Nikki Flynn didn't get nervous often, but as she stood outside the door of Ysanne's office, there was a tight knot in her stomach. What would be discussed here today could shape the entire course of her future.

Jason squeezed her hand. "You've got this," he said.

Nikki took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, shaking her curls off her face.

Jason knocked on Ysanne's door.

"Entrez," Ysanne said, her voice as crisp and cool as ever.

Jason opened the door, and he and Nikki stepped inside.

Ysanne sat behind her black desk, as pale and perfect as ever, her diamond pendant glittering at her throat, her hair a sleek sheet down her back. She indicated the seats in front of the desk with a manicured hand.

Nikki and Jason sat.

"I understand that you have something important you wish to discuss with me," Ysanne said.

"Yeah," Nikki said.

"I'm listening."

"It's about the kids' school," Nikki said.

It felt weird to call them 'kids' – the first time she'd met them, she'd been younger than most of them. But she had grown up. They hadn't. She wasn't sure how else to refer to them.

"I know that it won't be run exactly like Belle Morte, but you'll still need some form of security, right?" Nikki continued.

"Correct."

Nikki took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "I'd like to work security at the new house."

Silence fell.

Ysanne stared at Nikki, her face a marble mask, but Nikki firmly held her gaze.

"I see," Ysanne said at last.

Another long pause.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea," Ysanne said.

"Why not?" Nikki challenged.

"You're only seventeen, Nikita."

"In a few months I'll be eighteen, and according to what Jason's told me, the projected finished date for the new house is after my eighteenth birthday."

Ysanne shot Jason a penetrating look.

He beamed back at her.

"You have no experience," Ysanne pointed out, looking back at Nikki.

"I've been training for this for years. I'm fit, I'm fast, I've been taking martial arts classes, and I would be extremely dedicated to the job."

"She also might move in with Gid and me when our cottage is done," Jason added, even though Nikki hadn't agreed to this. She didn't say anything, though.

"You wanted Jason and Gideon to run the house because they're young enough that the kids will feel comfortable with them, while also being old enough to be figures of authority, so the kids don't always have to be reminded that they are kids forever, and I think you need that same balance with security."

Ysanne didn't look convinced, but Nikki wasn't backing down.

"The point of this house is to give the kids their own space, so they can feel more like they're growing up, even though they never will. Having security closer to their own age will make it seem more like they're sharing the house with a bigger group of friends, rather than being watched over by forty-somethings twenty-four-seven."

"No matter how hard you train, you will never be able to match a vampire for strength," Ysanne pointed out.

"Neither can any of the people currently guarding Belle Morte," Nikki pointed out. "You want the kids to be safe in their house, but you have to be aware that their very existence is still considered a lot more controversial than any other vampire's. Before them, there were no known instances of vampire kids, ever."

"I'm well aware of that," Ysanne said.

"Then you know that the biggest risk to those kids are humans, not other vampires. I would be there to help defend them against humans."

As vampires, the kids were stronger than Nikki could ever be, but she'd already seen what happened when Chloe Hegerty, one of the younger kids, reacted when confronted with a human enemy. All her vampire strength had counted for nothing in the face of her fear.

None of the kids had asked to be turned into vampires, and in so many ways they would still be adjusting to that. Sometimes Nikki thought that they'd be adjusting to it for the rest of their lives. She wanted them to have as normal a life as possible, and that meant not expecting them to fight off human threats just because they were strong enough to do so.

"Are you proposing that the house's entire security detail should be teenagers?" Ysanne said.

Nikki didn't know how to interpret her tone.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe there's room for some older guards, but I do think that the majority of guards should be closer to the kids' age, if possible."

Ysanne looked at Jason again.

"I agree with Nikki," he said. "If the kids' security is exactly the same as Belle Morte's, then they're going to feel like they're in prison or something."

"I am going to great lengths to ensure that they will want for nothing in their house," Ysanne pointed out.

"A gilded cage is still a cage," Jason countered. "That's exactly why Etienne and Jemima did what they did, and we need to make sure we don't make those mistakes again."

Ysanne's expression didn't waver, but her fingers tightened, almost imperceptibly on the desktop.

Nikki placed her own hands on the desk. Her skin was tanned a soft brown after so many hours running and working out under the sun, a contrast to Ysanne's porcelain pale skin, and her nails were short and blunt, nothing like Ysanne's long, polished manicure.

Once, Nikki would have felt intimidated by Ysanne.

Now, she didn't.

"I've been training for years for this. You trusted my Dad, and you were right to, because he died for Belle Morte. I want to work security at a vampire house, and I think the kids' house is where I'm meant to be," she said. "Plus, I'm already going to be living on the grounds so you might as well give me something to do."

She realised then that, no matter what Ysanne said, she would move in with Jason and Gideon. She was miserable living with Diane, and despite having lived in Guildford for years, there was very little tying her to the city. She still considered Winchester her home. It was her dad was buried. It was where her friends lived. It was where she wanted to be.

"Will you at least think about it?" Jason said.

Ysanne shifted slightly in her seat. "I will," she said.

Hope spread through Nikki.

It wasn't a yes, but it definitely wasn't a no, either, and Ysanne was not a woman who would sugar-coat her words to spare someone's feelings. If she thought this was an irredeemably bad idea then she would say so. She wouldn't placate Nikki for now, while knowing that this would never work. The fact that she was seriously considering it meant that she did see some merit in it. It didn't mean she'd eventually agree, but it was a start.

"Okay, then," she said, and rose from her seat. She knew better than to push Ysanne for anything more now. "Thanks for listening."

Ysanne gave her a little nod.

"Are you still going to visit your dad before you get the train back to Guildford?" Jason said.

A lump rose in Nikki's throat. "Yeah," she said.

Dexter had been dead nearly five years and Nikki had grown used to him not being here. But every time she visited his grave, every time she thought about him dying without her and sleeping in the cold ground so many miles away from where she now lived, it was almost like losing him all over again.

Maybe time would heal that wound, one day.

Maybe it would always be raw and open.

Jason got up. "I'll come with you," he said.

Nikki walked to the door, Jason following, then she paused and looked back at Ysanne. "We'll talk soon?" she said.

Ysanne nodded.

As Nikki closed the door behind her, she felt like a weight had lifted from her shoulders. Maybe she shouldn't get excited about something that hadn't been confirmed yet, but for the first time in a long time, she felt like she had a purpose, something that was close enough that she could almost reach out and grab it.

"You did good," Jason said, smiling at her.

"I hope so."

"And you really meant what you said? You want to move in with us?"

"If I'm still welcome."

Jason hugged her. "Honey, you will always be welcome with us."

Tears stung her eyes and she fiercely blinked them away. She didn't like to cry. It made her feel weak, and like she wasn't in control.

"Come on," she said, patting Jason's chest. "I need to tell Dad what's happening."

She wasn't sure she'd talk openly to her dad's grave in front of anyone else, but she considered Jason her best friend, and trusted him absolutely. Her dad could never answer her again, but she still talked to him and updated him on her life as if he was still in it.

If he was here now, she knew he'd be proud of her.

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