Morningstar Manor

She'd had to call in some IOUs as well as resort to some good, old-fashioned bribery, but in the end Jazz got Thursday off in its entirety. And she had plans for it. Oh yes.

The morning was spent in the most basic of prep: choosing and laying out clothes, showering and taming her mane of hair into a smooth silky wave, the finding of the perfect accessories. During the afternoon she haunted the Lobby, drifting from the Mocha to the mail room to the bookstore, keeping low and to herself and always keeping the entrance in sight while she waited for Avery to prove Jane's intel wrong or right.

When he finally appeared, she took careful note of the time then headed back upstairs to finish putting together all the pieces she'd previously laid out.

Hour and a half later, she was stepping into La Fee Vert in a silky, silver halter dress and a pair of killer heels, looking calm and perfectly at ease even as her mind was whirling, making mental post-its about everything she saw.

Most of his goods and chattels had been delivered yesterday and a friend of a friend had made sure they were installed, while Fin was winding up some last pieces of business and talking to his bank about the hike in rent. He could cover it, no problem, but reassuring ones bank manager is a sensible thing to do.

But now he was stepping through the high doors of his new home and approaching the jolly looking man at the desk. He was greeted, given a new tenants info pack and it was suggested that if he would care to wait in the coffee shop someone would be along to help him with the rest of his baggage.

Fin said thanks, moved the bags to one side, and headed for the coffee shop, leafing through the folder.

If you'd asked him if shopping for groceries would ever be something he looked forward to, Gavin would've said no. But with Anastasia -- his brother's wife, he reminded himself -- with him, traversing the aisle in search of the perfect grapefruit, the best loaf of bread...

It was...

Fun.

Really fun. More than he'd had in a long time.