"You're not serious, are you?" Darin asked, looking between his wife and son. He had to have misheard his son. New York? With all of this going on? "Absolutely not, Clark. I may not be able to stop you from where I am, but you are not going to New York. Not until this is all over."

Clark knew that this had been a bad idea. Not only did he not like being yelled at, but there was something almost offensive about being yelled at over Skype. His father somehow sounded even angrier over the internet. "Dad, will you just hear me out?" Darin gave him that look, and Clark knew he was treading on thin ice. He didn't have much time to talk before the idea fully cemented in his father's head.

"Just listen," Stacy said softly. Darin crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

"This event is ten times safer than right here at home. There's security there. You think they'd just let thousands of screaming girls run after their idols without any kind of protection?"

"We're not talking about a screaming girl, Clark. We're talking about an actual murderer. I know things have calmed down a little in the past week, but don't forget why we're doing this. It wasn't somebody breaking into the house. It was someone trying to kill you."

"Which is why Nakota being there makes me even safer. He'll be with me wherever I go. I won't even be able to use the restroom without him being there. And Ruby, too. We already bought our tickets, have our hotel room set up, all of it. There's even a car we're going to take. It's all waiting for us, Dad."

"My answer is still no," Darin said. He may have tried to sound confident, but Clark detected a hint of compromise in his voice. He'd have to move carefully if he wanted this to go over well.

"I swear to God, I'll call you guys every two hours to let you know that I'm okay. I'll text you, send you pictures, all of that. But please, just let me go. You and Mom both know how much this means to me. These people have given me so much. They're the ones who've given me the money to get my own apartment. And I know that you can understand me. You know what it's like to meet people who love what you do. The way they look at you like you're a god just for noticing them... That's what I want. I've never experienced that before, and I feel like I'm not giving back to them." Clark hadn't realized that he was getting emotional until he heard the slight crack in his voice. He wasn't going to cry, but talking about this had still touched something inside of him.

"I think we should talk about this before we just say no, Darin," Stacy said.

"Go," he mumbled.

"Darin –"

"I said 'go,' not 'no,'" he said, shaking his head. "Clark, look at me. You better keep your word to me about checking in with us. I want to know everywhere you go. I want to be so informed that I feel like I'm actually there with you, do you understand me?"

"One hundred percent," Clark nodded. "I won't miss a single check-in, whenever you want them."

"Good," Darin said. He sat back in his seat and looked at Stacy. "You be safe too, you hear me? That bastard might not be able to get to Clark, but he can still find his way inside the house."

"I'll be fine," she assured her husband. "Leon's here, we have more bodyguards outside, nothing to worry about." Darin looked between them both.

"I love you two."

"Love you more," Stacy said.

"Love you, Dad."

One side of Darin's mouth curled up into a smile. "I should get to sleep. G'night."

They said their goodbyes and Clark closed his laptop, somehow managing to keep from exploding with happiness. By some miracle, he managed to keep himself contained until after he'd kissed his mother on the cheek and returned to his bedroom. There, he tossed his computer on the bed and jumped up and down, the cheesiest of grins on his face. He wasn't even excited to be going to New York.

What he wanted to see most was the people who'd supported him after all these years. Clark slipped his phone out of his pocket and sent out a tweet letting everyone know that he would in fact be going to VlogCon in two weeks. He also headed downstairs to let Nakota know.

Nakota and their new housekeeper Jennifer were in the kitchen. Clark opened his mouth to speak but paused when he heard them talking.

"...Please, you can't leave," Nakota said. Jennifer shook her head and placed her knife down. She looked upset.

"I don't know if I can do this. They didn't tell me what happened to the last maid before I took this job. I'm pretty sure that's against some law."

"They were scared, Jennifer. They're probably worried nobody will ever take another job with them again after what happened. But you being here, it's giving them some sense of normality. Stacy doesn't flinched when she hears you in the kitchen. Did you notice that? And Leon doesn't look at you skeptically anymore. It's been, what, six days? And they're already used to having you here? You have a steady income – a lot more than most other families would pay you – they like having you around, and you do a great job. They need you here."

Jennifer looked at him skeptically before she gave the tiniest of smiles. "Fine. But if something bad happens, I'm coming after you first."

"That's fair," Nakota said, smiling as well. He handed the knife back to her and she resumed dicing a handful of herbs. Once her attention was back on cooking, Nakota walked to the door and glanced at Clark. Clark followed him to the living room.

"Were you eavesdropping on me?" he asked Clark.

"Well, I heard that she wanted to leave and I kind of got scared. I didn't want to have to go through the process of trying to find another maid and all of that."

"Had you just been honest from the beginning..."

"Yeah, yeah," Clark said, waving that statement off with his hand. "Thank you for convincing her to stay though. I like Jennifer."

"I do too," Nakota said. Clark tilted his head and looked at the man with a bit more focus.

"Do you like, like her?" he asked.

"She's not my type, no. I just like having her around. She has a lot of interesting stories from some of her past employers." Nakota's answer may have seemed unimportant to anyone else, but they made Clark wonder. When he and Ruby got together, they spent some time wondering what kind of woman Nakota would go for. He wondered if the man was even into women.

"That's cool," he said, smiling. "I wanted to tell you something important."

"You're pregnant," Nakota said, flipping through TV stations.

"No," Clark said. "We're going to New York." Nakota tore his eyes away from the television and gave Clark an incredulous look.

"What?"

"Yeah! I asked my mom and dad and they said it would be okay for me to go to New York for VlogCon."

"VlogCon. Let me guess, is that something to do with your YouDoo channel?"

"It is! It's this awesome convention where a lot of vloggers get together and meet with their viewers, take pictures, hang out, and even talk with each other and get to know one another more. I've never been because I've always been scare shitless to actually go through with it, but I'm finally doing it and I'm so excited." As Clark talked, a smile formed on Nakota's face. He could see how excited Clark was just talking about this, and he couldn't help but find it amusing and in a strange way, exciting for him as well.

"When is this convention?"

"We'll be leaving not this Wednesday, but the one after next. The convention starts on Friday and goes through the weekend, but Ruby and I wanna spend some time shopping and experiencing New York life before then. Which reminds me!" Clark ran off, and when he returned, he had his laptop in his hands. He took a seat on the couch next to Nakota.

"What are you doing?" the man asked him.

"Checking to see what other tickets are available for the flight. I didn't know you'd be here, otherwise I would have bought three." Nakota watched him skim over the website, and when he saw there were a few more seats, Clark quickly ordered one.

"I'll pay you back for that," Nakota said. Clark made a face and looked at him.

"What? No, I got it, don't worry about it."

"You just spent six hundred bucks on a ticket for me. I'm not taking that kind of money from a kid."

"One, not a kid, and two, I make too much money to even know what to do with it. That's not me bragging, either."

"How much are we talking?"

"Well..." Clark was very reluctant when it came to telling people how much money he made. There were two reactions he got the most. The first was angry disbelief. After all, why did he deserve so much money for showing thirteen year olds how to make dollar store decorations for Christmas? The other reaction was utter shock. Some people couldn't believe that he was able to earn so much at his age, especially with no college degree.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Nakota said.

"No, it's fine. Last year, I made about three hundred."

"Three hundred dollars isn't all that much money, Clark," Nakota smiled.

"Three hundred thousand," he clarified. Nakota's eyes widened but he caught himself and calmed down.

"That's... a lot more than I make."

"I know, and you have a real job," Clark muttered, closing his computer. Nakota shook his head.

"That's not what I meant. What I meant by that was, I didn't know there was that much money on the internet. I had a feeling you made quite a bit, but not that much. And I'm sure you do hard work to earn it, too." Clark looked at him skeptically, waiting for any hint that the man was in angry disbelief or utter shock. He shrugged in response.

"I guess."

"I mean, what's the difference between what you're doing and what directors do? You probably do a wider variety of tasks, too. Filming, acting, editing, working the lights, the sound, all of it. I didn't mean to knock what you do," Nakota said.

"I know. I just get kind of defensive. I've heard it so many times. 'Anyone can do that, you're not special just because you sit in front of a camera and have people telling you how funny and smart you are.' And it's like, I never pretend that I'm better than anyone else. I don't fling dollar bills in people's faces. And you're right, anyone can become a YouDooer, and I encourage people to start. It's an amazing experience and it's changed my life so much. I love every second of it, and I would never discourage someone from trying to see if it's for them."

Nakota nodded as he listened.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you play therapist," Clark said quickly.

"I don't mind. I've never thought about it like that, actually, so I'm interested."

"Oh, okay. Well if you want to know something, I can probably tell you about it. I've been doing this for three years."

"I think I might have to watch one of your videos," Nakota smiled.

"Noooo, not with me in the room. I hate when people do that," he laughed.

"Fine, I'll give you a warning."

"That's fair."

"Cool," Clark said. The two turned their attention to the television. Clark barely registered what was happening on screen. All he could think about was how interesting it was that Nakota seemed less critical of what he did. When they'd first talked about it, the man didn't seem like he understood it, but the way he'd explained himself now made it appear like he was becoming more and more open-minded. The last thing he wanted Nakota seeing him as was a snotty brat who made a lot of money just by exploiting kids online, because that wasn't what he was.

Nakota tapped away on his phone until he'd found what he was looking for. He tapped the share button and Clark's most recent video's popped up on the TV. His eyes went wide and he slapped Nakota's arm.

"You said you'd tell me!"

"I lied," Nakota laughed. Clark shoved him and then jumped off the couch to run upstairs. As he climbed them, he heard the man laughing at his mean prank. Clark closed the door and leaned against it, smiling to himself.

Things finally felt good again.