Chirping, she could hear birds chirping. The sun was warm as it shone down on her as she played, splashing salty water at her 2 older brothers and sister. The Florida coast was hot in the summer but they couldn't have been happier to be at the ocean. The day was hot, the water cold, and she was enjoying herself. She was 15 again with not a care in the world. Her siblings run over to her parents and wait with smiling faces as she goes to join them but as she gets closer the world darkens and twists, turning to shades of gray and black. The smiling faces of her family turn to silent screams of terror, the happy atmosphere morphing into a nightmare.

Megan's eyes snap open and she sits up quickly, her breath coming in quick gasping breathes. She looks around wildly, unsure of her surroundings when heavy knocking on her door makes her jump and wrap her blanket around herself.

"Megan, you alright in there?" A gruff male voice asks. She grabs the green robe that hung by her bed and stands, putting it on, to walk over to the door. She unlocks it and pecks out into the gloomy hallway. Desmond's brown eyes stare back at her and she relaxes some, opening the door a bit more to let him in. She flicks the light on and sits on her bed, right arm in her lap. Desmond stands in the middle of her room for a minute, looking around at all the things inside it before making his way over beside hers. "You ok?"

She takes a breath. "Yeah, just a nightmare is all." She answers, fiddling with the comforter on her bed. She didn't want to think of what she dreamt of, didn't want to remember anything.

"You sure?" He questions hesitantly. She appreciated the effort and knew he had probably been put up to it by the others. "You were screaming." What smile she may have had dropped. She hadn't known that.

"It was just a nightmare, don't worry." She says again forcing the smile back on her face. "Imma stay up for a little while, maybe get something to eat." She adds when she looks at the clock on her bedside table. 3 am. She was up far too early for her liking. Desmond gives a curt nod, standing up. He goes to her door and pauses.

"If you need to talk, any of us are willing to listen." She nods to him and he leaves her room. She waits a moment before following him out, grabbing her sling for her arm and putting it on. For her to try to go back to sleep was going to require something stronger than hot chocolate or warm milk, she was going to need bourbon.

She walks out of her room, hearing hushed talking coming from Ezio's room. She should have known that they would congregate there seeing as his room was across from hers. She goes down the stairs into the foyer then into the kitchen. She didn't always do this, getting herself drunk enough to sleep, only when the nightmares were bad like tonight. If she hadn't of had to deal with everything for her family, she would have remained drunk the for the 4 months off she had. She reaches for the cabinet that held the half empty bottle of amber liquid. She pulls it down then gets a glass. She knew how much was supposed to be poured but she fills the glass halfway and downs it, coughing as it burns her throat and stomach. She pours the same amount again, lifting the glass to her lips when a hand stops her. She follows the appendage to the owner, finding Malik and Altair standing beside her. Malik had a hold of her wrist with a worried look on his face.

"What are you doing?" Altair questions. He was frowning at her, displeased with something.

"Drinking." She answers.

"Why?" Malik asks, taking the glass from her hand. She reaches for it but he hands it to Altair, out of her reach. She pouts and grabs the bottle but it is taken from her as well.

"Look, I just need to be able to sleep. Nothing more."

"Why would you need alcohol to sleep?" Altair asks then, a confused look on his face. Malik smells the bottle, his face scrunching up at the smell.

She pauses, unsure if she should really be telling them anything. But Des had said.. 'I gave him a nickname already?' He had said they would be willing to listen so maybe just a fraction of what she dreamt of wouldn't be so bad to tell. "I have nightmares. Bourbon helps me sleep. I drink it every once in a while, last time being a year ago."

"What are your nightmares of?" She looks at Malik surprised. She remembers Des saying she had been screaming so maybe she may have been saying something within her screams.

"What did I say?" She whispers, looking away from them to the window over her sink. It was still dark but the lights from inside were lighting up the porch and some of the glen so she could see some of the tree line. She wasn't completely sure if she wanted to know what she had been saying.

"You were yelling out for Kevin, Charlene, Wade, Omy, and Aby. Who were the other people?" Malik answers here, setting the bottle on the bar counter. She furrows her brows.

"What's Omy and Aby?"

"Mother and Father."

"Oh." She says. Her body was beginning to feel warm so she knew the alcohol was now starting to infiltrate her system. Her head was a little foggy now. "They were my family." She says after a few minutes, still looking out the window. She didn't want to know their reactions, didn't want any more questions on it.

"Were? Did something happen?" Altair questions, setting the glass beside the bottle. She moves over to it, running her finger over the top of the glass before picking it up and taking a gulp. It burned her throat once more, liquid fire beginning to course through her veins. She takes another drink, the burn no longer a concern for her. The glass was now pretty much empty but she didn't plan on getting any more. She put the cap back on the bottle and drinks the rest of the liquid, putting away everything. All the while, both men watched her for any sign of distress. She must have made them very worried.

"I'm gunna go back to bed now." She says after a few moments, letting the fire take control of her body. Her steps were a little wobbly but she was able to make it to the stairs, up them, and to her room while passing the congregation of the rest of them. Shutting and locking the door was easier than she thought. No one bothered her, no one seemed to know what to do. In pretty much a house full of men, none of them seemed to have any control of the situation. She got back into bed, removing the robe and putting it back where it belonged. The fuzzy feeling in her head was stronger now and she smiles a little sluggishly to herself. 'Maybe they aren't so bad to have around. I probably would have drank the rest of that bottle if they hadn't of followed me.' Were her last thoughts before going into a drunken sleep plagued by no dreams that she could remember.

Her alarm clock was going off, ringing loudly in her ear as if it was a wailing banshee. Frowning she smashes down on the top of it, effectively stopping the noise. She smiles to herself, snuggling down into her fluffy pillows and warm bed. She could smell fresh brewed coffee, bacon, eggs, and biscuits. She had such a weird dream last night, finding 7 strangers and inviting them into her home. But that was impossible, her family was here and waiting for… her… to get up…

She sits up, her right arm heavy and an impossibly bright green to her eyes. Her head was hurting slightly and then she looks at the date on her clock. It had been over a year since her family had died. She was alone. But then why..

She heard loud male laughter. She jumped up, her large gray shirt hanging off one of her shoulders, and her red plaid flannel pants making a shushing noise as she exits her room, goes down the stairs, and stops in the foyer to watch the 6 men at the bar and in the kitchen. It hadn't been a dream. They were real, they were in her house.

"Ah good morning Megan. Did you sleep well?" Leonardo questions, sitting at the bar. Ezio, Altair, and Malik were with him and all turn to her.

"Err, yeah I slept good." She says, scratching the back of her head with her right hand. The cast was scratchy against her arm but she ignores it, instead walking over to the counter. She was figuring they were going to put up a front and she was going to go along with it.

"Hope you don't mind, we got hungry." Des asks gesturing to the cooking food he was preparing. Shaun was preparing a cup of… something. All she knew is he was pouring creamer into it.

"No I don't." She answers adjusting her shirt then taking a seat beside Leonardo. She watched as Des, when she came up with that she hadn't realized, shrugs with a grin and goes back to cooking. She watches as they return back to whatever conversation they had been having prior to her arrival. Something about first learning how to do leaps of faith and how Altair fell off of a wall when he was little. Said man scowls at Malik as he tells the story, turning away with a grunt.

This felt almost… normal. She would dare say comfortable, that is, till the sliding door to her backyard opens and in walks Alex. She stiffens somewhat, arm twinging in almost ghost like pain. She figured Desmond noticed seeing as he was dishing out the food and was at her plate Shaun had kindly gotten. Alex stops where he was, watching them. She looks down at her plate and begins to laugh.

"Wh-what?" Des questions, looking at her a little worried.

"This is way too much, I won't be able to eat all this." She says, shaking her head. All of them look at her crazy.

"How is that," Shaun points to her plate with at least twice the recommended serving of eggs and bacon and three biscuits, "to much?"

She sighs. "When I eat, and that's maybe once or twice a day, it's very little. I think people call it 'eating like a bird.'" She answers. She waves Des over and takes his plate from him, scooping nearly all of her eggs and then giving him all but 2 pieces of bacon. She tries to give him two of her biscuits but Ezio swipes them and some of the bacon from Des' plate. She then notices that neither Altair nor Malik had bacon on their plates. She could understand why, what with the way they were raised and all in the dark ages; they didn't have a way to correctly cook pork enough for any pestilence to be killed with a high enough heat. So not trusting it was fine with her.

"You have plenty, share with others." Ezio says, giving some of the bacon and one of the biscuits to Leonardo and Shaun waves his offer off. She shakes her head and turns back around to face Alex who was still just standing behind them

"Would you like some?" She questions, gesturing to the plethora of food. He just raises one shoulder a minute degree and then drops it.

"Don't eat." Was his answer and heads up the stairs to the bedrooms. She blinks a few times before huffing and pouting.

"Well fine then." She says after he disappears up the stairs. He almost sounded like he was stomping as he was going up. She didn't think he was that heavy, he looked like he was kind of normal sized if he ever took off those layers. She still didn't understand why he had refused to try on any clothes when they went shopping yesterday. She sticks her tongue out at the stairs then turns back to the rather nicer men who all then laughed at her rather childish display. She just gives a grin and digs into her plate of food.

Later that day Megan was pulling out old, rejected manuscripts to see which one she could maybe re-use and tweak in an attempt to appease her rather irate agent. An hour ago she had a rather heated argument on the phone with the 6 nicer men sitting and watching her pace around the living room, trying to keep her temper in control when Des had decided to make an ass of himself and pretend to put Shaun and Ezio in a headlock with both fighting to get out, Ezio saying something nasty in Italian she was glad she couldn't understand but none the less had started laughing. Unfortunately her agent had no clue as to what was going on and assumed she had been laughing at him. He had threatened to drop her as a client and so she was now doing this with one hand and about 8 industrial sized copy paper boxes full of half-done stories trying to find a certain one she had thought he would like.

Good news: He wasn't going to be coming over. Hurray!

Bad news: She was still going to have to do some sort of work. Boo!

"Shit, you wrote all of these?" Desmond questions, finally out of the hog tie the Italian and Brit had put him in. And they had used a lot of rope too; she was kinda surprised he hadn't killed himself getting out. But she didn't feel all too bad about it, he kinda deserved it. He bends and picks up one of her manuscripts and she snatches it from him, landing on the pile of them and box parts. She glares up at him from the floor, the papers clutched in her one good hand.

"Bug off. It's your fault that I have to go through them right now." She says, and he gives a placating motion with his hands then helps her stand.

"Sorry, I didn't know that was going to happen. You just looked so… helpless." He says with a shrug and walks away. She blinks a few times.

'Did I look helpless?' She thought and then looks down at the manuscript she had taken from him. It was the one she was looking for. Excited she starts jumping up and down only to slip on a loose paper and fall back down as Ezio and Malik come into view. "Oooh my butt…"

"Megan, it's time to eat." She looks up from her computer, glasses perched on her nose and blinks into the gloom beyond the bright screen. She recognized the voice of Shaun but couldn't see him. She had found one of her old ergonomic mouse pads and was using the cushiony gel to support her cast. Needless to say, it worked well enough for her to get about 4 chapters done in the amount of hours she had been working.

"Yeah, 'm coming." She stands and stretches, back and shoulders feeling stiff. She leaves open the screen and walks out, yawning. The world outside was dark once more. "How long was I in there?"

"4 or 5 hours."

"Dang." She gives a rather large yawn and follows him to the bar, taking her designated seat beside Leonardo.

"I was worried something had happened. We called several times but you did not answer." Ezio remarks in greeting.

"Yeah, I do that. It's how I can skip days' worth of meals without meaning too." She answers, taking the plate Shaun offered. There was a small amount of food on it, a little more than what she would have gotten but not much when compared to the rest of the men's. "Any one seen Alex after this morning?" She receives a collect negative response. She shrugs, if he wanted to be anti-social so be it.

"What is this called?" Altair questions, poking at the mac n cheese. Megan, Shaun, and Desmond roll their eyes.

"It's noodles and cheese. It's good." Des answers, harfing down half of his food in several bites.

"Piggy." Megan says with a grin and chuckle to which he responds by tearing into the rather large piece of sausage on his fork with a grunting noise. Ezio, for some reason, took this as a challenge and began to harf down his own meal. She could practically see the lightning shooting between the two. Everyone ignores them and continues to eat normally. Megan shrugs and does the same. When she finishes she sits back with her glass of water in hand.

Now, what to do? Did she want to go back to work or did she want to just sit around. She was further along with the manuscript than what she thought she would be and figured she could do with a little goofing off. She grins once more, looking out from the wall of windows. She sees something floating around outside and she gets up, ignoring the questions she was receiving and presses her face against one of the windows. Her eyes widen with happiness and she waves them over.

"What is that?" Malik questions seeing the fluffy white stuff floating down, Megan looks at him and then Altair surprised.

"None of you have seen snow before, have you? She questions them all, somewhat surprised by the admittance she received from all but Shaun.

"I lived in London. Snow happened every year." He responds to her with a shrug.

"I am sooooo making a snowman tomorrow." She says with a grin, already picturing what it would look like. Vaguely she wondered how much it would take to make the older men feel uncomfortable. Vulgarity in snowman making was her specialty after all.

"Bet I can make a better one than you." Des says grinning at her, a challenge lighting his eyes. He had to be bored if he was challenging her.

"Bet I can make one more vulgar than you." She counters, returning to looking out the window.

"Cannot."

"Can too."

"Children, children. Enough." She pouts as Shaun gives them a chiding voice. She looks over at the other four.

"We can play out in it tomorrow; the place will be blanketed with the stuff. I don't think I've left my house once it snows in the past 4 years. The roads get bad in my opinion. But thank god I have a vehicle with all weather and terrain tires." She says, walking over to her couch and facing the fire. She snuggles under her blanket; the winter was rough for her. The cold just seemed to slip past whatever barrier she may have been using to ward it off but it never seemed to work. She shivers.

"How can you be cold? The fire keeps the house warm." Altair questions as they all file into the living room, taking seats all over the place. It seemed they were accepting her in some sort of way. Probably cause she was a girl and well, kinda invalid right now. Maybe they were trying to keep her safe, safe from anything, safe from Alex. She didn't not trust him but she wasn't sure what to think of him either. He had broken her arm in the first 5 minutes he had met her and questions she hadn't answered. But she was willing to give him benefit of the doubt. He was in a new world, dimension, universe. He was paranoid, but then again, they all were. They may have thought she didn't notice but they were on edge. When they were in the living room like now, they would look around and pay special attention to outside; as if they were waiting on someone to suddenly come upon the house and do something that wasn't favorable.

She shrugs off the thoughts. She was alone up here, except with them now. So she wasn't all that alone anymore. "The cold just seeps into me and refuses to leave. It's annoying. But I've always been like this, never really could keep warm but for the summer time." She gives a shrug through the blanket; she had found ways of keeping some warmth in her body over the years. Before it was plastering herself between her brothers or snuggling under a blanket with her sister or mom. But now it was different, now she had to constantly keep a fire going, wear flannel at all times, drink warm or hot drinks…. Speaking of. "Dessy."

'Dessy' looks at her with a frown. He was not happy with his nickname, that he wasn't… Great, her conscious was channeling Kenshin.

"Make me some hot chocolate please?" She gives a pouty look, complete with big eyes and a little whimper. She could see him fighting against the look, trying with all his might to not give in. She looks down in a sad manner and hears him release the held breathe in a rush.

"…Fine." She looks up with a big bright smile directed at him.

"Thank you Desmond!" She says a little loudly and Altair and Malik, who were sitting with her on the couch this time, begin to chuckle.

"Weak." She hears Altair mumble and turns the look on him and sees the same look Desmond had been giving her before she did the sad look down. She repeats the look, throwing in a defeated sigh. She could all but hear his resolve crumble.

"You are a dangerous woman." Malik says with a chuckle.

"Please, I can get anything with that look. I perfected the puppy dog eyes." She says with a laugh hearing the microwave go off and shortly after Desmond returns to the living room, handing over the cup to her. She takes it with a grateful look and he nods returning to his seat at the other couch. He had seemed to claim it as his as he stretched out on it. Altair throws his head back against the back of the couch, a groan escaping him in frustration.

'Maybe he's thinks something along the lines of "these modern women will be the death of me if they can all do that."' She thinks, drinking her drink. She looks at her study and groans lightly. She had that itching feeling, the one that wasn't going to let her just sit there and not do her work. She then lets out a defeated sigh and stands, blanket around her shoulders and mug in hand. Everyone gives her a quizzical look. "Sorry, nagging feeling to get some work done. Always happens when I start on a project. Not to mention I really liked this plot to go with one of the series I'm working on." She answers, giving another sigh and going into her study. She turns around, giving a smile. "Hang around as long as you like, I'll probably be up for several hours and then crash down on the couch." She receives mixed statements, some nods and a few good nights. She shuts her door returns to her computer, hitting the power button to turn it back on. She sits, takes a drink of her coco, readjusts the blanket around her shoulders then adjusts the mouse pad for her arm, and begins once more, quickly hitting her pattern of writing, one she found easy to get into.

'Oh, my neck is killing me…' She thinks, rubbing her neck with her left hand to work out the kinks in it. She had to stop doing this, she was ruining her body. She gives a little smile to herself and looks at the clock. 'Well, damn. It's after 3 in the morning.' She yawns and stretches, giving a tired groan as she does so and stands while shutting her computer. Her blanket had long since fallen to the floor forgotten, having gotten in the way of her typing, and her cup of coco empty and the mug cold. She sees the after image of the bright screen burned into her retina's and waits a heartbeat for it to fade away before continuing on into the living room. It had long since grown to cold for her liking and she planned on just breaking down and turning the heater on higher instead of feeding the fire. She really didn't want to deal with that, she was too exhausted.

When she exits her study she didn't notice anything out of place, the 6 men had went to bed long ago and she figured they had forgotten about the fire when they did. They were loud enough to alert her to leaving, and Leonardo opening the door to tell her good night one more time was her que as well to them splitting. As she makes her way to the thermostat over by the kitchen she pauses as she looks into the foyer by the stairs. Someone was standing there in the dark, looking at something.

"H-hello?" Damn, why was she being hesitant? It had to be one of the guys that was living with her now. Her brain kinda stutters over the 'living with her' part, the concept was still new and was a little harder to absorb. None the less, the faceless humanoid shape turns towards her as if surprised.

"Didn't think anyone would be up." Was the response she received from a gravelly voice. It was just Alex.

She releases a held breath, somewhat relieved. "Yeah, sorry. I was just working to late. But I'm done for now… What are you doing up so late?" She questions as an afterthought curiosity getting the better of her.

"Can't sleep." Was the response he gave her. He walks over to her but stops several feet away, enough that she realized he was purposely putting distance between them. Vaguely she wondered why he would do that.

She gives him a soft smile and a shrug. "It happens to everyone." She says and continues onto the thermostat. Damn thing was set on mid 60's. She shivers a little as she hits the button to turn up the heat.

"…Cold?"

She blinks, surprised. "Always cold during winter. Never been able to keep warm to well." She answers as the heaters kick on and the vent below her feet grows warm. Suddenly something heavy is draped over her shoulders, heavy but incredibly warm. She grips into one side of it, it turning out to be a leather jacket. She turns around to face Alex both surprised and grateful. "Thanks."

He gives another shrug, just a lift and drop of one shoulder. She was right though, he wasn't all that bulky it was just the amount of clothing he was wearing. They stand there a little awkwardly, neither sure of what to say.

"…sorry." He mumbles, and turns his head away.

"No, it's alright. I kinda always wondered what it felt like to wear a cast. Can't say its great fun though, itches like crazy." She had been ignoring the itching pretty well, but if it continued, she didn't know if she wouldn't just break down and grab one of her hangers to use as a scratcher. Her brother had done that once when he broke his leg, said it was the best feeling ever. She gives herself a mental head shake; she didn't need nightmares two nights in a row.

"It doesn't make it right though." He retorts to her, as she takes a seat at the bar. He seemed… somewhat talkative. And as such she would listen. "I just… didn't know."

She nods, understanding but also not. He was being vague but she could also tell that he wasn't. He was in a new place, didn't know the dangers, didn't know if she would have been able to hurt him or not. He had taken precaution and made sure he wasn't in danger. Then again, she wasn't sure if he would ever be in danger atleast not with those claw things and his strength. She could only guess how strong he really was after all, he had seemed to just flex and broke her arm with ease.

"You were keeping yourself safe." She says. He looks at her a moment.

"You remind me of my sister." Sister, he had a sister? "'cept, you're not as foul mouthed as her." He says with a light chuckle. Wonder what that meant?

"Thanks… I think." She gives a little laugh afterward.

"The last thing I can remember is that bomb exploding… Then waking up here. It just doesn't make sense." Bomb? Bomb exploding? Alex was around an exploding bomb?! What was he, immortal? Impervious? A god?

He gives a sigh, running a hand over his face. Questions were bubbling up to the surface of her mind, many of which she wanted mostly for her story. A character who could live through a bomb exploding would make for a great read. But she bites her tongue, willing him mentally to continue. She couldn't think of anything to say to get him to continue that wouldn't be breaking what she had told them.

"Somehow, I guess you could say that I'm kind of glad you found us." He says, not looking at her. The admission was surprising because she expected him to just ignore everything that had happened until time was up and they went back home, if they could. He looks at her once more before heading out the back door.

"Hey, you want your jacket?" She questions him loudly, moving to get up and take it off. He pauses long enough to turn back to her.

"Don't worry about it for now." Was all he says before heading out.

Well, that was… Surprising to say in the least.

Alrighty, my newest chapter is out. YAY! And for it I would like to thank MoonlitMeeting for reviewing. Hope you like the chapter!

I would also like to thank Minnyna for both favoriting and following. And also check out Parting Ways by moirabb. I'll be sure to put it in my fav's and also to on my author list. Its a really good story!

Anyways, I think I can churn out a chapter a week so be sure to check back then alright? So, as always please review, add me to your favorites or just pm me. THANK YOU! -throws cookies out to readers-