(I love that inside joke; spelling can be fun. x3)

(Also, be warned. The GxG means this involves a lesbian relationship. I am warning you now so you can skip it if you so please, but I would appreciate you reading the Authors note anyways. Thanks! :3)

Alex groaned, shoving her chair back. It was late, again, and she had to go home now or risk getting locked out of her apartment. She could skip her visit to the coffee shoppe and get another hour of work in, but she had a promise to keep. She glanced to the side, checking Her appearance was normal for her: light brown skin with darker patches here and there where she'd scratched her skin raw- all thanks to mosquito bites- with hair the color of molten chocolate that she'd shaved at the sides and back of her head, and eyes that managed to be a darker brown color that almost glowed in the dark; like a backlit piece of amber covered with a sackcloth. Others described it as beautiful, she called it useful for working late at night. She also blew most people off, preferring work to social interactions; except for her nightly coffee stop. She sighed, standing up out of her chair and shutting off the computer. She could finish re-cataloguing the medicine cabinets later.

She walked to her locker, a small metal cube built into the wall that held her "nessy" clothes, as her colleagues had jokingly called them. She was so rarely seen outside of her work uniform that the clinic had collectively agreed on a day once a month where they locked her out of the clinic, an event she'd avoided by arriving at work before anyone else. She pulled out the clothes- jeans, a t-shirt with the Nike logo, a jacket, and tennis shoes- and quickly changed into them, placing her scrubs in her backpack. She'd wash them at home. She stepped out of her small office, the one she worked in when she didn't have patients, and locked it. The lights were mostly off, she was the last one to leave as usual. It was almost midnight, and even the janitor had left almost four hours ago. He usually stayed till nine or ten, but work had been slower lately and there had been less strain on cleanliness and maintenance as a result. She finished turning out the lights and left the building, locking the doors as a precaution.

She walked to her car, sighing as she did so. She was always exhausted these days, but she was also used to it; she'd been having these days do the past three years. She knew it wasn't healthy, but home just wasn't a place she wanted to be. She'd been dating a human, and she'd felt ready to share the draconian world with him, and then... shot in an alleyway. By a drunken jerk who hadn't been able to tell his friends no. She didn't cry anymore, she had cried herself dry years ago, but she still felt numb. Her family hadn't helped either, insisting she was better off without a human as a mate; like that was any consolation. When you fall in love, you don't care what or who they are, you love them. Screw everything else, they are what matters; everything else is background noise.

As she hopped in the car, starting the thing and backing, and then driving, out of the lot, she gained a slight sense of anticipation. The coffee was good, the shop was homey, and the service was perfect. She had gotten the same waitress every time since her first visit. She'd been working increasingly long shifts for a few months before the rest of the staff managed to figure out what was wrong. They had forced her to take a week off and grieve. She had ended up sitting in a coffee shop for most of the day, not ordering anything, just sitting and staring out the window. After the third day, a waitress came over during her break and had started talking to her. Alex hadn't responded, and had waited for the waitress to leave, but she hadn't. By day four, Alex was talking back to her. By day seven, the waitress had managed to get a promise out of her; that she'd visit the coffee shop at least once a day on the days she worked. It had been almost three years, and she was still keeping her promise.

The waitress had managed to take the night shift, covering the place from ten to six, and had had gotten the place changed into an all night cafe. It had been doing pretty well since then, and had hired more workers, which had helped out a bunch of college kids. Alex had asked the waitress her name after the first month, and had gotten one. Ciara León, a twenty four year old college student who was balancing a night job, insomnia, and school. She was the only close friend Alex had made since his death, and she wasn't going to miss their nightly coffee, not if she could help it. So she drove, arriving at the coffee shoppe in time to see an employee flip the "closed" sign on the door. She walked up the steps and knocked on the door, getting a confused glance from the employee. She pointed at the sign in confusion, and the guy walked over, opening the door and speaking to her. "What's up, lady? Why are you curious about a 'closed' sign?"

She stared him down. "The coffee shoppe has been open 24/7 for the past three years or so, what happened?" He looked at her, rethinking something's in his mind; then his eyes metaphorically 'sparked' with understanding. "Oh! You're that one lady that Ciara was hanging out with! Okay, see, she got fired the other day for 'disorderly conduct', but, like, everyone knows she hadn't done anything, but she was overdue for a pay raise of any kind, so like, he used your guys' dates as an excuse to fire her. He claimed you and her spent an unacceptably long amount of time slacking on the job, but, like, she saved her breaks until she spoke to you, so she was in off time. But what can you do? Boss is the boss." He continued to ramble for a minute, explaining why the coffee shoppe was closed now, but Alex wasn't listening. She cut in after a few minutes. "Hey, um..." she glanced at his name tag, "Jace? Do you know her address?" He froze, thinking for a moment.

"Yeah, actually. Most of us did. We sent her thank you baskets every now and then 'cause she helped us get our jobs. If she didn't work such crazy hours, I wouldn't be here right now." He grinned. "Why?" "Could you give me her address?" He nodded, smiling slightly. "Of course! Anything for a member of the night~." Alex glanced up sharply, seeing his grin grow slightly more predatory as fangs appeared, then vanished again. He handed her a slip of paper, nodding goodnight as he slipped back inside the shop. "Tell her I said hi, will you? And goodnight miss!" The door closed leaving a stunned Alex slowly walking back to her car. That had been... a vampire worked with Ciara. She suddenly felt the need to check on her, to make sure Ciara hadn't been hurt somehow by the blood-sucking leech-folk. So she drove over to Ciara's apartment, a small place in a lot full of small places, and walked up the stairs to her door.

As she prepared to knock on the door, she watched her breath cloud in front of her face; could she do this? Could she actually show up at Ciara's house and ask her about her emotional well-being so late at night? It wasn't even one o'clock. She silently groaned, pulling back her hand and banging her head against a wall. The door opened and a puffy eyed Ciara appeared at the door. "Yes?" Then she froze. Alex also froze, realizing she had hit her head against the door in her frustration. They stared at each other for a minute, neither one moving, until Alex shook herself and spoke up. "Hey, Umm... Jace told me about the job, key. Are you... okay?" Ciara stood there for a moment before opening the door and inviting Alex in, her eyes filling with fresh tears that were barely held back.

Inside, the small home was cozy; two love seats in the front room, pictures of family everywhere, a coffee mug on the counter, a small coffee table between the couches, and a little bookshelf with a few large novels on it, like The Way of Kings, The Narnia Collection, The Eragon series, and the entire Enders Game trilogy. She had a candle in the corner of the room near the front window and there were two doors in a hallway that led just past the kitchen. "Nice place." Alex honestly felt more comfortable here than in her own home, an average home of around 2500 sq. Ft. that really wasn't meant to be lived in alone, but she barely used it so who cared? She nodded, gesturing to a couch, and Alex took a seat. She followed suit and they were soon in a comfortable silence. A silence she felt compelled to break.

"Ciara?" She began, slowly building up to her question, "Are you feeling okay? Losing a job after so long can be... difficult." She winced at her stupidly simple way of looking at the situation; she began to wish she'd talked to more people in more situations over the past three years. Ciara let the tears fall, shutting her eyes wrapping her arms around herself. "No... I... no..." she just sat there, shivering in her sorrow every now and then, and Alex made a choice. She stood and walked to sit next to Ciara, wrapping a comforting arm around her. Ciara leaned into her, sobbing silently as Alex quietly rocked side to side, holding her in a comforting embrace. "It's okay, it's okay. You don't have to explain, just listen and feel how much I care about you. Don't worry about tomorrow, don't think about today, just listen, listen, and I'm my arms stay." Alex wasn't the greatest singer, but she whispered the words to Ciara, hoping they would help calm her.

It worked, and eventually she calmed; she looked at the ground guiltily. "I spent three years trying to help you and I ruin it all in one night by breaking down. Oh Luna, why do I always mess up so badly?" Alex ignored the Luna comment, humans picked up draconian lingo occasionally, it wasn't rare to hear a human speak like a draconian. "It's okay, you helped me a long time ago, it's been three years. You helped bury my demons a long time ago, you're human, you can't be perfect." She sniffled, grinning wryly. "Then why keep coming every night? I'm not that engaging, I know what people think of my positivity. What else could possibly motivate you to visit the coffee shop every day for three years if not the free therapy sessions?"

Alex was silent for a moment, thinking. "Then why am I here?" Ciara frowned, her eyes growing uncertain. "I don't know... it doesn't really make sense. Why did you come all the way out here? It must've been hard to convince my co-workers... ex-co-workers... to give you my address. They saw how upset I was, and..." she trailed off, her face growing smooth. "Did they send you to get me happy again? Jace would do it, he doesn't mind playing with a girls hea-... head." She pulled away from Alex, sitting up straighter. Alex didn't know what to do. Ciara has almost said heart. As in... the fleshy Love-organ. That pulsing mass of fleshy, bloody pulp that squished life juice through your body and gave you painfully strong attachments to people that eventually leave you. She faced Ciara, looking her in the eye.

"I convinced Jace to give me your address. I did it because I wanted to see you. I wanted to see and talk to you. Screw the coffee shoppe, screw my own home; I like you. You are pretty much my only friend, because you're the only one that knew what to do when I was hurting, and you never gave up on me. That means more to me than you could possibly know, and I want to be able to pay you back somehow." Alex pulled Ciara into an awkward hug, made all the more awkward because they were both sideways on a loveseat in a small room. "I want to tell you how grateful I am, how... happy, you make me feel. So I'm going to help you however I can. You worry about school and finding a job, but don't worry about how long it takes. I can help you out." Ciara pushed Alex away before staring at her, watching her in confusion and hope and a helpless inability to understand. "But... why?"

Alex smiled, the reason finally clicking in her head. "Because, after three years of dating, I think I'm ready to say I love you." Ciara stared at her in disbelief. Shock and disbelief were the only expressions that crossed her face, then, her eyes glaring a deep golden color, she hugged Alex fiercely, her eyes shut tightly as she sobbed into her again, for a different reason this time. "I was so afraid you'd hate me, so afraid..." she sobbed wordlessly into Alex's jacket as she held her, both wordlessly expressing their feelings as they shared the moments joy between them. Alex glanced at the clock, 1:09 A.M., and made a decision. She pulled out her phone and shot a text to one of her fellow vets: "I'm taking a day off work. Catching up with an old friend. Don't worry. Alex."

Then she set her phone aside and focused on Ciara, asking her a question when she was finally in control of herself again. "So... I'm a secretary bird. What kind of were are you?"
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(A/N) Hey! So this was the first one-shot that got requested. It was short and simple, so I threw it together. My first attempt writing gxg content, so I kept it really, really fluffy with no other stuff. You guys were warned by the chapter title, so don't blame me. I'll include that in all of my chapters so that, if you aren't a fan of a certain kind of relationship, you can avoid it. So thanks for reading guys! If you have any requests, leave them in the comments and I'll check 'em out! Enjoy the one-shot books!

Till next time, Sept-Mates!

Your Poet and Scribe,
~ShadeFinder<(0^0)>

Pluviaphilia
ashe-stardust
Rae_Sword

Enjoy. :3