Sera chuckled. "Good. At least I don't have to wash her sheets." She got out and headed for the door.

"We're back!"

"We're in here," Damien called back. "I've taken over your kitchen."

"You've what?!" That made Sera head straight to the kitchen.

"I'm cooking dinner." Damien remained completely calm, already starting to cut things up. Sera humphed at him.

Taylor followed Sera to the kitchen. He couldn't help but be slightly amused that Damien still that rumpled look, making it obvious what he and Rose had been doing while the other two were away.

"Sera, really," Rose said. "I'll make sure to restock the kitchen, and it's not like he's taking over for good. Just for today."

Sera grumped but plopped down in a kitchen chair. "I was planning on going grocery shopping tomorrow anyway, so it works out fine."

Damien chuckled and shook his head a little, continuing to cook.

"You're just whining," Rose teased her friend. She glanced at Damien every so often, watching him.

Taylor sat down next to Sera.

"I wouldn't complain," he advised. "Damien's a good cook."

Damien kept cooking quietly, rather amused at them.

"Am not." Sera stuck out her tongue at Rose. So mature.

"I'm not complaining. It was more shock that someone else is in my kitchen."

Rose just rolled her eyes, grinning.

"Changing the subject, what did you two do while you were out?" she asked. It was an innocent enough question.

Taylor glanced at Sera, letting her answer.

"We went to the aquarium," Sera said with a big grin. "You'd probably like it, Rose."

Damien chuckled and filed that information away for later use.

"The one in the next town?" Rose asked. She nodded. "I think I've been there before."

"Yeah, it's a pretty nice aquarium. Not too big, so you can actually see everything in one go-round. Plus they have a neat shark tank."

Rose snorted.

"And you stood there and stared at the sharks for half an hour or so," she said. It wasn't a question, she knew Sera by now."

"Yeah, pretty much." Sera shrugged. "Sharks are cool. Plus they had a lemon shark, and a couple of reef sharks. You know you like the little reef sharks."

"You're the one who thinks there's such a thing as a cuddly shark," Rose teased. "I just think there's such a thing as too many teeth in one place."

"Well what about whale sharks? Or basking sharks? They have no teeth." Sera smirked.

"Then it's perfectly okay," Rose replied reasonably. "It's the teeth I have issues with. That many teeth in one creature's mouth is just not right in the slightest and that means evolution screwed up somewhere."

"Not really," Sera said with a shrug. "Just means they're better equipped to handle things like dinosaurs fishing in their waters, which is what those teeth are probably vestiges of."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Sera, quit disproving my whining," she said, teasingly.

A few days later, Sera and Rose had a day off and they were both lounging around, just relaxing and having fun. They'd gone out earlier to do some shopping, at Sera's insistence.

Not that Sera had to do much insisting. It felt good to Rose to just get out of the house and spend some girl-time with Sera. Well, girl-time that didn't include rats or cats or snakes, at least.

"So what are we looking for, again?" she asked as they got out of the car.

Sera smiled. "Nothing in particular. Just window-shopping." She pulled Rose along with her, intent on just having fun.

"Good," Rose replied. She grabbed Sera's sleeve. "Now, if we could just pop into the bookstore..." She was more teasing than anything. She knew as well as Sera did that either of them could spend over an hour perusing the bookstore, if given half a chance.

"That's last, silly," Sera said with a grin. "Now come on! We're wasting time." She grinned broadly.

Rose rolled her eyes, but followed Sera. She didn't mind window shopping, anyways. They always ended up buying things afterwards.

Sera had fun for a while, just browsing, before she went into a store, a small out of the way place, and ended up in the back of the store in the shadows.

Rose followed her into the store. It really was a little hole-in-the-wall place, just barely visible from the street, which was probably what drew Sera there in the first place. Still, though... Something about it gave Rose the creeps, and she had no idea what.

Sera quietly vanished into the back, where no one missed when she got pulled through a back door.