Claude watched from his web in the corner of the room, his heart was filled with mixed emotions that he could never have understood before meeting Alois.

The blonde boy sat on the chair across from Hannah, his infant daughter lay in his arms. One of Claude's many regrets was that Lenora was not his. The spider's greed saw to that and each day since Claude realized his mistake was torment. Claude loved Alois Trancy,he knew that now.

He silently cursed Sebastian Michaelis for the hundredth time that day. It had been Sebastian who saw to it that his Alois met and fell in love with another. Oh how Claude despised him, even more so after Alois had come home one day ill after spending time with Naveen who was now his mate.

Claude had never felt true fear until Alois became ill and had to have constant attention. He had never known true heartbreak until it had been revealed that Alois was pregnant and that was the cause of his illness. When the boy miscarried, he could do little to ease his former master's pain, it was clear that he had wanted the baby.

A glimmer of hope reached Claude through the tragedy, Alois had decided to end the relationship with Naveen over his reaction,or lack thereof when he was told that the child within Alois would never be born. Claude wanted to atone for his actions but knew Alois could never trust him again.

He was upset when Naveen had managed to make Alois his, but hoped that Alois would realize that it was a mistake. This never happened. Instead, Alois again became pregnant and this time brought a beautiful little girl into the world. The young demon family often visited Hannah who had become something of a mother to both Alois and his brother Luca. Luca and Hannah were excited for baby Lenora to arrive but Claude felt his heart shatter. Alois was out of his reach forever.

Lenora had her mother's eyes and Claude quickly became attached to the infant, wanting nothing more than to protect her,love her as his own daughter but Alois made it perfectly clear that the spider demon was to keep his distance from the girl.

"After what you did to me, how can I possibly let you near my daughter?" Alois had asked when Claude asked to see her.

"You can look at her but if you touch her, you'll find out exactly what I used to do to spiders when I was human,and I promise you that you won't live to see another day if you hurt her. I will break you Claude, I don't need you anymore ." He said angrily.

This was all too true, Claude wasn't needed, Alois had become stronger and more independent since becoming a demon. Claude despised the new in dependence. He hadn't seen it before but he wanted to be needed,to be loved. He wanted to hold Alois in his arms and tell him he couldn't go on without him. Instead the spider demon remained silent,knowing that to speak out now would cause Alois to stop visiting,the only way Claude could see him.

He decided that although his love wasn't returned, he would take the chance to talk to him,to apologize,beg forgiveness that he knew he didn't deserve. As Hannah walked into the kitchen and out of sight,Claude crept closer to his former master,lowering himself from the web and transforming into the butler.

"Your highness, might I ask for a moment of your time?" Alois shifted the baby into a position where she would be furthest from older demon.

"I haven't got time to give you. There's nothing left to say Claude."

"Alois,please,I've never been one to talk about -"

"There's no point in starting now is there?"

"I regret what I did to you,i was foolish. I lost my chance and that hurts me."

"It's nice to know you feel something,i didn't think you were able to." Alois said coldly.

"When you were human,I knew only greed, I was selfish and I can't possibly atone for my mistake. I will forever regret what I did. I know that you are forever out of my reach and I will never again-"

"Just stop it. I don't know how else to say this to you, I don't love you and I don't want you near my daughter. Naveen and I want her to live and grow,I won't have you taking that from her."

"I love you your highness,I love Lenora. I know that you have doubts and I understand but please at least let me say this." Claude waited but the young blonde didn't reply.

"Say what you want, as long as you understand that after we're done talking, you'll never do this again." Alois said finally.

"Thank you. I regret that while you struggled to get through your life,I was not giving you the love you wanted and needed so badly. I regret that I am not the one who bonded with you and fathered Lenora ,we could have had a beautiful existence together. When you became pregnant,I was angry with Naveen,he made you seriously ill and then my anger grew further at his lack of emotion for you when your heart was breaking."

"Because you were so compassionate with me?" Alois retorted.

"I understood my mistake."

"So did he, he didn't realize that I didn't need him to be strong for me in that way. He knows now."

"Even so, the mistake was made,you went back to him and I was crushed. I like Hannah began to despise Naveen even more so when you became mates, he has everything that I want and can never have. When you got pregnant again this time with Lenora-"

"I'm going to tell you something, the first time,when I was ill and lost my baby, I didn't really lose her after all, she was just not ready."

"What do you mean?"

"Lenora linked with me before she was born, she told me she'd been with me before, she said she was scared and ran away,but she came back to be here. I never actually lost her." Alois smiled at the child resting in his arms.

"That's wonderful, I'm happy to hear that this particular part of your life had such a happy ending."

"So am I. She's my miracle, my precious little girl."

"Naturally, however, since her birth, she has been precious to me as well. I have a desire to protect her and you from anything that may -"

"I don't need you to protect me, I can handle myself and I have Naveen. I really don't need you anymore,I've been through so much and I'm still here,I'll be alright. I can't trust you with her,I once trusted you with my own life and you took it away, I'm not going to hand Lenora to you so you can hurt her too. I won't give you the chance."

"I wish no harm upon her, I only wish to be part of your life."

"You lost me, and like I told you, I don't need you in my life or hers. If you hadn't been so greedy, I might still be alive and if that was the case...I suppose I should thank you in a way. If I was alive, I wouldn't have had Lenora and I wouldn't see how much Hannah loves me because I'd still be trying to get your attention. I wouldn't be with Naveen or be with Luca. So thank you for that but that's all I can give you Claude." They could hear Hannah's footsteps coming toward them.

"I understand, may I ask one more question, just so I know?" Claude pleaded.

"I guess so."

"If I hadn't killed you,if I hadn't fought over Ciel, if I had asked would you have bonded with me and given me a family?" At last Alois turned to him.

"Even after you killed me, I loved you.I still wanted your attention,your love. You were only interested in one thing and it had nothing to do with me. If you had given me the kind of love you are now and told me all this when I needed you to say it the most,if that had happened, even after you killed me,If you asked,I would've been your mate and Lenora would've been your daughter. But that would've been wrong because I would've fallen out of love with you,you're not my one true mate and you're only jealous that Naveen has what used to be yours,it doesn't work that way Claude,Naveen would never hurt me like you did. I hope you understand now because when Hannah comes in,this conversation is over and we're never bringing it up again."

"Your wishes are clear, thank you for speaking with me, your highness."

"Is everything alright?" Hannah asked reappearing in front of them.

"Everything's fine Hannah, Claude was just leaving." Claude sighed and without a word,he transformed into a large spider and returned to his web where he could look down on the ones he loved and reflect on his past although Alois and Lenora couldn't be his,his heart would always belong to them, his little butterfly and his highness.