----
Allen sat back on the wooden bench he had set up in the back yard of his new home and smiled, enjoying the way the wind brushed against his skin like a gentle kiss. At twenty three years old, Allen Walker was already a very successful composer. His music was in high demand for movie sound tracks, and anime. Even several well known singers loved the way he made the notes on a page come to life and speak to people. Allen had earned a lot of money very quickly and had decided to buy a home out of the city, away from the distracting lights and sounds of Toronto, Ontario, the place he and his father had moved to just before his final year of high school started. Allen liked the city, but his mind was most clear in the quiet of the wilderness, with the symphony of nature being his inspiration.
Sighing contentedly, Allen leaned back, looking up at the endlessly blue sky through the dancing tree branches above him. He had chosen the little house on the obscure lake in the more wild part of the Canadian landscape because of the yard. It wasn't a garden per say, but the trees towered over the soft grasses and shrubs that had been tastefully planted here and there. They looked as if they had been well manicured at one point, but let to grow as they wanted, giving the whole place wild look. Wild flowers grew along side domestic bushes and the surviving garden flowers from previous years of planting. Pansies and dragon hearts were colourful splashes of beauty along side nodding daisies and dancing buttercups. Eroded stone stairs cut into the slab of granite jutting out of the sandy ground lead to the rickety dock that had proud cattails swaying in the early July wind that danced across the shallow water.
The entire property was beautiful, even if the house was a little bit of a fixer upper. Allen had all the time in the world to do just about anything he wanted with the place, which he intended to do in between composing his music and the travelling he sometimes had to do. It would be a challenge, though it was one Allen was looking forward to. Making his own little haven in the world full of shady music producers and sneaky musicians.
Moving to Canada had been an unwanted change for the young Allen Walker at first. He loved England, he loved the people, the rolling country sides and the old feeling you got from walking down cobblestones streets. There was history in his homeland, one that he felt and loved every single day of his life. For the longest time, while wandering around in the modern and 'hip' city of Toronto, Allen felt like an outsider. The people in his classes and walking down the cluttered streets didn't know history; they didn't have roots in their cities like he did. Time changed his mind though.
Canada was a truly beautiful place, full of life and promise, with a wild, rugged beauty that Allen loved. He loved the tall, imposing trees, the delicate flowers growing in the soft ground, the chubby birds singing as they soared through the air, the wind rippling over calm water. Though he had been wary of a new place, he quickly learned that everything about it was unique and interesting. Everything made him want to write a song for it. His own little 'garden' was more like a small clearing in the woods than an actual garden, full of the natural, wild beauty that characterized the country he now called home.
Now, Allen wasn't completely alone on the lake. There were several other cottages on its shores and a marina with a small store and restaurant that many of the summer time inhabitants frequented. Allen hadn't headed out there yet; more focused on getting his home somewhat straightened up and organized than getting to know his soon to be neighbours. Getting his piano and recording equipment into the sunbathed living room turned music room on the far side of the house had been a battle, and Allen was glad he had gotten that out of the way first. Silver eyes shut and Allen sighed tiredly, listening to his young dog Timcampy exploring the area and the wind singing in the trees as he relaxed in the shade.
"Hey there!"
The young man nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of a voice, having fallen into a light dose. Allen had always bee easily lulled by the sounds of nature and the sweet song he had been composing in his head hadn't helped him stay awake much. Looking up at the dock, Allen spotted a redheaded man about his age pulling up to the dock in a small motorboat, waving in a friendly manner. He was sitting down, but Allen could see he was tall and lean. There was a bit of distance between them but he could make out a large black splotch covering his right eye, which took the slightly drowsy young man a moment to identify as an eye patch. Allen waved back as the man grinned, jumping out of his boat and tethering it to one of the rusty metal rings on the dock.
Allen stood and brushed himself off, walking over to greet the unexpected visitor, who straightened and walked off the dock, holding his hand out to the now close by Allen.
"Hey, neighbour, I'm Lavi Bookman. I heard someone bought the old Archer place so I thought I'd come by and say hello! My grandfather and I live just on the other side of that island over there, so we're pretty close by yeah?" They shook hands and Allen smiled, nodding. Allen found himself wondering why the older man had an eye patch on, but he didn't want to offend his new neighbour by asking so he chose not to say anything on the matter.
"Yeah we are... I'm Allen Walker. Its' a pleasure to meet you, Lavi." The redheaded man blinked and broke out into an even wider smile.
"Hey, you're British!" Allen chuckled lightly and nodded. "What are you doing out in the middle of bum fuck nowhere Canada?"
"Ah, well, this is a pretty area so I thought it would be nicer to live in than the city." Lavi nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you staying here for the summer with your folks?"
"...Huh? No, I'm going to live here by myself... It's my house... I bought it with my own money." Lavi's head tipped to the side and his rust coloured eyebrows drew together.
"But you're just a kid aren't you? How'd you get the money for a place on the water?"
"... I'm twenty three..." Lavi's only visible eye widened so far Allen wondered briefly if it would roll out of his head.
"Holy SHIT! Really? I thought you were like, sixteen or seventeen or something!" The British man twitched in annoyance and sighed.
"I get that a lot. But yes, really, I am in my twenties."
Lavi composed himself again and grinned easily. "Well, damn. Sorry, man. Good news for you though! A couple other people and I out here on the lake were going to get together later tonight for a few drinks back at my place. Wanna come by? Meet some fellow cottage dwellers? If you don't have a boat in the water yet I'll run over and pick you up." Another thing Allen loved about Canada was the people. They were all friendly for the most part and welcomed him with open arms.
"Sure! Sounds like it would be fun. I should have my boat in by then, so I'm sure it will be fine. You're just around the bend, correct? I should be able to find the place easily enough..." the smile returned to Allen's face and Lavi nodded.
"Awesome. The more the merrier and all that jazz. Anyway, I th- oooh! Is that a dog? What's his name? He's so cute!" Timcampy woofed and trotted over to Lavi, sniffing his hand and licking his face as the man swept the pup into his arms.
"Ah, this is Timcampy. He's just about four months old." Allen patted the golden dog's fluffy head and smiled and Lavi laughed, allowing the puppy to lick his cheek.
"He's a friendly little thing. He and my dog, Hammer, would get along! You should bring him with you when you pop over." Lavi smiled as he set the squirming Timcampy down.
Allen nodded as the dog sat at his feet, tongue hanging out of his grinning mouth. "I might. He's a bit of a handful though, so maybe once we settle in a bit more." Lavi nodded in understanding.
"Well, the offer stands if you want to bring him." Allen smiled gratefully and watched as the object of their conversation scampered off to try and catch a butterfly.
"So, how long have you been out here?" Allen asked, hoping to keep the conversation going.
"Ah, well the property as been in the family for years, so pretty much since I was born. I fixed a lot of it up the last few years though because I'm working in town so I figure, hey, why not live in a pretty cottage on the lake? My grandfather doesn't care as long as I don't break anything. It beats the hell out of living in an apartment let me tell you." Lavi grinned, sticking his hands in the pockets of his baggy shorts.
"Oh, I would have to agree with you there. Where do you work?" Allen asked.
"An engineering firm in Lakeshore, doing calculations at a desk from nine to five. Exciting? Hell no. interesting? Hell yeah. I was the geek in high school who got straight A's in math and science. What about you?"
"I'm a composer. I do some odd jobs on the side, but I mostly stick with music." Lavi's face went blank, his jaw dropping.
"Wait, wait, wait... are you telling me you're the Allen Walker? The guy who composed the entire 'D. Gray-man' soundtrack?! And had a hand in just about every successful movie's music in the last four years?!" Allen blinked; quite surprised Lavi recognized his name.
"Ah, well... yes... I am..." he chuckled, a little embarrassed.
"Oh my god that's so awesome! I watched the first movie you composed for: Akuma Virus. You remember, the one with Keanu Reeves? Yeah, it sucked, but the music was awesome so I looked you up! Couldn't find any pictures, but every movie by you since has been the shit, man! I can't believe you moved here of all places! The soundtrack for 'Jester of God' blew me away!" Seeming to finally notice Allen's slightly freaked out face, Lavi stopped, smiling sheepishly. "I'm a bit of a movie loser... sorry if I'm freaking you out."
"N-No, it's great, I mean, hey, I've never been recognized before, so it's kind of cool..." Lavi looked relieved as Allen smiled.
"Well, cool then. Hey, you want any help getting your stuff set up? I'd be happy to if you need it." Lavi looked eager but Allen shook his head, chuckling.
"No, thank you, but I've got all the heavy lifting done. It's mostly just hooking up cables and hanging up clothes at this point."
Lavi looked a little disappointed but he let it go, smiling again as he spoke. "Alright, that's cool. Let me know if you need any help though. You've got a lot of work to do around the place right?" Allen nodded. "Well, I'm pretty good with my hands, and we're all friends up here so I'm sure a few of the guys and I will have no problem helping you out."
"I appreciate it, Lavi. I'll be sure to come to you first when I start getting to the big projects." Lavi grinned happily and clapped Allen warmly on the shoulder.
"Good, man. Hey, I gotta go finish setting some stuff up. You're definitely coming then?" Another affirmative nod from Allen. "Sweet! I'll see you then. Oh, and don't worry about bringing beer; I'm supplying! And dress warm, yeah? We're having a campfire!" Lavi bounced a bit like an overexcited six year old and Allen couldn't help but smile at the attractive older man.
"I'll be sure to do that, Lavi." The two men said their farewells and Lavi jumped back into his boat, and sped away, waving at Allen as he zoomed across the glassy surface of the lake. Allen leaned against a near by tree, watching the ripples in the water with a thoughtful smile.
----
"Ah! There he is! Allen! Over here!" Lavi ran out onto the dock, waving happily as Allen pulled up in the small boat he had invested in. She wasn't the prettiest thing on the water but she had a good engine and Allen knew how to fix her if anything went wrong. Allen tossed a line out to Lavi's waiting hand and climbed out, tethering the other end to the dock expertly. His years in boy scouts came in handy sometimes.
"Glad you could make it, Al!" Lavi slung a friendly arm around Allen's shoulders, making him flush a little in embarrassment as he was dragged towards a congregation of people. "Let me introduce you to everyone yeah? That there, the pretty lady with the curly hair is Miranda. She lives all the way down by the marina."
The woman who appeared to be in her early thirties smiled shyly and nodded with a timid wave at Allen before Lavi moved on. "That's Krory. He lives in the creepy Gothic place out on the island about a kilometre out to the east." The man looked slightly offended at the description of his cottage, but flipped the odd stripe of white hair out of his eyes, smiling warmly at Allen.
"That's Marie, Daisha, and Yuu-Chan. They're all foster brothers and they live just around the other bend by your house during the summer. Yuu-Chan is a boy, by the way, so don't go hitting on him or he might just claw your face off." The largest of the three men Lavi had pointed out chuckled lightly as a long haired Japanese man- whom Allen had actually assumed to be a girl until Lavi stated otherwise- glared murderously at the energetic redhead. A brown haired man with an odd taste for face paint looked more than a little amused as 'Yuu-Chan' started muttering angrily in what Allen could only assume was Japanese.
"The cute girl over there with pigtails is Lenalee and the man beside her is her older brother Koumi. Don't hit on Lena. Koumi will castrate you and feed it to your dog while you watch." Allen blinked and raised an eyebrow as the man affectionately patted his little sister's head. Surely such a kind, gentle looking man wouldn't do something like that...
Allen didn't have any more time to ponder on it as he was spun around, Lavi's arm still around his shoulders to see three old men sitting together, enjoying their conversation. "That's Professor Kevin Yeager, Mr. Froi Tiedoll and my panda of a grandfather John Bookman. They-ARUGH!" Lavi was suddenly on the ground and the smallest of the three elderly gentlemen was towering over him menacingly.
"You insolent brat! I am not a panda, nor do I want to be referred to as such! Learn to respect your elders!" Allen gulped and took a step back as the redhead sat up, clutching his head.
"OW! Fuck, that hurts! I really should have you put in a home you know that, old man?! Seriously!" They continued to bicker and Allen watched, unsure of whether he should step in or not. There was a soft laugh behind him and Allen turned to see Lenalee standing there with a friendly smile. She really was a cute girl Allen noted, blinking at her momentarily, she had a pretty smile and big eyes; the kind of girl he probably would have tried to date if he liked girls that way.
"Don't mind them. You're Allen right? You just moved into the old Archer place?" Allen nodded a little shyly. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Lenalee Lee. Let's go properly meet the others, shall we?"
"That would be wonderful, Lenalee, thank you." He smiled warmly and walked with her to properly introduce himself as Lavi and his grandfather swore at each other in several different languages.
The rest of the evening was full of laughter and telling stories around the fire while getting acquainted with each other. Allen had a wonderful time, even going so far as to accept a bottle of beer from Lavi when the redhead plopped beside him as they gathered close to listen to a horror story. Koumi ended up telling what would have been a great story, if not for the fact he ended up censoring most of it because his 'precious baby sister' was listening. Allen scared them all with a common English myth, changing a few details as he went to help it fit their Canadian environment and smiling creepily through out the entire thing. Lavi cracked them up with the stories of his high school days, lifting up the skirts of his teacher and telling anyone the colour of her underwear for ten dollars.
By the end of the night Allen was accepted into their circle, with the exception of Kanda, who insisted he was an idiot bean sprout, much to Allen's annoyance. Most people were a little drunk, including Lavi, who was clinging to him, muttering about ninja pandas and –to Allen's embarrassment, 'adorable little bean sprouts'. People started leaving and soon it was just Allen and Lavi sitting beside the slowly dying fire together.
"Thank you for inviting me, Lavi... I had a great time." Allen patted the drowsy man's head, chuckling lightly. Lavi was a funny drunk, Allen decided; he did stupid things for a laugh before getting sleepy, picking a person and cuddling until he fell asleep. Judging from the slightly relieved look on Kanda's face, it was usually the scowling Japanese man who ended up with Lavi's drunken affection.
"Anytime, Al-baby, anytime..." Lavi muttered, nuzzling his face into Allen's neck. "We should hang out, just the two of us some time... it would be more great." The white haired man blushed but nodded anyway.
"I'd like that."
----
Before Allen quite knew what happened, an entire year had passed. He felt more at home in that house and with his friends on the lake than he did anywhere else, like it was the one place he was always supposed to be. The people around him had accepted him like they would a long lost family member and he became close friends with almost everyone. Especially Lavi.
From the moment he and Lavi had met they had been friends. It was almost like an unspoken agreement between the two of them, inviting each other over for dinner and having campfires together and dropping by uninvited to each others house whenever they felt like it. Their friendship quickly grew strong and soon enough they found themselves calling each other 'best friend'. They had celebrated Allen's twenty fourth birthday together, and gotten smashed together, they'd even gone fishing out of boredom together. Lavi had taken to stopping by randomly and flinging himself over Allen's couch to watch TV or a movie, often while trying to coerce Allen into getting into some kind of trouble with him.
Over time Allen started picking up confusing signals from Lavi. From the beginning, Allen had been honest with Lavi about his sexuality and Lavi, much to Allen's surprise and delight, had no problem with having a gay best friend. He had just smiled and ruffled Allen's hair just like normal and said: "There's nothing wrong with liking guys Al, I'm bi you know. Men are just a sexy as the ladies sometimes!". The smile that Lavi flashed him that moment was one Allen would soon learn could and would make his heart pound every single time he saw it. As time went on though, Allen found Lavi would ruffle his hair, or throw an arm around his shoulders, or drape himself over Allen more than most other friends did. It was like Lavi wanted to touch him, to be touched by him. Lavi offered countless times to help Allen out with the hundreds of projects that his cottage required, especially they jobs that required the two of them to work closely together for long periods of time.
Originally, Allen's cottage had been a rundown old thing: the singles had needed replacing, the dark brown siding had needed to be power washed, the doors and windows had needed replacing. The wiring was shot, the plumbing leaked, the walls needed painting, there were rats in the cellar, and the list of things to do kept going and going. When Allen first realized the magnitude of the project he had taken on upon buying the house, he had very nearly burst into tears. He had fallen so much in love with the wild looking garden and the beautiful landscape around the semi-secluded cottage that he hadn't even cared about the negatives in the house. He hadn't even listened to the realtor as she told him about them, which was something he wished he'd had the brains to do.
Though, when he was sitting at his piano, day dreaming about Lavi, looking out at his garden, at his little bay, at the tall pine trees just a little ways across the water on the island across from him, he couldn't help but be thankful he had bought the house. It was his, and now that he had lived there he found himself missing it when he went away, missing the sound of the wind dancing through the pine trees, missing the people that had become his neighbours, missing Lavi.
A good round of bashing his head on the table for his stupidity and large amounts of vanilla ice cream later and Allen was ready and willing to take on the challenge of fixing up his home. He started with the plumbing and planned to slowly begin working his way out, driving into the near by town, clothes and hair soaking wet, running into the hardware store in need of guidance. After a long battle, Allen finally admitted defeat and went to Lavi, drenched from the pipes in the basement bursting, head down, and tail between his legs.
Allen didn't even think about going near the electrical work. He didn't want to be found in his deathtrap of a house, fried to a crisp because he'd tinkered with the wrong wire. So, again, he went to Lavi and within a week they had the worst of the wiring mended. There were still a few hiccups, but the majority was done. That had led to Allen preparing Lavi dinner for the first time as a thank you for helping him so much, something both Lavi and Allen had enjoyed more than they would let on. After that project was done, Allen was called away on business for a good two months. By the time he got back he was so bogged down with work he didn't even think of looking at any part of his house except for the music room, the bedroom, and occasionally the kitchen.
More than a few times Lavi had come over to check on Allen, driving his pickup truck over the ice in the winter and driving his boat out there the rest of the year, and found the younger man slumped over his piano, snoring, pencil still clutched in his hand with sheet music stuck to his forehead. Allen would usually wake up as Lavi lifted him up off the bench, but he could never bring himself to make Lavi aware of the fact. He would always find himself too warm and comfortable in those strong arms, too content with the knowledge Lavi cared about him enough to lay him down on the couch he had on the far side of the sunny music room and pull a blanket over him to even think of moving.
By the time summer rolled around again, Lavi had started crashing at Allen's house several nights a week, saying that the drive into town was shorter from Allen's cottage. At first, the twenty four year old man had found it strange to have someone else living with him who wasn't his father. He'd never been in that close of a relationship with anyone before, but it quickly became instinct to cook for Lavi, or to make sure he left enough hot water in the shower for him. It was simple and easy to be so close to another person, and he loved it. He found himself wishing for more than just the intimate friendship of the other man, but fear kept him from saying anything.
----
Allen looked up from his piano at the yell from his front door and glanced out the window, spotting a familiar boat strung to his dock. Lavi had originally said he wasn't going to stay over that night, so it was a more than pleasant surprise to see the boat floating there. 'Must have changed his mind...' Allen thought with a smile.
"Come on in, Lavi, I'm in the music room!" Allen called, smiling as he heard the door slam behind the redhead. Within moments the older man poked his head into the room and smiled that perfect smile that made Allen's heart skip a beat or three every time.
"Hey, Al. I was just going to go hang at the marina for a while. You wanna come? Or are yah too busy being the magical madman of movie music?" The white haired man chuckled and shook his head.
"Sorry, Lavi, I really need to get this piece written... rain check?" Lavi made a pouty disappointed face and stepped fully into the room.
"Its cool. I know you're busy at weird times. Mind if I sit and watch though? I've always wanted to see the artist at work." In the year since Allen had settled in, he and Lavi may have become close friends, but Allen had never really let Lavi watch while he was composing. Lavi was a smart, witty and almost unfairly attractive man who for some reason or other found Allen absolutely fascinating. It was all Allen could to stop himself from melting into a puddle every time he flashed that smile, so having that intense green eye locked on him while he tried to focus would be nearly impossible.
"W-well, I suppose if you wanted to sure. I was just finishing up a piece for the new movie, 'Crowned Clown'; you know the one coming out in January? Have you heard of it?" It was a risk, but Lavi had asked for it, and Allen could hardly ever find it in himself to say no to the older man.
"Has anyone not heard of it?!" Lavi nearly squealed, "I've been wanting to see that since I saw the preview! It's going to be the best movie of the year!" Allen chuckled as Lavi hugged himself in excitement. Normally, Lavi was a pretty laid back guy but when it came to movies, especially ones that Allen was composing for, he was reduced to nothing more that a whimpering teenage girl.
"Well, I guess you get a musical preview then." Allen smiled, gesturing to a chair for Lavi to sit as he turned back to his sheet music. The music room was a converted living room, seeing as the house had two Allen kept the smaller one pretty much empty of everything except a couch, his piano, guitar, violin and various other small percussion instruments he often used. Sheet music coated the floor most of the time, except for the path he kept clear to piano, couch and the chair full of music textbooks he liked having around for reference. There was large section of wall that had been knocked out and replaced with a giant window, allowing the sun to bathe the room in its golden glow for most of the day. Several times during the course of any day he was composing, Allen would stop playing and look out the window, watching the trees of his wild garden sway, or the sunlight bounce off the calm waters of the lake. It was beautiful and calming and no matter how many times he looked at the view from his window he could find something new, interesting, and inspiring.
"You have no idea how happy that makes me, Allen! Can I have your babies? Please?" Allen laughed at the joking tone in Lavi's voice, shaking his head as he positioned his hands over the ivory and ebony keys.
"Sorry, Lavi. You have to be a woman to have someone's children." Lavi pouted and moved the heavy books to the ground beside the chair, sitting and leaning an elbow on the armrest with an excited sparkle in his emerald green eye.
"Fine, spoil my fun. Make up for it by working your magic then, Beethoven?" Allen chuckled, shaking his head with a smile as his fingers started to dance across the keys, playing the final edit of his work-in-progress piece. It was a beautiful song in Allen's mind, charged full of raw emotion. The scene in the movie he was writing it for was the reunion of two young lovers torn apart by an evil force in the middle of a war. Allen had tried to capture the longing and sorrow the two had gone through before the joy of reunion overrode the underlying hurt. His silver eyes slid shut as he played the song and Allen missed the wide eyed expression Lavi was giving him and the flush spreading across his sun-kissed cheeks.
Allen hit the last note and broke into a soft smile, completely content with the piece of art he had created with his own hand, forgetting the man sitting across the room from him. After creating something like that, Allen had to take it in slowly, savour the moment a bliss that came with finishing a piece. Allen was brought out of his daze at the sound of Lavi standing and blinked as the older man strode across the sunny room.
"Lavi?" The red haired man didn't answer as he stopped in front of the young composer and leaned down to cup his face tenderly. The older man looked so conflicted yet so determined it silenced any other words Allen might have wanted to say, stopped his breath and sped up the heart in his chest until Allen felt it knocking against his ribs.
"I'm sorry, Al, I've just wanted to do this for so long..." The shorter man's lips parted to ask what he was talking about, but Lavi swooped down, pressing their lips together in a kiss that blanked Allen's mind of everything except how right it felt to have Lavi's lips against his own. Surprise kept him from responding as Lavi kissed him so gently, as if trying to speak to him, to tell Allen that Lavi had those same thoughts late at night, that he felt exactly the same as he did. That he had been longing for someone within reach but so damn far away too. After what seemed like eons, Lavi pulled back panting, thinking he had been rejected because of Allen's lack of response.
"S-Sorry, I shouldn't have, I-I... I'll go. I'm sorry." Lavi stood and made to bolt but a hand caught him by the wrist. Lavi didn't look back as Allen stood slowly, and the white haired man was a little glad for that, needing a moment to turn his mind back on after such an incredible kiss.
"Lavi..." The tone of Allen's voice seemed to give Lavi a little bit of courage and he turned just a bit, looking as though he was expecting a punch to the face. Allen pulled on Lavi's wrist and leaned forward, capturing his lips, doing his best to send the same message back to Lavi, afraid but excited at the same time. Allen wasn't usually so bold in anything other than his music, and he was frightened he had been too forward. But after a moment of shock Lavi's arms came up around Allen and he deepened the kiss, sending the younger boy into pure bliss, knowing he had made the right choice.
They stood like that for a long time, arms wrapped around each other in the sunlit room over looking the garden Allen loved so much. When they parted all Allen could think of doing was to stare into Lavi's one, perfect eye and panting to catch his breath as Lavi stared back. The moment was perfect and golden, everything anyone imagined for the first kiss of what Allen prayed would be a long lasting relationship.
"Lavi... I-I really like you..." Allen managed to stutter out and Lavi broke into the brightest smile Allen had ever seen, lighting up the room more than the sunshine ever could.
"Well, perhaps we should go out to dinner together sometime... and maybe a movie after that, and we could drive into Peterborough half an hour away and go to the aquarium. Oh! Oh! And after that we could have a picnic together on the island~!" Allen smiled back at the older man and nodded, leaning up to kiss those tempting lips again.
"I'd like that, Lavi..."
----
END
AN: D: that took FOREVER!
Happy Laven week All! Please review!
