Everyone ordered and chatted.

"Now, you must explain to me how Lily convinced you to come out to Houston, Aiden?" Molly asked.

"Oh come on mama. You know your daughter. Gopher is stubborn as hell when she gets a thought in her head." He chuckled. "She decided this trip would be good for the girls and I would get to see your beautiful face again."

"Gopher?" Kell questioned.

Lily smiled. "Yeah. When I was on set growing up, I ran around and helped out. I like to feel useful, so I would cook for the crew once a week and become a general gopher for people that didn't mind me being around. Aiden worked on one movie with papa making the weapons, and two with mama doing the costuming. Aiden and I just clicked, like a big brother, so I had fun running errands for him."

"Lily is a very intuitive young woman." Leta offered. "She can see the core of a person. So, despite all of the negative rumors that haunted my husband for a while, Lily still wrote to him with encouragement and friendship."

Aiden nodded his head. "I don't really trust most people anymore. But, when my wife and manager found her letters, we started the friendship once again. Since her parents have been on location the past few years, she had spent Christmas with us. Corrupting my daughter with Star Wars and Dr. Who."

Kari jumped in. "And Harry Potter!" Everyone laughed.

"Oh, and she is an amazing cook. She has practically taken over cooking for the holidays." Leta added.

Lily blushed. She was usually shy. She didn't like being the center of attention. Normally with people she knew she was confident and out there. But, in that group, she had people she loved dearly, but then one stranger that made her heart race. They had all crowded in so much that her leg kept brushing his. Her fingers itched to feel the super short stubble of his shaved black hair. She was painfully aware of his every move.

Damn, she had never reacted to a man like that before. Ever.

But, more than the overwhelming aura of masculine power, that made her body sizzle, she felt like there was something familiar about him. About his deep and exotic voice. She just couldn't place it.

It all made her so very self conscious. She couldn't even look at him. She was sure that she would make a fool of herself if she did. Men like him would never be interested in her. Hell, men in general were never interested in her.

She looked up to see Niko smirking at her. "What are you grinning about Uncle Niko?"

He tried to hide it by asking about her travels. She hadn't made it to Austin yet. She had flown into Dallas from Greece earlier in the week, then met up with her parents and they all drove down to Houston together. She had hoped to at least drop off things in Austin, but then, she wasn't sure she wouldn't have freaked out about leaving her artifacts in Austin while she traveled to Houston.

"So, you are in Classical Archaeology like your uncle?" Kell asked.

She nodded. "As long as I get my dissertation finished up in time, I should graduate with my PhD in May."

His brows creased. "You don't look old enough to get a PhD. How old are you?"

"Twenty five." She shrugged, still not looking at him. She would glance in his direction as they talked, but distinctly avoided eye contact. It was irritating the crap out of him. How could he get to know her when she showed no interest?

Kell sighed. "And what are you studying?"

"Ancient Military History. Weapons and armor of Greece and Rome. Well… mostly, I try to focus on the outer limit areas like Thrace, Dacia, the Tauric regions. Places like that. So, my most recent dig was a villa in Corinth that held several weapons caches. By the styles of weapons, it looks like they processed a lot of the slaves from the Dacian Wars on their way to the Colosseum."

His chest grew tight. He just had to spark an interest in a girl who studied him? Hell, he might have actually stayed at that villa. Not that he could see much in the broken and starving state that the Romans had kept him and his brothers in until they reached their destination. Healed and then broken again to be trained as gladiators for their damn entertainment.

His jaw clenched and his fingers fisted at the memories as he tried to regain himself. He had to stay calm. After all, he was split into two with the other half of him still driving. Quickly.

Kell excused himself to head to the restroom where he quickly dissolved the second version and returned to his original form in the Venom. He had another hour worth of driving and he was already emotionally raw.

Kell debated just turning around to head home. Lily didn't show any interest in him. Perhaps he had just gone too long without a woman? If he went to a bar in Dallas, he could find someone else. Right?

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, then memories of his nightmares resurfaced, and waking up to being in daylight and on fire.

He had to go. He had to at least try. Maybe she was just shy? He didn't know. He hadn't pursued a girl in nineteen hundred years. Usually, they came on to him and he just rolled with it. But, she was different.

As soon as he could pull himself together, he focused on creating his doppelganger once more, in the restroom of The Grove. He walked back out to join the table.

The voices he heard stopped him in his tracks.

"What did you do papa?" Lily questioned.

"What do you mean munchkin?"

She gestured toward Kell's empty seat. "This. Kell."

Loukas grinned. "I don't know what you are talking about." His voice was rather too innocent to be believed. And Lily didn't buy whatever snake oil he was trying to sell.

"You are about as ignorant about this game as a fox in a hen house." She growled and crossed her arms. "I don't need my father trying to set me up with men."

Kell was beyond confused by that turn of events. He never wanted his daughter to date at all, let alone thought about setting her up with a guy. And yeah, he and Loukas were friends, but why did he choose Kell? Alright, Kell had been dreaming about Lily all week. So, he was more than a little interested. But, still, why him?

"Loukas!" Molly gasped. "Please tell me that you didn't."

Aiden and Leta had taken Kari back to their suite at the Hilton Americas-Houston next door. So, the family had some level of privacy in the later hours. Few patrons remained.

Loukas just smiled. "Lily. Be a normal girl for once and just get out of the lab. Have fun. Enjoy being young. What is wrong with giving Kell a chance?"

As much as Kell wanted to put an end to her discomfort, he really wanted to hear the answer to that question.

Lily just looked between her father and her uncle. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. "You really have no idea, do you?"

She felt utterly betrayed. She didn't date for her own reasons. Reasons that she knew were childish to some extent. However, they were for her to grow out of on her own time. Reasons, that she just couldn't share with her father. He would never understand.

Before she would lose her temper in the middle of the restaurant, Lily spun on her heels and headed for the door, only to run into Kell.

His eyes held a pain to them that nearly broke her heart. "You are leaving? Because of me?" He whispered.

Her curls bounced. "Did you know?" She watched him. "Did you know that they were trying to set us up?" Her voice carried an accusatory tone by the end.

"No. But, I understand if you see me as a monster and want nothing to do with me." Kell's voice remained even. Low.

Her eyes darted around as she chewed on her lip, grasping her arms tighter to wrap around herself. "It's not you." She paused and gave a half laugh. "God, that sounds so cliche. But, it's true. You are complex. I have a feeling that it would take a while to really get to know you. Not just one dinner. But, through that maze of complications, pain, power, and darkness… you are a good man Kell. You want to do the right thing, even if you don't always know how to go about doing it."

She stopped and looked up into his eyes.

"You are not a monster. You're a hero. And you are not meant to be alone." Her words were low, the tone almost prophetic. As though she could really see into the missing soul. No one had described him that way. Ever.

Leta had said that Lily was intuitive. And he could feel her power. But, it was limited. How in the hell did she see so much?

Every fiber of Kell's being was calling out for her to help make him whole.

The moment Lily realized what she said, her eyes went wide and her hands slid to cover her mouth. "Oh God! I'm sorry. I swear, I am not a freak. I, I- I'm sorry." Then she ran.


Bewildered by what had happened, Kell wanted to chase her down. However, he knew that would have been a bad idea. Perhaps she would return after she calmed. So, he returned to the table to talk with old friends.

The conversation lasted for another hour, then started to wrap up, just as he finally pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.

"So, I managed to leave your dagger in my car. If you don't mind, I am going to run out and grab that so that I can return it." Kell said to Loukas.

"No worries. We are headed to our room at the Hilton. Room 617. Feel free to come on up."