"Hahaha no!" Merci giggled breathlessly as Matt chased her around his house.

"Gotcha!" Matt pounced on her after she fell back on the couch. She started kicking when he took his fingers and wiggled them up and down her middle.

"Ok I give up, I give up!" Merci cried. Matt leaned down and kissed her nose.

"I was wondering…" Matt started.

"Wondering what?"

"What are we doing? I mean what are we?" Matt asked.

"What do you mean? We're me and you…" Merci chuckled as she looked up at him, though she knew the serious turn he was about to take.

"I'm talking about us, baby."

"What do you want from me, Matt?"

"I want you. I want us to be together." Matt said. Merci could feel her heart jumping. She knew what she wanted, but wasn't quite sure she could bring herself to say it.

"…I do too." Merci wasn't sure how she felt about that, she just knew she meant it.

"Yeah?" Matt asked excitedly. Merci smiled and nodded her head. He smiled and placed kisses on her face.

"Who is it?" Matt turned around from his duffel bag and saw his little brother standing with Jay.

"What do you mean, 'who is it'?" Matt retorted.

"Oh cut the crap, you haven't wiped that stupid grin from your face all day." Jay said as he removed one of his elbow pads.

"So, I can't happy?" Matt asked.

"Sure you can. So who's the girl behind the glow?" Jeff asked.

"Hey that's none of your business…" Matt grabbed one of his shirts and tossed it at Jeff who quickly ducked.

"Well if you're gonna be snooty about it, at least tell us what she looks like." Jay said. Matt raised an eyebrow at the two and slowly shook his head.

"Oh come on, at least give us that." Jay said.

"Is she at least cute?" Jeff asked.

"…She's beautiful." Matt said.

"And?" Jay pushed. Matt let out a deep sigh and turned back to his duffel bag.

"She's got long dark hair and the prettiest green eyes you'll ever see…"

"Sweet." Jeff smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, what about the body?" Jay inquired.

"That's really none of your business." Matt said, grabbing a sock and chucking it directly at Jay's forehead.

Merci was stretched across her bed taking in the scent of Matt's shirt she was sleeping in. She was happy, for the first time in her life, she was happy. She may not have been in love, but she cared for Matt a great deal. She smiled when she heard her phone ring.

"Hi."

"Hey baby, how are ya?" Matt's voice sounded so sweet over the phone.

"I'm fine, how was your day?" Merci asked.

"It was good. So I was thinking, we've got this big fancy dinner the company has every year coming up, I wanted to know if you'd come with me?"

"The company's having that yearly dinner in a few weeks."

"Fine, I'll be there…" Merci could feel the nausea setting in her stomach. She had been too caught up in being happy she'd forgot the fact that she told Randy she'd go with him. But that wasn't her problem, she could easily say she wouldn't go with him, but if she went with Matt and he saw her, he could very well send everything crashing down. She let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, sorry, I'm fine. What did you say?" Merci asked.

"I asked if you'd come to the company dinner with me." Merci didn't want to say no, really she didn't. She loved spending time with Matt. But the more she thought about it, the bigger the risk she realized she'd be taking. If she was there with all those people, the peers of the men she killed, there's no way she could be sure no one ever saw her any one of those times.

"Merci?"

"Um, can I think about that?" Merci asked.

"Sure baby, take your time."

"Thank you."

"I'll see you Thursday?"

"Of course."

"'Night babe."

"Hey Randy, did you hear?" Cody asked.

"Hear what?"

"Well remember what happened to John, and Phil?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Well get this, cops decided to investigate and they said the night they both died, they had both been with a girl before."

"So?"

"They have her on camera both times, and it looks like the same girl." Cody said.

"No way." Randy now had his attention taken. "What did she look like?" He asked.

"I haven't heard too much, except she's a brunette, and she's gorgeous."

"Is that right? Hmm." Randy thought to himself. It could be one of a million girls, but he couldn't help but entertain the thought in the back of his mind that he could be courting a murderer.