Author notes: Ari is my RP character. This takes off after an event in RP and leads to her leaving LA for a while.

Rated R for safety

Disclaimer: If you recognize it then I don't own it. Ari is mine though, as well as Sienna. Any resemblance between them and any living, dead or fictional characters is purely coincidental! The other characters belong to their creators and owners. No copyright infringement intended in any way or form.

Comments are still the only food my muses accept so please... send any comments you have, good or bad.


Mick gives Ari a nasty look "I really wish you wouldn't call me that. I know you think it's cute and all, but my Mom used to call me Mickey. It brings back a lot of memories I'd rather just leave alone."

The words echo in her head as she paces around in her apartment. The memory of that nasty look makes her cringe as if stung by a thousand needles and tears well up in her eyes. Frustrated she wipes them away and abruptly turns the other way. Mick had never acted like that towards her before. Not once during the past year had he ever looked at her like that. It hurt. For the past year, Mick had been her safe haven. The calm when her life was storming. She'd never heard him as much as raise his voice around her and now this.

Her first reaction as she rushed out of his apartment had been to go find Josef. He made her feel safe. That frightened her. That her first thought had been to go find comfort with a man, a vampire male. Sure she'd gone to see Mick sometimes in the past when she'd been upset but it had never been her first instinct. For some reason, Josef had become that important to her. That much of a safe haven that even though they weren't as close as she and Mick was, or had been, she still wanted to go to him. She wanted to go to Josef. Besides Mick there was now another safe haven for her. A place where she felt even more at home, even safer than she did at Mick's and that was over at the Casa with Josef.

She turned again, so abruptly that she almost tripped over Chiara who was following her. Chiara was upset that her mother seemed so upset and was now following Ari around as she paced, watching over her. Ari looked down at Chiara and picked her up, nuzzling the soft fur at the cat's neck.

"What am I going to do now, cutie?" she whispered. Once again the words echoed through her head.

"He hurt me… why would he do that? And why do I want Josef? What am I going to do?" she whispered the words into Chiara's fur.

If Josef was that important, maybe it was time to start thinking about exclusivity. She already knew she probably wouldn't be feeding another vampire unless maybe a female. But, if she did go exclusive she couldn't go home if the situation with Karl was resolved. She had Swedish Dawn, but she had always thought she'd close up shop and head back to Sweden if Karl was to disappear from the equation. Now she wasn't so sure.

She stopped in front of a window and stared out with unseeing eyes. She had to think about this. Really think. Frustrated she ran her fingers through her hair and looked around her. She needed space, needed time to think, time away from everything to clear her mind. Without giving herself time to change her mind she dropped Chiara by the window and hurried into her bedroom to start packing clothes. She called her friend Sienna to come pick Chiara up, grabbed her passport and wallet and then walked out. She took a cab to the airport and bought a ticket for the first plane leaving LA. She would disappear for a while, clear her mind, and when she got back she would know what to do.

To be continued