"NO. NOPE. STOP GIVING ME THE PUPPY FACE, L. No! I'm not letting go of your leash so that you can chase the postman like you did last time. What did he do to you? You've been chasing him since the time we got you. Look at him, he's running away at the sight of us, throwing the letters into the air instead of the postbox because he's terrified of you," Shay said sternly while Leo looked mournful. He gave up giving her the cute puppy face that she simply couldn't resist. But she did. Ha!

Now, Will, she thought, would be able to immune to things like that. He was used to stopping them from doing stupid things, including the times when they would give him the puppy faces and pouts and shining eyes. Theo's shining eyes were the brightest, Kai's smile was blinding, Rose's pout would make you agree to things and Jade's expression would make you give her anything she wants. But Will was immune to it. Immune to everything except Shay's shining eyes and smile.

Shay tugged at Leo's leash, but Leo remained there. He was staring wistfully at the postman. Shay tugged at Leo's leash again, then looked at Will for help. I'm done, her eyes said to him. Okay, I'll try dealing with him, his smile said.

Will knelt beside Leo, "L. Buddy, c'mon, hey-" he said, cupping Leo's chin and tilting it up so that Leo was looking right into Will's eyes. Shay couldn't stop staring at Will. She remembered what happened every day when she would have to tear her eyes away from him with difficulty because Will could sense that she was looking at him. She would stare at him like she was right now when he was so into a task. Drawing, playing with Leo, babysitting her not so baby friends.

And every time she looked at him when he wasn't aware of it, the same sentence rang through her head. Will was the most handsome person she had ever set her eyes on.

She watched as Will gently tilted Leo's chin and looked him in the eye. "Look at me, good. No, wait! Don't look at the postman again!" Shay chuckled. "Me, look at me. Yep! Good boy. Now, you wanna run with me and Shay?" Will smiled as Leo barked loudly, forgetting about the postman.

This was something Will and Shay usually did, having a running race. After Will counted, Shay sprinted as fast as she could, loving the satisfactory burn of her muscles. Shay ran with Leo and Will, who maintained the pace with her. Shay increased her pace, her eyes fixed on a tree which was the decided finish line. Will suddenly caught up with her, and the three of them reached the tree at the same time.

Will gave her a triumphant smirk to which Shay responded with an eye roll. He gave out a whoop of delight, "I almost won a race with a girl who has a national medal in athletics!" He said, waving his hands with happiness and Shay grinned at him.

"Will!" She heard a voice say, and Ruby rushed towards them. She shared at high five with Will and patted Leo. "Where's Shay?" she asked, jumping up and down.

Shay looked around her and realized that she was standing in a shady part of the tree, she stepped forward, hugging the little girl. Shay spotted Hannah in the park who was looking around worriedly, "Hannah! We're here," she shouted. Hannah she looked at them with Ruby and the relief was evident on her face as she approached them. After managing to calm down a very excited Leo who was happy to see Hannah, she knelt down in front of Ruby and looked straight into her eyes, "Now, how many times do I have to tell you not to run away like that?" She asked sternly.

Ruby jumped up and down with excitement, "But I spotted Will and Leo, who were running away already. So, when they stopped running, I was afraid they would run again," She said and Hannah's stern expression was wiped away and now replaced by a smile. There was so much adoration in her eyes when she looked at Ruby that Shay couldn't help but smile. Hannah leaned forward and kissed Ruby's cheek then her forehead, "Never leave suddenly like that, alright?"

After spending some time with Ruby, Will and Shay waved Ruby a wide goodbye and headed back home. A week had passed since they discovered about the aero suicide solution. The week had passed very quickly, and it had been very good because her mom and Nick came back.

They had given them a surprise, and it was the best surprise Shay had ever had. She had been missing her mother but didn't know she had missed her that much until she hugged her. Their friends went back to their houses, and Shay and Will had been spending time with her mom and Nick. They had been visiting George too, who had been looking even deeper into things.

But he refused to tell them what he found out. He told them that tell them after piecing everything together because he didn't want to confuse himself and them too. He'd add that he didn't want them to get in trouble, only that in this situation, in trouble would mean dying.

All of them argued that they didn't want George to get in trouble too, but George's statement had been final. Shay turned the doorknob and went inside, finding Nick sitting on the couch as he read a newspaper. He peered at her over his spectacles and smiled. "Hey Nick," Shay said as she gave him a high five. "Is mom in the kitchen?" Nick nodded, "Yup. Where's Will?"

Shay opened the door to show Nick what Will was doing. He was carefully removing the leash from Leo's neck, talking to him. Shay made her way into the kitchen, smiling at her mother as she sat on the granite countertop. Her mother's electric blue eyes met Shay's, which had dimmed considerably since the death of Shay's father. Jessica kissed her daughter's forehead tenderly, gently brushing a wisp of hair behind her ear.

Shay held onto her mother's hand when she pulled back, and her mother's grip on her hand only tightened. Jessica continued to hold her daughter's hand as she cooked. "Hey, Jessica," Will said, leaning by the kitchen's entrance.

Jessica only ruffled Will's hair in response. Will sighed and Jessica grinned. Will never liked it when someone touched his hair, only allowing his mother and Jessica to do it. Both of them abused their rights according to Will, but he never stopped them. "Where's Leo?" Shay's mom asked.

"Standing on the newspaper which was on dad's lap and not letting dad read it, refusing to sit anywhere but dad's lap," Will said with an amused grin, laughing with the other two. A sly grin crept onto Shay's mother's face, "Nick was so scared of animals, especially of dogs. You have no idea." All of them laughed when there was a shout from the living room, "You better shut up Jessica, or I'm gonna spill all your embarrassing moments of your childhood!"

"I'm not scared at all. I think you are forgetting the fact that your wife was my best friend, so I can spill all your embarrassing moments including your childhood ones, cause I don't know if you remember, my husband was your best friend."

"Ha! Well, if they would affect me, they would affect you too. My best friend was your husband and my wife was your best friend, so you are trapped too. And you forgot to add one thing, by the way, that you are my best friend since my childhood and so, yup. You reveal something about me and I would too!"

Will whispered slowly to Jessica, "It's fine. Don't mind him, tell it, tell it!" There was a shout from the hall, "Shay! You want to know what happened when your mother was a child?"

"Yesss!" Shay said as she rushed into the hall, sitting opposite Nick. "Tell me, tell me!" Shay gushed, grinning at Nick who grinned back. She was sitting at the same place she had been sitting a week ago when her friends had been watching a horror movie and were scolding the people in it for being stupid to go into the basement then spilt up. That was when they heard noises from outside, and Theo panicked, spreading his panic to others.

All of them had headed towards the door with makeshift weapons but calmed down when they saw Leo's tail wagging. That was the day Shay's mom and Nick came back. She had missed them so much. She threw herself into her mother's arms. The only and a very painful change was that dad was not there any more. He would never catch her when she would throw herself into his arms. Shay missed Marina a lot too, it saddened her to remember how Marina would always love to braid her hair or select her dresses.

Shay realized with a jolt that Nick wasn't sitting in front of her now, her mother was. Jessica tilted Shay's chin so that she was looking right into her mother's eyes. "You keep zoning out a lot these days. Are you alright?"

Shay smiled at her mother, "I'm fine. Seriously, you worry wayy too much." Jessica laughed at that, "It's in the job description of being a mother."

+++

Shay and Will watched as Kai and Rose played with Leo by the beach, Jade and Theo were taking pictures of the sunrise saying they wanted to test their cameras. Will glanced at his watch and raised a perfect eyebrow when he caught Shay looking at him.

"No, it's nothing. I just wanted to know what the time was," Shay lied and Will laughed, "Sure, sure. You asked the same question four minutes ago." Shay smiled sweetly at him, "I'm not a clock now, am I? Sometimes the time passes quickly and sometimes slowly. Am I not supposed to wonder what the time is?"

Will chuckled.

After two minutes or so, Shay caught Will staring at her. "Yes?" Will grinned at her, "No, its nothing. I just wanted to know what the time was." Shay rolled her eyes, "No, seriously. You look like you want to ask something. What is it?"

"How is it that I never knew your name was short for Shailene? We both literally knew each other since we were infants, and I've come to know about this about a month ago," Will said, his eyebrows were furrowed with confusion.

Shay laughed, "It actually makes sense why you wouldn't know about this. It was dad, you know. The hospital which I was born in, the same one you were born in five months before my birth, was pretty old and kinda traditional. So, they didn't have all the modern computers and all, so we were supposed to write the name on the birth certificate ourselves. And dad was so happy and excited and nervous after my birth, just as every parent is after their child's birth. Mom and dad were choosing between the names 'Shay' and 'Shailene' and they decided to name me Shay

But, when dad went to write my name on the birth certificate, he told me that he kept on murmuring 'don't write Shailene, don't write Shailene' and he ended up writing Shailene on my birth certificate. But, everywhere else, my name is registered as Shay only, except for very official records. Dad was seriously ashamed of this, and he would usually end up wallowing in sorrow whenever this topic was brought up. That must have been the reason Marina and Nick didn't tell you about this. Jade had asked me the same question two months ago."

Before Will could reply something, Will's phone started ringing. He fished the phone out of his pockets and stared at it and Theo shouted, "Stop daydreaming and answer the damn phone, William!" Theo shouted as he ran towards them, curious about who might be the caller this early in the morning. The others followed suit.

Will sighed and put the call on speaker. "George?" Will spoke into the phone. George's voice answered, both relieved and sorry, but there was tension in it. "Will, I'm so sorry if I woke you up but this is seriously important."

"No, don't be sorry. You didn't wake up me, all of us are already awake. What's up?"

But George was interrupted by Jade, "Don't tell me you've been awake all night and kept searching for clues." The other side went silent.

"George?" All of them shouted at a time. There was no response from the other side again.

"George you've been working non-stop, and you didn't sleep from two days. You've been living on coffee, and you seriously need to stop searching for clues and take a break for a day or two. Sleep. Eat and drink something other than coffee," Rose said, gesturing with her hands even though George wasn't here to see it.

"I will. But there's something I've got to tell you guys." He mumbled, and they remained silent, indicating him to continue what he wanted to say.

"It's them all along. Vyper. They are the ones behind all these suicides."

There was a stunned silence and Shay met the other's eyes. After a moment, Kai manages to say, "What?"

"They are the ones behind this. I have all the evidence regarding this, and I've never been this sure about anything in my entire life, it is them. I collected bits and bits of information and when they are all put together, any dumb bastard will point their finger in Vyper's direction. The evidence is that strong."

"S-so, what are we going to do?" Theo asked and there was an immediate response, "We? Nope, not happening. You guys are not getting involved in this, and it's final. I don't want to risk any of your lives, so forget it. You guys have a bright future ahead, a lot of years to live and enjoy. I've lived through all those stages in my life, and I'm damn old, I'm surprised why I'm not dying yet. So, the value of my life is nothing when compared to all of yours."

"Hey! So we aren't getting a say in this? It's unfair." Will says indignantly and George sighed, "Listen to me, after this call, I'm not directly going to the police or court as there might be workers of Vyper planted there. That means I will take my time deciding who to approach. Even if you guys get a say in this, it's six to one, that's unfair. I'm pretty sure I've must've made a slip up somewhere while researching hastily. They can easily track me down, very easily. They know that I know it's them, and they are gonna come after me. So simply put, I'm running out of time. They will find out about me and come after me now or in the future. So I'm jotting down all the points in the computer, and I'm going to delete every trace which suggests you've been in this house."

"But—"

"I will work as fast as I can and search for people whom I can approach. If I'm quick, I can come out of this unharmed or worse, dead. Don't come to my house or call after this, I'm repeating it again, I don't want you guys harmed for the mess I created."

"It's the mess we created, George," Shay said, "We were the ones who told you all about this. We don't want you hurt too. So, what I'm suggesting is, let's all go into this together, whether something good or bad happens, it doesn't matter as all of us are together."

"No," George said sternly, and Shay realized that this was the first time George was being stern with us. "It's not the mess you created. I'm the one who made this silly mistake, I'm the one who created this mess and I will be the one paying for my mistakes."

"List—"

"After I lost my wife, I had no one. My son detested me and wouldn't come back to me no matter what. The only person who kept me anchored to reality was Anthony. The only person that kept me from destroying myself was my grandson. After my grandson died, I was devastated. I wanted to kill myself and the only thing that kept me from doing that was the fact that my wife and my grandson would be so disappointed in me. Then you guys came along, and I started to care for you guys, and your presence genuinely made me happy, even though the sadness I've been through in my life. All of you have been through tough times and still manage to go through life inspires me. Now, I'm not going to let you guys pay for the silly mistake I made. The silly mistake which might even lead to one's death."

Silence answered him. They understood that interrupting him would get them nowhere, so they let him talk.

"Now, I'm going to delete the call history and everything which points to your presence in my life as the Vyper guys are going to stop at nothing to destroy every breathing thing which learned their secret."

"George, just listen to us once—"

"There's no way in hell I am losing you guys, too."

And after that, the line went dead.

All of them exchanged startled glances and had a quick discussion. They started walking towards George's house, knowing that taking a car would be better, but they had to give George some time. What George told was ringing in her head.

Vyper.

They kept walking for then minutes, nearing George's house. They approached the area where George's house is, and noticed a lot of unusual activity there. There were people moving around, many of them. George's house was in a remote area with fewer houses and a relatively peaceful neighbourhood. They never saw those many people in the street.

Oh-oh.

The centre of the crowd was George's house. That either meant a good or a bad thing. Maybe George had revealed all about Vyper and the media was going crazy or... Shay didn't even want to think of the possibility of something going wrong.

They jogged towards his house and saw many officers around the house, with a yellow 'Do Not Cross' tape in front of the gate. Shay felt sick as she continued to run towards the house.

"Yes, judging by the stage of the laptop, it looks like it has been thrown against something repeatedly. Hence, destroying it completely. No, we can't access the information inside, that model of laptop is very fragile and the throwing destroyed it completely. It must've been emotional trauma. Maybe he was reminded of his grandson's or wife's death, which led him to throw the laptop and then do that."

Do what, exactly?

Her heart dropped into my stomach and a wave of nausea hit her. Shay suddenly had the urge to throw up as she neared the house. Will somehow stepped forward, stumbling slightly, and approached the officer.

"Sir, sorry to disturb you, but what happened here?"

"Well, kid, do you know the scientist George Wilson lives here?" He asked and Will nodded.

He then continued in a grim tone, "Dr George Wilson killed himself by swallowing some pills."

+++