Week 66, A Few Hours Before Leaving: One BIG Present

About half the time Silvia left the building where she had therapy, Hugo had been there. He did a lot of shadowing her, and for the last two days, walking even closer and almost timidly holding her hand. It wasn't a real surprise when he detached himself from the wall and quickly strode over to her. Without waiting for a reaction or a reply, he embraced her in a hug and swept her off her feet. It was more effort not to pick her up when hugging her, really. "Hey! I have a surprise for you."

"You do?" Silvia said, offering no resistance to Hugo's hug and then resting her hands on his arms when he put her down. She seemed curious, anticipatory, eager, but nothing more. "Go on then - show me," she continued with a smile, keeping her tone light-hearted, rather than demanding.

It did take Hugo a few seconds longer than necessary to put Silvia down, and he smiled widely at her. "I can't. Not yet. That's why is a surprise," he chided, shaking his head a little. He ran his rough hand down her arm and took her hand, striking off toward the HQ. "Just telling you would be cheating... But I had to show you before I left for Fed territory."

"Ooookay," Silvia replied, following Hugo and easily keeping pace with him. "So it's waiting at the HQ then?" she asked, trying to figure out what it might be in her mind and not really getting very far. "And if it's not finished or something, you could have waited until you got back." She didn't mention - or even appear to consider - the idea that he might not make it back.

"No no, it's, it's finished. Well, mostly. Well, it's finished, but it's not done, but it's.. ready." Hugo seemed to be having a hard time thinking it out without revealing anything. He laughed at himself, pulling Silvia along. He seemed slightly eager to show her, but unwilling to say anything. He shook his head. "And no, it's not at the HQ. Not really. Close-ish, though."

And when he got to the small plaza that led off in a few ways, he did not take the one that lead to HQ, but a different one, down a busy street.

"Um...right." Silvia sounded puzzled now, her few tentative mental guesses thrown off by this latest turn. She followed Hugo closely, not wanting to press him any further, but trying to mentally puzzle out what it might be. After a few moments, she gave up, deciding that it would be best to just let Hugo show her whatever it was, and just followed with an eager expression.

The busy road tapered off a bit, going into a more residential area. It was more quiet and thus they were receiving more strange looks, but Hugo didn't seem to mind. He and Una both seemed happy getting dirty glares and having children pulled out of the way. He did speak quieter though, voice gentle as he almost jogged along. "You might.. need to do some.. things. But I did some things too, so, I mean, it's.. it's fine."

As they moved into an even quieter part, Hugo stopped pulled Silvia to the side of the road. His grin was slightly nervous now. "Okay. Now. Close your eyes."

"Alright," Silvia said, simply, closing her eyes and standing still, waiting for her next instructions from Hugo. She was straining to hear and smell all she could, though - almost without thinking - and shifting from side to side in anticipation.

Silvia felt Hugo gently touch her shoulders, then waist.. And then he picked her up again as easily if she were weightless. He chuckled low in his throat. "No peeking! It's cheating. And I know you'll look with your feet."

Hugo seemed to enjoy picking Silvia up, resting her against his body and walking happily ahead. After a few moments, they turned down what Silvia remembered to be an alley, and then out again, onto another road.

"Spoilsport," Silvia said to Hugo with a grin, putting one arm around his shoulder to steady herself and then letting herself be carried, not trying to look at all but still listening. Her thoughts were turning over again, trying to work out what this surprise could be.

It wasn't even a minute before he placed her back on the ground. He spun her so she faced away from the road, and then he moved behind her and angled her head slightly upward. He moved his head by her shoulder to make sure she would be looking in the right place, and then gave a little sigh. "Okay, open 'em."

Silvia opened her eyes to see... The front of a house. It was a house like any others on the street, terraced and small, but well maintained.

For a moment, Silvia was perplexed. "Uh...Hugo, that's a house?" Then it clicked, and she turned to him with an expression of surprise and delight. "It's...a house? You bought a house? You know, that...that's great, I...never even thought of that." She turned back to the house with a slightly dazed expression, looking it over with a new intensity.

"I thought it'd be.. good." Hugo seemed pleased with her delight, and took her hand again to lead her up the stairs. He began to set up her chip ID with the door, so she could enter at will. "The more places we have to go, to be safe, the better, and I figure, since you're here, you might like it more than the bunks in HQ."

He scanned her chip and opened the door. Inside, there was a hallway and stairs going up. The hallway opened up after a few steps into an almost completely bare living room. There was one large floor pillow, and a box of nutribars. Beyond that there was a small kitchen, a half wall separating it from the living room. A heavy door led out to a very small garden. It was smaller than Hugo's bed at home, covered with gravel. The walls were white and empty. There was no basement below them, just stone tiles on the ground that chilled the room. No carpets. Nothing. Hugo gestured with a hand. "It's not huge, and.. er.. you might need to buy some things if you want like.. something to sit on. I.. I don't care what you get, just.. make sure I can sit on it without breaking it, okay?" He seemed almost a little embarrassed now, smiling but unable to meet Silvia's eyes, and he began to walk upstairs.

Silvia looked around the house with an eager expression, taking in the bare furnishings apparently undeterred. "Hugo, it...it's great. Really." The delight hadn't gone away, and she was moving up to examine everything closely, seemingly satisfied with what she saw.

"Once we get back from Varstaag, I'll need to start finding some decoration," she said, almost absent-mindedly, still examining everything. Then she turned to see Hugo heading up the stairs and hurried to follow, interested to see what was there.

"You could start now, if you want. Though you'd be alone, because of Yellowknife." He shrugged a little, rising to the top of the stairs. He still sounded a bit abashed, though her excitement was making him smile a little. He pointed out a few rooms. "Bathroom, spare room. I.. I don't have any plans for it, so.. if you think of something..." He trailed off, shrugging.

The toilet was basic, with an old fashioned tub/shower and tiles. The spare room was empty, with a closet a window that had a view of the residential streets beyond. The was one more door here. "And this is the main bedroom. And I did get... some things.." Hugo had indeed bought a few pieces of furniture; a set of drawers, a set of shelves for equipment and... One massive bed. not as big as his mattress in Seoul, but large none the less, resting on the bare floor with no bed frame. "I ordered a.. thing for the bed to sit on, but to make it for agent specification will take.. a while." Only then he looked at her, grinning. "That's the house."

Silvia had a quick look in the bathroom and spare room, nodding in satisfaction at both of them, before taking much longer look around the main bedroom. Spartan though the furnishing was, it seemed to satisfy her and she turned to Hugo with a smile.

"That's...this is great, Hugo. I mean, the barracks is nice enough, but...it'll be good to have an actual house. And it needs some decoration, of course, but it...it should be really good. You know, once there's a proper bed," she added, amused at the bed on the floor. With that, she took a couple of steps forward and hugged him, her head leaning into his shoulder. "Thank you."

Hugo wrapped an arm around her pulling Silvia very slightly closer. He was back to being gentle with her. His smile got more genuine, and he calmed a little. "Good, good. I'm glad. And.. And it is a proper bed! Just, you know.. on the ground. But I am tired of those little things in HQ. Feeling the beds slide in the middle of the night.." He shook his head and let her go. He flopped on the bed, then wriggled to get Una off of him. He placed her lovingly on the mattress next to him, and looked up happily at Silvia. "Even without the frame, this is a proper bed."

Silvia looked back down at Hugo, returning his smile, and shook her head slightly, amused at his happy antics. "You're right, it is. And yeah, the beds at HQ aren't quite up to the standard of home. Still feels pretty good to me, though, after..." She trailed off, expression closing up as her mind found its way back into her small cell on Station 17. After a moment, she smiled again, though this time it seemed rather more forced.

"Let's give it a try, then," she said, lying down on the mattress next to Hugo, leaving Una on his other side, and taking a moment to settle into it.

Hugo put his arm around Silvia. He'd followed her train of thought and seen her expression fall. He pulled her into him protectively. He voice was soft. "See, it's not bad? What is lacks in size it makes up for in even better comfort."

He reached up to stroke her hair with his other hand, rolling to face her as he did so. He looked into her eyes, concerned but still smiling faintly. Smiling, stroking her hair so gently, alone, in a bed, the only thing he had bothered to buy, in a house that appeared to be just for them, far away from everyone else, where no one would walk in on them.

"You're right," Silvia replied, her voice quiet. "It...really is nice. Especially like this." She raised her own hand to gently stroke Hugo's face and smiled, though it was a sadder smile than those she had been producing up until now, some of her thoughts still lingering on her incarceration.

Hugo squeezed Silvia to bring her back to the present, or at least make her smile a little more warmly. He was still strong; a bunch of his augments had been turned off, but there was still.. more than before. The massive muscles that had nearly doubled in size were a hint, and it was.. hard for him to be gentle, and harder for him to be gentle all the time.

"You know... you might consider repainting. Or getting some holopaper. Or since our garden is so small here you can turn the spare room into the world's tiniest forest." He was grinning now, not exactly serious, but enjoying his dumb ideas.

"I think we definitely need to do some redecorating," Silvia replied, her smile widening slightly. "I mean, it's a really nice house," she added, hastily, "but it is a little...unfinished. Don't know about making a tiny forest, though...it wouldn't be the same somehow - not enough, you know...space." She took the opportunity to distract her mind from her memories and answer Hugo with some humour, while pretending to be serious.

Hugo twisted a lock of Silvia's hair between his sharkskin-covered fingertips, and smiled at her some more. "You could get one of those VR machines. Though we're in OTF land, so... I dunno. What else? You could make a space room, like with stars, or like... a cloud room. Pillows on the ground, like stepping on fluff... Hm..." He looked past Silvia, eyes glancing at the window, and then back to her face. "Or cover the room in cybercats! Dozens of them."

Silvia was listening to Hugo's suggestions with a look of relaxed amusements, but as he came onto the topic of cybercats, she couldn't help but give a snort of laughter.

"Cyber...cybercats? Why cybercats? I mean...do you have some kind of attachment to them or something?" She seemed rather...disdainful of the idea of cybercats, her free hand waving dismissively.

"When you're a kid whose way bigger than everyone else in his class, having a kitten that can withstand a lot of petting is pretty awesome." Hugo grinned at this, looking at the few hairs in his fingers. There was a little nostalgia there, and a lot of amusement. "You wouldn't like a room of fluffy purring things that just want to rub themselves all over you?"

He cuddled a little closer to her with that, grinning widely.