Disclaimer: Meads' characters, not mine.

"It's so beautiful Rose." Lissa said once again.

She and I were roaming my home together for the past half hour. We still had a few more rooms to go through, but we kept stopping to talk about what room would be used for what. Right now we were in a guest room, the men were busy hauling everything out of the trucks and bringing certain things to certain rooms. Because it was so difficult to help get things into the truck I decided maybe everyone was right about "supervising". So for the past half hour that's what Lissa and I have been doing, telling the men where we wanted everything.

"I still can't believe this is mine." The amazement still hadn't left my voice.

Lissa walked over to a window, looking out she gasped. "Rose. Oh my god, look at this."

Soon as I got to the window I understood why she gasped, because I had too. Not exactly for the same reason though.

The guest room window looked out to a beautiful garden, it was truly amazing. I should have loved it, I would have too, if it weren't that the large colorful garden sitting peacefully infront of me didn't look alittle too much like the garden in my dream. The dream I had woken up from when my house had burned down.

I backed slowly away from the window to the other side of the room, by the door. My memory flooded back to that night. My shirt sleeve on fire. The kitchen alight. Flames licking up the walls, the floors. The ceiling caving in. The doors blocked. No escape...

"Rose?" Lissas' voice brought some light with it.

I wasn't in that house. I looked at the walls and ceiling just to make sure. Nothing but a perfect white paint, the room empty aside Lissa and myself.

"...It's wonderful." My voice was quiet as tears sprang to my eyes.

Lissa looked at me strangely, she, of course, wouldn't know why such an amazing thing would upset me so terribly.

"Rose? What's wrong?" She looked between the garden and I, confusion written all over her face.

I took a deep calming breath and pushed the tears back, "It's nothing Liss. Let's go check out the rest of the house."

We finished looking at the rest of the house mostly in silence. Lissa asked me a few more times what the matter was, asked if I was okay, if I needed anything. I didn't want to talk about it though, it was all still too fresh in my mind.

Once we finished our tour of the house, we circled back to the living room where the men had started putting everything into the living room. I sat on a random chair that was sitting to the far side of the room, resting my pained legs. There had been so much walking today, I found myself glad to be have accepted Lissas' request to stay with them awhile longer. I'm not sure if I could exactly take care of myself all alone at the time being.

"Rose we're going to just leave this stuff in here for now, we can come back tomorrow and put them where you want them. It's getting pretty dark out, and we still have a forty-five minute drive ahead of us." Christian had came up to me. He looked at me, knelt down and lower his voice. "Are you alright? You look like hell."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah thanks. You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself."

He flashed me a smirk.

"I'm just tired is all, it's been a long day."

He nodded his head, "Alright Sweetheart, it'll only be another ten minutes or so and we can get you home and in bed. Why don't you just sit and relax for now? I'll let you know when we're done."

I smiled, "So what really happened to Christian Ozera and who are you?"

He scoffed and got up, "That's the last time I try to be nice to you."

I laughed, "Christian, I love you, but nice really just isn't our thing. But thank you."

He nodded, patted my hair back and walked away. Leaning my head back, I tried to block the imagines that appeared from behind my closed eyes. I listened as things continued to be shuffled around the room, besides a few grunts the house was fairly quiet.

I was just about to drift off to sleep when I heard something slam against the hardwood floor, a second later came Christians' voice spitting out a string of curse words. Cracking a smile, I peaked through my eyes to see Christian hopping away from the computer desk. I tried to keep my laugh quiet as I watched Lissa make a fuss to make sure he hadn't broken a toe or anything.

It didn't work so well, my laugh filled the room, Christian sent me a glare, followed by a "Shut up Rose."

"Not strong enough to move a little ole' desk are you?" I bite my lip, trying to quiet my laughter.

"I've moved this thing at least five times today, not counting anything else in this house, it gets pretty tiring." Christian huffed.

Lissa interjected, "So that's the last thing. Why don't we just leave it where it lay and get going? We can finish all this tomorrow, and I'll have Tanner and Eddie help us."

"I'm sure they'll be able to move the desk." I quiped.

Mason, who had been holding the other side of the desk when Christian dropped it, turned a light shade of red.

"I'm sure you're man enough Mason, it's Christian. He isn't."

Christian opened his mouth, but Lissa shot him a look and shut him up. He looked down and muttered something about, "Picking favorites." I grinned.

"Let's get you up Rose, come on." Mason said coming over.

He grabbed my hand and put an arm around my waist, my legs felt like jello as I stood up, Mason carried most of my weight to the car as we walked. I was just so tired, and felt so sore. He helped me to sit on the passager seat and I looked at him questioningly.

"Aren't you riding with us?" I asked him as Lissa got in the car.

"I'm going to ride with Dimitri. Don't worry, we'll be right behind you the whole time." I nodded.

"Are you coming back to the house with us, or will we be seeing you tomorrow?" Lissa asked, I was wondering the same thing.

He looked thoughtful, "I'm not sure if we'll be staying at your home again or not. We did last night because it was the first night Rose got out of the hospital, and we weren't sure what to really expect. I'll have to talk to Dimitri and and get his opinion."

I spoke up, "You really don't have to. You can always meet us up in the morning or something. I'm sure your families are missing you enough already."

Mason smiled as though he thought I was funny. "I live alone. I'm not sure about Belikov though, guy doesn't talk much and definitely not about himself."

I nodded, I wouldn't talk about my life either in his profession. What if someone tried to come after his family because they overheard him say something? It can be dangerous, and no one wants their loved ones hurt. I thought of all my loved ones, god knows I don't want them being hurt. Then I thought of the situation I'm in right now, and why Dimitri and Mason are in my life, and I found myself deflated and depressed. What if Lissa or Mia got hurt? Christian, Tanner or Eddie? What would I do if the arsonist went after them next?

I shivered. I didn't even want to think about what would happen, thankfully I didn't have to because Lissa pulled me out of my thoughts. "So you ready Rose?" She had a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah, let's get going. Can you help me?" I asked.

She leaned over and buckled me in. Once we were settled Lissa started driving, back through all the twists and turns we had come from only an hour ago. The area looked different now that it was dark out, the surrounding forest looked empty. The car windows were up and you couldn't hear any of the chippering of the forest night life. From the inside of the car the forest looked untouched, as though we were the only ones to have come this far in. The perfectly stoned dirt road, and the house sitting at the end of it though, proved otherwise.

Lissa and I sat in a comfortable silence for about ten minutes before she finally broke it.

"What do you think of it all?" Her voice was quiet, but thoughtful.

I spoke thoughtfully, matching her tone. "The house is amazing. But the location...I'm not sure what to think about it. The forest isn't really the problem, but this place is pretty out of the way. It kind of seems like it could be lonely, what with no neighbors and all. It's a good spot to be when I'm hiding for the sake of my life, but what about when this all ends? It will end eventually, and if it has a good outcome for me, what will I do so far away from everyone?" I sighed, maybe I shouln't have bought the house.

"The chances that this is the only house out this way is pretty unlikely. I'm sure there's other homes around here, their drives hiding, just as yours is. Being if the homes are occupied or not, I wouldn't know though. The distance though," She shook her head, "I'm not sure how I feel about it." She looked like she was going to say something else, but decided against it.

"What is it?"

She shook her head, "I don't want to worry either of us more then we need to be."

I gave a short bitter laugh, "I don't think that's possible. What else is there to worry about? If it's about the house I don't think it can be as bad as what's going on..." I trailed off, realizing what she was going to say.

My eyes went wide as I looked at her, I felt the color leave my face. "If something happens...If the aronist does find me...help wouldn't be able to get there in time." My mind was reeling at the information I had just found out. How hadn't I thought of this before?

I really shouldn't have bought that house.

Lissa sighed, "This is why I didn't want to say anything." She looked at me, a sad smile on her face, before turning back to the road and continuing. "I hadn't meant to upset you Rose. I really don't think it's possible for him to find you out here. If we didn't have our GPS we wouldn't even have found the house, and even if he had some how found your road, your drive way is so covered with bushes trees, he'd drive right past you."

Shaking my head, I nodded. "You're right. He can't find me, it's almost impossible." I wasn't completely convinced, but I knew what she was saying was true. It's pretty unlikely that he'd find my drive way, let alone my house. But if he did...I'd be dead for real this time.

"I'm sure Mason and Dimitri will figure something out. We'll talk with them when we stop at the rental place." Lissa said, trying to comfort me.

It helped a bit. I remembered how quick they were to act at the hospital, with all the camera crews bursting through the doors. Even the girl with the black hair, how protective they had become when she was at the elevator, and when we meet her outside. They knew how to do their job, and they did it well, there was no reason for me to doubt them. And Tasha knew that she couldn't let anyone see our documents, there's no reason to think she'd give away where I lived, no matter the person.

Lissa grabbed hold of my hand gently, keeping her eyes on the road. "Nothing will happen to you or anyone else. I'll make sure of it." Her voice was full of the confidence I wish I had.

With a smile, I squeezed her hand the best I could, feeling the burn that came with the pressure. "Thanks Lissa."

xXx

That night I laid in bed, looking out the window, completely bored to death. The alarm clock sitting a few feet away told me it was 11:30 pm, but I couldn't get myself to sleep. My body was still too sore to get up and do anything, but I felt wide awake.

When we had got to the UHaul truck rental, Mason had come over to the car and told us that he would be staying the night. They had made a schedule that allows them to switch every other night. Dimitri one night, Mason coming over in the morning, and switched the next night until I moved into my house. They wanted me away from the city-the people-and know the area around my house, before they leave me alone here or there. They had asked Lissa and Christian both if this was okay, but of course they were both more then willing to let them do whatever kind of schedule as long as it meant safety.

Mason stayed tonight, using the guest room next to mine. I was fairly certain everyone had retired to bed by now, worn out from the long day. I had been lying in this bed for three hours now, looking for my sleep. When Lissa had helped me to change, and everyone had come to say goodnight, I felt drained. My eye lids drooping, it felt like I couldn't keep them up any longer, but ten minutes later I was struggling to close my eyes.

Pictures of the garden filled my head. At first it was only the garden, it seemed innocent enough, though it still worried me with how closely that garden looked to the one in my dream. I knew that it wasn't something new for gardens to look near the same. Same size, same flowers, with a few different ones, or maybe different size, with the same flowers. But this garden. Every flower, as far as I could see, was the same. The size was the same, as was image of the trees surrounding my garden.

After awhile my mind started playing with itself, putting images of a shadow covered person into my garden. The shadow covered person standing outside a window of my old home, something alight in their hand. My old home aflame, the shadow person standing at a distance, waiting for my death.

It didn't take me long to be curled in a painful ball, squeezing my eyes shut. Trying to keep the imagines and tears away. I couldn't deny how scared I was, everyday and everywhere. I was scared of what I would find in each empty room of that house. Scared of what I would find when I'd turn a corner, and when I'd walk outside. I was scared of who was waiting for me. What was waiting for me. I was afraid to go to bed, scared to wake to another fire.

Last night I had past out, waking in the middle of the night to Dimitri. I wasn't alone, in a dark room and quiet house. I wasn't afraid because I knew I was safe with him. I trusted Mason to keep me safe, there was no lie to that, but he wasn't in here with me. I didn't want to wake him up so I had company, it would be way to pathetic. So I was alone with my thoughts tonight, and lately that's never a good thing.

I tried to relax my body and uncurl myself, it hurt laying the way I was, letting my skin strech so far. It hurt just as much to straighten myself out.

I've got to calm down, I told myself I wouldn't let this control my life. But that was alot easier said then done, this wasn't something that could be simply ignored, and it wouldn't let itself be either.

"Screw you." I spat quietly as the shadow person came to the front of my mind.

I slowly sat up and left the room on wobbly legs. My heart thudding in the dark as I made my way to the living room. I needed to distract my mind, I had to do something.

My legs felt like they were on fire by the time I made it to the chair and fell in. I whimpered at the shock of the cold plastic against my sensative skin as I got into a more comfortable position and booted up the computer infront of me. While waiting for it to load I grabbed the small throw blanket from the back of the chair and covered myself.

Once everything loaded I went into my mail, there wasn't much new. Only one email from a WickedObession, I couldn't remember anyone with that email. A red flag came up immediately, but I didn't run-or hobble-to Mason. I sat there, staring at the email titled "It's Me". That really does sound like it could be anyone, a friend or family member, hell even my publicist. But I didn't know the email address, maybe it was someone that had gotten a new one? It's not uncommon for anyone to do, and with the past week, it wouldn't be hard for someone to forget to tell me in person.

The email was dated for the day after the fire.

It could be someone with a new address. Or it could be...would they actually email me? And how would they get my email address? If they could get my email, then what else could they find out? I don't leave my personal information just laying around. It's not something I really just give up to anyone on the streets.

I wanted to open it, wheather it be someone I knew, or the aronist, I wanted to know what it held. So that's what I did, I clicked on the titled words and there sat a small message. Five words. Soon as I seen them though, I froze. My heart stopped, and I couldn't think for a moment.

"You won't live much longer."

The tab that showed the number of messages in my inbox flashed, another new message. I didn't move though, and it flashed again. Two new messages. Then three. Four. Five. Every three seconds another message would come up, it didn't stop as it reached ten. I couldn't move but I started screaming.

"Mason." My voice was too quiet, barely a whisper. "Mason...Mason!" My voice grew louder each time I said his name. Piercing the quiet the house held only moments ago. "Mason! MASON!"

The number just kept growing...

3,200 words before any added anything. Making progress? Don't think so, my UD'ing is still spaztic.

I've finally come to the part that I've been waiting to write for a long time. The end of this chapter is something close to what made me write this story. Not exactly though, and that part will come.

Tell me what you think.

Tif.

xo