Lake opened her eyes as she was roused from her slumber by a muffled voice from downstairs. Groaning slightly, she turned her eyes to her bedside clock, squinting at the green glare of the digital numbers. The sight was all too reminiscent of the numbers that had once graced Jesse's hand.

"Okay, note to self:" she mumbled "Ask Jesse's parents for a clock with a display that's not green".

Once her eyes adjusted to the glare, she could make out that the time was 1:30am. Not a time lake was thrilled to be up. She tended to head to bed a little after eleven, and sleep as late as she could get away with the next morning. Jesse's mother had characterised it as "typical teen sleep schedule", but Lake could only guess as to how true that was. Tulip had always been a night owl, staying up into the early hours glued to whatever coding project she'd been working on. As a result, Lake had had to stay up with her, staring back at her from the computer screen. She'd always hated it.

The Cosays didn't tend to stay up this late either. Nate was still young enough that his parents insisted he be in bed by ten, and Jesse typically dozed off on the sofa at around eleven, usually about three quarters of the way into whatever movie he and Lake were watching. At first, she had taken it as a slight at her taste in films, but she had come to find it quite adorable how he would just drift off next to her, even if it did mean he often dribbled on her shoulder.

This all left her wondering why anyone in the house would be up at this hour. As far as she was concerned it wasn't really any of her business; she had barely known Jesse's family for more than a few weeks. Honestly, the fact that they were even letting her stay in their house hadn't started to feel natural yet. Still, as the noise from downstair continued, something compelled her to get up and investigate.

As she traipsed out into the hallway, the noise from downstairs became clearer. She could make out an old-sounding British voice, likely coming from the tv, and some sort of… animal noises? She made her way cautiously down the stairs, treading lightly to make sure her metal feet didn't bang too hard against the boards under the carpet. Once she had made it down, and had listened for a moment to satisfy herself that she hadn't woken anyone, she peered in through the living room doorway.

Jesse was sat on the couch, bundled up in a blanket, staring with sleepy eyes at some sort of documentary on the screen. A regal-sounding British voiceover was talking over some footage of a herd of deer. "These majestic creatures are more abundant in these forests, than anywhere else on Earth. They gather here in such numbers only once a year."

Lake couldn't help but smile at the sight of the deer munching away on whatever vegetation they could get their hooves on. The documentary itself seemed pretty dry, but the sight of the creatures brought back fond memories of the far less typical deer she had met on the train.

The moment she made the connection, her eyes snapped back to Jesse, who, on closer inspection, was sniffling into a crumpled tissue. A part of Lake wanted to sneak back up to bed and pretend she hadn't seen anything, but a thankfully larger part told her to go to him instead.

"Uh… Jesse?" she said meekly as she sidled into the room. Jesse stifled a yelp as he jumped slightly in his seat.

"Oh! Uh… hey Lake. Sorry, did I wake you with the TV?"

"Well, technically yeah, but don't worry about that" Lake said, gesturing for Jesse to stop as he reached for the remote. "I just got curious when I heard someone up so late. You guys are usually more… morning people."

"Heh, I guess so" Jesse smirked with an exhale slightly too hollow to be a laugh. "But, well, I'm a teen; figured I should try staying up past bedtime, being rebellious, that kinda thing. Y'know?"

Lake gave him a flat look. "Okay, as much as a dork like you would try to 'rebel' by staying up and watching the wildlife channel, I'm not buying it. This is about Alan Dracula isn't it?"

Jesse looked taken aback for a split second, opening his mouth to say something, but before any words could escape, he closed it again and turned his eyes to the floor.

"C'mon Jesse" Lake sighed "We went through so much together on the train, and it only started going well when we stopped keeping things from each other. Heck, you were the one who got me to open up in the first place. Don't go clamming up on me now."

Jesse let out a sigh of his own. "I just… this is dumb but, watching these nature shows makes me miss him a little less. Is that weird?"

"Of course it's not" Lake assured Jesse, taking a seat next to him. "I mean, personally I think watching this stuff would just make me miss him more, but if it works for you, go for it. It's just… you could have told me. You don't have to be down here in the middle of the night moping on your own. Being a brooding loner was my thing, remember?"

Jesse let out a small chuckle at her quip, and Lake felt the weight in her chest lift a little.

"Yeah" Jesse replied "I know I could have. I just felt like… I dunno. You must miss him as much as I do, but you haven't been moping about it like I have. It just felt selfish to make it about me."

"Okay, listen" Lake spoke softly but sternly, putting her hands on his shoulders and turning him to face her. "That's the Jesse I met on the train talking. You know it isn't selfish to have your own problems. And even if it was, it's okay to be selfish sometimes. You deserve to think about yourself too."

"Yeah, yeah you're right" Jesse smiled. "Next time I'm feeling down about A.D, I'll tell you. We can do something to take our minds off him, or we can talk about him, if you're okay with reminiscing."

"Good, 'cos if the train comes and picks you up again for still being a doormat I'm not busting my ass to come save you" Lake joked.

"You totally would" Jesse smirked. "You'd bust down the door and rescue me like a knight in shining… skin?"

"Pfft, you're such a dork" Lake giggled, quickly snapping her hands up to her mouth as she accidentally let out a small snort.

"Oh my god, what was that laugh?!" Jesse exclaimed, starting to chuckle himself. "No way does cool, edgy metal-girl Lake laugh like that."

"Shut up!" Lake smiled, punching him lightly in the arm.

"That was so weirdly cute for you is all." Jesse grinned. "That's meant to be my thing, remember?"

The two laughed and chatted for a few minutes, all the while making sure to keep their laughter subdued enough to not wake anyone sleeping upstairs. After a while, the giggles faded into a comfortable silence, and Jesse's attention began to drift back to the TV, the documentary having continued on without sparing a thought for their distraction.

"Hey" Lake piped up "is it okay if I watch with you for a little while?"

"Uh, yeah, sure" Jesse answered, slightly taken aback "but I thought you said that watching this would only make you miss him more?"

"It might" Lake acknowledged "but I'm okay with that if it means you're not just down here feeling sad on your own. Crying's a lot easier when you've got a shoulder to do it on, or… so I'm told."

Jesse cracked a smile. "Okay, but don't give me a hard time if I get your shirt wet."

"I won't, so long as you don't blow your nose in it or anything." Lake joked.

"What?" Jesse chuckled. "I wouldn't do that; I'm not that gross."

"Yeeaahhh I don't know about that" Lake retorted with a sly grin. "Now scooch over would ya? You're taking all the good cushions right now."

Jesse wriggled over to make room as Lake slumped onto the couch and got herself comfy. Turning their gaze back to the screen, the pair watched as a couple of male deer butted heads, the British narrator talking all the while. "These contests of dominance occur every year, and play a vital role in determining which males are able to mate."

"Hmm, I'll bet A.D could whoop either of those guys' butts" Lake scoffed.

"I mean, yeah, but I'm pretty sure the other Deer would consider shape-shifting and laser vision to be cheating" Jesse replied.

"They're animals Jesse" she shot back. "They don't have a concept of 'cheating'."

"You don't know that! I'm sure Deer have plenty of rules. What if they tried to call the Deer Police on him?"

"Really dude, 'Deer Police'?" Lake said with a raised eyebrow. "I'm starting to think it's a good thing you're watching all these documentaries; you seem to have some funny ideas about how animals work."

Lake couldn't tell sometimes if Jesse was just joking around, or if he genuinely just had some weird thoughts. Either way, no matter how much she might have teased him about it, she couldn't deny that it was one of the things that made him so endearing.

"Besides" she continued "it's not like it matters. A.D's great at running from the law. You should've seen him while you were off the train; he really had my back against the Flecks. Stone. Cold. Killer."

"Heck yeah he is!" Jesse smiled, putting his fist in the air. "But, uh… you guys didn't actually kill anyone, right?"

"Uhhh…" Lake hesitated. She had always omitted the gorier details of what had happened before Jesse had found his way back onto the train. It's not that she was ashamed; or at least, she didn't think she was; something about telling Jesse all that just felt… uncomfortable somehow.

She couldn't help but wonder if he would still be so at ease around her if he knew she'd killed a man, or that she'd had Alan Dracula do the same. Heck, she didn't even know for sure that A.D had killed Sieve, but she'd had a fairly good idea when she'd thrown that grass and called out his name that that was what he'd do.

"Hey, hey. It's okay" Jesse whispered, clearly having seen the look on her face. " Forget I brought it up. I don't know exactly what went down back there, but you and Alan Dracula did what you had to do. You don't need to justify anything to me."

Lake was silent for a moment, before looking up at Jesse with a tearful smile. "Hey, I thought I was supposed to be giving you the pep-talk tonight."

"Force of habit" Jesse grinned.

Lake soaked in the happy moment, relieved that Jesse was smiling and joking around again. She stopped grinning only when she became aware of just how long she and Jesse had been smiling at each other. Clearing her throat, she turned back to the TV again.

"So, uh… did this show tell you anything interesting about Deer before I came down?"

"Hmm, kinda" Jesse replied nonchalantly "but to be honest, they're a lot less interesting that A.D. I just like looking at them."

"Fair" Lake acknowledged. Mundane in comparison to Alan Dracula or not, Lake had to admit that the creatures were quite impressive looking. The narrator's descriptor of 'majestic' wasn't too far off the mark. They seemed to stand in an almost proud stance, the antlers on their heads looking like some sort of jagged crown.

The sight made it occur to Lake just how few animals she'd actually seen. Tulip had never exactly been a huge nature lover, so Lake's animal-related memories, other than those she'd seen on the Train, consisted of the various books Tulip had been given as a young child, and one depressing memory of having to reflect her in a pool of frankly unhealthy dolphins.

"Hey, Jesse?"

"Yeah?" Jesse answered, turning to her in response to the meek tone of her voice. He wore an expression of such earnest concern that she almost forgot what she was even going to ask.

"Uh… I just wanted to ask, is there like, some place you can go and see animals, like around here I mean?"

"Hmm, I've definitely been to some zoos over the years, but I don't remember how near they were. Hold on, I'll look through Mom's stack of old pamphlets" Jesse said as walked over to the writing desk and began rifling through a disorderly pile of various leaflets.

"But like, it has to be a nice place though" Lake piped up. "I've been to places where the animals weren't treated right before. It… wasn't a nice experience."

"Oh yeah, don't worry; my parents would never take us anywhere like that" Jesse reassured her. "Now let's see… yeah! There's a wildlife park just a couple of hours from here!" He turned around, holding up the pamphlet for Lake to see.

"Oh, awesome" lake replied, flipping it over to look at the map on the back. It seemed like the park had quite a lot of animals, very few of which she had ever seen, and they all had nice large areas to themselves. "This place looks cool."

"Okay then" Jesse nodded. "I'll ask my dad if he'll take us this weekend. I know they're nervous about taking you out in public because of the… y'know, being silver thing, but I'm sure I can talk them around. If you're not worried, they shouldn't be either."

"Thanks Jesse" Lake said softly, looking up at him with a now distinctly tired smile. He shot a matching one back, and Lake found herself no longer caring how long she looked.

It was Jesse who broke the exchange this time, turning to the screen at the sound of orchestral music. The documentary had apparently finished, and was now rolling credits over picturesque woodland scenery.

"Dang it; missed the end. Still, no big deal; we're gonna see the real thing soon I guess."

"Yeah" replied Lake. "So… you think you're okay to turn in now? I can stay up longer if you need, but I'd really like to go back to bed about now."

"Yeah, yeah I think I'm good now" Jesse smiled. "This… this really helped though. Thanks Lake."

"Heh, no problem" she answered bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'll see you tomorrow."

The two of them headed back upstairs, navigating the stairway as quietly as possible. The two gave each other one last smile at their respective bedroom doors, before finally turning in for the night.

As Lake gratefully relaxed back into the warm embrace of her covers, she stared for a moment at the clock beside her bed again. "Whatever you're up to right now, A.D, I hope your life is as great as mine is."


Hoo boy, been a long time since I last published anything. This one is pretty different from my last Infinity Train fic, but I've been missing my Book 2 kids, and wanted to write some fluff. Hope you liked it!