Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.

Madge peeked over her shoulder with a little laugh before quickly erasing the message that Gale had scrawled on her chalkboard. It was something he'd only recently started doing and she tried to catch them before any of her students did so they didn't think something was up.

They'd been dating for a few months now, something that started at the beginning of the school year. It was amazing that summer was rapidly approaching. The two of them had been fairly good at hiding their relationship (though there were definitely a few kids that knewsomething was up) and Madge wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. Her private life didn't need to be public knowledge for high schoolers – it was hard enough keeping her mom out of her business.

Repeat of last night? -G That was what the note on her board had read and it made her entire body feel warm. She slept at Gale's the night before ("I shouldn't," she said as she crawled into his bed, "it's a school night." He laughed and pulled her close. "You have clothes here," he told her. "And my apartment's closer anyway. We can sleep in.") and it wasn't the first time.

Before she had even sat in her desk chair Gale peeked into her classroom. "Coach Hawthorne," she murmured with a small smile.

"Ms. Undersee," he returned politely. Gale stepped out of the way so a few kids could enter the room. "Did you get my message?" he asked.

"I did," she nodded. He lifted his eyebrows in the unasked question. Well? "I'll have to think about it," she told him. Gale rolled his eyes and Madge tried to suppress her smile. They both knew she'd probably end up staying the night again. "I'll let you know."

"I'll be waiting," he practically hummed before exiting the room.

Madge let out a little laugh and sunk backwards in her seat at one student entered the room. "Coach was in here again?" he asked. Scott, probably one of Madge's favorite (albeit troublesome) students entered the room with a look of delight on his face. "How interesting."

"Oh, enough," Madge scolded him. "Take your seat."

Scott had almost caught Madge and Gale on more than one occasion. The very first time Gale kissed her Scott had been at the (locked) door trying to get in considering he forgot his binder. On top of that there had been several other occasions where he was in the right place at the wrong time. He'd resorted to teasing Madge whenever possible, asking not so subtle questions to Gale, and spreading rumors to his classmates. But most students just regarded them as that – rumors.

"I saw a note on the board," Madge heard one of her other students, Molly, whisper to Scott. Madge frowned and rolled her chair in the way of the smudge she left when she erased what Gale had wrote. "I'm on your side."

"I think everyone's on my side," Scott said.

"I'm telling you," Madge said at lunch. Gale was in the seat across from her at the small circular table in the teacher's lounge as the ate. "They know."

"They don't know," Gale returned.

"They do! And you're not helping with all the notes you leave!"

"I think the notes are fun," Gale said with a laugh. Madge rolled her eyes but couldn't stop smiling. "Hey, let them think whatever they want. Who cares?" Madge shrugged, stabbing at her salad with her fork. "You're the one that told me they ship us. Which I still don't understand."

"It's–they want us to date," Madge tried clarifying for the thousandth time. "It's like when you watch a movie and want two people to end up together, you ship them. We've talked about this! It's like relation-ship!"

"Whatever," Gale waved his hand at her and she groaned. "They're just kids." Madge took a bite of her salad and shrugged another time. She still didn't want her students knowing about her love life! "You know," Gale started, "I've been thinking."

After swallowing Madge asked, "About what?" She lifted her water to take a drink as Gale continued.

"You should move in with me." She nearly choked, coughing to get the liquid to go down her throat. "Oh, come on," Gale laughed. "It's not a horrible idea."

Still coughing, Madge shook her head. "Gale!"

"It's not," he went on. "You're over every night anyway, you have your own toothbrush, your own mug…"

Madge finally stopped coughing. "That's–that's a huge step." And it wasn't something she really wanted to talk about in the teacher's lounge. There weren't many people on lunch right then anyway, and she doubted anyone was listening to their conversation, but it was still something she wanted to talk about somewhere else. "I–I'll have to think about it."

"Obviously," Gale said with a little laugh. He reached across the table and rested his hand atop hers. "There's no rush, and you can say no. But I… I really think it's a good idea." He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. "We could carpool."

Top or bottom drawer? -G

"Oh," Madge yelped as she saw the note and ran across her room to quickly erase it. He was making things difficult! Her hands were covered in chalk as she quickly wiped away his message and she turned to find Scott walking in.

"It said top or bottom drawer," Molly called out to him. Madge shot her students an angrily look and Scott grinned. "Who's G?"

"Grandmother," Madge blurted. "It's a, um, it's–I left a box of pens with a friend but they weren't sure what drawer. I left them in."

"Sure, Ms. U," Scott said with a laugh as he settled into his seat. "What's Coach's first name again?"

Madge turned red, "Oh, stop that!"

"Just date already!" Molly called. "Come on." Madge huffed and started getting ready for class. "It's clear he's into you."

"And you're into him," Scott said.

"This is inappropriate," Madge told her students. "Enough. Okay? Coach Hawthorne and I are friends. Just like you and Molly," she said to Scott. Molly's face turned red and Scott looked away. "See? Not very fun when the game's turned on you."

Gale was in her classroom that afternoon after all the kids left. "You've got to stop with the notes!" she said as he pulled the door shut, trying not to acknowledge his grin. "Whatdrawer do I want?" she asked. "Top or bottom? Are you serious?" Gale strode over to her as she kept rambling. "I don't want a drawer I need an entire dresser!"

"Then we'll bring over your dresser," Gale said softly, grabbing her hands and pulling her toward him. "And your bookshelf full of all your music textbooks, and your TV because mine's really small."

Madge let out a short breath. "And my couch."

"Okay," Gale laughed. "And your couch." He tilted her chin up and kissed her quickly. "Is that a yes?" he asked against her lips, and she nodded ever so slightly. "Mm, good." Gale kissed her another time before she pulled away. "We can start this weekend?"

"Perfect," she murmured.

"We should've done this ages ago," Gale said from the passenger seat. "We're saving a shit ton of money."

"Yes," Madge frowned from the driver's seat. "The only benefit to me moving in with you is saving money."

"Ah, ah, enough with the attitude." He reached across to her, pulling her chin in his direction so he could kiss her. "There are plenty benefits to you moving in with me," he said before another kiss. "Morning showers." He kissed her again. "Catching up on TV shows." Again. "Waking up next to you." Again. "Someone to grade papers with." Again. "Carpooling."

Madge laughed as she finally pulled away. "You're lucky I love you," she said as she unbuckled.

"Infinitely," Gale agreed. They climbed out of her car and he stepped over to tangle their fingers together.

They weren't even inside the school when they both hear, "I knew it!" Madge and Gale turned their head to find Scott striding toward the building with his hands up in victory. "I knew it the whole time!"

Gale stuck his tongue out at him and Madge's face turned red. "Don't make me give you extra laps," Gale said to his student.

Scott was still grinning. "Never, Coach! It's about damn time!"