Hurricane Scott was headed up the coast, while most people were running for cover Ian was planning a romantic evening with his sweet little Dove. There hadn't been a sever storm in those parts in 26 years, and even that hadn't detracted Ian from any thing. Despite the warnings he took off towards the campus.

he'd borrowed Crispin's bike... it wasn't a spider, but it was powerful, sleek. and sexy. He had decided not to call first and pulled up in front of a rather nice house. He did a quick scan of the home, there were three heartbeats in there, most likely belonging her room mates. He couldn't believe it but his palms were slick with perspiration. Had it been that long since he'd courted a woman? With hesitation he knocked on the door.

The door opened almost instantly. A girl, about Dove's age was standing in front of him. She was shorter than Dove, and a little thicker. But the most distinguishing thing about her was her bald head. "is um..." he drew a blank. Would her friends know her as Dove? He cursed himself for still not knowing her real name.

"Rissa!" the girl screeched.

"what?" came Dove's voice, but it sounded muffled.

"your boyfriend is here!" she stood back looking Ian up and down. "well? Come in, your letting all the cold air out." Ian decided he liked this little fire ball. He inclined his head and stepped into a long hall. The walls were decorated with pictures of Dove and her friends, they were on the beach, riding bikes, having a pillow fight.

Ian stopped short. The nighty she was wearing in that picture was more revealing than the mini shirt she'd had on when he'd first seen her. "this way." the little powder keg told him, disappearing into a room. He pulled his eyes away from the enticing photo and went into the room.

It turned out to be a rather large kitchen. Dove was standing at an island in the middle of the room, a spoon full of peanut butter poised at her lips. The look of utter shock on her face was priceless. She had on jeans and a hoodie, looking all domestic and comfortable. "OMG. Liam!" she squeaked, her spoon clattered to the counter.

"wonderful to see you love." he said in his most charming voice.

"this is Liam?" another girl asked, coming into the room behind him. "i gotta tell you I didn't believe you when you said how gorgeous he was." Dove's face was crimson, she looked like she wanted to bolt from the room. "hi, I'm Angel, Rissa's best friend." she held out her hand.

Ian took the offered hand and pulled it up to his mouth for a kiss. She gasped in shook, but fluttered her eyes. "charmed to meet you." this new girl had brown hair, not nearly as dark as Dove's. She was pretty, on any other occasion Ian probably wound have considered sleeping with her. But now, she didn't compare to Doves beauty.

"sorry I didn't call first lovely." he said turning to Dove. "i thought you might want to go for a ride with me. I brought a bike of my own." he offered.

"she can't." Angle told him. He looked surprised. "for one: there is supposed to be a hurricane, she isn't taking that damnable bike any where. and for another: it is her turn to go shopping."

"well then, I shall send round for my car and and we shall go shopping." Ian had to over come his urge to green eye Dove's supposed best friends into leaving. Dove had gotten over her initial shock of seeing him in her kitchen and was outraged.

"well thanks for the chore list mom" she growled. "but I think I am a big girl and can do what I want." she turned to Ian and said in a softer tone. "I'd love to go for a ride, just let me change?"

"no need, I like seeing you this way. You don't have to 'be on' when your around me." he heard her heart skip a beat. She was standing in front of him in what she referred to as her bum cloths, no make up, hadn't done her hair, and he liked it.

"OK" she sounded like she didn't believe him. Once outside she changed from the shy domestic girl to the perky, albeit dark woman he was used to. "this bike is hot." she told him circling it. "is it yours?"

"no," he admitted. "belongs to a mate of mine, but his wife doesn't like it so he keeps it in my garage." she nodded, still examining all the extra features Crispin had put on it. She suddenly stopped and looked at, perplexed.

"vampires get married?" she sounded surprised.

"for sure, in fact our marriages are more binding than human ones."

"how so?"

"for starters, there is no such thing as a divorce for us. Once the words have been said you are together till someone dies." he told her, watching her face to judge her emotions.

"sounds like how it should always be." she said. "So we're taking your friends bike?" Ian was surprised again. She hadn't seemed like the kind of girl who'd be content riding bitch. After being alive over two hundred years he'd come to expect cretin things from cretin people. He could count on one hand the times people had surprised him. This girl had him baffled.

"where exactly do you need to go shopping?" he asked sliding in front of her on the bike. She shrugged before wrapping her arms around his waist. "need a helmet love?" she shook her head, resting it on his back.

"i trust you not to kill me." Ian froze, hand poised over the ignition. She had no idea what she had just said. Before she could catch his reaction he started the bike.

"right then, grocery shopping."

Ian didn't have the need to go to the store, it had been a very long time since he'd shopped for any thing but clothing. Dove pushed a cart along lazily, he watched the way her hips moved when she walked. "did that hurt?" he asked. Pointing to her pierced arms.

"like an SOB." she confirmed.

"than why do it?"

"saw it in a magazine and thought it looked real cool..." she laughed. "at first I'd bang my arm, and get the ribbon caught on stuff. It'd get pulled and snagged and tangled, hurt like hell. Learned real quick to protect it." she grabbed a jar of peanut butter and threw it into the cart.

"you like that stuff?" he asked looking into her carriage. Since they had taken Bones' bike she was only getting what she could fit into the bag she always carried. Her shopping list consisted of things like spaghetti O's, Ramon noodles, and peanut butter.

"sure, it's all right." she headed towards the check out stand.

"if it's not what you like than why do you buy it?"

"because I'm young and stupid." was her explanation. He looked at her waiting for more. " I make a fair bit of coin singing, but tuition is expensive, so is my bike... I spend more money on the things I want than the things I need." Ian could understand that, he had spent a fair but more than his fair share of money on comfort. He didn't like to think of her waning health and how it would be negatively effected by poor nourishment.

"what is wrong with you?" he asked.

"a lot of things." she snorted. "for starters I am stubborn as a mule, I whine when I don;t get my way, I sing in the shower, I sonar..."

"that's not what I meant."

"i know." she sighed. "i have cancer, it's in remission at the moment, has been for a while. But my body is weak. I get sick easily. At least my hair has grown out. Believe me I was once as bald as Beth." he knew she was referring to her chubby little friend from the house.

A scream at the front of the store froze them in their place. A shopping cart came flying through the windowed front of the store, accompanied by winds that had to be at least eighty miles an hour. "the hurricane." she said in disbelief, "it wasn't supposed to come that fast." the wind was picking things up off the shelves, blowing them about the store. Shards of glass filled the air when another cart came crashing through.

"put your arms around me and put you face in my neck." he demanded. She didn't think, just did as he instructed. Ian didn't care that her friends would worry, or if they'd go hungry with lack of the food they were leaving behind. Holding her to him he took off, flying them both home.