On Tuesday afternoon, once the children have been collected from school and brought back to the manor, they freshen up and wolf down snacks, too much in a hurry to ask their millions of questions.

They already knew and respected Uncle Qiren's rules on not speaking during mealtimes, so chewing slowly was out of the question. They ate impatiently, wanting to talk as soon as it was allowed.

Da Tuzi had made them a healthy mousse using oat cream and various fruits, and these were practically inhaled by the kids.

Just to wind them up, Wei Ying ate as slowly as he could, savouring each bite and licking the spoon with his clever tongue, but unfortunately, that riled up the wrong person instead.

"Don't look, then," Wei Ying had mouthed at Lan Zhan, stifling his giggles, and was glared at for his trouble.

A-Yuan and JingYi were eagerly watching Wei Ying, not even blinking as he chewed each mouthful properly with the requisite number of chews, and laughing to himself quietly, watching their torn expressions with glee.

That morning, Wei Ying had discovered a rule book in the study, an ancient guide to the Lan family list of correct behaviour, and he had sprawled on the couch with his legs crossed at the knees, head resting on Lan Zhan's lap while the latter read through reports.

How much work actually got done was another matter, because when Wei Ying was so close to him, his wonderful floral scent perfuming the air, Lan Zhan found it too hard to concentrate on boring papers, when he could be feasting on the beauty amusing himself on his lap.

Wei Ying was just so interesting.

It wasn't just his lovely features, because his beauty was something that could and should be appreciated at all times, but it was also his mannerisms.

The way his little pink tongue would peek out of the side of his mouth, or the little sweet sighs leaving his lips while he perused what was, to him, a waste of paper. His toe would jiggle, or his knees would open and close, and even his yawns were cute and adorable.

Lan Zhan knew his fascination was unreasonable and time-wasting, but he could not bring himself to regret a single second spent counting the number of eyelashes curling every time Wei Ying blinked, and then checking if the other eye had the same amount.

That was normal...

"Honestly, Lan Zhan! This is ridiculous! How can a person count how many times they chew?? Do they taste the food or muddle up the numbers? It's simply not practical!" He exclaimed, deciding that he would test this and the other outlandish "rules" that were supposed to micromanage someone's life.

"They are guidelines..." Lan Zhan points out.

"Stupid ones," Wei Ying mutters under his breath. "Eating is supposed to be fun! Exciting! Not a maths class."

Lan Zhan just hums along, fascinated by his lovely hair. It's so soft and silky and Lan Zhan loves it so very much.

"There's not a single part of Wei Ying's body that I don't like," he thinks, but the resulting whine means he's said it out loud.

He's not sorry.

Lan Zhan bends and kisses Wei Ying on his forehead, and he smiles just as Wei Ying's phone goes off.

Wei Ying automatically puckers up, and then blushes because that's not an alarm, and they don't have to kiss before getting the children, the knee-jerk reaction not needed right now.

Lan Zhan smirks and watches him fumble with the phone and answer it.

"Grandma! Good morning to you, too." Wei Ying sits up for this one.

Lan Zhan can hear everything, but Wei Ying puts it on speaker anyway.

"So we spent the last two days sorting through the captives," she tells him.

"And?"

"Wen Qing is confident she can lessen their bloodthirsty tendencies." Baoshan Sanren sounds disbelieving. "She'll be able to save most of them."

"And you think she can't?" He correctly guesses.

"On the contrary, I think she might be able to."

"Then, what's wrong?" Wei Ying reaches across to clasp Lan Zhan's hand, bringing up their joined hands to his left cheek. Lan Zhan's smooth skin is cool to warm cheek and he feels correctly balanced by this touch.

"I can't get past what she did to you. How does a person let their laptop get cloned? By not noticing, she put you and the rest of my family in danger, and I'm supposed to do nothing about that?" Her voice has been getting louder and louder, the more she speaks.

"You know she works two jobs, right? Both of them have high stress levels, plus if you factor in Wen Rouhan and his crazy agendas, it's not that much of a reach."

Lan Zhan uses his thumb to stroke the side of Wei Ying's hand, able to smell his blood spiking with anxiety. He hates that Wei Ying is feeling bad about defending Wen Qing, but at the same time, he's on Baoshan Sanren's side.

It is NOT okay to him, how Wen Rouhan found out about Wei Ying and himself. That's not even factoring the children, especially little JingYi who was a target all by himself.

"A-Ying, all I had to do to learn how to clone a laptop was type it into Google. That gave me a simplified three step procedure that any silver surfer could complete, let alone an idiot like Wen Chao. My criticism stems from her incompetence. How could she leave her devices unattended so that they could be cloned in the first place, and why wasn't she more responsible, as a member of the medical profession?" Baoshan Sanren is impatiently listing all the things wrong with Wen Qing's handling of the matter. "And you should be asking these questions to her!" She finally snaps testily, having had enough of Wei Ying making excuses for her behaviour.

"I know, grandmother. I know." Wei Ying sounds exhausted suddenly. "I just wish good people stayed good, you know? Everyone makes mistakes, and I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth. But I'll talk to her," he adds, feeling steamrollered into doing it.

"See that you do." Her voice softens, though. "A-Ying, I know it's hard for you. On another note, we have a time for the meeting of the Network of Vampires and us."

Wei Ying is immediately alert. "When?"

"This coming Friday. If you want to get any answers from Wen Qing, make sure you do it before then. Do you want to attend?"

"Yeah."

"Then we can go together. Come to my place at eight o'clock sharp and we'll be ready." She's suddenly sounding way too happy.

Wei Ying glances at Lan Zhan, who nods back.

"Alright, Grandmother, we'll be there."

*************

So they had to change plans and manoeuvre things around to accommodate everything they wanted to accomplish this coming week.

Wei Ying is thinking about tomorrow. He had called up Wen Qing straight away and arranged a meeting with her on the following day, after ending the phone call with his grandmother.

Lan Zhan had been wondering about hiring a van to help them move from Wei Ying's apartment to Lan Zhan's condo, and he was thinking of getting that done on Wednesday, but maybe Friday was a better day, if they were going to be busy tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the children were tripping over themselves asking Lan Zhan about his bunnies and a million and one questions about pets in general.

"What do your bunnies like to eat the most?

"Do they go to sleep? When? For how long?

"Can we have a cat?"

"What about a budgie? They're really cute!"

"I like elephants!"

"What about tigers? Or giraffes?"

They were finally, finally on the way to the condo, and the kids were vibrating on their booster seats in the back of the car, practically bouncing in their places, excited to reach their destination.

Wei Ying was smiling so widely, giggling at their outlandish questions which were becoming even wilder as they passed each traffic light.

Lan Zhan turned the heat up in the car when they got in, because as soon as the A-Yuan asked his first question, the windscreen began to fog up. Wei Ying was glad he'd bought a jacket, and he thought of his red windbreaker, the one he'd had to toss because it was ruined after a bleeding Lan Zhan had rested against him on that fateful night.

How much had his life changed since that accidental meeting?

From a solo life spent caring for his son, rushing around and juggling two jobs, aching to spend more time with A-Yuan and hating every minute away from him, exhausted and burned out but still managing to put a smile on his face...to this.

A car full of people he loved, going to the place that would become their new home for a while.

Wei Ying closes his eyes, leaning his head against his passenger window, and as the soft notes of the erhu on the speaker system drift over him, he dreams.

He can see a lovely cherry tree in full bloom, its petals cascading over two teenagers kicking a football between them, both sporting wild, messy buns. One has a pale blue sports polo shirt with his name and a number on the back, and the other has a yellow t-shirt with a cute little puppy sandwiched between two buns with hot dog written in loud cursive on the top and bottom of the picture.

Looking down from this hilly meadow, Wei Ying can see a cute brownstone home with a wrap-around porch down below. There are all manner of potted plants dotting the deck, colourful geraniums and purple pansies, and hanging baskets of ferns. There's a hammock gently swinging on one side with the ends of a multicoloured blanket sweeping dust off the ground, haphazardly tossed upon it like an afterthought.

Even from this distance, Wei Ying can see a white loveseat suspended from the rafters, with a few books placed on one side, calico cushions neatly arranged on it, and a folded pale blue blanket weighing it down. The gentle breeze gives it a motion of swaying and makes Wei Ying widen his gaze.

On one side of the building, there is a bricked well complete with a bucket on a rope, the handle to lower it down and a pile of logs already cut down to a burnable size. On the other side of the house lies a vegetable patch with neat rows of cabbages and carrots, and other root vegetables.

Windchimes tinkle in the air and Wei Ying looks up.

He's sitting on a bench, his arm wrapped around Lan Zhan's waist. Lan Zhan looks exactly as hot as he always does, staring back at him with the softest golden gaze, as if Wei Ying is his everything. The wealth of love in his amber eyes is more priceless than any riches this world could offer.

Wei Ying wants to drown in them, feeling overwhelmed by everything he's seeing, and then he's looking at their clasped hands, and both of them-

The gentle shaking of his shoulder makes him gasp, as Wei Ying opens his eyes and finds a concerned Lan Zhan looking back.

"Wei Ying, we are here," he says in his lovely, velvety deep voice.

"I had a dream!" Wei Ying throws his arms around Lan Zhan's neck, trembling because he knows what he just saw.

This dream was a premonition of the things that would definitely come to pass, however far into the future they were, of that, Wei Ying was more certain than knowing all of his times tables backwards.

His first conscious prophetic dream, one where he saw his future, and really, it was the future for all of them, maybe in ten years' time.

Lan Zhan knows something life-changing has happened, and his big palm rubs on Wei Ying's back soothingly, but now he can feel the children watching them, worried because they've gone all quiet.

"Baba, did you have a bad dream?" A-Yuan asks him.

"No, it was a really good one!" Wei Ying withdraws from Lan Zhan and wipes his eyes. His heart is so full right now, because he's seen their lives, a snapshot moment of all four of them.

They're happy and healthy and living their best lives, and honestly, what else could he want?

And the icing on the cake is the realisation that this is a gift, directly from his mother. In the same way that Cangse Sanren could see into the future, Wei Ying has inherited the same gift from her, and that's as good as receiving a warm hug straight from her.

"Then why are you crying?" JingYi asks him, suspiciously.

"Happy tears," A-Yuan decides, answering for him.

"Yeah...now are we ready to explore our new home?" Wei Ying says, wanting to direct their attention off him.

The children cheer loudly and wait for the adults to come around and take their seat belts off for them, because they're not allowed to do that by themselves until they reach age ten.

But as Wei Ying catches Lan Zhan's eyes over the roof of his white car, Wei Ying knows that Lan Zhan wants to know what he saw. So he nods, a promise to explain later, when they're alone.

Wei Ying watches their children as they look around in awe at the private car park. They're not even inside yet and the children are already silent, drinking in every detail and whispering to each other.

They don't know that their parents can hear every word.

"Oooh! It's so fancy!"

"LOOK! A keypad!"

"It's like a spy movie, except this is where we're going to live!"

"There's a cop!"

The children have made it into the foyer where the security guard is watching them and trying not to smile, though there's a twinkle in his blue eyes. He stands straighter, pleased with the gasps and excited chirping from both A-Yuan and JingYi.

And then, Wei Ying spots the concierge.

It's the same guy as before, when he and Lan Zhan came here to get Lan Zhan's clothes.

Wei Ying makes a show of keeping his arm firmly wrapped around Lan Zhan's waist, leaning in to whisper in his ear, and even kissing Lan Zhan's cheek, all very "innocently".

Lan Zhan just knows, and this time, he's very careful not to pay too much attention to the young man, keeping his answers cool and detached, while he collects his mail. The fact that Wei Ying is more attentive is simply an extra benefit he's going to enjoy.

Then they're in the lift and the bellboy gets a grilling from the six year olds who think his is a dream job, and they're so interested, fascinated that someone can press buttons and go up and down in a lift all day, AND get paid for it.

The teenager preens under their attention and is clearly rethinking his own opinion on his employment because it must be something good if they're so excited on his behalf, and he waves at them when they leave.

Lan Zhan goes to the second door out of three on this top most level in this building, and types in his security code.

The children have become extremely quiet now.

This is it.

They are finally going to meet the bunnies now.

Wei Ying is a little bit nervous as they enter, because Lan Zhan's home is posh, with a capital 'P'. Even if he has Lan Zhan's permission to 'break anything he likes', that's still no reason to believe that he'll be okay with two six year olds invading his space.

Wei Ying knows better than anyone that even if A-Yuan and JingYi are the best children, so well behaved and tidy, children can be children, and a messy life awaits no matter how prepared they are.

The white, clean foyer is just begging for footprints and dirt to ruin its perfection.

The children gasp when the in-built shoe rack pops out of the wall and they can store their shoes properly.

The vase of gentian flowers is just as vivid and beautiful as Wei Ying remembers.

"Does XiChen-Ge come and change these?" Wei Ying asks, his forefinger tracing the outer edges of a delicate petal.

"Mn. Either one of us. In the last few weeks, definitely him." Lan Zhan leads the way into his living room.

A-Yuan holds his left hand and JingYi holds his left, with Wei Ying watching them from behind. He follows them in and then gets the brightest idea, whipping out his phone.

He's going to film their reactions, and best of all, Lan Zhan in teaching mode!

He takes some pictures too, for good measure.

They look so cute, all three of them. Lan Zhan is so tall, his hair curling past the nape of his neck, dressed smartly in beige slacks, white button down shirt and cream cable knit sweater. The children on either side are a third of his height, and it's such a great picture that he wants to get it framed.

Then he starts videoing.

The bunnies are happy at first, the familiar scent of their human/vampire comforting them. Wei Ying thinks it's weird that they didn't freak out by smelling the predator in his blood, but it seems both Tofu and Noodles are more wary of JingYi and A-Yuan than Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan teaches them to sit as still as possible, which is easy for A-Yuan but JingYi struggles. He tells them to hold out their little chubby hands so the bunnies can smell their fingers, and decide if they like these new mini humans.

The boys give him their rapturous attention, stifling squeals as the bunnies twitch their adorably cute little noses, and then when Lan Zhan carefully picks up a bunny and deposits one each in both children's laps, Wei Ying makes sure to capture their awe-filled expressions, the wonder in their huge eyes at these furry small creatures, so trusting and smart.

Wei Ying has to blink back tears of feeling totally undone at watching them interact.

Theirs is a real family and judging by that dream he experienced, they are going to be happy forever.

***************

The rest of the tour is fast; the children politely try to be interested in what will eventually become their new bedroom, and their own bathroom gets cheers, but it's absolutely clear they want to return to their precious friends.

"Be gentle." Lan Zhan warns them quietly, with a softness in his eyes and the tiny lift of his mouth.

They nod obediently, and with determination, and then they run off, giggling.

The moment they are alone, Wei Ying inserts himself into his arms, smiling when Lan Zhan kisses the top of his head.

"I love you," Wei Ying whispers, thinking about his daydream in the car.

He finishes telling Lan Zhan about every single detail, able to recall everything from the swaying branches of the blossoming tree above them to the wild flowers dancing under the bare feet of their boys while they play in the meadow before them.

Lan Zhan still hasn't said anything, so Wei Ying leans back to look up at him, and he's blown away by the depth of his emotions shining like a beacon in those golden eyes.

With a single finger, Lan Zhan lifts Wei Ying's face and captures his lips, willing hostages to this passion that seems to linger between them eternally. Like a forest fire burning out of control, teeth nip and lick away blood, tongues dual and playfully fight as each breath is shared in this wild connection, a declaration to the heavens that their love is real.

But it is Wei Ying who brings back some measure of restraint, ever conscious of the boys in one room over.

When he looks through the windows, he's shocked to see it's already dark outside, and his tummy joins in with the announcement that it's dinnertime.

Laughing with joy, he pulls Lan Zhan back to the living room where the boys have found their second true loves: playing with the bunnies.

"It's time to go home," he declares, laughing at their disappointed expressions. "We can come back whenever you like, you know," he reassures them. And then he adds, "so what do you think? Can we live here?" He winks at Lan Zhan when they all cheer too loudly.