Summary: At long last Wilt is taken home, and by someone whose heart beats for him and him alone.

Rating: PG....for now --

Disclaimer: Not mine....Craig's ...and all the Rasputina stuff belong's to Melora Creager and....the others. Valeria Rayne is mine though!!! oo

A/N: TT Please don't kill me....this has been done for over two weeks now....it's my internet's fault, not mine grumbledamnaohellgrumblegrumble Not to mention fegging commission deadlines and illness. I'll stop whining now, but know this, if I had been avoiding writing this I would have at least kept up reviews on all of your great stories. I'm finally catching up! Love on a stick!- Kaliska

Covet:

We Are Happy as the Day is Long

Home was not quite what Wilt had expected it to be. Surely he had expected the woman's home to be dark and gothic, but this was not the sort of gothic he had predicted. There were no posters of leather-clad people covered in so much makeup their gender was indiscernible- no magical paraphernalia on candle-lit shelves with books on how to use it. There was very simply, nothing. Holes in the grey wall-paint revealed the inner walls, and oddly colored stains were splattered randomly around the entire room. No carpet had been installed, so the floor was still asphalt.

"Valeria, I don't mean to be-"

"I realize that it's a terrible place to live. I am so very sorry for this. Since I came to live here I have had simply no time to decorate. All of my special belongings are kept in one room."

Wilt blushed- he hated that his disappointment was so obvious. His feelings faded as Valeria smiled again at him over her shoulder. It was that same smile that she had blessed him with at the time he met her, and as she had told him about his visits to Foster's. Valeria Rayne was undoubtedly a very lovely woman. Wilt was shocked, in fact, by her beauty. Surely he had seen beautiful women before. Many of the mothers that passed him as they searched for companion for their little bundle of joy were very lovely- but she was not like them. It was not her manner of dressing that set her apart, it was nothing superficial. However, as Wilt looked at her, he felt an attraction boiling inside him that had never come up with another woman.

"Excuse me for just one moment." Valeria looked back again, snapping Wilt out of his trance.

Wilt shook his head, and continued to watch his new owner. His eye followed her hand to her hair. She took the black mass into her fist and pulled it over her shoulder. As Valeria's hair fell over her shoulder and into her face, she placed one hand on each sleeve of her coat and slipped it off of her shoulders, allowing her white shoulders a little light. Folding the jacket carefully, she walked to the chair by her front door, and lay it on the small metal seat. Every movement Valeria made was more elegant than even the delicate movements of a ballerina. As she bent to lay her coat in it's place her flawless pale legs bent just so slightly as to not allow access to the shadowed area between her barely covered thighs. Her perfectly painted nails grazed the seams of her jacket and returned to a loose fist at her side as she stood, her back becoming perfectly straight. Valeria turned noiselessly on one heel and walked back to Wilt, noticing his eye following her. She continued toward him until not even a piece of paper could be slid between the two without touching either of them. Blue eyes locked with his, she parted her lips and stood on her toes.

Wilt gulped and his mouth fluttered open and closed-breath came heavily from his nostrils. His long arm lay stiff at his side, his thin legs shaking and beginning to bend at the knees.

However, to both his disappointment and relief, Valeria took a step away from the frozen imaginary friend. Her eyes darted quickly to the grey floor- her fingers running through her hair.

"I suppose I ought to show your bedroom."

Again, Wilt nodded silently and stepped forward as soon as Valeria began walking. He followed her to a door in the corner of the main room. Valeria glanced back with an excited look in her eyes. Wilt smiled widely and stepped up to stand beside Valeria. As the door swung open, revealing the room, Wilt's eye widened ridiculously, and his jaw dropped as far as his skull would allow.

"I thought this might be the best room for you."

Every inch, every single inch of the small room in which Wilt was to sleep was covered in odd and beautiful things. The floor was stacked with small oriental rugs, and a few strange rugs that looked as though they had perhaps been hand-made. There were several wooden shelves with intricate patterns carved into them and books piled on until they were nearly toppling onto the floor. The walls were hidden by various pieces of artwork- some photographs, some paintings, and occasionally something strange like a colorful quilt or a shirt with many signatures on it. In the corner, across from a small window with dainty red curtains was a somewhat small bed with possibly ten layers of sheets, blankets, comforters and quilts on it. It had on it two mushy-looking pillows- one with a tie-dye cover and the other with a more traditional flower-pattern cover. The room smelled like some sort of fruit combined with the air blowing in from the open window. Slowly, Wilt stepped inside and took another good look around the room.

"I-I don't know what to say." Wilt's mouth simply hung ajar-he was once again frozen, but managed the one phrase he was possibly best at saying, "Thank you."

"You are very welcome Wilt."

"You're so nice."

"Thank you so much." Valeria's words came out as a nearly inaudible whisper. As when they had started home, Valeria's eyes began to fill with tears. Quickly, she turned away and forced the tears away

"I will let you get settled in Wilt. It's getting close to dinner time, and I ought to get dinner started. Do you like pasta?" Tilting her head back to catch Wilt's smile in her peripheral vision, she stepped out the door.

"Pasta's great."

"Wonderful." Valeria whispered, smiling contentedly. "I will call you as soon as dinner is prepared." Valeria stepped out of the room and shut the door quietly behind her.

Wilt sat down on his bed and bounced up and down a couple of times. This bed was actually fairly comfortable. The tall imaginary friend lay back onto the two squishy pillows. He had always preferred that kind to the newer, somewhat harder pillows. He supposed that had been started back from his time with his creator.

While he lay on his back pondering pillows, Wilt's eyes fell upon a picture that was taped to the wall directly above his bed. There was a girl, almost as lovely as Valeria herself, but with short, bright blue hair with black streaks, and eyes that approached yellow. She was generally a bit pudgier than Valeria, but she was beautiful nonetheless. In any case, this girl had her arms wrapped around Valeria- who had fallen asleep, almost like a baby, in this girl's lap.

This picture puzzled Wilt. It did not seem strange that Valeria was with another girl- Wilt knew that young women often "hung out" together, and even were in romantic relationships. It was not that that struck him as strange, it was the look on Valeria's face. She seemed almost unreal, almost as surreal as Wilt or one of the other imaginary friends, but more ghastly. Unable to stop looking at the picture, Wilt gingerly pulled the picture away from the wall, making sure that that tape stayed on the picture. He held the small photo about a foot from his face and continued to admire the picture. As the light shined in from the window, it revealed writing on the back of the picture. Curiously, Wilt turned the picture around and read the note. It read

"Me and Monroe- sick again."

Monroe. The name did seem to fit her. The question gnawed at him like a dog on a freshly caught rabbit. Who is Monroe? Wilt stood up, and taped the picture back up over his bed. He scanned the shelves for something that may contain information about this Monroe. Bingo! A photo album sat at the top of a pile of books on a dark, almost cherry red shelf. Wilt hesitated- it wasn't in his nature to dig in other people's business, but Valeria was his new owner, and he figured it was a good idea to get to know her better.

Thus, Wilt grabbed the book and opened it to the first page. There was a large picture of Valeria and Monroe smiling and embracing each other, wearing matching short black dresses. The white on the page was covered with little different-colored hearts, and in the bottom right corner was a note written in blue pen

"To my dear and loving Valeria- This is a book for you and me, so we can always, ALWAYS! remember our time together. What am I rambling on about!?! This isn't gonna take long to fill up. I love you soooo much- Monroe"

Wilt flipped through the book, grinning at all the beautiful photographs of sunsets and other such things, he even found the pictures of Monroe and Valeria to be very lovely. She seemed so alive, unlike that picture above the bed. He saw nothing unusual- these just seemed like pictures of good friends. Wilt set the album down and kept looking.

Just as he was ready to give up, Wilt noticed something sticking out of the corner of the photo album he had set aside. He opened to the back of the book and took out a large stack of photographs.

Inside the stack Wilt found photos resembling the one on the wall. The photograph on top was a picture of Valeria, but you could hardly tell. Her long black hair was over her shoulders and covered her bare breasts. She sat in a striped barstool completely naked, and everything around her was black. The lighting in front of her revealed no environment save the stool. Her skin looked so very strange- it was not the usual pale that Wilt had seen- it appeared almost green, almost cracked in places. And her face- though downcast, did not look how it ought to. Valeria's eyes were encircled by grey- tears making streaks down her cheeks and falling onto her chest. The longer Wilt observed the picture, the more it frightened him. Valeria did not look human, she looked like a ghost, something dead. Wilt flipped the picture over and read the note.

"Upon diagnosis."

Wilt noticed strange marks splattered across the back of the picture, and a spot on "diagnosis" where the pen had been smeared. Tears, he quickly concluded, and continued through the photographs in the back of the book. Most of the other pictures weren't as disturbing as the others, but they were still strange, and sad. Many of them were only of Valeria- reclining, sleeping, the perfect image of a corpseThe final picture was strange- a perfect contrast to the first picture. It was still Valeria, but she was enveloped in light, her black hair the only dark mass in the entire picture. She was looking into a mirror, touching her lips. She looked alive again, but once again, she was crying. It was the most beautiful picture of Valeria that Wilt had seen. He quickly turned the picture around.

"I'm so happy that you're doing better. You have no idea how much I'm going to miss seeing you every day, don't worry, I'll come and visit you every once and a while. I know it's for the best. I hope you find it my beautiful beautiful girl! I hope if you do, then you can live happily ever after. I love you!"

Again Wilt's eyes turned to the picture. Along with the tears in her eyes, Valeria's parted lips were upturned in a tiny smile. Wilt set the picture aside and put the others back in place. He took the picture and took it to his bed. He lay down and looked at the photograph once again before slipping it into the pillowcase of the floral-pattern pillow.

Valeria's dinner call was perfectly timed "Dinner's ready Wilt!"

Wilt left his room and shut the door as he walked into the main room. There was a small card table set out with three fold-out chairs.

"I didn't know if I should tell you, but I suppose it's rather obvious. Since you're staying with me, I thought you should meet my friends. My dearest friend is coming to have dinner with us. Her name is Monroe Cecelia, and she ought to be here any minute now."

As soon as Valeria was silent there was a loud knock on the door. Valeria sauntered over to the door and turned the knob.

A girl clad in brightly colored, strange apparel came bursting in with wide-open arms. It was most definitely Monroe. She tightly embraced Valeria and planted a firm kiss on her pale cheek. Wilt watched silently as the two greeted each other. Monroe was so enthusiastic that it may almost seem like sarcasm, but Wilt could tell that it was not. Though Valeria was not as spirited superficially, Wilt could sense how happy she was to see Monroe. Valeria led her friend inside and introduced her to Wilt. Wilt politely shook her hand and greeted her, but he was not focused on this- he was examining Monroe's amber eyes as they glazed over with something like sorrow-laced joy.

"I'm so happy that she's finally found someone." She mouthed inaudibly, and took her seat across from Wilt.

To Be Continued

First and foremost I must thank all of you that reviewed-Jillian 14: FanFiction Star, Binda, DemonxAngel, Barry I. Grauman, Ice Lady Zarin, Mr.M7, fan, DarkXeno, JadeGarden, Kat and Nini, and Super-Veggie-San (phew...I think that's everyone! )

In any case, Chapter 3 is almost 3/4 done, and my compy is good again, and I only have ONE commission now, so all should be well. For those of you who just found this story, you're lucky, you get a quick update! Anyway, I love you all, and goodbye!

P.S. I'm working on a pic of Valeria, Monroe and Wilt....I'll tell everyone when it's done.

Monroe: A piccie! Oh lovely darling!

Valeria: Oh god!

Wilt: blinku blinku

Kaliska: heh heh.... glomp!

Valeria: What did I say about MAH WILT!

Kaliska: EEP!