An: Thank you to all those of you who have decided to read this, are still in fact reading my story, putting me as favourite author, on author alert, have favourited this story and put it on story alert. This chapter should have gone out weeks ago but I've been having problems getting my internet to work and have only just got it back to an extent (it likes to go off after a couple of minutes). One piece of good news is that I've taken a week off from work because they made me take some holiday and so I plan to do a lot of writing and should I still have internet should be posted by next Saturday.

I will say this now as you have had to wait a while for this update I will be letting you know what the next chapter will be about so if you don't want to know skip the bottom AN.

Now on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Morganville Vampires. Rachel Caine does.

Chapter 7

2 months later

Claire's POV

I really don't want to move right now. The alarm has just gone off and it can therefore only mean on one thing about today. I have I go back to work and can no longer spend my days with just me and my kids and with Shane when he's not working which to be honest feels like all the time (which I am not complaining about at all). Ugh I really hate Amelie right now.

I wish that I could just always stay home and maybe work again when the kids start school would never change any of it cause if I were to then I wouldn't be here right now with Shane as my fiancé and two adorable kids. Who knows I could even be dead right now with all the danger that I seem to attract to myself like a magnet.

I can only really see the downsides to me having to go back to work. The downsides being that I have to leave my children who are only now three months old and have only spent around two whole months with me as they had to stay at the hospital for a while and I have to leave Shane and the comfort of my nice warm bed where I get wrapped up in Shane's arms.

Okay so the last one's just me being moody at the fact that I have no choice what so ever in whether I go back to work and when I go back to work. But I'm being forced away from my kids who I feel as though I haven't spent all that much time with them and they're young, they could end up forgetting me. Not Shane though cause he doesn't have to go to work and can spend all day with the kids and at home doing as he pleases. I also don't like being away from Shane cause now that I've had my kids I no longer feel secure with my body and so when I'm with Shane I can clearly show all the other girls who are prettier and hotter than me that I have something that they can't have and I also feel tired all the time that I don't have much time for sex or if we try to start something the kids would wake up and need us (and for a bit the kids were also in our room cause I didn't like them being in a different room)so I sometimes get paranoid that Shane will want to go to someone else so that he can get some satisfaction.

Ugh I really don't want to have to deal with Myrnin today but at least I was able to get a decent night's sleep.

If only Amelie could care less about her precious Morganville and more about the humans (who if you think about it keep this place from becoming a ghost town) than I wouldn't be I this situation and would also be much happier too. But she probably just sees me s a human who at some point or other can be easily disposed of and replaced. Although in saying that I can see why she cares so much cause Morganville is all she has and if it were o disappear that she would have nothing left and so she would want to keep it safe and protected by any means necessary. I guess I've been really lucky to be able to do what I've managed to in terms of changing how the humans are treated by the vampires but I guess I can only do so much. I wish my life could be simple for just once.

I finally managed to find the will to move to get out of bed but in the process woke Shane up as well.

"Claire? What's going on?"

"Sorry Shane didn't men to wake you up. I'm just trying to find the will power to be able to leave this bed and then the house so that I can then get to work. There's no chance that you could tell me that this is just a mistake, could you?" I asked whilst trying to hide my face in his chest hoping that it could make the outside world just disappear.

"I wish I could tell you that cause then we could just stay here until the kids wake up and then think about leave this room but sadly you will have to leave cause we don't know what Amelie's reaction to you not turning up will be." He replied whilst wrapping my up tighter in his arms.

"I really don't want to go. I really hate Amelie right now."

"I don't want you to go either and I hate her as well."

Then the kids started to cry.

"Duty calls. You don't have to go to work today do you?"

"No, so I'm free to take care of the kids and if I need any help I can always call you or even your mum, although I think I might just always call you cause I'd feel really embarrassed to have to call you mum and admit that I don't know what I'm doing."

"Yeah but you shouldn't cause they both know that we don't know much about taking care of the kids nor have experience with kids but that's okay. We are exactly the same and they know that we'd only call if we were desperate and really don't know what happening. They probably wouldn't be surprised if you were to have to call cause you are on your own as I have to go to work and there will be times when it'll be the same for me. We just have to understand and see that it will get easier as time goes on. Plus before you know it I'll be finished and back where e I belong. But right now I can help you get the kids sorted and then get myself ready. "

We got the kids fed and dressed and then I saw that I had no choice but to get myself ready.

After I was ready and then went downstairs I found Shane and the children in the living room. When I went to bye to them it felt so hard to do it, I held Abigail and Ethan in my arms and I just did not want to release them.

"Claire, don't you have to get to work?"

"Yeah. Can you take them from me please cause I just don't want to release them."

He took them from my arms and then allowed me to leave the house at last. I had no idea that it would be so hard to leave them behind when I would go to work. Hopefully it will get easier as the days go by. At least it's only until two.

When I got to the lab I was just in time. Amelie, I noticed was there. Great. Probably there to make sure that I would turn up on time or even to make sure that I would even turn up at all.

"Ah Claire, it's good to see that you decided to turn up and that I didn't have to use any persuasive techniques get you to turn for work." Is that you would call them.

"Yes well as I didn't know what these techniques as you call them would be I didn't want to risk something happening to my family or anyone that I may know."

"Well that matters not anymore. The good thing is that now you are here and able to get back to work on fixing the barriers surrounding Morganville and I can then believe that Morganville will be a safe place to live again."

Yeah, for the vampires. It's the only logical explanation when she says hat as humans can never be safe when there are vampires in the surrounding area. She tries to get them to leave a sort of peace and harmony but the truth is that most humans just live in fear and will always be at risk of sudden death.

She then left after informing me once again of when I should be at work and that Myrnin will now be giving a report of how my progress is going on. I really don't think it's necessary to be telling her every single day. Not the giving of a report but giving one daily just seems a bit pointless cause how much work do they expect me to get through each day.

When it became just me and Myrnin he got straight down to business. Maybe Amelie has said something to him and he wants to keep her happy.

"It's good to see you back here Claire. Now in your absence I've not been able to do as much as I would have liked to do in the time that you had off but now that you are back we can hopefully rectify that and if we can keep on schedule we can be done before we know it."

"Well if you can show me what you've managed to do I can then help you carry on from where you got to." I'd just love to know how he didn't manage to do the work that he would have liked to given that he's a vampire and can therefore move and work faster than I can. Also there are no windows down here so that means that the sun can never affect him and I don't know if he ever sleeps.

"I know that you are probably thinking that I should have been able to do more than I did but after you left there was a problem which was that since you left I saw no way to get the circuit to fully work and be able to keep the barriers up and stable so I can up with the idea that I could see if I could use some of my own brain tissue to help control the system but it didn't work and then do you want to know what thought then came into my head?"

"I dread to think what came into your head."

"Well I'll tell you. I realised that I'm a vampire and can therefore decide what can happen to you whilst you are down here and so I was able to get my hands on this."

He then produced this brain that was in this jar and had all these wires connected to it. I may be into science and love working with Myrnin cause I always love to learn something new but I do have to say that he just scared me slightly.

"Okay I have just one thing to say in response to that which is, where did you get that from?" Please don't say from some random person of the street. Please don't.

"I didn't get it from some random person off the streets and nor were they targeted if that's what you are thinking. No this person was a vampire and more or less begged me to use them or certainly kill them at least which if you think I did but then just used the brain as well so that it wouldn't end up being wasted."

Oh God I think I know who he is talking about. There is only one vampire that I know of who would have wanted to have someone end his life for him. I just hope that I'm wrong, that he wouldn't have gone for that. Although this is Myrnin and he seems to just be doing whatever he pleases. The only vampire that I can think of that is like Myrnin describe is Frank Collins, Shane's father, as he was turned by Bishop right in front of Shane with no say in the matter and he has always despised vampires due to what has happened to his family.

I had always held onto the hope that the relationship between Shane and his father could become better and they could end up closer or at least for Shane to be able to see past his father being a vampire and have some form of father and son relationship. If it's true what Myrnin was saying about Frank was true then it makes me wonder if he had the same thoughts or something along the same lines of what I would have wanted to have happened. But I guess not anymore.

"As you have probably already guessed yes it was Shane's father. He couldn't handle anymore what he was and had been forced to become and that he couldn't be with his family anymore."

"So he genuinely came up you? He actually came up to you asked for you to kill him? Why you though?"

"Yes he did cone up to me. I guess he couldn't get anyone else to kill him and he didn't have the guts to do it himself and thought I would be willing enough to do it which as you can see I was. I would like to know how he managed to find me but I'm not bothered as he has been able to help us."

"Well I guess I can do nothing about it now. I just have to ask a couple of things, 1. Why you haven't connected it all up yet as I wasn't here to argue and against it and try to stop you and 2. Does Amelie know anything about this?"

"I thought that you might find it interesting to see how I managed to do it and how it fully works. Amelie does not know about it yet but I will inform her about it when we give her the good news that all the barriers are back into place."

We then got to work getting everything sorted that we would need and then started on getting it all put together. It was interesting to see how Myrnin liked to put all these different things that get the machine to work together. The machine was pretty the same as it was for Ada but this time I just hope that it'll be easier to deal with and I won't have to worry that Frank will want we dead cause of jealousy. It was great to get to see it being put together and helping in the process as there was an element of challenge to it which why I like working with Myrnin so much. Then before I knew it, it was then time for me to be heading home to my lovable kids and fiancé.

I wonder how Shane has managed to cope with the kids on his own.

Shane's POV

After Claire left it felt strange being in the house on my own as Eve and Michael also had work. I know I wasn't technically alone as the twins were her obviously but it was very quiet. I have no idea how this is going to but I'm just going to hope that nothing major is going to happen cause I've got two children to deal with. Although in saying that I think I've just jinxed it now.

I do know that if I should get into trouble I know that I can always call Claire (which I bet Myrnin will be loved by Myrnin) and then if I was very desperate I could always call Claire's mum who has experience with children compared me and Claire who have none. We have already had to call her a couple of times during the first month which I didn't feel too bad about cause it was the first month and we can't be expected to know everything right away and also Claire was with me. It's not like I'm scared of Claire's Mum but I feel as though if I were to call her today at some point I'd feel as though I'd failed or that I can't be trusted to be left on my own with the twins.

When I had to take the kids from Claire I hated to see the look on her face especially as she had to get me to actually take them from her arms so that she could actually leave the house in time for work. But it had to be done sadly.

I'm still holding them in my arms and I don't know what to do now so I have some child friendly programme that is boring for me but as the children are here and are still awake it's good.

I love holding my children in my arms cause they are starting to get really big and I don't want the day to come where they are too big for me to hold even though right now when I hold them both in my they can start to go to sleep or stiff from being in the same position for a while. Although I do have a couple of years or so before I can worry that they'll be too big for me to hold and for that I'm thankful.

I quite like them at this age cause they are still dependent on me and Claire although I sometimes can't wait for the day that they start to talk and then are able to tell me and Claire what they need for us to for them so that we don't have to guess and hope that it's the right thing.

Getting the chance to spend today looking after the kids by myself made me think that it's not so hard and I started to think about how when Claire gets home or at the weekend I would see if she would like to go house hunting as we would need something soon if we plan to get married next year and then Michael and Eve can have the house back and when the kids start walking they won't have to also worry about watching the kids and having to put up with all the necessary child safety things. But then I hit a problem.

Things were going really well, I'd manage to get them fed with only a small amount of tears they I knew I had to accept would happen if they wanted to be fed at the same time. They even went straight to sleep which was good.

Everything was going fine the children were sleeping in their mosses baskets after being fed and I was watching some TV with subtitles so that the sound wouldn't disturb them so I don't know what had happen but Ethan started to cry. I went over to pick him up and cradle him in my arms thinking that he just wanted to be held by me but when I tried to pick him up he just started to cry louder.

I took him out of the room so that he wouldn't disturb Abigail. I tried everything from crating gentle rocking movements hoping that it would either sooth his cries or send him back to sleep but it didn't work.

I tried to see if he was hungry again but that wasn't it. I check to see if he needed changing but that wasn't it and then I ran out of ideas and he cries seemed to be getting worse so I knew that I would have no choice but to concede defeat and call someone for help.

I tried Claire first as she's their mother but she wasn't answering (not that I really expected her to but had hoped that she would) and so I knew I would just have to face it and call Claire's mum.

"Hello?" Claire's Dad had picked up the phone.

"Hello Mr Danvers its Shane, I was wondering if your wife was home."

"Why? What have you done to my grandchildren?"

"Nothing it's just that Ethan woke up from his nap and started to cry and he hasn't stopped and I've tried everything to stop it and he just won't. I don't even know how long it's been since he started and I thought your wife might help as you've had Claire you'd know what to do. And now Abigail's crying."

"Okay first off calm down. We'll head over to yours and come and help you out."

We then hung up and I just hate to try and be as patient as I could until they arrived and could help me out.

When they got here Claire's mum took Ethan out of my arms to try and sooth him. I was surprised that he hadn't worn himself out but the cries had defiantly become quieter. Abigail was still crying as well as I was completely at a loss as to what could be cause or if it was in fact that I had done something that they didn't like without even realising.

When Ethan was put into Claire's mum's arms it wasn't much longer until I guess she either was able to calm him or he just wore himself out. When Ethan did go back to sleep she took Abigail from me and did manage to calm her down and send her back to sleep.

It felt so good once the house became quiet once more. I was just told that they do that sometimes and it can't be helped but if it becomes a persistent thing to take them to a doctor and see if there is something wrong with them.

When Claire was finally home the children began to become fussy. It was as if they knew that their mother was home.

"Welcome home Claire. How was work?"

"Hard. I'm so glad to be home now with you and the kids once again. How did you manage with the kids?"

"It wasn't too bad, although I did have one problem where Ethan just started to cry after he woke from his nap and then just would not stop crying. I did try everything I could think of but then realised that I would have to concede defeat and call for back up especially as Abigail then started to cry. I tried to call you first but you didn't pick up and I called you're parents. I really don't like it when they start crying and I can do nothing to stop it."

"Neither do I. I'm sure that it'll get easier as time goes by cause it's something that we'll have to deal with as parents."

"Let's hope so."

Eventually the children managed to settle down and we only put them down so that we could have to eat for lunch.

The next day all four of us had to go to work and we have no choice but to let Claire's mum and dad take of the kids. This will be the first time that we'll have had to willingly hand the kids over to someone else. We have had Eve ad Michael and Claire's parents take the kids for a couple of hours so that we could sleep or spend time as couple but that's was cause they more or less forced us to hand the kids over when we wouldn't do much apart from what the kids needed us to do for them.

Well Claire managed to cope yesterday without finding it necessary to call home asking about the kids like we did the first few times that we let the kids go and still do (just not as badly) so I'm sure that I'll be fine. Although it could just be that I was with them and so that comforted Claire and Myrnin managed to keep her busy as well. If it was just solely down to Myrnin kept her busy then I don't have much hope cause my job is boring and if I could I'd quit but there aren't all that many jobs available that I could do or would even find interesting.

During work I was so bored (as usual). At first I thought great I can spend my time chopping up bits of meat with big sharp knives (we even use them as darts when on our breaks and the manager is not looking at us) but now I guess it's just become so repetitive, the same thing day in and day out. I have actually sometimes just not bothered to turn up so I'm actually surprised that I still have this job.

All throughout the day my hand kept reaching for my phone that I knew was in my pocket but when I would go to pick up my phone I'd re-think it and start thinking that I shouldn't keep on reaching for my phone when I should be working especially as the people I would be calling is Claire's parents and it wouldn't look good as I have to appear to be a responsible adult now that I will be marrying Claire and also now that I have kids that I need to be able to take care of.

Eventually my shift finished and I did manage to make it through the day without calling Claire's parents and felt so happy/relieved when it was finally time for me to go home. I finished at the same time as Claire so we agree that as I had the car I would go and pick her up and then we would go and pick the kids up together.

After picking the kids up we went straight home and I felt really relieved to be home. I wonder if this is how Claire felt yesterday. We had our lunch and put the kids back down for a nap as they had been asleep when we picked them up and then they had woken up as soon as we had walked in through the door but we were told that they had only been down for about an hour before we came to collect them.

In the evening Claire and I just spent time relaxing in front of the TV and hanging out with Eve and Michael before we eventually managed to head up stairs to sleep and get ready to do it all over again tomorrow.

That doesn't sound good when I put it like that.

An: So what did you think of the chapter, let me know via review or PM.

Now as what the next chapter will be about is that we are finally going to see Shane and Claire get married and it will have been a month after the twins' first birthday and in case anyone wants clarification on how old the twins are in this chapter I've estimated about 3 months and if there are any problems with how I think the twins would act and behave know this I'm only 18 and so don't have my own children nor do I know anyone who has children.

Hopefully the next chapter will be up next chapter.