The blonde Duchess slowly opened her eyes and saw Ciel stayed all night with her. He was sitting on a chair with his hand holding her's and his head resting on the bed. "That's cute," she said quietly, as she slowly sat up, realizing she never fixed her hair before falling asleep. Oh well...

"Here, let me," Lawrence said as he pushed her hair over to cover her mark. Her entire face paled. Fuck I didn't even hear him come in!

"O-Oh, th-thank you, L-Lawrence," She stammered, turning around to look at him.

"It was no trouble at all, though it is quite puzzling to me how your hair got so disheveled in just a few hours," He said, smirking slightly.

"It's n-not what you th-think," She said, quickly laying back down on her side so he wouldn't see her embarrassed blush.

"And what do I think?" He asked. Her blush spread to her chest, making it look red and splotchy, though no one saw this since her nightgown went up to her chin.

"You know what you are thinking!" She said, turning over so she was facing Ciel.

"I will be getting you ready later this morning. You still have a business to take care of, you know," He said, dismissing himself. "I shall prepare a bath for you, my lady. I will be back in a few minutes to get you."

"Yeah, yeah," She said quietly to herself. She lightly placed her free hand, Ciel was still holding the other, on the Earl's shoulder and shook him awake. "Ciel, you should wake up and get to your own bed," she said quietly. His eye slowly opened and he looked up at her. "Sorry to wake you, but you fell asleep in your day clothes.."

"No, thank you for waking me. To be honest, I haven't been getting much sleep," He says sitting up and rubbing his eye.

"Why is that?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Work, other things.."

"Yeah, I know that feeling. I- um, I can't even tell you how many sleepless nights I've had because of, uh, work." She looked up at him and still almost couldn't believe her eyes. This was her childhood friend, okay it was more like her only friend at this point but that's besides the point, right in front of her eyes. She accidentally ended up staring at him. He hadn't changed much, save for the eyepatch he now wore, and his face had matured more. Another thing had changed, and it was that he no longer smiled. In the small amount of time she had been reunited with him, he had not smiled once. It was… Disheartening, to say the least. Vivian sighed, and looked away from him.

She started to stand up, and winced when it jostled her injuries, namely the hole in her shoulder from where she had been shot.

"Here let me help you," He says, wrapping an arm around her waist and putting her arm over his shoulder. She is shorter than he is, like she always has been, so this kind of works perfectly. This didn't make it hurt any less, though.

She walked, with his help, over to the dresser and took both her hands from him and place the on the edge of the dresser. She looked at herself in the mirror. She has the look of a noblewoman. Pale, "perfect" skin, save for her contract mark and a few burns, as well as a few scars in places unseen by the public's eye. Long golden hair. Light blue eyes. Short. Petite. She sighed looked away from her reflection, disgust showing on her features. Instead of looking at herself in the mirror, she turned her head to look at Ciel.

"Yes, if you haven't realized yet, Lawrence is my...you know," she said, her head still turned that way, but her eyes looked away from his.

"I had a feeling," he walked up behind her and she turned to wrapped her arms around his torso, "If you ask me, I think it makes us more alike," He said, looking at the reflection of her back over her shoulder.

"There's a lot of things that make us alike," She says.

"Such as?"

"We both lost our parents, we both have demons, we both have at least one blue eye...and a lot more," She says, pulling back to look up at him. "Though, to be honest, I like how you get to hide your blue eye. I hate both of mine," She said, looking down at her toes, which just barely peeked out from under her nightgown.

"I like them," he looked away, his face sporting a disinterested look as well as a light pink in his cheeks, "They're... Adequate."

"Really?" She asked, her voice practically dripping in skepticism.

"Of course," he cleared his throat, trying to sound as professional as possible. To be fair, he's never been in this kind of situation before. "It's the perfect shade of azure to compliment your blonde hair and fair complexion," he says, staring down at her eyes.

Her cheeks heated up. "Thank you.." she murmured again.

"I was just stating the truth, there is nothing to be thankful for," he says, pulling one of his hands away from her to run his fingers through his hair. "So, if you don't mind me asking, who kidnapped you yesterday?" he tried to change the topic.

"No, I-I don't mind… It was the man I fired. He tried to… do things… to me before Lawrence showed up," she said turning back around to face the mirror.

"Really?" he asked, his eye widening in surprise.

"Yeah..." She leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder. "Lawrence killed him, of course, I'm honestly disappointed I couldn't do it myself," she paused and sighed, changing the subject again, "I like spending time with you." Neither of them was sure how to talk to each other properly, and their conversation ended with them just saying something random when an awkward silence came up.

"Yes, I like being able to be alone with you," he said, a slight grin tugging at his lips when Vivian started to blush.

"Um, L-Lawrence will probably be here soon to fetch me for my b-bath," she said, pushing him away from her.

"Oh, then I should probably be going.." He said hesitantly, not wanting to leave her, for reasons unknown to him.

"Okay… I'll see you later then…" Vivian said, her voice carrying an undertone of disappointment, despite the fact that she was the one who pushed him away. Ciel smiled at the girl and began walking towards the door, passing Lawrence on his way out.

"Alright, time for you to get ready, mistress," Lawrence said, walking over to the young noblewoman. He picked her up, careful not to disturb her bandages from the night before, and led her to the bathroom. He disrobed her and helped her into the tub of warm water.

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes as Lawrence began washing her hair.

After her bath he pulled out a robe and wrapped it around her before leading her back to the room.

"What color shall I be wearing today, Lawrence?" She asked as he opened up her trunk and began sorting through the dresses.

"I was thinking royal blue," He said as he pulled out a dress. She nodded in agreement. "What about this one?" He asks holding up a blue and black dress that had short sleeves from the closet, and a pretty... low... neckline.

"Oh, I don't know...it seems a bit...un-modest to wear that one...And it would show my contract mark..." She looked away from the garment, a blush tainting her cheeks, while she tried to think of another reason why she shouldn't wear it. "P-Plus, um, it's so dark p-people might think I'm m-mourning or something of the sort…"

"Don't you want to catch a certain man's eyes? You wouldn't be doing much of that wearing something like this," He holds up one of her girly, pink and white dresses with a much higher neckline and lots of ruffles and bows.

"Okay, fine," She said, the blush darkening.

"Great choice," He smiles. He pulled a corset out and began pulling it on her. She thought about a conversation she had with Ciel once, when they were younger, and how then she had declared she would never wear a corset. That was the first time Ciel had ever said she was pretty. He said that she would never need a corset, for she would always be too pretty for one. Of course that was before the standards of the public's eye began to weigh down on their shoulders, as it does for most adults.

"Are you okay, my Lady?" Lawrence asks, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Uh, yes," She says. Before he had put on her dress, he clips on her emerald necklace, so that when she was wearing the dress the only part of the necklace that was showing was the chain. He starts helping her into the dress and when she had it on, he started on her hair. She sat down in a chair in front of a large mirror and he got started. Normally, she has other people to do this for her, but since he's the only one that came with her, he's all she's got. He's all she's ever had after he died...

When he's finished she looked over at herself in the large mirror in awe. "It's lovely," She said. He had braided two identical braides on both sides of her head, back, where he tied them together into one braid that sat on her naturally curly hair, which flowed down her shoulders and covered the contract mark on her collarbone. He also put a blue and black choker, since it "completed the outfit".

"Now for some jewels," He says, grabbing her jewelry box.

"Not too many. I don't want to look like I'm older than I really am," She says, smiling and tilting her head to the side.

"As you wish," He says. "Will these do?" He asks, holding two royal blue, oval drop earrings that match the dress perfectly.

"They are perfect," She says. He slowly pokes the ends of them into her ear lobes.

"Now shoes?" He asks.

"Mm-hm," She says, grabbing a pair of her dark blue stockings out of the closet. She slipped them on while she waited for him to get back. He came up in front of her, kneeling down and softly grabbing the heel of her foot, pulling it up a bit so he can put the shoes on. The outside of the shoes is black velvet with a short heel. When he finished, he stood back up and held his hand out for her. "Thank you," She said, laying her land on his and standing up. "I'll just have to get used to feeling so tall.."

"You are only an inch or two higher," He says.

"It feels like I'm walking on stilts. It's been quite awhile since I've had wear these," She mumbled to herself as she held on to Lawrence' arm for support.

"Well, let's get out of here. I know you don't like being in one place for too long," Lawrence says.

"True," She said, looking down at her hands. "Could you grab my gloves first?"

"Of course, master," He pulled her favorite black gloves out of his pocket and slipped them on her outstretched hands.

"Thank you," She said again, "now we can go."

"Yes, my Lady," He says, placing his hand on his chest and bowing slightly.

She walked down the hall, to Ciel's office. She walked up to the door and stopped. She stared at it for the longest time. What was she going to say when she walked in? Oh, she hoped she wouldn't make a fool of herself.. The small Duchess took a deep breath and raised her hand up to knock. She pulled it back. She raised it again, before pulling it back again. She didn't want to disturb him. She took another deep breath and knocked lightly on the door. "Who is it?" He calls.

"It-it's- uh, Vivian..." She said timidly.

"Oh, come in," He says.

"Stay out here," She whispered to Lawrence. He nodded and her hand moved to the door knob. She lightly enclosed her hand around it and turned it slightly before opening the large door and walking in. Ciel looked up at her, and his eye widened, and his mouth agape slightly. She blushed a deep red. She knew she shouldn't have worn this dress! "I was- uh, wondering if you wanted to, uh, go on a stroll through town.."

"O-Of course," He snapped himself out of his almost trance like state. "I'd have to go grab my walking stick first."

"Okay," She said. He went up to her and they walked out together. She followed him to his room as he grabbed his gold handled walking stick, black cloak with the royal blue bow tie, and black top hat.

"Let's go," He smiled slightly, making a gesture for her to wrap her arm around his elbow. She nodded a bit and placed her hand on his arm before they walked out, their faithful butlers in tow. She slid her gloved hand down, so that they were holding hands instead. She looked up at him as they walk and flutters her eyelashes nervously. It has been so long since she went out in public, during the day anyway, and she's never been 'out' with a man, other than Lawrence, and that wasn't in a romantic sense.

"Would you like to go to the park?" He asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Sure," She said. "Which way?"

"This way," He said, leading her down the street.

They kept walking and soon Ciel noticed the people whispering and pointing to them. Vivian ignored them. Soon some guy stepped out, pointing a knife at the young girl. "I know what you did to my family, you witch!"

He lunged at her and she calmly stepped out of the way as Lawrence grabbed the man's hand and squeezed until the knife dropped. The demon looked down at the man with contempt shining in his now-garnet eyes. The man ripped his hand out of Lawrence's grasp and ran off, muttering things about demons and witchcraft.

"Are you okay?" Ciel asked.

"Of course I am. I'm honestly used to it. Happens every time I go out in public. My reputation proceeds me, it seems," She says, flashing him a half-smile.

"What did he mean?" He asks.

"Ah, well… I had to kill quite a few people to get where I am, and back then I wasn't very discreet about it..."

"Aren't you bothered by it?" He asked and they start walking again.

"Nope. I'm ashamed, but I obviously don't want them to know that," She shrugged, "Have to keep up a brave face and all of that. I'm used to it."

"Sorry about that, but I guess it could happen to anyone," He said, true concern shining in his sapphire blue eye. It didn't show on his face, though, and he certainly didn't say anything to make it seem like he was overly concerned.

"It's quite alright. As I said before, I'm used to it," She repeated, her words being those of truth. "Though I am a tad jealous of you… I mean, nobody even knows about your work, and the people who do are actually afraid of you. For me, everyone hates me and aren't even really afraid of me, they're afraid of Lawrence. I'm helpless without him..."

"No you're not," Ciel said sternly.

"Yes I am. I am helpless. Look, someone just threatened my life and I didn't―couldn't―do a thing about it! Lawrence had to help me. Lawrence," She says, looking down and suppressing her anger as she always has. She was afraid she might lash out at him.

Ciel lightly grabs her chin and pulls her face up. "You're not helpless, you just weren't expecting someone to suddenly point a knife at you. Yes, Lawrence does do a lot of things for you, but that is a butler's job. And you shouldn't worry about what people think about you, you should worry about what you think about you. How do you think of yourself?"

"Like...like I'm helpless and a murderer-"

"But you're not. Well, you are a murderer, but that's besides the point. You're obviously not helpless," He cuts her off.

"You really think so?" She asks, her eyes lighting up slightly as her cheeks heated up in turn.

"Why would I say it if I didn't mean it?" He said, smiling slightly. She did another half-smile and hugged him.

"You're too good to me," She says, pulling away. "Shall we be off, then?"

"We shall," He says. She timidly grabs his hand as they walk and intertwine their fingers.

"Uh, I-I love you, Ciel.." She said, almost shyly.

"I.. I know," he replied.

AN: Sorry for not updating last week, I completely forgot. I've been working with my wonderful beta, One Sapphire Rose, on this story and the first chapter should be fixed by sometime next week or the week after. In the meantime, I'll continue to post new chapters probably.

Once again, if you want to see what the dresses in this chapter look like, the links are on my profile!

Please feel free to give me constructive criticism! I really appreciate it! :)

Thanks for reading! xo