A/N: Thanks to Niffer01, InnocenceForsaken (So glad it's not just me!), and bountyhuntress04 for their reviews! Also, thanks to everyone who added me to their alerts!

So yay! No long months of waiting! WooHoo!

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Review and Enjoy!

Reid woke slowly, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He tried to sit up and groaned at the crick in his neck from falling asleep in the chair. Rubbing a hand over his face, he shook his head and looked around, finding the book-filled room empty. Glancing at his watch, he realized it was well past midnight and everyone else was probably fast asleep.

He was just about to lie back down, resigned to a night of bad sleep, when he heard something from the hallway. Poking his head out of the door, he saw Sarah's blond form disappearing around a corner, headed towards the kitchen. Reid had a short internal debate as the whether he should bother her or give her some privacy, then he decided maybe there was a reason she was awake.

Plus, he was bored.

He entered the kitchen just as she was placing a saucepan on the hob. Not wanting to frighten her, he knocked on the doorframe. She turned round with a sleepy smile and he sat down at the breakfast bar.

"Hey," she said quietly. "Sorry if I woke you."

"Nah, it wasn't you," Reid waved off. "What're you making?" he asked with the curiosity of someone who missed dinner.

"Just cocoa," she laughed. "Do you want some?"

"Sure," he shrugged.

Reid watched her work and pondered over how quickly things could change. Six months ago, he was jealous of Caleb, angry that he'd been able to charm Sarah so easily. But now Reid had Talia, and he had to admit she was a much better mach for him. And Sarah was definitely better for Caleb. No question.

He noticed something else when he was watching her though. She looked tired. Not just 'woke up in the middle of the night' tired, but bone deep tired. She had dark smudges under her eyes, and her lips were pulled taut and slightly white around the edges from the tension. She was pale, her usual light blush missing from her cheeks. She'd lost that happy glow she always seemed to have.

Reid frowned. He knew everyone was under a lot of pressure at the moment, what with Chase on the loose with Vargssen's missing box. But he thought she had been coping, and as far as he knew, she and Caleb were doing fine. Reid had rarely spent much time alone with Sarah in the past, so he felt a little awkward. He usually never noticed these things, so he figured he should say something now that he had.

"Hey Sarah? Is everything…okay?"

She froze for a moment, her eyes staring unseeing at the simmering chocolate before she looked up at him, a slightly uncomfortable smile on her face. "Yeah, just the usual stuff. Chase, Kate, no sleep, the whole 'epic battle between good and evil'. Y'know."

He shrugged. "If you want to talk to someone…"

She gave him a look.

"Yeah, okay, so not me. But Tal and Jess and Alex are here. The might be able to help. They've got more experience with this stuff than the rest of us."

She just nodded.

Reid sat back, satisfied that he done his job as concerned friend. "So how come you can't sleep? Is Caleb keeping you up late?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

That got the blush back in her cheeks, and a genuine smile on her face. "Funny," she said rolling her eyes. "Actually, it's Tal. She's spent the last couple nights pacing instead of sleeping, and driving me nuts. I figured it would be better if I stayed here, but obviously it's not making a difference."

"Tal's not here?" Reid asked, frowning.

"Nope. She left a while back. She Shifted and ran back, said she needed to get out for a while." Sarah smiled. "She also said we shouldn't wake you 'cause you looked sweet when you slept and it was the best we were gonna get."

Reid smirked, that did sound like Tal. His smirk widened into a full-fledged grin as he realised what Sarah had just said. "So she's back at your room, all alone? Awake?"

Sarah looked at him blandly. "Yes. And I'm going to pretend that you don't care, and that you're just going to go back to sleep here. I so do not need the details, Reid."

Reid nodded, then looked aimlessly around the kitchen. He began tapping his hands on the countertop. After a moment, Sarah sighed. "Just go."

He was off like a shot, but poked his head around the corner a second later.

"Have you seen Baby Boy's keys?"

Sarah curled up in one of the massive overstuffed chairs that filled the Danvers' front room, her hot cocoa cradled in her hands. It was sweet of Reid to try to help, but he really didn't understand. Jess, Talia and Alex wouldn't understand. None of them would.

She thought after Caleb's birthday, it would be over. All she would have to worry about would be her boyfriend going overboard and turning into an old man. She didn't think she'd still be worrying about Chase, or lying to Kate, or worrying about Witches and Shifters.

She figured her biggest concern would be impressing Harvard. Her life had changed so much over the last few months, and she didn't know if she was ready.

Not like she had a choice.

Tal paced her across her room, stalking back-and-forth like the wolf she was.

But for once, her agitation wasn't because she needed to run. Quite the opposite. She'd ran here from Caleb's, enjoying the sights and sounds of the night forest. She'd even chased a few rabbits, but for the first time, it hadn't worked it's usual magic. She felt tense and grumpy.

She and Jess had been bugged by this 'Timon Vasili" for days, but they just couldn't place him. It was driving her crazy, and Sarah had decided to stay the night at Caleb's, not in the mood for another night of her Lycan roommate's restless pacing.

KoRn was blasting over her headphones, and she was so lost in trying to remember that she almost screamed like a human when she felt warm hands settle on her hips. She spun quickly, shoving her attacker before he could react.

Reid stumbled back, his hands held up in surrender, grinning. Tal let out a string of curses and he mouthed something to her before she remembered to pull out her earphones.

"Relax Babe, it's just me!"

She took a deep breath, trying to relax. "Dammit Reid, don't sneak up on me like that!" she growled, flopping to sit on the edge of the bed.

Reid walked over to crouch in front of her. "Sarah said you were having trouble sleeping. Is that Vasili guy still bugging you?"

She nodded, her face childishly sullen. Reid grinned, and she glowered even more. "What's so funny, Garwin?"

"Nothing," he said, struggling to keep a straight face. "I had this nanny once—"

"You had a boatload of them," Tal interrupted.

"True," he allowed with nod, his pale hair falling into his face. "But this particular one, Marnie, I think. She told me that when you're trying to remember something but you can't, you should just stop trying. Then it'll pop out of nowhere."

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, but that's hardly an original theory, Reid. And I've tried. But it's like pink elephants. I can't stop."

He took her iPod from her hands and set it on the side table. "Well then," he began, dropping to kneel between her legs. "Maybe I can think of something to take your mind off of it."

"Mmm-hmm," she murmured, a smile tugging at her lips. "I just bet. You think sex solves every problem."

"Sex?" he gasped, looking affronted, and pressing a hand over his chest as if wounded. "Who said anything about sex? I was just going to tell you a bedtime story!"

She just raised her eyebrow expectantly.

"Once upon a time…" he began, pushing her back on the bed and covering her body with his, "…there was a very hot girl…"

"Mmm," she moaned as her began kissing up the long column of her throat.

"…and she fell in love with a hansom and equally hot prince…" He paused to nibble on her ear. "And they lived Happily Ever After and never left their bedroom."

Tal laughed, pushing him away so she could pull his t-shirt off. "That wasn't a story, Reid. That was a porno set-up."

"It worked, didn't it?" he grinned, pulling her pyjama tank over her head, freeing her breasts. "Now all we need is the cheesy music."

"You are incorrigible," she smirked, tugging at his belt buckle.

"I think you mean insatiable, Babe," he muttered before capturing her mouth.

She pulled back as she unzipped his jeans and slid her hand inside. "That too."

The room went silent save for their gasps and moans as they got rid of their remaining clothes. Soon Reid was sliding into her, filling her up as her nails dug into his back.

"Reid!" she gasped, and he could only groan against her warm skin.

They moved to a slow and steady rhythm, as Reid pulled out all the stops to distract her and make her enjoy the moment completely. They touched and tasted every piece of each other's bodies they could find, fingers and mouths searching out every ticklish spot, and every area of heated flesh that had them gasping in pleasure.

Reid brought her to orgasm three times, swallowing her moans with his own mouth. He couldn't hold back any longer, and as she came around him a forth time, he spilled insider her.

Rolling onto his back, he pulled her on top of him, wrapping his arms tight. She was already asleep, breathing deeply, and he could feel her soft breaths puffing against his chest. He smoothed back her hair from her face and she snuggled closer, draping one leg over his waist.

He smiled, closing his eyes. Soon his breathing was just as steady as hers.

Chase was sitting alone in his dark apartment, staring out at the glittering Chicago skyline. It hadn't taken much power to convince the manager to give him the keys, and now he felt quite at home in the luxury penthouse apartment.

It wouldn't be long until his plans could be put into motion, but not everything was ready. He wasn't worried however. He had faith in his own brilliance, and he had already made leaps and bounds in the few months he'd had access to Pandora, when the idiot Vargssen and only taken baby-steps in the fifteen years she had been in his possession.

What Vargssen had been doing with her…it was nothing. A bastardization of her true purpose. But Chase would bring her back to her former glory; he would finish what Timon Vasili had started all those years ago.

He was startled out of his planning by the shrill tone of his cell phone.

"Talk."

"It's me. Jacob called a pack meet earlier. They're coming soon, all of them, for spring break. Will you be ready by then?" a tinny voice asked.

"Of course. You just worry about your end. How did your people react to the news?" Chase asked, returning to the large windows.

"Not everyone is happy, but they trust the Sarkas. I'm willing to bet people will get a little jumpier once those Witches of yours arrive. Our kind don't normally get along with magic users," he laughed. "It'll make it a lot easier to play my end if there's tension."

"Good. Just be careful, I won't come and save you if they realize what you're doing." Chase didn't wait for a response, just snapped shut his cell and dropped it on the table.

Stupid Shifters, they were always so damn predictable. This guy was no exception. He had no clue what Chase's real plan was, no clue what he was really doing to his precious 'people'. No clue that he was just a pawn in Chase's long-term game of chess.

He looked over his shoulder at the open box's contents. Soon he would be finished, then the prize would be his.

Power.

Talia woke slowly, feeling all warm and fuzzy, and when she remember the night before, a slow, satisfied grin spread across her face that could give Reid's smirk a run for its money.

Craning her neck, she saw she still had a half-hour before her alarm was due, so she snuggled back against his side and let her mind drift. She fell into a half-asleep state where her mind was still thinking, but she wasn't really aware. She thought of the night before, what she and Reid had done, and she felt her stomach tingle all over again.

She heard his voice in her head. "Once upon a time…"

Only now it wasn't Reid voice, it was Rena's soothing tones. She drifted back in her memories to when she was still a child. She was on one side of Rena, the petite woman's arm wrapped soothingly around her shoulders, her heartbeat steady against Talia's ear. Jess was on the other side, her head on her mother's lap, having her red hair stroked softly as Rena told them a story.

"Once upon a time…"

Talia sat up with a start, elbowing Reid in the stomach.

"Oww!" he grumbled, rubbing his stomach. "Not exactly how I was hoping to be woken up—"

"I've got it! I remember where Vasili is from!"