"You alive?" Witch Doctor groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, glaring at Satana who smirked down at him. She was back to normal now, wings and tail hidden beneath her large trench coat as she held out her hand to him.

"No claws this time." Satana teased but he didn't seem to find her amusing as he tested his fingers before slowly lifting his hand to rub his aching head.

"Paralyzing people is rude, Tana." Witch Doctor groaned as he grabbed her outstretched hand, allowing her to help pull him to his feet before he began to stretch out his aching joints.

"You took a whole day to come check on me?" He huffed as he glowered at the woman next to him who shrugged as she sat on the chair that she had rescued Kai from the day prior.

"Don't call me Tana. I'm not your friend anymore. Plus even when we were friends you weren't allowed to call me that. You needed time to think about what you did. You went a little crazy there for a bit." Satana examined what little black nail polish remained on her nails, making a face as she realized she would have to go back to her place and repaint them.

"You got any polish?" Satana smacked her lips obnoxiously before she began to examine her other hand, Witch Doctor rolling his eyes as he muttered under his breath about the audacity she had.

"I went a little crazy quite a long time ago if you remember. This is nothing new." Witch Doctor muttered as he walked over to his desk, digging through a black medical bag before he finally found the nail polish and tossed it to her.

Her tail shot out, wrapping around the bottle before it hit the ground as she used her tail to lift it to her hands.

"How could I forget?" Her eyes were dark as she began to open the lid of the bottle, still not looking at him as she began to paint her nails.

"You're still mad about that? Not my fault I was so full of that serum that I turned into a literal monster." Witch Doctor rolled his eyes as he began to pick up the pieces of the machine she had destroyed the night prior.

"Your fault for obsessing over her when you knew what Alaric would do." Satana grumbled as she blew on the nail she had painted, trying to get it to dry faster so that she could move on.

"You can't help who you love, Satana. You of all people know that. I wanted to save her from him." Witch Doctor gritted his teeth, trying not to focus too much on what she was saying as he knew she was just trying to make him angry.

"Great job you did of that. All he did was burn and skin her alive for-" Satana went silent as she began gasping for air, holding her throat as she blinked tears away at the crushing pain around her neck.

"I know what he did. Which is why I voted that we shouldn't tell him. Which is why I tried to get her to run away with me. But she loved him. She loved that stupid guy too for awhile but we all know that she never stopped loving Alaric. He owned her. If she was alive, he still would. Don't talk bad about her or how she died in front of me. Got it?" Satana gave a shaky nod, Witch Doctor keeping his deadly glare on her as his hand flexed open allowing her to breathe.

Satana coughed loudly as she rubbed at her neck, knowing that his powers wouldn't leave a mark but it still hurt.

"She deserved better than to die like that. She deserved to be happy." Witch Doctor snapped as he picked up what little parts he could salvage before making his way over to his desk, setting them down before he turned to face her.

"She did." Satana finally whispered as the two went silent, Witch Doctor gazing down at his hands as memories of all that they'd gone through swirled through his head.

"So let's get even." At her words, he lifted his head with a questioning expression, the lack of smirk on Satana's face meaning she was being completely serious this time.

"We've tried. He almost killed us. Do you not remember?" Witch Doctor rolled his eyes but something about the way she was looking at him made him falter.

"I met who he's been working for in the other realm. She wants to help us kill him. She found... Him. Said that he knows how to kill Alaric." Witch Doctor's eyes widened as he realized just who exactly she was talking about. Of course he didn't know who Alaric was working for but there was only one person who knew how to kill a time turner... Another time turner.

"I thought he was dead." Satana shook her head as he spoke, going back to painting her nails now as she smirked.

"No. Now we finally know where he's been all these years. We can finally get what we've been wanting." Satana's voice was low, her pupils constricting into slits as she bared her fangs at the memories that flooded her mind.

"Then let's do it. Let's kill him." Witch Doctor agreed without hesitation, Satana immediately flicking her gaze to him as they shared a knowing look.

It didn't matter how long it took. It didn't matter what they had to do. He wasn't getting away with murdering their friend... Not this time.

_-*-_

Sam sighed happily as they rolled over, snuggling against the warmth next to them as they yawned softly.

"Are you awake?" A soft voice whispered in their ear, lips pressing against their forehead ever so gently which caused Sam to groan.

"No. Wait..." Sam jolted back which caused them to fall off of the bed but they were back on their feet in an instant.

"Are you okay?!" Kai exclaimed as he looked Sam up and down for any injuries at Sam who only stared at him in shock.

"Is this a dream?" Sam's voice cracked as they slowly moved forward, touching the side of Kai's face as tears rolled down their cheeks.

"No. I'm sorry I just climbed into bed but I was tired and I know I'm probably stinky but I just... I wanted to watch you sleep one more time. Not in the creepy vampire way..." Kai went silent as Sam launched forward, wrapping their arms around them as he released a grunt of pain.

"One more time? Why only one more time? You can be as creepy as you want. It's one of the things I love about you." Kai's eyes widened as Sam sobbed heavily into his neck, the two now laying flat on the bar with Sam's arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

"You love me? I thought you were disgusted by me." Tears filled Kai's deep brown eyes as he wrapped his arms around them, burying his face into their hair as he struggled to contain his sobs.

"I'm not. I do love you. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before. You accepted me for who I am and never asked questions before doing so. You're so weird but in such a good way. You make my life interesting and fun. I love you." Sam whispered as Kai pulled away to look at them, tears streaming down his face as he gently cupped their cheek.

"I've never known what love is. I heard it thrown around by Doyle when referring to his experiments but that wasn't love. I've heard other people tell their children and spouses how much they love them. But in my years of existence I've never felt that before. Until I met you. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear those words... The words I've been dying to hear my entire life. To feel love and have someone tell me they love me is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Thank you... Thank you so much." Kai sobbed as Sam gave him a weird look, tears still rolling down their face as they tried to piece together what he had said.

"Thank you? Usually people say I love you too when someone confesses their love.... Or they even throw up. They never thank someone for confessing their feelings." Sam rambled before going silent as Kai pressed his lips against theirs, hands falling to wrap around their waist as he held them tightly.

"I love you. Always." He whispered between kisses as Sam gently tangled their hands through his hair.

"Let's go make you less stinky." Sam teased as they rushed to the bathroom, winking at Kai before they disappeared into the bathroom.

_-*-_

"He was just wandering around New York?" Killian questioned from where he sat in a chair behind the counter that Joelee was cooking on. The kitchen was rather nice which was a huge relief as the rest of the apartment had to be torn apart and redone due to how much wear and tear it had.

The large counter had a stove and oven in the center of it, the length of the it stretching across the kitchen while the sink was below the cabinets behind her.

"Yeah. He said an angel flew to Chicago and saved him. Well... He says it was Chicago but he was super delirious so there's no telling where he actually was. He was covered in bruises and I'm like eighty percent sure he had a bruised rib or something... I brought him home, gave him a water bottle and he ate like a whole box of cookies. I wanted him to wait for me to make him something to eat but he said he needed to see Sam." Joelee explained as she leaned over to check her homemade dinner rolls, not daring to open the stove for fear that they'd lose the substantial height they'd gained since they'd been baking.

"An angel helped him escape? What do you think actually happened?" Blake questioned from where he sat next to Killian, waiting impatiently to steal a roll as soon as they were done but the conversation was intriguing enough to keep him entertained for now.

"It's Kai. Super smart guy but he's not good at giving the details needed for actually finding out who saved him. He just said a purple angel that sounded just as beautiful as she was. He's a sweet kid but I can't exactly go up to every woman in the world with purple hair and ask if they saved a handsome, bruised up, Korean man. That only worked like one time in history and it was Cinderella." Joelee muttered as she flipped the steaks she was grilling on the large fire grill that was positioned in the corner of the kitchen.

"You and I remember the plot of Cinderella in a very different way. But alright. What do we do?" Killian smacked his lips as he watched her flip the grilled asparagus, the smells in the kitchen around them almost making him lose focus.

"I'll figure it out." Joelee mumbled as she turned her attention back to both men, noticing neither of them were actually paying attention now as they instead had their attention focused on the food.

"Go set the table and leave me alone." Joelee groaned as she went back to her work, hiding a smile as she heard both men scramble to their feet before they began arguing over who would set out what.

Killian finally relented as Blake grabbed the entire silverware drawer before hurrying towards the meeting room.

"I get the biggest roll." Killian grumbled as he began to carefully stack plates onto each other before he gingerly picked up the large pile, tiptoeing his way after Blake.

Joelee sighed in relief as she turned and began to stir the corn, eyes lidded as she thought over what her plan of attack would be for later that night.

In all honesty she knew she should get some sleep before she left but something about Kai's situation made her nervous. She couldn't understand what exactly about the situation made her nervous but something told her that there was so much more that she didn't know about the situation.

"When Kai gets downstairs can you look him over? He's got a cracked rib and a few other injuries. I heard the bones in his ribs shift when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder for me to carry him." Joelee didn't need to turn around to know who she was talking to, Kevin froze from where he stood just outside the kitchen, confusion flooding his face as he wondered how she even knew he was there.

"Please, Kevin. It's like trying to sneak up on a dog with super senses. I heard you coming down the stairs... And even if I couldn't hear you, I could smell you when you entered the doorway." Kevin blanched at Joelee's explanation, slowly lifting his arm to smell his shirt but he couldn't find anything wrong with the way he smelled.

"That's weird. Give me credit... We've only talked like ten times since we've met so it takes awhile to get used to the whole superwolf thing." Joelee laughed as Kevin rubbed the back of his neck rather awkwardly, walking further into the kitchen as opened the enormous refrigerator, digging through it silently for a moment before he pulled a juice box out.

"Well I don't take your silent treatment personally. I know you're busy with medical school. When are you getting your registered nurse certification?" Kevin visibly hesitated before he shut the refrigerator door, sticking the straw into his juice box before he turned to look at her rather curiously.

"How did you know I'm getting that specific degree?" Kevin asked curiously, despite already having a slight guess as to how exactly she knew about that.

"I've seen your study material. Plus I know that you already had your LPN certification from talking to Mary. She's very proud of you for that." Kevin's cheeks flared red which caused his freckles to pop against the sudden rush of color on his pale face.

"Had to retake those tests because they'd long since expired... I'm surprised she remembered." Kevin mumbled as he took a large sip of his juice box, shuffling away from her in an attempt to get out of a conversation where he was being complimented.

"As I said... She's proud of you. It's not easy to get through medical school." Joelee paused as she reached into the pocket of her apron, tossing a few papers on the counter behind herself before she turned to wash her hands in the sink.

"What's that?" Kevin asked, hesitating from his rapid shuffling as he stared at the small stack of papers curiously.

"I looked into a few medical facilities that are hiring. The one on the top is the one that looks the most interesting... They'll pay for you to get a higher education after your scholarship is used up. I know the one you were awarded only takes you to getting your APRN but this opportunity could open a whole new book for you. If you want it. I'm not trying to meddle. I just saw these when I was doing some research and these stuck out to me." Joelee murmured as she dried her hands before returning to her supervision of the steaks and asparagus, she kept her gaze focused down, knowing he was too shy to actually move towards the papers if she was looking.

Sure enough, as soon as he was sure she was distracted, he began tiptoeing over to the papers, picking them up gently as he began to sort through them, leaving the one she suggested for last as he read through each individual paper closely.

"Dean Knight? His business is also a hospital chain? Isn't that guy like the richest guy in New York?" Kevin quickly backed up, moving to sit in the chair next to the counter as he read over the paper that Joelee had suggested.

"So I've heard. I've yet to even see what this man looks like but from what I understand he's the controls quite a lot of things around the city. Medical facilities, soup kitchens, hospitals, homeless shelters, and even helped build that meta containment thing. I found out his brother is a cop so he has an agreement to donate funds to the police force whenever they need repairs. Real standup guy. Kind of sounds like foreshadowing to him being a super villain though." Joelee moved to check on her rolls again, turning off the oven as she noticed they were starting to become a rather lovely shade of golden brown.

"You have no idea what this guy looks like, complimented his humanitarian work, and literally just suggested I go work for him but now you're saying he might be a supervillain?" Kevin deadpanned as he finally lifted his eyes to stare at Joelee who smirked as she removed the rolls from the oven, removing her red oven mitts after she set the rolls on the counter before she turned back to her steaks.

"It'd be a good plot twist. Super helpful humanitarian guy being the villain. Kind cliche actually. Never mind. Maybe he's secretly helping Magdalene." Joelee teased as she turned off the grill, loading the last four steaks onto the rather large serving platter that sat beside her before she moved to do the same with the asparagus.

"Actually, Dean's dad and my mom have been in a long running feud for around twenty years now. Mom runs The Monarch under the guise that it's a medical facility and since Nial also runs a medical facility, they're constantly filing lawsuits against each other for every little thing they can. Nobody ever wins. Their lawyers are outrageously good... Albeit a little sketchy." Kevin rambled as he tucked the papers into the pocket of his black cargo pants, hesitating as he realized he was probably talking too much but Joelee only smiled.

"Thank you. I'll look into these." Kevin continued in a much softer tone, gently picking up the platter for her before he made his way into the dining hall.

Joelee only smiled to herself, leaning her head back as she released a soft sigh, eyes closing as she reveled in the silence for a moment.

She'd given Rachel the same paperwork the day before, knowing that both would choose the best option which was working for G.E.N.E, as nurses. For now of course. It paid the best and it gave them both amazing opportunities, plus they would be able to spend more time together. She knew he'd never admit it but she saw the way Kevin looked at Rachel, and how he was constantly making excuses to study with her so that they could be together.

Maybe now he'd work up the courage to ask her out, she knew he didn't want to ask unless he had the money to actually take her out. Rachel deserved to be happy... All of her friends did. That's all she wanted. If her friends were happy then so was she.

With that thought, her head dropped as she realized she would need to focus on getting Kent out of his funk now.

Joelee chewed on her lower lip as she began to stack the asparagus onto a platter, mulling over just what she could do to get him out of his room and actually live his life.

"I'll take that, beautiful!" Sam kissed Joelee's cheek, instantly making her flinch away with a look of pure disgust as she stared at her friend who laughed.

"Kai will get the corn. You go relax." Sam winked but Joelee just continued to stare at them, nostrils glaring with a look that showed she knew more than she actually wanted to.

"If you're happy, then so am I. But I can do it." Joelee shrugged nonchalantly but Sam's face showed there was no room for her to argue, the woman giving a dramatic sigh as she turned to exit the kitchen.

"Joe? Thanks." Sam's voice caused her to pause, she turned to give her friend a smile but she said nothing as she continued down the long hallway, heading upstairs rather than to the dining hall where she knew almost everyone was waiting.

Her footsteps were virtually silent as she made her way up the stairs, lost in thought as she wondered exactly what she could say to Kent to get him to come to dinner.

Maybe it was time to get Kent out and about on missions... Sure, Sam would be mad that Kent would get to go instead of them but Kent didn't have any powers to get used to. His powers were totally reliant on the artillery presented to him so whatever he and Killian cooked up in Killian's lab, Kent could instantly master as soon as he touched it.

Kent always was good at hand to hand combat, despite looking like he would blow away in the wind because of how tall and skinny he was, he'd proved he could hold his own in a fight.

"Kent?" Joelee knocked gently on the door, straining her sensitive ears for any sign that he was up walking about or even awake for that matter.

The soft sound of his chair rolling a bit signaled that he had heard her but he remained silent as she released a sigh, focusing her thoughts away from Sam's chaotic mind as she instead focused on Kent.

"You can't stay in here and play video games all day." Joelee warned which earned a soft sigh of annoyance as he realized she knew that he was in fact in there.

"Why not?" Kent's voice wasn't bitter or harsh, he just sounded tired... His thoughts confirmed to her that he wasn't mentally exhausted from all of the thinking he'd been doing over the last few days.

"Here's a kiss. If you don't like it... Return it."

Joelee faltered for a moment as she realized that he was replaying the night that he'd gone to the dance with Esther. One of the many nights he'd almost asked her out but he'd always been too scared.

"Well, it's her house. So in all reality she can kick you out if all you do is play video games all day." Celeste yelled as she made her way past Joelee, giving her a wink as she flicked her blue hair over her shoulder before disappearing down the hallway.

"While that's fair... I wouldn't kick you out. But I'm worried about you." Joelee finally answered after she took a moment to think over an appropriate response.

"Just let me in. I want to talk to you. We can talk about this." Joelee continued which she could tell instantly made Kent uncomfortable, the sound of him aggressively scratching his head signaled what she already knew. He was considering her request but really didn't want to talk to... Anyone... About it.

"I'll let you in. But only because I want to play video games with you. I'm bored playing this on campaign mode." The sound of his feet shuffling across the floor caused her to step back as he unlocked the door before allowing it to swing open, revealing his tall form contained beneath a black blanket.

"It's a deal." Joelee gave him a smile, despite how her heart ached to see how sunken in his features were. He had dark circles under his eyes, the scruff growing on his face making him seem a lot older than he actually was.

Kent said nothing as he turned and plopped down into his roller chair, putting his headset around his neck as he grabbed his controller.

"I have a proposition." Joelee said as she sat on his bed, taking the controller he offered her as she turned it on before she began to log into her account from when they'd played this the first time together almost six years ago now.

"I'm good. I think it's too soon to move on right now. Plus it'd be a bit awkward to seduce my best friend's ex. Don't you have a rule about dating within the friend group? Something about how if you broke up with Nathan you'd never date anyone else in the old circle." Joelee's face went bright red as she realized what Kent thought she was proposing, her mouth falling open as she struggled to come up with a reply.

"Kidding. Unless that's actually what you're asking about. Then my answer remains the same. I'm flattered but you're just not my type." Kent continued as Joelee finally remembered her password, cringing as she realized it was still the one that Kent had assigned her all those years ago.

"Short green beans? Really, Kent? Secondly, that's not even close to what I was going to say. Thirdly, you're not my type either. You're too skinny." Kent looked incredibly offended as she spoke, wrinkling his nose as he turned to glare at her out of the corner of his eye.

"That's an amazing password, jolly green dwarf. I'm not just skinny! I have muscle too! There was literally nothing better to do than work out! Can't exactly get gains when you're fed whatever that nasty green goop was. I didn't know you were into muscle heads." Kent huffed as he turned his attention back to the screen once she finished setting up her account, not giving her much time to react as he instantly started up the game.

"Nothing against muscle heads or skinny guys but I like my men a little fluffy. I want to be able to eat cake at random times with them but also go for morning runs. If that makes sense. Plus... I think I'm taking a break from men for a long time now. Why are we talking about me right now?" Joelee's face was dark red now as she directed her thoughts back to the original reason she was here, cursing quietly as Kent began to beat her character into the ground essentially.

"You started it. Taking advantage of me being emotionally vulnerable by trying to come onto me." Kent scoffed but he kept his attention in the game, eyes seeming to glow in the light of the screen as he seemed to predict her characters every move.

"I didn't... Okay. How would you like to join me tonight...Let me rephrase before you try to incriminate me. How would you like to have Killian build you a suit and weapons to come with Obsidian and I to patrol the city?" Joelee glared at Kent as he smirked, deciding it would be best to brush off all of the jokes he could've made at her poor choice of wording.

"I'll think about it." Kent finally replied, his leg bouncing up and down frantically as he thought over her request.

"You're just scared that I'll look cooler than you when fighting bad guys... And that I'll have to save you from them." Joelee stuck out her tongue at him as he paused the game, turning to her with a defiant look in his eyes.

"Is that a challenge, dwarf?" Kent sneered as Joelee bared her now sharpened teeth at him in a wolfish smile, both staring each other down intently now as they stood at the same time.

"It's only a challenge if the competition has any hope of winning, elf." Joelee taunted as Kent released a laugh before tossing his blanket onto the bed behind her, revealing his black basketball shirts and green gaming shirt beneath.

"My thoughts exactly. Shall we take this to the training room?" Kent turned and bolted out of the room without waiting for a reply, both laughing as Joelee charged after him at an alarming speed.