Gideon retrieved their coats, her ruby beret and his purple knit cap, & gloves out of the closet. She laid his belongings on the couch as she waited for Gary. After she donned her coat and gloves, the radio played Debbie Gibson's "Lost in Your Eyes". The lyrics had her recounting the first year of their relationship. She was somewhat inexperienced with human life. He was never jaded by the constant exposure. They had encountered a few more hardships, the toughest of which was in a maximum-security time prison. The captains, Zari (Tarazi), Astra, & Spooner, were in the same cellhouse as her. However, the confinement had her reliving the daunting ordeal involving Computer Gideon. She recaptured the same emotions she felt then: chafed at her nefarious lookalike, distressed by the resulting solitude, and longing for a certain Jewish male alien. She had been diligent in guarding the explicit details of that bleak chapter even after the Legends were exonerated.

Her trip down memory lane halted when she noticed her beau. He appeared in a maroon polo neck, spice brown pants, and his boots. His formfitting outfit & groomed hair rendered her agaze. He turned to find her gaping in his direction. "Hey, you okay? Do I have something on my face?" He rubbed his bottom jaw as if he had left a blot of shaving cream.

She recovered from her mindless goggling. "No, you're fine," she declared, biting her lip. He noticed that & bemusedly ventured to the laundry room. She watched him leave as she put on her cap. The song played on and on to the point of her humming along to the music. When it ended, she switched off the radio. He returned moments later and reached for his garments. Contact was re-established when he saw her waiting at the front door. He asked, "Ready for the first outdoor post-blizzard day?" She gave an affirmative nod and unbolted it.

The icy breeze drifted their bare skins as they stepped onto the porch. They vigilantly treaded on the snowy steps, hands coddling tightly at the thumbs. The clear blue sky was absent of clouds. They retrieved a couple of shovels and cleared the area under the jumpship. It took them an hour and a half to dig the miniature aircraft out. Amid this, he had repeatedly and vocally checked on her. The fifth attempt was when they were tidying the pathway. He spotted her unfalteringly stoic visage, leading him to assume she was in a standstill. She blurted out of the blue, "Things will be busy this coming week."

"Yeah, it surely is." A positive thought popped into his head. "Nate is visiting from the air totem. Behrad and I have arranged a guy's night out with Gwyn. Alun is especially looking forward to meeting him."

"Yes, you two have been planning immediately after we heard. He and Zari (Tomaz) have big news to share."

"Speaking of which, my Aunt Stacy from Oregon has been asking about you. She wants to know if she can meet you."

Gideon stopped in her tracks. "Meet me?" The woman in question was a mystery to her. She'd never seen a photo or a file case on her. She had accounted her as non-existent after Gary's secret was discovered. In fact, she seemed real whenever he spoke about her. The possibility of this engagement bewildered her. "When?"

He cleared his throat. "She's insisting on my upcoming visit in two weeks. What do you say?"

The effervescent lady smirked at his uncoincidental response. She pondered on the invitation for a second. "Absolutely."

"You and she are going to get along great," he excitedly declared. "She may come off as antisocial, but she's really warm."

"Is she agoraphobic?"

"No, she just prefers keeping her life private. I think that is why she's camera-shy."

"Ah," she expressed, "I'm certain she's lovely, darling." He embraced her nickname for him. They explored the trail behind the cabin thereafter. They came across a riverbank and sat on a slope. The elegance of the snow-covered water mesmerized them. Gary looked golden as he inhaled the fresh air. "This is an improved view. What do you think?"

Gideon was not fully paying attention. She was in a ruminative mood. "I hadn't primed myself to decipher alternative long-term prospects."

He turned to her unaffectedly. "A lot of things come unexpected. Your transformation into a human is one of them."

She wryly added, "So was having the prime Waverider blown to pieces." His brows furrowed perplexedly at her joke. "I like where our courtship is going, and I like my life on the ship." She redirected her sights on him. "But I can try living an authenticated existence."

He weighed her request. An understanding smile crept up on his face. "I like where we're heading too," he concurred, intertwining their fingers. "We can move forward in small steps if you want."

"I'd like that." That was all she needed to hear. She felt something cold and moist in her other hand. She exhibited a fistful of snow in view of them. Letting go of his hand, she scooped up a bit more and molded the lump into a delicate and light mass. She was mystified that a cluster of tiny flakes can create something larger. He mulled about what she was going to do.

She returned to his snow day list. She tossed her snowball on the frigid river. It splattered, losing its form upon impact. She made another and chugged it harder at the ice. He was perplexed by her idiosyncratic decision at first. He was also impressed by her pitch, so he joined in. They had done this and made snow angels. On their hike back for lunch, he accidentally instigated a snowball fight. She chased him and vice versa, hurling and being struck. The silence in the trail was interrupted by their echoing laughter. Their rest on the porch signaled the playful match's end.

"My adrenaline level is high," she professed, catching her breath.

"Mine too. Gideon, there was this one attempt where I invited someone to meet my aunt, but they nixed it at the last minute." He was about to ask whether her assent was merely a polite lie.

She shut that conversation down, answering matter-of-factly, "I'm not going to change my mind." His suspicion was expunged without giving it any second thought. They went inside for hot chocolate and a delayed game of Parcheesi.

The dinner Gary cooked that evening was experimental at best. Gideon was not familiar with what it was. It looked like a bowl of green stew with a mix of vegetables. He was mildly confident that he did well. When he put the first serving in front of her, she took the first bite in stride. She was indulged by its savoriness. The plate was finished off, much to his joy. They subsequently washed the dishes together. They weren't tired yet, so they watched Fun with Dick and Jane on TV. She was resting her head against his chest as they nestled on the loveseat. After the movie ended, they prepared themselves to bed. Lying awake, she switched on the bedside lamp and shook him gently. "What was the soup called?"

Thankfully, he wasn't a heavy sleeper. "Chili Verde. I thought I'd give it a try."

"It was so zesty and flavorful. Where did you learn to cook?"

Gary winced at the question. Their incarceration was a bittersweet memory for him as well. He wasn't allowed to see Gideon for nearly four months. He had otherwise sent a private message to her by way of a sympathetic guard. The company of his male Legends and voluntary labor in the canteen got him through the pain too. He was glad to obtain a new skill, but he wished the circumstances were different. "I picked it up during our time in jail," he reluctantly said.

She was understandably quiet for a while. Then, she confessed, "I was a laundry worker in my cellblock. In my spare time, I helped Ava and Zari working on our appeal."

He glinted at her, asking, "Yeah?"

"The library had a rarely used archive. Imagine having all that information & letting it collect dust." She muttered, "Drafting the plea was a helpful distraction." Gary was aware of the indirect reference to Evil Gideon.

The conniving stickler was furtive in her tactics. Her human counterpart was that too; however, the former was more disdainful. Her role was supposed to be an aide to her captain. It was a simple arrangement, except for the irony that the AI preferred sitting in the captain's chair. He wanted Gideon to get her self-reproach over her past complicity off her chest. He saw her averting from him. "Are you okay?"

"I want to be," she admitted, clenching her teeth.

"What's on your mind? You can tell me."

She peevishly voiced, "Have you ever make an error that could potentially undermine your ethics?"