Mid November

Activities on a Budget

Aelita was pouring over her and Jeremy's budget with dismay. Their savings was pretty okay, largely thanks to her grandparents wedding present, and they were managing to spend slightly less than they were earning, which was also good. However, there was a couple of somewhat sizable charges that she didn't recognize on the credit card billing statement which had her worried. The last thing that her and Jeremy needed was credit card fraud or identity theft. Even though both her and Jeremy were good enough at hacking that they could probably solve the matter themselves, it was still not something that Aelita wanted to have to deal with! She sighed and closed the spreadsheet, making a mental note to talk to her husband when he got home. She smiled slightly at the picture of her and Jeremy in front of the Font de Canaletes. The picture was taken about halfway through their honeymoon and was now proudly displayed as the screen backdrop. The vacation from the rigors of life had been wonderful, but now they were back to the real world, with it's real problems. Unfortunately, with their budget as tight as it was, one of those problems was that she couldn't justify the expense of the dancing lessons that her and Jeremy talked about while in Spain. Her grin fell.

Looking up at the time she decided it was time to get dinner going. She started looking through the cupboards to figure out what she could make to go with the chicken that she found on sale her last shopping trip. In the end, she discovered that she had the ingredients to try and make a chicken and rice soup in the pressure cooker that Patrick had gotten her and Jeremy as a wedding present. It seemed like the perfect dinner on a chilly November evening. She got the meal prepped and put into the cooker, but since pressure cooking dramatically decreased the actual cook time, it wasn't anywhere near time to start it. Aelita closed the lid and with a sigh she absently started watching random videos on the computer out of boredom.


"Hi Aelita, I'm home!" Announced Jeremy as he walked through the door. There was a light dusting of snow on his winter hat. He took it off and brushed it off before stuffing it in his coat pocket and smiled as his wife came over.

"Hi, Jeremy," greeted Aelita and the two of them shared a hug and brief kiss. "How was your day?"

"Dr. Lowell mostly kept to himself, so it was about as good as it gets," replied Jeremy as he hung his coat on their coat rack.

"That's good," Aelita replied, grinning slightly, but only for a moment.

"Yeah. How about yours," asked Jeremy cautiously, picking up on Aelita's mood.

"Not so good," she replied. "I was going over our finances and I just can't justify spending the money on dancing lessons on just your income." Upon seeing Jeremy's face fall, Aelita's did too. "Yeah, I feel the same way." She sighed.

"You know, at my bachelor party I asked Ulrich if he had any suggestions."

"Oh, what did he say?" Asked Aelita, her curiosity having been piqued.

"He said him and his mom used to do puzzles in the winter." Aelita's brow furrowed.

"As in jigsaw puzzles," she asked skeptically.

"Yeah... if you don't like the idea, that's ok too," Jeremy hastily replied.

"Well, I guess it's worth trying," admitted Aelita. She smiled at her husband for a moment.

"Ok!" Jeremy exclaimed excitedly. "You know the hobby store near Amanda's coffee shop?"

"I think so."

"They've got some there if you want to go look for one!" Aelita laughed at her husband's enthusiasm.

"You mean you want to go now?" She asked.

"Sure, why not!"

"Ok, Jeremy," she replied with a giggle. Then here face went serious as she remembered something.

"There's one more thing before we go," she said changing the subject.

"What's that?" Asked Jeremy, now listening attentively.

"There's some charges that I don't recognize." Aelita guided her husband to the couch and opened up her laptop. Once it booted up she pointed out the suspicious items on the credit card statement. She looked to Jeremy. "Do you recognize these?" She asked. The young man gulped at the expenses that had ended up being more than he'd hoped to spend.

"Yes..." he replied slowly.

"So, what is it?" Asked Aelita.

"I... can't tell you that right now." Aelita glanced between the credit card statement and Jeremy in bewilderment at his going behind her back.

"Jeremy, you spent a lot of money, and I don't like you keeping secrets from me" she scolded.

"Aelita, please just trust me on this," insisted Jeremy. His wife sighed and rubbed her eyes. Looking up at her husband's nervous face again, she let out another sigh.

"Ok, Jeremy. I trust you."

"Thanks, Aelita," Jeremy expressed gratefully.

"At least now I know that our card hasn't been compromised or anything. That's a relief."

The two of them stood in awkward silence for a few moments until Aelita spoke again. "Do you still want to go to that hobby shop?" She asked.

"Yes I would, If that's still ok."

"Yes, we can go." Jeremy grinned. He pulled his wife's pink winter jacket off the rack and held it out for her. She couldn't help smiling at the gesture while she sliding her arms into the sleeves. Jeremy donned his own coat and the two of them left.


Aelita shivered slightly from the cold weather, but it was a welcome change from being cooped up in their small apartment! It was gently snowing, and the shallow accumulation on the street was very pretty. A couple days prior the city had put garland and other decorations on street lamps. That combined with the snow had the city looking much like a holiday postcard. Grinning at the sight, Aelita took hold of her husband's arm as they strolled down the sidewalk. After about fifteen minutes of walking they made it to the hobby shop and went inside.

"So, you've been here before?" Asked Aelita, looking around at shelves completely packed full of games, books, and all the various hobby stuffs like model cars, paints, and dice with varying numbers of sides.

"Not really, I've only looked through the window," replied Jeremy.

"Oh, ok." Aelita glanced over and an aisle full of old vinyl records caught her eye. "I know we don't have a way to play these, but I kinda want to look for a minute anyway." She gestured to the records and Jeremy grinned widely.

"Sure thing. I'm going to head this way and see if I can find anything." He walked toward another aisle. Aelita wondered for a moment about Jeremy's excited reaction, but then decided to chalk it up to the general enthusiasm he'd been displaying over looking for a good puzzle. She spent a few minutes flipping through the albums, but found that most of them were old Jazz, which didn't interest her much. Going back in the direction that Jeremy went, an image on an upper shelf caught her eye and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Jeremy," she called out. "I found it." Her husband rounded the corner and also stopped when his wife pointed at a particular box.

"Yes, you certainly did," he agreed. The two of them spent a moment gazing at a picture of the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge with a sunrise in the background, almost identical to the morning Jeremy had proposed. The two exchanged smiles and Jeremy pulled it down. A few minutes later they had paid for the puzzle and were outside.

"Would you like to get some hot chocolate for the walk home?" Jeremy asked, pointing to coffee shop next door, and his wife grinned.

"Yes, please!"

The two of them entered the little shop and were pleasantly surprised to see that Amanda was currently working the register, and that the line was quite short.

"Hey you two!" Greeted the barista once she noticed the couple, and they waved back. After a short wait they made it to the front. "What are you having?" Asked Amanda.

"Two medium hot chocolates," answered Jeremy.

"You got it!" Exclaimed Amanda as she turned to make the drinks. "So, whats in the bag?"

"It's a puzzle," answered Aelita.

"Just trying out something that we can do together inside during the winter," added Jeremy.

"What? You're newlyweds, finding something to do together while indoors shouldn't be that hard!" teased Amanda quietly and the geniuses exchanged blushing glances, making her laugh.

"Well... something else anyway..." muttered Aelita.

"I'm just teasing you. Anyway, here you go." The two geniuses took their drinks. "Have a nice evening, and enjoy your puzzle!

"Thanks, Amanda."

Upon leaving, daylight was starting to fade and the lights put out by the city had kicked on, illuminating everything in a festive glow.

"You know, It's very pretty out here," commented Jeremy before taking a sip of his cocoa.

"Uh huh," agreed Aelita. "Maybe we should go on evening walks more often." Jeremy grinned.

"Yeah, that sounds nice. Perhaps this can be another one of our 'things,'" he suggested. The two of them exchanged smiles and enjoyed the rest of the walk through the lit streets.

Once home, Aelita got the pressure cooker started while Jeremy pulled out an old folding table. The two geniuses pulled up chairs and opened up the box while they waited for dinner to be ready. Once they'd managed to pull out most of the edge pieces, both Jeremy and Aelita were pleasantly surprised at how cathartic it was to see the border coming together. They kept happily snapping matches together until the pressure cooker beeped, and the 30 minutes of cook time was up before either of them expected. Grinning at each other, the two of them made their way to the kitchen and got down a couple bowls and dished out the soup.

"This smells amazing," complimented Jeremy, once they'd sat down.

"Thanks, Jeremy. It's a bit thicker than I had in mind though. I hope it tastes ok." After a little bit of blowing on a spoonful both of them took their first bite.

"Mmmm," moaned Jeremy. "I'd say that this is the perfect dinner after a walk in the cold." When Aelita took her first bite, she readily agreed.

The two of them enjoyed their dinner together, and when they were done and had cleaned up, they went back to enjoying assembling their puzzle in each other's company.

A/N: I managed to get this one out in less than a month! Actually, A few days ago someone told me that they had been reading my work and was closing in on the end, and that kinda motivated me to pick up the pace, and I'm glad for it! Anyway, this story is definitely over half done, but I'm not entirely sure how much is left. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.