, embarrassed.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I just… I don’t know.  I feel like I should be apologizing.” Wanting to change the subject, I said quickly, “So do you know what you’re getting?”

“I think I’m just going to get a bacon burger with avocado.  You?”

“I can’t decide between the ribs and the burger.”

“Get both.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, and whatever you don’t eat, you can have for lunch tomorrow.  I’d say have it for dinner, but I wanted to make a good meal tonight.”

“What’s special about tonight?”

“Nothing, I just thought you’d want a homemade meal after seventy years, seeing as how we’ve been eating microwave dinners for the past week.”

“Oh, well leftovers for lunch it is,” I agreed, smiling.  The waitress came back and took our orders.  When the food came, I plowed through mine.  Annabeth could barely finish hers.  She let me eat the rest of it.  I still was hungry, but I was feeling full at the same time so I convinced Annabeth to share a dessert with me.  It was a hot fudge ice cream bar, and let me tell, it was one of the most delicious desserts I’d ever had.  It had an ice cream sandwich on the bottom, a layer of whip cream, a layer of chocolate and peanut butter mixed together, and then a layer of nuts.  Then, save for the ice cream sandwiches, the layers repeated.  The waitress gave us a heaping serving.  Of course, it wasn’t the neatest dessert, and Annabeth and I had the most difficult time making sure we didn’t drop any on the table or on ourselves.  When we finished, she led me to a few clothing stores.

“Choose whatever you’d like and then try it on.  The clothes you want, I’ll buy,” she said.

“That could be a lot of money though,” I remarked.

“If Pierce was good for anything, it’s that he paid me a handsome salary.  Trust me, I have more than enough.  Seriously, get whatever you’d like.”

I scanned around the shop from the spot I was in. “Annabeth?  I have no idea where to begin.”

She grinned. “Then I’ll help.  Let’s start out with shirts.”

Grabbing my hand, she led me to a shelf with more t-shirts than I’d ever seen in my life.  She began pulling out random shirts, and I followed her actions, pretending like I knew what I was doing.

“May I help you with anything?” a saleswoman asked politely.

“Actually, yes, we could use loads of help.  Someone stole his carry-on bag with all his clothes and so we need to buy him shirts and jeans and anything else that we think might come in handy.”

“Some people are so awful!” The woman exclaimed. “My name is Sandy.  I’ll be glad to help you search for clothes.  What size are you dear?”

“I think he’s a large,” Annabeth said, covering for me because I had no idea what to pick out, let alone what size I was. 

“Let’s see here,” Sandy murmured, her eyes roving over my figure and making me feel strangely uncomfortable. “Yes, definitely a large in shirts, possibly extra-large in some.  And the jeans, I’m not sure.  Guess we’ll just to do process of elimination with those.  Okay, black is always a good place to start, same with white, and we’re definitely going to want some blue on you.  Those will really make those eyes of yours stand out.”  Sandy continued to ramble on as she started pulling out shirt after shirt; I looked over at Annabeth.  She was trying extremely hard not to giggle.  I let out a grin myself before facing forward again because if I kept staring at Annabeth, I was going to fall on the floor laughing.  I never knew there could be so much to choosing a t-shirt, but according to Sandy, there was, and that’s what killed me.  I’m pretty sure she pulled out at least twenty t-shirts before she moved onto jeans.  She grabbed four different pairs in different sizes. “Try these on and tell me which fits best.  Here’s a dressing room for you.”

I entered the room with all my clothes; there wasn’t really a door, just some fabric hanging down that prevented anyone from seeing in, but I could see out thanks to the reflection of the outside in the mirror caused by the crack in the curtain.

I threw on a black shirt.  It fit pretty well, even over my metal arm.  While I was putting on a pair of jeans, it suddenly it dawned on me that the saleswoman didn’t know about my metal arm.  Hell…

“Hey, Annabeth?” I called out.

“Yeah?” she replied.

“Uh, we have a problem.  My arm.”

There was silence from her but Sandy asked, “What’s wrong with his arm?”

“Oh, uh, people tend to get freaked out by his arm because of what it looks like.  There’s nothing to be freaked out by though.”

“I promise I won’t be scared.  And if I am, I won’t say anything.  Oh, and I just realized what are your names?”

“I’m Annabeth, and that’s Bucky.”

“Got it.  Bucky, I swear I won’t be freaked out.  Could you please come out so we can see the outfit?”

I took a deep breath.  Exiting the dressing room, I waited for the shriek of terror.  It never came though.

“It’s metal,” Sandy said.

“We used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. and he lost his arm on a mission.  So, as an experiment, the agency gave him a metal one,” Annabeth informed.  She wasn’t lying, she was just twisting the truth, and I appreciated her ability to do that whenever the situation called for it.

“Oh my… that’s fascinating!  I mean I can understand why people would get freaked out but still. So you two met at work?”

“Yeah, she was my doctor,” I said, “And my technician.”

“Did your bosses mind the relationship?”

“They hated it, and ended up separating us.”

“How horrible!  But hey, even though you two lost your jobs, at least now you can be together!” Sandy chirped. “Okay, so the shirt and jeans fit?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

“Perfect.  Let me go get some more jeans in that size.” I told her what size they were and she left, leaving me and Annabeth alone.  She was staring at me, causing me to inquire, “What?”

“Uh, nothing,” she replied, shaking her head and letting out a breathy chuckle. “It’s just that you look really good in that shirt.”

I looked down at the shirt and pointed out, “It’s sort of see-through though- you can see my stomach.”

“I see no problem with that,” she mumbled under her breath.  My head snapped up.  Annabeth appeared embarrassed, but as much as she was trying, she still failed epically at holding back a grin.

“Definitely getting this shirt,” I decided.

“Oh good!” Sandy said, coming back. “Well if you don’t like the others, at least you’re heading home with one!  All right, I got you some more jeans.  You’ll want to try on all of them just to make sure they fit. Sometimes just because they say they’re your size, doesn’t mean they are.  I know.  I’ve learned the hard way.”

Sandy sat back down, chatting with Annabeth some more.  I went back into the dressing room, silently trying on all the clothes and listening to the girls’ conversation.  They talked about a lot of things in a short amount of time: food, clothes, pets (or lack of in Annabeth’s case), family, and more.  Sandy suddenly changed topics though and questioned, “So, how long have you two been together?”

I could see Annabeth’s face in the mirror, and could easily tell she had been knocked speechless.  Therefore, I said the first thing that came to my mind: “Ten years.”

“Ten years?  And you’re not married?”

“Oh, well, we’ve known each other ten years,” Annabeth said quickly, picking up on what I was doing.

“But we’ve only been together about a week now,” I added.

“Our bosses, they didn’t like us together so they made sure we had no chances of seeing each other.”

“I see.  Distance makes the heart grow fonder.  Where do y’all live?”

“D.C.  It’s a nice flat that was close to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Doesn’t matter anymore but oh well!  It’s still lovely there.  And it’s in a good neighborhood.”

I left the dressing room, all the clothes I was getting draped over my metal arm, and the three things I wasn’t getting draped over my normal one.  Sandy came over and took everything from me, setting it on the checkout counter.

“Would you like any jackets?  We have some nice ones for both casual and dressier occasions.” Sandy led us over to an area full of jackets.

“Which one do you suggest?” I asked Annabeth.

“Leather’s always a good way to go,” she remarked, pulling a black one off the rack.  I put it on and looked at myself in the mirror.  I had to admit, I looked pretty good in it, and intimidating in a bad boy sort of way.  I decided to get it.  I also got a denim jacket and a sweatshirt.  I didn’t get any pajamas.  There were sweatpants at the bunker, and I didn’t like sleeping with a shirt on anyways so I didn’t need any.  The overall cost was over five hundred dollars for twenty shirts, ten pairs of jeans, and three jackets.  I felt guilty spending that much of Annabeth’s money, but she didn’t seem fazed by it.  Sandy wished us a good day and the two of us walked back to the car.

“Oh crap!” Annabeth stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

“What?” I asked.

“I think I left my jacket in the diner.  I’m going to run back there and grab it.  I’ll meet you at the car.”

She was gone before I could protest.  I didn’t want her going anywhere by herself.  I didn’t trust her not to get herself into trouble.  Annabeth had this aura about her that insinuated she had a nasty habit of getting into things she shouldn’t.  Then I realized I was one of those troublesome situations.  Forcing myself not to go after her, I walked slowly back to the car.  I kept my head down, not wanting to look at anyone or draw attention to myself.  Easier said than done when you’re wearing a jacket in eighty degree weather with your metal hand sticking out.

“I’m back,” Annabeth said, skidding to a walk next to me.  She took the shopping bags out of my left hand, allowing me to stuff it into my jacket pocket.  Her jacket was draped over her other arm.

“Last stop is the store and then it’s back home,” she said. “I know Steve can’t get drunk because of what that serum did to him, but I’m not sure about you.  Guess we’ll see tonight.  They have some alcohol at the house but no wine.  We can drink that harder stuff later if you want, but for dinner, I like to have wine.  Do you mind?”

“Not at all.  Steve can’t get drunk?”

“No.  The super-soldier serum did something that prevents him from getting drunk.  You had something similar done to you, serum-wise I mean, but I don’t know exactly what, so I have no idea on whether or not you can drunk.”

“Twenty bucks says I can,” I dared.

She eyed me mischievously. “Twenty bucks says you can’t.”

“Deal.”

“I haven’t lost a deal yet you know,” she said.

“I can’t remember if I have,” I joked.  While it sucked that I couldn’t remember a lot of things, it did get me off the hook for a lot of things, and it made for some good laughs.

The trip to the store was quick; Annabeth knew exactly what she needed, although how cocoa powder fit into the recipe, I’m not sure.  I drove us home.  We managed to get back to the house before the torrential downpour started.

It was already five o’clock, so Annabeth started cooking dinner.  I went and changed into one of my new pairs of jeans and put on the black shirt she liked.  When I went downstairs, she was sliding around the kitchen in her socks.  She stopped mid-dance move when she saw me.

“You saw nothing,” Annabeth warned, shuffling back to the stove, blushing.

“I thought it was adorable.”

“Oh shut it,” she snapped lightly, her tone taking the seriousness out of the statement.

Dinner was ready in an hour, and while I set the table and poured the wine, she put the food on our plates.  Just as she set the plates down on the table, there was a deafening clap of thunder, followed by a blinding flash of lightning.

The power went out.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Annabeth said from somewhere in the darkness.  I figured out she was to my left.  I sidled my way over to her, using her voice as my guide. “This day was going so- OH MY GOD SOMEONE IS TOUCH- oh, it’s you, Bucky.  Okay, I’m good.”

“Sorry!” I exclaimed.  I’d gotten a little too confident in my finding abilities, ending up ramming into Annabeth rather than lightly bumping into her.

“You’re fine.  Let me go see if I can find a flashlight somewhere.”

“There’s candles in the kitchen,” I informed.

“Those’ll work,” she said in agreement. “Your bionic arm wouldn’t happen to have a flashlight installed in it somewhere, would it?”

“Not that I know of.  But I know where the candles are.  Stay here.  I’ll get them.” I maneuvered and felt my way to the correct drawer (not without banging my knees and hands into the cabinets and counters respectively).  I took the candles out of the drawer along with a match box.  Lighting a candle, I turned to face Annabeth.  She grinned at me.

“Good going, soldier,” she complimented. “They wouldn’t happen to have any candle holders in there would they?”

I pulled some out.  The two of us set to work lighting the candles.  There were six total, which gave us just enough light to see what we were eating and where our utensils were (neither of us wanted to lose any digits).  Both of us finished in less than twenty minutes, being so hungry that we didn’t talk much.  I didn’t mind though.  We put our plates in the sink.  Annabeth proceeded to pull out two coffee mugs, placing them on the counter.  She then pulled out cocoa, olive oil, salt, flour, and sugar.

“What are you making?” I queried, standing next to her.

“Brownie in a mug.  Easier than making a whole brownie and simple enough to make more if we want them.

“What do you put in it?”

“I’ll show you.” She pulled out two measuring cups and two tablespoons. “Okay, do as I do.  So we’re going to put in a fourth a cup of sugar and a fourth a cup of flour.  Next, we put in two tablespoons of cocoa powder and a pinch of salt.  Finally, we put in two tablespoons of olive oil and three tablespoons of water.”  We mixed the ingredients together.  Annabeth put the mugs in the microwave for one minute, forty seconds.  While we waited, I said, “So are we definitely doing that dare with the drinking or no?”

“If you want to.  I’m game for anything.  And since we can’t use any electricity, I can’t think of anything else we can do.”

“I’ll go get the drinks,” I offered.  The alcohol was down in the basement, so it took a couple minutes to get down there safely.  I had a candle in my hand the basement stairs were steep.  I didn’t want to trip and catch the house on fire.  That would be bad.

I grabbed as many bottles as I could carry (which turned out to be over half the stash), and went back upstairs.  Annabeth was eating her brownie.  She glanced up at me before covering her mouth and saying, “Before we get started, I have something for you.”

She disappeared for a few brief moments and came back with a small, wrapped box.  Curious, I opened it up.  Inside lay military dog tags engraved with my full name, my serial number, my next of kin (who she put as Steve Rogers), and an unknown address.

“It’s not like the ones you had during the war, far from it, and I’m pretty sure Steve wasn’t your next of kin on there, but your serial number is correct, and so is the address.  I had to do some digging to find that.  Anyways, I thought it’d be nice for you to have something similar from your old life.  I don’t know, but-”

“I love it,” I said, cutting her off. “This is amazing, honestly.” I threw the dog tags over my head.  Having them lay against my chest gave me a sense of familiarity, like they were meant to be there.

“I’m glad you like it.  I was worried you wouldn’t.”

“I don’t just like it, Annabeth, I love it.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek and stared back down at my dog tags, smiling to myself.

“Here,” she said, handing me a shot glass of what I think was rum. “Here’s to…”

“Here’s to the downfall of Alexander Pierce, the eventual downfall of HYDRA overall, to me getting my memories back, and most importantly, to you for helping make that possible.  Cheers,” I said.  We clinked out glasses together.  I knocked mine back quickly, feeling it burn the back of my throat.  Annabeth started choking on hers after she finished it.

“Oh my god that’s strong,” she remarked, making faces from the taste.

“This is going to be a fun night,” I mused.  She glared at me before pouring more into our glasses.  Two shots turned into twenty.  I wasn’t even feeling tipsy, but Annabeth was.  She was very active while tipsy, along with being extremely hungry.  She made three more “brownies in a mug” before she stopped.  We ended up in the living room.  Annabeth rested her head on the back of the couch.  She kept cracking really bad jokes, so bad that they were actually funny.  Plus she could barely get through them because she was laughing so hard because she found them so funny, therefore I couldn’t help but laugh.  It was contagious.

“Annabeth, thank you doing all this.  The hair cut, the new clothes, the delicious dinner and dessert, the dare that you have won.  Thank you,” I said sincerely.

Her laughter subsided, but it was still etched onto her face and in her eyes. “You’re welcome.”

She seemed surprised by my statement, prompting me to ask, “Have I ever said that to you before?”

“No, why?”

“I’m sorry.  I should’ve said it.”

“Bucky,” she began. “You’ve been a brainwashed assassin for practically the entire time I’ve known you.  You didn’t even know who you were, so I doubt manners were at the top of your priorities list.  Besides, the only time you did talk to me, there was nothing to thank me for.”

“What was the only time I talked to you?”

“A story for another time, one to tell when I’m not tipsy and can actually think straight and get up without falling over.  I think I’m going to head to bed.  I’ll see you in the morning Bucky.” Annabeth stood up, wobbled in place for a moment, and started to walk away.  She stopped though, turned around, and came back to me to kiss me on the cheek.  She turned back around and left.

I continued to sit on the couch.  The power flickered on around ten.  It’d been out for over four hours.  Perks of living in the country I guess.  I decided to go to bed, but it was hard for me to fall asleep.  I kept thinking back to what Annabeth had said about the time I’d talked to her, how it hadn’t been a time for me to thank her.  I wanted to know, and the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.  Finally, I forced my mind to shut up.  I listened to the sounds around me.  It was still raining outside, and slowly but surely, the rainfall pattering against my window put me to sleep.

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This is the longest chapter yet!  Nine pages on Word!  I hope you enjoyed- this was really just a fluff chapter :) More intense stuff is coming next time. And that brownie in a mug recipe is legit! I know, I make it almost everyday (Swiss Miss works best). Review please :)