Cora had been thinking that today might be a good day to just chill in the hotel room and rest before the concert in Newark. Yoongi had other plans, though. She smiled over at him as he steered through a curve, the scenery around them transitioning from industrial exurbs to farmland. He met her eyes and gave her an excited grin.

"I'm glad we ditched security today. It's nice to be just two," he said, chuckling.

Cora took a sip of coffee. "I'm happy that we're getting out in nature for a little while, too. How did you ever convince Jiwo and Jiwon, though?"

Yoongi just smiled.

Cora looked down at his outfit. "Did you bring those clothes from Korea, or buy them here, D?"

"I brought them. I hoped we could go hiking together some time."

She reached over and unzipped his zip-off pants leg part of the way.

"YAH!" he hollered, laughing.

She made her eyes as big as possible. "What?" she said, in a tone of innocent bewilderment.

"Hajima!" he laughed, and she cracked up.

"Yoongi-shi, you should have warned me about this hiking plan." He glanced over and she made a pouty face at him. "Now I'm just dressed as some kind of punk forest fairy, while you look like a normal hiker!"

Yoongi laughed and started to rap: "Punk forest fairy, she flies tree to tree. Thrashes on a bass guitar, I'm weak in my knees. That's Cora, can't ignore 'er, yeah, it's Cora, baby, that's my G!"

She grinned at him and said, "OK, OK, you're forgiven. I can't stay mildly irritated with you when you just go and rap about me." They both laughed and then she put her hand on his shoulder and gave him an air-kiss.

He glanced at her again. "We can stop and get you some hiking clothes, if you want it."

"Nah, it's OK. I'll just be the punk forest fairy. My suitcase is already pretty full. Thanks, though, D!"

The landscape around them changed once more, from open fields to deciduous forest. Cora sighed contentedly and watched the trees flit past her window, her left hand still resting on Yoongi's shoulder. From forest fairies, her mind drifted to RM's new feature on So Yoon's song Smoke Sprite.

She started to hum the tune, then softly sang, "I just know / I understand your body and soul. I know all the whatsit doobie issues / It's not over. Chasing hamsters / Makes me lower..."

She felt Yoongi's body start to shake and looked over at him. His eyes were squeezed almost completely shut, and he was silently laughing his ass off.

"What?! What's so funny?!" she demanded.

He laughed out loud as he looked over at her. "Hamsters? Your lyrics are so funny!"

"They're great lyrics! In fact, they're the right lyrics. Respectfully, So Yoon should have sung it that way, too." She crossed her arms over her chest and fake-glared out the windshield.

"Do you want me to tell Namjoon, so he can let her know?"

Cora turned to him in surprise. "Would you? Yes, please do that!" They both laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yoongi checked his backpack and made sure he had his phone, snacks, water, bandages, and tissues, just in case. Cora had wandered from the parking lot to the trailhead, and was bent over looking at something. He hustled over to join her.

She turned to him with a smile that took his breath away and handed him a bright yellow blossom. She tucked one behind her own ear, and Yoongi put his right on top of his head, in the middle part of his hair. Her gentle laugh gave him butterflies in his stomach. Suddenly, though, her expression changed.

He looked over his shoulder as a second vehicle parked at the trailhead. Four Korean men in black clothes and sunglasses exited the SUV with tinted windows.

She sighed. "Are they Jiwo's, or a hit team sent by the Blinks?"

Yoongi quirked his mouth at her, and quickly texted someone. He puffed air into his cheeks and rolled his eyes. "Jiwo's. He's such a pain in the ass!" He sent another text. "Fucking tracker on the rental car..." he growled.

She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"I told him that I don't want to see those guys. They better stay back."

She nodded and sighed again.

"We'll just pretend they don't exist, I guess," Yoongi told her, and took her hand.

She squeezed his fingers and smiled over at him. "What is this place, anyway, D?"

"It's called Falling Waters," he said. "Like the Frank Lloyd Wright house, except different."

She chuckled. "Ah, yeah, I think that house is in Vermont or Pennsylvania or someplace like that, isn't it? I'm almost sure it's not in New York."

"Yes. This is different water, also falling."

Cora giggled.

The trail was unpaved but smooth and relatively flat. They walked along hand in hand, looking around at the greenery. Morning sunlight filtered down through the fresh spring leaves, dappling their path with gold. A brilliant flash of bright color announced the presence of a bluebird, who trilled a shrill song. The raucous cries of jays shattered the morning air.

"What are the jays arguing about?" she asked him.

"Whose turn it is to bring groceries to the nest for the babies, probably," he said, trying to spot the birds among the tangle of branches. He met her eyes, and saw that they were full of questions.

She hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do you want kids someday, Yoongi?"

He felt his heart thump hard in his chest, but tried to play it cool. He nodded and then tipped his head from side to side in an ambivalent way. "I think so. At least one or maybe two. How about you?" He glanced over but was too shy to keep eye contact.

Cora swung their clasped hands back and forth for a couple of strides and then said, "Yeah, I think so. Maybe." She looked at him. "You would be an awesome dad. I'm... I'm not sure that I would be a great mom, though." She sighed. "I didn't have very good role models."

He looked at her for a long moment. "If you decide you want to do it, I think you can be a very good mom. You can learn more from a bad example, sometimes. But you're very young, you don't have to decide early."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cora inhaled sharply and towed Yoongi off the trail when she spotted the pretty little stream. It flowed swiftly over and around dark granite boulders.

She started to dance along to the rhythm of the water, and he smiled at her, doing his old man shuffle. They both laughed with delight, then she cocked her head to the side. "You hear that, D?"

He looked upstream. "It's a waterfall, yes?"

"Yeah, let's go see!" She grinned at him.

They balanced carefully on the slippery boulders, picking their way upstream. In about five minutes, they found the cascade. Sheets of water bounced and rippled down a dark rock face, adorning it with white flowers and bits of leaf.

"Wow." Yoongi smiled over at her again. "Yeppeunde!"

"It really is! So pretty."

Suddenly he took his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. He started laughing. "Jiwo's angry. The guards can't find us now."

"We shook them off our trail! Like convicts escaping from prison!" she giggled.

"Selfie?" he asked, while he had his phone out.

They struck a few different poses, and then Cora shocked him by leaning over to kiss his cheek. Yoongi clicked the photo, his own face a comical picture of surprise. The next shot showed them laughing at each other, and then he captured them kissing, the water rejoicing behind them.

She hopped over and sat down on a large flat rock and turned her face up to the sky as the sun broke through the high cloud cover. He snapped a quick shot of her, her golden hair glowing in nature's own spotlight, and then splashed up to sit beside her.

He took some water out of his pack and drank carefully, tipping his head back and pouring it directly into his mouth without putting his lips on the bottle. Cora accepted the bottle from him, giggling.

"You know, we kiss a lot. It's probably OK to drink right from the bottle. I already have your mouth germs."

He wrinkled his nose but laughed along with her. "Yes, I guess that is true," he admitted. He looked around. "This is very nice. I am learning how to relax now."

She smiled at him fondly and kissed his cheek again. Just then, she heard something heavy moving in the underbrush along the stream bank.

Both of them turned to look behind them.

"What do you think, D?" she asked. "Bears? Or bodyguards?"

"Min Yoongi-shi!" a voice called down to them in Korean. "Are you there?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes! We're here!" They reluctantly stood up, and began to scramble up the bank.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yoongi studied the bistro's lunch menu, thankful that there were pictures of the choices. His eyes flicked to the bodyguards, who were trying very unsuccessfully to blend in with the small town lunch crowd. He smirked. "This is why you thought I was a gang boss, when you saw me first, huh?" he said to Cora, nodding his head toward the guards' table near the door.

She glanced over and giggled. "You still might be, D. Music could just be a front."

He laughed.

"One check or two?" the harried-looking waiter asked, flipping his pad open with a loud sigh.

"One," Yoongi said. "This table and that one over there." The waiter looked at the bodyguards and suddenly became much more polite.

"Yes, sir, and what can I get for the lady, first?"

She had to fold her lips in and bite down on them to keep from laughing.

Yoongi took a taste of his smoked pork belly sandwich and nodded his head approvingly. Cora offered him a bite of her brisket, which was also delicious. They munched in contented silence for a bit, before she asked "Are we having lunch with Jimin tomorrow?"

"Oh, yes. He wants Korean food, I hope that's OK."

"Sure, sounds yummy!" she said, spearing a slice of grilled peach from her salad and inspecting it. Suddenly she noticed that a middle aged woman a couple of tables over was staring at Yoongi, then looking away, then looking back again. Cora made eye contact with her, and the lady gave her a quick wink and then looked down at her burger again. Cora glanced over at the bodyguards and saw that the shortest one had clocked the ARMY, too, and was watching carefully. She decided not to mention it to Yoongi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They took turns playing songs on the rental car's music system all the way back to the city, singing and laughing and critiquing the music. Neither of them felt hungry after their large lunch, so as night fell they each showered, checked their bodies for ticks, and then Yoongi padded across the hall to Cora's room in his sweatpants, t-shirt and flip flops.

She was leaning up against the headboard, talking on the phone when he opened the door, and he could tell by her voice that it wasn't Nana.

"Yeah, it's already the third show tomorrow night. I cried during the first two, so my goal for tomorrow is not to cry while I play!" Cora said, chuckling. She listened for a moment. "No, it's just that the crowd and the experience are overwhelming, and some of the songs are really sad."

She glanced up at Yoongi and winked at him as he settled into the armchair with his tablet. He made a sad pouty face at her, and she grinned, running her free hand through her damp hair.

Yoongi made sure the volume was off and turned on the Warriors/Kings playoff basketball game.

"He did what?!" Cora exclaimed. "Oh my god, Carmen, you should just quit. That's ridiculous!" She listened, nodding seriously. "Yeah, I mean, report him to upper management, and if they don't do anything, take it to the authorities. That's not OK!"

He glanced at her, concerned, but she was toying with the edge of the pillowcase and listening intently to whatever Carmen was telling her.

"Yeah, well, seriously, do that. You don't have to put up with that shit. It must be on camera, right? Get a copy of the files. And if they won't do anything about it, I'll beat him up when I get back to Cali!" she said, laughing. "No, we can take him! I don't care!" she insisted. "I have a black belt in whooping ass!"

Yoongi studied her face, even more concerned, and she glanced over and winked at him again.

"OK, yeah, I should get ready for bed. Big day tomorrow. But be safe and call me immediately if I need to come out there and put the hurt on him, alright? OK. Yeah. Love you lots! Mwah!"

She set her phone on the nightstand and said, "Hey, D! Who's winning?"

"Well, it's still first quarter, and Sacramento is 23 to Golden State 21. What happened to Carmen?"

"Oh, she's a bartender at a club, and Brody, this total douchenozzle of a manager, has been sexually harassing her for months - making sexual comments, asking her on dates, spreading rumors about her. Last night he walked up and grabbed her ass when she was mixing drinks." She snarled. "I'm going to kick his ass if the company doesn't fire him first! Nobody does that to my Carmen!"

Yoongi nodded. "What is douchenozzer? I don't know this word."

She blushed and laughed. "Douchenozzle. Uh, I think douche is the same word in Korean, right? Borrowed from French?"

He blushed too, and made a wiping sort of gesture in front of his crotch. "The washing...?"

"Yeah!" she laughed. "And a nozzle is the, you know, the opening that liquid comes out of."

Yoongi made a grossed-out face. "I'm almost sorry I asked this. Don't beat that man and get arrested, though, G. BigHit and Hybe will probably make me fire you from the tour if you're in jail."

She sighed and nodded. "Well, let's hope that the club takes care of the issue, then." She tilted her head and smiled at him. "Why don't you come over here so I can peek at the score over your shoulder?" she asked, patting the other side of the bed.

He bobbed his head in acknowledgement, kicked off his slippers, and took a seat beside her.