"And then the guy ends up bumping into the shelf and knocking down at least half the CDs on it." Dave groaned, earning a few sympathetic chuckles from the rest of us sitting around the table.

It was my coworker's turn to bring food and so far it had been a very enjoyable night. They filled me in on what I had been missing at the bookstore, which led to Dave and John telling me stories of customers who were particularly difficult to deal with during the week.

"Well, if you hadn't just walked up to him without letting him know you were there, he might not have freaked out so much." Rose countered, one eyebrow raised.

"I figured her saw me!" Dave shot back. "I wasn't being silent or anything. I even sneezed on my way over!"

"So how long did that mess take to clean up?" Vriska asked.

"He's being a baby about it." John piped in. "It took, like, two whole minutes to clean it up."

"It was still obnoxious." Dave crossed his arms and sank into his seat.

"Well, it sounds like you guys managed pretty well while I was gone." I noted, smiling. "I'm surprised."

"Hey!" Both Dave and John's voices blended together in protest.

"Nice to know you still have your sense of humor." Rose smirked.

I couldn't help but smile back, glad that, true to her word, Rose was trying to stay a friend. And after another conversation with Vriska before dinner, my girlfriend was also trying her best to behave around my boss.

"It would truly be a shame if I lost that." I agreed, going to stand up.

"Where are you going?" Vriska asked, placing a light hand on my shoulder.

"To get some water." I told her, shaking the hand off. "I'm fine. I barely even ache anymore."

After a brief moment where she seemed to debate with herself, Vriska offered me a small smile. "Alright."

Pleased that I wasn't being treated like an invalid anymore, I made my way aver to the cabinet to grab a glass of water. "Anyone else want anything?"

"I'm good."

"Nah."

"That's alright."

The chorus of negatives out of the way, I went to fill my glass up and sit back down at the table.

"So, when do you think you can come back to work?" John asked. "Working the check-in counter kind of sucks."

"I happen to like that part of the job." I deadpanned. He began to look a bit guilty, and I let out a small chuckle to let him know I was kidding around. "I have a doctor's appointment in two days, and they'll let me know."

"Well, we wish you the best for that." Dave spoke up.

"Yes, we do." Rose agreed. "Also, it's getting pretty late, and I'm guessing that you still need plenty of rest. We should get going."

"Alright. Thank you all so much for dinner." I told them, getting up to walk them to the door.

"No problem." Dave brushed off.

"Yeah. Hopefully we'll see you back at work soon Kanaya." John waved as he backed out of the door.

"Get well." Rose told me with a smile before turning to Vriska. Against my will I tensed up slightly. "Make sure she actually listens to all the doctor's instructions."

"It's what I've been doing for over two days now." Vriska informed the shorter blonde. Rose nodded curtly before turning and leaving the apartment.

I sighed. That was probably the closest the two would have to a civil conversation for a very long time.

"So, you wanna watch some TV before bed?" Vriska asked, already moving towards the couch.

"Sure." I shrugged moving to sit next to her and cuddling into her side.

Blindly searching for the remote, Vriska finally found the device before turning the television onto some cooking show.

"This is going to make me hungry again." Vriska mumbled, getting ready to change the channel.

"The only time you can watch the Food Network is after a meal." I countered, snatching the remote from her hands.

"Fine, but I blame you if I have to get up in the middle of the night to get a snack." She muttered.

I laughed at that. "You do that half the time anyway."

"So?"

"So, I will never understand how you eat so much and are still so skinny." I poked her stomach to prove my point.

"The curse of being lanky." She shrugged, pulling me closer and holding me.

"Curse." I scoffed.

"Shoosh. I'm trying to listen to the show."

"So now you're into the show?"

All I got in return was a mischievous smile.

XXXXX

Two shows later, the two of us agreed that it was an acceptable hour to call it a night. I went into the bedroom to go change while Vriska made a snack, which she informed me was entirely my fault since I made her watch the Food Network.

A loud pounding on the door caused me to jump a bit, but a moment later Vriska called that she would get it.

I heard the sound of the door opening, then Vriska calling into the hallway. "Hello? Seriously, if someone is messing with me, I will kick your-"

The abrupt cutoff of Vriska's threat would have been enough to worry me, but the fact that it was coupled with a loud thump had my heart clench, then restart at a furious pace.

Trying not to panic, I slowly crept to the doorway, trying not to make any noise. I looked out into the living room, and was greeted with the sight of Vriska lying on the floor in the doorway, not moving.

"Vriska!" I started to run to her prone form, but something caught the back of my shirt and had me falling backwards. Landing hard on the floor knocked the wind out of me, and I all could do was lay there breathless for a few moments. Of course, when a hauntingly familiar face appeared in my vision my breath seemed to leave me all over again.

"Hello again." Aradia's voice was practically dripping with gleeful malice.

Trying to stay as calm as possible, I scrambled up and started to back up towards the front door, and the unconscious girl that was there.

"Ah, ah." Aradia shot forward far faster than I could have ever expected, grabbing the front of my shirt and hurling me back towards the bedroom. "You weren't going to try to run out on me, were you?"

Remembering the panic button that was in my pocket, I attempted to dig it out quickly, but paused once I was met with laughter. Looking up, I saw Aradia holding a small wire in her hand, wiggling it back and forth and smiling.

"It's amazing what you can get from cops when they're distracted." She paused to chuckle. "You just tell them that you saw the wanted girl in the park, and sneak into their car when they go to look. Then, you disconnect the panic system, and poof, no more panic button for poor Kanaya."

"You're lying." I basically pleaded.

"Try it." She motioned to the small device in my hand.

I pressed the button, and the light illuminated, but that didn't tell me much about the receiver. Aradia could have been lying, sure, but she could have been telling the truth. I had no way of knowing, and that terrified.

So I made a decision. I had to assume she was being truthful, that no one was coming to save Vriska and me. With no other option coming to mind, I knew I had to fight. Hopefully I could knock her out and get the officers outside the apartment.

"Feel better?" Aradia asked, taking a step forward. I took a step back, moving towards the bedside table, hoping she couldn't see the lamp that sat on it. If my body was hiding it, then maybe I could take her by surprise.

"They could still be coming. How do I know you're not lying?" I shot back.

"Fine, don't trust me. Wait for your rescue. It doesn't change the fact that you're not going to see tomorrow." She kept taking small, slow steps forward. Mirroring her, I had just a few more until I could grab the lamp.

"So now you want to kill me?" I asked, trying to keep her talking.

"Well, hurting you didn't make you and Vriska split, so now I have to force it." She said with a nonchalant shrug, as if this was truly her only option.

With one last step, my back bumped into the table, and I knew I only had one shot to get the lamp without her knowing what was going on.

"And now the question is, how am I going to end your life?" I saw the faintest flicker of distraction in her eyes as she considered the ways to kill me, and I took the opportunity.

Yanking the lamp from the wall, I swung the weight at the girl's mangy hair, earning a dull metallic thud as the base met her head. Eyes rolling back, Aradia's frame crumpled to the ground, allowing me to run past her to Vriska, still lying in the doorway.

"Vriska, come on." I turned her over, elated to see her chest moving as she breathed. "Come on, we need to go."

Groaning, Vriska managed to open her eyes, though there were definitely still glassy and confused. "Wha?"

"We need to go." I tried to lift her up, managing to get her arm around my shoulder before I heard the shriek of rage from somewhere behind us. "We definitely need to go."

Tightening my grip on her, I started to move down the hallway as fast as my legs would carry us. My sides started burning in protest, but I forced myself to keep moving. That is, until a solid weight slammed into my shoulder, causing me to drop Vriska.

"Did you really think you could get away that easily?" Aradia's voice sounded behind me, and I couldn't help but turn around to see our pursuer stumbling down the hallway, a stream of blood running down her face. On the ground between us was the lamp I had hit her with, that she had apparently returned the favor with.

I went to pick up Vriska again, but my shoulder immediately gave out, giving Aradia enough time to make it to us again. Before I could even move to defend myself, she had grabbed my neck and threw me farther down the hallway. As I came down, I fell back down on the shoulder that she hit, causing me to cry out in pain.

For the first time, I was cursing that the hallway was closed in and not open to the outside. If it was, the cops may have been able to see Aradia, and I could get some help, because I sorely needed it.

Shaking my head back and forth to clear the pain, I noticed exactly what door I was next to. Praying they were still awake, I pulled myself up and slammed my fist into the door as hard as I could before hopping back, hopefully out of range.

"Whoever's in there can't-" Just as I had hoped, the door swung open quickly, slamming itself into Aradia's face.

"Who the hell is knocking at this hour?" Terezi's harsh voice was possibly the sweetest thing I could have heard at that moment.

"Terezi, who is it?" Nepeta appeared behind her roommate before getting a look at me. "Kanaya, what-?"

"Aradia is behind your door." I cut her off, stumbling closet to the two.

"I was wondering who I hit." Terezi muttered before straightening up. "Wait, Aradia?"

"Yes, Aradia." The door was thrown back at the two roommates, barely caught by Nepeta before it smacked into Terezi. "Now if you are all done gossiping, I believe we have some unfinished business." The girl snarled, blood now dripping from her nose down her chin.

"Yes, we do." Terezi growled, stepping around the door and holding up her cane like a blade. Nepeta joined her roommate a moment later after grabbing something from inside, blocking the insane blonde from me.

"Go get the cops, Kanaya. We'll hold her here." Nepeta told me, sounding far more serious than I had ever heard her. She slipped what I thought was her cat key ring onto her fingers, so that the two ears acted as spikes pointing out from her fist.

"And how are a blind girl and her tiny roommate going to hold me anywhere?" Aradia scoffed and took a step forward, only to get Terezi's cane across her face, the skin breaking under the ferocious strike.

"Go, Kanaya." Nepeta snapped, and I found I had no choice but to turn and run from the building, hoping beyond anything that they could hold Aradia there and protect Vriska, who was still lying on the floor a bit farther back in the hall.

It didn't take long for me to get outside, the adrenaline in my system making me forget all about my sore ribs and burning shoulder. Once outside, it wasn't hard to find the cop car and run at full speed towards it.

"Miss Maryam?" Officer Alex appeared out of the opened doors a moment later, no doubt noticing my shoeless, pajama-ed state and getting worried.

"Aradia is upstairs." Was all I managed to get out.

His eyes widened before he ducked into the car to call backup. "Why didn't you use your panic button?" He asked as he ran towards the building.

"I did!" I snapped as I followed him back inside, needing to know how my friends were faring against the girl who was hell-bent on killing me. Turns out, I didn't really need to worry. Even Alex paused once we made it to my hallway.

Vriska was holding Aradia's arms behind her back, Terezi had her cane pressed into Aradia's chest, and Nepeta was standing with her hands up, ready to strike the crazy blonde if she dared to move. Upon closer inspection, I even saw blood coating the tips of the spikes she was brandishing.

"What in the world?" Alex muttered before shaking his head and moving towards the girls. "I see you have this under control."

"Just waiting for you, sir." Nepeta told him, never taking her eyes off of Aradia, who was baring her teeth at her attackers, hate burning in her eyes.

"Alright then." He moved around to Aradia's back to lock her wrists into cuffs as he read off her rights. Vriska backed up and slumped against the wall, still seemingly shaky on her legs.

Worried about her, I walked up and placed a hand on her arm. "Hey. How do you feel?"

"Fantastic." She grinning and pulled me into a hug.

"Alrighty."

"Why wouldn't I feel great?" Vriska murmured into my hair. "Aradia's finally in custody, and she can't hurt us again." She went to pull back and put her hands on my shoulders, causing me to yelp in pain. "What?"

"Aradia may have hit me in the shoulder with a lamp." I told her.

"A lamp?"

"To be fair, I did hit her in the head with it first." I elaborated.

"You should probably get that looked at." Vriska told me in a tone that let me know I was getting it looked at as soon as possible.

"Well, you need to be checked for a concussion." I retorted, running a hand over the apparent bump on her head.

"Yeah, bitch slammed my head into the doorframe."

"Ouch." I muttered.

"I don't really remember it to be honest. I blacked out, then woke up in the hallway."

"Yeah, I tried to get you out of there."

"My hero." Vriska chuckled and slipped her arms around my waist, figuring it was safer than my shoulders. I hummed in content and leaned into her taller frame, enjoying the comfort after the craziness of the night.

"Ladies." A voice broke through our little bubble, and I looked up to see another officer walking towards us.

"Officer." I stepped out of Vriska's embrace, but made sure to keep close to her.

"We'd like to thank you all in your help in capturing Miss Megido. We would also like to offer our sincerest apologies for allowing her to slip past us." The officer told me, sympathy obvious in her voice. "All of you."

"We're just happy she's being put away." I responded. "Her being out has been kind of stressful."

"I'm sure." She nodded. "I just need your statements, then we can put all this behind us."

"Before that," I spoke up, "Vriska had her head slammed into a doorframe, and I can't move my shoulder. Is there any way we can see a doctor first?"

"I think we can arrange that." She smiled. "I'll drive you two to a hospital, and I'll leave another officer to take your friends' statements. Will that work?"

"Don't be dumb. Take her offer." Terezi spoke up.

"Alright, alright." Vriska chuckled. "That would be wonderful."

"Please follow me then. My name's Officer Sam by the way." She told us over her shoulder as she led us to her squad car. Vriska grabbed my hand the second I stepped away form her, linking us as we walked to the parking lot. "Unfortunately, at least one of you has to sit in the back."

"We'll both." I told the officer, and Vriska squeezed my hand in agreement.

"Suit yourself." Sam shrugged, unlocking the car.

We got in the car, never letting go of each other's hands. I looked up to Vriska, who was smiling softly back at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm happy." She told me, and I tilted my head in confusion. "That's it. I'm happy. I'm happy that you put up with me enough to actually date me. Happy that Aradia's locked up. Happy we have friends that can kick ass." I laughed at that one. "And most of all, I'm happy that you're with me, after everything we went through."

"I'm not really planning on going anywhere." I assured her, bringing her hand up to my mouth and kissing her knuckles.

"Good." She settled into her seat, then began to laugh quietly to herself.

"What now?"

"Never thought I'd see you in the back of a cop car, Fussyfangs." She told me though giggles.

"Seriously?"

"It's just so weird to see it."

"You're here too." I reminded her.

"Yeah, but out of all of our friends, aren't I the most likely to be arrested?" She countered.

"You've actually thought about this?"

"Yep." She told me, popping the "p" sound at the end.

"You're a dork."

"But I'm-"

"My dork, I know." I finished before she could. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

A/N: Again, thank you all for sticking with me until the end! You guys are my inspiration, and I know I couldn't do this without you.