A/N: This includes some slight shoujo-ai. You've been warned.

She was happy for once, and Stein watched from the corner of the window in the door as she practically danced around the kitchen, humming and occasionally breaking into some song that he had never heard of before. There was a smile on her face though and he felt one trying to creep across his.

He had never seen Charlotte this happy, and curiosity was eating him alive to know what had caused it. He forced himself to not bother her though, staying in place and just watching as for the first time in months he saw happiness flitting through her soul.

The song would have been beautiful if Charlotte could carry a tune, but to Stein it was perfect. The woman was blissfully unaware of his presence as she did whatever it was she was doing, though he could clearly see the presence of flour, and he wondered if he had forgotten some important date or another.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost missed Marie coming home. A muffled curse slipped from him and he briefly debated ducking into the kitchen with Charlotte, but he figured that that would cause more problems than Marie simply finding the other woman cooking in her kitchen would. As quickly as he could, he slipped away from the kitchen door, darting into his research lab and seated himself at the computer.

The computer he hoped that Marie wouldn't realize wasn't on if she stuck her head into check on him.

She didn't, and Stein was slightly confused. He waited a while before venturing back out, but not before booting up his computer just in case. He snuck towards where he felt their wavelengths, expecting to hear shouting.

He never expected to hear both women humming and sing snippets of the same song, both of them busy in the kitchen and totally oblivious to him. 'Alright, I had to have missed something important or they wouldn't both be cooking and getting along so well.'

Stein knew that Marie had figured out that he and Charlotte were… well, if not a couple, then close to it, before she had left for Oceania. It had certainly been awkward when Marie had been recalled from Oceania and had to stay at the Lab again. They had been making it work, though he and Charlotte had had to be incredibly careful; Marie may not be a genius, but she certainly knew that something was going on between the two of them, and with Stein almost twice Charlotte's age he knew he was in for a tongue-lashing from the other woman.

The only time that he had left the two of them alone together for any length of time he had come back when he felt their wavelengths spike and found them entangled on the floor, pulling each other's hair. It had been incredibly amusing for him, but the two women seemed to have garnered a mutual animosity for each other.

That had happened a year ago, before Marie had left, and that was why Stein was so confused about their current actions. But here they were, cooking together, singing and acting for all the world like old friends in the kitchen. He shook his head and just watched as the two chatted, burst into song, and even danced around with each other with smiles on their faces. Giggles and genuine laughter flitted through the air and he was completely perplexed.

Marie turned to the door, her arm over Charlotte's shoulder as they laughed. She looked at Stein then, and a sly grin crossed her face. She whispered something in Charlotte's ear and Charlotte looked up then. Both women grinned as Charlotte leaned against Marie and pressed her lips against the older woman's.

Stein took a step back, shell-shocked. He retreated to his research lab, the women's laughter echoing in his ears.

Marie and Charlotte doubled over laughing at the look on Stein's face.

"Well, I hate to admit it, Marie; that was worth it." Charlotte said as she finally caught her breath back. "I can't believe that he thought we didn't know that he was there the whole time. He's been watching me the entire day."

"You know how Franken is; he likes to think that we're all idiots. It's good to exploit that sometimes!" Marie laughed back.

"The whole singing idea though, I think that is what really drew him in." Charlotte said, moving over to the countertop. "He's so confused he's never going to remember that today is his birthday."

"Franken doesn't remember his birthday even when I don't try to distract him. Last year he came in while I was decorating the cake and looked at it like it was a snake. He then asked me if it was my birthday." Both women burst out laughing again. "I swear, sometimes he doesn't even know what day it is."

Charlotte pulled two jars of frosting out of the cabinets and sat them down beside the mostly cooled cake. Marie grabbed piping bags from another drawer and started filling them with half of the icing each. She handed one to Charlotte and they began piping on the cake. A few minutes passed and Charlotte leaned towards Marie and Marie began humming that peculiar song again. It masked what Charlotte was whispering though.

"He's back." Marie resisted the urge to look over her shoulder, and trusted Charlotte's Soul Perception that Stein was behind them. "Give him a show?"

Marie just grinned and with a sudden movement sprayed frosting into Charlotte's hair. Charlotte knew immediately what was going on and laughed, bringing her bag up to spray a line of frosting on Marie's chest. With a knowing wink from the corner of her eye that Stein couldn't see from the window she then leaned in and licked the frosting off of Marie's chest as Marie tilted her head back and laughed.

Stein's eyes went wide and he retreated again from the window.

'Have they gone insane?' Stein wondered as he sat in his research lab. The door was locked behind him and he was staring at the women's wavelengths from what he hoped was relative safety. 'What could possess them to act like that around each other?'

He watched for a while, his mind swirling, wondering if he could see the motes of madness around their souls or not. 'It's Marie. She's never shown any signs of being susceptible to madness. That can't be the cause! A spell?'

He was so lost in thought that he jumped when he heard someone knock on the lab door. Marie's voice echoed through it a moment later. "Franken? Could you either come out here or let us in? We have something we want to give you."

Her voice echoed strangely through the metal and Stein felt himself shiver. Charlotte's call a second later did nothing to alleviate the strange feeling the man had. His feet almost didn't want to move as he stood and trudged over to the door, his hand trembling as he reached out towards the lock.

They pushed the door open once he unlocked the door. They stood side by side, their hand behind their backs and were both smiling. In one swift movement they both moved forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. Stein blinked and took a step back.

Laughter erupted from them and he just stared. Marie hooked her arm through his right one and Charlotte hooked her arm through his left and he found himself almost marched into the kitchen. In front of him, on the table, was a birthday cake.

Happy Birthday, Franken! Surprise!

He looked at them and they both just grinned up at him.

"We thought that we'd give you the birthday present all men want eventually, Franken." Marie said sweetly, her arm arching around his back as she stepped sideways against him.

Charlotte grinned as she mimicked Marie's movements. "We've decided that it's not fair to either of us to have you all to ourselves, anyway."

They spoke together and chills ran down Stein's spine. "We're going to share you."

He just stood there, shock and surprise on his face. It took him a moment to recover his composure. "That's crazy…"

Marie just laughed. "I've always wondered what it would be like to be a little crazy."

Charlotte grinned from his other side. "I told her we'd let her play sometime."

Stein looked down at the two women in his life and wondered suddenly if it was really as crazy as it seemed.

A/N: A prompt for the word "Song" from TheAUWalker. I know, not much to do with it, but it spawned the whole idea.