Lena's head shot up, her mouth dropped to the floor, and her eyes stared at Finn as if he had just confessed his darkest secret. "Is it really your birthday?"

Finn nodded with something akin to a smile. "Yes. Today, I'm turning eighteen."

"When were you going to tell me?" she shoved him weakly.

"I just did," he laughed.

"Would you have told me if I hadn't asked?"

"I—um" Finn stumbled, "I don't really like my birthday."

"Why not?" she asked before her mind could catch up. Not a second later, she realized the obvious certitude that Finn lost his little brother a day sooner. She bit her tongue, angry at herself to have asked for the reason for his aversion. "I'm sorry."

Finn made no answer, and since he did not express any emotions, it was difficult for Lena to sense whether she had hurt his feelings with her disrespectful question. She considered placing her hand on his, in the past it worked to calm him, but she was lacking the courage. She did not want to come too close. If she did, and he were to retreat his hand, it would mean that he sought space from her. Her throat was burning, she did not wish to find out if her premonition could be the case.

But what felt like half an eternity, were only a few seconds, and Finn said, "It's not a problem."

Lena exhaled a long breath, however, her spine was still stiff and her eyes still fearful.

"Really, don't worry about it. And please stop staring at me like that. You look like I'm going to hit you. I'm not, I could never—"

"I know. I'm sorry," she said feebly.

"What are you sorry for?"

"I don't want to hurt you," she said, so quietly that Finn could barely hear her.

"Hurt me?" he scooched closer anew. "People get hurt. And I get hurt a lot. But what makes it so endurable is you. You heal me. You put me back together, no matter how many times I break." Finn laid his arm around her small shoulders, already feeling more confident than the first time. "If I could describe your smile, I would successfully utter the first accurate definition of fortune. In your presence, I am the richest and luckiest man alive."

Having said that, Finn felt a good amount of weight lifted from his shoulders, despite his heart seeming to pound twenty times a second.

"I don't know my birthdate," Lena said to make up for her inapposite curiosity, causing Finn now to stare in shock.

"You've never celebrated your birthday?"

Lena shook her head.

"You've never received a birthday gift?"

"I don't recall ever getting a gift at all."

"Lena," was all Finn could whimper.

He was bewailing the childhood she never had, and as his left hand clutched the bracelet, his mind was drawn to an idea. He took Lena's hand. Through the caliginous body of the night, her scars were nearing invisibility, but Finn knew they were there and treated her wrists with extra caution. His touch was warm and gentle as he put the band of braided colorful strings around her wrist.

"What are you doing?" she asked breathlessly. Finn was close enough for her to smell the laden odor of his cologne again, mixed with the fruity aroma of his shampoo, causing her stomach to tingle happily.

"This is for you. It doesn't make up for all of the gifts you should have been given, but I hope it can be a birthday gift for this year at least."

"We don't know if it's my birthday."

Finn pulled the two ends to secure the knot and looked up at her. "No, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to celebrate your life. You deserve so much mo—"

Lena was in Finn's arms before he could comprehend her reaction. She hugged him tightly and even tighter when he moved to place his arms around her back.

"Thank you so much," she murmured in a broken voice.

"Your hug is the best birthday gift ever," he grinned and tightened his arms as well.

Still hugging, she whispered, "I think we should go swimming."

"I'm sorry, what?" Finn didn't believe his ears.

"I think we should go swimming," she repeated, confirming that he did indeed hear her say just that. She backed away with a puerile grin.

"You want to swim?" he asked as if he hadn't understood her the second time either.

"Yes."

"In the lake?"

"Yes!"

"You?"

"Yes, me! Let's go!" Her smile was growing.

"What? Now? As in right now?" Finn asked, astonished, but she was already on her way down the roof, making his question pointless.

"Yes," she whooped when only the roots of her hair were left to see, until they too disappeared behind the gutter, "let's go before I change my mind!"

"It's three in the morning!" Finn stressed, talking in the direction where the grass was rustling.

"Be spontaneous!" she mocked from the ground.

"I'm not the one with the aquaphobia," Finn highlighted and dropped to the tall switchgrass. He couldn't see Lena anywhere and started walking around the cabin.

"Where did you go?"

"I'm right here," startled the voice behind him, and he jumped into the wall.

Rubbing the back of his head, Finn groaned, "You just love to—surprise me off guard, don't you?"

Lena roared from laughter, "I think the word you're looking for is; scare."

    "Oh really?" Finn smirked.

"Yeah, really," she surpassed his smirk by a long shot.

"I'm sorry, I think I didn't hear you right. Did you say I should throw you into the lake?"

    "No, actually, I said you're a yellow-belly."

    "You just wait!" he chortled and followed the sounds of Lena's giggles. The closer he got, the more giggles he heard, until he could make out her frame near the trail leading to the bank.

Even in the dark, she looked fantastic, Finn thought to himself when Lena finally spotted him sneaking through the grass. She let out an exhilarated squeak before running down the trail. Finn was at the heels of her.

    "Oh, so now you can run," he mocked, trying to catch her.

    Finn had a feeling that he was going to trip at any moment or collide with a branch. Smashing into a tree wouldn't have surprised him either, for it was too dark to see individual shapes, and they were both whizzing down a slippery, uneven slope, overgrown by weeds and untamed scrubs, making it almost painful to run through its footpath. An arched root or misplaced stone would have done the trick, but no, they were both laughing like idiots until they reached the shoreline unharmed.

    "It's a miracle that we didn't roll down here," Finn laughed, having finally caught up with her. She was sitting on a rock, regenerating her breath as she was taking off her boots. "You really want to go swimming?"

    "How many times are you going to ask me?" she giggled, shaking her head.

    "I'll ask for as long as it takes the doctor to come to my padded cell and give me the pills that will make me sane again."

    "You're calling yourself insane."

    "I'm calling you a crazy hallucination."

    Lena tugged one sock into each shoe, then stared at Finn's black sneakers. "Are you going to swim like that?"

    "You really—"

    "Yes, I really want to do this!" she interrupted, having guessed what he was going to ask.

    Finn held his hands up as if threatened. "Let's all stay calm," he teased with a suppressed smile.

    Entertained, Lena went along. "Put the socks in the shoes and slide them over here. No tricks! You hear me?"

    One hand still in the air, Finn untied his sneaker and pushed it over to Lena's side.

    "Easy now. No sudden movements," she warned, trying to sound even a little serious.

    Finn removed the other shoe, slid it over, and begged her to show mercy.

    "Fine, I'll spare your life," she said, and Finn let out an exaggerated sigh of relief and dropped to his knees.

    "Thank you, you generous, noble, honorable, kind, generous, merciful—um, did I say generous yet? Generous women, thank you!"

    Lena laughed and applauded his little theatre performance. He bowed, but she disregarded it.

"What? No flowers? No tears? No calls for an encore?"

"Nope!" Lena walked over to the cattails and brushed her thumb over their soft flowers. "I bet you know what these plants are called."

    Finn, getting up from the pebbles, gave her a look that was impossible for her to see. "Do I look like a gardener to you?" he asked, acting hurt. Another poor performance.

    "It's not so unlikely. Biology is a science, and you are a science geek."

    "Taunting words, Miss, thanks a lot."

    "Crybaby."

    "Did I tell you that the water, in which I will throw you in about sixty seconds, is pretty cold?"

    "You failed to mention that," Lena replied, "but the water is actually mild. Comfortably warm, in fact."

    Finn walked up to her and saw that her feet were already standing in the shallow water. Once again, he was impressed by her bravery and eagerness to overcome her fears. She had also taken off her leggings, which made Finn cover his eyes quicker than he could shut them. He split his fingers to look at her. The large blue t-shirt was covering everything and enabled Finn to take his hand away and act as confident as her.

He bit his bottom lip, trying not to ask her the same question again. He lifted his hoodie and pulled it over his head to toss it to his shoes, then he entered the water. Standing next to Lena, he gave her a questioning look and was given a definite nod. She made a step forward. As did Finn. She made another.

Water reached her knees now, the shirt was still dry. She looked over her shoulder and grinned at Finn.

    "Are you coming?"

Finn walked past her and, by plunging into the water, headfirst, intended to prove to Lena that he was neither fearful nor boring. She had not thought he was. She thought quite the opposite of Finn, but his act splashed her face and got a squeak out of her, satisfying Finn's confidence even more. Little ripples, like pleats of a satiny skirt, spread and touched the seam of Lena's shirt and sowed goosebumps across her entire body.

    "I'll get you for that!" she giggled and splashed Finn.

Up to his shoulders, his body was beneath the water surface, a few feet ahead of Lena. She wondered if the large square Band-Aid on his right shoulder was waterproof and if the gunshot wound still hurt, but something else she wondered even more pressingly.

    "Are you swimming or standing?"

    "Come and find out," he smirked.