Fall Into Your Sunlight.

Garrett seemed more than a little muddled when he woke up and it took him a few minutes to register there was a body beside him, and it was human, and it was a female. "What the. . . " He started, and then froze the second realization hit. Eve just smiled and wiggled her fingers. "Evie?" He was a little dumbstruck as to why she was in bed at this hour. "Why are you still in bed?"

She stared at him a moment and grinned. In truth, she hadn't exactly felt like leaving. The fact of the matter was, he was comfortable and somehow, for some stupidly manic reason, she felt safe. Of course she wasn't about to admit that to his face. "I have been working, for your information. I don't have to get out of bed to do a webpage cleanup." She explained, pointing to the laptop sitting on the desk beside her. She was feeling a little proud of herself for even thinking of that excuse.

"Oh?"

The fact of the matter was that while she didn't have to stay in bed while working on her page, she didn't exactly have to leave it either. And while in bed she had redone the layout, updated her blog and added a few new photos to her photostream. Coding was the largest battle, but it had seemed to work well enough and she was satisfied with it. She wasn't exactly a guru at it and still people thought she did a bang up job which was fine by her. As long as others liked it, she didn't give a fuck.

"Mhm." She replied, smirking as she tilted her head to look into his eyes. She found herself wondering what color they were when he was human. Were they green? Blue? Hazel? She couldn't help herself when she asked, the words blurting from her mouth like some kind of disease. "What color were your eyes?" The moment she realized what it was she had said, she backpedaled, spluttering all the way. "I-I-I totally did not mean it how it sounded. I swear I'm not an insensitive twat."

To her surprise, he laughed, sitting up on his elbows to peer at her further. Her eyes were wide like saucers and she looked terrified. "You're fine, Evie. If anything, you reminded me." He nudged her with his elbow, grinning ear to ear. "They're blue. Or, they were." He acceded, watching her carefully, curiously. She was different and it wasn't just because she was breathing. There was something magnetic about her that he couldn't quite place.

"So what are you doing tonight?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Eve only laughed, and folded her legs beneath her.

"Sleeping, I would hope." She replied. "Otherwise, I am likely going to be reading or working on getting some of my older black and white photos developed. Why?"

He shrugged and leaned back while he tried to ignore whatever pull that was roping him in. It took him a few moments to realize what it was and the second he knew, he groaned. He was hungry. That ruined things and the way she cocked her head to the side didn't help matters either. He had to hand it to her though; girl caught on quick. She realized what was wrong moments after he did and scrambled from the bed and to the door.

"Sorry, I should have realized." She flinched. He knew why she was twitchy now. The incident in Dallas. He still wasn't certain what happened to the vampire who bit her. By the way she spoke in her blog, she wasn't certain either. He didn't blame her for running. He would have too.

"You're fine, Evie." His voice was controlled as he got up, strolling easily past her and to the door. "Can I come back later?"

"Of course. You're always welcome here. Um, I'll hide the gate key under the owl as well in case you need it. I do happen to lock it late at night." She spoke softly. "Actually. . . " She trailed, remembering she had a secondary key to the gates. They only needed a key to open them from the outside. "Here. Just for tonight." She handed him her spare set of keys, the cold metal warming in her palm.

A few quick goodbyes later, and he was gone. Eve wasted no time peeling off her clothes and stepping into a hot shower, scrubbing the blood from under her nails and out of her hair. She had forgotten to do so earlier and now felt gross. She stood under the spray until her skin felt raw and she was lightheaded from the heat, flicking the faucets off before grabbing a towel and drying herself off. She was in her underwear and toweling off her hair as she wandered from her bedroom and directly into someone standing in her doorway.

"Holy shit!" She jumped backwards, startled, even as the tall boy laughed.

"Sorry, Eve. I didn't know you were awake. I'm a little too used to people being nocturnal." John apologized. "Sorry, I'll go. Garrett left already?"

"He got hungry." She replied as she ran a comb through her hair. His eyes widened, his mouth falling into an 'o'. "You should probably go eat too." She hinted, bending over to tug out a t-shirt and shorts. Thankfully she had had the presence of mind to throw on a bra otherwise the conversation might have turned out more awkward than it already was.

"Er, yeah. Right. Sorry. See you later, Evangeline." He stressed the opening vowel of her name in melodramatic fashion and booked it out her front door, leaving her alone to her thoughts.

Now dressed in gray sweats and an old black shirt, Eve padded barefoot to her kitchen to make dinner, which consisted of macaroni and cheese and strawberries. While it wasn't the best meal in the world, it was kind of all she had to subsist on. After dinner, she tied her hair up in a messy bun, and made her way to her formidable library on the second floor. It was past dark now, likely close to ten, and she needed a light to see by. The chandelier caused light to dance brilliantly around the room, and the dimmer switch dampened the light enough so that she wasn't blinded.

She stalked the shelves until she came across one she hadn't read in a while. Why We Suck by Denis Leary. She hadn't laughed much lately and his sense of humor always made her giggle even if it was sardonic as hell. It was an easy read; he rambled a lot but it kept her entertained as she draped herself over the recliner. She didn't hear the door, didn't hear the gate or his footsteps. She didn't even know he was there until she heard him clear his throat, and watched him sit in the recliner across from hers.

"You two like scaring the everliving shit out of me, don't you?" Eve asked, a brow quirking. Clearly, Garrett was confused by the 'you two' portion of her previous statement. "John was here earlier. Crept up on me when I was getting dressed."

Garrett only shook his head. That was John. Captain Tactless.

"I apologize on his behalf then. That's who he is. And," he added, "I'm sorry for scaring you. I think I'm just used to hanging around people who can hear." A moment later he realized his error and parted his lips to apologize, but Eve was laughing.

"I'm sorry, what did you say? I'm kind of deaf." She said through fits of giggles. Oh good, a girl who could make fun of herself. Garrett found himself grinning in spite of himself.

Impulsively, he slipped his hand over hers and pulled her from the chair as gently as possible so as he didn't break her arm. "C'mon. Come with me." He spoke quickly, and Eve looked blank.

"Where?" She asked, dumbstruck.

"You'll see." He tugged her arm again, and she paused, debating. "C'mon!"

"Alright, I'm coming. But not without shoes. And my knife."

---

Two hours later found them laying atop the hood of his car -- it was also customized for daylight driving -- staring up at the stars. Eve was nestled in the crook of his arm, snuggled against him, pointing out constellations. The sky in the desert here was spectacular. She could actually see the Milky Way now. Part of her had always loved the night, loved the stars. She never openly said anything about it to anyone, not even on her blog, but Garrett had picked up on it rather quickly, even without her saying anything.

They had been talking animatedly between her outbursts of cosmic knowledge, and it had been light, easy. Eve was comfortable.

"Zombies or vampires. God that sounds weird now." Garrett couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips. Evie only grinned.

"Both."

"Is that even legal?"

"It totally is. I have seen every Romero film ever made before the age of ten. The remakes were meh. The new stuff was spectacular. John Leguizamo was a genius casting choice." She said. "And, I have played all of the Resident Evil series, including the bootlegged Japanese ones. Left4Dead I own at. You might know my gamertag."

"Can't say that I do." He replied.

"Bra1nD3ad."

"Holy shit, that's you? We play weekly! How can you even say I'm better suited at zombie slayage?"

"Because I can only handle a knife. Give me a gun, and I have a nervous breakdown." She smiled a little wryly. "Of course, the best part about zombies, is I don't have to outrun them. I just have to outrun the person behind me." She added with a laugh in her voice. "And I'm just starting to come around to the idea of vampires. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them, but past experience is a little damning."

"That is entirely understandable. What's making you change your mind?"

Evie only smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

---
It was nearly dawn before they got back to her place, and Garrett had to carry her inside, as she had fallen asleep against him a while ago. She was so light, it was almost scary. He had decided on returning to her place only because taking her back to their pad might terrify her, waking up in a strange place and all. As he slipped her under her sheets, he felt her eyelashes flutter against his wrist, and heard her mutter faintly a single word.

"Stay."

He had no choice. He would stay. Because she had asked.