Wirt awoke to a painful flick upon the tip of his nose, causing him to wince and grumble as he turned over onto his side. "Wake up, bum. You came here for a reason, right? So there's no point in sleeping all day." The familiar tone of Beatrice's teasing voice transformed Wirt's wincing into a peaceful, contented smile as he blinked his eyes open.

"So, uh, did you think of something to do?" he muttered halfheartedly, struggling to escape slumber's grasp.

"I guess," Beatrice responded with a sigh, folding her hands together.

"You guess?" Wirt repeated as he reluctantly pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"I don't think it will end up being anywhere near as exciting as what we did together the last time you were here, but how does a pond sound?"

"…A pond?" Wirt questioned, staring blankly in her direction as his eyes adjusted to the morning light.

"Ugh," Beatrice groaned, "it'll be a lot more fun than it sounds. It's a big pond and… and, yeah, it was a dumb idea."

"No, it's not dumb," Wirt assured her. "I was just curious about what we're going to do there."

"It's a big pond, like I said. It'll sort of be like going to a lake. I figured since you still need to catch up on your rest, something more relaxing was appropriate…" She paused to let out a sigh. "Oh, who am I kidding, certainly not myself or you, right? It was the only thing I could think of, okay?"

"Beatrice, it's fine, and it does sound like fun. We can swim, sit around and relax… or whatever else you do at a pond."

"I feel like after what we went through the last time you were here, your expectations are pretty high up there, and I don't want to disappoint… but to be honest, this place is pretty boring on your average day," she admitted, shaking her head softly.

"I'm sure I'll enjoy it. After all, the two of us always end up making things fun."

"That is true," Beatrice said, giving the boy a rather relieved smile. "After breakfast, I'll have my mom pack as some food for lunch so we can spend the day there. I'm also assuming you didn't bring any kind of swimwear… or any clothes for that matter? So you can use my dad's; the two of you are about the same size."

"It sounds like you've been working hard to plan this out," Wirt commented with a sly smile, expecting her to grow embarrassed.

Beatrice crossed her arms, a devilish smirk upon her lips. "Well, I was waiting for a certain someone to wake up. I had plenty of time to do nothing. I planned out of boredom, plain and simple."

"Uh… sorry I kept you waiting?" Wirt muttered as he extended his arms outward, stretching his back.

"You never fail to disappoint me," she replied, giving him a teasing wink. "Anyways, enough chit chat, we have things to do."

"Be careful, you two," Beatrice's mother said as she handed her daughter a small, woven picnic basket.

"After what we've been through together, I think we can handle just about anything that comes across our path, mom," Beatrice said with a smile, turning to Wirt. Adorned in her father's one piece bathing suit which was decorated with white and red stripes, Wirt was busy struggling to push one of the last of its buttons through its accompanying slit. "Unless what we encounter has buttons," Beatrice said with a sigh as she set the basket down and aided him.

Her mother chuckled as she finished. "Still be careful," she then said as she gave her daughter a kiss upon the forehead and waved goodbye to her friend.

The two made their way down a small trail through the forest, defined by the dew covered underbrush which had been lain over upon it, a canine rather busy with sniffing following close behind. The day had already grown warm and not even the gentlest of breezes made its way through the woods. Left by the stillness, a thin layer of warm, steamy mist hung in the air as the dew began to evaporate. Most of Wirt's concentration was upon his feet, the interior of his shoes rubbing awkwardly against the skin of his sockless feet. Along with that, there was Beatrice. The swimwear which she adorned seemed much more like a dress than an article of clothing meant for the water. He could not quite put a finger on it, but something about the expression upon her face seemed to display worry. He was unsure of exactly why she would feel such a way.

It was not long before the reflective surface of water could be seen, glimmering through a thin layer of cattails and an assortment of other rushes. Beatrice pointed to a small, ancient but sturdy dock extended out over the dark, still water. Setting the basket of food aside, the two rested their backsides upon the dock's end. The wood beneath them had already grown warm from the intense rays of sun beating down upon it. Sliding his shoes from his feet and dangling his legs over the edge, Wirt gasped as his toes were engulfed by the cool water beneath.

Beatrice let out a laugh as a noticeable shiver ran up his spine and spread throughout his body. Wirt smiled as she did the same with a rather similar outcome. "The water's pretty cold," he said, moving his legs gently back and forth, letting the cool liquid push between his toes.

"It's not too bad, is it?" Beatrice asked.

"I guess not, but maybe it's still a bit too early for swimming in."

"Hmph, don't tell me you're not getting in. I had everything planned out and you're going to go and ruin it," she teased.

"Come on, Beatrice, it's cold. I'm sure we can find other things to do here besides just swimming, right?"

The girl sighed in response. "Yeah… but swimming is one of the main reasons we came here. Is there any point in being here if we're not going to swim? Yeah, that's right, I didn't think so," she said with a huff. Wirt opened his mouth to respond but before even the slightest syllable was able to escape his mouth, he felt a harsh push upon his back and was quickly surrounded by frigid cold.

His head burst from the water's surface with a gasp, the cool liquid pouring down over his face from his soaked head of hair. His entire body shook from both surprise and change in temperature, causing him to stutter as he spoke. "Gah! B-beatrice! W-why…? It's f-freezing…"

"Oh, shush, you baby," Beatrice teased. "It's not like I won't be getting in too. With a soft push, Beatrice gently descended into the water, barely making a splash. The air in her lungs was immediately expelled as the chill of the water overtook her. "W-well, you weren't lying," she managed to mutter after inhaling a small amount of air.

"It's not so bad, I guess," Wirt replied as his body finally began adjusting to the extreme change in temperature.

"Yeah… but I don't think we'll be staying in here too long."

Wirt shook his head in agreement. "Nope, not long at all."

"We at least need to enjoy ourselves while we are in here though, so…" with a smile Beatrice slapped her hand into the water, sending a wave of it in Wirt's direction. He shook himself as the water smacked into his face. He then sputtered the remnants from his mouth as he laughed.

"Ah, you want to play that game, huh?" he asked before splashing her back.

Beatrice huffed playfully as water trailed down her face in the aftermath. "How dare you, Wirt?" she hollered as she lunged forward, latching onto his waist.

"Ah!" he yelped as he laughed, splash after splash of water crashing upon his face as she craned his head closer to her free hand.

"You see, the thing about me is that I always win. It may take a while… and I may make some pretty dumb mistakes along the way… or those mistakes might get me into that kind of situation in the first place, but the outcome is always in my favor. I'd recommend giving up now," she explained as she continued her water logging of the seemingly defenseless boy. The next splash was halted as Wirt grasped his hand tightly around her wrist and then dove forward. Beatrice fell backwards into the water with Wirt on top of her.

Wirt came up for air with a laugh. "Are you sure about that?" All was silent, and he blinked his eyes open to discover Beatrice standing before him upon the soft clay like substance beneath them, her hands covering her face. "…Beatrice, are you alright?" She responded by coughing up a small amount of water and groaning. "Beatrice?" he asked again as he drew closer. Suddenly, both of her hands flung from her face and down into the water, sending off the largest wave of water she had created thus far. Wirt gasped in surprise, causing her to giggle.

"You know I'm tougher than I look, Wirt. I can't believe you actually fell for that one."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied in defeat, looking away sheepishly.

"It's getting cold. Ready to get out?" she then asked. Wirt trembled at the mention and nodded his head. Beatrice retrieved a towel for both of them as they climbed back up onto the dock's edge, water dripping from their soaked bodies and darkening the wood on which they stood.

With their arms wrapped around their knees, they shuddered slightly as their bodies slowly warmed in the intense rays of sun beaming down upon them. Wirt froze as he felt the soft, damp touch upon his back as Beatrice slid her arm beneath his towel. "Uh… what are you doing?" he muttered awkwardly as she grabbed the opposite side of his slender waist and pulled herself closer.

"I'm cold. Keep me warm, fool," Beatrice replied, resting her head upon his shoulder and nudging her body up against his own.

"A-alright," Wirt mumbled as he felt the water from her damp locks trickling down his shoulder and arm. He gently slid his hand across her back feeling the boney ridges of her spine beneath her swimming apparel before gingerly wrapping his way around her waist.

"Much better," Beatrice cooed in response, rubbing her smooth cheek upon bare shoulder. Wirt could feel his heart pushing at his chest with each beat, and was sure that she could feel it as well. His cheeks grew red in embarrassment, even though she seemed to mention nothing of it. "I almost forgot how much I enjoy spending time with you."

"You enjoy spending time with me?" Wirt asked in a teasing manner to aid in lightening the toll which was being taken upon his nerves. "I don't think you would've said that the first couple of days we spent together."

"Yep, you're right," she said with a nod, dragging her cheek across his shoulder once more. "I thought you were a boring, slightly annoying, self-centered pushover, but there's a lot more to you, isn't there?"

"I guess so," he said with a shrug.

"It just took a while to see that… and then, well… remember that time we got trapped in the armoire together?"

"Yeah, it was the first time we really spent any quality time together."

"Well, the thought of being stuck with you really worried me."

"Oh, I know. I could tell by all of the screaming at first."

Beatrice laughed in remembrance. "But when we finally got out of there, I actually started to wish we could've been stuck a little longer. I think that may have been the moment that I first experienced the real you, and I really liked it."

"Well, guess what?" Wirt asked with a smirk.

"What?"

"For a while there, I thought your most noticeable trait was your annoyingness." Beatrice immediately pulled away from his shoulder and huffed in his direction as she rolled her eyes. "But then I got to see more of you too. I learned a bit more about you and got to experience the nicer, softer side of your personality. Most all of that happened in that armoire too."

"So I guess it was actually a good thing that we got locked in their together," Beatrice said with a smile before she rested against him once more. Although her hair and dress of a bathing suit were still damp, her skin had dried from the combination of his body heat, her towel, and the sun above.

"Yeah… it was," Wirt said with a sigh as he looked out over the dark water in the pond. A cloud of busy insects created small ripples upon its surface and a few frogs floated about on moss and lily pads hoping to catch some for themselves.

"I'm glad you're back, Wirt."

"Me too."

"Let's eat," Beatrice said as her eyes found their way to the picnic basket which had been left out in the heat. Wirt nodded his head softly as she pulled away. Even though his body temperature had increased considerably since they first emerged from the pond, a slight chill overtook him without the added warmth of the girl's body.

The two grew rather silent as they ate their meal of soft, slightly melted cheese and bread. It was not an awkward silence though. The two had grown more content in one another's presence than they ever had been before. Simply being next to one another was enough to keep them happy.

"No, don't eat that!" Beatrice yelped, breaking the silence. Wirt turned to see her dog about to grasp a small black turtle in its maw. He halted what he was doing all together and returned to her, tail wagging furiously. "Mind if I give the rest of the food to him?" she asked. "I really don't need him eating those turtles right now. It never turns out good."

"Go for it," Wirt said with a shrug.