The whole time he was rambling Heather and Jeff were approaching the couch. She sat by him and put her arm around his shoulder. He leaned over onto hers and began sobbing once again. Jeff sat behind Heather with a hand on her back. "Why?" Adam wailed. "Why him?! Didn’t he know Gabby needed HIM! She doesn’t need me! No one needs ME! It should have been me."

These words brought fresh tears to Heather and Jeff’s already red eyes. She had been crying since the stake pierced Christian’s chest and Jeff’s tears had fallen in sympathy for the whole family. "Shhhhh. Adam, shhhh" she cooed in his ear. "We need you. We do! It shouldn’t have been any of us. And now Gabby needs you, all of us."

He pulled back staring at her. "She doesn’t need ME! She NEEDS CHRISTIAN! CAN’T YOU SEE THAT!?"

"Adam," she whispered softly her heart breaking to see him this way for the first time.

"I needed him." the words were spoken softly as he closed his eyes. "Everyone I need leaves me."

Tears fell faster down her face and Jeff spoke for the first time. "Adam."

When he looked up he embraced her. "I’m sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"I know. I know."

"I just, I don't understand. I wish he..." he trailed of hearing something from the other room. "Gabby!"

They rushed in to find her sitting on the bed a stake in her hand pointed toward her chest. Rocking back and forth on the bed, she appeared to be in a trance mumbling something, speaking Christian’s name periodically. Adam cautiously approached the quickly reached out knocking the makeshift stake to the floor telling Jeff to get rid of it. She collapsed into his arms weakly beating his chest. "Why? WHY WHY WHY!!!??"

"I don't know."

"Let me go! I wanna be with Christian. Please let me go with him."

"NO!" He pushed her back holding her shoulders. "Gabby, no. Look. We all love you. Don't leave us."

"Why not? Christian did."

"He didn't do it on purpose." Adam looked to the door to see that Heather and Jeff had slipped out. Gabby lay down exhausted and he realised he had followed with her in his arms. Realising he was laying in his brother’s place he jerked trying to sit up but Gabby held tight.

"No, please. Don't leave me. I need you. Stay." He wasn't sure if she was talking to him or was dreaming of happier times with Christian. Laying there breathing in the all too familiar scent of his brother he cried, falling asleep the same way Gabby had for days.

"Are you okay?" Jeff asked holding Heather as they lay together in bed.

"I will be. I’m more worried about Adam and Gabby. I mean, I knew Christian for a hundred years. You can't fathom that, not yet. I miss him. He was always there. I spent a lot of nights talking to him, especially when Gabby and Adam had their moments. I don't know how long it will take but I'll be okay. But Adam, who knows how long they have known each other. They are brothers. They depended on each other for so long. And Gabby, god poor Gabby! He was her only love. She told me that one time. She had never felt anything remotely close to what she felt with Christian when she was with anyone else. She said a few weeks ago that after all this time, being in the same room with Christian, or the way he would look at her sometimes still gave her butterflies in her stomach. I don't know what she’s going to do. I don't think she will ever love anyone again. At least nothing like it was with him"

"Ya know, I already miss him. He was like the calming presence between you guys."

"Yeah I know. Maybe you will have to be that now. Maybe that’s why I found you when I did."

"I ...I don't know if I could take..."

"No, Jeff, not take his place. Keep the balance. You can't put me, Adam, and Gabby in a house under normal circumstances and the three of us coexist alone for very long. The first thing is all of us getting through this. Something I am thinking isn't going to be a short experience."

"I’m here for you and everyone else. I know I didn't know him well, but I can be a good listener."

"I know. I’m tired."

"Go on and sleep. I’ll listen for anything going on."

"I love you Jeff. More than anyone I have ever loved."

"Don't let Adam hear you say that."

"He knows. He told me one night he could feel it." Her words were becoming mumbled and less coherent.

"Sleep. We can talk later. There’s always later."

"I’m not so sure anymore." she whispered before finally succumbing to sleep.

"I am, I’m never leaving you." he whispered. "If I have to become a ghost I’m never leaving you."

The first few moments after Gabby woke up were always the most confusing. Where was Christian? Why was she alone? Why was her body aching so much? But now, one more was added. As it often happened, she didn't remember how she fell asleep, or even waking up. And now, Adam was holding her tightly, but she didn't know why. So she lay there in his arms, stiffly, staring at the dark blue wall, not really thinking about anything as a dull panicked ache rose in her chest, making it hard to breath. It had been happening frequently as of late, and Gabby figured it was some sort of fear or anxiety attack surfacing itself. She closed her eyes and waited for it to pass, still unmoving in Adam's embrace.

As it slowly went away, she relaxed slightly, but a feeling of uncomfort grew. She was sleeping with Adam in her and Christian's bed, and she couldn't remember a thing. Tears started to spring up in her eyes and she struggled to push away from Adam, waking him up in the process. Gabby scooted away, leaning back against the headboard and staring at him with almost wild eyes. Adam sat up, looking around sleepily before settling his eyes on Gabby.

"What's wrong?" He asked quickly, moving closer as she pulled back. "Gabby?" He frowned at the few small tears escaping her eyes. She shook her head violently, crawling off the bed slowly and staring at Adam as if he were a strange intruder.

"Get out!" She shouted suddenly, startling him and herself. "I don't want you in my bed!"

"But you asked - " He stopped stumbling through his words and sighed. Gabby tried desperately to remember if she had asked him to stay, but drew a blank.

"Just leave!" She demanded, giving up thinking.

"Gabby, I'm not leaving you alone, I - " Adam was silenced by a loud scream as the picked up the small desk clock, hurling it at his head. He ducked, leaping off the bed and out of dodge. "You’re not supposed to be alone! I'm not…" He halted his speech again as Gabby's eyes searched desperately around the room for something else to throw, then settled back on Adam.

"You’re not him. I don't want you here." Her tone was unwavering and firm, leaving no questions or options. Looking at her with pity for a second, he turned out the door, passing Heather as she rushed down the hall.

"I heard her screaming…what happened?" Adam shrugged, shaking his head.

"She just woke up and freaked on me. Almost hit me with the clock." Heather frowned, then started towards the door to Gabby's room, protesting when Adam tried to stop her.

"Look, I haven't even talked to her yet. I think I should."

"Then wear a helmet."

Heather walked into the room, finding Gabby on the floor beside the closet, hugging one of Christian's sweaters to her, whimpering softly. She walked over slowly, sitting down beside Gabby, who made no acknowledgement of her friend's presence until she sighed and started to speak.

"I'm so lonely Heather. I never thought I'd be this lonely. I can't even remember the past few days. Its like I don't know if I'm awake or asleep anymore. I can't tell anything anymore." Heather sighed, looking down at the floor, not knowing exactly what to say, but Gabby continued. "I'm supposed to be with him. Always. That was the way it worked. All I want now is to be with him, but none of you will let me."

"That’s because we love you. You can't be where he is right now…"

"Heather, I know you guys don't want me to die…but without him, I'm nothing. I can't function. There's nothing left for me here." Heather shook her head in response.

"You're just confused right now, that’s all. Give it time. We're all gonna help you through this...I'm here, Jeff's here, Adam's here…" She spoke of Adam slowly, wondering again why Gabby had flipped out on him.

"Where is he?" Heather shrugged.

"Somewhere around here. Want me to find him?" Gabby shook her head at Heather, rising and walking away quickly, still clutching Christian's sweater like a child with a blanket.

Adam was out on the balcony, leaning his head over the edge and letting the cold wind blow his hair. The fall was turning to winter. Everything was going bad. His brother was dead, Gabby was getting worse and worse, and Heather and Jeff seemed oblivious to the rest of the house at times. He was supposed to take care of Gabby, but it was getting hard when he couldn't even take care of himself. Lately, he'd started to wonder if he shouldn’t just leave one night. He doubted anyone would notice his departure.

The glass doors swung open and he heard Gabby's soft footsteps as she walked over to the bench. Adam didn't want to turn around because he wasn't sure of she'd even see him there. He heard a sigh and then she was standing beside him, staring up expectantly.

"I'm sorry I threw the clock at you." Adam continued looking down at the park, frowning. "I just don't remember if I asked you to sleep with me or not. I don't even remember waking up. Everything's blurring together and…" She broke off as her voice started to shake.

"I'm not doing what he asked." Adam told her grimly, finally looking over to meet her questioning gaze. "He told me to take care of you because you hate being alone. But I can't take care of you if you won't let me."

"Oh." She responded quietly, looking away and willing herself not to cry again.

"If we're gonna talk, lets go inside. It's cold. I'll make coffee." Gabby nodded, following behind him closely. If he wanted to take care of her, she'd let him. They both needed something to keep them there.

Heather slowly trudged back to her room, which was about the only scenery she had seen in days. Approaching the bed, she sat at the foot putting her head in her hands. She felt Jeff's hand on her back and looked up.

"She okay?" he asked relieved she wasn't crying this time.

"Yeah, she was...confused I think. It's okay. She went out to talk to Adam. It's the first time she has really talked since..." she broke off trying not to cry again. God, she thought, this is too hard to deal with.

"I know," Jeff said so she didn't have to continue.

"I think it's a turning point. She's talking to Adam right now. I just hope they don't think...that...we don't care or something."

"What?"

"Well I picked up on something Adam was thinking, when he was alone on the balcony."

"What? Come on, you can tell me."

"He, was thinking we had been oblivious to the rest of the house. I don't want him to think we didn't care..."

"Maybe we should go talk to them." He listened a moment. "After they are done talking."

She nodded. "Jeff?" He pulled her close to him in response. "I don't want to ever go through this again."

"I know, I don't either. You forget you aren't completely immortal huh? On top of losing Christian, which is bad enough, it scares you doesn't it? Cause it scares me."

She smiled looking up into his green eyes. "I think you understand a lot more than you should at this point." After a pause, she spoke tentatively. "Do…do you regret your decision now?"

"No, if I had said no, I could have never been with you. That would've sucked." She laughed a little at the last comment and they lay back cuddling up until they felt they had given Gabby and Adam some time.

When they entered the kitchen, their friends were silent. Heather walked up behind Gabby putting her arms around her and Gabby patted her arm in acknowledgement. They both sat down getting their own cups of coffee staying silent for a moment. It was an awkward scene without Christian reading a week old paper or something else mundane to pass time. "Gabby," Heather started. "You... you don't think we didn't care do you?"

Gabby's head snapped up. "No!"

"Adam?" Heather said looking at him. He shook his head. "It's just...I wanted to be there...with you...both of you...but I wasn't much help...I was a mess. Hell I was making Jeff a mess."

"Don't worry about it." Gabby said.

"But I do...I worry about you.... God, you've scared me shitless lately."

"And I won't do it again. I don't remember it, I swear. I mean...what I do is dream-like. It's hard to explain."

"Yeah I found that out the hard way," Adam broke in.

"You're lucky you have quick reflexes."

"No shit." For a moment, things seemed normal then Jeff looked up guiltily at Heather.

"I hate to say anything...but I'm starving!" He stood up walking to the fridge.

"Why didn't you get anything before?" Gabby asked. "This is your house too." He shrugged grabbing a glass and filling it with the thick red liquid.

"Jeff?" Heather questioned, curious herself. She had thought he must have got something while she was sleeping because the three of them could last much longer.

"I didn't want to leave you." Tears came to her eyes and she wiped them quickly away.

"I'm hungry too, now that I think about it." Everyone except Gabby started pouring themselves a glass.

Adam touched her hand as they all sat back down. "Want me to get you some?" he asked. She shook her head. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm....tired. I don't want anything." He looked at her worriedly. "I'm fine. I think I just wanna go back to my room, this is just...a little weird." They saw tears come to her eyes as she quickly stood up and went down the hall.

"She's has 30 minutes unless I hear a noise."

"Don't think she's okay to be alone?" Heather asked.

"I don't know, but do you want me to take the chance?" She shook her head. "Okay then." Heather went to the balcony and looked out into the night enjoying the cool air. "Hey Jeff," Adam said quietly. "Thanks."

"For?"

"Taking care of her. I don't know what I would have done if it would have been and the two of them." Jeff nodded and they fell into silence as Adam watched the clock.

The half-hour passed quickly and rather silently. Jeff had eventually joined Heather out on the balcony, leaving Adam to himself for a little while. When he was finally utterly bored, he decided to check on Gabby, finding her sitting on the middle of the bed, eyes slightly downcast and unfocused.

"You weren't hungry?" He asked softly, taking care not to startle her as he walked into the room slowly. Gabby raised her red eyes to his, then looked away to the side.

"I am but…I can't…" She paused, dragging the back of her hand across her eyes quickly, finishing quietly. "I can't even feed by myself…" Adam frowned in thought, sitting opposite her.

"What do you mean? Christian taught you, right?" She nodded slowly.

"It's not that. He did. It's just…we always used to share. Whether it was from a mortal or from a glass, we shared." Gabby stopped for a moment, sniffling quietly. "We always did that. And just siting around the table with everyone but him was so…" She struggled for a word she couldn't find, knowing Adam understood everything.

Gabby was missing. Adam tore out of her room, quickly checking the bathroom, living room, and his own room before bursting into the kitchen, interrupting the quaint candle lit dinner of Jeff and Heather. She looked up at him with visible irritation, waiting for an explanation.

"I can't find Gabby." He told them nervously, looking around the kitchen for her.

"What do you mean, can't find her?" Heather exclaimed, trying to calm herself. "She's not in her room?" Adam shook his head.

"Or the bathroom, or anywhere else. I just left her for five minutes to get changed and then when I went back to her room, she was gone." Heather swore softly under her breath, and Jeff sat silent in deep thought.

"Alright…we're gonna all kinda split up and take different parts of the house, okay?" She commanded, standing up while Adam nodded. "I'll go outside and look around there, you and Jeff just...find somewhere in the house to look. See if you can do it mentally first, but I doubt that'll work. She blocked us out weeks ago." Finishing her instructions quickly, she rushed for the door to survey the immediate area around the place, even though no one had heard Gabby leave. It was still a possibility. Adam took to the basement, which he thought of as one of the most likely places for her to have run off to; the basement was homage to her and Christian's love of BDSM.

The main floor was left to Jeff without a word. Because of some twist in genetics, his preternatural telepathy was the strongest, second only to Gabby's, gained through age. That led him to her bedroom, where he noticed something Adam obviously had been too flustered to check: the open closet door. He walked over, crouching before it and peering inside. As he thought, Gabby was there, sitting against the back wall with something white and furry held close to her. She barely looked up, but Jeff caught her eyes and held them as he scooted closer, sitting across from her.

"Hey," He greeted her simply, not trying to complicate anything.

"Hi…" She echoed slowly, somewhat shakily.

"Everyone's looking for you. You scared us." Gabby frowned, then sighed, looking down.

"We were gonna go out and eat…me and Adam. I wanted to get those boots down," She nodded in the general direction of a pair of maroon boots, sitting on a high shelf, "But I knocked this bear down…I forgot about it." Jeff realised she was clinging to a stuffed white teddy bear and couldn't help but smile a little at the sentimentality and innocence of it.

"It looks old," He told her absently, resting his chin on the back of his hand. Gabby nodded in agreement.

"It's from the 40's, I think. He, Christian I mean, won it at one of those stupid games when we went to Coney Island. It was freezing. March."

"How long were you in New York?" She knew he was just distracting her from anything depressing or drastic that he thought might happen, but the talking was therapeutic anyway.

"Not long. I only made him come with me so we could go see Billie Holiday at Carnegie. Right after she got outta jail."

"Ever go back?" She shook her head and when she didn't respond, Jeff didn't question further. "I'm gonna go tell Adam where you are. He's probably still worried sick. Heather too." She replied with a nod, and rose as he did, carefully placing the worn bear on the bed.

Adam rushed into the bedroom while Jeff pulled Heather away from the doorway.

"Gabby!" He sat next to her on the bed. "What's going on? Why were you in the closet!?"

"Guess it's a better hiding place than I thought...you didn't even check." When he didn't respond she pointed to the white bear. "I found him when I was getting my boots out."

"Coney Island." She nodded.

"I just...I wanted to be alone, with my memories."

"I understand, but we were all scared!" He hugged her tightly.

"I didn't mean to scare you. Really. I'm okay."

"You sure?"

"YES I'm sure." She smiled weaky. "Let's go eat."

"You really want to?"

"YES!" She pulled her boots on as quickly as possible fixing her hair and making sure her makeup wasn't smeared. They walked passed Heather and Jeff who were sitting at the table again talking in hushed voices. Gabby walked over hugging Heather then Jeff. "I'm sorry I scared you guys, I just needed some time alone, but I'm okay."

"Good, you guys still going out?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, I think I need to go out...geez, how long has it been."

"Months."

Gabby nodded. "We'll see you guys later."

After they left Heather looked at Jeff. "Shall we resume our candle lit dinner?"

"Sure, and don't forget, desert is in our room."

"Know what? I think I've had enough dinner." She leaned over blowing out the candles. "I'm ready for desert."

Pushing the mug of cappuccino to the middle of the table, Gabby surveyed the rest of the dinner they'd finished. It had been at one of those small family-owned Italian places, tucked away in at the end of some street she'd never heard of, but Adam had found the place easily. He'd set her cappuccino limit to four mugs tonight, knowing she could keep on drinking them until she bled caffeine if he let her.

"Gabby, there's still coffee in that…" Adam looked inquisitively at her as she shrugged.

"Yeah, but if I finish it, I'll just want more." He nodded in partial understanding, then smiled, remembering something he was going to bring up earlier. He cleared his throat before started.

"I was in the basement today." Gabby rolled her eyes at him.

"And?"

"You guys sure as hell spent a lot of money on that stuff." She nodded, eating a piece of biscotti loudly. "Worth it?" Gabby sighed, grabbing his arm and dragging him out while she threw some money on the table. Once they were outside and walking somewhere, she began speaking.

"Look, I miss him enough without you bringing up our sex life. It was such a huge part of us...and then it just stopped." Adam frowned, contemplating his own situation.

"Not to make what you're going through any less hard, but I walked in on the woman I will always love having sex with another guy. Remember that?"

"Oh yeah…Why not get a hooker?" She added as an afterthought, and he laughed.

"Because, I don't wanna waste my money on some diseased crack-whore. I mean, who knows where she's been? I don't want that." She nodded, and they both walked in silence for a while until Gabby finally decided to say something she'd wanted to.

"Well, you know exactly where I've been." Adam stopped walking and pulled her into a doorway, off the street.

"What are you saying?"

"Don't play dumb. You know I've only ever been with Christian, you know I'm not gonna run away and cheat or anything, and you know no incredibly deep connection is probably ever gonna happen between us. I might not love you in that way, but I'll never leave and hurt you. I'm offering. I need more than nothing. And I think you do too." Her words came out as if they'd been well thought out, turned over in her mind for some time, and it didn't take Adam long to make a decision. He took one hand in his, kissed the top gently, and nodded. "But…You have to you some of the basement stuff, deal?"

"I don't know how the hell to use half that stuff, but I'll give it a shot." Gabby smiled happily, extremely happily for the first time in months, wrapping her hands around his arm, pulling him towards the car, and home.

Heather jerked awake at a slamming noise from the living room.

"What the Hell?" Jeff sat up rubbing his eyes.

"You stay here." She jumped up putting her robe on.

"Like Hell I will!" Jeff grabbed his own robe following his cranky lover to the living room. When he caught up to her, she was staring oddly at Gabby and Adam.

"What's going on?" he mumbled.

"Sorry," Gabby answered, "I accidentally let the door slam. My bad."

"Okay, now what's really going on." Heather scrutinised the pair.

"Nothing."

"Whatta ya mean nothing? I know that look." She pointed to Adam, "And I SURE as hell know that one."

"Something’s different," Jeff whispered in her ear. Gabby sighed knowing they were caught. She knew she should have realised Heather would know them well enough to know, and Jeff seemed very ... intuitive.

"Okay," she relented. "Let's sit down." When they were all seated, she began. "Now that I am starting to, come to terms with Christian being...gone, I’m lonely. And, Adam is too." She saw Heather look down a little, like she was guilty. "We, just can't stand to be alone." Adam spoke up knowing Gabby was going to ramble until dawn without ever getting to the real point.

"We talked about some things tonight, and we decided, so we would have someone, we are going to be together. It’ll be nothing like we’ve had before. But we know each other to be loyal. It’s out of necessity for companionship. And you know in the past everyone hasn't stayed together, what happens if you two wanna leave?" He said this last part to Heather.

"So, you two are like, lovers, but nothing like Jeff and I?"

"Pretty much."

Jeff spoke up. "Do you want us to leave?"

"NO!" Gabby spoke up. "He wasn't saying that at all! It's just, in the past, we have gone off for maybe a decade or two, just to be alone as couples. Sometimes two vampire couples can't co-exist for too long, things start to get in the way. But I don't see it happening anytime soon. This is almost starting over, and its taken...a hundred years I think the first time."

Jeff looked confused. "So we can stay?"

"Yes!" Adam broke in. "Please, we want you guys to. Really." Jeff looked at Adam and sensed for a first time complete respect. He nodded in agreement.

"Wow, this is...weird" Heather said quietly.

"Yeah, whoever thought..."Gabby said looking at the other three people in the room. "Guess things are in balance or something."

"Don't go getting all philosophical on us."

"Yeah, I’m likely to ramble, eh?"

All three nodded causing her to laugh. Heather smiled. It was the first time Gabby had really laughed in months. She took a good look at Gabby and Adam. Something just looked right. She couldn't place it because it was still odd in a way, seeing her ex-lover with her best friend.

"Well," she yawned sleepily. "Since I was so rudely awakened, I think I shall like to return to sleep. Sunrise isn't too far away anyway."

Adam glanced at the clock. "Yeah, maybe Gabby and I should...pick a room, and settle in."

"Yours," she answered quickly. "Memories, I don't want them when we are together." He nodded.

Heather hugged her friend. "We can set your room up ... as Christians. Put things that remind you of him in there, and you can take your things out. That way when any of us want to be closer to him, we can go in there."

Gabby nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek, which Adam quickly brushed away.

"I’d like that."

Heather gave Adam a quick hug while Jeff hugged Gabby. Heather grabbed Jeff’s hand pulling him away wanting to get back to sleep.

"Do you want your things out now?" Adam asked after they had gone.

"The sooner the better," she stood up leading the way.

Gabby leaned against the doorway of what had been her and Christian's room with a few shirts and pants over her arm.

"That the last of it?" Adam asked her quietly, taking the bundle from her arm. She just nodded as he left, staring into the room she'd never sleep in again. It was like abandoning one life and moving on to another. That was exactly what she was doing. Remembering Christian, all the time spent with him in that room alone made tears spring into her eyes faster than she could wipe them away. Even sleeping in the bed without him made it feel like he was still there somehow, but Gabby knew she couldn't mourn forever. It had already been six months, though that seemed like a feeble amount of time against the years they'd been together. Sobs rose in her throat and she covered her mouth to muffle them as tears fell faster. Adam heard though, silently emerging from his room - their room now - and stood behind her, not sure if his intervention was welcome. But he hated seeing Gabby crying, so he simply put a hand on her shoulder, and she spun around, practically falling into his arms, weeping into his chest. When she eventually drew back, calmed and wiping her tears away, she looked up and smiled. Adam smiled back almost sadly, and their hands reached for each other's almost automatically. Walking to their room, they felt for the first time in months that neither one of them was alone, and would never be again.