When Claire awoke, she was still in Shane's arms, though she had turned over during the night so she was curled against him with her face and hands resting against his chest. Shane was already awake, he leaned down and kissed her cheek, stroking the hair back from her face and tucking it behind her ear. "Morning, peach." He smiled lazily down at her.

Claire frowned, confused. "Peach?" She repeated, not understanding the new nickname.

"Because you bruise like one." Shane replied, his eyes flicking to her neck, then back to her eyes.

"Oh God… Is it really that bad?" Claire placed a hand on her neck instinctively, the skin around her throat felt tight and tender, sure enough, it ran all the way to the sides below her ears.

"Well… You now match Eve's purple Doc Marten's."

Claire groaned and rolled away, her bare feet making no noise as she padded out of Shane's room, and towards the bathroom. She could hear Shane asking where she was going, but he didn't really require an answer, she wasn't exactly going to leave the house looking as dishevelled as she did. She shouldered open the bathroom door sleepily, hitting the lights as she walked in. They clicked on just as she stood in front of the mirrored cabinet. What she saw came as a nasty shock to her. Her neck, sure enough, was bright purple. And the scariest part was that the bruise was in the distinct shape of a hand.

She left the bathroom after washing up, and walked into her own room to put on some fresh clothes. Unfortunately, she didn't have any turtle neck sweaters, so she just threw on a plain t-shirt and jeans, feeling quite defeated. She slugged downstairs to find Michael sitting in his armchair with a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked up before she even reached the foot of the stairs.

"Jesus, Claire. Have you seen that?" He asked, referring to the bruise on her neck. She replied with a solemn nod.

"There's coffee in the kitchen." Michael offered with his famous angelic smile. Claire couldn't help but smile back as she turned towards the kitchen. She placed her hands flat on the counter as she waited for the coffee machine to do what sounded like make coffee, Claire couldn't be sure. She sighed deeply. Why does this always happen to us? Claire asked herself, before she remembered that they weren't exactly the most popular group in Morganville, with the exception of Michael of course. Eve was known for her defiant attitude, Shane was… well, Shane. Violent, the town bad boy. And Claire was his girlfriend. She remembered a time when she was almost liked in Morganville. When she was just the smart, innocent, little out-of-town girl, that she was a few years ago. But after her relationship became public, people started to look at her differently. It was minor compared to Michael and Eve's relationship, but it was in reverse. Michael was the good one, and Eve the stereotypically bad. Claire poured her coffee and shouldered open the door, holding the steaming mug in both hands to warm them. Michael was still exactly where she'd left him.

"I'm sure Eve has make up for that." He said when she'd sat down on the couch.

Claire shrugged. "I've survived worse."

"Claire…" Michael was looking at her now. His eyes full of a sadness that matched his tone.

"Don't, Michael."

"Claire… This is happening too often." She could still feel his eyes on her, but she couldn't bear to meet them.

"What is?"

"Being… Attacked." Michael raised his voice slightly.

"That's Morganville."

"No, Claire, it's not. And it's terrible for you, I know. Being targeted like this just because Amelie likes you. But how do you think it feels for us? We can't protect you." He sounded almost desperate now.

"You don't need to. See how Amelie stepped in? She's protecting me."

"No she isn't!" Michael stood so quickly it made Claire flinch. "She's cleaning up her mess! She didn't protect you! If she was protecting you, she'd have stopped this from happening altogether! Remember what Oliver said? He meant to kill you, Claire. Imagine if he'd succeeded."
Claire just sat there, her mouth slightly open, unblinking eyes staring into Michael's face. She must have looked scared because Michael then came to sit next to her, taking the mug from her hand and placing it on the table in one smooth movement. He gathered her up in his arms, tucking her head under his chin with his strong hands. Michael's hugs were different to Shane's. Michael's were more like a family hug, there was only family orientated love in it, whereas Shane's were always full of lust and protectiveness.

They sat like that for most of the morning, just talking. The conversation changed to something lighter but the dark realisation that she really was in danger weighed heavily on Claire's shoulders. Shane came down around noon. "Hope you're not stealing my girl while yours is working, Mikey." He said as he jumped onto the couch on Claire's other side, draping an arm lazily over her shoulder. Claire turned her face away from Michael and towards Shane, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"No way, buddy. She's yours. You deserve each other." Michael said before ruffling Claire's hair, grabbing her empty mug and heading into the kitchen.

Claire leaned into Shane's shoulder and he responded by shifting so that she was in his lap, facing him sideways. "I'm so glad you're better, Claire." Shane whispered in a low, husky, sexy voice. "We'll always be here to protect you. And we will protect you now. Always."

"Always." Claire repeated.

Wahey! I did it! I posted something new! I know it's been forever, and I'm really sorry for that. But here it is, CHAPTER 6! I hope you enjoyed it. I know there was no action in it really, but I wanted to kind of plant the seeds of Claire and Michael's brother/sister kind of relationship. So, no love triangle, sorry if you like that kind of thing, but personally it annoys me. And I feel that right now in this story, Claire needs a brotherly figure. And Michael is the obvious candidate.

If you haven't checked out my other stories, I'd love it of you did. I know I need to update those, but this is the story that seems to be doing the best. So thank you for reading this far, I'm going to shut up before I bore you all to death. Thanks again! Please review! oxoxox