Chapter 3

Taking another deep breath, Ivy rolled over trying to puzzle out what Rachel was doing in her room. Rachel never came to her room; she was always worried how Ivy would take it. She smelled scared, worried, nervous, and oh so good.

Finally facing her, Ivy could see her eyes. What's going on in your head little witch? "Rachel, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"Um, can we talk for a minute?" Rachel queried. As Ivy watched, Rachel slowly adjusted her position until she was sitting on her butt with her knees pulled up in front of her.

"Okay, what about?" Ivy shifted her eyes to her clock. "You do know that I only went to bed about an hour ago right?" Slowly, so that she didn't startle Rachel, Ivy sat up and shoved her hair back over one shoulder.

"Please, Ivy, just listen to me. I've been going over this in my head for ages now." Rachel was rushing through what almost sounded like a prepared speech. Oh God, is she going to move out? What did I do? Biting her lip to keep her thoughts in, Ivy gestured for Rachel to go on.

Seeing Rachel take a deep breath to prepare for whatever she was going to say next, Ivy closed her eyes. "Okay," Rachel whispered almost to herself. Then in her normal voice, "Okay. You have to promise me to listen to what I have to say and not interrupt or leave until I'm done," Rachel waited until Ivy opened her eyes. "Do you promise, Ivy?"

Rachel looked so earnest that Ivy was sure that she was going to move out. With her heart breaking, Ivy whispered, "I promise, Rachel."

Watching Ivy pull in on herself and look over her shoulder, Rachel suddenly realized that Ivy thought she was leaving. Laying her hand on Ivy's knee Rachel rushed to say, "Oh God Ivy, no. I'm not going anywhere. Please, just listen to me." Squeezing her knee until Ivy brought her eyes back to meet hers, Rachel gave her a gentle smile, "Okay?"

Rachel withdrew her hand and with a chuckle rolled her eyes. "God, Ivy, what a pair we are. Always at cross purposes. I promise, this is nothing bad for you. I just need some answers and I made you promise to listen and not go anywhere because, well, because it has to do with us." Rachel said all of this in one breath so that it came tumbling out over itself.

"I - I'm so nervous, I can't believe this." Rachel stammered. "I have so many questions, and so far when you've tried to tell me, I just either pushed it away or I pushed you away. I just wasn't ready to hear it. And now I need to know. I've been having these dreams…"

"Whoa," Ivy held up her hands to interrupt Rachel's babbling. "Rachel, slow down. You've got me all confused now. What have I been telling you and what dreams are you having? What's this all about?" Figuring out that this was going to take a while, Ivy shifted up to the head of her bed and hugged her pillow to her. With one eyebrow raised in question, she tapped the other end of her bed with her foot.

As Rachel slowly got up off the floor, Ivy held her breath waiting to see if Rachel would take her up on her offer to share the bed. Snorting to herself, Ivy groused, Ya right. Like she's ever going to share my bed in the way that I want.

Rachel shifted from one foot to the other before slowly climbing up on the end of Ivy's bed. As she settled in, Rachel looked up at Ivy and said, "Maybe I should just ask one question at a time. Sound good?"

"That's fine," Ivy murmured. "What's question one?"

"You said that sharing blood isn't about how much you take or the other person gives. It's about the act right?"

Ivy shot off the bed. "Rachel, we are not having this conversation!" Her eyes had gone vamp black.

Getting up on her knees, Rachel shouted, "Ivy sit your ass back down on the bed and answer my question. You promised me!"

Her eyes going wide and slowly regaining some of their brown, Ivy looked at Rachel stunned that she would speak to her like that. Especially about this topic. Slowly Ivy climbed back into her corner of the bed and huffed out "Yes, that's true. It's the act itself. It's about trusting each other, making that commitment to each other." Her eyes snapping and pointing a finger at Rachel, Ivy said, "But we are so not doing that again. I lost it Rachel! Damn it, we decided this together!"

"Next question," Rachel barked. "Are you happy with Glenn?"

"What the hell kind of question is that Rachel?" Ivy queried. "What's going on here? Yes, I'm happy with Glenn. We're good friends and we care for each other. It's amazing how much we have in common."

"Oh." With all the wind going out of her sails, Rachel slowly leaned back into her corner. "Okay, I'm um, I'm glad that you are happy with Glenn," Rachel whispered. "Just forget I came here okay?"

Before Rachel could get off the bed, Ivy shot out a hand to stop her with her vamp speed. "Rachel, what's going on? You said that you had all kinds of questions and that you were having dreams…" Slowly it all came together for Ivy. Holy shit. Is this what I think it is? Please, please don't let me be reading this wrong. "Rachel, what have you been dreaming about?"

Squeezing her eyes shut, Rachel whispered, "You. And me. That kiss you gave me. You know the one where you told me it was just a taste and that I would have to come to you?"

Opening her eyes, Rachel zeroed in right on Ivy's big, beautiful brown eyes. "I'm here Ivy. I want to know more."