The drizzle became a downpour in a matter of seconds, and was quickly becoming a violent storm. Chuck held up his hand in a futile attempt to shield his glasses, which were becoming useless to him, from the rain. He made a run for it, almost tripping up on his untied laces again, and ran into the first place he came to. As he entered, a little bell announced his arrival. He hurriedly wiped his glasses, starting to turn back into his old worrisome self as he was soaking wet, temporarily blind and had no idea where he was. He put his glasses back on, but still could see nothing through the streaks. He took a step forward and ran straight into something. The something (or someone, rather) let out a soft yelp of surprise, and they both fell, something hard and heavy missing Chuck´s fingers by a mere inch. And that was the last observation he made before he lost consciousness.

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``Are you quite all right?´´

Chuck groaned and clutched his forehead in his hands. He groaned again as he realized a bump had begun to form there. He opened his eyes slowly and a grayish blur asked him again if he was ok.

``I'm blind.´´ he whispered.

The woman laughed. ``No, you're not, silly. You're just not wearing your glasses.´´ she said in a crisp English accent.

Someone replied, in a much softer English accent, ``I was cleaning them properly, he made a real mess of them. Here you are.´´ When he had his sight back, Chuck made to lean up on his elbows. A hand touched his arm. ``Not so fast.´´ It was the softer voice and, as he looked up, Chuck saw that it belonged to the book girl. Her hand still on his arm, she smiled. And he just stared. He didn't know how he could have possibly thought that she wasn't beautiful. She really was, though in a much less conventional sense. Her dark brown hair was short and straight, and would have made her look quite severe if the face it framed weren't lit up by a pretty smile. Bright green eyes shone behind her brown tortoise shell glasses.

He grinned goofily. ``Book girl.´´

She gave him a half-amused, half-worried look. ``I'm sorry, what?´´

The woman broke in. ``He's delirious.´´

Chuck sat up straight. ``I'm not--´´

``Absolutely mad--´´

The girl rolled her eyes. ``Oh, Natalie, he's not mad.´´ She clasped his hand in hers and leaned close. ``Are you?´´ she asked in a whisper. He just grinned and, after a few seconds of her tugging his hand, he realized that she was trying to help him up. When they were both standing, she looked at him questioningly.

``I'm fine.´´ he said.

``Well, he's alright then, Emmeline.´´ Chuck finally broke his gaze away from the girl to look at the woman who spoke, who was also pretty and young, although obviously a bit older. Her hair was longer and a lighter shade of brown but she had the same green eyes.

``Emmeline?´´ he asked.

The girl's cheeks tinged. ``Family name, for my grandmother.´´ She held out her hand. ``You can call me Emmy.´´

He clasped her small hand in his. ``I'm Chuck.´´

She indicated the woman. ``This is my sister, Natalie. This is her bookshop.´´ He finally looked around and noticed that he was indeed in what appeared to be a used bookstore. Old, mismatched volumes lined the shelves and scattered on the hardwood floor, around his feet, were several more. He ran a hand through his messy hair and smiled sheepishly. ``You were carrying those…when I ran into you…´´

``Well, I'm sure it was I who ran into you. But I'm fine. You're the one who was unconscious.´´

``Scared us a bit.´´ said Natalie. ``But all's well now, right? So…don't sue us.´´

He laughed. ``Well, I was going to, but since you asked nicely…´´

Natalie smiled. ``He's got a sense of humour, this one. Even after being bloody knocked out by my little sister, the maladroit.´´

``The…what?´´ he asked.

Emmy rolled her eyes. ``It's basically like a complete klutz. She calls me that all the time. Because she has to be such a sesquipedalian.´´

Chuck raised his eyebrows. ``Ok, I'm lost.´´

``Someone who uses big words.´´ explained Emmy. ``But it is the truth, though, about me. I can't go a day without taking a spill. And I just seem to attract trouble. It really is unfortunate.´´

``Sounds like it,´´ said Chuck. ``Very unfortunate.´´ he reiterated, though he was smiling like she'd just told him something very funny. She raised her eyebrows and caught the eyes of her sister, who mouth the word `mad´ before turning to Chuck.

``How about some tea?´´ she offered. ``It's the least I can since the maladroit almost killed you and all.´´

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``Perfect tea weather,´´ said Emmy, indicating the rain splattered window.

``I've never really had hot tea.´´ admitted Chuck.

``Not even when you were sick as a child?´´ asked Natalie. She squeezed the juice of a lemon into her tea. ``Our mum did that all the time. Her tea was the best, it made all ailments better in half an hour every time, without fail.´´

He smiled at Emmy. ``That must have been nice. All I ever got was medicine and doctor visits for every little thing. My dad's sort of a hypochondriac. Then, so am I, according to my friends.´´

Emmy sipped her tea. ``Well, I don't really remember, myself. She died when I was only two. So…´´

``Oh.´´ he frowned. ``I'm sorry.´´

``It's ok. Like I said, I don't really remember her.´´

``I don't remember my mom, either. My real mom. She died not long after I was born, though my dad's been remarried ever since I was two, so she's basically my mom.´´

Emmy pointed at Natalie. ``She's basically mine. Raised me since Dad died, when I was 12.´´

``Wow.´´ He looked at Natalie. ``How old were you?´´´

``18.´´

``That's…wow.´´

The girls looked at each other in amusement.

``What I mean is...that takes a strong person.´´

Natalie looked away as if she were going to blush, or cry, or both. ``It's nothing.´´

``She's modest.´´ insisted Emmy.

``Well, what as I going to do? Give her up to strangers? We don't have any more family. No…I could never stand to be apart from my Emmeline.´´

Emmy smiled. ``She even followed me here.´´

``That's right. I wasn't about to let you come all the way to the states for uni and leave me behind.´´

``Uni?´´ asked Chuck.

``College.´´

``And,´´ continued Natalie, ``I'm glad I did. It's lovely and sunny here every day.´´ She glanced toward the window, where the storm still raged. ``Well, most days.´´

Chuck finally drank some of his tea, which was pleasantly different from anything he'd ever had. As the heat coursed through his body, he thought about the deep bond that Emmy and Natalie so obviously shared. He wondered if Kimi would move to another country for him. And, just as he was thinking of her, she was thinking of him. Isn't it funny how that seems to happen? People often underestimate the bonds they share. His cell went off in his pocket. He was startled out of his reverie, as was Emmy, who spilled tea all over the tabletop (she really was terribly clumsy).

``Hello?´´

``Hey, Big Brother. What's up?´´

``Having tea.´´

``Tea?´´

He grinned. ``Never mind. What's up with you?´´

``Just calling to check up on you. Everyone was upset that you didn't show, loser.´´

``So, how is the party?´´

Kimi sighed. ``We got rained out.´´

Chuck smiled. ``Aww. That´s too bad.´´