Knock knock.

Not for the first time, Nat was alone in the house. For the last week, it had just been her and Piper.

She shouted through the metal door, "Who is it?"

"It's me."

"Who's me?"

"Nat, it's Allen. Open the door."

Nat opened the door, but didn't let him through it.

"So you're the guy she's always traveling with," she commented, partly hiding behind the door.

"Yeah, that's me," Allen peered into the house, "Is Piper here?"

"No," Nat turned away, leaving the door open, "She'll be back soon enough, you can wait here if you want."

For a moment, Allen just stood awkwardly before following Nat and closing the door behind him.

Nat went back to the couch and her comics while Allen stood there, not doing anything.

"Mind If I use your table?" he asked, pointing at toward the dining room.

"Knock yourself out." Nat flicked her hand in the table's general direction.

They were quiet, all the way from Allen laying a towel out over the table, until he started disassembling his rifle.

"So you're 'Blue,'" Nat said, appearing across the table and breaking Allen out of his concentration.

"That's me," he said, scrubbing one of the parts of his rifle with a small cloth.

"You don't look like much." Nat tilted her head at the man, "From the way Piper talks about you, I expected something...more."

"I live to disappoint."

"She does talk about you a lot."

"Sure she does," Allen said, clearly more focused on the parts of his rifle than Nat.

"She even says your name in her sleep."

At this Allen stared pointedly at Nat, an amused look coloring his eyes.

He dismissed the idea with a light chuckle.

"No, she doesn't."

"No, she doesn't," Nat confirmed, "How'd you know?"

"You're her sister," Allen started reassembling the gun, "I can't believe a word out your mouth."

"Do you have any sisters?" she asked, crossing her arms on the table.

"Nope," he popped a few more pieces into place, "Had a few friends I thought of as brothers, but I was an only child."

Nat opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by the door opening.

"Nat, I'm ho-" Piper started before noticing her guest.

"Blue!" Her eyebrows raised, "I wasn't expecting you for a while."

"You're friend's no fun," complained Nat to Piper.

Piper rolled her eyes at the little one. She looked at Allen.

"What did you do?"

"Apparently, I'm not very gullible." He shrugged with a poker face that was almost perfect

"Oh God," Piper pressed a hand to her forehead, "What did she tell you?"

"For the sake of our dignity, let's shorten to 'you sleep-talk'."

People less adept wouldn't have noticed how hard Allen had to try to conceal his laughter.

"Alright, that's it." Piper made shoing motions at Nat, "Go play somewhere else, the adults need to talk."

"I'll bet you do." Nat mumbled, making her way out the door.

Allen smacked his magazine into his rifle.

"She always like that?"

"She's going through a phase," Piper admitted, "Seriously though, what brings you here?"

"I was in the neighborhood," Allen stood up and shrugged. "Boss has me checking the dead drops, thought I'd drop by and say hello."

"That's nice of you."

"I have my moments, few and far between though they may be." Allen slung his rifle over his back and made for the door.

"Leaving already?" Piper asked, tilting her head at him.

"There's a moderate chance I'm still on shit detail," he admitted, pulling his bandana on. "I'd rather not stay on it 'cause I was late."

"Okay," Piper allowed, but quickly held her hands up, stopping him in place. "Wait right there, don't move." Piper rushed upstairs.

"What am I waiting for?"

"Just hold on," Piper insisted, already on her way downstairs, a small package in her hand.

"Happy birthday."

She held out the Package for Allen.

"Thank you," a warm look Piper recognised spread over his eyes, "Do you want me to open this now or later?"

"Now, please," she requested.

Allen pulled the packaging off slowly and methodically, careful not to tear the paper, revealing a classic, paisley-print blue bandana.

In response, all Allen did was shoot Piper a confused look, holding the bandana out at eye level.

"I know you, well, you told me the story of Prague," she started to explain, "You told me about the lessons you learned and, well, I don't want to take that away from you, but…"

Allen was trying to pay attention, he really was, but she was cute when she was stumbling over her words.

"But I was hoping this could mean something else," Piper finally summed up.

"What would you want it to mean?"

"That you don't have to be that man anymore," she said, finding her confidence, "You're a good man, Blue, no matter who you used to be. I was hoping that you'd remember that, in the end, you're a good man and my best friend."

"Thank you, Piper." A familiar look crossed Allen's eyes and he reached for the ties of his bandana. "Truly."

"You don't have to wear it now," she said.

"I know, But what the hell," Allen assured her, as if that explained everything.

Piper thought she knew what expression Allen would be wearing under the bandana, she really did.

She knew those eyes well enough by now, knew when he was smiling, knew when he was angry, even knew when he was hiding something. But on balance, he'd spent more time with that bandana on than off, so while she knew every crinkle of his eyes and forehead, the rest stayed mostly hidden.

So when he pulled off that bandana and she got to see the grin that accompanied those eyes, it was new, but more than that, it changed the old. Because these were her favorite eyes, they were the eyes of the fresh smell of power noodles, of a favorite song on the radio, of seeing her safe after a firefight, of returning to Old North Church.

She suddenly realized how often her Blue actually smiled, how many things he actually liked, maybe even loved. She suddenly realized a lot of things, because in the amount of time it took Allen to take off his old bandana, and tie on the new one, she suddenly realized that she had fallen in love with this old world relic.

Damn it.

"Well I should be heading back," Allen said, pulling Piper out of her epiphany, "Wanna come?"

"I'm good," she mumbled, barely more than a whisper, "thanks."

"Well alright then." Allen made for the door, giving Piper an affectionate clasp on the shoulder. "See you around."

"See you 'round," she mumbled again, likely having gone unheard, given Allen was already out the door.

"Fuck," she said to the empty room.