Soon after, he was back, wearing a black suit and red shirt, his hair smoothed out on top of his head. He looked giddy and smiling broadly. Andie was glad Robert and Lisa had found each other. Since her husband had died, to Andie's knowledge, Lisa had not dated anyone until meeting Robert.

"Wow, you look great uncle Rob!" Bane said.

He indeed did look handsome, Andie thought. As he smiled at Bane, Andie saw why Bane loved and looked up to him so much. And their bond was clear in the pictures of them together. Robert looked at himself.

"Thanks. Andie? What do you think?"

Andie was slightly surprised he was asking her, but she was a girl... he was probably only asking for her feminine insight. Yes, that was it.

"You look fine. But... I don't know, something's not right."

Robert looked at his outfit, then turned to the mirror on the wall.

"Is it the tie? I knew it, it's too gloomy, isn't it?"

Andie sized him up in silence for a moment.

"No... no the tie's fine..." she said, thoughtfully. "Or actually... no, it's not. It's too serious. It's a date, Robert, not a business meeting."

She got to her feet.

"May I?" she asked.

Robert held out his arms in surrender.

"By all means," he smiled.

Andie stepped forwards and undid the tie which she set on the table.

"Oh, and one last thing..."

She glanced around, found what she was looking for and pulled a rose from the bouquet on the table which he had bought for Lisa, and put it in his chest pocket.

"There," she said. "Now you look perfect."

It was funny, she felt cheerful and awkward at the same time.

She stepped back as Bane got to his feet and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"All right, I had better get going," he said. "It's acceptable for ladies be fashionably late. We men, however, don't have that luxury."

Andie and Bane laughed.

"Have fun, uncle Rob," Bane said.

"You kids behave, all right?" Robert grinned, winking.

"Bye, uncle Rob," Bane said pointedly.

Robert laughed and left. Andie flushed without quite knowing why, and was suddenly feeling a lot hotter, realizing that Bane's body was pressed against hers. Her heart began racing, her blood rushing through her. Or maybe she did but was trying not to let her mind go there. Robert slid on his jacket and walked out. There was a silence as they listened for his car to drive away. When it had, Bane turned to Andie, keeping her hand in his. When they were sure he was out of earshot, Bane turned to Andie, taking her other hand in his and looking at her with a smile.

"So, what do you want to do? Chinese takeout? Pizza? Eat out?"

"Chinese sounds great," Andie smiled.

Soon after, they were sitting around Chinese food cartons in the kitchen, picking in them at random, propped up on the counter.

"Hm!" Bane said, his mouth full. "You have to try this, it's amazing."

Andie giggled and took the food from the chopsticks he was holding out to her. She let out a sigh of contentment.

"Told you, right?" Bane grinned. "Bane knows best."

Andie laughed. Bane looked at her with a strange expression on his face.

"What?" Andie asked.

"It's just been a while since I heard you laugh like that. I missed it."

Andie had been feeling slowly better, lately. She wasn't quite sure what had brought it on. Maybe she was just starting to move on.

"I can't stay stuck in the past," she finally said. "It's done, I can't change that. But I can change how it affects me. And I decided that it won't anymore. I mean, I'm alive, and I should enjoy it, not fear that it'll end the second I stop thinking about it."

"True," Bane agreed.

"And I have you guys with me, so that makes it easier." she said. "I mean... I only have one life. I need to live it."

Bane nodded and squeezed her hand.

"Andie... can I ask you a question?" he asked after a moment.

"Sure," Andie nodded, raising her glass, listening.

Bane picked his food with his chopstick, hesitating. Finally, he looked up and asked:

"If you had stayed in Denver, rather than moving here... d'you think you would be with Eric, now?"

Andie was so thrown by the question she couldn't think for a minute. When she gathered her thoughts at last, she had to try three times before she could speak.

"... I... what? What kind of a question is that?" she asked.

"Just tell me," he insisted, looking at his plate.

Andie scrambled to figure out what to say.

"I... I don't know, I... I mean... why would you even ask that?"

Bane ran a hand through his charcoal hair, his blue eyes trailing into the distance.

"Bane... what's going on?"

He sighed.

"I've been thinking a lot, lately." he said. "About what Balon said. Maybe he was right... It was my idea to tell you all about the elements, and Zorak, and..."

"Bane, no, that's not true." Andie said, shaking her head. "Balon was being unfair and deflecting the blame."

"Maybe he was," Bane agreed. "But he has a point. Without me, the circle would have stayed broken and Zorak would never have found us. He would never have done what he did to you..."

"Bane, you can't blame yourself for that," Andie said. "You did what you felt was right. And it was wrong of Balon to force you to grow up alone the way he did."

"Yes, but..."

"Bane, it's more than likely that Zorak would have found us eventually," Andie said. "And you know what would have happened then?"

Bane looked at her.

"Jessica, Emily, Isabelle and I would be dead now. Because we would have no idea what was coming and would have been helpless."

She took his hands.

"You're the reason we're alive today."

Bane looked at her, heaved a sigh and pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes closed.

"... I suppose," Bane said. "I just hope I didn't condemn you at the same time."