CHAPTER III

She was right of course. The next day was horribly demanding. But not in the way you would have expected. Her day was demanding in a typical meeting the family fashion.

Immediately she woke up that morning she wondered who to tell about her findings. After a not so difficult elimination contest involving all the members of the top ten, she had met so far- all in her head of course- she settled on Epsilon. The fifth in command, and by far the sanest.

She dressed quickly in a plain pair of bell-bottomed black jean and a close fitted blue t-shirt, quickly slipping on a random pair of sandals she found at the back. She rushed down the stairs towards the kitchen where she knew Jane would be. Her rush made her run smack into a wall.

Ahhhh, not a wall- a person. A certain psychopath. She looked up plastering a sweet smile on her face.

"I'm so sorry Psycho. I really wasn't paying attention", she said. It's one thing to make your expression pleasant but another thing to do the same with your words.

His scowl deepened, "Sure you weren't princess. What do you want?", he snapped. She stepped away and at the same time he folded his hands. She noticed how his biceps bulged as he did.

"I need absolutely nothing from you. You can however listen to what I want to tell Jane", she said grinning. Somewhere in her mind she wondered if she could get a warning for not going to the Alpha with important news. Ah, well. We just have to see.

"If it's about the murderer then you should come to me first. OBVIOUSLY", he said narrowing his eyes at her.

She just rolled her eyes, completely unfazed by his angry tone. "Jeez keep your jeans on. All I wanted to say is I am tracking his location. Jeez"

His expression almost literally froze, "Your tracking him? Can you get audio and visual on him as well?", he asked standing up straight.

She nodded seeming thoughtful, "I mean yes. If he keeps his phone on him at all times then yes", she confirmed.

Bella appeared then, but Louella got the feeling she had been listening for a while, "That's amazing Lou. So, what now Marco? Whatever it is all of us want to come with", she said firmly gripping his hand tightly.

Louella curiously observed their exchanged. She had no doubt they were siblings, but she was entirely confused by the somewhat pained expression on his face. She decided to keep quiet about that little fact.

He sighed, "I guess all of but her could go", he said nodding at Louella who nodded in understanding. He turned back to Bella.

"Get the others, everyone should assemble in the living room, take her with you", he told Bella once again indicating Louella.

Both ladies nodded and she followed Bella up the stairs, in that moment she realized she wasn't even slightly acquainted with the others in the house. Hell, she hadn't even seen them! Now was as good a time as ever she decided.

"Okay Lou. This is Jessi's room. She is the, theta. She is kind of a bitch in that she has a thing for my brother and hates any ladies who have no family ties with him"

Louella couldn't even pretend to know Bella's motive behind such a thorough introduction. Her thinking was cut short when she threw open the room door and saw the lady standing by the vanity. She felt sick, the room was just too pink! Everything was pink, from the light bulb to the floor mat, to the bed spread and the pillows. The lady herself was dressed in pink too. She turned around just then with a very unpleasant look on her face. She would have been pretty enough, if not for the heavy make-up on her face that made her look almost plastic.

"Bella, who is this?", she asked pointing one heavily manicured finger at Louella, who felt the sudden urge to laugh. She tried to force it down.

"Good morning to you too Jessi", Bella commented dryly, "This is Louella. Marco made her the new kappa"

Jessi walked up to Louella, stopping right in front of her so that she was towering over Louella who suddenly realized she couldn't hold in her laugh any longer. She let out a great snort of laughter, and was laughing for a full two minutes not even knowing what she found funny. Soon enough, Bella joined in too. Jessi looked scandalized.

"I…I'm so… so-sorry." She managed between giggles. Then she composed herself and waited for the final verdict.

"I have no idea what he was thinking! Your unable to act civilized!", she squealed

"Well, she is the reason Marco wants us to go on a mission. We came to call you for the group meeting", Bella explained. They didn't wait for her to say anything else and moved on to the next room.

"This is Carl's room. He is the Gamma ", she said and knocked on his door.

Louella stared, "That's it?"

"What, your surprised I didn't have anything more to say. Carl is mysterious- but Marco trusts him so the rest of us follow suit", she explained.

The door opened then and Louella was rendered speechless again. The room was completely dark inside, and as their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could make out the silhouette of a man. He had a faint smile on his face.

"Hey Carl. Marco wants to have a house meeting. Living room", Bella said

"That's great… this is the lady huh?", he said very slowly, nodding at Louella who smiled taking an instant liking to the man. He smiled back.

"Hey, I'm Louella", she said formally.

He gave her a little bow and both girls giggled, "Pleasure to meet you dear. May we?", he asked gesturing to the stairs.

"We would, but we need to get the rest of the house", Bella explained.

After biding Carl good bye, the continued onward. There were four more left. The Delta- fourth, Zeta- sixth, Eta- seventh and the Iota- ninth. After meeting them all, Louella decided that the only ones that where any less than friendly where Jessi and a certain Psycho. They all assembled in the living room, seated haphazardly and talking loudly. Louella only received an occasional glare from Jessi. When Marco entered the room with Jane behind him, they fell silent.

"Alright guys let get right down to business. Kappa, the new one, tracked down the murderer. Our plan is to infiltrate his current location and gain any information we can from there", he said sharply arms folded. He turned to the one called 'Poppy'- the Eta wasn't it? – and addressed her sharply.

"Any info he has is bound to be cryptic. You're going to be on standby to quickly interpret anything need be", he said

The lady smiled. She had a rather gentle aura about her, "Okay, Marco"

He promptly moved unto Jessi, who smiled a smile she obviously thought was sexy as he addressed her, "Your coming in case we need to quickly open and/or lock anything"

"Okay," she purred.

That's how he continued. Giving jobs such as look out, support and other important factors in a heist. Finally, he looked at Louella, sporting a look of deep hatred before he addressed her.

"And you're staying here. You'll hold forte for us and keep us posted on his movements. Think you can handle it Princess?", he sneered at the end

She nodded grimly, feigning a serious expression, "Yes I think I can Psycho", she said

He groaned internally. After witnessing their little exchange everyone was looking at him with looks of surprise on their faces. All except Bella. Her expression was just to smug for him to look at any longer. He nodded once at everyone and walked out of the room, heading straight for his room. He knew she won't let it go that easily.

"Awn come on Marco! Don't be like that"

He sighed, "Leave me alone Bells", he grumbled

"Ha! In your dreams. I'm just going to follow you", she said

"I want to have a shower, go"

"I'll wait on you bed"

"Bella"

"Marco"

"Leave me alone"

"No"

He groaned loudly and was tempted to slam the door in her face as they got to his room. "Why not?", he asked

"I want to know what you have against Louella"

Of course. Dammit. What else would she want to know? He frowned at her as if confused, "What do you mean?", he asked

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Please, you all but broke your dish when I said we were siblings, and you find any excuse to be mad at her, not to mention – "

He cut her off, "Okay, okay I get it. Can you go now?",

She shook her head, her champagne brown hair falling to her face. He looked into her eyes which were the same as his and felt a sharp stab of pain and hate. He hated that there was once a time his little sister couldn't move from hunger. He closed his eyes and was lost for a minute

XxX

"Baby is hungry"

She hands me two crackers and heads towards the door, "I'll get something sweet for both of you later," and she is gone

I turn to look at baby. I can count her ribs. Just like mine," Mommy will be back later" I whisper and give her one cracker. She can't chew, she has no teeth. I crumble it for her.

Baby is still hungry so I give her mine. She eats that too. But she is still hungry.

There is no food in the kitchen, I checked already. But baby is crying, I need to get food for her.

Finally, baby falls asleep. And so, do I. I'm still hungry. I'll eat later. Mommy is coming…

XxX

He sighed and opened his eyes. Life had definitely gotten better for them since then. So why did he feel like Louella's presence was threatening it all? The lady- truth be told- had done nothing to him, yet he felt the irresistible urge to just hate her.

And as a picture of his birth mom drifted into his mind he realized exactly why.

It was the eyes. Those eyes he had found completely beautiful. They were the same. Not exactly, but the similarity still screamed at him. His teeth smashed together so forcefully that Bella's eyes widened.

"Marco…?", she whispered.

H struggled to answer her, "Its… her eyes… moms' eyes… to similar… I- I look at her and see mom", he finally managed to explain.

He watched Bella's gaze freeze for a moment. They had a traumatic childhood sure, but she was a baby and by the time she was old enough to remember events their mom had been dead for over a year. He had to suffer through it all while being painfully aware of the situation. Slowly he touched his finger, to one of the many scares on his chest.

"But… but Lou isn't like that!", Bella protested

"And you think I don't know that?", he shot back. Bella fell silent and he stood up.

"Look, Bells. You know that as long as I live, I won't let anything happen to you and I do try to make you happy, but I just can't with her. Maybe one day", he said and hugged her tightly.

She nodded, "Lou really isn't like her, is she?"

He didn't hesitate to reassure her, "No. Lou is nothing like her"

"Then why- "

"It's like looking at her. Just seeing her face in my mind's eye is too much at this point", he mumbled.

After a minute or two, he broke the hug by telling her too go tell the rest that they would be leaving in two weeks. And as he passed her door on the way down stairs, he decided on the best course of action.

Men truly are mysteriously dense creatures. They go from being passive to being annoying to ignoring you in less than a week and if she tried to keep up with any more of his mood swings, she would eventually have one too.

Yup. Alpha Marco was avoiding her, it was a relief and a burden at the same time. A relief because he was no longer looking for every opportunity to chastise her. And a burden because, hey! A woman has to be a little sensitive right? She had no idea why he was ignoring her.

Ignoring turned into avoidance and she wouldn't have noticed it, if not for the sad looks she was receiving from Bella and the curious ones from the rest of the people in the house. Eventually she got fed up with it and confronted him herself.

"Oi, Alpha", she called

He had been heading in the direction of what she now knew as the gym. At the sound of his title, he paused- almost as if assessing the voice- his head turned slowly as if too check who it was, before snapping back into position. He continued like nothing happened.

Like hell she was going to let go that easily. She followed him.

"Marco, I'm talking to you", she said

When she called his name, he did look at her, and the hate was so intense that if she hadn't been leaning against a wall, she was sure she would have staggered.

"Why do you hate me so much?", she mumbled, moving closer to him

"I don't hate you, princess"

She was so surprised he answered, that she lost her balance and toppled over. He caught her easily, wrapping one long arm around her waist and hoisting her up against him. Her breath caught in her throat when common sense woke up and she looked away from his penetrating gray gaze. What was she doing? Jeez, talk to a hawt guy and you end up all over him! Way to go Louella. She took a deep breath and backed away from him, hoping to Gawd that he hadn't felt the rush that passed through her body. Wait what was she doing again? Oh, yes.

"Sure, you do. You have been avoiding me these last few days, haven't you?"

"Does that really mean I hate you?"

"Why do you answer my question with a question?", she grumbled

A slow smile appeared on his face. To her it looked rather sad, not strained, just sad, "I'm the Alpha here, princess. I can do whatever I want"

"Okay, do you hate me then?"

'"No"

"Then why do you avoid me?", she asked

He looked away, the smile leaving a little, "It's not something I want to explain at the moment"

Louella could accept that. At least she knew the man didn't hate her. Although why that little detail mattered to her, she didn't quite understand. However, she smiled and nodded. With a little wave, she turned around and was going towards the door when he called her.

"Louella"

"Yeah?", she asked turning slight

"I'll make it up to you"

She smiled and turned away again. What did he mean by make it up to her? And how did he plan to do that exactly? And why on earth was her heart racing at the thought?

She was all the way to her room before she realized he had called her by name for the first time. She laid down sporting a ridiculous smile.

He needed to find Bella. What had he just done? Promised her that he would make it up to her? Times like this he seriously needed a woman's advice; he had no idea what he was doing. Normally, when he wanted to impress a woman… wait. Was that what he doing? Trying to impress her? In the past, when he dealt with women all it took to impress them was a few sweet words and a couple of hundreds. He entertained the idea of trying that tactic with Louella. Ha! Never in a hundred years would she accept any of it. After deliberating the matter for a few more moments, he decided to consults specialists.

"Hey, Bells. Could you get Jane? I need you both, urgently", he called barging into her room.

She was sitting on her bed, putting her hair into a bun, "Can't it wait; I was just getting ready to have a shower"

"No. it can't wait. Come to my room. Now", he said turning the plea into an order. He waited till she rolled her eyes in consent before grinning and shutting the door. In a few moments both were standing in his room watching him pace up and down.

"Thought you said this couldn't wait", Bella called

"Yeah, I have cakes in the oven ", Jane added.

"Yes, it can't. I told Louella I would make it up to her", he said slowly

All at once, each of their expressions changed. Bella became ecstatic with joy, Jane's face morphed into one of confusion. And Marco grimaced.

"I don't understand, make what up to Lou?", Jane asked

"I told you, didn't I?", Bella gushed shaking Janes arm, "Marco has a crush on Lou!"

"What …? What! Who told you that- I never said that!", Marco all but shouted.

The two ladies giggled, it seemed that was all the confirmation they needed. When he didn't even bother to stop them from celebrating. He let them have their way. Only for a few moments and then he made them stop by holding up his hands.

"Please stop. It's not like that," he pleaded

Jane sighed, "Its exactly like that and you know it"

He just groaned, "can you please tell me what to do, instead of making fun of me?", he asked

"It's simple really. Just take her out for a day", Bella said as if that was the simplest thing in the world, he paused and looked at her as if she were mad. Ask her out? She would probably say no, but why is my heart racing at the very thought? Where would he even go? He asked that part out loud.

"That's up to you boi. Take her somewhere special to you. Some place you would like her too see", Bella said

"And if that doesn't feel right then ask her where she would like to go, maybe on a drive", Jane added

He nodded slowly and sat on his bed deep in thought. Do I actually go anywhere except on missions? Maybe I can drive her around, to a mall or something. An eatery? Yea. The more he thought about it the more excited about it he became. Even if he didn't know why.

He realized; he didn't actually hate her anymore. Which made him wonder if he actually ever hated her? He didn't believe he did. And even if he did, it was probably misplaced. He suddenly realized that the two ladies where still in his space, they had moved on to planning his outfit.

"…too conspicuous. He should where a dinner jacket!"

"But he is taking her somewhere comfortable, he should dress down"

"But its still special, casual with a dash"

He had nothing to say so he said nothing, just watched them and picked what he could from their conversations. Finally, they left his room and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

Now the real difficulty begins.

Louella believed that either she was going crazy or Bella and Jane where smiling at her more than was normal. She couldn't have a serious conversation with either one without them breaking into smiles or happy sighs. It was frustrating but she didn't think too much of it. What occupied her mind these days was the mystery of Marco's new found niceness.

It was odd, he wasn't grouching at her any longer and she would be damned if she didn't admit that he was even more handsome when he smiled, because he certainly was. He even joined in on her conversation with Bella, just the day after they had spoken. Admittedly, it didn't last long, because soon after Bella became almost incompetent and both had to leave her to her own devices.

The second thing on her mind was her mother. The whole reason she is even in this state is to visit her mom. Her work is in elsewhere. Even though this is where she grew up and went to school and also where most of her friends live, she has no business here. How things have changed. She wondered if her mother would be worried, she couldn't lie; her mom usually seemed to have her worries elsewhere and rarely on her daughter.

The last thing on her, mind was the annoying murderer. The whole reason she was in this mess. Didn't Bella say that she was taken hostage because Marco believed she had a connection with the moonlight murderer? Its true she felt that buzz of familiarity when he passed her and when they met in the café. But that wasn't concrete enough. She decided to discard it in her mind.

At the moment, she was lounging outside, with her feet in the newly discovered swimming pool behind the den. Her eyes where closed and her head hanging back when a shadow fell over her. She opened her eyes and locked gazes with Marco.

"Hi"

"Hi, I wanted to talk to you', he said in that vice of his, that sent shivers down her spin.

She watched him sit beside her, before responding, "Yea, what's up?", she asked

He stared at her for a few moments, "I know I've been… vastly unfair to you in the immediate past, and I am very sorry about that"

She nodded, "I understand your sorry, Marco. You changed in the last two days"

He nodded, "You noticed?"

She laughed, "Anyone would notice if someone really tall suddenly stops glaring at them", she pointed out

He laughed too, but to her it seemed forced or nervous, "So, I said I was going to make it up to you, didn't I?" he said slowly

She nodded again, wondering where this was going.

"I think I found a great way to make it up too you", he said almost mumbling now

"Really? How?", she asked curious.

"I would like to… that is if you let me… id love too…I mean like too take you out", he said stumbling a lot, his face going a few shades darker.

She wanted to smile, so badly, really badly. But she controlled it and kept her face neutral.

"Really? Out too where?", she asked

He gulped and looked around slowly, before his gaze finally rested on hers. "I was thinking, maybe a drive, and um… a restaurant or you know, take out or something", he said very quickly

She couldn't help it any more and broke into laughter. She laughed until tears streamed down her face. He didn't say anything but his expression turned slightly bewildered. She took pity on him and smiled.

"Sure, I'll go out with you", she said still giggling.

He smiled a relieved brilliant smile at her and stood up reaching for her hand and pulling her up too, "I look forward to it, princess"

"Same, psycho. When?", she asked noting how warm his hand was.

"Anytime after the heist is fine, so let's make it a week from now", he said.

She grinned and yanked her arm away, before her brain short circuited. She hurried to the den and was confronted by Bella and Jane, and realization kicked in.

"Oh, so both of you knew, didn't you? That he was going to ask me out? And none of you told me"

"We needed to give him his chance. Was he romantic?", Bella asked

Louella smiled, "More like clumsy. But it was sweet", she said slowly. More to herself than out, they still heard her though and bombarded her with more questions.

Meanwhile…

RING! RING! RING! The constant ringing of the old-fashioned telephone woke him up. He grunted a little and picked it up. Damn these things, they are safe but they also don't let you see who was calling. Really inconvenient.

"Hello", he said in a gruff voice.

"Don't put on that useless accent for me, David!", a woman snapped

He recognized the voice at once. On instinct, he straightened up and flattened his hair with his hand, "Margret. H-how are you?"

"Don't you dare ask me that. What have you done with my child?", she yelled

"What? You forbade me from seeing her. How would I know?"

"She has disappeared. And I know it has something to do with you so you had better tell me where she is or else, I'll get the cops involved!", she screamed

"Margret calm down! I have nothing to do with it. If she has disappeared then it isn't my fault!"

"Don't talk like I'm crazy David. I know she is missing; she was meant to visit me not long ago and she was supposed to return to work day before last! I never saw her and she isn't in her office!"

His already pale face paled further. He thought back to the time he had seen her in that coffee shop. He had hurried away then, but only after hearing her gentle voice. If she truly was missing, he couldn't help but think it really did have something to do with him.

"David?! David! Da – ", the line went dead.

Louella. What have they done to you?