Aiden woke up the next morning, feeling more than a little uncertain, but hopeful. He couldn't let himself focus on Willow's pessimistic views. I need to try and find something about her that I can appreciate, he told himself.

It was with this train of thought in his mind that he walked down the final step, turned into the first floor room, and walked further in. He lifted his gaze up from where he had been looking down at the ground, spacing out. But as soon as he did, he froze, his breath catching in his throat.

A-alright, he thought shakily. I didn't mean it like this!

Standing in the living room, behind the couch, was Willow. Which wasn't a bad thing in itself, of course. But it was what she was wearing that made his heart rate spike, his palms breaking out in sweat, and his blood begin to heat up, despite himself. It's got to be too early in the morning for this, he thought tiredly, even as his eyes drank in the sight before him.

Willow had her hands up above her head, her back to him, groaning loudly as she stretched out the kinks in her body. Her curls flowed down her back, but they didn't hide her dark purple shorts, or how said shorts accented her curves and her ass. She turned slightly, giving Aiden a view of her profile, rolling her neck to pop it. She was wearing a light purple shirt, if you could even call it that. It was thin, small, and held up with only two spaghetti straps, only about as wide as the pasta itself. The shirt fell down to reveal the top of her breasts, all of her collarbone, shoulders, and arms. It was tight enough that it cupped the swell of her breasts and Aiden found his hands aching to move closer and feel those perfect, soft globes through her shirt.

A very amused, husky voice broke through his heated thoughts, making him jerk his gaze from her chest. "Keep staring like that and I'm going to start charging you," Willow smiled wickedly.

Blinking, Aiden shook his head. "What...? I-I..."

"Hot damn!" a familiar voice exclaimed to his left. Aiden turned his head and saw Bren. The man's expression was completely shocked, but there was a hint of heat in his eyes. It was obvious he was checking Willow out, just like Aiden had been a second ago. "Lady, you didn't give me enough warning last night."

In the pit of Aiden's stomach, a dark, threatening feeling started to grow. Especially when Bren's gaze wasn't stopping it's inspection of Willow's body, when it was so obvious how much the other man was lusting after her. Some part of him, the part that was growing more and more pissed, wanted to reach out and punch the man. Who the hell said it was okay for Bren to be eating up Willow like this with his eyes?

But even as he thought about it, Bren's words broke through his anger. Willow gave Bren warning? When? What the hell did they talk about? Was it when I was reading Prophecy her story? Just what the fuck did those two do last night? Did they...?

The more the questions kept churning in his mind, the more his rage began to build. But, just before he could feel it grow any worse, a hand at his right sleeve made him glance down. Prophecy was smiling sleepily up at him. "'Morning, Dad. You sleep okay?" The girl was dressed in the pajamas she had changed into the night before, light green shirt and pants with blue and yellow clouds all over them.

Instantly, the rage in his heart dissipated. He smiled warmly, reaching out to pull her against his side. "I slept just fine, Prophecy. How about you?"

The girl ducked her head in embarrassment, hugging his side. "I was okay...But I wanted to sleep next to you," she admitted softly.

Aiden's heart squeezed, feeling his emotions flood his heart and throat. Honestly, he would have loved that. Holding his daughter while she slept, breathing in her scent, hearing her breathe. Everything about her was a miracle to him and he loved every second. He wanted to take in every moment he had, especially when he wasn't sure how long he'd really have.

According to the deal he'd made with his father Jack Frost had promised him at most three months, at worse, only one. But his father was getting on in years now and it was a lot harder for him to maintain the constant Winter of places like Russia, Siberia, Antarctica, and Alaska. It also didn't help that all the technology humans had used over the centuries and were still using caused such problems like Global Warming, which meant that the Lord of Winter was constantly having to fight against the heating of the atmosphere to keep the Human World as cold as it needed to be in specific parts of the world to ensure Mother Nature was harmed as little as possible. Especially when there were so many enemies their family had gained over the years and more than a few had begun to try to thwart their duties. In Alaska, for instance, there was a group of Fire-based Others who were constantly heating up the state, forcing the Lord to exert even more energy on that part of the world, and it wasn't the only place such groups were stationed.

But either way, once his time was up, he'd have to return to the Other Realm and continue his duties as the Lord of Winter. Which meant he'd be separated from his daughter for who knew how long...Unless he could find some way to mend the gap and form some sort of amicable relationship with Willow. If he could, perhaps they could come to some sort of understanding.

That had been the hope he had held close to his heart, making the decision to drop all his responsibilities and come here to the Human World. But the longer he stayed, the more he began to suspect something like that might never happened. And the thought...it scared him shitless. What would he do with his life, without his daughter in it? When he returned, he would have to do as he had promised his father. He'd have to find himself a wife. Finding out he had already created a child had been a shock to the entire family, but even so...A female couldn't be the Heir. It hadn't happened in the entire history of the Frosts and Aiden very well couldn't break it.

Besides, Prophecy had claimed she had the same type of magic as Aiden, but she had shown no such magic to anyone in the Frost family, not even once. The report at the lab had made no mention of her calling forth ice to use as the test sample. So, if anything, Prophecy had to have the same skill base as a yuki-onna. After all, her great-grandmother had been one, so it was in her gene pool. But Willow was human...mostly. There was something strange, almost wrong about her, but Aiden honestly couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong with her, magically. Such genes, whatever they were, mixed with his own had resulted in Prophecy. Based off all Aiden knew, Prophecy could be nothing more than a yuki-onna with a very odd and potent power-base of True Sight.

"How do omelets sound today?" Willow asked, ignoring Bren's comments.

"Omelets? Can I get fried rice in mine?" Prophecy begged in excitement. "I'll help you cook, Mommy!" Prophecy declared. "I'll see you later, Dad," she smiled up briefly at Aiden before dropping his hand and sprinting toward the kitchen.

Willow smiled. "Sure, baby. How does omurice sound then?"

"Omurice?" Kazuo popped his head up from the couch, where he had been lying down unnoticed. "What? Do we even have ketchup?"

Rolling her eyes, Willow turned on her heel and started off into the kitchen. "Dad, don't be such a stereotype...Of course we have ketchup for omurice. What do you think we are here, savages?"

"Hey, I just thought we ran out!" Kazuo muttered in offense, straightening on the couch.

Aiden was more than a little lost, but his eyes followed the sway of Willow's hips as she moved. Her long hair bounced and swayed with her, not really helping with the hypnotic effect he was suffering from. Her shorts covered just past her upper thighs and legs, leaving those long legs of hers on display for his inspection.

"Hey, don't forget, you aren't suppose to be all caveman and possessive," Bren's voice whispered in his ear. Aiden stiffened, jerking his gaze from Willow to glare at the older man from the corner of his eye. "Remember, you two aren't a thing anymore? Well, like you really ever were, with a one-night stand. Don't think I didn't see the way you were watching her, but honestly, who can blame you? Man, the men she kills must die happy, having a body like that as a last supper..."

Turning to face Bren fully, Aiden barely kept the rage out of his voice, though he was certain it wasn't out of his eyes. "Please shut the fuck up, Bren," he stopped himself from issuing an order, just barely. "I don't appreciate you talking about Willow like that and I'm quite sure she wouldn't either."

Bren smiled thinly. "Oh, I only did that to see how you'd react. You see, I'm part of a secret organization that's conspiring against you two right now. As such, I was sent on a scouting mission."

Aiden arched a brow but chose to ignore that ridiculous excuse. Bren loved to joke about nonsense. "That doesn't excuse such comments."

Bren raised his hands and folded them behind his head, standing in a relaxed, lazy pose. "Don't be so snippy just because you got a taste of some jungle fever years ago and now you're wanting more."

Aiden's face started to fill with outraged embarrassment at Bren's words, but he just barely forced it back down in time. "What did you just say?!" he hissed in a scandalous whisper. "'J-jungle fever'?"

Bren chuckled quietly. "Yeah, you know. It's slang for when a white boy wants to get it on with some black woman." On that lovely little note, Bren calmly continued past, whistling under his breath. With that, this little mission of mine has come to an end, he thought it amusement. I haven't had this much fun in awhile. I never realized Aiden could get so flustered and embarrassed before. I've never seen him like this...It's almost adorable!

Aiden stared at Bren's back, mouth hanging open in shock. After several seconds, he forced it close, swallowing. What the hell is wrong with everyone this morning?! Even as he thought it, he caught Kazuo glowering at him from the couch, dark brown eyes narrowed in irritated knowledge that Aiden had been ogling his daughter. Aiden sighed heavily, following after Bren to the dinning room table.

In the kitchen, Willow cracked eggs while Prophecy, standing on a footstool so she could reach better, handed the eggs to her mother from the large two dozen count box. But while Willow automatically went through the motions, preparing the already steamed rice she had made about an hour before, letting it cool down, her thoughts were on Aiden the entire time.

She hadn't missed how he'd been drinking in the sight of her as soon as he came down the stairs. Hell, the poor guy was so obvious, she would have to be blind to miss it. Evidently he didn't know what subtle meant. Despite herself, her lips twitched in a half-second of humor at that. With the way Aiden acted, it was like he'd never dated a woman before, or had sex, which Willow knew wasn't true. She didn't have a whole lot of memory from when she had conceived Prophecy, but she remembered a little. As such, Prophecy was evidence that Aiden wasn't a virgin.

Shaking her head, Willow's mind started to turn back to that time. She didn't remember Aiden showing any signs of ice magic that night. If anything, she'd pegged him with fire magic, still able to recall, faintly, just how hot he had become while they'd had sex. She had only traces of memories as to how he had looked. Plus, it had been eight years ago and she had been a little drunk herself that night. As such, she wasn't surprised that she hadn't recognized him, after she had had some time to sit down and think in private once Aiden had been confirmed as Prophecy's father.

For the last eight years, Willow had been sure Prophecy's father had been a half-yeti named Dorje Pelden. With his ice-based abilities, though not very strong, Willow had naturally assumed the condom must have broke and he had been the one to impregnate her. And how was Willow suppose to explain to Prophecy that she had killed the girl's father before Willow had even been pregnant with the girl? It had been easier to just lie and say she didn't know who 'Daddy' was.

Dorje had been thirty-two when Willow had killed him. Afterwards, she sought out sexual relief when her job killing Dorje had ended a bit sooner then she had meant it to. She let herself get caught up in the throes of all the energy and kissed him just a little too deeply and left herself feeling frustrated and needy. So, twelve hours later, she had gone to a random bar far away from where she had killed Dorje, making sure to dress herself and do her makeup and hair in just the right way to appear older than she was. Add the air of confidence she had, and it wasn't very hard for men to believe she was at least nineteen or so.

Tack on a fake I.D. and she was good to go, free to prowl bars until she found a man who made her feel excited. She'd found him in Aiden, who was surrounded by two men she now vaguely recognized one as a younger Bren. The other she guessed must have been Aiden's father...Mack or Brack, or whatever his name had been. The three men had been laughing when she casually walked by their table, toward the bar. As she did, she let her gaze sweep over Aiden, and though he had been terribly drunk, Aiden hadn't missed it. It was there that her hazy memories grew even worse. She didn't remember anything past that really.

She forced back the thoughts, pulled to the present by Prophecy's happy little humming. "Can we toss in the leftovers, Mommy?" the girl asked. "I liked the stir fry last night and it'll go good with the rice and eggs," she promised.

Laughing, Willow nodded. "I was already planning on it." She turned on the stove top, beginning to cook the omelet. "Can you get the leftovers out of the fridge, a spoon, and another skillet, baby?"

"On it!" Prophecy saluted, climbing down her stool.

The two worked together in harmony since Prophecy loved to help her mother cook, and often too. It was one of the ways they spent time together, with no one else, when Willow was working. Now that she was on her vacation time though, the two still enjoyed playing around in the kitchen together.

The men chatted quietly amongst theirselves, enjoying the sounds of the girls in the kitchen. Prophecy was very loud and excitable, occasionally tossing assurances as to how much the guys were going to enjoy breakfast, along with more than a few giggles. After twenty minutes, everything was ready. Kazuo had set the table while the girls' were cooking, expertly dodging out of the way of Willow's movements at the stove or Prophecy's mad rush to help with something. He also helped Prophecy serve the food, while Willow worked on cleaning the worse of the dishes, before leaving the rest for later.

True to Prophecy's words, the food was wonderful. Aiden found himself more than a little surprised. He wasn't even really sure why. Something about Willow didn't make him think 'good cook'. If anything, he figured she'd be bad at it. So bad, it was comical. Pleasantly though, he was surprised to discover how wrong he was. He'd never had...omurice, was it? But for his first time, it was damn good. It was a deceptively simple dish. An omelet was shaped almost like a football, looking huge. But when you cut into the omelet, fried rice was revealed. Prophecy and Kazuo both insisted that words had to be written on the top in ketchup. The two had worked together to write out everyone's names on their respective dishes and Aiden hadn't the heart to tell Prophecy he hated ketchup.

Instead he had suffered through it and taken several quick bites. Surprisingly, he found the ketchup complimented the dish and it wasn't as bad as he had feared. Though, he told himself, if he ate the dish again, he'd put his foot down and let Prophecy known he didn't prefer the ketchup. At the rate she was going, Aiden could only see himself becoming one of those silly, helpless fathers who let their child get away with murder. That's not what he wanted, so he was going to have to learn to steel his will and tell her no at times. Swallowing back a drink of his orange juice, seeing the happy smile on her face across from him where she was sitting next to Willow, he closed his eyes. Why does she have to be so damn adorable?! he asked the heavens.

Once breakfast was done, Bren and Aiden offered to clean up. Willow smiled happily, thanking them. Bren waved it off, letting her know it was his way of showing his appreciation for the great meal. Aiden, however, moved to her side, leaning down to speak in a low tone in her ear. As he did, he fought not to let his gaze travel to the dip of her cleavage, struggling to keep his ridiculous wants under control. He wasn't here to woe Willow. He was here to convince her to let him be Prophecy's father civilly. If this failed though...He really didn't want to go legal and make everything one big mess. But he would if the woman proved stupidly stubborn, which he greatly feared she would.

"Um...perhaps changing into something more appropriate would be a good idea?" he suggested softly.

Willow leaned back, staring up at him with those dark eyes of hers. "Why? Do my clothes offend you?"

He closed his eyes briefly. "Perhaps a little," he admitted.

When he opened his eyes, he felt irritated at the tiny grin Willow wore. "Huh...Wow, so Mr. Cool can feel all hot and bothered, hmm? I didn't realize. But still, this is my home. You two are just visiting, visitors I didn't want here, I'll remind you. Why should I sacrifice my comfort and change how I do things just for you? As far as the Chesters are concerned, we're all free to express ourselves, any way, any where, any how. For me this morning, that meant coming downstairs in my pajamas, just like I do every morning I'm home."

Her smile turned into a mocking tease. "So, if that means you want to come downstairs dressed in some of my clothes, if that's how you express your weird self, go right ahead."

Bren had been coming around the table and caught the end of their conversation. He pressed his lips together in a tight line to suppress his laughter, but his shoulders were still shaking as he went past. I'd pay good money to see that, he thought. Aiden fucking Frost in a dress!

Aiden straighten, face darkening in rage. "I can assure you that I don't express my 'weird self' in such ways, Willow," he growled.

Her smile grew, unable to help herself from pushing his buttons. "Oh? What does Aiden Frost do then?"

"Stop himself from killing certain vixens?" he tried in a tight voice.

Her laughter rang in his head, making his temper grow even more...But, at the same time, he couldn't help but find his humor bubble up right along with it. It was a strange feeling, honestly. He'd never realized he could feel amused and angry at the same time before.

"So you like to go fox hunting then? I have to say, I don't really approve. What have foxes ever done to you? But, I mean, if you really need to..." She tossed her hair over her shoulder in a saucy manner, winking at him.

At the light in her black eyes, Aiden felt his stomach tighten. His anger dimmed, replace by something that was somehow much more agonizing, for reasons he couldn't place. He took in the wide, real smile on her lips, the way her eyes were alight, the way her curls framed her dark face. And, for just half a second, something in him wanted to reach out and cup her cheek. But he shoved it aside, telling himself to stop having such fanciful ideas. Willow was just playing with him. After all, hadn't she proved just how easily she could before? It had taken a mere ten minutes, even with the drugs, for him to be wrapped around her little finger.

He swallowed at the thought, the strange feeling turning to something bitter and acidic instead. Is that how she got together with me, years ago? What did she say then? What whispered words from those tempting lips of hers tricked me into sleeping with her that night? Is it the same things she says to all those other men of hers? How many men has she slept with? Has she killed them all? Was she suppose to kill me, even then? Will she kill me even now?

The questions and doubts kept swirling around and around in his mind, making his mood grow darker and darker. Smiling thinly, he moved past Willow and continued on into the kitchen, unable to find any words in reply.

Willow watched him go, wondering what had happened. He'd finally started to come out of his shell a little, started to look like he might actually laugh, ease up on his 'so serious' countenance. But quite suddenly it was like he'd pulled up a thick, steel wall, shutting down and retreating back inside himself. She pursed her lips in thought but decided to leave him be for now. Besides, it was better this way. She couldn't let herself get close. Teasing him now and then was okay, but actually wondering, actually questioning...That led to caring and she didn't allow herself to do that.