Shane cradled the blue chicken gently, moving her from one coop to the next. If he was honest, he didn't have a great reason for moving them to the closer coop, it was just paranoia and wanting to keep a closer eye on Eggatha Christie. After all, how many blue chickens were there in the world? And how many of them were as good as Eggatha Christie? Eggdar Allan Poe was a good bird, but Eggatha always seemed to look at him with a wisdom Shane couldn't explain. Although that might have just been her face - slightly scathing was a safe face to have when he was speaking, so maybe he was giving Eggatha more credit than she deserved.

As though she'd heard him think the dry comment, Eggatha pecked him.

"Sorry," Shane said softly, putting the chicken down on the ground. "I take it back."


Jas was more receptive to learning about breeding chickens than Shane had expected.


Haley was in Pierre's when Lucie arrived, a bundle of freshly picked veg in her little wicker basket. She caught sight of Lucie and slipped over to her with the silence of a ghost.

"I can't believe that he didn't get you the flowers." Haley sighed. "I mean, I even checked that they were outside the morning I gave him the note! I put so much effort into it, and he didn't even do anything with it."
Lucie frowned, and turned away from Haley. She caught Pierre's eye as he slowly lowered himself to hide behind the counter. Apparently, he was not going to be taking part in this conversation until he worked out what he was allowed to say and what he wasn't. Lucie wanted to hide with him.

"You literally helped him sneak into my house-" Lucie began, turning back to Haley.

"A golden opportunity and he did nothing with it!" She threw her hands in the air and sighed melodramatically. "Do I have to physically lock the two of you in a cupboard so that you can confess your feelings for each other?"

Lucie's brain rolled through dozens of excuses that Shane must have come up with for getting Haley to help him break into her house, but then to somehow keep their relationship a secret. By Yoba, this was ridiculous. But winding Haley up was fun.

"Do not put me in any cupboard, I'm claustrophobic," Lucie said lightly, pretending to inspect the shelves in front of her.

"Really?"

"No," she turned back to Haley and grinned, "But I really don't want to be locked in a cupboard with anyone. Not even Shane."

Haley let out another large sigh and looked mournfully over at the bouquets that had now been moved inside, sheltering from the ever-cooling weather. Lucie followed her gaze and laughed out an exhale. The reproachful look she got from Haley didn't deter her in the slightest.

"Haley. Are you by any chance projecting your issues on to me?" She teased. Haley rolled her eyes and swatted Lucie on the arm. Lucie laughed, dancing away from the hand that swatted her. "Why don't you ask him out instead?"

"Don't know what you're on about."

If Haley thought moving to the soup-section of the shop would get Lucie to drop the issue she was delusional, never mind sorely mistaken. Lucie had found her chance of topic and boy was she going to sink her teeth into it.

"Come on!" She grinned. "If you wait for Alex to ask you out, you'll be an old woman before he twigs that you like him. He's very sweet but he isn't the best with reading emotions, so you are going to have act here."

Haley pointedly ignored Lucie. Lucie stepped in front of her, and grabbed her face with both hands. Haley's mouth squished into a mockery of a pucker, and she tried to yank her face away but she didn't really try.

"Get off."

"Not until you agree to buy a bouquet and ask Alex out. It's not the 1800s, you are allowed to ask the guy out."

"I know," Haley whined. "But what if he doesn't actually like me back?"

Lucie let go of Haley's face and smiled softly at her.

"Haley?"

"Lucie?" Haley replied, mocking Lucie's tone.

"Don't be a fucking moron."


Lucie was in the coop.
Shane could tell from the slightly open door, the gate that wasn't fully clicked shut, and the abundance of screaming that emerged from the slightly open door. He smiled to himself as he neared the coop, thinking about the coop he'd just left. The worst reaction he'd ever gotten out of any of his hens was a slight ruffling of feathers, paling in comparison with the war that Diogenes seemed determined to wage against Lucie.

"Afternoon," he greeted Lucie, leaning against the door of the coop.

She paused, holding the chicken at arms length as she tried to pick up the egg near her feet. She might have halted, but Diogenes' hadn't, his talons digging into Lucie's arm. "Do you need a hand?"

Shane didn't wait for an answer, pushing himself up off the doorframe with a shove of his shoulder and taking his hands out of his pockets in one smooth action. He lightly grasped Diogenes, scooping the chicken into his arms as though he was cradling a baby. Lucie thanked him and bent to pick up the egg, placing it lightly in the basket.

"Thanks. I hate that chicken, he's a bastard."

Shane frowned at Lucie.

"Diogenes is female - you do know that right?" Shane said, a grin forming on his face. Lucie suddenly became very interested in her basket, moving eggs unnecessarily as she muttered a confirmation and a 'well, of course, who'd be dumb enough to think that Diogenes was male, I mean, come on' under her breath. Shane laughed at her as she pinked slightly and let Diogenes jump to the ground with a flutter of her feathers. He moved towards her and lifted her chin slightly, kissing her once, lightly. Lucie's mouth followed his as he moved away, the parting too soon.

"Dumbass," Shane whispered affectionately.

"Less mocking more kissing."


Lucie's head rested on Shane's shoulder as they sat on her small porch, her eyes shut and face tilted towards the sun as though it was a warm summer's day. Her tea sat next to her, forgotten.

He craned his neck and kissed her lightly on the head, the smell of her shampoo wafting around him as he moved. He'd live in this moment forever if he could.

"I wanted to show you something," he said before he realised he was speaking. "But I never want to move from here." Lucie smiled into his shoulder. He felt her jaw move, felt the smile rather than saw it.

"We could always come back," she murmured, eyes still closed. "Might even invite you in this time."

"Inside your house? How scandalous."

"I know, but if we take the mugs with us then you'll have to come back." She opened her eyes, almost sleepily, and lifted her head. Shane stroked a hand against her cheek, brushing the strands of hair back to where they belonged.

"Okay,"

"Okay?" Lucie turned to look at him head on, her face barely inches from his.

"Or I mean, I could just come inside now. My mug's empty."

Lucie smiled and kissed him, her hands braced either side of him, the thin splinters of wood pressing into her palms.

"Okay."


The sheets lay crumpled on the floor, swept out of the way with a half-hearted push of a hand. Their clothes were dumped on top of it, t shirts mingled with socks, Lucie's clothes and Shane's all tangled together in the one discard pile. On the very top of the pile lay a bra, abandoned with such a careful placement that it seemed to be the cherry on a sundae. A very collapsed and broken sundae.

Lucie's foot knocked the cherry across the floor as she forced herself to stand, whispering

"One minute." Softly as she disappeared off to the side. Shane barely noticed her leaving, lying on his back and struggling to not pant. His breaths came much quicker than he'd like, reminding him with each one just quite how unfit he was, his stomach expanding with each breath in such an unpleasant way.
The absence of warmth beside him was suddenly noticed, and he opened his eyes, hunting for Lucie. They didn't have to look for long, landing on her stood in the doorway of the bathroom, watching him pant. As their eyes met, she smiled, and he sat up.

"What?" He asked, covering himself with an arm.

"You're gorgeous." Was the only answer he was given as she moved across the room, lithely stepping over their discarded clothes and curling up around Shane's body.

"There's no need to mock me." The words sent Lucie's head bouncing, her hair somehow tangling into his mouth already. Her head lifted, turning to look at him with a sincerity that was somehow worse than the compliment.

"I'm not mocking you," she said, stroking down the disrupted hair and kissing him lightly on the forehead. Shane prodded himself in the stomach as a response, raising an eyebrow at Lucie.

"I'm old and fat, and you think this is gorgeous?"

Lucie tilted her head at him and frowned.

"Is that really how you see yourself?" She asked. When Shane didn't respond she pressed a kiss into his neck and smiled at him. She poked herself in her own stomach. "I've got a pouch but that doesn't make me fat."

"That's different," Shane protested, catching her hand and stopping it from prodding herself again.

"How?"

"It just is."

Lucie booped him little on the nose. He flinched slightly, wrinkling his nose as she tapped it.

"You live on a farm and spend all day dragging heavy boxes around," she said, lifting her leg over him and straddling his thighs. She pressed a kiss into his neck before continuing. Then stroked his shoulders. "These are not fat, I mean, seriously, Shane, these are some hella attractive shoulders." Shane snorted, but Lucie didn't falter as her hands slid down his arms. "This isn't fat, this is muscle. And these hands? These could have sculpted by Michelangelo, they are that pretty."

"My hands are pretty?" Shane raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled, and his hand lifted from her fingers to weave their way into the back of her hair.

"They are." She insisted breathily. "They're long, and soft, and pretty."
Shane's hand pressed slightly into the back of her head, inviting her closer. Lucie obliged, but halted before she kissed him.

"Just because you have a bit of a beer belly doesn't mean you are fat - and even if you were, that wouldn't stop you from being gorgeous."

"Are you trying to have your cake and eat it?" He teased, lifting his face slightly, his neck straining to reach the lips that Lucie held just out of his reach.

"Trying? Bitch, I'm succeeding."


Lucie stood by her thought process that Shane was kinda ripped. Because he was.
Not if you were expected film-star level of abs, but the man did have muscle and, holy Yoba Above, those shoulders did make her heart flutter just a little.

Muscular shoulders had always been a bit of a weak point for her, and now he stood in her kitchen, back to her, and she could see the muscle moving under the skin. She wanted to reach out and just touch his shoulders, spreading her hands across his shoulder and just feel it move.

Was that weird? It felt like a pretty weird thought to have.


Shane brought the tea across to her, feeling unnervingly vulnerable wandering around someone else's home with no clothes on. But the way Lucie looked at him made him want to walk around naked forever - especially if she returned the kindness.

He placed a kiss on her cheek and the tea in her hands, then slid back into the bed with her, never wanting to leave.