I was gonna leave you dangling, but I couldn't resist. I will after this chapter for a couple of days though, mwa ha ha ha...

Vince's eyelids had grown increasingly heavy as he'd been watching the telly, and he had all but dozed off when he heard a noise from Naboo's room. 'They're back!'

He leapt off the sofa and hurried into Naboo's room to see the shaman just doing up a button on Tara's top; Luckily, Tara had accidentally left a left a pair of pyjamas at the flat the last time she was there, in a fortunate and not-at-all-contrived coincidence.

'Hey' said Vince. 'How is she?'

'She'll be fine, they've just given her something to make her sleep through the night.' Said Naboo, tucking her in before heading back to the carpet at the window.

'Woah, woah, what're you doing?' asked Vince.

'I'm gonna find the bastard that did this to her.'

'No, you're not. Said Vince. 'You're not going off to find some bloke whose probably tucked up in bed by now. You should be with her.'

Naboo sighed in agreement, and went back to Tara's side.

'We can go and find him tomorrow' said Vince.

Naboo nodded, as Vince hesitated by the door. 'You want a moment with her?'

'Yeah, please.'

'Ok.' Naboo grabbed his own night clothes, and went to get changed in the bathroom.

Vince looked down at Tara. It made him sick to think what might have happened to her if it hadn't been for Naboo. Raped, murdered even. He couldn't fathom how anyone could do that, especially to Tara. He couldn't even imagine doing something as awful as that to people he hated, who were few, but now definitely included whoever it was that had done this.

But not to worry, he and Naboo would sort that out in the morning. He had been a little uncomfortable about their relationship in the beginning, partly because he knew how much older than Tara Naboo was, but mostly because he was so protective of his younger sister. One of the last things Vienne had said to him before she'd left them when they were young was to look after her, and look what had happened, or almost happened, now.

It was thanks to Naboo that Tara was ok, which was why Vince was now so relieved that it was he who Tara was with. Of course, Vince knew Naboo would've saved her even if they weren't together, which only made him like the shaman more. Of all the people in the world, Vince knew that the only person who could care for and look after Tara as much as, if not more than he did was Naboo.

Speaking of whom, the shaman pushed the door open, wearing an old t-shirt and boxer shorts. He spotted Vince, still sat on the side of the bed. 'Oh, sorry. You want a bit longer?'

'Nah, it's alright.' Vince replied, patting Tara's hand and standing up. He stopped next to Naboo on his way out, and spoke softly. 'What time are we going to go in the morning to get this bloke?'

Naboo hesitated, frowning a little. 'You sure you want to..' Vince simply looked at him. 'Ok. I dunno, leave about seven?' Naboo wished he'd given himself a little longer to sleep, he was exhausted, but he also hoped to be back before Tara woke up.

'Alright, see ya then. Thanks, Naboo.' He added, patting the shaman on the shoulder.

Naboo nodded, closed the door behind Vince, and crawled into bed next to Tara.

She stirred, opening her eyes a little. 'Naboo?'

'I'm here.'

She rolled over to lie her head on his chest, smiling sleepily. 'I love you.'

More to come, please review!