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"Hey, squirt." Matt rapped his knuckles on the doorframe, and Abbey sat up.

"What?" she asked warily. He was smirking. He never smirked that much unless he was up to something.

He produced an envelope with the air of a conjuror. "Got a special delivery for you."

She snatched it from him eagerly, deflating slightly when she realised it wasn't one of Jed's letters but a plain white envelope. Puzzled, she tugged open the flap, and found herself holding train tickets.

"Train leaves first thing tomorrow," Matt supplied. "Better get packing."

Abbey frowned at him. "What-?" She examined the tickets more closely, and realised they were for two people to Manchester, New Hampshire.

Matt continued to grin triumphantly. "Dad set it up. He says you can go, long as I go with you. The hotel rooms are booked for three days."

She stared at him for a moment, barely able to comprehend what he was saying, then jumped to her feet and ran right past him and down to her father's study. "Daddy!" she squealed, throwing herself at him in the kind of hug she was supposed to have grown out of. He patted her back in tolerant amusement.

Trailing after her, Matt shook his head in mock-disgust. "Hey, hey!" he objected. "I am the bearer of good news, I am your guardian and companion, but do I get any thanks?"

She had overexcitement to spare. Taking her older brother by surprise, she grabbed him too, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Matty!"

"Hey!" he pulled back indignantly, wiping his face and scowling. "None of that, thank you. And don't call me Matty, or I won't take you to New Hampshire."

She turned to her father. "I can really go?"

He chuckled indulgently. "It's all paid for; consider it a belated graduation present. But your brother's going along with you, so don't even think about any funny business."

She batted her eyelashes. "Would I?"

From the look the two of them exchanged, her best innocent look could do with some polishing. "I'll keep her door bolted," Matt said, and she elbowed him in the side.

"Grow up, Matt."

"I will. You're not allowed to."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but nearly bit it off because she couldn't stop grinning. "Oh my God," she babbled. "Tomorrow? Oh my God. Oh, I have to pack!" She rushed towards the stairs.

They were both standing laughing at her, but she didn't care. She was going to see Jed!

Jonathan was taking advantage of the summer weather - or, at least, as summery as New Hampshire got - to wash his car. Jed seemed to be completely befuddled as to why it was necessary to do this on such a regular basis, but then Jed had never been one for the finer points of cruising for girls.

Girls, of course, liked boys with cars. And girls tended to distrust boys who seemed to be untidy or lazy. Therefore, it followed that girls would be impressed with boys with shiny cars. QED.

Working this argument with Jed, however, seldom got anywhere because he would insist on bringing things like personalities and feelings into the equation. And all that was fine, but Jed just didn't seem to get that the plan was to first get a girl, then worry about whether or not she was going to be your soulmate.

But then, that was Jed all over - just too damn focused. He was always dreaming, always looking to the future, never stopping to look around and notice that you could have a whole lot of fun in the here and now if you took the opportunities.

Talking of which... pretty girl at two o'clock. Johnny grinned to himself, and moved casually around to the other side of the car to watch her approach. Wow, she really was an eye-catcher... and she was moving his way.

Oh, happy day.

"Excuse me," she called. She had the twang of an accent that he couldn't quite place, but it sounded just fine to him.

"Hey." He flashed his best charming grin, and was rewarded with a friendly smile in return. "Can I help you?"

"Maybe. Um... are you by any chance Jonathan Bartlet?" she asked.

Okay, and there was a point when 'happy day' turned into 'okay, somebody pinch me, I'm dreaming'. He was confused. He was also pretty sure that if girls who looked like this were going to be looking for him, he ought to know about it. "Uh, yeah. Um, do I-?"

Further confused small-talk was cut off by an excited shout from behind him. "Abbey?"

The girl twisted away from him, and waved madly. "Jed!"

Wait. This was-?

"Oh, God, I missed you so much-" This was the extremely unnerving vision of his brother barrelling past him, faster than Johnny remembered seeing him ever move in his life. And- whoa. That, right there, was definite snuggling. He had not, hitherto, ever considered his brother to be particularly likely to snuggle with anybody. Let alone in the middle of the street.

"I don't understand," Jed babbled. "How did you-? Where did you-?"

She coolly quirked an eyebrow at him. "Okay, Jed?"

"Yeah."

"Stop talking now."

"Oh, right."

Johnny then got to be witness to a display of rather enthusiastic kissing. He was entirely too amazed to remember to be appropriately disgusted. This was the same big brother who a year ago wouldn't have known what to do with a girl if an entire cheerleading squad had tripped over him?

They finally pulled apart, breathless. "Okay-" Abbey began. Jed grabbed her and kissed her again.

Johnny, somewhat worried to find he was in danger of picking up his brother's old habit of blushing, took the opportunity to look around and wonder if the neighbours were watching this. This was not the Jed he knew at all.

Abbey regarded his brother dryly as they parted a second time. "Can I talk now?"

"If you really must," Jed grumbled, and she laughed, and kissed him on the nose. They were both grinning at each other like maniacs.

"Dad organised it as a surprise. Me and Matt are going to be staying in Manchester for a couple of days."

"Matt's with you?" He looked around.

"Yeah, but he's gone off to get a drink. Which should take him a good long while. For a theoretical chaperone, he's surprisingly easy to bribe."

Johnny almost did a double take at his brother's wicked smirk. "Well, that should come in useful. 'Cause I don't think we really need an audience."

This seemed like a good cue to remind them both of his existence with a loud clearing of the throat.

Abbey tilted her head towards him. "Your brother doesn't count?" she asked.

Jed tugged her closer against his chest. "Well, I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure he's not actually planning to beat you up for making out with me." He glanced across at Johnny, still wearing that unfamiliar face-splitting grin. "Right?"

"No. But I am leaning towards leaving the area before the sugar levels in the atmosphere get high enough to make me sick."

Jed smirked at his girlfriend. "You hear that? He just called you sickening. Aren't you going to do something about it?"

"Sure." She thwacked Jed around the back of the head. "Idiot."

"Ow." This appeared to be more in the nature of a deliberately petulant whine than actual pain.

She placed her hands on either side of his face, and considered him for a moment. "Did you grow your hair longer?"

"I was planning to run away to become a rock and roll star," Jed said with a straight face. "Or a movie idol. Maybe both."

"Who's gonna pay money to watch you?"

He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You would."

She inspected her nails casually. "Maybe. Would you be taking your clothes off?"

Johnny choked. He was not used to girls who made jokes like that. Let alone his big brother - his churchgoing, overpolite, deeply moralistic big brother - smirkingly encouraging them every step of the way.

"Tell me," Jed said, raising a eyebrow, "exactly what kind of movies have you been watching while I've been away, young lady?"

They both broke up giggling, and hugged each other even closer.

Johnny shook his head, and wondered to himself what universe he'd woken up in.