This is a very short chapter, but I couldn't think of a way to make it longer. So it's Chapter 7.5. There's a lot more to the story, but I couldn't think of a better way to end this chapter. So, here we go. Enjoy :)

Myrnin, Shane, Frank and Claire stare at each other in a shocked sort of silence.

"You told my mother?" Claire asks, not at all trying to mask her anger or hurt.

"She had a right to know." Shane says quietly.

Claire glares at him, "Yeah, she had a right to know the truth. And to hear it from me."

Shane just rolls his eyes in response.

"I found him in the sewer system trying to escape. I was going to take him to the Founder, but I thought I ought to consult with you first, Claire."

"Thanks. So, what would she do?"

Myrnin gives her an uneasy look, "She wouldn't take too kindly to him leaving without trying to communicate with her first. Given his status in Morganville, she would probably just revoke his pin and title, however, I don't believe that this would stop him. After that she would…terminate the problem."

The silence takes over the room again. Until Frank interjects, "Son, I know that things are difficult right now, but he's right. You should go through proper procedure. I can't think of a reason Amelie would deny you."

"I'm telling Michael." Claire states.

"Go ahead." Shane challenges.

Claire takes out her cell phone and calls Michael. "Hello?" Michael says after the first couple rings, "Claire, have you seen Shane?"

"Yeah, we have him here at the lab."

"What happened?"

"He tried to escape through the town sewer system, Myrnin brought him here instead of to Amelie because of what may happen."

"Keep him there, Eve and I will come by and get him." Michael hangs up.

"Is he like your boyfriend?" Shane angrily asks gesturing at Myrnin.

Claire hesitates before answering, "No, I'm still in love with you."

"Whatever."

"She is." Myrnin says softly.

"Are you in love with him?"

Claire winces, "That's complicated."

"Yes or no?"

"No, not yet."

Shane scoffs, "You're not the Claire that I fell in love with. When I met you, you would have had no respect for him. You would have laughed at the idea of this." He gestures at the two of them.

"Yeah, Shane, it's called growing up. The vampires aren't this terrible anti-humans, they feed to survive. They live this way because they must, if they don't dominate this town then we'd kill the last of them. That's genocide, Shane."

"You've been spending too much time with Amelie. You're starting to echo her."

"Co-existence is key to survival, Shane!"

"I will not co-exist with monsters!"

"You're the only monster I see around here, Shane!" Claire yells, wishing that these words would stop pouring out of her mouth, "Look at you! Hatred is what creates monsters and that's what driving you. Think about the vampires that are good: Michael, Myrnin, Sam, Amelie… You think that hating them and killing them will erase all your pain, but it won't! Even if you killed all of them it wouldn't rid the world of monsters! Wanna know why? Because it would have been because of hatred that they're gone, and that's far more monstrous than anything I've even known them to do."

"Really? Because killing without remorse is so saintly!"

Claire sighs, "Really? With that view point you should be a vegetarian."

"Claire!" Michael interrupts, "You're not helping." Claire wasn't sure when Michael arrived, but she hopes that he didn't hear her little anti-hate speech.

"Fine, Claire! You want to be with them so much? Go ahead. I don't care. Go ride off into the sunset in the black lightless car with him and turn into one of them. I. Don't. Care. Have a nice eternity, bitch!"

Michael grabs Shane by the arm, muttering "I'm sorry." Michael rushes him outside quickly before he gets too burnt by the sun.

Claire wasn't sure to whom Michael was apologizing. She was just glad that Eve hadn't heard that conversation, it would make her soon to be transformation difficult.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Myrnin asks after a minute.

Claire shrugs, "I don't know. I thought… I thought that it would be easier hearing him say that but it wasn't. It was one of the most heart-breaking things I ever heard."

Myrnin takes Claire into his arms causing Frank to disappear, "I am sorry, Claire."

After a minute, Claire surrenders to Myrnin's hug. She soaks in his smell and touch, "I'm not. It hurts but it brought me closure."

"What do we do now?" Myrnin asks. Claire thinks of the last time this was said in the lab, at the very beginning of all of this. And even though it was a simpler significantly less complicated time, she didn't wish to go back to that time. Smiling, Claire realizes she has her answer.

Claire wraps her arms around Myrnin's neck and kisses his mouth softly, "This is what we do now. Just being with each other. We'll cross all those other bridges when we get to them. And until we get to them, we just do this."

"Is this happening because of what just happened?"

"Yes and no. If it didn't happen then I wouldn't have realized that I don't want things to be different. But it's not happening because I'm trying to get back at Shane, or anything."

Myrnin smiles goofily, "Then I am very pleased with these plans."