So what happens next

Willow pushed the door to the bar open. She had never thought she would find him here, but after Hope had called her, telling her that she might want to make sure he was okay and didn’t do something stupid. How could she not act on it? Not that the fairy had told her much, just enough for her to form the picture of what was going on.
Now, the small whisper in the back of her head couldn’t help but picture the different scenarios that could happen now. But on the other hand, she couldn’t help but feel responsible for what had happened, she had after all pushed on the fact that they might needed to talk things through, but if that was all it took for them to break it off, wouldn’t it still be the best thing?
She found him, sitting by the bar a drink standing in front of him. “Hi” she said with a soft voice, as she sat down beside him. “Are you drunk?” she asked, looking towards the bartender and shaking her head when he gestured if she wanted one as well. She had never been the type to drink, at least not in situations like these. “Hope called me” she explained how she had even found him in the first place.

Ace sat holding onto his drink and with his head resting against the palm of his hand. He could smell Willow had entered the room, having that very distinct scent, and therefore wasn’t surprised when she appeared, “Hi,” he mumbled not taking his eyes off his glass. Was he drunk? A small sarcastic chuckle left him. “No. Or I don’t think there’s anything here that is strong enough to make me drunk,” he replied and straightened a bit up, “But on the other hand, I haven’t been drinking this much in forever,” he elaborated and bottomed the drink. He clenched his jaw when he put the glass down, feeling pity. He shook his head a little, blinking a couple of times to get the water away from his eyes. “I don’t,” he took a quick breath in, “Can we not talk about her? Thanks,” he said with closed eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose before he signaled to the bartender to fill his glass another time. “I’m over it,” he said while watching the bartender pour, how the liquor slowly filled the glass. With a whiff of his hand, he gestured to the bartender not to fill the glass more, “I’m done,” he said, shaking his head while picking his glass up to take a sip of it.

She couldn’t do much else than just look at him for a moment. Not that she pitied him, nor found him pitiful. If anything, she felt remorse and guilty that she had brought some of this pain.  
“Okay,” she whispered when he asked if they could talk about something else, anything else. She nodded, “Yeah, of course”, she added, licking her lips, not really knowing what to say or do. All of these emotions racing through her almost made it hard to breathe. Because now nothing was standing in the way, was there?
Of course, there was the whole part of him just breaking things off with Hope, and that – she pushed the thoughts away; they wouldn’t be helpful. And yet, all she could seem to find herself asking was; “So, what happens next?” She regretted them as soon as they spilt from her lips. For a moment, she held her breath, waiting for the judgement to come back on her for uttering those words.

He put his glass down, it wasn’t empty yet. Ace pulled a smile. Smiling so rarely, those who knew his genuine smiles knew just how this wasn’t one. No, this one was filled with sadness and hopelessness. “What happens next?” he laughed dryly. “I don’t-” he took a deep breath in, sighing. “There is this… The problem is-” he said, looking at the different glasses on the counter in front of him. “I fell in love with a woman… So quickly,” he said and clenched his jaw, sinking a large dry lump in his throat. He took a quick sip of his drink to lessen that. “And now… She’s gone just as quickly,” he said not being able to pull the same smile as before. “And-” he shortly thought about how his relationship had been with Michelle and how they had glued pieces together when they had been together. He looked towards her for the first time, shortly thinking about how they had almost kissed that one time. It ached. He threw his brown eyes back to the glasses, shaking his head, “And I don’t see how women somehow manage to glue all of me together… Only to shatter me when the glue is dry,” he said and rubbed his forehead shortly. “I am… Offering myself to them and it’s just not good enough. Even when I correct my wrongs,” he licked his lips, “It’s never enough,” he said about to take another sip.

Willow did the only thing she could do, and that was to listen. She let her eyes gaze towards the counter her arm was leaning against, taking in what he was saying. Felt the sadness and pain wash over her with each word he said. Feeling the pain, he was going through, if anyone knew about loving a little too hard and fast, it was her. She had thrown herself at Malcolm, given him everything she had to offer, only to be left behind in New York, and he had started his walk, not really checking in after he had gone away. But once again, she had just understood, waved and told him she would be there when he came home. And she had been gone out for Valentine’s Day, having fun together. But then Minerva had come by, and she was once again standing there in the cold, alone.
She swallowed when he told her that women managed to glue him together and then shatter him when the glue was dry. But she was right here; she had been right there for such a long time. Just waiting for him to open her eyes. But she didn’t say that; instead, she bit down her lip and cast her eyes down at his hands holding the glass. “I don’t know what to say”, she whispered, gently putting a hand on his wrist. “But I’m here, and I’m sure things, giving time will make things feel better again and –“

He stopped lifting his glass as he felt her hand on his wrist and simply looked at it for a second. She started to assure him of the future, and he pulled his hand away from her, “No, you know what,” he took one of the glasses that had been refilled and put it in front of her. “Drink,” he said before picking up his own glass, “Drink,” he repeated raising the glass, “I just really,” he downed his glass and put it back on the table again. Shaking his head, a little, “I am just mad,” he said placing his hands on the counter in front of him with his glass between them. “I’m just… Really mad” he mumbled, almost hissing. “At all of you,” he sniffed a little, shaking his head. Yes, very few romantic relationships with women had made him come to this conclusion. “Alright, just mad,” he said a little clearer in his voice this time.
He leaned back a little, looking at his glass. Shitty metabolism. He looked towards her, his eyes clearly unhappy, “You wanna know how this is going to work?” he stopped himself, thinking for a short second. He never really had to think for long about things. “No. This is how this is going to work,” he put his hand in front of him, trying to cut things out for her – or maybe for him. “You and me… We are partners. That’s what we do,” he looked at his hands that moved every time he spoke to prove a point. “We are partners,” He licked his lips and let his fingers spin his glass, but only once. “And I love that. We are working great together,” he looked towards her, “We safe lives together,” he said nodding to her, “We argue. Go back and forth. We are partners,” he licked his lips, now looking back at his glass again. Had it just been filled? “And when we save a life, as we do, we celebrate and eat dinner together,” he said and pulled his head a little back, biting his lip shortly. “So, as far as I can see, that is what happens next,” he turned his head towards her, “Are you okay with that?”
He looked at her for a moment, seeing how thoughts were racing. “Great,” he replied even though she hadn’t even been able to answer, “Because, if you are, I’ll tell you what-” he raised his hand a little poking his index finger out, “You stay here,” he put his finger on the counter. He looked up at her, “And you have a drink with me,” He sniffled once again, “And maybe, we have a little small talk, chit-chat…” he looked at his hand and slowly relaxed it before he looked back up at her, “And if you’re not,” he could taste the words that were about to spill from his tongue, and they were bitter. “You can leave.” He let the words sink a little, hoping the bitterness would leave, “There’s the door,” he almost whispered gesturing towards it with a sad movement of his hand. He reached out for his glass, “And tomorrow I’ll find you a new doctor to work with.”

When he took away his hand, she felt every hair on her body rise. The coldness that glided down her neck and something so painfully happened inside of her chest. Breaking a small piece off, maybe that couldn’t even cover it, it broke, shattered. She didn’t pick up the glass, she didn’t drink even if he had asked her to.
Instead, she just sat there, looking at him as he explained how he was mad. Mad at all of them, and then he started to tell her how this was going down. Work partners, nothing more, nothing less.
“Those are my only options?” she whispered as he was finally done, not even looking at the door, only at him. She folded her lips together before she turned towards the drink, he had pointed towards her to drink. Then she took it “I guess I’ll drink then” she whispered and knocked back the glass and then rose her hand to get another. Because even if this wasn’t what she wanted, not what her heart was aching for. She would much rather just have him by her side than not at all. She didn’t say anything, because she had no idea what else to say. She needed a moment before she could go back to being work partners.

He took a sip of his drink. He hated hearing how sad she sounded. It was echoing in his head. He never wished her any harm, but right now, he had to be egoistic. “Yeah,” he sighed and leaned back a little before he sank once again into the sad position, he had been in. “Those are your only options,” he almost whispered, not being able to look at her. He knew that it was hurting her, but that was what was happening next. Those two options. He could work alongside her, saving lives, curing the sick, or he could leave, and explore another country, just like how he had spent years in Australia.
I guess I’ll drink then.
He saw how she took the glass and took his own to take a mouthful. Almost synchronized, they raised their hands to order another.


“Alright,” Ace said quickly as he had gotten a summary of the case that Willow and Ace were running towards. A twelve-year-old, “Her name is Alice?” he asked just to be certain. She had just left her friends on her bike and was cycling over a traffic light when she had been hit by a mad driver who had fled from the scene. “Hypovolemic shock?” he asked just to be certain whether or not she had lost too much blood or fluids from the body, but also to be certain if she was ready to make a drip for the girl. The girl was simply lucky she had only just left her friends, who saw the accident happen, and called for an ambulance. “Any other fractures?” he wondered, already knowing that he was heading towards a broken skull. A witness had found a piece of the skull a few meters from the girl. Luckily, it had been transported with the girl. He got into the surgery room, where the girl hadn’t arrived yet. He was quick with getting dressed in the right surgical clothing. Hand hygiene, hairnet, gown, mask, and gloves.

“Yes, Alice Davies, twelve years old, a car hit her on her way home on a bike, witness says that he just drove away after the hit” she shook her head a little, having a hard time dealing with the facts that were standing black on white on the file she was holding in her hands. Now, given her long life, she had seen almost everything that there was to see in the operation room. But as they stood behind the glass and looked inside where the small child was lying on the operation table, she could feel how her heart sank; there wasn’t much energy left in the child; she could feel it almost as when she walked in the woods and the trees were dying because of not being cared for properly. But she couldn’t let that affect her right now; she was needed to stay calm, and as she washed her hands and then helped Ace into his gloves and mask before she walked with him inside, binding the mask behind his head and then his gown before stepping over on the other side and started helping him with the things he needed.


Eight hours of surgery. Eight hours that had felt like ten minutes.
The time was 23.45 when she had to pull Ace back and announce the death of Alice Davies. Life had only truly begun for the young human at twelve years old but had ended for her today. Because someone hadn’t stopped for a red light, it was always tragic when a life was lost. But it just hit a little closer to home when it was a child this age.
Ace was out talking with the mother and father and two younger brothers. She herself was standing washing her hands, even though there was nothing left to wash off. Starring at the body that a couple of nurses were prepping for the family to see one last time before it would go to the morgue. “Don’t cry, don’t cry” she whispered to herself and looked up at the ceiling, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to escape.

 
Ace hadn’t been easy to get away from the sweet child. She was dead and there was nothing he could do, even though he always could save a life by transforming them, but that, that wasn’t a thing he could do to people. When the girl was covered and transported away Ace put away his tools and got out of the surgery outfit. Drying off his forehead with the back of his hand. He proceeded with washing both hands and face before he walked out to the family.
He was one of the best to deliver such messages because he was good at not taking it personally, but lately, things had been difficult, and it weighted heavier on him. Not that he stood crying in front of the family, but his lips quivered a little as the family went to hug each other in sorrow. That small girl for some reason simply reminded him of Primrose’s kids and it hurt him. What if it had been one of his grandkids? When he had stood there for a while and been sure that the family had no further questions he walked back to his colleagues. On his way, he noticed that Willow still stood by the sink, washing her hands. He knew she had gotten to the sink almost right after he had left, which was why he stepped over to her immediately and grabbed her hands. He let his elbow shut off the faucet and with her hands collected in one of his he found some paper and started to dry them for her, “You can cry. It’s okay,” he said, looking up from her hands with a soft smile.

Willow blinked as someone suddenly grabbed her hands. She looked down and saw how water was dripping down; her hands were almost raw from overwashing. But it was only when he spoke that she realised Ace was already back; how long had she been standing there?  Her nose widened as she pulled in the air in an attempt to calm herself down. It was almost like the dam broke, and tears started pilling up in her deep hazel brown eyes, but she still hung onto the hope she could keep herself from actually letting any of them spill. Tugging one side of her lip backwards, she still tried to keep herself from doing so. They were partners. They saved lives. That was what they were. They were partners; they saved lives; that was what they were good at.

But she couldn’t keep it at bay any longer, and with a soft sob, she walked closer and pressed her face against his shoulder. “I don’t know why it is affecting me so much today”, she whispered, immediately feeling better just by getting comfort from him.

As soon as he had said it, he could see how tears welled up in her eyes. “Willow,” he spoke softly, knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to keep the tears at bay. It was thick giant tears that only waited for her to blink or that they couldn’t stay in her eyes any longer. When she sobbed, he didn’t hesitate to gently wrap his arms around her. It felt like there was a knife stuck right in front of his heart and it hurt so much. He closed his eyes while holding her. “She was way too young,” he told her. “We’re more used to the elderly being the ones leaving. It’s usually easier to save the younger,” he spoke softly. “We did everything,” he spoke softly, clenching his teeth.

Willow agreed and made a slight nod closing her eyes tighter together as her arms found their way around his waist and pulled herself closer; she could feel she wasn’t the only one that needed this. “We did, we did everything, and sometimes that’s not enough”, she whispered; she knew the lines; she had spoken them so many times before and maybe it was just a little closer to home because everything was so raw at the moment.
Remembering herself that she still needed to find Jonathan and figure out what to do, if she should let him go or if they should try again. But that wasn’t important right now, and as the tears subdued, she stepped away, letting her fingers drag away the remaining ones. “When does your shift end?” she asked softly. “Maybe we could; I don’t know, meet up, make some food? No need for it only to be after a success, right?” She tried her best not to step on his toes or try to force anything he didn’t want to. But she couldn’t feel somewhat awkward after the night where she had found him after Hope had called. She licked her lips and felt the pager in her pocket starting to buzz, meaning she was needed somewhere else, but she didn’t want to leave before she knew if they should meet up later or not.

“Yeah,” he sighed. He let her take her time, not really thinking about how long he needed a hug, since he wasn’t the biggest hugger. Eventually she pulled away, and he let her get the space she wanted. “My shift ends in an hour. I just have to do some journalizing,” he replied, keeping his eyes at her. A person who knew Ace would be able to see the hint of a smile and a chuckle as she spoke about how it didn’t have to be after a success. “Alright. We can make some food,” he spoke quite calmly, “When is your shift over?” he wondered. It didn’t matter much because he could easily work overtime if her shift ended later than his.

Ace gave her a short pat on the shoulder with a light smile, almost telling her to go and look at the patient her pager told her to go to. “Out front,” he agreed. He raised his brows a little as she asked if it should be at her place, “Go,” he told her. She didn’t have time for all of that planning right now. Shaking his head a little he rubbed his eyes with one hand before he headed towards a room where he could sit and journalize, passing the sad family on his way.

Ace had been the one to get out later than expected and found Willow outside the hospital. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,” he said and rubbed his hands against each other in a bad attempt to warm them. “See, the thing is,” he said and licked his lips before he put his hands in his pockets. It was so cold in the middle of the night, “My former brother-in-law allowed me to live at his place, it’s uh,” he furrowed his brows a little, “I denied at first since I could just live at Hope’s, but,” he shrugged. She knew. “It’s in Hope Gardens so it’s a little high-tech, but we can go to your place if you’d prefer?” he wondered, tilting his head a little.

It had only taken her half an hour before she had been able to transfer the patient to someone else's care. Not that she had been standing outside for half an hour waiting for him. She had taken at least twenty minutes of just sitting in the locker, starring at the bracelet she still hadn’t been able to throw out, even though the conversation with Ace had made her realise that if she and Jonathan were meant to be, she shouldn’t be cheating her way into it. Still, her fingers had glided over the metallic surface before she had packed it away in her pocket and finally got out of the changing room.

She had been waiting for only five minutes when she heard Ace behind her; she turned and shook her head. “It’s fine” she then lifted her brow as he explained where he was living. “Well, now I have to see it” she laughed as he mentioned that it was rather tech-savvy. For a person that still liked to have that kettle that made a sound when the water was ready, she wasn’t really the best or most advanced when it came to technology.
“And it’s closer,” she said with a soft smile. She nodded towards the taxi. “I took the liberty to order a taxi for us” walking over, she placed herself in the back and let out a tired sigh as Ace placed himself beside her. She looked toward him. “Would you mind?” she asked, pointing towards his shoulder as if it was all right if she would close her eyes for a moment against his shoulder while they drove to this former brother-in-law’s place.

Ace laughed a little, a short laugh that usually didn’t scare people away. Yes, most people got scared when he laughed in a truer manner only because he ‘didn’t seem like the laughing type’. “Alright,” A short-lived smile was presented, only to look curious as she gestured towards the taxi. “You are a wonderful woman,” he said and followed her to the taxi, making sure that she got in properly before he got in himself and closed the door, telling the cab driver the address. He looked toward Willow as she asked if he minded, noticing she wanted to take a powernap against his shoulder, “Go ahead,” he told her. After a little while, he would ask her if she was sitting alright, and if she could sit better, he would turn a little around, so she could lean against his chest instead.

____________
Hope Gardens nr. 5

Ace made sure to pay the cab driver and made sure to present a hand to Willow to help her out and make sure she didn’t trip or fall when she exited. He turned towards the building. “There it is,” he said letting his free hand gesture towards it. While walking to the front door he started finding the keys for the house, and even though he started in good time, they had to stand for a short while in front of the door before he managed to open the door and turn of any possible alarms. “It’s a quiet simple home,” he explained and pointed towards the right, “Bedroom and bathroom,” he pointed towards the door on their left, “Restroom,” he pointed almost straight ahead, “Kitchen, living room and all that,” he explained shortly after starting to walk towards it, putting his jacket in a closet at first. While he walked into the kitchen, he let her explore and look around for a moment. “I don’t have much to eat, but think me might be able to make something,” he said looking into the fridge before he turned his head to look at her, “Or would we rather just buy take away?” he wondered while closing the fridge.


//Cassian's place

She didn’t even answer him, she just moved around a little, and then her head was neatly placed against her chest, and before long, she fell asleep. Not that it took long before they were at Hope Gardens, and she had to wake up again. Rubbing out the sleep, she looked around. She didn’t believe she had been here before; clearing her throat, she turned and saw that Ace was reaching out to give her a hand; with a soft smile, she took it and got out of the cab and started walking toward the house. She widened her eyes as it seemed that it usually was locked rather tightly, but given that the man wasn’t living there anymore, it seemed most of the security system had been powered down. Her eyes glided over the many buildings and saw how different they looked, but somehow all fit nicely together.

Her eyes were full of curiosity; she looked around as Ace explained where most things were before. She then walked with him into the living area and looked outside the giant glass doors into a beautiful garden.
She was pulled away from her daydream when he told her that he didn’t have a lot of fresh produce, but they could order takeaway. With a smile, she skipped towards him and opened the door he had just closed to look inside. “Well, I’m sure we could make something delicious out of this” she nodded, turning toward him. “We’ll just help each other, and then we quickly make something nice to eat”, she said with a brighter smile.

He watched her as she skipped all the way to him and looked into the fridge. He studied her shortly while she looked at the fridges content. “Alright, let’s make everything-good-from-the-fridge,” he replied and pulled a few things out of the fridge so they could start preparing. Ace was a quiet silent cook. He concentrated on what he was doing but was open to talk if she talked to him. It was almost as when he was doing surgery, though it was an odd comparison.

He sorted the last bit of their food onto their plates and rinsed the kitchen utensils that he had used, just in time to hear the doorbell ring. He put the things into the sink and turned the faucet off with furrowed brows. He looked towards the clock in the room and then towards Willow. “I promise I’m not expecting guests, at almost half four in the morning” he told her before he quickly shook his hands towards the sink to get any water off them, and with a fast movement he had dried them too. “Can you set the table?” he wondered before eh walked towards the front door to figure out who it was.

_______

Mary-Jane had been sleeping tightly through the night, but at some point, she noticed how light lit her room in a way it didn’t usually light up anymore. It woke her up and she slowly got out of bed. Her movements still hurt a little as she moved. She hushed Bruce as she walked to her window to see what was happening only to notice that there was light in Cassian’s house. With slightly slow movements she moved to her closet and got dressed, taking her time even though she wanted to run to his door. Her muscles were just so sore. She put a harness on Bruce and moved slowly to the front door to get out. When she had exited, she moved as quickly as possible to the house and rung the bell. She could see a shadow move towards the door and hear the footsteps on the other side, and a small smile grew by the thought, but as the door opened the smile disappeared completely. “He didn’t want tae gie th’ duir himself?”
“What?” The small girl passed him like she owned the place. She couldn’t feel his energy any where and walked over to see if she could see him in the kitchen.
“Whaur is he?” she said, giving the blonde lady a short-lived forced smile before she moved down the hall to see if he was in his bedroom.“Hey… Child, please… What?”
Mary-Jane turned and looked at him as he called her a child. “Whaur is mah fecking brither?”
“Slow down,” The girl stood still in the hall. “Cassian isn’t here. It’s just me and Willow her-” he said and gestured towards Willow.
“Weel whit ur ye daein’ in mah brither’s hoose?” Ace blinked a little, having trouble with the ‘translation’ for a moment.
“He let me borrow his place-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence before she moved towards him with a somewhat quick pace. Now, usually Ace wasn’t the one to get scared or let other push him around, but since this girl was Cassian’s sister and she was so direct he didn’t know how to work with her. The girl passed him and walked into the room where the table was set and sat down on one of the chairs, waiting for them.

She turned her eyes toward Ace as the doorbell suddenly sounded, raising a brow and a grin formed over her lips; clearly, she was about to say something unsavoury as he quickly added that he wasn’t expecting someone; wait, was it already half four in the morning? Time had passed quickly, just standing there in silence, working around each other without saying or doing anything special for the other to understand that they needed access, almost in perfect synergy.
Her eyes followed Ace as he walked away after she had nodded that she would set the table. Placing down two plates, she heard a very distinguished Scottish accent; she gave the young girl a wave and a smile, not that it was long before the strawberry blond hair was swung around, and the kitsune walked down to the where Ace had told her that the bedroom was.
Without really questioning it, she took another plate and set it down, knowing there would be more than enough to feed three people, even though she wasn’t sure if the kid wanted to eat something this heavy for breakfast.
“You want a cup of tea?” Willow asked as the girl sat down. “I’m Willow”, she presented herself even though that Ace had already told her name, but everything had happened so fast with her trying to see if her brother was there or not that it might now have stuck. She walked over and put the kettle over and looked in the cabinet, raising a brow to see just how many types of teas there were; this guy didn’t skim on anything, did he? A house stocked up with things that wouldn’t go bad, and he wasn’t even living here.

Mary-Jane looked up at the woman. “Yes, please,” she replied without her accent showing through. “Call me MJ,” she said raising her hand for the woman to shake. Mary-Jane let her eyes scan Willow for a second. Judging some would say. When the hand had been shaken, she but both her hands on her lap, sensing the vampire getting closer.
“He’s not coming here… MJ,” he told her as he stood next to her.
“Ah figured. Jist disappointed,” she mumbled and shrugged. Ace looked towards Willow, almost confused. He didn’t know what to do with the girl. Why didn’t she leave? “Second lowest, fourth from the left,” she told Willow, to let her know which tea Mary-Jane preferred. She knew very well that Cassian had many teas. After all, it wasn’t the first time that she was here. She then looked toward the vampire. “Wa ur ye borrowin' mah brither’s hoose? didn’t want yer guidwife tae ken ye brooght a brammer dam wi' ye haem?” she wondered. Ace looked at her, blinking a couple of times.
“What did you say to me?”
“Doesn’t this man speak English?” Mary-Jane looked towards Willow. There was no sign of her trying to joke around, but she certainly was.

“Ah! Good choice, I think I’ll try this one as well, you want some?” she looked towards Ace and then MJ said something that almost made Willow choke on her own spit, as she tried not to laugh, not that she was very successful in the matter.
“He isn’t married, so that is not what this is, and we are just partners, we work together at the hospital” she elaborated, not even noticing how she phrased it, just like he had one week ago at the bar where she had found him. Then Willow walked over to the table and placed the tea on the table before she walked over and sat down by her plate. “Let’s dig in, you are welcome to take some if you want, but – as I said we work at the hospital, that means eating dinner when it’s breakfast time, oh, we do have some eggs if you would like that instead?” Willow asked, not even questioning the fact that the kitsune stayed behind, if anything she was just rather intrigued by it, because her soul didn’t seem as old as it should be, for being this powerful. Maybe it had something to do with her father being who he was?

Ace looked at Willow as she asked if he wanted one. “Yes, thank you,” he said before he tried to focus on the matter again. He registered how Willow was trying not to laugh, which only made him more confused, and the annoyance started to grow. Couldn’t they just have a peaceful evening to relax after what they had experienced just a few hours ago.
Mary-Jane raised her brows and nodded a little. “Working partners…Alrecht,” she said and looked at Ace. Now she looked him up and down, judging him as much as possible. She didn’t trust the partnership she said they had. There was something more. It was in the air. But did they need a push on the way?
Willow joined them with the tea and sat down, asking them to eat. “Oh, I’ll just take a small portion, it’s fine,” she assured Willow. Since Ace was busy looking at Willow, Mary-Jane chose to dig in as the first person to place food on her plate. Ace sat in front of Willow, and Mary-Jane at the end of the table, between the two. “Yeah, I bet you’re exhausted from your shift,” she said, not playing any smile, almost mumbling, before she handed everything to Willow. “Maybe you should sleep after this?” she wondered and looked towards willow at first, then at Ace. “You can share the bed, I can just stay in the living room,” she said noticing how Ace reacted. Blinking, clearly wanting to say something, but didn’t really dare. Did she scare him? Did Willow scare him? Was he afraid of himself? Very… Very… Interesting. A very scared man. Instead of dealing with whatever Ace was about to say she quickly pulled up her phone, “Sorry, I’ll just text my family, so they know I’m here,” she said. And quickly send a message to both Iris and Atarah. She didn’t trust that her father would even notice she was gone.
Ace looked towards Willow with his mouth closed, clearly this girl was pressing some buttons.

It was actually rather funny because at first, Willow had placed the girl to be a person that didn’t say very much, or at least kept somewhat to herself, but right now, she was talking like there was no tomorrow, and if she was being honest? She liked the energy. Now she knew that it was something that could make the old vampire sitting in front of her rather exhausting, if not very much so. But when the young girl added that they could share the bed and she would take the living room, her brows flew up to her forehead; what was she on about? “Oh, I’m, what?” she looked towards Ace, and he seemed just as lost as she did, and in her confusion, she didn’t even notice that MJ had told her that she would text her family that she was staying over.
The dog that the kitsune had brought pushed its snot against her hand, and she couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. “You must feel really comfortable in our presence; I’m guessing it’s your kitsune resonating with my powers?” Willow asked as she looked up, giving her a warm and inviting smile. It wouldn’t be the first time a nature spirit was drawn to her; then, the alluring and inspiring aura she was carrying; didn’t make things easier for most people. Not that they understood what was going on at first, at least not until it was too late.