AN: This chapter borders on a crackfic at moments but I can't help myself. I just love writing playful!Volturi… enjoy the ride.

"Anna, how do you feel about this dress?"

Sulpicia turned her computer screen toward the girl curled up in the chair in front of the fire. Anna looked to the screen, on it there was a picture of a dress with a bold geometric print on it with large cut outs on the side. Anna considered it for a minute and said, "I think it would look excellent on you, but I'm not sure I could successfully pull it off."

"Nonsense! You just need more practice walking with confidence!"

"Even still, it wouldn't be my first choice for myself… I hope you understand," she said, giggling shyly and turning back to the article on pulmonary embolisms in the medical journal in her lap. She noticed Dora had started including them in the assortment of magazine subscriptions they had in the library.

Sulpicia smirked at her and turned back to the screen just as Dora burst through the door to Sulpicia's rooms. She was talking in rapid Latin on the phone, so Anna assumed it must be to one of the brothers. They had all left on urgent business that morning in a hurry, although not before Marcus assured her that he would be back that afternoon, and that until then, he had sternly told her, she needed to ensure she stayed with Sulpicia or Dora at all times. He had said Demetri would also be keeping watch over her, although thankfully the man seemed content to do that from the hall. She still felt slightly uncomfortable in his presence.

He seemed insistent she knew she was safe, which she was grateful for. Despite this, she still felt incredibly empty without him, and her anxiety had been creeping up on her all day in his absence. She found it distressing that she was so dependent on him, which didn't help her anxiety at all. It just heightened the prickly sensation crawling up her chest.

Dora startled her out of her brooding and said, "Anna, it's Marcus. He would like to talk to you."

She handed her the phone and Anna took it hesitantly and brought it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Piccola," even through the phone, his deep voice was the most beautiful, most soothing thing she had ever heard. The prickling immediately calmed. "Rome has just gotten a foot of snow and we cannot fly out this evening. I am terribly sorry, my darling. You may stay with Dora or Sulpicia if you need company, though. They say they do not mind."

"Oh," her heart sank at the thought that she wouldn't see him until tomorrow. She took a deep, soothing breath. "That's okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Most certainly, my darling. How has your day been?"

"Slow, but good. Sulpicia has been showing me some… errr… very interesting fashion choices and Dora introduced me to her collection of… errr… I believe the museum had them labeled as religious relics but they look a little… phallic to me." A fiery blush took over her face in recollection.

He sighed audibly over the phone and said dryly with amusement clear in his tone, "Yes, she is quite fond of those."

"How is your day? How did the business meetings go?"

"Much slower without you."

She blushed, even over the phone, and he chuckled as if he knew.

"I must go now, piccola. I will be back before you know it. Until then."

"Bye," she said, trying to keep her voice even. She handed the phone back to Dora who was back to talking in swift Latin. She didn't even bother to try and hear what she was saying as the realization sunk in.

She took a deep breath. It's okay, she told herself. It's just a couple hours - not even a full day. She could do it. She had survived 23 years without him. She could do this…

She thought back to the day before, the kissing and the touching and how much she loved hearing about his life and her blush deepened.

"Anna?" it was Sulpicia this time. "Marcus said we should make sure you eat. Are you hungry? Shall we call the kitchens to bring up your dinner?"

"Sure. Thanks Sulpicia," she smiled at her.

Sulpicia got up to speak to someone outside the door and then sat back down. "Now, how about we have a girl's night? Dora and I have never gotten to do a sleepover before! And it's not every day the men are out of the castle! Oh, this is so exciting!"

"You know, I don't think I've ever had a sleepover either," she considered. "I mean, I lived in a dorm while I was doing my residency so I guess that was kind of like one big sleepover."

"But what about when you were a child?" Dora asked, seemingly shocked.

"I didn't really have very many friends."

"Well…" Sulpicia seemed to be trying to lighten the mood and she smiled warmly at Anna, "Now you have us. We shall be your friends!"

Anna smiled back and Dora interrupted. "Alright we're going to need some movies, nail polish, facials, wine, and pizza."

She got to the door too quickly to be human, although still slow enough to be visible to her, which made Anna more comfortable, and disappeared through it.

Marcus stared down coldly at the cowering human in front of him. He was in that gaudy apartment he had found Anna in only a few weeks before, although this time it was this miserable excuse for sentient life on the floor in a puddle of blood, rather than his beautiful mate.

"Please… I'm sorry…" it whimpered.

"You are sorry? What for?" he asked, feigning curiosity.

"I don't know… whatever it is… I'm sorry… please don't hurt me..."

"Don't hurt you? Is that what my mate begged before you beat her half to death?"

"What? Your mate?" the worm looked up at him with confusion before realization dawned on him, "Anna?"

"Do not speak her name," he snarled and, in less than a millisecond, had the man's neck in his grasp and it's back against the wall. It tried to cry out in shock, although it couldn't because of the pressure on its throat.

"You do not deserve to speak her name."

It was turning purple, so Marcus eased his grasp slightly to allow it to breath. It wouldn't be allowed to die that easily. No, it would suffer before it died.

"She's just some cunt. She's nothing, you can have her if you want. I don't care," it pleaded, anger joining with the scent of its pungent fear. What a pathetically predictable human. It couldn't bear to feel the fear, only able to inflict it. He would teach it exactly what had been taught to his mate. The fear, the subjugation, the cruelty… It would beg for death. But he would not grant it. He would show it no mercy, just as his mate had been shown none.

"She's nothing? You are mistaken. She is everything. You are nothing. You do not deserve to look at her, let alone touch her."

"What are you?"

"I am a nightmare you cannot even imagine and I am the last thing you will ever see."

"Anna, would you like some more wine?" Dora asked. The girl was obviously already a little tipsy, but a little more wouldn't hurt… she was so much happier and braver when she was drunk, that much was obvious. They had been able to tell how anxious she was without Marcus, surely he wouldn't fault them for comforting her with the means at their disposable.

The girl giggled and said, "Sure, thanks. This is delicious. I've never dreamed wine could actually taste good."

"Alright, Anna," came Sulpicia's voice from in front of the DVD player. "It looks like we are watching…" she peered at the cover of the disk, "Breakfast at Tiffany's. Although I don't know why you would want to do that, shouldn't you eat before shopping for jewelry?"

Anna got comfortable on the couch, a glass of wine in one hand and the other in Dora's hand as she painted them with polish. She had also shaped them so they were all perfect ovals and Anna had to admit they were very pretty.

"This is really nice," she said happily. "Thank you for doing this."

"Any time," Dora replied. "Sulpicia will never let me paint her nails and Caius will only do it with…" she cleared her throat meaningfully and smirked a little, "Proper incentive."

This sent Anna careening into more giggles, causing the other two to crack up as well.

"You know Dora, I never wanted to have that image in my head. I need to drink more so the alcohol erases that memory."

The pathetic creature had been reduced to a piece of whimpering, begging, quivering tissue within an hour. It was pitiful. But he had no pity. Only rage, which had not been near quelled enough. Every time it begged, he was reminded of his mate's terror, of her injuries, of her nonexistent self-esteem… and it fueled him. He needed to inflict more pain, needed to extract more revenge.

Aro and Caius had watched for a while before growing bored and finding something else to occupy their time, but now Aro flitted in the room and looked at the creature on the ground with a disgusted expression.

He had not wanted to touch it, and Marcus agreed. Neither wanted its memories in his head. Marcus wanted to save his mate the embarrassment. He was sure this pile of flayed meat remembered things his mate would not want any of them seeing. And Aro just did not want that filth floating around his thoughts.

"The snow has miraculously stopped. A runway can be cleared within the hour, brother."

"Good," Marcus said. "I think it needs a break. We will bring it back to the castle. Felix," he called. The man was there in an instant, also sending a glare to the creature passed out in front of them. "I want you to take this and put it in the deepest dungeon we have. And do make sure it doesn't die on the way there."

"Yes, master," he said, and bowed.

"Begin driving now and burn the car once you are there. I don't want its stench contaminating anything we own."

"Yes master," he said again. "With pleasure."

He picked up the mess of flesh and was gone instantly.

"I will have one of the lower guard clean this up," Aro said contemplatively. "We wouldn't want the police looking for him."

"It does not matter if they do. They will not find him."

"Well no, but it would be a shame to waste valuable resources on a pointless endeavor."

Marcus smirked.

"It's good to have you back, brother," Aro said as he clasped him on the back.

"Demetri," Sulpicia called at a normal tone. The man immediately opened the door and walked toward where the three queens were seated around a large TV. It looked to be a movie about nuclear weapons and Angelina Jolie as a Russian spy. He tried to quell his amusement but he was sure he did not do an adequate job in hiding it from the two immortal queens.

"What can I do for you, my Lady?"

"Anna would like chocolate of some kind," she said. He looked down to the very drunk girl on the couch who was blushing – although it was honestly hard to tell, as her face was so red from the alcohol.

"Right away… and perhaps some water too," he added, looking meaningfully at them. "I'm not sure Master Marcus would like it when his mate is ill tomorrow morning."

Both Athenodora and Sulpicia laughed at that while Anna just turned redder.

He went down to the kitchen to find a chocolate cake in the fridge. Perfect. He couldn't remember how much humans ate and did the mental calculations… she really couldn't eat more than a few slices without puking, no? Especially considering how inebriated she was… he finally decided to just cut the thing in half and placed it on a plate. She deserved a little indulgence.

He ran back to Sulpicia and Aro's rooms and knocked on the door before entering when he heard Dora call for him.

He saw Anna's face light up at the sight of the cake. She stared at it and gushed, "Oh my god that looks good. I swear you guys are like that witch trying to fatten me up before you can bake me in a cake and eat me."

All three vampires weren't sure whether they should laugh or not and the girl suddenly caught on to what she had just said. She seemed to consider for a moment and then added, "Perhaps that was a little too accurate."

She didn't seem at all bothered by the conversation, which caused Dora to add in, "Well, we wouldn't bake you in a cake… that's just a waste."

Anna seemed to find this hilarious and burst out laughing. It was a few moments before she tried to calm her breathing, and then said, "Anna cream pie."

She looked over at Sulpicia, and apparently whatever she saw on her face was hilarious as well, as she was sent into more peals of laughter.

"Alright," Sulpicia said. "That's enough wine for the human."

Anna sighed and relinquished her wine to the beautiful woman before her eyes narrowed in on what Demetri was holding and was reminded again of the most beautiful, most magnificent, most wondrous thing she had ever seen… after Marcus, a slightly more sober part of her mind reminded her.

"Give the cake to me," she said, almost reverently. She didn't break eye contact with it as she reached out for it.

"I'm really not sure if you should-"

"Cake," Anna repeated.

Sulpicia sighed. "Fine," she acquiesced. If she let Marcus' mate go into hypoglycemic shock he would definitely kill her…

But for the time being, she would allow the girl the treat. She deserved it. And she was hilarious when she was intoxicated.

As soon as the cake was set in front of her, she shovelled a large piece of frosting covered dessert in her mouth and moaned around it. "Oh my god this is the best thing I've ever eaten."

She looked up again and saw Demetri was staring at her with equal parts disgust and amusement on his face.

"Would you like to sit?" Anna asked, her mouth still half full of the chocolatey heaven.

"I-" he looked around and saw that neither Sulpicia nor Athenodora seemed opposed and sat down. "Thank you, my Lady."

"Why do you call me that?"

"Because that is what you are. You are Master Marcus' mate, therefore you are my Queen."

"Your queen?"

He looked at the other two in confusion and saw them both shaking their heads slightly.

"…. so, how are you enjoying that cake?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject.

She seemed easily dissuaded when she was drunk and said happily, "It's magnificent. I need to find your chef and hug them because the food here is seriously just…"

She trailed off and seemed to forget about finishing her sentence as she took another bite of chocolate.

She opened her eyes to see Sulpicia and Demitri in some sort of staring contest, their lips twitching a little. With a shock, she realized they must have been having another one of those conversations below her hearing range.

"Are you guys… talking?"

They both immediately turned to her and she groaned.

"Ugh, you guys are so cool. Is there anything you can't do?"

"Well, I have not yet found a vampire who can fly without assistance," Sulpicia offered contemplatively and somewhat apologetically.

"There was that Russian child who could manipulate magnetic poles," Dora said.

"Yes, but he had to be wearing metal of some kind to interact with it which counts as assistance."

"Touché, sister."

"Marcus is just so good at everything. And you guys too! How can someone actually be literally perfect?"

"We are certainly not perfect, little sister, we just have a head start at honing ourselves into something nearing it," Dora said.

"And Marcus isn't perfect either, just perfect for you. Although he is stronger and more gifted than most others," Sulpicia added.

"What do you mean?" she asked in confusion, pausing with another bite of cake halfway in her mouth.

"Oh, well you know about his gift, I'm sure. And as you can tell, he was a very strong human. That is just amplified as a vampire."

"His gift?" she asked confused.

"He… hasn't told you?"

"No," she said, intrigued suddenly. "What do you mean?"

"Perhaps this is a conversation you should have with him," Sulpicia said cautiously.

She pouted and then turned back to the screen just in time to see Angelina careening from a helicopter into a lake. She snorted and said, "I guess you could say she was really Russian to get out of that helicopter and had no time for Stalin."

A resounding groan from the room responded.

Marcus walked into Sulpicia's rooms with the rest of his brothers and found his mate asleep on the couch with a blanket tucked over her, his two sisters on the couch, apparently halfway through a movie about Marie Antoinette, if he recognized the period dress and location accurately – which he did.

The room smelled strongly of human food, chemicals from nail polish, and alcohol. The two brothers quickly greeted their mates, each of them distracted from everything else but the other.

He crouched in front of his own mate and ran his hands over her hair, which she was wearing loosely for once. It curled softly, running over her in tangled waves.

She opened her eyes blearily at his touch and shocked more awake when she saw it was him. "Marcus!" she exclaimed, hurling herself into his arms and wrapping hers around his neck tightly. "I didn't think you would be back until tomorrow!"

"It technically is tomorrow," he said softly, smiling at her enthusiasm. He moved them into a more comfortable sitting position on the couch with her across his lap. "And I could not wait to be home with you, piccola."

He could smell the alcohol more strongly now and realized his mate was very clearly very drunk. He cast a look over to wear Dora and Sulpicia were sitting on the couch, looking slightly guilty.

"We only let her have three glasses!"

"It's not their fault," Anna slurred. "I'm a cheap date."

He eyed the remaining quarter of a cake as well and once again looked back at them, giving them another obvious stink eye.

"We've got no excuse for that one," Dora admitted. "She's very demanding when she's drunk."

"I wouldn't be demanding if you wouldn't try and keep me from my delicious cake," Anna replied petulantly.

"You see?" Sulpicia asked teasingly. "Impossible."

"Your face is impossible," Anna grumbled under her breath.

All but Caius smirked at the remark. He was extremely unimpressed with the drunk human's antics and her complete disrespect for his mate and sister. He had spent more than enough of this day around her kind – first during their business transactions and then during Marcus' retribution. He had been looking forward to a human free evening.

Only the look of happiness and his mate's obvious affection for the brat stilled his tongue.

Anna turned back to the TV and pouted, "Aw man, I missed the good part. Has she started at it with that hot Swede yet?"

"Not yet," Dora laughed. "And hot Swede, huh? Marcus, how do you feel about this?"

He laughed. "And here I hoped you liked Greeks."

"Oh Marcus," Anna said and cupped his face. "I do, but…" She waved her hand broadly at the television screen, "Look how tight his pants are."

"Tight pants, you say?" he raised a brow.

She nodded sagely. "Indeed."

"I will take this into consideration."

They settled back into the movie, although Anna and Marcus kept stealing glances at each other throughout it. She felt like a giddy teenager and wanted so badly to fling herself at him. Marie Antoinette had inspired her and she had a sudden need for some thigh high stockings, a feathered hair piece, a large fan and a chaise to lounge on with them.

God, how had she resisted him so far? She was trying to resist her body's reaction as she was certain everyone in the room would be able to smell it and she was not drunk enough to not be bothered by that. But it was really hard. Because he looked fantastically edible. In a battle between him and that cake, he would win. Hands down, every time. Okay, most times.

As the credits rolled, she was back to staring at his face.

"I wonder if you taste as good as you look right now," she wondered.

He laughed softly and she realized she must have said it out loud.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes," came Dora's voice across the room.

"I didn't ask you!"

She laughed at that. "Marcus, I think it's bed time for the human."

Marcus raised a brow at the sleepy girl in his arms and said, "Is that true? Should I take you to bed?"

She blushed heavily at the innuendo and nodded hesitantly.

"As you wish," he said, and stood up with her still cradled in his arms. She was asleep before he even made it out the door.

He brought her to his - theirs, he corrected himself - rooms and felt the comfort at how right it felt to have her back, even just for the time being. He set her on the bed and fetched a pair of pajamas for her. She moaned and turned on her side, burrowing into the blankets.

"Ah, ah, ah my mate. You must change into your pajamas, brush your teeth, and drink this bottle of water before you can sleep."

"Too late, already asleep," came her muffled reply.

"Shall I dress you, then?"

She didn't respond and he took that as a yes. He slowly took her pants and socks off, slipping the soft flannel ones over top of her instead and doing the same with her top. He kept his eyes on her face and she watched him through glazed, half lidded eyes the entire time.

He made certain not to ogle her as he wanted to do. It was disrespectful. And this was not sexual in nature. He was merely taking care of his mate, as he was meant to. He could not help but notice she had gained some weight and was not as emaciated as she had been when she first came though, which pleased him immensely. He went to fetch a bottle of water from the kitchen in his study and returned.

He held her head up and held the bottle to her lips. "Drink," he ordered, trying to keep his voice stern so she wouldn't argue.

She did so, although her eyes were closed again and he was certain she was asleep. When he finally tucked her under the covers, she once again grasped his hand before he could pull away.

He took it as her possibly unconscious desire to have him with her and climbed in behind her. Who was he to deny her anything?

He settled in with her in his arms and breathed in her scent. Although tinged with the alcohol, everything was as it should be.

AN: I feel like I should apologize for this chapter or something. I don't know what happened. But Anna really wanted that cake and would not rest until I gave it to her. She's a monster when she's drunk (I may or may not have modelled it after my own experiences with alcohol…)