Meryn glared down at her mate. "Shut up! Now you listen to me." Meryn put both hands on her hips and leaned over her huge mate. "First off, I am not a simpering clingy mate. I don't interrupt you for fun. Usually if I have to interrupt you it's something important, because guess what? I have my own shit to do! In case you hadn't noticed I'm helping your brother completely restructure the training program and getting computer illiterate elders savvy on message boards. Secondly, my grandmother used to ignore me and I cannot stress to you enough how much that bothers me. I refuse to be ignored by someone I love again." With tears in her eyes she headed up the porch steps. She turned back to him. "What I was going to tell you was that your father was on the phone for you." She walked past her squire whose eyes were shooting daggers at Aiden.

With an evil smile, Ryuu raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The trunk exploded in blue flames. "Actually Lord Byron saw the smoke from his office window. I informed him of what transpired. He said to call back when you were back in your mate's good graces." He turned and followed Meryn into the house.

Seconds later Aiden was turning his head back and forth. He swatted his hand in front of his face. "Ow! Meryn come back! Dammit Felix cut it out!" Aiden lost his balance and ended up on his back. The tiny speck of light struck again and again before it flittered through the door and it slammed shut behind him.

Elizabeth and Gavriel walked up until they stood on either side of Aiden's prone body.

Colton whistled behind them. "Dude, you're so fucked."

Gavriel looked down at his friend who was now sporting tiny red abrasions on his face and sighed, looking over at her he said. "We'll be back." He leaned down and pulled Aiden to his feet. "Come on cub, maybe that old man at the store will know of a way to fix this." Aiden nodded absently. Gavriel gave him a gentle shove towards the garage.

"I'll check on Meryn. If you're running to the store can you pick me up a couple chocolate bars?" Elizabeth asked, trying not to smile. The poor Unit Commander was dazed.

"You can have whatever you want my mate. Thank you for checking on Meryn, she's a little quirky but we all care about her." Gavriel said.

"You mean you care for her, don't you?" Elizabeth teased.

Gavriel nodded. "I've been with her, inside, for the past month since I couldn't train in the state I was in. She made those long days bearable."

Elizabeth kissed him and nudged him after Aiden's stumbling form. "Go take care of your commander, I have a feeling you and I will be taking care of these two for a long time."

Gavriel ran a hand over her hair. "More than likely, they have a heavy future in store for them." Elizabeth nodded. Gavriel titled her head up. "You see it too?" he asked.

"Yes. Remember, I was raised around vampires. I'm used to forward thinking. Hurry back."

He kissed her one last time and followed behind Aiden.

Colton's voice rang out. "Let's make s'mores! Ow!" His head jerked forward from Sascha cuffing him.

Elizabeth laughed at the men's antics.

*****

Gavriel followed behind Aiden as they walked into the store. He wanted to pick up the chocolate for Beth and he was dying to see what advice the old man had for Aiden. Walking behind his commander they approached the register where the aged man sat flipping through an old Bass and Guns magazine. The older man's face brightened when he saw Aiden approaching.

"Well look what the cat dragged in. Been awhile, son. Surely you don't need more feminine products, considering how much you bought last time you was here."

"Sir, I..." Aiden began. The old man held up a wrinkled hand.

"My name is Bartholomew son, you can call me Bart. I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot of you, we might as well be on first name basis."

Aiden thrust his hand out giving the old man hand a thorough shake.

"My name is Aiden McKenzie, this is my... friend Gavriel Ambrosios." Aiden pointed in his direction. Gavriel nodded.

Bart nodded back and turned to Aiden. "Okay son, what's yer question?"

"What do you buy a woman to get back on her good side when you've made her really, really angry? Cake? Fudge?"

The wrinkles on the old man's face scrunched together as he frowned.

"How angry did you make her boy?"

"She set my car on fire."

The old man blinked and then began to laugh. He laughed so hard that he began to hack and wheeze. Gavriel thought for sure that Aiden had killed the gentleman. Holding his stomach the man continued to laugh as he reached for a pen and piece of paper. With a shaky hand he scrawled something on the paper and thrust it at Aiden. He exhaled and wiped his eyes still chuckling to himself.

Aiden looked at the paper. "Is this a place that sells good chocolate?" he asked.

"No son. That is the address where they sell jewelry. Chocolate can fix a lot of things, but it's not the embodiment of kitten angel tears if you know what I mean. If yer woman set your car on fire, then son, the only thing that can help you at this point is something shiny." The old man rubbed his rounded belly and began to chuckle again at Aiden's chagrin.

"Come on sir, I know that place he is recommending, they do sell nice pieces there. How about you go wait in the car while I buy these candy bars." Gavriel sympathetically pat Aiden on the back before the commander trudged back to the car. Gavriel turned to face the old man.