Hey, guys! Welcome to the first chapter of my latest fic! I hope everyone likes it. This took me a very long time to write and hopefully it doesn't take me that long to write any other chapters. Anyways, let me know what you all think!

She liked the quiet. It made for a boring existence, and Abby cherished that prospect. Her parents didn't understand why she didn't just move to London. She loved the city, been there quite a few times over the years. Unfortunately, it was far too loud. Busy. She didn't fare too well with either of those anymore. Not after the past five years of her life. She needed peace and quiet. Nothing weird at all. Then again, her definition of weird had been expanded exponentially since she moved to New Orleans. A nice, mostly normal life is what she wanted. It's what she deserved.

The move was a smooth one, and that was a relief to her but not to her parents. They were kind of hoping it wouldn't, though they would never say that to her face. They gave her a month before she got bored with Bristol and returned to Savannah or moved to the city. She wouldn't stay in the light blue house with its two bedrooms, one bathroom, and tiny kitchen. They swore she was simply too used to a faster paced life than she was giving herself. Savannah was not a slow paced environment. It was a tourism city with the historic district, big fancy homes like the one she grew up in, and the novelty of being an old city. Then she moved to New Orleans to attend college. It was pretty much the same as Savannah. Only it had Mardi Gras and a football frenzy. Both cities were loud and alive. Bristol was neither of those things. Everyone minded their own business, and it was just quiet. Her parents didn't think she would last, but Abby was determined. Once she'd gotten there, she didn't know if she would ever leave.

It had been three days since she'd gotten there. Boxes of her things were already in the house. Her landlady was kind enough to have everything stored away in the house until Abby could get to England. In those three days, she tried to unpack everything, but she also underestimated just how much stuff she'd shipped ahead of her. For hours upon hours, she worked on unpacking and decorating every day. So far she'd only managed the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and part of the living room. Every room still housed quite a few boxes. The kitchen was the first because she knew she would certainly need food and coffee. The coffee was the most important. Her parents gifted her with some expensive coffee as a housewarming present. She managed to drink all of it within those three days. After three incredibly caffeinated days, she needed to get out of the house. More coffee was a good excuse to get out.

Pulling her coat on, she stepped out of the house and breathed in the fresh air. She needed it. She looked around. There were a few people milling around, and they hardly noticed the redhead as she started walking towards the market. As she passed them, she gave them polite smile and they did the same. Back in Savannah, her neighbors would smile politely at her, but then they would whisper behind her back about whatever. Sometimes it wasn't always about her. Sometimes it was about her parents or her "poor" aunt who had been ostracized from the Oglethorpe family. In New Orleans, the whispers were more about the company she kept. No one there knew a thing about her family so any gossip was actually all about her. In Bristol, they knew nothing about her or her life. They didn't really seem all that interested to begin with. She was just the new neighbor. There was, however, one set of neighbors - well, one neighbor really - who seemed terribly interested in everyone. She'd seen him over the past few days going to everyone's door and inviting them over to his place. He'd bypassed Abby's door. Apparently, he wasn't aware anyone had actually moved in. Or maybe he didn't want to disturb her. She was not sure, but she had been overlooked. Not that she really cared all that much. She was busy trying to make the place look a little bit more presentable. He was attractive so she wouldn't mind him showing up at her door. Just not when her hair was pulled back in a messy bun and all she had on was her Hello Kitty pajama bottoms and a Saints t-shirt.

Truth be told, she hadn't given much thought to the man since she'd seen him pass by her window. Not until she saw him and his housemate coming out of their little pink house. They were coming towards her, and like with everyone else, she smiled. She thought that would be the last of their interaction until they passed again on another day.

"You're new," she heard behind her.

For a moment, she almost didn't stop. It was said in passing but could be taken as a conversation starter. Still, she didn't want to seem too terribly rude so she turned around. The two men were turned to her, though the taller one with the glasses looked a little mortified. The other man – the one she'd seen before – had a pleasant smile on his face. Abby nodded. "Um...yeah. I am."

"I'm Mitchell." He extended a gloved hand before referring to his friend. "And this is George."

"Abby." Taking his hand, she shook it. She looked at the other man, and it took him a second to hold his hand out for her as well.

"How long have you been here?" Mitchell asked.

"Three days," she answered.

"Three-" Mitchell paused and took a deep breath. "I can't believe I didn't ask you over for tea the other day."

"It's alright. I probably wouldn't have been able to make it. Busy unpacking and all that," she shrugged.

Mitchell shook his head. "Still, that doesn't seem right. You should come over tonight. Have dinner with us. George is an excellent cook."

"Oh I wouldn't want to put you out," she told him. Her good southern upbringing demanded that she at least give them a way to back out of the invitation.

"Nonsense. We would love to have you," Mitchell insisted. Although, it looked like George really was not amused by the sudden invitation. He probably would have taken her up on rescinding the invitation.

"Only if I can bring dessert." And her good southern upbringing also demanded that she offer to make something if they were going to make dinner.

"Of course. Whatever you want," Mitchell nodded with a grin. "Wicked. What time do you think you'd be able to come over?"

"Around seven? I'm about to run some errands, but those shouldn't take too long." She was trying to be courteous. Seven seemed like a good enough time, and Mitchell didn't seem too put off by it either.

"Great! We'll see you then, Abby. You did say your name was Abby, right?" Mitchell asked.

George gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes she did. Come on, Mitchell. We have to get to work."

Mitchell turned to his friend and nodded before saying goodbye to Abby. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened, but she knew she needed to go get stuff to make dessert for dinner along with coffee. Hours later Abby stood in front of the mirror with a scowl on her face. Was wearing a dress too much? It seemed like it, even though it wasn't anything more than a simple blue sundress. Once paired with a leather jacket and a pair of boots however, it felt more like something she would wear on a date. For a moment, she almost believed she had. Still, there wasn't much time for a full wardrobe change. The timer in the kitchen went off. She was due over at George and Mitchell's soon. She would have to settle on the dress. With a deep - almost defeated - sigh, she went into the kitchen. The house smelled amazing. It reminded her of her grandmother's house. Even when there wasn't anything in the oven, the entire house would smell like there was, and it usually smelled like apple pie. When she was a kid, she thought it was magic. It only turned out to be scented candles in almost every room. Taking the pie from the oven, she smiled. It turned out perfect. Well, if she had anything going for her, it was the she was good at baking.

Mitchell kept staring at the clock as George and Annie worked on dinner. George was still a little miffed at him for inviting the new girl. Annie was excited even though she knew she'd never be seen by the redhead. Still, it'd be a nice change of pace. He didn't know why he was so anxious to have her over. Abby was just another neighbor. Having her over was a step in the right direction. Just another way to fully immerse the three of them in the pool of humanity. The best way to pass as human was to act human. But then he'd catch himself remembering her hair. How it shined in the sunlight, how brilliant it was. And her smile. It was a great smile. Kind. He was excited at the prospect of a new friend as well. He sighed as he tore his eyes away from the clock. She'd be there soon.

"Do you fancy her?" Annie asked. She'd been watching Mitchell.

"I don't know her," he shrugged. "She seems nice, though."

"I can't wait to meet her," the ghost beamed, even though she knew their guest wouldn't be able to see her.

"Well if you ask me, it's risky. Too risky," George spoke up.

"It's just dinner, George," Annie scoffed.

"For Mitchell, she might end up dinner," George murmured.

"Oi!" Mitchell protested. "I'm doing the best I can. I think this will really help. Besides, she's only lucky she's not coming over during a full moon."

"That's...that's not fair! I've only changed here the one time!" George's voice went up an octave.

"Just don't make her feel too terribly unwelcome. Be cool about it." That's what Mitchell was going to do at least. Well, he was going to try. This Abby girl made him a little nervous. Hopefully, that wouldn't come off during dinner. He at least wanted to make a better impression than bumbling idiot. There was a knock on the door, and the three of them went to the door. Mitchell reached for the doorknob, opening the door. There she was. The most beautiful ginger hair with the sweetest smile on her face. And holding the most delicious smelling pie. He smiled right back at her.

"Hello, Abby," Mitchell greeted.

"Hi!" she beamed. "I brought dessert."

"That's so sweet," Annie cooed.

Neither Mitchell nor George acknowledged Annie. Instead, Mitchell took the pie and excused himself to put it in the kitchen. She was gorgeous, and Mitchell already knew he was in trouble. They'd only just met. Leaning against the counter, he breathed out slowly. He needed to get a grip on himself. He pushed off the counter to check the food in the oven. She made him a little nervous. Out of himself and George, he never thought he'd be the one to get all choked up over someone so quickly. He knew he could at least go out there and carry on a conversation with her. He didn't feel the hunger when he was around her. Usually he felt it around any woman he found attractive. The part of his brain that immediately went to sex would associate the high of the act with feeding. That's how he did it for decades. That's what happened with Lauren. He hadn't felt it with Abby, but he couldn't deny the attraction to her. She was different, though. He wanted to know everything about her.

"Mitchell!" George whispered sharply.

He turned to look at his friend. George had Annie in tow as he marched up to Mitchell. The vampire raised his eyebrows. "It's rude to leave her alone in there."

"She can see Annie!" the taller man pointed towards the ghost.

Well this was surprising. Mitchell glanced towards the living room, and his stomach churned a little bit. It would just figure there would be something about her. "Does she seem...does she act like she knows anything?"

This gave George pause. "Well, no..."

"Then let's not jump to conclusions. Let's feel her out first before we do something rash." Mitchell spoke calmly, though there was a twisting in his gut.

"Maybe I can be seen now," Annie shrugged. "I've been doing better. Maybe she can see me."

"Yeah," Mitchell nodded. "So she can see Annie. So what?" George opened his mouth to say something, but Mitchell shook his head. "We're being rude to Abby. Can we just enjoy tonight?" He didn't give George a chance to respond, brushing past him to go into the living room. Abby smiled when she saw him. "Sorry about that."

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"What? No. They know I'm crap at cooking. They were just checking to see if everything was okay." He shrugged.

"Way to go, Abby. Another mark in the narcissist column," she chuckled.

"Nah," he shook his head. "Natural reaction."

"So how long have you guys been living together?" she asked.

"Well, Mitchell and George have been living together for about a year or so. I'm fairly recent." Annie smiled.

"I think my parents would have died if I told them I was going to move in with two men. They weren't too happy about my moving in with my boyfriend while I was in college," Abby giggled. "My parents are extremely old fashioned."

Mitchell pondered her words. Her parents were old fashioned. Vampires said that when they pretended to still have parents or if they were faking a family unit to live amongst humans. He'd uttered the words once or twice himself over the decades, usually before ripping someone's throat out. He still wasn't getting anything from her, though. If she was something supernatural, he would feel it. And he just wasn't getting anything from her. So maybe she actually meant that her parents were old fashioned. There were still people in the world who held to certain ideals and views of the world. Perhaps her parents were really like that.

"So are my parents to an extent," Annie told Abby. "But eventually they gave in to my shacking up with my fiancé."

"Oh you're engaged?" Abby was genuinely interested. She hadn't noticed a ring on Annie's finger.

"I…was…" Annie looked down a little sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." And Abby left it at that. It wasn't her place to delve into Annie's personal life. They'd only just met. "My boyfriend and I broke up a few weeks after we had graduated college. It was a mutual thing, but it still hurt like hell. Probably why I needed to get away. New Orleans started to feel a little foreign, and my family back home kept giving me these sympathetic looks like I hadn't agreed Eli and I should break up in the first place."

"You went to school in New Orleans. That's cool," Mitchell smiled at him. He'd heard so much about New Orleans from other vampires over the years, and he knew Abby would not know much about it. At least, she probably wouldn't know much about the actual vampire world. She would only know about the Hollywood version of that world.

"I did. I wanted to get as far away from Savannah as I could, but I only managed to get to New Orleans," she shrugged.

"What was wrong with Savannah?" George asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing really except…" Abby paused for a moment. She didn't know if she should get into the whole being an Oglethorpe thing and having everything handed to her without her working for it. Still, she felt as if she were making friends. Honestly, they probably wouldn't care about her last name at all. "Okay. This is going to sound a little strange. Most people don't really understand why I would want to leave because of this. I come from the founding family of Savannah, and the entire town makes a big deal out of it, especially my family. I needed to go somewhere that people wouldn't just give me things because my last name is Oglethorpe."

"Wow," George mused.

"I really wish it wasn't like that. I mean, it's nice sometimes when I can get free drinks at bars, but that's pretty much it," she shrugged.

A ding was heard from the kitchen and Annie scurried out of the room. Then she stuck her head out. "Dinner is ready if you three want to start making your way in here. You'll have to forgive the smallness of the kitchen. It's cozy."

Everyone stood up and Mitchell gestured for Abby to go on ahead before him. George did as well. She didn't wait for them to tell her again. She followed Annie into the kitchen. She liked the size of the kitchen. It was small and cozy, and she liked that. Abby had grown up in a huge house with a huge kitchen and a huge dining room table that she ate dinner at every night for nearly eighteen years. When she'd gotten away from that, it was almost a relief of sorts. Once everyone was in the kitchen, Mitchell sort of stumbled in front of Abby to pull her chair out for her. He wasn't quite sure just how old fashioned Abby was. It was just good manners he supposed. Abby sat down, smiling up at him. She seemed oblivious to it, but Annie and George gave each other knowing looks and Mitchell certainly was not oblivious to it.

The meal had been wonderful. Abby was full beyond belief, and her head might have been a little fuzzy from the wine. The four of them sat in the kitchen around the table with mugs of coffee, though Annie didn't touch hers. Abby figured she was just blending in. Maybe she wasn't a coffee drinker. They all seemed to enjoy the pie she'd made. Although, once again, Annie hadn't touched that either. She hadn't touched any food for that matter, but Abby just shrugged that off too. She knew this girl in school who was strange about eating around people. Of course, she had an eating disorder too. Abby was never one to just assume that sort of thing about anyone. It was impolite. Some people simply had weird quirks. She figured that's why Annie wasn't eating or drinking in front of everyone.

As she stretched a little in her chair, she noticed the clock on the wall. "Oh shit. Look at the time. I should probably head out. I have a lot of unpacking to do, and I might need to think about looking for a job soon."

"Your parents aren't going to send you money?" Mitchell asked with a teasing tone in his voice.

"I've asked them not to, but I'm pretty sure they will anyways," she shrugged. "I'll just save it I think."

"I think that is very sensible," George spoke up. His words were a little slurred from the wine.

Abby nodded. "I think so too. Maybe I'll donate it all to charity or squander it on something stupid. Just to keep my parents on their toes. Anyways, thank you for the lovely evening, but I probably should be getting home." She started to stand a little shakily.

Mitchell stood as well, putting a hand on her elbow to keep her steady. The first thing he thought about was she probably did not need to be walking around at night alone. Not after what Lauren had done to the last girl he'd been seen with. He probably needed to walk her home. Just to make sure she made it safely. "Let me walk you home."

"You don't have too. It's literally just across the way," Abby shook her head.

"I insist. You never know what could happen between here and there," he smiled.

She stared up at him for a second before nodding. "Yeah. Alright. That would be nice. Thanks."

Annie and George stood as well. They all walked to the front door where Mitchell helped Abby into her coat. "You'll have to come back soon," Annie told her with a smile.

"Definitely, and you guys are more than welcome to come see me. Like I said, I'm just across the way. I could use the company, especially if I can't find a job quickly." Abby wrapped her scarf around her neck.

Then she and Mitchell were off. The short walk was a quiet one. The two of them enjoyed the silence. Once they were in front of her door, Abby smiled up at him. "I had a wonderful time tonight. Thank you for inviting me."

"You're very welcome," he smiled back at her.

"Oh and if you ever want to borrow Titanic, you know where to find me." Her smiled turned into a grin. She was shocked to hear that he had never watched Titanic in full. Until she'd met Mitchell, she was sure there weren't many people who hadn't seen it. Then again, she supposed he fell into that category. "Goodnight, Mitchell. And thank you again." She kissed his cheek. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'll be sure to stop by for that movie and possibly just to bug you. Goodnight, Abby."