Rina bolts upright with a gasp, gasping for breath and clasping at her throat as she inhales and exhales deeply. She wipes her sweat ridden forehead with the back of her hand as she tries to catch her breath. 

For the past few days she's been having a recurring nightmare where it felt like someone was drowning her and no matter how much she fought back the person always managed to overpower her.

Every time that she tried to scream it seemed like water would fill her lungs and then there was nothing but darkness.

She climbs out of her bed with a heavy sigh and notices that the sun was setting which means that Godric Joe and Bel would be up soon.

She can't help wondering if she should tell them about the nightmare but then she tells herself that she's worried over nothing.

A nightmare is nothing more than a dream. A horrible one, but a dream nonetheless.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Are you alright, sis? You seem quiet tonight?" Joe asks his sister in concern as they stood together.

"Hmm?" Rina says as she turns to face him, "oh, yeah" she lies, "I'm just thinking about college things" she lies but Joe doesn't appear convinced of this. "I'm fine, Joe. I promise" she adds as he nods at this.

One of the female vampires calls him over and he looks reluctant to leave her alone.

"I'll be okay. Go on" Rina says with a smile as he nodded stiffly at this before making his way toward his friends, looking at her in concern as he did.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Hey" Julian greets Rina when she made her way out of the house, "everything okay?" he asks her when he sees her face.

The two of them have grown a lot closer now that Rina knows what he really is. Rina asked him about everything that she could think of, including questions about what happens to him when he changed and if it was painful.

Everything that she could possibly think of. Certain things he couldn't share with her as his pack master, the leader of his pack, would be unhappy with him for sharing with a human but other things he didn't mind sharing.

"You got a cigarette?" she asks him as he nods at this as he offered her one, lighting it up for her.

"What's wrong?" he asks her as she blew out smoke. He's noticed that she smokes when she's stressed about something.

"It's nothing" she says as she takes a deep drag of her cigarette, "it's silly really" she adds in after thought as she blows out the smoke at this.

"Does it have anything to do with the sheriff?"

"No, nothing to do with him" Rina says immediately, "it has everything to do with me" she admits when he doesn't appear convinced given how quickly she denied that it had to do with Godric, "I just – these past few days I've been...actually you know what never-mind" she shakes her head, "I told you that it was silly" she adds.

"Rina come on, you can tell me" Julian reassures her.

"I think maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something" she says with a humorless laugh as she took a deep drag of her cigarette.

"What do you mean?"

Rina blows out smoke at this before responding.

"Lately I've been having these....dreams, nightmares, really" she admits, "that I'm drowning" she admits, "and no matter how hard I fight, I still drown" she adds as Julian nods at this. "I told you that it was silly" she adds with a half-smile.

"It's not silly" he reassures her, "dreams are always said to convey something" he adds, "certain tribes even believe them to be warnings" he adds.

"The only warning this dream is telling me is that I need to sleep" Rina says with a snort. "Thanks for listening Jules but I'm going to head back inside now" she calls him by the nickname she gave to him as he nodded at this as she stubbed out her cigarette and stomped it out before heading back inside the house.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Come in" Godric replies when Rina knocks on his office door.

"Hey" she says as she pops her head inside, "You're not hiding from me are you?" she teases.

"No, of course not. Come on in, Marina" he says with a smile as she made her way into his office. "Is something the matter?"

"No" Rina lies, "just decided to pop in and say hi" she adds, "hi" she says with a light laugh that doesn't reach her eyes.

"You're certain that everything is alright?" Godric probes, "nothing of consequence has happened?" he questions, "nothing at all?" he adds as she looks away from looking at the interior decorating of his office, even though she's seen it before in order to face him.

She gives him a suspicious look at this.

"You were listening in on me and Julian, weren't you?" she asks coolly, no hint of an accusation in her voice. She can't fault him considering he can hear anything in a distance.

What is he supposed to do, close his ears whenever she speaks so he doesn't end up eavesdropping?

"My apologies" Godric says as he inclines his head toward her regretfully. "As your friend I worried when hearing Joseph mention that you seem more quiet than usual" he adds, "and more so when you spoke with Julian about why that is" he adds, "It is my wish that someday soon you will trust me enough to open up to me as easily as you do him" he admits to her as Rina offers him a smile at this.

"Godric, you're the first person I always want to talk to and open up to" Rina admits out to him, "sometimes I have to physically stop myself from coming to you" she admits with a blush and a light laugh, "I end up having to remind myself that you're a sheriff and you have duties and responsibilities–"

Godric cuts her off by flashing over to her as she smiles at him.

"Yes, I am a sheriff and have duties and responsibilities expected of me but I do not want you to think that they are more important to me than your friendship" he adds.

Marina smiles at him upon hearing this and this time her smile reaches her eyes.

"You're a great friend" Rina says to him, "no scratch that, you're an amazing friend" she corrects with a smile as Godric offers a small one of his own in response. "Thank you Godric, for everything" she adds.

"That's what friends are for" he replies. If it were up to him then maybe he could be more than friends with Marina but a friend is what she expects of him so a good friend he shall be.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Okay, what's the deal with you and the sheriff?" Sam asks Rina as she choked on her caramello mocha milkshake.

"Deal? What do you mean deal?" Rina asks her when she finally caught her breath.

"Oh Rina come on" Sam says with an eyeroll, "your eyes basically light up whenever you talk about him or see him" she adds with a smug half-smirk.

"No, they don't" Rina denies, despite the warming of her cheeks and neck.

"Of course they don't" Sam says with a sarcastic eyeroll, "just come out and admit it already" she adds, "you like him" she says plainly.

"Godric is my friend" Rina says as she played with the straw of her milkshake, averting her eyes from Sam's.

"Your friend that you have an uber crush on" Sam amends. "Why don't you just ask him out?" she asks simply as Rina laugh humourlessly at this.

"This might be hard for you to grasp since you're Samantha Kingsley" Rina teases as Sam does a faux head bow at this, "but somethings aren't as simple as black and white" she adds, "Godric is...old" she adds, not revealing his true age to Sam as she doesn't feel like it's for her to say, "so I sincerely doubt that he'd want to pursue a relationship with someone who is basically an infant to him" she adds.

"So you're saying that your mortality is why you're afraid to admit your feelings for him?" Sam asks.

"Among other things" Rina adds.

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that I don't know how he feels about me or maybe that he's got 2,000 years of sexual experience" she adds. "Besides, Godric is trying to find himself again. The last thing he needs is some silly human girl declaring love" she adds as Samantha watches her carefully.

"Marina" Sam says with a light laugh. "How is it possible for you to be so intelligent and yet so...blind whenever it's about something concerning you?" she asks her friend as Rina mock glares at her for this.

"You know, that's the second time I've had someone insult me like that" she adds, thinking of when Joe said the same thing.

"Well I'm happy to join whoever else said it" Sam says with a cheeky smile. "The only thing stopping you from being happy...is you" she points out as Rina listens carefully to what Sam is sharing with her. "Godric looks at you like you're...fuck, I can't even describe it" she confesses when she recalls how Godric had been looking at Rina when they had been sitting together on the night of the Open Mic.

It was so obviously clear to her that the vampire was in love with Rina so why is it evident to her and yet Rina can't see it?

"Can we please talk about something else?" Rina asks, not wanting to talk about this anymore as Sam nodded at this as they discussed their latest assignments for their Journalism classes.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Hi, is it possible to hide me indefinitely? Perhaps somewhere far away? Like another planet perhaps?" Rina asked Godric as she hid from Isabel.

"You are still trying to escape from planning the party for your coming of age?" Godric asks her amusedly.

"Isabel wants a Ball, Godric!" Rina says, "as in dancing and dresses and champagne and the works!" she adds in a state of perpetual panic as Godric chuckles at this.

"If you compromise with her then she may remove certain things but if you continue to run and hide then she'll just do everything that she plans" he offers wisely as Rina shudders at the thought of it.

"Why can't I just stay in and watch episodes of Medium?" she asks with a sigh, referring to her favourite television program. "That way there's no money wasted and I actually spend the night doing something I enjoy" she adds.

"I'm afraid staying in doing nothing will not work with Isabel" Godric informs her.

"It might" Rina says. "If it's coming from the right person" she adds, giving him a look that says he's the person that she's talking about.

"Unfortunately, I cannot offer much aid" Godric says with a hint of mirth in his eyes at how she's trying so hard to escape having a coming-of-age party thrown for her.

"Why?"

"Because Isabel has already asked me not to intervene and I gave my word that I wouldn't" Godric admits to her.

"Damn" Rina cusses as she leans back in her seat in dejection at this revelation. "Well there goes that plan" she adds, "is there anyone else that I can have convince her?" she asks him hopefully.

"Aside from your brother I can think of no one else" he lies even though he can actually think of several.

Although he could not tell Rina about them as having her call Isabel's Maker King Ricardo of España to ask him to request that Isabel stop planning a 21st birthday party for Marina would be overdoing it.

"I'm going to have to agree to this Ball, aren't I?" Rina asks Godric.

"It appears so" he says, a hint of amusement in his voice as he spoke.

"Damn" Rina cusses again, "Fine" she says with a loud groan as she rose from her seat, "but I'm not having a 16 piece orchestra or whatever extravagant thing Isabel has planned" she adds firmly as Godric nods at this, though he appeared amused by her annoyance.

Marina is an amusing human specimen to him.

Where others would jump at the opportunity to be treated like royalty she resented it and wanted to keep as low a profile as people and if possible blend in with the shadows.

"I'll see you later Godric" she says, "and sorry for bothering you with this stuff" she says with a light laugh that lights up her face, "I bet you never thought you'd have to hear about something as ridiculous as planning a 21 year old's Ball" she teases.

"Not per se though Eric had been a huge fan of parties in the past, including having them" he adds as Rina snorts at this.

"Of course he is" she says as if to say that she isn't even surprised by this. "I'll see you" she says as she headed out his office, closing the door behind her as she did as Godric chuckled lightly at Rina and Isabel's little tug-of-war when it comes to Marina's 21st birthday as he resumed with his work.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"How is the prep for your party going?" Sam asks Rina as they packed up after their lecture ends.

"Don't ask" Rina says with a groan, "I'm having a freaking Ball" she says with a groan as Sam perks up at this.

She knew that Sam was going to be happy about it.

"Holy shit, really?!" Sam asks practically bouncing in excitement at this. "Okay, we have to go shopping because I need something that will wow–"

"Sam–"

"No excuses!" Sam interjects firmly. "I already have a dress design in mind and of course my makeup!" she says as she starts launching into explanation about how if she went with a dress with one particular design then she'd have to go with a certain hairstyle so that the two didn't clash but rather played off one another.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Rina collapsed onto her bed with a loud sigh after a day spent shopping -or rather window shopping - with Sam because she didn't find the dress that "screamed Samantha Kingsley!" out of the millions of stores that she and Rina had gone into.

This is part of the reason that Sam hates birthdays.

Because everyone makes such a fuss about them.

The main reason is that the significance of birthdays diminished to her ever since their parents disappeared.

Throughout the years Joe was the one who'd try to make it special for her and you can imagine that that desire to make their birthday even more special than the last increased tenfold after Isabel turned him and made him a vampire.

He and Isabel would even tag-team against her, which she complained was unfair because they have their Maker-progeny bond and they used it against her.

Joe didn't want her around other vampires at the time so they would celebrate with just the three of them.

It's not that Rina is ungrateful for their love for her because she truly is grateful for it but birthdays just make her sadder because they remind her that her parents were no longer around to make them special for her.

Not to mention the week that her parents disappeared in was hers and Joe's birthday week so her birthday kind of served as a reminder of that.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"You want me to get you into contact with Isabel?" Rina asks Sam in surprise as they drank coffee at the café.

"Yip" Sam says as she popped the p.

"Why?" Rina asks suspiciously.

"Jade and I have a surprise planned for your birthday Ball" Sam admits simply.

"Oh come on" Rina says with a sigh as she groaned at this, "not more stuff to be added to a ball I don't even want to have" she adds.

"Don't be a brat" Sam ways with an eyeroll.

"I'm not–"

"You'll like this surprise very much" Sam says, "I promise" she adds.

"It's not a naked man who'll burst out of the cake singing Take On Me, is it?" Rina asks with a little chuckle.

"You'll just have to see" Sam says with a mysterious smile. "The number please" she says impatiently.

"I can't send you her number without getting her permission first" Rina says to her, "but maybe I can set up a...meeting?" she asks with a slight groan as Sam nods happily at this.

"Yeah okay, sure. A meeting sounds good" Sam says.

"For the love of all that is holy, Sam. I beg you, do not do something so garrish and outrageous that we will still be the subject of conversation 300 years from now or something" she adds.

"Got it" Sam says with a half-smirk as she gives Rina a salute in response as Rina grumbles underneath her breath at this as she drank her coffee.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Introducing Sam to Isabel had opened a whole new can of worms that Rina wishes that she could take back and close. Isabel really liked Sam because Sam was basically the queen of planning parties.

She and Isabel would talk for hours, with Rina interjecting every so often when they started delving into the realm of the ridiculous with regards to their plans. The last time Rina had interjected with a big no was when Sam suggested that Rina arrive in a helicopter!

A freaking helicopter!

When Isabel uttered the words "there is no budget" to Sam, Rina is sure that she saw her friend's soul leave her body and practically dance around in the air out of joy.

Needless to say Rina is grossly outnumbered when it comes to having this Ball.

A/N: The Godric Fandom is such a small one, with very few people showing him love but shoutout to all of you who like and comment on this story and even share it with your friends. I appreciate it. With that being said, things are about to get CRAZY so put your seatbelts on! Enjoy the 2 chapter update✌️