What if it all could be up to me?

I RALLY YE TOGETHER, SANTA CARLA!! GIMME REASONS WHY YA LOVE THE BOSS MAN AND I’LL THROW EM IN A BIG LIST!!

“Well… nevertheless…”

“You know the old saying that first impressions are always wrong? I really do think there’s so truth to that, and it certainly fits for my very first impression of David. He might be surprised though to hear that it doesn’t fit my second impression of him. Sure, being grilled at my place of work by a boy I had watched harass my younger son wasn’t exactly fun, but the impression that conversation gave me of David might… surprise him. Because for all that he did to taunt me, to walk me around in circles and to call me a bad mother… he also showed me more of himself than I think he realized.

“He showed me how fiercely loyal he is, how much his brothers mean to him and how far he’s willing to go for the people he cares about. He showed me how resilient he is, how he’ll keep on fighting no matter what life throws at him. Without even meaning to, he showed me how strong he was, and I don’t mean in the vampire sense.”

“…most of all, he showed me how badly he deserves a chance. A chance to feel safe, to feel loved, to have a home of his own where he knows he’s accepted for who he is and will never be expected to change.”

Once they were far enough in, Lucy shifted so that the other woman was braced against the wall. The last thing she wanted was for her to fall to the ground.

She carefully pushed up her sleeve.

𝕰asy to see where her boy had gotten it…His own resolve and stubbornness-his mother wasn’t one so easily convinced of him no matter what words he spoke to her.

There was an excitement there, David couldn’t ignore it-a woman whose fear was prevalent enough he could feel it…Taste it, like blood dripping down the neck she was such a pain to. But, even when her back was to the wall where he left her, she wouldn’t stop fighting til the end. Ironic given what he had taken had brought her here-easier to fear someone who’s given you cause when he hadn’t done anything to her at all but talk…

The challenge wasn’t appreciated, but the thrill of the chase was always more fun with a push and a pull in it and Lucy sure knew how to provide in that way…with her meek push backs against him. More willing to believe in him than most…Oh, wasn’t that something sweet-“So, what you are saying is I need a good influence? One you think your boy can provide me…Aw, Michael has already given me so much, Mrs. Emerson. Who would I be if I took any more from him?”

“I’m a generous kind…Loving folk like you. Don’t take more than I need…A giver.”

“Oh, I have now, have I? ‘Made the wrong assumptions’?” He chuckled, leaning against the counter when she had leaned on it too. Asserting an…authority of his own over her in a single lazy action of his, getting all up in the mother’s space regardless of how appropriate or comfortable she was with it.

“The way I see it is you learn a lot about a mother through her boys…The way she parents them…The things they need in another they’re not getting in the home.”

He took a long pause. “Don’t worry about it so much, Lucy. I can take it from where you can’t. Michael is in good hands with me.” He winked. David’s face darkened up at her speech about “bad kids” as they’d called it, all that spite and playfulness sucked right out of him and in its place something more sobered up and serious as he continued. “You sound like someone else I knew. Someone I’d thought had saved me too.” He responded quietly, almost wistful and sentimental even as forced as his expression looked.

Easy to lose the way…Most people like her and him would’ve thought he was lost. But, David had been found, more than anywhere else in the world, by being lost-

“But, I do agree with you. All of my boys had been lost before they found me. Now they don’t look so lost anymore, do they? What I give kids like them, kids like yours, Lucy-is a chance. To be whoever they want to without judgement, to be free from a world weighing them down and turning them miserable and cold…To fly so to speak…” David’s eyes darted away on that last part. “Like I said before, I’m a generous type. I find the lost and give them home…And salvation. Freedom. Come to collect the ones in need of someone like me to guide them…”

The vampire cared to ignore the unspoken kind of truth in what he was saying-that her boy was his newest project, that in his eyes the one he needed to be freed from was standing behind the counter in front of him and he intended to collect his dues. “She can’t say what’s best for Michael” but he can and will in time…

“Traditions are meant to be broken. Always been one for…forging your own path outside of the conventions people expect of us…” He nudged her arm. “Look at that-another way we agree! See? We have so much in common under our different skins…Never change for anyone but yourself. Though Max’s beliefs are…Hmm, well-not something I believe in myself. I believe in the power of transformation. Never too late to make him see things our way, huh? If you can’t come around to him he can come around to you…” David flexed his fingers before slowly drawing a line against the counter. “Something tells me he’d do anything there was to keep you.”

If he was a friend to Michael, why was he saying all of this? Why was he saying it at all? Who had hurt him, had caused this boy to turn so cold? Even has he stabbed her with his words, her heart broke for him.

"I think all of us need good influences in our lives, people to help us grow and be who we're meant to be," She shrugged a little. "Like I said, I know my son. Relationships aren't all just give or take, it's a two way street. I'm sure there are things Michael could learn from you too."

What exactly that could be, she didn't know. But even with how he was being with her, she refused to believe that this was all there was to David. She believed with all her heart that there was good in everyone, some people just needed to be a safe space and the chance for it to come forward.

This boy, however, was certainly testing her boundaries. His continued insults toward the way she raised her boys tore at her, but the way he sobered softened her heart to him yet again.

"You sound like someone I once knew," a bittersweet smile came to her lips. "You're right. Everyone deserves the chance to fly, to find that second chance. I hope that you and everyone around you is able to find that freedom... and I really hope that it never ends up leading you to somewhere where you'll fall further than you could ever imagine, like the fearless girl that I knew did."

"David, I don't really know what you're looking for from me. Like I've said, I know I'm not perfect. I know I've made mistakes, especially with Michael. All I want for him is to be happy, for him to have a life where he's able to be happy, to chase all of his dreams without having to be afraid or feel like he's being held down or controlled. Sure, there are things that I want for him, mistakes that I made that I want to keep him safe from. But at the end of the day, it's his life to live. And no matter what choices he makes, there's nothing that'll ever change how much I love him. Or how I'd give my life for his every time."

She only just managed to keep from flinching as he nudged her arm, having not expected the touch.

As Lucy disappeared to retrieve a chair, Max merely stood there, dumbfounded. It was perfectly practical, yes, that she would want the overtime for the money, he had no problems with that. Rather...it confused him that she was even entertaining the idea at all. Shaking his head, silently repeating once more what a remarkable woman she was, Max took the seat when she returned with it. "Thank you..." he kept his eyes averted once again, as if her gaze would petrify him like the fearsome Medusa.

Though she appreciated the thought, she couldn't say that the topic of his words put her at ease either.

She forced herself to roll with it. She had to, she'd let her fear control her again if she didn't. And so she gave him a skeptical look, a small smile on her lips. "Now I know I might have been blind to danger, but you've got to be kidding. Taking snacks from Maria? She's more protective of that drawer than even my dad ever was with his snacks, and he kept a padlock a fridge drawer at one point!"

In his defense, she had had a habit of raiding the drawer after nights out with friends on far too many occasions.

"I'll be fine, I've got plenty of leftovers at home I can get into later," She grabbed a stack of movies, ready to put them back on the shelf before she paused a moment.

He was being kind. He hadn't threatened her or acted anything like he had that night. He'd been willing to let her walk out...

"Oh, thank you," Max smiled anxiously, truly unsure how to deal with such a thing. He hadn't anticipated generocity, or for them to even talk at all, so he was...unprepared to deal with it all. But the idea of simply sitting with Lucy and sharing pizza with her sounded...nice. "I-I happen to like the ones with as much meat on them as possible...and plenty of spices...oh, and funnily enough, garlic."

Talking about pizza preferences was perhaps not the most exciting conversation topic, but it was all he could think of. "A lot of people take one look at me and assume I'll only eat so-called high-brow food, like lobster and all of that. While that's all quite nice, I'll be the first to admit some of my favourite food over time has been...simpler, like pizza."

What should have been a sweet memory had been tainted, and she hated that. She hated that she was left questioning, trying to determine what was true and what had just been words to manipulate and control her. She hated that she still had to do that even now.

"I'll put the order in from the office," And call Mike again while she was at it. She didn't want him to worry. "There's a pile of returns on the counter than need rewound. See how many of them you can get through while I'm gone?"

She went to the office, allowing herself to all but collapse in the chair. Her head was swimming, her heart aching. She wanted to believe that Max was being truthful, but memories from that night and all that had happened still stayed at the front of her mind.

The calls went smoothly enough, the pizza ordered and only slight protests from Mike at having to keep an eye on Sam for the night. But they were over far more quickly than she would have liked, and all too soon she found her squaring her shoulders and stepping back out of the office again.

Aspen did too, but she didn’t make as clear.

“Yeah, it really was incredible,” she laments, leaning her back against the glass case on the counter. “It was like, I don’t know, we were some kind of hive mind. We didn’t have to say anything to each other but our instruments just…worked.”

The memories of such a pleasant life were tainted so quickly, and Aspen’s voice hits an invisible block when that part of her story crosses her mind.

Life’s path, for all its intents and purposes, was not what landed Aspen at the cafe on the boardwalk. If life’s path directed her, she’d have died…multiple times.

Aspen feels a nervous lull in the conversation. She opens her mouth, hoping something productive comes out, but it’s empty.

Thank god the woman introduces herself.

A sense of relief washes over Aspen and it feels her entire body release tension. She sighs, grateful for the shift in tone, and offers her hand to Lucy with a gentle smile.

“Aspen. Nice to meet you, Lucy,” she says. “Good to know there’s at least one person in this town with any remaining sanity.”

Santa Carla had it's problems, she wasn't about to deny that. It was often an overcrowded tourist trap that only lead people to trouble. For years when she'd been younger, she dreamed of getting away. Of seeing a world beyond the west coast, of finding something different than what she'd known.

What she'd found was certainly that, different. It was a life unlike anything she'd ever expected, anything she'd ever thought she'd find herself in. And Arizona had made coming home to Santa Carla all the sweeter.

She wrapped her hands around her mug again, letting it ground her and pull her back to the present. She didn't want to be thinking about the past, only looking forward.

"Thank you again for the coffee," She meant it, though she was far more thankful for the friendly conversation. "Trying to get resettled here has been... more difficult than I expected."

It was an adjustment for all of them, and she had known that the boys would have some trouble at first. But the way Michael had been as of late was far beyond what she'd been expecting.

Suddenly, all she could smell was Lucy. It was overwhelming and she pulls the other closer. "I don't want to hurt you...."

She carefully began to move, wanting to get Rose somewhere away from other people, somewhere safe. But where?

he carefully took the bag to look inside to see exactly what happened to make it puncture. He didn't look mad, a little confused at first but seemed to be oddly calm given the circumstances

More excuses had been ready on her tongue, but they died upon hearing his response. He was far too calm about this, and that in itself spoke volumes.

She took a few steps away from him, eyes wide with fear.

"...You... you know something," It was the only way it made sense. "You're-- How do you know about this?"

That plus the questions and comments fell into place into his mind. He put a hand to his lips as he looked down at the ground and then back at Lucy.

Not physically, at least. She suspected they all were still haunted by what happened that night.

"Edgar and Alan... They saved my family," It still scared her to death to think about how much danger they'd been in, how she'd brushed them off. "If they'd hadn't given Sam that comic and been there to help... I don't want to think about what would have happened."

A chilling realization hit her, her brow furrowing in worry.

Amelia Sanchez had arrived at the Emerson Cabin to visit her friend Michael Emerson. She had already known about the existence of vampires after telling her friend about it, including Michael being half. Of course it wasn't the first time she visited the house, but never met the rest of his family. Not his nerdy little brother Sam or his kind hearted mother Lucy. A part of her believed that Michael never told his family about his secret, so she tends to keep it that way. One because she respected Michael and he was her dear friend, so of course she would keep it on the downlow for his family's sake.

Michael was more distant than he'd ever been, with both her and Sam. Something was seriously bothering him, but what it was she couldn't say. She had hoped at first it was something as simple as a someone he was chasing after playing hard to get, but this had gone far beyond that.

It haunted her, she wanted so badly to help her son. But the only way she could was if he chose to let her in, and so far, that door had remained firmly closed.

So lost in her thoughts and her worries for her boy, the ringing of the actual door caused her to startle. After taking a few slow breaths to settle herself, she made her way to the door.

Meeting Mallory was certainly an improvement from the way she found out about vampires.

Seeing her like this was utterly heartbreaking. How long had it truly been since she'd last had what she needed? How often did it get this bad?

She reached out and gently took her hand, there was no way that she could just ignore this, that she could let her suffer.

As Lucy disappeared to retrieve a chair, Max merely stood there, dumbfounded. It was perfectly practical, yes, that she would want the overtime for the money, he had no problems with that. Rather...it confused him that she was even entertaining the idea at all. Shaking his head, silently repeating once more what a remarkable woman she was, Max took the seat when she returned with it. "Thank you..." he kept his eyes averted once again, as if her gaze would petrify him like the fearsome Medusa.

Though she appreciated the thought, she couldn't say that the topic of his words put her at ease either.

She forced herself to roll with it. She had to, she'd let her fear control her again if she didn't. And so she gave him a skeptical look, a small smile on her lips. "Now I know I might have been blind to danger, but you've got to be kidding. Taking snacks from Maria? She's more protective of that drawer than even my dad ever was with his snacks, and he kept a padlock a fridge drawer at one point!"

In his defense, she had had a habit of raiding the drawer after nights out with friends on far too many occasions.

"I'll be fine, I've got plenty of leftovers at home I can get into later," She grabbed a stack of movies, ready to put them back on the shelf before she paused a moment.

He was being kind. He hadn't threatened her or acted anything like he had that night. He'd been willing to let her walk out...

How long had there been beings like her living in the water? Have they always been there or had she simply never noticed before? It felt like now that her eyes had been opened to how strange the world truly was, she was noticing more and more things about Santa Carla.