Stefan watched as his new passenger's breathing fell into the slow rhythm of sleep and he began to think about what Andrea had told him about herself. Really it wasn't much but Stefan didn't feel like it was his place to pry into her business she would tell him when she felt ready.

Other vampires might have just captured the girl instead of propositioning her the way he did but he wasn't other vampires. He hadn't told her of his vampirism she had come to that conclusion on her own and in the end agreed willingly to join his menagerie; this idea made him think that her home life had to be horrible if she was willing to choose to run or accept this offer from essentially a perfect stranger over going home.

She woke moments later, gulping air, her brow drenched in a cold sweat her eyes wide with fear the scent of which perfumed the van but Stefan was able to ignore it.

"Calm down, you were only dreaming." He told her gently his dark eyes focused on the road in front of him.

She let out a breath and leaned back now sitting properly on the bench seat.

"I am curious why you chose to take this offer when you have no idea what you're getting into." He asked looking at her in the rearview mirror as he waited for the light to turn green..

"This is infinitely better than what I had at home, and I was kind of hoping that you would protect me from someone." She sighed staring out the window, hugging her knees and resting her cheek against her knee. "My father has been searching for me since my mom secretly sent me away." She paused rubbing at her eyes sleepily "my mother told him that I ran away and that she had no idea where I would have gone. I figure it's only a matter of time before he finds out the truth and comes to Washington looking for me."

"You do not need to worry; I would never let him take you away." Stefan assured her "I vow to you on my honor you will be safe in my home."

"Thank you" Andrea looked down awkwardly at the proclamation Stefan had made, she figured that a vampire's honor meant a lot to him or maybe it just meant a lot to this particular vampire.

Stefan watched as Andrea's eyelids drooped blearily.

"Go back to sleep, little lamb, we will be home soon." He told her his tone surprisingly soothing.

Andrea stretched out over the back seat again and soon fell asleep to the thought of how affectionate the term 'little lamb' sounded coming from him.

Her father had never used terms of endearment for her; he cursed her several times, called her horrible names but not a single one out of any sort of affection or kindness. He had wanted a boy and acted ashamed that he had instead gotten a girl.

Stefan came to a stop at a red light and let his mind wander over what he had learned about his new charge. Her life had been horrible before this and he could only hope it would get better now. He was pretty sure that it couldn't get much worse for her.

He thought it was best not to feed from her right away if he could avoid it, she was malnourished and he was unsure of how taking blood from her now would affect her. He knew he would have to tie her to himself with the exchange of blood but that could be done with only small amounts taken from her until she got to a healthier weight then he'd take more.

When they got to the house he noticed that she was weak from her exhaustion and her body didn't want to move. A small blood exchange gave her the strength to move and put him one-step closer to a mind connection with her.

Naomi watched as the teenager entered the house. Stefan introduced her to Naomi and Naomi got the newcomer some clean pajamas to go to bed in.

"You might want to get her to bed pretty quick, she's not doing good." Stefan explained, "I will explain more once she is settled."

Naomi nodded knowing Stefan often had his reasons for saying things.

Andrea was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and Naomi returned to Stefan hoping to get answers. She knew she should have expected someone new ever since Daniel was turned and killed and one of the female longtime residents disappeared, she just hadn't expected someone in as bad a shape as Andrea.

"She comes from an abusive home; I'd be surprised if she were 16 years old." Stefan continued to explain and letting Naomi know everything he knew about Andrea and Naomi's heart broke.

"She might be the hardest case you have to deal with Stefan; none of us faced that kind of abuse before. I'll see if I can find out more from her, but it seems she doesn't want to relive her torture."

"I can understand that, but I would like to know what I am dealing with." Stefan sighed.

The next night Naomi was in the kitchen when Andrea arrived, Naomi noticed the younger girl looked better rested than she had when she arrived and she could also tell that she had a nice shower since the night before. It was still early for Stefan to be moving around so Naomi thought it was a good idea to get to know the teen and maybe give some of what she learned over to Stefan.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better," Andrea replied a small smile playing across her features "I'm Andrea."

"Naomi, it's good to meet you… welcome." Naomi took a seat beside Andrea at the bar so they could talk. She didn't mention that they had already been introduced; she figured that Andrea had been too close to asleep to recall that little detail from her arrival the night before.

"How old are you?" Naomi continued

"I'll turn seventeen in two weeks." She replied slightly awkwardly.

Naomi nodded, Stefan's estimate of Andrea being under sixteen years-old had been slightly off but he was close and with her slight build Naomi wasn't surprised that Stefan's estimate was a bit low.

"Is it weird that Stefan makes me nervous?"

"He made us all nervous when we first arrived." Naomi assured her "No that's not weird."

"It has nothing to do with the fact that Stefan is a vampire. I just have trouble trusting men; I think it has a lot to do with how I grew up… my father…" Andrea hesitated she didn't know Naomi well enough to tell her the things her father had done to her.

Naomi saw the conflict in Andrea's eyes, she wanted to tell her story but she was frightened of some unseen force that she feared would come out and harm her should she tell anyone what was done to her.

"Andrea, no one is going to hurt you." Naomi said reassuringly putting a hand on the younger woman's shoulder.

"I don't know…" Andrea walked away and Naomi gave a soft sigh. She was worried about

"She'll open up in her own time." Stefan's voice caught Naomi off guard.

"She'll be seventeen in a couple of weeks and… Stefan it isn't that she doesn't want to talk about her ordeal, she does… she's just so frightened." Naomi looked down at her hands. "Her father has her so scared of him that even hundreds of miles away his influence is playing havoc with her. She's afraid that if she even tells anyone what he did to her he will find out what happened to her something bad would happen."

"Give her time to realize she is protected in these walls, she will open up." He told Naomi gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

Andrea watched as Stefan and Naomi spoke and she allowed the vampire to feed from her, it didn't seem like the violent affair that horror movie writers/directors liked to inflict on their audiences, far from it. From her point of view it seemed like a rather peaceful event and she wondered how long Naomi had been there to not even flinch at the bite, a moment Andrea was convinced there was no way wasn't painful for anyone on the receiving end.

She figured she would find out soon enough, eventually he would request this of her and she would learn if it took time to be able to stand still through that or if the bite wasn't as painful as it appeared. She wasn't banking on it being painless, far from it; she expected it to be extremely painful she was letting someone with fangs bite her after all.

To Be Continued…