Alice

The cab dropped me back off at the café, and I froze when I walked through the door. Sitting in one of the booths, was Damien. Did he know I worked and lived here? Or was he just grabbing something to eat? There wouldn't be any getting past him though.

Somehow I felt like he was here cause of me. I balled my hands into fists and marched over to the booth he was sitting in, but not before grabbing his coat from the chair I had left it on the night before. I stood at the end of the table and tapped my foot. He looked up at me and smiled. "Hiya, sweetheart. Didn't expect to see you here." I tossed the coat on his lap and glared down at him.

I told him sternly, "Ok. First, stop calling me sweetheart. Second, quit following me. And third, take your coat back." Damien placed his hand over his chest and leaned back into the chair. "Ouch. That hurts sweetheart. Right here." He was pointing to his heart and sat up to give me a smug smile that made me want to slap him out of the booth. "I said quit calling me that."

Damien threw his head back to laugh. "I'll call ya whatever I wanna cause I don't know your real name." I was not about to give him my name. He already knew too much about me and I had never seen the guy in my life. "On second thought, you can keep the nickname." Damien picked up his glass of water and took a sip. "Being shy again, sweetheart?" I'd have to deal with him calling me that name, cause I wasn't about to let him know anything else about me. He handed me his coat back.

"You keep it, sweetheart. It looked really sexy on you last night." My eyes widened and I knocked the coat out of his hands. "You followed me last night!" The café behind me grew dead silent, and I turned around slowly to face all the eyes that were staring at me. I felt my face heat up with embarrassment, and I shielded my eyes from the people and turned back to Damien.

He whispered to me, "Smooth, sweetheart. Announce it to everyone. I like that about you. You get right to the point. Here's a tip for being such a good sport. Keep the coat too. I have plenty." He placed a few dollars on the table and walked out of the café with his hands behind his head. I turned my attention back at the money and saw a little white piece of paper.

I cautiously picked up and examined it. It had his name and number on it along with Call Me on the back. I crumpled it up and stuck the paper into my jean's pocket. Runo walked up behind me and asked, "What was all that about? Do you even know that guy?"

I turned to face Runo. The rest of the people in the café seemed to of returned to what they were doing. "Well, I kind of know him. Not saying that I want to, but I do." Runo looked out of the door Damien had just walked out from, and raised an eyebrow. She returned back to taking the orders of one of the tables near me. My eyes found the coat in the seat.

Looked like I was stuck with it unless I could burn it. I still couldn't believe Damien followed me after our first encounter last night. Did that mean that Damien really was the person I saw in the alley earlier in the day? I reached into my pocket and unfolded the paper. I could call him and ask him more questions. Or I could do like every Fallen in the city and turn to Kiba.

What if Damien and Kiba were working together though? I shook my head and put the paper back into my pocket. I didn't want to think about all of that at the moment. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I dug it out. Hey, I don't feel to sure about you being alone tonight. You think you could clear it up with Runo and stay over at the tenement building?

I was aware that it was in Shun's best intentions to keep me safe, but Runo didn't. She would give me an excuse like he just wants me over there so he can drug me or something along that line. None of Runo's excuses were rational, but they were in her mind and that kept me stuck at the café many times.

I texted Shun back. I can try, but no guarantees. Might I ask why you don't feel sure about me being alone? I picked up Damien's coat and folded it in my arms, then placed it behind the register counter so it would be out of the way. My phone notified me of Shun's new message.

It's kind of complicated to explain over phone. Text me if you can come over. I snapped the phone shut and approached Runo. Normal people had to worry about their parents saying no, but I had to worry about my best friend going insane. The one time I had stayed over with Shun without her knowing, she found the number to his cell and every landline in the tenement building and called non-stop. Her parents and I finally got fed up with it and took the batteries from every cell phone and unplugged and hid the landline phones.

She finally gave up and calmed down, and since then Shun and I had made an agreement that Runo knew where I was or else he'd have to change the numbers again. "Hey Runo, do you care if I stay over at Shun's tonight?" I braced my hearing for her to give thirty reasons why I shouldn't, but she simply sighed.

I was surprised by this. "Alice, do you think I've gotten too carried away with trying to keep you safe from Shun?" Yes! But I wasn't about to tell her that. I placed my hand on her shoulder and smiled. "You were only looking out for me Runo. That's what friends do. But I do think you may of gone a bit overboard." She smiled nervously and laughed.

"Yeah. I guess I can get carried away. Listen, it may bother the heck out of me knowing that your alone with Shun, but it's your life and I cant control everything that goes on in it. I can try, but I'll fail. Just let me know how long you'll be gone or something like that so I don't start to think you're hurt. Ok?" I nodded my head. This was an agreement both me and Shun could settle on. I pulled out my phone and texted Shun back. I'll be over there within the hour.

Shun

I was surprised that Runo even let Alice out of the house, but at the same time I was relieved that I could keep an eye out for Alice. After my meeting with Kiba, I didn't trust anyone outside of my Clan. And especially after that horrid dream that was concerning Alice. And Kiba knew something about it. I was up in my room when Thatch called up to me, "Alice is here!"

Normally Mason would of made that announcement. I guess he's still making himself scarce. Good. Alice had on her purple jacket, and a thick looking dark blue coat in her arms. "Nice coat. Where'd ya get it?" She looked down at it and then hung it up on the coat rack next to the door. "Somebody left it at the café a few days ago. If it doesn't get claimed in 24 hours, it's the Misaki's property."

I rolled my eyes. That sounded like a policy made by Runo's dad. In one of Alice's hands, she had a small bag with her clothes in it. "Here, let me take that upstairs for you." I held out my hand to take the bag, and Alice handed it over. She thanked me and took off her jacket and hung it next to the coat. I hurried up the stairs and put the bag in my room, and walked back down to find Alice in the kitchen.

I told her, "There's some leftovers in the fridge. Help yourself." She smiled and shook her head. "I'm good. I ate before coming over. Where is everybody?" I did a quick inventory of everyone that was still in the building. "Let's see. Adam is upstairs with a hangover. There's no telling where Thatch is in here. And Mason is hiding out until he gets over himself. The rest, I honestly have no clue. Not all of the Clan stay here. The only ones who do are me, Mason, Ebony, Thatch, and Serenity."

Alice nodded her head and told me, "Sounds like everything is going great here. You got a missing Fallen, a drunk, and a sulker." I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, pretty much. I could live without the drunk though." Alice was sitting on the table where Mason was a few days ago when he was giving me my lecture. I didn't really care where he was at the moment.

As long as he was out of my hair and personal life, everything was in good graces between us. I sat next to her, and slid my hand over hers. "Aren't you worried the table will break? You're a lot heavier than me, ya know." I laughed and told her, "There's no way this table will break. Do you know how many Fallens have passed out on this table?" She looked down and scooted further from the center and almost fell off. I caught around her waist and pulled her closer to me.

Heat grazed my skin as her arm touched mine. Our lips met, but Alice stopped me and said, "You said something about not feeling ok about me being alone. Like I wasn't safe. What was that about?" Not wanting her to think I lied and just wanted her over here for my own pleasure, I told her the truth. "You were right about Kiba. He's not what he's been made out to be. He lied to me about not knowing anything in my dream I had. And since the dream involved you being in danger, I didn't want to take any chances. I just feel better knowing I can keep a watchful eye on you."

Alice blushed and wrapped her arms around my neck. "At times I wonder if you're more of a Guardian angel than a Fallen. Maybe you should ask for a new job, cause you do a pretty good one of keeping me safe." Her lips found mine again. Not in that dream I didn't. "Hey. I'm gone for two months and the table isn't used for its intended purpose." Both of us jumped at the sudden voice.

I looked around to see who was interrupting us, and found Bertha setting her purse down on the kitchen counter. Alice turned away to try and hide her blush from Bertha. Alice got off of the table first and then me. I said, "You do pick the most unpredictable times to pop up, Bertha." She smiled and cut me a look. "And you pick the most unpredictable places to have a make-out session." This time my face heated up. I looked back at the table. It was a little unpredictable. Even for me.

I could see this was awkward for Alice just as much as it was for me. Bertha relieved Alice by saying, "How about you go and let the others know I'm here?" Alice nodded her head and took the chance to get out of the heavy atmosphere that Bertha had caused. She raised an eyebrow at me and said, "Next time, don't let people be greeted with a make-out session when they walk in the building."

In my defense, I wasn't really expecting Bertha to randomly pop up during that little moment. Alice walked back into the kitchen and said, "I'm going to take a shower. Is the hot water on?" I nodded and told her it should be. Alice thanked me and walked around the staircase to the bathroom. Before I walked out of the kitchen, I told Bertha, "It's good to have you back." She smiled and said, "It's good to be back. I've missed you all so much."

Alice

I hurried up the stairs and dug through my bag to find my nightclothes. My face was still slightly burning with embarrassment at what happened downstairs. I took my phone out and the wrinkled piece of paper fell out from my pocket and landed on the floor. I scooped it up quickly and tore it to pieces.

I couldn't stand that Damien had the nerve to leave his number for me, along with following me around for the past two days or so. You'd think he would of gotten a little but intimidated earlier in the day when he saw Shun walking with me down the street. Maybe he hadn't even noticed Shun. Either way, I didn't want Shun to find the paper and think I might have been seeing somebody else behind his back.

The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Shun in that manner. I knew if Damien kept popping up around me and called me sweetheart around Shun, then that wouldn't put me in a good spot. Once I was sure the paper wouldn't be noticed in the trashcan, I ran down the stairs and into the bathroom where I had left the shower water running for a little while longer than I should of.

Once I was clean, I dried off and put my pajamas on. I had to admit, I did feel a lot safer in the tenement building than I had at Runo's. Maybe because I had four Fallen angels that would stand up for me. Well, three. Adam would be too drunk to do anything other than be a distraction.

I towel dried my hair to its best extent and scooped up my clothes and walked upstairs to put them away in my bag. Shun was sitting on his bed and leaning his back against the wall. I stuffed my shirt and blue jeans into my bag, and saw a tiny piece of the paper I ripped up.

It wouldn't of caught any of Shun's attention, and I picked it up and threw it away it the trashcan next to it just to make sure. I smiled at Shun and walked over to sit down on the bed next to him. He got his arm behind my back and rubbed his hand up and down my spine. Shun then placed a kiss on my temple and said, "I'm really glad you're here tonight. I just feel a lot more at ease knowing you're ok." I smiled and told him, "Me too."

sings- good morning! lol. it's the day before Turkey Day. When family that drives you crazy comes over and eat till they can no longer move. oh what a wonderful time. ^^ lol. my profile now has a new poll. (and it's not about a cover or the story. well, kinda about a story. more like an opinion on a future story) so please check it out. so, just in case i dont upload tomorrow for holiday reasons, Happy Thanksgiving! read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~