Christian and Cristina stumbled into the house, exhausted and dehydrated, but otherwise no worse for wear.

"Dibs on the bathtub!" Cristina yelled as she ran toward the bathroom.

"Need any help?" Christian teased.

"You would just love that, wouldn't you?" she called out behind herself.

"I would actually," he called back to her. But instead, he busied himself making some ramen to fill their empty stomachs. Cristina didn't take a long bath, and soon she joined him at the kitchen island.

"Don't you have to pee?" she asked him.

"Done and done," he replied.

"What did you do? Piss off the side of the deck?" she asked in gest.

"Exactly," Christian replied.

Cristina shook her head. "Men are animals," she concluded. "I hope you didn't get any on the deck because it needs to be dry. We are staining it tomorrow," she informed him.

"Of course, I didn't piss on your handiwork. I would never," he vowed with his right hand raised.

With that, they dug into their ramen, making approving sounds of satisfaction as they ate. Cristina marveled at Christian's ability to perfectly poach eggs in the broth while the ramen cooked. He had lived alone for long enough to have become an expert at doing many things for himself, cooking included. Cristina was sure she would never be just his glorified servant if she ended up with him.

She pulled herself back to reality. "Why am I thinking about ending up with him?" she scolded herself. "He hasn't said he wants anything permanent," she reminded herself, particularly since her rather pathetic foray into her ex's social media. But they had been through something out there in the forest. She felt that something had changed between them. For her part, it had convinced her that they could build something together. They had braved dire circumstances, both physical and mental, and had come through on the other side.

They spent the rest of the day resting and watching TV. Surprisingly, even Christian had been forced to slow down due to the sheer physical exhaustion from their forest adventure. They ate and drank a lot. It felt great to not limit themselves because they knew they were depleted. Cristina remembered how her mom would always say, "Listen to your body. Eat when you're hungry. Drink when you're thirsty. Rest when you're tired." Her advice seemed to have taken on new relevance as she observed how Christian's body seemed to change drastically, depending on whether he was in a manic or depressive episode.

After a day of rest, the next day, Cristina and Christian began staining the deck. Luckily for them, hardware stores were delivering materials to people's houses while they were closed due to the pandemic. Cristina had chosen a waterproof stain that was fairly dark.

"You need something that will hide wear and tear," she had said. Christian agreed that the deck would inevitably suffer a lot of wear and tear once the pandemic receded. It took several hours, but finally, they finished the entire deck. They stood back and looked at what they had accomplished together.

"I think we should be really proud of ourselves," Cristina said.

"Absolutely! We did all this in the midst of a pandemic and various mental health crises between the two of us," he agreed.

"Yeah, when you put it that way, I think it's almost miraculous what we managed to do with what we had to work with," Cristina said, laughing softly.

"But this is the start of a new period for us. We're not alone anymore. Whatever we do, we do it together. We're gonna make this a space of healing, a place where people feel free to be themselves," he said. "We're gonna have so many people over. Imagine it," he said, spreading his arms wide. "We're gonna put a fire pit on that end. I think we could fit a hot tub over there. What do you think about a grill and a table and chairs on this end?" he asked.

"I think the plan sounds great, but it's your house. You don't need my approval on your plans," Cristina told him.

"Of course, I do," Christian said, shocked that she didn't see how integral she was to his life now. "I'm not as good on my own," he admitted. "Neither of us are. But together, we are something more," he continued. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about this. When the pandemic is over, I don't want you to move out," he told her.

"Seriously?" she questioned.

"Yes, seriously!" he replied. "How can you not know how I feel about you? Do you know how hard it was for me to watch you pining over some other guy. It was hell for me. And do you know why?" he asked rhetorically. "It's because I wanted you all for myself," he answered his own question. "I wanted to get you a ring, but the jewelry stores aren't doing home deliveries. I guess they figure a diamond ring isn't something you need right now," he said.

"A ring?" Cristina asked. "Do you really mean it?"

"Yes, I mean it!" he answered, growing tired of her disbelief. "But listen, I had an idea of something we could do that would be fun."

"Oh, yeah, what's that?" Cristina inquired.

Christian fairly bounced up and down in excitement. "We should record messages on our phones, like couple's messages so that when people call us, they know they've gotten both of us."

"Okay, so, how would that work?" she asked.

"Well, we just both talk in the message so that we have a joint message on each other's phones," he explained.

So, they went inside and cleaned themselves up and worked out a bit of a script for their joint message. They decided to do Cristina's phone first.

"Hey, you've reached Criss," Cristina said into her phone.

"And Chris!" Christian said.

"You know what to do. Leave a message at the beep," Cristina continued.

"For either Chris," Christian added. "We'll call you when we get to it," he said. "But who knows when that will be," he concluded.

"So, leave your message, and we'll see what happens," Cristina added. She stopped the recording.

"We did it!" Christian exclaimed. "I've never had a joint message with anyone before," he marveled. "I never realized how cool it would be to be part of an 'us'," he said.

"I have been part of an 'us' but this feels really different," Cristina replied. "I feel like this one will stick," she said with a smile.

"It better," Christian said as he leaned over to kiss her waiting mouth. They both opened their mouths, as if to try to swallow each other whole. Christian's tongue swept in and out of her mouth, taking possession of it.

Cristina moaned as she gripped his back tightly. She could feel his muscles under his shirt. She ran her hands up and down his back, kneading his muscles. Faintly, over the sound of their moans, they heard a phone ringing. It was Cristina's.

She picked it up, and to her surprise, saw that it was Sean. "Oh, my god! What do I do?" she asked panicked.

"Let it go to voicemail," Christian replied with an evil grin. Cristina swiped the red button, sending the call straight to the message they had just recorded.

"That bastard just reached the Double Chrises," Christian added. "He's not gonna know what hit him."

"Do you like 'Double Chrises'?" Cristina asked. "I was thinking more like Chris to a Power of Two," she suggested.

"Too many words," Christian said. "How about Chris Squared?" he added.

"Let's talk about it later," Cristina replied, taking his face in her hands and renewing their passionate kiss.