"Sebastian…" A soft voice whispers to me.

I've had this dream before; it feels so real and vivid as I can even smell the sweet perfume of his shampoo. The early morning light hits the lids of my eyes but I keep them closed and I can feel something heavy wrapped in my arms.

"Sebastian, hey…" He calls out again, summoning me to open my eyes. No, I know how this dream ends and I don't want to comply, I just want to hold on to you and this feeling a little longer, just in case – like all the other times – you're not here. However, I can feel his breath on me; it's moist and hot on my neck as he squirms to shift himself up to my ear. "Hey, Sebastian." Ciel repeats firmly and I finally let my eyes slowly start to open into narrow slits as I see him.

"Hm?" I hum softly as I shift and adjust myself, still holding on to him tightly. I keep my eyes narrow as they scan him. Ciels' head is under my chin but lifted up so he can whisper to me and I can see his lips, parted, wet and inviting.

"Are you awake? It's morning." He keeps his tone firm and yet it's so velvety soft, almost comforting.

"Yes young master, I am awake." I yawn slightly.

"Good." He replies sweetly. I now realize I am laying on my side, cradling him tightly but he doesn't move, he doesn't budge or stir – he just stays here, cuddled into my arms as they envelope him. After a moment, he maneuvers and nuzzles himself deeper into me for comfort.

I'm in dangerous territory here, having him so close to me. I have to use all of my strength not to lift his chin and kiss him and that's the tamest thing I'm thinking about. Instead, I roll my head over to the side and glance over my shoulder towards the clock on the bedside table; it's 8:15.

"We'd better get up; you'll be late for school." I suggest.

"I'm still tired," He whines as he wraps his arms around me. "Can't I stay here just a little longer?" Very dangerous territory, I think to myself.

"I'm sorry but you can't, you'll already be late as it is."

He groans and holds himself so close against my body.

"But it's warm here."

Very, very dangerous territory. What are you doing to me Ciel? Why are you torturing me like this? I have to get out this and fast.

"Young master, I would be remise of my duties if I just let you stay here all day and miss school."

"Who will know?"

"Your Aunts for one, I'm sure Miss Lizzie will report back to your Aunt Francis that you weren't there."

"You're not scared of her are you?"

"Well, she is terrifying." I joke and I can feel his lithe body tremble and quake slightly with a muted chuckle.

"All right, you win, I'll go to school." He sighs as he lets go of me, rolls over to the side and out of my arms. They feel empty, vacant and weightless with a sense of loss as he gets out of bed.

I sit up and stretch out as he pads over towards the bathroom door. He wavers a moment before going in. I feel his eyes still on me and I turn my head towards him, noticing he's standing still, glaring at me.

"Yes young master?"

"Um," He hesitates as he continues to look at me. It's like he wishes to say something but for some reason, cannot. Finally, he dips his head slightly and smiles wryly. "You snore," He states. "You should really get that looked at."

"I don't snore."

"You only think you don't because you can't hear yourself but believe me, you snore." He smiles genuinely as he goes into the bathroom and shuts the door.

I don't know why but something tells me that wasn't all he wanted to say.

…

"Um, where do these go?" She holds out a large stack of bone china plates in her hands, the exact match of plates I had to replace last week as she had collected them from the dishwasher and subsequently dropped them – shattering all but a few lucky ones.

I reach over and quickly grab them from her, sitting them down on the countertop.

"Mey-Rin, please, to avoid what happened last week, wouldn't it be best if you took them a few at a time?" I suggest as calmly as possible. She adjusts her glasses and nods. "Excellent," I smile as she takes a few at a time and awaits her next piece of instruction. "They go in the cabinet by the kitchen table."

"Okay," She grins broadly as she haphazardly carries the plates to the cabinet.

"Sebastian!" A young man bursts through the back door, charging towards me.

"Finnian, please don't shout when you're indoors, especially as the young master is napping."

"Oh, you're right." He apologizes as he enters the kitchen with his arms full of flowers. "Where should I put these?" He asks as I scan the bouquet, which looks like it's been pulled straight from the ground – roots and all. I usher him over to the table quickly to stop him from dropping dirt on the freshly polished floors.

"Here, you can put them on the table."

"Thank you," He beams brightly as he lays them out. I'm almost pretty sure I'm going to have to check the back garden to survey the inevitable damage. Finnian can be… well, let's just say a tad rough with the foliage but then again, it isn't completely his fault.

I hand him a pair of ordinary scissors to trim the bottoms of the flowers and go to look for a vase to put them in, however, as I do so, I can see a billowing plume of black smoke out of the corner of my eyes and I know that it's coming from the kitchen.

I exhale loudly as I quickly stride back into the main kitchen area. Upon entering, I see our new chef pulling out a tray of very burnt, well; I'm not sure what it is.

"Bardroy, what happened in here?" I wonder as he rubs the back of his neck.

"Well you see, I was trying to caramelize the crème brûlée and me blow torch weren't working so-"

"So you put it in the oven on high?" I conclude.

"Well, yeah."

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I try to keep from losing my already frayed temper.

It's been several weeks since they joined us but the new additions to the Phantomhive manor seem to be settling in nicely. Although, on the outside, it would seem these new servants are utterly useless and let's face it; they almost are but only as servants. When we hired them, Ciel and I had a plan.

Mey-Rin, although an utterly feckless maid, is actually a sniper – in fact, one of the best I've ever seen. I found her on the job; she was perched on a rooftop and aiming at her target. I watched her for a while, however, when it came time, she never took the shot. She had more than ample opportunity but she simply failed to pull the trigger.

I have seen her work before. She is well known and revered in our industry for being cold and callous when it comes to a kill. However, when I watched her, she appeared like a completely different person. Like she was only a myth or legend, as the actuality didn't add up – it seemed as though she didn't want to make the kill. As she hesitated, I took the opportunity to introduce myself and offer her another job, a better one, which she agreed to, no questions asked.

As a maid, we didn't take into account her poor vision. Her far distance sight is outstanding but her nearsightedness is appalling. I don't think the prescription in the glasses she wears is accurate but she refuses to change them. In any case, when she wears them, she is clumsy and a safety hazard as her klutziness causes her to collide into almost everything and break things - even those fastened down. With that being said, she is charming and sweet and Ciel seems to have taken a liking to her.

Bardroy was even easier to find. A former soldier for Her Majesty's Armed Forces, his forte is guns and explosives. One day, when serving in Afghanistan, insurgents set upon his company whilst on maneuvers – they never stood a chance. All but Bard were slaughtered in combat. To this very day, he is unsure of how he survived but he did.

Coming home, he was given a hero's welcome but what happened marred him. He just couldn't function in civilian life and thus fell in with the underground, which is where we found him, making explosives for a rival Family we had eradicated. Having no real loyalty to the previous Family and needing a new job, we wasted no time in taking him on.

He's not particularly good at cooking but then again, neither was I until I learned. Bard has a nasty habit of setting things on fire, I don't know exactly how he does it but I make sure there is always a fire extinguisher close to hand. However combustible he appears to be, he is teachable and completely willing to learn.

Finnian is the name Ciel gave our new gardener and we found him quite randomly. He was being held as a test subject for an experiment in a laboratory in Amersham. I'm unsure of the complete details of what went on in there, and he certainly won't say, but I do know the government ran the laboratory and it was lethal doses of steroids that they had been injecting into their test subjects.

When we found Finnian, he was bald, covered in someone else's blood and had a barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. He couldn't remember who he was or where he was from but we knew that he had a kind demeanor about him and he was strong. From that moment, Ciel called him Finnian and asked if he wanted to work for him, to which he gladly accepted.

Finnian is strange, instead of the monetary incentive like the others, he just wanted a simple job where he could spend the majority of his time outside, which we could grant him and thus our gardener was created. Through the injections, his strength knows no bounds and he barely knows how to control it, which is pity for the plants as he could probably up root a tree, if he really wanted.

As servants, they are trainable – even I had to learn – but in their respective fields, they are the best. I have no doubt that they will fulfill their duties well as Phantomhive servants.

I look around the room and see everything seems to be working in an orderly fashion now. Mey-Rin has started to get everything ready to set the main dining room table. She lays out the silverware and runs a cloth over them to make sure they are sparkling.

Finnian has trimmed the flowers from the garden and neatly arranged them in a cream colored vase. Collecting it, he starts to move it into the dining room and sits it down in the middle of the table. Bard is diligently slicing and dicing up vegetables as he sets to work with dinner preparations.

I am over to the side, filling up a teapot with hot water as I prepare a tray for Ciels' afternoon tea. I let it steep for a moment as I sit everything onto the silver trolley.

"I'm just going to wake the young master," I announce to them and each of them nods their acknowledgement. "Please try not to level the place whilst I'm gone." I smile as I start to push the trolley out of the kitchen.

…

Making my way down the hallway, I stop at Ciels' bedroom door. Normally, I can hear him having a nightmare of sorts but there was nothing but silence on the other side. This is curious; I hesitate just before I knock and I enter.

Poking my head through the crack, my eyes scan the room and he's lying on the bed, perfectly still with his eyes closed. Pushing the trolley into the room, I place it to the side by the desk as I walk over towards the bed, standing right next to him. This is the first time I have seen him so serene I almost don't wish to wake him. I smile to myself as I think it would be best to let him sleep just a little longer, especially as he looks so peaceful.

As I turn to leave quietly, a hand reaches out grabbing on to the tail of my coat and stops me. With a sharp tug, it pulls me back over to the bed and I stumble back, sitting down on the edge. I stay here for a moment and as I do, he turns over to his side and curls his body around me.

"I couldn't sleep," He yawns.

"Oh?"

"No. Could you sit here with me for a while?" He requests.

"Yes young master, I will sit here with you but only for a short while, I really have to get back to dinner preparations with the other servants."

"How are they getting on?" He asks as he nuzzles his face into my back.

"Adequately," I sigh, sitting motionless.

"Well, that's good enough for the time being."

"It'll have to be," I mutter.

He hums and squeezes me tighter around my waist. What are you doing Ciel? Do you even know? Do you understand your actions and how they affect me? It feels as though he's using me for comfort, like a security blanket but I don't know how much more I can stand. However, I don't move, I just sit perfectly still. I feel him go heavy against me as he starts to relax. I gently stroke his arms as I think quietly to myself, for the first time I'm stuck; I don't know what to do.

A peaceful quiet descends upon us as he lies against me and I continue to stroke him, comfortingly.

"Undertaker," He mumbles as he breaks our silence.

"Hm?"

"We'll see Undertaker tomorrow."

"If you wish."

He goes quiet for a brief moment and then wraps himself snugly against me.

"Sebastian?" He speaks, albeit, weakly.

"Yes young master?"

"Do you still promise to protect me, no matter what?" He asks. What a strange question.

"As per the terms of our contract, my life is yours." I state reassuringly.

"That's not... never mind." He exhales softly as I feel him fidget behind me.

"Please, tell me what you mean?" I implore, as I know he wants to say something to me but it seems he just can't.

"No, I'm sorry I brought it up." He quickly dismisses and I frown, for someone so eloquent, he can't seem to find the words he wants to say.

I decide to take matters into my own hands and say something I think will reassure him.

"Ciel, as I've said to you before, I belong to you. I am your pawn, you can move me however you see fit. That means that I will not do anything without your instruction."

"I know," He replies and I nod.

"Then you know that I won't do anything unless you want me to. Do you understand?" I glance over my shoulder to see him looking away.

"I understand," He murmurs.

"You have to want me to." I whisper aloud to him, completely without thinking. That isn't what I wanted to say, not in those words but he holds me tighter in response. I turn slightly to face him as his eyes roll over to mine and they lock without hesitation.

My thoughts and words drain from me as he just stares. I can see he wants to say something more but as his lips part to speak, there is a soft knock on the door.

"Mister Sebastian, Sir? I'm sorry to interrupt but you're needed in the kitchen." Mey-Rin calls out from the other side. Ciel instantly lets me go and starts to sit up. I almost leap up off of the bed, startled like a rabbit in the headlights. I go over to the tray of tea by the desk as Mey-Rin knocks again. Ciel quickly reaches over to his bedside table and grabs his eye patch, placing it over his right eye.

"Come in," He calls back to her, finishing the last loop of the strings and the door slowly opens. She looks straight at me and blushes.

"Pardon the interruption young master but Bard requires some assistance in the kitchen."

"He didn't set it on fire again did he?" Ciel smiles wearily.

"Not this time, no." She grins.

"Well I suppose you should go and assist him Sebastian." He instructs me as I hand him a small plate with a piece of chocolate cake on it.

"You don't need me for anything else?" I inquire, hoping he asks me to stay but instead, he shakes his head.

"No. I don't need you for anything." He replies flatly and my heart sinks but I smile through my disappointment.

"Well then, if you'll excuse me." I bow slightly and follow Mey-Rin out of the room; I can feel his gaze on me as I leave.