"Girl, you need to cool your jets, sit down, and have a chat with the guy," Bri ordered firmly. Willow's best friend was sporting a v-neck blue tee, along with a pair of black skinny jeans and blue flats. Her long braids were wrapped up into a messy bun on her head, brown eyes serious. "A real talk, not your crappy joke-session you like to use in order to keep men at a distance."

Willow sighed, rolling her eyes, cleaning up after lunch. She was standing by the sink, Bri at her right elbow, leaning against the counter. "What's wrong with that?" she muttered. "Besides, since he's living here, it's not like I can't talk to him at any point, really..."

Bri reached out and placed her hand on Willow's right shoulder, making her glance up into her friend's face. "I'm serious, Willow. You don't have to love the guy, just talk to him. I was sitting here for that entire meal. It's obvious he's trying...But you're just acting like a bitch, honestly."

Willow glared. "Was that really called for?" she asked in offense. But as Bri continued to just stare at her, Willow felt her own consciousness start to spark. She sighed heavily. "Alright, fine. I get it. I really do," she admitted in a softer voice. It was two days after the night Aiden had caught her on her way out. Since then, he'd been trying to get along with her. She'd catch him observing her, studying her up, like she was some sort of school exam. Then he'd come over and try to start a conversation. Ask her about things she enjoyed or might be interested in. Anything that wouldn't start a fight...

But she was terrified of that. So, even though she knew it was horrible of her, she'd twist his words until she could find some way to rile him up, to make him loose his temper.

Despite telling herself she needed to try to get along with him, she instead kept pushing him away. Further and further, praying he'd get the hint and walk out of the door. Unfair or not, she didn't care. Willow didn't need him around. She took care of Prophecy just fine with herself and Kazuo. Father's were only good for one thing and it wasn't taking care of their children.

So, no matter how obviously smitten Aiden was with Prophecy...No matter how much Prophecy loved her father already...No matter how often Aiden was quick to volunteer to help with anything that had to do with Prophecy...Willow couldn't let it matter. Eventually, his true side would rear its ugly, horrible head and she didn't want Prophecy to be hurt by it.

She didn't want to be hurt by it herself...

"If you understand, then stop doing it," Bri whispered gently.

Willow froze, her hands still in the soapy dish water. She turned her head, staring into Bri's eyes. "But, Bri, he's the one who..." she swallowed, tears stinging her eyes. "He's the one who..."

Bri stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her friend, hugging her tight. She pressed Willow's face to her shoulder, rubbing her hands down Willow's back and hair. "Shh, it's alright, honey," she soothed. "I know he is...You don't think I haven't wanted to punch him, to stab him since I found out...? He's the one who..." her voice trailed off. A lump in her throat made it hard for her to breathe and talk. "Don't think a part of me doesn't hate him for what he did," she reassured Willow. Closing her eyes, she took in a few slow, steadying breaths. In her arms, Willow was crying silently, her body shaking. "But you have to put that to the side for now...Or better yet, you should talk to him about it."

Jerking back, Willow's face grew pale with fear and panic. "N-no! I c-c-can't!"

Bri pulled her back into the hug, trying to calm her down. "Alright, alright. I suppose it's much too soon for you to be able to trust him that much," she admitted in a soft whisper. In a louder voice she tried again. "Well, even if you don't punch his lights out for his sins against you, you can at least try to get along better. You know Prophecy loves him. What are you going to say to her later when she grows up and realizes that you were the one who made her father leave? Don't you realize she's just going to see it as you making Aiden abandon her?"

Willow sucked in a sharp breath. "She'd hate me..."

"Yes, she would," Bri nodded firmly. "So buck up, get out there, and try. You can't throw in the towel until you've at least tried. Afterwards, it'll be up to him. Whether he rejects you or accepts you."

"But it's..."

"It's a fucking lot better than a custody battle, Willow," Bri snapped. That made Willow blink. She stepped back and stared up at her friend. "Keep this shit up and I promise you, it will happen."

Willow quickly began to wipe at her tears, nodding her head. "Yeah...I know," she admitted reluctantly.

"You better now?" Bri asked softly.

Nodding, Willow sucked in a deep breath and brushed some of her hair that had fallen into her face out of the way. "Yes. Thank you," she reached out and touched Bri's arm, looking into the other woman's eyes. "Really. I know I've been a horrible person the last week or so. I'm honestly sorry for that. Thank you for having my back and telling to me straight when I'm being a bitch."

Bri flashed a little grin and a salute. "I'm your personal Bitchiness Meter and you'd exceeded your limit, girl. Now, let's hurry up and clean this kitchen. Once I get done helping you out today, I'm going to have to head out. I have a job in Moscow, with a plane to catch leaving out at three o'clock sharp today."

Willow grimaced. "Some old, fat, Russian politician?" she asked.

Bri sighed heavily. "You know it. From the sounds of it and the research I did, he's seems the handsy type too. You know..."

"...The Old Man Groper," Willow shuddered in disgust. "God, don't they realize it isn't sexy to have your ass grabbed in the middle of a formal dinner party?"

"Right?!" Bri groaned in complete agreement. "Like, who even actually does that, expect in movies? Then when you get them up to the hotel room, they can barely stay up..."

Willow raised a hand to her mouth. "Fuck, don't make me get sick, Bri. I just ate, damn it!" She reached out a hand to weakly smack at her friend's arm.

Bri laughed loudly. "Aww, how long has it been since you had to do that particular tango?"

Straightening a little, Willow tried to start back up on her cleaning. "Um...four months, maybe? I'd like to make it forever, but you know how it is. There's always someone who wants someone else dead..."

"Business is business, baby. It's how I make my moola," Bri said simply.

Willow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but you have it easy. All you honestly have to do is tell your target to kill themselves and bam, you're all set. With me, I have to get them somewhere private and kiss the life out of them," she complained.

Bri grinned. "Yeah, but at least your way is much more fun, most of the time. Except, you know, with the old men."

Willow closed her eyes. "Gods save me from the old men. It takes even longer to kill them because I'm so disgusted the entire time. Ugh!"

A voice behind them made the two women jump in surprise. "Why the hell are you two talking about having sex with and killing old men? Is that your fetish, Willow?"

She closed her eyes, recognizing the condescending voice. Before, the tone hadn't been there. But with all the fighting and bitching she'd done over the past few days, Aiden's patience was obviously wearing thin. He was putting up his guard, expecting a fight with every interaction...But could she blame him?

"Haha...Um, we were just discussing job problems," Bri explained awkwardly. Then she brightened, realizing. "But, actually Aiden, Willow needed to talk to you about something. I was just needing to leave, honestly. I'll catch you later." Making a hasty retreat, she waved to Willow and Aiden, grabbing her purse and keys off of the small table by the first floor's left door on her way out.

Willow blinked, watching her go. She just deserted me! she thought in a sudden rise of panic. Bri deserted me and left me with a hungry wolf!

Aiden turned his attention back to Willow, his gaze taking in her light pink tank top, ripped jean shorts, and white flip-flop sandals. Her hair was half-pinned to the side of her head, messy and falling out of what had been holding it up. Honestly, she should just let the whole thing fall back down and surround her with those curls. She looked so much better that way. But Willow had made it perfectly clear what she thought of his opinion over the past several days, so he held his tongue. "You needed to talk to me?" he asked in a bored tone.

Willow chuckled nervously. "U-um...y-yeah," she choked out.

Aiden waved a hand in her direction. "Alright then. Talk," he bit out in a cold voice. He crossed his arms over his chest, watching her dispassionately from six feet away, further down the kitchen counter to her left.

Brushing a few strands of hair behind her ears, Willow mentally kicked herself. You did this all on your own! You can't chicken out and blame anyone else! It was all you! "I wanted to apologize," she said softly, wiping at her hands on a drying cloth as she let the water drain in the sink.

"What?" Aiden asked crossly. "I can't really hear you when you mumble. What's your problem anyway?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry, okay?!" she repeated in a much louder voice. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch and an asshole the past couple of days to you! I'm sorry for constantly starting shit over nothing and hurting you in the process, okay?!" She sucked in large gulps of air, surprised she'd actually said it. Holy crap and to put the cherry on top of it, I freaking shouted it at him! She swallowed, her breath coming out in shaky pants. "U-um..." she fought to lower her voice, to keep herself under control. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that...I'm just...I'm really not good at this sort of thing..."

Aiden was more than a little stunned, standing there. As he watched, unable to do anything more than stare at Willow, dumbstruck, he noticed her begin to blush. "I'm sorry," she whispered again, looking the closest he'd ever seen her to crying before. "I'm trying to calm down."

He blinked. What is she, bipolar? Where did the sudden mood swing come from? The fuck?! After a few seconds, he cleared his throat. "Um...no, it's alright. A-are you...Are you okay now?" he asked awkwardly.

"You don't know how hard it is to say I'm sorry to you," she choked out in a dark mumble. She cleared her throat. "Um...yeah, I'm better now, I think." She raised a hand to her temple, rubbing at an ache. "Is it alright if we moved this to the living room? I want to be comfortable while I do this..."

Nodding his head in a low jerk, Aiden started toward the one couch. He sat down on the right end of the couch, closest to the kitchen. After a minute, Willow came around from the back, jumping over the couch and sitting down on the opposite end, closest to the first floor doors. "So..." Aiden let his voice hang in the air.

Willow shifted in the seat, crossing her legs under her, turning until she was facing him. Aiden stayed sitting normally, only turning his body to face her a little more. "Okay, let's just do this!" she said in an oddly determined manner, brushing more of her hair out of her face. "So, we can't stand each other right now and I have to apologize. It's entirely my fault for that and it was really childish of me."

Aiden slowly nodded his head. "Yes, I will agree to all of those statements," he said cautiously. "What's your point about this?"

"I think we should...not be that way," she coughed, flushing.

He eyed her in interest. "Oh? Really now..." he leaned back and watched her intently. "I certainly couldn't tell that, just an hour ago."

She glared. "Yeah, I know. That's why I'm apologizing, you idiot!"

His eyes sparked in irritation. "Model job you're doing, I have to say. Perhaps you should switch professions and make money off of this instead," he advised with heavy sarcasm.

She threw her hands up in the air. "Damn it, you aren't making this any easier for me, Aiden!"

He smiled thinly. "Why should I? Don't like a taste of your own medicine, Willow?" he asked tightly.

Her gaze slid away and her arms slowly lowered back to her sides. "Yeah...Alright," she rubbed her hands against her arms, as if cold. "C-can you just...stop being so angry right now?" she asked in a tiny voice.

She wouldn't look at him in the eye and Aiden realized that his temper was causing the air in the room to drop in temperature. He inhaled deeply, pulling the cold back into his body. "Sorry," he apologized gruffly, flicking a stray strand of hair from his own eyes.

After a few tense moments, her hands fell away and she returned her gaze to his. "It's alright...Thank you," she murmured. Her black eyes searched his green ones for a few more heartbeats. "How old are you?"

Taken aback by the sudden question, Aiden answered without thinking. "Twenty-six."

Her lips twitched. "So you're two years older than me. You must have been freaking out when you realized how young I was...when we got together. You're so annoyingly proper," she muttered.

He eyed her. "Why did you do it?"

She paused, looking confused. "Why did I do what?"

"Get with me that night," he clarified his question.

She shrugged nonchalantly, shifting so that her legs were stretching out on the couch. Her hands reached up and released her hair, letting it curl around her face and head. "I wanted sex," she admitted bluntly, honestly, without batting an eye. "I looked through a few different bars and you were the first guy I saw that made me feel interested."

He blinked, not sure if he should feel insulted or complimented. "So...you'd been doing your nightly activities, even then, hmm? How young were you when you started?" He couldn't keep the note of distaste out of his voice.

Willow looked him directly in the eyes. "What, do you have a problem with that? Does it bother you? Am I a witch to burn in your eyes, because I'm basically a slut? Are you going to stone me for doing what I do?"

Aiden swallowed, taking in the guarded, closed expression on her face. "I...I don't know, honestly," he answered after a few attempts to speak past the sudden lump in his throat. "It just...irritates me, I suppose." Somehow it makes me feel tainted, knowing I touched you, and knowing what you do...

But as soon as the thought entered his mind, he paled. How the hell could I think something like that of another person? What does that say about me?

"Well, if you really want to know, I've been killing people since I was eleven. Does that help you at all? Don't worry though, Prophecy hasn't inherited any of the awfulness I have. She hasn't hurt people. She hasn't killed people. She's safe to be around. She doesn't have to ever worry about anything like that. I've spent the last seven years making sure of it." Willow's voice was a mixture of determination and weariness.

For the very first time, since meeting Willow a week ago, Aiden felt like he was getting a glimpse of the real Willow. The one who seemed to be buried under hundreds of feet of spiked armor, disguised as a strong, independent woman. For the first time, he felt like there was a real and true layer of Willow that wasn't 'in control'.

But even as he thought it, he had to wonder why. Her words were said in a flippant manner, like none of it mattered in the slightest to her. But hearing them...If she's telling the truth, she's been killing people since she was eleven? How the hell did that come about? What was Kazuo doing? And...She thinks she's dangerous to be around? That's she's an awful person?

Whether Aiden could agree with her or not was a different story. Before, most likely yes. But now, with the thoughts that were swirling around in his mind...he couldn't be so sure.

"Are you going to say something? I thought that was the whole point of this sort of thing...You know, talking together? Discussing things?"

He started to say something, but a commotion at the door made him pause, brows furrowing in a frown of confusion.

O O O

Andrew stared down at the paper clutched tightly in one hand. He swallowed, moving his gaze up to the building. Stepping forward, he pushed open the door. Directly in front of him were stairs going up. To his right, a pair of doors were open. He took several steps forward, glancing into the room the open doors led into. He started to call out, to let anyone know he was here. But his words died away as he caught sight of long black curls. They shifted and he was able to see the profile of the owner of those curls. His lips lifted into an excited smile. Unable to stop himself, driven by a need to be closer to her, he moved forward.

He didn't pause to think or to take anything else in about the room. He moved to stand behind her, from where she was sitting, leaning back against the arm of the couch. Andrew wrapped his arm around her chest, pulling her against his chest as much as he could with the arm of the couch at her back. He leaned down and planted a kiss on top of her head. "Baby," he murmured in pleasant surprise. "I can't believe I found you so soon."

Very slowly, she turned her head to face him, moving from where she was stretched out on the couch. He took in the widening of her eyes as she gazed up at him, dumbstruck.

Another man's voice pulled his attention from her face, looking past her head. A man, about six feet tall-the same height as himself-with long platinum blonde hair and dark green eyes was sitting down on the other side of the couch. Andrew quickly took in the man's hand and saw he wore no rings, which made Andrew feel a little better. The man's brows were pulled down, a frown on his face, his eyes holding shocked confusion. "Willow...I assume you know this guy?"

Andrew's eyes closed briefly. Willow...Her name is Willow. But just as quickly as his elation rose upon learning Baby's real name, dread began to take it's place. "Who the fuck are you?" Andrew heard himself asking.

The man eyed him, his dark green gaze strangely a little intense. When he spoke, Andrew felt as if the floor had opened up beneath him. "I'm the father of our daughter together. Who are you?" the man shot back.

Baby...W-Willow has a daughter...with this guy?! His mind couldn't seem to wrap around what was being said. He let out a low, broken laugh. I knew it was always going to turn out to be something like this!

His laugh shifted to a harsh, belly laugh. He raised his free hand to his face, covering one side as his shoulders continued to shake with the force of his laughter. After a few more seconds, Andrew was able to get his words back, inhaling sharply.

"I'm her boy-toy."