Claire froze, "What?" she asked quietly.

Shane looked at her, startled, "Mike, let me get back to you."

"She heard all of it didn't she?" Michael asked, sounding sad.

"Yeah,"

"Always great timing, Claire."

Shane hung up and went to his girlfriend, who was still frozen in shock.

Claire blinked and finally looked at him, "Oh, God. It's Eve, isn't it? She got hurt?"

Shane nodded sadly, "She's okay, though. Just needs to sleep a lot, and you know Eve, she'll love that. Worse than a vampire with the sleeping 'till noon thing…" he trailed off, realizing his attempt to lighten the mood wasn't working as Claire's eyes filled with tears, "My fault," she whispered.

Shane wrapped her tightly in his arms, "God, no, Claire. It's not your fault." He took a deep breath, "It…it's mine."

Claire pulled back to look at his face, "He was trying to get back at me for almost killing him. I'm sorry, Claire"

Claire sighed, so that's what Brandon must have told him when he had Shane up against the wall, "Yeah, that's what he said, but it wasn't your fault, Shane. It was your dad's and whatever friends he had."

"I called him— wait, you knew he said that?"

"He told me when he still had me, wherever that was."

"You didn't tell me?" Claire could tell he was trying not to get angry.

"I didn't want you to feel guilty, but honestly, I hadn't really decided on telling you yet. I guess that problem is solved."

"Yeah," he scoffed, pulling away.

"No, Shane, please don't be mad. I didn't want you to be guilty because it's not your fault!"

He looked into her scared eyes for a moment and realized that this wasn't about him, she needed him and he was tired of her constantly having to be his rock, it was time he performed his job as a proper boyfriend.

Relaxing his tense form, he pulled Claire close again, stroking her hair, "You're right, I'm sorry. I guess if we were switched, I'd do the same thing."

Claire let out the breath she'd been holding in a gust, glad that it had blown over. She couldn't take her friend hurt, the other in danger and Shane being mad at her. She needed him to tell her it would be okay.

And that's exactly what he did.

After a few minutes of Claire being held comfortably in Shane's arms, Shane sighed, "Guess we better go tell Alucard. He'll need to do double time watchman duty."

"I've already heard," Said Alucard as he entered the room, "I apologize, Ms. Danvers, but it would seem we must go into hiding once again."

"What? No!" Claire exclaimed.

Shane took a hold of her shoulders to face him, "Claire, he'll find us, we have to go."

"No," she answered in a calm voice.

"Ms. Danvers, we don't have a choice." Alucard asserted.

Claire took a deep breath, her facial expression making evident that she was deep in thought, "Of course we do, and we can't just sit here while Brandon's on the loose. He's not going away until he gets me and we have to make sure he's gone for good."

"Right," Shane scoffed, "So how do you plan we do that?"

"Hit him head-on, give him what he wants."

Shane immediately tensed, "No, you have got to be shitting me, Claire. Absolutely not."

Now he was getting angry, but Claire didn't care. Brandon wasn't going away, so she would fight. Brandon would think he would finally get the chance to kill Claire, but she'd just be a decoy, a distraction. Then they could stab him in the back, literally.

"Actually, I think she's onto something," Alucard stated.

"WHAT?" Shane exploded.

Alucard proved that his train of thought was the same as Claire's, "If Brandon thinks he's getting what he wants, that we're giving up on her protection and he can get a hold of her, that's all the allure we need to capture him and end him once and for all."

"You have got to be kidding me." Shane mumbled, tuning the conversation out.

Alright, on time this week! Well, Claire is...well, being Claire. Hope you liked :)