A/N: Sorry for the delay, I had a really busy weekend. Onwards!


Part 76

"Over here!"

Carolina looked around, hearing North's voice but not seeing him, and a moment later the crowd parted and she saw him waving from across the terminal, duffel bag at his feet, a huge grin spread across his face.

"North!" She ran over and dropped her bag next to his, throwing her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly. He held her close, laughing.

"I've missed you, sweetie!"

"I've missed you too. Thanks so much for helping me with this."

"Of course, York's one of my best friends. I'd do anything for that idiot." He finally let go of her and reached down, grabbing their bags. "Let's get going, okay? I need to eat before we meet up with the realtor, and we don't have a lot of time."

"Sounds great." She tried to take back her bag as they walked, but North firmly held onto it, insisting that he carry it. They found the car rental counter and North spoke with the woman behind the counter as Carolina looked around Denver International Airport, grinning at all the pictures of the mountains decorating the interior.

Finally North got a set of car keys and instructions to where the rental car was parked, and they were on their way. It took some time to find the right lot but soon they were in the car, bags safely in the backseat, and headed for downtown Denver to find a restaurant within walking distance of the realtor office. Carolina navigated using her phone's GPS and eventually they found a parking meter to use near a pizza place that was supposedly a few blocks away.

They sat down in a booth near the window of the restaurant, each having ordered two slices and a drink, and watched people walk by as they ate quickly.

"This is pretty good," North remarked, picking off an olive to eat alone as he finished up his second slice.

Carolina nodded, taking another bite. "Yeah, not as good as a few places in New York, but you can't win them all."

North laughed. "Aw, look who's spoiled by living in New York."

"Oh, be quiet."

He nudged her with his elbow and nodded in the direction of the next booth over, seeing two girls staring at him, giggling about something. "Uh, am I being checked out?"

She raised her eyebrow. "Yeah, I think so."

"Hey, ladies!" North waved at the girls and they both blushed, quickly looking down at their slices of pizza. "Aw, don't be shy."

"Hi," one of them said, her voice slightly shaky.

"You're both so cute," North said, winking at them. They both giggled and poked each other. They must have been early college-age, maybe twenty-two if Carolina had to guess. "Are you having a good day?"

"It's better now," the obviously-braver one of the two said, flipping a lock of blonde hair over her shoulder. "Do you want to maybe meet up later for a drink?"

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but my wife wouldn't care much for that," North replied, snuggling closer to Carolina. She smiled at the girls and waved, watching their faces fall. "But have a great day!"

"You too," the blonde said, sounding sad. North chuckled and kissed Carolina on the cheek, making her blush and the girls turn away, focusing on their food again.

"Aww, that was adorable," Carolina said quietly. North nuzzled against her cheek and grinned.

"It's so hard being gay sometimes," he lamented.

(b)

"Uh…are you sure this is the right place?..."

North had an incredulous look on his face as they gazed up at the outside of the office building where a large pink sign was hanging, loudly proclaiming "Franklin and Associates Realtors" in Office 2B. A flower border decorated the sign and North cringed.

"Good god, it's like the stereotypical side of me threw up all over that sign," he moaned.

Carolina grabbed his arm and dragged him inside, throwing a sideways glance at the pink and yellow coffee table in the hallway with housing brochures on it. They found the office door just inside and she knocked before entering.

Every single visible surface was either white or pink, and Carolina blinked, wondering if her retinas were going to be burned out from the sheer overwhelming color. Despite the sickening shade of pink, the place was actually very tastefully decorated, with a few bunches of flowers settled around the room on small tables, and a large white desk in the middle of the room with a computer and ledger on top of it. Various frames filled the walls, most of them pictures of stylish houses and the scenic backdrop of Colorado. The computer chair was empty and she finally located a young blonde man in a black suit standing at the other end of the room in front of a coffee maker which was, she sighed internally, pink.

"Oh, heyyy guys!" he called over his shoulder. "Just one second!" He poured a cup of coffee and carried it over to the desk, setting it down gingerly. He turned to look at them and his face lit up in a giant smile. "Carolina, right?" he asked, coming around the side of the desk to shake her hand. "It's so great to finally meet you! You're adorable!"

"Uh, thanks. You too?..." She shook his hand, smiling.

"And you are?" he said, turning to North. He smiled and shook the man's hand.

"North. Great to meet you."

"Oh, I never even introduced myself! What a dummy. I'm Franklin Donut, but you can just call me Donut!" he said proudly.

"What an…interesting name," North observed.

"Well, that's my name, so thank you!" Donut said, beaming. "Anyway, I know you don't have a lot of time, so let's get right to it! Did we finish deciding on which homes to go look at?"

Carolina nodded, reaching into her purse to pull out a small writing pad. "Yeah, I wanted to check out that one in Belmar, and the one in Five Points."

"Oh, you know what? Let me check something." Donut went over to the computer and typed in something, clicking a few times before frowning. "Yeah, that one in Five Points had an offer put in the other day, so it's probably not going to be available. Did you have a backup?"

Carolina sighed, checking her notes. "The only other one I really liked was the one in the Littleton neighborhood. That's going to be closer to the building site anyway."

"Sounds great! Let me just grab some paperwork and we'll be on our way. I can drive!" Donut continued babbling about the highs and lows of the neighborhoods as North glanced around, squinting.

"There's too much pink here even for me," he whispered. "I'm getting a headache." She nodded in agreement.

Finally Donut was standing next to them, arms full of file folders and a travel coffee mug. He winked at North. "So, is this the lucky boyfriend?" he asked.

North laughed. "No, I'm the friend helping set all this up," he replied. "York is the boyfriend."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I have that written down somewhere, I must have forgotten, silly me."

"It's okay. Should we get going?"

"Of course!" Donut nudged the two of them forward towards the door. "We can take my car, I just got it serviced! There's nothing like a good old-fashioned servicing to do wonders, am I right?"

"Uh, right," North agreed, raising an eyebrow. Carolina just shrugged and they followed Donut to a surprisingly navy-colored four-door sedan. He unlocked the car and she climbed in the front passenger seat while North got in the back. Everyone buckled up and Donut started the car, heading for the highway.

"So it's a short drive to the Belmar one, we'll check that out first. Then I have a few more in mind that just came on the market, and they're nearby so we can just spread ourselves to take more in!"

North coughed suddenly as Carolina smirked, trying to resist saying anything.

(b)

"Alright, first thoughts on this one?"

Carolina walked through the living room, narrowing her eyes in thought as she glanced around the expansive area leading into the kitchen. "I'm not really feeling it."

"Did you see this giant den?" North called out. She made her way towards his voice, reading the flyer in her hand.

"I think this is a little out of our price range," she replied, stepping down into a large den where North was checking out all of the television equipment the owners had displayed.

"This is such a nice place though," North said. "And they just redid the roof, and the garden is already planted and blooming."

Carolina shrugged. "Yeah, I'm just not getting that 'oh my god yes' vibe."

Donut was at her side a moment later, tapping the paper in her hand. "So, what do you think?" he asked with a smile.

"I don't think so," she said, shaking her head. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry! We won't rest until we find you the perfect house. The last six just weren't it, that's all." Donut checked his watch and sighed. "However, we will have to wait until tomorrow to look at the rest."

"Okay. Sorry we dragged you all over the city," North said, taking her hand. "We'll head back to the hotel and grab some dinner, and meet up with you early if that's okay."

"Of course! We can get started bright and early. Let's go back so you can get your car from the office." Donut gestured for them to follow him and they made their way to the car. Once buckled inside Carolina pulled out her phone and saw that York had called, leaving her a voicemail. She listened to it as they drove, trying to hear it over Donut and North talking about furniture.

"Hey babe, just seeing what you were up to. I'm stuck late at work, and I'm sure you're busy working, so just give me a call back whenever. Oh, and I emailed you another few links, so check those when you take a break, okay? Love you, miss you."

She clicked on the email app on her phone and opened the new email from him, opening the various links in new browser windows. The first link was a house that was definitely out of their price range as well as being too far south. The second one looked promising, but the third link was the one that made her sit up and re-read the description a second time.

"Hey, Donut?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we make one more stop today? I know it's late, but there's a place I really want to see."

"I suppose so. Where is it?" he asked, tilting his head back slightly.

"Uhh…Littleton again. Is that close by?"

"We're not too far. Give me the address. Hey, North, can you type it into the GPS?"

"Sure." He set the destination as Carolina read it aloud. "Where did you find this one?"

"York just emailed me."

"Ah, okay." North put the GPS back on the dash and Donut adjusted it.

"Only about thirty minutes away. I feel like we're going on an adventure!" he said with a grin.

(b)

Donut pulled his car up into the driveway and Carolina was quickly out of the car, walking up to the front door.

It was a small two-story home with an attached garage and a medium-sized front lawn, a decorative border of rocks wrapping around the edge. A couple of bushes littered the front, but the lawn definitely needed some work. The house itself was a pale blue with yellow trim, and the front door was a light yellow, which made her smile. It was charming, she found herself thinking as she waited for Donut to mess with the security box on the door, cross-checking a list on his phone to find the right code.

"I totally forgot about this place," he commented as he flicked through files on his phone. "It went on the market a few months ago, but it doesn't get a lot of traffic because it needs some work done."

"Well, it's not like York isn't good with construction," North said.

"I'm sorry this one didn't occur to me," Donut apologized as he found the code he needed, typing it into the lockbox. It sprung open and he retrieved the key, opening the front door. He stepped back as it swung open. "After you!"

Carolina smiled and stepped past him, entering the house. Immediately she froze, standing in the entryway, her eyes wide.

It was perfect.

The entryway opened up into a large, long living room with a short wall dividing it and the kitchen. Connected to the living room was a smaller dining nook with a sliding glass door leading to a backyard. She looked to her left and saw a large spiral staircase leading up to a second floor, and she walked over as North and Donut began to discuss what would need fixing.

On the second floor were three closed doors and an open one leading into a smaller bathroom. The first two doors lead to bedrooms, both reasonably sized, and the closer one had a bay window in the front of it, the window overlooking the street in front of the house. The last door opened up into the master bedroom, and Carolina's mind immediately began placing furniture around the room, her breath catching as she stood in the center, looking out the large window at the head of the room. A master bathroom was attached and it had a large claw-footed club next to a standing shower, and a good-sized vanity with two sinks and lots of cabinets. The closet was a walk-in and had rods on both sides as well as shelves stretching up to the ceiling, which were higher than usual.

"Hey, what do you think?" North asked, and she popped out of the closet to see him standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, hands in his pockets.

She hesitated, not sure if she wanted to admit that it was perfect, as though that would…jinx it somehow. North smiled and pushed himself off the frame, coming over to stand in front of her.

"You're already picturing it, aren't you?" he asked softly. It took all of her resolve to just nod and not start crying. North pulled his hands out of his pockets and set them on her waist, turning her around so that her back was to his chest, and he held her tightly, resting his head on her shoulder. "What are you thinking?"

"That I want to turn the second bedroom into an office, and the first one into a kid's room," she whispered, her voice shaking. "That I want to add a porch downstairs and maybe a walk-out porch up here. That I want to fix the shower and upgrade the bathrooms."

"And?"

"That I want to start a life here," she said, a little more loudly, listening to her voice reverberate off the empty walls.

She could feel North's chest tremble as he murmured his agreement, and she felt her lips curl up into a smile as she squeezed his hands, picturing her future with York.

Part 77

Carolina sat at the table in the hotel room, staring at a pile of paperwork Donut had given her to go over, containing various numbers and estimates and steps to take for buying a house. He was confident that it wouldn't be getting an offer put on it anytime soon, since it seemed that most other realtors had forgotten it was even there, and was sure they could drive the price down a bit. It was in their range, though near the higher end, and she was already overwhelmed and worried about how the whole 'surprise' angle was going to work if she couldn't pay for it on her own. Which, she already knew, she couldn't.

"I'm sure Maine would loan you the down payment money and you guys could just pay him back over time," North said, coming out of the bathroom as he toweled off his head. He was already in pajama bottoms, though shirtless. "I could talk to him."

"I could never ask him to do that," Carolina replied, shaking her head. "That's entirely too much. I mean, we're looking at what, over thirty or forty grand for that? That's ridiculous."

"Do you think you could qualify for a good rate on your own?"

She shook her head again. "No, I don't think so. Besides, I really want to go in together with York on this. And he has great credit, so that would only help us."

North shrugged, sitting on the edge of one of the beds. "I don't know then. I really don't know how this stuff works."

"Yeah, neither do I," she frowned, staring down at the papers again. "I guess there's only so much I can do on my own. Maybe I can just surprise York with a trip out here to see the house. I'm sure he'll fall in love with it right away. I mean, he's the one that sent me the link to it in the first place."

North smiled. "I'm sure he will. I really wish you could have seen the look on your face when you were upstairs. You just…glowed."

She blushed, smiling at him. "Really?"

"Trust me. That's your house. We'll find a way."

Carolina closed her eyes, imagining the interior again. She heard North chuckle and opened her eyes, seeing him just smiling at her. "What?"

"You were picturing it, weren't you?" North stood up and came over to her, bending down to kiss her on the cheek as she laughed.

"I can't help it!"

"I need some sleep. Try not to stay up all night, okay? We should still go see a few more homes tomorrow to make sure." North snuggled in under the comforter on his bed, flicking off the bedside lamp. "Good night, Lina."

"I'm going to call York real fast, and then I'll get some sleep."

"Sounds good." He rolled over to face away as she dialed York's number, waiting for him to pick up. Checking her watch, she realized he might still be at work, and almost hung up as he answered, out of breath.

"Lina?"

"Hey, hon. What are you doing? You sound like I caught you in the middle of something."

"Nothing, I was just organizing some boxes in the closet." He took a deep breath. "What's up?"

"Oh, I was just going to bed, so I thought I'd call to say good night."

"Bed? It's only ten, isn't it? You never go to bed before one in the morning. Are you feeling okay?"

She checked the clock on the table, realizing it was eight o'clock. They'd had a long day, so she was more tired than usual, especially with the time change. "Uh, yeah, I'm just tired. I didn't notice the time."

"Are you sure everything's okay? You sound…distracted."

"Yeah, everything's fine, I promise."

"Good. I miss you so much, babe. I can't wait to see you soon."

"Soon?"

"Your graduation, remember?"

"Oh! Right."

"Lina, you're kind of worrying me."

"Sweetie, I'm fine. I'm just so stressed over stuff for school and…it's just been a long day. Really. I'll be fine."

"Please don't work yourself too hard. I don't need you getting sick, since I can't be there to take care of you."

Her chest flooded with happiness and she smiled, cradling the phone to her ear. "I won't get sick. I miss you too. We'll see each other soon."

"Good. Get some sleep. I'll text you in the morning when I'm up."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you, babe." York made kissing noises into the phone and she laughed as she hung up. She watched North roll over and groan.

"I think I may be glad when you guys move away," he grumbled. "That much sappiness might just kill me if I spend too much time around you."

"Oh, shut up," she said, tossing a pen at him. He rolled his eyes and turned away again, burying his face under a pillow as she stared out the window at the stars above.

(b)

The next day was a bust, or what Donut apparently called "just as disappointing as a cheerleader threesome," which just made North choke on his coffee and turn bright red. They'd looked at seven more houses and none of them had given Carolina the same feelings as the one the day before.

"So, you're sure this is the one you want to go for?" Donut asked, once they were back inside the office. North was half-asleep in a chair while the two of them were going over papers.

Carolina nodded. "Is there any way to keep it off the market, or just…I don't know, hide it or something?"

Donut laughed. "Not really, unless we actually start the paperwork right away. But to do that you should already have a banker on call, and have checked your credit and have all that stuff in order."

"Which I haven't even started," Carolina said, sighing. "Okay. I guess I can't really do anything right now."

"Have you decided how you want to surprise your boyfriend?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I guess we should schedule a trip out here or something. I'll think about it and let you know."

"Please do! I'm eager to please," Donut said, winking at her. North snorted from the chair. "That being said, I'll do my best to keep the house off the market. I don't think it'll be that hard, since it seems to have been mostly forgotten anyway."

"Okay. Well, I guess that's it for now. We're flying home tomorrow morning anyway." She stood up and extended a hand, and Donut shook it, grinning widely.

"I can't wait to see how this all plays out," he said, squeezing her hand. "It's just so exciting that I may blow!"

North stifled another laugh and sat up, blinking. "Are we leaving?" he mumbled.

"Yeah, come on."

"It was so great to meet you!" Donut and North shook hands as he blearily rubbed his eyes.

"You too," North replied, smiling.

"Have a safe flight home and keep in touch!" Donut walked them to the door and smiled, waving them out. "Later!"

Carolina waved as they walked away towards the parking garage they'd used that day. North took her by the hand and swung their arms as they walked, whistling quietly.

"You're chipper," she said, smiling.

He shrugged, swinging her arm more widely. "I'm just so excited! And I have a few ideas on how you can surprise York."

"Oh, do tell!"

"All in good time, my dear," North said, winking at her. "I need dinner first."

"I didn't realize I had to wine and dine you for this," Carolina laughed.

"Hey, I don't put out without food first!" North paused, thinking. "Well…most of the time." She reached over with her other hand and smacked his arm, laughing.

(b)

Carolina didn't know what she'd been expecting when she walked into her apartment, but a mostly-naked woman sprawled out on the couch hadn't been anywhere near the list.

"Grif!" she hollered, and stood frozen in the doorway as she waited for him to come out of his room. It was a Saturday morning, he should have been around. A passed-out woman seemed more like his doing than Simmons', so she was hedging her bets on his involvement.

"Jesus Christ," Grif complained loudly, appearing in the hallway, only wearing boxers. "What the fuck, Carolina? When did you get back?"

"Just now. Who the fuck is that?"

He glanced over at the couch and groaned. "Goddammit, put some fucking clothes on!" he yelled, walking over to the girl. He kicked her foot that was dangling off the side and she snorted loudly, slowly opening one eye.

"Fuck off, asshole!" she muttered, turning onto her side as she closed her eyes. Unfortunately for both Grif and Carolina, she was topless and she turned more towards them. Grif shouted a few choice words and reached for a blanket, hurling it over her.

"I'm gonna fucking kick you in the junk," Grif threatened, and the girl opened both eyes, glaring at him.

"You don't have the balls."

"Try me."

Carolina cleared her throat, still standing in front of the door. "Can someone please explain why a naked girl is on the couch?"

"I'm not completely naked," the girl replied, sitting up. Luckily the blanket stayed over her as she yawned. "And fuck you, who are you?"

"I live here!" Carolina shouted, losing her temper. Grif stood up and came over, standing in front of her.

"Okay, uh, long story short, this is my sister," he said, grimacing.

Carolina glared at the girl, realizing she looked a lot like Grif. She had similar olive-colored skin and her long black hair was reminiscent of Grif's when he didn't shower for a few days. She watched as the girl leaned down, grabbing a shirt off the floor to yank over her head.

"So, are you boning her?" she asked, pointing to Carolina. Grif reached out to hold Carolina back as he shook his head, sighing.

"Shut the fuck up, Sister."

"What?! I was just asking." Sister stood up and stretched her arms over her head, watching as Simmons wandered into the living room, his eyes widening at the view of Sister's stomach. "Hey, like what you see?" she asked, wiggling her hips. "I've been working out!"

Simmons' cheeks turned scarlet as he ran to the kitchen, ducking his head into the fridge. "Morning, Sister," he called out, not looking at anyone.

"Dude, stop lusting after my sister!" Grif snapped.

"I am not!"

"He totally was," Sister said loudly, bending over to touch her toes. Carolina was fascinated at how flexible she was, watching her stretch in various positions. "He's always staring at me. You wanna hit this, Simmons?"

"Shut up, Sister!"

"God, Grif, stop cockblocking your best friend!"

"I am not listening, I am not listening," Carolina could hear Simmons repeating to himself as he poured himself a glass of juice, trying to block out the yelling in the living room.

(b)

"So I was living in New Jersey, and I was dating this guy for like a month, and it was going really good, right? Well, it turns out he was a cop, even though when we met I even asked if he was a cop and he said he wasn't which is entrapment, isn't it? Like, it's a law that you have to tell people if you're a cop, right?"

"Get to the point," Grif moaned, his head in his hands. Sister had been talking for an hour straight, telling them about the last year of her insanely ridiculous life. Carolina had asked her at one point if she was high and making things up, but Sister had replied she was sober but was totally down for smoking a joint, if Carolina had one.

"Okay, whatever, so the guy is a cop and I was like 'oh my god, I can't believe I'm dating a cop,' I mean I didn't want to have to flush my stash, but it turned out he was really cool about it as long as he wasn't around for when I bought everything. Another couple of weeks go by and I asked him to get me some coke from the station, or maybe some heroin—I mean, I'm not picky, whatever. And, like, he totally flipped out on me, and was screaming about how he's not a dirty cop and I was like 'whatever, you're the one who took ecstasy last night and was talking about turtles for three hours. And then he started blaming me for that, and I was all 'sweetie, you said you had a headache, and I just thought that would make you feel better!"

"And you didn't have any aspirin lying around?" Simmons said, exasperated.

"Fuck that pussy shit!" Sister snapped. "Aspirin is for kids! So we broke up and I burned a bunch of his shit that night, but I went over to his place the next day to have make-up sex because I figured it was just the leftover ecstasy in his system and maybe he was fine now. I broke into his apartment because he never gave me a key but it's okay because I know how to pick locks, and I find him in his bedroom fucking some other girl! At first I thought 'well sure, why not,' because women are beautiful too, right? But no, she's not a hooker he hired for a threesome, she's his other girlfriend! The asshole was cheating on me with her!"

"I think it was probably the other way around," Carolina muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Well, fuck that asshole!" she said angrily. "I threw a bunch of his shit around the room—oh yeah, I was kind of high at the time—and then he threw me out, saying I was some coked-up whore and he was all trying to convince this other girl that 'oh, baby, I love you, she's fucking crazy,' so I stole his cat. Now who's the crazy one?"

Grif blinked, processing the last part of her story. "Wait, what?"

"Oh fuck, did I leave it in the car?" Sister jumped up and grabbed her car keys, tossing them at Simmons. "Bitch, go get the fucker out of my car! He's probably pissed on everything already!" Simmons ran out of the apartment as Grif and Carolina stared at her, open-mouthed with shock. "Jesus, have you ever driven a cat cross-country? I nearly left that thing on the side of the road in like four different states."

The room was silent as she sipped from a mug of coffee and tried to flatten part of her long hair that was sticking out strangely. A few minutes later Simmons came back into the apartment, holding a large cat that was snuggled into his chest, purring contentedly.

"That thing is an asshole," Sister said, pointing at it. Simmons looked down and pet its head, smiling.

"It doesn't seem so bad."

"Can I see it?" Grif stood up, walking over to Simmons. "I kind of always wanted a cat; they seem easy to take care of."

"I don't know, I—whoa!" Simmons nearly dropped the cat as it swiped at Grif, hissing, catching his hand with one of its claws. Grif yelped and the cat squirmed out of Simmons' hands, starting to attack Grif's leg. Grif kicked it away and backed up, watching as it stopped hissing and started rubbing up against Simmons' foot.

"What the shit?"

"Guess it doesn't like you," Simmons observed.

"Oh, its name is Sarge," Sister said, rolling her eyes. "Because the guy was a cop, right? Fucking idiot. Real creative there. I think he had a hard-on for his sergeant. Wouldn't blame him, guy was hot, in like a 'hot dad' way, but still."

Grif rubbed his hand, growling under his breath. Carolina stood up and grabbed her bags, dragging them towards her room. "Good luck with your raging insanity," she yelled over her shoulder. Sister started shouting about 'family over hoes' or something and Grif and Simmons started yelling back at her, Sarge's yowling nearly drowning out all three of them.

Part 78

Wash rolled over in bed, draping his arm over the side of the bed as he buried his face in the pillow. A moment later he felt something brush against his fingertips and he flexed them automatically, scratching Epsilon behind the ears, smiling as he meowed his typical 'good morning, now feed me' cry.

"Morning."

He opened his eyes and rolled back over to smile at Georgia, who was snuggled underneath the blanket, only the top of her head visible, her eyes closed. Wash smiled and scooted over, lifting up the blanket so that it wouldn't get caught under his weight, and slid an arm over her waist, resting his head on her pillow.

"Morning, lovely," he replied quietly, kissing her nose. She moved further underneath the blanket and he chuckled, rubbing her side through the thin t-shirt she'd worn to bed.

"I don't want to get up," she murmured.

"We can stay in bed today, there's no school. Teacher holiday."

"Really?" She perked up a little and he grinned, his hand slowly working its way up her side, lightly touching her upper arm, stroking the skin.

"Really." He pushed the blanket down with his chin and kissed her, starting out slowly but deepening it after a few seconds, his hand squeezing her arm with just enough pressure to make her scoot closer to his body.

Georgia reached up and pushed her hands against his chest, moving him so that he was lying on his back, staring up at her. Her brunette hair was disheveled but still curled at the ends, flying away from her face in various directions, and her eyes were half-lidded, but a grin was playing at the sides of her mouth. "Do you want breakfast before or after?" she asked, letting out a soft sigh as Wash's hands caressed her stomach, moving downwards agonizingly slowly.

"I'm thinking we skip breakfast and just kill time until lunch," he replied, slipping a few fingers under the waistband of her underwear.

"Sounds good to me."

(b)

They'd been dating for nearly a month, much to Wash's delight. The first date they'd had after dinner with Utah had been a near disaster, and Wash was thinking that maybe he just wasn't cut out for dating. The reservation had been lost, the service was atrocious, and he'd gotten a flat tire while driving her home, but despite everything, she'd agreed when he offered to take her out again, promising a better time.

And the second date had gone better. So had the third, and the fourth. By the fifth date, they were nearly inseparable, texting each other constantly, laughing over inside jokes, enamored with each other.

If Wash was being honest with himself, he hadn't thought about Carolina in weeks—not like that, at least. He was still worried that something would happen and she and York would break up again, but it seemed like they were doing really well, which made him happy. He'd talked about his feelings with North, who just assured him that they would go away in time, getting Wash to admit that he knew he didn't love Carolina like that anymore. Sometime between the third and fourth dates with Georgia, he was infatuated with her and knew that things were going to be back to normal soon.

"When am I going to get to meet everyone?" Georgia asked later that morning, flipping over a grilled cheese sandwich she was making for lunch. Wash had opted for leftovers from the previous night, half a turkey and cheese sandwich.

He stared at her as she stood in front of the stove in just his t-shirt, his eyes traveling up her long legs to finally settle on her face. She was blushing, having obviously seen his line of sight. "I hadn't really thought about it. I like having you to myself."

Georgia laughed, flipping the sandwich again. "You have a way of sounding creepy, you know that?"

Wash grinned. "You know what I mean! I just….I know you'll get along with everyone, but I love spending so much time with you, just us."

"No, I get it, I just like giving you a hard time." She let the sandwich simmer on the stove as she poured herself a glass of milk and set it on the table. "I'm excited to meet all your friends."

"I am too. I'll set something up soon, I promise." He took a bite of sandwich and watched her slide the grilled cheese out of the pan and onto a plate, setting the pan in the sink. She carried the sandwich to the table and sat down, smiling at him.

"Oh, we're having dinner with Tyler tomorrow, okay? I promised Kerry I'd try to play nice."

Wash had to think for a moment—he was so used to calling Tyler 'Utah' and could never remember to call him by his real name. "Okay. Maybe I can invite CT and Brandon or someone else."

"I want to meet everyone," Georgia emphasized.

"I know, I know!" Wash reached over and patted her hand. "You will."

"Good." She picked up her sandwich and took a bite, nodding approvingly. "I just want you to know I'm taking this seriously."

He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm in this if you are."

"In…what?"

"The relationship, dumbass." Georgia rolled her eyes. "I really like you, okay?"

It was Wash's turn to blush as his confused frown turned into a shy smile. "I really like you too."

"I know it's only been about a month, but I think we're good together and I don't want that to end."

"Neither do I," Wash agreed, not sure what else to say.

"Then it's settled." Georgia took another bite of her sandwich, wiping her hands on a napkin.

"You don't take no for an answer, do you?" Wash asked, laughing.

"Nope."

"I like that."