Having never written from the viewpoint of a bratty teenage girl, I thought I'd give it a try. That said, I might not capture such a personality in writing, but I'm willing to do my best.

I don't own Mom's Got A Date With A Vampire. If I did, Dimitri would've been dusted on screen BtVS style.

Chelsea spread the rug out over the floor and slumped into a chair with a sigh of relief. It had taken a few trips to and from her car, but at last all her stuff was in the room. Sighing, the blonde stood up and started unpacking, musing on her home life.

The last couple years in the Hansen household had been . . . difficult, for lack of a better word. Chelsea snorted to herself as she placed the hanging shelves in the closet. It had all started when she and her brother Adam had been grounded the weekend they happened to have plans. She had a date, he had a concert. Adam had this bright idea to set their mother Lynette up on a date so they would be free to go out and come back as they chose. Mom's date turned out to be a bloodsucking creature of the night. Her youngest brother Taylor, realizing the guy was a vampire, had called Malachi Van Helsing, a.k.a. the vampire hunter, in order to help them. After a chase lasting most of the night and nearly ending with the vampire, Dimitri, turning them all into his vampire slaves, Mom broke free of the vampire's trance and shoved him into his coffin, which Malachi sealed shut with silver plated nails. He then accompanied them home for breakfast . . . and never left. She loved her mother, she really did, but honestly felt like the hunter had overstayed his welcome. Methodically placing various garments, bed sheets, and towels on the various shelves, Chelsea's thoughts turned to what her life had become since Van Helsing entered her life.

She wasn't sure how old he was, but he somehow managed to be good for Mom and bad for them at the same time. He had frequently taken Mom out for dinner, movies, dancing or some combination of them, and when he wasn't doing that he was educating the Hansen siblings on supernatural creatures. His "lessons" were taken from a large ancient leather-bound book that was part encyclopedia and part grimoire. The standard entry used a two page format: the left-hand page contained a hand drawn picture of the creature, a hand written description, list of habitats and behaviors, while the right-hand page contained a list if rituals concerning the creature, such as which parts of it were useful in potions or spells, and how they interacted with others. There were ways to safely interact with the creatures whether they were benign or malevolent, including how to summon the former for relocation or banish the latter to its destruction.

The only problem was the book's organization: the entries were all alphabetical and tended to overlap. The entry on werewolves named them a subset of werebeasts, shapeshifters and therianthropes, the only difference between them was control. As best she could tell, therianthrope included both shifter and werebeast; the former could learn control and assume their alternate form at any time, the latter had no choice. It was the same with other types of creatures, so while the book was a good reference for supernatural creatures, it utterly sucked at categorizing.

The thought crossed her mind now, as she hung her jeans next to the shelves and reached for her bath caddy, that he must have been born in the age of chivalry. As she had gotten closer to graduation, he had pulled her aside more often to teach her how to defend herself.

"Vampires love the taste of blood, especially untainted blood. Virgin blood." He'd explained when she didn't appear to understand. She'd thought "untainted" meant free of drugs or alcohol, and promptly blanched at the clarification. Apparently as a young and single female, various creatures would be drawn to her and not all of them for pure reasons. Thus it was important to know how to protect herself, from anything or anyone who meant to harm her. She appreciated the concern, but all she really wanted to do was put the incident with Dimitri behind her and hide behind her own ignorance. When he gave her a silver cross necklace for her seventeenth birthday, the first time he'd ever done such a thing, it became clear that Malachi wouldn't be leaving any time soon, prompting Chelsea to look at colleges at least ninety minutes away.

Another good reason for the distance was the anonymity she prayed it would bring. While not one of the popular kids, she hadn't been an outcast either. That had changed when she'd stood up her boyfriend to go tearing after a vampire. The breakup had been loud and rather public, despite her apologies and explanation that Adam had set their mother up on a date with a madman (the explanation that Malachi had agreed they could use). High School became a nightmare after that, as thanks to Adam's shortsightedness Chelsea had no friends. Sure, the outcasts were friendly enough, but even they had their shortcomings.

Achieving the necessary grades for acceptance into the college of her choice (three hours from home), a very proud Lynette let Chelsea borrow the car, to Adam's vocal displeasure.

What a moron. Chelsea thought, turning from the closet to the bed. Her thoughts turned to her family as she fought with the bed sheets. Adam was sixteen and constantly moody. The self-proclaimed "monster master" was getting tired of Malachi's lessons, preferring to think of other things. He joined the school's baseball team and was threatened by Mom more than once to bust his butt and maintain the necessary grades or she'd beat sense into him with his own bat. Taylor had recently turned eleven and Chelsea had to spend a couple hours consoling him when he didn't get a Hogwarts letter.

Placing her suitcases inside one another, she slid them onto a shelf in her closet, placed the empty boxes, crates and her laundry basket under the bed, and organized her snacks in a storage cube that doubled as an ottoman. She took time to admire the single room, which was the size of her previous dorm minus the furniture of a roommate. Placing her school supplies in various desk drawers, she left her half empty soda bottle in the fridge before flopping onto the bed and thinking about her first few weeks at college.

Her classes this semester weren't much different from their high school counterparts. She had English 101, Spanish 101, College Algebra, Biology, and the First Year Seminar. The last one was the most useless class she'd taken to date. Basically the course was designed to lead freshmen around by the hand for a semester, at which point the university assumed they no longer needed help. By the end of the first week Chelsea knew each major was mostly isolated to one building, how to use the library's new computers, and where the on campus clinic was, she didn't need a class to tell her any of that. Then there were the professors. Again like her previous schooling, there were good professors who could make a boring class interesting, and bad professors who could make an interesting class boring. As for the students, they ran the scale from having no life beyond school work to not really caring about it. And then there was her first roommate . . .

Her name was Donna Jean, a girl who was raised in the bad part of town who thought that the sole reason for the existence of college was to party. She smoked, drank, did drugs, and frequently brought Boomer look-alikes back to their dorm and let them sleep with her. Chelsea put up with it for about four weeks before she'd finally had enough, enough of the cigarette smell, enough of Donna Jean's drinking- and drug-induced throwing up everywhere, enough of her boy toys who were always higher than kites and constantly harassing her. She had attempted to put a stop to it herself, explaining Donna Jean's habits made her uncomfortable and could she please stop bringing guys back to their room. The other girl had responded with a volley of insults and derogatory remarks, deciding that she was going to Housing and make them move Chelsea out. She made sure the door slammed shut when she left.

The R.A. Michelle had been more than understanding, despite the fact it was 2 AM on a Saturday. With her own roommate having gone home for the weekend, Chelsea was allowed to stay the night while Michelle told Donna Jean in no uncertain terms that she could not drink or do drugs on campus, and that having boys stay in an all-girls dorm overnight was not allowed. Donna Jean had responded by flipping her off and saying that she would do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. She'd been expelled the following morning, and if the rumor mill was to be believed something, unpleasant, had happened to all her boyfriends.

Chelsea had made a quick trip to the nearest Wal-Mart for some clean clothes and spent the rest of the weekend doing laundry until the horrible smell came out of her linens. Aware they had to uphold their reputation, the university had deigned her previous dorm unfit to live in quickly moved her into a very nice suite near the edge of the campus.

Blowing a strand of hair out of her face, Chelsea surveyed her new domain. Her sheets, comforter, and towels were all some shade of blue. She found it calming, personally, from the ice blue comforter on the bed to the blue violet rug on the floor. The only thing missing was her new roommate. Stretching out on her bed, she hoped this roommate was easier to get along with than her previous one.

Wonder when she'll be back? Chelsea mused, sliding off the bed to have another look at the place. The walls and ceiling were white, the plush carpet was a cream color, and the couch was dark red. The kitchenette cabinets, table, and chairs were white oak wood with matching bookshelves, coffee table and TV stand. The sinks were stainless steel with black countertops, and the oven, dishwasher, and fridge looked brand new. The bathroom was very nice as well, and she only had to share it with one other person. Her third story window overlooked the park, a rather popular place for more than just college students. The whole suite screamed affluence.

She glanced into the other bedroom. Her roommate seemed to prefer greens and purples. Her sheets were teal, the comforter was a dark green, and a lavender blanket was neatly folded at the foot of the bed. Curious, Chelsea glanced in the desk drawers. The top played host to various school supplies, including pencils, pens, a calculator, a stapler, and a couple packs of paper. The middle contained a sketchbook and a large box of colored pencils, while the bottom was full of snacks and bottled water.

Closing each drawer, she returned to her own room, slid a well-read copy of Return of the King out of her bag and flipped it open. Denethor had just committed suicide when a soft voice said, "Hi."

Startled, Chelsea glanced up at the newcomer – and promptly became self-conscious. The other girl was beautiful, her skin a little darker than Chelsea's, her dark brown hair falling in loose waves to her shoulders, and her brown eyes seemed to be giving Chelsea a similar analysis. She slid off the bed to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm Chelsea Hansen."

"Alexandra Verastegui." She replied, taking Chelsea's offered hand. The blonde couldn't help but analyze Alexandra. Her name was Hispanic, as was the faint accent, but her appearance was not. Again, she prayed they would get along as Alexandra released her hand.

"I guess the University told you about me?" Chelsea asked, leaving her book on the bed and following Alexandra into the kitchenette.

"I asked if the University would assign me one should the situation arise. They contacted me last week to let me know. I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you move in."

"That's alright." Chelsea reassured her, aware she was blushing and fighting to ignore it. Alexandra smiled at her before reaching into a cabinet above the sink and pulling out a couple glasses.

"Lemonade?"

"Please."

It was real lemonade too, not something purchased from the store. Chelsea relaxed on her end of the couch, feeling better than she had in weeks.

"I don't mean to pry, but what made you decide to move?"

Chelsea's good mood evaporated. Gently placing the empty glass on the coffee table, she all but snapped, "My roommate and I weren't compatible."

"Oh?"

Chelsea shivered, wondering how much she could say. She didn't want to sound like a whiny teenage girl, but since the fallout of the Dimitri incident she tended to bottle things up. Worse though was the thought that she would alter Alexandra's perception of her. The other girl seemed content to wait for an answer. Chelsea glanced up, meeting the other girl's eyes and spoke without thinking, "She's the whiniest, most disgusting person I've ever met! She smokes, drinks, parties, does drugs, brings random guys back to our room and lets them sleep with her! And when I asked her to stop because what she was doing made me uncomfortable she cussed me out and went to ask Housing to move me! I mean, who does that?"

Alexandra was quiet for a minute, during which time Chelsea calmed down enough for what she'd said to catch up with her. She had just started to get up when Alexandra's hand on her shoulder pulled her back down.

"Some say humans are the most dangerous creatures out there, as the only beings with the capability to plan the ruin of others." She glanced at Chelsea for a minute. "Would a hug help?"

Chelsea all but fell into her arms, happy she hadn't screwed this up and put one source of stress behind her. Alexandra smiled at her before picking up the now empty glasses and taking them to the kitchenette to be washed. Chelsea settled back against the couch with a satisfied sigh.

I could get used to this.

As she placed the last suitcase in the trunk of the car, a green '99 Malibu, Chelsea mused on the past eight weeks. Without the constant presence of Donna Jean, Chelsea's concentration improved and her grades along with it, as evidenced by her mother's delighted squealing over midterm results and calling every family member she had a phone number for to deliver the good news.

Most of the inhabitants in her new dorm were from upper class families, not that anyone would notice from their behavior. Amy and Shelby lived across the hall and watched a movie or two every Saturday, inviting the whole floor to attend provided you brought your own snacks and drinks. Francis (preferred Frankie) was the dorm's resident tutor. Anyone with a homework problem went to her, where she patiently explained what was being done wrong and correct it. Jessica and her cat lived at the end of the hall. Said cat was fluffy, affectionate, and determined to escape the dorm by any means possible. Chelsea got along with all of them, was on good terms with everyone else in the dorm, and finally felt like she belonged. This was what life should be like, no crazy vampire hunters, no monster-tracking lessons, and no annoying siblings.

A sense of concern colored her thoughts as she closed the trunk. Alexandra, who preferred to be called Alexi, hadn't been feeling well since midterm. They used to get up at the same time and review their notes from the previous classes over breakfast before getting ready to leave. Chelsea, a light sleeper, was still rising at seven, dressing, brushing her hair, eating breakfast, brushing her teeth and reviewing previous notes, but now she was doing it alone. While Alexi couldn't exactly rouse herself at the drop of a hat, now she slept like the dead until eight and couldn't function without at least two industrial sized cups of strong black coffee in her system, which she drank without sugar, cream, or any sort of flavoring. It took some coaxing on Chelsea's part to get her to eat something before class, made all the more difficult by her lack of appetite. Her skin paled, she complained of headaches and dizziness, and was prone to bouts of irritability. By evening however Alexi was highly animated and wouldn't shut up. The difference was too extreme not to stand out, and from Chelsea's viewpoint it was almost like rooming with two different people.

After nearly missing classes the previous Friday and accidently keeping Chelsea awake with idle chatter until almost three in the morning that same weekend, the blonde expressed her concern for the brunette and begged her, as her friend, to see a doctor. The dark-haired girl promised she would the Saturday after Thanksgiving, further placating Chelsea by promising to call her when she got home.

Now, as Chelsea's car sped down the highway Tuesday evening, intent on getting home before the Thanksgiving rush started, her thoughts turned to her own family. She didn't think she would be able to stand facing Malachi, his lessons, and his stupid book again.

He won't be there, he won't be there, he won't be there . . . Or so she told herself. He'd never spent holidays with them before, instead trying to limit the damage vampires or other creatures could cause. Apparently it was easier to catch a drunk human than a sober one.

Chelsea left the noisy interstate behind for a more familiar road, slowing down to appreciate the twilit landscape that meant she was close to home. Marked by farmland on her left and a wooded area to her right, she reveled in the sights, sounds, and smells that managed to calm her down after a long or stressful few weeks on campus. She rolled down the window to feel the wind on her face and in her hair, inhaling the scent of autumn leaves, the faintest whiff of pumpkin pie, and listening to the bleating of sheep and the distant barking of a dog. To the east a crescent moon was rising, its light too weak to block many stars. This was the best part of coming home, when she could relax and unwind even before getting there. She took a deep breath and released it slowly, perfectly calm for the first time in what felt like years. Everything about the evening was peaceful. As the lights of city became visible over the crest of the hill, letting Chelsea know she was getting closer to her destination, she heard something that made her hair stand on end.

An eerie moan sounded nearby, followed by a loud bark that caused sheep to bleat in panic and every dog in the vicinity to go crazy. Chelsea forced herself to remain calm, not easy especially after hearing a growl much closer to her. A moan, a growl, and a bark. Growls and barks were common among predators, particularly dogs and wolves, but not moans.

"Probably not a dog then." She told herself, discarding scraps of information on supernatural canines from Malachi's book. A roar sounded near her car, and that was it as far as Chelsea's courage went. She hit the gas and kept her eyes firmly on the road and rapidly approaching city lights while her imagination kicked into overdrive.

Werebeasts were enslaved by whatever triggered their transformation. Said transformations, archaically enough, seemed ruled by astronomy. The canine, vulpine, and lupine responded to the moon; the animals in both the Western and the Chinese Zodiacs responded to the corresponding sign; other creatures were ruled by planetary alignment or the season. It was mid to late autumn, so most creatures were either migrating or trying to eat as much as they could before hibernating. At this point she glanced in the rearview mirror and felt the blood drain out of her face.

A trio of animals, all three solid black with luminous white eyes, lumbered onto the road. The largest one heaved itself onto its hind legs and let out a roar before charging after her.

"Not good." Chelsea moaned, outright flooring it. The city's lights were getting closer and she hoped she got there before whatever the three creatures were ran her car off the road. The lights, the noise, and the smells would hopefully be enough to disorient whatever might be following her. The moaning started again, this time accompanied by frenzied roaring. The lead monster swiped at the bumper and missed by inches

The green car flew past the city limits and the creatures stopped like they'd hit a wall. She slowed down and glanced in the mirror again. All three were pacing in agitation, the largest roaring in frustration at the loss of its prey. Not sure if her tears were caused by relief or frustration, Chelsea made her way home as fast as the speed limit allowed. And because her life sucked that much, the only person home when she pulled into the driveway was the hunter himself. She'd grabbed her purse from the passenger seat and entered the house at top speed, slamming the door shut behind her and leaning against it gasping for air.

"Welcome home Chelsea. Your mom went to pick up a few things from the store, but she'll be back soon."

Chelsea said nothing, only tried to get her breathing under control. Of course you didn't survive as a freak hunter by being stupid, "What happened?"

"Were . . . beasts . . ."

"How many?"

Chelsea held up three fingers before doubling over. To her embarrassment, Malachi carried her to the couch, ignoring her protests. He handed her a glass of water and asked where they were. She answered his questions to the best of her ability, somehow keeping her face blank as he gathered his supplies and went hunting. She waited ten minutes after his departure to smirk and get the rest of her things out of the trunk.

Alexi's idea of taking as much of her stuff home before Christmas as possible was a good one, as was getting extra personal hygiene things now instead of right before classes started the next semester. All the clothing she owned took up three suitcases and a duffel bag; the three suitcases had come home with her. Unpacking the majority of her stuff before going back would save time when she came home for Christmas as it left her less to do. After dragging all three luggage pieces up the stairs and into her room, she started with the largest and worked her way down, hoping it would tire her out enough to convince her mom she wouldn't be able to help bring in groceries. Storing the suitcases inside each other and sliding them into her closet before hiding her purse so Adam couldn't find it left her just enough time to run back down to the couch and pretend to be sleeping.

She guessed she really did fall asleep because the next thing she knew Taylor was screaming, "Chelsea's home!" and jumping onto the couch.

"Oh Chelsea! We weren't expecting you until morning." Lynette said in surprise as she greeted her daughter with a hug.

"Thought I'd beat the rush." Chelsea replied with a shrug.

"You weren't speeding were you?"

Biting back the retort about everyone speeding on the interstate, she merely shook her head. Lynette rolled her eyes but said nothing; it was hard to ground someone who was legally an adult and attending college three hours away.

"Your roommate called by the way. Alexandra, I think? She said she was home."

"And she sounded hot." Adam said, "Think you could set me up-"

"First of all, she's too old for you. Second, you're not her type." Chelsea interrupted. Okay she'd made up that second part, as neither of them had discussed dating.

"It was nice of her to let you know. By the way, what's she like? Is she better than your last one?" Lynette continued. How she restrained herself from driving up there and taking care of the other girl herself she would never know. She'd been so glad to hear Donna Jean would never come near her daughter again, although she ignored Malachi's paranoia that the fate her boy toys just screamed "supernatural."

"I was so glad to get out of there Mom, Alexandra's so much nicer than Donna Jean and she was happy to have a roommate. She didn't like Donna Jean very much."

"How come she called?" Taylor asked.

Chelsea ruffled his hair, "She's been sick. She sleeps all the time, she's cranky when she gets up, and she barely eats. I was really worried about her so I made her promise to see a doctor over the break and she promised to call me when she got home."

Lynette looked worried to hear about it, "Maybe I should fix some soup for her . . ."

"I'm sure her parents will take care of her Mom." Chelsea replied. From what she'd seen, Alexi and her parents were very close. They talked on the phone every night for an hour or longer, sometimes in Spanish, and if Chelsea didn't know better, she'd say Alexi's parents were just as concerned about her as her own mother was about Alexi. Either way she'd be taking something back for her roommate, and she'd yet to meet anyone who turned down her mother's cooking!

As Lynette slid a frozen pizza into the oven for her, Chelsea breathed a little easier. Malachi probably wouldn't be back until late Sunday, by which time she would be back at school, and hopefully able to come up with a plan to get him off her back when summer rolled around. In the meantime she could look forward to a few days worth of home cooked meals and some time to relax before finals began. Those were things to be thankful for!

Silence was another thing to be thankful for and was Chelsea glad to get it back! Malachi had repeated his original questions after he hauled himself through the front door Wednesday morning along with a few others that went way over her head. He'd had all of them in the guest room while he lectured them on how to repel werebeasts without placing yourself in harm's way, and made sure Chelsea had her silver cross with her before leaving after dinner for the holiday weekend. As for the holiday itself, it was noisy as heck.

She'd never liked these family gatherings, feeling they were too few and far between to really get to know her cousins. Adam was the closest to her in age, but she was the only one actually in college right now. The others were either in public school, or had graduated college and gotten jobs. Between Taylor's relatively innocent stories and Adam's (made up she was sure) stories about being the next Mark Maguire (oh yeah, he definitely made that up), Chelsea was normally left to her own devices, like staring out the window. Her oldest cousin's fiancée, Ashley, talked to her for a while, asking about her classes, her roommate, and living away from home. Chelsea told her everything, including Donna Jean, which led to the calm and quiet Ashley muttering a few choice words about the stupid girl who had thrown her life away. After dinner she gave Chelsea her phone number if she ever wanted to talk.

Black Friday dawned with the promise of a torrential downpour, not that it stopped the massive crowds pouring into malls across the country. Chelsea had a few choice words herself. If Malachi hadn't been an overprotective moron she could've taken care of her hygienic needs before the madness began, but no. Malachi wouldn't let something go if it brought backup and threatened murder. She spent most of the day lounging on the couch while Mom braved the madness of the nearest mall and the two boys were over at the park.

Ice cream floats were the order of the day, even if she made herself sick eating nothing but vanilla ice cream with Mountain Dew. The first two Alien movies, a quart of vanilla and a liter of Mountain Dew later, Chelsea decided sugar, caffeine and sci-fi did not mix well and decided to sleep it off. The sugar/caffeine/sci-fi combo mixed with her memories of the Dimitri incident and the what-ifs that had plagued her for weeks afterward, resulting in nightmares of her, Adam, Taylor, and their mother being bitten. The nightmares tormented her until something brushed them away.

It's alright. Go back to sleep.

It sounded like Alexi. She trusted Alexi, and was too tired to fight the compulsion anyway. By the time she woke up Saturday morning, she decided to risk a trip to the grocery store so she wouldn't have to purchase anything before the second semester began. The rest of the day was spent playing board games with her family.

The wind had a bite to it Sunday morning as Chelsea got ready to drive back, tossing her purse into the passenger seat and her purchases on the floor in front of it, next to a gallon of her mother's taco soup. Normally she would wait until later in the afternoon, but her encounter with the werebeasts left her shaken and hoping to get back to school well before nightfall.

Even in daylight it was clear something big had been lurking around the area. Grass had been flattened under large ursine paws. Bears weren't even native to the area, and these prints were larger than a grizzly's. A part of her wondered absently how the police were handling it. Putting it out of her mind, she dug for a tape to listen to. When the music started she glanced in the rearview, seeing a black Impala pull into the closest driveway to the paw prints and a couple men in suits get out. Eyes narrowing, she pulled onto the interstate and floored it, singing along with the music as she set the cruise control.

Alexi wasn't there when Chelsea walked in, so she placed the soup in the fridge and her hygienic stuff in the closet. She reread her notes from her previous classes and scanned the appropriate readings to make she knew what they would be talking about before flipping on the television and nodding off. When she woke up there was a cool hand on her forehead and a blanket covering the rest of her.

She started nervously and forced her eyes open, greeted by a familiar voice, "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Alexi?"

The voice turned teasing, "Unless you have company and didn't tell me."

Chelsea shook off the sleepiness and sat up, rubbing one eye and fixing the other on her roommate. She looked much healthier, which was a relief to Chelsea as she stood and pulled the girl into a hug. Alexi stiffened slightly before returning the gesture.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better. The doctor said it was iron deficiency, that I'll have to make some adjustments to my diet but I'm not in any danger."

"What kind of adjustments?"

For the briefest instant, Chelsea thought she saw a flash of something in Alexi's eyes before the dark-haired girl replied, "More red meat, and maybe some seafood. I won't have to change too much about my eating habits and we keep the fridge well-stocked as it is. I did mention having a roommate, that I would do nothing to endanger her health, but they said so long as we pay attention to portion size we'd be fine."

Chelsea nodded, happy her friend was okay.

Finals approached rapidly, professors piling on so much extra work it didn't seem fair. She spent so much time in the library researching and compiling her notes into coherent study guides she didn't often see her roommate after their only shared class. From what little she did see, Alexi's health had rapidly improved. The color returned to her skin, her temperament mellowed out, and her appetite increased. That was all she knew however, between classes, homework, and essays she barely had time to take care of herself. She awoke one morning slumped over her desk and had to drag herself into the kitchen, scarfing down a quick breakfast before rushing to class.

Alexi did a double take at her entrance that evening and her eyes widened with concern, "Chelsea you look terrible!"

"Gee thanks." She replied sarcastically, practically falling into her chair. Apparently she looked as bad as she felt.

Alexi's eyes missed nothing, "You need sleep."

"No I don't." she snapped.

Alexi let it go, albeit reluctantly, watching as she inhaled her dinner and went to her room. It was well past midnight when she closed a textbook and started crying. She couldn't do it. It was too much. This stupid assignment was due Monday and she had a half dozen just like it. Deciding a break would help, she padded into the living area. Alexi was watching TV, though how she could hear it with the volume so low was beyond Chelsea's understanding.

"Evening moonshine." Alexi greeted dryly, "The stars say hello."

Chelsea managed to drink enough water to soothe her dry throat before answering, "'M sorry I snapped at you."

The couch creaked as she shifted her weight, "I understand. You're stressed that's all."

Her eyes closed and almost didn't open again, "What time izit?"

"Two in the morning." When Chelsea didn't answer, she continued, "You need a break. Sit down for a while and maybe I'll find something that's not stupid, childish or rated R."

Her eyes were wide and pleading and Chelsea gave in without a fight, "Okay. But not for long."

She sat on the couch next to Alexi and watched her flip through channels. After about five minutes they were both wrapped in a blanket and the brunette's fingers were stroking her hair. Alexi finally found something to watch, something on the History Channel, but Chelsea's awareness had shrunk to the warmth of the blanket, Alexi's fingers in her hair, the fact her head was resting on the other girl's shoulder. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open, harder to convince herself to get up and get back to work.

"You don't want to."

No, no she didn't.

"You'd rather sleep."

Sleep sounded good right now. But she had to get her homework done. Chelsea tried resisting but her body rebelled. She was completely limp, and the continued stroking wasn't helping.

"Close your eyes and let sleep take you. Rest in the peace only the black oblivion can bring."

She felt Alexi's arms encircle and pull her closer before the darkness claimed her.

From Sci-Fi to Supernatural, not bad for a beginner. I noticed how sparse this group of fics was and decided to add one of my own.