Eugene's on his way back to the car already, though not a moment too soon. Not a moment too soon, because maybe I wouldn't have dropped his glasses in the hole for the 50th time now if he'd finished paying for the gas just a minute or two sooner before I could.

He spends another five minutes or so filling up the tank, hangs the nozzle back in its place, and walks back over just in time to find me on my hands and knees, thumping my hand once against the carpeting in frustration.

I haven't even looked up yet, but I can feel him glaring at me.

"Don't fucking tell me, man" he says, sliding into his seat, barely breaking his glare as he puts the key in the ignition. "AGAIN?!"

I let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm sorry man, it was an accident. I'll buy you another new pair of shades!"

"That's not the point, Zia!" he near shouts."I tell you this every fucking day, you never learn!"

"I'M NOT DOING IT ON PURPOSE, EUGENE, WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"

This, along with Mikal gently shaking me out of it is what finally wakes me from my dream. Not the first, and certainly not the last, of many since Kneller had decided to give me another chance and sent me back to life with her.

I jerk upright, in the bed I've been sharing with her since we'd been released from the hospital and decided to move in together, and begin rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

She smiles sympathetically at me, but a smile nonetheless. "Bad dreams?" she asks.

I shake my head no, yawning as I open my mouth to answer. "Not great ones, but I've had worse. Why? Was I talking in my sleep again?"

She nods, chuckling as if the answer were so obvious that even in my apparently restless slumber I should've been aware.

"More like shouting" she adds. "Something about not doing something on purpose? You sounded pretty agitated about it."

"Ahh." I chuckle, slightly, back at her while I brush some messy bed hair away from my eyes. "I, uh..dreamed I was back there again, and Eugene was yelling at me about dropping another pair of his glasses into that damn hole." I smile at her. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

She smiles back at me. She never is gonna get tired of doing that, and I'm glad. God, I love that smile.

"Not at all" she reassures, shaking her head. "Been up for hours"

I nod. "I see."

She kisses my forehead before leaving the bedroom. "There's breakfast on the table, if you're hungry."

I pull her, playfully, back down to my level to kiss her on the lips. "What have I done to deserve breakfast from you?"

She just giggles and turns to go back downstairs. "Don't wait too long!" she calls back from halfway down the hall.

"That didn't answer my question!" I shout, teasingly, back at her.

I pull back the covers, tossing them off to the side, to head out after her.