A/N: I'm a math major. I spent 9 hours today trying to figure out how to do a problem. I forgot to eat for the entire day. I even forgot where I was walking to on-campus and stopped in the middle of the street, looking around confused at where I ended up (I was walking in the wrong direction). Then I forgot to stop talking to myself out loud before somebody walked by close enough to hear me. My point is, if I forget to update, just know that it's only occurred after I've forgotten to take care of my basic needs first. And as always, enjoy the chapter:)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

Unpleasantville

Going home is like being woken up from a dream with a smack in the face. Or a bucket of ice water.

Damon was right – my mom didn't even notice I was missing.

At least she's moving and talking now, even if it is apathetic and listless. She goes to work and comes home, making small talk for exactly one hour before going to bed.

Most days, she forgets to cook because she still isn't eating, but Damon comes over instead, making it a habit to cook dinner with me.

I've been avoiding Elena and her judgy stares. She hates that I'm close with Damon; Stefan does too. He actually pulled me aside to tell me that Damon was "just using me" and "once he's done with me there's a good chance I'll end up dead."

I don't even want to imagine how the confrontation went between the two brothers, but Damon came over that night with all of his limbs intact, so all is well in the world.

Ha. Ha. Right.

Damon still wants to get Katherine out of the tomb, but he doesn't seem to be in that much of a rush. He is, however, very concerned with whoever else is in town that also wants to open the tomb.

Whoever wants to get the tomb open nearly killed Elena.

"As much as I loathe her moral superiority complex and would love to let them attack her, I can't ignore the threat they pose to you, too," he says.

Not to mention, Elena is also Jeremy's sister, so I can't let her die. Instead of letting me hunt the vampire, or vampires, down, Damon wants to take care of it.

My avoidance of Elena has prevented me from catching up with Jeremy, so today I vow to see him no matter what it takes while Damon tries to make amends with Bonnie. Or was he going to find something in some journal about the tomb? I didn't really pay attention when he told me.

Jeremy meets me outside my house to walk to the Grill, automatically opening his arms for me as I open the door and leap into them laughing.

"I have so much to tell you, oh my goshes," I exclaim.

He ruffles my hair and leads me down the sidewalk. "Lay it on me."

"Someone tried to kill Damon in Georgia, but this random, really handsome dude I met in this bookstore ended up being a vampire, and he showed up and ripped the guy's heart out."

Jeremy stares, mouth agape.

"It was so cool!"

"I think we have different definitions of cool, Lace," Jeremy comments. "But who was the random guy? Why did he help you?"

"He said his name was Elijah in the bookstore." I pause, thinking of the genteel man. Mr. Mysterioso. "I'm not sure why he helped us. Probably heard the kerfuffle and decided to be a good Samaritan. He gave me those vibes. He bought me a book."

"He bought you a book?"

"Mhmm. That is what I just said, Jer, keep up."

"He was totally hitting on you," Jeremy chuckles. "Did you get his number?"

"You think?" I ask, cheerfully. "And no, I didn't," I sigh in disappointment. "He didn't seem like the type to text, though. He was very… sophisticated."

"Ooh, Lacey's got herself a man-crush," Jeremy teases.

"Okay, what are you, 12? No, I don't. I just happened to appreciate the whole gentleman vibe he had going on. Anyway, that's irrelevant becauseee…" I trail off dramatically, causing him to motion for me to continue. "Honestly... I'm kind of in love with someone else."

Jeremy stops walking, pulling me to a halt beside him. "No."

I look down, nervously pushing my glasses up my nose. "I think I know what I feel, Jer."

"Tell me it's not who I think it is."

Since the rip-the-bandage-off method worked so well last time, I decide to go with that again. "It's Damon."

Jeremy groans, facepalming. "You love him, Lacey? Really? You love him?"

"Yes, I do," I huff, placing my hands on my hips. "What's wrong with that?"

"Everything is wrong with it!" Jeremy throws his arms up before grabbing mine in his hands. "He's not good enough for you," he says while looking into my eyes. "He kills innocent people."

We arrive at the Grill, and he opens the door for me, leading me to a table.

"You know I don't care about that," I say as we sit down.

"Oh, I forgot I'm talking to a sociopath," Jeremy rolls his eyes. "At least you don't actually kill people. You talk a good game, but when it comes down to it, you'd never hurt a fly."

I open my mouth to protest, but he shoots me a silencing look.

"And don't just say it's because you're afraid of flies and wouldn't go near one."

Drat. He knows me too well.

"My point is," he continues. "I've never actually heard you say a bad word against anyone. You throw out empty threats like no tomorrow, and it's funny as hell, but you're the sweetest person on the planet. And-"

"But I'm not," I interrupt in protest. "I didn't care at all when Mr. Tanner or Vicki or any of them were killed. In fact, I was happy about it," I say softly, looking down at my hands.

Jeremy sighs. "You may have been happy about it, but you never actually tried to do it yourself or said anything bad about them. You just have some weird glitch." Jeremy waves his hand toward me. "Actually, Mr. Tanner wanted to send you to the psychiatric hospital because 'nobody in their right mind could be so sickeningly positive all the time.'"

"What?"

"That's what he said."

"Huh. Somehow that makes him even worse."

"Yeah. But that's my point. You're too good for Damon. He doesn't deserve you," Jeremy states again, and I can feel his intense gaze on me.

"Well, isn't this charming."

I jump in my seat, looking up at the sound of Damon's bitter voice. Oh God, what a way for him to find out.

I stare at the floor, trying to magically open a portal to another dimension or something. Maybe one where nobody else exists.

Damon looks down at me, the smirk on his face not quite hiding the emotion in his eyes as he pulls out the chair beside me and throws himself down into it.

"Damon," I start.

"No," Damon cuts in and turns to face Jeremy.

I sigh, preparing myself for the inevitable argument. I should have just asked Jeremy to come to my house. Or gone to his. Screw Elena's judgy stares. She's sitting a few tables away with Bonnie now anyway.

"It's nice to know how you feel about me."

Jeremy looks between the two of us. "Then you should know-"

"I know Lacey accepts everything I've done and will do. I know I don't have to change to make her happy. I know I'll protect her with my life."

My hands freeze from where they've been twiddling with my fingers. I glance over at Jeremy to find him locked in a staring match with Damon.

Damon leans forward. "She does deserve more, but I'll be damned if I let 'little Gilbert' stand in the way of me trying my hardest to give her just that."

Neither one of them breaks eye contact as the seconds tick by, making me increasingly nervous. What does he mean by that? He's still trying to get Katherine out of the tomb for crying out loud!

I have to stop myself from interrupting the moment with a joke to break the tension.

Eventually, Jeremy relents, and I see his shoulders relax. "Okay," he says simply, holding out his hand in a peace offering.

Damon takes it, nodding once.

"Whew!" I release a long breath that I didn't realize I was holding. "I feel like I've run a marathon with all of that stress."

Damon stands up, resting his hands on my shoulders and massaging them gently. "I've got a Bonnie to get in good graces with," he says, looking pointedly towards Bonnie, who is walking across the restaurant.

He leans down, pressing a kiss to my head. "We'll talk later." He gives me a look before walking away to intercept the Bon-Bon.

I turn back to Jeremy, trying to push the thought of Damon and I's upcoming talk out of my head. "Are you happy, Tweedledum? Do you approve now?"

"It's hard not to, after that moving speech and everything," he grumbles. "But if he hurts you, I'll stake him in his sleep."

I roll my eyes. "If he hurts me, I'll add him to my revenge book and mutilate him myself."

"We just went over this; you couldn't hurt a fly. But sure."

I scoff. I could totally hurt someone, I've just never had to before. One of these days when I have to, he'll see. That'll show him and I'll get to say I told you so.

"Whatever let's play some pool," I say, sauntering over to the pool tables. I'm horrible at the game but refuse to let anyone teach me because it totally adds to my charm.

"You said you got an A on your extra credit paper," I change the subject. "How did that end up going?"

Jeremy sets up the table and breaks. "I actually met a girl at the library. She was super into all the vampire folklore, but I tried to discourage her as much as I could."

He studies the table. "Stripes."

"So, you wrote your paper on vampire folklore," I laugh.

"Yeah, I figured with everything going on it was fitting."

As Jeremy completely obliterates me, a girl walks up to our table with a hesitant smile.

"Hey, Jeremy."

"Oh, Anna, hey."

Jeremy turns to me. "Lacey, this is Anna, that library girl I was telling you about," he says with a pointed look. "Anna, this is my best friend, Lacey."

I give her one of my most winsome smiles and my signature handshake, immediately liking the girl when she just laughs and shakes back just as enthusiastically. "Jeremy!" I shout. "I love her!"

Anna nods agreeably with me, smiling. "Yeah, Jeremy. Now I know why you weren't at all put out by my awkwardness."

Jeremy shakes his head at the two of us. "I should have known you two would get along."

I laugh, reaching my hand out to pat his arm. "Time to resign yourself to third wheel life."

I hold out my hand for a high-five from Anna, which she immediately gives me.

"Seriously, we could be sisters, though," she remarks.

Jeremy studies us, dismayed.

"So how'd it go?" Anna asks. "What'd your teacher say about the vampires? Did he believe it?"

I meet Jeremy's gaze with concern.

"I don't even believe it. It's just a paper, Anna," he says while putting away the pool cue. "Anyways, we, uh— we should get going."

Motioning for me to follow, he starts towards the exit. I look back at Anna with a pout and she runs up to stop me, grabbing my forearm.

"Do you wanna do something later, maybe?"

"Su-"

"She can't," Jeremy interrupts. "We're stuck on punch duty at the school dance."

"We are?" I stare at Jeremy, mouth hanging open.

"Well, I'm failing English, so I copped a plea."

"But why do I have to be roped in with you? I'm a stellar student," I complain.

"You skipped school to go on a road trip with Damon. I got you out of your make-up essay."

You see? This is why Jeremy is my best friend.

"Alrighty then!" I clap my hands together. "Punch duty it is."

Jeremy chuckles and starts walking away again, my arm in his grasp, but I do a twirly evasive maneuver and end up right back in front of a laughing Anna.

"Come with us!" I exclaim. "It's a 1950s-decade dance."

"Lace." Jeremy shoots daggers at me while I stick my tongue out at him.

Anna smiles broadly. "I'll be there."

Then, she turns around and walks swiftly away.

"I don't understand why you want to get away from her so badly," I scold Jeremy. "She's almost as fun as me."

"Nobody can be as 'fun' as you," Jeremy teases. "But she's really pushy, and I don't want her getting any closer to discovering vampires are real."

"I guess I understand that, but it's a school dance. Lots of unsuspecting humans there," I reassure him. "It'll be okay."

XX

Damon is waiting outside the Grill when we leave, waving me over.

I give Jeremy a hug goodbye as he wishes me luck. What a good sport. I know he doesn't really like Damon, but he always has my back.

Literally. He gives me a rough shove from behind in Damon's direction, hurtling me towards him.

"Let's go for a drive," Damon says.

I climb in the passenger seat and Damon takes off. Silence fills the car.

Never one to hold back what I'm thinking, I blurt out the question. "Does what you said earlier mean you like me?" I start nervously messing with my hands. "I mean, Katherine… She… well. I mean, you..." I make a frustrated sound. "What I meant was…"

Damon cuts me off. "I know what you mean." He focuses on the road. "I still want to get Katherine out of the tomb," he says quietly.

Well, it was worth a shot, bucko.

"Oh, well, of course!" I rush out. "I totally understand, I was just-"

"Lacey," he cuts me off again. "I wasn't finished."

I zip my lips and throw away the metaphorical key, then promptly lunge my arm back out and grasp the air, fake unlocking my lips again. "My lips are sealed," I say before repeating the former process again.

A toothy smile breaks out on Damon's face, but he still doesn't take his eyes off the road. "Ah, Lace," he sighs out as he reaches for one of my hands, lacing his fingers with mine. "How could anyone be around you and not fall in love with you?"

My eyes widen a comically large amount. I have to fight to keep my jaw from dropping, remembering that it's supposed to be locked.

Damon brings the hand laced with his to his lips. "I wasn't expecting you when I came to Mystic Falls," he explains. "But there you were."

There I was.

"And there I was."

There you were.

"I do love Katherine," he continues. "But I never felt with her like I do with you. It's… different." He sounds far away, absorbed in memories of a century past. "But none of that matters now."

He finally looks over at me, smiling at the stunned expression my face is frozen in. "You're like sunshine on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, you're the month of May," he sings, teasingly.

I can't help the wide grin that takes over my face, making my cheeks hurt.

He focuses back on the road as he clears his throat. "What I'm trying to say," he pauses for a beat. "Is that my life has never been half as happy as it is now with you in it, and I love you for it." He turns and gazes into my eyes. "I love you, Lacey."

Turning to the road again, he clenches the steering wheel. "And what all happened in Georgia, with… Elijah," he spits out. "Made me realize that I don't want anyone else to have you, and… I don't want anyone else but you."

A pause, then, "Jeremy was right, I don't deserve you. But I'll spend every day of my life doing everything I can to keep you happy."

I'm speechless, mouth hanging open. He loves me. He sang me a little love song! He was jealous of Elijah. He's… he's choosing me over Katherine. He's choosing me over the literal love of his lifetime.

"I'll be selfish with you this one time in asking you to be mine, but never again. Because I love you, Lacey, I will always do right by you. I'll never stop trying to be everything you deserve."

Realizing that I have yet to respond, and Damon is waiting patiently, I scramble for words.

"You too!" I blurt out. "Er. Me too! I mean, yes! Or- thank you. I mean…" Taking a deep breath, I try again. "I love you too, I mean."

"You're perfect." Damon kisses my hand again and laughs. "My lovelace."

XX

That night, I put on a ruffle-collared shirt and my best poodle skirt for the decade dance, not that I have more than one or an assortment of colors, because really, ahaha. Who would have that many?

Damon informs me of a little run-in Elena had with a vampire that was stupidly invited into the house after he posed as a pizza delivery boy. He'll be attending the dance with me as my date to help keep an eye out on Elena for Stefan, but Jeremy and I are meeting up with the three at the school.

At the front doors, leaning against the building and waiting like my personal knight in shining armor is my very own beau, except his armor is a leather jacket and the jacket is matte black, not shiny or silver.

I'm giddy with happiness knowing that I get to call him mine.

"Damon!" I call out as I skip up to him and into his open arms. He twirls me around, chuckling.

"I'll take punch duty first, Lace," Jeremy offers, strolling up behind us. "You guys can dance for a few songs."

Damon puts me down and offers me his arm. "Shall we, milady?" I giggle and spear my arm through his, letting him lead me into the gym.

I look around, taking in the atmosphere. Noticing Alaric standing across the room looking at us, I wave my hand a bit too enthusiastically, making my wrist hurt. Damon grabs it, rubbing his thumb softly over it and rolling his eyes while offering Alaric one of those single nod greetings that guys do when they're trying to be cool.

I continue to scan the room, wincing when I see Elena and Stefan standing with their heads suspiciously close and staring over at us.

They start to make their way over and I start frantically yanking on Damon's jacket. "Mayday, mayday!"

Damon throws his arms around my waist, pulling us backwards to the middle of the dance floor. He leans his forehead down to meet mine as he starts to sway us back and forth.

I bring my arms around his neck, smiling serenely until a hand on my shoulder yanks me back.

Damon growls, looking up to see Stefan standing between us, Elena holding me back.

"What are you doing, Damon?" Stefan's voice is dark. "She's not going to be another one of your playthings."

"You're right, Stefan, she isn't. I suggest you stay out of business that isn't yours."

Stefan relaxes slightly, studying Damon intently. "Let's you and I have a little chat, shall we?" He gestures towards the hallway.

Damon glances back at me, giving me a reassuring look and a wink before following Stefan to the hall.

"Are you two together now?"

I turn to find Bonnie and Caroline have joined Elena in the disapproving, judgy stare department.

"Yesss," I drawl. "He makes me happy."

"Do you know what he did to me, Lacey?" Caroline demands. "He totally used and abused me. Do you not care?"

I actually don't know what he did to Caroline, but I vaguely remember seeing her beside him that first night I met him on Elena's porch. Either way, though, it doesn't matter what he's done. He's always been perfectly wonderful to me.

Not to mention, Caroline's in my revenge book. I fight back a smile knowing that he has yet again done something bad to someone in my revenge book without even reading it. Jeremy can say I'm the sweetest all he wants. All the better to organize secret total annihilations on people. They'll never see it coming, mwahaha.

"No," I respond simply, making Caroline's lips purse in irritation.

"Bonnie?" She tries.

"Lacey, Elena told me you know, so how can you just be okay with his… activities?"

Ah, Bonnie's decided to go with the same tactic as Caroline.

"Guys, I really don't care what he's done or what he does," I sigh loudly, exasperated. "He makes me happy."

I decide to just walk away from their inquisition. Noticing Anna and Jeremy smiling at each other by the punch bowl, I elect to join the masses in dance instead of interrupting them.

Making my way to the dance floor, I start twirling around by myself. I love vintage music, and they just started playing a Frankie Valli song! There's a lot more room to awkwardly wiggle and shimmy around in the gym than in my room.

I close my eyes, tune out the crowd, and move my limbs to the beat. Or at least I try to. Heh. I feel a hand touch my hip and recognize it as Damon's.

"How'd the inquisition go?" I pant, out of breath from dancing.

"Oh, the usual. St. Stefan superiority complex. He and Elena are perfect for each other."

We dance for a couple more songs before making our way over to relieve Jeremy from punch duty and give him and Anna a chance to dance too.

Standing beside the punch bowl is Ric. I sidle up to him and give him a light punch on the shoulder. "What's up, favorite teacher?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing," he mumbles. "Who's your date?"

"Damon," Damon offers his hand. "Salvatore."

"Alaric Saltzman."

When they finish shaking hands, Damon pulls me in front of him, wrapping his arms around me and resting his chin on my shoulder.

Ric stares at us for a beat too long. "Salvatore, as in, uh, Stefan?"

"He's my little brother. I'm his legal guardian."

"I hear he's very bright, not that I've had a chance to see for myself."

"Well, his attendance record's a little spotty. Family drama," Damon explains.

"No parents?"

"Mm, it's just the two of us now."

Ric looks down at me. "Lacey, I forgot. Your family's only two now, too. Heh."

I blink up at him, brows coming together as I frown.

Damon's arms tighten around me. "That's a sick attempt at a joke," he hisses out.

"Right. I didn't mean to joke about it. Your father was, uh, he had a good reputation."

I nod once. "It was well-deserved. Excuse me," I pull out of Damon's arms. "I'm just going to get some air." I gesture towards the crowd. "Not my thing, ya know…"

I push my way past the sweaty people and wander down the hallway. I'm about to turn down a different one to make a loop back, but Anna is standing there staring at the lockers. Weird.

Shrugging my shoulders, I mosey on down to the cafeteria. It's not like I'm not just a little weird, too. Maybe not so weird that I just stare at lockers, but I would totally stare at, you know, a wall, which is considerably less weird.

I throw myself down on top of one of the tables, considerably breathless and rosy-cheeked from dancing. This seems like the perfect spot for a little nap.

I'm just about to slip off into sweet dreams of sugar plums when the door slams open.

"Ugh," I grumble. Seriously? Can't I get a break? Why? Why does the world hate me?

Nope. I refuse to give in. I will stubbornly keep my eyes closed and refuse to face whoever dares disturb my slumber.

Footsteps running.

Nope.

Doors rattling.

Nope.

Elena screaming.

Nope.

Wait. Elena screaming?

My eyes pop open and I bolt upright to find a guy in a hoodie attacking her. The guy picks her up and throws her by her hair right into me, making us both crash to the floor.

I sit up and scramble backward, eyes wide as the vampire stalks forward towards… not me. He strides right past me, focused on Elena.

I watch with wide eyes as he slams her into the wall, but she jabs a pencil into his stomach and stumbles out of his reach.

"Woo!" I cheer, throwing a fist in the air. "Go Elena!"

I brace my palms on the floor and haul myself up as hoodie-boy goes for Elena again, resulting in his being stabbed through the hand with another pencil.

Finally standing, I chuckle at the thought of Elena actually taking down a vampire with No. 2 pencils.

She goes over to a mop and breaks it over her knee to create a stake.

No way. It can't be that easy. If I tried to do that, I bet I'd break my knee. Note to self: make sure Elena isn't some other type of superhuman.

Before Elena can attack the boy again, though, he flashes behind me, yanking my neck to the side while holding my arms behind my back with his other hand.

Elena freezes, eyes panicked.

"Drop the stake," he commands. "Or she dies."

Do not drop the mop, I mouth to Elena, making sure to raise my eyebrows in time with my words and open my mouth really wide so she can make them out and to emphasize my seriousness.

She drops the mop, shaking her head slightly.

"Really, Elena?" I chide snidely. "How could you not understand what I was telling you? I was making it SO obvious. 'Do not drop the mop.'"

Hoodie boy laughs, gripping me tighter. "This one's fiery, too, isn't she? You'll both die tonight."

"No! Stop," Elena screams.

I struggle as I feel his teeth graze the skin between my shoulder and neck. "Let. Go. Of. Me!"

Before he can get a taste of my top-notch gourmet blood, I'm pulled away into warm, strong arms as Stefan throws the vampire to the ground.

The arms whirl me around to make me stare up into worried blue eyes that run up and down my body before settling on my eyes again. I think the hoodie guy screams in the background but I'm not paying attention to him anymore.

"Are you okay?" Damon asks, and I nod in response, pressing myself into him for a hug. "I can't ever leave you alone, can I?" He sighs, gently nudging me to let go.

I drop my arms and watch him walk over to the boy scowling as Stefan interrogates him.

Elena comes to stand next to me, rubbing my shoulders. She may be judgy sometimes, but she's actually a good friend.

"What do you want with Elena?" Stefan asks while casually driving the stake deeper into the boy's stomach.

"She looks like Katherine."

Damon shifts his gaze to meet mine briefly. "You knew Katherine?"

"You thought you were the only ones," he laughs. "You don't even remember me."

Damon throws his arms up. "Unbelievable," he says and looks at Stefan. "Just kill him."

Stefan shrugs, pulling the stake out of the boy's stomach as Damon makes his way back to me.

Right before Stefan can stab the stake through his heart, the boy sings like a canary. "Wait! You-you wanted to get into the tomb, too, right? Check the journal. Jonathan Gilbert's journal."

Damon chuckles lowly. "You know, this is the, what, third time somebody has tried to save their life by giving me information on the tomb?" He asks me.

I quickly run the calculations in my head. Nope. One plus one still equals two. "Just the second time, fruit loop."

He furrows his brows. "No, there's this guy, Bree, and Log…an," he turns back to the boy and walks over.

Logan offered him information on the tomb, and he still killed him? But that was way before we really even got close. My heart warms at the thought that he cared about me so much even back then.

"I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told them." Damon leans down close to the boy's face. "Not good enough. Any flimsy excuse or information you give me doesn't make up for, oh I don't know, threatening to drink my girl?"

With that, he leaves Stefan to finish him off and deal with Elena's sniveling over the dead body, pulling me with him down the hall.

He stops at the corner, peering around it. "Stay here," he instructs. "I'll be right back."

As soon as he leaves, I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" A familiar, but hesitant voice asks.

I whirl myself around in disbelief. "Where did you come from, Anna?"

She gestures down the hall. "Bathroom."

"Oh," I blink. "I'm okay. Why?"

"I… thought I heard screaming. I must have been mistaken. Look, I have to go but, I, uh, just wanted to make sure you were okay."

I'm confused at the glint of guilt in her eyes, but she walks away before I can ask her what's wrong.

When Damon comes back, he tells me it was a close call with Alaric, but we're good to go home. Any thoughts of Anna are erased in favor of happiness when he refers to my house as home.

XX

"Are you disappointed?" I ask.

The stars on my ceiling aren't so unbearable to look at anymore, especially when I'm lying in Damon's arms.

"And why would I be?"

"Katherine?"

Damon twists his head to look at me. "I wanted to get her out of the tomb because I thought it's the least she deserved after all these years." He brings his hand up to my cheek. "But if it's going to keep putting you in danger, I'd rather have her stuck down there for eternity."

I snuggle in closer to Damon's side with a smile on my face as he strokes my hair. "Hey, you know what was strange?"

"Hmm?"

"Anna came up to me out of nowhere when you were talking to Ric wanting to know if I was okay."

"Who's Anna?"

"A friend, I guess. She met Jeremy at the library and helped him with his vampire folklore paper," I say, causing Damon to raise a brow. "But that's not the strangest thing. She said she had just come from the bathroom, but the only bathroom was on the other side of the school. She was lying."

Damon's face turns pensive. "Anna… why does that sound familiar?"

I yawn as I shrug my shoulders.

He tucks the blankets around me, wrapping an arm around my waist and kissing my shoulder.

"Sleep now. Tomorrow we're on recon duty."

A/N 2: I forgot to say this before, but I love each and every one of you that have reviewed. Truly. You guys make my day ;D