"Mike? Mike?," Jennifer looked around the quaint cabin, Mike wasn't in sight, "Mike, where are you?" Jennifer kept walking around, trying to find him, with no luck. She had woken up this morning to breakfast on the table and a note which said:

Femmina,

Castano and I have gone out hunting. We'll be back soon,

Mike

She didn't like being alone, so she decided to see if Mike was near. When it was obvious he wasn't, she became determined to do some cleaning up. Jennifer started by looking for a broom of some sort. After a while, she came to the conclusion that Mike didn't have a broom. She then hopped a few steps into the forest (she still had her crutches), on the look out for a good branch with pine needles on the end. She spotted a tree with a branch hanging that looked perfect for this task. She tried to snap the branch off, but didn't have much success. She tried again, letting her other hand drop the crutches and balanced on her good leg. After a while of tug o' war, she won and fell to the ground with the branch in her hand. She gathered her crutches and the branch and hopped back to the cabin.

She swept out the mounds of dirt from the cabin back to the outdoors, and cleaned some dishes with the water from a well Jennifer discovered in the back of the cabin. She tidied up, made the bed, and even made a walk way with some rocks she found. When she was organizing Mike's shelves, she noticed something was hiding on the very top. She stretched her hand up, on the tips of her toes and eventually got hold of it. It was fuzzy and soft. When she brought it down, she examined it. It was a small teddy bear, sand colored and seemed old, and it was greatly worn. Jennifer jumped when she realized half of the bear was burned. It was missing and eye, part of an ear, and half a smile. She turned it over and saw on the label messy handwriting. "Lilly" was what the messy washed ink said. Jennifer couldn't understand why Mike was hiding a half burned teddy bear that belonged to Lilly. Who was Lilly? Jennifer thought. She didn't think of it as too much of a big deal so put the bear back in its place and continued with her work. When all the work was done, Jennifer noticed the garden needed some tending. She gathered more water and sprinkled it onto the growing plants. When she reached the tomatoes, she stopped and admired their plump shape, and deep red color. They looked perfect. Then, an idea jumped into Jennifer's head. I'll make a salad for dinner tonight!, she thought. She went into the house and grabbed a basket. She collected lettuce, a cucumber, a red bell pepper, and two tomatoes. She put the basket with the assorted vegetables inside the house, and then her stomach rolled around, begging for food. Jennifer hopped back outside and picked another tomato. She plunged her teeth into it, breaking the thin layer of skin, and sinking into the juicy vegetable. She nibbled the plump, scarlet ball for a while, until she heard a twig crack behind her. She swirled around to see Mike standing behind her, Castano at his side, carrying a couple birds in his mouth. "Hello," Jennifer squeaked out, under her chewing.

"Hello," Mike said, looking around at the work she's done, "you shouldn't have done this, not with your bad leg and everything."

"I wanted to, your little house was getting messy, and I had nothing else to do," Jennifer tossed the remaining tomato on the ground and wiped her hands on her huge pants. "How was hunting?"

"Good actually, Castano and I got some excellent quail." Mike stared at Jennifer for a while, his eyes tracing her face, stopping at her red lips, "Um," Mike continued, "you've got a little tomato on your lips," he rubbed his thumb over her mouth, even once the tomato is gone, his thumb is remained in the same place. Their eyes are locked onto each others. Jennifer, staring deep into his, searching for answers, and Mike staring into hers just for the beauty of it. He leaned in; Jennifer felt his warm breathe flow over her lips. His lips reached hers and they molded into each other. When their lips are released, Jennifer and Mike step back in amazement. Jennifer had never kissed anyone before, except her mother, her real mother. This kiss was different though. Fireworks went off in her head and her heart, explosions of joy rushed through her veins. Jennifer had never felt such a feeling before. She had only one guess of what it could be. Love.

The next day, the memory of the first kiss Mike and Jennifer had shared together was spinning in their heads. They could never look at each other the same way again. They both knew what they had been special. They spent every moment possible together and for each minute they were apart, they made it up to each other a kiss. Mike decided to start showing Jennifer his special spots in the forest.

"Follow me Femmina," Mike said while holding out his hand. Jennifer smiled shyly then took his hand. He led them through some bushes behind his little cottage. Once he pulled apart the last two branches, a beautiful lake was revealed. Jennifer gasped softly then stared deep into Mike's eyes as if he had given her a gift and she was giving him a real thank you. They walked slowly to where the lake started and placed their feet in the cool water. Castano was very excited and started running back and forth, charging at the birds.

"This is beautiful," Jennifer said, stunned at the yellow and blue sunset, with strips of purple clouds slicing through the mural, covering the whole sky.

"It is," Mike whispered while staring at Jennifer.