Solutions

During her time with Daybreak, Mary-Lynnette had observed vampires get very restless very fast. Which was silly to her, immortal beings not being able to stay in one place for more than two months? It was usually the missions and the trips that kept them occupied and happy to have a place to return to. Maybe it was their super-human reflexes which gave them the urge to always be in motion, maybe it was their curiosity to see the world, or maybe it was just the only way they knew how to live. Regardless of the reason, vampires were gypsy souls; and gypsy souls were wandering souls.

The tension in the Las Vegas HQ was unbearable; there had been no new leads on the last Wild Power or any suspicious behavior by the Night World in almost a month. The Daybreakers were all on edge. It was like that quiet moment full of suspense before the hurricane, the dreadful moment of silence before the deafening wind of tornados, and the silence in the theatres before the next Twilight premiere.

Except there was no quiet; the echo of footfalls haunted Mary-Lynnette's dreams. The vampire's constant pacing was like a clock; tick-tock-tick-tock time is running out Circle Daybreak.

More than once, Mary-Lynnette had woken up in the middle of the night with that thought echoing in her mind. Are you prepared Circle Daybreak?

It didn't help that Ash would be up as well, pacing, like his brethren, to the ticking in her nightmares.

Lord Thierry was practically turning gray from all the stress he was under, and Mary-Lynnette knew the ticking wasn't helping, still she felt less than impressed at his solution.

"Vacation?" Jez looked like Mary-Lynnette felt, outraged, betrayed, and confused.

Lord Thierry sighed. Mary-Lynnette's irrational side was screaming at the pure idiocy of the plan. Send all the agents to some tropical island and then what? Where were they supposed to go, Disney World? Endangering the lives of innocents because she was pretty sure the Night World had no problem attacking them in public with a few bystanders in the way.

The Soulmate connection was humming with barely contained rage; Ash's eyes were as black and cold as Quinn's, who hadn't looked that frosty since Timmy had locked him outside in his underwear for four hours last Christmas.

The protective, Soulmate side of Mary-Lynnette—also called the rational side—weighed the pros and cons.

Pros: Distraction, no more pacing, letting Thierry have a clear head for once.

Cons: Leaves Vegas HQ unattended; easy target for Night World strike, puts Wild Powers at risk.

Mary-Lynnette placed her head in her hands and while the irrational side continued to screech. The Soulmate side, which couldn't bear to have such strong, negative emotions roll of her other half, said, "I think it's a good idea."

She spoke mostly to Ash and herself, but somehow it put her in the center spotlight.

Thierry looked relieved to have someone other than Hannah on his side but most of the other Daybreakers didn't look as happy.

"Look," Mary-Lynnette said, a little too sharply, but she felt like they were putting her on the defense. "I know that you guys don't really want to go. I get that all of you want to stay here and wait for news. But we haven't had any news and waiting around isn't going to do anyone a favor, especially not Circle Daybreak."

Having a five-year-old Soulmate in a nineteen year olds body sure does make you good at lecturing, Mary-Lynnette thought dryly as the Soulmates began to discuss what she'd said.

The first one to address the group was Keller. "I don't like it, but I'll go. Mare's right, we're not doing anyone a favor by moping around."

That broke the ice and the Daybreakers began to warm up to the idea.

Mary-Lynnette was a great person and someone to trust as a friend, but when it came to real world threatening situations like this; it was Keller who was trusted above all.

Even Mary-Lynnette would rather have her life be in Keller's hands than her own.

"So, where are we going?" Poppy asked. Mary-Lynnette could tell she had liked the idea of a vacation from the beginning and she looked very happy everyone else had agreed to it as well.

Thierry gave her a small smile. Small, yes, but it was more than he'd smiled all week, and it seemed to relax the team even further. "Florida."

Mary-Lynnette was not a jealous person. However, she'd always been a little envious of all the places Ash had been to. He was the accomplished traveler in their relationship. But she'd never been as green-eyed as she was now of Ash's traveling skills.

"How are you already packed?" Mary-Lynnette asked, glaring enviously at his already packed suitcase.

Ash shrugged as much as he could lying down. "Talent."

"Practice." Mary-Lynnette corrected. She turned back to her own only halfway packed suitcase. "I have no clue what to bring; I've never been to Florida before."

"Bring a swimsuit." Ash suggested, his eyes tracing the outlines of the stars on the ceiling. "The blue one's nice."

"Ash, most of my swimsuits are blue." Mary-Lynnette rolled her eyes. "And—oh, you mean that swimsuit." She threw a random article of clothing at him. Unfortunately, it was a bra. Ignoring it, she said, "Perv, I'm not wearing that in public!"

"I'm the perv? You're the one who threw your bra at me!" Ash blindly tossed it in the direction of her suitcase. He made it. "And you could, like, wear a tank top over it or something."

"So you don't want guys looking at me." Mary-Lynnette refolded her bra and put it back in its proper place.

"Nope, only I can look at you that is in anyway suggestive or dirty."

"Don't forget sexy." Mary-Lynnette reminded, half teasing half sarcastic.

"Please, every look that I give you is sexy. Right?"

"Well," Mary-Lynnette shifted her weight to one leg and pretended to think. "Except when you look at me like I'm from another planet."

"It would explain a lot." This time, the object Mary-Lynnette threw at him was her deodorant, which made an audible smack when it hit him.

"Ow." Mary-Lynnette didn't know whether or not he said it for her benefit or not, but she still appreciated the gesture. He sat up to toss the deodorant back to her.

"Thanks." She caught the tube easily. "Are we sharing a room with anyone or will we have our own?"

"I'm not sure, Mare. You know as much as I do."

"Care to write that down?" She asked.

Ash laughed, "Never. I love you, but never."

"Well then, it's a good thing I love you too."

As the details for the trip started to come together, the Soulmates decided it wouldn't be too bad to share rooms. It would save money and would give the couples incentive to leave the room.

Mary-Lynnette didn't think there would be a problem getting everyone out of the rooms; she was more concerned about getting them back in.

Also, the plane has rows of three, meaning some Soulmate couples would be separated. This sucked, because all Mary-Lynnette wanted to do was curl up next to Ash and sleep the entire flight, but she figured Hannah's shoulder would suffice as a pillow as well.

Turns out, she didn't need an alternative pillow. Ash sat in the window seat, Mary-Lynnette sat in the middle with Thea on her left.

Eric sat on the other side of the aisle next to James and Poppy, so at least Thea and Eric were together.

Quinn sat in front of Ash in the window seat, but Hannah and Keller sat with him, while Rashel sat with Galen and Morgead in the row over.

Mary-Lynnette knew it was a strategic move keeping Hannah and Galen well protected. It was pretty obvious why Hannah needed protection, but Galen also had it because although Iliana and Keller had gone through with the peace ceremony, what better way to break that than to kill the prince?

Speaking of princes, Delos was flying on a completely different plane; a private jet of Thierry's with the other Wild Powers.

Morgead didn't look too worried, but Mary-Lynnette could see he was impatient to be with Jez again.

Mary-Lynnette couldn't blame him; she wasn't sure how she would make it on a four hour flight without her Soulmate either.

"This is going to be a long flight." Thea voiced Mary-Lynnette's thoughts.

"Please, you think this is going to be a long trip? I remember the voyage from England. Took about three months." Quinn said.

"Shut up, John, you were born in America." Rashel gave her Soulmate a look, like they'd already had this discussion before.

"Shot down!" Ash laughed. "Or would it be sunk?"

Morgead grinned. "Like the Titanic."

"Shut up, all of you, and let me harbor the fantasy that I'm from England a bit longer!" Quinn snapped.

"'Harbor'." Eric repeated and the boys burst out laughing.

Despite her amusement, Mary-Lynnette hoped they wouldn't be acting like morons the entire flight, she still wanted to sleep. Though unfortunately, as comfortable as Ash was, sleep remained out of reach. Whether it was from the thrum of the engine or the anticipation of the trip, those answers evaded her as well. She suspected it was a combination of both, though as her ears adjusted to the engines, and they got closer to Orlando, she figured it was excitement keeping her up.

The flight, as it turned out, wasn't nearly as bad as Mary-Lynnette had anticipated. A thirty minute nap and a Harry Potter movie later, they were landing in the Orlando airport.

A shuttle took them to a Hilton Resort, which was hideously decorated for a Hilton. The outside was a hideous baby blue, sea foam green and tan pattern, with a carpet straight out of the '80's and bile yellow walls. The lobby was nice, though, Gillian was courteous enough to point out.

Once in the rooms, Mary-Lynnette was ready to pass out. Ash had had the same idea, and curled up under the covers before he even started to unpack.

Hannah giggled when Ash started snoring. "He really is like a cat, isn't he?" She asked.

"Only on the weekends," Mary-Lynnette replied. She tried to keep the mood light; Thierry wasn't going on the trip, he'd opted to go to New York and stay at the CDHQ there while the others were in Florida.

Hannah was doing an admirable job of staying positive—as she usually did, though Mary-Lynnette could sense the stress in her friend's bones.

"Don't they have a spa here?" Mary-Lynnette asked, suddenly getting an idea.

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Hannah asked.

"Do you want to go get a massage or something?"

Mary-Lynnette and Hannah got back to the room feeling like jelly. Ash was gone, and on the note they'd left for him, he'd written he was down in the bar with the other guys. No doubt using their fake ID's, because Rashel would have their asses if they used compulsion.

Mary-Lynnette and Hannah took the silence as an opportunity to make plans for tomorrow. Obviously they hadn't gone all the way to Orlando to stay the entire week in their hotel rooms.

"So I was thinking," Hannah said around the pencil in her mouth, "The Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center, and The Magic Kingdom tomorrow." She bent her head toward the bus schedules that ran between the Disney Parks.

"Don't you think people will find it strange a group of twenty teenagers are going to spend the day in Disney?" Mary-Lynnette asked.

"Mare, I'll be damned if you're ever too old for Disney. Plus, we only live once." Then she added, "Plus it's better than going when we're fifty."

Mary-Lynnette chuckled, "Poor Quinn. He's four hundred. And shut up, you're an Old Soul; you've lived how many lives? Five hundred?"

Hannah smiled, decided to ignore Mare's Old Soul comment and told her 'eternal' vampire puns until Ash came back. Then they traded every pun possible, covering from mythological puns to nerdy puns.

Ash might not be Shakespeare, but he had one hell of a talent for word play.

They spent too much time on the Internet.

The three ended up going to bed around one in the morning. Mary-Lynnette didn't know about Hannah, but being an astronomer, she and Ash were used to falling asleep at obscene times like that. Ash only really stayed up with her to keep her company, which she appreciated, though she suspected he was used to the "night life" anyway. It made Mare sad to think that she wouldn't be able to stargaze very well out here, but she knew the stars would always be there when she got home.

Mary-Lynnette didn't remember the last time the entire Circle was up and awake and excited at 7:43 in the morning. The first shuttle to the Animal Kingdom was leaving at eight and the Daybreakers were not missing it for anything.

Until that day, Mary-Lynnette had had no clue how the whole Disney World thing worked. Iliana, who'd been to Disney on more than one occasion, was kind enough to explain to her the logistics. Disney World was comprised of several different parks, all on one huge plot of land owned by Disney. It wasn't all on the same site, though, which was why you had to take a shuttle from park to park. Disney Land however, was all of the different lands on one site. Smaller and cozier, but it was the original. And California Adventure was just across the way. It was on the same property, and legend had it, it used to be Disney's parking lot.

Not so hard to understand, Mary-Lynnette thought just as the bus pulled up.

All laughing and joking, the Daybreakers piled on the bus, spreading out like they'd been taught to do. It was harder for your enemies to target you if you were all spread out and blending in.

Ash was nearly bouncing in his seat from anticipation by the time the park gates were in site. Admittedly, Mary-Lynnette was too. Her entire hometown of Briar Creek could probably fit into just what she could see of the Animal Kingdom. Everything was green and very tropical. Africa to your left, Asia to your right, and authenticity all around.

Making sure all of their phones were on the master volume, the Daybreakers spread out.

They ran into each other frequently. The park wasn't crowded at all for a Disney park in the middle of March. They saw Morgead buy food, Delos a cheap disposable camera, and James bought a Tigger Pillow Pet for Poppy.

Mary-Lynnette and Ash wandered the park more than they went on the rides. They were both observers and there was certainly a lot to look at. Still they went on a lot of the rides, making bets with each other about who would scream the least on the roller coasters.

They finally found themselves in the back of the park, where they had a jungle safari ride, which was like a drive through where they got to see different animals from the inside of a jeep, not the opposite sides of glass.

Mary-Lynnette and Ash ended up with James and Poppy, who happily held her Pillow Pet, as they waited in line.

Mary-Lynnette had always been fascinated by the relationship between Ash and James. As strange as it was, she had never seen two people closer, yet so far apart. The cousins had never been close but they were always civil, though never necessarily friends. Forgiveness only cured so much.

Ash and James , they were similar in many ways when it came down to who they really were, but Ash will always have seen too much; things James was smart enough not to want see.

James was smart and Ash was clever, which Mary-Lynnette thought was one of the main differences between the cousins.

All in all, they were only on the ride a total of about thirty minutes, but Mary-Lynnette felt like her sense of time had been warped. It had felt like longer, yet time was moving too fast for her to keep up. Time would be wasted, so much time…

Suddenly she heard the ticking again, the pacing, tick tock, tick tock.

"Mary-Lynnette? Mary-Lynnette, are you okay?" Ash was prompting her using both methods of talking. His physical tone was concerned; his mental tone was incredibly worried.

Mary-Lynnette realized she'd stopped walking—in the middle of the walkway too. She cursed herself; she hated people who did that, and Ash led her over to the nearest bench.

"I'm sorry, I'm just… paranoid. For lack of a better term." She said and lowered her head into her hands.

"About what?" Ash asked.

"Everything." Mary-Lynnette gasped, with a sudden, horrible stinging in her eyes. "Something is going to go wrong. Somewhere, somehow, something horrible is going to happen."

She could practically hear the wheels turning in Ash's head as he thought of the best response. "Mare, horrible things happen all the time to everyone."

"But I'm not talking about everyone I'm talking about us and our friends and the people we care about. I don't want to lose them, Ash, I can't lose you; or I'll lose myself." She didn't know where this confession was coming from, her subconscious, most likely, but why now and in a Disney Park she had no clue.

Again, Ash worded his speech carefully. "Well… We're all going to lose people eventually."

"Yeah eventually, but not by their hands. Let them go anyway but that one."

"They don't have that much power."

"But they do." The Night World, it could destroy them all, and everyone knew it. Ash knew it. Why he was spouting this BS to spare her, Mary-Lynnette didn't know. He'd certainly never tried to spare her feelings before; they'd always been frank and honest with each other.

Ash sucked in a sharp breath, which Mare knew meant one of two things, shit was going to go down, or he'd had an abrupt epiphany. Curiously, her turmoil aside, Mary-Lynnette entered his thoughts and— oh.

He couldn't lose them either.

The images of the Daybreakers flashed in her mind as she dug a little deeper. Movie nights where they were all talking and laughing, oblivious to the movie screening, Christmas dinner back in Briar Creek, and her. She was there as much in his thoughts as she in his.

"This is why you never cared for people before." Mary-Lynnette stated, pulling out of his thoughts.

"Tried to, at least. Somehow my sisters got under my skin and a few other people." Ash admitted.

Mary-Lynnette had always known Ash cared for his sisters; he wouldn't have cheated at poker to be the ones to take them back home all those years ago if he hadn't. No matter how profusely he hid behind the "family honor" then. But she could only guess who the "few other people" he was referring to could be. Quinn probably, maybe Jez, and possibly Blaise and Thea. She didn't know, nor would she ask; it was the past and if there was one thing their separation taught them, it was to put the past behind you.

"I was wrong to not give a shit about anyone but myself before, but I thought if I didn't care, I wouldn't hurt. But, in a way, looking back, not caring is what hurt the most." Ash confessed, with his eyes looking down. Right now, they were a solemn brown.

"But you always cared, deep down." Mary-Lynnette said.

Ash laughed dryly, "Deep, deep down, then."

"Hey," She reached out and stroked his cheek, feeling the smooth skin beneath her fingers. "We're in fucking Disney World! Why are we moping around? Let's go check out that Bug's Life show! Gillian said it was epic."

Ash's eyes changed to a vibrant green and he grinned. "Alright, but if anything pops out I expect you'll be clutching at me for dear life."

"You wish, Ash Redfern," Mary-Lynnette grinned. She pushed herself off of the bench and held out a hand to Ash.

He grasped it and they made their way to the attraction, like any normal couple, like the weight of the world was nothing on their shoulders.

By the end of the first day, Mary-Lynnette couldn't feel her feet. She'd walked so much she was sure her sneakers would fall apart as soon as she took them off. Miraculously, they held together as she pulled them off with all her remaining strength.

"I don't think I've ever walked that much in my life. And I'm from a hick town; we walk everywhere."

Hannah chuckled, "I know, right? But then how come we both have cars?"

"Because no one wants to walk everywhere." Mary-Lynnette answered and pulled on her pajamas.

"True. That was fun, though! What was your favorite park?" Hannah asked, doing the same thing.

"Epcot." Mary-Lynnette answered immediately. Epcot had a lot of cool futuristic space features including an attraction on the universe which she had to go on. Ash had wandered off with Quinn to go check out the rides, but thankfully Maggie had been kind enough to sit through it while Mary-Lynnette bounced on the edge of her seat, as if that would help her absorb all the new information.

"Mine too! What was your favorite country?" Along with the space features, Epcot also had mini-"countries" all over. There was England, France, Italy, Japan, China, Norway, and a few others Mary-Lynnette couldn't recall.

"Japan," Mary-Lynnette replied.

"Mine was Italy. I wish Thierry had come with us." Hannah frowned. She subconsciously pulled one of her pillows to her chest, the way she usually did when she was upset.

Her aching feet forgotten, Mary-Lynnette got off her bed to go put her arms around Hannah.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry; I told him it was okay to go to New York, I shouldn't be so upset over it." Hannah buried her face in Mare's shoulder.

"You're too selfless, Hannah," Mary-Lynnette laughed weakly, as she patted Hannah on the back, trying in any way to comfort her.

"I know, but we went over this in therapy, I thought he wouldn't do something like this." Hannah confessed.

"Do you know why he went to New York, instead?" Mary-Lynnette asked.

"He wouldn't say, but he said something really important came up. He wouldn't have gone if it wasn't an emergency."

"Maybe you should call him," Mary-Lynnette suggested.

"Yeah," Hannah pulled away, wiping her face with one hand and pulling her cellphone out with the other.

Mary-Lynnette watched as Hannah left the room, dialing Thierry's number as she went.

When Hannah was gone, Ash came out of the bathroom wearing only a towel around his waist.

"Mm, I forgot how small hotel towels are." Mary-Lynnette said upon noticing that the towel didn't even reach Ash's knees.

He laughed, and said in a mockingly serious manner, "Remember, we're sharing a room."

"Damn, I forgot," Mary-Lynnette joked. She stretched out on Hannah's bed and all of her strength and desire to get up abandoned her.

She didn't watch as Ash dressed; she still found the whole 'nudity' thing rather uncomfortable even though they'd already had sex. Mary-Lynnette had never been a prude, but that whole 'baring all' stage was on a completely different level, relationship-wise. She'd learned that's how relationships worked; different stages brought different levels of comfort and different ways to act. And Mary-Lynnette still wasn't sure how to act about the whole sex thing. Not that she regretted any of it, it was just new.

"Stop thinking so loud Mare," Ash said playfully, scooping her off Hannah's bed bridal style and tossing her onto theirs.

"Sorry, I can't help it." Mary-Lynnette blushed despite the fact Ash was only kidding and pulled the covers over her head to hide it.

Ash chuckled and threw himself down next to her on her left. "Sorry, I don't believe you."

Mary-Lynnette punched him lightly. "You know humans aren't as good at telepathy. I'm still learning. And I can block everyone but you, Morgead, Jez, Quinn, and Delos out! Well, and Poppy. But I don't mind if Poppy reads my thoughts."

"I feel so loved." Ash snorted and got under the covers himself.

Mary-Lynnette grinned and snuggled up to him. "You should."

"Well I don't." Ash said, though he put his arm around her. "Did Hannah go out to call Thierry?"

"Yeah, I don't know how long she'll be." Mary-Lynnette said.

Ash replied with an 'mm' to acknowledge her, but didn't say anything.

Mary-Lynnette was tracing patterns on Ash's chest when Hannah came back. She and Ash looked up as Hannah came in and trudged across the room to her bed by the window.

"Did you call Thierry?" Mary-Lynnette asked, though she couldn't imagine what else Hannah could've been doing for so long.

"Yeah." Hannah replied. "We talked for a while, he said he wishes he was in Florida with us, but he can't get a commercial flight down and the jet is here and only to be used in an emergency."

Mary-Lynnette noticed Hannah's voice got thicker and thicker as she spoke.

Hannah must've noticed it too because she cleared her throat before adding, "Then I called my mom and Chess. They're doing well, which is good."

"Yeah, I need to call Mark and my parents. I don't call them enough." Mary-Lynnette said, just so the conversation wouldn't get awkward.

"I understand, but Jade can talk for hours and—," Ash trailed off in a yawn. He rubbed his eyes and stretched and Mary-Lynnette could feel every point of contact as his body lightly pressed against hers.

"I guess it is time for bed," Hannah said, looking at the clock. "One A.M. already?"

"I believe it," Mary-Lynnette said, and reached for one of lamps in between the two beds. "Goodnight."

"'Night." Hannah replied and turned out her lamp.

Goodnight, M'Lin. Ash spoke sleepily in her mind.

Goodnight Ash. And what did I tell you about calling me 'M'Lin'?

Ash just laughed and pulled her closer.

The next day, they visited the other Disney Parks, and it all passed in a blur of color and merriment. Mary-Lynnette couldn't remember the last time anyone from Daybreak had looked so carefree, despite the fact they were far from it.

For the second night in a row, their last stop was the Magic Kingdom to watch the fireworks. It was stupid to expect anything less than spectacular, but Mary-Lynnette was still blown away by the images projected onto Cinderella's Castle and the fireworks that went off after.

"Do you suppose we'll come here every night?" Mary-Lynnette asked.

"I think some of us will, though I imagine by the end of the week we'll have split up and go do our own thing." Ash replied. "Why?"

Mary-Lynnette shrugged nonchalantly. "I was curious."

"I wasn't planning on coming back to Disney again, but if you want to, we can." He said as they meandered into one of the shops that lined Main Street.

"No, I don't really want to. It'd probably get boring." Mary-Lynnette confessed and fingered a stuffed animal she knew Jade would just adore.

"How do you think Kestrel would react if we sent her this?" Ash asked and pointed to a ridiculously pink and fluffy bunny.

"I think it would hilarious. She probably wouldn't find it funny though."

Ash shrugged. "It's worth decapitation." He decided and winked at her. He reached around her to also grabbed the stuffed animal she had been eyeing for Jade.

"These will be nice gifts for the girls," He said, and looked around some more.

"Well, Jade's. We can get the other's gifts tomorrow at Universal Studios." Mary-Lynnette said and Ash nodded.

Mary-Lynnette always had a fondness for souvenirs. They were really gifts that counted, she thought. Just a little something someone picked out on their vacation to say "Hey, I thought about you".

The line, of course, was ridiculously long. Mary-Lynnette had a philosophy that if the line was longer than seven customers, there should be more than one register open. Ash was somehow, miraculously (but barely), more patient than she was—practice, she supposed, and not having a choice but to wait was probably really humbling.

Even in the hustle and bustle in the shop, Mary-Lynnette could hear Jez and Morgead being lunatics in the street. They had a knack for trouble, but being the only Soulmate couple that was of the same species and subspecies, it wasn't really a surprise. Even though Jez was only half, she and Morgead were both lamia. Keller was born with the ability to shape shift, while Galen wasn't, only the ability to copy and become whatever animal he chose. In a way, he was made. James was a lamia, Poppy was made a vampire.

Mary-Lynnette stole a glance at Ash, who was rolling his eyes, most likely at Jez and Morgead, because he could actually hear their conversation.

Mary-Lynnette thought about what it would be like to be able to hear them and hear everything. But she'd had these thoughts before. She still couldn't change her own mind, but she would always wonder. There would always be a part of her, taunting her with the perks of vampirism that imagines a life with vampire-Mary-Lynnette and Ash, living happily forever. Gazing at every star in the sky, new ones revealed and the old ones more bright and beautiful than before.

But she knew in her heart it would never be a reality. There was something she wanted much more than vampirism. More than eternal life and even more than her beloved stars.

It was late, even by Mare's standards, by the time the Circle got back to the hotel. Once again, Mary-Lynnette could barely feel her feet but was grateful they were still there; she was sure she'd walked them off.

Not even bothering to get into her pajamas, Mary-Lynnette just threw herself onto her side of the bed, kicked off her shoes, and got under the covers. Ash followed her example, but somehow, Hannah managed to go change in the bathroom and wash her teeth and face before she collapsed. "All in favor of staying here tomorrow and getting another massage."

Mary-Lynnette lifted her arm high above her head. "Please."

"It's settled, we'll go to Universal studios tomorrow afternoon."

Mary-Lynnette thought they were going to get the whole day off, but she wasn't going to complain. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter had been screaming her name since they landed.

However, her excitement was not enough to ward of her fatigue and Mary-Lynnette was asleep before they turned out the lights.

It is a basic principle of philosophy that good things never last. The best day of your life could also be the worst day of your life. But what you take away from that day determines whether it is the best or worst. Perception is everything in life, because how and what you see determines how and why you live.

It was such a shame, Mary-Lynnette thought, that of all the days to be ambushed, it had to be today.

Today, this was supposed to be the highlight of her trip. Where she finally got to see her imaginary home of Hogwarts and drink Butterbeer and pumpkin juice and get her wand and House Pride merchandise and let her guard down completely.

And she had. Totally and completely, with all of the other CD nerds around her, while the adrenaline junkies went on the Dueling Dragons and those who didn't care browsed Zonko's. They'd decided to stay in one area of the park at a time, just in case something happened.

It was still amazing.

Mary-Lynnette felt like crying because everything was perfect. It would be the first time she ever shed happy tears since she was reunited with Ash. That was how elated she was.

That was also when the screaming started.

Ash loved rollercoasters. He loved the speed and the adrenaline and twist and turns and never completely knowing where the next turn is going to take you.

He and Quinn had just gotten off the blue rollercoaster and were heading back for another go when they heard the screams.

Keller and Galen, who had been behind them, froze.

None of them hesitated in darting for the center of the park, going against the grain of people trying to get out. They tried to focus on the people running against them, if they didn't they may have ended up with a stake in their stomach. It'd happened. But they needed get to the rest of the Circle soon— fast, now.

Ash let his instincts take over the majority of his conscious. He was weary of the bystanders, but now was not the time to worry about them. His mind started working like a machine: run, run, run, swerve, run, and jump.

He was vaguely aware of Keller and Galen as they shifted into their animal forms. Ash could feel the crowds' panic level rising, but tried to ignore it.

The rest of the Circle was in plain sight, except for the Death Eaters who were attacking them.

Ash reflected on the cleverness of using the Death Eater masks. What else would hide them so perfectly without suspicion? Ash didn't know if the reason was to try and fool the mortals into thinking it was some sort of good-vs.-evil battle, but that illusion hadn't lasted long.

Another animal, a wolf, collided with Galen in midair, no one stopped to help him. Keller hesitated a bit, but her target was Iliana. Ash just wanted to find his Soulmate.

He spotted her as she delivered an impressive roundhouse kick to one of the Death Eaters, a vampire by the look of him. The vampire doubled over and another one was about to attack Mare from behind. Ash's leg pushed themselves to the full of their vampire abilities and was on the other vampire before he could cry out. The momentum toppled them and Ash used that force to smash the vampire's head against the stone ground. He didn't cry out as he went out cold. Ash knew it couldn't last, but his goal was to keep people away from Mary-Lynnette and the people who weren't great fighters.

Although he'd been trained for this, it was still incredibly disorienting. The Night World outnumbered them, 2 to 1. Bodies whirled and soared and legs kicked and arms threw punches all over the place.

The group had slowly been lurking back towards the exit of the park, toward the emergency exits. Or else they'd have to go all the way back around through Dr. Seuss land and more to get out. They didn't have time like that; they didn't have time at all.

The stronger telepaths had the idea to blast the enemies with Power. Poppy's scream, as usual, was the loudest. The Night World backed away, clutching at their heads, but some who could block it or bear it were still coming in for attacks.

They were evenly matched now, and Ash could see security guards among the crowd. He could feel their hesitation to get into this because how do you? Ash felt a surge of anger because weren't they supposed to know?

It didn't matter now.

They were running. Poppy sent one last telepathic blast, assisted by Thea, Gillian, and Iliana and they were off.

They ran and ran and ran. Out of the park and out of the entire complex.

They didn't stop until they were thoroughly lost.

"I can't believe you wouldn't let me use the Blue Fire!" Delos raged. "That could have been over so much sooner!"

No one argued, they knew arguing with Delos in a rage was pointless. Maggie tried to subdue him, but to no avail.

All of them were pretty beat up. Ash had a bruise on his face he could feel healing, but Galen had gotten the worst of it. He'd received some nasty swipes from the wolf (but not without giving some back) and his clothes were in bloody tatters.

Mary-Lynnette was sitting against a lamppost, playing with her fingers.

"Hey," He said a lot calmer than he felt. He gently took her hands in his. "What's up?"

Mary-Lynnette ducked her head; lower than it was already hung. She obviously didn't want to talk about it. But she lifted her head to look him in the eye and took her hands from his. Her eyes had lost their light and he could see her inner turmoil writhing there. She lifted her hands in the last rays of sunlight and examined them, as if she were looking for something. "The blood is back."

Ash's brow furrowed. Then he remembered. Jeremy. They had never talked about what had happened in that part of the night. Ash hadn't known how it would affect her or how much… He swallowed around the sudden tightness in his throat. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry."

"I didn't even get to keep the stuff I bought." Mary-Lynnette hung her head again, taking her hands back in her lap. Her clean, bloodstained hands.

They never spoke of it again.

The Daybreakers decided not to go on vacation again. They took the private jet home. Once there they showered, got cleaned up, and found ways to hang low for the next month or so.

Of course they could use wigs or lots of make-up to go out, but no one was really in the mood to do anything.

Circle Daybreak was shaken to its core.

Mary-Lynnette's dreams returned worse than ever. You are not prepared Circle Daybreak. You are not prepared...

So they prepared the best they could under the circumstances.

The circumstances were not in their favor. They would fight against those odds to the death. Mary-Lynnette found herself unable to sleep countless nights.

She reflected on the thing she wanted most of all, even more than vampirism. If the Night World won… she would never have it, but she might still have a life with Ash… but not if she was human.

"Ash," Mary-Lynnette said one night when they both couldn't sleep. "Will you promise me something?"

Ash rolled over to look at her. "'Depends."

"If the Night World wins, I want you to change me into a vampire."

Ash blinked. She could see the wheels turning in his head and feel his mind exploring hers for her reasoning.

Ash swallowed, like what he was about to say pained him. "I will."

Mary-Lynnette nodded, not sure what to do next. So she curled next to him and closed her eyes, hoping for sleep to take her soon.

The house had never been this excited. Happy cries and shouts echoed in the halls. Mary-Lynnette, however, sat in the study, trying to block it all out.

Mary-Lynnette didn't even know who the happy couple was. All she knew was every time she heard "I'm pregnant!" she felt a pang of jealousy.

The heart has many desires, not all of which it may receive. But that doesn't stop it from dreaming and wanting.

Circle Daybreak and its members desired many things. No one knew how many of them would be fulfilled.

The answer: not many.

Yeah. Not quite sure exactly where this came from. It's kind of a character analysis of Ash and Mary-Lynnette. I tried to put a lot of their character and internal monologues into this. I know they are one of the more popular couples, but I wanted to show the depth they have as characters and as a couple.

So yeah! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! Please review! :D

Thanks for reading!

-Eve