"Innocent"
by,
Bunny


Note: This is the sequel to "Children of the Night".


Lori sat on the bed, crying. Tommy hated her; blamed her for this whole mess. Not that she could blame him; she blamed *herself*!

"This is all my fault!" she sniffled miserably. "Merton was *right*; I *have* ruined everything!"

Sighing, she grabbed the remote to her CD-player & flicked it on, realizing her little sister had been messing with it again when a Sarah McLaughlin song came on. For some unknown reason, though, she couldn't turn it off, but just buried her face in the pillow...

~Adia I do believe I failed you. Adia I know I've let you down. Don't you know I tried so hard to love you in my way? It's easy, let it go. Adia I'm empty since you left me. Tryin' to find the way to carry on. I search myself and everyone, to see if we went wrong. There's no one left to finger, there's no one here to blame. There's no one here to talk to, honey, and there's no one here to buy our innocence.~

Becky stood in the Lair, staring goggle-eyed at the statue.

"Uh, mornin', Beck..." Tommy said tenatively, seeing her looking at the statue in shock.

"That statue is alive..." she whispered, turning to face him.

"Uh..."

"Tell me the truth!" she demanded. "I know what I felt; what I'm *feeling*!"

"Okay, Becky... um, you'd better sit down..."

~Cause we are born innocent. Believe me, Adia. We are still innocent. It's easy, we all falter. But, does it matter?~

{"Don't do the self-pity thing with me, Merton." Lori said firmly.

"But I'm so good at it..." he said, giving her this adorable little pout.

"Look, so you're not your typical dreamboat... For every girl out there who thinks you're weird, I'll bet there are ten more out there who think you're cute." she smiled gently at him.

Merton merely scoffed.

"I do..." she admitted.

"You do?" he echoed sarcastically.

"Yeah... when you're not being a dork..."

"Am I... being a dork right now?" he asked softly, moving closer to her.

"Yes, but maybe you're kind of cute when you're a dork, too... C'mere, give me a hug..." she whispered, wrapping her arms around him.

Merton could only tense and sit there in shock, refusing to wrap his arms around her, which didn't go unnoticed...

"Merton, why are you all clenched up?" she wanted to know.

"Normally, when we're this close, you... punch me." he reminded her.

"I'm not gonna punch you..." she assured, pulling back slightly to smile into his face.

Leaning forward slightly, she parted her lips gently and kissed him softly. Unfortunately, the two of them didn't see Tommy at the door...}

~Adia I thought that we could make it. But, I know I can't change the way ya feel. I'll leave you with your misery, a friend who won't betray. I'll pull you from your tower, I'll take away your pain. And, show you all the beauty you posess. If you'd only let yourself believe.~

Becky looked at Tommy, all wolfy, in shock.

"I knew..." she whispered softly.

"What?"

"I... I've had dreams about it for months now..." she admitted.

"And you never said anything?"

"What was I gonna say, Tommy? 'Oh, by the way, I've been having dreams about you; are you a werewolf?' You would've gotten freaked that I knew, and if you *weren't*, you would've thought I was some kind of freak or insane..."

"I was kind of afraid if you knew you'd think I was creepy..." he admitted, adding silently to himself, "And I'd miss the way you always look at me..."

"You're *not* creepy!" she said quickly, cupping his cheek in her palm. "Look, if you and Merton have had all these adventures, and fought all these creatures you were telling me about, then how come you can't figure out how to save him yet?" she wondered.

"Merton was the smart one..." he sighed softly. "He was the one who always figured everything out... He was the brain, I was the brawn... Perfect combination... Men of action..." he smiled ruefully.

"Then, we're just going to have to think like Merton..." she told him, trying to smile encouragingly at him.

~That we are born, innocent. Believe me, Adia. We are still innocent. It's easy, we all falter. But, does it matter?~

{"How's she doin'?" Tommy asked, seeing Lori go to the unconcious Raven St. Clair.

"She'll be alright; she just fainted." Lori assured.

Tommy looked at the boxers in his hands. "Well, that's the first monster I've fought that wore fruit-of-the-loom..."

"Property of Merton J. Dingle?" Lori read softly in confusion, taking the boxers from Tommy. "Tommy, do you realize what this means?" she asked, looking up at him.

"That monster stole Merton's underwear!" Tommy exclaimed, looking around half shocked, half fearful...}

Lori almost smiled through her tears at the memory. Merton was Tommy's best friend; no, his surrogate little brother...

"How could I have torn them apart? How could I be so selfish?" she asked herself aloud.

Suddenly, she jumped up and grabbed the pants she'd worn the night... well, the night *it* had happened, giving a hail-mary of thanks that she'd not yet thrown them in the hamper and reaching for the note Merton had given her, reading it with growing excitement.

"Merton, you *genius*! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed, kissing the note, shoving it into her pocket, and running for the Lair...



~We are born innocent. Believe me, Adia. We are still innocent. It's easy, we all falter. But, does it matter? Believe me, Adia. We are still innocent. Cause we are born innocent. Oh, yeah, Adia. We are still innocent. It's easy, we all falter. But, does it matter?~


~*The End*~