After walking away from the Lycan and his Waterbending friend, Illshya smiled to herself. They had really believed that it was Amelia. Of course, it still was, but she had no recollection of her human life. Deciding that she had caused enough trouble in this city, she used her powers to transport herself to back to Chicago. Now would be a good time to mess with the girl that she had seen Amelia's memories. Besides, once she entered the city, she picked up a familiar energy. Her brother was in this city. It had been a while since she had seen her dear brother.

She followed the source of the energy until she came upon a large mansion. Easily scaling the fence that surrounded the property, she walked up to the door and knocked. She put on her best smile and began to act as Amelia. AJ opened up the door, saw who was behind it, and promptly screamed and slammed the door in her face.

Slowly the door opened again, and AJ peered out from behind it.

"R-Rae? Is that y-you?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

Amelia smiled. "Yeah, AJ, it's me."

All of the sudden, AJ engulfed her in a bone crushing hug. "Oh my god, I thought you were dead! What? How? I don't even…"

"Well, invite me in and I'll tell you."

AJ invited her in and just when she stepped inside, William came walking down the stairs. He immediately gave her a look and came down next to Adeline.

"I didn't know we were having company," he said, eyeing Amelia cautiously.

"Neither did I! She just showed up. Isn't this great? Amelia isn't dead!"

"That's wonderful, dear. Listen, why don't you go make some tea for us, okay?"

"Okay!" And Adeline bounded off to the kitchen to make tea.

The moment that she left, William turned to Amelia and grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as the demon took control over

"Relax, dear brother. I thought that you would be pleased to see me. It's been some time. The last time I saw you, you were an old Army veteran and I was a young scientist living in Germany. My, how the times have changed," Illshya said with a smirk.

William smiled, Orion having taken full control. "Well, I do quite miss you sometimes, dear sister. I'm glad that you managed to find me. It seems that we are now connected. These two hosts have had quite the history. I look forward to running these bodies into the ground."

"I agree, dear brother."

Before she could say anything more, AJ walked back in the room carrying a tray with tea and cookies on it. The three of them walked into the living room. AJ walked ahead of them. Amelia winked at William as the three of them sat down.

"So, how did you even manage to survive that?" AJ wanted to know once everyone had gotten their drinks and cookies

Amelia smiled. "Would you believe me if I said it was magic?"

AJ facepalmed.

"No, really! There's this effect called Control 2.0 that let me slow down my pulse and I just slowed it down enough so that you all thought that I was dead."

"Okay, Sherlock, so if that's the case, what about Pierre?"

"Sorry, a magician never reveals all of her secrets," Amelia said with a wink.

In the next hour, they all discussed everything that had happened to them in the four years since Amelia had been gone. Once they were done, Amelia excused herself.

"Hey listen, it's been great, but I gotta get going. I'm going back to work tomorrow."

"It's been awesome! We need to totally go out for lunch sometime or something!" AJ said as she embraced Amelia

"I agree!"

"I'll walk you to the door," William announced, standing up.

The two of them walked to the door as AJ went to clean up the tea and cookies.

"Well, I'll be seeing you around, brother," Amelia said as she shook William's hand.

"See you around, sister."

Amelia walked back down the driveway. Once she had gotten far enough away from the mansion, she used her magic to transport herself back down to the underworld. Things were going to get interesting.

Later that night as AJ and William snuggled by the fire, she couldn't help but wonder if that had really been Amelia. It seemed so much like her old friend, but she was still suspicious.

"Hey William?" she asked softly, lifting her head from his shoulder, staring at the flames, realizing the flickering orange and yellow only made her think of the old bonfires at the harvest festivals, like the one where there'd been the corn maze, and then - no. That was long ago, how was it she could still remember it with perfect clarity?

"Hm?"

"Listen...earlier, with Amelia. I don't...I don't think that was her." she admitted, half expecting him to laugh.

"What would make you think that, dear?"

"I don't know...she just...it's not possible how she could have survived the wound Pierre gave her, he all but flipped her abdomen inside out...I don't understand how she was able to show up, that's all."

He smiled, pulling the blanket covering them a little tighter around them, as she'd started shivering, which more often than not was a mortal habit coming back when she over thought something.

"I wouldn't question it. Just over a decade ago, you didn't think vampires existed either, and look at you now."

She turned to look at him, vexed.

"So you're content with letting me have the worst headache I've ever had because I'm trying to figure something out? It'd be nice if I could just atleast think of a reason as to why she's still alive."

"Sheer dumb luck?" he offered, causing her to smile, although she did a double take.

"Tell me you didn't really just make a Harry Potter reference just then. I mean, come on - sure, vampires have immortality, and lycans and oni age at a slower rate than humans, but I just. She. Was. Human. Unless there's some sort of voodoo black magic involved, I still don't think that was her."

He shrugged, before he leaned in to kiss her, "You like to talk in circles, don't you, doll?"

When he pulled away she only sighed, "Yeah, I guess. I just. Fuck. It's my little cousin's 21st birthday this week, she wanted me to come see her and spend a few days with her - she's getting her first tattoo and I haven't seen her since the wedding," she added, giggling at the look he'd given her when she swore.

"And I suppose you're planning on going, then?"

"I'd like. It would only be for a week or so, could be up to two if my aunt and uncle drop by, they haven't seen me in forever."

He nodded.

"Alright. That's fine, I just don't want you exhausting yourself over something you clearly can't explain. And come along, the fire's dying - at this point I'm sure our room is warmer," he suggested.

She gawked, confused.

"You don't get it, do you? I'm trying to get you to talk about what happened, anything to see if three hundred years of experience in being undead has added any knowledge as to explaining the world around you! Clearly that hasn't changed anything."

Pulling the blanket off and throwing it to the chair on the other side of the room, she stood up, running a hand through her hair.

"And I thought age was supposed to solve everything." she giggled, realizing she'd sounded way more sarcastic than she'd intended.

"Adeline, what is your problem? You've turned this entire conversation to a place that I'm not even sure what you point is!"

"Maybe if you'd listen a little more the little sarcastic remarks and random questions wouldn't bug you! But no, four years and it looks like you're finally tuning me out."

"Tuning you out- four years - I'm not- what even- no. There you go again, blowing something as trivial as a logical argument up into something that's a far bigger issue than it needs to be," he countered, standing up as she turned to face him.

"Something trivial?! TRIVIAL?! We're talking about my best friend, the girl I've known ten years longer than I've known you, the girl who's been with me through everything, the girl that would have been my maid of honor if she hadn't been dead, and now she's sudden alive again and I don't have a reason and I'VE JUST MISSED HER SO FUCKING MUCH!"

And before she could get a handle on her emotions, she'd cracked and had collapsed into him, sobbing just as hard as the day she'd died.

"You're only upset because you never coped with her death in the first place. Sometimes it'll still hurt - just as you can still feel the initial burn venom entering your bloodstream after a bite. Normally I would say time heals these sorts of wounds, but sometimes, they just simply don't go away. They linger in your thoughts - the faces of the ones you never thought would affect you, the voice of someone you believe you had loved. But then you find yourself mulling over past mistakes and the things you'd do over if you got the chance. Being what we are, we carry with us the misfortune of remembering every last incident of our pride being wounded, or our hearts being scared when they finally walk away. Time does not by any means heal these wounds; it simply makes them dimmer as the sun rises on each new day. Don't dwell on the past, for if you do, you'll never manage to trace the forgotten strands of your humanity that remain - the simple act of hoping for a better future and the realization that sometimes, we must learn to accept the things that hurt us the most."

She calmed down enough to look up at him in complete awe, for once he was back to sounding like he was from the era he and the boys used to dress like.

"Th-that was beautiful. But baby, it's sad how much energy a good cry can take out of you...and you're probably right about the room, as well as the fire. I'm sorry about yelling, she just...having her show up out of nowhere hurts, because it just brings so many memories back and I can't explain that fact that-"

He ruffled her hair, kissing her forehead, "Alright, that's the fourth or fifth time you've said that now, you need sleep. And if there's one thing I've learned from being this old? Never go to bed angry. It wrecks your mood for the next few days, and makes it harder to sleep when the person you're fighting with is right beside you. I know this whole thing is difficult for you, but I seriously wouldn't put too much thought into it. Life works in mysterious ways."

She nodded.

"Fine. I'll try to let it go - but about my cousin's party, I can go? I figured I'd hit the road tomorrow so I can make it there by Tuesday, I'll let you know when I get there and all."

"You can just teleport you know. But yes, that's fine. Now come on, it's bedtime."

"But BABY! I'm not a pre teen mortal anymore, don't make it sound so...childish!"

He smirked, lifting her into his arms, starting to walk towards the staircase, "Aw, does that mean you don't want to be tucked in? And you don't want to sleep with the pelt as if it was a teddy bear? Or you'd rather I not sing to you anymore?"

She glared, trying to look like the things he'd said had hurt, but she only replied with a playful "Shut up."