Mason was your perfect example of a screw up. Now was just another way of his proving this.

"I'm done babysitting Georgia. I am not going to put up with his child-like behavior anymore." Daisy barked at George immediately upon her entry into the house. "I have my mobile if you need me, but you aren't going to need me. Got it?" She said walking around George and storming out slamming the door as she left.

George stood there for a second in confusion before walking into the living room. Mason was laying on the couch, a half emptied bottle of a grain alcohol in his hand. "I thought you were broke. How did you manage to buy that?" She said as she stormed over to him and pulled it out of his hand.

"It was your treat, Georgie~" He slurred at her.

George put it on the kitchen counter and walked back out to the living room. His mud encrusted shoes were on her couch, he was so drunk he probably couldn't even stand so kicking him out was out of the question. She stormed over and pushed his feet off the couch was made him sit up a tad. "You smell like you've been playing the sewer." She told him as he looked at her so innocently. "Rube is going to kill you." She said and he just nodded. "Rube is going to kill me for letting you get at Daisy's liquor stash." She stated which again just lead to him nodding. "Mason…" She began but her voice trailed off.

"Georgie…" He mimicked.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked him seriously. He just looked at her. He was nothing like the Mason she once knew. Ever since Daisy had come around he had begun to change. She knelt down by the side of the couch where his head was. "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"I'm looking for the greatest high." He answered.

"I'm being serious."

"Me too."

"I was also serious about the sewer statement."

"I know."

George sighed as she sat down looking at Mason. She did something rather uncharacteristic of her and raised her hand to touch his head. She was running her fingers along his cheek and she seemed to like the feel of her touch on his skin because he didn't shy away from it, but instead leaned into it. His skin was oddly soft beneath her touch, for some reason she imagined it being much more filthy. "Georgie, why are you being so nice?" Mason asked, his eyes were closed and his whole body was relaxed.

"I had a long day." She answered without even thinking whether or not she had. Her day had been average overall, it wasn't anything to be impressed or depressed by. In all honesty she had no idea why she wasn't yelling at him and trying to throw his British ass into a cold shower. "Mason, are you planning on crashing on my couch tonight?"

"Are you kicking me out?" He asked without opening his eyes.

"No," she answered quickly, "I just wondered…" She said trailing off.

"If I fancied having a drink? The answer to that would be yes, but you took my bloody bottle." He again didn't show any sign of movement, until he opened his eyes and looked at George. "You aren't going to give it back are you?" He asked. She shook her head. "It was worth a shot, right Georgie?"

George smiled. "No it was a waste of your breath."

"You smiled. You should do that more often." Mason slurred slightly. He was drunk, he couldn't be held accountable for anything he said, she knew that, but it made her heart skip a beat when he said that. "Georgie, can I please have my drink back?" The smiled disappeared quickly and she glared at him. "Nevermind, I don't want it."

"Liar."

"You're right, but I know you won't give it back. Best not to waste our time, right?" George lifted her hand from his cheek and he raised his hand to hers and placed it back on his face. She looked at him oddly for a moment. "It feels nice." His eyes met hers and he smiled.

She diverted her eyes, but that didn't feel like enough so she turned her head away from him. She felt his hand let go of hers. "I'm not going to play babysitter for your drunken ass." She said trying to sound uncaring. She then felt his hand cup her chin, and felt as he made her look at him.

Their eyes met, she could see the old him in there. The smiling laughing Mason, the one obsessed with finding the next high, the one who was thrilling and a loved life, well afterlife. He leaned forward and closed his eyes as he placed his lips against hers, his lips were soft and he was being gentle. She went wide-eyed for a moment; a rush of confusion surrounded her. Should she flinch away? Should she take this moment of drunken passion and exploit it? Her eyes closed slowly and she leaned in without thinking and kissed him back. He tasted of alcohol, but he also had a sweet taste. He leaned in closer trying to deepen the kiss, but she leaned away. She couldn't look at him, not directly afterwards anyways.

"Uh…" Mason made a slight noise, but she didn't look at him. She instead stood up, and walked towards the kitchen. "Georgie..." He muttered sitting up completely on the couch. "Georgie…" She walked back out with his bottle of liquor. She took a swig and sat down on the opposite end of the couch. She thrusted the bottle in his direction. "Listen, George…"

"Take it or leave it." She said offering him the bottle one last time. He didn't take it so after a second she yanked it back away and took another swig. She kicked her shoes off, and sighed. She leaned back on the couch resting her head against the back of the couch and put her feet on the coffee table. "This is some pretty high end stuff…" She said looking at the bottle before again taking another swig of the bitter taste.

"Georgie, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry… It must have been the liquor or something." He muttered in apology.

"Just shut up Mason." She replied back coldly. She stared into the amber liquid, maybe she could make herself drunk enough to forget what had just happened. Mason kissed her, not the other way around… Well at least not at first. She wasn't going to lie and say she didn't want it or that she would have rather kissed her pet toad, but could sure as hell claim she was drunk. That wouldn't be a complete lie if she kept taking large mouth-fulls.

Mason shifted on his end of the couch but she didn't even bother looking at him. She lifted the bottle to her lips only to see Mason's half gloved hand grab hold of the neck and pull it back away. "You've had enough." His words were clear and declarative.

She glared at him and yanked the bottle back towards her. "No, you have. I have barely even started."

"You aren't even old enough to purchase that, now hand it over before I make you hand it over." He was turning her tough attitude back against her. She slammed the bottle onto the side table next to her and glared at the boy.

Mason just smiled and leaned back onto the couch lifting his legs and placing his feet right in George's lap. She looked down at his sudsy shoes on her lap in disgust. "Get your disgusting feet off me." She said pushing his feet off of her lap, but he placed them right back.

"I'm crashing here tonight; it's not my fault your ass is on my bed." He muttered as he tried to snuggle into the uncomfortable couch.

George rolled her eyes before yet again pushing his feet off of her. He let out a groan of annoyance. George smiled smugly to herself as he got annoyed. He ended up just flipping around and laying his head in her lap and letting his feet dangle over the edge of the couch. "That isn't much better Mason."

"Works well for me; you could have a career as a pillow you know." He said looking up at her, she just rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you go sleep in your bed?" George asked.

"You gonna pay to get me home?"

"No."

"That's why."

"Then find somewhere else to sleep."

"Daisy would kill me if I crashed in her bed and the only other bed here is yours, so unless you're inviting me to your bed tonight…"

"Don't even think about it." George interrupted.

She looked down at him and saw his playful smile and felt something she hadn't felt in a while. Happiness. "Mason, have you ever thought how much like a family all of are?"

"Families try to shag each other?"

"I'm not talking about you and your perverted habits. I mean, Rube is like our dad and Roxie is our bad ass mom who wouldn't let anyone fuck with her kids. Daisy is like the older sister who though enjoys being mean and cruel wont let anyone else fuck with you. I'm the baby who everyone feels the need to take extra care of even though I'm growing up and discovering things on my own, and you're"

"The fuck up." He finished her sentence.

"You're the one who is cool and your crazy antics keep all of us on edge and keep all of us together and happy. Without you, our dysfunctional fucked up family would be shit." She said brushing his hair off of his face.

"So I am the fuck up?" He asked with a smile.

She half smiled back at him, "yep, but the good kind."

"So are we just gonna blame the drink for our earlier action, or am I going to tell Rube his little peanut is mine?" He asked without even a pause.

George looked down at him, she knew what he meant, but she wanted to pretend she didn't have to deal with it right now. The afterlife was lonely, but moving the pieces around would change the family she had now. "I'll let you decide when you're sober." She answered in a quiet tone.

"So you want to then?" He more or less breathed those words. They were barely loud enough for her even to recognize.

"I didn't say that."

"You also didn't deny the fact that you want too."

"Mason, just go to sleep." She sighed gently. He stood up and looked at her with a cheeky grin. He stood and looked down offering her his hand. "What do you want Mason?" She said in her normal stoic manner. He offered her his hand once again, and she still didn't take it. "Forget it Mason."

"Bloody hell Georgie, I'm barely sober enough to stand, you aren't really going to let me walk anywhere on my own." He whined as she rejected him. She let out a groan of annoyance before grabbing his hand. He pulled her up off of the couch and accidentally pulled her against him. She felt his scrawny body against her and was vaguely surprised that he was a bit bigger than she had thought he would be. "I thought I was drunk." He grinned. She stood up and glared up at him. "Come on," he said before pulling her along with him over towards the stairs.

"Mason, where do you think you're going?"

"To bed, I have to put you to bed before I can head there myself." He said dragging her up the stairs.

She tripped a couple times but never fell, "I can do this myself Mason." She stated as she caught herself for the final time as they got to the landing on the upper level.

Mason looked down the hallway both ways and then pulled her towards her room. The door was closed and he instead of opening it pulled her to it and spun her around pushing her back against the cold wooden door. "I don't think you can, Georgie-girl." He pinned her against the door, with his typical Mason grin. "Well, I'm as sober as I am at any given point in time, and I say your bed looks awfully tempting."

Georgia looked at the floor and away from his face as her face flushed a shade of red. "You haven't seen my bed Mason."

"I know you'd be in it, so I'd say it looks tempting." He shot back without a second delay. That comment didn't help her reddening face. "So darling, are you going to invite me in to spend the night?" He asked she knew that grin had grown but she didn't dare look at it. "Well?" He questioned once more, before cupping her chin in his hand. He moved her head to look at him; his eyes were so comforting to her. "Georgie, I need an answer," the words almost came out as a song. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers for a slip second. He was teasing her even if he was doing it gently he was still just teasing her. She found it alluring in an odd way. He leaned away to look at her for a second and she saw his smile it was simple and sweet. "Georg…" He began but she brought her finger to his lips.

"Shhhh," she sounded as a smile crept onto her lips. "Its bed time Mason." She said as she opened the door, with her back to it. It crept open behind her as Mason lowered his hands and she grabbed onto his wrist, it was her turn to lead him about for a bit. She backed slowly into the room pulling on his wrist with every step until Mason finished entering the room and shut the door behind them.

That night Georgia slept in Mason's arms, and for the first time since she died she felt like she was at home once again.