Piper could not sleep. She felt like she had forgotten something. What was it? She had put all her crystals away, so it couldn't be that. She had washed all the dinner dishes, fixed her helescooter's broken wing, written her brother a letter, and sent her sister a birthday present. Was something happening tomorrow? Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know the date. Piper got out of bed, and walked over to her calendar that was hanging on her door.
The date for today read February 13th. Piper smacked her forehead. Of course! Tomorrow was Valentine's Day, and the team had agreed to get one person a gift. They had drawn names out of a hat, and now she remembered that she had drawn Stork's name. She had bought Stork a Super Deluxe Mind Worm helmet. It was expensive, but maybe that would stop his ranting about minds infesting his brain. All she had to do was make his card.
Piper looked in her desk drawer to find it empty of paper. She sighed. No doubt Finn had gotten the last of her paper to make those ridiculous hats he always wore. Honestly, would he ever grow up?
Piper slipped on her slippers, and padded out into the hall toward the office, where she found a whole block of paper. Bringing it back to her room, she almost tripped several times. It was one in the morning, and extremely dark. When she had almost made it to her door, she bumped into something. It was warm, sturdy, and taller than she. Piper heard an "Oof" as whatever it was, tried to keep its balance.
"Arrow?"
"Piper?"
Piper took Arrow by the hand and took him to her room. She flicked on the light.
Arrow was dressed in gray sweat pants and a white t-shirt. His hair was unruly, like he had just woken up. He looked totally unlike his normal, up kept self.
"What were you doing out there?" he asked.
"I could ask you the same thing. I was getting some paper from the office. I forgot to make my card for tomorrow."
"Oh, I heard something, and came to see what it was. I guess it was you."
"Yeah. Well, see you in the morning." She turned to her desk, but didn't miss a mischievous glint that flashed in her captain's eye.
"Yeah. See you," he said as he walked out her door.
The next morning, Piper walked into the breakfast nook to see everyone waiting with their gifts.
"Finally you're here! I had to wait for every one of you slow pokes! Put your gift on the table, and sit down!" Finn said impatiently.
Piper did as she was told, and slid next to Junko on the bench.
Once everyone was handed their gifts, they started opening. Finn was done before everyone. He received a CD player from Junko.
"Alright! Now I can listen to my guitar single whenever I want!"
No one on the condor allowed him to play it on the community stereo for fear of becoming hearing impaired.
Junko received a gift certificate to his favorite fast food restaurant from Stork.
Radar got a season pass to Terra Banana from Finn.
Arrow received a video game from Radar.
Stork was extremely happy about his helmet. He told Piper that he could now sleep with confidence (or more than he has now).
Piper's gift was in an orange box with a dark blue ribbon wrapped around it. It was a small box, and the card it came with said to unwrap alone. Following the instructions, Piper slipped out of the room and went down the hall to her room. Sitting on her bed, she untied the bow and placed it next to her. Carefully taking off the lid to the box, Piper tried to guess what was in it. Some kind of crystal, Piper guessed. She was only half right. The two crystals in the box were part of a dangle earring set that matched her necklace. Piper knew right away who they were from. She remembered Arrow mentioning to her how pretty she would look with earrings that matched her necklace. She had thought he was joking at the time.
Putting the earrings on as she walked, Piper made the short trip to Arrow's room. She knocked on the door and marched in without waiting for him to answer the door. He was sitting on his bed playing his video game. He grinned at her as she came in. Before he could even pause his game, Piper leaned down, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Realizing what she had done, Piper blushed.
Arrow just looked at her, not even a little surprised at what she had done.
"I was right. They do look beautiful on you." And with that, he grabbed her arm, pulled her down a bit, and kissed her. When he was done, he let her go, and resumed playing his video game.
Piper walked back to her room and thought. She decided it was just a fluke.
Maybe she was right…