I didn't think that I would ever fall in love again after Victoria, but here I was Christmas shopping with an angel. When I woke up this morning, my back was to her, so I rolled over to face her. She was curled up in a ball with no blankets. I had accidentally taken them all. I slipped some on her and climbed out of bed. I was going to make her breakfast today. Well actually both of us, we were going to eat it in bed, after all, today was the day we were going to do the Christmas shopping. I wanted the day to start out well so that she wouldn't think I was upset about having to go. I really wasn't, I was quite excited, I just didn't like the idea of going all day, if it would take that long. And I still looked horrible. I knew we would get stares.

"Okay, now I just need something for Lyric." Her voice jogged me out of my thoughts, I looked at her flushed face. We had been running all over the Mall as she didn't ask what everyone wanted or even got them to give her a hint.

"So how come you didn't ask them what they wanted?" I asked leaning against a pole as we paused to take a breath.

"Where's the fun in that? I hate asking them because then it's not a surprise because they know you're going to get it for them." Her eyes were shining and she had a silly grin on her face.

"Uh huh. Interesting, I have never heard of someone doing that."

"Well now you have. Come on, we need to go to the jewelry section."

"And where's that?"

"Upstairs." She grinned at me sheepishly. We had just come from upstairs.

"You're killing me angel." Her cheeks flushed more at the nickname.

(*)-Devin

Angel, he had called me an angel. I loved it though. He looped my arm through his and together we made our way towards the escalator with our baskets. Excitement flowed through me, I was so happy to be with Thomas. No other guy had given me this happiness or freedom to be myself. This morning he had surprised me with breakfast, it warmed my heart so much. I had felt weird waking up in his bed, but I was glad that I had gotten the courage to ask him. I honestly didn't have a reason for asking, I think it was more to see what he would say. It had gotten quite cold over the last few weeks which gave me an excuse to wear my wool leggings. Today I wore black ones with a yellow plaid skirt and a light-colored grey sweater. Thomas wore black pants and a blue long-sleeved V-neck sweater, he looked very handsome. After breakfast, which consisted of sunny-side-up eggs with toast and some blackberries, I curled my hair, as it felt like a curly hair day then we had set out for the mall.

We made it to the jewelry section, Lyric didn't wear earrings all that often unless it was for a special occasion, she hated wearing bracelets because they got in her way. But I know that she adores necklaces, now I just have to find the right one for her. I held up several towards him, but he shook his head no. Like he would know what she'd want. I thought to myself, getting irritated for some reason. I really shouldn't be, after all it was I who was dragging him everywhere, not him dragging me. I puffed out my breath and continued to pursue. Thomas went off to a different part of the jewelry section.

A little bit later I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, turning around I found myself face to face with Thomas. He slowly put his hand up and released some of his fingers. A golden chain dangled from them. On the end was a little clear ball, inside was a whitish blue colored liquid, floating in that liquid were tiny diamonds. My breath caught in my lungs, as I looked up into his eyes, they were filled with sparkle. I reached out and touched the ball, he grabbed my hand, opened my fingers and dropped it into my palm

"Oh it's beautiful Tommy." I finally breathed out.

"I know. And I think your sister will like it." He smiled.

"I think so too. Oh thank you!" I stood on tiptoe and gave him a hug and found myself planting a kiss on his cheek. In public! Oh dear what has love done to me?

(*)-Thomas

My breath got stuck in my lungs. First my nickname, then she had caught me off guard with the kiss as much as she had herself. Her eyes were wide when she pulled back. I did everything in power from crushing my lips against hers. I mean we were in public and it was not the right time or place to do it at. She went back to looking and I stuck the other gift for her secretly into my basket, I know that she will love. It's just as beautiful as the necklace. I grabbed her hand and together we walked to the cashier to pay for our items. But a familiar face stopped me in my tracks

"What's wrong?" She asked

"Nothing, I-uh I have to use the bathroom."

"Alright." I stuck her on a bench with all of our bags and made my way through the crowd, through the bathroom door and came face to face with my half brother.

"Boy do you look miserable. I wonder who could have done that?" I growled at him but he just laughed

"What do you want Bear?"

"Well, I heard my father had let you have some time off. I've come to offer yuo the same." I arched an eyebrow at him. He was telling the truth, he stared right back at me. His fance watch glistening in the lights.

"For how long?"

"Same as my father. Christmas and New year. I wasn't going to after you tried to kill me, but dad want's to have a Christmas this year."

"Oh yeah?"

"Well actually it's my idea. That way he can meet his project."

"Excuse me?" I ask roaring. He laughs evilly

"Oh did I forget to mention one little thing"

"Dad wants to meet Devin. But he didn't know how to actually do it, so I came up with the perfect plan to have dinner with you guys. Seeing as she's your girlfriend, it would be rude for you not to bring her." I didn't even know I had lunged for him until I heard flesh against flesh and pain in my hand. He fell to the floor, blood dripping from his nose. His goons came rushing out of the stalls with guns raised. I slowly raised my hands in defence. Martian, the big goon lifted Bear off his feet. Bear dusted himself off and cleaned up the blood.

"When is the dinner happening?" I asked barely tamping down my anger.

"That is something I can't disclose yet." I spit at his feet and walked out. I got to Devin and told her it was time to go. She looked startled but said, nothing further. She grabbed her basket and I grabbed mine, then we went to the cash register.

This time, I did not pull a gun on them, after all it was Christmas and it was way too crowded in there. And I still fuming from the encounter that I wasn't thinking straight, but I had to for her so that she wouldn't become suspicious. After purchasing our items, I took her out for a late lunch, it was already one o'clock. I had let her sleep until I was done with breakfast. We ate at 9:00, then we had played some games and read until ten. Then we went to the store, it was a drive from my house as it was near her town. When we had gotten there, the doors had not yet opened, they opened at noon. So we sat near the doors as she didn't want to miss when they opened. We had been the first people inside the store so she went to the clearance rack to shop for herself. She found several dresses and some cute sweaters. Then we went hunting for her gifts.

Arriving back home, we decided to watch a movie as we were both a little tuckered out from walking around. And our bellies were full of yummy greasy food. Today we watched You've Got Mail. Which is one of her favorites, I thought it was cheesy, but I wanted to support her. As we watched, we wrapped our gifts, her first gift was still hidden safely away in my dresser.

"So, when do you think they will figure out who killed the guy?"

"I don't know." She said with a shake of her head, making her dangly earring go back and forth. "I hope soon. I would really like to go back. I mean I didn't even get to have a real first day."

"I know. I'm sorry about that. I-I hope they catch the guy so you can go back." What was I saying? They must never catch the guy, because the guy is me."

"Yeah. I hope they find something soon. Even if they don't, will we be able to go back?" She stopped wrapping and looked at me, her face sad.

"Let's hope." I replied kissing the top of her head. Wrapping our gifts took us halfway through the movie. And now it was 1:30. We paused the movie, and I asked her if she could teach me how to draw the rest of the face that we had been drawing a couple of weeks ago. She agreed and we pulled out all the items that we needed. She had put our papers neatly in the bottom of her dresser as it was empty except for her artwork. While she was grabbing it all, I put some cookie dough into the oven to make mini cookies.

(*)-Devin

I set everything out on the table. He closed the oven and I wondered what was in it. He sat down across from me, I scanned our drawings to figure out where we had left off. After I figured it out, I went right to work telling him what comes next and helping him draw the lines to make the mouth. Soon a yummy aroma filled the house

"Is that cookies I smell?"

"Yeah, I thought that we could snack on some."

"Well, they smell delicious!" He smiled and then got up to check them,

"Good, they are almost done." He sat back down and we finished the drawing. He held it up for me to look at. Some of the lines were shaky, some were squiggled, but it was still perfect in my eyes.

"That looks wonderful! You did such a nice job!"

"Really"

"Um yeah! That's your first drawing, like ever! If you follow the guidelines, you'll be drawing all sorts of faces on your own."

"Your right! The more I practice, the better I'll get." He was so happy, like a kid during Christmas. I hadn't known that accomplishing something would make him so happy.

"You're cute when you smile." He bowed his head as color crept onto his cheeks.

Thanks. But you know what?"

"What?" I asked standing up to get out some mugs.

"You're cute too!" I rolled my eyes at him. Poured milk into the mugs and put them in the microwave. He pulled the cookies out and set them on the counter. They were a beautiful golden color, filled with chocolate chips. I breathed in the wonderful smell.

"I wouldn't say I'm cute. More like, beautiful?" I asked looking at him.

"You don't have to ask me. You know I'd say yes." He put his hands around my waist and kissed my cheek. Then he pulled away. He hadn't tried to do any more than that ever since that one night. The microwave ended, we took our cookies and coca into the living room to watch some more movies. It was the perfect day, in my opinion.

(*)-Thomas

Today had been fun. I had gotten to spend some quality time with her. I didn't have to worry about doing jobs for Blade, which was nice, but I honestly didn't mind doing them as he was the only one that provided me with income. Sitting down, she curled into my side. I still couldn't stop thinking about how she was so different from Tori. Devin was smaller than Tori had been. Both in stature and body. Devin was more considerate than Tori in a way, sure she cared if I got hurt, but Tori could kill somone without feeling remorse. Devin could never hurt a fly. I mean she was so shook up after seeing that dead guy. Devin put others first, Tori had put herself first.

Shaking the comparasing thoughts out of my head, I turned my attention to the woman in the nook of my arm. Her head was against my shoulder. The light seemed to dance on her fair complexion. Her lips were still painted a light red, one of her earring was snagged in her hair. Her eyes were closed, I could tell that she was starting to nod off and rightly so, hours had passed and it was now 9:00. I turned off the t.v and carried her to the bed. I tucked her in with her clothes still on. He only thing I did was take out her earrings. I didn't think that it would be very comfortable to sleep with. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and then changed into my pajama bottoms and crawled in next to her. I fell asleep listening to her breathing, a steady rythum that went up and down. It reminded me of a heart beating, always steady. Like Tori's must have been before they shut her. I squeezed my eyes shut as I thought about what it was like. Tears slipped out of my eyes. Tears that should have been shed a long time ago. I felt her shift and her hand lay flat on my chest, the other caress my cheek wiping my tears

"You okay?" Her voice was soft as she whispered. All I could do was nod my head. She came closer and laid her head on my chest running her finger up and down my belly. I put my arm around her shoulder. The tears stopped and I soon fell into a dark sleep.