"You remember when that one family tried to take you home with them?" Angel laughed, leaning against the headboard. "The one with four girls in Bucharest? The mom really wanted you to come home with them for some reason."

"How could I forget?" Judy sat up on her side, resting her head on her palm. "And you leapt out of the bushes, scooped me up and took off, scaring the hell out of all of them. The looks on their faces were priceless!"

The two of them fell over laughing, clutching their sides in mirth. Angel stood up and walked over to the fridge to retrieve a water bottle and a bag of blood. He tossed her the water and tore the top of the blood to lie on his back on the bed to drink. Judy twisted open the top with her casted hand with ease.

"Your arm is healing rather nicely. It's been only three days since you broke it and you can move it. That's rather nice."

"I'd say. Being a vamp/homo-sapien hybrid does have its perks. Accelerated healing is one of them that I enjoy very much. One day more and I can take off the cast and take off in general so you can go back to your life."

Angel blanched, swallowing another mouthful of blood. "Why do you want to leave so badly, Jude? Don't you like staying here with me?"

"I do like being here. I like your soul self and your cooking even better than that. I just don't think that having an un-aging teenager in your house is a wise idea. What do you want me to say? We can't exactly play house like this forever, no matter how much I like living with you." Judy admitted slowly, for the first time ever, actually afraid of hurting his feelings.

He sighed and flopped on his back, lacing his fingers behind his head to rest on his open palms.

"Jude, I love you. Please stay here."

This threw Judy for a loop. Did Angel, formerly known as Angelus the scourge of Europe and the most feared man in history just say what she thought she had just heard come from his mouth?

"What?"

He rolled over and sat up on his elbows. "You heard me. I love you, Judy. I'd like for you to stay here. I can find another bed to put in here, I'll buy you some food, how does that sound?"

It took a moment for it all to sink in. Angel wanted her to stay with him? She couldn't figure out why she felt happy at this opportunity. So she did what she did best and shrugged nonchalantly to pretend she didn't care.

"Okay, I guess."

Angel's face did a double take as he asked in clarification, "I tell you I love you and I want to come live with me and all you say is okay, I guess?" He wasn't angry at her but severely confused at her lack of a reaction.

"Um… well, I like being here when you have a soul and not trying to hurt me. I also really like the idea of not having Lorney in my room trying to sing me to sleep every night or waking up at 4:30 in the morning to him singing Here comes the sun by the Beatles in the shower because he wasn't raised to sleep-in in Pylea. So it's okay, I guess."

An awkward moment passed between the two of them. Angel flopped back down on his back to rest his head on his laced fingers. Judy closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep before he spoke again.

No such luck. In fact, he made it worse.

"Do you ever think about them?"

"Who?"

"Your sisters. Do you ever think about them?"

Judy suddenly felt that stab of fear in the pit of her stomach. She scooted down and rolled over to have her back to him, her arms crossed over her chest under the comforter. His hand rested on her shoulder, attempting to pull her back but she shook him away.

"Don't, Angel."

"Don't what? It was a simple yes or no question. Do you ever think about them?"

She scowled and replied. "I don't want to talk about it."

"It seems to me you've never talked about it, not in the 157 years since I left you. I know I'm not the right person for this considering whenever life gets tough, I just hone my brooding skills. You should still try and talk about it."

She threw him the dirtiest look she could muster.

"I can't think about them. I won't. My sisters would have died any way, maybe only a few months later than they did but they would have." She growled, sitting up. Angel couldn't help but smile a little at her outburst.

"You think so?"

She suddenly felt doubly frustrated at his lack of reaction.

"I know so! Gerty was a crier, she would have bawled for days on end and would have not tolerated going without food for days like you made me do. You would have taken her out in months. Julie was a whiner, if things weren't her way she had to make life hell for everyone particularly our father. You would have killed her within days!" Judy cried.

A silence passed again, Angel smiling and Judy's chest feeling like it had been torn open. He rest his arm around her shoulders in an act of affection. She felt tears prick in the back of her eyes as he then said:

"Doesn't that feel better?"

She jerked away, her face ruddy with tears now.

"No it feels worse! I said for you to take me because I knew that I could do best. It wasn't to save my sisters from being tortured or starved! It was because I knew I didn't want to die yet and they would die sooner or later anyway. I knew I could save myself by learning to survive. I promised myself the first time I went a week without anything to eat that I wouldn't die. That they had it easy because I knew I was the smartest out of the three of us."

That's right. Angel just seems to get a kick out of re-hashing all her feeling. Hopefully it'll work out! Read and review! The more reviews, the faster the chapters!