Jack looks out of Aya's bedroom window. "It's been two days..." He sighs as snows begins falling. Aya hadn't shown up at school on either Monday or Tuesday, and it was killing the family. The boys left Jack alone to go look out, and Evelyn was napping in her bedroom. He's holding Aya's lioness, to which if he were honest never quite left his arms. "Aya, when are you coming home?"

"Well, I actually come back pretty often, it's just normally in the middle of the night so I can make sure that you guys are okay." Jack whirls at her voice, surprised at how quiet she is to have opened the door and go through her book bag. "Oh... I said that out loud. Whoops. I guess I should actually sleep tonight." She pulls out a knife. "Hah. Got it."

"Aya," Jack breathes as he reaches toward her, and she puts a hand up, telling him to stop. She puts on a smile and comes to sit next to him. She fiddles with the knife, trying to stay out of the direct line of sight of the window. "Aya, where have you been?"

"Places," she answers vaguely. She brushes a bit of snow out her hair and rests her head against the wall. "You guys know that I'm trying to protect you, right?" Her hazel eyes look up to meet his. "I really am. If I had another way to, I swear I would."

"Why are you here now then? Am I dreaming?" he asks, moving closer to her. "Please tell me that I'm not dreaming..."

"I can't, Jackie," she answers, knowing full well that this isn't just a figment of his imagination born from worry and missing his sister. "Is this a dream? If so, is it my dream or is it yours?" He looks away and she reaches forward to turn him back to her. "How do you want me to prove this is a dream? Make fun of you, do something that the Aya you know would never do?"

Jack stares at her for a moment. He leans in, knowing how Aya would react if this were real. If he really isn't dreaming. She sits still. "In a dream, how would you react to this?" he asks, just a breaths away from her. Aya looks down before flicking back to his sky blue eyes. She remembers back to something similar to this, only her heart didn't beat nearly as fast last time.

"Awake, she would push you away, wouldn't she?"

"Awake, Aya would do what she could to prove that this is just a dream. She would do what it took to get me to just agree and make it look so very dreamlike," he answers. "Tell me I'm lying." Aya keeps eye contact with him. He slides a hand up and into her hair, which he notices looks rather neat for her on a good day. "I'm awake, Aya, and you know it." She splits her eyes to the side, and sighs.

"Jackie, you should just lay down," she whispers, putting a hand to his shoulder and pushing him gently. "The guys will be here eventually, and I have to be gone when they get here. As in my tracks in the snow are covered." He keeps a strong hold and she laughs. "C'mon, Jackie, quit being difficult."

"If I quit being difficult, you'll leave again," he murmurs, resting his head on her shoulder. "You can't leave. Please, just leave it all alone and stay home. You can die if you go out there again." He feels her tense slightly, and closes his eyes. "Please, Aya?"

"Jackie, I have to."

"No you don't," he says. "Aya, you don't." He sits back up, looking at her. She tilts her head down, pulling away and attempting to get up. He pulls her back down, and she sighs. He sees her shoulder shake and tilts her head up. "Why are you crying?"

"Because if I don't leave, then we will do something we will both regret. If I don't leave, you will be a prime target for him. If I don't fucking leave..." she trails off and Jack shakes out the doubt in his head before pulling her close to him until they are a breath away from each other. "Jackie... Let me go..."

"If you won't stay," he says. "I won't let go." He closes the distance and Aya cries for two different reasons as she kisses him back for just a few moments then pulling away. "Aya, I'm sorry." Aya shakes her head before getting up and opening her window. "Aya, I'm sorry."

"It's not just you, Jackie," she says before sliding out. "It is not just you."

Bobby finds Jack lying in Aya's room when he gets back with the other two. "Jackie, what's up?"

"She was here," he says. "Aya was here, right in front of me, and she left." He looks at Bobby. "Why couldn't I make her stay?" Bobby gives him a weird look before seeing a knife on the floor that he was sure he put in her bag after finding it on the porch. "She came back for it. She's in the house every night, Bobby, and we never see her. She told me."

"She... was here?" Bobby picks up the knife. He sits on the bed at Jack's feet. "Damn..." Angel knocks at the door and Jeremy behind him. "How do we keep missing her?"

"Because she wants to be missed. She left this on the floor, as though she meant to leave it another way," Jack says. "I read it. She's following an obvious trail, and making sure that the guy she's after knows that she's after him. She doesn't feel like she can trust anyone except for us." Bobby opens the note, and sees that he isn't lying to them.

"How do we catch her then?"

"We don't. We have to wait until she's ready for us to find her," Bobby growls. "And there is no telling when she'll want that."

"She'll come back soon," Angel says. "She has to..."

Aya walks past the door, wearing a small dress that barely leaves anything to the imagination and smells smoke immediately. She enters the club, dark hair curled and blue contact lens in. She sees the man she's looking for and takes a seat not far away from him. She looks older than she is, and just right at the way she knows he wants his ladies to be.

She sees him take the bait shortly after catching sight of her. She flips her hair over her shoulder, feeling highly uncomfortable in the dress she wears. "What can I do for a pretty young lady like you?" She smiles. "I'm supposed to be waiting for another pretty girl, but I think that you can serve your uses until she gets here."

"I'm sure I can," Aya says, feeling contempt for the man. She never caught his name, and she's happy she didn't. Who the hell would want a bastard like this to actually have a name in her past? Forget how freaking drunk he is and smells. She lets him grab her hand as he leads her away into a back alley. As soon as they're out of sight, she takes his hand and propels him into the wall.

"Now, it's time to help me, not you, you drunk bastard," she hisses in his ear. "Where is it all going down? I have a date and a time, just not a place. Give me a fucking place and I'll let you go back inside and get a few drinks before knocking you out. I'm sure the ladies will find it amazingly hot." She bends his arm back, making sure to muffle his drunken cries.

"Blood said to meet outside of this stupid little bookstore. Said that Abby loved it there and spent most of her time there. Plus he wants you to die in the same place his girl died."

"You're of some use. Too bad I don't like you," she sneers before hitting his head into the wall and effectively knocking him out. She wipes her hands off before straightening her dress and ruffling her hair. She grabs him and lifts him over her shoulder, dragging him inside the bar. She leaves him in a chair, smiling at the bartender and complaining about horny drunks.

On her way out, Aya looks at the time and begins heading over to the Mercer household. It's a Tuesday night, so she has a few days to waste. Might as well get a feel for where the boys will be over the next few days. She goes through the back, finding the key. Peeking inside, she sees Bobby on the couch sleeping with his hand in a bowl of popcorn.

Aya giggles and shakes her head before grabbing a blanket and covering Bobby up. She kisses his temple and he stirs slightly. She grabs the remote and turns it off before setting it down and puts the bowl on the floor. She climbs upstairs and opens the first door, Angel's slightly. She sees him as he usually is when asleep, sprawled out and uncomfortable looking. Going into Jeremiah's room, she hears him snore and holds back a small bit of laughter. Evelyn's door is already open, and when Aya looks inside, she sees the old woman sleeping peacefully. She goes to Jack's room, right before hers and sees Jack holding Luna close. She nods before going into her room and grabbing the knife she left.

Aya crawls down the stairs silently, making it out the door after blowing a kiss to the family.