The next morning Thomas woke up and felt something small against his body. He looked down and saw Stephanie was sound asleep with her arm linked with his. It made him blush. She looked so calm when she was asleep. Her hair was a bit of a mess but he didn't care, she still looked beautiful.

He sat there watching her for what felt like hours. He counted her freckles, watched the way her eyes fluttered when she dreamed, and most importantly how she fell asleep by him, a monster of a man.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she looked up at the so called monster of a man.

"Good morning Thomas, sleep well?" she asked with a half asleep grin. He nodded yes with a slight blush. She was so cute when she first woke up.

"Good, I'm glad. What time is it?" Thomas just shrugged in response. She looked around for a clock, small arms still laced with Thomas's large one. This was the most human contact he had in a while.

"Its nearly noon, we slept through breakfast," Stephanie exclaimed.

"That you did. Say Thomas how was she?" Charlie asked with a grin as he walked into the room. Thomas glared at his brother and subconsciously placed a hand on Stephanie's leg. He wasn't going to let his brother near her, he could have anyone else, but not her.

"We just read a book Charlie, must've fallen asleep reading. Not the first time its happened, sorry we took up the living room." Stephanie patted Thomas's hand as she spoke causing him to blush furiously under the mask.

Thomas stood up and walked out of the room making sure to glare at Charlie on the way out. Stephanie politely excused herself and went upstairs to change into some more covering and appropriate clothes.

Stephanie had packed her favourite sundress and figured laundry day was the day to wear it. The dress was yellow with light blue flowers adorning the bust. She had loved the dress, her favourite after her prom dress.

The day was mostly filled with laundry and chatting with Luda Mae and her sister Henrietta over some iced tea. Thomas spent most of the day down in the basement once again and Charlie unfortunately spent most of the day there too.

"I've seen you getting close with my boy Stephanie," Luda Mae started "Its nice he finally has a friend."

"You two would be cute together," Henrietta said softly.

"Oh its not like that," Stephanie said with a laugh. "He's just really sweet to spend time with."

"I used to say that about my husband. Next thing we knew we were in love. Just you wait Stephanie." Luda Mae had never spoke about her husband with Stephanie before. In fact Stephanie honestly didn't know she had had a husband. "Yes he's long since passed but I still love him like I did when we were young."

"Those two were inseparable," started Henrietta. "You would rarely see one without the other. It was so cute."

That sounded like the romance that Stephanie had always dreamed of. She wanted someone to be by her side and love her for who she is, faults and all.

"That sounds beautiful, I'm sorry he passed," was all Stephanie could think to say. "Excuse but I need to fold my laundry. I'll see you ladies at dinner." She smiled and went to take her laundry out of the dryer.

On the way to the washer she noticed Charlie pull up in a police cruiser. That's odd she thought pulling her nice clothes out of the washer. Charlie walked in carrying what looked to be a police outfit that he threw in the washer. Luckily her clean clothes were already out of there.

"What are you doing sweet cheeks?" he asked with a grin.

"I'm just doing my laundry, please excuse me I have to go hang these outside." Stephanie walked past Charlie and right into Thomas.

"Hi Thomas, sorry about that. You okay?" He nodded slowly. Thomas pointed at her, more precisely her dress.

"Oh my dress? Do you like it?" she asked giving him a little twirl. He nodded again.

"Well I need to go hang laundry I'll be back later. Maybe we can read more," she said with a smile before going on her merry way to the clothesline.