Chapter 8

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*Jack's POV*

I woke up a few hours after we had fallen asleep. I slid out from under Lucy, leaving her laying on my side of the bed. Walking over to the mini fridge, I sat and ate some of my food that Slender packed up for me. Earlier that week I decided not to eat when Lucy was awake, even if she wasn't by me. That last thing I needed to have happen was to have her walk in as I'm picking up a piece of liver with my fingers and chomping down on it.

I crawled back in bed and under the blanket, propped up on a bunch of pillows in a nearly sitting position. Lucy squirmed around until she was rested on the lower section of my stomach with her arm wrapped around me. I played with her hair, brushing my fingers through it and twirling it around delicately. Her hair was still in crimps from the night before, and I'd run my fingers over her hair feeling each individual bump in her hair.

Once, I accidentally dropped a piece of her hair on her face and it must've tickled her cuz she scrunched up her nose and rubbed it with her hand before wrapping her arm back around me. I know I told her before not to get used to sleeping in the same bed, but if this is what it's going to be like, I wouldn't mind one bit. There's just something about her that I wouldn't want to let go. Hell, everything about her.

A few hours passed and in those few hours, I just sat there rubbing her back and playing with her hair. The sun was now beginning to raise in the sky. Lucy began to let out soft whimpers and flinch around.

I leaned my head down, "Shh. It's just a bad dream, Angel. You're safe." I let my hand slide down her head and onto her shoulder.

I know we had just met a few days ago, but being with her almost every single minute since then has really made me feel like I don't ever want to lose her. It actually terrifies me knowing once this week is over she's not going to be herself. Sure, she'll still be Lucy, but she's about ready to lose a huge part of her, her family. And not only that, Slender has to help her pretty much transform into her final form, unlocking her proxy powers.

A few more hours go by, and the silence was suddenly stopped by Lucy's alarm clock. It made me jump, bumping Lucy.

"Shut it offffff. I wanna sleep more." She mumbled.

I let out a chuckle, "Lucy, Carmen's probably already wondering where you are. You didn't go there yesterday."

She rolled over to her phone and shut the alarm off. She then came back to me and laid down on me, this time facing me, "You're not that comfortable while you're in the position." She rubbed the back of her neck.

"Actually, I got up and when I sat back down you're the one who crawled their way on top of me. So I must be pretty comfortable." I chuckled, "Good morning."

"Shh," she said rolling back over into her previous position, "5 more minutes."

"Luce. I will tickle you." I warned her.

"No, you won't." She challenged me.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," I said as I flung the blanket off of her and started tickling her ribs.

"Jack! S-s-stop!" She laughed loudly.

I was on top of her and I kept tickling her. She was trying to worm her way out from underneath me, but I kept pulling her back and continued to tickle her ribs.

"I-I-I'm up J-Jack! S-stop!" She tried to say, laughing and out of breath.

"Okayyyy." I dragged on.

As I tried to get off of her, she flopped her head to the side and pretended to snore loudly.

"You're a dork, Lucy." I tickled her rib quickly, making her squeak.

******

Lilly was driving Lucy to the hospital and I was in the backseat with Lucas. Lucy seemed to be super pissed that I was going to be hanging out with her sister and not her, but I was doing it for her. I hated the idea of hanging out with Lilly just as much as Lucy hated it. She was annoying, her voice was high pitched and- let's face it- I bet she tasted better than she looked. Lucas was going with Lucy to see Carmen and Michael, he was also their friends after all.

"Have fun Luce and Luke," Lilly said to Lucy and Luke as they exited the car.

"Wait, I'm climbing into the front," I said as Lucy went to slam the door.

I crawled out of the back and closed the backseat door behind me, "Please don't be mad, Luce." I went to go touch her arm, but she stepped back.

"Have fun." She looked down at the side walk and then abruptly turned and walked away.

I let out a long sigh and reentered the vehicle.

"To the mall we go!" Lilly gave me a cheesy grin, pulling her sunglasses down.

The whole way there, which was only about 10 minutes, Lilly talked about things that Lucy liked and what size she was in everything; and when I say everything I mean everything.

I feel like a perv now. Thank you, Lilly.

"I know exactly what you can get her! How much did you save up in tips?" She squealed.

Squeal again, bitch. I will tear your throat out.

"Almost $300. Your mom gave me some extra money when she asked where we're going." I groaned.

"Aww. That's so sweet of her." She let out another squeal, "It's my favorite song!"

She blasted the radio and all I could hear was a guy mumbling quickly.

We pulled into the mall parking lot and she found a spot in the front of the mall.

"It's as if the spot was reserved for me." She giggled.

I let out a sarcastic smile, but I doubt that she really understood the sarcasm part.

"Follow me. I know exactly what you could get her." She said, stepping out the car and nearly running to the entrance.

Quickly, I followed behind the blonde squeaker toy. She really was getting on my nerves, but I remained calm because she's helping me do something for Lucy.

She opened the doors and walked passed a bunch of people. I kept looking at everyone, thinking of my next victim.

Stay focused, Jack.

The next few minutes of following her was a blur. I felt like I was about ready to lose control. Clenching my jaw tight and balling up my fists wasn't helping at all.

"Here's her favorite stores. Hot Topic is right there and right over there," She pointed another store, "is Build-A-Bear. Let's start at Build-A-Bear." She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the bright shop.

We were standing in front of a bunch of buckets of empty stuffed animals. Some of them I recognized from Lucy's room.

"What color bear?" Lilly asked me.

"Blue." I grinned.

"Okay, find a blue one you like." She smiled.

"I...." I trailed off, "I'm color blind."

Lilly put her hand over her mouth, "I'm so sorry. Wait, then how do you know that blue is the best bet? Why not pink?"

I hesitated, "Her hair. She told me her hair is black and blue."

Lilly shot me a god awful grin, "You're so kind. I know the perfect one. Go get in line to stuff it now." She handed me a bear.

I looked at the line. Children were everywhere. A pregnant mother with a whining child looked like she was getting annoyed.

I gulped and got in line behind them. I clenched the bear's empty body. Lilly was chatting next to me, probably to me, but I didn't pay attention. I haven't killed in days and the last thing I want to do is hurt a child. That's one thing I've regretted almost my whole life, and I vowed to myself I'd never do it again.

I was in a daze, thinking about the little girl's life I had taken years and years ago, when a small plump woman sitting on a stool called, "Next!" Snapping me out of my daydream.

I walked over to her and handed her the bear. She told me to pick out a heart and I grabbed a random one and handed it to her.

"Are you making this for yourself or for your girlfriend?" She nodded at Lilly.

"I'm not his girlfriend. I'm actually his girlfriends sister!" She grinned at me.

"I am not Lucy's boyfriend." I shot at her a little too aggressively. The panic of being around this many bodies was making me grouchy, we really needed to hurry.

"Oh, sorry miss." The plump woman said. She finished stuffing it and sewed it up, handing it back to me.

"Let's get it a cute shirt!" Lilly giggled.

I followed her to a whole wall lined with clothes. In small clear bins were tiny shirts for the bear.

Lilly's phone started ringing, "I'll be right back Jack." She answered the phone and walked out of the store, leaving me to pick out the shirt.

It was rather hard to do, I thought quite a few of them would've suited the bear and Lucy's liking, but I wasn't sure on the color, so I'd put it back.

A few minutes passed and Lilly was no where in sight. Next to me a little girl was picking out her bears outfit, she said she wanted hers to be a pretty pink princess. I chuckled at her words.

And before I could stop myself, I picked up a shirt and walked over to her and her mother, "Excuse me? I'm having a hard time picking out a shirt for a friend. I'm color blind. I wanted the shirt to have black, blue, white or red on it. What colors are on this one?" I showed the mother and she smiled at me.

"Hey Sarah, let's tell this kind boy what colors are on this." The girl's mother said to her.

The girl, Sarah, smiled, showing a few missing teeth and said, "Pink, green, yellow, and orange!"

"Dang it. Can you help me find a shirt with blue, black white and red?" I took the shirt back from the girl as she started looking around through the different shirts.

"Here!" She squealed, handing me a shirt that had a heart on it with spiral designs around it.

"Thank you very much, Sarah." I took the shirt from the little girl and walked to the cash register.

After leaving that store, I had a large cardboard box in my hand that resembled a house for the bear. Since Lilly was nowhere around, I decided to go to Hot Topic without her.

I made my way into the dark store. There weren't many people in here, thankfully. The whole place was filled with items ranging from small keychains to clothing items.

"Hey, Jack!" Lilly came walking up next to me, "Sorry, that was Lucy. She said Michael's in emergency surgery. My parents just picked Luke up. The doctors didn't realize that when he was slashed through his stomach by that one guy, the guy slit his actual stomach. Poor guys been bleeding internally for quite a few days now. Hopefully, that'll help him start eating again."

"How's Lucy handling it?" I asked, even though I already knew.

"She's upset, but keeping her composure for Carmen. I hope the police find whoever attacked Michael. It's terrifying knowing that there's someone out there taking people's kidneys. What if he wanted more than that, but only had time to grab the one organ." Her eyes opened up widely.

Internally, I was dying of laughter. It was actually hilarious to me that Lilly is terrified of this 'kidney thief', yet she's unknowingly shopping and talking to him right now. But on the outside I bit my lip and said, "I don't know. That's why it was a good idea that Lucas went with Lucy."

"Enough about this, I'm getting goosebumps." She shuddered, "Now, this was my original idea. I know Lucy has a lot of clothes already, but honestly, she's worn them out. I may sometimes come off as the bitchy older sister, but I really do pay attention to this stuff. And I know she needs new clothes. Oh!" She walked over to the dresses, "Maybe a dress to wear tonight!"

I didn't care how much money I spent on Lucy. I didn't need any of it for myself anyways. I was down to about $270, and if we spent it all at Hot Topic, then oh well.

******

I walked out of the mall holding 5 bags from Hot Topic and one bag from Build-A-Bear. Lilly ended up helping me pick out all of her clothes and a few extra things. But I was really excited for the dress that I got her.

When I saw it in the store it's like it reached out and pulled me to it. Lilly said the neckline was called a 'sweetheart', which I can kind of understand because it looks like the top part of a heart. The shade of it was a deep blue that faded into a black. The blue was what really threw Lilly off because it's almost the same shade of the bear that I got her.

The dress was to go down to her knees and flare out a little bit. There were this thick straps that tied around her neck. A small design was on the right side of the chest, which was a black octopus.

We reached the car and I put the bags in the trunk and closed it.

When I sat back down, Lilly spoke up, "Lucy texted me and said Michael's surgery is going well. She wants to come back home because Carmen is forcing her." She giggled at the text, "Her exact words in the text are 'She wants me to have a good birthday with my boyfriend. Jack is not my boyfriend. And if you repeat this text to him I'll bite your face off'. Oh, she's so sweet." She giggled again, her fingers flying over her phone as she texted Lucy back.

I couldn't help but grin myself. I couldn't tell if I was grinning over the fact that Lucy had to make it clear that we weren't dating or if I was grinning over the fact that she was threatening to kill Lilly before I did.

"Let's go get your girlf- I mean Lucy!" She giggled, throwing the car in reverse.

The whole way to the hospital she was blasting music, and nothing even remotely entertaining either.

When we pulled up to the hospital, Lucy was sitting outside on a cement block that had flowers in it. She walked over and jumped into the back seat.

"Hope you two had fun." She sniffled.

I turned back in my seat and noticed she was crying.

"Wait," I said to Lilly before the car started rolling again. I jumped out of the passenger seat and climbed into the back next to Lucy.

Lucy shot me a death glare, but I ignored it. Either she was jealous of me and her sister being together for a few hours, or she was pissed off about Michael, maybe both.

I whispered in her ear, "Don't act like this on your birthday, Luce. Please. Just save it for tomorrow. Lash out on me tomorrow. Just, make your last birthday with them a good one."

She nodded at me, giving me a sympathetic smile. I couldn't wait to get home and give her her gifts from me.

******

It was two hours before the club opened and Lucy was in the shower. As soon as she stepped foot into the bathroom, I looked at Lilly and nodded. We raced downstairs and out to her car. I grabbed all of the bags and the build a bear box and closed the trunk. Lilly bought Lucy something from the gas station, which was weird. She was carrying it in a small bag.

We rushed back up the stairs and into Lucy's bedroom, closing the door behind us. Lilly took the clothes out of the bags and laid them on the bed, but handed me the dress.

"Hide this until she comes back in here. She'll be coming back in a towel, so beware of something possibly getting thrown at you." She giggled and left the room.

I hung the dress up on a hanger, or at least tried to. It kept falling off. I finally gave up and folded it up, placing it on the chair that I was going to stand in front of. Seconds later Lilly opened the door and said, "She's coming."

I took a look in the mirror across the room and straightened my hoodie as the door opened.

"Jack! What the f-" she cut herself off as she looked at her bed. Closing the door behind her, I saw a smile spread across her face.

"I-Uhm. This is why I was with your sister all day. Believe me, that was torture. I don't want you to be mad at me for it." I put my hand behind my head and looked down.

"Did you buy all of this!?" She shrieked.

I nodded, "yeah, everything except the small bag. Lilly got that for you."

She walked over to me, holding her towel up with one hand and with her other, she pulled me into a tight hug, squeezing the breath out of me, "I'm so sorry! Thank you! You didn't have to do this!"

I lifted my hands in the air but didn't hug her back for the simple fact that she was only in a towel.

"You should probably get clothes on." I chuckled.

She pulled back and her face turned bright red, "Just turn around then." She giggled awkwardly.

"I'll turn, but don't take the towel off quite yet." I said turning and grabbing the dress.

"You should wear this tonight." I said as I turned back to her unfolding the dress.

Her face lit up, making her eyes sparkle, "That's beautiful, Jack! I love it! Thank you so much! I could just k- uh," she cut herself off and cleared her throat, "Thanks. Turn please." She said, grabbing the dress from my hands.

I turned around and heard her scamper over to her dresser and open it, then close it.

After a couple of minutes, she cleared her throat, "Its on."

I turned around and saw her standing over by her mirror. Her hair was still wet and hanging around the middle of her back.

She turned around, "How does it look?"

My jaw dropped. The dress hugged her body in all of the right places, showing off her hourglass. It stopped right above her porcelain knees.

She giggled and walked over to me, "Close your mouth, Jack."

She pulled me into another hug, this time I was able to hug her back, "Thank you so much, Jack. How did you even afford all of this?"

"Tips from the bar. And your mother gave me shopping money, too." I breathed into her wet hair.

"Let's look at the other clothes now!" She giggled, pulling back and skipping over to her bed.

She held up each shirt, five shirts in total, all with different things on them. I made sure to get a Five Nights at Freddie's shirt. She then started looking at the pants. Two pairs of black skinny jeans, one had rips in them. Another was a pair of regular dark blue denim jeans that Lilly said was a must. Then she found the choker that I got her, almost the same octopus symbol that was on her dress.

"I can wear this tonight too!" She exclaimed, taking the packaging off of it. She slipped it around her neck and did it up.

She continued looking through the things on her bed. I got her a vinyl figure of Harley Quinn and Joker, and she giggled when she saw them. The last thing I got was a pair of shoes that Lilly said were called 'creepers'. They were black, with a white checker pattern on top. She grinned at them and set them aside, reaching for Lilly's present.

She dug her hand inside of the bag and looked in, "LILLY!" She screamed, running to the door.

"What is it?" I asked her.

She completely ignored me, rushing through the house, "Lillian! I'm kicking your ass when I find you!"

"Oh honey! Is that the dress Jack bought you? You look beautiful!" Her mother commented from the living room.

Forgetting that she was on a rampage she looked at her mother and twirled, "Yes it is! I love it so much!" She smiled. Then her face dropped, "Lilly! Get your ass out here!"

"She's in her room. What's wrong?" Her mother asked.

"You'll find out in two seconds." Lucy stormed to Lilly's room and threw the door open.

"Heya sis! Did you get my present?" Lilly grinned.

"You bought me condoms! I told you I'm going to bite your face off, don't think I won't!" Lucy shrieked.

Oh my Zalgo, Lilly.

Lucy whipped around and faced me, "Did you have something to do with this!?"

I put my hands up and started backing away, "No, Lucy. I had no idea."

She turned back to Lilly who laughed and said, "Well if you're not going to use them, I will!"

Lucy threw the box of condoms at Lilly and slammed her bedroom door. She stormed back to her bedroom, their mother's laughter was heard as we entered the room.

"What part of 'Jack is not my boyfriend' don't you people get!?" She sat back down on the bed.

I closed the door behind us and looked over at the Build-A-Bear box.

Was the heart on the bears shirt too much now? This is going to get awkward if so...

"Oh shoot! I almost forgot about the bear!" She opened the white box and pulled the bear out and looked at it.

Too late. Way to go, Jack.

"It's so cute! I love the shirt too!" She hugged it close to her.

Why are girls so god damn confusing.

"I'm going to get my make up on." She said as she quickly folded up her new clothes and put them on the dresser.

I sat down on the bed and watched Lucy.

******

*Lucy's POV*

The club opened an hour ago and my parents told us to have fun tonight, they're taking out spots. I didn't complain because that meant I could spend time with Jack. He's been too sweet to me lately, I don't think I could ever repay him back. Last night, I don't know how I grew enough courage to cuddle up on him, but I did. And he didn't push away, which made me think that he actually likes me a little more than he's letting off. I know how I feel, I just can't tell if he feels the same way. Sure, he hugs me back and does nice things for me, but so do friends and to be honest, if that's what Jack wants, I think I'd be okay with it. Jack left to go stand outside for a few minutes, he said he needed to talk to Luke.

"Luciana!" Lucas walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"Hey little brother. Aren't you supposed to be talking to Jack?" I asked him.

"I am? I didn't know that. I just got out of the kitchen. Where is he?" Luke asked me.

I froze up and mumbled, "Never mind. I'll be right back."

If this fucker thinks he's killing on my birthday, I will kill him.

I pushed passed people, some hollered 'Happy Birthday!' over the loud music. I'd smile and nod at them. When I got to the doors, Todd was standing there.

"Did Jack walk by?" I asked him.

"Yes. With some goofy looking elf boy." Todd chuckled and held the door open for me.

I faked a smile and pushed passed him. It was cold outside, and instantly my legs and bare arms grew goosebumps. I shuddered, but decided to keep moving. The only place I could think of to get out of the sight of people would be the alley.

I felt like something wasn't right tonight. There was just this terrible gut feeling I kept getting.

As I was almost at the end of the building that has the alley next to it, I heard a guy's voice.

"Jack? Please come back now. Ben can come too." I let out a soft giggle and turned the corner.

In the middle of the alley a tall man stood there. His hair was black with red streaks and his clothes were all black. He was holding a long black staff with a red gem on the top of it. If it wasn't for his red and black eyes, I would've thought he was just some random guy.

I turned to leave, but his soft soothing voice echoed through the alley, "Hello, Luciana. Happy Birthday, dear."

A lump formed in my throat and I turned to face the man, "Th-thanks. Who are you?"

"Oh. Goodness, where are my manners," a sly grin crept across his face as he extended his hand to me, "My name is Zalgo."

My breath caught in my throat and my stomach dropped.

This is the one I'm supposed to rid the world of.

He let out a chuckle, "You're not going to shake my hand?"

"No. I need to go." I turned to leave, but two men came around the corner, blocking my way.

I turned back to Zalgo, wishing I would've but my tongue instead of spewing these next words, "Can't do things yourself, can you?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Feisty. But to answer your question, not yet. I came to make a proposition. I've only got a few minutes left here, so listen."

I nodded, cold sweat beads forming on my forehead, "I won't accept."

"Oh? But you don't even know what it is. You want your family to remember you, don't you?" Zalgo grinned.

Again, my breath caught in my throat. How could he even know what's going on?

"I have my ways of knowing, Luciana. Join me, and I promise your family won't ever forget." He grinned and held his hand out.

My mind started racing and before I knew it, I was reaching out to his hand. I wanted to pull back, to say no, but something wasn't letting me.

"Lucy don't!"

Just then, I heard the sounds of people fighting behind me. Zalgo groaned and snapped his fingers, making himself disappear. As he left, his voice echoed through my head, "Think about it, Luciana. I'll be back tomorrow."

I turned around to see Ben and Jack fighting the men who were behind me. Both of the men let out a long hiss before disappearing into the same cloud of smoke that Zalgo went into.

Jack stood up and rushed over to me, "Are you hurt? Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?"

"I'm fine, Jack. What I want to know is why Ben is here in the first place." I glared over to the elvish boy, who took a few steps backwards.

"Slender felt Zalgo's presence in this area. I came to make sure you two were okay." He turned to Jack, "Have you been using the potion he gave you to keep them out of the club?"

Jack nodded, "I'm not that dumb, Ben."

"You never know with you." Ben grinned, earning a slap on the back of the head from Jack.

"Come on, Luce. It's cold out here. Let's get back." Jack took his hoodie off and wrapped it around me.

I was looking at where Zalgo disappeared from.

My family won't forget me...

"Lucy?" Jack snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, let's go." I pulled the hoodie tighter around me.

"You're coming to Ben. Might as well stay and celebrate Lucy's birthday with us." Jack said to Ben.

"Birthday? Only for the cake. After that, I'm outie." Ben started running up ahead of us.

"Hey, what did he say to you?" Jack asked, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Uh..." I trailed off, "he said that..." I trailed off again.

"Lucy, its kind of serious. I'd be freaking out friend right now, but I'm holding back because it's your birthday. We need to know what he wants from you. He rarely makes much of an appearance to proxies, well future proxy, in your case. Tell me what he said, Lucy." Jack said to me. It was obvious he was holding back his anger, and I didn't want to upset him even more.

"He wants me to join him. In return, my family will remember me." I whispered, knowing no matter what I said or did, Jack would be mad.

"And you're not think about doing that, right Lucy?" He growled.

"Of course not! Well..." I stopped walking and looked at the club.

"Well, what!? Lucy, you can't be serious right now." He pulled his arm off of me and looked at me. Even though his eyes weren't present, I could sense the hurt and fear that would be in them.

"No. It's silly to even think about it." I let out a soft, short laugh.

"I would hope you wouldn't think like that. He doesn't care about what you want. It's what he wants. Let's get inside." He put his hand on the bottom of my back and lightly pushed me forward.

Ben was waiting at the doors for us. When he saw us he opened the door and held it for us. Jack walked us over to the bar and nodded at my dad.

"What the hell was that about?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh. Nothing." Jack grinned at me.

"Bullsh-"

"Alright, everyone! The birthday girl has decided to come back to her party!" The DJ announced, causing me to blush, "The kitchen staff has prepared Lucy something special tonight. If you haven't noticed, booth one has been blocked off all night by a curtain. Lucas, if you'd do us the honors."

I looked over at booth one. My brother was standing there, grinning from ear to ear as he pulled the curtains aside, revealing a four tear Birthday cake. It was a deep green with white lace patterns all over it and small blue diamond candies.

My dad walked over from behind the bar and gave me a tight hug and whispered, "Happy Birthday, precious. I love you."

"I love you too dad," I said as I pulled away from him, giving him a huge grin.

Mom came over and placed a kiss on my cheek, and then pulled me into a hug, "I love you, Lucy! You're growing up to be everything I had ever hoped for. I'm so proud of you. Happy Birthday."

"I love you too, mama. Thank you guys for tonight." I smiled at both of them.

Todd then came rushing over and picked me up into a bear hug and spun me around making me giggle. Todd's been around since I was extremely little, he's been like another father to me my whole life. "Happy Birthday little printsessa!" His Russian accent boomed as he set me back down on the bar stool and punched my cheek.

"Thank you, Todd." I smiled at him and watched him return to his place at the door.

"Happy Birthday--" the DJ began to sing, everyone in the club joining almost right away.

I could feel the tears build up behind my eyes, but held them back, not wanting Jack to say something about me crying again. A tear managed to slip through and I caught it with my finger immediately.

"I saw that. It's okay to cry about this Lucy. It's okay." He walked behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

I let it all go. This was it. After this birthday, they won't be making any more 'Happy Birthday Lucy!' cakes. No more DJ to announce my re-arrival to my own birthday party. No more dad telling me he loves me and that I'm precious. Mom won't be there to tell me she's proud, or that she loves me- she won't even remember after a few more days. No more Todd bear hugs that crush my ribs every time. Lucas won't be around to help me when I need someone. And Lilly won't be- well Lilly won't be Lilly. I do give her credit though, she's been making this last week pretty easy, for now, that is.

I cried a tear for each I love you that I won't be hearing. I cried a tear for each birthday I'd be missing with them. I cried for everything I was about to lose. But that whole time, I kept a smile on my face, faking happy tears and hiding the pain that was stabbing at my heart.

The song came to an end and everyone clapped and cheered. Some of the well-known customers came over and hugged me.

The DJ started speaking again, "And this is a special request made by Lucy's close friend. He's been helping at the bar lately and figured Lucy needed a Father-Daughter dance on her birthday. Give it up to Jack!" Everyone started cheering and I turned in my seat and faced him.

"Why?" I asked, wiping my tears away.

"For memories sake. You've been so busy lately and so have your parents. I figured you needed this. Your dad was all for it anyway, he even said he knows the perfect song." He said, wiping a stray tear away.

"Let's get Kevin and Lucy up here!" The DJ called out, motioning for the crowd to part on the dance floor.

My father came over and stood in front of me and held up a rose, "May I have this dance?" He asked.

"You're a dork dad. Of course." I took the rose and handed it to Jack to hold onto.

I stood up and wrapped my hand around my father's arm, memorizing his thin, but somewhat muscular arm structure. I counted the steps to the dance floor. 35 steps later, he turned and faced me, pulling me into a tight hug. He placed his hands around the middle of my back and I put mine on his shoulders as the song started.

Immediately I recognized the song. When I was younger, my father would sing this to me and he'd always say, "This is our song, Lucy."

Bob Dylan's famous song Forever Young was blasting through the speakers. I couldn't help but rest my head on my dad's chest, knowing I'll never get a wedding day to do this. I felt so broken, but with my father holding me so close, I felt like he could fix anything. I've always been a daddy's girl. When I was younger, he and I would constantly be going places together. Even if it was a quick trip to the store, I'd be bugging him until he said yes, squealing with delight as I tried to slide on my shoes by myself.

"Thank you for the help around here, Lucy. I know it's been a hard week, it's been rough for me too. But we really do appreciate it." He chuckled, "even if it means you beat some woman's head off of our dance floor."

"Hey, she deserved that." I looked at him and pointed to my lip.

"With all jokes aside, your mother and I are proud of you." He hugged me closer.

"Thank you, dad. It really does mean a lot."

He then grinned and started singing along with the song, "May you always be courageous. Stand upright and be strong. May you stay forever young. Forever young, forever young. May you stay forever young."

I was smiling up at him and he pulled away and twirled me. When he pulled me back in I giggled and we both sang the last verse together.

When the song ended, he dipped me down goofily and pulled me back up. We were both laughing as we hugged and everyone started clapping.

"Alright! Let's get the dancing going again!" The DJ said as my father and I made our way off the dance floor.

"Dad." I pulled on his arm sleeve, bringing his ear closer to me, "I know you said we're not allowed to go up there, but can I show Jack the roof?"

My dad pulled back and hesitated, "Promise to be safe?"

I nodded.

"That's fine. But only tonight. I don't like it when you go up there." He hugged me again.

"Thank you, dad."

I turned and grinned at Jack, "You. Come with me." I said as I grabbed his arm and pulled on him.

"Be right back Ben!" Jack hollered at Ben. Ben looked up and nodded as he continued stuffing his face with the chocolate cake.

He stumbled off the chair, but caught his balance and followed me. Not that I was giving him a choice.

Hurriedly, I opened the elevator and shoved Jack in and let the door close behind us. I grabbed his hand as my body began to feel light and nauseous. Before I knew it, the door opened to the outside. Jack stepped out and looked at me.

"Why are we up here?" He chuckled.

"Well, I could've come up here by myself. I didn't have to take you with me." I said as I stuck my tongue out at him.

There wasn't much up here. Just vents and a few benches that my father uses when he needs time alone. I pulled on Jack's hand and brought him over to a bench and sat down. I patted the cold seat next to me, telling him to sit.

As he sat down he looked over the edge. Miles away you could make out a bunch of city lights and buildings. When I was allowed to come up here, this was my favorite bench. After Luke nearly fell off the edge when we were younger, we were never allowed to come back up.

"This looks so cool." Jack squirmed in his seat. He then stood back up and walked over to the edge and looked down.

"Jack! You're freaking me out." I laughed nervously.

"I'm fine. Trust me." He turned around and rested the bottom of his back on the edge.

"I brought you up here for a few reasons. The first reason is because of the view." I smiled at him, "The second one is to thank you for literally everything. When I found out a killer was coming with me back home, this is far from what I had expected. I thought it would've made me hate you. But it's been quite the opposite."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "Quite the opposite? Like the opposite as in from what you expected from me or the opposite of hating me?" He grinned.

"I will shove you over the edge Jack." I laughed, "The third reason is that I wanted to tell you that never in a million years, would I choose Zalgo's side over you guys. You've been way too welcoming, especially for a group of killers. I don't think I could ever hurt you. Yous! Yous. I mean you guys." I caught my slip of the tongue.

"I didn't think you would anyways. I was nervous at first because he was promising you something that you want. But siding with him would've meant the end of humanity, including everyone you know. We're not the good guys, so don't think of it that way. We're like the good bad guys." He chuckled.

"I understand, sort of. But if I had to choose, I'd choose to stay with you guys."

He walked back over and sat next to me, "You look beautiful in that dress, Lucy." He touched my cheek lightly, and I pressed my hand up against his.

We sat there staring at each other for quite a few minutes, before I finally grew the guts and asked, "Jack, are you going to kiss me or not?"

He chuckled, "I've been waiting for that."

He leaned over to me and pressed his cold, dark lips against mine, my bottom lip slightly between his. As the kiss grew on, he got a little too excited and bit down on my bottom lip. I pulled back with a small yelp, "My lip is still split and sore from her punching me."

He chuckled sympathetically, "Come back and I promise not to do that again."

My heart fluttered and I leaned back to Jack and kissed him again. His hand moved from my cheek to the back of my neck. My hands both on the back of his jawline.

When we finally pulled away, I rested my forehead on his shoulder, "We should probably get back downstairs before my dad thinks we fell off the roof."

Jack chuckled and stood up, grabbing my hand and helping me up, "Let's go."

We walked the short distance back to the elevator hand in hand. I had to admit, finally getting that off of my chest felt pretty freaking good.

When the elevator reached the bottom floor, we found Ben in the middle of the dance floor, busting out moves. I couldn't help but giggle and pull Jack with me to Ben.

The three of us danced like goofs for the rest of the night.

******

*Jacks POV*

It was nearing three in the morning before Lucy started yawning and getting tired. We were upstairs and laying in bed and talking. I was laid up at an angle with her laying on the left side of my chest. She was fiddling around with my right hand, running her fingers over my scars.

"I've got it. Would you rather eat a bucket of worms or eat a bag of dog crap." She giggled.

To think that we had just shared our first kiss, and now she's already talking about me eating shit. I couldn't help but chuckle at her questions.

"Worms. Though I might get sick from it. I wouldn't eat the dog droppings." I answered.

She yawned, "I knew you'd choose that. Your turn."

"You really need to get some sleep, Angel." I kissed the top of her head.

"No. I don't want this night to end." She whined and wrapped her arm around me.

"I'll be right here when you wake up, Lucy. Get some sleep."

She groaned, "Fine. Good night, Jack." She said as she rolled onto her left side.

I scooted myself down and onto my left side too, wrapping my right arm around the top of her, "Good night, Lucy."

A few minutes of silence proceeded that before Lucy asked, "Jack? Are we...uh? Together?"

I grinned, "Well, we are together right now."

"You know what I mean!" She shot her elbow backward into my stomach playfully.

"Well, would you want to be my girlfriend?" I asked.

"Of course I would why even ask?" Lucy threw her hand over her forehead, "I'm such an idiot. Yes, Jack." She laughed at herself.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her response.

"Go to sleep now." I kissed the back of her head.

I'm not one hundred percent positive, but I think this is what happiness felt like. I have finally found my happiness and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

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I have had this planned for so long! I wanted to wait for a few more chapters, but I was too anxious for it. Hope you enjoyed!
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Updated on: May 20th, 2018

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