Booker frowned as he stared at the large gap that the tires and ground had between them. This really was a shit road and to see just how stuck they were was pretty terrible. Booker already felt bad about making such a goof but it seemed that Juliette herself was more than a little irritated too. While he knew just how frustrating this could be, getting angry about it wasn’t going to help their situation. They needed to get out of here otherwise they would find themselves stuck out in the middle of nowhere with no sign of rescue.

It wasn’t exactly a natural-disaster-movie moment, but still, it was highly frustrating!

Booker called back his findings to Juliette. He wanted to try and make up for the situation as gently as possible, wrapping the bad news up in a joke. That would work, Juliette usually loved his jokes and was all smiles. Unless there were one too many puns, then her rightly deserved the punch to the arm that he received. But this? One joke? Totally will clear up the angry gray skies!

>>”Do you really think that’s helping, Booker?”

...Or make them merge together into a hurricane. Booker winced at the snap in Juliette’s voice and took a few sloshing steps back. As he did so, he raised his gaze to Juliette, watching the woman slop and stomp her way towards the back of the car to look at the tires. It seemed that the angry air hadn’t been quelled yet and the woman was about ready to burst.

He didn’t say anything as she tried to push the car herself, only proceeded to slip and slide over the mud beneath her feet. Booker stepped forward to help but an angry glance from the woman was enough for him to stop and slip his hands into his back pockets. When the woman failed to impress him with her herculean strength, she huffed, turned around, and tried to do it with her back pressed against the trunk. Again, it didn’t work. He sighed, finally stepped forward and offered her a small, sad smile.

”I’m so sorry. Here…” he said. He leaned down, grabbed a firm hold of the back bumper and placed one hand against the trunk. ”...let me do that and you try driving forward. Maybe with our forces combine we could make a responsible adult!” He gave her a cheeky grin.

Pushing the car forward had to work, didn’t it? That was what people always did in the movie, wasn’t it? Ugh. It was just hopeless. All that Juliette was doing was sliding around in the mud and making even more of a fool of herself. For some reason, though, she just kept going with it. She figured that it had to work eventually and that the car would gain some ground after a while. Then they could get going and still make their reservation.

Unfortunately, it seemed to only make things worse. The front wheels just became even more stuck in the mud, and Booker just stood next to her watching. Why wasn’t he helping? Was he as mad as she was? He had every right to be. She had just been awful to him. Juliette shook her head and looked away, just trying to fix the situation.

Instead of getting mad, though, Booker started to say something else. Juliette had expected him to freak out on her in a way like she had just done, but he didn’t do that at all.

>>”I’m so sorry. Here… let me do that and you try driving forward. Maybe with our forces combine we could make a responsible adult!”

How… how was he so perfect? He didn’t even seem to be a little bit mad, and while she was just making things worse, he was coming up with good ways to solve their problem. She had so, so underestimated him, which would have just made her angrier if it hadn’t reminded her why she was so head-over-heels in love with him.

Man, she’d been a jerk. She had been the one to give him the map that he clearly didn’t know how to read, and she could have stopped before turning onto the road. If it was anyone’s fault, it was hers, not Bookers. He didn’t deserve the way that she had spoken to him earlier and he deserved to know that. He was too good not to.

Juliette’s hands dropped to her side and she looked at him, matching his sad smile. ”You’re right,” she nodded, thinking clearly for the first time in awhile, ”I’m sorry for losing it before… you’re pretty great, you know.”

She took in a deep breath to compose herself before then taking his advice and sloshing her way over to the driver’s seat. If Booker could be that calm, then so could she. Otherwise, their weekend would just get worse.

With another breath in, she started the car back up with her door open, turning her head out the side to look at the damage in the back. ”Alright, push now,” she called out to Booker as she stepped gingerly on the gas.

Booker could get angry. He wasn’t some perfect, pacifist who had never raised his voice or fists in anger. He had his moments but the thing was that it took an awful lot to get Booker to that level of anger with someone. He argued with Nessa, his exes, but anytime there were arguments like that, they were for very real, tangible reasons. For example, his ex, Chris, cheating on him, or Nessa sleeping with one of his ex-girlfriends; they were things that required him to be anger, as any normal, function human. But this? A car stuck in the mud? A missed B&B reservation, those were not things to get mad at. Life was too short for it.

He could see that Juliette was upset, though. She wanted to be angry, she needed a target, and while he could take those slings and arrows, deep down he knew it wasn’t going to do them any good to get frustrated with her. This was an annoying situation, he had made a mistake, and he did own up to it. Now that that acceptance was uttered, they could make moves towards a peaceful and hopefully quick resolution.

His refusal to engage in an argument seemed to deflate the anger that was building up in Juliette. She was still frustrated but it allowed her to take a moment and look at her surroundings. Getting angry wasn’t going to help anything and, upon realizing that, seemed to take it all with a calming breath. He gave her an encouraging grin and proceeded to step up, offering his own plan. He was bigger, a little stronger, surely he could have more luck pushing the car if Juliette were behind the wheel.

>>”You’re right...I’m sorry for losing it before… you’re pretty great, you know.”

He blushed a little, looking down and scratching the back of his hair. ”I do what I can.” he said with a chuckle. ”But, come on, get behind the wheel and I’ll push. Sooner we get back on the road, the better. I smell more rain on the horizon.”

Taking place behind the car, Booker leaned down, planting his feet as firmly as he could, and pressing his palms against the trunk. He took a deep breath, trying to focus on the task at hand, but listening as Juliette got behind the wheel. Hearing the gentle rev of the engine, Booker took one last breath and prepared to push...

>>”Alright, push now,”’

He nodded and started to throw his full weight against the car. Much like his girlfriend’s attempt, his feet skid in the mud but he managed to get a bit more purchase than the nurse with his added feet size and strength. He ground his heels into the mud, pushing, feeling the car actually start to move. However, he only got a few inches forward before the wheel found a particularly nasty mound of mud that suddenly turned the wheel into a machine gun filled with wet bullets.

Booker fumbled, feeling the mud berate his chest, splattered in patterns that would have made Jackson Pollock proud. A step back too far, and Juliette still revving the engine, caused another spray of much to splash across his neck and face. With effort he got out of the way of the mud blast, sputtering and spitting mud from his mouth, trying to wipe it from his eyes. Ugh, disgusting. So much for that plan...

More rain was the last thing that they needed. It would just make things even worse and the car would probably get more stuck in the sloppy mud. If they ever wanted to get off the road, they needed to do it before the rain came back and made it so they would have no hope whatsoever of ever making it to the end.

Booker’s plan was much better than hers. It was more thought out and it would probably work better in the long run. Juliette sat in the driver’s seat and gave Booker the signal to start pushing. She waited just a second and then put the car into drive, sending the car forward. At first, she just touched the gas. As she realized that it would need more, though, she pressed harder and harder until it was all the way at the floor. She had never floored the gas before.

For a second, nothing happened, and then they moved. They moved! ”We’re getting somewhere!” Juliette shouted back in triumph. It was just a few inches, but it was still something. If they could just keep going like that, then they would be off the road in… several hours. So it wasn’t exactly peachy, but they weren’t doomed.

...or so she thought. Juliette turned around to see how Booker was doing, only to see that he was getting absolutely pummeled by flying mud. She yelped quietly and immediately took her foot off the gas. The mud stopped flying, but the damage was done. Plus, they hadn’t actually been getting anywhere after those few inches. Maybe it was hopeless after all.

Juliette climbed out of the driver’s seat and squished her way back to Booker. ”Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” she sputtered, glancing up and down at the mud patterns that adorned his outfit. ”Um, here.” She popped the filthy trunk open and searched around for the bag she had packed for the weekend. Once she’d found it, she searched through her clothes to pull out a little washcloth. She then turned back around and reached up to wipe whatever she could off of his face.

”You brought a change of clothes, right? It’s not looking like we’ll make it to the B&B without some sort of miracle anyway.” It would take an act of god to get them off of the road at that point. Either that or a tow truck that happened to have wandered very far from the city. "We should probably call a tow truck..."

The car had been so new and shiny, too. It was hard to see that under all the dirt that had accumulated on the surface.

>>”We’re getting somewhere!”

He couldn’t hear that. As much as Booker wanted to believe that what he was doing was making a difference, honestly he wasn’t sure. He could feel the vehicle move, feel his strength pushing against it to try and knock it forward. However, the problem wasn’t just the fact that the car needed to move, it needed to catch onto solid ground that it could gain footing on, and use that to pull itself onward. Really it seemed impossible for every little bit that Booker managed to move the vehicle, the ground just continued to give way.

Then, almost as if the very mud itself had been offended by Booker’s actions, it sprayed back, lashing the man across his chest, pants, and face with mud. The librarian, caught off guard by the action, sloshed back, sputtering and trying to wipe the gunk from his features. he spit off to the side, shuddering at the sensation before he turned his head up to face the sound of approaching footsteps.

>>”Oh my god, I’m so sorry...Um, here.”

He felt her hands wiping across his face, removing most of the gunk but leaving him still feel cold and a little foolish. As she turned around and started to fish around the trunk, she managed to produce the world’s smallest hand towel and handed that off to him. Wincing as some mud tried to invade his eye, Booker reached over and plucked the towel away from her with his fingers.

”Uh...thanks…” he said. Taking the towel he tried to wipe off most of the mud from around his eyes, nose and mouth, rather than wasting off of it on his hair or anything like that. Once his face was mostly cleared off, he proceeded to wipe his hands on the towel, grinning a little and shaking his head. ”Hell of a vacation, eh?” he sighed. Okay, that was a little frustrating but there was still some humor to be found in it.

>>”You brought a change of clothes, right? It’s not looking like we’ll make it to the B&B without some sort of miracle anyway...We should probably call a tow truck..."

Booker nodded in confirmation. ”Yup. I have a change of clothes in my bag,” he sloshed towards the car again, nodding in agreement about them not making it to the B&B. ”I’ll get my phone,” he said as he pulled open the passenger-side door, carefully reached in in order to not drop mud everywhere, and took up his phone. As he did so, he stopped and sighed, hanging his head. ”Oh...s**t.” he sighed. He then smirked, closing his eyes and spoke up. ”Um, darling? Seems that my phone has just died.” Perfect.

It had been her intention to try to help get the mud off of Booker’s face, but all Juliette did was push it around and force it into his eyes. She winced with him, her stomach sinking a little as she looked at the mess she had caused. ”Sorry,” she said quietly. There was no anger left in her, just regret and guilt for the situation she’d caused. Everything she tried to do to fix it only seemed to make things worse.

At least Booker was still trying to find something funny in the situation. Each time he smirked at her, it made her a little more hopeful that she hadn’t caused any permanent damage or rifts. The last thing that she wanted was some stupid frustration to ruin what had been going to well. Navigating the next stage of their relationship had turned out to be a little more difficult than she had expected, but she was up for making it work. She liked Booker, after all. She liked him quite a bit.

Still, all hope of them getting to the secluded weekend getaway spot had been abandoned and they were about to call a tow truck. Juliette waited at the back of the car with her head falling backward and her hair spilling down her back. Definitely not what she had planned.

>>”Um, darling? Seems that my phone has just died.”

Juliette’s head snapped forward and she looked at Booker with wide eyes. Someone really had it out for them upstairs. She sloshed forward through the mud and stood beside him, sighing and running her hands through her hair as she glimpsed the blank screen. That was one phone out, then. Still, they had another one. They weren’t quite in horror movie territory yet.

”O-kay,” Juliette said in an exacerbated tone, ”if I start the car again, you can plug it into the car charger. I’ll just grab my phone for now.” She ducked into the car and pulled out a white cord, handing that to Booker while she grabbed her phone in her other hand. She would call the tow truck, he would charge his phone, and maybe they could still do something in the city while she sent her car in to be cleaned. There was still some weekend left for them to enjoy.

Ducking back out of the car, she turned on her phone and began to type something into her browser before she noticed something at the top of her screen. ”You’ve gotta be f****** kidding me!” cried Juliette. ”I don’t have any signal!”

Okay so things could have definitely gone smoother. Booker wasn’t entirely sure what happened to their super awesome weekend of solitude and lovin’, but it was quickly looking like an impossible dream that would never be attained. Only in humorous books and stories had he heard about antics such as this, where everything in the world seemed to be piling up against the two young lovers who merely wanted some time alone together. Wrong directions, quicksand-like mud, and incapacitated cellphones all felt like a recipe for comedy rather than real life. Just what the hell was going on?

Booker shook his head, sighing as he continued to tape his phone. He knew he should have had that battery replaced months ago but he had been lazy about doing it since the right battery needed to be ordered online and he wanted to research the exact right one, and make sure it wasn’t a fake, blah, blah, blah and so on. At the end of the day, Booker never ordered his battery and now he was stuck out in the mud with a dead phone. Totally not cool.

He glanced back to Juliette as she sloshed over to him, each of her footsteps making a sucking sound as she stepped closer and closer to peer at his phone. Yup, it was still dead. He knew he probably shouldn’t have been on it as much as he was on the drive over but it was a force of habit. Now, it seemed, he was stuck without communication. Hopefully Juliette’s phone would have better luck.

>>”O-kay...if I start the car again, you can plug it into the car charger. I’ll just grab my phone for now.”

He nodded. ”Sounds like a plan,” he responded. Happy that she also had her phone, and it was probably in better shape than his, Booker waited until she reached across the interior of the car with the white power cord ready. Taking it in hand, he plugged it into his phone, then proceeded to plug it into the car so that it could start charging the second she turned the ignition.

But, just as Booker leaned back out of the car, careful to not track any of the mud into Brian (the nickname he had offered to Juliette’s newest vehicle), he suddenly snapped back at the exasperated look on his girlfriend’s face. That...was not good....

>>”You’ve gotta be f****** kidding me! I don’t have any signal!”

He winced. Again, that was definitely not good. A quick glance around proved that they were out in the middle of nowhere and, what made it worse, was that if Juliette couldn’t get a signal, what was to keep his phone from having the same problem? Honestly he wouldn’t know until the phone was charged, but until then, it seemed like they were going to have to wait.

”Oh jeez,” he grumbled, placing his forehead against the edge of the car. ”What happened? Did we run afoul of a gypsy or something?” He shook his head, biting his lip in thought. They really needed to get going on a plan because, as every second passed, it looked more and more like they would be spending the night out in the middle of nowhere and he had seen enough horror movies to know that it wasn’t a good thing. Popping his lips in thought, Booker looked across the car to Juliette. ”Hey, hun, stupid question but can you, like, fly out of here? Maybe back to the city or at least see if there is a town nearby? Gotta be someway to get help.”

With both means of communication out of the picture, the odds were looking very much not in their favour. It was crazy to think that something like that had even happened to them, really. It seemed like something out of a movie. Then again, she also spent some of her time as a costumed vigilante with super powers… Sometimes reality was indeed stranger than fiction.

Strange wasn’t really what they had planned for that weekend, though. Juliette let her head rest backward against the car behind her for a second as she let all plans of relaxing and not having to worry about sisters or roommates walking in on them slip away. She had so been looking forward to it, too. It wasn’t very often that she could manage to get an entire weekend off from her various commitments, and it wasn’t likely that another one would crop up anytime soon.

They must’ve had some sort of curse or bad luck on their side, it seemed. Juliette let out a half-hearted laugh and shook her head at Booker’s comment about a gypsy, but it just wasn’t as funny as it might have been if they were in a better situation. Or looking back at it a week later. They just had to think of a week later. A week later and they wouldn’t be standing out in the cold like that; they would be somewhere warm and happy, with any luck.

>>”Hey, hun, stupid question but can you, like, fly out of here? Maybe back to the city or at least see if there is a town nearby? Gotta be someway to get help.”

Juliette chewed her lip for a moment while she thought of that possibility. She didn’t often think of her ability to fly in situations that weren’t explicitly about her mutation, but it was a good idea, really. It was just a shame that she had such a short range, and she was already running on a moderate amount of energy. She didn’t directly respond to his question, but she tossed him the keys to start the car while she looked into trying it.

She stepped several feet away from him, until she could feel that familiar kick of leaving his adapted range. She wasn’t particularly low, but she hadn’t been expecting to fly anywhere. She definitely didn’t have enough to go more than a few blocks, and doing that would drain her completely. Juliette stood there a moment and sighed at the situation before trekking back to Brian.

”I don’t have enough energy and there’s nothing in sight. Even if I was fully charged, I don’t think I could go far enough to get anywhere,” she admitted. Couldn’t something just work for them? She put her back against the car and thought for a moment about what they could do. It was getting dark and cold outside, and she really didn’t want to be in the middle of a cornfield for that, but it was looking like that didn’t have many other options.

Trying her hardest to make the best of the situation, Juliette turned around. She would not get angry again. She would not cry, and she would try to be as happy and optimistic as Booker always seemed to manage. ”Look, why don’t we just sit in the back seat for a while and wait for your phone to charge? We have that food, it’ll be warmer, and I can keep trying to get a signal.” It wasn’t a great option, but it was the best one that they had.

The fates were conspiring against their lovely weekend. That much was true. Booker was always one to believe in higher powers, to pray at the worst of times, to understand that miracles sometimes did happen, but on the flipside of that, there was the idea that sometimes the universe just likes to screw with you. Today was certainly making that very thought apparent. Normally the librarian didn’t allow himself to fall into such thoughts, but right now he was dealing with the fact that everything that could go wrong, was. How were they going to get past this?

Booker could only shake his head, chuckling a little at Juliette’s revelation that her phone couldn’t get a signal. Score one for the universe -- again. But there had to be a way out. This was the modern age! It wasn’t as if people could easily be lost. It still happened, yes, but this wasn’t the case. They were just stuck, in the mud, in the countryside, that was it. This wasn’t impossible.

Sometimes he wished he were a mutant, though; specifically someone who could fly. Wouldn’t that solve a number of transportation problems? As the thought occurred to him, Booker suddenly looked up, his attention snapping to her. Duh! He was actually dating a mutant who could fly! So he presented the idea. What if she flew off to at least get a lay of the land and get some help?

>>”I don’t have enough energy and there’s nothing in sight. Even if I was fully charged, I don’t think I could go far enough to get anywhere,”

He frowned a bit, disappointed. Sometimes he really hated being an adapted. The effect that he had on people was pretty sucky. He was denying mutants from fully being who they were and he had trouble coming to terms with that from time-to-time. Booker disliked affected Juliette the way that he did. Everytime he watched her step out of his field and the jolt she took was like a kick to the ribs. Even made him question their relationship, from time-to-time, but clearly this wasn’t the best place to think about such things.

Shaken from this thoughts, he looked up to Juliette as she seemed to try and be a bit more calm about the situation than she was earlier.

>>”Look, why don’t we just sit in the back seat for a while and wait for your phone to charge? We have that food, it’ll be warmer, and I can keep trying to get a signal.”

He smirked a little as he watched her. Honestly it really did sound like a great idea. On top of the fact that his picnic lunch would manage to stave off starvation! He agreed with a nod of his head. ”Sounds amazing.” He leaned over the inside, reaching for his picnic basket. Very carefully he reached in and pulled out a back of moist wipes (just in case the food he had made was a little greasy) and started to wipe off his face and hands. It wasn’t the best cleaning that he had done, but it should suffice to at least not contaminate any food he ate. He only wished that he had brought extra shoes.

Carefully he sat himself inside the car, keeping his feet out the side, where he started to untie and slip off his muddy shoes. Dangling his socked feet outside, he carefully brought them in, keeping his muddy shoes in hand as he started to lightly clap them together to kick off some of the mud. Afterward, said shoes were placed on the roof of the car, something that was easier to wipe mud off rather than the interior, and he scooted himself into the back, sharing a bright smile with Juliette.

”Sorry. I’ll try not to track mud everywhere inside your nice, new car.” He said sheepishly. ”And...you know...sorry...about getting us lost...and possibly condemning us to be eaten by sticks-dwelling cannibals.” He grinned. ”Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they eat me first. I’m so packed with protein, they’ll probably fall asleep and, thus, allow you to escape.”

Juliette held her breath a little after suggesting the idea. It was far from their original plan, and part of her was worried that this would be the point when Booker’s optimism ran out, but that wasn’t the case. It was as infallible as he was. She smiled a little with a new plan set in motion. They could make the best of what they had, and with any luck, they could have fun while they waited for a short time. Short was key.

She walked around to the other side of the car and sat down in the back seat, sliding her shoes off before she put her feet down in the car. It was muddy, alright, but the inside was still somewhat clean. They didn’t need to be trekking dirt in there if they didn’t need to be. She followed suit and stuck her boots on top of the car once she was inside. There would now be four muddy footprints on the top of the car, but those would come off in a car wash.

With the muddy shoes out of the picture, Juliette scooted fully into the back seat and positioned herself. It wasn’t exactly a lazyboy, but the back seats could be somewhat comfortable if they were leaned back and you were laissez-faire enough to put your feet on the armrests of the front chair. It would do for a few hours. Especially since it meant that Juliette was able to wiggle her way under Booker’s arm and cuddle in.

>>”Sorry. I’ll try not to track mud everywhere inside your nice, new car. And...you know...sorry...about getting us lost...and possibly condemning us to be eaten by sticks-dwelling cannibals. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they eat me first. I’m so packed with protein, they’ll probably fall asleep and, thus, allow you to escape.”

Juliette’s smile fell a little and she looked down at her hands. Her stomach sunk a little as she realized how bad she’d made him feel for a situation that she’d caused. ”No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have given you a paper map, and it was pretty obvious that this road wasn’t for driving. Especially not with little cars.” She sighed deeply before continuing, ”and I’m sorry for getting mad. That was way out of line and you didn’t deserve it.”

The cannibals thing was funny, though. She let herself grin up at him for that comment. ”That’s the real reason to build muscle, huh? Protecting other people from cannibals?” she chuckled quietly and rested her head against his chest, feeling better about the whole situation. Waiting didn’t seem all that bad now. Alone time had been what they wanted, hadn’t it?

Booker did genuinely feel bad for getting them lost. Sure it was a mistake that anyone could make, but he still felt an extra amount of guilt, especially since she had trusted him to guide them on the correct path. All the librarian could think about was how he should have been paying better attention to the map, that he should have noticed it was upside down and pointed in the wrong direction. Really, anyone should have been able to do that and it managed to cause the man to sink deeper into the shame spiral that he was forming for himself. It wasn’t as bad as some times when he allowed it to happen, but still he felt fairly guilty.

What else could the man do? He owned up and apologized for her, a warm smile on his face. Really it was all he could offer in hopes of amending the problem. He only hoped that when his phone was done charging that it was strong enough to get a signal out to some kind of civilization. It wasn’t as if they were in the middle of some archaic country or lost amongst the wilderness.

But it would seem that his apology would be countered…

>>”No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have given you a paper map, and it was pretty obvious that this road wasn’t for driving. Especially not with little cars...and I’m sorry for getting mad. That was way out of line and you didn’t deserve it.”

He frowned a bit sympathetically to the young woman. He was sure that, given enough time, the two of them could come up with reasons to blame themselves for everything down to the mud on the ground. But they shouldn’t do that. They needed to get off the merry-go-round or their weekend really would be ruined. So, with the notion that it could still be salvaged, Booker shook his head, offering the young woman a gentle smile.

”It’s okay. It was a frustrating situation.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. ”I didn’t take it personally. I mean, it may not seem like it, but I’ve gotten angry before. Even said some things that I regretted later. Sometimes it’s just the heat of the moment.”

Everything Booker said was very Zen, and there was a reason for that. Despite the fact that Booker was human, just like everyone else, his traumatic past and subsequent need for therapy provided him with skills to challenge the frustrations of the world. One of the best ways for him to do this was, simply, to just chalks things up to the B.S. the world had to offer and remember that none of it was personal -- it was just life. Life was hard. It was icky. But at the end of the day, no matter what, you keep marching forward.

One of the best ways to move on was with humor. He offered Juliette that, a little tease, a joke about them being taken away by cannibals and his noble sacrifice to ensure that she lived. It was received well.

>>”That’s the real reason to build muscle, huh? Protecting other people from cannibals?”

He smirked. His arm curled around her, fingers running up and down her arm. ”Psh, you know it, babe.” He chuckled. He then sighed, resting his head back against the back of the seat. He waited for a long moment, chewing on the inside of his lip in thought. After a second passed, he sighed deeply as he spoke, his eyes pointed up towards the car ceiling. ”Did you figure it out yet?” he quietly asked. After a pause, he continued. ”My middle name?”

It was difficult not to feel awful about the way that she had gotten angry with Booker. He’d done absolutely nothing to deserve being talked to like that, and instead of getting angry back, he’d just taken it and tried to solve their problems. Was this guy even real? The fact that Juliette could feel him beneath her fingers told her yes, but sometimes, it was difficult to believe that someone could be that incredible. She knew that there had been things to get him to that place, but it seemed crazy to think that he had ever been different.

>>”It’s okay. It was a frustrating situation.”

Juliette let her eyes flutter closed as she leaned into him a little more. She didn’t really agree with his acceptance of her apology, but she knew that they could go in circles with making themselves out to be the bad guy for hours. She didn’t want to waste whatever was left of their weekend on that. Instead, she just wanted to make the most of what they had. The kiss on her head made her smile a little and she rested her hand on his chest.

No, waiting was not a bad thing at all.

>>”I didn’t take it personally. I mean, it may not seem like it, but I’ve gotten angry before. Even said some things that I regretted later. Sometimes it’s just the heat of the moment.”

”I think I’ll have to see that to believe it,” she joked with a grin. They’d been dating for a number of months and the worst thing that she’d even seen from him was some mild frustration, and that was usually only directed toward Nessa. ”Until then, I’ll keep believing that you’re a crazy master of being zen.” Maybe she would be able to pick up a thing or two from him.

The cannibals with sticks was a funny thought in the middle of New York state. Booker had volunteered himself to be the sacrifice if that happened to them, which Juliette didn’t bother to contest. She found it funnier to imagine his process of thinking when he offered.

The two of them fell silent after that. Juliette was completely calm after having been sitting in the car for a while and not freaking out about all the bad things stacked against them. She slowed her breathing with a deep breath and looked out the window at the setting sun. It was unsettling to realize that they would be out in the field in the dark, but at least they had left the car on and were able to get light from the car. If it hadn’t been for that, she would have been in a far worse state. Even still, she was glad that she had Booker with her to calm her crazy.

>>”Did you figure it out yet? My middle name?”

Juliette looked back up at him, pulled away from her thoughts. She quirked an eyebrow and cocked her head at him, considering the question for a moment. She still hadn’t figured it out, but she had more guesses. ”I still have no idea. It isn’t just… Book, is it? Booker Book Bookman?” That would have just been cruel of his parents. ”Will you just tell me?”

Though the moments were few and far between, Booker some things managed to get to Booker time and again. The irritating attitude of a work colleague, the frustrating sometimes selfishness of his sister, or seeing an injustice in the world that he knew he couldn’t do anything about; yes, there were those moments where Booker himself had actually gotten fairly angry. But this? A broken down car in the middle of a lonely road because a map was read incorrectly? Yeah, that wasn’t something to blow one’s top over. It was frustrating, but there were always worse fates.

That was what Booker tried to exemplify when Juliette was getting too upset about the car. It was a sucky situation but, at the end of the day, they had a warm, dry place to sit, they weren’t that far from civilization, and they had each other. What more could anyone really need in this world?

>>”I think I’ll have to see that to believe it...Until then, I’ll keep believing that you’re a crazy master of being zen.”

He grinned like a fool and just rested his head back against the seat. Deep down he really hoped that it was something that she never had to witness. It wasn’t as if he turned into a dragon or some other beast, but actually liked to be thought of as the quiet, cool, and collected individual that he tried to be. The last thing he wanted was for that image to be shattered.

As he looked up at the ceiling of the car, his arm wrapped around the other woman, he carefully ran his hand up and down her arm, blinking and looking past the roof and into the infinite space beyond that. It was there that the question she had been constantly struggling with once again came to light. Again, he didn’t know why he kept it a secret or made her guess after it, it really wasn’t all that amazing of a secret. At the end, all he could hope for was that she didn’t think he was some liar or trying to pull a joke on her.

>>”I still have no idea. It isn’t just… Book, is it? Booker Book Bookman? Will you just tell me?”

He smirked, took a breath and continued to look up while he spoke. ”I told you my middle name. I did the first time we met.” he said rather lightly. A pause hung in the air as he let that sink in before he finally clarified. ”B. My middle name…” he shrugged. ”...it’s just the letter B.”

And, yes, there was a reason behind that...

”No. Way.”

There was no way that it had been that simple. Juliette pressed her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest. How had she not gotten that? It was just the letter B. He wasn’t secretive at all; she’d known it all along, and that made her angrier than if it had been something that he just didn’t want to share. To pretend that it was some sort of huge secret was something that Booker would do, but she wasn’t impressed.

The woman crossed her arms over her chest and huffed as she leaned back into the chair. The letter B all along. How had she not seen that? It was so painfully obvious now with her hindsight bias. It irked her, though. More than any other joke he pulled before.

”You’re lucky I love you,” she said as she shook her head. As soon as the words left her mouth, she thought back on what she’d just told him with wide eyes. They… hadn’t said that to each other yet. That was the first utterance of those three words between them, and she’d said it without really thinking about it.

Juliette’s breath caught in her throat. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t meant it. At all, actually. She’d known that was the way she’d felt for a little while, but she hadn’t planned on admitting it like that. In fact, she’d hoped that he would say it first. She and Sam had never said it to one another, and it had taken her a few months following their relationship to realize that it was partly because she’d never really felt it. With Booker, though, it was different. What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if she’d just wrecked everything? What if he wasn’t ready for that?

Her stomach was doing flips while she sat silently, her thumb pressed against her mouth. It had come out, so there was nothing she could do to take it back. It was up to him to take it how he wanted to.

She cleared her throat, though, rather than let the silence go on any longer. ”So what’s the story behind just the B?” she asked meekly. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

Yeah so really Booker had not been lying this whole time. His middle name didn’t stand for anything, it was just the letter B; plain and simple. Sometimes he liked to play up the idea that it stood for more but, really, it didn’t. Many times people found that surprising, yes, but also very boring. There was at least one person he dated who was insistent that Booker was lying about the whole that kept pressing him for details, even after the man showed him the copy of his birth certificate. Like conspiracy theorist, sometimes they just couldn’t take the truth for what it was -- the truth.

Juliette, on the other hand, seemed shocked and maybe a little irritated by the revelation. The simplicity of the answer was staring her in the face the whole time but she never thought in that direction. She always just assumed that it stood for something, a “Brian” or “Balthazar” or even “Book”. However none of those happened to be the case and now Juliette had to accept that fact. Booker winced in precaution, ready for her to explode or just slap him for not telling her the truth for such a long time -- but no pummeling came; and yet still he would feel the wind knocked out of his lungs.

>>”No. Way. You’re lucky I love you,”

Her eyes said it all. The wideness and the surprise was there, hinting that she was in no way kidding about what she said. It was a slip of the tongue, yes, but it was completely true as well. She loved him. She actually, factually loved him. They had been dating for months now, talking near non-stop, usually spending their free time together, so it shouldn’t have come to a surprise that he heard those three little words from her -- and yet he still felt his mind reeling a bit and forced the inevitable question; how did he feel about her?

>>”So what’s the story behind just the B?

She was trying to steer him away from the topic, almost as if she could quickly bypass it with more chatter, to distract him like a shiny ball of aluminum tossed into a corner. However, the man was no passing magpie created from folklore. He wasn’t so easily distracted and, rather than take the exit she was so clearly trying to offer him, Booker just turned and looked into her eyes, jade green sweeping over hers.

Turning a bit in his seat (which was somewhat comical since he was fairly tall to be in this car) Booker stopped and watched her. Here was Booker at his most cautious. He had said that word before, even had it said to him, but hindsight is twenty-twenty and nearly all those times in the past had eventually turned into some kind of heartache. Things were really good with Juliette, the happiest he had been in a long time, but still there was this need just to be the tiniest bit careful.

”Do...you mean that?” He asked, a spark of hope in his voice as he watched her closely, almost studying any subtle movements she made. ”Like...really? You...love me?”