Audrey was finding that there was nothing like quite like staring at a map and a list of train schedules to make it really sink in how little she knew of the world outside of Skid Row. She was sure that somewhere out there, there were places to be found with lots of green grass and fresh air, and the sort of lovely neighborhoods she had always dreamed of. The problem was that she didn't have the first idea of where to start looking, and it was beginning to make her more and more nervous just how intangible that future still felt.

It didn't help that Seymour wasn't there with her. But with everything they were trying to get done in a short time, it had only made sense to split up. Someone had to go and pick up their clothing, and someone had to focus on getting a solid plan into place. So while he went back to the place where they'd dropped off their wedding attire to be cleaned and mended, Audrey had settled in at a small outdoor table sitting by a café that seemed to be closed for the day, and set up a collection of papers in front of her to begin the task of trying to decide what exactly they were going to do.

She wouldn't have minded having the wedding the day before, the same day they'd left the shop behind after its collapse. She was sure if would have been wonderful no matter what state the two of them were in at the time. She'd been waiting for so long, and she just wanted to be married to Seymour, even if everything wasn't going to look perfect. But the man who gave them their marriage license at the courthouse told them they had to wait 24-hours before it became valid. And based on the leery way he stared at them, they realized they would probably end up drawing a lot of questions if they tried to have a wedding ceremony in tattered and bloodstained clothing.

There was only a little while left to go until it could finally happen. And they had a legal, official document showing that they'd really taken the first step towards starting their life together. And soon, that piece of paper could be followed by the train tickets to a new place to live, and then the deed to a home the two of them would share. But only if they could get the details of those next steps worked out. She wished she knew where to get a hold of some real-estate listings. How would they even know whether or not there were any homes to find once they stepped off the train?

Being in this in-between stage was a strange feeling, and it was giving her an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. They didn't really have a place to stay at the moment, unless they decided to go back and ask for another night at the motel where they'd spent the night before. It hadn't been anything fancy, but Seymour had obviously cared a lot about making sure she felt safe and happy, and he'd managed to find them a nice enough place. A place where maybe the beds were a little hard, but they were clean, and had bedspreads with pretty designs stitched in, and nothing was sticky or funny-smelling. Not the sort of seedy place where the clerks gave her the fish eye as a date checked them in under a made-up name.

But even if it had been a fairly pleasant place to stay, she really didn't want to go back to the same motel again if they could help it. If they weren't moving forward, they were just staying in this in-between place. Not back in their old neighborhood in Skid Row, but not nearly far enough away to make her feel secure in the knowledge that that they'd really escaped. And until they could put down roots somewhere, there was still a chance that it would turn out to be an unobtainable dream and reality would come crashing back down. Most likely, they'd end up going back to the motel for one more night, and then they'd decide that it was getting too expensive to keep paying for it. And then the only thing that would make sense would be to go back and stay in her old apartment. And then days could turn into weeks, and months, until they were trapped again and wondering what had made them think they could expect anything else. They couldn't go back at all. They needed to get out. They needed to get to a different place and find where they could stay for good, and not have nearly everything they owned packed in a single suitcase ready to be picked up and moved again.

She started to anxiously drum her fingers against the table as the trail of thought reminded her of just how little they had in terms of possessions. At least she had the suitcase she'd packed before they left, but Seymour had been left with nothing but the money he saved and the clothes on his back. It was now two pairs of clothing, seeing as he'd needed to pick up something to wear while their wedding clothes were at the cleaners. But it was still very little for trying to start a whole new life. Audrey had realized that in all her excitement while packing, she'd forgotten to bring a toothbrush. That was something she would have to buy soon. She was going to take very good care of her teeth, because she was fully intent on never visiting a dentist ever again.

She began quietly humming her song about green, and tried to force herself away from going further down that line of thinking. She wouldn't ever be going back to anything from that life. But she couldn't stop to enjoy the thought, as it seemed more important to return to the map again. They needed to know what they were doing if they were going to know for sure that it could actually be done. And if she was busy working out a plan, then maybe her mind would be too full to think about dentists, or that moment from just the day before when the shop came crashing down and she wasn't sure if Seymour was going to come out alive, or all the fears that they hadn't reached their somewhere green yet, which meant that there were still ways for it to all go wrong.


She still wasn't as close as she would have liked to having a real plan by the time Seymour returned, but it was a relief to see him nonetheless. As much as she didn't really believe it would happen, it had been starting to get harder to silence the worries that maybe he'd changed his mind and left her abandoned in a strange part of town.

She looked up just long enough to smile in greeting. He clearly hadn't been feeling particularly adventurous during his brief shopping trip, and he was wearing the same sort of khakis and button down she had seen him in countless days before. The sight was very reassuring. Her familiar Seymour was still there with her in spite of the whirlwind of change. But she didn't look for long, as she was growing much too nervous to stop burying herself in the papers in front of her.

"I wish I knew what I was looking for here. I've neva' been anywhere but Skid Row." She began to explain as he moved to sit down across from her. "I was thinking…"

She turned the map of train routes so he could see, and pointed to one of the many lines webbing all over the paper.

"The first train that can get us anywhere far away will be going along here." She said as she traced the line with her finger. "And we should have plenty of time to make it after we're wrapping up at the courthouse. But I don't know how to figure out if it'll be taking us to the sorta place we want to go."

Though somewhat distracted by trying to manage the garment bags (he'd been warned at the cleaner's to make sure they didn't get crumpled), Seymour was still easily able to notice her mounting stress.

"We can get on that one, then." He tried to keep his tone as certain as possible, hoping to reassure her. "And if we don't like where we end up, we can hop on another one, and another one, as many times as it takes."

Audrey finally tore her eyes away from the map long enough really look at him. She saw that in addition to the bags he was carefully hanging off the back of his chair, he had set a small box on the table. She looked at it curiously as she picked up a sweet, citrusy scent. Her stomach rumbled, and it occurred to her wonder how long it had been since she last thought to eat anything. She supposed she'd felt like that could wait until they were sitting securely on a train, and then they could find a dining car or a snack cart. But now that she thought of it, maybe that was part of the reason her head had been threatening to start swimming, and it hadn't been only that she was feeling overwhelmed.

"I, um… I saw a bakery on the way." Seymour said when he saw that she had noticed the box. "And I know the cake usually comes after the wedding, but I figured we have some time now, and I wasn't sure when we were gonna pass by another place selling this sorta thing, so I thought maybe now would be better."

He knew that the sort of day they were having probably wasn't how Audrey dreamed of her wedding day, and the worry of pushing things further into a let-down had him rambling a little as he reached over and pulled the top flap open, revealing a large cupcake inside.

"I hope this is okay. I didn't think I should get something too big to carry around when we're about to start traveling. I can get us a real cake once we've stopped somewhere."

"This is perfect, Seymour. Thank you."

Her face now lit up with a bright smile, Audrey grabbed a knife and fork from the basket of plastic silverware sitting on the table, and carefully cut out two bite-sized pieces for the two of them to feed to each other. The soft cake and the whitish-yellow frosting both tasted of lemon, and despite the nip in the air reminding her that they'd just reached the beginning of December, she found herself reminded that when the weather became warm again, they might very well be sitting in a nice yard, sipping lemonade together as they looked over a garden in full bloom.

She cut what remained in half, and each took a piece as Seymour moved his chair closer to look over the papers with her. As they discussed what she'd managed to figure out so far, she found herself feeling much calmer about the whole idea. It suddenly seemed very foolish to be so fearful that if they stopped for a minute longer than necessary, the future they wanted was going to escape them again. If a single baked good was already making her feel this much better, maybe what she had really needed was to give herself a chance to stop, take some deep breaths, and eat something to get some fuel in before facing the rest of the day.

It was all going to be okay, she was much more sure of it now. They'd get to their somewhere green without her needing to panic over it. Seymour had come back, they were enjoying their wedding cupcake together, and they were going to be married before long. And it was alright if everything else wasn't sorted out in that very moment. They would still get there soon.