"It's only for a week or two," explained Mum holding my shoulders, "You're right staying with Griffin? If anything happens you'll tell him? Make sure you get plenty of sleep, okay? And don't try skipping school. You've got everything you need, Baby?" It was always like this when my parents went away. I sighed inwardly. Mum hadn't known her mother until she was PENGUIN and so had made it her mission to be the most present mum ever. Which at times like this could be a little hard to handle for both Dad and me.

    "It's cool Mum," I soothed, "It's not like I haven't done this a thousand times before." Smiling encouragingly I continued, "As long as Griffin lets me cook tea every once in a while, we'll be fine." She nodded, apparently satisfied. I heard Dad shout from the car.

    "Vi, Baby," he called, "We really need to go!"

    "Okay then," she whispered, kissing me on the cheek, "See you in a little while."

    "Bye, Mum," I grinned, "Don't have too much fun!" She hesitated, staring at me as if she was trying to memorise my face.

    "Violet!" Dad called again. Still she didn't move.

    "Violet!" I cleared my throat nervously.

    "Umm, Mum," I stammered. She raised an eyebrow, "You . . . you really should go now."

    "Right," she agreed, "Love you, Baby." With a good-bye hug my mother raced out the door.

    "Love you too," I murmured.

    "And now the real fun begins!" declared Griffin. Sometimes it was strange how he acted when it was just the two of us, "What to eat for dinner? How does Vietnamese chicken meatball and noodle soup sound to you?"

    "Griffin," I shut down, "There is no way you are attempting to cook that. You will kill us both." Griffin wasn't the world's worst cook but he tended to experiment with the ingredients too much, resulting in clashing flavours or a product too disgusting to eat.

    "You have to give me some credit for my cooking," he demanded. I shrugged nonchalantly.

    "You have had some moments," I agreed, "But seriously, I'll cook tonight."

. . .

We ate well. I managed to push Griffin out of the kitchen and set to work on the recipe he had selected. It was great! After we finished I set about cleaning up while Griffin sat down at the table and surrounded himself with papers. He would be up all night.

    "You're going to school tomorrow, right?" he questioned.

    "Yeah," I answered passing him a coffee and sliding into the seat next to him.

    "Will you be right to do some training after school then?" I thought for a moment. I had no other plans.

    "Should be," I replied taking a sip of my hot beverage, "Unless something drastic happens." Griffin nodded thoughtfully, eyes never leaving the pages in front of him.

    "We'll be at Lincoln's warehouse," he informed me, "Spence and some of the others will be there too. This is nice coffee, Rose." I grinned.

    "Nescafe Gold Rich Instant coffee," I supplied, "With two sugars." He looked up at that with a questioning glance.

    "Yes Griff," I confirmed, "Two." After finishing my coffee I left to take a shower before bed.

. . .

The scene was familiar; a semi-dark room lit by a single candle. I could see the window but he wasn't there. A quick and thorough sweep of the room confirmed it; I was alone. I made my way to the window, desperate to see the faces again. Who were they? Why were they so strange to me yet amazingly familiar? Did I know them? Or was I going to meet them in the future? But my eyes weren't drawn to the faces as much as the slow sliding of the blood down the glass. It was frighteningly intriguing. I wanted to touch it. Whose blood was it? Was it mine? Or did it belong to the angel I had seen last time I was here? There was less than last time. Slowly my hand crept forward, inching closer to the never ending stream of scarlet. I could almost touch it . . .

    "Rose!" the shout came from behind the door, "Time to get up for school!" I sighed and rubbed my face into my palms.

    "Coming, Griff," I managed. I peeled myself off the mattress and pulled a school dress out of the wardrobe. I always kept one at Griffin's place for times like this.

    "Rose," he called again five minutes later, "I made pancakes!"

    "That's the burning I can smell, then," I retorted fastening the last of my buttons. Outside my room I heard a snort.

    "That's so funny, Rose," Griffin replied, "Truth detector, remember."

    "I know," I whispered sadly to myself. His Grigori strength.

. . .

I walked that morning. Griffin seemed so preoccupied with the reams of paper littered across the table that I thought it best to leave him be. I let him know I was off to school doubting he had actually heard me and marched straight out the front door. When I got to school though I was faced with a serious problem.

    "Rosaline Wood!" Cameron screamed at me halfway down the corridor, "Why did you disappear Monday and where have you been?" Within seconds she was by my side demanding to know why I hadn't attended school for the past three days. I felt a pang of guilt at having not contacted my friend and especially for not walking her to the bus Monday afternoon like I usually did. Cam's life was so chaotic at times that I knew she appreciated having something that resembled a routine.

    "Sorry, Cam," I lied without hesitation, "I was feeling terrible. Cramps; you know." She couldn't argue with that but my friend quickly recovered taken on a sullen air.

    "Well," she huffed, "You could have taken my calls or answered my emails." I hid a smile. Stubborn to the end, that was my Cameron.

The day passed without too much trouble. I was way behind on a truckload of homework, which I only had tonight to work on, but other than that I hadn't missed too much. Cam promised to lend me the answers to everything she had, which would lighten the job considerably seeing as we shared so many classes together.

    "On one condition," she stated hands on hips, "Your absence had nothing to do with a boy."

'Bummer,' I thought. I had fainted in a guy's arms, had a dream chat with different guy and was now staying at yet another guy's house because a particular guy, a.k.a my dad, had gone to New York. I was kind of confused. I guess it was the angel dude who made me pass out, right? But angels don't actually have genders so I'm okay? Damn! I needed that homework.

    "No, Cam," I feigned, "No boys involved. But I am staying with Griffin for a week or two while Mum and Dad are in New York for a business meeting or something." It didn't seem to bother her so she handed a wad of paper to me.

     "Say hi to Griff for me then, will you?" was all she said before heading to the bus stop without me. Yeah, she was still cross with me. I'd have to make it up to her somehow.

. . .

    "You're late," announced Griffin as I marched in the door. I shrugged off my school bag.

    "Sorry, Griff," I explained making my way up the stairs to get changed, "Got caught up chasing after homework." I didn't wait for a reply before locking myself in the bathroom.

I re-entered five minutes later, geared up and ready to go for our training session. Gathering all of our attention Griffin assigned us to our partners. I spied Dean standing next to Spence, what was he doing here? Dean was from another district and only ever came to town to train with me on Mondays.

    "Salvatore and Spencer," Griffin rattled off, "Dean and Chloe and Zoe and Rose. Got that? I expect clean fighting. Other than no biting or use of unfair advantages, anything goes. Remember Dean's still recovering, Chloe. Now hop to it." In our pairs we split off into different corners off the room where there was a sparring mat each about 5 square metres.

    "You ready to party, Rosie," Zoe teased. I nodded. Nyla, Griff's Grigori partner, had just walked in and had taken Zoe's I-pod off him as he was getting nowhere with it. Zoe's sparring mix buzzed in my ears.

    "Let's go."

We both knew the outcome from the beginning; Zoe would win. She was stronger and faster. She was Grigori. But I did manage to get a few good blows in and evaded being pummelled into the dirt for longer than either had anticipated.

    "You're getting better, Rose," Zoe grinned, "You almost had me breaking into a sweat. Almost." I grinned freely back but my heart was aching. I wanted to talk to my parents badly.

    "Yeah," I agreed, "Almost."

. . .

That night I allowed Griffin to make dinner which we ate at the breakfast bench. Thankfully he kept it simple and I was able to eat it without needing to go to the bathroom every five minutes. Afterwards we went our own ways. Griffin sat down in the paper dump he called his kitchen table and I placed myself down at the piano. Griff didn't play but he knew it was my best way to vent any troubles so he went to all the effort to buy one for me. He really was a true gentleman.

The pain in my heart rose at the sight of the piano and I felt my deepest emotions begin to take over my mind. I played a few nervous chords to warm up and took the plunge. I lost track of time. The notes rang from the instrument in a chorus of pain and confusion. I could feel my heart melting into the sounds. My fingers flew across the keys in a symphony of agony and grief. I played and played and played slowly becoming lost in the echoes of my emotions. It felt so good and yet so terrible . . .

A hand clamped down on my shoulder startling me. I looked up and met Griffin's gaze. His eyes were a little red, tear marks lightly tracked down in face.

    "Rose," he whispered, sliding onto the bench next to me, "Are you okay?" I stared at him for a moment and then all the longing in my soul hit me like a brick wall. Why did my parents have to be gone now? I collapsed against him crying into his shirt.

    "Griff," I managed in between sobs. He just held me tight and let me continue. Once I calmed down a bit he gathered me up in his arms and took me upstairs to bed.

Griffin sat with me while I continued to meltdown, rubbing my back and holding me tight. The tears kept coming and then I started gagging. I vomited all over Griffin, all over myself, the bed, everywhere and I couldn't stop it. At some time I did though. I vaguely remember Griff running a bath and sitting vigilantly outside the door while I cleaned up. After that I think I told him all about my dreams with the messenger angel and the window with faces. And then I fell asleep.

Unknown POV

She looked so broken; it was awful. Not for the first time I wanted to make myself known. I wanted to push away the people around her and look after her myself. As she vomited all over her Grigori companion she looked so frail and weak. And then she spoke about the dreams. I felt as though someone had ripped my heart out and roasted it over a flaming spit. He held her close and stroked her back, comforted her. His eyes were so full of concern but was it as much as what I felt? My heart was bleeding for her; I would do anything to make her happy. Would he? She babbled on frantically telling him about a window full of ghostly faces, blood that ran down the glass, an angel who gave her confusing messages about who she was but how he wasn't her angel maker. She wept and told him everything. I wish I was as lucky as him; she had so much confidence that he was looking out for her. I was about to leave but a sweet little voice called me back.

    'Griff,' she mumbled, 'I wanted to tell Mum and Dad first but... Please don't tell them. I think they have enough to worry about at the moment.'

...

Hey there! Some touching Griffin moments. Hope you liked it. I'll be updating again today so be on the look out. Don't forget to comment and tell me what you think of the story. Any advice is always appreciated.

~SpanishFox