BH/HIMYM Fic: There's No Shame in Pulling a Mosby
Title: There’s No Shame in Pulling a Mosby
Fandoms: Being Human, How I Met Your Mother
Pairings/Character: Annie/Mitchell, Lily/Marshall; Ted, George
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5,048
Spoilers: Through season one of Being Human and general spoilers through season three of HIMYM.
Disclaimer: Being Human and How I Met Your Mother belong to Toby Whitehouse and Bays & Thomas respectively.
Summary: After blurting out an ill-timed I love you, an emotional Annie accidently teleports into an unsuspecting Marshall and Lily’s apartment right in the middle of dinner.
A/N: A big thank you to my wonderful beta mollivanders! Any lingering mistakes are my own. This was written for hobbit_eyes as part of the xover_exchange.
“Annie, what is wrong with you?”
Mitchell ducked as another cup levitated across the room to slam into the wall behind him. Annie crossed her arms and tried valiantly not to cry. Around her drawers were slamming open and shut, lights were flickering, and the dishes were flinging themselves across the kitchen. Mitchell was staring at her in confusion. As usual he was completely oblivious. Somehow this only pissed her off more.
“Nothing, Mitchell. I’m completely fine.”
Mitchell watched as the couch in the living room began sliding towards the door. Annie ignored it and sat down at the table.
“You’re fine? Completely fine? I suppose the couch simply decided to relocate itself then. And the plates and cups suddenly couldn’t bear to go on living so they hurled themselves out of the cupboard as part of some sort of mass suicide pact, did they?”
Annie shrugged and began flipping through the nearest magazine. She hated this. When she was alive she could be in a bad mood without the whole world knowing it. If she were alive and she had seen her fit housemate who she was kind of maybe (definitely) in love with snogging some red-headed tart on the front step she would have curled up on the couch with a pint of ice cream and had a good cry and that would have been that.
But now she was dead and every time she became even a little bit upset she poltergeisted out for the whole world to see. Life---well death--- really sucked sometimes.
Mitchell knelt down beside her and gently tilted her chin up with his hand.
“Hey, come on Annie, you can talk to me.”
He was being sweet, ridiculously sweet actually, and Annie suddenly felt silly. She didn’t want to be that girl, the one who sits around pining for her best friend to notice that she was madly in love with him.
“No I can’t, Mitchell,” Annie said. “I really, really can’t.”
“Did something happen while I was out? Was it George? Did he do something daft?”
Annie shook her head. “It’s not George.”
“Then what is it?”
Mitchell covered her hand with his and the contact sent a little tingle down her spine. He was staring at her and it was obvious that he was confused, but he was also concerned and for some reason this made something inside of Annie snap.
“It’s you, Mitchell. It’s you and it’s me. It’s the two of us together in this house.”
Mitchell furrowed his brow. “I’m not following.”
Annie groaned inwardly. It was too late to turn back now.
“I love you. Not like a mate or a pal. I’m in love with you and you were kissing a girl on our front porch, Mitchell. And she’s alive…at least I think she’s alive, and probably completely perfect. And I hate her. I don’t know her, but I hate her because I…love you.”
Mitchell looked stricken. He swallowed and Annie watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Annie cut him off. She found that she was completely terrified of what he might say next.
“I can’t believe I just said that. I’m an idiot. A complete and utter idiot.”
“Annie…” Mitchell said softly.
“No, don’t say anything. I can’t…I just can’t hear you say that you don’t love me or that you love me, but just as a friend or something else horrible and clichéd that really just means that I just made a fool out of myself.”
Annie suddenly wanted to disappear, to be anywhere that wasn’t in this house with Mitchell staring at her like she was some sort of sad puppy.
“Annie!” Mitchell shouted this time and his voice was laced with panic. Annie looked down and saw that she was shimmering.
Well, that’s new, she thought to herself right before she disappeared with a pop.
***
She landed roughly on a hardwood floor and looked up to find two people sitting at a little table; their forks raised in mid-bite, staring at her in shock. For one moment no one said anything; then the woman screamed.
Annie opened her mouth to say something but the man, who was alarmingly tall, tripped over the table cloth as he tried to get up from his seat and managed to pull all of the dishes onto the floor with him.
The woman stopped screaming and looked at the mess in horror.
“Marshall, this is not a Godzilla movie!”
“I’m sorry baby, I was a little distracted by the GHOST that just LANDED in our living room!”
The woman tilted her head towards Annie who was busy willing herself to disappear again. As usual these things never seemed to work when you wanted them to.
“You’re not a ghost, are you? You’re a cat burglar or…ooh, maybe a ninja? Something stealthy, right? Cause you being a ghost---that’s kind of crazy. Right, Marshall? Marshall?”
Marshall was slowly approaching Annie with one big-hand outstretched as if he expected it to pass right through her. Annie was starting to panic. This was not supposed to happen; she had never teleported farther than the garden before, now she had managed to land in some strange American couples’ apartment. And really who thought ninja was a logical alternative to ghost?
The closer Marshall came the more uneasy Annie felt. He was looking at her with such wide-eyed excitement she felt like some sort of rare butterfly being cornered by a mad guy with a net. The lights above her began flickering.
“Lily, look…” Marshall said in awe. Annie tried to will herself to stay calm, but it was no use. Every faucet in the place suddenly turned on at once.
Lily let out a squeak and ran over to the closet; she quickly reemerged brandishing a Dustbuster.
“I am not afraid to use this!” she shouted as she fumbled to find the switch.
Marshall looked from his wife who was doing her best Bill Murray impression to their house guest and his mouth dropped open.
“Ghost!” Marshall shouted triumphantly.
“It’s Annie, actually,” she said with a sigh.
***
“So, you’re from…” Marshall scrunched his face as he tried to remember.
“Bristol,” Annie supplied.
“Right and you live with a vampire and a werewolf, which is awesome by the way.”
“It has its moments.”
Annie had to hand it to Marshall; he was taking all of this rather well. He actually seemed excited about having his entire world-view turned upside down. His wife on the other hand was still attempting to suck her into a miniature hoover.
“Annie, just tell me this. Is Nessie real? She is right?”
Okay, so maybe his world-view wasn’t being turned upside down so much as affirmed. Annie shrugged.
“She could be…maybe.”
Marshall looked positively giddy. “I knew it.”
Lily shook her Dustbuster hopefully, but no matter how hard she tried Annie didn’t appear to be going anywhere. Annie smiled apologetically. Marshall shook his head at Lily and held out his hand for the Dustbuster. Lily passed it to him reluctantly.
“Marshall?” Lily asked tentatively.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Everything in Ghostbusters was a dirty lie. The ghost is still here.”
“It’s okay. I don’t think she fought in the Civil War or anything. She’s a nice ghost, aren’t you?”
Annie nodded emphatically. Lily was still eyeing her warily as if she was about to pounce on her at any moment.
“Like Casper?” asked Lily.
“Only less blobby,” Annie supplied helpfully.
Lily tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace. She turned to Marshall.
“I think maybe we’re having a mass hallucination. Marshall, would you go check the mushrooms I used in the sauce? I knew that vegetable guy looked too mellow.”
“So I’m hallucinating myself?” Annie asked.
Lily considered this. “No, you are the…never mind. I need beer.”
Annie self-consciously tugged at the sleeves of her sweater as Lily and Marshall ducked into the kitchen in search of booze.
She was trying not to freak out. It was bad enough she had crash landed in some poor couple’s apartment, she didn’t want to start blubbering in front of them as well. But she was in New York City, completely alone, and she had told her best friend that she loved him. This was turning out to be a really awful day.
She couldn’t stop herself from sniffling. It was as if she had flipped some sort of magic switch because Lily’s face immediately softened. She stopped her search for beer and quickly crossed over to Annie.
“Oh, sweetie…”
Lily wrapped her arms around Annie and then promptly began to shiver.
“Hey, I didn’t fall through you!” Lily said in surprise. “But ooh, you’re kinda icy.”
“Sorry,” Annie sniffled. “It’s from the whole being dead thing.”
“This is definitely a hallucination,” Lily muttered as she patted Annie’s back.
“Yeah, a kick-ass one!” Marshall shouted from the kitchen.
***
“He’s an ass. Marshall, tell her. If he can’t see how amazing you are, then he doesn’t deserve you. He’s not the only vampire in the crypt.”
Annie was sandwiched between Lily and Marshall on the couch. The two of them were half-way through a bottle of red wine and they had happily busted out a cheese platter for the event even though Annie had tried to tell them about the whole no-eating thing. She didn’t mind though, she was beginning to feel warm and safe and Lily’s indignation on her behalf certainly helped.
“I don’t know if he’s an…ass,” Annie said. “I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. I just kind of disappeared. I mean he’s Mitchell, he’s a sweetheart.”
“When he’s not eating people,” Marshall chimed in.
“He’s on the wagon. Anyway, we’re mates. We snuggle on the couch and watch old movies, I make him tea and listen to him tell me about his day, we have this whole routine and I had to go and screw it up.”
Lily squeezed Annie’s hand gently.
“You didn’t screw anything up. You just told him how you feel. It’s not like you pulled a Mosby.”
“What?” Annie asked.
“I got this,” Marshall said. “To Mosby: when one inappropriately declares their undying love for someone they’ve just met thereby making said person think you are insane. See also To Pull a Ted.”
Annie nodded as if she understood.
“I just wish I knew how he felt.”
“Go ask him. Blinky thing yourself back there and get your man,” Lily said.
Lily was right. Why was she sitting here moping when she could be back home actually talking to Mitchell?
“You’re right. I’m just being silly. I mean I told a guy that I love him and then I teleported to another country without waiting to hear what he thought. Maybe he’s in love with me too or maybe’s he’s not…but who cares. I’m a big girl. My last boyfriend killed me for Pete’s sake; I think I can handle a bit of rejection.”
Lily’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Your last boyfriend killed you?”
“Yeah. He shoved me down the stairs.”
Marshall looked appalled. “That’s not cool. You should haunt his ass with chains and wailing and stuff.”
Annie grinned at her new friends.
“Did that. Sort off. He’s in a mental institution now.”
Lily raised her hand up for a high five and Annie smacked it.
“Awesome,” Marshall said in awe.
“Right, so I should just teleport back there and find out how he feels about us or if there’s even an “us” to have feelings about. Thank you guys so much, if I had to land in someone’s apartment I’m glad it was yours.”
“Aww,” Lily said. “Me too. And you have no idea how happy you’ve made Marshall. He’s always wanted to meet a ghost.”
Marshall nodded solemnly.
“Okay then, I guess I’ll just close my eyes and think of England,” Annie said with a nervous giggle.
Lily and Marshall were watching her with curiosity.
Annie scrunched up her face and concentrated on Mitchell and George and after a moment she felt herself begin to fade.
Lily gasped as she disappeared.
When she opened her eyes she was standing in front of a refrigerator, but it didn’t look remotely familiar.
“Um…Annie. You just teleported into the kitchen,” Marshall called from the living room.
Annie turned around and saw Lily and Marshall staring at her from the couch.
“Crap,” she muttered.
***
Annie spent the rest of the night trying to teleport back home, but the she couldn’t manage to get any farther than the hallway. She appeared to be stuck. Marshall and Lily didn’t seem to mind her sticking around, but Annie couldn’t help but wonder how they would feel eighty years from now when she was haunting their retirement home.
She figured the least she could do was make them breakfast. She was busy flipping pancakes when Lily came padding into the kitchen in her pajamas.
“Morning,” Lily said with a yawn. “Hey, are you cooking?”
“Yeah, I don’t sleep anymore so I was up anyway, and really it’s the least I can do.”
“You made little pancake animals,” Lily said happily as she picked up her cat shaped pancake.
“My mum used to make them for me when I was little. They always cheered me up.”
Lily shook her head sympathetically.
“So, no luck with the teleporting?”
Annie shook her head sadly. “The last time I tried I just ended up in the bathroom. Tell Marshall I’m sorry about that by the way.”
Lily took a bite of her pancake. “Have you thought of maybe calling Mitchell? You know with the telephone. I bet he’s really worried about you.”
Annie turned back to the stove so that Lily couldn’t see her face. “I don’t want to call him. I was thinking about that earlier actually. Maybe I’m stuck here because I’m not ready to talk to him yet. I think I just need a bit of time. Like going on holiday.”
“Maybe…” said Lily doubtfully. “Well, you can stay here as long as you want. Marshall and I have been dying to have a house guest. We have these tiny soaps for the bathroom, they’re shaped like flowers…ooh, and we can stay up late tonight playing board games. Maybe you can beat Marshall in Monopoly. “
“No one can beat The Kid in Monopoly,” Marshall said as he came bounding into the kitchen.
Annie couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of his messy hair and Star Wars pajamas. He looked a bit like a giant four year old…or George, come to think of it. He kissed Lily good morning as Annie tilted a couple of pancakes onto his plate.
“You two are adorable,” Annie said wistfully.
“We get that a lot,” Lily replied as she poured syrup onto her husband’s pancakes.
***
Annie spent the morning flipping through the channels and marveling at how American daytime telly was just as dull as British daytime telly. After she had had her fill of listening to fake psychiatrists dispense relationship advice she moved on to tidying the apartment. Sadly, Lily was even more of a neat freak than George so that took all of ten minutes. She was just about to try teleporting again when the doorbell rang.
She froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. When she heard a key in the lock, she realized her decision was being made for her. The door opened to reveal a short, attractive guy with dark hair.
“Oh hey…” the guy eyed Annie warily.
She waved and immediately felt like an idiot. “Hi, I’m a friend of Lily’s; Annie. That’s my name. I’m…staying here for a few days.”
The guy nodded slowly, but he was staring at Annie as if she had escaped from an institution.
“That’s cool. I’m Ted.”
“Mosby?” Annie asked.
Ted looked a bit surprised, but he quickly recovered. He puffed out his chest a little and put on what Annie was sure he thought was his very best “I’m-a-cool-bloke” face.
“My reputation precedes me.”
Annie grinned and Ted immediately deflated.
“Something like that,” she said.
Ted sighed. “Which story did they tell you? Was it the one about the rain dance or the one about the too soon I love you?”
“The second one,” Annie said.
Ted shook his head sadly.
“It’s never the one about the rain dance.”
“So…you have a key?” Annie asked.
Ted nodded and walked over to the television. “Yeah, in case of emergencies.”
“What’s the emergency?”
“I lent my Die Hard DVD to Marshall a month ago and he still hasn’t given it back so now I’m breaking in to a)get it back and b) steal his Star Wars box set to teach him an important lesson about returning things in a timely manner.”
Ted removed Marshall’s box set from the shelf with a flourish and held it up for Annie to see.
“It’s alright Han Salo, you’ll like it at my place. The TV is bigger and you don’t have to use coasters,” Ted said to the movies.
Annie laughed; it was hard to believe that a few moments ago she had been worried Ted thought she was insane. He was clearly a nutter himself, but admittedly an adorable one.
“Well I won’t stand in the way of justice,” she said.
Ted struck his best Superman pose and placed a hand over his heart. “I’m like the DVD vigilante, wherever there’s a dude holding another dude’s Die Hard for ransom, I’ll be there.”
Annie couldn’t help it, she was definitely beginning to like this guy.
“So, Annie. How do you know Lily?” Ted asked suddenly.
Annie tried to think of something more convincing than, ‘I teleported into her apartment last night.’
“School. We went to school together,” she said finally.
Ted arched an eyebrow skeptically.
“Art school?” he asked.
“Sure.”
Ted looked vaguely suspicious, but he didn’t press her any further.
“What brings you to casa de Eriksen’s?”
“Boy trouble,” Annie replied promptly.
Ted nodded sagely.
“Men suck. Except for me. I’m always awesome.”
Annie couldn’t stop herself from giggling. “I bet you are. It’s not every guy who’s comfortable enough with himself to tell a girl he loves her on the first date.”
Ted slapped a hand over his heart and fake staggered backwards a couple of steps. “That hurt. But in my defense she was an amazing girl. And it turned out I was right. I did love her.”
Annie sat down on the couch and brought her knees up to her chest. “How did you know?”
Ted flopped onto the couch next to her. “When she smiled it made my stomach do this little flip thing. And every time I made her laugh I felt like I had won some sort of dating lottery. Even though it was our first date I just knew that I was absolutely, one-hundred percent in love with her. And she said Smurf penis. I mean, come on, how was I not supposed to fall for that?”
Annie snorted, but all she could think about was the first time she had seen Mitchell. How he and George had looked walking into the house together, he was grinning like a mad man, his curly black hair a mess, and then he had laughed. It was the first time in months, since she had died really, that the sound of someone laughing had made her happy instead of sad.
“What happened with you and the Smurf girl?” Annie asked.
Ted smiled sadly. “We were together for one really amazing year and then we broke up. We’re still friends though, and I mean actual friends not people who call themselves friends but never actually see each other.”
“Do you ever regret telling her you loved her on the first date?”
Ted shook his head. “Never.”
Annie nodded absently.
Ted patted her on the knee with his fist and Annie smiled at him.
“For the record, if you love this boy trouble guy and he’s not a complete douche…then I say go for it. There’s no way he’s going to turn you down.”
Annie ducked her head shyly as Ted stood up.
“I should get going before Marshall comes home. Hey, if he asks…”
“Ted? Ted Who?” Annie said innocently.
Ted winked. “You’re awesome, Annie. Hey, will I see you at McLaren’s later?”
“That depends. What’s a McLaren’s?”
Ted’s eyes widened in surprise. “You really haven’t been in town long, have you?”
***
As soon as the door shut behind Ted, Annie picked up Lily and Marshall’s phone and dialed Mitchell’s number. She knew if she were alive her palms would be sweating. The phone only rang once before she heard his voice, scared and slightly panicky on the other end.
“Annie?”
“It’s me.”
“Where the bloody hell are you?”
A nervous giggle escaped her lips. “New York.”
***
Annie couldn’t stop pacing back and forth. Maybe this was a mistake, this whole calling Mitchell thing. She hadn’t expected him to hop on a plane to come get her. He hadn’t said much on the phone, just how worried he was and then he had passed the phone to George who had said plenty for the both of them. It was funny---she hadn’t really imagined George would be terribly bothered by her absence, but given the octave his voice hit while he was screeching at her she had clearly been wrong.
But she still didn’t have a clue as to how Mitchell felt about all of this.
Lily was tracking her progress across the room, while Marshall rummaged through his DVD collection in an ever increasing state of panic.
“They were here last week. Annie, are you sure a guy named Ted didn’t stop by?”
Annie stopped pacing and tried not to look too guilty. “I’m positive. Maybe you just misplaced them?”
“I never misplace Han Salo!”
Marshall looked just like Annie felt; he turned back the cabinet and started tossing books and movies over his shoulder.
Suddenly all of the pictures on the end table crashed to the floor.
“Alright, that’s it. Everybody sit down,” Lily hissed.
“But baby…”
“I’m too nervous…”
“SIT!”
Annie and Marshall quickly joined Lily on the couch.
“Marshall, we’ll find Han Salo, I promise and if we don’t I’ll buy you a new one, okay?”
“It won’t be the same,” Marshall grumbled.
“Marshall,” Lily warned.
“Okay,” he said glumly.
“Alright then. Annie, Mitchell’s flight landed an hour ago which means he’ll be here any minute now so there’s no need for anymore pacing or flying picture frames, okay?”
Annie nodded. “Okay.”
The doorbell rang and all three of them jumped. The end table skittered across the room and Lily sighed.
“I’ll get it,” Annie said, but Lily caught her arm.
“I’ll do it.”
Lily stood up and crossed over to the door with the scariest face in her arsenal firmly in place. She opened it to find Mitchell standing there nervously shifting from foot to foot. Annie smiled when she saw him peek around Lily’s shoulder to catch a glimpse of her. He grinned when he saw her.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
Lily squared her shoulders back.
“Just a second there mister. Let’s set some ground rules first. First, no making Annie cry. Unless they’re happy tears, but if that’s the case it should be absolutely clear that they are tears of joy. Secondly, Annie is sweet and kind and let’s face it a total hottie and you probably don’t deserve her, but she likes you and it’s not like you’re going to find another girl who’s that understanding about the whole vampire thing. Just because all the little twelve year olds are nuts about that Edward guy doesn’t mean anyone actually wants to date someone who drinks blood. And lastly-no biting. If you’re feeling peckish there’s a steak in the freezer.”
Mitchell looked like he was torn between being annoyed and amused.
“Is that all?” he asked.
Lily nodded curtly. “Yep. You can come in now.”
“Oh, thank God.”
Mitchell pushed passed Lily and made a beeline for Annie. He wrapped his arms around her without saying a word.
“Are you alright?” he whispered.
Annie nodded and quickly disentangled herself from Mitchell’s embrace. Lily and Marshall were standing nearby watching the two of them awkwardly. Annie cleared her throat.
“Mitchell, this is Lily and Marshall. Lily and Marshall, Mitchell.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lily said.
“Dude, can you tell if a guy’s a vampire just by looking at him because I know this bartender that’s totally…”
Lily elbowed Marshall in the ribs and he blushed.
“I mean, it’s nice to meet you.”
Mitchell smiled politely. “It’s nice to meet you both too and I want to thank you for looking out for Annie. There aren’t many people who would be so…understanding.”
Marshall was edging closer and closer to Mitchell as he talked. Mitchell took a small step backwards and Annie almost giggled, she had never seen Mitchell look quite so confused.
Annie shot Lily a meaningful glance and Lily started tugging Marshall towards the bedroom.
“Well, we’re just going to give you kids some time to talk.”
Marshall shot Mitchell a wistful look.
“But baby, he’s a VAMPIRE,” Marshall protested as Lily pulled him into the bedroom and shut the door.
Now that she was alone with Mitchell, Annie suddenly felt uncomfortable. He was just standing there watching her in that weird way that always made her think he was reading her mind, which she knew was impossible, but it still freaked her out. She started talking just to break the silence.
“I’m sorry I just left like that. I didn’t mean to, it was just that I wanted to be somewhere else because I didn’t want to be there with you if I wasn’t with you, you know? But that was ridiculous because even if you don’t love me I still want to go home, we can make it so it won’t be weird. You and George are my family and that’s never going to…” Annie babbled.
“Annie?” Mitchell interrupted.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
Annie felt stricken. “What?”
Without warning, Mitchell pressed his lips roughly against hers so that she couldn’t talk anymore or even think for that matter. She giggled when she felt his tongue sliding against hers because she could actually feel it, just like she was alive again, and also because it was Mitchell’s tongue in her mouth and that was going to take some getting used to. She closed her eyes and it was like the rest of the world had disappeared.
He ended the kiss as suddenly as it had begun and then he laughed.
“Annie, look,” he whispered against her ear.
She opened her eyes and let out a little yelp. They were home, standing in their kitchen as if nothing had ever happened.
“Did you know you could do that?”
Annie shook her head. She was feeling a little dazed. “No. Lily is going to be so peeved that I left without saying goodbye.”
Mitchell chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“No more leaving, okay?”
She smiled and nodded up at Mitchell.
“Okay,” she replied as he pulled her in for another kiss.
“Annie!” a familiar voice screeched from the doorway.
Annie pulled away from Mitchell and turned to the doorway to find George gaping at the two of them.
“George?” she asked teasingly.
“Were you two just snogging?”
Mitchell winked. “Yeah, mate.”
“It’s about time. Honestly, I was beginning to think you two were a bit slow if you know what I mean.”
Annie rolled her eyes.
“I missed you too, George,” she said.
***
Later when Annie was sure the boys were asleep she closed her eyes and thought of New York. She knew somehow that this time she wouldn’t have any trouble getting home. She arrived in the living room where Lily had fallen asleep on the couch with a book splayed open across her lap.
“Lily, Lily…” Annie whispered as she gave Lily’s shoulder a little shake. Lily yawned and blinked sleepily. Her eyes widened when she saw Annie kneeling beside her.
“He hasn’t done something stupid already has he?” she asked.
Annie bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “No, he’s been amazing. Really amazing. Perfect, actually.”
Lily grinned.
“So there was sex?”
Annie giggled. “Twice.”
“I’m so happy for you!” Lily said.
“Anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye. I didn’t mean to pop out so quickly earlier. I’m really glad I met both you. It’s been awhile since I’ve made any friends of my own.”
Lily sat up and hugged Annie. “Don’t be a stranger, okay? But maybe you could call next time? I don’t want to have to buy another set of dishes. You have no idea how scary the Ikea is here.”
Annie grinned.
“Definitely. And Lily, the next time you see Ted could you maybe tell him thank you for me?”
“So Ted was here. I knew it,” Lily muttered.
“Yeah, he has Han Solo, but you didn’t hear that from me.”
Annie hugged Lily one more time.
“I guess I should get back.”
Lily nodded. “Maybe you could come by next week. You have no idea how badly Marshall wants to talk to Mitchell.”
“We’ll try.”
Annie waved and then just like that she was back in her house. She climbed the stairs as quietly as possible and slipped into bed beside Mitchell. He wrapped an arm around her waist and nuzzled his nose against her neck.
“And where did you go?”
“I popped round Lily and Marshall’s to say goodbye. They invited us over next week.”
“Over to New York?” Mitchell asked.
Annie rolled over so they were face to face. “Yep. Hey, Mitchell?”
“Yeah?”
His eyes were already drifting shut again.
“You’re my Smurf penis.”
Mitchell snorted. “You’re insane, did you know that?”
Annie grinned and kissed him. “That’s why you love me,” she said softly.
He snuggled closer to her and wrapped one of her dark curls around his finger. Annie trailed a hand down his chest and he shivered.
“Something like that,” he said with a laugh.