I spent the next two days avidly making beds, assembling desks for the bedrooms, buying kitchen and bathroom supplies, and organizing everything. Sam called the evening of the 29th and told me that they were going to get in sometime in the early evening on the 30th. I told him I'd have supper ready and he sounded relieved.

I was really proud of myself for everything I had gotten accomplished; the rooms looked very nice and clean, if I may say so, what with their comforters and matching curtains. I had found this huge, gorgeous dark wood table on sale at – guess where? – the Home Depot, that could seat ten people. I knew there weren't that many of us at the moment, but I could at least think ahead. I assumed more people would transfer over at some point. I bought a lot of kitchen ware and small kitchen appliances; glass plates, plastic plates, glasses, plastic cups, silverware, soup bowls, serving bowls, pots, pans, a toaster, a coffee maker, a blender, a food processor, spatulas, tongs, a grill, the list is endless.

I also bought things for the living room; a huge flat-screen TV, three really nice, green couches that accented the green wall, some lamps, a coffee table. I ordered pretty much all the bulk items off of Amazon a week before, and so everything arrived the day I wanted it all to get there. The guys who brought all of the furniture in were pretty shocked at how big it was, and I assured them that the house just seemed small, which was true.

Getting back to the topic of lamps; I had bought lamps for every bedroom, and was working on installing ceiling lights in the separate rooms when Sam called me. I had finished installing the lights in the boys' rooms at that point and was utterly relieved I had at least their rooms and the main living areas done. I was, again, thankful I didn't have to deal with the bathrooms. Bathrooms were awful to build. I went to bed that night, the 29th, making a mental checklist of what I needed to do tomorrow; buy food, cook dinner, finish installing the lights in the other rooms. Buy office supplies.

Five am; rise and shine. I showered – my hair was so short! – and ate… actually, I'm not sure if I ate. I don't really remember. I'm not sure if there was any food left to eat at that point. I decided to install the light in my bedroom, since most stores didn't open until nine or ten; I had a few hours to kill.

I finished installing the light and fan – oh, yeah, I had installed ceiling fans in each of the rooms, too; good fun – in my room around half past ten, so I decided it was time to go grocery shopping.

Grocery. Shopping. Is. Not. Fun.

Shopping for lamps is fun. Shopping for windows that you're going to self-install is pleasant. Shopping for screwdrivers is exciting.

Shopping for food is not fun. How do you know what's healthy? How was I supposed know what I was getting was quality? Was it worth the extra dollar so you can have this brand of food? Did I really want to spend $3.15 on a gallon of milk that would disappear by the time the guys were halfway through dinner?

I mean, technically, yes, I did, because Torchwood paid for living expenses (electricity bills, water bills, food bills, bills in general); there was no fee you had to pay to live there. You didn't have to live at the base; you could live in your own home if you wanted, but everyone that I had met had no family, save Sam and Dean, who were brothers (obviously).

But it was still really hard for me to buy any sort of food that cost over five dollars. Five dollars could buy you an entire meal at Wendy's. Why would I want to spend that on a package of gruyère cheese? I didn't; that was the problem.

But I did anyway. I bought milk, orange juice, grapefruit juice, cream, eight different kinds of yogurt, five types of cheese, a tub of butter (that was actually vegetable oil spread, but whatever), actual butter, salt, sugar, flour, pasta, honey, bread, bagels, cream cheese, celery, carrots, onions, tomatoes, beef, hamburger, chicken (I hated chicken), lettuce, dried cranberries, goat cheese, almonds, cashews, various breakfast cereals, eggs, raspberries, apples, cherries, bananas, peaches, vinegar, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise (stupid word), jams, jelly, marmalade, tea. Oh, I bought a tea pot and some tea mugs at the Target. I was excited about that. I also bought a ton of spices, and shallots, and garlic, baking soda, baking powder. Basically if I saw something on a shelf that seemed like something I would need semi-often, I bought it.

I spent over a thousand dollars on food in three hours.

I was actually the only customer one in the store, which I sort of thought was weird, but apparently it was spring break for a lot of people, so the store people weren't that concerned about it.

The manager, however, was concerned about me. Long story short, he made me go into his office and he called the police, claiming that I had stolen money, because no one had that much money to go around in our economic times, especially for someone like me; so young and college-aged.

"Why in the name of heaven are you buying so much food?" he asked suspiciously, "And where do you get the money?"

I decided to be honest; "My name is Sara Müller and I just moved here from Boston, Massachusetts. I work for the government, as strange as that may sound, and so I get my money from them, just like you. Except," I added, "I get mine directly from the President."

The guy – CHUCK, as his nametag read – raised his eyebrows at me and said, "Sweetheart, you're going to lower your story to something a bit more believable. You don't even look twenty." I flipped open my wallet, showing him my driver's license, proving I was at least twenty-one. "Okay," he admitted, "That's fine, but this President thing–"

I flipped out my cell, my heart beating fast. Oh, God. Should I? I did. I went to my address book and hit "President', then 'Call'. The phone rang a few times.

He picked up, "Hello?"

Looking pointedly at Chuck, I said smoothly, "Good day, sir. I was wondering if you could perhaps verify the validity of my job statement to a friend of mine, Chuck, who works at the local grocery store."

He laughed. Oh, man. Oh, man. "Sure thing," he agreed, "This is Sara, right?"

"Yes, sir," I confirmed.
"Well let me talk to Chuck for a moment, I'm sure we can get things worked out," he directed.

I handed the phone to Chuck, whose eyes were wide, and I smiled sweetly at him. He put my phone up to his ear and asked hesitantly, "Hello?" There was a pause and he said, "Oh, Mr. President! It's an honor, I –" He paused again, and a few minutes later he said meekly, "I'm sorry, sir. Yes. I understand. Definitely. My mistake. Have a good day, President." There was an audible click from the other end of the line, and our good friend Chuck looked directly at me, his mouth open. After a moment, he handed my phone back to me and said, "The president knew your name. And he said that you're his employee."

I shrugged, "I know. Kind of hard to grasp for a while, I know."

And that's the story of how I got a picture with Chuck, the manage, and why it's hanging in his office.

I got back to the base, and packed everything into the fridge and the cabinets (they looked so nice!). When I had finished, I looked at my watch, Hmm; 2:45pm. I didn't have to start dinner for about two and a half more hours. I theoretically could have installed another ceiling fan/light I one of the guest rooms, but…

Office supplies.

I went to go buy office supplies for my room. I didn't want to buy any office supplies for the guys, because that seemed a bit presumptuous, so I just bought things for myself instead.

Shopping for office supplies is a very relaxing yet exhilarating experience.

I had a great time selecting a printer and paper, and paperclips and thumbtacks, a bulletin board, a pen and pencil bin, rubber bands, sticky notes, scissors, sticky tacks, a pencil sharpener, pens, pencils, dry erase markers, a dry erase board, markers, glue, a hole puncher, a paper cutter.

Very relaxing.

5:45 rolled around, and I had just finished setting all of my new office supplies in order in and on my desk, feeling pleased with myself. It was time to get cooking. I cooked up a ton of food that night; spaghetti, Italian beef sandwiches, a salad, green beans, fruit salad, peas, potatoes, iced tea, a cherry pie and an apple pie. I set the table and loaded all of the food onto it, as well, looking in doubt at how much food I had made. There was no way they would eat everything. Good thing I had bought Tupperware. I really had like shopping for Tupperware. It was great fun.

I was beginning to realize that I liked home-style living.

Ten minutes after I had finished, when I was lounging on the couch, not being frantically busy for the first time in three weeks, the doorbell rang. Thankfully, I didn't have to walk that far; the front door was just across the hall from the living room, so it was all good. I yawned, exhausted and looked through the peephole; it was the boys. I opened the door and smiled, "Hey."

Dean and Cody looked really confused but Cas nodded a 'hello' and Sam's mouth dropped open a bit as he stuttered, "You – your hair – it's –"

I nodded, "Shorter, I know. Come in." I stepped back and the stood in the wide hallway, looking around. I had placed a coat rack in the corner, and there was a large potted plant along with a lamp, and miscellaneous artwork lined the hallway. It was actually my artwork, but none of them needed to know that.

"Your hair is really nice," Sam offered, but Dean cut him off, confused,

"But this place looks really nice. You said it was half-finished."

"It was," I said drily. As I walked them to the kitchen, I explained, "This place was completely empty with no lighting, no free-standing furniture, save for the beds, and no paint on the walls. It's not like that anymore. I hope it's –"

"Freaking awesome," Cody interrupted in awe, looking around the kitchen, as we had just entered.

Sam and Dean and Cas were looking around, too, and Dean whistled, "You did this all by yourself?"

"Well, no," I explained. "The cabinets were already installed and the fridge and the stove and the sink and the countertops were in here and some guys from the UPS helped me move in the table, couches, TV…" I trailed off, shrugging.

"Wait, what?" Sam asked me.

I shook my head and told him, "You guys will have until when ever to see the rest of this place, just eat for right now." I waved over at the table and Dean's eyes lit up.

"Is that pie?" he asked eagerly.

"Yeah," I told him.

"Great," he said, excited.

I yawned and announced, "I'm going to go rest. I'll be back and clean up later. Oh, and there's a blueprint of the base on the kitchen counter. I sort of picked where your rooms are located so that I could get them painted. If you don't like where they are or the way they look, I can always re-do them."

Sam looked at me funnily a moment and I said tired and slightly defensive, "I just wanted to make this place livable. I didn't mean to assume or –"

"Sara," Cas interrupted, making me start; Cas almost never talked, and when he did, it was because he had something important to say, "This is all very nice. You should not be sorry for your actions; all is wonderful."

I blushed, "Thanks, Castiel. I'll see y'all later," and I departed to my room, where I fell on my bed and fell asleep.

Men eat a lot of food. As in, Sam, Dean, Cas, and Cody finished all of the food that I had made them. All of it. I woke up about an hour after falling asleep and journeyed back to the kitchen, expecting it to be empty. I wasn't really… scared having just the guys there, but it was going to take some getting used to.

I entered the kitchen, which was pretty much on the opposite side of the base from where my room was, and stopped. They guys were still stilling around the table, laughing. And the dishes were all empty. Oh, my God. They had eaten… everything.

I cleared my throat to alert them of my presence, and Sam looked over immediately, and the others followed his gaze. I asked in slightly disgusted amazement, "Did you… eat… everything?"

"It was good," Cody offered. The others nodded and I grew almost shocked.

"Oh, my God," I said, laughing slightly in incredulity. Little did I know that that was the day that marked the beginning of my real job; keeping those guys properly fed. I had before, but I had made huge amounts of food then, since there were closer to twenty people at the Boston base, while there was only a fourth as many people as that at this base, so I had to figure out home much food these guys would need in one meal.

As it turned out, they pretty much ate the same amount of food that they did that first night, every day, three times a day. It was so weird. I could literally make enough food for an army, and these… giant men would just eat everything. I still refrained from eating with them, like I had at the last base, but I didn't care anymore if one of them was in the kitchen with me while I cooked.

I was always the first one up (again), and the last one to bed (again), but the hours weren't quite as extreme as they had been over in Massachusetts, since I wasn't going out of my way to avoid people. I didn't seek them out, mind you, but I didn't purposely avoid others. I usually got up around 7am to make meals, and then would get to bed around 1am. It was really nice getting a solid six hours of sleep a night. I could do anything after getting six hours of sleep. It was great.

A few days after everyone had moved in, I had finally unpacked the trailer and was sorting through everything in the TDL when Sam stopped by. I had started keeping the door open unless I was legitimately testing something, or needed absolute silence to test something. Some things did not require absolute silence, nor was I testing anything, so the door remained open.

"Hey," he greeted me.

"Hey," I replied, separating different gadgets by how high-tech they were, and what kind they were; holographic, hydrophobic, nuclear, et cetera.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm doing fine," I answered honestly, "How are you?"

"It's a little weird," he admitted, "having a home like this, even though the other base was technically a home, too. But I have my own room now and…" He shrugged.

I nodded in understanding and told him, "I know what you mean. Just being rooted in one place is… really different for me. But I think I like it."

"Me, too," he said. A short silence fell, only punctured by the sound of me setting different devices here and there.

After a moment, I asked, "Is your room okay? I didn't know what colors to get, so…"

"It's really nice," Sam told me earnestly, "I like the colors that you used a lot. I saw the others' rooms, too, and they all look really great."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Good. One of my biggest concerns was the coloring of your rooms. I figured that if I outright asked, none of you would know what to say, so… I improvised a little."

"No, it's really good," Sam informed me, "Dean really likes the striped bedspread, and I know Cody likes his own room, too. You did a good job. The extra rooms are nice, too."

"Thanks," I smiled a little bit, now sorting through one of the huge boxes that of scrap pieces that Jack had given me.

"How much did you actually do?" he asked, "You've never really said."

"Well," I said slowly, "When I got here, the only place with working lights was the hallways, the labs, the medical bay and…" I hesitated. I didn't want him to know about the room in my closet, "…and my closet, for some weird reason, so I had to build a makeshift lamp the first night I was here. I sort of wandered around in the middle of the night the first night, sort of survey what there was and wasn't – what needed to be done." Setting aside a sheet of metal, I continued, "The only thing that was present in each of the bedrooms was a bed; no sheets, no nothing. No curtains, no lighting. There's a bathroom connecting to each of the bedrooms, though, and I was surprised to find each one fully functional, but I was also really glad, too, because that was eight less rooms I had to worry about. This room that we're in right now – the technological development lab – was pretty much the same as it is now, except that there weren't any miscellaneous items around; just these empty chairs at these empty tables." Sam nodded, following, so I kept telling him, "I didn't touch the medical bay at all; I didn't sweep or mop it, I didn't do anything. I'm leaving that up to Cody, and if he wants me to clean anything, then I'll clean."

"Right," Sam nodded again, understanding.

"The research lab had all of the computers and all the tables, so that was pretty nice. But the kitchen was literally just the unstained cabinets, the counters, and an uninstalled fridge and oven. The living room had nothing in it at all. So." I shrugged, concluding my explanation.

"So let's see," Sam slowly listed off, "You've painted everything – which I can imagine nook a monstrous amount of time – you've installed pretty much all the ceiling lights and fans, which is really impressive, and you've cleaned everything, and you bought pretty much everything in this house, arranged it, and made it seem like it took no effort."

"Oh, it took effort," I told him, "Effort, bruises, tears, sleep deprivation, I think I broke a toe at one point, and I almost got arrested at the grocery store."

"What?" Sam asked, flabbergasted.

"Apparently," I explained, "Buying over a thousand dollars' worth of food at one time is a little suspicious, so my good friend Chuck, the manager, decided to call in police and he accused me of theft, but then I called up my boss and got everything cleared up."
"Oh, you mean Jack," Sam said, sounding relieved.

"No," I said, "I mean President Obama."

Sam laughed, but I was looking at him seriously, and after a moment he stopped laughing and asked me uncertainly, "You're being serious?"

"Yep!" I grinned, "I've had a few nice talks with him. And since technically I'm your boss, that means that you're employed by the government, along with Dean and Cas and Cody, which I find remarkably ironic and funny, considering all you and your brother have ever done is defy the system." As an afterthought, I added, "Although, I've done that a majority of my life, too, so I guess I'm not one to talk."

Sam smiled a moment, and then paused. He asked, "Wait. You're my boss?"

"Yep!" I replied almost cheerfully, "I'm in charge of paying you, and if I have any supernatural research that needs to be done, I'll ask you, and if there are any jobs that I'm aware of that need doing, you, your brother, Cas, and sometimes Cody, will be the ones that go take care of it, unless it's special circumstances, and then I would go, too."

"So… you… what?" Sam asked, not comprehending.

I gave him my full attention and explained, "You and your brother, and Cas are newly-employed by Torchwood, as of – what? Four days ago. Torchwood is branching out, deciding to coexist with Hunters, as our paths have crossed many times. This particular base is going to be a safe haven for Hunters, should they arrive and need assistance, whether it be shelter, food, water, medical care, equipment, backup, anything. This base, though, is funded and affiliated with Torchwood, so you are employed by Torchwood, namely, me."

Sam thought about that a moment and asked, "So… we're going to get paid to do what we've always done?"

I shrugged, "Basically. But you also have a place you can come to for shelter – here – and you'll be much safer. And now you're also aware of extraterrestrial life forms, which I'm going to teach you all how to fight them, save Cody, considering he's worked for Torchwood many years, so I'll be teaching him how to fight the supernatural. Or," I added, a glint in my eye, "you and the rest of Team Free-Will could teach him for me, and I would pay you overtime."

"Team Free-Will? Wha – You don't…" Sam spluttered, "You don't have to do that. You already... cook and everything. That's good. Sure. We can teach him."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Oh, my God," Sam said after a moment.

"What?"

"It's just all finally sunk in," he stated, "I have a job. That's… that's really weird. And it's a government position, which is stranger."

I shrugged, "It was weird for me, too. Especially since Jack sort of forced me into this. It was… weird."

"He forced you?" Sam asked, his eyebrows drawing together.

"Sort of? He did so with kindness," I informed him, "He promoted me before I agreed to be promoted, but… you know…" I shrugged, my ponytail bouncing.

"Your hair is so short," Sam observed.

I reached back and self-consciously rand my hand through the ponytail, "I know," I said, "I got eleven inches off and donated it."

"Wow," Sam marveled, "Well, I think it looks great." After a moment, he hesitantly added, "You have a really nice smile, too."

I blushed a bit and a hint of a smile involuntarily crept up on my face, "Thanks."

"It is good to see that you're finally being assertive, Sara," came Cas' gravelly voice from the doorway.

Sam looked over at Cas, blushing, and I just rolled my eyes, "Thank you, Castiel."

Sam asked, "What d'you need, Cas?"

"Dean is looking for you," Cas grated, "And so I came down here. I assumed that this is where you would be."

"Oh," Sam said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Nice talking to you, Sam," I offered.

His face lit up as he replied, "Nice talking to you, too."

Hooray for successful conversations.