A/N: What?! Another update!? What's happening with the world?

After a cruelly long break, Madeline was ready to get back to school. As she got ready for the trip back, she hummed as the makeup brush swept gently along her jaw, depositing the darker minerals and defining her chin. All girly traces were gone as she finished up and gave herself one last look over. The only thing she hadn't been able to rid herself of were the dark rings stubbornly clinging to the bags under her eyes. Other than that, she looked very well put together in her baggy college sweatshirt, loose jeans and freshly trimmed hair. As challenging as the next semester was bound to be, she was glad to get away from her father's house.

As Madeline left her room, a spring in her step, she walked past her mother, who immediately averted her eyes and turned to walk in the opposite direction as her offspring.

"Mom!" Madeline called after her. The woman didn't turn. The only thing to imply she may have heard was the quickening of the footsteps headed away from the girl. "Mom, don't you want to say goodbye?" Silence. Madeline hung her head. She should have known her mom wouldn't want to be near such a rough looking girl as herself. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Just keep going. Things will look up. Madeline started walking again. This wasn't going to get her down. She had seeing Gilbert to look forward to. That thought in mind, she perked off as she (quite stiffly and formally) said farewell to her father and headed back to school.

The ride was spent picking at her nails, ruining them to a point they hadn't been since before her mother made her get manicures. The ends were either dented with teeth marks or jagged from having been ripped off. The only thing that stopped her was when she ripped one too close to the quick and her finger began to bleed. She pressed on the offending finger, the pain soothing away her worries. She was almost there... Almost... Just a little longer...

Next thing Madeline new, someone was rapping on the top of the car. She roused herself and sat up sleepily, rubbing at her eyes. She hadn't slept so good since before she left the dorms.

"Time to get out, Miss," her driver informed her. The bag she had brought with her was set neatly on the ground, waiting for her to take it to her dorm.

"Thank you," she said softly, stepping from the vehicle. "But on campus, it's Mister. Please don't forget."

"Of course, young man," the driver said warmly. "Now, I've been instructed to come straight home after dropping you off, so I can't help you with your bag, but I trust you can manage?" Madeline nodded. "Good. Have a good semester and show your father what you can do." A short smile crossed her lips and she nodded. "Farewell, then." He pulled her into a short hug before going around to his side and driving off.

That was what Madeline needed to keep her going. Picking up her bag, she allowed herself a bit of tunnel vision as she went straight for her dorm room, paying attention to nothing until she had flopped herself down on the bed. It felt as if the mattress sucked all of the tension from her body, calling her back to sleep. There was still another day before the semester began again, after all.

The door banged open, slamming against the wall and the mattress quickly shoved the tension back into her body like a handsy teenage boy backing off a girl as her father burst in. "Did you miss me?" asked a rather loud German boy, grinning from ear to ear.

"H-how did you get in..?" Madeline asked breathlessly, the shock from his sudden entrance still racing through her body, chasing the blood that her heart was pumping at double its normal speed.

"I was hanging out with Lutz when I heard you come in. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." His weight made the cheap dorm mattress sink down as he settled next to her and pulled her into his arms. "I just really missed you."

"I missed you too." She let herself be comforted by his embrace, her heart restoring its normal rhythm as her body leaned into the familiar one holding it. "It was a long break."

"Ja," he replied, his usual whispery laugh tickling her scalp. "You wouldn't believe the things that I did in all that time."

She turned her head to look up at him. "Did you skin a deer?" It was the first thing that came to her mind.

"What? No." He laughed again and then took a good look at her. "You look like you've been up the whole vacation tracking them, though."

"My parents are... difficult. They want me majoring in something else," she said softly, averting her eyes and cursing the makeup that still couldn't lighten the bags.

"Oh... Well, how about you lay down and I won't be offended if you fall asleep while I tell you about my break?"

The right corner of Madeline's mouth lifted. "I'd like that," she said softly, and then found her way under the blankets.

Gilbert settled himself next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Good now?" he asked. She just nodded and nuzzled her way into his chest. She could feel his voice as it made its way up and out, spinning tales of getting his brother drunk, pushing the car four miles to a gas station, losing his favorite shoes in the snowbank he had just shoveled up and possibly something about wrestling a bear? Madeline wasn't sure. She just knew that the best thing for her at the moment was to listen to his voice and drift slowly off to sleep. Her body so desperately needed the sleep that she didn't even bother to kick off her shoes.