Ellen didn't crouch on the tree branch long enough to become uncomfortable. Mere minutes after her twenty-minute head start, John came into view heading directly toward her hiding spot. He wasn't even following her trail, just making a beeline toward the tree, where he stopped and made a show of wondering where she could be.
"No clue," Ellen said from above, with a laugh. "Ain't nobody here but us chickens."
She jumped down to land in front of Thunderbird. "Well, that was embarrassingly quick," she said. Not that she was embarrassed, given he'd told her his mutant abilities including tracking people. "You're going to have to tell me how you did that sometimes. You didn't even pretend to follow my trail."
She stepped closer and put her arms over his shoulders. "I guess I owe you dinner now," she said. She paused, then continued, "and a goodnight kiss."
Ellen kissed him then, the long, deep kiss she wanted to give him for a while now. When it was over, and she'd pulled back enough to look him in the eyes, she said, "That's not a goodnight kiss, by the way. That one was just because I wanted to. I still owe you a goodnight kiss later."