Hey, sooo sorry guys, been so swamped with schools projects and final exams...*really long sigh* anyway, don't hate me, I have 6 days of school, and as much as I love summer, im super depressed because a bunch of my friends are seniors and my favorite teacher is getting transferred...anyway, hope you like the chapter :)

After a while of silence, there was a quiet knock on the door, which Claire ignored, but heard Shane mumble a quiet answer. He must have thought she'd fallen asleep, which she didn't mind. It just meant she didn't have to talk, something she really wasn't up to.

She heard Eve's voice, "What's going on? Is she okay?"

"To be honest? I don't really know. Physically, she's fine. Look, I'll explain later, okay? I want her to rest."

"Alright, dinner will be done soon."

"Thanks, Eve." Shane said softly before Claire heard the door shut.

"Claire?" she looked into her boyfriend's beautiful brown eyes in a silent answer, "You ready to eat dinner?"

Claire grimaced; the stressful events of the day, making her lose her appetite, "Please?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, okay." Claire agreed aloud. Shane seemed relieved to hear her voice again and took her hand to lead her out of his room. She stopped him before they reached the door, "Shane, I really don't want to talk about it."

"That's okay. I'll tell them, if you want, you can make some excuse to leave before I do."

Claire let out a breath, "Thank you."

Shane smiled and bent close to her face, "Anything for you, beautiful." Claire felt tingly all over when he called her beautiful, and the feeling intensified when he pressed his lips to hers. It started quick, but rapidly formed into something more. Something desperate. Something she needed. Shane pulled back all too soon, though, resting his forehead against hers as they both tried to catch their breath, "Slow down, jailbait, or they'll come looking for us and find us in a very compromising position."

Claire rolled her eyes as her old nickname rolled off his tongue, but otherwise stayed quiet and followed him downstairs. Eve looked at them expectantly and she saw Shane shake his head and mouth something, probably along the lines of later, and they grabbed their plates and sat down. Claire's appetite suddenly returned when she saw that they were having tacos for dinner and dived in, seeing Shane smile softly at her.

As soon as she finished her plate, Claire excused herself to her room, quietly slinking up the stairs, hearing Shane's murmuring voice float up with her. When she reached her room, she didn't know what to do. She didn't have any text books or her phone, so she just laid on her bed, eyes closed. It wasn't long before Shane joined her on her bed, "Michael's pretty pissed,"

"He's not going to let me out of the house, is he?"

Shane chuckled, "He's debating it. I told him you were taking a few days off. In a few days he's going to go pick up your bag from the lab. This way you're not stressing over your classes or your phone." Claire nodded, perfectly content with that. Shane leaned over, placing a kiss on her lips, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go change." Claire nodded again and went to her computer, opening her email, telling her parents to call the Glass House, not her cell. She'd get hell if she let her mother panic when she didn't answer, or worse, if Myrnin answered. After closing her laptop, she got herself changed, just in time for Shane to appear in her doorway again, "Damn, wish I hadn't missed that."

"Oh, shut up. Nothing you haven't seen before, perv."

He pointed at himself, his eyebrows rising, "Me? Nah, can't a guy just enjoy his girlfriend?"

"You can when you don't say 'girlfriend' like you're talking about food."

Shane winked at her and climbed into the bed next to her, wrapping her in his arms, "I missed this, you know. Even though it was barely two days, I missed being around you."

"Me too," Claire murmured, wrapping her arms around his torso and laying her head on his chest, where she could hear his heartbeat. She stayed like that all night, not moving, while Shane slept. Claire stayed awake all night. Exhausted, but not able to sleep. She tried, she closed her eyes and listened to Shane's slow, calming heart beat. She kept her eyes closed all night, but never fell asleep.

When the sun's rays shown through the window and Shane began to stir, she hoped she didn't look as bad as she felt. Her head was pounding and she was exhausted and probably a little cranky. The arms around her tightened and Shane pressed his lips to her hair. She looked up at him and her hopes were in vain when Shane looked at her worriedly, "How much sleep did you get last night?"

Claire looked down and shook her head, "I don't know," she mumbled.

He tipped her chin up with his fingertips, "Did you get any?"

He took it as a no when she didn't answer and his eyes softened, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"There was no reason for both of us being tired and grumpy."

Shane shook his head and pulled Claire close in his arms, "So what do you want to do today?"

Claire didn't feel like doing anything. Maybe taking a shower, but she just wanted to lay down, "Not really anything. Can we just watch TV?"

"Of course," Shane chuckled, "go take a shower and we'll go downstairs and relax. Sound good?"

Claire nodded and slowly got up off the bed, picked out some relatively comfortable clothes and went into the bathroom. She got the water started and looked into the mirror and realized why Shane was worried. She looked awful, about as awful as she felt. She stared at her pale complexion, which only made the circles under her eyes more prominent. Sighing, she stepped into the shower that did wonders for her muscles and headache.

She met Shane downstairs who had made the couch look extremely appealing with fluffy pillows and a very soft looking blanket. He smiled at her as she descended the stairs and put a pillow on his lap, patting it. Claire smiled and happily laid her head on his lap as he pulled a blanket around her. They watched some cheesy movies on TV for a while before Claire's sleepless night finally hit her like a ton of bricks and she could barely keep her eyes open, so she stopped fighting it.

Claire woke with such a start to a loud crash that she nearly fell off Shane's lap. She sat straight up as Shane fled into the kitchen. She quickly followed to see Michael and now Shane battling Brandon. The window in the kitchen was shattered and Eve was next to it, blood on her hands. Claire realized she must have fallen or leaned on the counter where the glass was and cut herself.

Great. Two really pissed off vampires and a bleeding girl.