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Annie paced back and forth in the front room nervously. She'd brought a total stranger, someone who was a stanger to themselves even, into their home. So much had happened and they were still on edge. George and Nina were gone and she and Mitchell were still dealing with that. And now, with a baby in the house, things were more chaotic then ever. And, to top things off, Tom and Hal were living there and they were all getting settled and used to one another. This was not the time to add yet another person to the house.

"I couldn't have left her there, alone, lost and confused, crying in the park." she said, half to herself, half rehearsing lines from a speech she felt certain she would have to give to the three men. "She's obviously one of us...well not necessarily a ghost, werewolf or vampire, but she's not completely human either..." Her words trailed off as she heard the baby crying from her nursery. Taking a deep breath, she headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time and heading for Eve's room. She could hear water sloshing around in the bathroom, so she assumed the mystery woman was still washing up.

"Do you need anything?" she asked, deciding to quickly ask on her way up.

"No." the other woman replied. "Well, actually, I could use some clean clothes, if that's not too much trouble?"

"Oh, no, not at all." Annie laughed nervously. "I'll make sure you have some waiting for you."

"Thank you."

"Clean clothes." she muttered to herself as she headed to the nursery only to find Eve asleep again. Checking on the sleeping infant, she assured herself that the girl was clean and dry and set off to get some clothes. "Where am I going to get some clothes from?" she asked herself as she stopped in the hall and looked around. She didn't have any clothes, she had no need for them, and all of Nina's things had been given to charity. That left Mitchell, Tom or Hal that would have to donate the use of their clothes for a short time.

She decided quickly that taking Hal's clothing to give to a complete stranger, even temporarily, was not a good idea. He was far too anal about those sorts of things. Tom's wardrobe consisted entirely of sleevless shirts and shorts. Mitchell...she supposed Mitchell would be kind enough to allow the woman the use of a pair of sweatpans and an old shirt. It was temporary after all.

"Hello?" the woman's Welsh accent drifted down the hall.

"Oh, you're all set?" Annie asked as she approached her. "I still have to grab something for you to wear."

"Okay." the woman said. "I was wondering if you had a pair of scissors." she fingered her hair. "It's a rat's nest, so I was just going to cut it."

"Oh, of course." Annie nodded. "I can help if you like."

"Thanks." the woman said yet again.

"Well, how about you go down the hall, second door on your left, there's a bed all made up for you." Annie said as she pointed down the hall. "I'll be right back with some clothes and scissors."

"Sounds good." the woman said, setting off down the hall. It was all she could do to keep herself from trembling. She found the room and looked around, taking in her surroundings before gingerly sitting down on the edge of the bed. She was scared. She had spent the entire hour in the bath trying to force herself to remember something, anything, that might tell her who she was. It was so frustrating. Tiny bits and pieces of memories came to her, but so quickly she coulnd't piece anything together. The thing she could remember the most was darkness and pain. Her hand went to her stomach, where when she undressed for her bath she found a large, raised scar. She could feel it through the thin fabric of her bathrobe. She knew that it must have been a savage wound to leave such a scar, but try as she might, she could not remember where it came from.

"Here we are." Annie said, appearing at the door, holding a pair of scissors and clutching a pile of clothing to her chest. "They're going to be a bit roomy, but we're a bit short on women's clothes." she laughed nervously.

"Thank you." the woman said quietly as she took the clothes and set them on the bed.

"Yes, well, how about we see to your hair." Annie suggested. "If you'd just sit in this chair here." she said as she pulled a wooden chair towards the center of the room. "We'll see what we can do."

Annie set to work, cautiously at first not wanting to ruin anything. As she went along, she realised that there wasn't much to salvage. There were so many knots in the other woman's hair, she had no choice but to cut her hair short. Very short.

"It's going to be very easy to maintain." she explained, trying to sound enthusiastic. "I'm afraid it's going to be very short."

"That's fine." the woman said leaning her head back to look at her. "Do what you must."

"Okay then." Annie took a deep breath and began cutting. After about fifteen minutes, she felt she had done all she could. She ran her hand through the now short hair to get rid of any clippings that might be clinging and stepped back. It hung to just about the middle of the woman's ears, dark bits of renegade hair sticking out here and there.

"It looks good." the woman said as she looked into the mirror that hung above the room's dresser. "Thank you."

"You're welcome..." Annie said. "I don't suppose you've had any luck remembering your name at least?" she asked hopefully. "I just think it would be nice if I knew what to call you."

"I haven't remembered, I'm sorry." she shook her head, playing with the dramatically shorter hair. It was well past her shoulders when Annie had started, and now she felt nearly bald.

"Would you mind horribly if we just picked something to call you?" Annie asked. "It'll be good to have a name to use when I introduce you to my housemates."

"You can call me whatever you like." the woman replied, shivering from a combination of cold and nerves.

"Oh, you'd probably like to get dressed." Annie realized suddenly the other woman was still in her robe. "You go ahead and do that, and I'll be waiting down stairs. I'll make some tea."

"Okay." the nameless woman nodded. "I'll be down soon."

"Oh, I forgot!" Annie stopped suddenly as she headed out of the room. "Well, since there aren't any women in this house, at least none who can change their clothes, there no..umm, well, there are no...under things."

"That's fine." the woman shrugged.

"Oh, okay then." she smiled as she turned to the door once more. She tried to remember a time when she was alive that she ever went without something on under her clothes.

"Annie?" Mitchell's voice called out as she stood at the stove waiting for the kettle to boil.

"You're home early." she said in surprise, not having finished her speech.

"I'm sorry." he said as he stared at the obviously startled woman. "Would you like me to leave and come back later?"

"Would you?" she asked hopefully.

"Um, I was being sarcastic." he explained. "What's wrong with you?" he looked to the counter top and saw a plate of sandwiches. "Who are you making tea for?"

"Hal and Tom." she replied without thinking.

"They're at work until eight." he reminded her. "What's going on here, Annie?"

"I found a ..."

"Oh hell." Mitchell groaned, dreading what was coming.

"No, it's not bad." she rushed to calm him.

"Who or what did you find?" he asked as he braced himself.

"A woman." she answered.

"You found a woman?" he stared at her. "And brought her back here..."

"She has amnesia I think." she explained. "She was just crying in the park, I couldn't leave her there, Mitchell."

"Amnesia."

"Yes." she nodded. "I know that this isn't the best time, but I want to help her."

"Why?" Mitchell asked. "She's not a lost dog, Annie. You can't keep every sad soul that you find. If she's suffering from amnesia, we should take her to the hospital."

"She's one of us." she spat out. "Well, perhaps not exactly one of us, but she can see me, she can talk to me, Mitchell!"

"Annie..." Mitchell sighed.

"Excuse me." the woman in question opened the kitchen door just enough to pop her head in. "Is this a bad time?"

"No." Annie said as she took the other woman by the hand and brought her over. "This is Mitchell, one of my housemates."

"Hello." the woman nodded.

"Hi." he replied with a smile.

"I don't mean to be a bother, but I was wondering if I could get something to eat." the woman asked. "I'm starving."

Mitchell stared at her as Annie took her to the table and set out a plate of sandwiches and some tea in front of her. She did look rather pathetic sitting there, a very thin frame poking out from the over-sized clothes she was wearing. His clothing if he wasn't much mistaken.

"Well, you really are hungry, aren't you?" Annie asked as she watched in surprise as the woman inhaled the sandwiches.

"I can't remember the last time I had something to eat." she said as she washed down her third sandwich with some tea.

At her last statement, Annie glanced over at Mitchell and she knew that she had his vote to let their visitor stay, for a short time at least. How could he throw a starving woman with amnesia out on the streets? Annie would never let him hear the end of it, first off.

"So long as Tom and Hal agree..." Mitchell didn't even get to finish his sentence before Annie threw her arms around him and squeezed him.

"Thank you." she smiled. "We need to pick a name for her."

"What?"

"She doesn't want to refer to me as 'that woman'." their guest answered for Annie as she poured herself more tea.

"Exactly." Annie nodded. "So impersonal. So she said I could find a name for her that we can use until she remembers what she's called."

"Of course." Mitchell muttered as Annie rushed from the kitchen.

Looking down at his watch he saw that there was only a couple of hours before Tom and Hal would return and then they could discuss this issue as a group.