It was 3:38 AM when Klaus snuck out of Ray's bed. He quickly got his clothes on and opened her door, looking out to see if anyone was awake. He slowly crept down the stairs, the living room was empty and so was the kitchen besides a passed out drunk guy. Klaus registered this as Ray's dad. He stared at the disgusting drunk with a scrunched up nose, then walked out the door. When he got outside the car was already parked outside the house. He walked up to the car as it rolled down it's window.

"You got what I need?" The guy asked. Klaus flashed him the money.

"Yeppppp, now do you have what I need?" Klaus asked, his eyes narrowed. The guy held up the little clear bag of pills. Klaus grinned. "Good. Here you go." Klaus tossed him the wadded up money and he threw the pills at Klaus, Klaus catching them mid air with a face splitting grin. He kissed the bag then swallowed two dry.

"That was a dumb idea." Ben said, appearing beside him. Klaus just rolled his eyes at him. As Klaus turned around to go back into the house, he saw two of Ray's brothers staring at him, they each had weapons in there hands, covered in blood. He couldn't tell if it was there own or someone else's.

"Whatcha got there, buddy?" The ginger one asked, walking closer to him.

"Er, just some fun things. Wh-what are you guys doing?" He asked, taking a tentative step back. The other one shrugged.

"Finishing up some business. You know how it is, don't you Klaus?" The other one took a step towards him. "By the way, I'm Lip, this is Ian. We didn't get to properly introduce ourselves earlier."

"I mean you kind of introduced yourself with that lovely warning." Klaus muttered, pulling out a cigarette from his back pocket, lighting it, and taking a drag. They stared at him silently for a second. Klaus realized this and took the cigarette out if his mouth.

"Not to offend or anything. It was a great warning you know, I thought it was quite fitting. It goes the whole protective brother theme you were going for... Er, sorry?" Klaus bit the inside of his cheek nervously. They stared at him for another minute then they both grinned and started laughing.

"Calm down, it's fine man. I'm glad ray got herself someone who has some actual balls." Lip took the cigarette from him and took a drag then handed it back to him. Ian stepped over and snatched the pills from Klaus's hands.

"Ray doesn't know about these, does she?"Ian narrowed his eyes at Klaus, throwing the pills back at him.

"Why do you say that?" Klaus asked innocently.

"Because disphit, she's a fucking rehabilitation councilor." Lip said venomously.

"Oh right, haha..." Klaus started weakly. "I forgot about that." Klaus gulped, running a hand down his face. "Look, you can't tell Ray. Please, she can't know. I have to have these, I just do."

"You don't need them though." Ben mumbled and Klaus shot him a hateful glare. "You just think you need them, I don't care what you say Klaus."

"Look, you want us to keep your secret just know that there will be a time for you to help us out. And don't forget about it." Lip said to him.

"Are you black mailing me?" Klaus asked with a raised eye brow.

"That's an ugly word." Ian smirked. "Think of it as a favor for a favor. You help us and we help you, but if you don't keep your end of this, just remember how you see us now." Klaus stared at them, Lip had a crow bar and Ian had a baseball bat, both of them with blood on themselves.

Klaus tried to keep a smirk off his face. They were oblivious to the fact that he couldn't be broken, no matter how much they hurt him. While it did in fact hurt, he could take as much as they could dish. "Sure. Sounds reasonable to me."

"Klaus, you're an idiot. What are you doing?!" Ben shouted at him.

"Shut it, Ben." Klaus hissed through clamped teeth.

"What?" Lip asked, turning to him confused.

"Nothing, nothing, just talking to myself is all."

Lip and Ian looked at one another. "Okayyy, well we have to go. Have fun with that baggy, druggie boy." Lip said, Then Ian and him walked off down the side walk, presumably to finish whatever they had started.

Klaus sat down on the sidewalk with a groan. "I'm being threatened by high schoolers." He muttered.

"Very, very, scary High schoolers though." Ben muttered.

"Yeah tell me about it. Thought I was gonna shit my pants when I turned around and they were staring at me. Why didn't you warn me?" Klaus asked Ben accusingly. Ben stared at him incredulously.

"I tried to warn you! You don't listen to me though, I'm just the dead brother."

"Okay, I'll give you that. Fuck, I'm dumb." Klaus muttered.

"Tell me about it." Klaus shot him a look and Ben raised his hands in apology. "Sorry, sorry." Klaus sighed at him and got up, walking back inside and back into Ray's room. He stripped down to his boxers and got into bed with her, his arms wrapping around her waist, his nose smelling her hair.

She smelled like vanilla.. Vanilla and nostalgia. Klaus sighed and squeezed his eyes shut tight, hoping that he wasn't going to lose her.

A month into there relationship and it never came up again between Klaus, Ian, and Lip about the favor or the drugs. They presumably laid off him, seeing how happy he made Ray; or so he hoped.

Klaus was at his dingy little apartment, waiting for Ray to get off another case with a patient so he could have her time and attention to himself.

Ray had just got off of work, sighing at how difficult this guy was being. He was hostile, and bitter, kind of like Frank. Ray laid her head down on the steering wheel, her eyes closed as she sat in the parking lot of a rehabilitation center.

Ray's head jerked back in surprise as someone knocked on her car window. She turned her head to see her Manager Mike. Ray rolled down her window.

"Yeah?" Ray asked hesitantly.

"You okay?" Mike asked in concern.

"Just peachy." Ray responded sarcastically then sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine Mike. Just a little stressed out is all. What's up?"

"Well, if you say so.." Mike said, unconvinced. He pulled out a yellow flier from his back pocket and handed it to Ray. "I know this is last minute but I think you should go. It's tonight at 8:30, formal wear only. You know like, black and white suit and tie type of formal."

"What's it for?" Ray muttered, staring at the badly printed yellow flier, trying to decipher what it said.

"It's a fund raiser for babies with drug addiction due to parents that used while pregnant with them." Mike explained. Ray's heart started breaking after hearing this. Mike knew she couldn't say no. "Every drink you buy, everything you eat, goes straight to the proceeds. There will also be a charity box too for extra. I hope you can dance by the way." Mike added.

"Ugh you know I can't Mike. Whatever, I'll just fake it til I make it. Can I bring a date?" Ray asked. Mike looked shocked.

"You? A date?" He asked, perplexed.

"I have a life too you know." Ray muttered, giving him the stink eye.

"Of course, I wasn't saying that.. It's just.."

"Just what?"

"Well to be honest Ray, you're kind of a work-aholic. Not saying that's a bad thing or anything but uh.. Well everyone kind of had bets on wether you had a boyfriend or not." Mike looked away, ashamed. Ray's mouth fell open in shock.

"Are you kidding?" Ray asked him then stopped for a second. "Wait a minute.. What did you bet?!" Ray pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Uh well.. You see.. Oh man, look at the time! We should both probably get ready for that fund raiser, see you there!" Mike quickly walked away, leaving Ray to stare at his back with a glare. Ray drove to Klaus's muttering the entire time to herself.

"Work-aholic.. yeah right, bunch of jack asses." When Ray pulled up, Klaus was standing outside smoking. When he saw her, he put it out and walked over to her car. The moment he got in, he was assaulted by an accusing question.

"Am I a work-aholic?" Ray asked, turning to him. Klaus's eyes widened, not expecting that.

"Don't answer, change the subject." Ben muttered to him. "She has that look in her eye. The look all females get when they're angry." Ben shivered dramatically.

"Well uh.. you see here-" Klaus had trouble forming words. Ray's mouth fell open.

"Oh my god, I am! How could you not tell me that I'm an bitter old hag with no life?!" Ray exclaimed.

"No, no, no, Freckles you're not a bitter old Hag! You're just a hard worker, there's nothing wrong with that." Klaus tried to reassure her. "What even brought this up?" He asked, confused.

"My manager and co-workers made bets on me about me having a boyfriend or not since all I ever do is work.." Ray muttered, sullenly. Klaus winced.

"Ouch. Maybe you do have no life." He grinned at her. "Maybe I'm just a figment of your imagination, the only way your lonely self can feel love." Klaus said dramatically. One look from Ray set him over the edge and he started laughing.

"It's not funny!" Ray glared at him with flared nostrils.

"It's kind of funny." Klaus said in between laughter. "Hahaha- Ow!" Klaus winced as Ray pinched his arm. "Abuse! This woman just abused me!" Klaus cried out, pointing at Ray. Ray rolled her eyes at him with a sigh. "Oh come on, Ray. Who cares what they think?They're the ones always putting all the work on you anyway so they have no room to talk."

"Yeah I guess you're right.." Ray muttered. Klaus kissed her cheek.

"Of course I'm right! I see Mike texting you all the time about how 'so and so had to call in sick, can you take this case for a day or two' or some bullshit like that that."

"True... Hey question." Ray turned to him. "Do you have any suits?" She asked.

"Suits? Have you seen my wardrobe? Now a skirt, maybe. I've got some interesting bits of clothing here and there but the closest thing to a suit I own is a ruffled button up shirt. It's very 70's, Austin Powers type of shirt." Klaus told her. Ray stared at him and blinked.

"Yeah okay. I'm gonna quickly take you to the store and get you a suit, or at least something nice." Klaus looked at her in confusion.

"Why? What are we doing? Going to a funeral?"

"No, it's a fundraiser for babies who were born addicted to drugs and I was hoping you would go with me. You have to dress nice." Ray explained. Klaus made a face.

"That's not really my scene.." He dragged out. Ray nodded, rejected.

"Yeah, I understand." She said quickly. "I'll go alone. I only have two hours to get ready so I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Ray leaned over him and opened the door then leaned back.

Klaus stared at her for a second, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yep." Was all she said.

"Klaus, I know you're not that stupid. This is important to her and you just said you're not going to go. If it was the other way around, I'm sure Ray would go to whatever stupid event you wanted to drag her to. If you get out of this car right now, you will have fucked yourself." Ben told him, his face serious.

Klaus looked at him, then looked back at Ray. "You know what, I'll go. I understand that this means a lot to you and I want to make you happy." Klaus said softly. Ray turned to him with narrowed eyes.

"What changed?" She asked suspiciously.

"Just the fact that I know that things like this really touch you; I wanna be here for you, and support you." Klaus bullshit her as Ben fed him lines. Things like this weren't in his expertise.

Rah smiled softly at him. "That.. means a lot to me, thank you." She leaned over to him and kissed him on the lips softly. Klaus's eyes closed and he leaned in, putting his hand on her neck. They slowly both broke the kiss, both staring at each other passionately. "We should probably get going." Ray whispered softly.

"Yeah.. we should do... that." Klaus muttered, his eyes cloudy with lust. He imagined her laying naked on her bed, a sculpted masterpiece. They still hadn't gotten any closer to doing anything except on that first night.

About two hours later, Klaus had a suit, shaved the stubble on his face so he had a nice sharpened goatee, and smelled decent for once. He had put his foot down on a tie, opting for a more sexy look with two buttons on the white shirt undone. Now he was just sitting down stairs on the couch of Ray's house, waiting for her to come down stairs.

Klaus listened in on the conversation Debbie and Steve we're having. "You wouldn't want Fiona finding out about you're real name, would you Steve?"

"Look Debs, I kept all my promises. What else do you want from me?"

"I want you to tell her the truth. Or I will." Debbie said firmly.

"I'm going to, I promise. I just need a little time, okay?"

"Fine." Debbie said with a 'hmph', then walked away. Klaus watched as Debbie started climbing the stairs then stopped, turning to him.

"Why are you all dressed up? Are you gonna propose to my sister?" Debbie asked him. Klaus choked on air and started coughing.

"Um, I-I I'm taking-" Fiona who was walking down the stairs, saved him.

"Debs, leave Klaus alone. Go upstairs and make sure Carl doesn't set fire to anything." Fiona told her firmly. Debbie rolled her eyes but walked up stairs, stomping every step of the way. "Hey, you okay?" Fiona asked him. Steve walked into the living room, wrapping his arm around Fiona's waist.

"Yeah, just peachy." Klaus gave her a forced grin.

"You're nervous." Steve stated, or whatever his real name was. Klaus shrugged.

"Tiny bit. I feel like I'm a 30 year old man going to prom again only this time I'm more fucked up in the head then last time."

"Well you kind of are." Fiona told him.

"What do you mean?" Klaus asked, confused.

"Ray never went to any dances. No junior dances, not prom, nothing. Before she lived with us, she lived with her mom who home schooled her and made her into a tiny soldier. Every day, brutal work outs, learning how to clean a gun, shoot it, how to properly stab someone to kill them, how to escape attackers, it goes on. Her mother was planning on making her sterile when she was 18 but died before she could. Ray was fucked up when she came here."

Klaus sat there stunned, not being able to believe his ears. "Why? Why would she do that to her? Make her go through all of that?" He asked, his voice thick, remembering some of his own childhood. His was never that bad but it was similar in a lot of ways. Fiona shrugged with a look of sadness.

"Paranoia? Who knows. No one talks about Laina anymore though. Every time you ask Ray's grandma she just says the same thing over and over again. 'Life is scary, Laina was scarier.'" Fiona recited.

"Ray.. never told me." Klaus muttered, his head in one hand.

"The way to a mans heart is through his 3rd and 4th rib." Klaus looked up at Ray who stood on the stairs, looking beautiful. She had on a beautiful black dress with white stars on it, her hair pulled loosely back, some hair framing her face. She wore a sad smile. "That's what madre always told me."

"You look.. astonishing." Klaus breathed, standing up.

"Thank you. Are you ready to go or should you guys keep chatting about my traumatic past? I can wait." She quipped towards Fiona. Fiona walked up the stairs and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"You look beautiful. Don't stress about things too much, okay? Remember, she can't hurt you anymore." Fiona squeezed her arm comfortingly then walked back down stairs, pulling Steve into the kitchen to talk softly amongst themselves. As Ray walked down the stairs she heard Fiona tell Steve that there great aunt was apparently buried somewhere in the yard.

Ray's head cocked to the side but walked over to Klaus. "Did you hear what I just heard?" She asked him.

"About the relative being buried in the yard? Yeah, what's up with that?" He asked confused.

"I don't know but it probably has something to do with Frank. My great aunt owned this house."

"Yikes. You know every time I hear anything about your dad, it always goes to something extraordinarily fucked up that he's done or currently doing." Ray chuckled at that.

"That's good ol' Frank.

"Ah yes, the drunken hobo is actually a sociopath. I feel like I'm playing that game where you guess who the killer is and what they did it with. Exciting." He told her sarcastically.

"Let's go, dorko." She smiled at him as she took his hand. They left, quickly making it across town and to the fundraiser. It was in a fancy looking building and when they came in it was packed, people dancing as disco colored lights flashed.

Klaus held Ray's hand tightly as he followed her through the crowd. The itch was slowly but surely creeping up on him, the disco lights making him nauseous. Klaus began to sweat, a thin layer coating his forehead. Ray stopped when she found her manager Mike, conversing with some other people.

"Mike! Hey, I made it!" She said loudly, over the music, walking a bit closer with Klaus trailing behind her. Mike turned to her with a smile.

"Hey Ray! I'm glad you came, I knew you'd show up." He smiled at her. "Where's your date?" He asked. Ray pulled Klaus closer to her.

"This is my boyfriend, Klaus." Ray introduced. Klaus glanced to Mike, vaguely recognizing him. Mike did the same, his face shocked.

"It's nice to see you again Klaus. Ray, can I talk to you for a second?" Mike asked as he grabbed her arm, pulling her away from Klaus. Klaus stared at Mike and Ray, wondering what the fuck Mikes problem was.

"When I told you to help him get clean, I didn't mean date him." Mike whispered harshly to her. Ray roughly pulled her arm out of his grasp.

"Look Mike, I like him. More then I've liked anyone in a long long time and I want to be happy. There is nothing in the rules saying that I can't date him. He's a person, just like you and me."

"Yes, but there is a code of ethics. It's unspoken but to say the least you don't go and fuck the drug addict!" Mike whispered harshly.

"You watch your mouth, Mike!" Ray hissed. "I've worked hard for you for the last two years, I finished my schooling early just to work this job full time. I rarely take days off or even a moment for myself, and you sit here and try to lecture me, like I'm some newby that has no idea what they're doing? That's not how this works, bub. Klaus is not just a drug addict, he's not just someone I help to get on the right path. None of them are, they're people. I've made friends with a lot of these people who you write off as drug addicts. So next time you should watch what you're saying, Mike."

Mike stopped talking, his eyes down in shame for a moment, then they looked back up at Ray. "You're right, I'm being insensitive about this and you can date whoever you feel like. I'm sorry, Ray."

"Thank you Mike, I'm sorry for.."

"Trying to rip out my jugular with words? That's okay, I deserved it." Mike smiled at her reassuringly. Ray chuckled at him.

"I couldn't have put it better myself. I'm gonna go and dance. Have fun with whoever you're here with."

"I will." And then they parted ways. Ray turned around only for Klaus not to be anywhere in sight. "Klaus?!" Ray shouted over the music. She heard no response and went looking for him. After 30 minutes of looking for him with no luck, she sighed and pulled out her phone. "Siri, call Klaus Hargreeves." Ray commanded.

"Looking up Klaus Hargreeves." Siri's robotic voice replied. Ray sighed.

"Stupid phone." Ray muttered, about to exit safari when Siri pulled up the results. "I have 3,987 results for Klaus Hargreeves." Siri told her. Ray stopped, staring at the illuminating screen. She clicked on the web page, reading the article. Another 20 minutes later and Ray knew about Klaus more then she had ever known in two months of knowing him.

The last name Hargreeves had always sounded familiar but she had never thought it was that Hargreeves. Ray was lost in thought when Klaus came up to her. "Hey, what's up?" Klaus asked casually. Ray's head snapped up, mouth open to say something when she noticed his appearance. His eyes were dilated severely and he was jittering like crazy.

"Where were you?" Ray asked. Klaus shrugged.

"Oh you know, off exploring. You were so busy with handsy touchy over there that I went and did my own thing." Klaus said coldly.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ray asked, standing up and glaring at him.

"Oh nothing. You know, just wondering if there's something I need to know about you two." He snarked. Ray clenched her teeth.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? I looked for you for 30 minutes and finally gave up looking and sat down. You know you're acting as if-" Ray stopped, staring off in the distance. "Are you high?" She asked softly.

"Don't be ridiculous." Klaus brushed her off. Ray walked up to Klaus and put her hand in his pocket, pulling out a little baggy of cocaine. Ray instantly dropped it as if it burnt her. She took a step back away from Klaus, her hand coming up to her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.

"How could you?" Ray uttered softly, her voice trembling.

"Ray, I can explain-"

"Is this the first time you've gotten high? Are you relapsing right now?" Ray asked him quickly. Klaus didn't say anything for a moment.

"Not exactly.." he muttered low. Ray's whole body turned rigged. "Ray, I'm sorry." He reached out for her arm but she jerked back.

"Stay away from me Klaus." Ray told him, her voice shaky with a sharp edge. He tried again though, hoping by holding her he could calm her down enough to at least tell her he was sorry. She jerked back again, tripping on a chair, quickly getting back up. "I said stay away!" She shrieked at him, tears pouring down her face. Ray quickly turned around, running outside and breathing in a big gulp of fresh air, screaming as loudly as she could, sobbing as she collapsed on the ground.

Ray's whole world was crashing down again, right before her eyes. It was just like Frank all over again. Memories flashed in her mind of Frank, stumbling around, high, drunk, and angry. That memory turned into a memory of her mother, screaming at her to try harder, and a slap to the face.

Another memory, this one deeper then the rest, of a woman speaking to her mother in Russian and then in English.

"You should ease up, she's still young." The woman tried to reason with Laina. A young Ray sat on the top of the stairs, listening in on the conversation.

"I cannot. She needs to be prepared for the world, prepared for the day he comes for her, like he's coming for me. Because when he does, I'm afraid I won't be there to help her."

"Of course you will, Laina. You're one of the most lethal assassins the world has known, you'll kill him before it ever comes to that."

"And if I don't?" The question rang out.

"Then we will be here for her. Like guardian angels, watching, waiting. Because when he does- if he does reach her, she'll need help. No matter how strong she is, no matter how special she may be, she'll need help, just like the rest of us."

"You always did have a way with words Anastasia.. Do you think she realizes yet? The power she wields?"

"I don't think she does. I believe it lays dormant, waiting for the day that she's ready to use it. The only world she knows thus far is the world of the mundane, the world of ordinary humans, not of one of super hero's and super villains. It's a thin veil over her eyes, obscuring her vision from the true nature of things."

"She will need to know the truth.." Her mothers voice trailed off.

"Do you really want to tell her? Tell her that she's the experiment gone right? How does one explain how she came to be? The tests that were done while you were pregnant with her? Any of it. She won't understand, no one would. Let her live her life, as normal as a life with you could be anyway."

"You're hilarious.." Came the dry response.

"I know I am. Let Ray live, Laina. As the Ray of sunshine that she is, let her live."

"Ray?" A voice asked in concern. Ray gasped, jumping as she looked over to Mike. He stared at her in concern. Ray slowly stood up, rubbing her face. "Are you okay?" Mike asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." Ray replied timeless.

"What happened to Klaus?" Mike asked curiously. Ray looked to him with broken eyes.

"He's still doing drugs." She told him simply. Mike sighed.

"As much as I didn't wanna say I told you so.."

"Yeah, I get it Mike. You were right, I was wrong. Is that what you wanted to hear? Because you got what you wanted." Ray walked away from him, going to her car and driving home, her mind somewhere else, every bit of information she had learned, turning in her head.

Klaus's night was turning out very differently. He got home and ripped off the clothes that Ray had gotten him. "Stupid fucking clothes, stupid fucking fundraiser.." He muttered. He got dressed into some normal clothes and sitting in his bed, staring at nothing.

"Why do you never listen to me?" Ben asked him, appearing in front of him.

"Fuck off Ben." Klaus muttered.

"You went too far Klaus." Bens face was serious but Klaus couldn't care less what Ben was saying.

"I said fuck off!" Klaus snapped angrily. Klaus threw his clock at Bens body but it went right through him. Klaus stood up, punching the wall out of anger. "Fuck, I'm so stupid!" He screamed then stormed out of his apartment.

"Where are you going?" Ben asked as Klaus walked down the stairs.

"To get some more drugs." Klaus muttered.

"Isn't drugs what got you into this mess in the first place?" Ben retorted. Klaus didn't respond to him. The rest of the night went by in a blur til Klaus woke up late in the afternoon on a bunk bed. He sat up groggy, confused and dazed.

"You're awake." Klaus turned his head to see a familiar guy that he had met at the rehabilitation center.

"Shit. Am I at the rehab center again?" He asked him.

"Bingo buddy. Don't worry, they can only keep you two days involuntarily." He told Klaus cheerily.

"Then why are you still here? I saw you here last time." Klaus said to him. The guy smiled at him.

"Because I want to get clean." He told him. Klaus didn't say anything to him for a moment.

"Fuck." Klaus uttered, remembering everything that had happened last night. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."