The next day, Kiki decided to see the rest of the house. She led herself down the stairs just as Kim opened the door. Kiki walked over to her and invited her in.

"Come on in, Kim!" Kiki took the door and opened it all the way so that Kim could enter. Kim shook her head.

"No. I can't. Come out here for a minute, I need to speak with you." Kiki looked puzzled but walked out the door, leaving it open. Kiki looked back and could see Edward standing at the top of the first staircase looking after them. He caught Kiki's eye and he turned around and walked back up the stairs with a sad look upon his face.

"Kim, why'd you leave?" Kiki stood at the door, watching after Kim walking by herself. Kim turned.

"Because I had to." Kiki couldn't believe it.

"You had to? Oh, so that he could sit up there by himself and be lonely? What about you? Weren't you lonely?" Kim looked at Kiki. She couldn't believe what she was doing. Finally she spoke up.

"I had to. We both know that they would have killed him had I stayed." Kiki looked at Kim apologetically.

"Then why'd you bring me here if you still love him?" Kim turned around completely and walked up to Kiki. She took a deep breath and then looked Kiki in the eye.

"Because you need him more than I do." Kim sighed and then looked away. Kiki didn't know what to say. After a few seconds Kim looked back at the gate. "I'd better go, or else I'll be late." She turned around and headed for the entrance as Kiki looked up at her.

"But what if he needs you?" Kiki stood there, half in the door and half out, waiting for a response. Kim stopped when she got to her car and gave Kiki her answer.

"He doesn't. He needed me then, it's your turn now." Kim opened the door, got in, shut the door and turned on the engine. Kiki stood there, watching after Kim as her car pulled away.

Kiki went inside and shut the door, thinking to herself about what Kim had said as she slowly climbed the stairs. She reached the top to find Edward staring out of the broken window. He turned and looked at her as he took a step away from the window.

"You heard everything, didn't you?" Kiki asked him, wondering what hurt him more, the fact that Kim still loved him or the fact that she left. His eyes darted to the floor as he answered the directed question.

"Yes. I did." He said and then looked back up at Kiki. Kiki couldn't help it, she felt so sorry for him, so bad that he couldn't be with Kim. He turned back to the window and began to stare outside again. Kiki walked up to him and put her arms around him, hugging him close to her. She whispered to him again and again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He pulled away from her grasp and turned back around, facing her. He walked up to her, eyes still on the floor as he spoke.

"But she's right." His voice was so soft, but Kiki couldn't understand why he thought such a thing.

"Right? Right about what? How?" She was so confused; she couldn't understand what he meant. He walked back to the window again and looked out as he responded.

"I needed you then…" He looked up at Kiki. "…I need you now." Kiki walked over to him and but his arms around her, and leaned up against him as she cried. She'd never been needed, and now she was. She felt necessary here, and she decided that here she must stay.

About a week passed, the two of them up in that old mansion, getting to know each other, being each other's companions, and Kim visiting Kiki every night. Kim felt that if she went in the morning that Edward would see her, and she didn't want to hurt him anymore than she did. Kiki often wondered about everyone, where they thought she could be. Not that she cared, everyone was so horrid to her, she would ever only be happy with the thought of one of three people: Her sister, Shawnee, Kim, her beloved friend, and Edward, her unusual companion.

Although Kiki felt her place was in the mansion with Edward, she always seemed to be in the way, between Kim and Edward, though she was constantly reminded that she was needed. This is my place. She thought. This is where I belong. Only time began to uncover what was to come.

Kiki awoke one day at an unusual time, she had stayed up practically all night cleaning the mansion, getting rid of all the cobwebs and such, because she felt that the two of them needed a decent looking place. Edward made no complaints about it; in fact, he helped her with some of the chores. She was exhausted and slept in until eleven o'clock. She had found a big chair in the cleaning process and moved it into the middle of the top floor. She woke to Edward standing looking out of the broken window, as he normally did. Kiki didn't understand why he often did that, and she thought she might ask.

"Edward," She said as she sat up and brushed the hair from her eyes. "Why do you constantly look out the window at the neighborhood?" He looked back at her and then back out the window.

"I want to be like them, like you." Kiki sighed as she responded to him.

"Ohkay, Edward, come here, sit with me a moment." He turned and looked at her as she motioned him to come sit with her. He walked over as she scooted to make room for him. He sat down next to her as she took his arm.

"Edward, now, I know you want to be like everyone else, but you must face the fact that you aren't, and that's ok. It's actually a good thing that you aren't because if you were, you wouldn't be you. You are special, you're special no matter what, but everything that you have, that you think, you do, you say, that is you. And I don't ever want you to be anyone but yourself." She looked at him and smiled as he smiled back. She kissed his forehead and gave him a hug. "Now," She said, "You hungry? I got a bunch of pop tarts if you want one." He laughed a little and nodded his head.

"Sure, I'll have one." Kiki got up and walked over to the corner where all the grocery bags sat, full of food, beverages, health care, clothes, and such that they needed to survive. Kim brought them whatever they needed to get through each week if they needed anything. Kiki dug through one of the bags and brought out three boxes of pop tarts and carried over to the chair.

"Kay, Edward," She said, holding up the three boxes. "Do you want Strawberry, Cinnamon, or Smore's?" She set the strawberry and cinnamon boxes down on the floor in front of him so he could choose while she opened the Smore's, pulled out a package and opened it. Edward still hadn't chosen, so Kiki took one of the pop tarts out of the already opened package and held it up to see if he wanted it.

"Want this one?" She asked as she bit into her pop tart. He nodded and scooted over a bit so that Kiki could sit back down by him. She took his pop tart and broke off little bits and fed them to him as she began to sing part of a song.

"Why do you, why do you ask, why I'm not blaming my God? I tell you, I tell you what, he was the only one there."

When they were done eating, Kiki decided to go outside and was her hair. She grabbed up a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of conditioner and a towel and headed outside. She turned on the hose and wet down her hair, beginning to wash it. She rinsed, conditioned and rinsed again, reaching for the towel, wrapping it around her head and then turned off the water. She gathered the shampoo and accessories while she turned to walk back into the house. She reached the door when she heard footsteps of someone coming up the pathway. She stopped and turned around, half expecting to see Kim standing at the gate with another bag of clean clothes for her. Instead, she found one of the rather nosy neighbors; a tall redhead named Joyce. Kiki didn't really know her, but she talked to her once or twice, but didn't like her much. Kim mentioned Joyce being rather cruel to Edward, but she didn't go into details. I should ask her just exactly what Joyce did Kiki thought. She made a mental note to ask Kim when she got back that night. Joyce caught the sight of Kiki and started conversation with her, like she'd known her for years.

"Hello, I didn't know you moved in here." Joyce took a few steps closer to her, which made Kiki nervous.

"Erm, hi Joyce, well, I'm only staying here for a few days then I am going back to my sisters." I can't believe it, I just told a total lie. Kiki felt uneasy. I never lie. Oh well, she's no one entirely important. Then it hit her. What if she tells the Vitch's? Joyce's voice, warm and friendly yet rather weirdly interrupted her thought process.

"Well, you have a good stay here, Rikki." Joyce smiled and waved, then was gone. Kiki let out a sigh of relief as she walked back into the house, shutting the door behind her.