Nico's POV

Elijah sipped on his coffee as we walked hand in hand along La Push beach, tossing around ways to spend the rest of the day.

I rolled my eyes at the grip he seemed to have on his coffee thermos….which he apparently caught.

"What?"

I pointed to it as he swallowed another sip from it. "That….If you really love your coffee so much, why don't you marry it.

He chuckled at the observation. "Are you kidding? This coffee is waaay out of my league."

I shook my head. "All I'm sayin is that you seem particularly protective of that coffee."

"I mean, It couldn't possibly be because somebody made me spill my last one."

"My God…." I muttered under my breath. "I said I was sorry. Short of buying you your own private Starbucks, what is going to make you accept that."

"I was kidding." He sighed. "God, you're such a baby."

"Am I?" I teased, trying my best to look disappointed in him….and failing.

"Yes...come on, you know that." He insisted.

I rolled my eyes, trying to keep up the act. "Yeah, I guess."

He sighed. "Alright, well short of buying you your own private Stephen King library, how can I make it up to you?"

I folded my arms across my chest, keeping them there just long enough to raise the suspense.

"...I suppose there is one thing you could do…." I smirked.

"Dare I even ask?" He sighed.

"Calm down, It's not that bad." I tried to reassure him. "I'd like to think of it as an...interesting adventure."

"...I stand by my sentiment."

I shook my head. "Now, who's the baby?"

He shot me a glare, awaiting my request.

"I would like you to join me on a trip to a Spirit Halloween store." I answered.

He held his glare. "...I'm waiting for the catch.

"...thaaat's about two and a half hours away…" I shot him a semi nervous grin in an attempt to sway him.

"TWO and a half hours?! For a Halloween store?" He chuckled at the absurdity.

"It's the closest one we have!" I explained. "Look around. Do you see any Halloween stores?"

He looked, sarcastically, around the immediate area. "Yeah, you got me. I really don't."

"You know what I mean." I sighed. "Come on, pleeeease?"

He shook his head in obviously genuine disappointment. "Damnit, you know I can't say no to that." He sighed. "...Fine...but we're taking your car…...or Liz's car, or whatever. I'm not finding a tree to change behind just so you can get your jollies."

"Well, when you put it that way, you make me sound like a perv." I chuckled.

He rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

I gently nudged his shoulder back. "I do, I just-" I cut off when I noticed that my nudging him had caused some of his coffee to splash out.

He shot me a particularly "really?"-esque look

"...my bad." I tried to hold back laughter.

"You're just on a damn roll today, aren't ya?" He was also trying his best not to laugh.

"An accidental one, mind you." I added.

"Sure…." He air quoted while losing the battle not to laugh. "Accident."

"It was!" I insisted. "Come onnn!"

"Whateeever you say." He snickered, taking my hand again. "Anyway, let's circle back around, and then head off to your car."

"Sounds like a plan." I chuckled.

"Alright, it should be on the left side pretty soon…" I announced as we finally approached the street we needed. "Keep an eye out for it."

Eijah, who'd been lazily slumped in the passenger seat for the past few hours, finally sat back up, rubbing his eyes. "Why am I keeping an eye out for it if it's coming up on your side?"

"There is a windshield and, oh look. Other windows besides mine that you can look out of." I teased.

"Wow, really?" He muttered something else under his breath that I couldn't quite make out.

"Alright, Cranky, just tell me if you see it." I chuckled.

"Nah, I thought I'd keep it to myself."

I rolled my eyes. "Geez, what'd I do? Wake you from your nap or something?"

"I may have started to doze." He shrugged. "Because somebody's so called two and a half hour trip turned into a three and a half hour one."

"Well, excuuuse me for not being a navigational system." I laughed. "I just got us a little lost, give me a break."

"Fiine." He sighed, glancing over at my phone as it apparently went off. "Phone's buzzing."

"Check the name?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the shopping centers we were passing.

He glanced back at the phone screen. "It's a text from Leon."

I shrugged. "Just leave it then."

He looked up at me like I was crazy. "You know, you're gonna have to let him know where you are, at some point. I'm afraid he's gonna microchip one of us eventually or something."

I rolled my eyes. "He knows where I am, he just doesn't like it. And what, you're making dog jokes about yourself now?" I chuckled at that last part.

He was trying not to grin. "Very funny."

"I'm not a kid and he's not my dad. If he wants me living back at the house with them, he's just gonna have to find a way to get over that."

He nodded. "You raise a totally valid point there."

I sighed. "Would it make you happy if I bought you Starbucks for your grand sacrifice?"

That got me a little smile from him. "...I mean...if you're offering, I'm not gonna say no…"

I shook my head. "Fine, we'll stop by a Starbucks on the way there."

"Now that's what I like to hear." He said a little more enthusiastically. "I think there's one right up ahead of us."

I looked toward where he was pointing. "Aha, right across from Spirit, too."

He glanced over to the shopping center on the opposite side from where he'd pointed out the Starbucks. "Ahh, so it is. Win/Win then."