Disclaimer: If I owned KND, Abby would have confronted Cree by now. And I don't mean that thing in Operation: S.P.A.C.E

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Cold

Hoagie and Abby stood side-by-side at the bus stop. It was raining heavily; the rain darkened the sky, making it difficult to see, blown violently by the wind. Hoagie shuddered, pulling his coat tighter around him before glancing over at Abby. She had her arms wrapped around herself and was shivering violently.

"Abby? Where's your coat?"

"Not here."

"Ha, ha, ha. Har, har. Ha. Really, where is it?"

Abby opened her eyes, blinking raindrops from her vision. "I was a little late and ran out the door before I could grab it! Happy?"

"Okay, okay! Jeez, don't have to be so snappy…"

"Abby's cold. Abby's always snappy when she's cold. And did I mention wet? Abby hates being wet."

Abby pulled her hat back over her eyes before Hoagie could say anything. His coat kept him warm and dry, and his goggles kept the rain from getting into his eyes. Huddled there in the rain, Abby looked positively miserable. The rain pounded down on her, plastering her clothes to her skin; as a result, she seemed smaller and her eyes seemed larger, making her appear more vulnerable then Hoagie was used to. This said quite a bit, since Abby had never appeared vulnerable to him.

Beautiful? Yes. Able to beat the crud out of him? Yes.

Vulnerable? No.

Somehow, seeing Abby more vulnerable made Hoagie want to protect her; this notion almost made him laugh. Him, Hoagie Gilligan, protecting Abigail Lincoln? She had been trained by her sister, one of the Kids Next Door's best operatives before her betrayal; she was one of the best, while he screamed like a banshee and jumped like a frog if he felt something crawling on him. Yeah, Abby really needed him to protect her.

More like I need her to protect me…

The thought made Hoagie smile a little, earning a curious look from Abby.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Just thinking." Hoagie shrugged.

"Boy, no offense, but you're always thinking."

Hoagie gave a mock bow, earning a small laugh from Abby.

When silence resumed, Hoagie watched her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed like a puppy that had been kicked, all small and miserable and shaking…

Oh, what the heck...

Hoagie unbuttoned his coat, shrugging it off, gasping slightly as the cold rain pounded mercilessly against him. And Abby had remained silent the whole time, until he had spoken! He shivered but didn't pull his coat back on. Without giving Abby any warning, he gently draped his coat over her thin shoulders. She stiffened in shock but didn't pull away as he carefully arranged the coat so it was shielding her body; it was a fairly simple task, since the coat was larger then she was and hung limply from her frame.

After a moment, he pulled away. Abby stared at him in shock. "Why did you…?"

Hoagie shrugged. "You were cold."

Abby blinked a few times, taken aback. After awhile she pulled the coat tighter around her slim frame, her trembling rapidly diminishing. She looked at Hoagie speculatively, frowning a little. Hoagie glanced at her.

"What?"

"Won't you get cold?"

"So?"

Abby frowned again, then blinked. "Wait, Abby's got it." She moved a little closer to Hoagie, and after a bit of difficulty managed to shield him with some of the coat. He stared at her.

"It ain't gonna work if you're not close enough, Hoagie."

Hoagie's eyes widened, but he quickly shimmied closer to Abby so the coat was slightly loose around both of them. His hand brushed hers, and he blushed lightly, thankful that the rain darkened everything; Abby wouldn't see him blush, but unknown to him, she was blushing, to. They stood like that for awhile, huddled together, and after a moment Hoagie hesitantly slipped an arm around Abby's shoulders so she was huddled closer to him, keeping them both a little more snugly fit in the coat. Abby closed her eyes and rested her head lightly on Hoagie's shoulder.

"Hoagie?" She sounded drowsy.

"Yeah?"

"Abby doesn't mind being cold anymore."

The End

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Beware the 2/5 fluff that I can't stop writing!

Please tell me what you think of this. Falling was my first attempt at ANYTHING KND, and that was more focused on Cree's meddling then 2/5... So this is my first romantic attempt with these two.

Now, to see if I can figure out how to write 1/86...