"Go away you've been here for twenty four hours already. Aren't you bored yet?" Alexandra was in the kitchen making herself some dinner while Zelman sat casually on the counter. He had been here since the night before and hadn't left. Waking up next to Zelman wasn't one of her favorite things but knowing that he hadn't just left her made her feel pretty good, but she was starting to think that would have been a better if he had left.

She woke up over heating and unable to move. He had her in a vice grip and showed no signs of letting her go. After some strategic wiggling and a light elbow to the gut she had managed to free herself and make it to the bathroom to take a much needed shower.

"I've been asleep for most of the time." She sent him a look.

"No, you slept this morning. You were awake the entire time I was asleep and I still don't believe you didn't do anything to me." She let out a sharp gasp as he slipped his arms around her waste, hands open and roaming over the flat plain of her stomach and creeping closer and closer to more sensual areas.

"Trust me, you wouldn't be able to sleep through the things I would do to you." She felt a huge blush creep shamelessly across her face. She hated it when he did this.

"C'mon you just fed last night aren't you satisfied?" She heard him chuckle.

"I'm never satisfied." She felt a chill run down her spine at his words before lightly elbowing to get him off.

"Listen I need to go grocery shopping and get some paint while I'm at it. I haven't had a chance to start decorating the house but now I have the time. I know you don't want to help with the decorating so do whatever you want, kay?" She took her reheated pasta out of the the microwave and went to go sit at the table. Zelman sat across from her, watching her mindlessly munch on the food.

"I'll help." Alexandra whipped her head up and gave him an incredulous look, pasta noodle dangling out of her mouth. He couldn't help but let out a light laugh. She was just too cute right now not to. She slurped up the noodles and wiped her face, before facing him again.

"Help with what? The decorating? I thought you didn't want to?" She was confused for a couple of reasons. First, he already explained his lack of interest in the subject. Second, he never wanted to help her, especially now that she had moved out. Besides, since when has the notorious Zelman Clock willing to work?

Zelman, though couldn't help but feel a little offended that she had so little faith in him. He had taken her in, hadn't he? He had done a lot of things for her so why would this be any different? Well he had sort of said that he wasn't willing to help, but since when did he stick to his guns? He'd do anything to get what he wanted, and at the time he was trying to make her rethink moving out. In hindsight, that may not have been the best way to do it but surely she could over look that, right?

...

Apparently not. She not only kicked him out but asked him nicely not to interfere with anything she was doing. She was so against him helping her with anything that it almost bothered him. He never really helped her before, but she never really wanted it. Maybe that was his fault. He never was the most supportive person and he always made it seem like if she wanted to do something nothing was stopping her from doing it herself. Not to mention that her "parents" weren't very involved in her life either, unless it was to make her feel inferior.

He didn't like thinking about her parents. The more he thought of how uncaring they must have been the more he wants to pull them from the grave and punch them. Of course, that always made him think of how uncaring he probably was to her too, which made him want to punch them even more. After all, he could never be angry at himself. He was perfect.

Or... was he?

Alexandra was roaming the halls of the store. She had already gotten what she needed from the grocery store and was now looking for paints for her house. She was staring so intensely at the bright orange in her hand that she hadn't noticed a presence sneak up behind her.

"Boo."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She definitely wasn't expecting someone she knew to be here and she wasn't happy they snuck up on her. She twisted around and looked at someone she definitely hadn't expected to see, Rinsuke.

"Rinsuke!" She dropped her bag and gave him a huge hug. He wrapped his arms around her and let go with a big smile. He had known her since she was a kid and was the first person here that ever talked to her with some civility. Everyone hated her because she came with Zelman, but after Rinsuke started treating her like a friend so did everyone else. She was very grateful for him because of that.

"How are you darling?"

"I'm pretty good I moved out of Zelman's and into my own apartment. I'm starting the remodel so that's what I'm doing here. I need to pick a color for my living room but I can't decide..." She turned back around and faced the colors she was torn between, still debating in her head what it was she really wanted. She couldn't tell if she wanted warm colors or cool colors and whether or not she wanted it to be bright or a bit dulled down. She showed her different ideas and Rinsuke added his opinions to help the process.

"I think you're room she be as bright and colorful as you want it to be but places like the living room should give off a warm, welcoming vibe." She nodded her head at the bit of advice.

"So the living room should probably be light and soft colors, but wouldn't that be kind of boring?" He shook his head as if she should know this already.

"No, of course not. This is where your artistic flair comes in. You can't paint soft and subtle designs and it gives the room a more interesting feeling without being too loud and distracting."

Their conversation went on like that for another hour and half, ending with Alexandra buying two cans of paint and them agreeing to eventually get together for coffee before her training starts up again. She made her way back to the apartment, humming a tune quietly as she walked. She didn't get a whole lot of chances to just go out for walks and she was enjoying this moment. The sun was setting and it painted the town different shades of red, orange and yellow. She enjoyed moments like this, when she could see the sun as it descended beneath the horizon.

It was for that reason that she stopped in the park and made her way to the tallest tree. She set the cans down at the base of the trunk and backed up. The lowest branch was a little bit higher than what she could jump but she could make it if she pushed off the trunk, which is exactly what she did. From there it was pretty easy. There were a lot of branches to grab onto and it made it easy to get pretty high.

She made it to one stable branch that gave her a great view of the sun setting over the water. She liked being up high. It allowed her to see everything. It was a trait she had developed as a kid. Zelman never knew it but sometimes she would climb the trees in the backyard of the old house. He never paid too much attention to her during that time, and she almost didn't want him to. She still saw him as scary but as time went on she got more comfortable around him.

As she sat there she thought about Zelman. He had occupied her thoughts a lot lately. When she was a kid she never truly understood him, and even now she still couldn't, but back then he at least understood her. Now she was growing up, and he didn't seem to know how to handle it. She had to remember that he had probably never raised a kid before, and that he had probably never let anyone get close either. She was probably the closest person to him, and she was still, at best, an arms length away. She could push and shove but the wall that kept her out and virtually impenetrable.

But to be fair, she never let him get that close either. He didn't know much of anything going on with her life, and she was scared to start telling him. She even told Sayuka more than she had been telling Zelman because she knew he would react the way he had been. She knew more than anything that Zelman would never cope with anything like a normal person would because he was 800 years old and everyone he had ever loved or gotten close to has died. He was alone in the world, and he had become unwilling to let anyone in. He became a sociopath, and she doubted that she could change that. She also doubted that she should try.

What was Zelman to her? That was a question she always ran away from, but she was realizing she had to figure it out. Was he like family? She blushed at the memories of what he had done to her in nights past and shook her head. There was no way one would consider that sort of behavior family-like, but she didn't know how else to see him. Her boyfriend? No way. What kind of boyfriend saves your life when you're a child, then raises you, then goes on to more or less molest you whenever he gets the chance? She didn't know what to think of Zelman. What was he to her?

Important.

She sighed before lowering herself out of the tree, grabbing her stuff and heading home. There was no getting around the fact that Zelman was important to her, and he was always going to be. She just had to accept it and hopefully move on. Maybe she could leave the special zone one day and just get away from him, and this. Everything about this place screamed unresolved tensions, and maybe if she could just get away she could forget about this place, and him as well. Maybe she could meet a nice guy and have a nice family in a nice house in a nice town and just have a nice life. She never really thought about it before, but maybe that's what she wanted, and what she needed.

But can I really just leave Zelman behind? She thought to herself. By now she was at her apartment and was fishing the keys out of her purse. Upon opening the door she was met by a shocking sight. She dropped her bags, and a hand flew over her mouth. Her living room had new furniture, compatible with just about any color you could imagine painting a room. There was a white couch and a glass coffee table that sat right in front of it. Near the couch was a matching love seat and across from the couch was a flat screen TV. She walked into the kitchen and found that the old counter top was replaced by a new marble one, and that her kitchen table was also glass, with white seats pushed in around it.

Next she ran into her room and saw that she had a queen sized bed, and upon jumping on it she found that the mattress was the perfect level of softness. She cuddled up with one of the pillows and heard a crinkling noise. Looking around, she found a note taped to one of the pillows.

Alexandra,

I know I haven't been the best of... What would you even call us? Let's say I haven't been the best of friends, and I know I've put you through a lot since you were a kid. So I thought I'd finally find a way to make it up to you.

Zelman

Short and to the point. Nothing unnecessary or too emotional. Yup, that was Zelman alright, but that's ok. He's trying, and that's all that mattered to her. It was more than she ever expected of him.

But if he thinks that this was enough to make it up to her for everything, then he was sorely mistaken.