Hope you're all well and thank you for the reviews! I'm not going for a long authors note today, but that'll come sometime.

Cheers and Enjoy!

Kyyrin

Chapter Six

Lucrecia left Vincent, collected her clothes from the spare room, and made her way to her own quarters, in the warmer, more upscale part of the manor.

As she walked down the hall, she considered bringing Vincent up to her room. The warmth here would no doubt do him good. But she dismissed the idea quickly. Her room was probably too close to Hojo for Vincent's comfort.

Nearing her door, she saw a small note attached to the doorknob. She recognized the scrawl from afar.

Lucrecia,

Can we talk?

-Hojo

Anger burned inside her. She ripped the note off the knob, threw open the door to her room, and chucked the now crumpled piece of paper into the nearest trashcan, slamming the door behind her.

"No, Hojo, we can't talk", she thought bitterly. "What you did to both Vincent and myself was beyond cruel, and I don't think I'm ready to forgive you just yet."

Taking in the scent of her clean room, she eyed her soft bed. It looked inviting after sleeping on the hard mattress last night. She shook the thought, vaguely wondering if Vincent's mattress was just as hard, and began her search for the heater. Five minutes later, she found said appliance in the corner of her closet, covered in a layer of dust. She knew her friend had meant well, but her room was always comfortably warm and she hadn't needed it once.

Cleaning the dust off the heater, she set it to the side, and decided to take a shower. She felt dirty from sleeping on the grimy spare bed in her undershirt.

Finishing soon afterwards, she picked out some warm clothes to wear. These consisted of a colorfully knitted turtleneck, and a pair of fleecy training pants, along with her own pair of woolen socks and warm slippers. She grabbed a small bag, and filled it with her bathrobe, a towel, a pair of warm pajamas, some extra clothing pieces and her necessary hygienic items. If she was going to care for Vincent, she might as well just stay in the spare room next to him.

Picking up the heater, she left, remembering to lock the door behind her. On the way back to Vincent's room, she paused again to admire the beautiful scene outside.

Stopping in front of his door, she knocked a few times.

"Cobe id", came the completely congested reply.

She opened the door and a rush of cold air met her body, making her shiver despite the warm clothing. Greeting her was a sight that bordered on amazing.

She had never seen that expression on Vincent's face.

It was a relaxed, happy look, as if he were at peace with the whole world. He was sitting on a chair beside his window gazing out at the snow in wonder, like a small child.

The sight brought a smile to her face. It was rare that she saw Vincent so carefree. He turned around and gave her the surprise of her life. A real, genuine smile, that seemed to come from the bottom of his heart.

"Hi", he stated, grinning a little more at her awed expression. "Whad? You've never seed be smile before?"

She couldn't say she hadn't, because she had, but none as genuine as the one he was giving her now. So she gave him a glowing smile back.

"It's good to see you smiling, Vincent! You must be feeling better!", she stated, making her way over to him.

"Well, a bit, I guess", he croaked, and then relented. "OK………not really...very much."

"It'll get better with time. I promise", she chided, stopping in front of him, and looking him up and down.

She suddenly realized that his hair was sopping wet. He must have taken a shower. In these freezing temperatures, wet hair was almost equivalent to a death sentence for Vincent's already weakened immune system. Didn't he know what a hair-dryer was? Letting out a sigh of frustration, she frowned at him. Men. Sometimes they were completely ignorant.

He noticed her disapproving frown.

"Whad now?", he inquired, looking slightly abashed.

His eyes followed her as she walked to the bathroom, and came back holding a dry towel, which she proceeded to throw unceremoniously onto his wet hair.

Crossing her arms, she stated, "I think I need to teach you how to care for yourself, Mr. Valentine. Need I remind you that you're already sick, and sitting in the biting cold with sopping wet hair isn't going to help you get better?"

He stared at her with a rather guilty expression, and then sneezed abruptly almost as if to prove her point.

"Back in bed with you", Lucrecia ordered gently. "And I suggest you stay there until you're completely recovered."

Vincent relented and got up, drying his hair with the towel before crawling back under the covers. He started to feel sleepy again. Struggling to look up at Lucrecia, he felt her gently stroke his damp hair.

"Sleep. It'll be good for you. I'll go turn the heater on".

With that, she stood and plugged the heater into the nearest power outlet, turning it up full blast. She sighed with relief as it began to radiate much needed heat.

Looking back at Vincent, she found that he was already fast asleep, snoring slightly.

That was good. He would need a lot of rest to keep his strength up.

And deciding that a nap wouldn't be a bad idea, she headed back to the spare room.

Short, sweet. Well, there should be another one or two chapters coming, and then it's on with the sequel to Treading the Edge.I'm excited... Cheers!