Megan awoke to a frosty morning. Her joints creaked as she moved, her right arm still in a cast, getting up to go to the bathroom to do her morning routine. It had been 3 weeks, nearly a month, since her house became full. She had adjusted quickly to doing things with her left hand, and was even enjoying the fact that there were other people in her home. As of yet, there had been no accidental walking-ins mainly because her door was firmly locked from the inside and remained so all night. She grabs her toothbrush and toothpaste and begins the task of brushing her teeth, now she had a handy dandy travel brush and paste that went with her in case of emergency. She finishes and grabs an elastic and ties up her hair as best she can, drawing a bath in her large Jacuzzi tub. She had to go back to the doctor today. They had made several more trips into town, to get more clothing and food. Shaun hadn't been kidding, these guys could eat. Apparently they all had high metabolisms and therefore had to eat several times a day…

Well, except Alex. As it turned out, he consumed animals to eat. She didn't dwell too much on what exactly that meant but she had noticed the lack of deer, elk, and mountain lion tracks in the grove behind her house and easily came to the conclusion of what that meant. But she wasn't going to complain. As to how she had found this out, nightly meetings with her finishing very late found him to be more talkative and willing to give her some information. Especially when she had asked him if he wanted some of the hot chocolate she was making, because she wasn't going to bed till the sun was peeking into the room. Her mind was active and with the little information she was gleaning from them as they grew more comfortable around her, she was finding that ideas were easier to come by and that alone had her grinning like a loon. She had grabbed a short sleeve purple V-necked shirt and some dark washed skinny jeans. She puts on some dark gray faux leather boots that zipped up the inside of her legs.

She finished her morning routine, grabbing Alex's jacket that he had yet to retrieve from her, and exits her room at the same time Desmond exits his. "Morning short stuff."

"Morning Woody." She grins as he groans, rolling his eyes. Altair leaves his room, takes one look at Desmond and gives a little smile.

"Again?" He questions her, ignoring Desmond.

"No, but it's still fun." She answers. A week after they had shown up, Desmond had fallen asleep on the couch and Megan had found him that morning. He was supposed to have fed the fire when he went to bed. But that morning she woke up to frost in her room and covering some of the things. She went downstairs, covered in a hoodie, her old high school letterman, and about 3 pairs of thick socks (for some reason the jacket had disappeared but when she had returned to her room it was there waiting on her) while the rest when to check to see if Desmond was in his room. She had walked into the living room and found him lying on the couch in sweat pants and plain white t-shirt asleep. Fuming she had stalked over and began to tear into him, waking him up. He had grabbed her blanket from the back of the couch and covered his lower half. She stopped what she had been saying and suddenly realized just what he was covering up. She had released a strangled noise and then tore off back upstairs, refusing to leave her room until Alex had more or less busted her door down just to give her food. She was easily embarrassed by it and couldn't look at Desmond for a day or two afterwards. But then she realized just what she could do with the information and didn't let him think for a minute she wasn't going to use it against him.

"I am never sleeping down there again."

"You say that now but you know it'll happen again."

"Yes, but let us go eat the morning meal." Altair says with a nod to the stairs. Megan sighs but heads in the direction to go down. She was taking all of them into town this time; her second vehicle was big enough to fit them all thankfully and she knew that they were going to be needing a few more things. When they went last, she had seen a few extra things she figured they would enjoy but she wasn't sure she would be sane with all of them around. They had found a way for Altair and Ezio to forgo their accents; even Malik was making strides to sound American. She was really chalking it up to Des making them watch so much TV and also listening to her and Des talking. When she makes it down the stairs she sees the snowmen that Des, Shaun, and she had made. She lets out a giggle, seeing the rather atomically messed up ones of hers and Des. Shaun's was a regular one, the spoil sport.

She forgoes the meal that was handed to her by said Brit, instead getting a cup of coffee and putting 5 small spoonfuls and creamer in it. Mocha flavored. Yum.

"You need to eat." Ezio remarks with a frown, Leonardo mirroring the look.

"Y'all are going to make me fat with all the food I've been eating." She says with a grin, the cup resting against her lips for a moment to warm them before taking a drink. The frowns, now being sent from all 7 men, deepen.

"You're too skinny." Altair says. Suddenly, the other 6 stop frowning and look first at the Arab then at her. Her own look darkens, happiness gone.

"So you're saying that I'm a twig?" She questions, setting her cup down and leaning against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest. The other six gulp, Des motioning for him to not answer.

"No just that you could do with gaining a little. Perhaps it will help to keep you warm." He remarks back, not understanding why the other men were acting as such. She spies the book Malik had been reading, Interview with the Vampire, sitting on the counter beside her. She reaches for it and chunks it causing solid 'THWAK' sound when it makes contact with his head. All eyes widen in surprise as he slinks back into his chair, the book falling off his face beforehand. He clutches his face with a groan, leaning his head back as a little blood trickles down past his scarred lips. Her own eyes widen when she sees this.

She grabs a hand towel hanging beside her, turns the facet on with cold water to dowse a little of it and runs over to his side. She removes his hands and dabs at the blood dripping from his nose before holding the wet part under it. Suddenly someone begins to laugh a little and they all start in, her included, and Alex's mouth twitches.

"Why today did my clumsiness fail?" She groans out a little, a grin on her face. They all knew what she was talking about. She could be graceful sometimes, even pulling off rather complicated things, but most of the time she would trip over her own feet.

"Agreed." Was all Altair says, voice garbled as he speaks past the cloth.

"Remind me why you guys are all in here?" She questions rhetorically, waiting to get the cast off and replaced. The doctor was going to check on her arm by taking an x-ray to make sure the bones were healing right. It was just that the room was small and there were a lot of people in it. She wanted to beat some of the women out in the lobby (she guessed that was partially the reason, they were ogled like crazy out there and she was even sure some of them had gotten numbers) because they were driving her crazy and also causing stress for them all. They were all sitting around or standing, Alex beside her and his jacket back on him. She wondered how it was always warm, even after it had been hanging around in her room in the cold. It was now common for her to be seen wearing it, the first time nearly giving everyone a heart attack.

"I gotta say: Nice shirt. Impressing someone today?" Des questions, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, your dad. Meet your new mum." She says with as straight a face as she could. It didn't last long as she begins laughing, Des giving her a dirty look before grinning himself.

"Nice one." The door opens and the doctor's eyes widen at the amount of people.

"Save me, they won't leave me alone!" She says before laughing. "Sorry, they were being harassed out in the lobby."

"No, it's alright..." The doctor says slowly before clearing his throat. "Miss Ryan I take it?" She nods and he pulls up the rolling chair in front of her. She holds out her right arm, cast heavy and bending it slightly. He pulls out a brace of sorts from the side of the table and sets her arm in it then grabs the tiny circular saw. Altair, Malik, and Leo get a little antsy when they see it but Des shakes his head to let them know it was alright. They had already talked about what to expect when they got there so they would know. The doctor pulls a mask over the lower part of his face.

"Now don't breathe this in." The doctor starts to saw, cutting into the hardened fiberglass causing dust to fly everywhere. Unconsciously she leans into Alex to get away from it. Her back begins to warm exponentially when she does this and she has to force herself not to jump in surprise at it. In fact, she found herself leaning more into him if possible. "Done, now let's take a look at that arm." He says prying open the cast and she lifts her arm rather quickly from not having the extra weight on it. The appendage was thinner than her other arm and even had a slight smell to it. She was just happy to see it looked much better than the last time, what with it swollen and purplish. The doctor takes her arm, checking the bones.

"Healing really well, enough so that I don't believe you're not going to need another cast in fact. Just a brace." He says with a smile at her and she couldn't help her own from coming onto her face.

"Thank god." Was her response, a breathy laugh following. He fits her for one and then dismisses her after scheduling another appointment for 3 weeks away. She was happy, no longer having to wear the overrated and heavy cast. The doctor showed Des how to get it tight enough for when she put it back on after taking a shower or sleeping without it. She didn't much mind though, too happy to really care. As they exit the building, she almost falls by slipping on a patch of ice. Alex, who was behind her, catches her by grabbing one arm and holding her up. She winces inside, outwardly breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thanks." She gives him a grin, wearing his jacket once more. The others just shake their heads at her antics but none the less, couldn't blame her joy. She would have to wait till later to see if she had bruised from it though, her arm hurt a little and the flesh he held tender. Long sleeves, here she comes; not that it was anything new.

He nods and releases her arm. "Hey Des, Imma need you to redo the brace when we stop and eat. I have got to wash my arm, it just feels gross."

Des laughs and agrees.

They were back home. Megan had nearly attacked some idiot college kids who tried as best they could to invite the men to a party tonight when they went to the mall for some things. She received some horrible pick-up lines from some jocks that made her want to gag, most of which were about getting into her pants. She was just happy to be away from stupid people.

"Hey, wait, what about when you fell!?"

"I attacked the floor." She retorts to Ezio who was in front of her. He snorts with laughter.

"Backwards?"

She shrugs after putting down her bags on the counter. "What can I say, I'm freaking talented."

Everyone laughs at this, Ezio shaking his head as well. Snow floats down from his head to melt on the floor and she couldn't help but shake her hair to remove it from her own. It had begun to snow really hard when they were 15 minutes from her house and needless to say, she was glad Shaun was driving. She refused to do so because she wasn't comfortable with driving in snow, hence why she hermitted away for 5 to 6 months of the year. Bags were dropped and what food items that had been gotten were put away. Lunch had been interesting, mostly because they had went to Red Lobster. She wasn't much for sea food but couldn't resist the cheddar biscuits. It had been interesting, to say the least. She actually saw Alex eat regular food, if only a little of it. Really, he had just stolen some of the food from her plate like it was no big deal.

She walks over to her cabinets, checking to see if she had all the ingredients for Potato Soup. She wanted to surprise the guys, having not been able to cook because of the weight of the cast. Des was alright for small, easy meals that didn't have a lot of things going in it. "Hey, I was gunna make dinner!"

She looks at Des and tsk's him, wagging her finger for good measure. "Not tonight. You're not a bad cook, but I've been missing cooking my own meals. Besides, all of you are going to love it." She smiles. "You can help though. Start peeling the potatoes." She commands, nodding her head to the starchy veggies. Ezio grabs the peeler and the trash before Des even managed to, and grins happily as he begins to start peeling. Megan rolls up the sleeves of Alex's jacket and start chopping the onion and bell pepper. She then cooks them and puts them into the big pot, taking the potatoes from Des after he cut them up in even squares. She pours water, adds a little butter, and pet milk in and then sets it to boiling. She really didn't need to watch it now but she needed to check out her arm. It was killing her. She hoped she had been doing a good job of acting like she wasn't in any pain. So far, no one seemed to notice.

"Hey Des, watch the stuff for a minute. I need to get something from my room." He agrees and she heads upstairs. She goes to her room and shuts the door, pulling off the jacket and setting it on her bed. She goes to her bathroom and pulls off her shirt, looking at her arm and the deep blue-ish purple marks that were on it and her ribs. That one surprised her, she hadn't felt it at all and it didn't hurt either. Her eyes drift up and find Alex standing behind her, a sadden look in his eyes. She gasps and tries to cover up.

"What-"

"It's nothing." She says quickly trying to put on her shirt but is stopped by him gently, far gentler than she expected, holding onto her arm to stop her. He pokes them and she winces, they were tender after all, and he releases her quickly, afraid he was going to cause more of them.

"When?"

"When I slipped at the doctor's office." She answers, adverting her eyes. He mumbles something under his breath and she looks up at him. "It's ok, really. I bruise easy." He backs away from her, not wanting to cause more harm and she feels something stir her heart. He had helped her from busting her ass and the bruises were just collateral. "W-wait, we… um, we can work on being careful." He stops, surprised. That hadn't been what he was expecting, he hurt her but she wanted to help him.

"What do you mean?" He questions after a moment. She releases a breath and nods to herself.

"Think of it as a way to… train on being gentle." She says, putting her shirt on. She felt sort of embarrassed with it not on. She could only think of this as a way to keep him around, she didn't want him to leave just because she got a few bruises. He waits a minute before answering.

"What if-"

"I get hurt?" She shrugs, not all too worried with it. "Then it happens and it shows you that you have to use less force. Think of it as a learning experience." She adds as an afterthought. "I'm willing to go through it so you can learn." She crosses her arms over her chest and waits for his answer.

"…"

"I'll take that as a yes and nothing you say otherwise will dissuade me, so trying to do so will not work." She gives him a smile and heads to her door.

"If they get worse we stop." She stops and turns around to face him. After thinking it over, she gives him a soft smile and nods in agreement. He grabs his jacket from off her bed and hands it over to her, helping her to put it on, then follows her downstairs. Des, Shaun, and Ezio look at the two of them as they come down but she grins and shrugs, a bright smile on her face.

"How's it looking?" She questions, taking the large wooden spoon from him and getting a fork out of the drawer to pick up a potato to check. It squished easily and she knew it was nearly done, just needed the last few ingredients for it to be so. She adds the rest of the stuff and lets it simmer until she was sure it was finished. She motions for Alex, who was now her second shadow, to get bowls and she fills them halfway with the soup. She passes them out, taking her own bowl into the living room to sit on her couch; Alex followed her and sits with her on the couch, and she adjusts enough that his body heat was helping to keep her warm. It wasn't like she could keep warm anyways, what with the winter air cold as all get out.

"Ooo, they're getting cozy over there." She hears from Ezio who starts to laugh quietly, Leo elbowing him in the side to get him to shush. Altair and Malik give them odd looks but Des and Shaun just roll their eyes, unperturbed by it because they were from a more modern era and as such didn't notice anything out of place.

"Shuddup Ezio and eat your soup." Megan says, giving him a look that showed she wasn't pleased. Things were fine with her and she didn't much mind what the elder era men cared about her being anywhere near close to a man. But things were different for her, she really only cared that he was helping to keep her warm kinda like a space heater. She giggles quietly as she comes to that conclusion though she wouldn't be caught calling him that out loud.

Said Italian rolls his eyes at her but complies though he and the rest keep their eyes on the two. They didn't know what had transpired in the 5 minutes the two were upstairs but they could see that they were just fine, if not closer. They didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. They could tell that they had been getting close or on somewhat friendly terms after the second day when they had noticed that the stranger man had been hanging around a little more but still maintaining a distance from all of them. Seemed that barrier had effectively been torn down.

A knock on the door to her study causes her to jump in surprise. She pulls down the computer's screen and squints into the darkness, the glasses nearly falling off her nose as she does.

"Turning the light on." Was all the warning she received before the room was flooded with artificial light. She pulls the glasses off and rubs her eyes which were watering terribly from the barrage on her retinas. When they finally quit and she was able to see, after putting her glasses back on, she finds Alex at the door to her study.

"Yeah?" She asks, wondering if something was wrong. He never bothered her before so what was there left to assume because of that. He walks into the study further before closing the door behind him.

"Figured we could start tonight." Her brain was a little fried from having been writing but she knew what he was talking about. She figured why not.

"Well, what do you want to start with?"

"… How about general interactions." She nods and stands. She had long since changed clothes into a black long sleeve shirt, gray flannel pants, and some fuzzy gray socks that were actually keeping her feet warm of which she was happy about. She figured he was talking about hand shaking and other regular things. He holds out his right hand and she her left, taking it in a soft grip. He near mirrors it, just a smidge to tightly.

"Loosen up. Relax." She says and he does, the grip becoming feather light. "Think of holding onto an egg that you don't want to break." She gives the analogy with a smile, and repeats it several more times throughout the night. It was getting really late when Alex calls it quits for the night. They had gone over shaking hands and a few other different things. She figured that hugs were out of the question, he really didn't seem like one of the touchy feely type of person but she was fine with that. She yawns widely, almost swaying on her feet from exhaustion. The day had been long and her sitting there for a few hours on her computer really didn't help any. Alex helps her over to the couch, which she takes the pillow and her blanket and gets comfortable. "You don't have to help me. I've done this so many times I've lost count." She says with a shiver. The living room was freezing and she didn't have the strength to get up to mess with the thermostat or restart the fire. Alex looked between her and the world outside, sighs and picks her up, blanket and all, taking her upstairs. He enters her room, helps her under the covers and then removes his hoodie before crawling in under the blankets with her. Without really meaning to she moves closer to him in an attempt to get warm, her body giving away just how cold she really was by being wracked with shivers.

"S-sorry." She apologizes with a nervous chuckle. He shakes his head, dark curly brown hair sitting upon his head. He didn't look quite so threatening without all the layers on his body. She quickly falls asleep, wondering if he was just doing this till she was out and then he would leave.

"Aw, how cute. Wish we had a camera." She hears from somewhere. She didn't care though. She was warm, she was happy.

"That is preposterous; doesn't she know that it is unwise to do such a thing?" Another voice says.

"Oh, leave them be. I have to agree it's cute though."

"You're all bloody gits."

"Hmph."

"Adorable! But I think she's waking up."

Damn right she was starting to wake up. Mind you, she really didn't want to she was comfortable. But she takes notice that her bed was moving, up and down, up and down. Groggily she opens her eyes to white. Her sheets weren't white right then. She leans her head up to find she was halfway on top of Alex, who was still asleep. The only thing she really had going for her was the fact that both of them had their clothes on. Looking to her door finds the 6 trying to scramble away having been caught. She swore they were nearly as bad as kids who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"You're awake." Alex says, and she could feel the words vibrate in his chest. She squeaks, surprised, and pushes off of him to the other side of the bed. He watches her with his icy blue eyes and sits up, running a hand through his curly hair. His collar was no longer popped up and she had to say he looked better without the thing around his face.

"You didn't have to stay. You could have left." She states and he shakes his head in the negative.

"You had a death grip on my clothing. I would have dragged you from your bed if I had tried." He answers and gets out of the bed without so much as stretch or groan. Even though she knew she didn't weight that much, it couldn't have been comfortable for someone to have laid on top of you all night.

She gives a small laugh, nervousness making it high pitched. She was still tired, though she had to say that was probably the best sleep she had gotten without having gotten drunk. Not since... 'No, don't think about that.' She chides herself, squashing the thoughts from her mind. She looks at the pillows on her bed to Alex then to her door and repeats a few more time before flopping back down and deep under the covers. Alex raises one eyebrow at this.

"You need to get up."

"No, to tired." Was her response, muffled by the blankets that were on her. She hears him chuckle then the door shut. She lets out a breath but sucks it back in again when Alex's weight settles on the bed and then under the covers.

"I could tell. You were snoring." Affronted, she playfully hits him even though she knew it had to hurt her more than him. "Relax. Sleep. If they come in again I'll get them out." Well, she couldn't disagree with that now could she?

Her body was already betraying her as she yawned widely, covering it with her hands. While never one to really snuggle, she did manage to get close to him so she could share his body heat. He grunts in a mocking way and pulls her against him. Almost instantly her eyes were closing and she didn't much mind. As before, she was warm, she was safe. Nothing really mattered outside of the cocoon of blankets and pillows and warmth.

Well, I know I said once a week but I haven't slept yet and it 6:04 am. I just don't feel tired. I tried to lay down but it didn't work. -sighs- Oh well. I hope you like this chapter. I kept laughing at some of the stuff I was typing. Could have been the lack of sleep that made it funny though.

Any ways, I wanna thank Raychaell Dionzeros for reviewing the last chapter and I'm glad your enjoying it!

Well, thanks to all who've read this. But just remember that I do accept reviews, even from annoymous reviewers. You can always e-mail or PM me as well. Till next time!