Happy Christmas Eve Eve! (And Happy second-to-last day of Hanukkah, I forgot to mention. Happy Everything, since I don't know when my next update will be.) I've been working on this for quite awhile, hope you enjoy.

This chapter is dedicated to BlackCat46, musicrox15, PurpleDucks5, sinfullysarcastic and The Throne. To the chart:

Nina plays Alfie/Fabian plays Mara/Patricia plays Jerome/Amber plays Fabian/Mick plays Patricia/Mara plays Alfie/Jerome plays Amber/Alfie plays Nina

The announcement of dismissal fell on deaf ears as icy blue eyes broke their focus away from the desktop. Jerome's heavy-feeling feet carried him up to the front of the history classroom, which all the other students were clearing out of. Instinctively, his housemates lingered in the doorway. They were among the last ones out -waiting for him to join them- but he silently told them to proceed.

Jason had not been oblivious to his student's presence, but for whatever reason, he only acknowledged it once the others were gone. Jerome quietly cleared his throat. He hadn't talked all class long. Which was uncharacteristic either way. "I should've said this yesterday, but-"

"What's up?" Jason interrupted. His tone implied there was nothing to tell. As if he read Jerome's mind. Mentally shaking that off, the boy continued.

"I wanted to apologize about… what happened."

Jason didn't look surprised that he'd heard. (Almost as if he'd caught him eavesdropping.) However, he did seem upset. "Why?"

Jerome blinked. "Because it's my fault." Guilt dripped from every word.

Jason found himself laughing, as he packed up his belongings. He did so without looking down, so he could keep his glance set on his sorrowful student. "How is it your fault it took me so long to say what I was feeling? What everyone else had already figured out? That's on me."

It was obvious from Jerome's head shake and swallowed scoff that he disputed that argument. "You're the one that had it figured out," He was shot a look filled with curiosity as to how he arrived at that conclusion. "you knew what you said wasn't gonna matter to her. That's why you kept your mouth shut. But we had to push it, and I did the most damage."

"History isn't the easiest of subjects for everyone to grasp." Jason said, as if they were talking about something else entirely. The switch of subjects was so sudden Jerome seemed to be suffering from whiplash. His teacher's tone of voice fit friendly chatter, not a serious conversation. "For some it's just not their thing. They get by on memorization, educated guesses and sometimes… some very creatively thrown together explanations. But I have to say, that's the most inaccurate thing I've ever heard one of my students say."

Jerome knew his teacher was trying to get him to take his apology back, but the only way he could think to respond was: "Knowing us, I'm not sure I believe that."

Jason could see what he meant, given the history of the Anubis house residents, but he couldn't let himself get off track. "I kept my mouth shut because I was a coward. Of course honesty matters. It's no one's fault that she doesn't feel that way about me."

Jerome still wasn't convinced. " What makes you so sure she doesn't?"

"I'm taking her word for it. Sometimes the people you fall for are the ones you're not expecting. They can be in your life for awhile and you don't even consider them. Until one day something changes. Days like that we see that change is good." Jason could see that his student was taking what he'd learned to heart, but he didn't realize just how much his words resonated.

"Do you think you'll be that lucky?" Jerome's thoughts hadn't translated well. What he meant to ask was: "Do you think I'll be that lucky?"

The man shrugged. "If you're gonna call it luck, maybe I already am. For me, it's getting increasingly easier to trust in love. I see it everywhere." He didn't have to take any time to come up with an example. "You and your housemates…" Jason trailed because he knew he'd get cut off.

"It's not like we're all gonna pair off. It's not like we can." There were nine of them, and Jerome had seen plenty of times that a crush was not a guarantee. That feeling lived up to its name more often than not. Only those with mutual feelings seemed lucky.

"No matter how sappy you feel admitting it, you all love each other."

"Yeah." Jerome agreed. It was much easier to do that thanks to the project. He wasn't sure of that before.

"Be thankful for that." Jason told him. (He took that as: 'Show your appreciation for that'. Doing so was already in the works, and as he saw it it was up to him to make that an ongoing trend.) "And stop feeling sorry for me. I don't. Not anymore."

After a pause, Jerome spoke a thought. "Maybe it's just practice." His teacher looked to him for explanation. "I still feel like I owe a lot of apologies." For the first time in their conversation, Jason was at a loss for words. He could hear the pain in his student's voice. Like there were things he didn't know how to make up for. The man had no advice to offer on that, and could only hope Jerome's housemates did. Especially if there was less to make up for than he felt responsible for.

"Then you've figured it out." Jason concluded finally. Fully aware that words like that were an extreme rarity prior to the project. For most, it was just an assignment. For the kids of Anubis? "It's a learning experience."

The schoolday sped by, and the weather was too beautiful to be ignored. The second students were dismissed, they were making plans to do things together outside. Some of the adults, however, had no one to plan with. Jason didn't mind this, but he spotted someone who looked like she did. Someone who, as far as he was concerned, had sworn off talking to him.

He tried to walk past Esther like he didn't notice she was there. Her words slowed his pace, though she wasn't speaking to him. She was mid-conversation, tapping the back of her phone to try and calm her nerves . "We'll have to postpone dinner." After a pause, she said: "I know you already made a reservation. Sorry for the inconvenience." He expected that sentence to have a bit more bite, since odds were Esther was being addressed as if she was the inconvenience. "Believe me, Stan has a good reason." This sounded like making excuses, but Jason blamed that on jealousy creeping up on him again. He scolded himself, since he knew this was none of his business anyway. Considering she gave no specific reason for why she was canceling plans, he knew it wasn't the caller's business either.

Jason mentally flinched when Esther turned and saw him, but she spoke as if no one was there. Giving the vaguest of answers, with the least amount of emotion in her voice. "He had to take care of something."

Before the project, Alfie would sometimes spend nice afternoons at the skatepark, no matter how much Jerome would insist he had no skill. It was up to Mara to fill that role now, but her lack of athleticism was preventing her from keeping up the act. Despite this, she refused to give up. Thinking back to what Amber did when she learned to play guitar. If she was an expert from the start, it wouldn't be called learning.

Her self-teaching was interrupted when she heard four of the others calling Alfie over to their huddle. Alfie-Nina was their leader, and he whispered to Amber, Jerome and Mick. The others took notice, because they'd been up to those same shenanigans for most of the day. There was no mystery to discuss, but pretending there was seemed fit. Plus, it earned them points and it was fun for them. Even though Mick and Mara still felt out of the loop.

When their little inside joke was over, Mara went back to trying to teach herself to skateboard. She fell as if it was an art form, and got back up with a smile on her face each time. Jerome and Mara rejoined the others, but Alfie and Amber stayed behind. They still whispered, though no one could guess what about.

While the kids were at the skatepark, Victor was being treated to samples of different dishes Trudy planned to serve Monday night. In all his years working at the school, he couldn't remember acting as a taste tester before. Nothing he tried was bad or bland. It all was full of flavor, but he wasn't known for giving rave reviews. While it was a nice treat -and a bit of a break from his usual duties- he wondered why there was a need to prepare so much food. So he asked.

"What's the occasion? I know I'll be happy when this project is finally over with, but do you really think they need all this in order to celebrate? It seems to me that they find an excuse to party every other week."

Trudy giggled. "Oh, but it's not just for them. Alfie's parents phoned. They want to come back to see the documentary Joy will be putting together."

"Do they really?" His chuckle hid a scoff. "They're not still angry about what went on the last time they were here?"

"The food fight?" The house mother insisted: "I'm sure they're over it by now."

"That's not what I meant." Victor clarified, putting his fork down.

Trudy fought off a frown. "If they were still upset, I don't think they'd be coming back just yet. When I heard the news, I thought they wouldn't be the only parents here to see the finished product. Helps to be prepared."

Victor didn't sound anywhere near as ecstatic as she looked. "Exactly how many are you expecting?"

In answer, Trudy could only shrug and smile.

The adults were alerted to the residents' return by familiar sounds. Though this time, those sounds were clearly coming from Mara. She was staying in character, and it showed because Trudy couldn't help asking: "Do you hear Alfie protesting?"

She rushed to the front door to find Mara being carried through it by the boys of the house. They each had to hold a limb because she was flailing so much. "I can walk," Mara insisted. "put me down."

"Well, you certainly can kick," Fabian said, having narrowly avoided being caught in the eye by her flailing foot. "But we don't want to risk you breaking your neck. You came pretty close to doing that back at the skatepark."

Before she could argue, Alfie said: "You deserve a break. Now, if you'd just calm down-"

"I was calm until you guys decided to carry me home!" She clearly sounded aggravated when she told the boys this

"Well, we wouldn't have decided to carry you home if you weren't bleeding." Jerome pointed out. He was annoyed by her behavior, but his worry outweighed that.

By this point, Trudy was already fetching first aid supplies. She was used to that sort of routine.

When Alfie first started skateboarding, he came home from the skatepark with fresh injuries each time . And each time the damage lessened, but -as she had explained to Victor- it never hurt to be prepared.

The housemates stuck around each other even though they all had their own work to do. Nina exercised, confused when Jerome randomly started counting her sets for her. In French. Others smiled faintly at a memory, but she was too into her workout to notice.

Alfie had just finished printing an assignment not due for weeks, and walked in with the stack of paper in his hands. Some got nervous just looking at how thick it was, but Amber simply handed him her stapler with a smile. This jogged his memory on something, and he asked Joy if she would be counting the twenty-seven page love note his girlfriend penned as part of the project grade.

"Not sure."

"Why not?" Alfie wondered aloud.

"She didn't really stick to being Fabian throughout." Joy explained. "There's a lot of her in there."

Alfie smiled, realizing he would have to take a closer look at what Amber had written.

"Please, no skateboarding in the house, Alfie." The kids heard Trudy warn. She saw Mara's pouty face, which only prompted her to say: "You've done enough damage to yourself already. No need to make the house suffer, too."

Mara laughed. "You say that like the house has feelings, Trudes."

"It does." Alfie said matter-of-factly, before anyone else could respond. He was answered with a few murmurs of agreement and some strange looks. Nina smiled knowingly in reply, never missing a beat with her workout.

"Are you alright?" Fabian asked Patricia in a whisper, seeing as she was the only one sitting around doing nothing. (Even Mick was busy, retouching the black polish on his nails.)

"Why wouldn't I be?" Patricia asked. Innocently, not irritatedly. She followed Fabian's eyes, which had moved from whatever he was taking notes on to the others. Most of which were 'paired off' as Jerome had put it. (And he would be, too, if he and Nina weren't in character.)

"You don't notice when you're busy," His distant tone told her he was speaking from experience. "especially if you like having time to yourself. When things slow down… you feel it."

Patricia crossed her arms, clearly not on board with this theory Fabian had about her. "You wanna know what I feel? I'm over it."

He suddenly was unsure if she was in character or not. She wasn't the only one who'd been burned by chances at love not taken.

Though that wasn't really what she meant. "I used to think I was wasting time, wasting energy, wasting breath on people who didn't care about me." Her tone was quiet, but a certain someone's ears had grown accustomed to zeroing in on her voice. "They do care. They…" Patricia trailed off for a second, but decided to finish her thought. "They both care."

A curbed gasp was reaction to a single drop of nail polish spilling onto fabric. Lucky for Mick, Trudy caught this and not Victor. She was already making her way over with a paper towel and a bottle of acetone before Mick got to his feet. In his panic, he missed part of the conversation.

"We all care about you." Fabian told Patricia, making her smile slightly. "I just… I hope getting over heartbreak doesn't mean giving up on love." In answer, she gave him a curious look. To his disappointment -and to his roommate's relief- she didn't ask for elaboration.

While Mick waited for his nails to dry, Fabian continued scribbling party plans. He figured he and Mara were the only two who would bother to map out how to have fun. And he wasn't expecting anyone to interrupt his plans for making plans.

"Please tell me those are song lyrics you're writing." Amber said as she walked up to him, audibly excited by that possibility.

"Sorry to disappoint." Fabian said, mumbling rather than stuttering. The tone wasn't really directed at her, but the girl it was meant for had left his side awhile ago.

"You can make it up to me by taking a break from… whatever it is you're doing, so we can work on the song again. " Amber flew through that sentence, but he caught every word.

Fabian's book closed with a clap, and for a second she thought he was angry at her. Even when he said "Sure." in agreement.

"Did you just agree to stop working to do something fun?"

"I'm worried if I don't," Fabian began, as he held up his notebook. "this might not ever stop. And that would be pretty sad, considering what it's for."

The kids found various ways to fill their time, but for the most part they stayed together. Except Mick. He went back to school in search of something he left behind.

He was shocked to see the door to his secret room was already open when he got there.

Even more so when he got down the stairs. (He didn't need a flashlight for navigation since the lamp was on.) Someone was standing at the bottom. He kept his distance, like he didn't want to disturb anything, and said: "Sorry for intruding." Then, more to himself, he added: "I can't believe I'd forgotten about this place."

"You knew it was here, Mr. Sweet?" Mick was curious, but at this point he mostly wondered why he hadn't gotten in trouble yet.

His headmaster nodded. "We discovered it when I was a student here."

Mick didn't question who 'we' meant. Instead, he apologized. Not with the words he thought he'd use, either. "Sorry I stole your spot."

"Don't be." Eric insisted. "You made something of it." He said this with a prideful smile. "Gave it life again."

"It was kind of a fair trade." Mick admitted, without even realizing it at first. The secret room and the project both did a good job of helping him brush himself off. "It helps." Mick went on. "I haven't needed much help lately, but when I do… this is a good place to be."

Eric was glad to hear that. "Nice to know it's being put to use again."

Mick blinked, realizing something. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

His headmaster heard the double meaning behind that question. He answered it with: "I should say not."

Joy was the only one not in the dining room when Mick got back to the house. She was sitting on the stairs, awaiting his arrival. "You're just in time. Are you sure your superpower isn't sensing when the food's ready?"

He chuckled. "I wish." She got up, and took a few steps before Mick started talking again. "It was a really good idea."

"What was?" Joy asked, a little lost on what he meant.

"The project." Mick clarified. "I just wasn't sure if anyone told you that."

She thought about it. Many had mentioned how great the project was. She had gotten a few personal thank yous here and there. She laughed when she thought about it more. "I didn't expect anyone to thank me. You hated me when you found out you had to do this."

It took Mick a heart-stopping second to realize Joy meant 'you' in the general sense. He felt he had to correct her on that. "We hated having to face what we didn't know," Mick thought over how much the housemates had discovered about each other. And themselves. "and having to admit we didn't know it." The fact that there were still many discoveries to be made showed this project wasn't just about expanding their acting chops.

The housemates were meeting people they'd known for years.

"That's all changed now." Joy said. Then, jokingly, she added: "I'm your best friend, remember?"

The look he gave was one of agreement. She watched as his eyes traveled to the others at the table they had yet to sit down to join. "You're a best friend to all of us." After her told her this, he walked on.

Joy just stood there for a second, baffled. Then she smiled brightly and went to take her seat.

After dinner, Alfie and Nina were handling chores. They washed and dried dishes -using an assembly line technique that just happened automatically- without so much as a word. They were content in their silence, until it was shattered by a broken dish.

They both jumped back a bit, startled. No one else seemed to hear the noise. "Alfie," Nina said. The only edge in voice was brought on by concern. She'd seen the absent look in his eye just before he dropped the plate, but hadn't had a chance to ask about it. "what's wrong?"

Rather than a reply, he offered an apology and began cleaning up his mess.

The plate was broken in two, and she took the bigger half from him, still trying to get an answer. "Alfie, what is it?"

"I just realized something." He said this as more of a spoken thought than an explanation. Cleanup was done quickly, but Nina was still in the dark about what caused the mess. She watched as Alfie leaned against the sink and sighed.

She assured him: "Whatever it is, you can tell me. You can tell all of us."

"I don't know if it'll make any difference." Alfie admitted sadly.

She joined him where he stood. "It won't make any difference if you keep it to yourself." The look he gave her then seemed to say he felt like deliberately breaking something else. I t wasn't directed at her, though. He was angry over what he'd just figured out.

"Maybe we need an excuse. Maybe we can't be friends unless we're forced into it."

"That's ridiculous." Nina immediately dismissed, though she couldn't laugh it off.

"Not if you really think about it." Alfie argued.

"I have thought about it. No one forced me and Amber or Fabian and Mick or Joy and Patricia or... you and Jerome to be friends."

"What about everyone else? What about how every example you just gave happened because of the room situation? What about how-" He lowered his voice, even though they were alone. "with Sibuna, we were only a team because no one could do that on their own?" He ignored the incredulous look on her face and kept talking. "We're lucky we have that. For everyone who didn't talk before, it took two weeks of playing pretend to actually get real with each other." He had a point. He went from barely standing to sitting on the floor in a slump when he said: "And that's about to be gone."

She joined him in sitting, so he would be at eye level. "The project will be over soon, but that doesn't mean w-"

"How do you know it's not just gonna go back to the way it was before?" He couldn't help but interrupt. He was looking to her for an honest answer.

She thought about it for herself, and almost laughed. "I used to be able to count the number of friends I had on one hand." She saw the corner of his mouth tilt upward just slightly. "I was never the same after being here. I was never the same after Sibuna. I'm a part of something. And I don't think that's going away." Alfie still didn't look completely convinced. "This was just a push." Like the board arrangement. Like Sibuna. "We needed it so we could connect more. Now we don't."

Silence fell again as Alfie thought it over. He arrived at one conclusion. "Joy's a genius."

"Yeah," Nina agreed, her smile sparked by his. "Somebody oughta tell her."

While the kids were wishing the hours of the night would stretch on, Esther was hoping that sleep would bring them to an end. In the morning, her fiancé would be back. Then she could complain to him about how tough it was to get shut-eye when he wasn't around. It hadn't always been that way, but now she knew what she was missing.

She seemed to be missing more than just his company. It should've been easy to sleep, knowing he'd be back soon. But some unconscious thought kept her eyes open. She sat on her bed, flipping through channels. This time of night, only some rather random movies were on.

Each one she came across was some type of historical drama. Realizing this, she knew what kept her up.

It was stupid, since she had Stan to wait up for. He was the man she knew. He was the man she fell in love with. And she wasn't about to let the warnings of a few students change her mind about that.

They didn't know the whole story. Jason didn't know the whole story. Despite this, they all tried to change it. And this angered her. Because it almost worked.

Esther shut off the TV, lied down and brought her hands to her face. She sighed into them. Nothing was really on her mind. She knew when Stan would be back, and she was happy about that. She really was. She felt like the girls from Anubis. Some of which had no doubt fallen into the same trap she was in. The truth hurt when it hit her.

Guiltily, she admitted to herself: Even when he's out of my head, he's not out of my heart.

"We were just getting to the best part." Amber whined once Victor shooed her away from the foot of Fabian's bed. With a sigh, the boy closed his song book.

"Thanks for the help." Fabian said as she left. It was strange to hear. She was the one who pulled him away from his work.

"You're the one that helped me."

He shrugged. "Seems like a fair trade."

On the topic of trades, the bedspreads had all been switched back. Everyone would be sleeping in their own beds that night.

They remembered what it was like taking trips and missing their own beds, even if it was just for a day. Now, there was so much they didn't want to put to rest. Switching lives proved that no one really had it any easier. This wasn't a competition. This was a chance to bond.

When Amber got back to her room, she saw that Nina was already asleep. As reluctant as everyone was to go to bed, they were actually tired. Amber had only taken off her shoes when she heard a knock at the door. (And Victor yelling out the door of his office that he'd already dropped his pin, and time was wasting.)

"I'll be quick." Alfie insisted. Then he turned to Amber, who had just opened the door for him, and told her: "I just came to say goodnight."

"Oh," she said, smiling. "Goodnight." She expected that to be it.

Not for him to close the door behind him and move her gently so she was leaning up against it. She was too busy holding the hands that guided her there to notice. She caught on to what was going on when he leaned in. They both shut their eyes. He cupped her face and felt the smile that graced it as their lips touched. The kiss was quick as he'd promised it would be, but by no means a 'flatline'. When they broke apart, his eyes opened to see her blush. She moved out of the way of the door, and he left without another word.

Once he left, Amber closed the door again, giggling to herself. Now she had no doubt she would sleep soundly.

Not everyone planned on sleeping, though. Joy had her headphones on, and was editing. So she couldn't hear Mara call to her.

She looked to Patricia for help getting Joy's attention, only to find that Patricia was sleeping. She almost laughed, wondering how that happened so fast. Not knowing what a common occurrence it was that night. She walked over and tapped the spacebar on Joy's laptop, pausing whatever she was working on.

Joy took the headphones off her ears and had them resting around her neck. "Yeah?" She didn't sound bothered, but she wasn't giving Mara her full attention.

"It's lights out." Mara answered, gesturing to the laptop. The only thing giving off light. Mara didn't sound angry, she just wanted Joy to get some rest.

"You reckon by the morning this'll have edited itself into a story? At this point it looks like a bunch of nothing."

Even though Joy was criticizing herself, Mara had to laugh. "It can't be nothing. I've learned a lot because of this project. Thank you for that."

A smile spread across Joy's face. "Mara, you're a genius!"

She wasn't sure if she'd been called that before. Know-it-all, maybe. Though she wasn't fond of that. "Well, I-"

"Hope you don't mind," Joy interrupted, as she put her things away. "You just made more work for yourself."

"What does that mean?" Mara asked, looking lost. (Although she was happy they could both get some sleep.)

"I'll tell you in the morning."

Patricia woke to the sensation of being shaken. A glare set in her closed eyes and she groaned. After a moment, her eyes slowly opened, traveling down to the spot on her arm where cold hands were still planted.

Hands she immediately recognized, due to black nail polish.

Mick's eyes met hers. They looked sorrowful rather than scared. In a whisper, he explained: "I have to tell you something."

She figured that. What she didn't understand was why it was so important it couldn't wait for daylight. "Now?" Patricia asked, annoyed.

"Now's better than later."

Her eyes moved from him to the clock just as it hit 3:00 on the dot. "Remember the conversation we had coming back from the zoo? Where we said we weren't morning people? I was serious. I thought you were, too." Her voice was still low, and the annoyance she felt was buried under how sleepy she sounded.

"Technically, it's not morning yet. The way I see it, morning comes with the sun. And it's not like we haven't done this before." Mick pointed out, thinking back to the night none of the housemates slept.

She looked at him again, stifling a yawn. That was when… none of us could sleep. I was doing quite good until I was rudely interrupted."

"I'm sorry." There was something funny about the way he said that, but not in a sense that made her want to laugh. It was as if he had more to apologize to her for besides waking up. "I sort of made you a promise." Mick went on, validating her theory.

"You wrote up the list?" Patricia guessed. She didn't sound particularly excited, but she got up.

"Okay, two promises." Mick corrected himself. In the dark, he couldn't really see her cross her arms. He heard her, though, and knew that action was her way of asking for elaboration. Before he could explain, she found a flashlight, opened the door and started down the stairs.

He looked after her, baffled and silently laughing. Then he followed. " The first night was one thing. Should we really be sneakin' around like this?" The words almost rolled into one, but she understood his question perfectly.

That was her turn to laugh. "Trust me. I'm an expert."

"I don't doubt it." Mick mumbled, as the reached the bottom step.

She glared at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Not really sure." Mick admitted. "Never heard the stories."

For a second her eyes were aimed at the ground. Then, she told him: "They're not all good stories." Most of Sibuna's adventures were actually terrifying when she thought back. Sometimes the memories remained even if she tried not to think about them.

"That's okay." He backed up his assurance by holding up his poetry book. "There's some bad parts in here, too." The two fell silent for the time it took them to find a seat. He'd only just pulled back the cover when he asked: "Do you want to read it yourself?"

"Would you read it to me?" Patricia asked. This wasn't a hope, she was actually surprised he gave her an option.

"Sure," Mick said "but you might not like it either way."

"It's your first poem." Patricia reasoned. "I write nearly every day and I'm not satisfied with everything." She yawned before she continued. "Maybe five out of a hundred, if I'm lucky."

He yawned back. "That's not what I mean." That sorrowful look had crept back into his eye.

"What do you mean?"

"When you read, it'll make sense."

She countered: "Maybe not. Sometimes it only makes sense to the poet. That's why I wasn't afraid to show you most of my stuff."

"I thought it was 'cause you trusted me."

"I do trust you." Patricia assured. "Now."

"Oh, but you didn't then?" Mick asked, obviously insulted.

She gave him a look. "No, you were a heartbreaker." Her tone got more gentle. (Surprising, especially at this time of night.) "And I thought… a heartbreaker who's alone just looks for more hearts to break."

He closed the book, a frown forming on his face. "That's not what I aim for, ya know. That's not what I wanna be."

She shook her head. "That's not what you are. I know that now." She opened her mouth again, but said nothing. A false start that had him concerned. "I was hurting." He knew that, but to hear it was even worse. "And I didn't want anyone to see it. But they did. And you… felt it. I didn't think you cared." He couldn't say he blamed her for thinking that way.

What she said next upset him. "I wanted you to miss out. I wanted you to lose." The word 'lose' was buried under breath. 'I kept wishing for it." Mick didn't understand. He wasn't sure how the conversation took such a turn. Or why Patricia seemed so angry with herself. It all became clear when she finished her thought. "So…" She looked him directly in the eye as she continued: "maybe you shouldn't trust me." She got up, ready to climb the stairs again.

His voice held her back. "It doesn't matter what you thought then. We were both wrong. We were all wrong." Mick quickly rephrased.

There was a difference, and Patricia voiced that. "I still am. It's hard for me to think about what you don't get to have, with all that I see handed to you. But it's no excuse." She turned away from him, and resumed walking.

He stood up. "Patricia, you can't go back to sleep like this." The worry he felt made him raise his voice a little. It was far from his regular outbursts, and she didn't even flinch.

She scoffed. "I won't sleep now." She turned her head to look at him one last time, before walking on. Her voice was back at a whisper. "I'll see you at breakfast."

Mick knew the words he felt racing up his throat were selfish. He thought they'd bring confusion rather than comfort, but he couldn't hold them back.

"See you there, Emerald Eyes…"

Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! Let me know what some of your favorite lessons characters learned about themselves and each other during the project were. That'll be a big help. Also, if there are any spelling/grammar/phrasing errors please let me know.

I update my profile at least weekly now, so check back if you're wondering how writing's going. Feel free to 'drop me a line on my tumblr, vibrant-falkon. I'll update ASAP! =]