1x1 with x_fire

"I do not!" Carlos protested. "My sleeves are rolled up for Christ's sake!" he said as Alexi looked him over and Serena laughed. He rolled his eyes and took a swig from his drink.
"Don't say the c-word in front of Chris. He gets defensive." Carlos murmured, and sure enough, as soon as Alexi mentioned children both Sami and Chris were on his ass about it.
"I warned you." Carlos said, chuckling to himself and taking another swig of his drink.

"Just so you know Chris, eventually that 18-year old card is going to get real played out and have no effect what-so-ever." Carlos said as he dished out another round of the cards.
"Point in case here." he said, pointing to Maria who was sitting between him and Alexi.
"What are you insisting Carlos?" Maria asked, her eyes sharp as she looked at her brother.
"Merely that looks can be deceiving. How old are you again?" Carlos asked effortlessly dodging a smack to the head.

"What movie?" Nick asked, chuckling at Zach, since he sounded exactly like Demitri just then.
"For the record, we never agreed to not talk about it since Serena got the whole thing on her phone and posted it to Facebook, so there's no point in not talking about it. Plus the whole school was there, as you said." Maddie muttered, smirking at her brother, obviously feeling a bit more better.
"Something funny." Maddie said as an answer to Nick.
"Gee that narrows it down. Can you be a bit more specific your majesty?" Nick teased.

--------

Alayna bit her lip roughly when Keith passed out entirely. "Will they be here soon?" Alayna asked Nicko just as Demitri and Sven came inside. "Thank God your here. I don't know what happened." She said as Sven stepped over to him. These injuries were easily ten time worse then the ones Keith had gotten when trying to save Alayna from the demon at the school.
"He doesn't remember anything..." Alayna said.
"They know Alayna." Nicko said, standing up with a heavy sigh. "He said something about fighting in the underworld...and not having enough strength to get back to Heaven, so somehow he would up here." Nicko explained, as Alayna was watching Sven look Keith other.

Water gathered at her eyes, but she still refused to cry. "He seemed stronger...he could still walk easily with all these wounds..." Alayna murmured. "Do you think he'll recover easier then last time?" she asked quietly.

Chris smirked, "Alright, in a hundred years then, then it will be old" He said, laughing at his sister's chuckle. Despite being around for the last couple of years, he still felt like he had to make up for Sami's entire shitty childhood by taking care of her. She felt the same way, Chris had suffered far worse then she had at the hands of their father.

"They still fell for it" Sami pointed out, smirking at Carlos, "I mean sleeves are obvious, what's not obvious is the card's Alexi has stuck to the bottom of the table.
"Sami!" Alexi whined, "Would you shut up?" He growled, sighing in mock annoyance as Serena ducked under the table, surfacing with three cards and glaring at her father.
"I just wanted to beat your Uncle" The blonde vampire mumbled, attempting to look ashamed when really he was laughing.

"She didn't need to upload the damn thing to facebook" Zach muttered, rolling his eyes at his sister.
"Where is Serena anyway" He asked, realizing she wasn't hanging out with them.
"Something funny" Zach agreed as Nick dug through the stacks of DVDs, "Maybe something we haven't seen in awhile?" He suggested, his sister was the movie fanatic, not him.

----

Sven ignored Alayna completely as he moved closer to Keith, or rather Castiel.
"Well he's a full blown angel again Alayna, the other injury happened when he was banned from heaven. So this one should heal quicker, it would also attribute to his height and other new aspects of his appearance" The vampire doctor murmured.

"You know, Keith was always talking about the war, maybe its still going on, and we just don't know it" Demitri suggested tiredly.
"He could have been literally in hell, injured and on his way to get healed back in heaven, stopped here to rest cause he was to weak. I mean, going from heaven to hell with that kind of injury can't exactly be easy" He commented, looking at Nicko with a shrug. He was better at dealing with a frantic Alayna then anyone else.

"And you accuse me!" Carlos said as Serena resurfaced with three cards. "This is the man you married??" Carlos said, looking at Maria, who was laughing hysterically. Carlos shook his head and finished off his drink.
"I'll never play poker with you Alexi." Carlos said, gathering up the cards. "I mean, should we even play another round?" he asked, looking at Serena with an exasperated expression.

As Maria calmed down she took a deep breath and sighed. "Ahh, never a dull moment." She said, standing up and retrieving all the empty glasses. Kristen chuckled.
"Ahmen to that." Kristen murmured, following after Maria to help with more drinks.

Nick rolled his eyes. "This is my sister we're talking about. Queen of Facebook." Nick said, flipping through the book a few more times before finding something that was somewhat funny and something they hadn't' seen in a while; Megamind.
"She's downstairs playing Gin Rummy with Carlos and my Dad. Though from the sounds of things Dad was cheating again." Nick said with a smirk as he started up the movie.
----

Nicko nodded, catching the glance from Demitri and steering his sister away from Sven so the vampire could work in peace.
"Wait...full angel?" Alayna asked softly. "Does that mean he-he can't stay?" she asked quietly, her voice breaking a bit.

"He's got to heal first Alayna." Nicko reasoned, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. "Relax alright?" he said and Alayna merely covered her face and shook her head. Taking a deep breath, Alayna nodded gently to her brother before leaving the room.

Nicko let out his breath with a heavy huff. "Just another day at the Draq residence." He murmured with a tiny smile before looking back at Keith as Sven worked, rubbing the back of his neck roughly. "This is going to be a rough few days..." he murmured.

Zach smirked, "Your dad always cheats, he tried cheating at go-fish when we were kids all the time" He said, smirking at the memory.
"She's not as bad as she used to be. I remember when she updated her status like fifteen times a day" He added, meaning Serena and her slight facebook addiction.
"Megamind? Man I haven't seen this in forever" He slyly glanced at Maddie, "Sure you don't wanna watch kung-fu panda?" He teased, shifting away from her slightly, just to be on the safe side.

Serena laughed, "I dunno" She said with a grin while her father scowled at her and Sami alternatingly.
"I was just trying to beat your uncle" The man muttered petulantly, though he was grinning.
"Suuuure Dad" Serena said with a chuckle, glancing at her Uncle, "I mean, if you were trying to beat him, you should have had better cards, you had crummy hands all night"
"Hey now, give a guy a break, its not like you were helping out" He grumbled at his daughter, "You could have picked up on my subtle hints on cheating, you know, nudging you under the table, stuff like that" He said, chuckling.
Serena just responded by rolling her eyes, "I don't cheat, thats Nick" She said primly.
"Well then Nick should be down here helping me" Alexi shot back, grinning at the teen.

----

Demitri sighed, moving to stand near Sven while the man examined the angel.
"I'm going to move him to the spare room, his wings are cramped on the couch, and one looks badly pulled" The doctor murmured, enlisting Demitri's help to manhandle the tall vampire into the spare room down the hall.

Demitri left Sven to work, coming out to get a bowl of hot water and towels when he overheard Alayna's nervous chatter.
"There's nothing saying full angels have to live in heaven Alayna" He murmured gently, "Most just like living there better, among their own kind" He said, filling a stainless steel bowl with luke warm water.
"But Nicko's right, we have to get Keith healed first and we'll go from there. It sounds like his memory was modified to me, so we can't tell if he'll regain it or not just yet. Even if he doesn't, he might opt to stay, clearly he remembers somethings" He said with a shrug, trying to smile at the worried girl.

Nick chuckled to himsel as he flopped down on the floor, pacticslly comfortable anywhere.
"He thinks it's one of he easiest ways to win." nick said with a shrug though he himsel at times considered the idea true.
"you said something we haven't watched in a while." Nick said as Zach noticed what movie was playing. He heard a playful growl come from Maddie just as Zach ducked but he missed the reference to kung fu panda. Looking from one cousin to another with a raised eyebrow, Nick clearly resembled his uncle Carlos.

Maddie rolled her eyes after growling a her brother. "Whatever." she said, bough she still loved the movies.

Carlos shook his head. "And you were talking to me about corrupting children." Carlos said, shaking his head at Alexi.
"Mayhe a game of chess or dominoes maybe where the prices are a lot more difficult to conceal." Carlos said, smirking to show he was teasing before sipping from his drink again.

Maria smiled. This was nice in her opinion, minus the fact that Demitri and Sven had to leave. Kristen and Chris of couse seemed a bit distant now but she was doing her best to keep Kristen entertained just as Sami was for her brother.

-------

Alayna rubbed her arms and nodded to show Demitri she was listening. His words brought some comfort bu not a whole lot. To Alayna, she was hinkit that heaven would probably seem bettter to Keith now since he didn't remember his home here on earth.
She was quiet, and Nicko gave he another hug, which was slightly reassuring.
"It's late. And you've been working all day." Nicko said.
"Nicko, don't give me that right now." Alayna muttered, pushing herself away. She was tired of being constantly treated like a like around her brother. She know perfectly well what time it was, and how long she had been working. Speaking of which, she needed to finish her last design for the spring expo. Turning without a word, Alayna went back to her empty room to finish working, leaving Nicko alone in the kitchen.

Zach smirked at his sister before glancing at Nick.
'Kung-Fu Panda' he mouthed in the direction of his cousin before settling back to watch Megamind, it had been awhile since they had seen the film.
"It is the easiest way to win" Zach smirked, "Just not the fair way. I remember how mad mom got at dad when she found out he cheated during Monopoly. He'd always be banker and slowly swipe cash, he usually won, it took years for mom to catch him. Man, fireworks when she found it, it was hilarious" The dark-haired teen said with a grin.

"I'm allowed to corrupt my children, you're not" Alexi said primly, trying to look down his nose at Carlos, which was difficult when they were both seated.
"If you have your own kids you can corrupt them to your hearts' desire, you just can't corrupt mine, that's my job" He joked, ignoring the mock glare he recieved from both Sami and Chris.
"Think he'll still be staring at us in a hundred years?" Alexi asked Carlos in a stage whisper, though he grinned at Sami's older sibling to show he was just teasing.

----

Demitri glanced between Nicko and Alayna with a raised eyebrow before disappearing down the hall. Keith was still totally out of it, and Sven was covered in angel blood and other bits.
"I'm gonna go now..." Demitri muttered, setting down the bowl and fleeing the room.

Walking into the living room, he slumped on the couch (the not bloody one) and let out a tired sigh. Hell this was going to be bad, he'd never seen someone so injured and still alive, he doubted even a vampire with their super healing could have survived injuries like those Keith had sustained.

Nick nodded in understanding as Zach mouthed to him what they were talking about.
"Oh God I remember that...." Maddie said as Zach brought up the monopoly incident. "She was from disbelief that he was stealing money to confused about how long he had been cheating to angry that he was cheating on a boardgame to begin with." Maddie said, running her fingers through her hair gently. "It was hysterical actually." she said, seeing the look on Nick's face.
"If you say so..." Nick murmured, shaking his head and focusing back on the movie.

Carlos shook his head at Alexi, trying not to laugh. It was all well and in good fun. He was absentmindedly shuffling the cards again until Alexi caught his attention, asking about Chris, to which Carlos smirked.
"What? When he has that handsome man to stare at instead?" Carlos asked in the same voice, chuckling to himself and glancing over at Sami with a wink.

"Los dos son malos." Maria said, shaking her head as she came out of the kitchen yet again. Carlos was beinging to loose track of how many times Maria went back and forth between the two rooms, each time coming out with another drink for him an Alexi.
"Yea we love you too." Carlos said, raising his glass to his sister. "Last one for me." Carlos warned. Although vampires didn't really get drunk, the small amount of alcohol that Maria was putting in the drinks was starting to pile up and bother him. And he did not want to go through a vampire's version of a hangover; it burned like hells fire.

"I'm surprised. You used to be able to go through a whole bottle of rum on your own." Maria said, to which Carlos let out a heavy sigh and looked pointedly at his sister, who simply giggled in response.
"I thought vampires can't get drunk..." Kristen murmured softly, looking confused between Maria and Carlos.

---------------

Nicko wandered into the livingroom after fixing himself with a late night snack. Although Nicko was worried about the angel, he was a bit better at handling stressful situations like this than Alayna was. So where she saw the world falling to pieces, Nicko was already figuring a way to put the pieces back together again.

Seeing Demitri, Nicko took a seat on the couch and leaned back a bit as well, his bowl of cold ceral in his hands. In his opinion, it was something a mortal kid never grew out of eating.
"Sven's gonna be working on him for a while..." Nicko murmured, though it was more of a statement then a question.

Zach just smirked, "You know how pissed our Mom gets when anyone cheats, she was pretty irritiated with Dad. She nearly hit him with the board game" He sighed, "But anyway, I'm pretty sure everyone in our family cheats at games, even if Mom gets mad about it. She's the only one who doesn't at least try" He murmured, "Sami cheats, but she's really bad at it and Carlos always catchs her" He chuckled, "Its like Draq family tradition or something"

Alexi glanced at his wife with a raised eyebrow.
"Trying to get me drunk love?" He teased, "Cause I can't be held responsible for my actions then" He warned, taking a sip of his drink as his daughter giggled.
"Whats so funny?" He asked, arching an eyebrow at her.
"You two" She said, pointing betwen her father and Uncle.
"Brat" Alexi growled playfully.

"They normally can't" Alexi murmured to Kristen, "But if we consume enough alcohol we can get a sort of vampire version of drunk" He explained, "Its rather unpleasent, at least the next morning" He shrugged, figuring Carlos would take over the explanation, since Alexi sucked at stuff like that.

----

Demitri glanced at Nicko, nodding tiredly.
"He will indeed" He murmured.
"What do you suppose is wrong with him?" He muttered, "The no memory thing? Its not like when Alayna lost her memory" He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly.
"What a day" He mumbled, letting his head loll back against the couch, a low sigh escaping him.

"Yea it goes with the whole honor code." Maddie murmured, rubbing her forehead gently. She felt dizzy and really sleepy now. She was laying down on her back, glancing at the t.v. though she was listening to Nick and Zach talking behind her on the couch.
Nick glanced down at his cousin curiously. "Honor code?" he murmured.
"It's hard to explain. But it's like an unspoken honesty agreement. Basically no cheating." Maddie said.
"And since Sami doesn't like the laws she's not effected by it?"
"Yep." Maddie said with a chuckle before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes a moment.

"Trying to get you drunk?" Maria echoed. "Why on earth would I want to do that?" she asked curiously.
"Gee, maybe because last time Alexi was drunk the two of you went galavanting across the British Isles." Carlos said, laughing at Kristen's expression. "Oh yea, we knew for a while that Maria and Alexi would bond, it was just a matter of time." Carlos said, winking at his sister and finishing off his drink.

"And yes we can get drunk, but it has a hang-over ten times worse then a mortal one." Carlos explained. "Which is why we tend to drink in moderation, or never."
"Ten times worse?" Kristen asked.
"Yes. Hangovers for mortals would be bag headache, sensitive cognitive senses, for vampires it affects the whole body since we're so heavily dependent on the blood in our system." Carlos explained with a small sigh as Kristen nodded her head slowly.
"Right..." Kristen murmured.

------

"I don't know." Nick said honestly with a small sigh of his own. "I thought at first that maybe he just couldn't see us in the darkness...but when he pulled out the sword I knew he didn't recognize us period." Nick said, having already explained what had happened to Demitri.
"He seems over-all different though." he said. "Like the Keith we know is there but where is anyone's guess."

Zach shrugged, "It doesn't really effect me either, but Mom thinks thats because I'm half-vampire and vampires have no qualms about cheating" He said with a chuckle.
"Mom does get pretty worked up about it though, took a lot of explaining for dad to understand the whole honour code thing" He said with a shrug, watching his sister lie down.
"Go to sleep Maddie" He muttered, "I bet you can go lie down in the spare room or something" He suggested, looking at Nick with a curious arched eyebrow.

Alexi sighed, "Shut up" He muttered, frowning at Carlos. He'd never live that down, everyone had know him and Maria would bond, except for the pair of them apparently.
"Vampires being hungover is just not a good thing, not to mention when they get drunk its pretty hard to control them" He murmured, smirking lightly.
Sami chuckled, looking at Chris whom was looking between the vampires curiously.
"You people are all nuts" He commented dryly.
"Welcome to the family" Sami teased her brother, settling her head against his shoulder and watching the card game basically fall apart.

----

Demitri sighed, "From what you told me, it seems like he's more Castiel then Keith" He muttered.
"Not saying that Keith isn't Castiel, its just the way I define Keith when he's with us, being normal and attempting to be more human. Castiel's him when he's working, when he's part of Heaven's army or something" Demitri tried to explain.

"I'll be fine." Maddie murmured. "I'm not tired just...drained." she said.
"What's the difference?" Nick asked with a small chuckle.
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Maddie asked in return, looking over at her cousin with a playful smirk.
"No on second thought I don't." Nick said, shaking his head. "Seriously though, if you get tired because you're so drained there's plenty of room." Nick said with a small chuckle.
Looking over at Zach, Nick had a sudden thought. "What with happened with Keith, think you'll be staying the night?" Nick asked. It was Saturday, and sleepover between the houses weren't uncommon at all and sometimes last minute things.

Kristen laughed as Carlos chuckled.
"Yea...many things happen over the decades." He said with a soft sigh. Maria raised her glass to agreement before glancing over at Chris, grinning at Sami.
"Yep. Welcome to the family. And consider yourself lucky, this is a pretty mild decade for us." Maria added with a wink.
"Come now Maria, you'll scare him off talking like that." Carlos said.
"Oh please. I'm just being honest." Maria said, sounding like she was mimicking her older brother, which was possible since Carlos growled at her.
---------

"That actually makes a lot of sense." Nicko admitted, finishing off his cereal before sitting back.
"If that's true then something happened to the Keith side of him. He remembered that he had to go and fight, so he knew he had been summoned last year...but he didn't remember us, or this house." Nicko explained with long sigh.
"I'm surprised Alayna took it so well." Nicko added. "I thought she'd break down...I guess it hasn't really hit her yet." Nicko said before glancing around. "Kristen and the kids...?" he trailed off, looking back at Demitri with a curious expression on his face.

Zach shrugged at his sister, rolling his eyes at her stuborness, if they were back home and something like this happened, Kristen would be sending Maddie to bed in a second, but here Kristen was downstairs and Maddie was being stubborn, so she'd stay up, probably fall askeel on the couch or something and whine when they tried to move her.

Alexi and Sami laughed softly at Carlos and Maria's antics.
"I'm sure he'll survive, we've encounterd our fair share of family drama" Sami said, rubbing Chris' shoulder lightly.
Sami wondered what her brother would be doing that evening, whether he would come with her and Carlos or head to Demitri's house. She knew Kristen and the kids would be staying here, Demitri had already texted Kristen saying it wasn't such a good idea for them to come home just yet.

----

Demitri glanced at Nicko tiredly.
"Staying at Alexi's, probably not the best idea to have kids here with Keith liek that. Chris might come back, or go with Sami and Carlos" He said with a shrug.
"I think Alayna's taking this well because she thinks she has to. When she lost her own memory, Keith was really patient and kind with her, she probably feels like she has to be the same way" He said with a small shrug.

Nick chuckled as Maddie stuck her tongue out at her brother and proceeded to roll over and continue to watch the movie. Maddie was just like her mother in that sense to Nick; she never wanted to be taken care of, but she was the first person to jump up and help if someone else needed taking care of.

Carlos smiled at his mate and then Chris with a small nod. "Ignore my sister. She can be dramatic." he said, waving his hand at Maria. His sister had ignored her brother, seeing the look of sheer disappointment on Kristen's face as the shifter put her cell phone back into her pocket.
"What is it?" Maria asked quietly.
"Demitri wants me and the kids to stay here for the night." Kristen explained into her glass, draining the last bit almost in one gulp.
"Oh, well that's no problem." Maria said, hoping to keep the light mood, though they all knew it must be extreme if the children couldn't be there. Kristen merely nodded, and although she smiled, it didn't reach her eyes.
"One thing we can say with certainty in this family..." Carlos mused, "There's never a dull moment." he said with a smirk. "You never know what's going to happen. You could just be going out for a lovely hunt and you end up finding much more." He said, looking at Sami with a wink as Kristen laughed and Maria smirked which lightened the mood significantly.

--------------------------
Nicko nodded in agreement to Demitri. "Yea true." he said, agreeing to both statements at once with a small sigh. Looking at his watch, Nicko shook his head.
"I've got to head out. I'll be my shift in an hour." Nicko murmured, since he was still working as the head of security for one of the Draq's facilities. He nodded to Demitri before going to wash his dinner bowl and then headed out the door.

--------------------------
((Just jumping to morning))

Kristen wasn't sure what time it was when she gave up trying to sleep. It was almost impossible when she was seperated from Demitri. She'd gotten better over the years that she could sleep without him in bed, but staying in one of the guest rooms of Alexi and Maria's house miles away from him and trying to sleep was impossible. It might have been 3 in the morning, or 5 or somewhere around then when she wandered out to the patio and watched the sky grow brighter.

Maddie woke with a stiff neck since she had fallen asleep on the floor and had somehow been moved to a bed with a stiff pillow to sleep on. She groaned, looking around and rubbing her eyes. Confused for a moment, Maddie stood up and walked out of her room. Then she remembered that they had stayed the night. Sighing, Maddie wandered down towards the kitchen.

Nick was there, sipping on a bottle, looking a bit disorientated but otherwise awake.
"Mornin'." he murmured with a small smirk. "You look like hell." he teased.
"Yea, love you too Nick." Maddie grumbled, resting on the cool counter with a sigh. "Anyone else awake?" she murmured.
"Doubt it....it's only 8am." Nick said; like Maddie he had become somewhat of an early-bird and if he slept it was only for a little while.

-----

Alayna woke up with a start, but what had startled her disappeared from her memory as she looked around the room. Sighing to calm her heart, Alayna ran her fingers through her hair. Glancing over at the clock she groaned; it was almost 8am. So much for trying to sleep in this weekend. Though it was the most sleep she had gotten in a while. Getting out of bed, Alayna yawned and wandered into the kitchen to make her tea for the morning.

Serena rolled out of bed, yawning as she did so. Though her and Nick wer vampires, they still slept like a normal human, though not as frequently, and would for awhile according to their Uncle Sven. She sighed, pausing to pull a face at her appearance in the mirror before going into the washroom she shared with Nick and started the shower.
Twenty minutes later the blonde teen was scrubbed and dressed, her short blonde hair straightened and a little bit of make-up applied. She was currently standing in her closet, which could rival Maria's, looking for her desired outfit. Finally she settled for a pair of skinny jeans she had bought the day before and a short t-shirt that had a picture of a panda on it (anime style). She sat down on the neatly made bed, Serena was a bit of a neat freak, at least according to her brother and cousins, and pulled on her socks before grabbing a sweater and heading downstairs.
"Morning" She murmured to Nick and Maddie, it seemed Zach wasn't up just yet, probably wouldn't wake up until Tia Kristen made him get out of bed.

Zach shifted, he was sleeping on the couch in Nick's room, since pretty much everyone had crashed at Alexi and Maria's house. He sighed, glancing up and groaning as he saw the clock. Stuffing his head back under the pillow, he tried to force himself back to sleep.

Sami shifted, glancing around the room she and Carlis generally shared when staying at Maria and Aleix's.
Chris was curled up in cougar form on the floor, having been told to stay along with Kristen and the kids. She slid from the bed, sitting on the floor next to Chris and absentmindedly stroking his fur. Being in animal form dulled the pain from separation, but Chris was suffering immesnely from the separation. Being the newest bonded couple, Chris and Sven hadn't adjusted to any separation just yet.

-----

Demitri sighed, looking up as Sven came stumbling out of Keith's temporary room, covered in blood.
"How is?" He asked curiously, standing up and wrapping his arm around his brother.
"He'll live, but he's unconcious" Sven stuttered tiredly, leaning heavily on Demitri as he was manhandled towards the couch.
"You look like hell" Demitri commented dryly.
"Feel like hell, surgery is not easy while dealing with that damn separation pain" He muttered lightly.
"I can imagine, Kristen will be here with Chris and the kids in a bit, hopefully we can keep them away from Keith, Maddie in particular" Demitri murmured. The girl was attached to the angel, but now was not the time for her to try and rekindle old friendships.

"Morning." Nick said, sliding Maddie a cup of coffee. The young teen had picked up the habit in her junior year of high school and hadn't really stopped since. Maddie grinned, sipping from the hot cup with a sigh.
"You make the best coffee." Maddie muttered.
"If you say so. It smells horrible." Nick murmured, which was what he generally went with when it came to human food; the worst it smelled to him, the more people seemed to like how it tasted.
"Everyone else still out?" Nick asked generally, to which Maddie nodded, then frowned.
"No, my Mom is up. She's outside though. And you know full vampires never really sleep." Maddie said. "So I can't sense if they're out or not."
Nick rolled his eyes. "Yea but you knew what I meant." Nick said, tempted to nudge Maddie out of her seat. The young teen looked ready to pass back out.

"I told you that drink coffee every morning wouldn't end well." Kristen's voice called out just moments before the young-looking woman appeared in the room. Maddie smirked at her mother but took a healthy swig from her drink anyway.
"Your brother up yet?" Kristen asked.
"Nope. Waiting for you as usual. Are we going home soon?" Maddie asked.
"Yes. Gotta get Chris back to Sven." Kristen murmured, to which Maddie tried not to wince. Sometimes even the mention of the pain from the bond made Maddie ache all over.
"Right." she muttered somewhat tightly with a nod.

"Good morning." Maria said as she wandered into the kitchen. "You look nice today deary. Get that outfit at the mall yesterday?" Maria asked her daughter after kissing her on the head and doing the same to Nick.

"Morning already?" Carlos grumbled, feeling Sami shifting around in the bed. He wasn't asleep, though his eyes had been closed all night because of the small throbbing that had started in the middle of the night. Too much rum and not enough blood.
"Remind me to never let my sister mix my drinks." Carlos murmured, wrapping his arms around Sami's waist and pulling her closer gently, almost as if she could sooth the ache he was feeling.

------------------------

Hearing the clatter from the vampires, Alayna frowned and wandered out of the kitchen with an empty mug.
"Is everything--" Alayna never finished her sentence because she heard the last bit of the brother's conversations and saw that Sven was covered in blood. The image that Alayna had seen in her nightmare came back, and she realized that it hadn't been a dream. It had been real. And it had happened last night.
The mug nearly slipped from her fingers, but Alayna recovered from her momentary lasp fast enough to tighten her grip on the mug. Water sprung to her eyes but just like last night, Alayna refused to cry.
"He'll be alright?" was all she asked softly and quietly, afraid that if she rose her voice any louder she just might loose her control all together.

Serena inclined her head in the direction of her twin and Maddie before grabbing her own bottle of blood.
"Morning" She murmured to her mother, wiping a whisp of blonde hair from her eyes and grinning.
"The jeans" She said, pulling her sweater on absentmindedly. She put the half-drained bottle back in the fridge and headed into the boot room, pulling on her paddock boots, the blonde took off across the yard to care for Chase and Cricket, the two horses she had gotten for her first (sixth) birthday. Alexi had offered to get a stable hand to feed and clean up after the pair, but Serena insisted on doing it, every monring and evening. Her dad or mom fed the pair at lunch for when she was at school.

Alexi wandered downstairs, rubbing his fingers through his hair and slumping on the counter and looking tiredly at his wife and son.
"You shouldn't mix drinks anymore" He muttered, watching Serena disappear out the door with a small grin.
"What are you doing up so early?" He asked Nick, frowning. Normally the teen slept in, taking after Zach.

Zach, giving up on sleep at the noises downstairs, dressed slowly and stumbled down.
"Are we going home?" He asked, slumping at the kitchen table. He was bloody tired, Nick's couch was not all that comfortable.

Sami laughed, letting Carlos pull her back away from Chris.
"I bet Alexi feels just as bad, he drank more then you" She said softly, smirking as Chris moved, stretching out across Sami now, seeking the reassurance and comfort.
"Kristen will be leaving soon with the kids, you can go with them. Sven'll be sticking around Demitri's place to keep an eye on Keith I'm sure" She murmured to her older brother.

----

Demitri and Sven glanced up at Alayna, Demitri surpressing a groan.
"Physically" Sven murmured matter-a-factly. "I can't tell about his memory Alayna, not until I speak to him when he's awake. But for now I'd prefer he'd stay asleep in order to recover. I have him on a few pain medications, and he's in a bit of medically induced coma, so I'll be sticking around to monitor him" Sven explained to Demitri, though he was aware of Alayna. When dealing with medical knowledge such as this situation, Sven became almost cold, clinical, it was his defense mechanism which made him a rather good doctor.

Maria laughed lightly as Alexi wandered into the kitchen, which was slowly becoming full.
"Oh it wasn't that bad." Maria murmured, running her fingers through Alexi's hair and kissing his forehead once. "I'll let you mix them next time if you must." she promised.
Maddie rubbed her forehead, grumbling something in Russian quietly as Zach came down into the kitchen as well.
"Morning." Kristen said, smirking to see that Zach was some-what away. "Yea we're gonna go in a bit. Just gotta get Chris." Kristen murmured softly with a small sigh.
"Carlos..." Maria called gently. "Send Chris down won't you? Kristen's getting ready to leave." Maria said, and to all those with Vampire hearing, Carlos have a muffled reply.
Kristen smirked and rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she forgot that vampires could hear absouletly everything.
Nick shrugged in response to his father's questioning. "Dunno. Just couldn't sleep anymore." was his response before tossing the now empty bottle into the trash.

Carlos groaned, hearing Maria. "Ya. Kristen's leaving like now-ish." Carlos added to Sami's statement. "They're waiting for you Chris." Carlos said, nudging the big lion gently.
"Alexi might be feeling worse but that's because Maria gives him vodka. He didn't drink that much more than me, he just had stronger alcohol." Carlos murmured softly, ever the man of knowledge.

------------------

Alayna took a deep breath and nodded. She said nothing else, and didn't pester Sven or Demitri. She merely gave a light smile before going back into the kitchen to quiet the nosy tea pot. Rubbing her face roughly, Alayna didn't allow herself to think too much about it. Right now, all that mattered was that Keith healed physically. So she wasn't going to bother Sven at all. She'd seen the doctor work, and because of him she believed in miracles.

Pouring her tea, Alayna sighed and grabbed a bag from the cabinet before going to sit outside on the porch. She needed some fresh air. She needed something mind-numbing to do. Sketching always helped. Yes that would work. Setting her tea down, Alayna wandered back into the house just to grab her personal sketch pad and pencils before heading back outside.

Chris shifted back, nodding his head to Carlos and Sami.
"See you both later" He said, pressing a gentle kiss on Sami's forehead before clapping Carlos on the shoulder and heading off down the stairs.
"Hey" He called brightly, though he looked a like bit tired and his face was worn and drawn.
"Morning Uncle Chris" Zach said, grinning at the big shape shifter, he rather enjoyed hanging out with Chris whenever him and Sven were around. He was facinated by Sami and Chris' take on shifter laws and hearing about pack life. It was so different from what Maddie and Kristen talked about.

Alexi smirked, "Maybe I shall, I'm a fantastic bartender" He boasted, ignoring Sami's chuckle as she and Carlos came downstairs after Chris.
"Rightttt" The girl said. "Thats why you hired me to bartend" She teased, nudgling Alexi lightly, dodging away from his hand as he tried to smack her.

Chris chuckled, waving goodbye to the others as he followed Kristen out to the SUV.
He slid in the passanger seat, pointedly ignoring the glare he recieved from Maddie and Zach, he figured they had many debates about who got to sit in the front, and he guessed Maddie generally won.

----

Sven leaned his head down on the table, just lying their, still blood covered and exhausted.
"Kristen and the kids are coming, Chris too" Demitri reassured his brother, "Go get cleaned up, not a good idea to scare the shit outta all of them so early in the morning" He teased.
Sven glared at his brother, though it held no heat and rose slowly, "I just preformed a good twelve hours of surgery, give me a break" He grumbled, heading upstairs to shower lightly.

Carlos groaned. "I don't wanna get up." he murmured, micking a little kid as Sami tugged him up and out of the bed. He sighed roughly, pulling on a pair of jeans and forgoing a shirt and wandering after his mate.

"Hiya." Maddie said, finishing her cup of coffee as Kristen nodded gently in greeting. Looking around Maddie caught her mother's eye and Kristen nodded again.
"Alright, we'll see you guys later." Kristen said.
"It was fun Tia." Maddie added with a small smile before following the older shifters out towards the truck. It took Maddie a second to realize that Chris was already sitting in the passenger seat.
She sighed but rolled her eyes at her own momentary stupidity and got into the back seat with her brother. Her head was pounding, though what it was wrong Maddie had no idea. It could be from anything and everything, and she was too tired to even figure it out. She simply let the drive back to their house lull her to sleep again.

"Whoa now." Carlos said, not hearing the conversation between Sami and Alexi, only seeing the after effects. "It's way to early for any rough-housing." Carlos murmured, shaking his head with a tired smirk.

"You two look great." Nick said, looking from his father to his uncle.
"Ah, trying to learn the ancient art of sarcasm quick are we lad?" Carlos asked in return to which Nick raised his hands in silent defeat.
"So where is your better half?" Carlos teased, noticing that Serena wasn't in the kitchen.

-------------------

Kristen sighed with soft relief as she pulled up the driveway of their house. Already she felt ten time better. She hated spending the nights away from Demitri, and she knew that if she felt relieved, so did Chris.
Glancing at the back seat, Kristen chuckle. Both her children looked ready to fall back asleep if they so much as looked at a pillow.
"Come on you two. We're home." Kristen said, which instantly woke Maddie up.
"Oh yay." Maddie said, nudging her brother gently. "Nap time." she murmured with a smirk as she slipped from the truck and followed her mother into the house. "Oh...very big nap." Maddie groaned as Kristen opened the door, sending a wave of heat over Maddie which made her sway for a moment. Kristen noticed and watched her daughter a moment.

"Will you be alright?" Kristen asked.
"Mmhm. Just need sleep. Couldn't sleep much." Maddie said, holding her head as she walked into the house. "Hey Dad." Maddie said, wandering into the living room enough to give her father a small hug. "I'ma go lay down." she said with a somewhat sleepy-delrious smile.
Kristen glanced over at Zach. "Nap for you too? I know you said you didn't sleep well either." She asked, rubbing his shoulder gently before looking over at Demitri curiously.
How bad is it? she murmured softly to her husband in Russian, only wandering over after Zach answered her question.

Alexi smirked, rolling his eyes at his son lightly.
"I'm always good looking Nick, always" He said with a chuckle, stretching lightly and glancing around as Carlos inquired after Serena. He shrugged, he figured she was out in the barn, but he had only seen her heading out in the morning.
"Barn probably" He said, shrugging lightly. "Cleaning up, feeding and letting the horses out" He grinned, still stunned with how well their daughter had shouldered the responsibility of not one, but two horses.
"Man, she's a heck of a lot more responsible then I was at her age" Sami said, chuckling, "Both of you are" She added, winking at Nick.
"And I'll teach you sarcasm" She smirked, ignoring Alexi's mock groan.

Serena sauntered into the house, kicking her boots off in the designated area and walking inside.
"Hey" She said, flashing her Aunt and Uncle a bright smile.
"Morning" Sami responded, sipping a cup of coffee from the pot Nick had made Maddie.
"Kid you should open a coffee business" She muttered, inhaling deeply.
"I dunno how you can drink that stuff, it stinks" Serena said, wrinkling her nose.

----

Chris wandered into the house, making a bee-line for the bedroom he and Sven shared. He could hear the shower and knew his mate was probably cleaning up.

Zach shrugged, "I might go have a nap" He admitted, "Or I might go for a run, I didn't go yesterday" He murmured to his mother. Zach tended to stick to a fairly strict work-out schedule, being on so many athletic teams.
"Do whatever you want, just stick to the path if you go out" Demitri said with a small smile, returning Maddie's hug before she went upstairs.

He glanced at Kristen, "Not good" He mumbled in English, language didn't matter in the house, Zach's first language was Russian, and Maddie was damn near fulent now.
"He has no memory of anything that happened before a year ago. He's beaten to shit Kristen, I mean its bad. Sven spent twelve hours in surgery with him, and he's in a medically induced coma so he gets some rest. We have no idea whats going to happen when he wakes up, as of now. Or..." he trailed off, looking for Alayna, before continuing, "If he'll wake up"

"Of course you are darling." Maria said, smirking at her husband gently and winking at her son.
"Yes she went off to the barn." Maria added to her brother with a soft nod of agreement. "She goes every morning and in the evening so we only take care of them during the day if she's at school." Maria explained.
"Oh fancy that." Carlos said with a small nod of approval.

Nick chuckled as his Sami also expressed her like of the coffee. "Maybe I will." he said with a shrug.
"Yea I figured out a cool technique." Nick murmured to his sister. "The worst it smells for us the more they seem to like it." he said, nodding to Sami. "I sneezed so bad this morning because of how bad it smelled cooking in the pot. I guess I slipped on the coffee grinds a bit." he said with a small shrug.

"Darling you don't need to teach these two anything. They always seem to learn exactly what they need when they need it." Carlos teased, to which Maria shook her head gently and Nick laughed.
"That made no sense Uncle." Nick said, shaking his head.

----------------

Kristen sighed as Demitri switched back to enlgish and she moved closer to him, listening intently.
"Oh shit." Kristen murmured finally, hearing how bad the situation was. It was much, much worse then she thought it would be. Thinking over what Demitri had said, Kristen chewed her lip.
"Sven had to force the comma?" she asked quietly, wondering if she understood that right or not. "He'll wake up. I mean...he is an angel...medicine can't kill him. His body might be healing like it always does. He slept most of the days after that big demon attack at the school." Kristen reasoned quietly, though it was obvious that she was worried about their friend, and worried about Alayna.
"How's she taking it?" Kristen asked even quieter because she knew there were about three thousand different ways that Alayna could possibly react to something as sever as this.

Alexi frowned, sticking his tongue out at Maria.
"Abuse" He whined, "Verbal abuse, denying my beauty" He said, sliding onto a chair and nodding.
"Yea, I offered to hire someone to take care of them, but she insisted on doing it on her own" He explained to Carlos.
"Damn" Sami murmured, grinning as Serena came in.
"Stop talking about me" The blonde teen whined, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. She shook her head, "Yea" She agreed with Nick, Carlos had made no sense with that last comment.

Sami grinned, "As long as you didn't seeze on my coffee" She teased, sipping from the mug again and sighing contently.
"Everyone leave?" Serena asked, having not been in the kitchen when her aunt and uncle had left with her cousins.
"Yea" Alexi responded, leaning across the table to kiss Serena's forehead.
"What are you two doing today?" He asked the twins curiously, wondering if they had any plans.

----

"She seems to be taking it well" Demitri murmured, "But you can tell just by looking at her how upset she is. She's confused" He mumbled, "Pissed off, she wants to believe that Keith knows who she is" He muttered, "But he doesn't, he is, essentially Castiel, he's dangerous, lethal even" He muttered, "But according to Nicko, she has no desire to even see that, I dunno I think she thinks she can get through to him, but..." He trailed off, shrugging.

"I was merely agreeing with you love." Maria said, looking a bit hurt at her husband. Thought it was always in good fun. Nick would find it odd if the two weren't bickering at each other in some way.
"Bah, it's too early." Carlos murmured rubbing his face. "What happened to the days when we slept all day and arose in the night?" he asked, making Nick laugh.

"You were the one who always said those stories are just myths." Nick said, rolling his eyes at his uncle. "Mom, what did you put in his drinks last night?" Nick asked, looking at his mother curiously.
Maria laughed. "Nothing that he usually can't handle." Maria said.
"No, I didn't sneeze on your coffee." Nick said, looking at his aunt with a small smirk.
"Umm..." Nick glanced at his sister at the question of their plans for the day. Usually Serena kept track of things like that, or was the one who usually organized things to do.

------------------

Kristen chewed her lip again and sigh softly. "That's to be expected..." Kristen murmured. "The denial at least. Keith was the same way. You remember." Kristen said, since Demitri probably knew more about how Keith felt after Alayna's accident then she did. She rubbed her arms for a moment, shuddering at the though of what Alayna was going through. If something like this happened to Demitri...Kristen shivered again and sighed.
"One step at a time." Kristen murmured softly. "Let Keith heal and we'll see where to go from there."

Serena shrugged, "We were invited to a pool party at Mike's house" She said with a small shrug.
"Do you wanna go?" She asked her twin, "It'll be fun" She added, waggling her eyebrows. While she wanted to go, she wouldn't go without Nick, she was intent on cheering him up after his break up, though she tried not to come off that way, at least not obviously.

Alexi grinned, "If you two wanna go, I'll drop you off and pick you up, a pool party sounds kind of fun, especially since we'll be tidying up and working today" He murmured. Sami smiled at Nick, "I trust you" She teased, taking another sip of her coffee.
"I have to work tonight" She mumbled, yawning lightly, "Me too" Alexi said with a smile, "Mich called in, saying he needs to get some stuff done, so I'll be bouncing tonight" He said, chuckling.
"Good" Sami murumured, she only liked working when Mich or Alexi bounced, the other idiots weren't careful about who they let in.

---

Demitri sighed, "We might have to accept that Keith'll be leaving once he's healed" He murmured, "We don't know if he'll regain his memory, and if he doesn't and stays in Castiel mode, he won't stay here, no matter how emotional Alayna gets. He just doesn't understand humans right now, or how they tick" He sighed, "You might want to prepare her for that eventuality, though she might not want to accept it"

Nick thought over what Serena said. He was okay friends with Mike so it wouldn't be that bad.
"Is it for an occasion or just for fun?" Nick asked curiously, wondering if it was the kids birthday or something like that. Then they would need a gift.

"Nick are you turning down a pool party?" Carlos asked curiously to which his nephew grinned.
"Uncle Carlos, do you know nothing about me?" Nick asked in return, which was a typical thing that the two had started with after one of Nick's literature class. Apparently in the play he had read the two characters had played this game were you could only speak in questions.
"Are you questioning my knowledge?"
"Why would you think such a thing?"

"Boys." Maria said, cutting Nick off from answering his uncle, looking at them pointedly.
"What?" Nick asked to which Carlos smirked and nodded while Maria shook her head.

----------------------

Kristen rubbed her arms as she listened to Demitri. She nodded in agreement, trying to absorb all of this at once.
"Yes...I will talk to her." Kristen said quietly, looking a bit pale though her jaw was clenched as well. It was hard to grasp this, but then again, she knew this sort of thing was almost bound to happen. Keith was, after all, a warrior of heaven.