Happy New Years to all! I hope you guys had a great new years and by that I mean that most of you don't remember it (wink wink). The inspiration for these chapters? The Older I Get by Skillet. AWSOME!

Rebecca's POV

I had the mother of all friggin headaches. Listening to Philip drone on and on about the medical procedures he was trying on my blood and the sounds of the machines had begun to feel like a hole being drilled in my brain. He had insisted I stay with him when I had awoken, he needed fresh blood for a few more tests. Then he had insisted I stay to keep him company and we could catch up, then we had to have lunch together.

Eventually, I had to draw a line.

"Where are you going?" he questioned, with clear suspicion on his face and coloring his tone. I sighed, knowing it was coming, wishing he would just let me go.

"I have a gig at five." I said bluntly, throwing my light jacket on over my clothes. "I would also like to take a shower and have a change of clothes. I love spending time with you but I do not want to spend more time in this hospital."

"But you haven't even been to the children's ward yet." he was grasping at straws, and it made me raise my eyebrows at him. Why the desperate attempt to keep me away from Kalin? A person he didn't even know? It didn't matter anyways, I really did have a gig, and this was one of my best paying employers.

"I will just have to visit another time, Phil. Mrs. Clancy booked me about a month ago and it would unfair to cancel on her just because you want me to stick around a little longer. Plus, I need the money if I am going to continue to live by myself without my parents support."

"I told you you don't have to pay for the tests." he said with an irritated crinkle of his nose, going back to the microscope.

"That would defeat the purpose of living on my own without anyones help, wouldn't you say?" I put my hand on his arm, waiting till he met my eyes to give a small smile. "I can afford the medical bills, and the last thing I need is your boss finding out you are paying for my stuff and you getting sacked. Then what would I do?"

"I would have to continue my work in an underground black market lab." the bad thing? There was not a single ounce of teasing on his face. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose and looking down, trying not to snap.

"What is your problem, Phil? I have to work, just like you do, I enjoy working from time to time, and she is one of my best payers."

"Don't tell me she is the one with that snotty bastard of a son?"

"I would not use those words, but yes, she is the one you are thinking of."

"The boy is a sexist pig, and if I could I would give him a piece of my mind."

"You would give everyone a piece of your mind," I said with a smile, kissing his cheek. "Love you, try and go home today, otherwise I will refuse to come in the next time you call."

"That is not funny Rebecca! That has to do with your health!" but I was already halfway out the door when I called back. "So does yours!"

But as I stepped into the just opening elevator, a woman passed me. I saw hundreds of people every day, but something made me stop midstep and glance back at her, just to find that she was doing the same with me.

And her eyes, they were so familiar, so beautiful so . . . old.

Before I could even think to turn back and ask her who she was the elevator door slid shut.

From there, the headache only seemed to get worse.

I managed to walk back to the school, the weather seeming like it did not want to stay in the warm range of spring and instead break into the full blistering heat of summer. I was out of breath and light headed by time I reach my dorm room, but that could have also been caused by the anemia, but hey, who was pointing fingers?

Then? I noticed a large footprint on my door, the wood of the frame slightly splintered. I was dreading opening the door, but I did.

Boooooy did I wish I could kill myself at the moment!

My entire room was trashed. My bed has been flipped, my small bookcase knocked over , my desk in disarray, papers everywhere. For a single moment I couldn't breath, and my body would not move no matter how much my thoughts were screaming at it too. And then, my body finally kicked into action.

I sprung forward, stepping on and over my belongings like they were nothing in the single minded drive I had to get to what I wanted. I reached the area of my bookcase and began digging, throwing things out of the way in a feral desperation. I gasped when my fingers hit class, just enough to sting but not to break through, but I knew I had reached what I was looking for.

The broken frame I pulled from the wreckage had managed to protect the picture of man. His hair was the color of deep chestnut, his eyes following suite. His face was soft, his chin strong, but his eyes gentle. He was tall, holding a sixteen year old me under his arm and easily towering above me. His body was strong, well defined even under the plain white shirt he wore and tatty worn blue jeans. Behind us showed the Blue Ride Mountains, a trip he had taken me on for my birthday, the summer sun glaring at the camera.

I had not laughed that much since that day.

Tenderly, I reached back and touched my left shoulder, saying with a soft smile, "I got ya, Chewy."

But a small noise startled me, and I jumped up, trying to turn around, only to trip on something and find myself falling to the floor in such a swift motion it took me a moment to realize I was even falling. Until I hit something so solid it knocked the breath clear out of me. I coughed, my lungs protesting at the rough treatment, and my hand meeting a rough material as I reached up to push myself back up and steady myself.

"Oh shit!" I yelped when I looked up to find myself face to face with Kalin. I stepped back only to trip again and this time Kalin couldn't save me from falling to the cluttered floor. "What the fuck!" I swore, managing to stumble towards the door, frame still in hand. My heart was pounding, my adrenalin running, and my temper was flaring due to the fact my headache had just burst into a full out migraine. I didn't know if Kalin had destroyed my room, hell, for all I know someone could have broke in and stolen stuff, even though nothing valuable was kept in my room anyways. But this has just set me from in pain to me in pain and pissed off. If Kalin did not stay away from at this point I was likely to deck him in the face regardless of the muzzle.

"Piss off Kalin!" I hissed, when he touched against me once we were outside of my room. I could hear him trying to speak, but the words were garbled, incoherent, but desperate. It was the raw desperation that caught me, and when I paused to look back at him his eyes were wide, afraid, desperate. I sighed, sagging against the wall, suddenly so tired, I just wanted the world to dissapear. But Kalin continued to try to speak to me, but I could not make anything out.

Finally, I held up a hand, and he finally fell into silence. I sat there on the floor for a moment, with him hovering over me, the air between us tense and confused. He wanted me to understand and I just wanted to be left alone.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked, looking up at him again, only for him to give me a somewhat confused nod in response. I sighed, sucking in a heavy breath and pushing myself to my feet. Everything still sucked, the world could still go to hell, and I still wanted to shoot myself in the head. But none of that was Kalin's fault, and maybe his presence could even be beneficial to me.

"In." I ordered in a low breath, noting that my outburst was starting to draw my classmates from their rooms. I did not want a scene, and I did not want anyone else seeing my room.

Kalin obeyed without any hesitation, and it wasn't until I closed the door that I noted the note that was on the inside of my door.

"Be back tomorrow, good luck?" I read out loud, giving Kalin a look that spoke volumes. He even looked guilty, as if it were his fault. I laughed, actually laughed, and shook my head, throwing the paper to the floor and heading for the bathroom, which was thankfully still untouched. I snagged the pain pills from the medicine cabinet and shook two into my hand before heading back towards the kitchen. Kalin had taken the liberty of kicking the table right side up with his foot and all of the chairs, giving me another thing to chuckle about. He gave me a questioning look with the pills, but I just tapped my head as I brushed past him.

Now, I know pain pills and alcohol do not mix well, but I really didn't care at this point. I always kept at least six to twelve wine coolers in the bottom drawers of my fridge for when the world was fucking me over. And what better time than today?

"Have you ever had on of these?" I questioned Kalin, who was already sitting silently at the table like a good little boy. He shook his head, so I put the wine cooler down on the table and began on the buckles on his straight jacket. He tensed, but didn't fight me, and I could sense his shock and slight unease.

"I know you probably don't remember, but the last time you were here you gave me the option to remove your straight jacket, just not your muzzle, so I guess we will just have to work up to that or something." when it fell loose, he eventually shrugged it off, showing tanned arms and those long strong fingers. I bit my lip at his sculpted chest and body, even though this wasn't my first time seeing it. Not like I could really enjoy it last time though, with him bleeding everywhere and all.

"Here, try some, though I doubt you will like it enough to get drunk with me." I make quick work of the wine cooler and offered it out to him. He moved for it without a moment's hesitation, as if he didn't want to disappoint me. And I had a brief thought that maybe I should have warned him this was not exactly wonderful tasting when he had only taken a mouthful and he gagged. He scrambled up, desperately trying to figure out what he should do, his eyes panic stricken. Its not like I was much help, I was on the floor from how hard I was laughing.

"Si-sink!" I finally managed to gasp out, and he basically ran for the sink in his desperation. I still couldn't stop laughing though, even though my stomach was hurting, I was light headed from lack of air, and there were tears in my eyes. When I could finally calm down and breath Kalin was at my side, offering a hand to help me up. I accepted it, but denied when he then offered me the pain pills I had taken out. My headache was lessening, maybe I just needed someone like him to help me relax a little.

"Have you ever played gameboy?" I asked curiously, and when he gave me a confused frown I grinned and waded back through the disaster to try and find it. Kalin followed, and I could read his intention from the look in his eyes, so I wagged my finger at him with a laugh. "Go sit down, big boy. If you don't even know what a gameboy looks like, then how are you supposed to find it? Go, sit." I shooed him away, but he refused to move, so I had to continue on, wine cooler in hand, on my conquest. I found it quickly though, for it was in the drawer in my nightstand that had thankfully not overturned. I quickly sat him down at the table after popping in Mario Race something or other. And after seconds of handing it to him, he began to adapt, learning so quickly I could not even get the words out of my mouth on what he was supposed to do.

So I backed off, drinking at least three of four more wine coolers while I watched him play, me laughing more and more as the wine coolers set in as he would either crash or die. He eventually even began to get into the game, sighing and shaking his head in a mocking way at himself when he would crash or make a mistake. It was nice, I couldn't remember the last time I had done this with someone.

Suddenly, I grinned up at him.

"Hey Kalin? How is your dancing skills?"