Shane woke up to find the bed empty.
Once he would have expected that. Then, slightly later in his life, he would have found it unnerving - always questioning that the other occupant of it had run away from him. Now he expected it once more, but knew where he'd find the other occupant.
She'd be outside, watering crops, or in the chicken coop and feeding the creature she affectionately called 'That MotherFucker'. She'd be yawning, probably stretching something like a shoulder or her neck, coffee in her free hand. When Shane got out of bed and wandered to find her, he knew he'd be met with a sleepy smile, eyes that sparkled and a content sounding 'Good Morning, sleepyhead.'

Or, if it was raining, he was more likely to be met with a grouchy looking human, cradling the coffee and hiding under shelter somewhere, debating whether or not to go feed the other animals. If Shane appeared at the doorway then, he'd be greeted with 'Go back inside, dumbass', but it would still make him smile. And he knew that if he ran over to her, splashing mud up his bare legs, then she would smile despite herself, tell him he was stupid, and kiss him. And those kisses were worth getting drenched for.

The sun was shining, the late summer morning already feeling warm to the touch. Lucie rested against the fence, half-heartedly watering crops by angling the hose as high as she could so that she didn't need to move from the fence. As expected, there was an empty mug in her hand, the warmth of the coffee lingering in the ceramic. She hadn't noticed Shane move up behind her, so when the hand touched the space between her shoulder blades, she flinched slightly, wheeling around. Shane could see her eyes shift from startled to recognition, the pupils widening, then, just as quickly returning to normal. She smiled at him, settling back down to rest against the fence.

"Morning, Sleepyhead," she said, as if on cue. Shane smiled back and kissed her lightly on the cheek in response.

"Morning," he glanced down at the hose that was pummelling away at the earth by Lucie's feet. "Another coffee?" The offer wasn't entirely selfless. Lucie's brain didn't work properly this early in the morning, and whilst it was sweet, it also meant she was very annoying. When she was tired, she forgot the English words for things and would mutter in French until it came back to her - or worse, trying to describe the object that she wanted and get irritated when Shane didn't know what she meant. Although, given the number of times that she stared at a wall when writing a letter to her father, it seemed she forgot the French words just as frequently.

So, Shane went to go make his girlfriend her second coffee of the day, before the hour hand on the clock had started to gaze at the number seven. He remembered a time when he wouldn't get out of bed before seven if he'd been paid to do so - and if he didn't have to go to work then he wouldn't leave his bed before ten at the earliest. Yet, here he was, voluntarily up before seven in order to make Lucie coffee. Times had changed so quickly, without him even realising it.

He made coffee for himself as well, then headed back out on to the farm.

He'd never get bored of seeing that smile grace Lucie's face whenever she caught sight of him.

The early morning slowly blurred into noon, the sun rising ever higher and ever warmer. It was a glorious day, and Lucie was in an excellent mood. She was just tired. So, she stopped to say hi to Gus and ordered a coffee on her way to ask Clint to break open some geodes. Then, after donating several of the unfamiliar stones to Gunther in the archaeology centre, helpfully right next to the blacksmiths. There were a good half dozen new artefacts donated that day, so Lucie thought that deserved a reward of more coffee.

When Haley invited her in for a coffee, how could Lucie refuse? After all, she'd barely seen Haley the past couple of weeks, as her and Alex had been having a minor spat about who was going to move in with who. They'd worked out that they wanted to live together, but the issue arose of whether Emily would be willing to have two people to generate more mess in her house, or if Haley could put up with Alex's grandparents for more than a week. Lucie hadn't spoken to either of them about this argument, she'd merely overheard it. She was pretty sure people in Zuzu City had overheard that argument.

The coffee mug was pressed into her hands faster than Lucie expected it to be. Haley having chattered nonsensically about cleaning and Emily and life as she brewed it. Lucie hadn't taken in a single word of it. She doubted that she'd missed much.

"-and then Alex," Lucie's ears pricked up, "came in ranting about how unreasonable I was being, not moving in with him, and so I was just like-"

"Wait," Lucie cut in, shuffling on the couch to face Haley more directly. "Are you saying that you've actually come up with a solution to the moving-in-problem?"

Haley gave Lucie a look which so clearly said 'well if you'd shut up, you'd hear the answer to your question'. Lucie merely grinned at her and took a sip of coffee, using the liquid to stop her from saying anything more.

"As I was saying," Haley arched an eyebrow as she spoke, drawling her words as only Haley could, "I told Alex that his grandparents would probably refuse to let us move into together before marriage anyway, given how much they whined about you and Shane moving in together so quickly."

Lucie frowned. Evelyn had been a little off with her last year, it was true. George had barely been any different - or maybe she just decided he hadn't because he was normally so grouchy anyway.

"What do you mean 'so quickly'?" Lucie demanded, the phrase finally sticking in her brain. "We dated for like a year before we moved in together - I've known people marry faster."

Haley's eyebrow tried to escape into her hairline, it had risen so high up her forehead. She reached over and pressed a hand over Lucie's mouth.

"Shush," she said. "We're talking about me now."

Lucie frowned further, and when Haley didn't remove the hand from her mouth, only looked smug across at the now-silenced Lucie, Lucie stuck out her tongue and licked the palm of Haley's hand. She immediately regretted it, the taste of her hand cream coating her tongue and ruining the lingering taste of coffee in her mouth. But Haley's squeal and very melodramatic leap backwards off the couch almost made up for it. She squealed, indignantly, and wiped her hand repeatedly on her skirt, criticising Lucie the whole time. Lucie only cackled, manically.

"You disgust me," Haley said, once she'd pulled herself together and moved to sit on a chair on the opposite side of the room to Lucie. "And you keep interrupting my news!"

"Sorry."

"Yeah, you ought to be," Haley snapped. Then, she moved back towards her friend, sitting on the edge of the couch, smiling broadly. "As I was saying - I said his grandparents would object to us moving in together before marriage, and I was right. So, do you know what Alex did?"

"No." The word was more a breath than a word, Lucie crept forwards on the edge of the couch, the mug cradled in her hands as though it were the most precious thing in the world. She stared into Haley's smiling face, her bright eyes.

"Oh, yes," Haley said, somehow beaming even wider.

"No! What?" Lucie seemed to be stuck, like a record jumping in its groove. "No?"

A hand lifted from a mug, the sunlight glinting off Haley's finger.

"Yes."

"WHAT?"