+ . . : Chapter Four : . . +

You sit there, in the middle of the grand foyer, feeling Ciel's warmth envelope you. You can hardly believe what just happened.

But you're glad it did.

You rest your head on Ciel's shoulder, taking in anything you can from this moment. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Sebastian coming into the room. He pauses, a dumbfounded look crossing his face. He smiles, then leaves.

You turn your focus back to Ciel, now looking him in the eye. He stands, holding your hands and helping you up. Once you are in an awkward, helpless standing position, you realize you've injured your leg

'As if I don't do that enough,' you say to yourself.

Ciel courageously picks you up, again holding you like a child by the knee and shoulder. He walks up the stairs, carrying your already-more-than-his-weight body. You can see the pain in his face, but, even after insisting, he won't put you down.

"Ciel, stop it! I'm heavier than you, you can't just carry me around like this! Put me down." You try and squirm out of his grasps, but he won't let you go. An amused smirk crosses his face as Ciel continues up the stairs and down the long hallway to his room. You lay limply in his arms, knowing that you are defenceless at this point. You stare at Ciel's determined face, smiling, knowing now how much he cares about you.

You are so lost in the moment, you almost don't notice when Ciel drops you down on his bed. He sits on the edge, practically panting.

"You're heavier than you look," He says a minute later.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking." You reply, giggling.

"After that fall? I think not." Ciel stands up, turns and faces you. He gives you a sinister, which you don't know how to respond to.

He walks around to the foot of the bed, and you realize now that you actually can't walk. You want to get up out of the bed, but you are stuck.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" You ask, getting worried by the looks crossing his face.

He pauses for a long moment, looking you straight in the eye. Almost communicating telepathically, the two of you just stare at each other.

And then he jumps onto the bed. He grabs you by your forearms, his knees pinning down the skirt of your dress.

"W-what the hell?" You squirm, but it proves useless again. "Get off!"

But you don't really want him to get off, do you?

You relax now, stop trying to wriggle free. You lay there, completely helpless and unable to move. Ciel smiles, but not menacingly. This is more of a victorious smile.

Victorious. What does victory have to do with this?

You blush as you realize what he's trying to do. With all of the strength in your body, you flip Ciel onto is back, with you now on top.

"Gotcha!" You giggle.

"Not quite," Ciel says as you realize your legs are balancing on his knees. He stretches his legs out and you fall right onto him. You are nose-to-nose, mouth-to-mouth with Ciel. You blush as he smiles, now happily, at you.

And this time, you don't close your eyes. You want to savour every moment of this.

:::::::::::::::::::::

Sebastian left for the night to deal with some affairs in the Demon Society. Not like anything happens between the hours of ten and five.

It's about midnight now, but you can't get any sleep. The sounds the other servants are making keep you up, so you decide to take a walk around the mansion. It's so dark, you almost can't see. But the moon illuminates your path.

The chandelier looks even more pretty in the moonlight. Like the glittering stars in te night sky.

You find yourself walking up the grand staircase, tripping up a few times. You walk down the long hallway, admiring the paintings and murals on the wall. The brush strokes and textures of the paintings leave you in awe.

And then, you are left to the only area of the house.

Ciel's quarters.

You are unsure whether or not to go in, but you make up your mind that you will. You see him sleeping soundly in the immense bed. Walking up to him, you slow your steps, careful not to wake him. You sit down on the bed, right next to him.

His sleeping face looks so perfect.

You caress is soft hair, that frames his face so beautifully. You run your fingers down his arm.

His skin is freezing, even with the covers on.

He shivers, looking like a helpless baby animal. Deprived of warmth and compassion.

And then you notice the tears streaming down his face.

The sight of this makes you feel so many emotions at once that you begin to get dizzy. You feel almost like this is your fault, but you aren't sure why.

"He must be having a nightmare," You whisper. You think back to when you were a child, before your reaper days. You would always have someone to comfort you, to be there for you.

Maybe that's what he needs right now.

You quietly crawl into the bed, and curl up with Ciel. Even now, he almost emits negative heat. His tears stop after you lay your head on his shoulder, your hand on his other arm.

Fall asleep almost immediately after that.

:::::::::::::::::::::

"[name]. Wake up!" Ciel calls you. You open your eyes, blinking multiple times, still half asleep.

"Hmm?" You grunt.

"Wake up!"

You pull yourself up, realizing that nobody was there. You looked around for Ciel, but he isn't anywhere. You lay there, silent. 'Was he even there?' Your thoughts repeat. Shaking your head of the thoughts of his touch that you so desperately wanted to feel again, you roll to your stomach and pull the blankets over your head.

"I must be going crazy." You say as something tugs the sheets.

Maybe not.

It tugs at them harder, until your hold on them is not strong enough.

Standing at the foot of the bed was Ciel, holding the bedspread in his hand. You bring your knees up to your chest and roll onto your side, shivering in the December cold.

"What are you doing?" You ask. "It's not even morning yet."

"Three o'clock is morning. Get up," Ciel says, dropping the sheets and grabbing you by the wrists. He begins trying to pull you out of the ever-so-comfortable bed, but your determination beats his strength. No matter how hard he tries, you won't budge.

"Fine," he says afterwards, "you can stay."

You spread your arms and legs, taking up most of the space on the bed.

"No room for me?" Ciel asks.

"Of course there is. You have the whole bed." You giggle as he blushes, remembering yesterday. "Here, I'll move." You lay on your back, taking up only half of thee bed now.

He spreads the blanket onto the bed again and crawls in. At first you think he will just lay on the other side of the bed, but then he curls up right next to you, putting his arms around you and laying his head on your shoulder. It takes him a minute to get comfortable, a=but then he closes his eyes and dozes off. You stroke his hair gently, and even though it hurts your shoulder, you let him rest there the whole night.

:::::::::::::::::::::

You awaken before Ciel, but you don't dare move, fearing you'll wake him. You stay quiet, something you're quite good at. Eventually, the morning light begins to shine through the windows in Ciel's room and he wakes on his own.

"That's odd." He says, looking around in confusion. "Sebastian usually makes me tea now. I wonder what he's up to.

He gets up, slowly, and adjusts his nightclothes. You get up, too, wanting only to stay in bed with Ciel forever.

To your surprise, he dresses himself, and even more to your surprise, he doesn't make you leave the room.

"Ciel," you ask as he pulls up his socks. "What do I mean to you? How important am I?" You truly want to know the answer to this question.

He doesn't answer for a long time. Each second feels like an eternity until he speaks again.

"More than you may think."

"Well what does that mean?"

"I know your secret," he says with finality. "That you're a reaper. I've known from the start. And you know that I've made a contract with Sebastian, don't you?"

"Yes," You smile. "You're as observant as ever, I see. How did you know I was a reaper?"

"Your eyes. Only Grell, William, you and the Undertaker have eyes like that."

You sigh, flipping your hair away from your face. Ciel stands up and puts his hand on your head.

"Nonetheless," He sits down next to you, ruffing up your hair, "You mean a lot to me." He plants a kiss on your cheek before getting up and leaving the room.

You feel the spot where his soft lips touched your skin. It's still warm, and you are tingling with joy.

Looks like Sebastian held up his side of the deal.

At eight in the morning, Sebastian still hasn't returned and you begin to worry.

"What if Will got him? What if they are devouring him as I stand here?" You say to yourself. Since it's Sunday, you have the day off of work. This, however, is worse than having work. Without anything to distract you from Sebastian's situation, you get more and more paranoid. Ciel is in even worse shape though. He is a complete nervous wreck, he hasn't moved from his spot in the garden all day. You sit with him. He rests his head in your neck and you put your arm around his shoulder, comforting him. He shivers, despite it being in the positive degrees. Probably just fear.

:::::::::::::::::::::

"[name]!" Grell yells at you from the window. "Open up!"

You do as he says, reluctantly of course. He climbs in through the window, looking as grungy as ever.

"What happened to you?" You almost laugh at him, seeing as he always tries to look as fabulous as possible.

"The Yard happened. Apperently, a reaper collecting souls on a crime scene is considered 'tresspassing'. The nerve they have!" He grunts, flopping down on the bench in the foyer. "I even lost one of my lashes! I feel so uneven."

You'd swear he was about to burst into tears at that point.

"Where's Bassie?" He asks, combing his tangled muss of hair with his fingers.

"Don't know," You reply.

He moans. "Are you kidding? You mean I came out here for nothing?"

"He has a restraining order against you, remember?"

"Oh, right. Even worse!"

And then he begins to cry.

"Calm down, Grell. I think you need to get help."

:::::::::::::::::::::

It's four in the evening now. Sebastian still hasn't returned. Ciel is with you in his room, door locked, shutting out the rest of the world. He hasn't let you leave his side the whole day. Everytime you pull away, he begins to shake and cry.

I guess that goes to show how, no matter how tough you may look, everyone has a breaking point.

He lays on the bed, curled up in the fetal position. You sit on the sit of the bed, hands holding up your head wearily.

Where is Sebastian?

You hear footsteps approaching to doorway. It's not Sebastian, however. Whoever this is steps a lot heavier than Sebastian.

"Young Master, [name], you have a visitor," Mey-Rin's voice echoes.

It figures that she was the person walking here.

You get up so that nobody can see Ciel like he is now. You open the door slightly and look at Mey-Rin, who steps aside in order for you to see him.

"What are you doing back here?" You ask Grell, who bursts into the room. You wave at Mey-Rin, signalling for her to leave. Then you close the door.

"Grell?" Ciel exclaims, practically jumping out of the bed. "You aren't allowed near here, let alone be here!"

"No, I'm not allowed near Bassie," He replies with finality, plopping himself down on the chair across from the bed. "That's why I'm here."

"What do you mean by that?" You ask him, completely confused.

"Well, obliviously, the won't let me back at the earth base."

"Why not?" Ciel asks, intrigued.

"Well, as long as they've got Sebastian over there, I can't go near that place."

"They've got Sebastian?" You shriek, shaking with fear.

"Yeah. They said that he did something. . . or maybe Ciel did? Hm, I can't remember."

"W-what are they going to do to him?" Ciel asks, hugging his knees on the floor.

"Seeing as Reapers and Demons are equal, they'll probably just hold him hostage until they can do something to make him squirm."

There's only one thing that they can do to make someone like Sebastian squirm.

They're going to get rid of Ciel.

Game over.

"[name]," Ciel says. "We're going."

"What?"

"We're going to get Sebastian."