She must have fallen asleep and time traveled asleep, because she woke up to Drake gently taking the music box out of her hands and sitting on the bed beside her, putting it back into its pocket.

"I'm sorry," she gasped with a start, expecting him to begin yelling at her, "I know, I know I was prying."

He blinked at her, seeming surprised at her reaction, "It's fine, dear. How did the time traveling go?"

She saw Erik hanging his coat by the door out of the corner of her eye and understood why Drake wasn't bursting with anger. He was hiding it.

I'm not angry. He thought to her. It's just an old piece of junk that Damien freaks out when he sees and goes into hysterics if it's played.

"I slept through it," Jade muttered.

Drake's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he laughed nervously, "You did?"

She nodded with a yawn as he put his hand on the small of her back and kissed her. Would you stop?

What? Erik's suspicious and I'm doing more than my share to keep him off our backs, while you, dear, are doing absolutely nothing!

Ha! I'm the one doing nothing? You're the one who was acting like an asshole this morning!

"Love," he said, stroking stray strands of hair out of her face, "I'm sorry for being an asshole this morning. Will you forgive me?"

No, absolutely not! "Yes, dear," she muttered, glumly. She rolled her eyes as he stood. She couldn't help it. She was more than tired of playing this role. It made her feel as if she were chained to Drake more than she already was.

"Jade," Erik said from the kitchen, "do you wanna come with me to see them light the tree tonight?"

Jade smiled to herself remembering the many times when she went with him to see the lighting. Tears came to her eyes as she realized that she hadn't even thought that she'd ever have the opportunity to see it again yet alone with him.

"Yes, of course!" She answered. Drake gave a loud sigh from where he stood. "Um, how was your day?"

He rolled his eyes, clearly not satisfied with her attempts, and laid down on the couch, sending up a thick cloud of dust into the air.

"Well, everyone remembers Drake that's for sure," Erik laughed.

"What do you mean," She asked, eyeing Drake who wasn't giving her any clues.

"Well, for the most part they all still hate him," Erik responded, beginning to walk towards her as he gave the couch a disgusted look.

"Does it really bother you that much?" She asked Drake curiously. She knew that it didn't, but according to him she needed to play her role better and that meant being more sympathetic.

"No, of course not," he said peering over the stained, minty green cushions of the couch and through the dust suspended air. "I just don't appreciate being judged for where I'm from and for whom I'm related to."

Jade gave him a sarcastic pouty look, which sparked a small fire of anger in him as he glared at her. Bored, she let her eyes scroll across the room to the closed window. Sighing, she knew it would be an hour or two before the sun set and she and Erik could go to the town square.

"So what day are you two leaving, exactly?" Erik muttered casually, trying to keep a conversation in the air so that a heavy silence wouldn't fall over the three of them.

Nevertheless the question made the hairs on both Drake's and Jade's necks stand straight.

Drake coughed uncomfortably and briefly glancing at Jade said, "I guess in five days as we originally planned. Is that all right with you, dear?"

He reached out to the wooden table in front of the couch to pick up a glass of some sort of liquor, which he quickly began to drain as Jade laughed thinking to herself, "No, I don't ever want to leave. You go back for all I care. Frankly, I don't give a damn."

Instantly Drake spit out what bit of liquid he did have in his mouth to gawk at her. She just stared back, shaking her head, horrified at what she had just let slip from her mouth. Racking her brain, she searched for a remedy for what she'd said. There was nothing, but then thankful Drake recovered from his shock and began to laugh, harder and harder, eventually doubling over. Slowly Jade eased into a smile and began to laugh along with him.

"If only," Drake finally said cooly, letting his laughter gradually die out, "but of course I'd never leave you in such incapable hands."

"And I'd never let you," she smiled back.

Then they both turned to see whether Erik had bought their act or not, but he was simply leaning against the wall and sipping at his drink as he casually watched something out through the window.

He looked so at peace and so still, almost like a statue. It was as if he had been carved of stone, every little detail and feature that made him Erik. From his disheveled brown hair to his green eyes, everything was still as if he were thinking about something very hard.

"So you said six days?" Erik asked, tearing his eyes away from the window at last.

"Five," Drake smiled darkly and once Erik had turned around, he glared at Jade. That was close, too close. What the hell is the matter with you?

He nodded for her to come over and sit with him on the couch and so sighing she stood up from her seat on the bed and walked over to the couch to sit. He gave her a friendly smile that seemed so real that she might've believed that they were actual on good terms if not for his angry violent thoughts, raging through her mind.

Now would be an excellent time to smile back. Drake thought to her, patting the cushion of the couch beside him and sending a tremendous amount of the powdery dust into the air, Jade didn't smile as she sat, but instead broke into a series of coughs.

"I'm so sorry about all this dust. Everything's just so old," Erik muttered, "here," and he handed her a glass of water, which she drank down gratefully.

"How old?" She asked, wondering how far she could have traveled back, since the bed needed to be in the exact same position for her to have not woken up.

"Darling," Drake said, wrapping an arm around her and laying his hand on her shoulder, "Erik probably moved all this stuff when he moved here, so you mustn't have to a time before five months ago."

"Actually six," Erik commented.

"Same thing," Drake growled, "any ways it doesn't really matter does it?"

"Unless I haven't time traveled back yet," she responded.

Drake scowled at the words as if he had just taken a gulp of sour milk and stood up towering over her, "But tell me that isn't the case."

"You said you traveled what, fifteen years back the last time right?" Erik asked, but he wasn't looking for an answer. "Well, then you probably didn't travel back by only a few months. Next time you travel it'll probably be within at least ten years."

"I thought you said you didn't know anything about time traveling," Drake said with a cough.

"I don't. It's just common sense," Erik retorted.

"Unless time traveling happens to be random," Drake said raising his eyebrows as if to ask, are you seriously challenging me?

"I doubt it is though," Erik said through a laugh.

"Well, we'll see won't we," Drake pressed his lips together and sat back down.

Jade sighed for the millionth time that day. Why did the two of them have to argue about every little thing?

"Any ways, darling," Drake said, taking a handful of her dress and jerking it a little too hard to be friendly, "are you going to wear this the whole time we're here?"

"You know I don't have anything else here," she scowled jerking her dress out of his hands. "Darling."

A change of attitude about now would be nice. Drake's thoughts burned through her mind. "You know I'd buy you anything."

"Oh because she has nothing, since Damien had her entire apartment building burned to the ground?" Erik muttered with an irritated laugh to himself.

Jade immediately shot up, with eyes wider than saucers, "He what?"

Drake laughed nervously and took her hand. His eyes darted between her and Erik as he chewed on his lip. "Calm down love, please."

"Take me to it," Jade commanded Erik, ignoring Drake.

"There isn't anything left of even the building, Jade," Erik tried to reason with her.

"Oh my God, I can't believe this!" She said throwing her hands into the air, "Everything and anything that I had left of myself . . . just gone. I mean you guys said that there was a fire, but I had just thought it was a made up story to get me to loose hope. I-I hate him!"

"Come on," Drake growled, becoming frustrated with her, "it's just some stupid building and some junk. Be serious. If you really are that upset though I'll just buy you some new stuff. All right?"

"No!" she almost screamed, tears stinging in her eyes, "You don't understand! Do you?"

"Understand what exactly?" Drake asked, shaking his head with wide eyes. It was now very clear that he was vexed with her, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. He honestly couldn't fathom how much this hurt her. He really thought that she was reacting unreasonably.

"That money can't buy everything," Erik muttered.

"Bravo!" Drake growled, throwing his rage onto Erik, "You think you're so-"

"Shut-up!" Jade hissed, "You cannot just buy everything that was in there because half of it was what little I had left from my family. My real actual family And you'll never understand that because you don't give a damn about your own family!"

"Would you stop screaming?" Drake said, calmly flashing his eyes at her, "You'll live, all right. I'll buy you a nice pretty dress and you will calm down!"

"You're unbelievable," she said, shaking her head at him in disgust.

"What do you want me to do Jade?" He shouted, now standing up and throwing his arms open as if he were innocent, "Time travel and ask him very nicely to not burn all of your things? I can't do anything about it! All right?"

She sat back down, bending over and laying her face in her hands, defeated and began to cry softly.

"Great!" Drake laughed, "That's just perfect! This is all just perfect!" With one swift motion he had picked up his glass and thrown it against the nearest wall with all of his strength, where it shattered into a million shards. "You just had to bring up Damien. Didn't you?" Drake smiled angrily at Erik. "Do you even realize that I brought her here to get here away from him? Did I not make that explicit?"

"I don't think that she's upset about Damien," Erik defended himself, "she's upset with you and with the fact that everything she ever had here now gone forever."

Drake sighed, "That's where you're wrong."

He cringed at the hellish memories about the night Jade saved Damien flooding over her. The apartment didn't matter at all to her. She was almost numb to things like that by then. She'd been holding her feelings up for so long that now they were bursting through the seams. She was facing the reality that sooner or later she'd have to face Damien.

"The two of you have been arguing since the moment you got here and I suppose long before. I see you explicitly showing me that you have deep feelings for her like you have something to prove, but she can't even look at you without cringing. So don't tell me she isn't upset with you," Erik responded.

"This was such a mistake!" Drake sighed, "Such an utter waste of my time. Get up Jade. We're leaving."

No. She thought to him. I'm not ready to leave, to go back to Damien, please. I'll stop fighting and arguing with you, I'll play my role! I promise. Just let us stay.

He gave her a sympathetic smile before raising his eyebrows and thinking, Prove it then.

She stood up once more, not bothering to wipe the tears off her cheeks, saying gently, "I'm so sorry for being so argumentative lately. It's just with everything that's happened . . . and I know that the same applies for you, but I do love you."

Then she leaned forward and kissed his smiling mouth, drowning the conversation about her destroyed things. She was frustrated with him and with all of his badgering for her to play her role better. So she decided that she would prove to him that she could be just as forceful if not more so than him, and put both hands on the back of his neck kissing him harder.

Well, well, he thought to her, what's next? Are you going to strip me?

Why do we have to play the roles of a couple who is so in love that it's sickening? Jade asked, imagining what Erik was thinking of her as he just stood there watching.

Because we fight so much that we have to balance it out somehow, he thought back, taking a breath of air.

But if you actually love someone you wouldn't be this obsessed with them would you? She wondered.

A bit of a nosy question, dearest, but no this kind of love would only last anyone a day, he thought to her as he stepped back and when she only leaned in deeper he though to her, that's more than enough, and took another step back, breaking free.

"Five more days," Erik sighed to himself, shaking his head as if he were trying to shake out the memories, "five more days."

"Make it four," Drake reminded him as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and yawning said, "it's almost sunset. You two should get going. That is if you still want to go."

"You aren't going?" Jade asked, trying to meet his eyes, but the moment they met, his eyes darted away from her. He trusted her with Erik alone?

"No," he answered her two her questions with one simple word, "I'm beat, but here," he handed her a maroon dyed pouch of coins, "buy yourself whatever you want."

What's the price? She asked him, uneasily. She didn't want to be in his dept.

Nothing. You have absolutely nothing to give me even if I wanted something, he thought to her, just think of it as payback for what Damien did to your stuff.

She smiled, almost satisfied and stood on the very tips of her toes to kiss his cheek, but again he stepped back, lowering his head as he coughed.

What happened to we have to play our roles? She thought to him, rather irritated.

This time he looked her in the eye and smiled, you're still over doing it.

Pursing her lips, she walked past him. Drake was only interested in something for as long as he couldn't have it willingly.

"Here," he sighed, tapping her shoulder and when she had turned around she saw that he was holding out his coat for her. He quickly slipped it onto her and buttoned it up from bottom to top carefully, keeping his eyes on her's the whole while, breathing, "Don't want you to have to borrow his coat. Might get fleas."

"And you aren't afraid of bed bugs?" She laughed at him as he finished fastening the last button.

The ghost of a smile rested on his face, not completely visible, "Hadn't thought of it." He moved his shoulders to face the bed and studied it suspiciously.

Erik merely sighed and rolled his eyes, giving Jade a smile.

He opened the door and motioned for her to go on ahead of him, but before she did so she faced Drake, "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

With one last yawn, he shook his head, sending her into the night with Erik, who gave Drake a reassuring nod as if to say, I'll take care her, and then shut the door behind him.