CHAPTER 17: DANGER FINDS ME

Victoria's POV

I ran for the phone to answer it, luckily I was quick enough to answer it in time.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Hello Vici, how are you?" I hear my mother's voice.

"Hey mom, I'm great and you?"

"I'm wonderful, so how was your date with Jaydan?" She asks excitedly, she can probably not wait for all the the details.

"Absolutely breath taking, you won't believe what we did."

"What did you do?"

"We rode a hot air balloon. The view was magnificent and he even packed us a picnic basket."

"Wow, he such a romantic gentle. When did you come back?"

"Just now, we watched the sunset."

"Oh my goodness, that boy is just too sweet for words! I think we should invite him over for dinner sometime when we get back."

"That will be fun, so how is dad?"

"Oh same old, busy as always. He seems a bit better, this is his very first convention he went to without Mike." She says with a sigh. My dad usually attended the convention every year with uncle Mike, but after his death my dad lost interest. That is why I was so shocked when He told me he was going. The conventions used to be this amazing thing my father couldn't wait to attend, but these days it is only a soft spot.

"I'm glad he is doing better." I say.

"Me too, please take care of yourself and we'll be back on Friday."

"Will do, see you then, love you." I say before she hangs up. I place the phone back on its holder and when I turn around I am face to face with the Shadow.

I let out a frightful scream and the Shadow hastily places his hand on my mouth to soften the scream. I close my mouth and he removes his hand.

"Are you mad?! You could've gave me a heart attack." I scream at him harshly.

"Sorry Sherlock, I couldn't resist." He says with a smirk and I get the idea that he is not sorry at all.

"I thought we had a deal." I say as I walk past him upstairs to my room.

"What deal?" He asks perplexed.

"The one where I gave you my cookies and you promised not to scare me to death every time you came to visit." I say as I step inside my room and walk to my desk.

He scratches his neck while thinking about it, "oh sorry must have slipped my mind."

"Gmff." I turn around to give him a deadly death stare.

He throws his hands up in defence. I roll my eyes at him before I collect all my loose papers on my desk.

******************************
The Shadow's POV

I stare at Victoria as she stuffs some papers into her laptop bag. By the way she is stuffing the poor papers inside her bag, I can tell she is angry.

I didn't mean to scare her, but seriously I couldn't resist. I clear my throat as I try to think about something to say to make things better. I didn't like it when she was angry. Oh goodness who am I kidding, I didn't like it when she was anything but happy.

My eyes run over her and then I know what I can say.

"You sure clean up nicely Sherlock, I didn't know you could look so breathtaking." I say with a dashing smile. Her eyes are still downcast and focused on the papers but her mouth made a small twitch and that is when I know I broke her angry state.

She looks up at me and I give her a smile with a wink.

"Argh!" She says loudly,"why is it so hard to stay angry at you?"

"It must be the good looks and charms." I say with a smirk.

She smiles back at me and slings her laptop bag over her shoulder. I stroll over to her window and check if it is locked.

When everything is closed up and locked we head out to my lair.

The ride to my lair is quiet as usual, Victoria is staring out the window at the passing trees and I give her a quick glance every few minutes. She was looking absolutely beautiful, I couldn't help but to look at her.

She turns her head and I quickly avert my eyes before she can catch me staring. I mentally scowl my self. I can't be thinking about her like that but she's been on my mind ever since the first time I laid my eyes in her. There was always a stray thought of her inside my head.

Ten minutes later we were back in my lair staring at the monitors. You know how stake outs always seems so amazing in the movies, well don't let them fool you, because it isn't so fun in real life.

I give a long sigh, and Victoria gives me a weird look.

"What's wrong?" She asks still staring at the screens infront of her.

"I'm bored." I whine. The movies did definitely not prepare me for the long wait before the real action.

Victoria rolls her eyes at me before laying down on her arms, still staring at the monitor. She actually made it look like the best way to spend your night, like it was this action filled movie and she was waiting for the climax.

I stand up and walk towards the kitchen to grab us some jelly babies. Victoria loves jelly babies. Ugh great now I'm noting all her likes and dislikes, well done Shadow your turning into a real crush stalker.

I scowl myself again, don't you just feel sorry for poor me scowling myself the whole time.

"Are you okay?" I hear Victoria behind me pulling me out of my mental conversation. That's when I realise what I've been doing, I've been staring at the snacks the whole time. I grab two packets of jelly babies.

"Yeah I'm great, just grabbing a snack." I say as I walk back to her, handing her a packet of jelly babies.

"Thanks." She replies with a small smile. I take my seat again and return to the boring monitor while eating my jelly babies.

We've been at it for a couple of hours and when I glance at the clock I notice that it is already 11. When I turn my head to look at Victoria, I notice that she is fast asleep.

I want to wake her up but one look at that peaceful face and I can't dare myself to wake her.

I stand up as quietly as I can, careful not to wake her. She must've had a busy day, you know with her date and all. I hoped she enjoyed her date.

I tiptoe to the door and open it, I enter the garage and open the passenger door of my car as quiet as a mouse.

I quickly tiptoe back to Victoria who is still in a deep sleep. I scoop her up in my arms and she stirs a bit, she snuggles into my chest and a smile spreads across my face. How good it felt to have her in my arms.

I softly walk towards my car and gently place her in the passenger seat. I wait a few second before I close her door and head back inside.

When all the computers were switched off and the door was locked I went back to my car.

Victoria was still asleep when I returned. I start the engine but she thankfully doesn't wake up. I ride through the tunnel and the boat house and everything closes behind us.

I few minutes later I was parked in her drive way calculating how I was going to get her inside without waking her. Then all of a sudden a idea comes to mind.

Opening the door as softly as I can I climb out. The car door closes behind me with a very small thump. I rush towards the front door and start to pick the lock.

The door opened with a small crank and I walk back to my car. Victoria is all cuddled up in the seat when I open the door. I pick her up and cradle her to my chest. She was as light as a feather in my arms and it felt like she belonged there.

I closed the door behind me and checked the street around me. There wasn't a single soul in the area and all the house lights were off. I doubled checked to see if there was anyone around us and after I was satisfied I was alone I headed to the house.

A cool breeze passed by and Victoria shivered before cuddling up to me for warmth. If only she knew how comfortable she made herself in my arms. She would be so mad.

After I stepped inside the house I closed the front door behind me, not wanting to invite other thieves to this party.

The floor board creeks with every step I take. The stairs weren't any better and there was a couple of time when I thought that Victoria would wake.

When I finally stepped inside her room I let out a quiet sigh of relief. I walk to her bed and gently set her down. She lets out a sleepy sigh and I throw her covers over her.

When she was all covered up I placed a small goodnight kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight." I softly murmur in her ear before turning to leave.

Now I had to get back outside and lock every entry way, how on earth was I going to so this? I grab the front doors keys of the table where I saw Victoria placing it. I quickly lock it before heading to the study window.

The study was my only way out. I only hope no thief is smart enough to check for open windows.

******************************
Victoria's POV

My eyes flutter open slowly, I take a quick look around only to notice that I'm not at the Shadow's lair anymore but in my own room. How did I get here?

The last thing I remember was looking at the monitors and then....and then...

Agh I must've fallen asleep, but how did I get back in my room? Did the Shadow bring me back?
Well if he did he is quite chivalrous for a thief.

I look at my alarm clock and find that it is already 9 in the morning, the date must've really exhausted me. Not that I'm complaining if I could I would spend every single day on a hot air balloon with Jaydan.

Then realisation hits me, today is Thursday and my parents are coming back tomorrow. I squeal with excitement. I rush out of bed and that's when I notice that I'm still in yesterday's clothes.

I quickly grab another jean and shirt before rushing of to take a shower. After I showered I start to go to work in cleaning the house. I didn't want my parents to return to a dirty house.

I washed the dishes after I ate breakfast, dusted all the bookshelves in my father's study, washed the kitchen floors, vacuumed my parents room, my room and the living room, I washed all the dirty laundry. After that I took a lunch break before continuing.

I spent the entire day cleaning every thing I could possible get my hands on, I remade my parents bed and cleaned their bathroom.

I left my room for last. I sorted through all my papers and cleaned my entire desk. That was a very big accomplishment for someone like me who just hates to clean a desk.

Laying back down on my bed I thought of things I could do to welcome my parents back home.

And I knew exactly how, I could cook for them. My mother would probably be extremely tired when she gets back so I would make them lunch and dinner and some cookies for my dad.

With my mind set, I skip down to the kitchen to check on what I could make for us. Scanning through the fridge I noticed that there were a few things that were low on stock that I needed for the dinner I was planning for tomorrow night.

I stole a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was almost six o'clock, the sun was just setting.

Luckily the small convenient store just around the corner was open until 7 o'clock and I still had time to purchase a few things.

I grabbed a jacket and locked the door behind me, I wouldn't ordinarily go to a convenient store this time of day but because I needed ingredients and the convenient store was so close, I didn't see any harm in it.

When I arrived at the store I was greeted by the shopkeeper Bill. Bill was a nice, friendly man, he was in his late 30s. His wife was pregnant with their third child. I used to babysit for them a few times, they are quite a lovely family. I've never met someone as caring as Bill.

"Good evening Victoria, why are you out so late?" Bill asks as I walk through the isle.

"Just grabbing a few things." I reply. Bill nods and returns to reading his paper.

I grabbed a basket for all my items. As I walked through the isles I grabbed what I needed. I heard the door open and close but didn't really care about it, thinking that it is probably just another late minute shopper like me.

As I opened the fridge door to get a carton of milk, I felt something round and hard pressed against my skull.

"Stop!"
____________________________________
Hey guys
So this is an early update, but I was finished with the chapter and thought why not give you all a small treat ;-)

Hope you like the treat and please tell me what you think about the chapter.

What do you think about the Shadow's feelings for Victoria? Who do you think yelled stop in the convenient store?

Please tell me what you think.
Happy reading;-)
-Amorie