Moments Unforgettable

That may be all I need,
In darkness she is all I see,
Come and rest your bones with me,
Driving slow on Sunday morning,
And I never want to leave

Sunday Mornings – Maroon 5

Jack was awoken at half past six in the morning by a sharp knock on the door. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he wondered who would be at his door this early on a rainy Sunday morning. He was expecting Thomas, or perhaps one of the Harvest Sprites to come and deliver something or ask him something. There was a small possibility that he'd forgotten that it was a day before a festival and Rick or Popuri or Vesta was at the door reminding him. The last person he expected to see was Nami, hair plastered down and goosebumps on her arms.

'Hey...', she greeted him in a tone of voice that suggested she was imagining her nice warm bed. 'Ruby wants to give you this as a thank you for all the eggs and fish you've given us'. Jack hastily ushered her into the farmhouse and took the small jar Nami was offering him. The jar had a delicate, exotic-looking design on it, and was filled with brown powder.

'It's Ruby's Special Spice.' Nami explained, wiping raindrops off her face. 'If you put it in food it gives you a huge energy boost. Just don't ask me how she makes it, because I have absolutely no idea.'

Jack just smiled at her and placed the pot on his shelf, which looked extremely regal right in the middle, surrounded by a collection of bedraggled-looking flowers with some small chunks of mystrile and a bouncy ball dented with bite marks. He then took a bottle of milk out of the fridge and poured it into a saucepan.

'Doesn't the rain sound nice?' he remarked, gazing out of the window where enormous raindrops were plunking onto the path, making splashes that made it look like they were being shot down from the heavens like bullets.

'Nice if you enjoy the prospect of getting freezing cold and soaking wet, then spending the next day inside with a cold.' replied Nami, shivering in the chair she was sitting in.

'Well, who said you had to go out in it?' Nami laughed slightly.

'Ruby did. Not that I mind coming to see you, of course, it's just that I'd rather do it tomorrow when it's sunny.' Jack handed her a mug of hot, fresh milk which she gratefully wrapped her hands round, breathing in the steam.

'Well, I find that part of the fun of rain is getting dry after you've got yourself wet.'

'What, you mean the part when you feel all shivery and feverish?'

'Yeah! Well, I don't normally feel feverish, but shivering's fine. It only makes it feel better when you get all nice and warm again. Maybe you're just getting dry in the wrong places.'

'Well, it's not like I'm getting dry in a swamp or anything. It's just that watching the rain outside is depressing.'

Jack raised an eyebrow, a trick that he was glad he perfected. It came in very handy in these effortless conversations with Nami. 'You'd probably like the place I go when it's rainy then.'

It took a lot of effort to convince Nami to go outside and he practically had to drag her across the field by the hand since she struggled relentlessly like a cat, but he managed to get her to the barn in the end. It was probably his favourite place in the entire valley, especially when it rained. It was always warm and dry and it smelt like milk and hay. He'd put all his animals in the barn, simply because they felt like family to him as he curled up in the warmth. They were greeted by the surprised clucking of chickens, and the happy barking of his dog. Nami simply grinned from ear to ear, the kind of smile she only usually gave if she was shocked into sheer delight.

'I can't believe I've never been to your farm before. No wonder you don't mind the rain.' She bent down to stroke the cat that had come to inspect the stranger by twining round her legs, purring.

'She seems to like you,' commented Jack, throwing bundles of fodder onto two of the feeding areas and patting his cow, then lowering himself down onto one of the empty feeding areas like it was a seat. Nami followed his lead and sat down on the other empty feeding area, opposite the one that Jack was on.

'So, do you hate all rain?' he asked for seemingly no reason at all. 'Surely you don't mind summer rain?'

She tilted her head against the makeshift seat in thought, and it suddenly occurred to Jack how cute she looked when she was thinking.

'Hmm... I don't actually mind summer rain. It makes a nice break from all that unbearable heat.' Jack suppressed a snicker at her constant negative outlook on life. He was pretty sure that she didn't hate things half as much as she made out she did.

'And spring rain?' She tilted her head again, and Jack had to fight down the urge to kiss her.

'It's okay, I guess... It's still cold but at least you don't get the icy winds and soggy leaves, ugh.'

'Spring rain reminds me of you,' Jack told her with a perfectly straight face, and then burst out laughing at her expression of horror. 'Cold, annoying...' he continued, chuckling. 'No, only kidding. It always reminds me of the time we started being friends. It was on that rainy Tuesday, about a week after I moved in.'

'Yeah, you were ringing the bell and ruining my life. As usual.'

'What,' he teased, 'I'm always ruining your life or ringing the bell?'

'Neither, actually.' she replied, and this time it was she who had the perfectly straight face. 'Actually, you've made my life... really nice. If it wasn't for you, I'd have left the valley by now.'

He smiled back at her, and, getting up in one swift movement, reached out a hand which she accepted and somehow never let go of.

'You've made my life really nice as well,' replied Jack, and then they kissed in the doorway to the lullaby of rain.

'Did Jack like the spice?', Ruby asked when she got back home. Nami turned her face to hide the inevitable blush before she replied.

'Yeah... I think he did.'

And she looked out at the slate-grey skies and sheets of freezing rain, and she smiled.

'I like it too.'

A/N: I find it highly ironic that I tend to shun any fanfics containing OCs and yet this is one of my favourite pairings ever.