Christian was startled awake by the sounds of banging coming from directly over his head. After throwing away the first thought he had of the ceiling falling down, he sat up. Right above was Edge's room. Gabrielle had gone up there. So had Jeff. And now Edge was throwing things around, which he hadn't done since Gangrel told him he couldn’t have Gabrielle. After struggling with different solutions, Christian decided to find out what the root of his rage was, if there was one. The pounding started to subside as Christian climbed the stairs, and he thought for a moment that Edge had either fallen out of the fit, or ran out of things to smash. Stopping near the top of the staircase he heard the unmistakable split and crack of wood, and saw splinters fly out of Edge's doorway, followed by the loud bang of something hitting the floor.

"oh fuck." Christian said, under his breath, running to the cause of the problem. He discovered the door to Edge's room in two pieces on the floor at doorframe, Edge standing behind it, breathing heavily. Christian cocked his head looking at his brother, who simply stood there, shoulders heaving. He didn't even know Christian was standing there. No thoughts passed through his head, as far as Christian could tell. Just rage, blind rage.

"Edge…" Christian said calmly, seeing no reaction from the man he addressed. "Edge, what happened?" He moved closer to Edge, stepping over the door, moving slowly, still wary of his brother. He was still going unnoticed. A quick mental scan revealed no one in Edge's room, and Christian was confident that Jeff and Gabrielle were safe in their respective rooms. Christian put a hand lightly on Edge's arm. This movement at least brought Edge out of his unknowing state. He looked around and let out a strangled gasp, turning his head and looking questioningly at Christian.

"Edge, what made you do this?" Christian watched as Edge walked unsteadily to the bed and sat down, resting his head against one of its posts.

"Gabrielle…oh god, she's not in here, is she?" he looked frantically around the room until hearing Christian's somewhat reassuring voice.

"no, Edge, she's not. Is this about her?" he moved closer to stand in front of Edge.

"Yes…" he groaned, "yes, it is."

"Do you want to tell me, or not?" Christian asked, softly as he always was when dealing with his brother.

"I don't know. I - shit, I don't know." Edge threw himself back on the bed. Christian sighed.

"Can I go talk to Gabrielle about it then? If she wants to, that is."

"Yea, I don't care. Just leave me for a little while." Without another word, Christian was off to Gabrielle's room.

He knocked lightly, before the door opened, and Gabrielle stood, biting her lip with a look of fear and worry in her eyes. She sighed with relief seeing it was Christian, and she pulled him into the room, then fell into his arms. He stood still for a second before embracing her as well. He smoothed her hair back, and pulled away. She sighed again, and moved slowly away from Christian, looking out the window. The sun was rising. She slammed her fist against the window and spun around closing the heavy curtains. Christian saw tears in her eyes. He walked near her, and she closed her eyes, turning away.

"This is the first time the sun has risen without me in Edge's arms…" Gabrielle said softly, almost bitterly. Christian stood behind her, arms encircling her waist. He felt her become rigid beneath his touch, and pull away. She turned around and looked at him briefly, an odd look of confusion in her eyes.

"Gabrielle? What's wrong?" she shook her head, and let the dark hair fall over her face. "Don’t do this. Don’t tune me out." He placed a hand under her chin, tilting her head up, and causing the hair to fall away. "I won't let you." He smiled, and seeing no change in her, grabbed her arms and led her to the bed.

"Talk to me. Tell me what happened between you and Edge." He said softly, taking one hand in his.

"Its my fault. Its what I said." Gabrielle replied brokenly. She gazed at Christian. "I love him Christian. I fucked it up. But he kept saying that…that I shouldn’t leave, and I can't help Jeff and…."

"You're going to help Jeff? With what?" he asked, but seeing the look on her face, a look that said don't start, he stopped. "Sorry. Go on."

"I'm going to teach Jeff how to feed and hunt tomorrow, but Edge kept saying that I didn’t know how, and I was too young, and he didn't trust Jeff, and all this shit…I stop believing him. Everything he said smacked of jealousy and…I don’t know…" she sighed in desperation, looking down, and smoothing the fabric of her shirt.

"It was about Jeff? You shouldn't have said anything - "

"He started it!"

"Don’t be a child. It doesn’t matter who started it, as long as it gets resolved." Christian said, sternly. "Are you going to sleep at all, or just stay up and brood all day?"

"Both." She said, somewhat stubbornly. He shook his head.

"When he calms down, go talk to him. Forget about this shit with Jeff. You and Edge belong with each other."

"But what do I do about Jeff? I said I’d take him out and - "

"I'll do it." He offered. She raised her eyebrows, and he laughed softly. "Yea, I will. Don't worry about it."

"But…no, I don’t want you to. I got myself into this and I need to help him…I promised." He kissed her hand.

"Admirable trait, Gabrielle, but you need to fix things up with Edge. And get some sleep, okay?" she nodded as he slid off the bed, and without bothering to change, she shifted, got comfortable underneath cold satin, and watched as Christian stood over her.

"Don't leave me…" she whispered.

"What?"

"just don't." Christian sighed, lowering himself down to lay beside her, vowing silently one day to figure out what was behind her fear of abandonment. But all thoughts of psychoanalysis were lost as he gathered her close, realising he was more tired that he had thought.