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Chel rolled her eyes. "Movin' yer shoe collections gonna take at least four days, we'll have to postpone it all."

Still, she took a step forward, towards the kitchen. "You wanna see the rest?"

Chel shook her hand free when the fun side of Jack took over. Too soft.

"Why are you so ********' lame?" she asked him, crossing her arms and tromping towards the kitchen with a more purposeful step now.

Eager to displace the domestic atmosphere, Chel swung through the doorway and moved out of the way for Jack to see. It was a simple kitchen, actually, only a little bit bigger than their kitchenette, save for the island counter that lurched off of one wall. It was, for now, very basic.

"Lots of room for you t'stretch that tree trunk of yers so no excuses not cookin' now," she told him.

Chel made a face. "You set up a bar and Finn's gonna start comin' like a vulture." She made clawing motions despite vultures not being clawing creatures.

"You hear him and Ripples got done kickin' it?" she said conversationally, showing up all of the various cupboards, the basic fridge, and her favorite- the masonry oven. It was a thing that neither of them were going to use because god knew they could barely make basic meals in the oven without setting something on fire, but Chel took solace in knowing they had it for some reason.

If anything, they could stuff shadows in it and kill them Hansel and Gretel style.

"I liked Ripples yeah," she said quietly. The twosome had had a quiet bond over dating two assholes, and she had always appreciated his presence. She didn't mean it in a passing sense either; Chel would still continue to be friends with Ripley despite being closer friends with Finn. She didn't draw lines that way.

"But," and this was a strange thought, "Sometimes stuff gotta run it's course. They might get back together. Never know." She maybe didn't know as much as Jack did (why didn't Jack share? Damn his and Finn's friendship), but she did know that breaking up and getting back together was a pretty common thing. At least in the world she'd had before.

She nodded a bit. "You in charge of the bar then. You drink the fancy s**t anyways."

Chel tilted her head. "I already got him presents, but ..." She put a hand to her chin as she walked out of the room, leading him towards the stairs. On this first floor there was also a small bathroom, a spare room (video game room? Office? Could be anything, she'd explain later) and a small sunroom- that wasn't really a sunroom since all the glass had to be fortified with metal so now Chel called it the metal room- but all of these tiny rooms could be explored later. She wanted to stick to the important ones.

As they walked she said, "I think you guys should just do some stuff on yer own." Not because she wanted to avoid Finn- she loved Finn as her memory loss has shown, but because she was already three steps ahead: "If I'm there it's just a reminder he dumped Riptide and s**t." Chel knew that even despite not being a very public couple, they still gave off vibes.

"I'm serious 'bout yer shoe collection takin' four days," she said impishly, smiling to herself nonetheless. Stargazing and hot chocolate it was.

The only real room of importance on the second floor was their bedroom (which as Jack suspected, would quickly be moved downstairs because they were too lazy most likely), but Chel did stop to take the time to point out a few other rooms. One empty room she was claiming she wanted to make a mini gym for her and Chris, two other rooms that had been cleared with no real intentions except to have extra rooms.

The other rooms were still full of their debris, still decrepit and spooky. She wanted to preserve some part of the creep factor for Jack. Some tiny fraction of mystery for him to solve.

(They were all still operating under the shield, however. Mystery did not equate to shadows in their house).

Waltzing into the bedroom, Chel pointed out the enormous closet, which would be his. Thusfar it only had a few posters hanging up, the side tables she'd purchased from Peyton and some various shelving. "Think of all the places we're gonna ********>," she said crudely, making a frame with her fingers and imagining where everything would go. Not just the sex either, but small things like where she'd put her boots next to his giant shoe collection. Where he'd put Barbara when he was tired. All the tiny details that made them who they were.

It was then that it was a little overwhelming to be "domestic." She got wind of Jack's earlier apprehension, but looking back at him, she felt okay.

Chel covered a laugh with her hand, delighted at how childishly pleased and eager he was.

"Then I'll race you."

---

The bed had been surprisingly light, maybe because of their attitudes towards moving it. It had been a b***h and a half to get it down the stairs, but once down it was a simple matter of stealing one of the life lab carts and hauling it out to the towns. Awkward and a bit unwieldy, but done.

While Jack had his duties, Chel took to unpacking some of the boxes, putting some of their clothes away, placing the bottles on their correct spots in the bathroom. Her room still had some of their belongings, but those could be saved for another day.

More importantly, she propped Barbara against the bed. Now it was really home.

She remembered a time when Jack wouldn't even let her into his room.

When the door downstairs opened, she found it jarring to not know who was entering. She assumed Jack, but it could have been anyone. A weird sensation. She trailed down the stairs to welcome him, and that felt odd too. Normally conversation started the moment one of them walked in the door, but now there was a slightly lag from the increase of space.

"I am here to take care of yer needs like a good girlfriend," she said sarcastically, putting a hand to her forehead like she was going to faint.