So sorry for the missed updates again D: School has been kicking my ass recently. Luckily, I'm almost done with school and the uploads will be back to normal again! I got the idea for this chapter, unsurprisingly, as it was raining outside. In this chapter, Michael really doesn't like rain and Amanda tries to change his mind a few times through the years.

Lightning tore through the North Yankton sky, the forks of electricity illuminating the darkening clouds before fading out of existence. Rain pounded down, the roof rattling with the force.

Amanda looked out the window in awe at it, a content smile on her face. She watched the sky break itself apart, watched the raindrops roll down the glass of the window. She'd always liked the rain, ever since she was little.

Michael, however, frowned behind her. "Why do you like this so much?" he asked in a confused voice.

"I'd rather have rain than snow," she scoffed. "I just think it's pretty. You know, babe, why don't you like this?"

"PTSD from when I was a kid?" he quipped, sitting down on the couch beside her.

"Why, did you get struck by lightning or something?" she asked sarcastically.

He shifted uncomfortably and scratched the back of his neck. "No, surprisingly. My father...he, uh, didn't like storms. Said they put him in a bad mood...which he took out on me."

A bitter taste formed in her mouth, throat becoming dry. It was only a couple of days ago that he'd told her about his abusive childhood and she could see how much it really affected him. He'd told her that it didn't, but she could see the way his voice became pained when talking about it, the way his eyes became distant. "You know you didn't have to tell me that," she said softly, reaching over and gripping his hand reassuringly.

"Yeah," he said. "I know." Thunder boomed outside, masking his sigh. He stared out of the window with a sad grimace on his face.

Amanda bit her lip as she looked at him before a small smile crossed her face, a plan forming in her mind. She stood up, tugging him along with her. "Come on."

Michael hesitantly let her drag him up from the couch. "What're you doing…?" he muttered.

"I am showing you that rain isn't all bad," she replied cheerfully. With her free hand, she opened the door and led him out into the storm. A grin crossed her face when the cool rain met her skin.

He just stood there in shock as the water poured over his head, drenching him. A sulky pout formed on his face, a sharp contrast to her excited smile.

"By what? Making me freeze my ass off?" he spluttered through chattering teeth. He crossed his arms across his chest, his wet shirt accentuating the muscles in his forearms. Black strands of hair stuck to his face with water and he was glaring at her through squinted blue eyes.

"Michael, I love you, but you are so fucking negative!" she sighed in exasperation. Her hand reached up to run through her wet hair. "Not everything needs to be so serious, you know."

"Bitter experiences have taught me, babe," he deadpanned. In a hopeless gesture, he wrung out the bottom of his shirt in an attempt to dry himself off before looking back up at her, sighing.

"Well, let's make some new ones then," she said. "First of all, forget about your asshole dad because he's not worth your time. Second, relax. It's water, not poison. I think you can live with your perfect hair getting a little wet."

"Ah, I don't know about that," he chuckled, sweeping his hair back from his forehead. Despite that, his shoulders relaxed and he allowed himself a small smirk. "So now what?"

"Now we act like we're in one of your god-awful romance movies," she whispered before burying a hand in his hair and kissing him.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist as he pulled her against him. Warm drops of water ran down his lips, his mouth tasting of rain against hers. Hands gripped onto wet clothes and his body felt warm against hers despite the cold.

Amanda pulled apart just far enough to catch her breath and she was panting as she asked, "So what do you think about the rain now?"

A flash of teeth greeted her when Michael smiled down at her. "I think it's beautiful," he murmured, pulling her into another kiss.

The electricity she felt during the kiss was nothing compared to the lightning. She forgot about the cold for a minute, the warmth and comfort of him drowning it out. His blue eyes looked down at her lovingly and he seemed to have forgot about the rain, too. He pressed himself closer to her and started moving them backwards towards the door, only stopping when her back met the door. Impatient lips met the side of her neck while she tried her best to struggle with the doorknob.

Finally, she got it open, much to his relief, and pulled him over to the couch. He fell over the armrest onto his back, with her falling on top of him. A small giggle escaped her as he untangled himself from the couch and her before she leaned down to kiss him. Their foreheads touched as their soft lips met each other's. Amanda's hands wrapped around the back of his neck while his traveled up to her waist, burning hot against her wet clothes.

Michael had just started tugging at her shirt before she pulled back, grinning at him and standing up. "I don't wanna get the couch wet, too," she said, gesturing to the growing water puddle on it. He glanced down at the couch and himself before scrambling to get up. She observed the drops of water that they were dripping on the floor and shivered slightly. "I need to get in the shower before I catch or cold or something."

"Alright," he smiled at her and stood there awkwardly as she walked towards their bathroom.

Amanda turned around, frowning at him. "Aren't you gonna join me, Michael?" she asked with an expectant look on her face.

A sheepish look formed on his face. "Oh, yeah, of course…" he stammered, practically sprinting over to her in his haste, one thought forming in his mind, maybe the rain isn't that bad...

"Of course this had to happen on the one fuckin' day we had to ourselves…" Michael muttered to himself, struggling to open the umbrella in his hands. "C'mon, you motherfu-"

Before he could finish his curse, the umbrella broke, no match for the force of the increasing wind and his own strength. Amanda just sighed next to him. "Well, I guess we're just going to have to make a run for it," she said, looking up at the overcast sky and the rain starting to fall.

"This is not how I thought this day was gonna go…" he muttered in disappointment before instinctively shrugging off his jacket and putting it around her shoulders.

The kids were with her mother for the weekend, giving them some alone time that they hadn't gotten since they were born. Between that and the fact that he'd been away a lot for doing heists, it was a much-needed relief.

A small smile formed on her face at the gesture. "Thanks, darling, but I don't want you to get sick." She looked at him, with only a t-shirt on and the broken umbrella held loosely in his hand, and then up the pelting rain with a concerned look.

"I've been through worse," he chuckled. "Besides, the longer we argue about it, the longer I have to stand out in this."

"Fine…" she conceded. She flipped the hood over her head and wrapped the jacket around her shoulders tightly, inhaling the smoky scent of him. "My hero, bravely protecting me from the rain," she teased.

"Yeah, I'm a regular knight in shining armor," he laughed bitterly, staring at the puddles he splashed through as he walked along the path.

Amanda gripped his hand reassuringly. "You are to me," she whispered.

"Thanks, sweetheart," he said softly, wrapping his hand tightly around hers.

The park was in chaos around them. The trees shook with the wind, leaves being ripped violently from the branches. Thunder echoed in the sky with a flash of lightning appearing in the distance.

"You know, this feels kinda familiar," she said, eyes twinkling as she remembered a rainy day almost ten years ago.

"Except that time, you dragged my ass into the rain," he reminded her.

"...and you loved it," she finished with a smirk.

"Maybe a little," he admitted with a small laugh.

She eyed his soaked appearance and the grin on his face. "I don't think you mind it now."

Michael just shrugged. "You know, it's really not that bad, babe."

Her grip on the jacket around her tightened. "I'd love to join you, but unlike you, I wanna stay dry." Calculating blue eyes flickered over to the coat. "Michael…" she warned.

"Huh..." he muttered thoughtfully, stepping a bit closer to her.

She moved back a bit. "Stop."

He took a step forward. "Stop what?" he asked innocently.

"Stop-" her protest was cut off by strong arms wrapping around her and tickling her sides mercilessly. The jacket was took from her shoulders and she was left standing in the downpour as Michael took off running with it gripped in his hands, laughing in victory.

Amanda just stood there in shock, sighing in anger, and brushed the wet strands of hair away from her face before sprinting after him. Michael's longer legs outran her with ease, the gap between them increasing the longer she chased after him. He glanced over his shoulder at her, not seeing the patch of ice in front of him, and slipped, falling onto his back. "Fuck…" he groaned in pain.

"Karma's a bitch, babe," she panted once she caught up, grinning in satisfaction.

"Yeah, yeah…" he muttered, frowning up at her. He grimaced slightly as he sat up.

"Oh, stop pouting. You're barely thirty, it's not like you're fifty," she said as she helped him up.

The freezing rain kept his fingers interlaced with hers. A small smile quirked at his lips when he stood up. His blue eyes stared softly into hers, full of amusement and love. The look that he was giving her distracted her from everything around them.

When another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, they both jumped in shock at the sudden noise, their brief reverie gone. Michael laughed nervously and ran a hand through his wind-ruffled hair, while she just stood there. She didn't snap out of her daze until he held the jacket in front of her, a small smirk on his face. "Think you need this," he said when he saw her eyebrows raised in question.

"I think you're a little late for that," Amanda said, shaking from the cold, before looking down at her soaked clothes. "You're gonna need to make this up to me, Townley."

A low chuckle came from him as he put his lips to her ear and whispered, "How about when we get home?"

She glared at him. "I'm going to be too cold to do anything."

"Oh, I can warm you up, babe," he grinned confidently at her with a smug look on his face.

"Smooth, Michael," she said sarcastically, even as a small smile formed before she could stop it.

"Ah, I try to be," he replied, grasping her hand again and starting to walk further along the path. He glanced up to the dark, angry sky for a moment before turning to face her. "It's not that bad out, huh?"

"Yeah," she agreed, nuzzling up to his arm, "It's nice."

"You know, I thought we moved here to get away from this weather," he mused, trying to avoiding the puddles growing on the sidewalk of Vinewood Boulevard. Michael held the black umbrella above their heads with a disappointed frown on his face.

Amanda looked down at the ground, carefully stepping around the pools of water in her high heels. "You used to like this, babe," she reminded him.

"Yeah, well, people change," he said with a shrug, staring ahead at the cars racing through the streets and the way the lights blurred from the rain.

"I guess, like how you used to be fun," she smiled teasingly at him.

"Ha, ha," he deadpanned, "tonight was fun, right? I know you didn't seem too happy..." he said defensively.

"Michael, darling, I love you and I'm so glad that you're happy at your job," she started, "but you can't blame me for being sick of hearing about Meltdown after you've dragged me to see it a hundred times."

"We won Best Picture!" he said excitedly, a huge grin on his face. "Aren't you happy about that?"

"I'd be a lot happier if I'd only seen it once or twice…" she said under her breath.

He looked over at her with a defeated look, not noticing the car speeding along the road or the huge puddle that they were standing next to. "Fair enough-" he started before the car drove by and into the puddle, soaking him. Michael just stood there, fist clenched at his side and jaw ticking in anger. "Motherfucker…" he growled, looking down at his drenched tuxedo.

Amanda rested her hand on his arm reassuringly, feeling the tense muscles beneath her fingers. "Relax," she said softly. "It's not like we can't afford a new one."

Slowly, he calmed down a little bit, shoulders loosening as he let out a deep breath. "I guess..." He tried to shake some of the water off pointlessly. "You know, this felt a lot more fun twenty years ago."

"Everything felt more fun twenty years ago," she pointed out. "I would join you in your misery, but, you know," she gestured to the dress that she was wearing.

"Damn…" he said sarcastically, eyeing the dark clouds and wincing slightly at the booms of thunder above them. "Could be worse though…"

She scoffed in disbelief. "Like what? A tsunami?"

"Well, at least it's not snow," Michael replied with a smirk.

She smiled a little as if recalling some distant memory. "Yeah, I agree…"

Still looking up at the dark sky in awe, he watched as forks of lightning appeared in the distance. "You know...I think it's kinda beautiful."

Amanda reached over to grab his hand, still warm against hers despite the rain, and met his smiling gaze. "Me too…"