I'd like to apologize immensely for getting a dear reader in trouble and receive a detention. Never in my life would I think my writing would get someone in trouble for a silly romantic moment. I blame the media.

Oh, I'm a sham! Years of academy training, WASTED!

I'm kidding. ;)

You people are absolutely crazy! You know how scary this snow is here? It makes Russia look like a playground for preschoolers! I live in an area Jack Frost likes to decimate with his blizzards. At least I don't live in God's etch-a-sketch (that would be California).

Alright, enough jibber jabber. Let's continue!

Chapter 12

Apparently Alice must've had a talking to with Sadie about breaking promises because the following morning Sadie came up to me with those big, sad blue eyes and gave me a hug. I knew she's a hugger, but it was hard to get one when my legs were propped up on the table and my arms folded.

"Sorry for telling North, Pitch," she mumbled from my shoulder, "I was just excited...and I didn't realize that I was breaking a rule. I didn't mean to hurt you, and I'm sorry."

I looked up at Alice, who gave a small, encouraging smile and a nod of her head. She knew I wasn't touchy like Sadie was, who clearly wanted a hug back and comforting words that she was forgiven. I finally wrapped an arm around her shoulder and brushed back some hair from Sadie's face so she could look at me.

"I accept your apology. Just know that...you know, what's going on is kind of forbidden." I said seriously.

"Why? Is North jealous?" she asked, and I assume she meant it genuinely but I couldn't help but laugh at that. Even Alice had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter so her sister wouldn't be offended.

"No, it's definitely not that," I said finally, "It's just that spirits aren't allowed to...you know, develop close bonds with humans. Friendwise, it's alright, but anything more is a big no-no."

"Why?" Sadie asked, looking down at her hands.

God, she's like a five year old. I have to give her credit for being curious, though. It shows interest as well as genuine wonder, which was valuable in children…

Don't tell North I said that.

Honestly I couldn't really explain the whole tale of Cupid and his many loves that birthed superhuman children that were later titled witches and wizards, because then she'll wonder how that happened, and believe me, I do not want to tell her how babies are made. That's Alice's job as the sister and guardian. And knowing me, I wouldn't even be able to finish a sentence properly that starts with "When a man and woman". Words like 'love' and such are hard for me to say...mostly because it's been ages since I've freely expressed it...hope Alice doesn't mind that.

"It's just one of those rules I have to follow." I finally said, bumping her nose.

She raised a brow, "But you're not. You're breaking it, aren't you?"

I'm a badass Boogeyman, that's why. Stop questioning my ultimate genius.

Damn, I wish I could've said that. That would've made Alice laugh.

"Yeah, and it's because I find that rule stupid. Don't you?"

"Totally."

I smirked and ruffled her head, making her giggle. "You're pretty smart for a kid."

"Hey!" she pouted.

That made Alice laugh again, and she had to turn around so Sadie wouldn't think Alice was making fun of her. When Sadie returned to the fold-out table with her breakfast near the couch to finish her cartoon show, I got up to check if Alice was okay. I rested my hand on her back, holding back a grin.

"You alright?" I asked, noticing her pink face.

"Pfft! Y-yeah!" she choked out, "I'm sorry, you two just are so damn funny."

"Well, I tend to please." I brushed my hand against my chest before admiring my nails, and that caused her to snort. I looked at her, and started roaring out loud with laughter seeing her widened eyes at the noise she made. She covered her mouth and nose in shock at the snort she made while laughing, making her look even more adorable than usual.

I enveloped her in a hug and rested my chin on the top of her head, hearing her giggle happily.

"You're weird, Alice." I laughed softly, looking down at her.

"Look who's talking." she grinned back.

Bad timing. Usually I'm very good with timing, but I damn well wanted that kiss again. But I happened to kiss her right when Sadie looked behind to see why I was laughing. And the next sound I heard while kissing Alice was high pitched, absolute screaming of joy. It scared me so badly I jumped, and even Alice had to hold back a scream of terror from the sudden noise.

Surprisingly, it was Sadie.

"You guys are kissing! You're dating now!" Sadie cheered, jumping around on the couch.

Immediately Alice locked into sister mode, which of course made me grin like a fool. "Sadie Angela Xaviers, don't jump around on the couch! You'll knock over something!"

Sure enough, she did. Her foot high kicked into the air while jumping in glee and it knocked over the fold-out table her toast and eggs were on, and the plastic plate skittered across the floor with the eggs spilling everywhere, also making the toast splat against the side of the couch.

She still was excited as a jitterbug when she got ready for school and boarded her bus, happy as can be with a huge smile on her face and her blue eyes sparkling. Alice had that same sparkle when she was happy as well. Good to know that runs in the family. Maybe our childr-Nope. Not finishing that thought. That's a huge landmine not to cross. We are not discussing that topic. No thank you.

But after that, the happy moment kind of ended Around noontime, Alice later checked her mail that was sitting in her mailbox for a while now and saw that a letter from the bookstore she worked at was placed in there, despite spelling her name incorrectly by missing a vowel. Immediately her smile fell and her eyes darkened with concern, and that made me realize the situation.

When we were frantically looking for Sadie, she caused a disturbance at the bookstore and clocked out way before her shift ended. And I...well, kinda incapacitated her boss, so to speak. So something told me that this wasn't those weekly paychecks that every employee looked forward to.

She tore open the envelope and with shaking hands, opened the letter. Her eyes were dashing over every single word, and her expression grew sadder and sadder as she mumbled out the letter under her breath.

"Dear Alice Xaviers. Your employment at Book Den East has been officially terminated due to lack of attendance and disturbance of the facility-"

Immediately she crumpled to the ground, her head in her hands and crumpling the paper in her fist. I bent down next to her and rubbed her back, hearing her tiny sobs at the harshness in the letter.

"I'm sorry...it's my fault." I whispered, cradling her into a hug.

Her hands grappled at the fabric on my back in a desperate hug, her tears melding into my skin. "It isn't your fault, you did the right thing coming to get me. It's mine for not being careful...Oh God, what will I do now? This is the third job I've lost. I'm just not good enough for anything! I can't use my major or even my minor from college for anything around here. We're gonna lose the house and Sadie will have to stop school and-!"

"Hey, hush. Hush, now," I pulled a bit back from her to look her into her eyes, rubbing away a few tears, "That's not going to happen, Alice. You have the insurance for another hundred eighty days, and your last paycheck that could keep the house for a few more months."

"But knowing that I'm jobless isn't going to make me see that as a good thing, Pitch. I need a job in order to feel like I'm contributing to this family. I have to. I'm not going to let my grandmother pay for all our stuff even if she said she wanted to."

"I love how you think of others," I smiled, but then became serious when I saw she wasn't ready to discuss that just yet, "Do you have any idea what you could do? What jobs have you had?"

Alice thought for a minute, "Besides this? I was a cashier at Starbucks and then I worked at a daycare. I wanted to go into journalism but the paper company wasn't hiring. They turned me away because I haven't been involved with the community."

"Haven't you now? You've done three jobs and you support yourself and your sister. That's something that they should consider." I tried giving her hope on that idea, but she shook it off quickly and with a heavy heart.

"The newspaper only does website and paper prints now, what good will I be? I don't have experience in working in an office or even talking to a group of people. I get so shy and anxious around those large groups I'll just end up failing again."

"Keep thinking like that and you will," I said sternly, "I know that even if you're a shy person, you've got a big heart and you're dedicated to your work as well as the people around you. You've got a great attention to detail and you're careful, as well as the most patient person I've probably ever met."

Alice blinked, blushing a bit in an adorable shade of pink at my choice of words that honestly poured from my mouth. Even I was surprised by that burst of passionate faith in her...I was so used to keeping those thoughts inside, it felt weird saying them out loud.

"I should at least try….right?" it came out more as an unsure question than an attempt at confidence.

"There you go." I grinned, causing her to give a meek smile back. I touched her cheek, soft like the petals of a rose. She laughed softly, touching my fingers back.

So that was that, Alice knew what she had to do. The whole time Sadie was in school, Alice filled out an application and left to go for the job interview. Within those few hours, I thought I should at least reward her for her bravery to venture back out there, unscathed. She was the strongest person I've ever met, and fully deserved it.

I was getting soft, you could clearly see that. This one single person was making me feel more human than ever, a gift not every spirit gets to enjoy once more. They never got the chance to embrace someone they loved, laugh along with them and kiss them with full fervor.

Think about it. In all fairy tales and legends, the villain gets nothing in the end. Not even a second chance.

I'm breaking that rule. I'm breaking so many at once that I feel empowered just thinking about it.

I felt so high off of those thoughts, so encouraged I could almost feel music ebb and flow through me. My face hurt from all this nonsensical smiling. The ultimate feeling of victory was nothing compared to the emotion of knowing that you were loved, or that someone out there cared so much for you. I've finally known what that feels like, and I'm damn well happy about it. I know I don't sound like myself, but that was what I was feeling.

What was I supposed to do with this energy built up inside me? Just let it bubble up inside until I burst? I've never felt this elated before. I didn't know what to do with it.

So I danced.

I danced to music in my head that became real to my ears. My feet carried me to the rhythm, my arms swinging out to feel the passing air between my fingers as I closed my eyes and just let it all out. The only thought I had at that moment was that I was sure glad the Guardians couldn't see me now, for they would think I was an absolute lunatic. Even I thought I looked ridiculous when I jumped by a mirror near the front door. That stupid smile in my face was plastered on as if someone glued it there, and my eyes crinkled in glee, a physical expression I've never seen before on myself.

Before I knew it, Sadie beat Alice home, and by that time I haven't even finished getting all that dancing out. Thank God she didn't see me dancing on the table. I jumped back down before she turned around and saw me.

I felt like a boy again.

"Welcome home, girl." I said, trying to make sure she wouldn't hear me panting.

"Hiya, Pitch," she smiled up at me before taking her knitted hat off, "What did you do while I was gone?"

I opened my mouth, unable to come up with an excuse other than the honest truth that I was being really out of character. She looked over at the old radio near the television, noticing it was on and playing one of Alice's CDs. She grinned and looked back at me, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Were you dancing by yourself?" she giggled. I knew she thought the idea was strange.

I folded my arms and stared at her hard, daring her to laugh more. "What if I was?"

"Can I dance with you?" she grinned bouncing up and down, "We're learning how to dance in gym class and one of my homework assignments is to learn a type of dance and teach it to the class!"

I raised a brow, surprised at that. They sure were teaching kids weird things these days. Dance lessons were so far fetched in the schooling system, or so I thought. I thought school would just teach basic things like writing, science, mathematics and language. But I guess there's more to it than I thought. I wouldn't know, the school I went to was just a military school among the stars, and the only things I learned besides honing my battle skills was astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, and linguistics.

I slowly nodded, unsure if she would take this seriously. "I suppose so. What did you have in mind?"

"Something fast! Something really fun from a while ago!" Sadie jumped up and down, bouncing towards the large space in the center of the living room.

"Alright, you ever heard of the Charleston?" I asked, folding my arms.

She raised a brow, "Is that a type of hamburger meal?"

That's a no. A big fat no.

I snorted, finding it oddly amusing, "No, it's a dance from the 1920's."

Sadie widened her eyes, shocked. "Whoa! They danced back then? That's ages ago!"

"Sadie, dancing was around ever since humans walked the Earth. You ready to learn the Charleston?"

Sadie excitedly nodded and ran over to the CD collection under the radio. "Daddy got some stuff from Grampa that were from the 1920's so we could use those!"

"Good." I nodded, shaking my arms and walking behind her.

I haven't danced the Charleston in a while, probably since the dance died out. Other dance moves came and gone, and I had other matters to deal with than be occupied with dancing. But now that I actually have a legitimate reason to do so, I might as well try it out one last time.

Once the music started, Sadie started bobbing her head left and right to the beat. She looked like a bird looking for worms. It was oddly funny, but I made her stop.

"The first thing is that this, you don't move your head like that. Just smile like you just, I dunno, ate the best ice cream sandwich ever."

"I love ice cream sandwiches!" she beamed, and I pointed to her mouth to show her that's exactly the smile she had to have.

"Kinda creepy but it'll do," I smirked, "Now start dancing how you think you should."

So she did. After a couple of lessons, she seemed to get the hang of it, just the basics of the Charleston. Sadie even added a bit of her own dance moves into it, which was a normal thing to do back in the day and probably even now. I don't know much of dancing, but I knew enough to help Sadie with her homework.

"Your legs are too stiff. Let them swing out, like you're kicking the dirty clothes off your floor." I said, showing her how to kick.

"Is that your way of telling me to clean my room?" Sadie said through pants as she danced faster, keeping up with me.

"Yes. It's filthy in there. Speed it up, child!"

And there she went like a bullet, as if she was a rabbit was on a running wheel. Her legs were a blur, dancing so fast her grin grew wider and she had to throw her arms everywhere so she would balance herself and not kick anything over like I was.

I heard the front door open and close, and then an amused snort. I looked up and immediately stopped, my face flushing at being caught dancing. Alice's amused smile made her eyes look bright, as if she witnessed the happiest and funniest moment ever. She put down her phone on the counter and then put her hands in her pockets, watching Sadie continue to dance like a maniac.

"Should I ask?" she questioned, raising a brow.

I grinned, willing to stop dancing and go over to her. I felt like a kid seeing her...which is a very strange emotion. I felt younger, and I didn't like having her be so far for a long time. She smiled wider as I enveloped her in a hug and kissed her forehead, touching my nose with hers.

"Homework." I murmured before kissing her nose.

"Seriously? That's quite an assignment." she laughed, touching my face lovingly.

"Hey, Alice! Watch this!" Sadie called, getting both of our attention.

While keeping her legs moving fast, she pulled them together like a vice and spun around twice, but had to spread her legs wide to stop herself and balance. Her wide eyes and spinning head clearly meant she got dizzy from that.

"Nice job, Sadie. Don't hurt yourself or make yourself sick. The last time you danced like that you knocked over the kitchen table." Alice rolled her eyes, heading towards the kitchen for a snack.

"She's a maniac." I chuckled, shaking my head.

Alice opened the door of the refrigerator and peered past the milk and orange juice bottles, hoping to find some mid afternoon snack. She leaned back up, a puzzled look written in her face as she said aloud, "That's funny. I don't remember making quiche."

I froze, hoping she wouldn't think it was me. When she looked at me I looked away back at Sadie to make sure she wasn't getting close to the television and accidentally smash it.

Later that night when Sadie was in her room playing with her dolls and puzzles, the radio still played, but it sang a song I haven't heard in many, many years.

La Vie En Rose.

It got Alice's attention, too. Her hips started swaying to the music as she finished washing dishes at the sink. I smiled and slowly came up behind her, wanting a dance. I heard her hum happily when I touched her shoulder and then held her hips, swaying with her. Her face turned towards mine, looking at peace.

"I find it odd how you know this." I murmured, turning her away from the sink and pulling her close.

"What, a girl like me can't enjoy the oldies?" she laughed softly, holding my shoulders.

There was a warm silence between us when we danced, eyes closed and enjoying each other's closeness. I could feel her light-as-a-feather breathing on my collar bone. Such pleasures like this should be cherished, for not everyone got to enjoy them like I have. All that longing and yearning was worth the wait, because it matched higher to what I thought it would feel like. It made my heart rate speed up and my fingers tingle. Is this what love feels like? All those books I read to pass the time in the lair were right?

"What are you thinking about?" her whispered question drew out in the stillness after the song ended.

I looked down at her, unable to say clear words. She gave a soft smile, waiting for a response.

I didn't think I would make it this far.

"I'm glad I have you." I smiled, and she blushed back with a goofy grin.