Chapter 10: Episode 10 — Sweet and Almost Perfect

“Morning!” Astrid greets as she made her way down the stairs.

“Hm, you’re looking better now.” Collin smiles up at her.

“Feel better too.” She smiles back.

“Good, because we have a lot of lands to cover before lunch,” Jared says.

“Land to cover?” Astrid frowns.

“We’re going for a picnic,” Jared says.

“Where?”

“That’s a surprise,” Ash says.

“I don’t do well with surprises.” She pouts, Damien stifles a laugh remembering she said the same thing earlier.

“Well, you’d like this one.” Ash walks toward the kitchen excitedly.

“I better.” She mumbles.

Then she runs after Ash and jumps on his back, wrapping her legs around his waist.

“What the- Astrid?!”

“Get a move one lazy butt.” She says Ash pushes her higher on his back.

“What are you five?”

“C’mon Ash, I’m hungry…” she whines.

“Stop jumping around Astrid, jeez, I’m going to drop you,” Ash says with a laugh.

She nuzzles her face on his neck, “You won’t do that, you love me too much.”

“And how much I’m regretting that now.” He dramatically sighed as they reach the kitchen.

“Hey!” 

Ash laughs in response; then Astrid rested her chin on his shoulder.

“You slept good princess?” he asks.

Remembering how she snuggles with Damien to sleep through the storm last night made her blush and hid her face on the crook of Ash’s neck.

“Astrid?”

“Yeah…” she answers.

“There was a thunderstorm; Damien said you’re afraid of thunder and lightning.”

“Yeah…”

He was quiet for a few seconds when he set Astrid down a stool and faced her, amused. “You were with Damien the whole night, weren’t you?”

Astrid groans and hides her face on her twin’s chest making him laugh.

“What? You thought I wouldn’t know?” he asks.

“Well, no, the least is I hope we weren’t going to talk about it.” She whines, her words muffled by Ash’s chest.

“Why not?” Ash asks, amused.

“It’s embarrassing.” She says, still not looking up at Ash.

“Which part?” he teases, “That you’re scared of the thunder and lightning or you cuddled with Damien?”

“Both.” She buries her face deeper than it already was, making Ash laugh.

“Princess, it’s cool.” He said, “I mean, he uses to stay with you until you fall asleep after you sing your heart out. The least you can do now is staying quiet if you are going to sleep with him.”

“Shut up!” she sat back, red on the face, and slap him on the chest lightly. “And for your information, I’m quite a singer now.”

He raises a brow, “Really?”

“Yup.” She starts to twist the chair like a kid with a smirk on her face, “required to learn at least five instruments too.”’

“So what do you play?” Ash asks as he makes his way to the fridge.

“Guitar, drums, piano, violin and drum roll please!” she raised her hand, “tambourine!”

“Tambourine?” Ash asks, giving her a look of amusement.

“Yes.” She said, proud. “I did also learn sax and the clarinet, but it was exhausting and literally breathe taking.”

Ash laughs again, “Well, maybe you can play something when we go back home?”

“We’ll see,” she says and looks around, “I’m hungry, big brother.”

Ash looks around, “Well, I think we have some oatmeal or cereals around here.”

“What? No!” she jumps down from the stool, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I’m not going to have a meal out of a box.” She starts to rummage through the kitchen and fridge pulling out vegetables, meat, and spices. Then she moved to where the pots and pans were.

“You know how to cook?”

“Well we were- “

“Trained to, I get it.” Ash sits on the stool Astrid left vacant.

“Is there anything that you don’t know what to do?”

“Do her hair,” Dimitri says walking into the kitchen followed by the others.

“What are you doing?” Allana asks.

“Breakfast,” Astrid announces.

“Heavy breakfast,” Derek adds seeing the ingredients she laid in front of her.

“Sweet! A good old Duchovny breakfast.” Dimitri says passing by them and on his way out.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Astrid asks.

“Fixing up duffle bags.” He shouts.

“Duffle bags?” Allana asks.

“Dimitri likes to come prepared, probably brought his whole artillery with him.” Astrid sighs before she starts to wash vegetables, “Ok, so what time are we leaving for the picnic?” 

Damien checks his watch, “In an hour.”

“That sucks.” Astrid pouts, “Better get starting then.”

They watch her work with ease and quietly, she chops like a professional chef and moves around the kitchen as if she lived there. In fifteen minutes' time, she already has one meal prepared and two still cooking.

“Hey, how come there are no onions?” Jared asks.

“I don’t do onions.” She says as she adds a few spices on the chicken.

“Ok?” they exchanged looks, “Care to elaborate on that?”

“She’s allergic to onions,” Dimitri says popping inside the kitchen and stood beside the others.

Astrid glares at him, “Thank you, Dimitri.”

“You are welcome.” He said with a smile and dipped a finger in one of the sauce Astrid prepared that earned him a slap on the hand which he escaped.

“Wait, you’re allergic to onions?” Allana asks.

“But you’ve been eating at home- “

“Fried.” Astrid shrugs and checks on what meal was over the fire.

“But you ate- “Derek raised a brow, “you have been eating fried and vegetables.”

“Yup.” She makes a face, “I do get to eat white onions though. They aren’t as juicy as the red ones so I’m pretty safe with white onions.”

“Man, that must be hard.”

“Not really,” she said, “I just always carry meds around, especially when I’m hungry.”

“Which is always.” Dimitri teases, “Eats like a man, this one.”

“Shut up.” Astrid throws a tomato at him which he caught, “Anyone will build up an appetite after running around a lot you know.”

“Sure…” Dimitri says and takes a bite of the tomato.

Astrid grins and shook her head; she checks the clock and lit up instantly. “Food’s ready!”

Half an hour later they were still sitting around the dining table full and lazy.

“Damn Astrid, if you wanted to stay home for the day you should have just said so instead of feeding us like it was our last meal.” Derek groans.

“We still are going to that picnic.” Allana says covering her mouth in case a burp escapes, “I need to walk that meal off.”

“I’ll clean up,” Astrid stands, “you guys go get ready.”

“No way chef.” Jared shook his head and pushes himself out of the chair, “You cooked, we’ll clean.”

“Jared’s right.” Collin sits up.

“You and Allana go wait for us in the garden.”

“You boys sure?” Astrid gives them a look. “I don’t want to leave that heaven of a kitchen under your care.”

“Funny, we’ve clean and cooked before you know,” Derek says.

“Well, that’s something I’d like to see.”

“No, you don’t.” Allana frowns at Astrid. “Trust me.”

Astrid laughs and left the dining hall with Allana.

“So you have any idea where this picnic will be?” Astrid asked.

Allana smiles, “That’s a secret.”

Astrid groans, “Not you too Allana.”

“I’m with the guys on this one, A. It’s our secret place.”

“Ok, fine, I guess I’ll just have to act all excited now seeing Damien and Ash thinks I’d love this surprise.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will.” Allana lightly slaps her cousin by the arm. “Anyways, speaking of Damien and Ash… have you told Ash yet?”

“I don’t think I have to.” Astrid shrugs as they flopped down the sofa, “I’m guessing he already knows or is expecting it.”

“Still, you should tell him, he is your brother.”

“I know.” Astrid sighs. “But think about it, after what happened last night, won’t I just be offending him more?”

“Astrid, Ash is a good guy and he understands what’s going on, as long as you stop keeping secrets from us, we’ll understand what’s going.”

Astrid shrugs, “Well, I guess I can tell him later.”

“Good.” Allana’s smile grew, “’ Because I can’t wait for everyone in the school to know that you and Damien are dating.”

Astrid laughs, “Thank you, I think.”

“I swear if I need to find each and one of them a girlfriend for that mob of girls to stay away, I will do it,” Allana says exasperated, making Astrid laugh more.

Then someone knocks on the door, Allana and I exchanged look.

“Does anybody know we’re here?” Astrid whispers.

“No.” Allana shakes her head, “Well, maybe the people from last night. But I don’t think they’ll take time to come here.”

Astrid frowns and peeks through the window and saw a man about his father’s age, just a bit out of shape. Hell, if she didn’t know better her dad will pass as a thirty-something bachelor. Astrid walks up the door and opened it a little.

“Can I help you?” she asks the man. Instead of answering he just stood there gawking at her. “Excuse me?”

“My God, you look just like her.” He said in almost a whisper.

“Excuse me?” Astrid steps back, then Allana walks up behind Astrid.

“Oh, good morning Mayor Kramer.” Allana greets.

“Good morning Miss Allana, it’s nice to see you.” He greets her, then looked back at Astrid. “Hello, you must be Miss Astrid, I’m Alvin Kramer.”

“Astrid, Astrid Matthews.” She says back and shook his hand. She pulls back, but his hold tightens.

“Mayor Kramer,” Collin says, as he walks into the room and right up the door, “nice of you to visit us.”

Astrid pulls her hand back, keeping her eyes at the Mayor who also kept his eyes on her.

“Hey, you ok?” Damien stands behind Astrid, she frowns and reached for his hand.

Damien looks up at the mayor, “What can we do for you Mayor Kramer?”

Mayor Kramer sees their hands and frowned. “Well, Uhm, my daughter told me that you were in town.”

“Yes, just over the weekend.” Ash says, “We wanted to show Astrid around.”

“Well, she seems to have made quite an impression from what I heard.” He smiles at her, making her step behind Damien. “If I knew earlier that you were here, I would have personally invited you to the ball.”

“Andy did that for you, Mayor Kramer, no worries,” Jared says.

“No, you went to the teen’s ball, or should I say rave.” He rolls his eyes, “We had the ball at my home this year.”

“Oh, well,” Allana says, “too bad we weren’t able to come.”

“Yes, that’s why I would like to invite you to join us for dinner.”

“Well, we don’t have anything planned yet, I guess it is ok.” Ash looks around for any objection.

Damien was about to decline but Astrid gave his hand a squeeze and lightly shook her head.

“Great! I’ll be expecting you around 7:30?”

“Yes Mayor Kramer, we’ll see you there,” Collin says standing by the door, ready to close it as soon as they’ve exchanged farewells.

“Great.” Then he glances at Astrid again, “It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Astrid.”

Astrid gave a weak nod and forced a smile, with that he left.

“Well, that was weird,” Derek says. “Wonder what the occasion is?”

“Probably just to show off.” Jared says, “You ladies ok with this right? Andy will be there.”

“Yeah, no worries.” Astrid says, and walks toward the kitchen, “I’ll just go get some water, excuse me.”

She walks off and they exchanged looks.

“The mayor was extra weird today.” Allana says, “He was gawking at Astrid.”

“I guess that explains why she was a bit shaken.” Damien said, “I’d go check on her, we’ll leave in a few minutes?”

“Yeah,” Collin says, “I’ll go get the car ready.”

Damien enters the kitchen and saw Astrid with a glass of water in her hand but is just staring at it.

“Astrid?” he calls out, Astrid instantly snaps up and looked up at him. “You ok?”

“Yeah, just…” she gave Damien a look. “Who do I look like?”

“What do you mean?”

“He said I look just like her.”

“Well, I guess he thinks you look like Aunt Hannah.”

“But they’re just my adopted parents.”

Damien shrugs, “Forget about it, angel, he always tells me and Ash how we look like dad and Uncle Terrence, maybe he’s just mixed up.” He moves behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.

“I guess, but…” she sighs, “the way he held my hand…”

Damien reached for her hand, “Don’t tell me you also think he’s also adorable and hot.”

This made Astrid laugh, he felt her relax as she leaned back on him.

“Allana told me to tell Ash about us.” She says to put her back in the mood to go out.

“Would you want that?” he raised a brow.

“Well, it would sure beat the hell out of sneaking around.” She shrugs, “Besides, I’m pretty sure he already knows about it.”

“Why do say that?” 

“He said so himself last night.” She faces him, “He’s glad that you are here to take care of me, that you’ll never leave even if I ask you to.”

“Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one who knows that,” Damien says running his hand over her back while the other one rested on the base of her spine.

“You boys are suicidal do you know that?” she says, “I’ll probably get you killed less than five minutes outside NSA.”

“I dare to disagree.” He says, “It has been more than twenty-four hours and we’re still alive and kicking.”

“For now.”

“Angel, stop being so morbid, we’ll work this out.” Damien says, “Don’t underestimate your grandfather’s security, it is actually quite remarkable.”

She sighs and nods, not wanting to go technical.

“Hey, you guys ready?” Derek pops his head in the room.

“Yeah,” Astrid nods.

“Then let’s go.” Derek reaches out a hand for her.

Astrid runs up to him and lets him put an arm over her shoulder, and she put one arm around his waist.

“I’ll see you in the car.” Damien chuckles watching them walk out of the kitchen.

“Ok,” Astrid says.

“Hurry up before your girl falls for me.” Derek teased.

“In your dreams.” Astrid and Damien said in unison, then they were out of his sight.

Damien picks up Astrid’s glass and took a drink and set it back in the middle of the table and left.

After a twenty-minute drive, they finally had to leave the car underneath a huge tree and start to walk.

“Are we there yet?” Astrid asks again, it has been fifteen minutes since they entered the small forest.

“No.” Jared and Derek answer again.

“It better be worth it,” Astrid mutters.

“Oh, it definitely is,” Allana says. “Besides you have to walk off all those calories we ate earlier.

“Don’t worry about that Allana, that was a balanced meal, it won’t make you fat, trust me.”

“Well, if you’d be the model for that testament, I’ll be damn sure to eat like that every day,” Allana says.

“Hear that Collin?” Astrid says, “Better get a chef.”

“No need to if I have you, Lil cousin.” He says.

“Ah, finally!” Derek runs up to a tree that was near a cliff.

“We’re here,” Damien tells Astrid.

They all walked up to the cliff; Astrid's mouth dropped open, they were standing by the cliff that was overlooking a lagoon, well hidden from any trespassers.

“It’s beautiful.” She said.

“Told you it was worth it.” Allana grins.

“Can we go for a swim?” Dimitri asks Ash.

“Yeah, but we’ll have to climb down- “

“Raise you.” Astrid and Dimitri say in unison and start to climb down at the edge of the cliff. 

The boys and Allana were just to surprise to even thinking of stopping them. Ten minutes later they were at the bottom of the almost 300 meters high cliff.

“Beat you!” Dimitri jumped three meters down, Astrid grins and did a backflip and perfectly landed two meters down.

“Don’t care, that was fun.” She says and starts looking around, still amazed at the beauty of the lagoon, which seems to have intensified now that they were up close. 

Finally, they see the other walking toward them.

“You took your time.” Dimitri jogs toward them.

“No, we took the stairs.” Jared said, “But I would be a hypocrite if I say that what you guys did was cool, but still, I’m too young to die.”

“There was a cliff we always chill at back home and seeing that Astrid and I always had too much time in our hands after an assignment, well, we pretty much tried every extreme sport there is,” Dimitri says. “Still second in rock climbing.”

“Yeah, yeah…” 

“But I do hope you guys won’t be so reckless.” Allana grabs Astrid’s hand and pulls her away from the boys, “Let’s go change.”

“Where?” she asks.

“We have a shack here.” She says, “This is still Jacobson land.”

“We’ll go for a swim!” Collin shouts.

“Ok!” the girls answered back.

They finally reached the shack, Astrid laughed. “Allana this isn’t a shack; this is a house.”

“Oh, well, that’s what they call it,” Allana says.

Astrid stifled a laugh, “Ok, well, now you know better, trust the Jacobson to think that this is a shack.”

“Hey, don’t diss until you see the inside, urgh! It’s so medieval.” Allana pulled out a key and opened the front door.

The sofas were covered with a white cloth that Allana pulled off as she passed by. Astrid then walked up the window and opened the accordion wall revealing the view of the lagoon. The boys were all fooling around and tossing the football that Derek brought along.

“Boys…” she says under her breath, amused.

“So, there are only seven rooms here, we could share and let the boys choose their rooms.” She said, “Or maybe you’d bunk with Damien?”

She snorts, “We’ll just be staying for the day Allana, not overnight.”

“Well, you’ll never know…” she said in a singsong voice.

Astrid laughs. “No, remember we have dinner with the Kramer’s and our flight is like five in the morning.”

“Fine.” She says, “I’m still be bunking with Collin.” She runs up the stairs as if she was scared Astrid will talk her out of it.

Astrid laughs and looks around the room and opening the windows to let the wind in and the dust-out.

Ten minutes later they were out in the porch sitting down, sipping some juice that Astrid concocted with whatever provision they brought. They were in their bikinis and sunglasses, not technically getting a tan, just relaxing and taking in the view around them.

“I’ve got to say even NSA can’t make me feel this relaxed,” Allana says.

“True,” Astrid says taking a sip of her drink. “Allana?”

“Hm?”

“What could I get Damien for his birthday?”

“Shoot!” Allana sat up, “I completely forgot about it!”

“I think he forgot about it too.” Astrid shrugs.

“Damn, I never thought that was possible, well, I guess it is with you here now.”

Astrid threw her shirt at Allana, “What does that mean?”

Allana laughs, “Oh c’mon Astrid, he has waited for you for nine years, could you forgive the guy for forgetting his own birthday seeing the love of his life is finally home?”

“Shut up.” Astrid sat back, blushing.

“I’m serious.” Allana continues, “He didn’t even say he likes you; he went directly to I love you.”

“Shut up Allana.”

“Whatever Astrid, you agree with me and you know it.” They both fell quiet, then Allana laughs, “Maybe you should get him a new gauze.”

Astrid laughs, “He said it makes him feel weak, he asked Dimitri to take it off before they started playing.”

“Is that ok?”

“Dimitri said the cut pretty much closed up already and, well, he has seen worse, so it seemed like just a scratch to Dimitri.” Astrid rolls her eyes and watched Damien a bit worried, when she remembered something, making her grin.

“I think I know what to do.” Astrid sits up and turns to Allana, “But you have to help me out.”

Allana lowered her sunglasses to the tip of her nose giving her cousin a mischievous look, “Depends on what you have in mind.”

Astrid fixes her thoughts and watched Damien with a smile. 

“Just a walk down memory lane,” Astrid says. “C’mon!”

They put on their shorts and flip flops 

“Where are you going?” the boys ask as they make their way to them.

“Girl thing,” Astrid shouts over her shoulder and pulls Allana inside the house giggling.

“Astrid Matthews you better not be up to trouble,” Ash calls out sitting on where Astrid was a second ago.

“I’m not.” She said, “Dimitri!”

“I don’t even want to know,” Derek says sitting on Allana’s chair.

“She looks like she’s having the time of her life.” Jared smiles.

“Well, can you really blame her?” Collin says leaning on the post in front of Ash, “This is probably her first vacation.”

“True,” Ash says, “but I’m assuming that someone has to be blamed too.” He glanced at Damien.

“Yeah, Damien, how are you and the princess doing?” Derek teases.

Damien grins, “Fine I guess.”

“Just fine?” Ash asks.

Damien stifled a laugh, “Let’s just say, I’m glad she’s home, isn’t that enough?”

“And what we’re saying is that you’ve waited long enough.” Jared says, “And unless you are enjoying the wait, you better mark her as yours so the boys at school stop feasting on her.”

“I agree.” Ash says, “I mean, being her big brother seems not enough. I don’t mind the help.”

“See? Even blood relative agrees that’s already a blessing from the twin brother.” Derek lets out a playful gasp making the boys laugh.

Then they heard the girls talking and giggling and running pass them.

“Hey, where are you going now?” Collin tries to catch Allana, but she steps away.

“Walk,” Allana said.

“I’m com- “

“No,” they said in unison.

“Girl time, remember?” Allana snaps.

“But- “

“We’ll be ok, don’t worry.” Astrid said, “We’ll be back in half an hour!”

They watch as they both run off to who knows where with their bags and still in their bikini top, then Dimitri steps out of the house.

“What are those two up to?” Derek asks Dimitri.

“I don’t know, Astrid just asked me for a couple of glow sticks and ran off.”

“Glow sticks?” Jared says, “But we’d be leaving before nightfall.”

Dimitri shrugs and went back inside. They all looked back to where the two disappeared.

Half an hour later the two came back, giggling. Allana stood in front of Collin, the boys were lying on the sand, relaxing.

“I want to go for a swim,” Allana announced.

“Well, hello to you too,” Collin says looking up at her, amused.

“You sure you want to get your hair wet?” Derek teased.

“Oh, I know you like seeing girls wet.” Allana teased back, walking toward Collin and grabbed his hand.

Derek chuckles and shook his head, “I swear, you girls will be the death of me.”

“You set yourself for that one, kiddo,” Jared says. “How about you Astrid? Don’t want to go near the water?”

“I’d like to go for a walk again, Allana said she’s too tired to keep up with me.” She said looking up at Damien, who chuckles and stretched his hand out.

“We’ll see you later then,” Jared says.

“None of you interested in coming?” Astrid asks.

“You whine a lot when you walk, so, no,” Derek says lying back down and closed his eyes.

“Not true!” Astrid said.

“Yes, it is.” the boys mumbled in unison.

Damien chuckles and pulls her away, “Let’s go, grouch.”

Astrid playfully hits him on the arm, and they start to walk toward where the girls walked off earlier.

“So, you liked the surprise?” Damien asks.

“If I say no, what would you do?” Astrid looks up at him with a playful smile.

“Well, I can make up another surprise.” He says.

She shakes her head, “I think you’re doing too much already Damien.”

Damien reached for her and pulled her closer, “Nothing is too much for you, angel.”

Astrid smiled, “Well, I think it’s time that I give something in return.”

Damien gave her a questioned look, “What do you mean?”

Astrid just smiled, steps out of his hold, and ran ahead.

“Where are you going?” he calls out.

Astrid just giggled and ran; he sees her make a sharp turn and disappears from his view. He starts runs after her, and at every turn, he’d just catch the end of her hair flowing behind her as she runs going to who knows where. Finally, she makes another sharp turn and Damien had almost caught up when he stopped in surprise.

They’ve reached the beach, which was on the other side of the cliff, he looks around and sees a towel laid out under a shade, besides it on the sand the words I’m with you was written.

Food was laid out as well and the ocean breeze made the moment perfect.

“It’s been almost two years…” he turns around and sees Astrid walk up to him from behind. “You were so dorky, to be frank, but…” she smiles and puts her arms over his neck, pulled his face to her and rested her forehead on his, “you’re my dork.”’

Damien stifled a laugh and ran his hands over her waist and finally wrapping her in his arms and pulls her close. 

“Happy Birthday.”

Damien raised a brow and finally understood.

“You forgot, didn’t you?” she teases.

“No,” he lies, “I can’t forget something very important.”

“Then I guess that makes it important for me too.” She says.

But Damien shakes his head, “Not the same way as it is to me, particularly this birthday.”

Astrid steps back giving him a questioned look, “What do you mean?”

Damien smiles, “You’ll know soon, now, how about that gift.”

Astrid raises a brow, amused. “This is it.”

Damien laughs and shakes his head, “Oh no, no way is this it.”

“What do you want then?” she asks.

He stares at him for a few seconds, as if memorizing every inch of her face, “Kiss me.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s fair, since we’ll both benefit from- “

Astrid was unable to finish what she wanted to say as Damien cut her off by kissing her. She smiles as he deepens the kiss, then she ran her hand through his hair and pulls him closer.

“Well, what is this? A private party?”

They separated and looked behind and saw the gang, they both laughed, and Astrid hid her face on Damien’s chest.

“Well, I don’t know if I’m supposed to be surprised as well by this.” Ash shrugs playfully, “But I couldn’t say I didn’t saw it coming.”

The others laughed.

“Way to ruin the moment guys,” Damien says, turning Astrid to face them, but keeping his hold around her waist.

“Well, maybe we should do it over again?” Derek says.

The boys stepped aside and Allana stepped out carrying a cake with a lit candle.

Damien laughs and moved himself and Astrid nearer them, meeting Allana halfway. Astrid’s mouth was open, surprised.

“You didn’t think we’d really forget, would you?” Allana teased her as she raised the cake up, “Make a wish.”

He grins and glanced at Astrid, “Funny, I can’t seem to think of anything else I’d like.”

“I thought you’d say that,” Jared says.

With that, they spent the rest of the afternoon talking and laughing. Astrid once again watched them as she sat with Damien who had his arms around her, reliving the peace that she has discovered a few hours ago.

“Girls, let’s go!” Collin shouts from the bottom of the stairs, “We don’t want to be late for dinner.”

“Coming!” Allana shouts from their bedroom.

Collin walks back to the boys who were waiting for the girls out at the car.

“Man, I never thought it was possible.” Derek whines.

“What is?” Ash asks.

“For Allana to be late on occasions like this,” Derek points out, “this all started when Astrid arrived you know?”

“Well, that just means that there’s another set of hands and feet to paint and hair to straighten or curl.” Jared says, “Do the math.”

“I’ll do the math when the girls start to do the time,” Derek says.

“Geez, we’re here already, chill Derek,” Allana says as she and Astrid step out of the house.

The boys stared at them and smiled.

“Well, you girls clean up good.” Jared teased.

“I hope we can say the same for you boys.” Allana teased back walking up to Collin.

“Man, less skin or all skin you still seem to be trouble,” Derek says.

“Well, sorry to inconvenience you,” Astrid says, playfully hitting Derek on the chest.

“Don’t listen to him, sis.” Ash says, reaching for her and gave her a kiss on the forehead, “You look beautiful, you both do.” He glanced at Allana. “Now can we please get going?”

“Urgh, should have known that Ash’s flattery has some sort of twist.” Allana rolls her eyes as she walks to the car, the boys laugh and followed her. Damien reached for Astrid’s hand and walked her to the car.

“Hey.” Astrid pulls Damien aside.

“Yeah?”

“I forgot to give you one more gift.” She said.

“Another gift?” Damien raised a brow.

Astrid grins and nodded, “Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, Damien.”

“Fine, Ms. Bossy.” He chuckles and closed his eyes.

Astrid grins and took his hand. “What are you doing Astrid?”

“Be patient Damien.” She says as she hurried. “Ok, open your eyes.”

Damien does as told and looked down at his wrist. Then Astrid raised her wrist showing off her own light stick that was tied around her wrist. “Now you can find me easily.”

Damien shook his head and gave her a kiss on the forehead, “Trust me, angel, I can find you even at the darkest night.”

Astrid smiles and shook her head.

“Hey, are you two coming or not?” Ash asks, “I wouldn’t mind leaving you if this dinner wasn’t for Astrid, you know.”

“We’re coming,” Astrid says and pulled Damien with her.

Twenty minutes later, not a minute too late, they reached the Kramer’s home and they were welcomed by the mayor who was standing at the front porch.

“Ah, I thought you changed your mind.” He said with a laugh.

“Thought about it,” Derek says under his breath and Astrid gave him a look but internally can’t help agreeing.

“Good evening Mayor Kramer,” Ash says.

“Master Ash, welcome, I hope you kids are hungry, I had the cook prepare us quite a meal tonight.”

“I hope we aren’t much of a bother,” Allana says.

“Oh, don’t be silly Miss Allana, I’m glad to have your kids here and I’ll be damned if I can’t give you the best that I could offer.”

“Well, thank you for the invitation, Mayor Kramer,” Collin says.

“You are very much welcome Master Collin.” He says and turns to Astrid, “Mistress Astrid, you look wonderful.”

“Thank you, Mayor Kramer,” Astrid says in almost a whisper, she moves closer to Damien, Mayor Kramer glances at Damien but quickly turns to Astrid with a smile.

“Your mother must have jumped for joy to have you home.” He says.

Astrid smiles, “She did a very ladylike jump, but her joy was there.”

Mayor Kramer laughs, “Anyway, we should go inside, the old families of the town are excited to meet you.” He lent out a hand toward her.

Astrid stares at it, then back at his face.

“Mayor Kramer, please forgive my sister, she is very sensitive to who ushers her.” Ash says, “She rarely has anyone stay close much more touch her.”

“Oh, well, I mean no harm, that’s for sure.” The mayor insisted not pulling his hand back.

“And we don’t mean to be rude.” Damien answers for Astrid, “But it will be better if you can give her time to relax.”

Mayor Kramer frowns at Damien and steps away. “I’m sorry for bringing you discomfort, Miss Astrid.”

Astrid just gave a nod in response; she gave Damien’s hand a squeeze to say thank you.

“Very well, let us join the others in the parlor; dinner will be in a few minutes.” He turns and enters the house.

The others followed while Astrid and Damien stayed behind.

“You ok?” Damien whispers, Astrid forced a nod.

“Calm down Astrid.” Dimitri says on her other side, “I’ll keep an eye on him, Damien I advise you not to leave Astrid’ side, I don’t trust the man.”

“I know,” Damien says staring at the back of the head of the mayor.

When they reached inside, they were welcomed by some of the families that Ash knew and introduced Astrid to them, and as expected, Damien never left her side. 

Finally, dinner was announced, and they moved to the dining hall and Astrid being the guest of honor was asked to sit on the right side of the mayor, where Ash settled himself already. Besides, Astrid will have to die first before she allows Ash or Damien to be sitting across Amber.

“How has your stay in town been, miss Astrid?” one man asked while they were starting dinner.

“Oh, it has been lovely.” Astrid says, “We’ve met some trouble, but it was nothing that we can’t handle.”

“Trouble?” the Mayor asks.

“It’s no big deal,” Astrid says, forcing a smile.

Amber shrugs and slouched on the chair across Astrid and glares at her, “Jameson tried to kiss her last night.”

“Excuse me?” one of the older women asked down at the table.

“Jameson tried to kiss her.” Amber repeated, sounding bored, “Practically forced her.”

“Is this true?” Mayor Kramer asked.

“Unfortunately, yes, it is.” Jared says, “But if Astrid says that it is no big deal- “

Amber interrupts him with a snort, “She says that now after she almost slashed his throat.”

Astrid looks down on her plate, embarrassed of her outburst last night. Maybe she did overreact.

“Astrid is still adapting to crowds.” Derek says, “She felt that she needed to protect herself last night after Jameson assaulted her- “

“Assaulted her?” Amber sat up, “She assaulted him, she was the one who had a knife on his throat! To think that you are supposed to be this prim and proper heiress-”

“Enough Amber!” Mayor Kramer slammed his hand on the table, everyone was quiet and Astrid never looking up. The room became so quiet that you’d probably hear a pin drop.

“I’m sorry if I overreacted.” Astrid said in almost a whisper, “I, I just… I just got scared, that’s all.”

They were staring at her; Damien reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Miss Astrid.” The woman said, “I don’t think that you overreacted, if what Amber says is true, that Jameson practically forced himself to you, I would like to apologize for his action. I know it is too late now or whatever torment you felt would not change, but I do hope that you will accept our family’s most sincere apology.”

Astrid stared at her for a second then she smiled, “Consider it forgotten Mrs. Jordan.”

The woman smiles back, relieved. “Thank you.”

“Well, how about we enjoy the remainder of the night,” Allana announces, “the chef had surely outdone himself tonight, I believe?”

The guests relax and agreed.

Later into the night, Astrid and Damien stepped out into the balcony, wanting to get out of the limelight.

“Wow, they really do adore the Jacobson, don’t they?” Astrid asks, leaning at the rails of the balcony.

Damien stood beside her and watched the people inside through the door. “You can say that. Your grandparents helped a lot of them, so you really can’t blame them.”

Astrid shook her head, “Amazing.”

“What is?”

“How lucky we are.” She says, “Back then all we wanted was to be adopted, not this.”

“Well, I guess we should make out the best of this, don’t you agree?”

“We should go to the orphanage,” Astrid says.

“Why?”

“For a visit. I wonder if the treehouse is still there.”

“I’m pretty sure Mrs. Jefferson had that removed.” 

Astrid laughs remembering how the woman uses to scold them for spending the whole day in the treehouse and once Damien missed an interview with a couple.

“We’ll never know.” She said, then she cleared her throat.

“Thirsty?”

“Yeah,” Astrid says giving him a sheepish look.

“I’ll go get you a drink, will you be fine here?”

“Better off than inside.” She says making Damien laugh before rushing back inside.

Astrid turns around and looked at the garden below. She has to admit the Kramer’s home was beautiful, and she has seen a number of beautiful houses in her assignment, but nothing like the Kramer’s.’ It was like a book out of a Jane Austen movie.

“A lovely evening, isn’t it?”

Astrid turns around and saw the Mayor walking up to her, looking at the sky, holding a glass of whisky on his hand.

Astrid gave a polite smile, “It is.” She looked up at the sky, “There are more stars here than at home.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised that you are into stars, your mother loved to stargaze when she visits here.”

“Really?”

He nods, “Believe it or not, your mother’s room was strategically designed by your grandfather to give her the best view of the sky so she can stargaze from her bedroom balcony.” Astrid looks at where the Jacobson house stood. “You look very much like her, except for the eyes, you have your father’s eyes.”

“Thank you.”

“I know you think it’s weird that I’m saying this, don’t get me wrong, I do know that you and the boys were adopted. But when I saw you, I can’t help being amaze of the similarities, I wonder…” he started but then he sighed and looks away.

“Wonder what Mayor Kramer?” Astrid asks.

He looks at her and smiled, “I wonder what you’d look like if you have my eyes…”

Astrid frowns and faced him, “What do you mean?”

He took a sip of his drink, “I was supposed to marry your mother, your grandparents and my parents had already made the arrangements until your father came into the scene.” His eyes were slowly filled with anger. “She turned me down, apologizing that she did not love me enough to marry me, that she was in love with Terrence. I made her understand that she was making a mistake, and I was right. When the true heirs and heiress were killed along with Lily, I knew she would come home. Come home to me.” 

He took another sip this time finishing the whole glass.

“She did come home, but she arrived here with Terrence. At first, she was a wreck, losing her children and her best friend weakened her. Unexpectedly, Terrence didn’t run away, he knew it was his fault being who he and his family are, he had the guts and face to come here parading as if he owned the place just because he was married to the Jacobson heir.” He shook his head in anger, “Your mother deserves more. He cannot protect her, and when you were kidnapped again, it is obvious that he cannot protect his children.”

Astrid by now had her hands balled into fists, angry. “I wasn’t kidnapped, I left.” She snaps. Mayor Kramer looked up at her surprised. “Now that I am the heiress of the Matthews, I am the one who is getting them endangered. I would very much appreciate it if you do not speak so lowly of my adopted father as he is a great man, he loves mom, my brother, and me. With or without these riches, he still will love us and protect us. My mother is happy with him, and I hope that you will respect that, you have a family of your own, give your attention to your daughter who is obviously begging for it.”

“You don’t know what you speak off, little girl.”

“As you obviously don’t know my mother.” Astrid snaps back, “Here you are trying to make me believe you wanted to marry her, but not once did you say you loved her. It’s just always, mine, to me… aren’t we a bit selfish Mayor Kramer?”

With that Mayor Kramer slaps her, she reached for her cheek and looked back at Mayor Kramer who had a surprising look on his face. 

“Astrid!” Damien stood by the door, carrying a glass of champagne.

“Miss Astrid, I, I didn’t- “

“And to think you were just talking about protecting me if I was your child.” She smirks, “A hypocrite.”

With that Astrid walks to Damien, he stops her, put an arm around her waist, and ran his hand on her cheek, “Are you ok?”

She smiles and nods, “I feel much better.” She glances at Mayor Kramer and then back at Damien, “I’d very much like to go home now.”

Damien nodded and gave Mayor Kramer a glare and they went inside and to look for the others.

When they reached the house the whole gang found out what happened, Astrid rested her hand on Damien’s shoulder.

“That asshole.” Derek snaps, “You should have pushed him off the rails.”

“It wouldn’t be worth it.” Astrid sighs as they all stepped inside the kitchen.

“Still you should have at least hit him back or something,” Derek says.

Astrid sighed and rested her face on her hand then flinched, Ash moves to her side and checked on her cheek, “That would bruise tomorrow.”

“I’m fine,” Astrid sighed, “I guess I was just caught surprise.”

Ash nodded and kissed her on the forehead.

“Guys, c’mon.” Allana says, exasperated, “I thought you said you’d finish the dishes.”

“We did,” Jared said.

“Yet you left one glass?” Allana gestures at the sink.

“Oh, I think that’s mine.” Astrid said, “I had a drink before we left.”

Damien gave a questioned look, “That’s weird.”

“What is?” Collin asks.

“I’m pretty sure I left that in the middle of the table, not in the sink,” Damien says.

Astrid and Dimitri exchanged looks.

“You armed?” Dimitri asks. Astrid shook her head; Dimitri walked toward the fridge and grabbed the empty cookie jar on top of the fridge and pulled out a gun and handed it to Astrid. “Check upstairs and grab Shadow and Blade, God knows I trust you more with near contact combat.”

Astrid nods and cocked the gun.

“You lot stay at the main hall,” Dimitri says pulling out a gun underneath his shirt.

“We can take care of ourselves Dimitri, thank you,” Derek says, irritated.

“Yeah, I know, but you’ve never dealt with assassins before, have you?” None of them answered, “I thought so.”

“I’ll take the inside of the house,” Astrid says, “No blood, particularly if it’s a messenger, I want a word with whoever he is.”

Dimitri grins at the gang, “Well, let’s hope that she’ll be sending them the right message.” 

He follows Astrid out of the kitchen.

Five minutes later, Astrid ran down the stairs, blades strapped on her back, two guns on her hands.

“House is cleared.” She says, moving toward the gang, “They’re moving too fast.”

“Do you really think it’s them?” Allana asks, a bit worried.

“I’m hoping not.” Astrid says with a sigh, “But if someone was indeed inside the house and was able to sidestep the security Dimitri put up, its better off we’re sure.”

Suddenly they heard shuffling from the front door, they stood on guard, then Dimitri stepped inside dragging a man with him, he had a dagger over the intruder’s neck.

"Jetson," he says to Astrid, pulling up a sleeve revealing a tattoo.

"Look up," Astrid says walks up to the man who was now on his knees, out of breath. He slowly looks up at her and his eyes widened.

"You..."

Astrid laughs, "Wow Kale, I never thought you'd sink in any lower to become a spy. And here I thought the Jetson would be the one I should be, at least, a little scared of."

"You should," he said.

Astrid squats in front of him, "And why is that Kale?"

"Every house is after you." he says, "I don't know what you did to anger your house Angel but with every house determined to kill you, we will."

"We?" she asks, "Does that mean the house is working together now?"

He snaps his mouth shut and looked away. Astrid then reached underneath her dress and pulled out a dagger.

"I'd take that as a yes," she says, "But seeing you don't seem to plan to talk..."

"You'll have to kill me first, Angel." he snarls.

"And you know I have no problem with that."

He grimaced and looked at the others, "Even in front of your family?"

"Even in front of my family," she repeats. "You see, I'm not all that pink and perky, my family does kill people who we consider as harmful to us." He frowns, "Do you really think you ganging up on me will make killing me easier?" she laughs, "Seeing that Father Charles is behind this, I’m guessing he didn't bother telling you that I am the heiress to the deadliest underworld organization in the world."

"The W-white T-tigers?"

"Now, you will tell us what we need to know or I'll be a force to chop you..." she points the tip of the dagger on his forehead and pierced him there, blood trickle down his face as he pulls away, but Astrid just pushed the dagger deeper and ran it down his face, “...slowly."

"Then just kill me." he snarls, his eyes closed, fighting off the pain, "I'd rather be killed now than be dealt with at home."

"Are you sure about that?" Dimitri spat, "Just think about that little girl you watch over, who'll feed her now? Who'll take her away from that forsaken place? Who'll-"

"She'll avenge for my death!" he snaps, "She is just like you, she's beginning to be a jewel for the Jetson."

"I should have never left her with you." Astrid shook her head, "Maybe it’s time that I take her back."

"No!"

Astrid raises a brow, "What is this? An emotion?"

"Just kill me now Angel!" he shouted, "You had the chance before; I don't know why you didn't!"

Astrid frowns, Because I wanted you to live and protect that child. You were supposed to hide her from the house, idiot! That was our deal. And I thought that you had the decency of keeping your word."

"And I chose not to go through."

"Because you wanted to feel needed," Astrid says. "You were to save her in exchange for not killing you, there's no honor left in you Kale." she stood up and turned around.

Then the man dropped on the ground dead after Dimitri hit him from behind. Dimitri looked up at the surprised Astrid.

“I’m guessing you want him alive?” Astrid sighs and nods.

"Astrid..."

"That girl is the heiress of one of the mobsters in China." she said, "She was to be taken in some orphanage then I'll, later on, get her."

"Why did you-"

"Her mother asked me to," she said. "The mother hired me to kill her husband and take the girl away. But the man found out about it, killed the mother and was about to kill the child, I came there to push through with the plan, I killed him but then Kale was working for him and well, assassins of different houses can't work well together. We fought and I could have killed him, I would have taken the child but knowing Father Charles..." she shook her head, "I told him that I'll spare his life in exchange that he'll take the child to an orphanage. But I guess he didn't."

"What do we plan to do then?" Derek asks. Astrid looks up at him, questioned. "Well, you promised to take care of that child. You don't break promises."

She shook her head, "I can't just go inside the Jetsons and grab her."

"Well, you can actually." Dimitri says, "You know that house like the back of your hand."

"It's in Russia, I need to be back in NSA tomorrow.”

"Then, I guess we better start packing," Ash says.

Astrid shook her head, "No. I'm walking into a houseful of assassins-"

"And you aren't going alone." Jared says, "Besides, this way, we'll be able to take down one house and just a dozen more to go."

Astrid faces Damien who grins, "We're all up for it, angel. How about a little trust?"

Astrid looked at all of them and shrugs. “Kale is right, by now she can be the Jetson’s jewel.” She says, “She was raised by the Ozawa Clan.”

“You were the one who killed Ozawa?” Dimitri asks 

“It was clean, don’t worry.” Astrid says, “Tenshi knows me like she knows Kale. I just hope Kale is right when he said she’s just like me.”

“Why do you say that?” Collin asks.

“If that’s true, she’d want nothing but to leave the Jetsons.”