The following morning I woke up just before ten and then started to get ready for the day. No workout this morning, I decided. Today I would again play the princess to my prince, and I picked out another dress I hadn't yet worn, one that was green with white poka-dots, fitted with cap sleeves and a hemline that went to mid-thigh. I accessorized with white ballet flats again and my hair bangs were held back with a white hair comb. I wanted to look as pretty today as I could.

As I got dressed and ready, the recollections of my most recent dream ran through my mind. I had sort of thought that as things between me and Vance progressed thoughts of my "mystery boy" in the mountains would sort of fade away but instead they were actually getting stronger in these last few nights. I could see the image more clearly now and even hear their voices, the boy whom I dreamt about and the older man he lived with. There was one particular moment that stood out: I was inside of the cabin sitting down at a wooden table and working on yet another jigsaw puzzle. I didn't really do stuff like that myself, but there the boy was, rushing though solving the puzzle in front of him piece by piece. It seemed like he was very good at it and I could even make out the image, which was some sort of image of an Angel, not the kind we're supposed to fight but the old-fashioned kind with halos and wings. The puzzle was of an old painting, where there was this very feminine angel hovering over two children, one boy and one girl, and she was protecting them.

Anyway the boy rapidly solved the puzzle and then stopped some sort of a clock that was on the table. I could hear his voice clearly this time "Uncle," he said to the older man. "I beat the time!" The older guy, who I could now see more distinctly, muscular with graying hair and a moustache, looked back at me and asked "so you think you did well, huh?"

"Yup" I came back in a proud voice. The older man clearly wasn't satisfied, as he then took the puzzle and flipped it on its backside, where all of the pieces had only a cardboard surface. He then scattered all of the pieces until they were well-mixed up and then said to me. "Okay, lad, now solve it!" Oh, jeez! Puzzles were hard enough but now he's making the kid solve them just by the shapes! I could almost feel the disappointment of the boy as he was forced into trying to solve the puzzle again, and that was the strangest part of the dream: I could really feel how he felt emotionally. I sat there on my bed, now dressed up and holding my tiger in my arms, wondering what it all meant. Was I supposed to be the boy? What was I worried about? Supposedly dream science is this whole complex thing with all of these interpretations but I couldn't work out any possible meaning to any of these dreams. It was strange.

Once ready I came out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. To my surprise dad was sitting at the breakfast table, sipping coffee and eating toast while looking intently at his LCD tablet. He usually was gone by the time I woke up, and many times I even wondered if he even came home but unusually he was here today.

"Good morning, dear," he greeted me as I came out. "You look lovely."

"Thanks, dad," I told him as I sat down. I poured myself some orange juice from a carton that was on the table. "You're actually home today!"

"Well, I wasn't needed this morning in the lab and decided not to rush things. We'll have much to do today as it is. You should know that they are upgrading the unit most of today, we'll have an activation test only tonight after the modifications are done."

"Are we close to revealing the secret?"

"I think so, it will depend on how fast we can complete the units as they're still having components installed and other changes. Perhaps by the time your birthday comes around."

"Okay, cool. It'll be great not to be sneaking around so much."

"Oh, I think the Japanese will get quite a shock when they realize just what we've been up to." He allowed himself a small smile and I smiled back.

It was a little awkward sitting at a table and eating with Dad, we hadn't done this for a while in our own home as we've been so busy these last few months. I figured now that we finally had a quiet moment together that now was the time to talk about…

"Dad?"

"What, dear?"

"Um, can we go out to dinner at R&R this week?"

"Of course. I think tonight might be too busy, but perhaps next Sunday is better. Did you want to eat at Fung Lum's again?"

"Well, I want that, but I think Vance might prefer the steakhouse."

Dad propped up an eyebrow. "Vance Vinson?"

"Um, yeah. Could he go to dinner with us?" This was my way to indirectly introduce Vance to dad, and hoping he'd be good with it.

My father shrugged and looked resigned. "I suppose so." He turned his attention back to his tablet but still spoke to me. "You two are getting along well, yes?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Good," he said, and I felt incredibly relieved. I suppose dad didn't want to talk about the details of me and Vance but at least he seemed okay with the thought that we were getting along. I could only guess that dad probably knew a lot more than that, but didn't really do anything to stop us even now. It seemed a little funny that he was so accepting of me seeing Vance yet so overprotective of everything else in my life, but in any case I was at least happy I didn't have to worry about it much.

The two of us just sat there and continued with breakfast, and I moved on to just small talk with him. The dreams were making me curious and I decided to bring that up with him. "Dad, do we have any jigsaw puzzles around here?"

His eyebrow shot up again. "What makes you ask that?"

"Oh, I don't know. I keep having these weird dreams about puzzles and stuff."

"You dream about puzzles?"

"Well, I dream about this boy who likes puzzles." Suddenly dad put down his tablet and at least seemed interested in what I had to say. "Really? Go on."

I went on to describe what I had been having in the way of reoccurring dreams in the last two months. "It's like I have these dreams about living in the mountains, someplace way out in the countryside. There's like this cabin, and I live there with this old guy."

"What else?"

"The other really strange part about these dreams is that it's like it's not me, it's like I'm living in this boy's head, I can hear his voice and stuff but not my own." I leaned over to Dad playfully. "Did you and Mom want a boy instead of me?"

Father was a bit taken aback. "No, your mother was quite satisfied with having you. How often do you actually have these dreams?"

"Nearly every night. They keep getting stronger and stronger, too. Like I can hear and see things more clearly. But it's just strange, every day or night is pretty much the same: I'm just living in this cabin, noting exciting."

Dad leaned back in his chair, looking at me intently. "Interesting. I'm wondering if it's feedback from the EVA."

"From the EVA?"

"Some sort of mental feedback that you're recollecting. They're repetitive, you say?" I nodded. "Yes but not exactly, very day is a little bit different from another but it's like a routine. Does that mean anything?"

"It might but I'm not sure," he said. "Erin, dear? Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure!"

"Please go to see Jo at the hospital before your training this afternoon. I think she may need to give you an exam." I shrugged my shoulders, unsure of what all of this meant. "Okay."

I left that morning, actually kissing my dad on the cheek on the way out of the townhouse. Despite his hard exterior I still loved him, and honestly didn't know whatever I'd do without him. As he suggested my first stop that morning was the hospital where Jo worked, and my dad's driver took the Mercedes and drove me there.

Once at the hospital I walked over to where Jo worked which was on the Third Floor. Jo's actual job was pilot health maintenance, although because EVA pilots were secret here at Second Branch that wasn't known to anyone but a few people. Officially she was a pediatric nurse, and probably the only one here at NERV-2. I went to go meet Jo inside of a small room she used as an exam and treatment room, as this was also where I'd have my routine physicals and by now Jo and I were very used to each other.

When I got to the exam room, I was surprised to find Vance inside. He was wearing a t-shirt and camo pants with combat boots, and looked just as surprised to see me there. "Hey, Tiger!" he said to me as I walked in. Standing next to him was Jo, and she was giving him an injection in the arm of an orange, slightly glowing serum.

"Hi!" I greeted him, waiting until Jo was finished to do anything else. Curious about why he was there, I asked him what the shot was for. He looked a little embarrassed about it. "It's just some sort of vitamin booster to help with my syncing," he told me. "Nothing weird." I nodded waited patiently, my hands held together in front of me until Jo was done with him.

The nurse put away her syringe and kit and then turned to me. "It's your turn next, Erin."

"What? Dad said to just come down and see you." I had thought it was for a physical checkup, not medication.

"He's worried about something, it seems. Anyway, just have a seat and I'll get right with you." She then left the room and Vance rose up from the chair. I was nearly in his arms as soon as he approached me.

"You look great!" said Vance as he snuck a kiss with me while Jo was out. "All dressed up and somewhere to go?" I just shrugged and looked at him, both of my hands in his. "Just felt like doing this. Do you like it?"

"Really cute, and the headband too!" I brushed the hair out of my eyes. I still wasn't quite sure how to handle Mr. Vinson, but I knew that somehow I needed to find a way as my heart was bound to him whether I liked it or not.

"I asked Dad if you could join us for dinner," I said to him. "He said he could do next Sunday night."

"Does that mean we're actually 'official?'"

"I think so, he didn't seem to mind when I brought it up. Kind of surprised he's not all paranoid about it."

"Maybe he's getting soft in his age." I playfully punched Vance in the chest. "I don't think so. Anyway, I've got just an activation test today. You?"

"Tactical training with my dad's men on the firing range," he told me. "Also, they're still working on my unit so nothing tonight for me."

I leaned on him a little. "Can you come and see me tonight at the cages then? Just before I get started."

"No problem." We were going to kiss again but then Jo came in with another syringe. "Okay, lovebirds, here we go. Erin, can you sit down please?" I did so and Vance turned around, "Hey Tiger, I'm already running late."

"It's okay," I replied, "See you tonight, Vee." I took my two fingers and put them against my lips, and then pretended to blow it across the room. Vance used his hand to catch the invisible kiss and promptly slapped it against his cheek. "Later, Tiger." He then turned and left.

Jo put a rubber lash on my forearm to get my blood vessel propped up. I have tiny arms, so when she's done anything like an injection with me she has to use the lash plus a really small needle to get through. She was however very careful and within a minute had the needle going into the vein in my elbow, only hurting a little when she put it in. Just as she did so Dr. Foch, the old French scientist from below, came inside the exam room.

"Nurse Belknap," he asked, "did you get instructions for medication for the pilots today?"

"Just the usual for Mr. Vinson, but Miss Erin has something new today."

"Why wasn't I notified? I only found out because the pharmacy called me for confirmation."

I didn't realize Dr. Foch was that involved in my care but apparently he was. "It was a direct instruction from Dr. Forrestal," Jo told him. She finished the injection and then disposed of the needle as I waited for her to put a bandage on the opening. Not sure of what all of this meant I just sat there in the chair and listened, hoping that it wasn't bad in some way,

"What did you just give her?"

"200 miligrams of Hydroclomipramine."

Old Bernard seemed very concerned with what Jo just did. "Why?"

"Dr. Forrestal was concerned about feedback from her higher sync and wanted something to help stabilize her alpha nerve."

"Our scoundrel chief scientist is not a pharmacologist or a neurologist. How did he come up with the treatment diagnosis?"

"I don't know, I can only assume this came from biomedical."

"Anything involving Evangelion pilot physiology has to go through me, you know that. Especially this sort of thing." Foch said "Evangelion pilot" out loud and that turned a couple of heads outside our door. Unlike nearly everyone else here, old Bernard had a lot more contempt for dad's secrecy.

"I'm sorry, he's both the program director and Erin's father. If he gives me an order to expedite treatment I can't refuse it."

"I feel okay," I volunteered. Indeed, I didn't feel anything different after getting the injection.

The old scientist turned to me. "I'm sure you do. Mademoiselle Erin, please do me a favor and come to my lab this time tomorrow. I promise you I'll give you all of the butter cookies you like but just be sure to come." Unsure and now just a little worried, I nodded and agreed to meet him. Foch then turned to Jo. "I sincerely hope her father was careful with that diagnosis."

"I'm sure he was," was Jo's reply. "And yes, Bernard, I know that you didn't come here today either."

"Very good," he said, satisfied that his intervention was still a secret between the three of us. He then left quickly out the doorway. I looked up at Jo with a worried expression on my face. "What was the medication for, anyway?"

"It's a dream suppressant," she answered, then changed the subject. "Lunch?"

Despite my father's earlier objections, I still saw Dr. Foch from time to time, enough to call him "Uncle Bernard," when I did. Mostly it was just for those awesome cookies and tea that he had in his basement lab. But up until that day I really had no idea his interest in me was anything more than just entertaining a bratty teenaged girl. Perhaps I should have been more worried, but I trusted my dad and my thoughts that day were still filled with Vance, and how I felt when I was with him. But Vance was right about me, I really was pretty naïve.

I had a slower day that day so after a long and filling lunch with Jo talking about me and the boy I just walked around the grounds a bit, all dressed up as I was. I took a hat and sunglasses with me so I was okay with being in the sun, then found a patio table and got a book out of my handbag to read for the afternoon. I spent most of the day in the base hospital patio reading Barbara Cortland and yes, it was so predictable and melodramatic but I just couldn't help myself as I loved stories where virginal girl is saved by a mysterious strapping young man. I could see myself as the beautiful girl in serious trouble and Vance as the strong, silent and sort of dangerous type and it totally fit. I was happy to imagine it being that way.

By the evening I went over to the underground EVA complex, walked straight to my locker room and changed into my plug suit. As usual I removed any makeup I was wearing, plus removed my earring studs as none of that was allowed while I was in the entry plug. After I was completely dressed and ready I went outside but I didn't see Vance outside the locker room. Instead he met me by the doorway that led to the EVA cages. He was still dressed in his combat fatigues, and looked a little roughed up from the day's training.

"Here to see me off," I asked as we walked together hand in hand towards my unit.

"Yup. Dad wants to know if I can get dinner with him tonight, something he wants to talk to me about, so I won't be here when you're done."

"It's okay, I'll see you tomorrow morning then." We arrived at the cage and right where my entry plug door was. The hatch was opened up all the way, just waiting for me to go inside. I turned to him and said, my hands on his chest. "Really wish you were doing this with me tonight."

"Yeah, well, one night off is okay, right?"

"I better see you tomorrow or I'll get lonely."

"Don't worry. I'll be there."

I then leaned up on my toes and kissed him right on the lips, nice and slow. I wanted it to be more than just a kiss, more like an invitation to do things together tomorrow. Then I let it go and walked towards my EVA. Just before I got inside, I turned around and saw Vance just standing there and watching me go.

"I love you."

He looked at me again with that soft expression of his, those brown eyes looking at me gently. "I know." I smiled, knowing he was trying to be like one of his movie heroes, and that was alright with me. I then got inside of the entry plug and got ready to pilot, and the ground crew came and closed the hatch behind me.

That was the last time I ever saw Vance alive.

The activation test took a while that night, and I ended up spending over an hour sitting in the entry plug un-inserted while engineers tried to fix something on the unit. I didn't mind the peace and quiet so far, but spending an hour in a confined space that's filled with liquid that you're breathing and not being able to do much of anything does get a bit irritating after a while. I had no choice but to wait for the engineers to give an "all clear" signal so we could get stared.

Finally it came and the entry plug was put back into the EVA unit. "Commencing activation of Unit 04" came the voice of one of the technicians in the control box. My video display went through its usual set of start-up schematics until the visual of the outside of the unit was made available. Not really crazy with the delays, I fidgeted in the throne seat. "Everything okay, Erin?" My dad asked on the audio.

"Sure, sure. I'm fine. I just wish we could get this over with so we can go home."

"I know," he said to reassure me. "It's just a routine activation test, so bear with us a little longer."

I sighed and resigned myself to losing the next couple of hours. "Alrighty."

There was a few more minutes to go as the unit was slowly put through the activation checklist, moving at a snail's pace as the technical team was checking new software installation and wanted to make sure each step went as needed. After a while we got to Step 2064 and just at the threshold for full activation.

"Doctor Forrestal," I heard the technician say. "Everything reports normal so far."

"Very good," came dad's voice and he seemed satisfied. "Proceed with synchronization."

At this point I really regretted not getting a light dinner before getting into the plug, I was starving so badly my stomach's growl could literally be heard over the speakers. I was a little embarrassed but I suppose I could impose on Dad a bit after making me sit through all of this. "Suddenly I'm very hungry," I reported.

"So how about Chinese tonight?" he asked, not missing a beat for what I wanted. Normally Fung Lum's would be closed by the time we finished but I'm sure dad could pull strings.

"That sounds good. I could really go for some Walnut Cream Shrimp…" Just as I finished my sentence I suddenly noticed something at the far end of the entry plug. About six feet away from the throne I saw this white, cloud-like thing in front of me. It didn't make any noise at first, but I watched it as it started to swirl around. Up until now I had never seen anything like it inside of the entry plug.

"What's that?" I asked aloud. A second later the operator's voice came over the speaker again. "There's an unusual reading in the entry plug!"

"What is it?" my dad asked the technician and he replied "It's some sort of energy form but I can't determine the type."

I kept looking at the cloud and it was both growing in size and also moving closer to me. Was this part of how the EVA worked? I didn't know at all but it didn't seem like something dangerous just yet. I had a certain calmness about what this was. The cloud got even larger and then began to transform, forming up elongated appendages and taking a shape that was more firm. Within a few more seconds it looked less like a cloud and more like a statue of a person, with a head, arms, and a body. Long hair came from the back of the head and to me it seemed feminine, like that angel image from the dream I had with the puzzle boy.

The cloud statue drifted closer to where it was just in front of me, only inches away from my face. I was more scared now, here was this thing that looked alive and able to move on its own. I gulped and my heart beat fast, yet I was curious about this thing. My mind lost connection with everything else and for a moment I had forgotten even where I was. I reached out with my hand and tried to touch the cloud figure where its face was. The face looked like one of those modernist type sculptures where's all smooth and there' no features at all.

Both scared and intrigued, I asked the floating angel thing "who are you?" The face began to start forming. Over the speakers I heard the controller's voice again, and now he was in a very panicked mode. "Energy reading is increasing dramatically!"

Father decided he had enough. "Stop the activation! Erin?"

I barely heard the voices in my head but I was captivated by the face of the ghost. For a moment I could see just hints of an eyes, nose and mouth. It looked beautiful, like a porcelain sculpture from the ancient times. Then the eyes looked right at me and I got startled, and jerked back from the figure. My dad tried to call to me again. "Erin?!"

The face continue to change. The eyes got larger, then sunk inside of the figure's face as large holes appeared. The same thing happened to the nose, and the mouth became wider and wider. Teeth were seen and then the face became less oval and more like a head. The rest of the ghost's body also formed, as the arms became more solid and then you could see bones in the arms and hands. I saw the ghost take two bony hand and then try to touch me with them. I looked in front of me and suddenly the head had become a skull. Suddenly frozen, I was unable to move as I felt the skeleton hands touch either side of my head and when they did so my whole body became ice cold.

Now frightened to death by what I was seeing and feeling, I panicked and struggled to push myself out of the control throne. "Get away from me!" I shouted as I tried to leave the seat, but the ghost pushed down against me and I fell back against the back of the throne seat.

"Erin!" Over the speakers I could hear my father shouting orders to the operators. "Force eject the plug!" The controller's panicked voice came back again. "Entry plug not responding, sir!"

The ghost came right up against me and my whole body shivered. I tried to get out of the throne seat but I was pinned in as the milky-white colored specter's arms expanded to keep me penned in and unable to get away from it. Terrified, I saw the thing's face as the dark holes of its eye sockets looked right at me. The jaw dropped down and stretched wide open. By now my entire body was shaking, and I was so scared I couldn't even speak. Someone save me, Dad, please save me from this thing! I don't want to pilot anymore. Not if this thing is what lives inside of here! Oh God, please…

The head stretched out and was now just against my face, close enough for me to feel the icy cold breath against it. My mouth gaped wide open, I was sweating all over. Then the skull's mouth opened wider and I felt a blast of ice cold air all around my own face, and suddenly this horrible wail that came from the ghost. I couldn't take it anymore, I was going to die, I knew it. Finally from the ghost loud words came out of its mouth and it sounded horrible, like some sort of demonic language that I couldn't understand. But yet there was this feeling that somehow I knew what this was. Something gripped me inside, something that touched my own fears, all of things in my heart that I had hidden and locked up were suddenly released and flowed through my body like icy tentacles. But I couldn't take it anymore, I felt ready to explode and so I screamed and screamed as loud as I could.

The very last thing I heard was my father's voice over the speaker. "ERIN!" Then I suddenly felt limp, and everything around me all went black and silent.

If you've read the first Blue Rose story you of course know how this runs, but now we have the whole background to what happened. While this was quite fun to write we are going to have a significant change of pace starting with the next chapters as we plunge deeper.

Fung Lums was the same of a Chinese food restaurant (now closed) that used to be right next to Universal Studios Hollywood. Completely Americanized Chinese food but the décor was amazing.