Awkward. That was the best word to describe Saturdays. Abby had come to hate the day and often selfishly wished for an anomaly alert just to interrupt it. Not that she wanted anyone to get hurt, just a small easy one with no incursions in an out-of-the-way area without any witnesses would do.

It had all started when Connor had moved into her flat. She'd been living on her own for so long, and it was just weird now having him around. He'd promised her that he'd be gone in a week, but so far it'd been three. Three long, awkward Saturdays had gone by as she wandered around the flat not sure if she should just ignore him and get on with her own life, like she wanted to do, or attempt to entertain him like a proper host should when they had a house guest.

And every single one of those long, awkward Saturdays was followed by an equally long and awkward Sunday.

Normally in the evenings she'd curl up on her sofa with a good book or watch a movie, but she felt rude doing that when Connor had turned the sofa into a bed for himself. Besides, what if he didn't like her choice of movies? Would it be rude to watch them anyway? Would it be even more awkward to watch them? What if a love scene came on? Connor wasn't exactly subtle in his advances toward her and she felt she barely knew him. Watching romantic movies with him was probably not going to help the situation, but why should she have to watch sci-fi in her own home just to please him?

She sighed. The day felt long already and it was only… she checked the clock… six a.m.? This was not a good start. At least it was early enough that she should be able to get up and make herself some breakfast before he got up. She was never quite sure if she should be offering him some or letting him fend for himself as far as the meals went. She tended to alternate between the two. When she did let him cook for himself, the meals he made looked and smelled surprisingly tasty. So far he'd never returned the favour by offering her anything, which annoyed the hell out of her since he was using her groceries.

She let out a yawn as she climbed out of bed. A loud crash in the kitchen downstairs made her groan. He was already up; if she wanted breakfast she was going to be tripping over him and waiting for him to finish up with the frying pan so she could use it. Maybe she'd go out for breakfast and then go for a walk. A long walk. Until lunch time, and then she'd, what? Go out for lunch and walk until dinner time? That wasn't right. Why should she have to be out all day so that Connor could hang around the house? If anyone was to be displaced it should be him, but he'd never leave.

Grumbling to herself she grabbed her clothing and locked herself in the bathroom. At least she beat him to that this time. Last week he'd taken an hour long bath before she even had a chance to shower. She hadn't said anything at the time because she was trying to play the role of a good hostess but Connor had definitely outstayed his welcome by now. She decided not to feel guilty is she used up all the hot water.

Half an hour later she had showed and was trying to tidy up the kitchen enough to start making her own breakfast when the doorbell rang and Connor hopped off the couch calling to her, "That'll be Duncan! Hope you don't mind, but I invited him round for an afternoon of video games!"

Abby was furious as stepped out of the kitchen ready to tell him that he and Duncan could go out for the day but she was absolutely not having another house guest here all day, but before she could Connor continued quieter, "He's been getting so lonely since Tom died last week, you know? I'm worried he's getting a bit depressed on his own all the time."

Abby sighed, she couldn't bloody well say no to that now could she? But an idea occurred to her and she did ask him, "Well you need a place to stay, why don't you move into his place?"

Connor shook his head, "Nah, would feel too weird living in Tom's room. Besides Abby, Duncan doesn't wanna stay there now either after what happened. He's moving into a tiny place of his own next week, wouldn't be room."

Abby decided that she would not be reduced to hiding in her room all day or heading out either. If Connor and Duncan wanted to play video games that was fine, but she was gonna sit on her window seat and try to ignore them while she finished her book.

Mostly Connor and Duncan ignored her too as they argued over who got to be player one and cheered each other on in the boss battles. But at one point Duncan made a comment that caught her ear. "This place is swell, Connor," he said. "I don't blame you for turning down the sofa bed at our place to live here instead!"

Abby's head whipped up and she glared at Connor who had glanced at her to see if she'd heard. Her expression told him that he was definitely in trouble this time.

"They offered you a place?!" Abby yelled at him, the moment he shut the door behind Duncan that evening. She'd been fuming about it all day but for Duncan's sake had refrained from saying anything until now. "I took you in because you said you had nowhere to go, but all along you had another offer?!"

Connor muttered something under his breath that she didn't quite hear, but she ignored him and continued. "All this time I've been picking up after you, tip-toeing around you, watching you help yourself to my groceries to make gourmet meals that you never once offer to share, watching your movies, going to bed early so I don't make too much noise that I might disturb you, waiting ages for you to get out of the bathroom, and feeling bloody well uncomfortable in my own flat, just because I thought that you had nowhere to stay, and you could have been elsewhere?! What else have you been dishonest about, Con? Did you even really have trouble with your old flat or you just wanted to mooch of me for free instead of paying rent?"

Connor had been silently staring at his feet while she yelled at him, but he looked up at that. "Well I did have trouble with my old flat Abby, because I lost me front door key in the anomaly in the Forest of Dean, didn't I? And I couldn't get in, and since me landlords had already changed the locks for me eight times when I lost keys other ways they said I was more hassle than it was worth and kicked me out. And I had some pretty good reasons that I wanted to stay with you instead of Tom and Duncan."

"Like what?" Abby challenged.

"Well first of all, I didn't like their place. It was a right mess, there was no proper kitchen, only a bar. Your place is well nice, but that's not even the main things, Abby. Second reason is because how was I supposed to keep everything hush hush from Tom and Duncan when they see me running out to work at all hours? Look how much they found out from following me when I didn't live with them. I didn't want to drag them into this anymore than I already had. Unfortunately that didn't work out so well but I didn't know that at the time, did I? And lastly, well I just wanted to live with you, cuz you're the most incredible, beautiful, and coolest person I ever met and I really, really, like you, don't I?"

Abby shut her eyes for a moment, trying to convince herself that he was just saying those last things to butter her up, but she was a pretty good judge of character and she knew he was being sincere. Truthfully, it was one of the nicest things anyone had said to her, ever.

"Hell, Connor, why are you so hard to stay angry at?" she complained.

He grinned at her, "Does that mean I can stay?"

"What?! Permanently?!"

He nodded, his eyes pleading, and she wondered how much she would regret caving in by next Saturday but somehow, for some unfathomable reason, she couldn't quite say no to him and she nodded. "Fine, but there has to be some changes, Connor. The living room isn't your private bedroom; I can't feel like I can't hang out down here in case you are sleeping or something. We'll move my stuff into the spare room downstairs since I want the privacy of the door, and turn the loft into your room upstairs. And by we, I mean both of us, I expect you to help a lot with the rearranging. And, you're going to start paying rent, I'm not having you mooch off my groceries and hot water for nothing. You'll also be responsible for helping out with the animals, and we'll take turns cooking and picking the movies we watch when we're both home."

"Agreed!" Connor replied eagerly, stealing himself a quick peck on her cheek.