**Author's Note**

Thank you to all of my readers out there, especially those of you sticking it out thus far. I promise it will get more interesting, and yes they indeed will meet. I needed to make a solid foundation for my characters, and some back story.

I would also like to thank the talented mind of Tim Burton for creating such interesting stories and characters. I have borrowed Edward from him, but the other characters(except for some of their names) are all from my daydreams.

Most of all I would like to thank my beyond talented beta reader foxotr. I feel blessed to have met such an individual.

I hope my story is a fraction as enjoyable to read as what it is for me to write it :)

Chapter V: Vincent Malloy

Bright sunlight filtered through the windows onto her face as she slept. Her eyes fluttered open and she glared at the light. Peeling herself off her bed, she ambled to the kitchen like a reanimated corpse.

"Coffee...Must...Have...Coffee."

The sound of the coffee grinder and smell of the Sumatra woke her up a little. She got the coffee brewing, made her way to the fridge to get some milk, and grabbed a box of cereal. She brought them over to the table with a bowl and spoon, and tossed them down. As they clattered on the table she flopped down onto a chair with a big yawn.

Last night she had definitely not slept well. She had heard the snipping noise again. This time while she was wide awake, with no excuses to shrug it off as her imagination. She instantly took action by darting through the house to shut and lock the windows and check that the doors were locked. She flipped off all the lights and stood in her living room peering through the window to her backyard where she had heard the sound. As she stood there trembling, she realized she was only wearing a bra and underwear. She pulled the black fleece throw from the back of her couch and wrapped it around her. After a couple minutes of staring at her empty yard she started to feel a little bit silly. If it really was who she thought, wouldn't he confront her....especially since she was half naked?

She didn't know what the sound was from, but she decided it couldn't be him; she would just drive herself insane if she kept thinking about it. She finished getting ready for bed and lay down to try to sleep. Her current temperament and dark circles under her eyes indicated her success.

Vincent was due to arrive in the afternoon. That would give her time to get more unpacked. She looked at the walls as she ate and decided the next thing she would unpack would be her artwork. She liked to have her framed photographs and her paintings decorating her walls. She missed painting. It had been at least three years since she had picked up a brush. It was one of those things that she never made the time to do, but always meant to.

She jumped at the sound of a car in her driveway, and got up to see who it was. She peeked out the window near the door and and saw a blue van quickly pulling out of the driveway. The van then proceeded to floor it; taking off down the road and kicking up dust everywhere. A basket lay on its side at the end of her driveway.

"What was his problem," she grumbled while opening the door and walking down the driveway. She looked at the trail of dust lingering in the air on her street and sarcastically yelled out, "Well, thank you Mr. Easter Bunny!"

She picked up the basket and inspected it as she walked back inside. Amongst the preserves and overly flowery smelling bath products were several brochures. They advertised the local social clubs and their meeting times and places. "Ha! WAIL? Women Against Illicit Language?! You gotta be fucking kidding me." She flung the brochure in the trash and went about her usual morning ritual.

Later that afternoon she could hear, over her music, a car drive onto her driveway. She went to open the door expecting it to be Vincent. She watched as her car stopped moving, and waited at the open door for him to come in.

"Hey, Vee!" he yelled as he walked up to her. He was wearing his signature black slacks and dress shirt. His shoulder length salt and pepper hair was tucked behind his ears, and he was wearing his thick black rimmed glasses.

"Hi Vincent," she said and gave him a big hug. "C'mon in."

She held the door open wider for him. He walked past her and into her house. She shut the door and followed behind him.

He whistled. "Wow, you have been busy," he exclaimed as he looked around the house. Her artwork hung on the freshly painted walls, and made it a much more home-like atmosphere.

He pointed towards the pictures."Nice!"

"Well, it's not quite done. There is only so much I can do without the rest of my stuff in here," she said as she walked back to the door.

"Ok. Ok! I just have to use your bathroom and then I will be right out," he said as he started to open the door to her closet.

"Other door," she yelled over her shoulder as she walked outside. She walked to the moving truck, unlocked it, opened the back of it, and then waited for him.

The truck only had a few objects left in it, and they were able to move them in quickly. After moving the last item, a rather large bookcase, Vincent huffed, "Why didn't you just hire some moving guys? It would have been so much easier."

"And have strange people in my house; touching all of my things? No thanks."

"Strange people huh? Well if it isn't the pot calling the kettle black," he said as he tugged on a strand of her plum colored hair.

She swatted away his hand and replied, "Just because I don't want to look so ordinary doesn't necessarily make me strange."

"That's almost the very definition of the word," he teased, grinning at her.

"Whatever, it's not like I'm not used to it. People have been calling me strange my whole life."

He smiled at her and said, "C'mon, you know I'm just playing. I love your individuality. That's why I hired you in the first place. Besides, I used to get teased a lot as a child as well. I always was a bit dramatic."

"Sorry, I guess I am just a little on edge. I didn't sleep so well."

"Yeah, I can see that. You look dreadful."

She sarcastically said, "Thanks." Changing topic she asked, "So, are you hungry?"

"Starving to death."

She chuckled, "You still are....a bit dramatic."

She went to the fridge and grabbed an armful of produce bags and brought them to the counter. As she gathered up a cutting board and knife he said, "You know, Vee, you could have avoided all of this. Not that I'm not grateful to have you manage my new cafe; but having to move yet again?"

"It's not so bad. I love this house, and the view," she said as she started to cut some veggies.

"You don't even know anyone here."

She replied sarcastically, "Oh, that's not true, I met an absolutely wonderful girl named Betsy. I can also join some fabulous social clubs. But seriously, I don't need anyone, I have Poe. He has been my best friend for the last ten years. Besides, I fully intend on being a hermit out here."

He looked at Poe, who had been perched on top of the back of the couch ever since they moved it in. He frowned and said, "It's not enough, you are going to be lonely here. You could have just stayed in the city if you had just gotten a restraining order against him."

She really didn't want to talk about this, but there was no stopping Vincent. "That would have just pissed him off and I really didn't want to deal with an angry Jack. Besides, you know how loaded his parents are. He would have figured a way to fight it."

"Well, he's been banned from all of my coffee shops; and I know some guys that could rough him up...you know, if you ever want that."

She smiled at him, thinking it was pretty funny when he tried to act tough. "No thanks, I can take care of myself. I just still feel bad for him, you know? I was the only person who gave him the time of day in high school. That kindness and friendship that I showed him translated to something more in his head. I was the only girl that was nice to him and he just got fixated on me from that. I just feel like the things he did weren't really his fault."

"You're just too nice, Vee. Don't feel bad for him."

"I know I shouldn't feel bad for him, but I do. It's like...you know how you always hear about these people who have everything and yet they are still miserable? That's how he was; just very jaded. He was always a misfit; different from everyone in high school and always getting into trouble. That's why I befriended him in the first place. He never could quite fit in, just like me."

He grumbled in frustration at not being able to talk sense into her. "Listen, he is a pompous little douche bag. A complete asshole. How can you stick up for him? Didn't you say he got to the point of threatening you?"

"I don't think he would ever really do anything to hurt me," she said while bowing her head and hiding her face behind her hair.

"Well, you must not really believe that or you wouldn't have isolated yourself here. I'm sorry, I don't mean to upset you. It's just I really think you should have taken some sort of action rather than running from it yet again."

She wiped her wet face off with her arm and said "You're not upsetting me, it's just the onions. Lets just stop talking about this ok? You needed someone you trusted to run the new cafe, and I needed a change of scenery. End of story, ok?

He sat, thoughtfully rubbing the graying beard on his chin. "Alright, I won't bug you about it anymore. I was just trying to help."

"You've already helped me enough; letting me run the cafe here and giving me a place to stay for a while."

"Sally already misses you, you know." His wife was one of the sweetest ladies she had ever met and acted as a surrogate mother to her while she lived in the city. Sally had also demanded her to move in with them for a while and had even chaperoned her to and from school until she graduated.

"I couldn't impose any more on you guys. Plus all of my stuff was in storage. I had to get my own place sooner or later."

They sat in silence as she finished prepping the food.

"You have anything stronger than water?" He said while eyeballing his half empty glass.

"Yeah, I can make you a dark & stormy."

"Sounds great."

After they had a drink and started to eat they got back to their usual camaraderie. He stayed for a while after dinner and they just talked and laughed, enjoying each others company.

He yawned yet again, and she decided it was time to take him to his hotel. They got up and left for the town. She stopped the car at the end of the road at the stop sign, and Vincent noticed the walls to his right. "What's that? An old graveyard or something?"

"It's the property wall for that big castle-like mansion on the top of the hill....You didn't see it on the way in?"

"Oh yeah. I was noticing that place earlier. It's pretty creepy huh? I would have loved to grow up in a Gothic castle. Have you been up there to shoot it yet?"

"No. That driveway is completely overgrown with thorn bushes, but I plan on just scaling the wall from my backyard. I have just been too busy to do it yet."

"Well, you are just going to be getting busier. I need you to pick me up first thing in the morning and we have to get the cafe settled and interviews to do."

"I figured as much," she said as she pulled up to his hotel. They said their goodbyes, she dropped him off, and made her way back home.

As she drove onto her driveway, the car's lights flashed through the trees near her house, and she saw something strange. Or thought she saw something. A shadow going the wrong way, moving differently than all the other trees' shadows. She parked the car, cut the engine, and stayed where she was. She leaned forward in her seat and watched that area until her window fogged up from her breath. What's wrong with you? You're acting crazy. No one is there; no one is watching you any more. It's just all in your head.