Chapter Twelve

"We're screwed."

"I know."

"So is Cas."

"I know."

And after that the drive continued in silence. Adam was still out cold, and Dean didn't seem inclined towards conversation. Sam didn't mind, since the last thing he wanted to do was dwell on exactly what had happened.

Castiel, once again, was who knew where, doing who knew what. Most probably he was still fighting off angels. Leaving without Castiel had become an alarming trend for them, but it couldn't be helped – more often that not the angel had plans of his own that he didn't let them in on, and Dean didn't have the patience to deal with him anymore. Letting Castiel do whatever he wanted was a lot easier than trying to coax things out of him, or else trying to get some sense into him.

Adam stirred and groaned, and immediately Dean pulled over at the side of the road. "Small Fry," he said. "You all right?"

"Peachy," muttered Adam, sitting up and rubbing his head. He blinked when he noticed his brothers. "Oh, you got me out. Awesome."

"What did they do to you?" asked Sam, once it was established that Adam was going to live.

Adam shrugged. "Left me alone, for the most part," he answered. "Can we have something to eat? I'm starving," he added.

Dean nodded at him and started driving again, shooting him furtive glances from the rearview mirror. The boy looked a mess, his hair disheveled and clothes rumpled up. His shirt was singed in places but other than that he looked unharmed.

"What happened to the shirt?" asked Sam, his expression one of concern.

Adam blinked, like he'd just remembered it (which he had). "Oh, this. That bitch Naomi or whatever did it."

Sam and Dean both started. "Naomi?" barked Dean. "You met Naomi?"

"You know her?" asked Adam, looking surprised.

"Hell yes I do," replied Dean. "She's the one who screwed with Cas in the first place."

"Damn," swore Sam, rather uncharacteristically. "What did she do to you, Adam?"

"Just asked a shit-ton of questions," Adam told his brothers, somewhat confused by their reactions. "Oh, and she poked me."

Dean's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Poked you?"

"Yeah. In the eye. With that drill thing she has." As if on cue, his eye began itching again.

"What drill thing?" asked Sam.

"I think it's what she uses to get in your head," Adam said, scratching furiously at his eye. "She's used it on Cas, too."

"What did she see, in your head?" asked Dean. "Why did she see in your head?" he amended.

Adam shrugged. "She wanted to know about Michael and Lucifer, and how I got out of the Cage."

"Did she ask about the Angel Tablet?" asked Sam.

"Nah, she seemed to know I didn't have it."

"And what about us, did she ask about us?" pressed Dean.

Adam shook his head. "Surprisingly... no. Now can I please have something to eat?"

This time, instead of driving all night, they stopped at a motel. Adam took his sweet time showering, washing the sweat and grime off himself, before he barged out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, and declared, "I feel clean now."

Dean grimaced. "Put some clothes on, shrimp. My eyes are hurting."

Adam grinned haughtily before proceeding to saunter towards his bag. "You're just jealous," he told Dean. "It's 'cause I'm hotter than you."

"Let's not go there," tried Sam, but was ignored when Dean stood up and said, "Oh yeah, Small Fry?"

"Hell yeah," challenged Adam, his grin growing wider. He flexed a rather tiny bicep and said, "Let's see you beat that."

Dean just smirked at his brother.

"Dean," said Sam cautiously, "I really wouldn't."

"You chicken?" taunted Adam, and from that point on Dean decided to completely ignore Sam.

He peeled his jacket off, and then removed his shirt, before flexing his considerably larger biceps at Adam. The boy blinked, but recovered remarkably quickly. "Steroids don't count, Dean," he said. "This," and he held up his pathetically thin arms, "is pure muscle."

Dean scoffed. "Sure, beanpole. Whatever you say." He made to put his shirt back on, but stopped when Adam said, "Bet you twenty bucks I can beat you in an arm-wrestling match."

"You're on," said Dean. Sam just rolled his eyes and thanked God that it wasn't actual wrestling – for God's sake Adam was still in just a towel.

Dean didn't even have to try – Adam's arm went down in a matter of three seconds. The boy looked disappointed, before getting up and slouching off towards the bathroom.

"Is that the sound of your heart breaking?" called Dean after him, grinning like a child at Christmas. "Or was it just your pure muscle?"

"Screw you," called Adam from inside the bathroom.

Sam threw his pillow at Dean. "Grow up," he muttered, before snatching it back and flopping face-down on his bed.

Dean blinked in surprise. "Me? He's the one who challenged me! And he owes me twenty bucks!"

Sam's only answer was a small, muffled laugh into his pillow.

Unsurprisingly, Dean and Adam spent the entire evening going up against each other in everything possible, including but not limited to arm-wrestling, leg-wrestling, thumb wars, seeing who was a better contortionist, burping contests, eating contests and screaming contests. It was Sam who finally separated them at 10 PM, ordering Adam into bed and telling Dean that seeing how much popcorn could be stuffed into a person's nostrils wasn't by any means an appropriate measure of one's manliness. Dean scoffed and told Sam that he had no idea, considering he was such a girl, and he was jealous anyway because he could only have two pieces of popcorn in his nose, whereas Dean could have up to five.

Sam just rolled his eyes.

By midnight Adam was snoring into his blankets, Dean was watching crap soap operas out of boredom, and Sam was browsing the Internet. They were planning on checking out in the morning and continuing on the way to California, though the fun was now undeniably tainted thanks to the angels.

Dean scowled at the TV. Angels always ruined everything.

"Dean," Sam began, and Dean muted the show.

"What is it, Sammy?"

"I found a case."

Dean didn't look enthusiastic. "Why can't we have a break?" he asked rhetorically. "There's so many other hunters out there."

Sam sighed. "You know we can't ignore it and hope someone will take care of it, Dean," he said. "Believe me, I wish we could just take time off, but, well. We can't."

"What is it?" grumbled Dean, switching the TV off and slouching off to where Sam was sitting. He made his way to the small table and stood behind Sam's chair, squinting into the brightness of Sam's laptop.

"Vamps, I think," Sam answered. "In Kansas."

"We're pretty far from Kansas," Dean pointed out. "Maybe someone else will get there before we do."

"And maybe they won't," Sam said. "Look, Garth's been assigning cases, right? We can just ask him if someone's there."

"Good idea," yawned Dean, trying and failing to hide how tired he was. "You call him." He stretched and then walked off towards the other bed, collapsing face-down in it.

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's prone form, before pulling out his cell phone and dialing Garth.

It turned out that no one else knew about the case, and every other hunter on Garth's radar was busy on some other job. "Every single one?" repeated Sam in disbelief. It seemed a little too unfortunate, even for them.

Then again, they were Winchesters. As in, cursed with exceptionally shitty luck.

Sam sighed heavily and hung up a moment later. "We're going to have to take this one, Dean," he said.

"Why?" Dean asked, his voice muffled into his pillow.

"There's no one else available to take it."

"Crap."

Sam switched his laptop off and shoved Dean aside. "Make space, Dean."

Dean raised his head from the pillow and blinked at Sam. "We have a couch, sleep on that."

Sam glared at him. "It's too small, Dean," he bitched. "I won't fit."

Dean glanced at the couch. "You're right, I s'pose," he conceded. Muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "bitch" under his breath, he moved over and freed some space for Sam.

"Jerk," Sam replied as he got under the covers. They were too tired even to kick each other, and before Sam knew it he was asleep.

"Where are we?" asked Adam.

"Idaho," answered Dean.

"Idaho? Weren't we going to California?" Adam looked confused.

"No, we've got a case," Sam informed him. "In Kansas."

He'd thought Adam would be disappointed, but he actually looked interested. "What are you hunting?" he asked.

"Vampires," Dean told him, as the Impala pulled into a diner's parking lot. It was late afternoon the next day, and they hadn't had anything since breakfast.

"Cool," said Adam, grinning. "What are they like?"

"Pretty much what you'd expect, except they're not repelled by crosses or bibles, and a stake through the heart won't kill them," Sam said. "Dead man's blood slows them down, and the only way to kill them is to chop their heads off."

Adam looked fascinated. "Whoa," he said eagerly. "Can I come?"

"No!" Sam and Dean both said loudly at the same time.

Adam scowled. "Why not?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Because it isn't safe, Adam," Sam told him.

"You're doing it," Adam pointed out, aware he sounded childish but unable to help it. His brothers seemed intent on mothering the hell out of him. Pun completely intended.

"We've been doing it for years," Dean pointed out. "We're good at it."

"I can learn!" Adam insisted. He looked determined to somehow wriggle his way into this hunt.

"Not this fast, you can't," Sam told him. Before Adam could protest, he added, "Look, we'll take you along on the next angry spirit, okay?"

Adam looked appeased. "Okay. You're going to have to train me, though," he said. "Like, with guns and knives and stuff." He looked excited at the prospect.

Sam nodded at him, before they got out of the car. Adam, who was the hungriest, nearly ran across the parking lot into the diner. Sam and Dean hung behind – it was clear to Sam that Dean wanted to talk.

"Is this a good idea?" he questioned once Adam was out of earshot. "Introducing him to this life?"

"Dean, he's already in it," Sam said. "He should at least know how to defend himself."

"That I won't argue," Dean said, his tone indicating to the contrary, "but what about actually taking him along on hunts? It's not safe, and he's just a kid, Sam."

"We were so much younger on our first hunts," Sam reminded Dean. "And Dean... he's not a kid. I know it's far easier to think of him as one, but he's not." Dean saw that Sam looked older too, as he said it. His expression was one of pain, but it was gone before Dean could say anything.

He sighed. "You're right," he admitted. "I just don't like it. At all."

"Me neither," Sam told him, "but the only other alternative is leaving him at a motel while we hunt, and that's almost a worse idea than taking him along."

Dean nodded, and they entered the diner. The conversation was over.

"I'm bored," Adam said, once they were back in the car.

"How 'bout you research vampires?" said Dean, grinning. Sam was immediately suspicious; this was a complete 180 from Dean's previous behavior.

"That sounds okay," replied Adam, trying to look casual but failing to hide his excitement. "I can do that."

"All right, then," said Dean, and he pulled up in front of a bookstore. "You two stay here, I'll go get him some books."

"He can just look at the files on my laptop," Sam suggested, but Dean waved him off.

"Nah, this way he can read on the move too," he said, and got out of the car. Sam watched his back until he disappeared inside, his suspicion heightening with every step Dean took.

"What's it like?" asked Adam.

Sam tore his eyes away from the window and looked at Adam. "Sorry, what?"

"What's it like?" repeated Adam. "Hunting," he clarified, when Sam looked confused.

"Oh, that. Well, it's nothing special," Sam said, turning back to the window and wondering what Dean was up to. "You do your research, you get your weapons ready, and you gank the monster."

"You make it sound so easy," commented Adam.

"It's not," Sam told him. "Sometimes the monster is expecting you, and that's when the situation turns sticky. You've got to be very careful, at all times. You have to... well, you'll see when you go on your first hunt."

It really wasn't something to look forward to, in Sam's opinion, but at the idea Adam's eyes lit up. He looked eager and excited, and Sam hoped he'd be all right. Something inside him nagged at him, telling him it wasn't a good idea (that something sounded a lot like Dean), but at the same time he knew there really was nothing else for it.

"Oh look, he's back," said Adam, breaking into Sam's reverie for the second time. "What's that he's holding?"

Sam blinked and focused on Dean, who was making his way towards them. He held a brown bag in his arm, through which something black and red was slightly visible. He was wearing a gigantic grin, like he'd just been given a lifetime supply of beer. Immediately a siren went off inside Sam's head.

"Here you go, Small Fry," Dean said, getting inside and handing the brown bag to Adam. "Your books."

Sam watched with a feeling of dread, as Adam's expression went from eager to confused to angry in a space of two seconds. "Twilight?" he exploded, shoving the bag aside. Sam saw the edge of a black paperback cover peeking out.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, you can read all about vampires in there, Small Fry."

"Your idea of vampire research is Twilight?" Adam looked infuriated, and with good cause. "Are you insane, Dean?"

Dean's grin grew wider. "Well, at least you won't be bored."

Adam crossed his arms tightly as he was wont to do, and scowled. "I'm not touching them, ever," he swore.

Dean laughed some more, before turning the music higher.

Sam, meanwhile, was wondering if he should laugh or berate Dean. In the end he settled for whacking Dean on the arm while trying unsuccessfully to hide the smile growing on his face. "Wouldn't have pegged you for a Twihard, Dean."

"Yeah," agreed Adam from the back. "It's horrifying."

"It's also a mandatory part of your vampire education," Dean said, winking at Sam. "So read up, amigo."

"Is he serious?" Adam asked Sam incredulously. Sam just sighed.

Conway Springs, Kansas

"All right, Adam," said Dean a million hours later. Adam looked up from the book he'd finally opened out of sheer boredom.

"We're here already?"

Sam chuckled at the surprise in his tone. "Yeah. Told you reading makes time fly."

Adam merely grunted.

"So listen up," Dean said, interrupting the conversation, "Sam and I are going to go inside and talk to the cops. You sit tight here, you hear me?"

Adam nodded, giving in surprisingly easily. "Okay."

Sam raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Seriously, Adam. Stay in the car."

"Will do," promised Adam, and to Sam and Dean's surprise, went back to reading.

"He's reading Twilight, Sam," Dean said, once they were out of the car. "I'm concerned."

"You got him the books," Sam reminded him.

"As a joke," Dean pointed out. "I didn't think he'd actually start reading."

"He was bored, what else was there for him to do?" said Sam. They were at the door, and so their conversation ceased. They were professionals now, and talking about their little brother reading Twilight would somewhat dent that image.

Back in the car, Adam raised an eyebrow unconsciously as he read. "What the fuck?" he exclaimed out loud to himself. "He sparkles? What sort of vamp friggin' sparkles?"

He read on, scrunching his nose in disgust at Bella and Edward's obviously fake declarations of love. He snorted a couple of times, wondering why the hell he was reading on.

Suddenly the car door opened and he dropped the book with a yell. "Holy crap!" he yelped when he saw it was just his brothers. "Don't scare me like that!"

Dean grinned. "You're such a wimp," he said.

"I was... preoccupied," grumbled Adam, trying to discreetly pick the book up again.

Sam snorted. "You don't have to read those, Adam. We'll get you some better books once we're done with this job."

Adam nodded, and then asked, "So what now?"

"We visit an old friend," Dean told him.

"What did the cops say?" The book lay forgotten as Adam inquired after the details of their case. It was definitely more interesting than the ocean of sugar that Twilight was.

"It's definitely a vamp," Sam told him. "Or was. Some kids got to it before we did."

"Kids?" repeated Adam, not sure he'd heard right.

"Yep," replied Dean grimly. "High school kids. Three of them. They lured it into a trap and chopped its head off. And got caught on camera while doing it."

"So that's not good, is it?" said Adam.

Sam shook his head. "Not good at all. We also happened to recognize one of the kids."

"Her name's Krissy Chambers," Dean said. "We met her on a hunt a couple years back. She was barely fourteen or fifteen back then, though she's grown now. Her dad's a hunter, and he'd gone missing while on a Vetala case. We helped out."

"He promised not to hunt again, though," said Sam with a frown. "Maybe he just couldn't stop?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah, I get the feeling it's much more than that. He should have better sense than to have his little girl hunt vampires." He sounded angry, his parental instincts flaring. Just because he didn't have any kids of his own didn't mean he didn't feel angry when he saw parents being irresponsible. Kids deserved better, dammit, than being shoved into this life.

"Fuck," cursed Dean. "Of all the shitty timing."

"Relax, maybe we can get to it before the kids," muttered Sam.

"What's going on?" asked Adam, looking from Sam to Dean. "What's happening?"

Dean ignored his question, instead saying, "All right, Small Fry, listen to me." He handed Adam a knife and the Impala's keys, which Adam hesitantly accepted. He still looked perplexed. "Go back and get in the car. Stay there. Don't get out until you see us coming. Is that clear?"

Adam shook his head. "What's going on?" he repeated, annoyed that the information was being withheld from him.

"They're hunting right now," Sam told him, his tone terse. "Like, right now. And we need you to stay in the car, where it's safe."

"I can take care of myself," Adam said, looking like he wanted to argue.

"Adam, no," said Dean emphatically. "Just go, okay. I don't want you anywhere near a vamp, you're not experienced enough."

"And these kids are?" questioned Adam, raising his eyebrows, skepticism clear on his face.

"No," answered Sam. "Which is exactly why we're going to kill their vamp and then put some sense into their heads." He looked just as angry as Dean – they were kids, they didn't know what they'd gotten themselves into. And in any case, this was no life for a kid.

"Why can't I come along?" Adam sounded whiny instead of determined, which was what he'd been aiming for. Inwardly he cringed.

"Adam." Dean's voice was low and dangerous, and despite himself Adam began to cave. "Get in the car, now. Before I make you."

"Just do it," Sam added, grimacing a little. "Please," he added in reponse to Adam's obstinate expression. "We're running out of time."

Reluctantly Adam nodded, before turning on his heels and stalking out of the hotel. Dean was sure the boy was muttering curses under his breath, and yet he couldn't find it within himself to care. He didn't care if Adam was angry, as long as he was safe.

Adam locked the car doors after he got in, muttering to himself. It was all so irritating. He knew his brothers loved him and wanted him safe, but why did they have to treat him like a child? He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself; he'd been doing it his entire life. Or for 19 years of it, anyway.

He sighed angrily and crossed his arms tightly. It wasn't fair.

He'd been through so much – a rough childhood, getting eaten, being brought back to life only to spend millennia in the most obscure corner in hell. Surely he could manage himself hunting a vampire? True, he'd never done it before, but how was he going to learn if his brothers didn't let him?

And why did they feel the need to baby him all the time? He knew his hallucinations made him look weak sometimes, and it enforced the idea in his brothers' minds that he needed looking after. And it was true, he did – just not in the way they thought.

He was startled out of his misery at the sound of glass shattering. Immediately he grabbed the knife Dean had given him, peering out of the windows to locate the source of the noise.

Someone was running across the street, clearly having jumped from one of the hotel's windows. Adam watched, his heartbeat speeding up a little, as the person fled in the direction of a blue van. Moments later a girl of average height ran out after him, long brown hair flying behind her. Adam watched in intrigue and muted horror as she pulled out a gun and shot the person.

He wondered if he should get out of the car and see what was going on, but before he could make up his mind, he saw Dean following quickly after the girl. Still not knowing if it was safe or not, he decided to stay in the car for a little while more. He wanted to be in on the action but if it meant becoming vampire chow he'd rather sit it out.

He saw Dean drawing something – with morbid fascination he noted it was a rather large knife. His heart jumped into his throat as he realized what was going to happen. Dean was going to chop the person's head off. Vampire, Adam corrected himself. Dean was going to chop the vampire's head off.

Suddenly he stopped, looking at the girl. It was too far for Adam to see his face properly, but from his stance it seemed he was bewildered and just a little bit irritated. Adam wondered for the millionth time what was going on, but still couldn't make himself get out of the car.

He saw Sam and two other kids – a black girl with frizzy hair and a boy – join Dean and the brunette on the sidewalk. Finally he decided that if Sam and Dean were both around, he'd be reasonably safe (plus his curiosity won out over his apprehension), and he unlocked the car door with shaking fingers. He scrambled out as soon as the door was open, and hurried over to Sam's side.

Sam didn't comment on Adam's sudden presence, instead choosing to move ever so slightly so that Adam was partially shielded by his body. The gesture, far from relieving him, annoyed him. Their vampire was on the ground, covered by weapons. Adam was safe. He didn't see why Sam had to protect him like he was a little child.

"... a brother and a sister," the frizzy-haired girl was saying.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the vamp said, and he seemed sincere.

Adam frowned. "What's going on?" he whispered to Sam, who ignored him, focusing on the vamp.

"I came home from a friend's house, and I found them," the girl said. Her voice was wavering ever so slightly, that little note of grief tainting her anger. The boy and the other girl had sad, sympathetic looks on their faces, while Sam, Dean and the vamp just looked confused to hell.

"They were my family!"

Adam felt a pang for the girl, understanding now that she'd lost her entire family to the vamp. Just like him, she'd lost her family to a monster that she'd never known existed, until that day. It wasn't tough for him to comprehend her pain and anger, having been there before.

"This isn't happening," said the vampire, his voice holding a note of disbelief. Adam didn't understand why he was denying it – unless he was maybe trying to win some sympathy from them? "I didn't do anything, I swear," the vamp went on. "Please, help me!"

"Why's he asking for help?" Adam asked Sam, who instead of answering, shoved him out of the way and drew his weapon. The entire party, sans Adam, was approaching the vamp as he lay on the ground.

Without any warning the frizzy-haired girl yelled, and Adam only glimpsed a gleam of steel in the streetlights as her weapon sliced through the air. And just like that, the vampire's head was rolling about on the ground, next to his lifeless body. Adam retched, turning away from the sight.

Sam and Dean just looked plain shocked, while the other girl and the boy looked satisfied. The situation was slipping out of Adam's grasp – if his brothers didn't know what was going on, he had no hope. Who were these kids, and why were they doing all this?

He understood the revenge for family part, but something about the entire scenario still felt off, somehow. Like there was so much more going on than simply a revenge hunt.

The brunette walked forward and laid a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's okay," she said. "It's over."

"We need to talk to you," Dean told the brunette. "Privately."

"You know this guy?" the boy asked her, looking wary.

"Yeah," she replied as she walked away, Dean following after her. "We have a past."

The boy seemed to accept that, and walked off to comfort the other girl. Sam finally turned his attention to Adam. "I think we told you to stay in the car," he said, but he sounded more tired than stern.

"I wanted to see what was happening," Adam told him, a little defensively. "It seemed safe enough," he added.

Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Just don't do it again," he muttered. "It's not always safe. I don't want you hurt."

Adam nodded, not wanting to talk about that for now. "Why was the vampire saying he didn't know anything?" he asked Sam. "Was it a sympathy play?"

Sam checked to make sure the boy and the distraught girl couldn't hear him, before replying, "To be honest... I don't know. This wasn't standard vampire behavior, and something doesn't seem right." He glanced towards where Dean and the other girl were talking. "I wonder what it is."

Adam didn't answer, following Sam's gaze over to Dean and the girl. "It's a little weird," he finally said. "I'm not an expert... but I'm pretty sure the vamp wasn't lying. Do you think they got the wrong guy?"

"I don't know," Sam repeated, beginning to move towards the car. "It could be... but in any case, a vampire is still a vampire."

"But what if he was innocent?" asked Adam, following Sam to the Impala.

"He was still a vampire, Adam," Sam said patiently. "He still killed people. That's what we do, we hunt things that kill people." He opened the trunk and began despositing his weapons inside, while Adam lingered nearby.

Some way off Dean was still talking to the girl, and it seemed as if it was going to take some time. Adam got into the backseat of the Impala and stared ahead, wondering what he'd gotten himself into this time.

I'm back, peasants, and in compensation for the long wait I've put up a loooongass chapter :D

I'm finally done with my exams and thankfully they went well ^_^ My results come out in August, so please pray I get good grades, yeah? Thanks a lot!

Also - I found a little something about Sam's time in the Cage. I'd figured it out using Dean's time, which is 1 month = 10 years, but then I found this post on tumblr which calculated it different. So there was this episode where Sam took a little trip into Hell and for him, 3 minutes were a week. Going by that:

3 minutes = 1 week.

One day (1440 minutes) = 480 weeks (~1.3 years)

18 months his soul spent in the Cage = ~5035 years Cage time

Which basically translates to HOLY FUCKING HELL SAM HOW DID YOU NOT DISINTEGRATE. I can't even imagine that. That poor baby.

Here's the original post, if you wanna take a look - jaredspanties . tumblr post / 36598044700 / thornshrike-an-exercise-in-time-dilation

Get rid of the spaces.

(By the way, that isn't my tumblr, it's one of the people I follow. Mine's on my profile, and I love my followers *hinthint*)

Today's question is more of an opinion poll thingy -

I left this fic at this point for a purpose. I could have written out the entire episode (8x18 - Freaks and Geeks) from Adam's POV but I wasn't sure if it would work. So what I want to ask you guys is: In your opinion, should I write out episodes from Adam's POV, or should I fast-forward and write Adam in the little moments in between?

Your opinions matter a lot to me.

Also, for the first time in my life, I've crossed 100 reviews on anything that I have ever written. And I almost cried tears of joy. Thing is, I'm not doing too well these days. I miss my friends, and I don't know if I'm ever gonna see them again. We're all going to university in different countries. Three are going back to Pakistan, one is going to Bangladesh and the others aren't sure if they're staying or not. On top of that I've lost someone important to me - my best friend who just sorta cut off all contact for no reason. That's gotten me real upset, no matter how much I'd like to pretend otherwise, and I just can't enjoy my holidays like they deserve to be enjoyed.

I don't normally let it all out like this, but you guys - I've gotten real close to some of you over the course of this story, and I feel you deserve to know.

So please review? I know there are lots of you who read the story without reviewing, but please. It won't take more than a minute, and it would really make my day. Even if you write just three words or something. It would mean a lot to me.

Thanks a lot, everyone. I love you guys :)

-Peace x