"I have plenty shirts you can wear," Ezekiel said after a moment. "I need to lay down for a while anyways."

Helen nodded slightly and picked up Ezekiel's items that had been left down there the day before and carried it upstairs. She would have gladly given something to her but they were all a little dirty.

"Now don't do anything," Sebastian joked before standing up.

((sorry its short))

Verona shot Sebastian her signature, you-had-better-shut-up look.

Even if she had wanted things to be like that, they just couldn't be.. things were too complicated for something like that to be the way it was.

As they arrived upstairs, she closed the door, and began to pull off her dress.
Them she remembered Ezekiel, "Sorry," she said with a tint of pink to her cheeks.

She hadn't really thought about this kind of thing.
Whenever she had undressed in front of someone, it was always a maid wanting to do some fitting for a dress, so you could say it was only a habit.

Ezekiel had followed her upstairs and when she started changing in front of him he was shocked.

He hadn't thought really how his reaction would be but to give her privacy he put a hand over his face.

"Trust me, it's fine," Ezekiel said. "My sister has changed in front of me, no pun intended."

He felt in need of a shirt at the moment but didn't want to make Verona feel uncomfortable at all so he just stayed rooted to the spot.

Verona decided on a quite large looking, button down shirt, and that was pretty much it.

On her, it came a few inches past her thighs, so of course it was a bit short compared to what she usually wore, but hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.
Not to mention the sleeves that hung past her hands, certainly it was a bit big.

"You can look now," she stated while turning to face him.

She could feel his eyes examining her closely.

"Does it look okay? It's not too short is it?"

Now she was just red all over.

"It looks fine," Ezekiel said in a reassuring tone.

He had a headache now for some reason, probably from all the stress that day so he moved towards the bed now that he could see.

Sitting down he found the bed to be quite comfortable, or more comfortable than he remembered it being earlier. He looked down at a scar on his arm and began tracing it with his finger.

He could remember when he'd gotten it. It was a fairly painful memory though it was only a memory now.

Sitting down next to Ezekiel Verona traced her fingers over the same scar he had..

"How did you get these," she asked.

She had been quite curious after all, they did look s though they had caused him a bit of pain.

"If you don't want to say, you don't have to of course."

Taking her hand away from the scar just as quickly as she had put it there, she fell back into the bed and sighed.

(Sorry, I am being slightly overwhelmed right now.)

((it's fine. I had that this week and its finally Friday!))

Ezekiel watched her trace the scar for a moment. It felt strange to have someone touching it and he felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

"It's fine," he said after a moment.

He couldn't remember where he got every scar that he had but this one one of those that he remembered.

"I got into a fight with Veronica once, after I'd changed of course," he began. "She's a bit stronger than me in her form since she changes a lot when she's at home. Well we were fighting and she'd got her teeth around my neck and of course I was struggling. She ended up digging her front claws into my arm. This was before there was medicine for these things."

He didn't feel like explaining the fairly large ones he got from his father that were on his back.

Verona cringed at the thought of Ezekiel being ripped to shreds by his own cousin.
And since his back was to Verona, she could clearly see all of his scars, from front to back.

She was like a young child in a toy store, she could help but to touch everything.

She ran her fingers along the distinct, and very large claw marks running clear down his back, "Wow.. They're huge Ezekiel.."

After a brief moment, she understood how he had received them, and said nothing.
Instead, she sat behind him, and began to rub his shoulders, or massage them more like it.

"Does that feel okay," she aksed.

Ezekiel had nodded slightly at her response. He'd never actually seen the scars on his back but he could remember how much it had hurt. He hadn't been able to lie on his back for a while after it.

"So it doesn't frighten you at all?" he asked in a barely audible whisper.

He had a feeling of what she would say so he wasn't expecting an answer. He didn't mind her touching the scars at the moment, at any other time he would have probably gotten nervous.

When she began to massage his shoulders though he was a bit surprised. It felt good due to the fact that a lot of him was still sore from what had happened in the square that day.

"It feels good," he admitted. "Just don't touch my side. Falling on a cobblestone square tends to produce large and unwanted bruises."

He seemed to pause again as he thought about what had happened.

"Thank you," he said after a moment. "He probably would have killed me or nearly killed me if it wasn't for you."

As Ezekiel talked, Verona listened, and finally stopped massaging his shoulders.
Hopefully, what he had said about his father wasn't true.

"I couldn't let him hurt you like that," she whispered.
Verona had her head now on Ezekiel's shoulder, and her arms wrapped around his waist.
"He had no right to treat you like that, whether you were an animal or not. And then those animal control men.."

How Verona hated them so much, they betrayed her pretty much, going against what she had told them not to do.
They were who she hated, the only people she truly hated, right next to Eric.

"I told them to stop, and they didn't listen.. It hurt me to see them taking you away.. I even tried to hit one of them, but Mayhen tried to make me leave.."

Verona's voice sounded sad now, almost blunt as she spoke of that day, she didn't quite have it stored as a fond memory.

Ezekiel took her hands in his own when her arms wrapped around his waist. He listened carefully to every word she had said. When she was done he leaned his head against hers slightly.

"I understood every word you said there," he admitted. "Well up into the point that I was shot with the dart."

There seemed to be silence after that. He seemed to realize that there were things about her he didn't know at this point. He was curious too.

"Tell me," he asked softly. "What do you like? What are your favorite foods?"

"I like you," she said smiling.

It felt silly for Ezekiel to be asking her these questions now, just so out of the blue.
"And as for my favorite food... I like fruit alot, and chicken. I don't really have that many favorites, I like everything too much. So there isn't any point in asking me about favorites.

Kissing Ezekiel's cheek, Verona smiled and held his hands.

"I have no favorites."

"No favorites?" Ezekiel asked with a slight smile. "Now how is that?"

It was a slightly teasing tone. He had turned slightly so that he could look directly at her.
She was beautiful.

"Do you remember the day you came to visit me after that nasty hang over I had?" Ezekiel asked. "I was so happy just to have someone come visit me that I had to think of reason just not to be happy."

He laughed slightly at this concept. If he'd known her more he might have actually been willing to change is form in front of her. In a way now he wish he could but it was better if he didn't.

Smiling, Verona pulled Ezekiel down into the bed with her. "Oh really," she asked. "I could have sworn you were just being mean.. And it hurt my feelings."

Pouting out her lips, she continued, "I ran out of your house crying Ezekiel.."

Running her fingers through his dark hair, Verona thought of that day clearly.
Everyone had wondered why it had upset her so much.
She didn't know him very well at the time anyway, but then he brought that lame excuse about relieving himself.. Of course, Verona had always had sensitive feelings that got stepped on easily, and stomped on.
And Ezekiel at the time had done just that.

"It wasn't very nice lying to me like that."

Ezekiel looked guilty when she told him this. He tried to look away but when he felt her hand running through his dark hair he couldn't.

"I didn't want to hurt you," he said.

He could remember it now, how he'd started to feel the change when she was in the room. He'd essentially be captivate by fear at that point and couldn't help it if he pushed her away like he did.

"I'm sorry I was rude. I should have confronted you rather than written a letter."

He could remember writing the letter, pouring every thought that seemed to be polite enough into it. He had been frightened when he'd read her response to it and hadn't known what to think. He'd grown up enough to know that telling people about a curse would eventually lead to get your thrown in prison, or rather on his case getting confronted by his angry father.

Staring up at the ceiling, Verona could feel a familiar sadness overwhelm her.

"Either way finding out hurt," she whispered against his hair. "It might not have been so bad, maybe if you had changed in front of me. I mean, I would have been startled, but I wouldn't have left crying... Maybe we could have gone to the ball together, I would have liked that. To have you try to kiss me instead of Mayhen.."

It would have been nice, she would have liked it. Dancing with him would have been amazing, and everyone would have talked about it.
Then, eating lunch with him could have been more comfortable, and maybe he wouldn't have changed. And then, things wouldn't be like this.. Worrying about Eric finding her, and ruining everything was not ideal.

When she spoke the words the guilt became even worse. He'd had reason for not changing. She might have rejected him because of what he was and he couldn't handle that.

"I'm really sorry," he said again, expression apologetic.

He didn't want to tell her that he probably would have hurt her severely if she'd tried to come near her at that point. He shuddered slightly at the idea of her perfect face being marred by something as hideous as claw marks.

"I tended to be very angry when I was in the animal form," he admitted. "I almost killed a few people once but my father had come to the situation soon enough to stop me. That's how I got the claw marks on my back."

"I don't think you would have," she said in her soft, chimey voice. "You're not that kind of person on the inside.."

Verona sounded just dumb now, as he had just told her that he almost killed some people.
But if one were to actually think about it, you would just know.

"That day we went to lunch.. When you were, different and I protected you, you didn't seem so vicious."

Nothing could seem vicious when it was in pain, not to Verona. Nothing deserved to be treated like that, not for an accident.

"You seemed, sweet. You hand your head under my hand when they shot you, you put it there.. If that is vicious, then I must be a monster," she told him sincerely.

"I knew you better than though," Ezekiel admitted. "At least a little better... but it was mainly because you were protecting me. I had those darts. The headache the next day is worse than a hangover ever could be."

He had diverted his eyes for a moment and then looked back at her. What she said about his true personality was true. He'd always been a very happy child until the curse kicked in.

He could distinctly remember the first time he changed. His father had been angry at him and he didn't know why. The fear that was placed in him after that point had led him to do stupid things over the years.

Running her fingers through his hair again, Verona smiled, "So it had nothing to do with you liking me?"

She remembered what Mayhen had told her that time, about him thinking that Ezekiel liked her.
It seemed funny then, and maybe just a little dumb now, but still.

"I remember that Mayhen had a theory about you, saying that you got nervous around me. He said that he thought you liked me or something..."

Hoping now that was the case, Verona smiled again.
"I thought it was just dumb though. Because if you had liked me that way, running away would not have been an option, of course at that time, I knew nothing of the curse. I found that out a couple days later."

"I did like you at the time," Ezekiel admitted. "That's the very reason I ran away. Mayhen was quite rude to me when I was getting the supplies to heal the scratches I'd gotten on my face."

His memory seemed clear now that he was thinking about it. He'd always though Mayhen, though a stranger to him at the time, had despised him.

It was starting to get late now and the room was beginning to grow darker. Ezekiel had taken one of her hands in both of his and was examining it.

He guided her hand against the small gap that was between them and place it upon his cheek. It felt strange but comforting at the same time.

Verona felt somewhat victorious at the thought. She was proud to know that even then, Ezekiel had cared for her.
Although, Mayhen could have easily crushed all of that.

Verona smiled as Ezekiel placed her hand against his cool feeling cheek. "Mayhen doesn't like you very much," she explained. "He knew that I wanted to get to know you and be around you, and that made him angry. He was angry, because I don't want him no matter how hard he tries. He's just not the guy."

Turning onto her side, Verona began to stoke Ezekiel's cheek with her right hand.
"You're the guy," she stated, as if answering an inaudible question. "And I am sure of that.."

Verona smiled down on Ezekiel, her brown eyes filled with a lasting, and familiar joy, "I love you."

Ezekiel smiled slightly even though he disliked the idea that someone could have taken her away.

Her hand on his cheek was a comfort and he close his eyes slowly as she stroked it. He enjoyed listening to her voice and he smile when she answered that inaudible question he'd been so tempted to ask.

"I love you too," he said still not opening his eyes.

Her hand was soft and warm against his cool face. He was starting to remember the ball now and he remembered tidbits. The thing he remembered the most was how Verona had been kissed by Mayhen.

"Mayhen kissed you at the ball. What were you thinking when he did that?"

Verona pondered for a brief moment, thinking of what Mayhen had done.. She was so angry with him!
"I was very upset, I even smacked him. And then I hid, and your father found me, and then I found you."
Smiling down on Ezekiel, Verona poked the tip of his nose. "You didn't see what had happened?"
Oh wait, that was right he told her he hadn't that night didn't he?
"I couldn't stand for Mayhen to treat me like that-I didn't even wait for him after you left, I just left him at the ball by himself. I was proud."

Verona smiled wider, and then pressed her lips softly to Ezekiel's.

Ezekiel was slightly surprised when he got kissed. When they separated he opened his eyes. He placed a finger gently on her lips.

"Be careful pretty lady," he said. "I am but a mere man."

He took her hand again and placed it against his face. He enjoyed it when she stroked his cheek, though it seemed like such a simple act.

"You're my light in a darkened world," he said after a moment. "My silver lining in a stormy sky."