When Claire woke, she looked at the time to realize how long she'd been asleep and made her way back downstairs. Michael and Shane were home now, Shane sitting on the couch with a controller in his hand and Michael with his guitar in his chair, Eve perched on the floor next to him. Shane glanced up and paused the game as Claire descended the stairs and smiled, "Hey, sleepyhead."

Even though Claire was prematurely annoyed at what was sure to be an upcoming argument with him, she couldn't help but smile and close the distance between them, sitting on his lap. Shane switched the TV so that the regular cable was on and leaned back, wrapping his arms around her.

Eve and Michael stayed oblivious, only wrapped into their own world. Claire sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, "How was work?" she asked, wanting to distract herself. She would have plenty of time to fight with him later, although she wasn't anticipating it. She listened and relaxed him as Shane told her about his boss, using words that would make her blush, but catching himself quickly. He had been trying to get better with his foul mouth.

When he was done, they sat in comfortable silence, watching something that Claire really wasn't paying attention to. It started to get late and Michael and Eve had already gone upstairs, and just as Claire began to fall asleep, still on Shane's lap, he shook her back awake and smiled warmly at her, "Come on, up to bed." Claire grudgingly got up, Shane following behind her, and collapsed on her bed for the night.

Chapter 3

Claire nervously paced the width of her room. Her two weeks was up four days ago and she had been playing and replaying the confrontation in her mind so much she could repeat it in her sleep. She was fully prepared to give her speech and argue her points to be let out of the house. She needed to fix this, end it, or her and her friends would be in danger. She couldn't let Brandon win, and wouldn't let him near Eve. She'd been subjected to his tendencies until he "died" and now Claire knew how she felt, maybe. Eve never really went into full detail of what Brandon did to her and her brother, but if it was worse than the little bit Claire got, she couldn't imagine Eve having to go through that again.

Claire was just waiting for her two other housemates to get home. Eve and Shane were still at work, but she could here Michael's guitar playing softly downstairs. She finally collapsed onto her bed, pulled a pillow over her face and groaned loudly into it. Too caught up in her thoughts, Claire didn't notice the music stop playing until there was a soft knock on the door.

"Claire? You alright?"

Damn vampire hearing.

"Fine," she sighed.

"Claire, I heard you pacing all afternoon. Open up."

She sighed again and got up to open the door to find a concerned looking vampire, "I'm fine," she insisted, "I'm bored, stuck in the house." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." He blew her off, probably knowing her well enough to expect the speech and walked away from her room. Claire smirked and shut her door, lying down on her bed again. She listened to music until her housemates came home. Once she heard then talking downstairs, she took a deep breath and faced them.

Once she had them all sat down, she began her argument.

It didn't go over well.

"Are you nuts, Claire?" Shane said, a frown creasing his brows, "You're just recovering from some significant injuries and you want to go out there in plain sight where you kidnapper can grab you again? What's next? Are you going to suggest we put a big neon sign above your head that says 'pick me!'?"

"Shane, I can't stay locked up in this house forever! Who knows when they'll catch Brandon? If I don't get some fresh air soon, I will go nuts."

"No, bad idea, Claire. That's an understatement." Michael said calmly.

"Look, if I get out there, I think I know how to find him—"

"You are absolutely not going to go out and get him on your own, Claire. No freaking way." Shane shouted.

"Let me finish! I'm not going all open season on the vamp. I had another idea. A way to track him, find him easier. If you didn't already know, there is a person in charge of everything in Morganville, including security cameras."

Shane huffed and Michael spoke again, "No, Claire. It's too dangerous, you're barely recovering and you want to risk further injury? Amelie is taking care of it, just stay safe."

Claire sighed, frustrated, "Amelie isn't doing anything! She's just trying to make sure Brandon doesn't kill off what benefits her. I can't sit here and do nothing. And you guys can't constantly be babysitting me."

"We're not— " Eve began, but Claire quickly cut her off.

"Of course you are. I'm never home alone. Someone is always here with me, and as much as I enjoy being around you guys, you're putting things like your jobs on the line for me, when I can easily fix this."

Shane anxiously rubbed his hand across his face. Claire hated doing this to him, but they treated her like a child and it had to stop. She had to end this. She walked over to where he was seated on the couch and crouched in front of him, "Shane, I'll be okay. I can fix this."

He gave her a look that could have broken her heart, then half-heartedly smiled, "Why do you have to fix everything?"

Claire grinned, "It's what I do," her smile faded, "and if I don't do this, I risk keeping all of you in danger. Don't you think we have enough of that without Brandon adding to it?"

Shane put his big, warm hand on her cheek, "It's not your fault, Claire. You're not responsible for anything."

"You've met me, right?" Claire laughed.

Shane smiled a real smile and she was relieved, "Yeah, I just wanted you to know that."

Claire stood and looked at her friends, "Does that mean a yes, or do I have to sneak out?"

Michael sighed, "You better stay safe. I mean it. One little accident, even if you just spilled hot coffee on yourself, we call it off, got it?"

Claire smiled, she didn't actually think it would work, "Got it."

She kissed Shane on the cheek and went back to her room to think of a plan. She would go to Myrnin first. He had to have known what happened, she could talk him into talking to Ada, who could go through every security camera and any other way of tracking things throughout town. Security cameras couldn't be all there was, they'd be too easy to escape. You could manipulate the tapes, or even just find a blind spot. There had to be more.

If they could just find a definite way to keep an eye on his actions, they could take this to Amelie. After that, Brandon won't have a prayer.

Claire was interrupted by a knock on her door and knew it was Shane.

He smiled at her when she opened the door, "Your bed wouldn't happen to be full, would it?"

Claire beamed and shook her head, letting him in. He flopped on her bed and she lay down next to him, "You know how freaked I am about this, right?" he said after a few quiet minutes.

"I know, but I'll be okay. We'll get him taken care of and then it'll be over."

Shane eyed her, "We?"

Uh oh. Here comes the hard part, "Well," Claire started hesitantly, "I was thinking I could talk to Myrnin and Ada. With her, we can effectively track him—"

Shane glared at her and she flinched under the heat of his stare, "So, not only do you want to wander the streets with a neon sign, but you want to make a visit to Professor Fang, here and his creepy-ass girlfriend thing that's out to get you? I mean, am I getting this right? Because, oh, I don't know, it sounds totally insane?"

"Shane, this can work. Ada can see and control everything in this town and Myrnin can talk her into doing this. It's a group effort, but if it works, Amelie will get Brandon in no time."

"Look, I didn't agree with you running around town like a blood bag, but now you want to add that psycho to it? Are you kidding?"

Claire closed her eyes and tried to remember how to breathe. She had to stay calm, hoping that her serenity would calm Shane's now shaking form.

No such luck.

"This can work, besides, what did you think my plan would be in the first place? Going out with a net and hope for the best?"

"Not much worse than anything else you've said tonight." He said too quietly.

"Shane, please just hear me out," Claire pleaded. She didn't like the dark turn this conversation had taken, nor the tension between them now, "it'll be over soon, okay? I need to do this."

Shane stood from her bed, "You don't need to do anything, Claire. You don't have to fix anything, but for some reason, it's what you do. You have to be the hero, but by doing that you just put yourself in more danger and closer to that freak show."

"You would be doing the same thing if our places were switched." Claire said quietly, hurt by his words.

"Forget this," he huffed and began to walk out of the room.

Claire began to panic, tears filling her eyes, "Forget what, Shane?" she whispered. He half turned at the hurt in her voice, almost breaking at seeing the sight of her tears, "Just…I need some time." At that he left and Claire let the tears run over her face. She wasn't sure how long she cried for, but before she knew it, she was out like a light, curled up in the middle of her bed.

Alright :) getting to the good stuff and I promise a riot inducing cliffhanger nextweek :D you have no idea how fun it is to be cruel, but I love you all just the same :) thanks for reading!