I'm trying to be good and making up for lost time, and updated rather quickly. I would love it if you could tell me how you think its going so far.

Cheers for sticking with me. x

Chapter 12

It was Elena on the phone asking for us to drive down to Bear Valley, the next day so I could cross reference my mutt with her dossiers. So, I had the whole afternoon to kill, in relative awkwardness with Reese. Great.

"Sorry you're stuck on babysitting duty." I apologised downing the rest of my soda after the last bite of pizza.

Reese shrugged. "The only thing I had planned was a list of chores. Nothing that can't wait." He said, grabbing my plate and promptly washed it up. I flinched to do the movement myself, what with being by myself for so long, and my serving job – I'd forgotten how it felt to let other people do stuff for you.

"Sit." He told me over his shoulder as unconsciously I had started to rise from the stool.

I sat down. "Okay, so what do you guys do for fun round here?" I asked stretching out my knuckles.

"You can play on the Xbox if you want?" Noah mumbled from the doorway.

I gave a little smile. "I'm not much of a gamer, in fact I kind of suck."

"I'll go easy on you." Noah replied.

"Yeah, like you can win without cheating." Reese barked a laugh. Noah snorted, as I watched their little camaraderie with amusement. "It's about time you played with someone with your, how shall I say… level of skill."

"You want to put money on that?" Noah asked in all seriousness raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you have homework to do?" Reese teased, leaning his back against the work surface, and folded his arms.

Noah shook his head. "Five bucks?" He suggested.

Reese rolled his eyes. "You could at least make it interesting… twenty." He stated laughing.

"Ten." Noah returned.

"Fifteen."

I couldn't help but smile, it was like watching a tennis match between these two.

"Ten." Noah repeated.

Reese sighed dramatically. "Fine ten, you might as well hand it over now though, because you're about to have your ass handed to you."

True to his word, Reese won the ten dollars, but only on a technicality. We were down in the basement in the 'games room' sitting on some bean bags. It had been painted a dark red colour on the walls – I was guessing to give the illusion of warmth, but it was still dam cold down here. At one end there was a snooker table, and a darts board with a collection of old board games gathering dust on a couple of shelves, whilst down the other end we were all sitting on beanbags surrounding a large 42" TV mounted to the wall with about seven different games consoles neatly lined up on a coffee table, with wires trailing everywhere.

"Fancy a game?" Reese offered me his remote. "We don't have to play this; you can choose something else if you want." He motioned towards the bookcase filled with about a hundred different game disks.

"Umm…" I pulled a face.

"We can play Tekken." Noah suggested, turning off the Xbox and moving towards the Playstation. "All you do is button bashing." He smirked.

I shrugged. "Sure, why not." Hmm, getting a bit cold down here. I couldn't help but think as some goose bumps rose up on my arms. Noah chucked me a different remote control, catching it on instinct.

"It's a piece of piss." He told me as he fiddled with the wires, connecting it into the TV.

"Language." Reese scolded him, getting to his feet.

"Sorry." Noah flushed as he looked at me. I waved him down as Reese leaned down next to me.

"You be okay if I just pop upstairs for a minute?" He whispered close to my ear. A fresh wave of goose bumps raised up and shot down my left hand side as his breath tickled my ear. "Sure, sure." I felt the adrenalin pick up at his close proximity, before realising I'm going to be left in a room with an adolescent werewolf by myself.

"I won't be long." He said a little bit louder and looked at Noah, gaining eye contact – as I saw Noah shrink away from him somewhat, before Reese ran up the stairs two at a time.

The game came to life just after that, as Noah settled himself as far from me as he could, explaining what buttons I needed to press to select my character, and power level.

"The graphics are a bit outdated." He said as I started punching random buttons, but to no avail in the game. Noah shrugged. "But it's the easiest game we've got." I saw the smile that lifted the corner of his lips.

"Cheers." I laughed, settling back into silence. Since Reese was doing whatever he was doing upstairs I couldn't let myself relax that much, and annoyingly with the screen graphics focusing my eyes so much, I was just beginning to realise just how tired I was from my days of travelling. By the time Noah next spoke to me, I was finding it a struggle to keep my attention focused on what I was playing.

"You don't have to be scared of me you know." Noah whispered, bringing my awareness bouncing back. I furrowed my brow at him as he paused the game. "I know…" He hesitated. "I can understand why you have to be on your guard around me. But, you don't have to be scared of me." He admitted.

I rested the controller in my lap. "I'm not scared of you Noah." I told him. I caught sight of his brown eyes, hiding behind a flop of his hair. "Really… If you give me your word you're not going to pounce of me, I promise I won't run screaming from the room like some little sissy girl."

He chortled flicking the hair back from his face. "Deal." He smiled, and resumed the game as Reese came back into the room.

"I got you this, one of Nick's girlfriends left it here a few weeks ago." He chucked what looked like a blanket into my lap. As I lifted it up I realised it was a fleece lined poncho.

"Oh, thank you." Wow, a man who thinks on his feet. Never the less, I eagerly put it on, enjoying the immediate warmth the fleece radiated. It smelt of the previous owner, her perfume, Nick; of course, and stale air, like it had been left in a cupboard for a while.

"No worries, gets a bit cold down here. And being from Oz; I don't do cold well." He joked; as I noticed when he sat down he had also put a sweater on.

Elsewhere in the house we all heard a door slam. "Anybody home?" Bellowed Antonio.

"Coming." Noah shouted as he went to turn off the computer game as Reese led me upstairs.

"Rachel." Antonio beamed embracing me in a bone crushing hug. He pulled me back to get a good look, holding my face in between his massive hands. "How are you?" He asked in all seriousness.

I shrugged, not wanting to give too much away. "I'm alright. Yourself?"

This man has an infectious smile. I couldn't help but copy a wry version of it. "I'm good. Glad to be home – Nicky back yet?" He turned to Reese who shook his head.

"Not yet."

Antonio shrugged out of his trench coat, dotted with fat drops of rain water and made his way to the kitchen where he poured himself a coffee. "Well, that's one less for dinner then. What does everyone fancy?"

After dinner was over, Antonio made excuses and left to work in his study some more as he left the three of us to watch a movie in the 'second' living room. I can't say I remember much of the film beyond the first ten minutes of introductions before I fell asleep curled up in one of the most comfortable armchairs I've ever sat in.

"How has she been?" Antonio asked, somewhere off in the distance. My dream state of mind was finding it hard to depict how long it had been since I had snuggled up into the furniture.

"Alright so far, she seems comfortable around Noah. And he's been good around her." Reese replied in a whisper.

"Good, that's one less thing to worry about." Antonio grumbled. "I didn't want her to feel like she has to impose on Jeremy again. It's not fair on her." Reese murmured an agreement and continued talking, but it made no sense to me as I fell into a deeper slumber.

I awoke with a start, kicking my leg off of the armchair as I jumped. My heart racing as I couldn't remember where I was for a second.

"Jeez, don't do that." Reese complained from the sofa. "You almost gave me a heart attack." He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he swung his legs down onto the floor.

"Sorry." I yawned. Shit, have I been down here all night? I felt the stiffness in my neck and legs. Yep, all night.

Reese let out a loud yawn and stretched. "Urgh, what time is it?" He asked groggily.

I looked at my watch, screwing my face up as my eyes took a moment to adjust. "Umm, six forty-five… Did you sleep on the couch all night?" I asked getting to my feet.

He nodded following me out of the room and towards the kitchen, reaching to make a full pot of coffee as I got two mugs from the draining board. "I would have played the gentleman and carried you upstairs, but I know how good your right hook is, so left you were you were." He smirked.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." I replied sardonically.

"Morning kids." Antonio beamed as he came into the kitchen smelling of warm cologne and a positive attitude.

Reese and I both greeted him, as he reached for the first freshly made brew.

"You kids need to pack an overnight bag for tonight; we're heading down to Stonehaven at ten o'clock. So get some breakfast down you." He instructed reaching into the fridge to pull out a twelve pack of eggs and some bacon.

After a four hour drive down to Stonehaven, we were greeted by the twins and Jeremy at the front door.

"Kate, Logan. You remember Rachel don't you?" Jeremy told the little ones, - who I have to say, are not as little as the last time I saw them.

I saw both of their noses flare as they familiarised themselves with my scent.

"You smell a lot better to the last time you were here." Kate giggled and promptly ran off before Jeremy could tell her off. Logan however just stood there watching me, with an identical look his father gives. Quite frightening coming from a five year old.

"Rachel! It's good to see you." Elena greeted striding down the hallway. "Logan, stop intimidated our guest." She tapped her son lightly on the shoulder as he slowly walked away, keeping his eyes on me for as long as possible. She gave me an apologetic smile as she led me into the study. "Lets get down to business shall we?"

Currently I was sitting on the floor in the study looking through her folders of descriptions on known Mutts and last known locations.

"I think…" I cleared my throat, getting the rooms attention. "I think this is the guy." I held up a folder to Elena.

"Terry Marshall." She read aloud, looking suddenly at Clay, as he came to look over her shoulder.

"What's the matter?" I asked getting to my feet.

Clay gave his wife an encouraging look before she turned to me and said; "Rachel, hon… this is the mutt who bit you."