"True," Rose replied. She watched him with his cat. "I still think this is terribly ironic."

"What is?" Damien raised an eyebrow at her.

Rose grinned.

"You owning a cat," she teased.

"Hey, I grew up with animals," Damien said with a shrug. "I'm used to it."

Rose grinned a bit.

"My mother has a cat who is so needy that if you haven't touched her in the last fifteen seconds, she's obviously neglected and entitled to interrupt you," she said. "My dad has his demon-spawn cat. And they have a not-so-bright dog."

Damien snorted. "We had dogs. They were either completely genius or dumb as a rock."

"Sirius likes to tease the not-so-bright pup," Rose replied. "Until the dog gets fed up and chases him back."

"Not all that surprising," Damien said with a smirk. "Dogs are fun to bait, although they tend to run away when you're bigger than they are."

Rose just rolled her eyes and shook her head a bit.

"That shouldn't surprise me," she said.

"No, it shouldn't," Damien said with a grin, rubbing the cat's belly once more before letting him relax again, purring.

Later on, after dinner, and after they had settled on the couch to watch a movie, Rose ended up dozing off against Damien. She hadn't meant to, but she was so comfortable with him that she couldn't help it.

Damien noticed and smiled, gently pulling a blanket down around her shoulders so she wouldn't get cold. That wasn't likely, since he ran a couple degrees hotter than the average human, but he did anyway.

After a little while, it was clear that Rose wasn't having a pleasant dream. She kept trying to force her eyes open from within the nightmare, and finally woke up with a shuddering gasp.

Damien had been trying to rouse her for the past minute or so, and he looked down at her, worried.

"Rose? Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm... I'm okay," Rose replied, calming down a bit. "Just a nightmare. I'm alright."

"Are you sure it was just a nightmare?" Damien asked, frowning as he touched her cheek gently.

"I... don't know," Rose admitted.

Damien frowned, resting his forehead against hers gently. "I think you should stay with me," he said quietly. "Just in case it happens again."

"I couldn't impose on you like that," Rose protested softly.

"You wouldn't be imposing," Damien insisted. "I would feel better knowing you're safe."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked. "I could always go back home..."

Damien shook his head. "You'll be safer here with me," he said firmly. "I'll make sure it doesn't come back, and if it does it'll regret it."

"You think it might be that thing that was bothering Sera?" Rose asked. She thought it had disappeared when Sera's nightmares tapered off and stopped.

Damien nodded. "It's probably looking for a new person to feed from," he said quietly. "Since Taylor basically scared it off from Sera."

Rose shuddered slightly at the thought of something feeding off of her. She didn't like it at all.