front of the Forman house warns of something cheery inside—just what Evangeline needs after the past week or so she's had. She raises her hand to knock, but before she can, it opens to Kitty's smiling face. Clad in a loud, floral-print dress, kitten heels (and Evangeline can't help but love the irony), and a loving grin. She's holding a plate of cookies and Evangeline decides Mrs. Forman's the cutest and kindest person she's ever met. Just the kind of mother Evangeline had always pictured her own becoming.

"Evangeline! Hi, come in!" Kitty steps to the side and ushers her in quickly, the rain that's been falling steadily for a week soaking her to the bone. This on top of the three hours of sleep she got the night before, her day was obviously going great. "I saw you walk up the driveway and then stand at the door for five minutes and—dear, you're sopping wet! We'll go up to Laurie's room and get you something to wear, okay?"

Evangeline nods, shivering as she clutches her sides and follows Mrs. Forman up the stairs to her daughter's empty room. Kitty talks quickly about how her week has gone and what everyone's been up to, and Evangeline wonders if this woman ever has any female company in this house. Kitty is surrounded by her husband, son, and son's best friend with her only daughter who knows where and Evangeline wasn't sure about friends. Kitty has always seemed to her the type to make friends with any and everyone, but as she starts to dive into more intimate topics about her life, Evangeline wonders who she has to share them with.

Evangeline tentatively opens up one of Laurie's dresser drawers, careful not to drip on anything. She is greeted by the sight of lacy lingerie, the sheer quantity of which makes her eyes bug out of her head. She quickly shuts the drawer as Mrs. Forman digs through another smaller chest on the other side of the room.

Kitty turns around holding up a pair of shiny spandex leggings and an extra large U-Madison sweatshirt with a frown. "There isn't much by the way of clothes since Laurie's been gone, but she keeps some here for when she runs out of money." She scrunches up her nose in a way that makes Evangeline believe that Kitty isn't too keen on Laurie coming back home. "If you need to borrow underwear, it's all clean. It might be a little weird, and Laurie's selection is—different—but it's there if you need it."

The blonde graciously accepts the clothes and a towel from Laurie's bathroom out of Mrs. Forman's hands and gives her a small smile. "It's perfect. You're too kind."

Kitty blushes and waves her off with her signature laugh. "I'm just being neighborly! Now, you get changed and I'll throw your clothes in the dryer, okay?"Evangeline nods and Kitty slips out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Peeling off her current outfit is painful and takes almost five minutes to do, and drying off with the towel does little to help. She slides open the undergarment drawer, thinking about to what degree of weird it is to wear a virtual stranger's underwear, and decides wearing their clothes is strange enough and shuts it again. She manages to slip into Laurie's leggings, which are way too tight to be acceptable in polite company, and pulls the sweatshirt over her head, which is about three sizes too big. It makes her feel more secure when it falls down to mid-thigh, and surprisingly comfortable, like wearing a blanket with arm-holes.

Evangeline exits the room in a pair of tube socks, the bundle of her clothes and the now-wet towel secured in the crook of one elbow while her other hand finger-combs her hair. As she turns back from shutting the door, she runs straight into a tall, lanky boy wrapped in a giant quilt. "Ope, sorry," she says in surprise.

The boy looks out from under his blanket hood with tired and red-rimmed eyes that widen as they settle themselves on the blonde girl. He pulls the quilt down around his shoulders and gives her a grin that stretches from ear-to-ear. "Ev-Evangeline? Is that you? Man, it's been, what, years? How've you been?"

"Hi, Eric," she says, shifting her weight and the bundle in her hands.

"Man, if I wasn't naked underneath here, I'd give you a hug or something." Evangeline blushes at his comment, but smiles at the happy look on his face. "I must take care of business," he nods to the bathroom door, "but I'll probably see you later." He gives her a weird salute and disappears into the room.

Evangeline furrows her eyebrows at the weird, but pleasant, interaction, a ghost of a smile still present on her lips, as she pads down the stairs to the living room. Kitty immediately greets her with a big smile and hops off the couch to take her clothes from her. "I'll just pop these in the dryer and they'll be ready in a jiffy! Steven's downstairs, if you want to come with me." Kitty narrows her eyes knowingly before laughing and bouncing into the kitchen and down the basement stairs.

Evangeline lags behind her, pulling at the sleeve of the crimson sweatshirt and grimacing at the creak of the old wood as she steps onto each stair. Mrs. Forman is already turning the dryer on by the time Evangeline makes it halfway down the stairs. When they pass each other, Mrs. Forman throws the blonde a wink, gesturing to the curly-haired boy with his arms strewn across the back of the old sofa.

She says nothing as she takes a seat next to him, trying to figure out what show he's watching. Filled with puppets and weird skits and a few real people, it strikes her as a Sunday morning kids show but like none she's ever seen. "What is this?" she asks after a few minutes, giving up on figuring it out.

Hyde shrugs, his uncovered eyes still focused on the screen as he ignores her baby blue eyes peering up at him. "Beats me. The TV was on when I woke up and I'm too lazy to change the channel."

Evangeline snorts, covering her mouth with her hand as Steven turns to smirk at her. "I see you haven't changed much," she says, thinking back to how even as a child, he would resist doing even the simplest of tasks. Like, one time in grade school, he dropped his pencil next to his desk and when the teacher asked him why he wasn't doing his work, he said it was because the pencil was too far away. He'd made Eric pick it up for him after the teacher told Steven if he didn't do his work, he'd miss another recess to clean the blackboards.

"Yeah," he drawls, tilting his head towards her, a smirk growing on his lips, "I just got hotter. A stone-cold fox." He strokes his beard dramatically, flexing his arms and pushing out his well-defined chest.

Evangeline giggles, and shoves his hand away from his face. "Whatever," she says, getting up to find something better to watch.

"So, Evie, what have you been up to? I haven't seen you in a few weeks. Are you feeling better?" Hyde says, following the tiny blonde's movements as she bends over and spins the dial, searching for who-knows-what. He hadn't seen her since she'd slept over that first night back in town, and he'd been secretly worried that she wouldn't want to see him again. He was too much of a coward to call her or go to her grandma's house, one, for fear of rejection and, two, out of fear for her grandmother. She isn't known as being the kindest woman, and tends to have what Hyde has heard called resting bitch face. Now that Evie is here, Hyde hopes she'll stay.

Evangeline falls back onto the couch, finally settling on M*A*S*H, and twists her head to the side to look at him, her hair bunching up on the worn fabric. Her eyebrows scrunch together as she studies him. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, you said you weren't feeling well last time?" Hyde returns her stare with an equally confused look.

Evangeline's eyes widen as she suddenly remembers. "Oh, yeah, no, I'm fine. I guess I just forgot after my week home with grandma. I got a good half-hour lecture, and she made me stay home and do all the house chores for a week. That was fun." Evangeline shakes her head and draws back a stray curl falling over Steven's forehead. "She also called me a hussy. She was very reluctant to let me leave today."

"Why would she call you that? Just cause you stayed the night? How primitive." Steven shakes his head and gives her a toothy grin.

Evangeline fidgets on the sunken cushion and focuses her attention on the show playing in the background. "There may be a few things I've done that would mead her to say those things. But it still hurts." Her last words are muffled by the arm she throws over her face.

"So, you are a slut?" Steven says boldly, pulling Evie's arm away from her face, only to find her eyes screwed shut.

"No," she groans, peeking on eye at the boy for a split second. "But sleeping with anyone not married to you makes you a slut in my grandma's eyes."

"So, you're not a virgin." His smile grows wider as she covers her eyes again.

Evangeline shakes her head. "I'm not talking about this with you."

"You brought it up!" he says defensively, laughing as she smiles and pulls her knees up to her chest.

"Whatever."

The two are quiet again, eventually focusing their attention back on the show. It's Evangeline's favorite episode, where Colonel Flagg and an agent from G-2 have a battle of lack-of-wits and give the whole company a laugh at their expense. He was the most ridiculous character on the show, that colonel—and that was saying something, since the whole cast of characters are wack jobs, each in their own right.

Hyde watches Evie out of the corner of his eyes as she laughs and bounces in her seat at every joke. A weird feeling bubbles up in the pit of his stomach at the cute expression on her face. She's hot, that's what it is, Hyde tells himself. A simultaneous peace and anxiousness comes over him as she scoots closer to his side and exclaims excitedly about another joke. "Your loving son, Queen Victoria," she quotes with a surprising cute giggle—Hyde shakes his head to get rid of the thought. Evangeline tugs on the sleeve of his jacket bringing her ocean eyes to his. "I love this show."

The two find themselves slowly inching towards each other as the show goes on, past the episode into the next, even after the dryer buzzed loudly alerting them of her dry clothes and when Mrs. Forman comes down to offer them both more cookies. Before the end of the second episode, Steven's arm is around Evangeline's shoulder and her head rests on his chest, the pounding of his heart vibrating in her ear. Her own heartbeat matches his as she curls up in his arms. Despite having only been back for two weeks, and only having spent two days with Steven, Evangeline finds his presence more comfortable than she ever has anybody else's. It scares her; how does someone she hasn't seen in eight years make her feel this way?

Hyde pulls Evie onto his lap and stretches out across the couch; she squeals at the sudden movement and wraps her arms around his neck as he shifts their position. "Steven, a little warning please."

"Nah, it's more fun this way."

Her stomach flip-flops as she lies on his torso, her hands splayed flat against his chest and head on his shoulder. Her eyes grow heavier as she drifts off, the movement of his chest rocking her to sleep. She doesn't realize how tired she is until she wakes up hours later, her body still curled up into Steven's chest.

"You're awake." Evangeline lifts her head slightly to peer at him. Evangeline moans quietly in response and rolls into the divot where Steven's arm meets the couch. "Too bad, you talk in your sleep. Sounded like you were having a hot, dirty dream."

"I was not," she says, rolling her eyes to the back of her head. "I think I would remember."

"You kept muttering 'baby,' to yourself over and over so it must have been some—"

"Shut up, Steven!" Hyde smiles as Evie covers her face and rolls onto her side so she's facing the back of the couch. She whines for him to stop as he pokes at her side, wrapping one arm around her waist. After squirming in his grip for a few minutes, her laughter bringing a cheesy smile to his face, he lets her relax back into his chest. "What time is it?"

"Uh, probably, like, three," Hyde says, glancing at the watch on his wrist that doesn't quite work correctly. He's been meaning to get it fixed, for about a month now, but hasn't gotten around to it on account of his being lazy. "Why?"

Suddenly, the basement door opens and two people stroll in. She recognizes the girl as Jackie from the Hub, but the boy is a complete stranger. "It is raining like cats and dogs out there," the boy says, shaking out his jacket.

Evangeline and Hyde scramble off each other into sitting as the newcomers shut the door behind them and take a seat in their own chairs. "What are you two doing here?" Hyde asks, a scowl turning down the corners of his mouth at their interruption.

"I was bored and Fez was annoying me," Jackie says, gesturing to the dark-haired boy across from her.

"I just wanted to know if you're bored why we can't do it," Fez says, pushing his bottom lip out like a child told he can't have more a toy he wants.

Jackie eyes the two on the couch suspiciously, crossing her legs and leaning forward on her elbow. "So, what's going on with you two?"

"Just watching, uh, Love Boat," Steven says, glancing at the TV to figure out what show is on now. Jackie stares at them for a moment, lips pursed, before she leans back against her chair. She turns away, not convinced, to hum to herself quietly as the theme song plays over the speakers.

Footsteps falling roughly in the threads of the stairs alert them to another presence in the basement. "I'm coming downstairs not because I missed you guys, but because I'm sick of my room." Four sets of eyes meet Eric as he slumps into the room, this time dressed in actual clothes, and falls onto the cushion next to Hyde, forcing the two already there to move over. They all stare at him as he sits with his hands folded in his lap, eyes unfocused and wandering. Then he stands right back up. "Nope, I was wrong. I'll see you guys next year."

Hyde cackles as Eric runs back up the stairs, tripping on the second to last on the way up. He throws his arm over the back of the couch again and looks to Evie. With a playful smile he says, "Looks like the gang's all together again."