Welcome to Gaia! ::

Three days, two nights. That's how long it took her.

On this third night, the dark mirror senshi known as Super Sailor Aurora very quietly, very caaaaarefully stepped out of the mirror in Nicolae Sparke's bedroom. She had no intentions of waking him. For all she knew he was still horribly angry with her and never wanted to speak with her again! That dark, horrifying thought had crossed her mind several times over the course of those past few days. And even under her Aunt Lucrece's loving care and tutelage, she still felt very much alone.

He wasn't even there anyway. Bluh.

"Ahahaha... I guess it's for the best... Maybe he's out patrolling or.. something. Yeah."

Now for the nearly impossible task of searching for her housekeys and grabbing her stuff! In the dark! It was a perfect idea in theory. Find her stuff and leave her Christmas presents there. Except...

She didn't expect that object in the middle of the floor. Nor did she expect to TRIP over it and fall, flailing, face-first on the bed.

"WAAAGH!" THWOMP. CRASH!

Aurora, in such an ungraceful manner, had slid off the bed and now onto the floor. The Christmas present that she'd been hiding inside her sleeve had dropped in front of her, the glint of metallic wrapping paper twinkling like a little lost Christmas star. Oooog, the bed was supposed to be soft BUT it still hurt her nose face-planting like that. When did super secret Christmas present planting slash house key retrieval missions have to be so tricky?!

The girl irked and froze when she heard Nicolae's voice. "Ah." Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot.

"Uhm.... ahahahaha... I..."

She hadn't seen him yet, her back to him with a sleeve rubbing at her sore nose. Was.. did he even want to see her face? All of the romantic scenes that she'd written in the past did absolutely NO GOOD when faced with real life magical girl situations. She even checked the database in her head. Nothing. She was on her own.

"I--" And that's when she turned her head, her sleeve still over her nose. Her eyes first met that towel wrapped around his lower half. Then traveled up his body, slowly, steadily, and landed into his eyes.

B... buh.... bwah.......

"Y-you can s-start by removing your towel..."

WAIT, THAT WASN'T WHAT SHE MEANT TO SAY. DAMMIT CURSE THIS HABIT OF BLURTING OUT STUFF. Aurora waved her arms frantically as her face, her neck, her legs - every bit of skin turned red. "I-I-I MEAN, I came to get my house key and my clothes and leave you this Christmas present but since you're here I-I want to apologize!" The senshi scrambled up to her feet. Or tried to, anyway. She made it halfway before getting tangled up in her outfit and landing on her rump.

It was too late. That statement was a dagger in her heart that was already wounded. She nodded and clutched at her brooch, closed her eyes tight to try to keep her tears at bay while the red aura devolved her into Esme. Simple, sweet Esme. An eye opened and gazed at the metallic wrapping of the gift she wanted to give him: a small pouch tied with curly ribbon and what appeared to be a business card attached to it. Did he even want that? Or her? Maybe she should just get her keys and leave. He didn't want to see her, didn't even want to be near her. Just get up.. .and go.

.... no.

Esme snatched the small package and got to her feet. In her hands she held that while her eyes tried to hold his gaze. "Yes, yes I did. You thought I made you look weak but that wasn't my intention at all... I just.. panicked. And I want to apologize and tell you why I did. Will you listen to me, or will you shut me out too..?" She took a deep breath. "Cuz I'm tired of feeling alone, I really am.."

She looked down at her little gift and blurted out, "When you're around, I don't feel that way. Cuz you seem like you genuinely care about me. And I don't wanna lose that!" There were the tears springing up in her eyes now. "I don't wanna lose the guy who saved my life, or protected me, or beat up my vice captain for me, or cooked for me, o-or.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I hurt you. Cuz I care about you too."

"Ah..."

That was... She blinked a few times, watching him as he pulled on his shirt. In a daze. She wasn't .. going to lose him. He wasn't going anywhere. That was one of the best things she had ever heard.

Esme backed into the bed and plopped on her butt, stared up at the ceiling. How many hours had she looked upon those tiles during her recovery? When she had trouble falling asleep a few times, she remembered just looking at them. The stars dancing in her eyes must have painted dozens of pictures that her mind had already forgotten. But at least they helped to calm her down so she'd get a few hours of rest.

"Ahaha.. I .. " Esme looked down at the little gift still in her hand. "My bit. The reason I panicked is kinda long and really depressing, so if you don't want to hear it it's okay."

She didn't really want to avoid the subject. In fact, she really wanted to tell him. But just like feelings were stupid, they were also super hard to talk about. Especially when they involved things like..

"But my mom, she was murde--..." There she went, almost blurting it out again. Quickly she jutted out the wrapped gift with the business card. "Merry Super Early Christmas! O ho ho ho. .. "

Ugh..

"Yeah.. yeah she was..." She closed her eyes as she leaned heavily against him, listening to his heartbeat. "My dad just, he went berserk one night and started stabbing her. My little brother and I were there in the living room with them. Alphonse tried to get him off her but dad beat him pretty bad into a coma. And I just, I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. I was so scared, Nicolae.

"I guess.. I just panicked. I wasn't even going to join you in your fight, only if you really needed me or wanted me to. I knew you could take her. I know you're strong and capable and awesome. But I just panicked.. and I didn't want to see you hurt like mom or Alfy. I couldn't let that happen again."

She turned slightly so that she could look into his face, offer a small smile. "I'm a pretty wimpy girl, y'know. I'm scared to fight, cuz of all that happened. I've gotten beaten up by senshi a few times. I'm learning some defensive moves but .. I still pretty much suck. Ehe." Esme leaned in to kiss his own cheek. "So if you don't mind protecting me, Lieutenant Mariposite, Nicolae Sparke, that'd be pretty cool..."

Esme let that all sink in. Finally some true comfort in the whole tumultuous place that was her heart. She took another breath and nodded as the idea cemented into her head. Nicolae was her family now. No matter what would happen to them, or between them, she'd never be alone again.

Inside the little gift wrapped pouch was a stack of six slightly burnt, slightly.. destroyed chocolate chip cookies. The girl blinked out of her reverie. "Ahahahaha, these are, uhm, some cookies that I made for you. My aunt Lucrece helped me and she claims they're still good! She said, that a way to a man's heart is his stomach. They're, ah, definitely not as good as yours but I spent a dozen tries just to make sure they were at least edible. Ehehehe. And.. from the looks of it, I landed on them when I fell. But they should still be okay!"

Her fingers reached over to fiddle with the business card attached to the ribbon. "And this is.. my aunt's number. I , ah, told her about you, and how you want to be a cook. She's one of the directors of some big fancy culinary school in France. They're opening a branch in Destiny City in February. And she said.. if you want an interview to qualify for admission, to give her a call."

Esme paused and grinned. "It's apparently really hard to get in but I told her if anyone could make it, it'd be you."

Esme laughed a bit, albeit one of those nervous little laughs that sprouted from her lips whenever the in/opportune time came along. She didn't doubt that he'd enjoy her cookies--

... her cookies. Uh. Right. She'd seen him nearly naked just a few moments ago. That left a lasting impression that wouldn't go away for awhile.

As she started to blush, the blonde stared at her in shock. Ahh.. wh-what... Was he able to read her mind? Just what sort of powers did the Negaverse grant you?!?! Eeeeep. The pinkette did the impossible of blushing even further. But..

It was about the number she'd given him, not about the less than innocent thoughts. When he kissed her cheek and held her hand, he could feel the heat from her skin on total overdrive. But at least, at least she was beaming. "I-it's something that you really want to do. And if I can help you follow your dreams, ahahahaha...I'll.. " Clear thought seemed to be lost on her now. Thoughts of cookies and naked boyfriends danced in her head. B-buh. "SO, AHM, yeah! It's probably too early for Christmas, so, uhm, what do you want..?"

I know what I want.

Oh my gosh, staaaaaahp...

"What.. do I want?"

Esme hadn't really thought about it. What did she want for Christmas? To tell the truth, just being with him was enough. Having him around as family and as a boyfriend. She never thought she'd have a person like that so that was an amazing present!

So when she blurted it out, it was really quite innocent.

"You! I want you!"

Uhhhhh... ugggh. Whyyyyyyyy.

"I mean, well. Uhm. I want-- I already have you. I meant, I.." Was she turning redder? A glance in the mirror pretty much confirmed it. Red as a horribly horribly HORRIBLY embarrassed rose. She lowered her head and mumbled, "I'd like to spend some time with you. Out of the city. Like, a vacation. Somewhere.."

Spicy heat? Esme's embarrassment melted away as she giggled. "I think so. Nicolae Sparke, cooking maaasterrrrrr.. Just a wink and a cake wins all the ladies over!" Oh God was she getting into another fandom? One that didn't even exist yet? Whatever it was, it was obvious that she was excited at the thought. "That should be your motto - spicy heat. Ehehehe. Don't forget about your number one fan when you make millions though~" The girl winked and planted a kiss on his cheek.