Author's Note: I've been going over this story like mad, and I really want this to be good. Details matter to me, so in plight of trying to get the 'Quincy's' to their destination I chose to send them somewhere else. It will come together as the story goes on, but for right now they are traveling to Helsingor, Denmark. Not Monnickendam, Holland. Please bear with me. Also, I never specified Katerena's age which is age 8. Okay? Okay.

Also, I cut out some of the dialogue from before.

I would like to extend a big thank you to all the readers who have reviewed, you guys give me inspiration. Anyway, I'll stop my incessant rambling. Onto the chapter!

Chapter Nine: Arriving with a state of mind

No sooner had they pulled off from the platform, the sleep Jude had evaded for so long caught up with her. Her eyes fluttered as she tried her best to stay awake as Thomas and Ava chatted breezily, but no sooner did she tell herself to stay awake she was sleeping soundly on Thomas' shoulder, while her unconscious desires flashed before her underneath her eyelids.

Katerena's eyes stayed glued on the scenic view passing by the large Plexiglas window until it was too dark to see. She resorted to playing with her dolls, chiming in every so often on Thomas and Ava's conversation. It wasn't too long before she too fell asleep, her plump lips stuck out in a pout.

Jude, unlike Katerena, spoke in her sleep. Not that she was aware, but Thomas surely was. Katerena had warned him of her sleep-talk before they left; she had to be the nicer one, after sleeping in the same room with her for five plus years she was sure it was going to scare him as it did her the first nights in their room back in Amsterdam.

Thomas didn't sleep at all during the ride; he dozed once or twice, but always woke up to watch Jude sleep. It was something about the way she breathed, so soft and nonexistent, that it made her look like an angel and Thomas was purely transfixed. And it was when she mumbled his name from her rosy lips, so quiet and needy. "Thomas…" that he was sure that there was no one else for him in the world.

A day later, they passed by Copenhagen. Jude slept most of the way, only to wake up for breakfast to go right back to sleep. Three hours later, they were pulling up to the Helsingor train station. Thomas stroked her porcelain cheek softly, whispering her name. She stirred, but made no movement. Across from him, Katerena hopped from her seat and begun packing her things.

"You are not going to get her up that way." She said, turning around to face him. Her red French braids hanging over her shoulders. "It's like waking the sleeping dead." Thomas continued on stroking her cheek and Kat laughed as she turned back around.

His head lifted up to look at her then back down at Jude. In the pit of his stomach he knew she was right, hell he'd had a hard enough time waking her up for breakfast that he left to use the bathroom in hope she'd wake up because he was gone. Apparently that wasn't the case, Katerena claimed to have jumped on her stomach to wake her up. He let his hand trail down her rosy cheek to her shoulder, shaking it lightly. "Please wake up Jude…" he murmured, his eyebrows knitting together as she kept on snoozing.

Jude groaned as she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, shaking her lightly. "Rise and shine…" he whispered into her ear and smiled as she nuzzled her head. "C'mon schläfriger Träumer, time to wake up." Her eyes fluttered open at that, her blue eyes resting on the backsides of Ava and Katerena. A smile spread across her face as she yawned, and she lifted her head from Thomas' shoulder. "Well, hello." He said, laughing lightly and stroking her cheek. "Your sister said it'd be hard to wake you up, but I never thought it'd be that hard."

Jude made a face as she stretched, yawning again. "You'd be surprised." She said, her eyes trailing out towards the window. She watched as Katerena sat back down to wait for them to get their stuff together. Her eyes brightened significantly, and she peered fully out the window into the darkening town. "We're here?" she asked, and Thomas nodded in response. He stood up, and held out his hand for her.

Setting her hand delicately in his, she stood up and grabbed her satchel. "Let's go, hmm?" He led her to the aisle, but she let Katerena ahead of her and they proceeded on their way out of the train car with Ava trailing behind her. "So, where ya'll headed to?" Ava asked, buttoning up the last few buttons of her coat before stepping out and off the train.

As they stepped onto the outdoor platform, they were greeted by freshly falling snow. The sun had already set and the temperature had already dropped 10 Celsius. Jude shivered inside of her own layers, clearly not ready for the cold air. "We're going to my parents summer house, they decided to let us settle down." She said, stuffing her free hand into her coat pocket.

Ava nodded, her plump cheeks turning bright red quickly. She understood the two were married, but didn't understand where the little girl came into play. Underneath it all, she hoped they'd keep in touch so she could figure the rest out. It seemed a little bit too…movie-esque for the real world. "Oh, well I must be off. Hopefully I'll see you all sometime later, maybe we can catch up." She said smiling and Thomas nodded before stepping forward to embrace her. He kissed her cheek and smiled as he stepped back. "It was very nice to be in your presence." he took his place back beside Jude, his hand enclosing around hers. Ava nodded, turning to walk away. "Have a nice stay!" Thomas called after her, waving with his free hand. She waved over her shoulder and continued on out of the station.

When they could no longer see her they turned to go on their own way. As they fell into place, with Katerena ahead to give them their 'couple-time', questions arose in Thomas' mind. What were they to do when they got there? Were they to stay together? Or would he sleep in a separate room? He looked over at Jude, but after seeing the distant look in her eyes he decided to wait before saying anything.

Ideas bobbed around in Katerena's head and after looking over her shoulder at the couple, she decided their together time was over. She stopped walking causing Jude, who wasn't looking where she was going, to bump into her back. "Hay!" Katerena shrieked even though she knew it was coming.

Jude shook her head as if being brought back into reality. She eyed Kat as she fell in step beside her.

"You're the devil's child you know that?" she asked, ruffling her sister's curls.

Katerena giggled, and broke free of her ruffling hand. "Yeah, and that's why you love me." She said breezily, moving to Thomas' side.

Jude's eyes rolled heavily as they took a solitary dirt road that lead to the small neighborhood of houses including the Harrison's summer house. She was too caught up in her own thoughts, which were revolving around the Thomas' centered dream she'd had on the train, to notice the two chattering on. It wasn't until she heard her name did she listen.

"I want to tell her, it's always fun seeing her face when embarrassing her." Katerena said snickering into her hand. Thomas shook his head, feigning a laugh.

"I don't know if she'll like that." He said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes were dead ahead, but she was keenly listening.

Her head quickly turned towards Thomas, her eyebrow raised. "What? What won't I like?"

"Uh, uh…" he stumbled over his words before Katerena interjected.

"You won't like me telling you what you said while you were sleeping." She said, looking about the grassy fields dotted with sleeping cows and goats.

"Oh yeah, and what did I say?" she pursed her lips looking at her, a smile poking at her lips.

"THOMAS…OH, THOMAS!" she yelled out into the night, walking on her tip toes in front of them and smacking the back of her hand against her forehead dramatically. "I am so in love with you! Marry me for real, and let's have babies!"

Thomas turned his head to the side, chuckling into his hand. Beside him, Jude noticed and smacked him in the arm.

"Now I think you're exaggerating." She said, shaking her head.

"Just the contrary." She said sticking out her tongue before racing on ahead.

"Katerena Nicola!" Jude yelled, her eyebrows knitting together. She didn't want her running off in the night; no one knew what was lurking out there. What potentially dangerous something could be out there, waiting to kill them. Kat didn't come back though; she'd already dashed off down the dirt road

As they rounded the last bend, Jude strained her eyes to look for Katerena. She knew where she was going, though it'd been a few years since they'd visited. Her heart thumped as she spotted the broken crosses and guns on the arms of the men up ahead. If there was ever a time she wanted to disappear, it was then, though it was then she realized they could have Katerena. Her pulse quickened as she tried to play it cool, as much as she could, until her foot hit a patch of ice, causing her to lose her footing and falling on her behind.

A squeal escaped her lips as she hit the dirt road with force. Thomas, who tried to keep her up by holding her hand, managed to fall on top of her their limbs tangled and prides broken. The Nazi's who stood up ahead came down in no extra hurry, standing over the two as they stood up. "Your papers." The taller one said, his German accent curt and to the point. He held out his hand eyeballing the both of them.

Jude turned ashen as she stood up quickly, pulling her papers from her pocket and handing them over with shaking hands. Thomas stood up slowly, his face reflecting Jude's and handed his over to the other officer his eyes on the road. They stepped back, discussing something in rapid German involving obscene hand gestures and a nod before returning their papers telling them to be on their way.

Rushing past them, they quickly joined hands and walked to the summer house. Neither of them said a word, both to shaken up for dry dialogue, and be time they got to the gate Jude had gone through five different scenarios each of them ending horribly. The squeaking of the gate brought her back to reality and she sighed in relief seeing Katerena slumped back against the door asleep.

Wordlessly, she went over to her and shook her softly whispering something in her ear. Katerena stood up, yawning as she took the key from Jude and opened the door. "Come on Thomas…" Jude said over her shoulder, briefly smiling at him before walking inside. He followed after, dropping his back beside the front door.

He walked through the hall, watching as Katerena dashed up the stairs at the end of the hall. Up ahead on his left he heard Jude humming and a few things knocking over. He stopped in the archway of the large living room, his eyes surveying the room.

It was half the size of the ballroom in their apartment building with eggshell yellow walls and white accents. Along the north wall was a fireplace decorated with photos of the girls in various stages of life. One of Jude with the Prime Minister caught his eye; he never knew she was politically active. "That was taken a while ago." She interjected as she looked up to see him staring at the picture. "Before I realized government was fake."

He nodded, putting his hands in his pockets as he walked towards her. "So, this is the summer house?" he asked, looking out dirty front windows.

"Yeah, this is where I spent seventy-five percent of my childhood." She said, pulling the dust cover off the grand piano beside the fireplace and holding her nose as she felt a sneeze coming on.

"Looks like a nice place."

"Memories haunt the corners though, and some of them aren't so bright." She said walking over to the couch.

Thomas nodded, standing behind the couch facing her. "But new ones could always be made." He said, hinting in his voice. "I mean this is our home now."

"Yeah, home…sweet," she coughed as she pulled off the cover of the couch, a cloud of dust rising. "Home."

She threw the cover to the side and let her body collapse onto the couch. Thomas walked around and sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders. She snuggled in, inhaling the light after shave that still lingered and closed her eyes listening to his heartbeat. He smiled as she snuggled in, stroking her blonde hair before resting his cheek on the top of her head. Within minutes their breathing had become labored and deep, both asleep in each other's embrace.