Just as fair warning, since there has never been and drinking in Radiant Dawn, this chapter is left entirely up to my interpretation.

Nolan, Sothe, Noelle and Laura were standing in the kitchen.

"Edward?" Sothe called with no response. Noelle looked over at Nolan. She did a double take at the sight of what he was doing.

"Edward!" Sothe called to him again with no response.

"Are you supposed to be pouring a whole bottle of spiced rum into that apple cider?" Noelle asked as she watched Nolan do the exact thing that Edward was supposed to be preventing Nolan from doing. Nolan smiled and leaned in a little too close for comfort to Noelle.

"Sssshhhhhhh….this is our little secret…and this glass is for you!" Nolan said handing a cup over to her. "Here…take this one to Leonardo."

"Did you just sniff me?" Noelle asked taking a drink.

"EDWARD!" Sothe yelled at him.

"Yeah!?" Edward asked turning around quickly.

"Where are your shot glasses?" Sothe wondered.

"Uuhhhhh….if I have any, they are in one of those cabinets." Edward said.

"He has some! They are in that cabinet over the stove!" Leonardo said turning around to see where Sothe was looking.

"I did just sniff you and I'm not going to lie…you're scent is amazing and if I hit on you later I am very sorry. Noelle smiled.

"Here's to me forgiving you for that." Noelle said clanging her glass against Nolan's.

"You're too kind and too beautiful. I like you." Nolan said. Noelle smiled and walked over to the couch. She reached over Leonardo's shoulder and handed him the cider that Nolan had just messed with. Edward obviously did not do his job. This time, Leonardo didn't even flinch as she drug her hand across his collarbone. Finally, he had relaxed.

"Nolan! What did you do to this! Edward! Nolan spiked the cider!" Leonardo scolded Edward. "Oh my, he's not even listening at this point." Leonardo shook his head and laughed at him. Sothe had finished whatever he was doing and returned to the living room.

"Okay, Laura are you going to try and take shots with me?" Sothe asked. Laura laughed.

"Nope. You know I didn't do well last year when I tried to take shots with you." Laura said.

"So, you choked on your first shot! You were a beginner. Come on, come try again. I'm not taking all eight of these myself." Sothe said.

"Noelle…do you do shots?" Sothe wondered a smiled creeping over his face. Noelle smiled.

"I'll do them, it's been a while but I'll do them."

"Excellent, here's what we do. Tell me when you've had enough." Sothe was so immersed right now. "Wait, will you do these with her?" Sothe asked Leonardo.

"I haven't had much so yes I'll take them with her." Leonardo said moving closer to the table before them.

"Oh god, this is perfect! Hold on, I have to pour some more. Micaiah, I'll make you something too." Sothe said. Leonardo wasn't shy about moving closer to Noelle on the couch. Edward was practically in his lap anyway, so he had to move closer to her. He pulled her black hair back away from her face. Noelle's eyes lit up when he did that.

"Is um…is he going to be okay?" Noelle asked referring to Edward who now had his head in Leonardo's lap.

"He'll be fine, believe me…it gets worse. He's in his 'I'm going to touch everyone' phase. Later he'll enter his 'let's laugh for 20 minutes at an orange' phase. Eventually, he will just pass out. He's perfectly harmless…Sothe on the other hand is….not perfectly harmless." Leonardo explained.

"What about you?" Noelle asked completely unexpectedly. What was it about that question that made it so….alluring. Was it her words that were so beautiful or the way her face glowed.

"Um…." Leonardo realized he wasn't sure what to say to her. "I…" thanks goodness this botched sentence was interrupted by Edward throwing his arms around Leonardo.

"I love you!" Edward said burying his face in Leonardo's sweater. Noelle laughed at him.

"Edward, get out of my lap. It's barely 11:00, you are going to be a mess by the end of this night." Leonardo was trying to pry Edward off of him.

"I just need a hug!" Edward said.

"Then go hug Mia." Leonardo told him getting Edward unhooked from him.

"Really? That's going to end well?" Noelle questioned.

"I'll check on him later, he'll be fine." Leonardo told her. Sothe had returned and was ready to start his ritual.

"Alright, I think I poured like ten more of these. So, here's what we'll do. Leonardo, you get to do the honors." Sothe said pushing eighteen shot glasses toward him. "Don't worry, I know this looks like a lot but I'll pour whatever is left down Micaiah."

"Here's what we do. I line these up in front of you until you tell me to stop. Then you do it for Sothe, and Sothe does it for me." Leonardo explained this ritual. Noelle smiled.

"Okay. I'll tell you." She watched the first glass be pushed before her. Then number two…number three…she watched Leonardo carefully as number four slid her way…and then…number five. "Stop." She mouthed the word. Leonardo watched her just as intently as she watched him.

"Oh my god! If you do all five of those...you…have no idea." Sothe said.

"I can do it, I'll be okay. Now it's your turn." Noelle began lining up the small glasses in front of Sothe. She stopped at eight. Sothe always went too far.

"Now, don't you wimp out on me." Sothe warned Leonardo as he started lining up glasses in front of him. Sothe stopped at six. "Oh what? You can do better than that, I know for a fact but whatever. I'll go first." Sothe said swallowing the first glass. It didn't take him long to go through the line before him.

"Perfect, as usual Sothe." Leonardo told him.

"Okay, follow me…you go last Noelle." Sothe told her. Sothe watched the glasses in front of Leonardo disappear. He smiled, more than excited to see what Noelle could do. "Alright, now it's your turn." Sothe said laying less than innocent eyes all over Noelle. She smiled but not at him. After two glasses disappeared, Sothe watched her more intently. The other three disappeared. "Ooooh wow…here…match him." Sothe insisted pushing one more glass in front of her. She laughed.

"Alright, Leonardo did six, I can handle six." Noelle said swallowing the glass that he had just presented her. It was a good thing that Leonardo had her in his arms after she drank that last one…otherwise Sothe may have jumped over the table right now even though he was married.

"You…are unbelievable." Sothe said getting up to find Micaiah to give her the rest of the shots he had poured.

"OH MY GOD GUESS WHAT!?" Edward said diving on the couch beside Leonardo.

"It's okay Edward, you're two inches from me you don't have to yell but what?" At least he couldn't fall into Leonardo's lap because Noelle was sitting there right now.

"Me and Mia…are going to do something!" Edward said lowering his voice.

"What kind of something?" Leonardo asked only slightly concerned at this point.

"We….are…going to SIT ON THIS COUCH WITH YOU!" Edward said jumping back off the couch and grabbing Mia's arm.

"Edward, you are so drunk. Stop drinking now." Leonardo cautioned him. Btu talking to Edward at this point would do no good because he was already too far gone and Mia was close behind him.

"Hey! Hey, Nolan….check it out. I made a list of questions to ask Leonardo when he drinks too much and answers anything you ask him truthfully." Sothe said pulling a list out of his pocket to show Nolan.

"You did not!" Nolan said.

"I'm serious man…look! It's front and back. I figured that since last year I was just thinking off the top of my head that this year I would make a list of very specific questions. Not to mention, I want to know EVERYTHING when it comes to her." Sothe said. Nolan laughed.

"Oh my god, Sothe! How much thought did you put into this? What the….Sothe! Do you not know Leonardo at all? He won't answer number 11 drunk or sober. But if it were me, I'd say the answer is yes." Nolan said scanning this crazy list that Sothe made.

"Micaiah thought of number 24 and check this out….number 16…is a two part question." Sothe was so proud of himself. Nolan was still laughing at him.

"I want to see the look on your face if you ask number 19. Oh my god! He wouldn't even…Sothe! Oh god I so want to be in the room when you start in on this." Nolan said still laughing.

"Come on Nolan, have a drink with me!" Sothe said excitedly taking his list back and shoving it in his pocket.

"Will you eat some more chicken with me?" Leonardo asked. Her thigh could have been a dangerous place for his hand to be but it lit Noelle's world on fire.

"Yeah, I'll eat some." Noelle said.

"I may want to get some for Edward and Mia…it seems they could use it." Leonardo said going to get another plate of chicken.