If I have learned one thing today, it is that Blood Dupre does not like to be ignored.

"She is just a doll!"

"Come ooonnn~ let me have a turn!"

"I want to play with her hair!"

"No, I'm doing her hair!"

"No me!"

I sit in misery as a bunch of maids flock around me, preparing me for the tea party. All because I stopped talking to Blood and started reading the book, he set his vultures on me…jerk…

I angrily pout at my reflection in the mirror. Why did they have to stick me in a frillier, childish version of their uniform? Where did they even get it? Jerk face probably planned this!

"Hey! Stop shoving! I want to put some blush on her cheeks!" I groan in despair.

"If you're putting blush on her, I'm putting lipstick on her!"

"But I want to put makeup on herrrr!~" Please make this madness stop!

"She's too young for that crap!" I perk up at the new, definitely guy and familiar, voice. Looking in the mirror to see who came into the room threw the window, I couldn't be happier.

"BIG BROTHER!" Not even caring about my leg, or the evil maids' feelings, I bolt over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. I snuggle my face into his striped fluffy…I missed the fluffy…

"Sup Amy?" He grins, scooping me up and holding me so I'm sitting in the crook of his arm. He looks at my outfit before snorting. "What's with the get up?"

I make a face, "Blood is a cruel, cruel man." Big brother's about to make a comment before a maid cuts him off.

"Excuse me; we must finish getting the young miss ready for the tea party." We look at the maid who spoke, and the five others surrounding her. They're all looking at me like I'm a prized show dog. It's actually pretty freaky.

"My little sister isn't going anywhere dressed like this!" I look at big brother as if he's the Goblin King. He grins back at me, holding up a bag. "Figured you'd get dragged to one of the Hatter's tea parties when the twins kidnapped you, so I knew you'd need something kick ass to wear!"

"Big brother, you're the best!"

"Now just wait a—"

Big brother already ran straight threw the closet door before the maid could finish, slamming it behind us. I was about to call him an idiot before I realized we were in Dee's and Dum's room. I blink in confusion before remembering he could teleport through doors.

After a couple seconds of silence I snigger, "Does this mean you just came out of the closet?"

"You wanna go back to the maids?"

"NO!"

"Didn't think so, now" he dumps what's in the bag on the couch. I can't believe my eyes.

"It's the outfit you got me!" How'd he get it from Gray?

He chuckles, "Yep, when I couldn't find it in your room, I cornered Nightmare. Damn lizard just had to be a freaking stick in the mud, didn't he?"

I frown a little, glaring slightly, "Don't say mean things about Gray! And I thought we agreed I'm the only one allowed to pick on Nightmare." He blinks at me a few times.

"…Did you just scold me?" He tilts his head curiously.

I huff, crossing my arms, "Yes, and I'll do more than just scold you if you're mean to Gray or Nightmare!"

"…That's adorable." He crouches in front of me, resting his chin on his fist. "Scold me more!"

I blush in embarrassment and anger. Stomping my foot, I yell, "That's not funny! Stop being an idiot!"

"Aawwww your cheeks are all red and puffy!" He pokes my check, laughing. "You look like an angry, little squirrel!"

"Ack!" I shake my head violently. "No way! I'm not a squirrel! Squirrels are evil! EVIL, I SAY!"

"Reeally?~ But you have puffy cheeks like a squirrel, so you gotta be one.~"

I growl and grab my purple and pink, cat ears, head band. "I'm an awesome kitty like big brother, not a stupid, evil squirrel!" I glare at big brother, daring him to say otherwise.

He just stares at me a little shocked before grinning like an idiot. "You really think I'm awesome?"

I roll my eyes. "Well duh! I wouldn't have asked you to be my big brother if you weren't so cool." I limp past him to the couch. "Now go in the hall and keep watch. I need to get changed."

Still grinning smugly and like an idiot, he goes into the hall. Once the door closes, I get changed as quickly as possible, throwing the white dress on the floor and putting on my epic mini-big-brother outfit. I keep as much weight off my bad leg as possible. Seriously, where are my crutches! It's really starting to hurt and Gray isn't here to give me my medicine.

I sigh when I'm dress, but put a smile on my face so no one can tell my leg is hurting. I cheerfully yell, "Ready!" At that, big brother came back in, his eyes shining.

"There's my cool little sister!" He runs over, picking me up and putting me on the couch. "Now sit tight while I put these on ya!" I watch big brother pull a small bag from his pocket. "Sorry they're only clip-ons. I'll take you to get the real deal some other time." He takes a couple clip-on earings out.

Turning my head, he puts the one with two pieces connected by a small chain on one ear, part of it clipped to the lode, the other on the higher part of my ear. Then he puts four all the way up my other ear, a small hoop one at the bottom, the rest studs. I tilt my head when he's still holding another small hoop before he put it on my lower lip.

"Perfect!" I didn't know big brother could grin any wider. He picks me back up and starts heading out the room, leaving the dress on the floor. "Time to show off my adorable little sister!" With that he runs out of Dee's and Dum's room.

I really wasn't expecting us to end up exiting into the garden and seeing Dee, Dum, Blood, cake buddy, and Alice sitting at a table covered in sweets. It's decided, the teleporting thing is going to take a while to get used to, but it is really cool.

"Yo! Guess who I got!~" Everyone turns to us and I wave with a big grin.

"Boris, what did you do to her?!" The second Alice saw me she was up and making a fuss. "A-are those piercings?!" I try to dodge her grabby hands, but she ended up grabbing my face anyways and looking at the clip-ons with a horrified face. "What is wrong with you? You can't pierce a little girls face like this!"

"But she looks so badass, I couldn't help it!~"

"That's not the point!" I poke Alice's cheek to get her attention.

"It's okay. They're fake, see?" I pull off the fake lip ring to show her Boris didn't poke a bunch of holes in my face.

"For now,~" big brother purrs out after Alice sighed in relief. I shimmy out of big brother's arms when Alice went for his tail. He kinda earned it for not leaving well enough alone. I flinch, landing on my bad leg.

"Little sis…?" I look up at Dee.

"Yeah," I ask, tilting my head. Why are their faces like that?

"Why are you dressed like Boris?" I watch them get up and walk to me.

"Oh, this," I look down at my dress, "big brother bought it for me a while back! Pretty cool, huh?" I smile at them.

"'B-big brother'?!" I jump hearing them both yell. Dum quickly runs up to me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "He's not your big brother! We are!"

"Yeah! What gives?!" Dee marches over, looking mad. Suddenly he glares at Boris. "You tryin' to steel our little sis, or somethin'?!"

Boris just looks between the three of us confused. He shrugs, "She's the one who asked me to be her big brother. Maybe if you guys were cooler, she would've asked you."

They both tsk, and Dum shouts, "Yeah right! We're way cooler than you!"

Dee continues, "There's no way she'd choose you over us!" I sigh and poke Dum's chest. He looks down at me.

I ask him, with my stomach quietly growling, "Dum, I'm really hungry and my leg's starting to hurt. Can I sit down?" I give him big, sad eyes with a pout. I wonder if he's one of the few who can resist the look.

Dum blinks at me with an odd expression. He stumbles out, "Uhh sure…YEAH you can sit next to me!" He roughly pulls me to the table in excitement. I bite my lip so I don't scream from the pain that shoots up my leg with each step.

"H-hey! No fair! I want to sit next to her too!" Suddenly Dee's on my other side, after Dum forces me onto a chair. I can feel my leg twitching from the pain, but I put a smile on my face so they don't worry. Only Gray and Nightmare are allowed to worry about it, mostly because I can't hide it from Nightmare and Gray just has a way of knowing when it hurts. No one here needs to worry.

"Nicky?!"

"Easy Amy, I'm fine. Here's your order ma'am, please come again!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT, THAT HURTS!"

"If it hurts, why didn't you just say so?!"

"Cause there's a time and place, and in front of a customer is NOT the place. God damn it all, how the fuck did that land on my foot?!"

"Go sit down. I'll get you some ice."

"We're going in the back. There's no way in HELL anyone but you seeing me like this."

That's right. There are certain times when you can let people know you're hurt. Now's not one of them. They're all having a good time. I don't want to ruin it. I just need to sit here, eat cake, and act like nothing is wrong. Besides, everyone's focused on Alice now.

I just sit in my seat between Dee and Dum, listening to everyone else talk to distract myself from my leg. I only say something when I need to and keep smiling. I thought I was pretty convincing. At least until cake buddy spoke up.

"You okay over there, kid?" I glance to cake buddy, confused.

"What do you mean," I tilt my head, feeling my legs throbbing.

"You're looking a little pale, something wrong?" He narrows his eyes slightly.

I bite the inside of my cheek. "I'm—"

"She's fine, chicken rabbit!"

"Yeah, you think we wouldn't know if somethin' was wrong with our little sis?!"

"What did you little pricks just call me?!" I sigh, seeing that everyone's attention turned away from me again. At least I thought it did.

"You sure you're okay, Amy?" I glance up at big brother.

"Yeah, my leg's just starting to feel a little sore. No big deal."

He doesn't look convinced. "Don't you have medicine for that?"

"Yeah, but Gray has it. Besides, it's only starting to hurt because I haven't been using my crutches." I watch big brother's tail flick. He sighs, "If you want, I could take you back to Clover Tower."

"NO! Little sis is stayin' here!" Suddenly I'm trapped in Dee's and Dum's arms. "That stupid lizard's been hoggin' her!"

"It's not fair! We want to spend time with her too!" I just go back to eating the piece of cake in front of me. They should let go sooner or later.

Alice raises an eyebrow and asked, "She has to go back at some point. Haven't you two been visiting her during your breaks?"

"We've tried!"

"But that stupid lizard kept getting' in the way!"

"And I will continue to get 'in the way'." Instantly a real smile covers my face. Turning around, I beam at Gray, who's scowling at Dee and Dum…and maybe my outfit. I'm so focused on Gray, I don't notice Dee and Dum returning the scowl.

"How bold of you, Ringmarc, to trespass into Hatter territory." I glance at Blood, seeing him smirking behind his tea cup.

"My business here has nothing to do with you," Gray snaps back stiffly. I think this is going to get out of hand soon. Time to go back with Gray. I try to squirm out of Dee and Dum's hold, only for their grip on me to tighten. I winch. They're starting to hurt me.

"Get lost! Little sis is stayin' with us!"

"Try and take her, see what happens!" Gray is seriously getting mad now!

"Okay, everyone needs to calm down," Alice says loudly. I look at her surprised. "Dee, Dum, let go of Amelia before you hurt her! On your next break, I'll take you to visit her so there won't be any problems, right Gray?" She looks at him pointedly. His only response his trying to kill Dee and Dum with his glare…I'm surprised it hasn't worked. "Seriously, Gray? Be an adult."

"We…will see."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I flinch away from Dee when he yells, curling against Dum.

"It means just as it sounds. Now unhand Amelia."

"Make us!" Suddenly Alice's fists collide with the twin's head, causing them to let me go, which only led to Gray snatching me away from them.

"Thank you, Alice," he said politely. Glaring at Blood, Elliot, and the twins, he bit out, "Hatters" before briskly leaving. I only had the chance to quietly wave bye at everyone over Gray's shoulder. That…was actually really scary…

On the way out, I see the creepy lady through a window on the second floor. I don't know how I know it's her, but it is. She's staring right at me and I don't like it, but I don't look away. I'm afraid to look away. If I do, something will happen to Gray. Something will happen to Gray and it will be my fault because I didn't watch out for him. Daddy died because I didn't watch out for him.

I flinched at the thought, feeling tears in the corner of my eyes. Once we're through the gate and out of the creepy lady's sight, I bury my face in Gray's shoulder. Holding back tears, I grip his coat tightly. Gray's shoulder feels oddly tense. Did I do something wrong?

I hear him sigh but he doesn't say anything, just keeps walking. It wasn't until we were far away from the mansion did he say anything. "I'm sorry." I peek at his face out of the corner of my eye. "I should have had more self-control than that. I did not mean to scare you."

Clinging to him, I rest my chin on his slowly relaxing shoulder. "It's okay…I'm sorry I made you worried."

He soothingly rubs my back. "That wasn't your fault. I should not have allowed myself to be distracted by Master Nightmare's earlier antics. I was being neglectful of you, please forgive me."

I hum, looking back to where the mansion is. "Hey Gray," he tilts his head towards me, "I'm going to watch your back, okay?"

I can tell he's surprised by that. "That won't be necessary. I am more than capable of defending myself."

"I know, I'd be dead if it wasn't for you." I think back to when Gray saved me in the ally. He didn't have to, but he did. I know I can't do much, but want to be useful to him. "But I'm still going to watch you're back." I don't want to watch you die too.