The ride home was made in strained silence. Carmilla was fidgeting on the back seat beside Laura. The journalist could feel the tension coming from the singer's body and she didn't blame her for it. Ell wasn't supposed to be modeling again at all. Mattie had said it would be impossible for her to find another agency that would accept her and yet, she was making a career comeback. Carmilla started biting her nails, which showed how apprehensive she really was, that was the first time Laura had seen her do that. The honey blonde took her girlfriend's hands in hers to stop the nervous movement. She silently caressed her knuckles to show that she was there with Carmilla, no matter what happened next.

When they finally entered the apartment, Carmilla called Mattie and put it on speakerphone so that Laura could be a part of the conversation.

"Hello Kitty Cat."

"Mattie, can you please explain to me why the fuck I've just seen a billboard with Ell on it?"

"What? That's not possible."

"Then Laura and I are hallucinating, maybe Will's been selling beer past the expiration date at Silas." She said sarcastically.

"Just tell me what you saw." Mattie replied calmly.

"There's a huge billboard," Laura said, "in front of Will's bar. I think it's for a sports apparel brand? I'm not sure, but she was only wearing a sports bra and yoga pants."

"She wasn't supposed to be modeling here ever again, Mattie. You said she wouldn't be able to." Carmilla added, angrily.

"Calm down, Carmilla. I'll verify what happened and what agency has taken her in and take care of it. Until then, stay out of trouble. Don't go looking for her yourself, do you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Laura, I'm trusting you to keep an eye on Carmilla, okay?"

"What the actual fuck, Mattie? I don't need a babysitter."

"Laura?" Was all that Mattie said.

Laura looked from the phone to Carmilla and back again with a scared look on her face. She didn't dare saying no to Mattie, but she also didn't want Carmilla to think she didn't trust her to keep her word.

"I-I th-think that Carm knows better than to go looking for Ell, Mattie. I'm sure we'll stay out of trouble." She chose to say.

"Not really the answer I wanted, but it'll do. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Mattie replied and hung up.

Laura could see that Carmilla was still mad and tense and all sorts of messed up at the moment. She sat at sofa looking out the ceiling to floor glass window, but her eyes were clearly not seeing the beautiful view in front of her. The tiny girl approached her quietly and sat down beside her.

"Hey Carm." She said in a soft, whispery voice, taking the other girl's hands in between hers.

When Carmilla turned and focused her attention on Laura's face, she continued speaking.

"We'll get to the bottom of this and solve it together, okay? You don't have to worry. I'm here now and I'll take care of you. If Ell came back with the intention of hurting you, she'll be in for a surprise because I have no intention of letting her get near you ever again. And if your mom is somehow involved in this we'll take care of her too. Whatever they're planning, we'll deal with it together, okay?"

"Together." Carmilla said, swallowing hard and taking her hands away from Laura's in order to cup the other girl's face and kiss her as if her life depended on it.

The next morning, Laura convinced Carmilla to go get breakfast out. Not that she had too much trouble getting the dark haired girl to agree. All she had to do was look at her girlfriend with her puppy eyes and a pout when she said she didn't want to go out and Carmilla caved in. They decided to go to the pancake place Laura had introduced the singer to. On their way there, on Carmilla's motorcycle, they saw another two billboards with Ell.

Laura was trying hard to keep her insecurities at bay. She knew that Carmilla had loved Ell once, but she had never seen the girl before. Now that she got to see what her girlfriend's ex looked like, she felt inadequate. Ell was beautiful. She had luxuriant straight blond hair, glacial blue eyes, alluring lips that looked very kissable, her skin was unblemished, although, Laura thought, this might just be photoshop. Laura knew, without having to see it, that Carmilla and Ell would form a dazzling couple. She knew that Carmilla would never go back to Ell, but she also knew that Carmilla could have any girl she wanted, why would she settle for someone as unremarkable as her?

When they sat down at the same booth from the first time they went there together, Carmilla seemed to notice Laura slightly gloomy mood.

"What's wrong, Cupcake?"

"What? There's nothing wrong." Laura said, picking up the menu to read even though she always ordered the same thing.

Carmilla took the menu from her hands so that she couldn't keep hiding behind it.

"Come on, tell me what's going on in that overactive brain of yours."

"Ell is beautiful." Laura finally said, looking away from her girlfriend.

The singer made a confused face. This was not was she was expecting.

"Yes, she is beautiful. So what?"

Laura sighed and didn't add anything else. Carmilla cocked her head to the side and observed the honey blonde girl. Then, it dawned on her why Ell being beautiful disturbed her tiny girlfriend.

"Hey, Laura." She said. "You want me to tell the story of the time I saw the most beautiful woman I have ever seen for the first time?"

Laura looked at her, gulped and noded. She knew the story of how Carmilla and Ell had met, but maybe the singer was going to be more specific about what she thought of Ell when she first saw her. Before Carmilla could start speaking though, the waiter came to take their orders. When he left them alone, the dark haired girl started talking.

"It was just another day in my life, really, when I saw this woman. I was certainly not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen. I was at this party that my brother invited me to, but it wasn't all that good and I wasn't in a very sociable mood, can you imagine that?" She chuckled and got a little giggle from Laura, which was what she wanted.

"So I decided I'd be better off going somewhere else for good food and wine. There's a restaurant that's a favorite of mine and that I can always get a table at, no matter what time I arrive there, so I chose to go to this place. I had a delicious dinner and some wine, in a far table where I could sit unnoticed. When I was leaving the restaurant, the beautiful woman I've ever seen came out of nowhere and almost sent me to the floor, which seems to be a bad habit she has, actually."

Laura's eyes were brimming with tears by now. She didn't even know how to name the emotion she was feeling. It was a mixture of elation, love, self-confidence, and even a little bit of pride.

"When I got home that night all I could think about was that beautiful woman and how foolish I had been to let her go without trying to get a name and a phone number first. It was my luck that the universe gave me another chance to run into her or I would have lost my chance with this wonderful woman." Carmilla finished with the brightest smile Laura had ever seen on her face.

The waiter arrived with their food, quickly put their plates on the table and left, eyeing a crying Laura curiously.

"Carm, I.. you just. I mean… you have..." The tiny girl tried to speak, but she couldn't get her thoughts out of her mouth while so many emotions were swirling inside of her. She settled for simply pulling Carmilla towards her and kissing her hard, hoping that was enough to make her girlfriend understand how much she meant to her and how much she loved her.

After that their breakfast went smoothly. Laura was back to her shiny disposition, knowing that Carmilla believed her to be more beautiful than Ell worked miracles for her self-confidence, which was something Carmilla couldn't understand; she couldn't see how Laura didn't know how beautiful she was inside and out. Laura talked about her work with enthusiasm, telling Carmilla about her ideas for future articles and how she thought she could help the world be a better place by telling people the truth. Most of her ideas were already familiar to the singer, but right now all Laura wanted was to distract her from their problem that was spread around town in huge billboards.

When they got back home, Carmilla wanted to call Mattie, but Laura managed to convince her to wait because her sister would certainly call as soon as she knew anything. Around the middle of the afternoon, the doorbell rang and Laura opened it to find Mattie and Will there.

"Hello, Mattie. Hi Will." She said, opening the door wide for them to come in.

"Hi little sister!" Will said, hugging Laura so hard that her feet came off the floor. She rolled her eyes at him when he put her back down.

"Hello, Laura," Mattie said, "where's Carmilla?"

"I'm here." Carmilla said, coming into the living room. "Why's Will here too?"

"What? I'm not welcome at your humble abode if it's not to bring you alcohol?" Will asked, hands over his heart, feigning being hurt by her words. Carmilla just ignored him.

"He wanted to know what I found out too." Mattie said, sitting down at one of the armchairs. "Sit." She ordered them all.

"Did you find out which agency took Ell in?" Laura asked as soon as she sat down at the sofa besides Carmilla, taking the singer's hand in hers.

"Yes, I did. However..."

"Good. Have you contacted them about letting her go?" The singer interrupted.

"As I was saying, we won't be able to stop Ell this time, not like this at least."

"What do you mean?" Laura asked, scrunching up her face.

"The agency Ell is modeling for, is her agency."

"What?" Carmilla and Will cried together while Laura just let her mouth fall open.

"It seems like the little imp is not totally useless. She invested the money she made while she was with you Kitty Cat and now she has opened her own agency. They have a few contracts with some brands, but nothing we can really stop."

"You mean to tell me," Carmilla said through gritted teeth, "that we can do nothing to stop her staying here?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Mattie said.

"But why would she come back? Do you know if she's here because of Carmilla?" Will asked.

"So far, she has done nothing to indicate that she means to contact Carmilla at all. But we can never be too careful, she could be after revenge. I have someone keeping an eye on her, they'll let me know if she behaves suspiciously."

"And your mother? She has nothing to do with this?" The journalist asked.

"No. I have double checked their possible connection and found nothing. As obsessed with Carmilla as Maman is, she isn't behind Ell's presence here."

"I don't buy it, I don't think Ell would came back here if she didn't want something from this. I know her, she's the most manipulative person that exists, after our mother." Carmilla got up and started pacing. "I could go talk to her, ask her what she wants."

"No." Laura, Mattie and Will said at once.

"I will talk to her. I invite her to Silas and get her drunk enough to spill the beans." Will said.

"No, I will talk to her, I can do it. I'll give her a piece of my mind and I'll make sure she knows not to get near Carm or I'll use my Krav Maga knowledge on her." The honey blond said, fists up in the air in angry movements.

"No!" Mattie interrupted. "None of you is going to talk to her. I'm keeping an eye on Ell and if she steps out of the line I'll take care of it. I don't want any of you trying to talk to her. I'd rather not have to do damage control in case one of you gets in trouble with her and the media catches wind of it. Have I made myself clear?"

They all nodded in agreement, albeit they seemed a bit reluctant to do so, but who could really say no to Mattie?

Later that same day, Laura stood quietly in the doorway of the room Carmilla used to keep her instruments and work on her music. The singer was playing the acoustic guitar and scribbling down on a writing pad what, Laura thought, was a new song she was composing. It sounded angry. The honey blonde decided that her girlfriend needed a distraction from their problems right now and she knew just the thing to do.

She made a call and was really happy to get what she needed last minute. When she got back to the music room, Carmilla was still angrily playing on her guitar. Laura approached her slowly and put her arms around her.

"Hey babe." She whispered in her ear.

Carmilla relaxed in her arms and put her guitar on its stand, turning and pulling Laura in her lap.

"Hey, Cupcake." She whispered back before kissing the other girl.

Before the singer could try to take things further, Laura stood up and pulled Carmilla up with her.

"Come, you need to take a shower and get dressed. I'm taking you out on a date."

"You are?" Carmilla asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Yes. And we need to leave soon, so come on, let's get ready."

"Where are you taking me?" Carmilla asked as they walked to their bedroom.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Cutie?" Laura answered in her best impersonation of the singer.

"How will I know what to wear if you don't tell me where we're going?" Carmilla said, trying to imitate Laura's usual eager, curious tone.

"I have already picked an outfit for you, it's on the bed." She answered laughing, she was enjoying being the one planning a surprise.

When both girls were ready to leave, Laura asked Carmilla for her car keys.

"Shouldn't we call Oliver?"

"No need, where we are going you won't need a bodyguard, unless you need someone to protect you against me." Laura said mischievously.

"Something tells me I may need it." She said, narrowing her eyes at the other girl.

"Don't be silly. Let's go." Laura said.

Laura parked the car at their destination and, before she could say anything, Carmilla burst out laughing.

"Seriously, Creampuff?" She asked, motioning with her head to the building Laura had parked next to.

"Seriously. This is just what we need right now. And we have the place for ourselves for two hours."

"How did you pull this off?"

"I know the owner and he owned me a favor sooo…"

"You are full of surprises, Cutie." Carmilla said smiling. "Ok, let's do this then."

Laura had taken Carmilla to a trampoline park and, as she said, they had the place for themselves, which allowed them to chase each other around without risking running into anyone else. It also meant they could make out whenever they fell together in one of the trampolines.

"Hey Carm." Laura called from the opposite side from where Carmilla was trying to regain her balance after miscalculating a jump.

"Yeah?"

"I'm challenging you for a game of SkySlam Madness. Come here."

Carmilla jumped her way over to her girlfriend.

"Alright. What do I get if I win?" She asked.

Laura rolled her eyes.

"You can never do something just for the fun of it, can you?"

"What can I say? I have a very competitive nature."

"Ok, fine." Laura huffed. "What do you want if you win?"

"I can ask anything?" She asked, biting her lower lip in the way she knew would make Laura's eyes follow the movement hungrily.

"Uh-huh." The tiny girl agreed, her eyes locked on her girlfriend's lips.

"If I win, we go skinny-dipping on that lake near your father's house the next time we visit him."

Laura choked on air.

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope, I'm dead serious."

Laura stared incredulously at Carmilla before shaking her head with a smile.

"I should have expected something like this from you. Alright, we can go skinny-dipping if you win, but you won't. I rock at SkySlam Madness."

"We'll see about that. What do you want if you win?"

It was Laura's time to bite her lip.

"Well, if I win, we go on that camping trip you didn't let me convince you to go a couple of weeks ago."

"Of course you'd go with that."

"We'll be able to look at the stars Carm, among other things."

"We can look at the stars and then go to a nice hotel for other things, we don't need to sleep on the ground in the middle of nothing."

"You are just saying that to keep up your grumpy act. I know you'll enjoy it when we go." Laura said.

"Ok, I accept this only because I know I will win."

"Let's shake on it."

Carmilla rolled her eyes but shook Laura's hand nonetheless.

"May the best woman win, Cutie."