"Okay. But only because I stink." He lifted his arm and sniffed his own odour. "I need a change of shirt."

"No kidding." I pushed his arm down.

"Now, Sam," Dad's voice absconded into the entrance.

"Why does she get to stay home?" Sam said, and I imagined him pointing off in some random direction as if pointing at me-the 'she'.

"Because she has a friend who just arrived."

"There's always some excuse. It's like she never goes to school."

Mike rested his forearm on the balustrade, half laughing, and looked at me. "You never go to school, huh?"

"Not a lot." I kicked up the carpet at the base of the stair.

"How's it been-" he nodded toward the dining room, "-having a little brother?"

"Not much different to putting up with you."

He laughed and looked around, his eyes taking in the stairs, then the window above the front door, and landing back on me. "I like this. It's a nice house, Ara. It's good to see the places you've been talking about all your life."

"Well, later I'll show you where I landed when I broke my arm that time."

"Sounds good." He tugged on a strand of my hair, making me lower my foot from the first step to look up at him. "I really missed ya, girl."

"I know," I said, and my eyes moved slowly from his camel-skin boots, over the light denim jeans and traced swerves over the ripples under his shirt, stopping in a hold on his warm eyes. The caramel colour had always reminded me of autumn-once my favourite season-but there would have to be a different comparison for his eyes now that my autumn would forever be a reminder of losing David. Maybe...

"Ara?"

"Hm?" His face blurred and sharpened into focus.

"Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Um-"

Mike's shoulders dropped and he nodded to himself. "Come on, why don't you just show me upstairs?"

I knew he was upset. I didn't want him to be upset. "No," I said, flashing him a cheeky grin.

"Ara. Come on. I'm tired. I'm not in the mood for games."

My brow arched. "Race you?"

And the mask cracked, bringing warmth back to his eyes. "Ah, forget that," he said, taking a quick step toward me. "This is more fun."

"No!" I squealed, rapping my fists on his leg as he swept me up like a football, legs kicking behind us, and bolted up the stairs. "Put me down!"

"Make me." He laughed over my protest, so I angled my head just so, and bit his thigh. "Ow!"

I landed on the carpet on my hands and knees.

"I can't believe you just bit me."

"I can't believe you just dropped me."

"Sorry. Defensive reaction." He rubbed his leg.

I stood up, dusting myself off and we both held eye contact for only a second before laughing. "Truce?" I held up my pinkie.

"Truce." He linked his with mine, then pulled it close to his body, wrapping his other hand behind my head to bury my face in his chest. "Come here, you."

"Yeah. I missed you, too." I patted his back a few times then stepped away.

"So-" He looked from one door to another. "Which one's my room?"

I pointed to the spare room.

"Which one's yours?"

I nodded to the one behind him; he took a look, then hobbled over to his door, his hand firmly on his thigh.

"Oh, grow up, Mike. I didn't bite that hard."

"How do you know?" He stood tall, dropping the act. "I might need a tetanus shot."

I wanted to whack him, but knew it would start the war all over again. So I took the moral high road instead and opened his door for him, ruffling his hair as the light from his room swept the carpet by my feet. "Does poor baby need a cuddle?"

"Quiet, you," he said playfully and his eyes widened as he looked into his room. "Ooh. Nice."

"Yep. And you can thank David for putting the bed up," I said, and crossed the room to close the window. "Dad was trying to put the foot at the head and the same on the end."

"David, huh?"

"Yes." I pushed the curtains further apart to allow for more light, then turned around and opened the door adjacent to the window. "So, there's a bathroom here."

"Wow, my own bathroom. Nice." Mike leaned his head around the bathroom door, then smiled back at me.

"And you have a TV." I walked to the wardrobe-the door on the left of his bed-and rolled out one corner of the LCD. "We usually roll it away to make more space."

"Great." He grinned. "I've got a stack of our favourite movies on my hard drive."

"Awesome." I nodded, pressing my lips into a thin line.

Mike stared down at me with a half-lit smile, his hands on his hips like he was questioning a suspect, and a narrowed look in his eyes that made me clear my throat.

"Why do you keep staring at me like that, Mike?"

"I'm sorry. There's just-" He went to walk away, but stopped and gave that same look again. "Did you dye your hair or something?"

"Why?" I toyed with the ends. "Does it look different?"

"Not sure."

"Okay." I laughed. "That makes perfect sense."

"Sorry." He shook his head and hooked his fingers under the handle of his suitcase. "I just haven't seen you in so long. I think I forgot how you looked."

"Oh. Well, didn't you have a picture?"

He shrugged dismissively, placing his suitcase on the end of the bed. "Probably somewhere. Why?"

"You could've referred back to that."

"I 'spose I could. Guess I just didn't think of it."

"Oh." I nodded solemnly.

"What?" he said, looking up from the padlock on his bag. "What's with the long face?"

"Um...well, it's just David," I said, instead of blubbering that he clearly didn't miss me like I missed him. "I told you-he has to go away for a few weeks before he leaves indefinitely, and-"

"You'll miss him?"

"Mm-hm." I nodded.

Mike softened then and grabbed my wrist, pulling me into his chest for another way-too-tight hug. "It's all right, kid, you got me. I'll keep ya company."

"I know." I pushed out from his arms. "But, I've relied on him so much to get me through. I just don't know how I'll-"

"Well, what was I, if not the one who helped you get through things, before you came here?" he said. "You'll be fine, Ara. It's not the end of the world. And he'll be back to say goodbye, right?"

I nodded. It was all I could do for fear of crying hysterically.

"Okay." He patted my arm. "So just...cheer up and enjoy this time with me. Okay?"

"Okay." I huffed.

"And sit down. You're making me feel edgy just standing there, hovering by the door." He motioned to his bed.

I looked at it for a long moment. It didn't seem right to sit on his bed now-now that I had a boyfriend.

Mike looked at the bed too, then smiled. "What? Did you booby-trap it-like last winter when you and your friends thought it'd be funny to-"

"No," I said swiftly, then wandered over and slumped down in the centre, with my feet dangling off the side. "I just-I don't know if I'm comfortable being in your room now, is all."

"Right." Mike nodded, letting his gaze slip past me to the window.

I rolled onto my side and propped my head up with the ball of my palm. "So, what's the plan today?"

"Well, a change of shirt's first on the list." He unzipped his suitcase. "Then, I wanna hear all about this boyfriend of yours."

I grinned at the sound of his accent, how, alone, in a quiet space, the Aussie in him became more prominent, more noticeable-not a strong accent, just enough to surprise me.

"What?" He frowned.

"Oh, um. It's the accent," I said. "It sounds so...foreign."

"Have you heard yourself? You're all American." He put on a mock American accent, but it sounded more Canadian.

"Hey, don't knock the accent." I rolled onto my back and looked up at the ceiling. "Took me weeks to get it right."

"Well, it sounds very authentic," he said warmly.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

He chatted away then, zipping and unzipping pockets in his suitcase, laying things in the drawers across from the bed then closing them gently, while I watched in a sort of dream-like state. He still didn't seem real. I half wondered when I was going to wake up.

When the suitcase scuffed along the floor, I looked at Mike as he kicked it under the bed and laid a clean shirt on the blanket. "Hey, wanna see what I've been doing lately?"

"What?" I pushed up on my elbows.

He yanked his shirt from the back of the neck and pulled it over his head, and my mouth dropped. "You like?"

"Looks like you've been working hard to get into the Tactical Group." I smiled at him one last time before a shiver ran down my spine, forcing me to look at the roof again. "There's no way not to appreciate that kind of workmanship."

"Well, they expect a certain level of fitness," he said, ruffling about at the foot of the bed, "it's my duty to exceed that."

"Well, you certainly didn't look like that the last time you took your shirt off, so...duty fulfilled," I scoffed, and everything went dark with the strong scent of Mike. "Ew. Wash this thing. It stinks," I joked, peeling his shirt off my face then tossing it back at him.

He caught it, held it to his nose, then shrugged and threw it behind him. "Come on-move over."

"Make me."

"Fine." The giant jumped onto the queen-sized bed and sunk his elbows heavily into the softness beside me, making me roll slightly into him.

I shoved my palm against his arm and rolled onto my back. "God, you take up so much space."

He chuckled and tucked his elbows under his ribs to hold his head off the bed. "If you don't like it, you could just get off my bed."

I smiled as he shoved me gently. "Like I said; make me."

"If anyone could make you do anything, Ara-Rose, my life would've been much easier."

"Ha-ha." I flicked his earlobe.

"Ouch." He laughed, cupping it. "That actually hurt."