Julius sighed, "I'm sorry you were brought here into this madness."

Kara shrugged as she looked at the three other girls, "I think I'll be okay with them here with me." She looked curious, "By the way, what do you do here?"

He seemed to freeze in place as Maya walked over and tugged Kara down a little to her level and whispered, "Everyone here has clocks instead of hearts. When someone from Wonderland dies, the clocks get brought to Julius and he fixes them and are given to new people."

The black haired girl seemed to understand and nod, "So you're constantly repairing clocks?" Julius nodded cautiously and before she could stop herself, Kara spoke softly, "You must be good with your hands then."

Black and Tirn choked on their laughs while Kara quickly covered her mouth, her cheeks the same bright red as Julius'. Boris chuckled, "Looks like the filter on her is broken."

Rin nodded and grinned, "I want her to meet Peter and Dupre now! They wouldn't know what to do."

Kara blushed more and looked over at the longhaired man, "I am so sorry Julius. I didn't mean to say that."

White whispered to Tirn and Black, "She may not have meant to say it," Black snorted, "But she was f****** thinking it."

Maya patted Kara on the arm in sympathy then walked over to Pierce, "Can we go to one of the homes Pierce? I'm tired."

The mouse nodded with a smile, "Of course chu~" He took her hand and began to lead her away, "See you guys later."

Rin and Tirn waved to them as they looked back between Julius and Kara with mischievous grins. "Hey Julius, since Kara doesn't have anywhere to stay and she's technically not in a game, why not let her stay here in the Clock Tower where it's neutral?" Rin smiled sweetly. But everyone knew by now that when she smiled like that, she ulterior motives.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," White spoke up and caught everyone's attention.

Tirn nodded, "If she stayed anywhere else, she would be in danger. Peter would profess his 'undying love' for her and Ace would try to listen to her heart or kill her."

Boris agreed, "Elliot wouldn't probably do much but Dee and Dum would want to 'play' with her in their room and that wouldn't end well."

Rin gagged, "Not to mention that Blood Dupre, the most womanizing man I have ever met would try to sweet talk her into staying there with them and swoon her until she was in his bed."

Kara paled the more they talked until she shuddered, "There's no way I'd let him even touch me."

"And think," Tirn walked closer to the group with Joker right behind, "Nightmare is here and can hear if anything happens. Gray is an ex-assassin that can stop any harm. And you'll be here. It's the safest place for her."

Julius looked at everyone skeptically until he noticed the worry in Kara's bright blue eyes and sighed while he rubbed his temple, "Fine. Come with me Kara, I'll show you where your room will be and we can inform Nightmare and Gray."

She nodded a little shyly as she put her music player in her pocket and gave Tirn a worried look. Said girl gave her a hug and whispered softly, "Don't worry. Julius won't do anything to hurt you." Kara gave Tirn a small nod and followed behind Julius quietly. Once they were completely out of earshot, the group started to laugh hysterically. The red-eyed girl looked at Rin, "Do you think I should have warned her to knock on Julius' door when he's working?"

Boris shook his head as he hugged Rin, "Naw, Kara looks like the type to knock anyways."

Rin snickered, "I can't believe she said that out loud about his hands."

A thought suddenly clicked between the girls as Tirn paled, "Doesn't Ace normally show up to give Julius more clocks?"

"Shit," Black sighed as White patted the girls on the shoulders, "He would've found out sooner or later."

"I would've preferred 'never'," Rin shuddered then looked to Boris, "Let's head back to the Amusement Park before the Hatters show up and try to jip Gowland out of land again." He nodded and opened one of his doors while Rin gave Tirn a hug, "We'll see ya later!"

Tirn looked between Black and White then sighed, "Well, there went my plan for a 'Girl's Day'." Black snorted as White gave her a brotherly hug. She looked at Black, "What the hell are you snorting about Black? Remember our deal? I didn't get to have a girl's day, so you can't come into my room for 10 time periods."

"What?!" he blinked, "How the hell was I suppose to know that a new f****** foreigner was gonna show up?"

White chuckled as she shrugged and started to walk away, "Not my problem now."

The jester disappeared as Black caught Tirn around the waist and growled gently in her ear, "It's your problem now." She rolled her eyes as he pulled her back to their realm.

Gray rolled his eyes from the doorway and walked back down to the main room where everyone was. Even though Tirn had changed Black, he still didn't trust Joker being so close. Nightmare gave him a look as his subordinate entered the room, "Gray, why won't you start to trust them? Tirn has done wonders to tame Black."

Julius nodded as the lizard brought everyone some coffee, "I hate to admit it but he has calmed down considerably with her there."

Kara stared at the cup of coffee in her hands with a slight pout. Nightmare grinned as he caught Gray's attention again, "Gray, why don't you find something else for Kara to drink?"

"You just want to skip out on your work," Gray scowled until he noticed Kara's pout and blinked. "Do you not like coffee?"

She stared into the cup for a minute then sat it down gently, "I don't really like hot drinks unless it's winter and it's hot chocolate. Is there any kind of soft drink here?" When she noticed the looks she got, she fiddled with her fingers, "I'll just drink some water."

Gray blinked, "I'll see what we have."

Julius sighed and stood, "It was nice meeting you Kara. I'll be in my office if you need anything but I need to get back to work."

She understood and nodded then looked at Nightmare, who still wore a grin, "What are you grinning at?"

The incubus snickered, "Did you really say that about Julius' hands?"

Her blush was answer enough that he didn't even have to see her thoughts until she narrowed her eyes, "What about you and your medicine? Only babies won't take their medicine."

Nightmare paled, "I'd rather be a baby than take that stuff."

She tilted her head, "But wouldn't you want to get better?" He started to remark when she continued, "That way you could outrun Gray better and hide from your work."

He paused and seemed to think about it then pouted, "But it tastes horrible."

"When I have to take nasty medicine, I'd plug my nose until I can't taste anything," she grinned as she stood up.

He stared skeptically, "How did you know when you couldn't taste anything?"

She smiled, "I would try a sip of a drink and when I couldn't taste anything, I'd down the medicine and quickly drink something that was strong to get rid of the taste." She shrugged, "Yeah, there's a small aftertaste but it's no where near as bad as tasting all of it."

Nightmare seemed to give it some thought when Gray came back in with a smile, "Apparently, we do have soft drinks in the kitchen."

Kara smiled happily and took a quick sip, then looked back at the dream demon, "You wanna just try and give it a shot Nightmare?"

"Give what a shot?" Gray asked confused. Nightmare paled but nodded as he pulled out the medicine. Gray stared with wide yellow eyes, "That's where your medicine went?!"

Nightmare gave a sheepish grin as Kara walked over, read the label and instructions on the medicine, then poured the right amount. "Remember to plug your nose," she grinned, "You can still breathe through your mouth." He did as told while Gray watched curiously. After a few minutes, Kara let Nightmare take a sip of her drink. "Can you taste it?"

"No," he shook his head and sulked, "but my ears just popped."

She nodded, "It'll happen. Don't forget to keep your nose plugged after you take the medicine and drink the soft drink, then let go of your nose but keep drinking to chase away the after taste."

Nightmare nodded as he held the medicine with shaky hands as Julius walked back in and blinked, "What are you doing?"

"Seeing if this will work," Kara replied as she kept her eyes on Nightmare. "Ready? Just treat it like a shot glass and toss it back." He took a deep breath and quickly downed the medicine and almost gagged until he opened his eyes and noticed the glass Kara held up to his mouth. He quickly took it and started to chug the drink, she pulled his hand away from his nose and made him shudder at the medicine but finish the drink off.

They watched him quietly as he looked at Kara with happy eyes, "It worked."

She stood up proudly and grinned, "I told you it would. That's the only way I'd take medicine." She looked at Gray sheepishly, "Could I have another drink please?"

He and Julius stared stunned as Nightmare actually started on his paperwork. Gray shook his head and grinned, "Of course you can. You don't know how long I've been trying to get him to take his medicine."

Kara smiled, "You may want to keep a stock of soft drinks for him to chase the medicine then."

Gray nodded and left happily as she noticed Julius, "Is everything okay Julius? I thought you had to work?"

He gave a barely there smile and walked up to Nightmare and gave him a few papers that had accidentally been put in his room. Said incubus looked up from his paper and looked curious at the girl, "Can you cook Kara?"

"I should hope so since I've had to cook for myself since I was 13," she said matter-of-factly.

Nightmare and Julius sighed gratefully. Nightmare jumped up and gave her a hug, "You're my new best friend!" She gave a confused look that made him continued, "Gray can't cook and when he does it knocks you out for a few days."

"You're kidding, right?" she blinked.

Julius shook his head, "Sadly, no."

She shuddered, "If you two don't mind, I'll be taking over the cooking duties for as long as I'm here." Julius looked thankful while Nightmare hugged her more. She looked down at him then over to the medicine, "When do you have to take it again?" He gave her the bottle and she read it again, "Every 8 hours isn't so bad." She looked at a clock in the room, "I understand the time outside changes crazily so we'll have to go by the clock in here."

He nodded and went back to his desk just as Gray came back in with a drink for Kara and more papers. Nightmare began to complain when Kara sent him a little look and motioned to the medicine then whispered where she stood beside him, "Just think, the better you get, the quicker you can run and hide from this."

Nightmare smiled happily when Gray gave Kara a strange look, "What did you say to Lord Nightmare?"

"Oh, only that I volunteered to make dinner," she smiled brightly.