THERE'S A FIRE STARTING IN MY HEART

People had a knack for showing up just when she needed them. Well, they were showing up now. But Xander had always had perfect timing. It was like in his blood or something. When she first met him, it had been fate almost, the way he swooped in. He had been the rescue she had been dying for.

Rosemary knew full well how her brother felt about the vampire. It wasn't that he hated the vampire ... not exactly. Or at least, didn't hate him enough to want him dead. Royce just didn't want to have anything to do with Crowne. There wasn't enough distance the Royce could put between him and the crafty fang. Before they had even become friends (yes, there had been such a time that she hadn't known the King's boy), there had been deep resentment for the vampire. Rosemary only knew part of the story herself, only the part that Royce had told her and Xander had been stoically mum on the subject, but what she knew she could understand.

Alexander Crowne was not to be trusted. That was the one rule Royce had when they first became friends. He was insistent on Crowne's dark nature, sure that his manipulations were endless. For the longest time, she took him at his word. But it was hard to not trust the man who had saved her life. Whatever his past sins, whatever wrongs he had committed, he had at least never treated her with anything less than gentle affection. It was redeeming enough in her eyes. But not her friend's. Royce had been pissed that Crowne had approached Charlie for a second time. Immediately after he found out, they fought.

She insisted that he had been nice to Charlie. He insisted that it was only because the fang had a dark ulterior motive. She argued that they give Crowne a chance, to hear what he had to say. He argued back, saying that there was no trusting a fang. Especially not Crowne. When the shouting was done, emotions were high and hearts bruised. Royce still refused to go anywhere near Crowne so it was up to Rosemary to see what the vampire wanted from them. Clearly he was trying to get a hold of them. Why he was using Charlie, she didn't know. Why he didn't just approach them confused her. He obviously knew where they were, probably knew the exact apartment so why the game? Royce didn't care. But she did.

So off she had gone. Charlie had passed on the address that Crowne had left and so it was easy to find him. Quite the nice part of the town. The nicest actually. His 'house' was more like a mansion, large and grand. So much more than any of the other houses on the same block. Crowne had never been humble with his finances.

The vampire was more than surprised when he opened his door and saw her dirty blonde self. Not that she was there but that she was there without her male counterpart. Yeah, she had snuck behind Royce's back but only to find out what Crowne was up to. Xander loved to play games and sometimes, one had to play and entertain him if they wanted to get anything worthwhile out of him. Except, she was rusty and had forgotten the rules of the game. Xander was as sweet as ever, of course, but getting a straight answer out of him was like trying to fit a square into a circle. Impossible and frustrating. The only helpful thing that came out of her visit with the vampire was that he managed to help her out with her little job problem.

Papers. She had a bunch of them. All of them were fabricated, of course but were real enough to pass her new boss' inspection. O'Connelly was a kind man who barely gave her so-called papers a second-glance before once again claiming that the job was her's. A uniform and hat was tossed her way and before she could let out a hooplah of joy, she was sent off to wipe up a ketsup spill.

Alexander Crowne to the rescue. But if score were being taken, Royce had come to her rescue far more times than Crowne.

Working at the Golden Burger was a lot more work than Rosemary had anticipated. She was determined to prove herself however and took every task without question. Except maybe the time when Caleb had her clean up the bathrooms. It was a disgusting first for the blonde. Never had she ever been asked to clean a bathroom and she had hoped to get through her entire life without ever having to do so. She had started to protest but one eyebrow quirk from Hamburger Boy got her to shut up, suit up and clean up. That damn bathroom freakin' sparkled when she was done with it. The make-shift hazmat suit she had made for the occasion was torn up and dirty but there was enough paper and plastic bags to make another one. Other than that, Rosemary was sure that she had been doing a good job. She was sure of it because she was doing everything asked of her. Not a burger touched her mouth. Not even one little burnt fry. Pfft, she hadn't broken anything either. And she was getting pretty good with the mop too! She must have been doing a real good job if O'Connelly was sending her out with Caleb to help with the deliveries. It sounded like a great idea, just another way to prove her self-control and redeem herself in her co-worker's eyes.

If only there was a day to deliver the food on foot.

Rosemary stared at Caleb's truck from inside the Golden Burger, her stomach starting to knot. She had never been in a car before and she wasn't looking forward to having to be in one. Hearing Caleb behind her with the food hot and packed up, she turned and swallowed nervously. "Are you sure we can't just walk?"