Megan stares at Altair, he wanted her to do what?

"Do it again. But slower." She says as he sighs and retrieves some of the throwing knives he had gotten her for Christmas. He takes a stance, which she mimics, and shows her the wrist flicking thing slowly several times without throwing the blade before actually doing it. He hits it dead on the bull's eye. Megan takes a breath, practicing the move a few times before doing it. She hits the deck with the blade, not even getting it to stick in the wood. She frowns frustrated and gives a defeated sigh. She was blaming the gloves she was wearing because the Arab wasn't wearing any and he could hit it. She could also see him fighting the laughter that wanted to burst forth. He clears his throat.

"Let's continue this tomorrow." He says, his voice forced to be even. She hangs her head in defeat. This was the 5th day in a row that he was stopping them so early. She almost hoped she wasn't going to have to get Ezio to teach her like the man had joked about. That would be embarrassing to her, going from the grand master to what was considered a novice. She knew Desmond, from what they had explained to her about the ranking of the order, was a real novice but Altair thought of the three of them as novices and he included Shaun in this.

She follows him inside, warming her fingers as she does. They had to go around the outer part of the kitchen before they made it to the sliding door and inside. Sometimes she wondered why the builders had made a porch like this in Washington but then forgets it. She hadn't asked when she bought it so why would she start now?

"How did she do?" The Italian Assassin questions and Alty says nothing. Megan's dejected sigh apparently gives him his answer. "That bad?"

"No, she has the form down. Which is more than most trainees get down in so few days." Megan's head snaps to the man in surprise as she pulls off her jacket, gloves, scarf, shoes, and hat. He complimented her?

"Really?" He nods. "YES!" She bounces happily in place as he gives her a small smile. She had noticed that the Assassins seemed to be trying to keep something from her, something that was bothering them. But she wouldn't bother them with it. If they wanted her to know about it, they would tell her.

"But you have no strength behind your throwing." And she stops bouncing, a pout coming onto her face as the Arab takes a seat beside the Italian.

"But she is a girl, it is expected."

Wait, what?

She cocks her hip to the left and crosses her arms under her black long sleeve shirt covered bust. That was uncalled for. Alex sees her look and migrates over to her with a cup of hot chocolate. She keeps her gaze on the two causing her ire for a few more seconds before the smell of the chocolate liquid under her nose draws her attention away from them and to her boyfriend. She smiles in appreciation and walks over to the couch, pulling him along with her. She snuggles up against his side and takes a drink of the scalding liquid after blowing on it to cool it as much as possible. His arm comes around her shoulders to rest on her knee, both of which were pulled up on the couch.

"Thank you." She tells him, resting her head on his shoulder as best she could. The man was still bigger than her even if he was sitting. She recognized the slight irony of it, he being the large tough man and she being the small dainty female. But that wasn't what attracted her to him. It was his kindness and trueness that got her. She couldn't handle fake people and she was glad that they all were allowing her into who they were. Their true personalities were what made them interesting and what she loved about them all. Yes she loved them but not in the way she felt about Alex, her love for them was as a sister loves a brother. And to her, the Assassins were her brothers. Ezio had joked and said she was their sister and so they would have to watch out for her, to keep her from harm both physical and emotional.

"Oh get a room." Desmond says as he, Leo, Shaun, and Malik come into the living room from upstairs. She sticks her tongue out at them at him which he returns just as, if not more, childishly at her. She hands over her cup, grabs a pillow, and tosses it at him which he catches. "Not bad, getting stronger. Used to not be able to make it this far." He tells her as he tosses the pillow from hand to hand, walking over to the couch. He plops down causing the springs to creak in protest. She pokes him in the side.

"You're getting too fat to keep doing that. It'll break my couch." He swats her hand away, rubbing her head affectionately afterwards.

"Atleast I eat good here."

"I wanna go do something.." Megan says a little while later. They were upstairs in her room watching AFV. She was hanging upside down at the end of her bed with her head and arms hanging off the end; her face was becoming a shade of red that they knew meant she needed to right herself soon or she would be getting a pounding headache. Shaun scoffs.

"What do you want to do, go play in the snow?"

She rights herself, turning to face him on the floor. She remains quiet for a moment. "I wanna go bowling."

Everyone pauses for a second before looking at her.

"You… wanna go bowling?" Desmond questions incredulously. She nods.

"I haven't gone bowling in a long time." She shrugs. "So I wanna go bowling."

Malik frowns. "What is bowling?"

This time it was the younger crowd of Alex, Des, Megan, and Shaun who give the older crowd a surprised look.

"Ah, the smell of floor wax." Megan laughs as she sits down, pulling off her shoes to put on the rented pair of full on leather shoes. She had changed clothes, mostly because of the fact that she had changed into pajamas and had tossed her clothes from earlier into the dirty clothes hamper. She now wore a pale blue v neck shirt with tight stone washed skinny jeans and her jacket rested on the back of her chair. The rest follow suit, except Alex who didn't want to play. He had told her outside, letting the rest go in before them, that he didn't want to break anything. He did tell her to kick the rest of the men's asses. She had already hunted down a bowling ball, a neon green 5 pounder. She couldn't wait for the blackout thing to begin because the older Assassins had yet to learn of the awesomeness that it is the black light. She was going to have to remember to get one.

"Yeah, smells like sweaty old men." Desmond jibes with a pointed look at Altair, Ezio, and Malik. The three give him a rather withered look. Shaun had already gotten his shoes on and picked out his bowling ball, a gray and black freckled one, and was sitting at the machine to put their names in. Megan notices.

"Hey! Not our real ones. Put.. Lynx in for my name." He gives her a flat look before doing as requested. "Eagle for Alty, Hawk for Ezzy, Arty for Leo, Lefty for Mal, and Chicken for Des." Des then shoots her a dirty look which she smiles at. Once done he looks at her for his new nickname. "Um, Trololo for you." This gets a grin from the Brit. Once done he stands up and motions for Des to go first. He gets lined up, takes three steps, and lets go of the orange ball down the lane. Halfway down it rolls quickly into the right gutter. All those who were playing fight the snickers that want to escape. He shoots them a dirty look before grabbing the ball out of the thingy that returns them. He repeats the actions and only knocks down 4 pins.

"My turn." Megan sing-songs happily, and right as she lines up the lanes all darken and the black lights turn on. Her shirt blazed a bright blue-ish white color and her jeans lit up as well. She turns around to find the older era men looking at not only at their clothing but one another. Ezio's shirt was what she would call a SpongeBob yellow shirt, which previously had been a nice pale yellow color. Leo's shirt blazed white, near burning her retinas at the intensity. The wording on Alty's shirt were a green color, spelling out that he was employee of the month. Mal now looked like an orangesicle, a big bright neon orangesicle. Des, Alty, and Ezzy's eyes also glowed and so did Alex's. She returns to the lane, a gleeful smile on her face as she hears them talking.

The scores looked like this: in the lead was Megan (who was showing off her talent of being able to get strikes and spares one right after another), after her was Shaun who was able to make several strikes and just as many spares, after him was actually Malik who had gotten the game down rather quickly and was getting a spare or strike peppered in. The rest were only a few points apart from one another, someone knocking down enough pins to get ahead of the others before someone would beat them out.

Alex returns to his seat with another Smirnoff for Megan. He was surprised, the more she drank the better she would get. He had to admit he was damn proud of his girl for showing them that she could beat them at something and do it while getting inebriated. She gives him a quick kiss as thanks and takes a swig of her beer as Alty tries to get a strike but gutter balls for the second time.

"There are blockers we can put up for you guys if you want. Guaranties you hit a few of the balls or could even help you get strikes." She grins at Des, Ezzy, and Alty who shoot her dirty looks at the comment, Altair just sitting down and Leo getting up. The painter pauses and turns to Shaun who was still sitting at the machine.

"Could you please do so?" He asks and Shaun nods, hitting a few buttons and the racks come up causing the man to smile with delight. Shaun turns to the others who wave him off. He shrugs and turns back to the lane as a loud crash alerts them to Leo's bowl. He had managed to knock down near half of the pins and was waiting rather eagerly for his pink bowling ball. Megan laughs as the other men hang their heads in shame. She catches Shaun's rather evil grin before he puts the blockers up on their turns.

In the end, Megan had won. And she also won the next game too but the game after she lost because she had drank to much and ended up drunk. She has currently sitting in Alex's lap in the middle seat of her Expedition and so Shaun was now having to drive the hour long drive back to the house. She was relaxed and loose, the alcohol having turned her body to something like jelly. She would giggle every so often, her face buried in Alex's neck and the man's jacket draped over her shoulders.

"Desmond sucks at bowling…" She giggle whispers to him and Alex had to bite his tongue to not laugh. The youngest descendant had come in last every game, even with the blockers.

"Alex… Alex…" Megan reaches behind her, patting Alex's arm; it was three nights later after the bowling fiasco. Something was making a noise and she didn't want to deal with it. She was to tired, not to mention she really wasn't sure if she was just hearing things. The last time that happened she got a nose full of chloroform and free trip to Seattle while being kidnapped.

Yeah, she didn't want a repeat.

She pats him a few more times before an intelligent 'huh' is uttered. She rolls her eyes. "Something is downstairs." She all but whispers to him. His silver-blue eyes stare at her groggily, not comprehending. At this moment, she wondered just how he was the most feared man where he came from. Cause he looked to her like a complete and utter pushover. She figured a kitten could take him down with one tiny fuzzy paw tied behind its back.

He was still giving her that uncomprehending look after two minutes.

She sighs and then a particularly loud thud causes them to jump and him to wake completely. A gentle knock at her door alerts her seconds before it opens and something flies over to her side of the bed. The bright blonde mop of hair is her only indication as to who it was before the blankets were pulled up and a body collided against hers in a death grip. Her eyes widen and she wheezes out a, "Leo!"

She feels more than sees him nod. She could also hear the low growl being emitted behind her. 'Oh god..' She thinks before twisting her head to give him a withered look and awkwardly pat the other man on what she could only hope was his back.

The growl behind her continues.

"Leo? What's wrong?" She questions in a gentle voice. She hears him whimper and his grip tightens on her person, he wasn't leaving her much room to breath. She had to think of something or else Alex just might throw the man out of the room. She makes a soothing noise when the man squeezing her begins to shake and after a few minutes he stops and even loosens his grip. Eventually, with Alex growling in the background still, Leo looks at her with terrified blue eyes. "What's wrong?" She repeats.

"Zombie…"

She forces herself not to roll her eyes. Damn Altair and Malik. She had been joking when she said that they should watch the Resident Evil movies as a marathon; instead the two had jumped up (apparently having been wanting to watch the films for a while and just didn't want to do so by themselves) and they had piled into Megan and Alex's room, he had abandoned the room he was first given right after New Year's and moved into her room because he pretty much had already migrated his things into it, with snacks and soda's and many other different things as well. In the end the only people not scared were Megan, Alex, and Desmond though Shaun argued that he hadn't been scared by it in the least but Megan had caught him hiding behind a pillow more than once. It actually had been funny because Alex had gotten up to go get something more to drink for both him and her and when he had returned, Megan was sandwiched between Ezio and Leo on one side and Malik and Altair on the other, the three Assassins flinching and ducking behind Megan when the Licker kidnapped the little girl on the last of the movies and the Alice woman had to fight it. They apparently didn't like the Lickers.

Alex could practically smell their fear.

Alex right now wanted to kill the famous painter. Not only was he to close to what was his but so blatantly clinging to her as if his life depended on it. He was fighting the darker urge if only for her sake. He knew that the man wasn't trying to take what was his but damn if his instincts didn't say otherwise.

Megan could only guess what was going on in Alex's mind but she was glad he had stopped growling, she didn't think that was helping the blonde man any.

She gives a sigh. "Leo, we talked this over before. There is no such thing as zombies. It's not real." She says carefully, as if explaining this to a small child. He looks up at her slowly, digesting the words. She nods at him, somewhere in her mind thanking whatever deity that the bangs had stopped. Unfortunately, as soon as this though crossed her mind…

BANG!

CRASH!

And the sound of something shattering is heard. Megan's eyes widen and she clings to Leo who does the same. Both make a feared noise as they sit up and stare at the door, Alex doing the same but not so fearfully.

"What was that?" Leo questions in a stutter.

"I don't know…" Megan answers in a whisper. She turns to Alex, all three now wide awake and not going to sleep anytime soon, and motions for him to go check it out. The look he gives her in return said something along the lines of Are-you-insane-I'm-not-going-down-there.

Suddenly her room was filled with people who were all hiding in various positions and with weapons out and ready. The only thought that came to mind was, 'I am so safe with all these people in here…' somewhat sarcastically. Megan lets go of Leo, who doesn't return the favor, and she gets behind Alex with Leo behind her. Everything was quiet. Nothing moved.

'How was it they could stay so still?' She questions to herself at an indeterminable amount of time. Her legs were going numb, her feet already had the pins and needles feeling. She could feel Alex almost vibrating beneath her hands. She could see everyone looking at one another, as if silently communicating something between themselves. They all stand as one the Assassins and Alex, Megan and Leo scrambling with the man, and take a step with him every time he took one. Once they reach the door, Alex reaches back and places his hand on her stomach effectively halting her and Leo's ascendance. Now Megan gives him a quizzical look when he turns back to her and puts him finger to his lips and points to the spot where she was standing. She gives him a pout at this and he rolls his eyes and leaves the room. She didn't even hear them walking around.

She was going to have to get Altair to teach her how to do that along with throwing knives and fighting and many other different things. She also needed to remember to look up foods that she could make for the two. Italian was pretty well known but Arabic was another story. But she puts that to the back of her mind and takes two steps out into the hallway before being pulled back into her room by the painter still attached to her. She shrugs off his hands and quickly goes down the stairs and stands behind the banister, looking into the gloom of her living room. She jumps when someone touches her shoulder and whirls to face them. Silver blue eyes stare back at her and the front door closes shut.

"I told you to stay in the room." Alex whispers to her, an edgy tone to his voice.

"Yeah I know but I didn't want anything to happen to you guys and me not know so I couldn't call the cops or something." She whispers back. She feels Alex take one of her hands, the room was so dark she couldn't believe it, and leads her into the living room.

"If you're going to be stubborn, stick with me." He answers after a minute. He opens the door to her study and peers inside, and stands absolutely still. She wouldn't know he was breathing had her hands not been on his back and feeling it expand with each breath. He shuts the door and turns to her, eyes darting around before pulling her into a hug. She knew that this was just reminding him of what happened back nearly a year ago. It was already affecting her but she was fighting the urge to jump at every shadow. He seemed to be fighting it just as much as she was, only because she was down there. She was sure if there was a danger to her he would get her out before it would harm her.

The sliding door to the backyard opens and in steps the Assassin's. They shake off the snow that had fallen on them from their excursion and Megan finds herself waiting to see what they had found or didn't find.

"There were tracks but they disappeared somehow." Desmond reports.

"Looks like whoever it was is either lost or unsure of where they are." Shaun says as well, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

Megan finds herself releasing a held breath. "Do you think it's going to be a problem?"

The Assassins look at one another, Malik had walked over to the light switch by the sliding door to close it and turn the lights on, and seem to have a silent conversation. "No, it doesn't look like they were wanting anything." Altair says in response. Megan's brow furrows.

"And if they freeze to death?"

"We'll find the person or persons before that happens." Mal answers her, a smile on his face. After a moment or two she nods.

"Anything taken?"

"Eh, food, water, a blanket, a few other little things." Ezio answers her, moving over to the couch. The sun was just starting to make the sky turn pale blue and pink. The snow was still falling and the gloom was disappearing. The others filter to different areas, mainly to the kitchen. Megan follows them and Alex is pulled along with her.

"So survival stuff?" She says as she gets Alex to sit down and she sits in his lap. The chill of outside had gotten to her and she didn't want to be cold anymore. Well really she wanted to cuddle but the other would be the answer she would give if asked. The nods she receives are their responses, Desmond and Altair cover their yawns and she could see the others fighting their own. They were all tired, herself and Alex included. "Do we even want to start coffee or just go back to sleep?"

"Sleep." Was the chorus.

Megan didn't want to get out of her bathroom, the warm bubble bath was too inviting and her book far to interesting. She was home alone and was happy. She needed a little me time and, dare she say it, girl time. She needed to pamper herself and with the guys here, Alex even included in this though she did enjoy being around her boyfriend, it made things a little difficult. They didn't quite understand it, especially the oldest Assassins who think that everything must have a reason and to just do something to do it is strange. She found that their way of relaxing wasn't really relaxing. It was more stress.

But back to the book. She kept giggling, Lestat's internal monologue was getting to the point of her wanting to drown from laughter. It was definitely one of her favorites from Ann Rice but would never beat out Interview. Suddenly she hears something downstairs making noise. There shouldn't be anything downstairs. She puts her book down split page and listens. The noise was gone. She waits and doesn't move, fearing the sloshing noise would alert whoever it was to where she was. This was not a good thing.

She swallows her saliva, nervousness causing her to imagine hearing things. She was alone and the metal bat was by her door in her room meaning she was defenseless. She hears her door to her room open with a near quiet click and soft foot falls crossing the threshold of her room. The doorknob begins to turn and…

Alright guys here's the newest chapter. I know I left it at a cliffhanger but that is for a purpose. Remember, I don't know if I wanna put Connor in the story or not and the next chapter will not be posted until the poll is over and I wont be taking that down for like another week.

But I wanna thank my newest follower mirageparty!

And now for the reviews:

Elementi3197: Aveline huh? I haven't got to play her yet (mainly because I don't have a PSVita *pouts*). But I will look on youtube for playthroughs so I can understand who she is. But I will keep this suggestion! And yes, Girl Power! *feels like a Spice Girl* lol

Raychaell Dionzeros: I'm sorry, my two younger siblings kinda do the same. They just don't understand. But thank you for the review and I'm glad you love this story as much as you love your books!

Pheonix-164: The Assassins are trying but Megan has gotten to know them and has figured out some of the really, really subtle hints on what their feeling. So she does know that something is bothering them, just not what. As for Ezio, he's rather hard headed. And I'm glad you think the first year they've been together has wrapped up so nicely. And I do want to bring him in, if not only to see his "innocence" as you put it be rather... shattered by the bluntness of not only Ezio but the others. And thank you for calling this fantastic writing!

Now as I was saying, I do have the the poll at the very top of my homepage just under my name. You can vote, I think, how ever many times you want. I would love those votes to come in and you can even leave it as a review if you don't want to vote. I will take those into account as well.

As always, you can review, follow, fave, pm, or e-mail me. My e-mail is on my homepage as well. Thank you all!