Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

"Well...because you're my friend," Ann giggled, "I'll help you bake all of those cookies. And it'll only cost you 500 G to use our kitchen for a day!"

Claire merely nodded her head. What am I up to now? 7400 G? There was the 5000 G for the watering can, 1500 G for the broach, 100 G that the ore would have brought her, 300 G for the peppermint, and 500 G for the kitchen usage.

Yup. 7400 G.

"Thanks, Ann. I really appreciate it. Is there anyone you're going to be baking cookies for?" Claire asked her, elbowing her playfully. Sure, she would have to fish like crazy after she visited Mary to tell her just how much she had done for her, she would have to spend a lot of times in the mines the next few days, and she would have to put off the house extension for a while…but it wasn't like she was going to get married anytime soon. The extension, the big bed…it would probably be useless in the long run. Making her friend happy, settling things with Gray, delighting most of the single males of Mineral Town…well, she supposed that was worth it.

Ann's cheeks barely turned pink. It took a lot to make her blush. "Well, actually…" she started, a small smile winding its way onto her lips, "I think I'm going to make some for Cliff. But…I'm not that good of a cook."

"Oh…neither am I…we're going to need to find someone who is good at cooking to help both of us," Claire murmured, drifting off.

Ann grinned. "My dad! He'll be perfect. He won't mind, either, as long as we bake him an extra batch," she giggled.

Claire breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Goddess. This is perfect! Thanks Ann, really. I appreciate it a lot."

"No problem, Claire," the red head replied, swiping at the tables with her wet rag while Claire did the same several tables away. Every time Claire came to visit Ann, in fact, she ended up helping the girl clean. It wasn't that she ever asked- it was just how bored Ann seemed, how wistfully she looked out the windows. The Inn was never quite big enough to hold all of her energy. "So, tell me. What's up with the sudden urge to get everyone cookies?"

"I'm a compassionate person?" Claire suggested, grinning at her friend as she moved to a table closer to her, scrubbing a little harder. Don't ask any more questions. Even I'm starting to wonder why I went through all this just to find out what Gray's favorite cookies are.

Ann straightened up, putting her hands on her hips. "Claire, you threw a book at Gray-," "One time!" "And now you're going to bake him a batch of cookies for Valentine's Day? I mean, it's a little weird."

"I'm just trying to fix things. I want to apologize to Gray. I want to cheer up Cliff. I want to give Rick a present because I'm such good friends with his sister, it's not fair not to be nice to him. I want to give Dr. Trent a gift as thanks for taking care of me when I passed out. I want to thank Carter for all the things he's done for me. I want to give some to Stu because he told me that he's never gotten cookies before last week and he was sort of hinting."

Now those sounded like good reasons, right? Claire hoped they did at least. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that these were perfect reasons. Maybe she should make even more!

She thought of all the money, all the baking, all the work she would have to do to get back to where she was, all the work in the kitchen, all the explaining and running around…it was best to just give them to those few bachelors she had already chosen.

"That's so sweet of you Claire!" Ann exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side. "Here I was just trying to butter Cliff up, and you're doing a really nice thing for all the townies." Townies, Claire chuckled to herself. Ann was always trying to come up with cute little words. "I'm honored that you actually asked me to help," the red head grinned.

Claire laughed, shrugging. "Well, you were the first person I thought of asking to help me. Who else would I ask?" she added on.

"Mary, Popuri, Karen…" Ann suggested teasingly, though her smile was a little forced.

When was the last time I came to see Ann? Claire wondered. Oh yeah, after I got kicked out of the library…I haven't stopped by for two weeks? "I'm sorry I don't come by so often, Ann," the blonde apologized meekly. "I've just been so caught up in other stuff…" Hating Gray, convincing Mary to bend the library rules just for her, harvesting, mining, ranching…it seemed like all the free time she had she used to go to Mary's library, collapse into that chair and drone on about her day. "I'll come by more often though. I promise."

"Oh, it's okay Claire," Ann said, losing her sad look already. "You're a rancher! You have tons of stuff to do all day! I don't blame you. But I appreciate it all the same," she chuckled.

Claire smiled as well and then looked up at the clock, wincing. "Aw, but I have to go now. I'm sorry…I'll come by and see you tomorrow, probably. I've got to run down to the library, I have to tell Mary about something…" Something. Understatement of the year! Claire wanted to scream. She was stuck doing all this stuff just so that she could help her friend get the guy. Get Gray. Get the guy, Gray.

"Alright, sure. Are you okay? You looked sort of…sad all of a sudden…" Ann spoke carefully, stepping forward and setting a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder, giving her that typical big smile she always wore.

The girl grinned in no time. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what came over me. Thanks Ann. See you tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder, already out the door.

Ann smiled, going back to scrubbing the tables.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked, folding her arms as Gray headed towards her farm, looking equally annoyed.

"Don't act like I actually wanted to come here," he spat back at her. "I fixed your watering can, farmgirl." He held it out and they both looked at the withering plants on the ground. "You know, those are going to die."

Claire snatched the watering can. "Thank you, Captain Obvious! I've been trying to water them without my watering can, but…cupping water in my hand and then running over here doesn't work as well as I thought."

"Are there fish in your watering hole?" Gray frowned, watching several of the fish swimming around.

Claire frowned as well. What am I supposed to tell him? She wondered. I can't exactly say those are my pets, or he'll think I'm really weird. "Does it matter?" she asked. "My crops are going to die. I am a terrible farmer. Ugh, why did I even bother trying to come here?" she asked more herself than him as she slowly filled the watering can, trying not to let the fish get in.

"Oh, don't worry," Gray mumbled behind her. "They'll be fine. Just one day of a good watering and they should be back to normal."

The girl stared down at her full watering can for a moment before rising, turning to face him with a, "How do you know that?" He rolled his eyes, but she tacked on, "Not in a mean way. Just, honestly, how do you know that? Where did you learn stuff about farming?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I picked some of it up at the library."

"The library? I haven't gone there yet," Claire made a face. In fact, she didn't even know there was a library.

The blacksmith shrugged again. "It's quiet there. Hardly nobody is ever in there. Empty."

"Sounds…peaceful…" Claire said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I'm sure it'll be so peaceful with you in there," Gray sneered, staring down at the dying crops.

The blonde took this as the end of their normal conversation, retorting, "Oh, and you're so calm and nice? I bet the librarian hates you!"

"Not as much as she's gonna hate you, farmgirl!"

How wrong she had been.

"Oh, Claire," Mary giggled as soon as she had finished the story, having heard all of her misfortune and watched her act it out, too. "You really didn't have to do all that. Oh, I feel terrible. You've had such an awful day. Come on, sit down. I'll go get you something to drink. Thank you Claire. Really. You're such a good friend."

Just like that, Claire was reminded why she had gone through all that. To make my best friend happy, she smiled, taking the seat she was offered. With Gray. She frowned.

"So…does this mean you and Gray aren't going to scream at each other anymore?" Mary inquired carefully, hesitating at the little door that led her back to her house.

Claire thought about it for a moment. "Probably not. But we'll hold off until after Winter 14. Watch him say something awful when I give him his cookies though, about how gross they are or why am I wasting my time," she huffed, mad already, folding her arms. "That sounds just like him."

Mary burst into her tiny giggles again. "You're right, Claire. He probably will. You two just…just aren't meant to be friends, I guess," she shrugged apologetically, heading into her house, closing the door behind her.

Claire stared at the floor, mulling that over. Just aren't meant to be friends. Well, she had never thought that she and Gray were exactly enemies. And sometimes they got along okay, right? The girl sighed, looking at the door, wondering if he would come by again.

In all of these seasons of feuding, she had never thought that they really hated each other.

Author's Note: Hopefully some of you can understand Claire's situation. I've gone through it before- always arguing with someone, but always sort of considering them a friend. Telling them my problems, but still arguing about them. Haha anyways, thanks for the reviews so far. I appreciate it a lot. :) Hopefully you enjoyed this, thanks for reading! (I know I say that at the end of every chapter of every story, but I always mean it. :D)