~Theo POV~

When the deputy obnoxiously knocked on my window, he didn't have to wait for me to stir. I had already been up for probably two hours, listening to the waking of the world and contemplating my next move.

What to do about my situation with Rachel.

Liam was confidently two steps ahead, trying to ruin what little we had already started. I was pissed about that, but more than that, I was sick at the thought of never getting a chance to make things better between Rachel and me. These things, these feelings and thoughts, were safely tucked away in my head, probably the best place for them.

Slowly, I sat up and waved the deputy away from my window, too anxious to respond to his irritating eye roll, and crawled into the front seat. As the engine revved, I looked to my clock, which read 7:48 A.M., and wondered what she was doing as I left the cop behind in a trail of dust and gravel.

I knew for a fact that today she was going to go work. The morning that I'd been at her house, her work schedule had been tacked to the refrigerator and I'd taken the liberty of studying it while she'd cooked. Maybe today I should bother her, and I smiled at the thought.

I pulled over at a gas station and grabbed clean clothes and toiletries from under the seat and changed in the bathroom there, like I usually did. I did that so often that the man up front knew me almost by sound and nodded as I walked back out.

Climbing back up behind the wheel, I felt my stomach churn as I realized that I needed to begin fighting back against the seeds that Liam was planting in her head. Though I couldn't deny the dumb things I had done, I could prove that I wasn't ALL that same person…

…Right?

One thing that had to be admitted though was that I wasn't going to change. I was still the bastard and backstabber that Scott and Liam, and everyone else, and known before, but I knew I could make Rachel believe that I didn't, and would never, apply those standards to her.

To hell with Liam, and everyone else that dug up bones to pick with me. Rachel was a sanctuary, my sanctuary, and I'd be damned if I'd let Liam ruin it.

~Cassia POV~

"Fancy seeing you here again!" I signed as I walked into Melissa's office and met the eyes of Zinnia Rubek.

"Just getting a check up to make sure nothing more is upsetting the wound." She signed back, giving a slight smile. I nodded and lifted her shirt sleeve.

I frowned slightly with my observation.

It had only been about three weeks, and even though the damage would have healed, the puncture wounds had been deep enough to leave scars. Yet, there was nothing on her arm. It was simply pale skin, just like that of the rest of her arm.

The thought occurred to me that she might be supernatural herself, but I knew better than to ask. She seemed harmless enough, she was just a teenager, and if she was a werewolf, so what?

"Not even a scar, you're lucky." I signed to her and she didn't reply. Her look seemed a little darker than it had been, but I kept my smile on, though my gut churned, and told her she was free to go.

Without hesitation, she stood and walked out, and I called in my next patient, a little boy by the name of Steven Broker.

I helped him up onto the bed in the room and kept him content until Melissa came in. I assisted in giving him some shots he needed and we sent him back to his mother.

"Melissa, have you found anything related to what we're looking for?" "No, and Chris is doing his best, but there's nothing like this creature in his little book of supernatural things." "Your husband has a bestiary?" I asked, shocked.

"Guess I need to explain that one, huh?" She smiled, "Truly, I'm surprised you know what I was talking about. Most people respond with 'don't you mean 'bestiality'?"

I chuckled, then gathered the papers to store in the front desk office. "Chris used to be a Hunter." Melissa said quietly. "A Hunter?"

"Mm-hmm, hunted those who hunted them." "What made him stop?" I asked. "Scott…my son."

The name clicked into place in my head. "Scott? You mean, the Alpha that Liam always says he wants to follow?!" "That's right. Scott and his pack protected Beacon Hills. Liam was his first bitten Beta."

"Wow," I breathed, "so, Chris stopped when you married?" "Oh no, long before. After Chris lost his daughter…" "Say no more, I understand. That's really interesting, thank you for sharing." "You're welcome. You should probably go take those papers now. If we lose them, they'll break our legs."

I smiled and nodded, then walked out the door, letting it close quietly behind me, and I shuffled the papers. I was going over them again, making sure that I had written down everything correctly before storing these in the proper patient records.

Busy with that, I didn't pay attention, and ran right into a sturdy person, whose arms went around me instantly to steady me. "Well, I didn't expect such a warm welcome, but thanks."

Theo's voice spoke right above my head and I leaned back to look at him. "What are you doing here, Theo?" I asked, trying not to sound impolite as I bent to pick up the papers that had scattered when I bashed into him.

He bent down as well, grabbing a couple and reading them over as he replied, "Unhappy to see me? I could just come back later, possibly at a more inconvenient time." "Ha-ha," I said, smiling against my will, and snatched the papers from him, "give me that! Don't you know it's illegal to read into someone else's medical files?" "But you do it." He teased.

"That's different, I'm the nurse assistant, and I fill these out." I pressed a hand against his chest to gently move him aside and he moved, but walked directly behind me. Once we reached the front desk, I stopped and so did he, though he was so close, I could feel the warmth of his body near me.

"You can't follow me back here," I said. "Then give the papers to Ms. Looksbusy here, and come chat with me. I want to talk to you." "It'll have to wait until my break, I'm busy right now. And watch your tone with Mrs. Vincent, she's tougher than she looks," I said, smiling at her as she glared at Theo, but said nothing as she was on the phone.

His look told me he didn't want to wait until my break, still three hours away, and I could see him trying to find a way around it. I sighed.

"Wait here," I told him, "I'm going to file these, and then you have five minutes to tell me what you have to." He nodded, but that smile he flashed me spoke of trouble, and I thought of Liam's words from a couple of days ago. A pit formed in my stomach.

I took my time filing the papers, reflecting on what he'd said again, then took a deep breath and walked out. Theo was still waiting there, an impatient look on his face as he leaned against the desk.

"Alright, come on, let's go to the cafeteria." I said.

Once we got there, I picked up a bottle of water from the tray near the window where they served food in the afternoon and night and took a seat at one of the tables. Theo sat down across from me, impish delight sparkling in those eyes of neither green nor brown.

"What are we talking about?" I asked. To my surprise, Theo looked a little uncomfortable, but I remained calm.

"Well, um, Liam mentioned the other day that he'd spoken to you…about me?"

I nearly choked on my water, but swallowed it and nodded calmly. His face asked me the question that his lips didn't speak: What do you think?

I took a brief second to think, and studied his face while I did. His hair was in disarray, with small not-quite curls hanging around his forehead that needed to be brushed back. My fingers itched to bury themselves in that soft looking mess of chocolate brown. His eyes looked nowhere but my face, and I wondered if he was doing a similar assessment of me.

I wanted to beg him not to get attached, but as seen by his unspoken question, it was too late for that. I hadn't even left yet, and the thought of his upset broke my heart for the three thousandth time, but there was nothing I could do.

Finally, I took a deep breath, and cleared my throat to speak. "He told me that you backstabbed and hurt people." Though there was no regret present in his expression, I could see that he was struggling to find something to say. He exhaled heavily, almost in an irritated fashion, and replied, "He's not wrong."

My thoughts flew to Damian.

Damian had hurt people left and right, and not cared. He'd killed his own parents, and was looking to kill me. Blood meant nothing to him if he didn't spill it.

"So, what does this mean?" I asked Theo. I was scared of his answer.

"It's no secret that I'm a bastard, Rachel. But I don't want you to be afraid of me." He looked almost exposed, like saying this to me was painful for him.

"Theo, I wouldn't invite someone I was scared of into my home. But…"

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't come out and say that I cared for him, as I knew he wouldn't do…probably.

"So, you aren't scared of me?" "Not at all, but it does make me curious as to whether or not I can trust you." These were words he'd said to me not too long ago. That was the problem in this. He couldn't trust me and I couldn't trust him.

"…That's fair," He said.

"My offer is still there."

While it can be, and because I'm selfish enough to still want you around, even if you hurt me, I thought.

Theo nodded, and stood, as did I and he walked ahead of me while I replaced the lid on my bottle.

"Rachel?" He said, stopping in the doorway with one hand on the frame and looking back to me. "Yes?"

"It's been obvious to everyone, pretty much anyway. Is it obvious to you too?"

Without waiting for my reply, he walked out the door and I stood frozen, even when the door at the other end of the hall slammed with his departure.

Theo was not one to confess things, that much I did know from the months I'd been here, but his cry to be heard hadn't been any clearer to me that if he'd screamed it at me. Maybe it was because, like a fellow lost soul, I understood his want to be wanted, or maybe it was that I could just read Theo that well.

His words may have seemed confusing, but I heard the direct message: I like you, and that terrifies me, but do you want to try?

Sadly, my answer had to be no, even if he didn't know that yet, and it shattered my heart into a billion pieces. I wanted to stay in Beacon Hills. I wanted to be surrounded by my friends, the people who had come to love me through a lie. I wanted to keep my job and the pretty little house I'd never been able to dream of. I wanted to tell them who I really was, and why I couldn't put them in danger. And most selfishly, I wanted to try and make something with Theo.

But what I wanted didn't matter, and it never had. Survival didn't care how badly it hurt you, or how hard life made it for you. Survival didn't care who you fell in love with, or what promises were supposed to mean. Survival was a cruel, hateful thing that only made you into a shell that people saw. Survival was not living…it was simply staying alive.

I wanted to scream in pain and frustration.

I forced myself to push aside my anguish, and head back to Melissa. If I didn't stay diligent, Damian would win and I would never have the chance to simply live, no matter when that day came, and if it came at all. I needed to set a date to leave, and then I would selfishly live a few more memorable weeks, hopefully even just a single day, any of which I could call Theo mine.

And then I could never be selfish again.

**I really hope you all like where this is going! I am so glad you're all sharing it with me! Have a great day!**