Three days and four hours — Lelouch had been staying in C.C.'s abode that long already. She knew that Suzaku wouldn't be back any time soon, and that Arthur would keep on eyeing her and Lelouch every time they were alone in her room. Though the cat couldn't possibly imply something with the glances it would give the two, C.C. never felt at ease when those feline orbs would blink at her, especially when she was talking about sending Lelouch back to Firmus.

The emeral-haired bookworm tried to ignore the feline for a few moments whenever her conversation with Lelouch gets deep. However, times still come when the cat would purr and sit on her lap amid the exchange, and she would be forced to excuse herself and hold up the fun conversation just to feed Suzaku's cat, or to place it on its cat bed. Spoiled, spoiled kitty — she would murmur to herself, and Arthur would just mewl back to her.

After Gino suggested her to uncover the meaning behind the magic spells mentioned several times in the book, the three — C.C., Gino and Lelouch — agreed to conduct a research about Firmus and its late author Zero, in order to find clues on Lelouch's sudden appearance in the real world. They also informed the blond knockout, Milly Ashford, about the plans they had in mind. Luckily, she also expressed her support for their research, promising to do her own study, too. So after that day, C.C. invited Lelouch to her father's reading room to find a decent book that might help them regarding the languages. Then, they proceeded to the city library whilst wrapped in thick layers. That day was basically a day of amusement for Lelouch since he had never seen many people and never had been in a bus before. Though admittedly, C.C. enjoyed the joyous expression Lelouch was making, she still kept in mind that they were out of her house on purpose—and that purpose was not to introduce a heap of new things to the raven prince. Every after a day of research, the two would sit in her room to sum up what they had found—while dealing with Arthur's interruptions, of course.

On the third day, though, the two remained indoors after a blizzard decided to turn the weather upside down so just to get C.C. and Lelouch spend more time with each other...and with Arthur. Today was colder than usual, and though C.C. was dressed in layers, she still felt cold. She also slept longer than usual because it was a gloomy day, the sky never cleared up. The snowfall was still ceaseless outside when she peered behind the drapes earlier, and so the girl decided to go back to bed. When she woke up the second time, Lelouch and V.V. were gone in her room and the place where they slept was tidied up.

Her father had not left home today. Due to the weather advisories, her father decided to stay with his kids to watch over them and keep them safe from the weather. He trusted C.C. enough to look over V.V., but then again it wouldn't hurt to look over his children once in a while. Maybe it was the nature's way of telling him that it was about time to stay put in his home once in a while and do his parental responsibilities.

And so, C.C.'s father stayed at home – and in fact, he was having fun with Lelouch in the kitchen. V.V. was just slumped over the counter, his elbows folded over the counter and his face on his palms. The blond brat had a huge scowl plastered on his face, and none of his nonverbal gestures assured his father that he was having fun being left out there.

"Oh! So this is how you use a stove!" Lelouch smiled at the older man as he stood next to C.C.'s father. C.C. could tell that her dad was trying to make an Irish beef stew.

"Hi, what's up?" C.C. yawned as she joined V.V. on the counter, her eyes focusing on her dad and Lelouch – and their aprons. She snorted, finding her dad ridiculous in a strawberry apron—and she looked away from the raven boy, realizing that the guy looked ridiculously cute in his ruffled apron.

"You're blushing, C.C.! How shameful," C.C. caught V.V. in a headlock and whispered to him all sort of crude things she might do if ever he would blurt that out again. The blond violently fought his sister, he even yelled at her face and tried to bit her arm. When Lelouch commented that V.V. shouldn't act so rude towards her—while pointing the ladle to the blond, the blond huffed and uncoiled his sister's arm around her head. "Eh, how am I supposed to act around C.C.? As dreamy and mushy as you when you guys are alone? I'm really fine with that." V.V. threw his arms around his sister and pressed his face on her bosom. "I already told you, C.C.! I'm enough—don't let this medieval psycho steal you away from me."

The siblings' father laughed at the three and leaned to drop an arm on Lelouch's shoulder. "Don't call Lelouch a medieval psycho, V.V. That's really rude," he flashed a smile to the blond.

"Oh, wow, and Lelouch here wins my dad's support—" the blond muttered and went back scowling.

"I think this kid is really nice. And he seems to know very few things about urban living. I never thought Suzaku's cousin would come from…what, the countryside." The father laughed a little more and rumpled his hair. "It must be nice there. I remember the first time I met your mother, kids. She was riding a horse that afternoon—"

"O—kay, it's time to talk about other stuff," interrupted V.V. as he untangled himself from clinging so much to his sister. "Hey, dad. Are you trying to give Lelouch ideas how to woo C.C.?"

C.C. tried pulling the blond back to beat him, but the boy easily dodged her hand. "He is wooing some girl in his place, don't say that."

"Oh? Really! That means my sister is mine now—"

"V.V., that's creepy." C.C.'s sweat dropped.

Lelouch chuckled as he untied the apron from behind. "I'm not wooing anyone, not really." He turned to face the green-haired girl, his purple orbs clashed with her golden ones. At an instant, he remembered how they shared a kiss on her bed—a kiss that almost went steamy as unexpected.

"Whatever," the blond snorted and rolled his eyes, he couldn't possibly watch these two as they looked at each other that way, no? "I'll just go back in my room. C.C., I'm gonna read Firmus in your room, 'kay?"

Lelouch and C.C. smiled awkwardly at each other – heck, she didn't know what they were smiling for, but she just gave him a smile now. For some reason, she felt like her lower lip was itching. Reaching up, she unconsciously fondled her lower lip with her forefinger. It made Lelouch gasp, though. When C.C. looked his way again, with her finger still lingering on her lip, his face was tomato red.

"Are you fine?" she stood from her seat and made her way to him. He shook his head wildly, sending his fringe to flaunt in the air as he shook his head no. "You're red."

This brief moment was soon over when C.C.'s father stood beside Lelouch, reaching out to turn off the stove with a snap. "C.C., can you go to the grocery first to buy some butter, thyme and potato? This stew won't be a stew—"

"Can I go with her?" Like a child excited over something, Lelouch faced the head of the house with his eyes sparkling with amusement. "I've never been to a grocery before."

Chuckling once again—and reaching out to ruffle Lelouch's hair, C.C.'s dad nodded and handed some cash to his daughter. C.C. watched her dad as he busied himself in slicing the meat, and she thought that, undoubtedly, her dad had grown some liking to Lelouch. And before she knew it, Lelouch pulled her out of the kitchen by the arm, telling her that he was never this excited before.

Long blond hair sprawled over C.C.'s cheese-kun sheets. V.V. had his feet raised against the wall while his back lay perfectly on his sister's bed. He lifted the book near his face and studied the cover art and the spiraling letters that spelled the word 'Firmus'. Flipping the book open, he began reading the book his sister was obsessing with. "Lelouch, huh?" he huffed and looked at the top sentence to start reading. "So this is where you belong."

"Lelouch?"

"Yes,"

C.C. could feel her face warming despite the nippy wind. The snow was falling less now, so the two walked under the snowfall with no umbrella or any sort but beanies and long coats. "You can let go of my hand now," she cleared her throat, and he instantly uncoiled his slender gloved fingers from holding her hand. And he ungainly did so. Lelouch smiled his apologetic smile, but never said sorry for holding her hand.

They remained awkwardly quiet for a half minute, until Lelouch asked where was the grocery store. She told him that they were a few blocks away from it. After that, they were silent again. Lelouch was still amazed how pure the snow was in this place, and if he would be asked, he would like Firmus to be this peaceful.

"C.C.," he looked at his side to see her face. "Would you like me to kiss you?"

"W-what? Where on earth is that from?"

"You were touching your lip back in the kitchen, weren't you?"

C.C. was still thinking of what to say, she definitely did not mean that way! However, words were still out of her head when he chucked her chin and motioned her to look his way. He smiled again and leaned down, and it dawned to her what he was about to do. Pressing her eyes close, C.C. anticipated what would happen next...

And yet, his warm fingers on her chin disappeared.

C.C. found herself standing on the wintry pavement alone, and Lelouch was nowhere in the proximity. "Did he just...toy me there?"

Meanwhile, Lelouch was staring at the dirty snow piled up under his boots. The soot drifted in the air as if it was a pure white snow. He heard the rattling carriages and the footfalls of the horses, and he heard a familiar voice screaming his name.

"Lelouch!?"

"Lady...Shirley?"

a/n. unedited.