I spent the entire morning and afternoon in bed, dressed in my favorite pajamas, reading the "Hunger Games" series. While the books were pretty dark for my tastes, I had to admit that they were a lot easier to read than the "Twilight" series. For one thing, Katniss was a lot more likeable as a heroin than Bella. Katniss actually volunteers to participate in the "hunger games", which is basically a fight to the death among twenty-four people, so that her little sister doesn't have to compete. Also, Katniss tries to provide for her family by hunting game in the "illegal" territory, while Bella just wants to have sex with Edward and become a vampire. I could make an argument that Katniss wants her family to be safe even more than she wants to live. I had to admire her for that, even if she was a fictional character.

I wondered if life here would ever evolve to the way things were in Katniss' world. Apparently, there were huge global disasters before the government took over, so I guessed that Katniss' ancestors were part of a small group of people who survived these disasters. I could understand why her government wanted to keep people from rebelling, if the result to rebellion was extinction. Still, sending kids to kill each other seemed pretty extreme.

I began to wonder how I'd do if I was in that situation. If I'd been chosen to participate in the Hunger Games, and no one volunteered to go in my place, I probably wouldn't win, but I was confident I'd make it pretty far. In my job, you have to be prepared to beat up the bad guys if they get too close. Or, you have to be able to run away—fast—if it looks like they'd beat you in physical combat. My preferred method of defense was to kick the males in the nuts, and it had prevented me from being hurt too badly or (more important) from being raped. So far, anyway.

If I was in the arena with Morelli or Ranger, my best chance of survival would be to make an alliance with them, and hope that they got knocked off by some natural disaster. My chances at surviving at one on one combat with Morelli weren't exactly low, but it would be easy compared to fighting Ranger. Then again, if Ranger showed himself to be a threat, there would be at least twenty other people waiting to destroy him. In fact, he might die in the beginning, at the place where the people who set up the name placed all of the supplies for the taking. The exact name of the place slipped my mind, and I didn't feel like going back through the books to search for it.

I amused myself for the next couple of hours by placing myself, Morelli, and Ranger in different districts, and figuring out ways to dismember them with various weapons. It was very "Wonder Woman" of me. Later, it occurred to me that Ranger and Morelli might try to sacrifice themselves for me, which kind of took the fun out of my figuring out different ways to kill them.

Morelli returned home around 6PM, grinning ear to ear. I felt bad that I'd spent the better part of the last hour thinking up good ways to kill him.

"Hey, Cupcake," he greeted, pressing a light kiss against my forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Hungry," I replied. "What's for dinner?"

Morelli grinned widely. "Do you want to start with dinner…or dessert?"

I rolled my eyes. "I need food before I can think about sex, Joe."

He sat on the bed next to me. "How's your stomach? Do you think you can handle pizza, or would you rather stick with chicken soup and fruit?"

I chewed on my lip, evaluating the options. The idea of pizza didn't make my stomach turn, and I'd had enough chicken soup to last me a lifetime. Fruit was okay, and maybe some veggies…especially if they were piled on the pizza…"Maybe a slice wouldn't kill me…"

"I stopped at Pinos on the way home. How about you start off with half a slice and see how your stomach handles it?" Morelli suggested.

I nodded in agreement. "Can we eat downstairs? I need a change of scenery."

"How about the back yard? I could bring a couple of chairs out, and you could wear your PJs without attracting attention."

"Is it warm out?" I asked, getting up from the bed. No dizziness followed.

"Yeah, it's gorgeous out. It should stay light out for at least another hour. Want me to carry you?"

I smiled at Morelli. "That's sweet, but I'd rather walk if I can handle it."

He stayed next to me while I walked down the stairs, ready to catch me if I seemed the slightest bit unsteady. I was relieved to note that my dizziness had completely disappeared.

Morelli grabbed a couple of blankets (for me) and two lawn chairs before heading outside. I made myself comfortable, and he headed inside to retrieve the food and a small table his aunt must have kept for this type of thing. The food looked and smelled good, but I knew I'd better take it slow or my stomach would rebel. I didn't want to spend another night in the bathroom with my head in the toilet.

I started with the soup because, even though I was pretty sick of it, I wanted to have something in my stomach before approaching the pizza. It went down easily enough, so I turned my focus towards the half a slice of pizza. There weren't quite as many toppings on my slice as usual—probably, Morelli had requested that. Or he'd picked them off and eaten them before handing me my portion.

I took a small bite and chewed on it longer than I would have before swallowing. My next few bites were larger and I spent less time chewing. I normally wolf down my first slice of pizza in a matter of minutes, but Morelli had finished his first piece before I was halfway done with my half slice.

"You okay?" he asked me, eying me as he folded up his second piece and began shoving that in.

"Yeah, just being extra careful," I replied. "I think I'm ready for mostly normal foods."

He nodded, took a swig of beer, and then said, "Gotta take it easy after getting the flu."

Not to mention food poisoning.

We didn't talk very much throughout the meal, but it was a comfortable kind of silence. I sat back in my chair and savored the feeling of sunlight on my face, of the breeze in my hair. My parents' Italian Hungarian marriage landed me with fair skin that burned rather than tanned, but I knew from the occasional look in the mirror that being stuck inside for several days with no exposure to the sun gave me a ghostly appearance. I hadn't changed from my pajamas or my nightgown to jeans since my visit to the hospital, but I suspected that I'd lost some weight as well. I'd be able to guess how much once I put on a pair of jeans and determined how loose the waistband fit.

"Anything exciting going on at work?" I asked after finishing the entire slice of pizza.

Morelli shrugged. "The usual. Shootings, a few drug dealers, and two domestic abuse cases."

It wasn't unlike a typical day in my life, but I wasn't going to say that.

We stayed outside for another half hour or so, enjoying the early spring weather. When the sun started to go down, Morelli got up from his chair.

"You ready to head in?"

I nodded, stood up, and grabbed the blankets. "Can I help with anything?"

Morelli looked like he was going to say no, but thought better of it. "Take the dishes in. I'll handle the furniture."

"You sure?"

He gave me a peck on the forehead. "You'll need your energy tonight, remember?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "I remember."

I left the blankets on the couch while I washed the dishes. I'd just about finished putting away the last plate when Morelli snuck up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Boo!"

I turned around, surprised but not exactly scared, since I recognized the voice. "Sorry, Joe, but I don't have sex with ghosts."

He pulled me close to him. "Smart aleck."

I snuggled against him. "For a ghost, you feel awfully real."

"Real enough for gorilla sex?" Morelli whispered into my ear.

"Hmm." I pretended to consider. "No thanks. That's too weird for me."

A peck on the forehead. "Good thing I'm not really a ghost."

Before I knew what was happening, Morelli had lifted me into his arms and was carrying me upstairs.

Afterwards, I lay on the bed with my eyes closed feeling completely relaxed, next to Morelli. He had one arm wrapped around my shoulder, and I imagined that the other one was resting at his side. I opened my eyes and saw that he was watching me with a tentative look on his face.

"You okay?"

I yawned and shut my eyes. "Mmm."

I knew I was going to sleep very soundly that night, but it was worth it. Besides, this wasn't necessarily a new thing after being with Morelli.

"Steph?"

My eyes opened again. "Yeah, Joe?"

"My boss was talking to me the other day. Telling me that I had put in too many hours and was in danger of exceeding my paid time off."

I wasn't quite sure where he was going with this. It was no secret that cops—but especially Morelli—put in long hours and the pay wasn't great. I didn't know the specifics about how the benefits worked, but I knew that he rarely took days off, so I could see how they would start to add up.

"My boss told me that if I didn't take three consecutive days off by the end of the month, they'd have to take disciplinary action," he continued.

"What kind of disciplinary action?" I wondered aloud. My mind was still not working at its usual capacity, and I found myself getting annoyed that Morelli hadn't told me about this before sex.

Morelli laughed. "He said that I'd be put on paid house arrest. I told him I had a better idea."

"Oh?"

Morelli put another arm around me, and I nestled against his warmth, now hardly paying attention to anything he was saying. "I was thinking," he began, "that you and I could take a mini vacation, an extended weekend trip. What do you say we head out to Point Pleasant in a week or so?"