Alin grabbed a glass bottle off the coffee table and raced into the hall to find Yekaterina embracing another figure, he couldn't see them clearly, and showering them with kisses.

What? He'd thought she was being attacked, and now…

"I haven't seen you in ages!" she exclaimed, holding the person at arm's length. Now, Alin was able to see them clearly and found that the new arrival was… Eduard? As in, Eduard Von Brock who worked on computers by day and sang in clubs by night? More confused than ever, Alin took a step forward, still unnoticed by the pair.

"Sorry," replied Eduard, "I've been busy at work, both jobs, and my cousins seem to be hell bent on using me as an owl-"

Katya silenced him with a kiss; Alin decided to make his presence known.

"Hey you have a computer programmer on your face," he stated, leaning against the radiator and smirking.

The couple yelped and wheeled round to face him.

"Oh it's okay; he's gone now," Alin grinned.

"What the hell are you doing here?" hissed Eduard, suddenly more hostile than Alin had seen him before.

"Katya let me in," replied Alin, "that's usually how people enter each other's houses nowadays."

"You let a murderer into your house?" Eduard turned to face Katya with an expression of horror. Alin internally groaned; had no one stopped to question that report? Did no one think there was even the tiniest chance he was innocent? He didn't look that shifty, right?

The young woman simply shut the door, locking it. That action did very little to calm Eduard down.

"Look, I don't think he killed anyone," she replied simply, "but Alin needs shelter and I said he could stay with me."

"It's still crazy!" cried Eduard, "have you seen this guy? Even if he didn't murder Tsvetan, I wouldn't want him in my house!"

"Any friend of Tsvetan's is a friend of mine," replied Katya firmly.

"Firstly, that's rude, Eduard, very rude," added Alin, "and secondly, what do you think all those notes between your cousins were anyway?" Alin wrinkled his nose, "we've all been trying to save Tsvetan!"

"He's still alive?' Eduard's eyebrows shot up.

"Only just," Alin shuddered, "look, how 'bout you sit down and I'll explain everything, okay?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Eduard shrugged, "Eli and Tino are intent on keeping me in that dark on the matter, so it'd be nice to hear it straight from the horses' mouth."

"Course," Alin led Eduard into the sitting room and Katya sighed in relief, pushing any disappointment and annoyance down. Yes, she had planned to spend the evening alone with her- secret- boyfriend, but what could she do? A friend was in trouble and she could hardly turn him down. Still, it wasn't like she'd never have a chance to see Ed again.

Katya started to follow the other two when she heard shouts from outside and only moments later someone pounding on the door.

"KATYA! LET ME IN THIS INSTANT!" screamed Ivan, "PLEASE, TELL ME YOU'RE OKAY!"

"Oh," Katya glanced at the sitting room nervously; was it a wise idea to let her brother loose on those two?

"IF SOMEONE DOESN'T OPEN THE DOOR I'LL BREAK IT DOWN!"

Yes it was. Namely because she didn't have a choice.

"Calm down Vanya," Yekaterina soothed, unlocking the door, "I'm perfectly fine, see?"

"Oh thank goodness!" Ivan pulled his sister into a crushing hug, "I thought you'd been killed or hurt!" he held her at arms' length, gazing at her with worried eyes and checking for any signs of injury, "you… are okay, right?"

Katya glanced out the door to find her brother's car, parked right outside her garden, on the sidewalk even, had branches and mud in the wheels. He ruined his nice car just to get to her quickly?

Katya chuckled, "yes, I'm fine. Don't worry so much about me."

"I can't help it!" protested Ivan, "you and Natalya are my family! It's bad enough my little sister's avoiding me without you having troubles too."

"I see," Katya sighed, "Talya's still not telling you what's wrong then?"

"No," Ivan's face fell.

"Well, thank you for stopping by," Katya giggled nervously, "but it's getting late; don't you think you should be heading over to your club or home or-"

"You're hiding something," Ivan stated it as if it were a fact.

"What? No-"

"You are my sister and I know when you're lying," Ivan's face grew darker; "what have you done now? Please, if you're in trouble, just say."

"There's nothing-"

Ivan pushed past her and stormed into the living room. Katya cursed and followed.

"Okay, who else is in here?" he demanded, walking around the room. Katya stood in the doorway and glanced around nervously but there was no one else in the room. Where were Alin and Eduard?

Ivan sighed and looked under the table; "you know, you two would be awful at hide and seek," he commented, laughing childishly.

"Shit!" cried a voice from under the table, earning a glare from Ivan.

"Radacanu?"

"Before you say anything, I didn't murder him!" Alin crawled out- closely followed by Eduard- and stood up to his full height, trying and failing to intimidate Ivan, "you said it yourself you didn't think I done it!"

"A week ago, yes," agreed Ivan, "but now, when there is so much evidence against you…"

"What evidence?" scoffed Alin.

"Well, there's Hera's testimony," began Ivan, "and they found a knife in your apartment." He grabbed Alin by the collar and lifted the man up, "and now you show your sorry face in my sister's home, give some bullshit story and plan to brutally murder her too?"

"What are you talking about?" cried Alin, "what knife? Heracles was the one who grassed?"

"Don't play dumb," growled Ivan, "it said on the news they found a knife with Tsvetan's blood hidden in your apartment. All that's left is to find his body."

"What? Oh God, the real abductors must've put that in there! It was probably to scare me or something and now the cops have found it!" protested Alin, "I haven't been back to my house since this morning! They've had plenty of time to plant it there."

"I thought you said you were with the people who took Tsvet all morning," Katya pointed out.

"Yeah, but just the morning," explained Alin, "they still had a chance to do it while I was wandering around the town thinking." Or they told Natalya to do it while I was talking to them, Alin realised, that's why they asked her to leave! It must have been pre-planned to either frame him or just shock him.

Of course, Alin couldn't explain that to everyone. He was pretty sure Natalya wouldn't appreciate him telling her siblings what she was being forced to do, if they believed him at all.

"Don't buy it," Ivan wrinkled his nose.

"Well it's the truth!" Alin struggled under Ivan's grip, but couldn't break free, "why the hell would I hurt Tsvet? He's my friend! Heck, he's pretty much my entire world! I know who took him and I've met with them and I have a plan to get Tsvet back, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't break my bones or whatever you do to people you hate."

A flicker of doubt spread across Ivan's face; "you… know who took him?"

"Yes, old 'friends' of mine. It's a long story."

"I see," Ivan set Alin down and ruffled his hair, "ah fine, I believe you're innocent, for now anyway."

"Great!" Alin fell silent for a moment, then frowned. "Hera told the cops I was a killer?"

Ivan shrugged, "he was worried," he explained, "the one time you showed up to his place, you seemed odd to him, 'distant and guilt-ridden' were his exact words. Then you disappeared and Tsvetan still hadn't turned up and he thought the kid was long dead and you had something to do with it. He was scared you would hurt someone else he cared about, so tipped the police off as to where you lived. That's all he did, give your address. The cops already pegged you as the main suspect."

"I see…" Alin couldn't be mad at Heracles; the man had done what he thought was right and Alin didn't blame him… much. Yes, he was a little annoyed, but there were more important things to worry about at this moment in time.

"Now," began Eduard, "can we please hear the story from the beginning?"

"Of course." Everyone sat down at the dining table and Alin recounted everything that had happened over the past three weeks, from Tsvetan storming out to the meeting with Jensen and Kirkland. The three listened closely, and by the end not even Ivan had dry eyes.

"They… did what to him?" whispered Katya, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You heard me," Alin looked at the table miserably, pulling at his gloves just to give his hands something to do.

"So, you have a week to get the money?" repeated Ivan.

"Uh-huh," Alin nodded.

"I'll… I'll start a collection at my club," Ivan assured him, "to raise as much as I can. I am pretty sure everyone will donate generously." There was a slightly sinister edge to that last sentence, but everyone chose to ignore it.

"Thank you, I'd really appreciate that," Alin gave a weak smile and the room fell into silence.

"I've been meaning to ask for a while now, but what are you doing here?" Ivan demanded, pointing accusingly at Eduard.

"Me? I- err-" Eduard glanced around nervously, desperately trying to come up with an excuse.

"He was returning my laptop," Katya jumped in, "I got a virus on it a few days ago and he took it to remove the virus. Thank you again for fixing my computer," she added to Eduard, smiling sweetly.

"No problem at all," Eduard pushed his glasses up his face, smiling bashfully.

"Seriously, sis, you're a terrible liar. You don't even own a laptop," Ivan groaned, "so why is he really here?"

"Well…"

"Yes?"

"I… he's my boyfriend."

Silence. Ivan seemed to be taking some time to comprehend what his sister had told him. Finally, he spoke up, voice cracking, "you- you're dating… my sister?"

"Yes," admitted Eduard, "but… you have to believe me when I say I care about Katya very much!"

"You're…" Ivan shook his head in disbelief.

"Vanya," warned Katya, "I'm a grown woman and can make my own decisions."

"I know, but Eduard Von Brock?"

"You don't have to be so rude," scoffed Eduard; "I mean, who would you rather have staying in your sister's home: me or that?" He pointed at Alin, who let out an offended cry.

"Radacanu's relationship with that little Bulgarian boy's always been shady enough that I don't have to worry about him being around Katya."

"Actually, I'm bi- you know what? Never mind…" Alin trailed off, deciding to stay out of the conversation the best he could.

"Vanya," warned Katya.

"Fine, fine," Ivan raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, "you have my blessing. But be warned," he added, looming over Eduard, "if you do anything, anything at all, to hurt my precious sister in any way, I will personally shove a cactus so far up your rear end you'll have needles coming out your ears for a month."

"I understand perfectly," Eduard assured him, "and don't worry, I… well… I care for Yekaterina too much to ever hurt her."

"Good."

Alin chuckled, "oh man, that mental image though!"

"That same applies to you if you do anything to upset Katya while you're staying here," Ivan threatened.

"Yes, sir," Alin gave a salute, then rolled his eyes the second Ivan turned away.

"Well," he began, "I suppose it is time for me to leave now, huh? That bar isn't going to run itself, and I don't want Francis and Toris to worry about me."

"Oh, about that…" Eduard trailed off.

"Yes, you may have the night off," Ivan gave a sweet smile, "you've been working almost non stop these past weeks so you deserve some time off to rest and regain your strength, as I am sure you will be doing, and not anything else that might involve my sister."

"Ivan!"

"Thank you," Eduard blushed slightly.

Ivan nodded and stood up.

"I'll see you to the door," Katya jumped up and followed her brother.

"So…" once the siblings had left, Alin began picking at a thread in his jacket, "Katya, huh? When did you two get together?"

"A few months ago," explained Eduard, "I'd just finished a shift at Ivan's club and Katya was there. She asked me to walk her home because it was late and I did, and, well, I just asked her on a date, blurted it out, really. I was so embarrassed and apologized immediately… but she said yes! Can you believe it?"

"No."

"Well it's the truth. We started dating after that," Eduard's fingers drummed against the table.

"And do you love her?" asked Alin.

"That's a very personal question."

"Oh, right… so do you?"

Eduard sighed, giving a small smile, "I don't know yet…maybe, yes, fine yes! But it's too early for me to be telling her that."

"Right, right," the pair lapsed into silence and Katya re-entered the room.

"So it seems I have two overnight guests," she stated joyfully, "oh, Alin, let me get you some pyjamas; I think I have a set of some that Ivan grew out of somewhere."

"Long sleeves, please," requested Alin.

"I'll see what I can do."