"The World's gone mad!" Jan huffed as she examined the large newspaper spread over the kitchen island. Resignedly, she set down her reading glasses and rubbed her tired eyes. "Gregg and I were out until almost three last night, can you believe it?"

Kathryn looked up from the papers she had in front of her as she took another sip of her coffee. "What happened?"

"Well," Jan turned around to the French press and brought it over to the island. "Refill?"

Kathryn nodded as she held out her lukewarm beverage.

"We got nine new admissions so Gregg was tied up in the Emergency Room and I came down to help. It was a mad house! And on top of that, we've got a new group of students rotating with us and they were all out of sorts after they came from doing their women's health module. So, Kathryn," She changed the subject. "What did you and Chakotay end up doing for Valentines Day? Gregg said Chakotay planned something."

Kathryn smiled at the remembrance. "He took me down to Portage Creek to see the Millennium Gate."

"Oh, that's right! Gregg and I went a few years ago. It's great isn't it?"

"Fantastic," Was the only word that came to mind, and even that didn't do the excursion justice.

"So did you two just go for shopping and dinner?"

"Something like that. While we were there we met the owners of the mall's only bookstore and they had us over for dinner with their family."

"Well that was nice!" Jan smiled as she poured another drop of cream into her coffee. "It's good that you were able to get out and meet some new people!"

"How about you? Did you and Gregg do anything?"

"Well," She started. "Every year, Gregg has a huge bouquet of roses sent up to my office. I'm a sucker for red roses! And then for dinner, the two of us usually make reservations at La Pomme in Bloomington. It's a treat to go up to the city and splurge a little. So," She sighed happily and folded up the newspaper. "That's what we ended up doing. Well, Kathryn," Jan said after a moment as she bunched up the new paper and deposited it in the blue recycling bin in the corner. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Of course," Kathryn nodded before she emptied her cup in the sink and washed it out.

Jan turned back towards the foyer and waved Kathryn to follow. "Follow me into the bedroom, will you? I've got to brush out my hair and put on makeup. Why is it that even after forty years of working, I'm always running late in the morning? You think I'd have gotten my act together by now!"

"Do you think it will stay like this until spring?" Chakotay and Gregg trod side by side through the wet mud on their way to the recreation building. The air this morning was warm, laden with the impending smells that spring always brought.

For the first time, Chakotay could discriminate the fine scent of freshly uncovered wet grass, that distinctive smell of damp tree bark, and the subtle the tanginess coming off the of the lake as the ice finally melted. The ground was a mess, coating their rubber boots in fresh mud. But it made him happy because it felt real.

"Stay?" Gregg echoed, pondering the simple question. "Well I looked at the ten day forecast, and it's supposed to warm up over the next week. Funny, because it's not usually like this at the end of February. This is more of a late April day, just before we head into May. But," He shrugged "We'll see. It would be nice it we had a break from the snow - we could get on these renovations a little sooner."

"That's what I was thinking," Chakotay agreed as they stepped into dormant building.

"It shouldn't take too long, I don't think." Gregg brushed off his shoes and walked over the shellacked wooden floor to the far west wall.

Chakotay looked at the space around them, formulating ideas as he did so. "What can do is knock down this wall and that other one and replace them with glass."

"Yeah," Gregg turned and walked to the far wall. "That's a good idea. This wall here faces the lake, so the kids and parents will get a great view while their doing activities or eating."

"It'll open the space more," He imagined. "Make it flow."

"All right then," Gregg walked back to the centre of the space. "We certainly have it in the budget to do that. And then we have to think about updating some of the cabins. We did half of them last year when outfitted them with new floors and these special air filtration systems. Those worked out pretty well."

They fell back into silence, scanning the room and imagining their new project. "Oh," Gregg took a look at his wrist. "Typical. I've got to get going! Jan and I have to be at work." They started their way back up to the house when Gregg spoke again. "I think Jan is talking with Kathryn about it, but we had a little favour to ask the two of you."

"Sure," Chakotay nodded. "What's it about?"