Chapter 4

It had been a long time since Claire had stepped foot in Morganville's police station. Last time she was here she'd been locked in the cells, accused of a murder Myrnin, had committed. Claire sighed, Myrnin. He had not forgotten his proposal like she'd initially thought he would. Over the years he had proved himself to be fleeting in his interests, and Claire had hoped this would be the same, that it would stop after his visit to her mother's house - it had not stopped. Claire had woken this morning to find 33 dozens of red roses, littered on her front porch. She knew instantly they were from him, not because he'd left a card, but because she knew how much he liked the number 33. She'd supposed she should be grateful he was trying to be more traditional in his attempt to woo her. She didn't put it past him to do something awful, like leave her a collection of insects that he liked.

"Claire," called Chief Moses, "thank you for coming."

"Of course Hannah, what's this about?" She asked, coming to a stop outside Hannah's office.

"I'm really sorry to have to tell you this Claire, it seems like all I do is bring you bad news, but Monica's gotten it into her thick skull that Shane's been made into a vampire. I've tried reasoning with her, but you know what she's like. She's convinced it can be done, I've told her it's impossible; no human can be made into a vampire…"

"Wait, what?"

"She's tried to dig him up."

"She did what!"

"I'm really sorry Claire. She's made quite a bit of mess but don't worry, it was called in before she could get too deep. She hasn't done any lasting damage."

Claire turned away and hurried for the exit, calling over her shoulder, "I gotta go!"

"She got pretty deep." Claire said, surveying the dirt pilled up at her husband's grave. Morganville's graveyard was a very pretty place. Its luscious green grass was watered several times a day, preventing the dessert heat from drying it out.

"Jesus Claire! You scared the life out of me!"

"Sorry. I had to see what she'd done."

"I was hoping to get this mess cleaned up before you heard." He plowed his shovel into the ground, hard enough to make it stand upright, and ran a hand through his messy, sweat soaked, blond hair. Claire noticed how the muscles of his bare torso, flexed with his movements. Michael had made an effort to increase his physical strength after he'd settled back into being a human. Shane had told her at the time that it was because he wanted to be strong enough to protect Eve, should the treaty fail. It struck her now that he had remained committed to his gym sessions, despite his wife's claim of peace, and that said peace, would remain.

"Michael, there's something I have wanted to ask you."

"Oh, go ahead Claire, you know there's no secrets between us."

"Do you trust him?"

"Who?"

"Oliver."

Michael tensed, sending his abdominals into spasm, and she had her answer. "He's my son's godfather."

"Yeah, about that, you know how much that hurt Shane, don't you?"

He looked at her sharply, pain clear in his blue eyes. "Claire…" he sighed, "… you know what this town's like, how long can peace really last? I had to do something to ensure my son's safety. I'm not a vampire anymore, if something was to change, if…"

"Oh Michael, Shane would have understood, that's all he needed to hear you say. Why didn't you?"

"Eve, she really believes, she's totally bought into the town peace. I've never seen anything like it Claire, it's like she doesn't remember anything that came before!"

"Doesn't remember? Michael, the things Brandon did to her, it's not something you could just forget."

"Don't you think I know that!" He snapped. "She used to wake up at night screaming to get away from him. Just the very mention of his name would cause her to break out into a sweat. I know how he made her feel," he added quietly.

"So what changed?"

"I don't know, it wasn't like she just woke up one morning and decided to get over it, it was gradual. For a while I thought she was just doing really well in therapy, but as the years went by, I started to realise that she wasn't choosing to let go of painful memories, they just weren't there anymore."

Claire sank to the ground, crossed her legs and let her mind do the work. Something about Michael's words had triggered a thought, but she couldn't quite grasp it. She looked straight ahead, passed Michael's legs to Shane's gravestone. The inscription on the bottom read loving husband and father, kick ass fighter. They were the words he had wanted. Claire remembered that night like it happened yesterday. She had been heavily pregnant at the time and they'd sat down to talk about their future in Morganville…

"I'm telling you Claire, this peace won't last forever, we need to leave while we can."

"Shane, this is our home. We haven't even been in this house a year yet, I'm not giving up on it."

"It's not giving up, it's ensuring our future."

Claire reached across the table and took his hand in hers. It was a little rough against her soft skin, a result of his job in construction, but it was Shane, and his touch would always give her shivers. "You know she'd never let me go," she whispered.

"We could run, we'd go to someplace where they'd never find us."

"There is no such place, you know that. I won't… I can't put this family at risk," she said, rubbing her swollen stomach.

"Then we stay and take our chances."

"It's better than running Shane, she can have a life here, a good life, we'll keep her safe."

"You're damn right we will, with your brains and my kick ass fighting skills… hey, that's what I want on my gravestone!"

Claire shook her head in confusion, "what?"

"Kick ass fighter!"

She'd rolled her eyes at the time, but looking at the inscription now, she was glad she'd included it. Life in Morganville was hard, it sucked you in, took away everything you loved, and left you broken. You could either fight it, or drown in it. No-one knew that better than Shane. Morganville had taken everything from him, but he didn't give up, he kept fighting for the right thing, no matter the cost. It was one of the things Claire had not only loved about him, but admired.