JAMIE'S POV

The first thing I saw when I woke up was the twisted band of Ivy around Anthony's wrist. He had shown me how to make the verdant bracelet the night before, and after about three attempts to make something that even vaguely resembled the neat braids of the one Anthony gave me. Mangled and uneven as it was, seeing it on his wrist caused my stomach to constrict and I suddenly felt the need to roll over to escape the unusual sensation.

After a less than admirable attempt to fall back asleep I began to get ready for my day. As things started to cool down for the fall, work on our little farm started to pick up so it was for the best that my day started sooner rather than later. Even so, I couldn't find it within myself to disturb Anthony's peaceful sleep so I did my best to maneuver around him as I got myself around. As I laced up my shoes I allowed myself one last look at the ivy resting around Anthony's wrist.

I couldn't quite put my finger on what had shifted, but as I helped Ian dice the tomatoes to be canned I couldn't help but feel as if part of my mind was somewhere else. What part or where it was, I couldn't tell you, but as Ian and I made small talk about the weather and how Ray was finally starting to sleep for a decent amount of time I couldn't bring my focus back to the conversation. Normally I loved to hear Ian talk, especially about Wanda and their baby girl. The way Ian's face lit up, the way you could hear his voice filled with endearment as he spoke of the women he loved. Even if I wasn't as enthralled as he was about Ray starting to point and grab at things, seeing someone light up when they talk about something they truly love is always something particularly engaging in and of itself. Today however I couldn't fully bring myself to appreciate the special smile that lived on his face whenever he talked of his new life as a father.

"So where did you get that bracelet?" Ian asked and immediately my focus moved from the bright red mess that I was cutting to the deep green wrapped around my wrist. I think he could sense my distance and whether he understood it, more or less than myself, I wasn't sure. However, the way he shifted the conversation, the way he asked me a question, maybe the only question that could have brought me fully back into the moment. I thought he might have known something I didn't.

"It was a gift from Anthony" I couldn't decide if I wanted to tell Ian every detail of the night, of our special celebration, of our talks, of the way I felt when his hands held mine. In the end I realized that I wasn't even sure I had the words so I stuck to the basics as my hand spun the band around, "It was a gift for the Equinox, I made him one too."

"Is it that time already?" Even though Ian kept his tone light, I felt the weight of his gaze and busied myself again with the tomatoes. "Maybe I should make one for Ray?"

"Maybe, you would have to get him to teach you though. The one I made isn't nearly this nice"

"Oh really? He did a really good job on that one. You can tell it was made with love."

"Yeah" I agreed, feeling the rush of blood to my cheeks and that unknown sensation from earlier begin to take hold of my stomach "I guess it was, after all it's the thought that counts with gifts anyway."

"Too true, you know I was thinking of making something for Wanda and Ray for Thanksgiving. I have been trying to figure out some way to make a little turkey for Ray..." Seemingly satisfied with what I had shared, Ian moved his attention squarely back to the task at hand, and the conversation of Thanksgiving plans and turkey themed crafts carried us through to lunch.

Entering the lunch room my eyes instinctively sought out Anthony and Grey who had become my regular meal time companions. I found them at the usual table, I wasn't expecting to see the person who was sitting next to them. Before continuing on to the table I watched as Kyle smiled across the table at an animated Grey who was excitedly waving a carrot. Kyle's eyes caught mine and he waved at me from across the room. Anthony noticed and he turned in his chair and smiled as he waved to the chair next to him at the table and the movement brought my focus like a laser to the small band of ivy that matched my own. I felt his eyes follow me across the room as I went to grab a bowl and fill it with the soup of the day and make my way to the chair next to Anthony.

"She said that they have thumbs on their feet" Grey giggled waving his own thumbs in the air as he spoke.

"Who have thumbs on their feet?" I asked as I slid the chair slightly closer to Anthony as I took my place at the table.

"Monkeys!" Grey said proudly, "Evie told us about them today, she drew a picture of them and after lunch she will draw one just for me!"

"Could she draw one for me too?" Anthony smiled at his brother.

"Maybe, and maybe she can draw one for Kyle too? Did you know Kyle has seen a real life monkey?"

"Well just in a zoo." Kyle laughed at Grey's wide round eyes. "Maybe one day I will take you guys."

"I think I went to the zoo once on a school trip," I added, "I can't remember much, but I am sure we saw monkeys."

"If I ever go to the zoo I want to see a gorilla, Luce says those are the biggest monkeys."

"They are, gorillas are even bigger than me!" Kyle motioned to himself and puffed out his chest out towards a laughing Grey.

As I watched Kyle display his newfound tenderness I felt a knee press against my own. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation. Bumping against others was a natural side effect of living your life in a system of caves. This touch seemed to infect my entire body, my fingers felt lighter as Anthony's leg pressed into mine and our legs stitched themselves together from knee to ankle. I turned to look at the boy next to me, and saw a question in his eyes. In answer, I pressed my foot harder against his own. I wasn't entirely sure what his question was, or if I had even really answered, but the smile that overtook his face and the hand that ghosted across my knee told me I had done something right. I smiled back at him, it felt like the room narrowed to the smile on his face and the hand that had planted itself on my knee. A silent agreement was made as we looked at one another and I felt my body become light as if the places where Anthony's leg touched mine were the only things keeping me from floating right out of my chair.

"Can you boy's help me with something tonight?" Kyle asked, bringing us into the moment.

"What did you need?" Anthony turned to look at Kyle, but he maintained the way that our bodies met under the table.

"Burns came back with a lot of good supplies from his trip, but he also brought back about three tons of mud and I could use some help cleaning off the Jeeps and wiping down some of the crates."

"Sure, we were just talking about how much fun it is to spend your night cleaning mud out of tires!" Anthony answered for us.

"Great, I'll see you boys there! And don't wear anything you don't want to get dirty!" With that less than helpful tip, living the majority of your life underground meant everything we owned got dirty whether we minded or not, Kyle ate the last bit of his soup and started out towards the fields.

I hadn't had much chance to see Anthony between lunch and meeting him and Kyle to wash the jeeps. Lately, he had been spending most afternoons with Doc helping clean and trying to learn as much as possible. Burns brought back a medical textbook he had found on one of their trips and ever since Anthony had decided to rope Doc into creating his very own private medical school in the afternoons.

When I got to the cars I realized that Kyle hadn't been lying about the amount of mud on the cars and braced myself for the amount of work ahead of us. I was the last to arrive and Kyle and Anthony were already prepping bails of soapy water, and various rags and sponges.

"Glad you decided to join us after we have dragged all the water and got everything ready." Kyle greeted me.

"Well I promise to go for the refills!"

"Ohh no, I will go for the refills." Kyle said, "I already washed up today, so I will handle the water supply and let you boys get dirty."

"Perfect! It will finally give Jamie an excuse to wash up, our room has been starting to smell." Anthony teased.

"Yeah," I laughed "It is a smell I am sure you have nothing to do with!"

Anthony and I got to work scrubbing the cars from top to bottom. We maintained a steady stream of conversation which flowed and touched on everything and nothing as we worked. When Kyle would arrive with fresh water he would join in and the tide of conversation would expand and shrink back when he would leave. Eventually the cars began to return to their original colors. Anthony volunteered us to wash the rags after the job and Kyle wished us luck before turning back and heading to bed.

"We can wash ourselves and the rags at the same time" Anthony suggested as we made our way to the baths with our rags and buckets.

"I don't know which will take longer to clean."

"Us for sure" Anthony smiled as we began to take off our clothes "I feel like I am more of mud than human"

"Ohh I think it's probably fifty fifty," I joined him in the baths and we set ourselves to washing the rags as we let the water wash away the mud.

"At least the water is still kind of warm" Anthony noted as he dipped his head back into the water to scrub some soap into his hair and I watched as the mud formed a brown haze in the water around him.

After we had scrubbed all the mud out of the rags and off of ourselves we hung the rags to dry and made our way back towards our room, as we changed into our night clothes a heavy silence filled the room. I felt like I needed whatever had passed between us unspoken, needed to break through. I couldn't find words so I started with actions and reached out and took Anthony's hand in my own, giving it a squeeze.

"You're still wearing your bracelet" His thumb moved to my band, the touch ghosting across my skin.

"Of course," I smiled "You are wearing yours too"

"I guess we match." He let out a small laugh and I didn't make the decision, but I felt my legs move closer to Anthony as we stood together in our small corner of the world. I felt every cell in my body and I felt the air around us more acutely than I ever had before.

"I like matching with you" I started, squeezing his hand and drawing courage from the contact, "I like doing most things better if I am doing them with you."

The words hung in the air for a few moments as a small smile spread across his face and I felt like the whole world centered around the look on his face.

"That's good, because I like doing everything better when I am doing them with you," As he spoke I felt as if my stomach was tangling itself in knots and I finally understood what people meant when they talked about butterflies.

"I guess that makes us pretty lucky." I harnessed whatever courage I had left and moved in closer, resting my forehead against his.

"Yeah, I do feel very blessed right now" His breath floated across my face and all I could think about was the air that we were breathing together as we let ourselves come together and I felt his lips against mine.

It felt new and exciting as the world narrowed to just the two of us and expanded to encompass all the possibilities of what was to come.

AUTHORS NOTE:

After getting advice from my IRL friend Ellie I am not going to be posting this chapter until I finish the whole story and post it all at once. So it's March 12th 2021 that I have finished this but who knows when you dear reader will be reading this. Hopefully not too much later, I will be wrapping this puppy up in a few chapters. The good news is that you won't have to wait to read the final chapters because while they aren't done as I type this, they will be now that you are reading it! Time is fun! Thanks for reading!