Again, I'm updating really quickly because I am just so excited for where I am in the book right now. And Passion is so amazing! I am putting it down for the first time just to write this. Does anyone else agree that Passion is awesome?

~PennStateGRL4eva~

Daniel slept in his study that night. He did not have the will left in him to just go to one of the guest bedrooms, so he fell asleep on his hard leather sofa, head propped on one arm and his second bottle of whiskey in his free hand. He woke up the next morning with a stiff neck and back, only to find Matthew sitting at his desk going through some papers. "Hey sleep-head." He said to Daniel, not looking up but sensing his awareness.

Daniel stretched and sat up, picking up the whiskey bottle and balancing it between his hands. "How long was I asleep?"

"Well, I left you around midnight last night, its one o'clock now, so probably about thirteen hours."

"Thirteen hours?" Daniel exclaimed, standing up quickly but only sinking back down because of the alcohol-induced headache. "Why didn't you wake me?"

Matthew shrugged. "Because it was superfluous. It was a quiet morning. Luce is still asleep. I guess married people have similar sleeping habits." He teased. "Except Luce wasn't drunk when she fell asleep."

Daniel shot him a look and slowly stood up, wincing at the soreness. "Is Catarina here yet?"

"She'll be here in a half hour, so I'd take some Tylenol and shave if I were you." He suggested. "Oh, and don't worry about the details of everything that happened, Cam filled her in."

Daniel shook his head, trying to clear some of the fog and said, "I think it'd be best if I don't go anywhere near my bedroom." He paused. "Have you seen her?"

Matthew nodded with a grave expression on his face. "I checked on her last night after talking to you. She was awake, kind of. Gabbe and Molly were just trying to get her adjusted to sleeping with wings and all. She does have the scars by the way. They were fresh though and still bleeding, but other than that she was beautiful. Radiant really."

"That's good to hear, if nothing else." Daniel whispered solemnly. Hearing that she was sleeping peacefully was reassuring and that the transformation was short also. "I suppose I should speak to the physician before we leave."

"Which will be when, exactly? You didn't really specify as to when you wanted to do this what with all this craziness." Matthew asked, laying a manila folder down and sifting through it quickly, putting back into the drawer when he didn't find what he was looking for.

"As soon as possible. I want to spend as little time with Catarina as I can, without hurting her feelings."

"Good to hear you still have some humanity in you." Matthew teased, finally looking up and seeing Daniel taking a long pull of whiskey. "You know that won't do anything." Daniel just shrugged. "Come on mate, you need your strength for this mission. You don't want to die, do you?"

Again, Daniel just shrugged. "Does sound awfully appealing right now."

Matthew suddenly appeared in front of Daniel. "Listen, I hate to break this to you this way, but you could have told her. You wouldn't be in this mess if you had and you know it. So do us all a favor and stop moping around. Do you think this is easy on any of us, with the exception of Cam? We all love Luce, granted, your love for her is bigger, but we all love her and are worried about her so quit feeling sorry for yourself and be proactive about this huge fight." He said angrily.

Daniel just stood and stared at his friend, finally saying, "It happened for a reason. Maybe it's better that I'm not the one to teach her how to be an angel and control your powers."

"Look at it however you want, but don't come crying to me anymore." Matthew said before walking out of the room, officially ending the conversation.

Daniel sat down at his desk, running his hands through his hair and picking up the bottle of whiskey to take another drink but stopping when it touched his lips. With nary a thought he stood up, walked out of his study, down the hallway and into his bedroom where Luce was asleep. He stopped at the foot of the bed, simply looking at her. Gabbe was curled up in a chair by the fire, staring at it with sleepy eyes. She was so out of it that she didn't even notice Daniel in the room that he was banned from.

Slowly, avoiding the creaky floorboards at all costs, he made his way around the bed and admired Luce's sleeping form. She looked extremely peaceful, curled up on her side, despite what she had gone through. The trauma from the day before was not evident on her face as she slept. She sighed and shifted onto her stomach, revealing to Daniel the two small wounds on her shoulders. He reached out a hand and stroked two fingers over them, watching as the skin pulled together into a white line that would be there for the rest of eternity.

Through the healing she remained asleep, so ignoring the lump of cotton in his throat, Daniel slid his wedding band off of his finger and picked up her own left hand, putting it on her ring finger to sit beside her wedding band and engagement ring. With one last stroke to her cheek and a whispered, "I love you," Daniel said his goodbyes.

Once he was out in the hallway Cam approached him, handing him a bow and several starshots. "These won't work on her." Daniel said, taking them anyway and walking down the hallway to his study.

"Yeah, I know. They're only for protection on the way there. Or on the way back, but hopefully after killing this bitch we won't have to worry about anything for a while." Cam said, following him into his office. "Oh, and your mother is here. Her car just pulled into the drive."

Daniel sighed, laying the weapons down and walking out of the office. He walked down to the grand foyer of the mansion, a place he had not been to in over two days. He stood on the bottom of the grand staircase with his elbows propped on the banister, watching the passing servants as they went through their day-to-day business. The front doors opened and Catarina walked in, heels clicking on the tiled floor and echoing throughout the large room. She took off her long leather gloves and handed them to the butler. She was wearing a black fedora hat, a tan fitted trench coat, black stockings, tall black heels and large black sunglasses.

"Stand up straight, you look hungover." She demanded in a strong French accent that Daniel had not noticed the last time he had seen her. When she got closer she studied him up-and-down. "Hmm, it seems you actually are hungover."

Daniel sighed. "You can be a bitch to me, I don't really care since I am leaving in about five minutes anyway, but please be nice to Luce."

"Listen to you, caring about your wife that hates you." Catarina said sarcastically, ascending the steps with Daniel trailing behind her with his hands in his pockets.

"What she went through was pretty traumatic, so be nice, teach her the ropes of being an angel, and just be there for her." He said, passing her and leading her to where Luce was hopefully still asleep.

Catarina scoffed. "Please, I'm not a raging bitch with everyone. I do have friends, you know."

"Yeah, well, not here you don't. Respect my friends and I won't have to kill you when I get back." He threatened.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just go do your thing in Spain and I'll do mine here. And when – or if – you come back, I'll be out of your hair. I'll promise you that much."

"You better promise me a Hell of a lot more than that." He growled, stepping closer to her.

"Daniel, come on, we need to get going." Roland called from down the hall. Cam, Molly and Matthew were standing behind him in a loose formation.

Daniel nodded and waved a hand at them and said, "Just, take care of her. She's really scared and freaked right now and needs someone she can talk to." He said in a quieter but no less venomous voice.

Catarina sighed. "Yes, but only because you are my son."

Luce woke up a couple hours later, feeling extremely baffled. There was no pain in her, and despite sleeping for what felt like a long time, she was still fatigued. The only thing she felt was a dull ache in her back. Slowly, hesitantly, she reached a hand around and touched her shoulder, feeling a small welt that was warm. It wasn't uncomfortably warm but she couldn't leave her hand there long either.

A blonde woman that Luce had never seen before walked in, carrying a tray of glasses of water and said in a heavy French accent, "Good, you are awake. I was hoping you hadn't died."

"Who are you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Catarina Grigori, Daniel's mother." She replied with a somewhat quipped voice. "He summoned me to show you how to be an angel."

"Where is he? Why isn't he doing it?" Luce demanded.

"Well you see, for one thing he is under the impression that you hate him and that you never want to see him again and for another thing he went on some mission that he probably won't come back from." She said, smiling when she was done talking.

Luce looked down at her hand, noticing that once again his wedding band was on her ring finger beside her own rings. "How did this get here?"

"He probably came in and said goodbye while you were asleep, thinking that leaving his wedding band with you would console you. What a sap he is."

"I actually like him being a sap. Not that he is one. But it's good to have a husband sensitive to your needs." Luce defended.

Catarina laughed. "Right, like him not telling you that you would lose your baby is the pinnacle of sensitivity. Honey, I don't understand you two."

Luce rolled her eyes and laid back, sighing. Then Catarina's earlier words settled in her mind. She sat up, about to ask her a question but found herself once again alone. As the prior day's events invaded her consciousness, Luce felt herself slipping into a panic attack. What if Daniel did die on this mission? What if he died believing that she hated him? And worse, if he didn't die, how would Luce convince him to come back home?

That's it for now! I have my dance recital these next few days and rehearsals and such so I probably won't update for at least a week. Please review and tell me what you think of Passion!

~PennStateGRL4eva~