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The sudden introduction caught Fawn off guard. Nevertheless, she held out her hand, and Sheri shook it.



"Hello Fawn!" she said.



Fawn smiled.



"Hello." she said back, "So you're Carlos' special someone, huh?"



Carlos turned pink. He gently tugged Sheri away.



"Well, call me if you need me. We're going to go hang out for a bit."



"Alright." said Fawn sleepily.



Just as Carlos turned to leave, she grabbed hold of his jacket. He gestured for Sheri to go ahead of him. As soon as she was out of earshot, Fawn looked at Carlos with a sly smile.



"I know you took my ten dollars." she said.



She then let go of him, and turned him in the direction of the exit. He was glad she had done so, because now his face was completely red.



When he came out of the library, Sheri was waiting for him.



"Whoa! You're blushing Carlos." she said, then giggled.



His hands immediately went up to his cheeks, causing him to blush even harder.



Sheri laughed and took his hands.



"What happened?" she asked.



He smiled and shook his head.



"Nothing nothing nothing. Just- yeah nothing." he said.



"Something!" she teased, swinging their hands back and forth.



He rolled his eyes and sighed.



"Fawn knows I took her ten bucks." he said.



She looked confused.



He was still blushing.



"For y-y'know...."



She gave him a questioning look.



"Y'know the....t-the y'know the um....stuff."



"What stuff?" she asked.



He sighed again, seriously embarrassed.



"The stuff we used? In the cemetary? That night? Y'know?"



Sheri thought for a bit, then looked as if she came to a sudden realization.



"OH! Haha oooohh that." she said, giggling furiously.



Carlos' expression was that of exasperation. He huffed.



"Yes that stuff. Can we go somewhere else now?" he said.



Sheri nodded and, still giggling, led him down the street to a small coffee shop.



They found a small table by the window, and ordered coffee and brownies. Carlos sat quietly and, from across the table, gazed at her as she delicately nibbled at a brownie. She stopped mid-chew, and looked from side to side awkwardly.



"What?" she said.



Carlos smiled and shook his head.



"Nothing. You're just so gorgeous."



She smiled and looked down shyly. Now she was blushing.

Forsythia walked into the living room the next night to find Fawn asleep on the couch, and Carlos with his head on the piano keys. She chuckled; her dream had put her in an oddly eerie, but exceptionally good mood. She decided to surprise them with pancakes. She happily skipped off to the kitchen to get started. As she worked, she began to hum the tune of Carlos' song, though she had not been awake to hear it. She remembered that she had chocolate chips in her freezer, and excitedly started rooting through the frozen containers of blood. She turned the stove on and was beginning to mix the batter, when somebody poked her sides, making her jump. She turned to see Carlos, with an amused smile on his face.



"You KNOW I hate it when people do that!" she said, frowning.



"Well that's exactly why I do it. You making something?" he said.



She swirled a slab of butter around in a frying pan, then looked at him with a tiny smile.



"I WAS going to make surprise pancakes for you and your friend before you blew it."



He laughed.



"Well does that mean you won't make them now?" he said, giving her puppy eyes.



She giggled and poked his nose.



"Nah of course I will make them. Want a piggy shape?"



His face brightened.



"Yes please!"





Forsythia finished their breakfast, carefully arranging them into the shape of a pig. She proudly placed them on the kitchen table, where Fawn was now also sitting.



"Hello!" she said.



Fawn sleepily waved in response. Forsythia smiled.



"Well eat! Here," she said, squirting whipped cream onto both Carlos' and Fawn's plates, "Eat the piggies!"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



After breakfast, Forsythia sent Carlos and Fawn out to explore the neighborhood. They walked in silence, as Fawn seemed to be in a nasty mood. Carlos decided to try and talk to her.



"Wanna go to the library?" he asked.



She nodded her head, deep in thought.





They walked the five blocks to the library in utter silence. When they arrived, Carlos held the door for Fawn, and the two walked into even more dead silence. Fawn sat at a small table next to the window, while Carlos walked off to find something to keep him from worrying about Fawn's unusual anti-social behavior. As he explored the shelves of books, he came across a section of mythology. Interested, he reached for one of them, but felt a tug on it from the other side of the shelf. Annoyed, he tugged harder at the book. Whoever was on the other side seemed to have the same tactic in mind. Grasping it with both hands, he yanked the book as hard as he could, having it fly out from the shelf and hit him straight in the face.



"Ouch! What the FUCK?!" he said, causing somebody to angrily shush him.



Furious, he peeked through the hole in the shelf where the book had been, not finding anybody. He was just about to leave, when a head popped up.



"Hey! What the-" He stopped short, staring.



There, looking back at him from the other side of the shelf, was Sheri. He stood, open mouthed, her doing the same. He stepped closer and gripped the edge of the shelf.



"Sh-Sheri?" he said, in complete shock.



She smiled widely and nodded. Suddenly, she ran from her side of the shelf to his and wrapped him in a hug. He hugged her back, still shocked and confused.



"What are you doing here?!" he said.



She looked back at him, tears in her eyes.



"I was looking for you."



He stared at her.



"You...were looking for me?" he asked.



"Of course I was! I came to your house and it was trashed and you weren't there so I got worried. Why did you just leave like that?"



His face fell.



"I'm still not entirely sure. But hey, you're here now." he said, hugging her again, "You should meet Fawn again. She's sober this time."



They quietly laughed, and, hands linked, walked to Fawn. As they approached, she turned her head. A brief look of surprise crossed her face, before it fell back into a blank mask of no emotion. Carlos smiled.



"I don't think you two were formally introduced. Fawn, this is Sheri."

Fawn stepped closer. She slowly sat down next to him and folded her hands in her lap.



"Are you alright?" she asked gently.



He slowly tapped the keys on the piano, his head tilted to the side. Fawn watched for a while, not sure what to say. Finally, she spoke.





"You miss her, don't you?" she said.





He slammed his fist down on the keys, startling Fawn.



"IT'S NOT JUST THAT!" he screamed, as his eyes filled with tears again.





Fawn was worried. She had not seen him this upset before. They sat in silence for a long while, before Carlos turned away and collapsed into the recliner. His fists clenched in a tight ball, he set his forehead on them, his whole body trembling. Fawn walked to the recliner and crouched in front of him, gently pulling his fists away.



"What's wrong? Tell me."



She wiped her fingers across his eyes, looking into them.



"Tell me what's wrong."



He sniffled, then slipped down onto the floor, folding his legs in.





"Well I do miss her. I didn't even get to tell her goodbye. I didn't get to tell her half of what I wanted to." he said, choking back tears, "But, I also feel lost. I don't know how to do this whole vampire thing, and I'm worried for you and worried for everything that's going on and it's just the very feeling I have. I can't describe it, I- I'm lost, I'm confused, I'm scared, I don't know what we're supposed to do. And something is wrong. Something is SO WRONG and..."



The tears he had been holding back rained down his cheeks, dripping off of his face. Fawn wrapped her arms around him, feeling that familiar sting, yet again, in her eyes.



"It's ok." she comforted him, "We're going to be ok. I'll be ok, you'll be ok, your sister will be ok."



She drew back to look at his face.



"And I promise you'll see Sheri again."



He smiled, sobbed involuntarily again, and chuckled.



"Ok" he said.



Fawn smiled at him.



"Now why don't you play that song again? It was beautiful."



He smiled shyly and walked slowly back to the piano, Fawn sitting down next to him again. He started to play. The slow, sad sounds of the song flowed out of the piano and filled the room. The gentle beauty of it echoed upstairs, softly whispering into Forsythia's room, triggering in her sleepy thoughts a dream of a moonlit field, the grass covered in delicate, sweet dew. She laid the grass, staring up at the perfect, velvet sky. Her chocolate brown hair sprawled out about her head, she listened to the gentle songs of the katydids.

"So Carlos seems quite protective of you." Forsythia said as she carefully cut around the glass. Fawn winced.



"Yeah well.....we look out for each other." she said.



Forsythia smiled.



"So did were you guys friends before or....?"



Fawn sighed. She didn't want to tell Forsythia that she had been the one to turn Carlos. She did not, however, want to lie.



"It's a long story." she said.



"I like stories."



Fawn sighed. She figured it was best to get it over with.



"Alright....well I'm a newborn. My mentor brought him in for my first taste of fresh blood and well...I guess I accidentally injected him. But then my mentor died and now we're caught up in all this shit and......I don't know."



She yelped as Forsythia yanked the shard from her hip. She placed the bloody glass on the tub next to Fawn and patted gauze over Fawn's already healing skin. Fawn was under the impression that she was angry, but when she looked up, Forsythia was gently smiling down at her.



"Well he worries a lot about you. He feels that there are things you haven't told him, though I am sure it is for a good reason."



Fawn looked at her.



"He told you that?"



"We keep in touch. But I know you'll take care of him. And he'll take care of you. And you two can stay with me for as long as you need."



Fawn smiled, and Forsythia smiled back.



"Now you go get some rest." she said, "You've had a rough couple of days, as I understand."



She showed Fawn to a cozy looking room. Just beside the window was a soft bed with a plush comforter, and Fawn couldn't wait to finally get to sleep.



"If there's anything you need, Carlos knows where everything is. Or you can definitely ask me if I'm around." said Forsythia, grasping the door handle.



She began to pull the door closed, when she seemed to remember something.



"Oh!" she said, "But me casa es tu casa. So make yourself right at home! Goodnight!" She smiled widely, before closing the door.





Fawn sat on the bed, and noticed that Forsythia had brought her bag upstairs. She unzipped it and changed into her red nightdress. She then pulled aside the covers, slipped underneath, and retired unto sleep.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Fawn was awoken by a beautiful sound coming from the bottom floor. She got up, tiptoed to the staircase, and listened. It was a piano. She hadn't noticed a piano in the house. However, she had been exhausted when she scanned the appearance of the house.



She slowly and quietly stepped down the stairs, taking care not to disturb the person that was playing. When she reached the bottom, she saw, in the large living room lit only by moonlight, a dark figure sitting at a beautiful piano. The sounds that came from it were haunting, a mixture of sounds ranging from sadness, to worry, to anger, to woe. She lightly tiptoed closer to see who was there, and she stepped on a squeaky floorboard. The figure spun around.



It was Carlos. He had been awake. The moon lit up his face, revealing the wet streaks on his cheeks. He looked Fawn up and down, and let out a soft, involuntary sob.



"What do you want?" he said, his voice shaking.

"After you left, I decided to visit Gina again. I was going to ask what the hell trying to kill you was all about. I went to her grave and tried calling her, but she never came, so I left. On my way back, I kept feeling like I was being followed, and when I got home, I still felt it. I felt like there was someone in the house with me. I ignored it though, and went to take a shower. And halfway through I..." She started to cry again.



Carlos put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder, in an effort to calm her down. She sobbed, took in a deep breath, and continued.



"Halfway through, the lights went off so I got out because I thought the fuse blew. As soon as I reached for the doorknob, something hit me over the head really hard and gave me this." She pointed to a large, purple bruise on the side of her head, just below her left temple.



"Then I felt a really sharp pain in my side, which I guess was the glass." She pointed again to the shard of glass in her side.



Carlos cringed.



"Please, let me get that out." he said.



"No!" she said angrily. "Let me finish!"



He sighed.



"Alright. Continue."



She folded her arms.



"I started waving my hands around, trying to push whatever it was away and I managed to find the light switch. When I turned it on....when I turned it on I saw Kathy. Somehow, she's out of juvi and I guess Gina wasn't enough. I ran out into the living room to call you and she followed me and tripped me. She chased me around the entire house, that's how it got wrecked so bad. So finally I got to the phone and as I was dialing the number, she jumped on me so I clocked her with the reciever and locked her in the armoire.....I don't know if I killed her."





Fawn started to cry yet again. Carlos just stared at the floor, thinking.



"And then you packed up our stuff and called me." he said.



"Yes" she sobbed.



"Is she still in the armoire?" he asked her.



"I don't know!" she said, " She's probably looking for us as we speak!"



Carlos looked at her.



"Us?"





Fawn looked back at him, tears raining down her face.



"She said she'd kill you." She cried so hard she could barely choke the words out. He patted her back, not sure what to say.



Forsythia walked in with two mugs.



"Here it is!" she said, then noticed Fawn.



"Oh dear....what happened?" she asked.





Carlos seemed to be deep in thought, and her question pulled him from his trance.



"Nothing. Nothing...." he said, "We've had a long couple of days, I think we'll just get some rest."





Forsythia, looking worried and suspitious, nodded. She took the two upstairs to two rooms, sitting adjacent to each other. She shooed Carlos off to sleep, and he refused to leave Fawn's side.



"She'll be safe. I promise." she assured him.



He looked directly into her eyes, his own glistening with rivers of fear.



"Just help her." he said, and shut the door.



Forsythia sighed and went into the bathroom, where she had left Fawn sitting on the edge of the bathtub. She reached into the cabinet above the sink and pulled out a scalpel, smiling at Fawn.



"You know, I was a nurse before I became a vampire." she said, confirming Fawn's suspition. "Took this from one of the surgeons. Y'know, just in case."



She grabbed a bottle of iodine and sat next to Fawn. She dabbed it around the glass.



"This'll only hurt a bit."