Fuzzy Blue Lights

Rather than driving straight to Candice's old home to visit her parents, we stopped at Caspian's apartment- he had two open rooms and a pull out couch he'd offered for us guys to crash there rather than take a hotel. Somehow we agreed to it. It's probably better that we were going to be with someone that knew where everyone and everything was, anyway. It wasn't until we got to his apartment that I finally realized that, hey, three beds, four of us...

"Candice made other arrangements for you," Caspian informed as he helped lug in two of Tom's suitcases. He seemed to be a generally nice guy, but I had noticed that he had kept a constant glare pointed in my direction.

"Why's that?" I asked in an almost fake sounding innocent voice. He didn't appreciate it. He whipped around and delivered a vicious stare.

"Because, as you can clearly see, three beds means three people. Someone's gotta go somewhere else, and I wasn't going to let you stay here. Good thing she had a plan for you, huh?" he growled coldly. I felt my jaw drop as I crossed my arms and stared at him. I heard someone walk up to the door to the room we were in and halt before deciding to turn around and walk away.

"Do... You have a problem with me or something? I'm not sure how you can be angry at the man that brought your sister back home," I hissed. He laughed bitterly and ran his fingers through his hair. He stared at the ground for a second with his hands on the back of his head as he licked his lips.

"Excuse me for not wanting any part of the very same man that's going to end up hurting my little sister. You already have by bringing her here! You had no right to do this to us- to her!" I could hear a peculiar edge to his voice- a hoarseness that suggested he wasn't quite so angry as he was devastated. I was confused. He was angry that I brought her home?

"I understand she left to protect you and your family. She went to Europe to change, and believe me. She has. She is the most amazing person I have ever met- you couldn't have expected her to be gone forever, could you?"

He got quiet. We both just stood there for a few moments. He wasn't looking at me. His jaw was set and I could see him curl and uncurl his fists in a way that I had seen Candy do every now and then.

"Before... Before anyone knew that Candy had been planning to leave, she first tried to live on a little private beach that no one ever went to during winter- the beach that she would go to with the little whore she called a best friend. Avery... He had been helping her hide for a little while before he got a conscience and told me. We chased her down and caught her. You know what she told me when did?" he slowly drawled as he looked over at me. I shook my head slowly. He laughed bitterly again.

"She said, 'It wouldn't be forever, you know that. Can't I just have some peace?' She said that to me. She... She didn't feel at peace with us. And she never will, especially not here. It's not in her nature. Avery and I were the first ones she told that she planned to disappear for good. Asked us not to tell anyone else. She didn't intend to come back, not ever. I kept that secret from my family as best I could, because she asked- Avery spilled to the world. It became common knowledge, inevitable. Even if she had changed her mind there at the end, she would have had to- like shooting an elephant*. And everything here for her crashed and burned. Am I glad to see her? Yes. I have missed my sister more than anything. But bringing her back here was a mistake. That sweet, amazing girl you know will be gone within the week. So will you. You'll want nothing to do with her once you see how she really is- especially since you're supposed to be her employer. Not a friend. Not a... A lover. But her employer."

I swallowed. Hard. He still had these dead eyes on me. It was sickening to know that this was how he felt about his own sister. About... About Candice. But he was right. Her personal life is her personal life. I had no business putting my nose in it. But this... This was insane.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." He shook his head and pushed past me to continue help bringing things in. I had almost forgot what everyone else had been doing.

"I'm sorry I don't want my hands in the destruction of my sister," Caspian managed with a hoarse, strangled voice. I just stared at his back as he walked out of the room. When he was out of sight, I could hear him walking out the door to the apartment. Now that my attention wasn't on our conversation, I could hear the other guys still walking in and out, setting things down in the living room.

After a moment or two of standing there, I slowly made my way out. Tom, Georg, and Andreas were all in the living room, and they all looked up at me at the same time. They seemed a bit nervous. Tom cleared his throat, drawing my attention to him.

"All our stuff is in. Candy is waiting for you..." he trailed off, a sad look in his eyes. He wanted to go with me. He wanted to stay with me. But he wasn't going to protest- he knew what I wanted.

"I will see you guys soon, okay?" They nodded. I shared a quick hug with each of them before taking off. I was down the stairs and in the parking lot in no time. Caspian was hugging Candice tightly. I could tell they had been talking about something by the light shine in Candy's eyes- either that, or they had taken a permanent emerald glow. She looked at me and a broad smile flashed across her face. Caspian saw it, looked over his shoulder at me, and attempted not to glare.

"Come, come! You're going to love where we'll be staying!" she urged. Caspian took a few steps away from his sister and stalked up the stairs. It was just the two of us, for the moment. Like I had wanted. Was this what I had wanted? I wasn't so sure anymore. Her... Her own brother hated me for bringing her home. Hated me. He had absolutely no hope that she could stay this way, happy and so carefree. He underestimated the two of us. He thought that I would let her slip back to her old ways- he even thought that I would leave if she did.

No. Just no. There was no way that I was going to loose Candice, the Candice that I know. And... And even if she did slip back, there was no way that I would just abandon her. How could I? It would be my fault, so how could I just run away from my own misdoings?

It got quiet between the two of us without me even realizing is. I hadn't moved from where I had stopped several feet from her. A worried look grew on her face. I stared straight at her and offered a weak smile, but she wasn't convinced. She walked right up to me and set a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she almost whispered. Here she was, worrying about me because... Well, because I was worrying about her. Funny, how that works. I just smiled wholeheartedly and wrapped my arms around her waist to bring her into a tight hug. I leaned my head down to touch our foreheads and silently cursed her terrible shortness.

"Better then ever, love."

Damn. I'm picking up on her verbal ticks. We really have spent too much time together. She gave a knowing smile, like she new what I was thinking. She snaked her arms around my neck and returned my hug, eyes closed. I could feel my heart jump. We were close, so close. Like... Like then. I wanted to tell her what I felt about her, make her understand. Why else would I go through so much for someone who was... Well, who was supposed to be my employee? I found myself looking down at her, eyes closed, lips curved into a smile. I brought one hand up and lifted her chin, just a little, like I had only imagined myself doing before. Her eyes opened halfway and I could feel my heart melt with the intensity I once dreaded to see in her eyes. I closed the distance and, though I had closed my eyes as well, I could feel the stare lift off of me as she closed her eyes, too.

To be honest, I didn't quite realize what was going on until I felt our tongue rings click together. We both pulled away, rather suddenly and just stared. And stared. Her eyes weren't emerald green anymore- they were the forest color I was used to. But only for a moment. As she smiled, I literally watched her eyes change back to emerald. My heart was locked again.

"Cool. Well, we need to get going. Shall we?" she offered, opening the door to the black Chevy Aveo we were standing next to. She ushered me into the car and closed the door, then hopped to the other side and got in, keys in hand. "Already have all of your stuff in the trunk, too."

She winked. I felt the lock tighten.