She woke to the smell of coffee. After stretching, glancing at the clock, and taking a moment to appreciate that she'd never seen the apartment from quite this angle before, she climbed out of bed and looked for something to wear. The bedroom door was open, and the radio was on in the kitchen, where she heard Ray making breakfast sounds.

"Good morning," she called, as she picked up one of his tee shirts from the back of a chair, sniffed it, and determined it 'clean enough.' "You still here?"

"I'm not on 'til noon. You want eggs?"

"Sure." When she stepped out into the kitchen, there was a full mug already set on the table for her. She picked it up and wrapped both hands around the warm ceramic. Ray was standing at the stove, humming. He appeared to be in a very good mood, which made her smile and look down at her coffee. She took a sip. He'd put the sugar in it, too. "Thanks for the coffee."

"No problem." He turned to her with an easy smile, but when he saw her it softened, almost faded away. He rocked back on his heels dramatically and clapped his right hand—still holding a spatula—to his chest. "Wow. Good morning."

She'd caught of glimpse of herself in the mirror over his dresser, and hardly thought she rated a 'wow', with her eyes puffy and her hair half out of a ponytail she'd put in during a bathroom trip in the middle of the night. "What?" she asked, self-conscious and suddenly bashful.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head, but his eyes gave away the lie.

"Come on," she pressed.

"Nothing," he repeated, and turned back to the stove. Now he seemed a bit shy. "Just…that's pretty much the best thing I've ever seen. That's all."

The hem of the black tee she'd slipped on skimmed her legs at mid-thigh, covering her to a modest enough degree, but as she stood barefoot in his kitchen that still felt like hers, too, she felt naked again.

It felt sort of wonderful.

Not knowing what to say, she folded one leg underneath her and settled into a chair.

"So do I get breakfast every time I stay over, or is this a limited time offer?"

"Are you kidding? You've got the deluxe package. Lifetime membership."

When she heard that her mug skipped against the table a little, coffee sloshing over the rim as she set it down. She saw him grimace as he realized what he'd said.

"Uh, I mean. You know. Scrambled or fried?"

"What?"

"Eggs? Or I could make an omelet. With…" He opened the refrigerator and hid behind the door as he took inventory. "Hot dogs. Huh. Or…" She heard the crisper drawer open. "Celery?" he said skeptically. "Is this yours?"

She laughed. "Scrambled is fine."

"So I was thinking," he said, as he set two plates on the table and joined her.

"Uh oh," she teased.

He smirked at her over the rim of his juice glass. "I was thinking…maybe if you wanted to bring some of your stuff back over…"

"Oh." She put down her fork. "I don't…I think maybe that isn't a good idea."

"Okay," he said quickly, and turned his attention back to his food. "Yeah, that's—"

"It's not that—"

"No, sure, I know," he nodded.

"It's just that this…" He looked as uncomfortable as she felt trying to navigate this tricky new terrain. "Well there's a way of doing these things, isn't there? I mean there's a general sort of procedure people follow. You start dating, have sex, fall in love, and move in together. Not…not completely the other way 'round, usually."

She watched his face as he processed this, what she'd just said without saying it. Without intending to say it, certainly. But also, to her great amazement and relief, without regretting it, either.
"Okay," he said, but like he meant it this time. "So you want to do this like normal people, is what you're saying."

"We could try it," she said. "Sounds crazy, I know…"

"Yeah," he said, and reached across the table to touch her wrist. "Yeah, we could try."

He drove her back to Abby's place—her place—so she could get ready for work, and after an awkward minute double parked in front of the building, she said, "You might as well park and come up. You know, if you want to."

He did. She left the door unlocked for him, and when he came in he didn't see her, but he heard the shower running, so he sat down on the couch to wait. As he leaned forward to reach for the TV remote, he noticed that the bathroom door was open. That explained why the rushing sound of the shower was so loud, seemed so close. He turned the volume up on the TV and began flipping through the channels, but he wasn't paying attention. He was distracted.

The bathroom door was open…

He put down the remote without turning off the TV and walked slowly down the hall. He stood in the doorway and saw her silhouette behind the shower curtain.

"Hey," he said, but she didn't hear him.

He walked hesitantly up to the side of the tub, and when she noticed him, she stuck her head out from behind the curtain and said, "Yes?"

"I, um, I know that this is pretty new, and we don't really have our signals worked out yet, but you left the door open, so I thought maybe…"

She grinned. "What took you so long?"

At work that day, Abby gave him a funny look in the middle of working on a tension pneumo. As they were cleaning up afterward, she did it again. "What?" he asked.

"You smell pretty," she said. "What is that, Bath and Body Works?"

He ducked his head and smiled, his expression giving her all the confirmation she needed.

She tilted her head at him, narrowed her eyes appraisingly. One side of her mouth quirked up briefly. As she turned to leave the room she threw back over her shoulder, "Don't fuck it up, Goofus."

He laughed, and then squinted, bemused. "...'Goofus'?"