Chapter 15:

Eric pulls me into his arms and brings me back to the bed. Sookie sits at the end of the bed with the Twins and Stan behind her as Neyky takes the spot to my left and Eric and Ryan loom over me. I shut my eyes and take a deep breath, pushing the pain and nausea further away.

"Guys…" My brother begins, "can I have a moment with Zoey? Alone." I peek one eye open to see there reluctant faces turning to walk out of the store. All except for Eric, who wasn't giving my Ryan a pleasant look.

"C'mon, Eric," Sookie says with her arm linked with Bill's. "They need family time." Eric looks me over one last time and follows Sookie and Bill out the door.

Ryan and I sit in silence for a few moments, as if waiting to make sure everyone was out of earshot. "I don't think you should go back with them." He says finally as he sits down next to me and I sit up in bed quickly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm worried they'll find you."

"I'm not."

"I know you don't fully believe that. Why would you be having nightmares about it if you weren't subconsciously worried?"

"It wasn't- What aren't you telling me?"

"It wasn't what; a nightmare?"

"Yeah, it wasn't a nightmare-"

"What was it then?" He cuts me off.

"Why are you avoiding my question?" I ask him with a confused look.

"What question?"

"What aren't you telling me?" I say with a sigh.

"Nothing," he says a little too quickly and I slowly let my guard down, not breaking eye contact with my brother.

LalalalalalalalalalalAAAAAAAAAAAH He thinks loudly and I wince.

"You're not going to find anything in there." Ryan condescends after a few moments silence.

"You're right; it's usually empty." I bite back still rubbing my temples.

"I should've seen that one coming." He face-palms.

"Again, you're right." I say, listening in again for what he could be hiding.

"Still in my head?" He asks looking up from his hands.

"Of course not."

"Zoey, you know if I'm keeping something from you, it's probably because the General wants it that way."

"Then you should have been more inconspicuous when telling me that I wasn't safe."

"A brother can't tell his sister that he wants her to stay with him because he is worried?"

"Not when the sister's brother is a spy-in-training and the sister has capabilities that has gotten her kidnapped and tortured once by a group of unknown individuals who could be rogue spies trying to take down the government in the past."

"Yeah, I guess I could have gone about that a little differently."

"You're still learning." He nods and looks out the doorway my friends left through earlier. "You can't babysit me forever."

"It's part of my job to protect you. As a brother and as a spy. You are my sister and an asset."

"And you're doing a great job at both," I say putting my hand on his shoulder. "But you know as well as I do that General Beckman isn't going to let you be my handler forever. Once you finish you're training, you will be off kicking ass or analyzing data back in Washington and I will be a veterinarian taking care of myself. We will manage to stay in contact, whether it be secret or not, and we will remain close. I gotta' start getting used to you not being around as much. Isn't that why I moved in with the twins in the first place?"

He nods silently. …But I have to protect her from The Ring… They were the ones…

"The Ring?" I ask timidly.

"God dammit," he mutters to himself. "Yes, Zoey, The Ring. They are a highly organized and dangerous group of rogue spies. The group of rogue spies that we have all been worried about."

"Don't you think it's a good idea to know what I should look out for?"

"Don't you remember the saying 'The less normal civilians know the better'?" He retorts quickly.

"I'm not a normal civilian." I reply with an edge to my voice.

"I know, but I can't just tell you government secrets, can I? I have to treat you like a normal civilian."

"You have a point," I sigh.

"Can you tell me about your nightmare now?"

I tell my brother every detail about my memory-nightmare-thing and we discuss it before finding the others sprawled out in front of a TV screen watching 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. Eric's eyes flicked to mine instantly and I gave him a nod hello.

"Hey Ralph," Neyky says getting up from her spot on the floor and makes her way towards me.

"You're funny," I sneer at her as my cheeks flush a bright red.

"Damn right I am. I'm also worried about you. Care to tell the rest of the group why you woke up blowing chunks?"

"Not particularly."

Are you okay? Sookie thinks to me.

Yeah, I'm fine. I think, looking back at her with a smile which she returns. I'm just ready to get out of here.

I know what you mean I think all of us are.

"Okay everybody, things are all set for departure." Stan says as he walks in the room. "Kaity and Naomi, your helicopter is on the roof."

"Wait, you guys aren't coming with us?" I ask the twins.

"Nah, we are going back to New York," Naomi says.

"Our mom is in ape-shit mode and wants us home." Kaity explains further.

"That's understandable."

"Well, go ahead and say good bye to everyone, we gotta' get moving."

As we say our goodbye's, I give my brother a farewell hug and whisper in his ear that I will be fine. Bill, Eric, Sookie, and I climb in the cabin part of the Fangtasia bus/RV, as Stan climbs into the driver's seat and we make our way back to Bon Temps.

A/N: Again, sorry for the delayed update. They should be more frequent once I graduate from high school! Weewwwttt almost done! Anyway, as I was writing this chapter I realized the word (and/or two letters I was looking for) was RV to describe what I called the "Fangtasia Tour Bus". I kinda' feel like a moron now (:/), but oh well. Not much interaction with Eric in this chapter, and I'm actually thinking about ending this and just doing little one-shots once they get back to Bon Temps….I dunno'. Tell me what you would like better in the review section: (A.) Somehow get Zoey to Burbank, California and team up with Chuck, or B.) Just do one-shots of Zoey and Eric, the occasional Sookie, etc etc.)

Hope you liked this chapter :]