Celeste was building herself a mountain of sand over which she'd preside. Colton was burying himself in a mountain of paperwork, under which was the solution to the Entertainment Department's problems. While they both tackled their mountains, the moon grew progressively higher, and neither made motion to leave any time soon.

They had left the house very early, Celeste on her new red tricycle, and Colton walking behind her, highlighter in one hand, and large packet of papers in the other. Every once in a while, he'd peer over his sunglasses to see if she was still moving, and still alive. She didn't look back to him once; she could care less. The trike was amazing fun.

They had left the new pet Maltese at home to 'keep watch', and Celeste hadn't objected. It was asleep on her bed, like a little baby, and she hadn't wanted to wake it. The playground was not dog friendly, which was why Colton had told her that the dog could not come, but all was well, as there was no quarrel over it.

"Uncle Cotton! Lookat me!" Celeste had successfully buried her lower half under the sand. "Lookat me! Lookat me!" Colton glanced up from the picnic table and paperwork, and smiled at her. The toddler was grinning, and it was infectious. It was hard to be in low spirits with her around.

After Celeste no longer demanded his attention, Colton looked back down to his papers. His head was not allowing him the necessary focus. The fact that he hadn't had his repast of the evening was also a slightly distracting issue, but more so was the fact that his nightmares had stopped, only to be replaced with flashbacks.

He preferred the nightmares.

His mind went over his last-night dream, again, again, savouring the memory. Hurting deeply, but savouring every minute of it.

"Hey, Colton, whaddya get for number seven?"

"You're kidding, right? Number seven?! Jake, I finished number seven a half an hour ago!"

"It's not my fault! I've had a lot on my mind!"

"Oh, like what. Charlotte, or whoever she is? C'mon, Jake... I'm going to be here all night!"

"That's the plan, Colt." Jake offered a wink, and Colton rolled his eyes, going back to the ever-important Bio 101 homework. Jake just didn't understand. Not the science, no, but Colton, and how one person's beautiful little head could worry over something that seemed so useless. Jake sighed, and leaned back on his pillows. He was seated on his bed, while Colton had made residence on the floor, sprawling out papers and texts and pencils over his accumulated square footage like it was his house. Jake continued watching him for a minute, thinking. "Hey, Colt...?" His voice trembled slightly, but he passed it off by clearing his throat.

Colton hurriedly finished the second to last question of the assignment, glancing up a minute. "Yea, yea... I'll help up in just one second... Just one..." Colton quickly wrote a half-assed answer to number 32, then shut his book, grinning. "And done. I win." He stood triumphantly, and plopped down onto the bed next to Jake. "Are you seriously on number seven?"

Jake grinned. "I told you, I had a lot on my mind." He didn't sound as confident as his grin suggested, and quickly looked down at his hands. "Colton, there's something I need to tell you... It's about your sister." Colton looked shocked for a minute, and he didn't try and cover it. "I'm not crazy about her, like she thinks I am... She's... She's not really my type." Colton nodded, looking less shocked and more understanding. The news Jake offered was relief for him. "It is that Charlotte girl, isn't it?" Colton grinned, almost mischievously. Jake let out a very forced laugh, and looked away. "She's not really my type either... Actually... Girls in general are not my type..."

Colton blinked. Did he hear that right? The biggest ladies' man in the entire school was gay? What irony! "Oh... Why are you telling me this...?" But Colton knew why. It didn't need a chemistry major to figure out all chemistry. He just needed a quick second to get his thoughts in order, and playing dumb would accomplish this. "Heh, you know why, Coltie." Colton blushed, and glanced away. Jake tossed his books aside and handed Colton his paper. "You liar," Colton muttered, glancing up at Jake with a characteristicly lopsided smile. Jake had finished the homework long before he had.

Jake grinned and leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on Colton's cheek. "Guess I win, huh." And Colton couldn't help but smile.

"Lookat me! Lookat me! Look, Uncle Cotton! I'm flying!"

Colton snapped his attention back to Celeste immediately. She was hanging from the monkey bars, swinging precariously. "Careful, Celeste!"

"I win!" Celeste dropped with ease, and giggled away as she skipped to the tire swing. Colton let out a sigh, and collapsed back into his paperwork. She won, indeed.


((For Elena!))

Elena was doing what she did every night it seemed. Walking/wondering/exploring/observing= boring. And she had been doing that same boring thing for 363 years. So there are 365 days in a year, times 363. Ok, she wasn't even going to waste her time calculating that. But really, what else did she have to do? It was only occasionally she had some excitement, excluding her hunts.

But the other night she had had some excitement. Well, you wouldn't really call it excitement, but it was definitely better than walking around. Sure most of it had been depressing, but Elena felt she had developed a deeper relationship with Colton that night. Besides, that morning, she couldn't remember being happier. Ever.

Tonight she was walking around one of the cities two parks, although she wasn't sure of the name of it. Elena always enjoyed walking around parks, the occasional deserted playground, empty sides walks and woods. They were always empty of course, considering it was the middle of the night. But she would occasionally see a stranger or two.

Kind of like now. The sight before her shocked her a little. Elena had come around the corner to face another playground, only this one wasn't deserted. A little girl, no more than 4 years old was playing happily. Who let's there kid play around in a park in the middle of the night! But wait, wasn't that the same little girl Colton had brought to the masquerade dance? When she finally noticed Colton sitting off to the side, her questioned was answered.

Her heart seemed to skip a beat when she saw him. That sounded silly, a typical line from a romance novel or something. But she could honestly say that's exactly what it felt like. Elena smiled softly to herself. She had wanted to see him again since the moment he had left the other night. She didn't exactly go looking for him, not like she'd know where to find him. She had figured they would stumble across each other's paths again soon.

Instead of walking straight up to Colton, she began to approach the little girl. Elena didn't want to freak him out or anything. He had said he wanted to see her again though, she hoped that was true. She hoped he hadn't regretted even spending time with her that night or anything. She needed to stop worrying so much.

Elena walked up to the little girl and couldn't help but smile. She was cute, almost too cute. As she looked at her, she thought the little girl looked familiar, or reminded her of someone. Oh, that's right. Her little sister. Her little sister was about the same age as this little girl when... Never mind that. She didn't mind that they looked alike. It kind of made Elena slightly happy actually. It brought back good memories she had spent with her little sister, who she missed a lot.

Elena leaned down and smiled to the little girl, who was right next to the tire swing. "Want me to push you?" She asked in the nicest way she could, it had been so long since she talked with a child.

Celeste could care less if she had never met Elena. A friend was a friend, right? Company was company, correct? Her uncle was probably the worst company in the world. He always made her eat vegetables, and brush her hair and teeth, and she couldn't leave the house without a coat or decent shoes. He was all rules and no fun, and she hated him. She wanted her mommy back, not him.

It can be drawn from this that Celeste is not a fan of the male half of the species. Her daddy was never the nicest man, nor did he pay attention to her like mommy did. He and Colton were stupid. Uncle 'Ewric', on the other hand, was the best man on Earth, and she wanted him to be her daddy. He gave her a puppy, and played a guitar, and showed her how to dance... Eric was the only male she cared to be around.

And what does this have to do with anything? Elena. Female, and already Celeste loved her. She offered to play! That was more than Colton had done. She was like her mother, along with every other woman Celeste had met. They had all offered to pay attention to her.

"I wanna be pushed on those swings!" Celeste jumped off the tire swing and ran to the regular swing set, climbing up onto one of the lower seats and flailing in a haphazard motion, which jiggled the swing, but didn't move it any. She giggled and grinned, her little rosy cheeks and blonde wisps of hair making her an absolutely irresistable child.

Colton, at the sound of two voices, had looked back up at Celeste and Elena, smiling some. An unexpected surprise, sure, but not an unwelcomed surprise. Celeste tottered her way over to the swings, and all of a sudden, Colton seemed interested in watching her. He didn't move from the picnic table, nor did he say a word, but he was watching. Watching and smiling.

Elena thought the little girl was the cutest thing ever. She had missed the smile of a child for so long. And this girl resembled her sister just too much, it was crazy. Maybe just because Elena wanted her to. She missed her little sister, playing with her, teaching her things. When Elena was still a mortal, she couldn't wait to become a mother herself and have children. But, she had soon got over that.

The good thing was that she hadn't scared the little girl away. She seemed more than happy to play with Elena. She watched the little girl run to another set of swings she wanted to be pushed on.

Elena smiled and followed the little girl over to the swings. She couldn't remember what Colton had said his neice's name was. She reached the swing and steadied it as the little girl settled herself onto it. Then she took the two cords the swing was hanging off of into her hands and pulled back just far enough for a good swing.

She smiled again and asked the little girl. "Hold on tight now. Ready?" The whole time she didn't even look back at Colton, she had kind of forgetton about him in all her thoughts for a second. He had probally noticed her by now. Oh well, let him watch.

Colton didn't mind being forgotten about. Besides, he had to admit, he had nearly forgotten about her over the past few days. What with work, moving, Celeste, and the dog, he hadn't the time to think about girls who he was attracted to. No Elena. No Lily. No Hannah. Girl free. Colton watched silently for a few more moments before glancing down to his nearly never ending packet that he had almost finished. Colton capped his highlighter and placed it down on the packet, then turned full attention to Elena and Celeste.

Celeste hung on like Elena aksed, and stopped her squirming of something akin to anticipation. She grinned joyously, and let Elena push her into the air. She nearly squealed with the thrill--everything was thrilling at this age--as she started forward, back, forward, back...

"Uncle Cotton, lookat me! Lookat me lookat me!" Celeste stopped giggling, and, with a look of determination, tried to pump her legs like her mommy once tried to teach her. She had it backwards, but with Elena pushing, she didn't need to get it right.

"I see you, Celeste. My, look at how high you are!" Colton was fitting in well with the parental role of telling 'his' child that everything they did was a monumentous achievement. He smiled as he watched her, and stood, walking over to them at an unhurried pace, standing directly in front of Celeste, watching her go up, and down, up, and down...

"How're you, Elena?" Colt didn't look away from Celeste, however, and watched her swing merrily.

Elena continued to push the little girl back and forth again and again. She listened to the little girl's excitement and it warmed her heart. She'd always loved little children. Especially this little girl. Especially her.

Elena smiled as she heard the little girl now yelling out to her 'uncle Colton'. If he hadn't noticed her before, he definately was going to now. She couldn't help but giggle very lightly as the more excited the girl became.

She finally heard Colton answer. He called the little girl, his neice, Celeste. She'd remember that this time. Elena looked over at him as he began to walk towards the two of them. He stopped directly infront of Celeste swinging, so that she was between him and Elena. She noticed him smile as he watched his neice, and she couldn't help but smile too.

Colton obviously cared for his neice alot, which Elena thought was very important. He had after all run out on her the other day because of his neice. The fact that he cared so much about his family though only had made her more attracted to him. The more time she spent with him, the more similarities she found between the two of them.

Elena was still looking at him and pushing Celeste as Colton addressed her. She noticed he hadn't really looked at her yet though, their eyes hadn't made any contact. She couldn't help but start worrying again about the same things she had before. Worrying seemed to be her specialty lately. "I'm just fine, and yourself?"

Colton shurgged a bit, and smiled, looking to Elena now. "I'm fine." He pulled off his sunglasses, causing an intial squint to the lighter evening, and shoved them in a pocket. He blinked a couple times, letting his eyes ajust to the night time.

Celeste saw Colton below her and giggled, calling his name to get his attention. He looked up to her, shielding his eyes a bit, and grinned. "Well, looks like you've made a new friend, Celeste!" She nodded enthusiastically. "She's pushing me on the swing! Lookat me, Uncle Cotton! Weeeeee!" Colton smiled, and nodded. "I see you, Celeste."

Colton meandered around her swinging path to stand next to Elena, still watching Celeste. "I see you've met my niece." He grinned, and glanced over to her. Celeste called out from the swing, "Lemme down now! I wanna go play in the sandbox! Lemme down!" Colton reached out and helped slow down her swing, until Celeste hopped off and spun around to face them. "What's your name?" She asked Elena, with a mischevious grin and bright and excited eyes.

Colton egged her on to keep talking. "Tell her how old you are, and what you did a week ago, Celeste." Celeste grew wide eyed and eccentric. "I had my burthday and I turned three years old and Uncle Ewric gave me a puppy!" She grinned and then looked up to Colton. "Oh! And Uncle Cotton gave me a trikile! Lemme show you! Stay right here!"

Celeste ran off quickly to the red tricycle on the playground, and hopped on it, pedaling back over at a much slower pace. Colton sighed some. "She can be the biggest pain sometimes... But it's worth it." He didn't look back at Elena for a moment, but kept his eyes fixed on the little girl as she made slow progress, but determined progress, towards them.

Elena continued pushing Celeste as Colton made his way around the swing and to her. "That's good to hear." She responded with a smile, when he told her he had been fine.

Colton let Celeste down when she asked. Or rather demanded. Elena looked down at Celeste as she slid off the swing and turned around to look back up at her. "My name is Elena, and it is a pleasure to meet you, miss Celeste." She smiled down at the girl as she proceeded to tell Elena what Colton had requested. "Wow, three years old! You sure are a big girl now."

Elena and Colton stayed put as Celeste ran off to get her tricykle. She looked over at him as he spoke. "It is definately worth it." She then turned her attention back to Celeste as she pedaled back towards them. "Never forget that."

Colton glanced over at her, sensing that there was reason for her to tell him never to forget. Probably something painful; had she had kids and lost them to Time? He could only speculate as to her past, and why little Celeste seemed like such a treasure, but such a painful treasure.

Celeste finally showed up, after a breif minute of silence. "Lookat me, Elena! Lookat me!" She proceeded to ride the trike in circles around them. "I can go really fast too!" Colton smiled. "Well, don't go too fast. You might get hurt." Of course, the natural worrywart in him had to say such...

Celeste didn't seem to hear him, and proceeded to peddle faster and faster, until she got back off the grass and onto the little dirt path, and peddled herself around at great speed, equivilant to a cat's jogging speed. Not fast by people's standards.

"She's going to tire herself out soon... Showing off takes a lot of energy." Colton grinned. "So what brings you to the park at such an hour?" It was still incredibly early, according to him, as the little digital watch on his wrist read 9:00 and some odd minutes. Only vampire uncles and their nieces were out this early.

Elena thought Celeste trying to show off on her tricycle was cute, and it was even more cute when Colton told her to slow down. "Childen learn when they get hurt, because in reality, your always going to get hurt." Elena said this rather softly, thinking she probally shouldn't have said it at all. She didn't want to bring down the mood or anything. She quickly changed the subject.

She smiled when the Celeste just continued to peddle faster. "And children never listen." She clapped alittle. "Your really good at this Celeste, better than I could probably do." Making children think their important always made them happy. Well, of course they are important. And Elena never learned how to ride a bicycle or anything, and she was way to big to manage a little tricycle. So techically, what she said was kind of true.

"Well, I only sleep in the catacombs, and I always seem to wake up when the sunsets, and I don't really have anything else to do around there." This was all true. "And I didn't see you around, so I left." She could have left that out, and she regretted saying it. Elena didn't want it to be anymore obvious that she was attracted to Colton, just part of her being shy. She contined. "And well, I like parks, they are always quiet, and you always meet the best people wondering around in them." She smiled at him.

Colton nodded. "They learn. They just do it with more crying and tears than I need on a night like tonight..." He sighed softly, and glanced over to her. "So did you ever have kids?" He hoped it wasn't too personal, but then again, he did want to know.

Colton smiled softly, and listened as Elena answered his question. Listened with a grin, and glanced over at her, before looking down at his feet. "I only spend my Saturday nights there... Celeste goes off on some extravagent sleepover-playdate party thing, or what have you, and so I go to the coven house." Colt sighed. Saturday again in two days. "She's off to Michelle's this weekend." More to himself than to Elena.

It was very apparent to Colton that she was attracted to him, maybe because he wanted her to be interested in him, and was building false premises. "Will you be around Saturday night?" If he could blush, he probably would, but he tried quite hard at trying to pass it off as casual talk. For the most part, it worked.


((Mmm. Shortness...))

Elena looked over to Colton oddly for a second. Well, she was an old vampire, she couldn't blame him for thinking she might have had kids, even though she had just turned seventeen when she was turned. But, she could have had kids is she wanted to technically. It wasn't exactly forbidden to have children at a young age back then. Then again, she had always told herself that she would only have children when she fell in love with someone, but she never got the chance. She would have loved to have children of her own. "I never had children, but I took care of my little sister after my mother fell ill, she was about Celeste's age."

Elena half listened to Colton as he continued to talk about something or another. She didn't mean to be rude or anything, but her mind tended to wonder off like this. Her family began to enter her thoughts again. Her mother sick in bed, Elena reading to her sister, even though she shouldn't have even known how to read. She felt like she would give anything to just seem them once again.

Silence filled the air for a few seconds, and Elena heard Colton speak again. It took her a few seconds to reply, and she finally looked over at him. "Oh of course, I never have anything to do really." She smiled alittle, inside feeling excited. That must mean he wanted to see her again, because he liked spending time with her. She couldn't help but listen to him now.

Colton nodded. Made sense that she'd be attached to Celeste, if her little sister had been that age. He could understand missing a younger sister, and finding solice in Celeste. Indeed, it was the last thing he had of Codi's that had any value what so ever.

Colton took a minute to reminiss as well. It was depressing to know he'd never get to see Celeste hug her mother, and it was even more depressing to know that he'd never get to see her again as well. He wondered about how his own parents had taken to Celeste. They always wanted grandkids... They were the kid to pester for them. They'd only have Celeste. Only her.

Colton listened as she spoke up. "Oh, yea... Umm. Well... Ummm..." So much for playing it cool. "At the Ace High on Saturday, we're going to have some really great entertainment, and I have to be there..." Perfect. He had to go to work, would she like to come? Colton felt stupid. He probably looked stupid too, half dressed up, half dressed casual. "If you want to come, I can sneak you in the back to watch..." Perks about being a manager. His guests didn't have to pay to get in.

Celeste had ditched the tricycle on the path and came trudging back up the minature knoll on which they stood. "Uncle Cotton... I'm tired... I wanna go home..." Whiney little voice, followed by an impossibly large yawn. Celeste came and tugged on his pantleg, and he picked her up and held her with one arm. "I told you going that fast would get you very tired..." Celeste leaned her little head against his shoulder. She'd be asleep shortly.

Colton looked back to Elena. "So do you want to...?"

Elena had been to the Ace High before, and free entertainment sounded fun. Although, she usually got most things for free anyway. Sneaking in was always easy. Normally she probally wouldn't have gone. The Ace High was a very nice casino, and Elena didn't usually hang out at 'nice' places. But since Colton had invited her to, how could she refuse?

Before Elena could answer Celeste came walking back over to them, her eyes looking sleepy. She smiled alittle as Colton picked Celeste up and she leaned on his shoulder. It was an adorable site.

Colton brought up the question again and this time Elena answered. "Oh definately, sounds like fun." She smiled assuringly. She could tell Celeste needed sleep and that they were about to leave soon, so she decided to bid her farewell."Well I'd better go, it was very nice to meet you Celeste." She smiled at the little girl now. Then to Colton she said, "Well I'll see you this Saturday then, what time?"

Celeste made a little sound that sounded agreeable when Elena told her it was nice to meet her. Colton laughed a little and patted Celeste lightly. "It starts at nine... If you go to the back, say you're looking for me. The bouncer's will let you in." Aparently just sneaking in wasn't going to work for tonight.

Celeste pulled Colton's hair. "I wanna go home NOW!" Colton grimaced, and pulled her hand away. "We're leaving, Celeste! Jeeze, what did I tell you about pulling hair!" She made a face, and collapsed back onto his shoulder, tugging at his collar now that her hair option was taken away, whining groans and starting a fit.

"I'll see you on Saturday, then..." Colton rubbed his head, massaging the throbbing scalp, and making a face of something akin to pain. "NOW... Now now now now..." Celeste started whining off a string of demands. Colton waved to Elena and trudged over to his papers, which he tucked under his other arm, then went for the tricycle, with he pulled behind him.

Colt looked very awkward. Very much fitting the steriotypical single dad with too little time and too much work. And Celeste fit the typical devil/angel, and was now fast asleep on his shoulder.

Perfect.