October 2022, (VI: Chapter 18)

"Well, that's another dead end," Pip Varanian grumbled with a scowl as he heaved a sigh, trudging through the fields and falling leaves with Annie.

"Gosh, really?" Annie quipped with a tone leaden with sarcasm, "I hadn't noticed."

"I don't know why I keep losing his trail," Varanian continued, opting to ignore her sarcasm, "It's like he vanishes off the face of the Earth. Literally vanishes. Like when we're following a Shadow who decides to leave via Specter, the damn things way of traveling is untraceable. But Florian can't be using one of them, at least we've heard nothing about another rogue Specter."

"Pip?"

He spared her a glance, she was wearing a thicker jacket against the colder weather and walking boots as well as her usual faded jeans, her auburn hair was tied back and up as always too. Her sharp sapphiric eyes were on him, shadowed by bags of tiredness exacerbated by her somewhat gaunt - but still beautiful - face. She was the only person he knew who had a sleep schedule as erratic as his, like him she also tended to put work before food. He considered her rather his unofficial second in command now as well as... well, his girlfriend. Which still seemed weird to think let alone say, he struggled to do so with a straight face, much to her amusement. It wasn't his fault though, girlfriends were things for teenagers and he was fifty.

"Yes?" Varanian wondered as he casually intertwined her fingers with his as they walked, squeezing gently as he felt her hand was cold. He liked being close to her and it was nice to be able to take comfort not hurt from touch again, it took a lot more to aggravate the burn scars now.

"You've told me this," Annie pointed out.

"I have?"

"Yeah, you know just one or two... hundred... thousand times," Annie shrugged, fidgeting idly, "But its okay, you can tell me again if you like. I don't think it's sunk in enough for me to recite it backwards yet but I'm getting there."

"Sorry," Varanian muttered apologetically.

"It's okay," Annie brushed it off as the base came into view, "But my point is that if you want to talk about something else other than Florian then that'd be cool, especially after we've done nothing but track him for the past eighteen hours."

"Mostly I just want to sleep," Varanian admitted, suppressing a yawn, "Maybe get something to eat first. Are you hungry?"

"I could eat. We could try that restaurant we passed, the one that smelled good."

"Or we could not, I'm a fugitive. Remember that very minor life altering detail?" Varanian snarked.

"Yeah but you can look like anyone, they Aurors are hardly going to be checking all muggle restaurants nationwide expecting you to be eating there," Annie countered we they passed by her car, "Hello car."

"It's still too risky," Varanian insisted while Annie's attention remained on her beat up looking car.

"Fine, be a spoilsport," Annie complained disinterestedly, "You know, I'm actually really looking forward to teaching Michael to drive next summer."

"Why do you need to teach him to drive? It's easy," Varanian scoffed as they came to a halt by the car, Annie glanced back to him as an eyebrow rose.

"I'm sorry, can you drive?"

"Of course I can drive, any idiot can."

"When have you ever driven?" Annie wondered incredulously.

"We'll never," Varanian admitted and a smirk crept onto his girlfriend's face so he added quickly, "But I've seen it done loads of times by Ethel and her parents, it's easy."

"Prove it," Annie challenged, pulling her hand away to fold her arms.

"What?"

"Prove it," Annie repeated and gestured to her car, "Drive the car right now if it's easy. If you can then we'll go eat whatever leftovers are in the base like you want, if you can't then we'll go try that restaurant like I want."

"I'm not agreeing to that," Varanian insisted, folding his arms, "I don't have to prove anything to you."

"Why? Is the great and mighty Gray leader afraid of being proved wrong?" Annie teased playfully.

"I'm not afraid of being proved wrong because I know I'm right. I just happen to believe this whole challenge is a waste of time."

"No, just arguing about it is. It doesn't take five minutes for someone who can actually to you know, drive," Annie stated and her smile widened, "Guess it just goes to show you can't drive so we should go ahead to that restaurant now, forfeiting means I win."

"It does not mean you win, I am merely choosing not to partake in this pointless exercise. I could easily drive but I'm just choosing not to."

"Uh-huh. Well we in the muggle world and you know, planet Earth in general don't give out prizes for saying you could do things instead of actually doing them."

"I can drive a- You know what? Fine. I know I can drive and I have absolutely nothing to lose," Varanian decided, figuring this was one of those times when it was just better ton agree if he wanted to move past this conversation point. Besides he was sure he could drive, it was easy. He headed over to the car, seeing Annie smirk and realizing he was about to open the passenger side door. He quickly abandoned the incorrect door and went over to the driver's side, trying to pretend he hadn't gone for the other door at all. There was suddenly a clicking sound and the lights on the car flashed, he leaped back in shock.

"That's it unlocking," Annie pointed out.

"I knew that," Varanian grumbled as he wrenched open the door and sat down in the driver's seat for the first time in his life. He scratched at his the back of his scruffy, tawny hair as he looked around at the alien controls.

"Want to give up yet and admit you can't drive?" Annie wondered as she got into the seat beside him.

"Of course not, like I said it's easy," Varanian insisted stubbornly, he gestured to the controls, "It's simple, you have your spinning wheel that turns the car and your pedals that make it go and stop, then there's this stick... thing that people just wiggle around."

"You mean the gear stick?" Annie provided, looking very amused.

"Yes the gear stick. I believe it controls the..." Varanian trailed off, resisting the urge to scowl at what the hell the purpose of such a thing could be, "Speed... of the gears... that the car is made of... I believe. And- Why is there two freaking gear sticks?"

"That one is the handbrake, dear."

"Right," Varanian muttered and saw her trying not to laugh, "Hey! Just because I don't know the technical terms, it doesn't mean I can't drive. You don't need to know the names to know how to use them."

"Uh-huh," Annie nodded still smiling and casually plugged in her seatbelt, he quickly followed suit.

"Okay, time to drive," Varanian muttered as he took a deep breath, taking a hold of the wheel and bracing himself before he slammed his foot down on the first pedal and-

Nothing happened. He slammed his foot down again, then again. Nothing. He scowled and tried the second pedal, still nothing. It must be the third pedal that's the start one, Varanian said to himself, refusing to let himself be phased as he slammed his foot down on the final pedal and- Still nothing. He leaned back and his frown deepened.

"Annie, I think your car's broken," Varanian announced and glanced at the woman, seeing she was holding up a key with a smug look on her face, "Oh yeah, cars need keys to move."

"You ready to admit you can't drive yet?" Annie questioned as he took the keys.

"No, I can do it," Varanian told her determinedly, shoving it into the slot by the turning wheel and twisting it. To his delight - and relief - the engine roared to life, he grinned at his girlfriend, "Ah-ha! See? I turned it on."

"Pip, a four year old messing around with her daddy's car keys could do that and very well might've done at one point. You're trying to drive the car, not just turn it on."

"I know that," Varanian muttered, losing his smile as his focus returned to the car. He took the turning wheel once more and proceeded to slam his foot down on the pedal again, he heard the engine roar again but the car didn't move, "Wh-"

"The car won't move with the handbrake on," Annie offered and Varanian went to grab the handbrake, "That's the gear stick."

"Dammit," Varanian cursed and moved his hand to the other stick thing before Annie burst out laughing.

"You idiot! I'm just screwing with you, you had it right the first time!"

"I knew that," Varanian lied, feeling his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. He gripped the other stick thing and tried to move it, it did not move, "Why does nothing in this damn car work?!"

"Because you have to press the button," Annie chuckled as she put her hand over his gently, pressing the small button on the end of the stick and lowered the stick before moving her hand away, "And if you want the car to move then you'll have to put the car into the right gear."

"Right," Varanian nodded and moved his hand over to the other stick, he tried to move it but it didn't budge. He threw his hands up in the air in frustration, "Oh, come on!"

"You have to hold the clutch down to change gears."

"What the hell is the clutch?! You have to be making this up."

"It's the first pedal," Annie provided and he grudgingly put his foot down on the first pedal, moving a hand back to the gear stick and moving it aimlessly around as he realized he had no idea what the right gear was or how to do it. Once more, Annie her hand over his and guided his movement, "Follow the path in the gear stick knob, you have to set it number one when you start it."

"Right," Varanian muttered and put his hands back in the turning wheel, he took a deep breath and swallowed his pride before lowering his arms, "You win. I can't drive a car."

"You're giving up?" Annie wondered in surprise, "Just like that?"

"Yes, clearly there's a lot more to it than I thought," Varanian conceded his defeat, "If I try to press the go pedal now it probably still won't work because I need to flick the thingy-" he knocked one of the sticks jutting out of the turning wheel and the wipers turned on, he tried to turn it off but only succeeded in causing the lights to turn on, he wasn't winning "-to make the pedal switch on or... something. Can you fix it?"

Annie merely smiled, flicking this and that to undo the damage he'd done. Fiddling with the gear stick and handbrake to presumably revert them back to however they'd been before, finally turning the key and taking it back so the car went silent once more.

"Cheer up, Pip, I still love you," Annie assured him, drawing her hand gently across his cheek before planting a soft kiss on his lips.

"Oh good because I really was worried, I always felt our relationship would fall apart if you were proven right on something," Varanian quipped and Annie gave a snort of amusement as they unplugged their seatbelts, getting out of the car. He pulled her into her arms, he kissed her once more, "I still love you too. So which restaurant is this you wanted to go?"

"Nah, I don't care about that now."

"You don't care about that- But you win," Varanian spluttered out incredulously.

"Well you were right, it's too risky," Annie shrugged it off before smiling, "Besides, your very abysmally poor attempt to drive was reward enough."

"I'm glad it was fun for you," Varanian told her, smiling through gritted teeth as his cheeks burned again. Annie laughed before kissing him again.

"Come on," Annie said, taking his hand and leading him back towards the base, "Let's just eat and get to bed before the others start nagging us about boring crap, dunno about you but I'm beat."