"No! No!" an angry voice shouted in the young master's study. Baldroy swung around and pegged Sebastian with a murderous look. His hands balled into fists by his side. "That is the height of inappropriate behaviour! You are the Head Butler, sure, but you are not one of us."

Sebastian looked at the human. Oh, you have no idea how much I am not one of you. He looked at the Earl and saw his young master simply standing with his arms crossed. He sighed; once more the boy was looking on and waiting. Looking at the man, Sebastian regarded him again with interest.

"If you had feelings for Mey-Rin, why did you not say anything?"

Baldroy sputtered and huffed, his eyes flaring with rage and uneasiness. "She is a lady, and a proper one! I wasn't going to ask if she did not feel the same. I have standards."

"As do I," Sebastian said smoothly. "And I agree, she is a lady. A lady of the highest caliber, no pun intended."

"Isn't there something about not courting someone lower than you in the staff?" Baldroy said, shifting tactics. He turned around and looked at Ciel. "There has to be something that prevents this."

"We betray our true selves when we do not follow the heart's desire. For what the heart is attracted to, is your destiny," Sebastian said, cutting into the silence that had formed as the young master said nothing. "I have felt Mey-Rin has an attraction to me, and I have ignored it, brushed it off, even rebuked her because of it, but she has not left me. I asked her why once," he continued, quietly, watching the cook's fists uncurl and his eyes loose the rage a little. "She said she knew I was too grand to pay her mind, but that I allowed her to dream. And, slowly, I let myself see her the way she looked at me. Her true self. Not the clumsy maid, not the woman who is easily tricked by others because she willingly limited herself, but a wonderfully funny, cleaver, and amazing sharpshooter whose heart was pure." He took a step towards the cook and sighed. "If I could step aside and let my heart's desire to keep that person - her true self - go, I would. You are right, I am not worthy of her. But," he smiled a bit, his pride crashing in and making him stand a bit straighter, "nether are you."

The cook's fist connected solidly with his jaw and as Sebastian faked being effected by the blow, he saw the raging soldier, the raging protector, and the broken man who stood before him, fighting for his maid's affections.

"You son of a bitch! You are a bastard!" His fist connected again with Sebastian's jaw and he stumbled back a bit. "You say you have standards, yet you manipulate them for your gain! You don't deserve her any more than I! She would be better off alone then have one of us in love with her!"

His fist was stopped mid-air, making Sebastian blink a bit. Mey-Rin had glided into the room and had caught the ex-soldier's hard punch with her small hand, reaching a bit above her head to do so.

"Back. Off," she growled. She punctuated the two words firmly and with enough emphasis that the cook stumbled back now and stared back at her. Her glasses were in her hair and she was boiling with rage. "I can make my own mind - thank you very much. I can fall in love and pine for who I wish - rank be damned. If you had not treated me like a porcelain doll and a clumsy woman who needed to be wrapped in cotton when I left the kitchen since the day you arrived, this may have happened differently. Mister Sebastian never thought I had to be treated differently because I was a woman. He treated me with the respect an ex-assassin deserved. We even had long conversations about our past, and I thought, Bard, we had grown past the prejudices of both our former lives." She shook her head. "But you always had to be the protector - when I didn't need one."

Baldroy, Ciel, and Sebastian all stood, staring at the angry woman. Sebastian's heart flowed with love and pride - his beloved was fully blooming and taking the cook to the per-verbal knee and scolding him. He longed to take his lover and bask in her strength.

"So you chose a man who didn't even acknowledge your limitations and kept pushing and punishing you when you failed?" Baldroy finally hissed, pinning his eyes back on Sebastian.

"Oh he and the young master knew. We each are here for a reason - each of us picked from the depths of despair and handed a new life. I willingly took my limitations, for they were given to me by the young master, to help me forget what I was capable of, of my old life - the one that almost killed me."

"Each of you are here because I need your skills," Ciel finally said, speaking. He looked at each and took a deep breath. "Sebastian is here to protect, guide, and execute my wishes. Finny is here to learn to enjoy life and value kindness over darkness and pain. Mey-Rin's expert marksmanship lead her to some dark places, and Sebastian was fortunate enough to rescue her in time. She is the one whose strength and sight keeps us safe many times so you don't have to. And you, Bard," he said finally rounding to look at the inept cook, "you are here because I needed someone who could keep Finny in line, and you are an expert in war planning, can see the enemy and strategical. You hold the staff in formation as they defend the manor, and protect me. You are as important to this family as Sebastian, Finny, or Mey-Rin."

Baldroy huffed and turned away. "Still doesn't make their courting okay. If you say we are a family then they should not be together."

"It has been a struggle to come to terms of our emotions for one another," Sebastian acknowledged. He looked down at Mey-Rin and smiled softly. "For me at least. Mey-Rin has always known how to get what she wanted."

"I ain't going to stop this, am I?" Baldroy finally said, looking at the young master.

Ciel shook his head and turned his eyes toward the cook, shrugging. "Short of ordering Sebastian to let his emotions go, neither one of us will be able to stop it." He gave a shallow laugh and glanced at Sebastian and Mey-Rin. "And I have a feeling that the order will be disobeyed and I would be of no use to anyone anymore."

The cryptic message made Sebastian bow his head a bit; the young master was correct. His feelings for Mey-Rin would make him seriously think how to consume his young master, even if not as wonderfully perfected. But Sebastian smiled back, letting him know that indeed he would allow the bond he had with Ciel to be broken should the young boy make a wrong move.