It was embarrassing for Johnathan, having to go to Count Dracula's office with a heavily intoxicated Mavis in his arms. Despite his predictions, he was surprised when Dracula simply sighed and asked him to help take her to her room. They both walked in uncomfortable silence, Johnathan becoming more and more aware of the woman he was holding in his arms.

The door to room 174 opened slowly, and Johnathan handed the immobile form to her father, who graciously set her in bed and covered her form with the spider-silk covers. Out of respect for the personal moment, Johnathan thought it best to make himself scarce and head down. While there, he could do something about the hunger he was feeling right now.

The Count left after he tucked his daughter in. Claire had visited briefly before going back to the children, not before placing a hand on his shoulder and trying to reassure the Count. No words were needed, and they were too tired to say much anyway. However, someone else might have something to say, downstairs.

Johnathan sipped from his glass, not aware of what was in it, and rather preferring to not know anyways. He tried to think about what was going on, but he ended up drawing a blank, and almost instantly gave up on it. Instead, he stared into nothingness, the world around him blurring out, until the famous Count sat again across him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, I wasn't aware that she… drank" he sorrowfully declared, breaking the young man's concentration early enough for him to understand what he was saying.

"Depression makes people do questionable stuff. She's still grieving for her husband, that much I already knew. It was frankly stupid of me to think I could waltz in here and just…"

"Stop talking" the Count commanded as softly as he could, sighing to relief some of the stress he was feeling, "look, she'll never live down what happened to her late husband. And yes, maybe now it's not the time to push her too hard, but maybe you should realize that now, more than ever, she might need some friends closer to her age. It's a good place to start, don't you think?"

Of course, he had been so focused on one thing that he hadn't considered more indirect options. It made him feel so shallow and selfish, when that's the last thing he wanted to come across as.

"I… I guess so…"

"I know you don't mean ill with what you feel for her, but you can't be excessively pushy with this if you want to win her over, it's a very sensitive and complex situation…"

"I know, I know… I guess I was too absorbed in my thoughts. You are right, Drac, I can do better. She deserves someone that can understand what she's going through." Johnathan admitted with slight optimism.

"That's the spirit, kid. I need to go back to the Hotel, I'll check on her periodically, maybe you should be there when she wakes up?"

"If she's ok with it…"

The hangover was killing her. The dim light that came from the candles felt like having needles stuck in her eyes, and every sound felt like someone pounding her brain with a hammer. Never again…

She snuggled into the sheets, keeping her eyes closed but slowly opening them over the course of several minutes. When the memory of what had happened early in the morning, a rosy tint came to her cheeks, and she buried her face in the pillows of her bed. Now she wouldn't be able to have any serious talk with Johnathan, he would never take her seriously after any of it. As she tried to remember more details of what she'd done at that moment, she buried her face deeper, until the sounds of her shame attack couldn't be heard unless someone focused hard. At some point, she composed herself back and sat on the bed, hugging her legs tight and placing her chin on top of them, her face the vivid image of frustration. Life just got a tad more complicated for her, and she didn't want to deal with all the muck that had been happening to her for months now. After mopping around a little, she made a decision that was probably not the wisest, but probably the only one that would work at this point: she would deal with only one thing, raising Nathan to the best of her ability. Everything else would be solved on a first-come-first-serve basis. Including Johnathan. She was going to admit something that she felt very guilty for, the fact that she still loved Johnathan very much. The feeling had probably never gone away, maybe it had just been hidden away all these years. That possibility made her feel incredibly wrong, made her feel like she had done nothing but use her late husband to distract herself. He didn't deserve that, he had been a good man, very attentive of her and their son, and who had always put them above anything else in his life. She felt so miserable…

She sighed one last time and rubbed at her eyes, still feeling the effects of the hangover, and decided to hazard her way out of her room to get a glass of blood beaters. She could recover on her own, but why risk suffering from any opportunist ailment when she could get ahead of the problem right now? Well, at least her common sense was returning.

There was, apparently, a lot to do to bring the Hotel into modern times still. Yes, Dracula had done a pretty decent job of starting it, but the place was still pretty far behind the times, and the old Count had offered him a job opportunity that could serve every single one of his purposes. His family would even be able to come more often, now that Dracula was planning to go public (albeit cautiously) with the existence of the hotel. He hadn't felt like things were working out this good for a long time in his life, even though they weren't exactly as perfect as he wanted them to be just yet. Time would see to that, he supposed. He kept mentally mapping the place, while at the same time sketching over pictures he had taken on his tablet device, immersed in the task at hand. As he turned to leave, he heard the elevator ding as it arrived, ready to ride it a floor up to continue his work, until he looked up

A lot of thoughts were going through her head right now.

I need to pick up little Nate from Dad's office, at this rate he's probably driving them both up the wall.

I need to clean myself up, I look like hell, and probably smell even worse. At this one she cringed when she imagined how she looked, and the reeking was probably along the same lines, anyway.

Oh, and here's Johnathan…

Apparently, her shock hadn't caught up to her rationale, but once it did she froze. Her bloodshot eyes, dulled after all the experiences she'd had in such a short time, widened up as big as saucers, and her jaw dropped slightly from the shock.

Fight or fly. But I don't want to hurt him. And I… kindda do want to talk to him. Even if only to apologize for the… incident…

"M-mavis…I… uh…"

Awkward didn't even begin to describe the situation. She was embarrassed to think of what she had done, and he was afraid he would say something stupid in the face of her losses.

So instead they stood there, utterly transfixed into one another, until an idea formed into Mavis' head. She broke visual contact and moved away as fast as politely possible without saying anything else, leaving him on his own in front of the elevator.

Ok, maybe it hadn't been a good idea, but it was as much as she could do in such scrambled state of mind. Until she got her bearings again and took control of her own life back there would be no right or wrong answers to her. It hurt her to think that maybe she had insulted him, or been unnecessarily rude in her actions, but there really was no way to cut through such thick awkwardness that she could think of at the moment. Reaching the kitchen, she sighed and looked around for a glass of bloodbeaters, and this time she took the scenic route on the outside of the castle to avoid any other unintended reunions. Entering from her room's window, she turned back into human form and was about to head towards her desk when she recoiled, a yelp scaping from her lips and nearly making her drop the glass she had been carrying. Claire could only chuckle lightly at the younger vampire's antics, letting her set the glass over the desk before she turned to face her again.

"What happened, Mavis? I thought you were having a good time with the women, next thing I know Johnathan is carrying you in his arms towards our room" the older vampiress was using that tone with her, the one that was both firm and gentle, full of motherly discipline that decades ago had made Mavis flinch with every sentence.

"I…" she felt like a little girl again, trying to explain herself after doing something she knew was wrong, "I don't know. I had a panic attack… I went to look for Dad, I knew he was outside. And I saw him with Johnathan…"

Mavis had sat down by then, Claire joining her by her side.

"You could have come to me, you could have done anything but this, Mavis. Why drink yourself stupid?"

Mavis sighed, looking towards the floor, the wall… anything but Claire's piercing glare.

"I don't know…" she did know, and Claire knew she was lying, so the attempt was pointless and she dropped it, "I was afraid. Afraid of what people would think of me. Afraid to admit that even after all these years… I do feel something for Johnathan. And I feel like I'm… like I'm betraying Paddy by admitting that…"

"You are not. Mavis, he's gone, I know it's still hard for you to come to grips with that, but it's been many months since he was killed. I know it may feel too soon, but honestly, it will always feel that way. I'm not saying that you should throw yourself into his arms, I'm just saying that, maybe, now would be a good time to make a friend, and see how far that goes later"

Mavis sighed in frustration, still clearly unsure about everything that was going on at the moment. Claire chuckled and used one arm to bring her close and hug the younger vampire. Mavis simply closed her eyes and melted into the embrace, while the older woman rested her chin on top of her head and hummed a lullaby to sooth her.

"Besides," she continued after a while, "it will be awkward if you are constantly avoiding him now that he works here, you know?"

That got her attention, making her eyes go wide open and ending the embrace abruptly to look at Claire straight in the eye.

"You are kidding me…"

Amused, Dracula's wife nodded negatively and pursed her lips to avoid heartily laughing at her adopted daughter as she flustered and generally just took in the idea that she would have to deal with the human daily.

"You had something to do with that!" Mavis accused her, crossing her arms, and comically glaring at the woman. Claire raised her hands in mock defense while she smiled.

"I may have suggested a position for him to fill, BUT, Drac had everything to do with that. I swear" she absentmindedly answered, clearly highly entertained by the situation, while Mavis could hardly find it funny and just huffed and stubbornly tapped her foot on the ground.

"This is great, even my parents are conspiring against me!"

"We are not conspiring, Mavis. We are just trying to give you a small push towards what we feel is the right direction. After all, your father has already gone through a similar situation. He's trying to ease the difficult times you're facing with his previous knowledge…" Claire pointed out as casually as she was able to.

"And I appreciate the gesture, but I don't want to feel like someone else is leaving my life for me. I have to make my own mistakes, I learned that the hard way."

"Mavis, you are still very young, and I understand, believe me, I do. Everybody wants to be in control of their lives. But sometimes listening to others more experienced than us helps us avoid life-altering mistakes. Ghoul only knows how many bad decisions I avoided by listening to my elders. You still have centuries ahead of you, plenty of time to make more mistakes, trust me." She playfully jostled the girl with one arm, making Mavis chuckle in acknowledgement.

"Fine, I guess there's something I can take away from the past. But before I do that, can I have my son back? I haven't seen him in ages" with just a hint of worry in her tone.

"Yes, please. In fact, you can also have my daughter for a couple of hours"

Mavis could not avoid the loud giggle that escaped from her as she pictured how much of a handful both infants probably were.

So, she figured that two days was a good time to settle down and think everything through. Two days where she cared for her son lovingly. Two days where the little vampire was happily spoiled senseless by a doting mother that inwardly was still debating and thinking about life itself.

She wanted him to know who his father was, how important he had been to her, and what a wonderful being he had been. What the world had lost when he was killed.

At the same time, there was a tug in her heart whenever her thoughts drifted towards Johnathan, and the zing she shared with him. There was no denying that the zing was a strong force, it called to them even when they barely spent time together. And it went unsaid to say that love that strong would breed a close and united home, so there was no doubt that Nathan would be a non-issue in any future planning. That was one of her main doubts, what would her son think of her when he grew up? Would he shun her away and be ashamed, thinking that she had moved on almost instantly? Or would he understand the circumstances that had influenced her decision?

She couldn't know, she would not be able to tell so any time soon. She couldn't stop her life to make sure she won't screw up in the eyes of her very young son, she would deal with that as it happened.

After two days, the choice was made. Everyone else could go far, far away, for all she cared.

Yes, it was awkward, no question about that, but it was a conversation long overdue.

He wasn't going anywhere, no doubt about that, he had searched for her far and wide, even when he still couldn't quite remember her the way he used to.

She couldn't commit to anything just yet. They were both very open about what they felt for each other, even if still remaining strangers. They couldn't deny it anyway, just like they couldn't deny the difficult circumstances that surrounded their frail relationship.

She wouldn't ever give up her son's well-being, if they ever got any more serious, he had to understand that. He promised he wouldn't ever even consider such a request. He was oddly fond of him, anyways, and he inwardly promised he would help raise him in any way that she allowed him to. It was the right thing to do, he would stand by the both of them for as long as he was enabled..

And so, they made silent agreements. Over the years, they would need to surmount great odds, the biggest of which was his biological condition. He was willing to give up humanity to spend his life by her side. What other proof does anyone need? Not like she needed it at that point.

By then it had been years of loyalty and unconditioned love, to her, to their son, and to their families. There was no doubt on her mind that he had been the right choice, but she would often wonder if she had been the best choice.

She hoped she was.

So... yeah, this is the end for this one. I drew a lot of blanks while writing this one, I didn't really have a plan when it came to the endingm so I apologize of it is disappointing. There's still an epilogue coming, which will be the next update.

And speaking of updates, here's what's going to happen:

The very next update will be this story's epilogue. After that, I will update "All I am to You" unitl completion (not many chapters left in that one anyways), then I will finish "If Only You Knew".

When those three stories are done, I will follow up "No Second Thoughts", and it will enter a rotation with another two stories I have planned.

Updates will come as fast as I can put them out, I am too busy at the moment but I will do my best to bring them to you. Thank you for sticking around, and happy holidays. Please remember to leave a Review, your constructive feedback makes me happy and my stories better.