A/N: Hello! It's time for another update on this story, after a rather long hiatus. This one's a bit short, but that's only because I have some serious writer's block. Thank you for all the support so far and I hope that this update helps secure that support. Please, enjoy!

OOOOOOOOO

"We're here," Dwayne said, pulling his motorcycle up to a familiar motel from his recent past.

Iona watched him slip off the motorcycle before looking up at the motel again. The place looked as dingy as this part of town was, but seemed to be free of the worst things in the world. There wasn't any graffiti staining the walls and she couldn't see any drug dealers lurking around or any of the prostitutes that came with the drug dealers. Nothing seemed dangerous about this place – the place that she'd be staying for who-knows-how-long.

"Home sweet home," she muttered, climbing off the motorcycle after him.

"I know it's not much," Dwayne said, lifting Iona's bag off of the back of the motorcycle. "But it's close enough to the cave and a little farther away from Max's place." He glanced over at her. "We could get you into a hotel tomorrow night, if you'd like. I could get the boys to scrounge up some more money in order to put you in a better place."

Iona shook her head. "It's fine, Dwayne, it's fine. I don't want to put you under any more pressure than I have to. I can live here for a bit and look for other places. Grandmother, she left me some money in the bank downtown. It's not a lot, but it could give me a start until I can land a better job."

"You're not going to dance anymore?"

"I don't think that I will," Iona told him, wrapping her arms around herself. "At least, not for a while. It hurts, you know? Thinking about how Grandmother Ruby taught me how to dance like our people has done and how she fitted me in the clothes that had been passed down through all the generations of my family." She blinked back a few tears. "I'll dance again, one day. Just for her, but not now. Not while it still hurts."

Dwayne nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist, escorting her to the motel's main office. A security guard sat at the desk, watching some late night show and smoking a thick cigar. Iona winced at the smell and stayed back near the door while Dwayne approached the man.

"One room," Dwayne said, looking down at the man.

The security guard belched and then looked at Dwayne. His eyes glanced past Dwayne at Iona and lit up with lust. "You getting yourself some action, Son?" he asked with a smirk. He reached around and pulled off a set of keys. "That'll be sixty for the night. Which is probably less than you have to pay to have that hot piece of ass in your bed tonight. I hope that she's worth it."

Iona rolled her eyes and turned away from the scene. She glanced out into the night sky and tried to calm her heart down. Tears stung her eyes when she remembered that she wouldn't be going home to her grandmother tonight or ever again. She'd only been away from her grandmother's house for a couple of weeks in her entire life, but always came back to Grandmother Ruby's smiling face and a batch of cookies.

Now I have no home to go back to, Iona thought glumly, brushing away the stray tears that fell from her eyes. Dwayne can keep me safe here, but I don't know if I trust the people that run this place. I'll have to look for another place to live until I figure out what I'm going to do with my life now.

"Iona," Dwayne said, drawing her attention back to him. He showed her the key in his hand. "Are you ready to go to your room?"

The gypsy dancer nodded and pushed herself away from the door frame, following Dwayne to the room that he'd rented for the night. Dwayne unlocked the door to reveal drab furniture and a lumpy bed. He dropped her bag on the floor next to the bed and took a slow, deep breath.

"No bedbugs," he commented when Iona gave him a quizzical look. He moved around the room, poking at things. "No cameras…" He peeked into the bathroom and nodded his head. "No cameras anywhere. You're safe from perverts," he assured her.

"Even Max?" Iona asked, watching him.

"For now, yes. We'll think of something to keep him away from you." Dwayne shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "I wouldn't be surprised if you don't stay here until sundown tomorrow. You could leave while we're all sleeping and go after your cousin."

Iona shook her head. "I can't go after Roma and Gage. I don't know where they went when they left. We promised that I wouldn't know because it would keep them safer in the event that I had someone poke around in my head." She sighed. "And I'm not going anywhere. I couldn't do that to you or Laddie or the others. This is my home. You guys are my home. I'm not running away."

She saw the small look of pleasure in Dwayne's eyes and was happy to see that her words brought him a small measure of happiness. Iona moved closer to the bed and kicked off her boots. The gypsy girl sat on the edge of the bed, bouncing lightly on the lumpy mattress. Her dark eyes watched Dwayne for a moment.

"Do you think that you could stay with me tonight?" she asked quietly. "I don't know if I can make it through the night on my own."

The vampire shook his head. "I can't stay. It's not that I don't want to, but I can't. Vampires, we have to be in a place where the sun could never touch us. And you don't want to see what we look like when we're sleeping." He tapped a finger against his cheek. "We slip into vampire mode when we're hanging out."

Iona pouted and pushed herself to her feet. "So I won't see you until nightfall?"

Dwayne nodded.

"So, you're going to be leaving me soon?" Iona guessed, knowing that it was getting really close to morning.

"I'll be back."

The gypsy pressed herself close to him and draped her arms around his neck. "You'd better be." She pressed a kiss to his lips before pulling back. "Tell the others that I'm grateful for what they're doing for me…I'll pay you all back somehow."

"We don't want anything in return," Dwayne told her, wincing when his brothers started thinking about ways that the gypsy dancer could pay them back for the generosity. "We just want you to be safe."

"Okay." Iona pressed another kiss to his lips. "I'll see you in the evening then."

OOOOOOOOO

Dwayne kissed her back before moving away from her. He backed towards the door, still watching her and knowing that he really wanted to stay with her. The feeling of the sun preparing its ascent told him that he didn't have the luxury of staying with the gypsy for even a couple hours. Shaking his head against the dangerous thoughts that flew past his mind's eye, Dwayne let himself out of the motel room and jumped down onto the parking lot below. Iona moved to watch him mount his bike and Dwayne could feel her gaze on his back as he left the motel's parking lot, putting her in his past.

The other Boys were still up when Dwayne made it to the hotel-cave, but Faith had already sent Laddie to bed for the morning. The redhead was perched on the arm of David's armchair-throne, watching Paul and Marko fly on the walls of the cave with their usual chaotic nonsense. They only paused for a moment when they realized that Dwayne was once more among them.

"Hey, Dwayne," Paul called out, standing on the wall. "How's your little dancer doing?"

"She's fine," Dwayne muttered.

"That she is," Marko commented from behind his thumb. "A very fine piece of ass." He let out a little noise when Faith threw a full beer can at his head. "Hey! I'm just saying a fact, Sis!"

Faith shot him a dark look before David's wandering hand grazed the inner side of her thigh earned her attention. She smacked David's hand away.

"Is she okay with the motel?" Faith asked, looking at Dwayne. "I mean, it's the not the best and David killed…" She shook her head. "We'll put her up in a hotel when we can."

"Why should she look for a hotel to stay in?" Paul asked, jumping from his perch on the wall. "Aren't you going to change her and make her part of this family?"

"The last thing she probably wants in the world right now is to become a vampire," Faith commented. "And can you blame her? Max destroyed her life and he's the vampire that her grandmother was tormented by for so many years. Why should she want to be a vampire now?"

David looked at Dwayne. "You do want her to become a vampire one day, don't you?"

Dwayne nodded slowly. Marko moved past the man, clapping a hand on Dwayne's shoulder briefly.

"You're going to bring another Sister into this group, man," Marko said, beaming. His gaze turned towards Paul. "Looks like we're going to have to find someone for ourselves, Paul."

Paul shook his head with a wicked grin. "Ain't no way in Hell that I'll settle for just one girl, bro. I'm too much man for just one girl. I need a dozen or so. Spread the love, you know?"
"It doesn't matter what I want right now," Dwayne said, watching Faith throw another beer can at the two wild blonds. "Iona just lost her grandmother to Max and she's lost her childhood home. Her life has been turned upside down and she needs time."

"Give her time then," David ordered softly. "But don't take too long, Dwayne. If you do, Max might do something that will drive a wedge between you and her." His hand squeezed Faith's arm. "And I don't want you to lose someone that makes your undead heart beat again."

"We love you," Faith said, looking at Dwayne. "And we want you to be happy. We want Iona to be happy and part of this family, but only by you and only by her choice." She offered him a small smile. "If she's really in love with you too, then there's nothing that will keep her away from you forever."

Dwayne's lips turned up at the corner in a half smile. "Thanks, Sis."

"Any time." Faith glanced towards the entrance to the cave. "We should be heading off to the sleeping chambers now. I can feel the sun coming up."

Paul and Marko pushed at each other and bolted off towards the chamber where they slept, laughing loudly and shouting profanities at each other. Faith stood up and waited for David to do the same. David wrapped his arm around Faith's waist before looking at his brother.

"Things are going to be okay, Dwayne," he promised. "We'll keep your gypsy dancer safe from Old Max and let her join the family. He won't touch her. Not while we're backing you up. Okay?"

Dwayne nodded. "Thanks, David."

The second oldest vampire watched David escort Faith to their private sleeping chamber of the cave. He stood there for a moment, thinking only about Iona and the possible future that they could have together.

Unless she decides to leave town before I can say anything to her about my feelings, Dwayne thought, slowly heading to the main sleeping chamber. God, I hope she stays and learns to forgive me.

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: What'd you think? I'm thinking that something good is going to happen in the next chapter. I think, I don't know because my mind isn't catching up to that part yet. Please leave a little message in the box and I'll try to get back to you. Thanks! -Scarlet