I'm playing with Ritzy O'Brien's brianchild again... Got a couple of half finished ideas more for this, if you want, you can send me a prompt and I'll try to write a drabble on it. Thanks everyone who reviewed or alerted this, I'm terribly humbled by your interest :)

Morning

The more often Columbia spent the night at – what she called jokingly 'The Frankenstein Place' – the more she realized that her and Frank's morning rituals were vastly different. While she was a true night owl and could hardly wake up in the mornings, he turned out to be an insomniac. His restless mind never stopped running at the speed of light, driven by his scientific hunger and curiosity for the strangest subjects. His boundless energy was addicting, often keeping him up all night -not that Columbia minded- … or driving him out of bed in the middle of the night -which she minded very much- pottering around noisily in his laboratory.

She soon discovered that RiffRaff and Frank were always awake and already working for hours before she even stumbled out of bed. When she padded groggily into the kitchen in search for morning caffeine fix, it was usually only Magenta who joined her there for a cup and a cigarette. Riffraff hated coffee much like he seemed to hate anything else, and Frank stayed far away from it, because it made him hyper and jumpy.

One morning Columbia was lying in bed, slowly realizing that she woke up feeling cold, the warm body next her missing in the huge bed. She stretched an arm out to make skin contact again, but found only a pillow smelling faintly of his shampoo. Fighting sleep, she opened her eyes, looking for him… it was still night, or the very early morning, and her body protested, wanting to turn around and go back to sleep. But she spotted him, standing naked by the window, looking out. In the early morning light he looked pale, his usual make up mostly worn off, making him look … normal and disturbingly innocent. Outside, the dark night sky lit up in blues, purples and shades of pink. His face, unguarded for once, showed pure awe, absolute fascination and childlike joy.

Columbia took the dark silk bedcover and walked silently over to his still form, hugging him close and wrapping them both in the blanket. He didn't move or acknowledge her, his face closing off at their contact. She kissed his chest above his heart, mumbled to him to come back to bed, but he detangled himself from her embrace and grabbed her shoulders to resolutely turn her towards the window.

"Watch this." She did as he said, no, as he … ordered her to do. "This is the most beautiful thing ever."

Surprisingly, that gave her a sting. Frank didn't exactly treat her as if he took her for granted… but he wasn't big in the compliment department either. She wanted to be the most beautiful thing for him… wanted to hear those words in that adoring tone he had used. More often than before now, there was a distance between them that she couldn't understand. He could be so interested or sweet or well… horny… one minute and the next she felt like she was losing the emotional connection to him, the gap between them widening, his reactions so shockingly different and unpredictable as if he came from another planet. Lost in thought, she looked out, watching the stars vanishing in the blue morning light.

He sensed the change in her mood and closed his arms around her, hugged her back to his chest, his chin resting on her head.

He continued, softer this time "Watch this Columbia. This makes it worth everything. This is earth's greatest wonder…."

And there was her Frankie again, so different from others, with his strange way of seeing things, his weird, crooked view of the world around them. Even if she didn't always understand him, in those valued moments, when he was quiet and thoughtful, she felt like she was the only one who had access to him. She leaned against him, feeling safe once more in his arms. Whatever the future would bring, she could deal with, as long as she had him.