.:Thoughts:.

DISCLAIMER: A.J. Courman is a werewolf. She is MY character. Simon Coell is a vampire. He is also MY character. If I see anyone using them or other characters that resemble them too closely without my permission, I will consider you a thief, hunt you down, and KILL YOU. Ahem. Thanks very much!

Rating: PG

Warning: Mild sensual material; mild, brief cursing; mention of alcohol

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She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest as she stared out her bedroom window from the floor. The near-half moon was bright in the almost-black sky and the wind was moving the clouds very quickly over the crescent shape. The same breeze blew through A.J.'s open window, whipping up her black curtains and snapping them around her frail-looking frame.

Simon stood in her doorway, watching her silently. She hadn't noticed him standing behind her yet and he was downwind of her, so she hadn't smelled him either. Instead, he was smelling her. She always smelled good to him. There was something about her that didn't smell like anyone else in the world. She was a mixture of vanilla, nature, and just... her. He couldn't explain it.

Simon was also enjoying the sight of her. She hadn't yet gotten into the sweatshirt and pants she wore to bed when he was spending the night, and instead was wearing only a tanktop and boy's boxers- the outfit she always wore after she had been in the shower. Simon had to admit, he felt smug that he got to see so much of her when she wouldn't even dress slightly revealing around her boyfriend. Did Kai even realize how skinny A.J. really was? Simon analyzed her frame as she sat at her window. Her shoulderblades protruded like plates on a dinosaur's back. Her shoulders and elbows were sharp and he could even see her collar bone. The two long scars on her upper left arm were also visible, but as soon as Simon thought about the mark, A.J. moved her hand to cover it, as if she was subconsciously aware of his gaze.

He frowned slightly when he saw her shoulders slump and she sighed. She was thinking. It wasn't good to let A.J. think when she was alone. So, being the good friend he was, he decided to make himself known.

"Oi, put some clothes on, eh?" He chuckled from the doorway, acting as if he had just come up.

A.J. spun around, her eyes full of surprise and embarrassment, and snatched her robe from the ground. In one swift motion, it was around her and tied up.

Simon frowned inwardly that she actually listened to him, but didn't let it show on his face as he entered her bedroom. "What are you doing? It's late and you've got school in the morning." He said accusingly.

A.J. stood up and closed her window. "I was just about to hit the sack."

"Yeah," Simon said with that inflection to his voice that immediately told her he didn't buy it. "What're you thinking about, Love?" He asked softly.

Her eyes didn't meet his as she sat down on her bed. "Just thinking about this weekend...." She admitted.

"You know I wouldn't let anything 'appen to ya," Simon replied, tilting his head to the side.

"But what if you can't stop me?" She asked almost too quietly to hear.

He strode over to her and sat down carefully, ontop of the blankets. "Listen, Love. You have to trust me. 'Sides, I'm not the only one here anymore. You got Izzy and Colin and Xander, Dakota and Viper..."

"I could still hurt you. Any of you." A.J. interrupted. "I couldn't live with myself if I ever hurt any of you."

Simon smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Ah, but you can't hurt me. I'm invincible."

She chuckled lightly and smiled at him. "You have your weaknesses."

Simon frowned. "Not true," he argued. A.J. raised her eyebrows. "All right then, what are they?" He challenged.

A.J. rolled her eyes upward, as if she were really putting a lot of thought into it. "How about alcohol, for one?" She asked. When he didn't respond, she laughed. "Or women?"

Simon felt his face go hot, but no blush appeared. He cleared his throat and responded, "Your point?"

A.J. just laughed. He smiled at her. He loved to see her smile and he would do anything to cheer her up, even if that meant making himself look like an idiot. Just as her laughter died down, she yawned.

"All right, time for bed," Simon said as he ruffled her hair. He stood up from the bed and watched her slide under her covers.

"'Night, Simon," she said sleepily as she snuggled down into the pillows and blankets. She wrapped her arm around a white and red teddy bear.

Simon smiled at her. "'Night, Love." He turned off her bedroom light. Although it was pitch black in the room, save for the small moon beam near the base of her window, Simon could see perfectly well. His eyes were focused on the teddy bear she held so securely within her arms. It reeked of Kai. Simon wrinkled his nose and left the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

How many nights had he wished it was something of his that she snuggled that close to her. How he always dreamed that someday she would see him the same way she saw Kai. He always wondered what made him so different from the wolfa? Why did Kai get her and not Simon?

The vampire's eyebrows furrowed as he made his way down the stairs and through the living room to the kitchen before leaving the house. He sprang up from the porch onto the roof before making his way to the peak of the house. He sat down and stared up at the sky. The moon was blinding white to his sensitive eyes, so he stared at the stars instead. He tried to concentrate on the individual clusters of stars and the gases in space that made the sky turn different shades of blue and black, but the particles of dust in the air and the crystals in the clouds were distracting him and he felt he couldn't concentrate.

Simon sighed and closed his eyes instead, letting the breeze blow his hair around. He smiled to himself as he pictured A.J. in the room below him, fast asleep. He knew he loved her. He also knew that she loved him, but not in the way he wanted. He wouldn't ever leave her. He was drawn to her for reasons he couldn't explain, but he didn't complain. Maybe he couldn't be her boyfriend or lover, but he had an equally important role in her life and he knew it. They both did. It had to be a special connection when neither of them could live without the other.

I love you, Simon told her in his mind. Always have. Always will.

He smiled and reached into his coat. Pulling out a brown bottle, he popped off the lid and took a swig. "And you were damn right about the alcohol, Love."