"Blue, definitely." Elle pointed to the shirt on her brother's bed. Will was in an absolute tizzy over his upcoming movie date, and she was trying to assist via outfit advice.

"Are you sure? I thought the green might, you know, accentuate my eyes." Will scratched self-conciously at the back of his neck as Elle considered him, then the shirts, then him again.

"Blue. He'll probably wear pink and that go better with blue." She decided.

"Good point." Will conceded, slipping the polo on over his undershirt.

"Excited?" Elle asked, following him out of his room. Will shrugged as he grabbed his wallet and jacket.

"Well… yeah. I'm really excited."

"You ever kiss someone?" Elle inquired as the thought popped into her head. She knew Will didn't like girls like that, and there weren't a lot of boys like him at their school, but one could never be sure. Maybe he had just kept it a secret.

"Jennifer Hayes. Right after I got back."

Elle wrinkled her nose at the admission and Will chuckled.

"Yeah, that's how I felt."

The doorbell rang and her brother whitened instantly.

"Oh god. He's here. Standing outside of my house."

"Calm down. You were able to ask him, so you can do it." Elle steered him towards the door. Will tugged it open.

"Hi." He squeaked at Javier who stood outside, a gleaming grin on his face.

"Hey. Ready to go?"

"Um, yeah." Will's cheeks were already a pale pink and Elle giggled from behind the door.

"Cool." Javier grabbed Will's hand and started walking him to his car. Will glanced over his shoulder at his sister who gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up. "So, Will, I heard you were making something pretty cool in art class…" Javier started to chat as they got in the car.

Elle smiled as she watched the two drive off. Will deserved to have someone nice caring for him.


"Elle!" Joyce called her daughter from the kitchen.

"Yes?" Elle answered, idly holding Mike's hand as they watched TV.

"Elle, sweetie, I need you to go to the store for me."

Elle's posture changed immediately, her spine stiffening and her mouth tightening.

"Why?" Mike's eyes left the set and latched on her, recognizing her warning signs.

"Hopper is still at work, Will is out with his new friend-" most of the parents had decided to just think of Javier as Will's friend to avoid any awkward arguments "-and Anna is running a fever. I don't want to take her anywhere."

"I could go." Mike offered. He spent all his spare time with Elle at her house now anyway.

"Oh, I can't ask that-"

"We can go together." Elle stated. "That will be fine. Please make a list mom." Then she exhaled and leaned back into the cushions as if mentally preparing herself for the upcoming journey.


"Milk and eggs." Elle gripped the edge of the cart tightly as she pushed it down the first aisle.

"Got it." Mike replied, placing them in the cart.

"Frozen peas, brussels sprouts, and strawberries." Her voice was tight and Mike patted her hand soothingly in a vain attempt to calm her.

"Yep." The bags plopped in with a satisfying sound.

"Gatorade." Elle's finger reached the third section on the list. Mike tried not to notice the slight tremble in her finger.

"What flavor?"

"I don't care!" Her forehead creased, eyes darting anxiously around the other customers in the aisle.

"Yes, you do. Calm down. You are safe. I'm right here. What flavor do you want?" He placed his hands on her shoulders. Elle closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath.

"Lemon-Lime, please." She whispered.

"Okay." He grabbed a big pack. Elle downed them like a champ.

"That's a lot." She commented.

"You gotta stay hydrated, right? That's how you keep that glowing complexion." He grinned down at her and she flushed.

"You're an idiot, Michael Wheeler."

"Crazy in love." He grabbed her hand and smacked a kiss on the back of it.

"Oh, shut up and grab a bag of chips and some whole grain bread."

"Whole grain?" He wrinkled his nose.

"It is healthy. White bread is loaded with perservators." She informed, chin held high.

"True." He nodded, trying not to laugh at her misuse of the word. "Hey, I was thinking…"

"Dangerous." She quipped, pulling a bag of rice into the cart.

"Since Anna's sick we could make her some cookies. That could be, uh, fun."

"I don't know how to bake." Elle raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you?"

"No, but I've watched my mom do it, like, a million times? It can't be that hard. And look, they've got the recipe right on the back."

"I don't know."

"Come on. We could use the extra chocolate chips to make chocolate strawberries." Elle tilted her head to one side as she contemplated the offer.

"Okay. We can try."


This was not how Mike had envisioned this going. There was egg in his hair, flour on Elle's nose, chocolate in the corners of both of their mouths, and milk was dribbled all over the countertop. But the batter looked… okay, it looked weird.

"Does that look right to you?" He asked, prodding at the uneven mixture as Elle lined the baking pan.

"You have to stir it." Elle sighed, exasperated, taking the spoon from his grip.

"Oh. I always forget that part. Why can't they just, like, absorb each other or something?"

"Is that your scientific opinion?" She giggled, spooning the dough out on the pan.

"Of course. This is illogical, and as a scientist, I find that extremely offensive. You know we scientists are all about practicality." He declared in his trademark 'stuffy old scientist' voice. Elle rolled her eyes.

"Please. You just like weird facts and setting shit on fire."

"Not true! I also like melting shit."

"Michael." Joyce shook her head at him as she strode in the kitchen, toddler in her arms. She rifled through the medicine cabinet as Elle and Mike froze and hoped she wouldn't notice the mess.

"Ah, here we go. Here sweetie, this will make you feel better." She started to set Anna on the counter to give her medicine before realizing the surface was covered in milk and flour.

"What the- Elle?" She turned to her daughter, a frustrated look on her face.

"It's my fault Mrs. Wheeler. We were making cookies for Anna, and I'm just, you know, awful at this." Elle smiled at her boyfriend as he held his hands out to her mom in a what-can-you-do gesture.

Joyce sighed. "Just clean up when you're done."

"It says to put them in for 15 minutes." Mike instructed.

"15 minutes? That seems like an awful lot of time..." Elle's sentence trailed off suggestively as she leaned against the oven.

"Yep." Mike replied cheerily, pouring chocolate in a bowl. "Guess we can get started on those strawberries."

Elle was not dissuaded. "We could make out?" She offered. Mike flushed. Okay, pretending to not know what she was talking about didn't really work.

"Hell yes." He blurted. Elle giggled, hopping onto a clean stretch of counter.

"Come here."

Joyce had to rescue the cookies. But they weren't burned. Just… crispy. Well, that's what Mike said. Elle just smiled at him. He was cute when he was embarrassed.


A/N: You thought you were gonna get smut, didn't you? Nope, that's erm, coming, in the next chapter. But here's some fluff for y'all. I wasn't going to update until Wednesday, but I realized I have an audition on Friday and y'know, today's a holiday and everything... so here you go. Thank my procrastination. She's a nasty lil bitch, but I always come back to her. So tempting... Er, okay that's enough.

Leave me a review?

Kisses,

-Solange-