The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)

Frieza sighs as he looks up from his book to the small digital clock beneath the flatscreen t.v. over the mantle. It's bright neon green numbers stated it was 11:17pm. It wasn't like Eve to stay out this late. But then, she didn't go out all that much either. All he ever saw her do is go to and from work and run some errands every now and then.

Must be quite the party they were having. Since she's been gone since 7pm.

Another ten minutes go by before he heard someone at the front door. It sounded like there was some fumbling going on before the door finally opened and Eve came staggering in. She turned around and gave a clumsy wave to Lina. While Drew drove her own car into the driveway and parked it. He then walked up to Eve as she stood in the doorway.

"Hey, you are sure your good?" He asks.

"Yeah...I'm great. I'll just 'hic' go straight to bed and sleep it off. Thanks, Drew." Eve slurred a bit.

"Alright, take it easy. At least we don't have work tomorrow. Got to love these slow periods." Drew said, as he handed her the keys to her Camaro.

"Ehh, if anything I...I'd just be... a little tired in the morning...Good thing you...mainly drive 'hic hic' the boat." Eve slurs.

Drew lets out a slight chuckle.

"True, otherwise we'd be doing crazy circles out there. It would look like a reenactment of the boat scene from the movie; 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. And I'm sure Jack Nicholson would be quite proud." He joked.

Eve started laughing at that. She remembers that movie. Her and Drew saw it a few times growing up. It was one of his dad's all-time favorite movies. While she was laughing, she took a step back and nearly lost her footing. He quickly grabbed her arms to keep her from falling back.

"You ok, do you need me to help you to your room before I go?" Drew asks, with a hint of concern.

She may have been completely shitfaced but even her drunken mind still recalls that she had a secret houseguest that can't be seen by others. So, she shook her head, which turned out to be a bad idea because it made her a little dizzy. Eve had to wait for everything to stop spinning before she moved back again.

"Thanks, but really I'm good. Try not to be too hard on Mattie for getting me so plastered. Though in truth, I needed to unwind a little like he said." Eve told him.

Eve knows how protective Drew could get at times when it came to her. And she knew he wasn't all that thrilled that Matt got her so liquored up Especially, since they knew she didn't hold her liquor well because she hardly drinks.

"No promises there. I'll just sneak a ghost pepper into his sub again when I see him next for lunch." He replied.

She smirked and shook her head again, before leaning in for a hug. The much taller man wrapped his arms around her in return and wished her Happy Birthday one last time. Then he left and got into the passenger seat of Lina's SUV. They both gave her one last wave before driving off. Then Eve slammed the door closed and leaned against it for a few moments.

"I'd ask if you had a nice time. But from how you're looking right now already tells me you did." Came a familiar voice from the couch.

Eve turns her attention to pale head slightly poking over the top of the couch. She grins at him and before she answers him, she clumsily drops her keys into the small dish on the small table by the door. Though she not only missed the dish, but the table, and the keys drops to the mat on the floor. Then she shrugs her coat off along with her scarf and tosses them aside.

"How did you guess?" She says, in a somewhat sing song voice.

'Great, this will be a lot of fun.' He thought, as he saw her stumble over to the couch.

She grasped the top of the couch for stability before inching around the back to the front to plop down on it beside Frieza. The tyrant could tell she was very inebriated. Eve's eyes were a bit glassy and blood shot, and he could smell it on her breath.

"Just how much did you drink?" He asks.

Eve holds up her hand and counts her fingers.

"Two and a half; No, three." She says quite proudly.

Then she looks around and tries to look over her shoulder towards the kitchen. Before she turns back to him with a lopsided grin.

"I have some wine in the cabinet if you want some. I'll go and get it." She says.

Eve tried to get up, but Frieza grabbed her arm and lightly pulled her back down to sit.

"No thank you. And I think you had enough for one night." Frieza informs her.

She lets out a small whine.

"Awww, your no fun." Eve whines.

He snorts at that remark.

"I never claimed to be any fun. Besides it looks as if you had enough fun for the both of us to last the next few days." Frieza replies.

"You just need to loosen up and not be such a tight ass." She says while wagging her finger at him.

Normally, he would've gotten snappy at her for saying that to him. But Frieza also knew she was completely trashed and probably didn't know what she was saying. So, he let this one slide. Besides, she was turning out to be quite entertaining in this state.

"Oh, and I suppose you have some valuable advice on how I can 'loosen' up?" He inquires.

Eve leans back into the soft leather cushions and gives it some thought.

"There are many effective ways you can try. Yoga, meditation, exercise, sex..." She dished out like she was going through a shopping list.

Frieza chuckles slightly on how she throws it all out there.

"Meditation is something I already engage in. I've been doing so since I was a child. I'm not entirely sure what this 'Yoga' is and as for exercise well, it's not something I can participate in just yet due to injuries. As for the last suggestion...it's certainly been a long time since I have engaged in such activities." He says.

Then it was like a lightbulb went off in her head.

"Ah ha! No wonder your so pissy all the time. You just need to get laid!" Eve blurted out, like it was the best idea she ever came up with as a solution.

He arched a brow and smirked.

"Why my dear Eve, that's quite the suggestion you pointed out." Frieza says, while placing a hand to his chest. Then his smirk widens even more.

"By any chance are you offering to participate in it as well?" He suggests.

Eve's blue eyes widen and her cheeks flush at his boldness. Frieza started chuckling at the look on her face. She crosses her arms and levels him with a look.

"Sorry, I prefer my men sane. And human. And I can't say you quite fit the bill. Though I'll hand it to you, despite being an alien your actually pretty cute." She blurted out without fully processing what she just said.

"I am sane, certainly not crazy. But I appreciate your honesty on what you think of me. As well as the fact you just admitted you find me attractive despite the fact I'm not of your race." He replied.

It was only then she realized that by calling him cute, she did entertain the thought that she found him rather attractive. And he quickly caught it and pointed it out too. Eve knew she should be embarrassed and had she been sober, she would've been. But at the current time, she wasn't. She was completely plastered. Hence why her friends have to give her a ride back home to her house.

"Hey, don't let the cute comment go to your head. All I'm saying is you're not completely hideous like most aliens tend to be." Eve said, trying to downplay what she had just told him.

Amusement still danced around in his crimson orbs.

"Oh, and we know a lot of aliens, do we? I don't believe I ever heard you bring this up in passing before." He jokes.

"I don't but I...seen plenty of them in movies. And none of them definitely wouldn't be out there winning some beauty contest." Eve stated.

"You do realize all of those aliens are pure fiction and do not in fact exist. So, in other words you really have nothing else to go by except what others want you to believe about them. Which are some gross misinterpretations. Seeing as I never heard of a species that lays eggs within its host before it burst from their sternum or has some strange inner mouth that can puncture through bone. And I certainly never came across an alien species that have black tubular appendages for hair or crab like mandibles on their faces." Frieza states.

She laughed a little at his statement. Eve knew what he was talking about. Because she had him sit through the movies with said aliens in question, he just described to her. 'Predator' and 'Alien' were popular classics though and a couple of her personal favorite alien movies. And though Frieza wouldn't admit it, she could tell he enjoyed the movies to an extent.

He commented on the Predator's technical abilities to cloak himself and appearing invisible. And he found the alien's biological anatomy interesting. And those were just a couple of comments he dished out while they watched the movies.

"Ok, you got me there. The only real-life aliens I've ever seen were you and some of the others I came across in your reality. Of course, Piccolo was a pretty cool guy. And Majin Buu was pretty funny with his childlike personality and take on things. Even Whis and Lord Beerus were quite fun to be around. Though it was pretty hard viewing Goku and Vegeta as aliens because they look just like humans." Eve admitted.

Frieza leans back into the couch cushions getting comfortable. And before he could say anything, Eve beat him to it.

"You mind if I put the t.v. on?" She randomly asks.

"I don't care, go ahead." He replies.

Eve grabs the remote which was on the side table next to her and turns it on. She settles on the Travel Channel that had on one of her favorite shows, 'Paranormal Caught on Camera'.

"It's funny, the paranormal was one of many topics Drew and I used to debate about when we lived together." She unknowingly says.

Frieza arches a brow in curiosity.

"You used to live with that man? Odd how you never brought that up before." He replied.

Again, Eve was quite wasted and not of sound mind at the moment. So, word vomit was most likely to ensue. And unknowing to her, it will be something she will come to instantly regret come tomorrow when she wakes up and replays this night's conversation with the notorious Galactic Emperor.

"Yeah, I spent a good portion of my childhood, adolescence, and my twenties living with him and his family." Eve blabbed.

The tyrant gave her his full attention now. For a while, he was very curious about this young woman's past. Probably because she never brought it up and appeared very guarded about it. It made him wonder why and what she could be hiding. He knew the liquor loosened her tongue, but he figured he'd just keep pushing while she opted to talk about it.

"And why is that? Where was your own family?" He asked.

A look of melancholy settled over her features. And she was silent for a few moments as she swallowed back the lump forming in her throat.

"I..I don't know where they are." She pauses and takes a deep breath.

"They abandoned me when I was little more than a toddler. If I remember correctly, I was only about two years old at the time. They just up and left me with an elderly neighbor that lived in the apartment across the hall. And...never came back for me." Eve's voice cracked a little.

She had to take another brief pause. Her eyes were beginning to become a little glassy. It was painful bringing up her past. Hence why she normally never did. Hell, there were very few people that knew of it. It took her years before opening up enough to tell her closest friends about it. Of course, she didn't have to say anything to Drew, because he was there and already knew.

"Her name was Marie. She was in her late eighties at the time with full grown kids and grandkids. Though she hardly heard from them or saw them because they lived in different states. She was very kind to me and took good care of me for the next four years. Then one day, I came home from school. I entered the living room and saw her laying on the couch. I didn't think anything of it at first. I knew she sometimes took naps in the afternoon.

I went over to wake her. But when I touched her arm she...was very cold and stiff. At six years old, I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. I leaned over her and started calling her name. But she didn't wake up. She was so still and took me a while to notice that her chest wasn't moving up and down and I didn't hear any breath escape her lips."

A couple tears escaped her eyes at the sad memory. Sometimes, it still feels like it just happened yesterday. It was hard to come to terms with finding the woman whom you viewed as a loving Grandmother dead on the couch.

"I became very sad and scared and started crying. After a couple minutes, I remembered what she told me if there was an emergency. I ran and grabbed the portable phone and dialed 9-1-1. Through my tears all I could get out was she didn't wake up. They asked if I was alone and I said, yes. Then they asked for the location. I told them the address and apartment number and they said they would be there in a few minutes.

The lady on the phone tried to keep me on the phone and keep me talking. But I was just so upset and scared. And I don't remember why I did it. But I dropped the phone and ran out of the apartment. I must've run for several blocks before coming to a stop. And I found myself at the park she'd always bring me to. I sat down on one of the swings and continued to cry.

Hours went by and it got dark. I was hungry and tired. I didn't know where I could get food though. So, I went into one of the tunnels that the kids play in. I laid down and fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next morning to cars driving by." Eve continued.

She sighed and wiped a couple tears away. Before she resumed her story.

"I didn't know what to do. I was alone and scared. To survive I started stealing. I'd go into stores and steal food. A couple times I got caught. But I ran out of there before they could catch me. Finding clothes was even harder for me. For those first several months I wore the same outfit that I was wearing the day I found her dead in the apartment.

It wasn't until I followed a couple homeless people to a shelter that I finally found clothing. They had bins of clothes at the shelter, and I'd go in and out of there a couple times a month during the warmer months for different clothing. It was only during the winter months that I frequented the shelter. Mainly to have a warm bed to sleep in.

The shelter wasn't always pleasant though. A lot of unsavory characters went in and out of there on a daily basis. Some of which would be very nasty to me. A man came in one cold evening. All the beds were occupied that night. So, he came over, roughly picked me up, and dumped me on the floor. He took my bed afterwards, called me a brat, and told me to get lost.

I thought for sure this meant I had to go out and sleep in a snowy alley that night. But luckily, a middle-aged woman in one of the other beds was still awake and saw what happened. She felt sorry for me and said I could share her bed with her.

The next couple years could only be described as a living hell as I continued to survive on the streets. There were plenty of times I ended up eating out of a dumpster because some of the local business owners over at a couple of the grocery stores eventually learned I was a homeless kid that stole. So, whenever they saw me enter their stores, they'd chase me out. One old grubby bastard in particular grabbed me by the arm and shoved me out and into a puddle in the gutter.

So many nights, I spent wondering why this was happening to me. What I did wrong to deserve this kind of life. So many nights I just cried myself to sleep knowing no one cared.

Until one warm day in May changed everything for me. I was eight years old at the time. I was moping around the park when I saw a family of three sitting at one of the picnic tables eating lunch. I recall seeing a familiar bright red cardboard box with a big yellow 'M' on it. They all were laughing and having such a good time. While I watched from behind a nearby slide starving and miserable.

Next to the young woman sat a little boy around my age. He was laughing at something the man sitting across from them said. His attention soon wandered elsewhere as he looked around their surroundings. Not a minute later his eyes landed on me. I gasped in surprise at being caught spying and quickly squatted down out of sight behind the slide.

I was maybe there for a few minutes and by them I wasn't watching the family any longer, for fear of being seen again. I didn't realize someone walk around the other side of the jungle gym where the slide was connected. And practically jumped out of my skin when I heard a voice ask me what I was doing. I quickly turned around and saw it was the little boy I was watching.

I stood frozen to the spot and didn't say anything at first. Eventually I told him 'Nothing' to answer his question. Then I heard the woman calling him. Not a few moments later the couple came around the jungle gym and spotted us. They came over and I started getting nervous. Thinking they were going to yell at me and tell me to go away.

Instead, they smiled at me and said 'Hi' and asked me what my name was. I didn't answer though. Living on the streets for so long, I didn't trust anyone. Not even with my name. They both stood there continuing to observe me. Of course, it didn't take them long to notice the decrepit state I was in. I was in clothes I have been wearing for the last few weeks, had dirt smudges on my hands and cheeks, and my hair was greasy looking.

They asked where my Mommy and Daddy were. I don't know why I said it. But got myself to tell them that I didn't have a Mommy and Daddy. They seemed rather surprised at my answer. And then they asked where I lived. I pointed to one of the play tunnels at the other end of the playground. It's where I usually slept every night during the warm months.

I could tell they were shocked by my answer. They probably wouldn't have initially believed me had I not look like the trainwreck I did at the time. That's when the little boy spoke up again. He looked back to his parents and told them they knew he wanted a sister and asked if I could come live with them. I was pretty shocked myself when he said this.

I never would've come to believe that this small boy had come and saved me. But he did. His parents really didn't need to be told twice. And they asked me if I would like to come with them. They told me I shouldn't be alone that I deserved better than this. At first, I didn't know whether to believe them or not. But seeing the genuine smiles on their faces told me it was not a cruel joke or a trick. For the first time in a long time, someone wanted me.

And when they took me home, just like Marie, they showered me with love and kindness. They raised me as their own alongside their own son. He and I became very close like actual siblings. And his parents became mine as well. I finally had my own family. That day at the park, turned out to be the happiest day of my life.

And the boy in question that made it all possible, was in fact Drew." She ended.

Eve slowly turned her teary gaze to the tyrant sitting right next to her. Usually, she found Frieza to be pretty hard to read at times. But not this time, this time she could see he had a look of what appeared to be a combination of surprise and amazement.

"To this day, he still looks out for me. But then, that is what brothers are for right." Eve stated with a watery smile.

Frieza was quite speechless and didn't say anything at first. When he finally did speak, he found himself saying two words he has never said to anyone before.

"I'm sorry." He said.

A few more tears left her eyes. But her smile never falters.

"I'm not. I have the most amazing family. It doesn't matter if they aren't my biological family. I'm still fortunate to have them in my life regardless." Eve said, her voice cracking once more.

"Well, it's nice to know everything turned out good in the end for you." Frieza replied.

Eve leaned back getting comfortable again. Before turning her gaze back to him.

"Things will eventually get better for you too. They slowly but steadily already are." She told him.

She yawned and started feeling very tired. He noticed her starting to nod off.

"Perhaps it's time to go to bed." He informed her.

But Eve shakes her head.

"No, not yet. Let's just stay up a little longer." She replies.

Frieza's silent for a moment before responding.

"Alright." Was all he said.

Eve gives him a small smile before slowly turning her attention to the t.v. Both of them sat there relaxing silently taking in each other's company. Around a half hour later she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and feel asleep. Noticing this, Frieza turned off the t.v. She appeared very comfortable, laying there with her legs curled up and her head on one of the couch pillows. So, he carefully reached up and pulled the thick throw blanket off the back of the couch. Very carefully, he gently draped it over the sleeping woman.

Then he slowly got up and reached for his crutches that were leaning against the arm of the couch closest to him. Frieza gave her one last glance before he left for his room. He left the bedroom door open in case she woke up and needed something. And got into bed. He lay on his back with the blankets pulled up to his midsection with his arms crossed behind his head.

Again, he found himself deep in thought as his mind drifted back to the young woman who had been tending to him for nearly two months now. Out of all the things he could've learned about Eve, he never would've expected this. He never imagined she'd have such a hellish past. At most, he suspected a tough home life. But not fighting for survival as a child on the streets who had been abandoned when she was little more than a baby.

It certainly explained why at times she was closed off in their conversations and had a hard time trusting others. And quite honestly, he didn't blame her. How can one trust others, when the very people who were supposed to love, protect, and provide for her had just up and abandoned her to a frail old person in failing health only to face a harsh early life on the streets?

Frieza wasn't sure what frazzled him more. The fact that he felt sorry for her or the fact that he has come to admire her strength and resilience at surviving through such an ordeal, and at such a young age.

It was something that stuck in his mind for a good while. Before he was finally able to fall asleep.

Well, at least now we know why Eve was so guarded and aloof when it came to talking about her personal life. Definitely something Frieza sure wasn't expecting. Can only imagine how things will be between them now that she finally spilled. Until Next Time ;)