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She was about to ask who 'Jewels' until Lance pulled her down for a hug. Her moved to instead wrap her arms around Lance's neck in a return hug, her face burying into his hair and staying there. He smelled like a hospital. Not the greatest smell in the world. The movements made her curious enough to lift her head to see what he was doing. That...was an obnoxious notebook. She'd never seen it before but it made sense now. Jewels, gifts, a hideously tacky notebook. "Julie~." Candace murmured softly, her lips quirking up in a small smile. She nuzzled her cheek against Lance's and reached for the notebook to hold it if he would let her, tracing her thumb over the bears and just below the rainbow. "She was..something. I was mean to her a few times where she was doing something odd like...cooking minipets, particularly Harrison's favorite minipet. I feel bad about that now after...all that..Julie was a good girl."

Kissing Lance's cheek one more time, Candace nodded and sat up again. "Maybe I'll take you up on that. Did she write about the roses in here or something?"

The sudden hiss actually made Candace jump, instinct kicking in and making her scramble off the bed. She nearly fell flat on her face in her hurry to distance herself from what had startled her.

And then it hit her, she was running away from Lance. The realization tore at her heart, making her eyes burn and a lump form in her throat. <******** style="color: #7507AE">"I won't. I promise. I won't let anyone take it from me. I'll keep it safe in my room, okay? I promise." He was scaring her again right when she had been getting comfortable. What was in here that he wanted to protect? She'd have to read through it later.

Any sane person..

With regretful hesitation Candace leaned in to give Lance one more hug, tucking the notebook under her arm while collecting her glasses, bourbon and tray. "I'll come by with more food soon, whenever I get another chance..." In the battle of Fight or Flight response Candace's initial reaction was usually to fight. This time every part of her was saying flight. She had to tell Aria. She had to let her know. Now.

"Try not to go too crazy while I'm gone, okay? Maybe I'll bring you a silly board game or something to play with your friend." A look was given to the tech before she turned back to Lance, bristling with worry. No wonder Aria was so stressed out over him. "I'll just take it now so I don't waste any time..." Get away. Get away. Get away. She didn't like being scared of Lance, it wasn't even because he was trying to intimidate her. This hurt so much. But...she didn't want Lance to feel like she was running away from him, though that was exactly what she was doing. Candace adored Lance. He was one of the last people she wanted to be afraid of. "I'll come back tomorrow." She said with a little more confidence. Tomorrow instead of 'soon' should be more comforting.

Candace actually felt a bit of anger bubble up at that cocky little attitude just then. Had he done that as a joke?! That...that a**! Nevertheless she gave that hopefully little look he was giving her a smile and a stiff nod. "I'll bring fruit next time."

She tensed when pulled in closer than she had expected, nearly pushing away from him until he spoke..in that tone. That voice, she didn't like it. The words alone were enough to cause concern, the tone just made it worse. This was not how Lance should sound. She would do well to remember these words as closely as she could.

Beware.

Finally pushing away, Candace was hugging the notebook tightly to her chest when Lance seemingly came to his senses. There it was again, that lost look of a man who didn't know where he was or what was happening. What was the last thing he remembered? Should she ask? "Yeah, I.." Her eyes burned, her vision blurring with tears that she had to hold back. Why did it have to be Lance? "Yeah, sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." She risked leaning in one more time to press a short and sweet goodnight kiss against Lance's lips, trying not to look too hurried when she stood away and collected her things. "Goodnight, Lance."

She turned to leave, nodding politely to the tech as she made her way out. Once she was out of the room and a good distance away from the room Candace allowed herself to relax again. She felt..safe again. No..

The tray with the empty plate, the glasses and the utensils were returned, returning up to her room with her bourbon...and the notebook.

The first thing Candace did once behind closed doors was call Aria; she didn't want to spam her with texts, there were too many words to fit into just one or two of them. Eh? Voicemail? Uh...odd, but okay.

"Aria, it's Candace..I saw Lance today. He's okay." A pause, she sighed. "No, that's a lie. He's not okay. He was fine at first, you know? Normal. Happy. But then he told me everything he sees is monotone. The food I brought him was all gray, the room was gray, I was gray, my coat was black and white..and it just got worse from there." She cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable. "He's really paranoid, and he even told me the Life techs told him he walked a few steps but he has absolutely no memory of it...a-and his voice..there's something wrong with his voice. He like..it's...it's just..I don't even know how to describe it, it's something you need to hear. And Afir, he said he can't hear her, but he hears other voices that sometimes scream and shout. He keeps saying these strange things but then he seems to have no memory of what he's done.

"Right before I finally left he told me..'an emptiness is stirring. It's rising, voices becoming a cacophony of sound.' And he told me to beware...and then had no memory of saying it again." There was another pause, a longer one now.

When Candace finally spoke, her voice was quiet. "I was scared of him." She sounded so regretful, ashamed even. Candace had never been scared of Lance before today. "I promised I'd see him again tomorrow...but I thought you should know what I saw today. Goodnight, Aria." And then she hung up, tossing her phone onto the couch beside her and slumping back into it.

You didn't mention the notebook.

I'm aware of that.

Why?

...I want to know what's inside it first. Why a sane person would destroy it, but Lance wants me to protect it.

Ah...I see..hopefully things will be better tomorrow. You should rest. Candace shook her head and instead picked up the notebook, settling in to read.