Several weeks pass by and so much has happened. Justin has control over his powers, and is now helping Olivia with Trace and Rachel. Their lessons are much more laid back than Justin's because between the punches and kicks thrown, laughter is heard and goofing off is done often. Trace is picked on because Olivia chooses to fight with him and she purposely points out that he will never be as strong as her. Justin takes it easy on Rachel, but helps her out as much as he can. 

Alyssa, after Justin was able to convince Olivia to work with her, can now make potions that create flashes of light and thick smoke screens. She can conjure the elements of earth, wind, water, and fire (sorry no heart for you Captain Plant fans). She can perform most spells through practice. She did try astral projection through much insistence and ended up projecting only parts of her. Lucky for her, Olivia was there to bring her back together only to laugh through her I-told-you-so speech. She continues to practice each spell until she knows then and understands them, trusting Olivia's opinion when she tells her that some spells are too much for now.

Cara has come around a little more. She's starting to join the group when they are learning stuff, even joining in a few of the sessions. She's still a little hesitant with the magic but has learned to trust her friends will not bring about any dangers if they can help it.

Olivia is spending what little time she has alone which is usually in the middle of the night, searching her surroundings, making sure all is still safe. Justin got her a job at his company. It's a simple assistant job, but it gives her something to do during the day, she trains whoever during the night, and then keeps her people safe during the night. She's not human so the lack of sleep does not have the same effect on her as it would on a normal person, but   to those who are observant, it is obvious that it is taking its toll on her.  She'll probably end up having an impromptu nap at work and then lose her job, and then she'll be able to sleep more once again.

At this very moment, the group is getting ready to have a cookout/pool party/drink fest with a bunch of their friends. People will be showing up at any moment. Justin has already started to grill to make sure that food will be ready soon after people start to show up, drinks have been on ice for most of the day so no worries on having cold drinks. Pool has been cleaned out for everyone to jump in and have fun. Olivia is in the process of changing when Cara bust into the room.

"Well, its always a pleasure to see you." Olivia decides sarcastic is the way to deal with this. "I guess it's a good thing I'm not the shy type, huh?" 

"Are you and Justin sleeping together?" Cara goes with the straight forward approach over the subtle. 

"Excuse me?" Olivia pauses in her process of tying the top of her suit. "I'm sure that neither one of us is sleeping at the moment."

"You know what I mean." Cara is clearly in no mood to joke around. "Are you and Justin having sex?"

"I can honestly say that I have no idea if Justin is having sex, but I can tell you that he's not having sex with me, not that I think its any of your business." Olivia finishes tying her top and then goes to check herself out in the mirror to make sure all is right. Cara moves behind her. "This leads me to ask, why are you concerned with my or his sex life?" She turns around to look at her directly instead of through the mirror. "Aw, I see. You want to be with him."

"Don't read me." The order is serious but it makes Olivia laugh.

"I don't have to read you. Its clear on your face. If you want to be with him so bad, why are you here interrogating me instead of trying to start something with Justin? That's one thing I'll never understand with humans. You can't just tell someone how you feel directly. You have to go around so many corners and down so many unnecessary pathways to get there." She rolls her eyes.

"I can't tell him." Cara's head immediately drops to look at the ground. At first Olivia thought about walking away to leave her alone with her thoughts but she can feel the doubt and fear radiating off her. She sighs as she asks Cara why she thinks this. "We used to be together. We dated for over a year before he decided it was too dangerous for me to be with him. I always assumed it was his way of breaking up with me without hurting my feelings. Justin is a great guy and will do anything to make everyone around happy and safe even at the expense of his own, so I started to believe that he really did see himself as dangerous. I was willing to take the risk but he wasn't." Cara looks up and there are tears in her eyes and a narrow path that connects those to the ones that are resting on her jawline. "But you've taught him how to control his powers and you have made him comfortable with who he is and he's happy for the first time in a very long time. I assumed that you two would grow together because of this."

"I'm confused." Olivia makes sure to look Cara directly in the eyes. "Are you wanting us to be together or are you wanting us to not be so you two can be together?8 You are really sending me crazy signals here."

"I just need to know if you are because I don't think I can handle rejection from him again."

"Well I don't know how Justin feels about you. I just know that we are not together in anyway other than friends." Olivia assures the girl.

Cara nods and wipes at her face and laughs humorlessly at herself. "I suppose we need to get out there before they start wondering what's going on up here." She turns to the door and Olivia sees her straighten her back and shoulders and what looks to be her shaking herself out.

"Hey, Cara," Olivia calls out, and she turns in response. "If you want me to I can make Justin love you." She smiles to let her know it was a small joke.

Cara laughs in appreciation. "I'll be sure to let you know." She leaves the room to join the party downstairs.

After the talk with Cara, the night went very well. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Bellies were full, alcohol levels were up, and the pool was full of happy people. Olivia and Alyssa were a bit overwhelmed, especially Olivia, at first while they were being introduced to everyone but it was good to meet new people. Alyssa ventured out to hang with the new people she had met, but Olivia chose to stick around those that she was already comfortable with. 

Olivia is sitting with Cara and some girl that she believes introduced herseld as 'Ashley' but not sure enough to address by it. She did watch Cara as she made frequent looks over at Justin who is manning the grill. He has a beer in one hand and the grill utensil in the other, laughing loudly at something someone said to him. Olivia leans over and touches Cara's arm to get her attention.

"Why don't you go over there and join the conversation? Join in on the fun?" Olivia questions her. "Its not like you don't know these people so you should be comfortable around them, and you can remind him why you were together before."

Cara looks back and forth between Olivia and over where Justin is talking to three other people, all laughing and goofing off. She is contemplating if she can do this. "I don't know. Its different when you want something to happen."

"Would it help you if I eased your nerves a bit? I know you don't like the thought of me meddling with people's, especially your, minds but it wouldn't be anything huge. I would just help ease your nerves until you are able to be comfortable on your own." Olivia offers with a genuine smile.

"You'd do that?"

"Of course, but only if thats what you'd like. I can do much more like make him so horny that you can't beat him off with a two by four but I think that's going a little too far, don't you think?" Olivia winks at her with a big smile.

Cara laughs loud at this. "I think I'm okay but could you watch for just a second? If you see me struggling, maybe send a wave of calmness over me."

"Most definitely. Now go get him." Olivia encourages her as she gets up and walks over to Justin.

She watches as Cara walks right up to stand beside Justin. He's moving his arms around while telling a story to whoever is listening. Cara stands there quietly, wringing her hands. Olivia concentrates on what is going on and decides to help just a little. Justin finishes his story and looks down at Cara with a smile. He throws the hand that is holding his beer around her shoulders and pulls her into a sideways hug. Its nothing huge but a friendly hug. Cara's hands drop, and one arm makes its way around Justin's waist. She looks back at Olivia who shrugs as if she had nothing to do with it. Olivia gives her a thumbs-up gesture and then gets up to join the people in the pool.

The rest of the night goes well with worries of any kind, other than who is sober enough to drive home. Some people get rides from someone at the party while others call someone else to come get them or a cab to pick them up. Justin has no problem with people leaving their cars until the morning if it means they get home safely. 

The party winds down and it is finally back to the original six lying around on the lounge chairs, dreading the cleanup.

"We can always have Alyssa cast a cleanup spell, so we don't have to." Olivia jokes around.

"Can she?" Rachel asks hoping its possible.

"No," Justin states, "we made the mess and we are going to clean it up. Now go to bed and get some sleep. We can do it in the morning."

Rachel doesn't argue as she walks herself to the guest house and to bed. Trace wishes everyone a goodnight and leaves, but not before Justin warned him about what would happen if he didn't come back in the morning for cleanup duty. Alyssa is slightly drunk so Olivia grabs the keys from her to drive them home. Cara looks a bit tipsy herself, so she offers her a ride to her own place.

"I don't want to be a bother. I live on the other side of town. I'll be okay." She replies. 

"Nope, you aren't." Justin says grabbing her keys. "How about you two go home? Cara can just stay here. I have extra bedrooms." This statement makes Cara's smile increase to tenfold. "You two are more than welcome to stay too if you think you need to." The smile decreases a bit at this point.

"I think we'll be just fine. Thanks so and thanks for having us over. We had a great time." Olivia tells him. "We'll most definitely be back in the morning to help with cleanup." Justin pulls them both into a hug and wishes them a goodnight and locks up before he and Cara go to bed, in separate beds.

The next morning was dreadful for the group, but they made it through cleanup. Granted, Olivia talked Alyssa through a conjuring spell that brought Trace to them, in only his boxers, after he refused to get out of bed to help. He was not happy with this outcome, but the others found it most amusing. According to Cara, she and Justin had woken up early and had coffee together and talked like they used to and she has a good feeling they may be on the right track to getting together eventually. The day is spent cleaning up and then goofing around as they spend the latter part of the day just lying around and watching TV and eating leftovers from the cookout.

The following weeks are spent in similar ways as the previous ones were. Olivia coming over and helping everyone perfect whatever it is they want to work on: hand-to-hand combat, weapons (for Justin), magic. She did teach Justin how to use his powers to put on a pretty cool light show that comes in handy when they want to be entertained for hours whenever they choose to get high.

Olivia is starting to work more hours during the day because there are pushing a new software and she needs to make sure all the advertisements are getting out. She's also learning how to design small things with Justin during their lunches they share. 

Of course, during the night while most are asleep, she still goes out on a short walk around to make sure all still looks well. This is the longest she has ever stayed in one place and the longer she stays, the chances of found increases. 

She is getting more and more tired but she doesn't say anything to anyone because she doesn't want to disappoint them. She really enjoys being able to help everyone out and she enjoys having a job that doesn't require her to kill anyone, and she loves being around her friends. They make her feel like she has a purpose and she doesn't want to lose t hat, so she keeps pushing on. 

At first it didn't affect anything, but she did notice over time her reflexes were slowing down, almost allowing Justin to get the upper-hand several times during their sessions. She can tell she's getting weaker too. There are times where she can't control her powers as well and everyone's thoughts start to intrude and become overbearing. Her moods are out of whack because she can't tell who is feeling what, including herself. To top it all off, a few times while working with Justin, she could feel the electricity from his currents shot at her and even has burns from a few of them. He body is losing control and she doesn't know how much longer she'll be able to hold out. 

Tonight she is over at Justin's. She will get through this night and then this weekend, she will rest. She will not last much longer if she doesn't do something and she can't put her friends at risk because she's too stubborn to admit weakness. With her powers out of her complete control she tells the others that she wants it to be just Justin and her tonight. This way if anything goes wrong, they don't get hurt because she couldn't stop it.

The group whines and complains at first, but soon stop when they see that she's not going to budge. Justin goes down first and Olivia follows behind and catches Cara's eyes before shutting the door. Olivia could tell that the girl is not happy with the idea of them being down there alone, but she trust Olivia enough to not say anything.

"Are you feeling okay?" Justin asks her as soon as she reaches the bottom on the stairs. "You don't look so well."

"I'm fine. I'm a little tired, but I'll get some sleep after this. It's no big deal." She shrugs it off and gets in position to start this standoff the two always have.

Justin sees that she doesn't want to discuss it and pushes it back. She would tell him if there is a problem, especially if it was one that involved danger. 

***

The power duo has been downstairs for over an hour at this point and the others are sitting upstairs waiting for them to come up to see who won for the night, knowing it would be Olivia as it always is. 

"Well I'm about to go change into my PJ's," announces Rachel as she stands up. She takes three steps before she comes to a halt.

"Forget where your room is?" Trace jokes but is quickly shushed by Rachel. "What the hell?"

"Quiet!" She commands and turns slightly and leans as if she's listening for something. "Did you not hear that?"

"Hear what?" Alyssa sits up straighter, now interested in the conversation.

They were all silent for a a second and the Rachel exlaims, "That! Did you hear that?"

Everyone shook their head and gave her a confused look. "I think you're hearing things." Trace laughs at her.

"Mute the TV." Rachel moves to where she's closer to the basement door and then stops again. A few seconds go by, and she stands up straight with a huge smile on her face, and then waves for the others to join her as she stood close to the door but not touching it. "Listen."

The group moves close to the door and waits, in silence, to hear what she is talking about. It isn't long before they hear something. It sounds like a bunch of things crashing and then something hitting the wall hard.

"What's the big deal?" Cara asks. "It always sounds like that when they are down there." She rolls her eyes at all of them hovering to hear this.

"No, its not." Rachel tells her. "We usually hear really loud crashing and thudding if they are firing at each other or fighting. "Thats not the same, not to mention I don't think I've ever heard moaning before." The smile turned into a smirk.

"You don't think..." Trace's face lit up. "You don't think that's why she insisted that it be just them tonight do you? That lucky dog. He never told me that they were hooking up, or even close to it. I'm going to have to beat his ass now."

"Olivia told me that they weren't sleeping together. So it has to be something else" Cara told them, moving away from the door as if it were going to come after her.

The others stay where they are and continue to listen. All had smiles on their faces. "I knew it would happen eventually. Justin's been needing to get some for a long time now, and he's been in an extra good mood these last couple of weeks, so maybe they just started sleeping together." Rachel reasons.

"I don't believe it." Cara states quietly but no one seems to be listening as they continue to rave about what could be going on and for how long.

"I did tell Olivia that it was time to move on from her last heartbreak. She may have finally taken my advice." Alyssa says, happy for her half-sister.

All of a sudden they all jump after hearing a much louder thud and a loud moan. 

"This is fantastic!!" Rachel exclaims. "I'm really going to go change now." She turns to go back to her original task. 

"I can't wait for details," declares Trace, causing everyone else to roll their eyes. "Where you going, Cara?" He asks as he looks up to see Cara heading to the front door.

"I think I'm going to go home. What those two do in their private time is their own business and I prefer not to know the details." She tries to keep her emotions calm as she makes her way out.

Trace just shrugs and goes back to listening. 

"I think we should stop. Its just wrong." Alyssa says as she pulls on Trace's arm, pulling him away from the door. "I know I wouldn't want someone listening in on me, so we need to go back to the TV." She pulls him all the way to the couch where they both sit and turn the sound on the TV back on, turning up the volume.

Its another hour before they hear the two emerge from downstairs. Both are sweaty and seem to have a difficulty catching their breath. They walk into the living room and see all them staring at them from where they sit, immediately causing the two to question them.

"Just curious how the workout went." Trace smirks, winking at Justin which just gets him a weird look in return.

"It was pretty good. I got a few over on Olivia. She now has to admit that I definitely know what I am doing and that she can't deny that she's happy with that." Justin answers with a teasing smile.

Olivia just rolls her eyes. "I'm thinking that if you would keep some of your thoughts to yourself, I would be distracted."

The three sitting around start to laugh and Justin and Olivia give them a weird look.

"I don't know what you three are up to, and at this point I'm too tired to care. Tonight's workout wore me out. I'm going to shower and then to bed." Justin tells them. "If you all would lock up when you are done that would be great. Also, its really late so if you plan on staying up much later, Alyssa and Olivia, you two are more than welcome to stay the night. I have extra rooms." Justin tells them.

"Thanks. That would be great." Alyssa tells him.

Olivia gives her sister another weird look. "You want to stay here? You never want to stay the night. You want to sleep in your own bed." She tells her. "Besides I need to shower, too. I'm nasty from that workout. I just want to shower and go to bed."

Trace bites his lip to keep from responding to this. "Well there's a second bathroom and I can show you where the towels are if you just want to shower here. Justin wouldn't mind." He says, standing up to get her a towel. "I'm sure that Rachel wouldn't mind letting you borrow something of hers to sleep in."

Rachel nods her agreement and leaves to go get said clothes.

Alyssa remains seated on the couch. "I'm extremely suspicious, but I can't seem to straighten out your thoughts at the moment. Its a big jumble mess or I'd know what you three were up to." She tells Alyssa as she goes to follow where she saw Trace go earlier. At this moment, she did not care what the others were up to. She just wants to get cleaned up and get into bed.

Olivia gets the towel and sleepwear from Trace and Rachel, but she's a little curious about clothes considering they were extremely revealing. When she gets out of the shower, she sees that everyone has gone to bed. The TV is off and the lights were off. She finds her way to the bedroom and tries to get settled in. She's just about to sleep when she hears something coming from the living room area, so she figures she'd check it out since she's still awake. 

Weird enough, Olivia finds nothing that could have made the noise so she heads back to the bedroom. Just as she reaches her door though, she feels a sharp pain in her chest and stomach. She grabs her chest, trying to figure out what is going on. She makes it into her room and shut the door as her breath starts to leave her. She has an extreme difficulty trying to catch any kind of breath. Her chest pains increase with each effort. She has no idea what is going on, and she falls to her knees in great agony. Olivia thinks about going to wake up Justin or Alyssa in hopes that they could help but she can't find strength to get back up or the breath to help her yell out. As the pain takes over, she feels as if she's being pulled out of her body and everything goes black.