Title: Unexpected Events

Rating: I'm bumping it up to PG-13 for more swearing and language, with the possibility of other PG-13 worthy things to come.

Disclaimer: * sigh * still not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some (non-profit) fun.

Summary: By popular demand (okay, not really) this is the sequel to Story Time. So it might to help to read that first. But, if you want to be a rebel I'll give you the gist of it. After "That's Why the Lady is a Vamp" (episode 6, the one with Patsy, Merrill's maker) Merrill tells the night students the story of her past. Marty sees her in a different light and has some unexpected feelings.

Authors Notes: Thanks to those of you that reviewed! I love reviews. I'm going to ask that they continue coming my way, I love them so much. But I'm not going to threaten to withhold chapters because I can't be mean to people I don't know. Anyway, this is a continuation to Story Time and it further explores the relationships alluded to in that. I tried to make this more angsty but I'm so far incapable of extreme darkness. I'm working on it. Also, I'm not completely familiar with the layout of the school so I've taken to using general terms. Sorry. Hope you like it!

Part 1: Questions

Merrill had not slept well. She had tossed and turned restlessly, her thoughts racing, not allowing her a moment's peace. Finally, out of pure exhaustion she passed out into a dreamless sleep. To Merrill it seemed that mere minutes later Essie was banging on the lid of her coffin. "Merrill! Get up! You're going to be late if you don't wake up this very instant."

Merrill groaned and opened her lid, her eyes still shut, "What time is it?"

Essie glanced at her appraisingly then back at her nails; "You look like Hell after it's been invaded by peasants."

"Thanks. That's sweet. What time is it?"

Essie glanced at her delicate crystal watch; "It is eight fifty. Wait, fifty-one. Which means you, have nine minutes to get to class."

Merrill sighed, "Just how I wanted to start the night." She bolted out of bed and hurriedly grabbed some clothes.

"So?" Essie said impatiently. "Are you going to tell me what went on last night?"

Merrill finished buttoning up her dark purple shirt and smoothed down her black skirt. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Where are my boots?" She glanced around her area distractedly.

Essie sat down and demurely crossed her legs. "They're right there." She pointed them out and Merrill realized she had been staring right at them. She tugged them on and began frantically brushing out her hair. Essie was growing impatient, "Merrill you know very well what I'm talking about, so talk"

Merrill finished with her hair and glanced in the mirror. She was somewhat presentable, which would have to be good enough for today. "Sorry Essie, its class time. Coming?"

"Fine. You can weasel your way out now but you can't do it forever. You'll tell me what happened sometime." Essie stalked out on her way to their 'classroom.'

Merrill took one last look in the mirror tucking her hair behind her ears, "Sorry Essie. First, I have to figure that out for myself." She took a deep breath, bracing herself for what promised to be a day filled with the unexpected. "Here goes." She walked over to the entrance took one last deep breath and entered the room.

* * * * * * * * * *

Marty had not been able to sleep at all either. He had finally stopped trying half way through the day and gotten up. He spent his time watching the day school students and thinking about the new developments, Merrill specifically.

The thing was he had never really thought much about her before. She was 'meek Merrill' the terminally uptight. She was scared of her own shadow, hated being a vampire and never seemed to want to have any fun. That was Merrill in his mind. Objectively, he had known she was pretty. But with Essie around flaunting herself he had never really cared.

In the beginning he had planned on going after Essie. If he had to live without hunting he sure as hell wasn't going to live without female companionship. Essie was the obvious choice. But now it seemed as if the royal vampire was, for whatever reason, falling for Karl. "Talk about a mismatch. Opposites do attract, I suppose."

It was clear from the first day he had arrived at Mansbridge that Merrill was pining after Drew. It was equally clear that Drew was lusting after a mortal. He had often shook his head at Drew's oblivion. Merrill wore her heart on her sleeve and her heart said 'Drew' in glaring, Vegas style letters.

Therein, now lay one of Marty's problem. Last night he had found himself having some clearly non-antagonistic feelings towards Merrill. They couldn't even be classified as platonic feelings. They were, quite possibly, romantic feelings.

Which led to his next problem. Said romantic feelings had manifested themselves the previous night. He had been caught off guard, and had made no move to hide them. Merrill, being the perceptive sort had seen his strange behavior and had read his mind. "It must be handy to be able to do that," Marty mused. He had used some mental blocking techniques that a friend had taught him long ago but wasn't too sure about how effective the blocks had been. She had fled shortly afterward.

The third, but by no means last problem was the others. He knew Essie had noticed something off. He was pretty sure Drew had too. Essie could be a problem, because she was generally suspicious of him and Drew because he had begun to take interest in Merrill himself and wouldn't want competition. "If I even want to be competition." He checked the time and realized others would soon be waking. He decided to get dressed quickly and head to class early so he didn't have to deal with Drew.

* * * * * * * * * *

Dr. Murdoch had already begun as she slipped in. "Merrill! So nice of you to join us. Please take your seat." He motioned to the remaining chair, between Marty and Drew.

"Oh that's just so lovely."

She averted her eyes and took her seat stiffly. When seated she glanced up to see Essie smirking at her. Merrill glared in return. She then concentrated on the table staunchly ignoring the gazes of both Drew and Marty.

Dr. Murdoch resumed speaking, "As I was saying today we begin a new assignment. Four of you will work in pairs, while one of you works alone." Karl began to protest the unfairness of that but the Doctor continued, "You will be analyzing great works of literature and the single person will have longer to complete the assignment. Since there are a great many works to be done we will switch off so everyone works alone once. Then you will all read and analyze an additional work independently. When you are finished each you, or you and your partner will prepare a comprehensive guide for the others." By the end of this unit you will have a working knowledge of twenty of the histories' greatest books. This project will be given your full attention for the next six weeks. Literature is an excellent tool in understanding human emotions and motivations."

"Do we get to pick our books?" Karl asked.

"Or our partners?" Essie added with a glance at Merrill.


"No and no. Your books and your partners are pre-arranged. Your first assignment is due one week from tomorrow, which means it must be completed by next Friday. Essie, you are single this time and the report is not due until the following Monday. Understood?"

"That gives me the an extra two days. That's fine, I suppose."

"I thought so. Your novel is Anna Karenina by a Mr. Leo Tolstoy. It's quite appropriate, as you are the most familiar with the upper echelon of Russian society."

"Tolstoy. Interesting man. Quite a kill-joy, though."

"Drew and Karl are our next group." Merrill fought the urge to bang her head against the table. Essie began to giggle but covered it with a few polite coughs. Dr. Murdoch looked at her strangely for a few moments but continued. "You will be reading Wuthering Heights by Ms. Emily Bronte."

"Awww. Why do we have to read the chick book?" Karl whined.

"It's not a 'chick book,'" Drew corrected, "it's a gothic romance."

"And what, exactly, is the difference?"

Drew had no reply.

"That leaves Merrill and Marty. I trust you two will do your best to get along, right Marty?" he looked pointedly at the so far silent vampire.

"Yes sir."

Dr. Murdoch made a note of Marty's odd behavior. Usually he would have made some, biting sarcastic remark. He put his thoughts aside to be pondered at a later time. "You will be reading 1984 by George Orwell. It's a more modern novel on a distopian society"

"I will post the full list of partners and novels. Each assignment is due on the subsequent Friday's and Monday's. I will leave the outline of the requirements with you and you will find copies of the novels in the box over there," he gestured to a cardboard box none of them had noticed before. "See what these novels can teach you. I will be available for questions. Have a good night." He headed back to his office.

Merrill stood abruptly to grab her outline and check the list. Anything to put off the inevitable.

She went to go pick up her books. "1984, Madame Bovary, Age of Innocence, Moby Dick, The Bell Jar, Washington Square. 1984, Madame Bovary, Age of Innocence, Moby Dick, The Bell Jar, Washington Square…" She repeated the words so she wouldn't forget. After collecting them she began to walk back to her coffin only to run into something. "Or someone," she thought as two hands reached out to grab her arms and steady her. She met Marty's eyes and he dropped his hands abruptly. Merrill bent quickly and began to pick up the books she dropped. "Oops. Sorry about that. Clumsy me," she said looking anywhere but back at Marty.

She went to move past him but he grabbed her arm, "Don't we need to like, talk or something?"

Merrill played dumb, "Talk? Oh! You mean about the assignment? I kind of want to look over the books and the outline first. Okay?" gently, she pulled her arm out of his grasp and speed walked away leaving Marty staring after her. She saw Drew coming her way and deftly sidestepped him, grabbing Essie, "So," she said loudly leading a confused Essie along, "you wanted to talk to me?" When they were safely in their area of the cellar Merrill drew flopped down on a chair.

"What is your problem?"

"My problem is that in the last twenty four hours everything or more accurately, everyone has gone completely insane."

Essie sat down next to Merrill; "I'm lost. I think you should start from the beginning."

"Well I kind of…" she trailed off.

"You…" prompted Essie.

"I seem to have developed some feelings…"

"For Drew."

"How did you know?"

"Please. Everyone knows."

"Everyone?"

"Well I know. And Marty does. Karl may have some idea."

"That's not everyone," Merrill pointed out.

"It's everyone who's even remotely tuned in." Essie countered.

"True, I suppose. Anyway last night, when you dragged Karl away to play chess, he told me he was glad I was staying. Then, when I was talking about Ben he was jealous."

"So why are you so upset? Mr. Broody seems to be pulling away from the idea of being with that mortal. That's good news, isn't it?"

"You would think so, wouldn't you? But Marty weird last night so I read his mind."

"What did you see?"

"Me. And how he feels about me."

"Which is…?"

"Different than I thought."

"Oh. Oh!" she exclaimed realization dawning. "And now you have to work with him for the next week."

"Right."

"Well, good luck. That's really all I can say. I have to go grab my things." Essie patted Merrill on the shoulder sympathetically and left the room.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Don't we need to like, talk or something?' How lame can I be?" Marty watched Merrill dodge Drew and scurry off with Essie. "Girl talk no doubt." He headed to collect his books only to be cut off by Drew. "What's up?" he greeted in his best mocking tone.

"You tell me Marty. What did you do?"

"Do?" asked Marty innocently.

"To Merrill," Drew clarified, quickly becoming irritated.

Marty rolled his eyes, "Nothing. Chill man. You're going to get premature wrinkles."

Drew, as usual, was not amused. "Leave her alone, Marty. I'm warning you."

"Okay," Marty started sarcastically, "we'll just never speak to each other while working on our assigned project in our assigned pair."

"You know what I mean."

"Oh, I understand you perfectly. You finally realized that maybe the mortal thing isn't going to work out. And that maybe you had better leave your options open. You know that Merrill is that other option. Well news flash Drew. She's been waiting quite a while for you. It's her choice if she doesn't want to wait for you to notice her anymore. So take your manly territory marking bullshit and shove it."

"Why you…" Drew advanced menacingly towards Marty.

"Boys!" Essie shouted stepping between them, "Play nice. Drew run along. Find Karl and get to work. You have a chick book to read."

"It is not a chick book!"

"Whatever. You have a 'gothic romance' to read." Drew left grudgingly and Marty went to leave as well. Essie stepped in front of him, "No. You stay. We are going to have a little chat."

Marty gritted his teeth, "About what?"

"Merrill."

"What is with you all today!"

"You can pretend all you want but I'm not buying it. I watched you last night and this morning. I know something is going on with you and I have a few warnings."

"Okay, mommy Essie."

"I'm serious. You hurt her; I'll hurt you. Than, I'm pretty sure Drew will hurt what's left of you and burn your bleeding limbs to ashes."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit," she stated bluntly.

"My, my such foul words," he replied mockingly.

"Look, if you're just looking for sex, look elsewhere. I'm sure there's a whore around town somewhere. Merrill's not like that and she doesn't deserve to be treated as like it." She whirled and stalked away.

"Ouch. You have such a high opinion of me, don't you?"

Essie's pointed, disbelieving look over her shoulder was answer enough.

* * * * * * * * * *

Merrill walked out to the siting area and found Mary there. In her hands she carried their blood allotments. Deciding that avoidance of all the weird vibes would be the best bet for now she sat down across from him and placed his pack in front of him. He looked up aimlessly and stared at her. His eyes met hers and for a second she saw a confusion that mirrored her own before a blank, bored mask flicked over his features. "Yes?"

"Our project. We need collaborative notes on each chapter."

"And?"

She picked up his book and tossed it at him, hitting him square in the chest, "Start reading."

Awhile later they had fed and were discussing. "So she loves him? That's total crap." Marty argued.

"Why?" Merrill prompted, getting ready to take notes.

"Because she's never spoken to him before."

"Some mortals believe in love at first sight," Merrill countered.

"Which in itself it complete, and utter crap!"

"Because…?"

"Well, because it's not possible." Marty began pacing. "How is it conceivable to mortals that you can see a person, and without speaking a single word to them be in love? You could be a silly mortal girl, who likes happy pop music and pink and flowers and other girlie crap, see a guy and say hey, 'I'm in love' then you talk to him find out he likes metal music and hunts bunnies for fun and you hate him. So it wasn't love, it was lust. Love, you see is a myth."

"Really?"

"Yes. You see it's not about flowers and hearts and stars. It's about finding someone you can stand to be around for ten minutes at a time. And wouldn't mind sleeping with."

"Oh there's the Marty I know. For a minute there I thought you were pulling a Drew."

"Excuse me?" said Marty indignantly; "we are absolutely nothing alike."

"Sure you are. You were being quite philosophical there."

"Shut up."

"It's true."

"Yeah well, I'm nothing like Drew."

"You said that already," Merrill pointed out sensibly.

"I'm not. Do I dress like a James Dean wannabe?"

"No. You dress like a Billy Idol wannabe." Merrill was now trying desperately not to laugh. "And you both have the weird facial hair thing going on."

"What! Well at least I don't dress like a girl who's mom picked out their clothes."

"And I do?"

"Yes. Example, the weird coat-dress checker board thing from yesterday."

"It's comfortable," Merrill stated loftily.

"It's a sac," Marty said bluntly.

"Why you…" she threw a cushion at him. He threw it back. Hard. Merrill ducked and grabbed another one to throw. This one went wild and hit Drew, who had the bad luck to be walking through the doorway at the time, directly in the face. Marty instantly began cracking up while Merrill covered her mouth in horrified amusement. "I'm so sorry!"

"I came in to make sure there was no blood shed."

"How nice," Marty said distractedly. "But Merrill and I hear are having a fabulous time discussing your…ow!"

Merrill leaped up and sat down beside Marty smacking him had enough to shut him up. "Yore. Days of. More talk of the days of yore," she covered lamely.

"Yes. Specifically the fashions of yore." Merrill hit him again, harder than before so he wouldn't elaborate.

Drew looked carefully between the two then slowly backed out of the room. He walked back over to Karl, "I think the apocalypse is coming."

"Why?" Karl asked absently.

"Marty and Merrill are getting along.

"I can't believe you did that!"

"I can't believe you were beating on me," replied Marty rubbing his arm.

"Sorry."

"No problem. I never figured you for liking it rough." She hit him again. "Ow! That was a joke."

"Ha, ha, ha," Merrill said in an expression less voice.

They were silent for a few minutes, slouched comfortably side by side. "Merrill?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

Merrill felt sleepy. "That depends."

"On what?"

"Whether or not it's acceptable for small children."

"It is," he assured her.

"Then sure."

"Why are you the way you are?"

"Excuse me?"

"I don't mean it in a bad way," he assured her. "I mean when you were alive, your parent's ignored you and tried to farm you out on some ass hole after your money. Then you were made by a woman who used you as bait. Now after you spent years on the run hiding the fact that you were a vampire from humans who would have killed you in a second you're trying to re-enter that society, with those people. I don't get it."

"Why not?" she slouched down some more propping her feet up on the table.

"You should be bitter. You should hate them."

"Humans aren't all bad Marty."

"Could have fooled me."

I'm serious," sleepily she hooked an arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder. "At the pub in London, there was this old man. He couldn't have had much money, yet every single night he's buy some bread for the homeless people outside. When I was still human and lived on the streets I saw people who weren't related but were more a family than any I'd ever seen. They didn't have much but everyone shared what they had. At the port in Brazil, there was this little girl who had lost her mom and a this random woman stayed with her and helped her find her mother even though she could have kept right on walking. Look at Dr. Murdoch, how he's helping us. There are good and bad humans just like vampires. Not all vampires are like The Fury there's goodness…" she trailed off as her sleepless night caught up with her.

Marty glanced down at her sleeping form and brushed a few stray hairs off of her face, a smile tugging at his lips. "Goodnight, Merrill," he whispered before he shut his eyes as well.

Later Karl walked in to tell them it was almost daylight and they were to go to bed. He took n the scene in front of him, blinked a few times and left the room, sure he was hallucinating. When he went back in he brought Essie with him. She looked at the two sleeping vampires affectionately, "Awwww," she said.

"'Awwww?" questioned Karl.

"Look at how cute they are. I wish I had a camera." Marty and Merrill had shifted in their sleep. Marty was now lying on his back across the couch, his head on the arm. His arm was wrapped around Merrill who was lying on her side against the back of the couch. Her head rested securely under Marty's chin and her hair was splayed across his chest while one of her hands rested on his stomach.

"Should we wake them up?" whispered Karl.

"No. Let them sleep," so Essie and Karl left the room quietly, leaving Merrill and Marty sleeping peacefully, snuggled together.