Author's note: Ok I really like this chapter and how it turned out. You get to see Xav and Ireland's relationship get off to a bit of a shaky start and then in the second scene you see it developing a lot more and the two of them getting closer. You'll see more of that in the next couple chapters as well.

(there's also an author's note at the end of the chapter to talk about something)

21st November 2013

The past few days had passed uneventfully and frankly, Ireland was getting bored. Uriel worked long hours at the zoo and Xav spent his days either at lectures (apparently her dear soulfinder was the college kind of guy) or at the hospital he volunteered and trained at. This left Ireland stuck at home in the apartment on her own all day long with nothing to do.

Considering she was trying to get on the Benedict family's good side, starting with Xav and Uriel, she was on her best behaviour. Her best behaviour for this situation meant being a good little domesticated soulfinder. She'd got into the routine of sleeping in until around one in the afternoon, getting up and cleaning the whole apartment, and by the time the brothers got home she was cooking them dinner and acting like she couldn't be happier. Why wouldn't she be happy? Who didn't want to spend their time cooking and cleaning for two insufferable bastards that didn't even sound sincere when they thanked her for it? It wasn't like doing all this for them made her want to kill somebody. Obviously not. She just loved it. It was a dream come true to be acting like the perfect housewife.

Maybe she should just kill herself instead. If the boredom didn't strike her down first, of course.

When she woke up today, she immediately knew that something was different. It took her brain a short moment to wake up fully and register the sound of the TV coming from the living room. Looking at the clock on her beside table, she saw that it said one-thirty pm.

With a tired groan, she pulled herself out of bed and changed out of her pyjamas and into some grey skinny jeans and a dark blue tee. Xav had given her some money to go clothes shopping yesterday after she'd moaned about wearing guy's clothes, which she grudgingly admitted she was thankful for. She quickly brushed her hair and stuck a plain black headband on to keep it out of her face, deciding that she was presentable enough to face whoever was out there. It was probably just Xav or Uriel home early from work, she was guessing.

When she walked out into the living room and saw what was sat on the sofa, Ireland stopped walking and stared, disgusted.

"What. The hell. Is that." She spoke, her words flat and not even sounding like the question they were.

The thing looked away from the TV and up at Ireland, its grey eyes curious as it tilted its head and smiled. It had dimples in its cheeks. Fucking dimples. It made Ireland's expression turn into an even worse grimace. The thing spoke. "I'm Gracie. I'm ten. Who are you? Are you uncle Xav's girlfriend?" She giggled.

"Oh you're finally up," came Xav's voice as he walked into the living room from the kitchen, phone in hand. "Ireland, this is my niece Gracie. Gracie, this is Ireland." He introduced them before directing his words to Ireland only. "Gracie wasn't feeling too well and the rest of my family are either at work or busy. I have no more lectures this afternoon so I picked her up from school. She's staying here until about half four when my sister-in-law can pick her up."

"And your brother, whichever one is her dad, is fine with this?" Ireland raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "I would have thought they wouldn't let a child anywhere near me. They all hate me, after all."

"Do you blame them?" He retorted, raising his own eyebrows to mirror her. "Besides, Trace – the eldest, the cop, her dad – said that he doesn't like it but trusts me to keep Gracie safe from the likes of you."

Ireland's expression fell and she looked back at Xav, knowing her eyes were betraying her and revealing how his words had affected her. God, the look wasn't even fake and she hated that. She hated that his words had got to her. Why had she let him get to her?! "'The likes of me'?" She replied, voice shakier than she wanted it to be. "What's that supposed to mean? Actually you know what, never mind. Don't answer that. I forgot that it's impossible for people to change."

"Ireland-"

"Oops." Gracie's voice interrupted whatever Xav was going to say. Ireland doubted he was about to apologize. She didn't want his damn apology, anyway.

Xav and Ireland both looked over at Gracie and saw her looking at the floor where she'd dropped her plastic cup and spilt blackcurrant juice all over the white rug. The very same utterly white rug that Ireland had spent at least half an hour each day on making sure it was spotless. Oh, that was the last straw.

Her anger over everything – everything – boiled to the surface and she shot the girl on the sofa a hateful glare. "You have got to be kidding me," she hissed. "Do you know how hard it is to get juice out of a rug? I spent so long making sure that was clean and you just ruined all of my efforts!" The girl shrank into herself under Ireland's stare, tears filling her eyes as she refused to meet Ireland's eyes, terrified. "You stupid girl, I'm going to-"

"Ireland!" Xav stopped her with a shout, grabbing her arm tightly and dragging her into the kitchen. Ireland could have fought his grip but she allowed him to get her away from the kid before she did something Xav would never forgive her for. He slammed the door behind them and returned Ireland's angry glare, folding his arms across his chest. He towered over her, more furious than she had ever seen him before. Xav this angry was a side of him that she didn't like at all.

"How dare you," he said in a controlled voice; she could still hear the tenseness though. "How dare you talk to her like that. She is not your relative, not your niece, and she never will be. You're a stranger to her and if I have anything to do with it, that's how it will always be. You have no right to have a go at her like that. I don't give a shit about the rug, it was an accident." Before letting her get a word in, he pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed in deeply as if trying to calm himself down. It seemed to work.

"Just..." He spoke, sounding more tired than anything else now. "Just stay in here while I go and see to Gracie. I'll clean the rug and if the stain doesn't come out, we'll just get a bloody new one. Okay? Stay in here."

For once, Ireland did as she was told without any ulterior motives in her head. She didn't want to admit to herself that it was a nice change to have everything be so simple.

When Georgie Benedict arrived at the apartment to pick her daughter up, Xav couldn't have been more glad after the afternoon they'd had. After the whole Ireland-Gracie fiasco, it had taken twenty minutes for Xav to get Gracie to stop crying. Then another fifteen minutes were spent cleaning and soaking the rug (thankfully, the stain came out). During this time, Ireland was sulking in the kitchen and refused to look at Xav when he walked in.

He didn't know where things had gone wrong between them. Sure, things hadn't been easy these past few days together, but they had been getting along and he had even found himself looking forward to coming home because he knew she would be there waiting for him. Even Uriel seemed to be more comfortable sitting in the same room as her, which was definitely an improvement. So he had no idea why she'd snapped today at Gracie. Surely it wasn't just over the rug? She'd been in a bad mood even before that by the looks of it. He had no idea what had got her so riled up.

Xav had eventually sat down on the sofa with Gracie. He'd been surprised when Ireland came in and joined them about ten minutes later, silently holding out a new cup of juice to Gracie as a peace offering. When Gracie accepted the drink, Ireland simply nodded once at her and sat down on the other side of Xav. They'd spent the rest of the afternoon watching stupid shows on the Disney Channel that Gracie apparently loved.

Now all three were stood at the door with Georgie. As Gracie pulled on her coat, Georgie asked, "are you feeling better now that you've spent the afternoon with uncle Xav?"

Gracie shook her head and coughed a cough that was so utterly fake. "No," she pouted. "I still feel really poorly, mum. I don't think I can go to school tomorrow."

"Nice try, kiddo," Xav laughed, patting Gracie on the shoulder. "She's fine, Georgie. She had a nice, relaxed afternoon with us."

Georgie nodded and smiled her thanks as Gracie moaned, "aw Uncle Xav! You suck!" Georgie rolled her eyes at her daughter before they cautiously drifted over to Ireland, giving her a once over. She looked back at Xav. "So, everything was really.. okay?"

"Absolutely," Xav nodded, trying his best to look as sincere as possible. "Tell Trace that he doesn't have to worry, Gracie's not in any danger as long as I'm here."

"We know that, Xav. But I don't think we'll be making a habit of you babysitting Gracie while this is all going on." Xav knew that what she really meant was 'while Ireland's here'. "Trace was already out of his mind with worry all day but he just couldn't get the time off work, everything's so hectic right now. Plus the savant side of law enforcement are trying to find Persephone Carter before anybody else does. Anyway... Thank you for having her, Xav. We really appreciate it. I'm glad she's feeling better now."

"Yeah I had fun, mum!" Gracie exclaimed, smiling excitedly. "Uncle Xav's girlfriend's real nice, she gave me juice! And uncle Xav and his girlfriend let me watch Hannah Montana and Shake It Up all day! When can I come back?!"

"You're welcome here any time, Gracie," Xav replied, smiling down fondly at his only niece. "But I'll see you this weekend at the party."

"Ooh, the party! I forgot it was grandad Saul's birthday!" She looked over at Ireland. "Will you be at the party, Ireland? It'll be sooo much fun, and you can meet my baby brother! He cries a lot but he's very pretty. He has the same eye colour as me. Daddy says that I should be nice to baby Mark. Oh and also-" Xav thought briefly that she never knew when to shut up "-I'm sorry you got upset about the rug. It was only an accident. But it's okay that you got upset, I got upset when Mark was sick on my favourite t-shirt and Daddy had to throw it away because it wouldn't get clean properly. I cried a lot that day, but don't tell uncle Zed because he'll just laugh at me."

By the time Georgie finally got Gracie to stop talking and had ushered her out of the door, Ireland looked speechless. Her amber eyes were wide and her cheeks were blushing a rosy pink colour – Xav never thought he'd see the day when Ireland Hawk blushed.

They made their way back over to the sofa, a Disney Channel show still playing on the TV. "You see," he said to her, angling his body slightly to face her better. "Gracie wasn't that bad, was she? She quickly forgave you for shouting, just like children do all the time. I'm still mad you got angry at her like that, I just don't know why you did." He spoke gently to her, hoping she'd talk to him.

Surprisingly, she did just that. She sighed. "I know, I'm really sorry about that," she admitted to him. "It's just that I've not really had much experience with kids. My little sister was only about four and a half years younger than me so there wasn't much of an age gap. And I never actually spent that much time with Quinn when she was really little because my dad had me training all the time. She was fourteen when she died, but quite mature so she didn't feel like a kid to me. And now, before I came here I mean, there were never any kids among the group. And if there were, I never interacted with them."

"So, you're not good with kids."

"I don't like them. They scare me," she said, not meeting his eyes with her confession.

Xav couldn't help himself: he started laughing out loud at her, only stopping when she smacked him in the chest and told him to shut up. Looking over, he saw a faint smile on her face and knew that she was also amused by the conversation. Once calm again he said, "children aren't scary. It's like with spiders – they're more afraid of us than we are of them."

"I just don't know how to act around them," she shrugged. "They're just so... Different. Take Gracie, for example. We were sat in silence with her because it was that awkward and we didn't know what to say to her. I think that's why I was in such a bad mood earlier; I just felt so awkward as soon as I saw her that I didn't let myself control my emotions like I usually do. I just don't understand kids. And don't even get me started on babies. I'd have no clue how to even start looking after a baby. Just the idea of a baby or a child relying on me for something, even if they're not my own child, freaks me out. I don't ever want children."

"I do," he replied easily. He wasn't treating this conversation like two soulfinders talking about the possibility of having children together in their future; he knew that was very unlikely. He was treating it like... Like two friends having a conversation about what they wanted from life.

"Yeah?"

He nodded. "I want the whole sha-bang. I want to be a doctor working in a great hospital, probably Denver. I like working here. Maybe even Seattle, I've heard that they have a good hospital. But I don't just want to be any doctor. I want to be an amazing one, a doctor with a fantastic reputation. One of those doctors that are so in demand and have people personally requesting him because they've heard he's so great at what he does. And I want to earn that fairly, not just by using my healing power.

"I want to be married. I want a happy marriage where me and my wife, whoever she may be, are madly in love and totally faithful to each other. The kind of marriage where you're always happy to go home to each other at the end of the day. A marriage like my parents' marriage. One that stays strong over the years no matter what.

"I want to be living in a big house with a big garden. Maybe a dog or two. And kids. I definitely want kids. I've always seen myself with a big family, not as big as my own. You know, I don't want seven children," he chuckled. "Maybe three. Or four. That'll do me just fine."

He looked up to meet her eyes and noticed that without realising it they had inched closer towards each other on the sofa so that they were sat side by side, their bodies pressed up against each other and their faces extremely close. "What about you?" He asked, his voice almost a whisper as he thought about how beautiful her eyes were. "What do you want out of your future?"

Ireland looked taken aback by his question and seemed to consider her answer for a good minute before she talked. When she did answer, there was only pure sincerity in her tone and Xav knew without a doubt that she was telling him the truth. It was the first time since they'd met that he hadn't wondered whether what she was telling him was a lie. "I guess I haven't really thought about it all that much," she finally answered. "My future's always been the same, set in stone before I was even born: to follow my dad, work with him, and eventually take over the business when he dies. To take on his goals for the future and have his enemies now be mine."

"But you're free of him now, Ireland," Xav pointed out. "That's no longer your future. No matter who your dad is, your future is yours. You're the one that can decide how you live your life and what decisions you make to shape your future. He doesn't have a hold on you anymore." He saw Ireland gulp and nod in agreement, taking in his words. "Think about it now, then. Now that your future can be anything you want it to be, what would you like?"

Again, she seriously thought about her answer. Xav could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she realised that he was right, that her future was her own and always had been. The whole time all she'd needed to do was to get free of her dad so she had nobody controlling her anymore.

"I think I'd like to be married," she finally said, quietly. "But I don't want to be a typical housewife. I think I'd drive myself crazy staying at home all the time, cooking and cleaning. I'd like it to be an equal partnership, you know? I don't know if I could actually get married, though. I'm not exactly the most trusting person and I'd have to be head over heels in love with the guy to even think about marrying him."

"Ok," Xav nodded. "That's a start. We've already established that you don't want kids. What about a career, a home? You said you were a trained dancer, would you like to do something with that?"

"I don't think so," she shook her head, smiling. "It's more of a hobby, to be honest. I could never do it as a career, it's too much of a competitive industry. I really have no idea what I want to do. I didn't go to school so I don't know what I'm good at. I don't even know what skills I have."

"Well you know how a criminal thinks," Xav smirked. "You could always work for the net, they always appreciate any help that people offer them."

"With me being a Hawk, I highly doubt that will happen. They wouldn't trust me, they'd never let me in or accept me. Just like your family won't," she added. "Of course I don't blame them, but it still hurts. I saw how your sister-in-law looked at me earlier. They'll never like me."

"They just don't know the real you. I still don't know the real you yet."

"I don't know the real me yet," she mumbled under her breath, but Xav heard her clearly.

"My family will learn to accept you over time," he tried to reassure her, hating the sad, lost look in her eyes. "Even if nothing ever comes of you and me, they'll have to deal with you for now, while you're here and getting your life sorted out. Look, just come to my dad's party on Saturday – it's not really a party, more of a family gathering to celebrate his birthday. My mum's cooking a meal. With you there, they can see for themselves that you're not the threat they all think you are. Or they'll at least see that you're nice enough and you're trying. It'll be a start, what do you say?"

"Your parents don't want me in their house, Xav. They made that blatantly clear."

"Don't worry about that," he brushed off her concerns. "I'll deal with that, they'll let you in. I promise."

A hint about the next chapter: It's Saul's birthday!

Author's note: Soooo what did you think? Did you like seeing young Gracie again? Where do you think Ireland and Xav's relationship is going to go? Please leave reviews with all your thoughts and opinions! :)

Also, in regards to Ireland talking about what she wants out of her future... You can find out what happens to her in Chapter 24 of Innocent Illusions. It DOES NOT spoil The Best Of You's ending, other than letting you know that obviously Ireland doesn't die or anything crazy like that. But if you do read the part in that chapter where it says what Ireland ends up doing, you may be surprised because it contradicts entirely what she said in this chapter. Buuut as this story goes on you'll get to see how Ireland went from the girl she is now to the girl she is as mentioned in I.I.

Oh and one last thing: I've started a new story called The Heartless Assassins. The summary talks about a character called Striker but it's still about the Benedict family mainly. Read chapter one and you'll understand ;)