Oh my, it has been entirely too long since I last updated! I know some stories go for months without an update, but even a little over a week for me seemed like too much. To tell the truth I was having a really bad case of writer's block, but I forced myself to sit down and start typing, and once I did it all seemed to come so easily, that I finished this entire chapter in like twenty minutes. I hope you enjoy reading and I apologize for keeping you guys waiting for ... however long it has been!

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After staying at the Goddess Pond for a little bit more, I started making my way back to the Inn so that I could pick up Cliff and we could go on over to Jack's place. Come to think of it, I had never met Jack. Jill had mentioned him only a couple of times, mainly saying one thing: that she was his cousin who was a couple years older than the two of us. But she always spoke admiringly of him. Actually that doesn't seem to make much sense; if she didn't speak about him much, then how could I tell she admired him? I don't know, I guess I'm just gifted like that. Smiling to myself, I thought how my mood had considerably lifted ever since this morning.

When I finally reached the Inn, I hesitated to go inside. Why don't I just go on over to Jack's place and see him and Jill without Cliff? That would be so much easier. I dreaded the walk over to the farm; surely it would be filled with silence and awkwardness, and if this was some cheesy TV show then I'm sure a cricket chirp or two would be in order, complete with those occasional glances we would give each other. You know, those kinds where you look at the person, then you look away, and they look at you, then they look away as well, and then you look at each other at the same time - and then immediately look away because there's no way you'd want them to know you were looking at them … wow, that was a confusing sentence. And it seems that lately all I've been doing is confusing myself.

All right, this is it. You said you'd take him to meet Jill, so that's what you're going to do. For some reason I had to laugh at myself and this motivational speech I was in the middle of thinking. I was way too analytical and thought things through entirely too much. I opened up the double doors and went waltzing into the Inn. Well, not literally. But still, I needed to look confident, even if I really wasn't. I decided that I also needed to be a lot more brash, as I used to be - ever since Cliff came he started making me act weird. Yes, I decided, I needed to act like it was still just me and my dad. From that second on I started planning to be spontaneous.

"Hey, Cliff, are you ready to go?" I said cheerfully with a wave of my hand once I spotted the traveler from across the room. He clearly gave me this look that said, And why are you being so nice to me all of the sudden? Okay, I thought sheepishly, I need to tone it down a bit.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He said. He walked over to me and we headed out the door.

"Do you remember where the farm is?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Kind of." He responded.

"Okay," I said. Silence ensued. So much for my conversation idea.

Unfortunately, exactly what I didn't want to happen did end up happening on that walk over. Yes, there was a long, awkward silence. No crickets chirping, though, and I forced myself not to look at him in order to avoid those untimely glances. However, I could sense him looking at me every once in a while.

I sighed with relief when we finally reached the farm. I ran ahead of Cliff to get to the door first. Childish, I know, but I have a competitive spirit and I really wanted to see Jill after all those years. Upon approaching the door I noticed a piece of paper taped to the door that read, "Be Back Soon." I took the note off the door and stared at it, as if looking at it for a long time might change the message that it already said.

I was still looking the note over when Cliff caught up with me. "What's that?" he said, peering over my shoulder to read what the note said.

"Be back soon," he read out loud. He paused before continuing. "Where do you think they are?"

"I don't know," I said. Why would I know? I felt like saying. I only just arrived here at the same time as you.

I stuck the note back on the door, as I wasn't sure what else I should do with it, and turned to look at Cliff. He spoke before I did. "What should we do now?"

I tested the doorknob. It was unlocked. "We could go inside and wait for them there." I suggested.

"But … wouldn't they … does Jack mind?" Cliff said. He seemed shocked and almost appalled that I would even think of trespassing on someone's property.

"Well, I know Jill wouldn't mind," I said. "And if they're anything alike, then Jack wouldn't mind either. Come on, let's go." I said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him inside the door that I had opened. He had no choice but to follow with a reluctant expression on his face.

The room we entered was completely dark, as the shades were drawn over the windows and no lights were turned on. Cliff had stupidly shut the door behind us, so I stumbled around until my eyes adjusted to the dark. I could almost barely make out a figure that looked like a lamp. I made my way over, and -

CRASH!

"What was that?" Cliff said. His voice was way over on the other side of the room. Out of nowhere a light came pouring into the room. He had gone to the window and opened the shades. I stood looking at a mess of broken porcelain before me. In my attempt to blindly turn the lamp on, I had knocked it over, and there it lay on the floor … broken.

I looked at him, and his glance switched occasionally from me to the mess on the floor. Neither of us spoke, so finally I stuttered, "I … I didn't know it was there. I was just trying to turn on the light!"

His expression softened and time seemed to start moving again now that the silence had been broken (just like the lamp). However, he still didn't say anything. And I was glad, too. He could have started gloating, saying things like, "I told you we shouldn't have come in here!" Or, "Dang, Ann, do you have to be such a klutz?" Or maybe even, "Jack's gonna kill you…" But thankfully he said exactly what I wanted him to say; nothing.

"What should we do?" I finally said.

"Clean it up," he offered. Walking over to where I was still standing dumbly by the broken lamp, he started picking up the large pieces.

"Cliff, don't -" I started to say, but it was too late. As he was picking up the broken shards, his hand brushed against a particularly sharp piece and he recoiled in pain, only to reveal to me a second later that his hand was bleeding on the top.

"Are you okay?" I said.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he answered, holding his wounded hand close to himself and inspecting it.

"Can I see …" I held out my hand to look at it to make sure it wasn't going to get infected or something, but he drew back.

"No, it's okay. I've gotten plenty of cuts and bruises before. It doesn't matter."

"Are you sure you don't want a bandage or something?" I was slightly annoyed at him for not taking better care of himself.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Does it hurt?"

"No, it's just a little scrape."

"Well, you don't want to get blood on your clothes." I said, trying to convince him to at least put something on it.

"It'll wash out."

"You don't want to get blood on any of Jack's things." I said.

He hesitated, seeing that he had been beat. Normally I would have been delighted and secretly thought to myself, "Score one for Ann," on winning this argument, but this was no laughing matter; Cliff was hurt, after all.

"I guess you're right," he said.

"Stay here for now," I said as I started walking toward another door in the room. "I'll look for a bandage or something." I opened up the door I was headed for and sure enough, just as I suspected, it lead to a bathroom. Opening up the medicine cabinet, I smiled with satisfaction when I noticed a bandage sitting there next to some antiseptic. I took both of them out and grabbed some tissues on the way out. As I approached Cliff, I said, "Hold out your hand." He didn't object. I took his hand in mine and wiped away the blood. No, this didn't gross me out like it would a lot of girls. I had my share of cuts and scrapes when I was a kid. I'd watched my dad fix me up plenty of times and I was used to it.

I threw the tissue in a nearby trashcan and then took out the antiseptic. I blotted some onto the other tissue I held, and said, "This might sting a little …" I then pressed it against Cliff's hand. He didn't wince at all, and I was kind of surprised. I was half tempted to ask him if it even did sting, but decided that was unimportant for the time being.

And the final procedure, of course, was to wrap the bandage around him. I did so, and he didn't complain at all. In fact, I'd almost go so far as to say that I think he liked me playing nurse … but I'd never admit to anyone that I also kind of liked it too.

"There," I said as I finished up. He, almost inaudibly, mumbled a thank you while I went to put the antiseptic back in the medicine cabinet. When I came back I said, "So, now what about this mess?"

"I guess it'd be easier if we had a broom and dustpan." he said.

"Good idea." I said. I looked around and sure enough, there were those very things we needed sitting in one of the corners of the room. I walked over to retrieve them, and almost got around to sweeping up the mess, when Cliff gently took the broom from me and said, "I'll sweep, you hold the dustpan. After all, I can't just sit back and watch you do all the work."

"But you did that when I was fixing your cut," I teased as I bent down to hold the dustpan in place.

"You seemed like you knew what you were doing," he said. I didn't look at him, but the way he spoke it revealed to me that he was smiling.

After we swept up the mess, I walked over to the large trashcan and dumped what was left of the lamp into it. Cliff put the broom back and wiped his hands together, as if he had just finished some heavy labor requiring job.

"I hope Jack wasn't too attached to that lamp." he said.

"Yeah, me too." I answered. Although truthfully, I wasn't too worried about what Jack would say right now. My mind was too busy realizing that this was the first time me and Cliff had actually had a normal, not to mention enjoyable, conversation in a long time. This made me think how silly it was for us to get mad at each other over something that Popuri said, even if it did used to be true. Well, it wasn't true anymore. I didn't mind serving him, and I certainly would go out with him if he asked me. Remembering my decision to be more brash and spontaneous like I used to be, I took a deep breath and started talking.

"Cliff," I said. "There's something we need to-"

I was interrupted by the untimely opening of the front door. Cliff and I both turned immediately to see Jack and Jill walking through the front door. Upon seeing the lampshade that Cliff was holding in his hands, as that part didn't break in the fall, Jack stopped in his tracks and said,

"What happened to my lamp?"

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