"What's going on? May told me you guys went investigating somewhere but I didn't think you'd come LATE," Lena spoke out while crossing her arms and frowning. Rarely did one ever see Lena get angry.

Truth be told, the sun had set hours ago when Jack dropped his passengers off at the Harlequin.

Britney gulped, guiltily looking down. Ted rubbed the back of his neck and intentionally avoided Lena's eyes. Naomi shoved her hands in her pockets and studied the floor. Maya stood next to Lena behind the counter, feeling sorry for her friends but grateful she didn't join the field trip.

"We got arrested," Britney admitted.

"You WHAT?!" Lena screeched.

Panic entered Maya. "Wait a minute, where's Mary?"

Britney sighed and Naomi pressed her lips together.

"Mary... ran away," Ted confessed.

"What are you saying?" Maya gripped the edge of the counter, suddenly feeling faint.

"Woah woah woah. You're going to have to backtrack and tell us everything from the beginning," Lena said.

Britney began, "We drove in my car, like we planned, and went to the location on the phone."

Ted continued, "When we were on the road, Mary saw a little girl-"

Maya interrupted, "What was a little girl doing out in the middle of the road all by herself?!"

"We don't know," Britney said nervously. "She didn't seem to remember anything. Anyway, when we arrived at the location, it turned out to be an abandoned town."

"Yeah, there was a bunch of old, cracked buildings," Naomi recalled. "When we got there, we left Mary in the car to take care of Julia."

"When we went into one of the buildings, we found a briefcase filled with guns," Ted disclosed. He debated whether he should tell them that they took it, but Naomi beat him to it.

"We took the briefcase and distributed the guns amongst us."

"Why would you do that?" Maya made a face.

"I didn't know if they belonged to the person that kidnapped my sister so I didn't want to risk leaving them there, all right?" Naomi argued defensively. In a calmer tone, she continued. "Anyway, after that, we heard police sirens so we made a mad dash out of there. Long story short, we ran into the police and some weird lady who dared us to shoot but only paper bullets came out. Then, the police arrested us and we got in the car and Britney somehow managed to trick the police to let us off the hook."

Naomi took a breather and grinned. "Oh need I mention, Jack's a freakin' cop."

Maya gasped and Lena coughed innocently. "Oh... did he not tell you that?"

"Britney crossed her arms and raised both eyebrows. "Nope."

"How'd you convince Jack to let you guys go?" Maya tilted her head to the side.

"This girl's more badass than I thought," Naomi smirked while looking at Britney.

"Thank you," Britney preened. "And let's just say, I simply talked him out of it."

Maya shook her head in disbelief and sighed.

"Wait, what about Mary and the little girl?" Lena inquired worriedly.

"Mary and Julia ran out of the car before we were arrested," Ted informed them.

She gulped. "Well, I think you guys should stay low for now."

"Let's all stay in here for the night," Maya proposed. "Just in case Mary returns."

The group nodded in agreement.

"So, where is everyone going to sleep?" asked Britney.

"I call the break room!" Naomi shouted. "Maya, you can come with me."

"Yay! It can be like a slumber party!" Maya said cheerfully.

Ted laughed out loud.

Naomi was taken aback by such girliness and awkwardly responded, "Um, sure." Looking down, she wondered if she should have found a way to sleep near Ted instead. No, she scolded herself. Now was not the time for romances, she needed to find Ash.

"Let's go Naomi~!" Maya called.

"Coming!"

Together, the girls walked into the break room. Upon entering, Maya let out a loud gasp and stopped.

Naomi looked over her shoulder. "What?!"

Maya whirled around. "I forgot to get us pillows!"

Naomi blinked. "You guys have pillows here..?"

"Yeah. Would you be a dear and get us some pillows while I change? You can ask the others to help you find them. But not me, I'm exhausted!" She yawned dramatically.

Naomi subtly rolled her eyes. As if Naomi wasn't the one who'd had a hell of a day. Still, she responded generously, "Sure, I'll be right back."

She made her way back to the bakery section where Ted, Lena, and Britney bickered over who would sleep where.

"Hey, Lena?" Naomi interrupted.

"Hmm?"

"Where are the pillows?"

She smiled coyly. "Ted will show you."

"Sure, follow me," he smiled warmly.

As Naomi followed Ted into the kitchen, she could have sworn she heard Lena giggle.

Once in the kitchen, the two continued forward and into the isolated pantry.

"There's some pillows in the cabinets. Let's grab some for the others while we're at it," Ted said.

"Ok."

The two pulled a couple pillows out. It was then that Naomi realized there were two pillows they hadn't pulled out. They were in the cabinet above Naomi, which was out of her reach.

"Need help?" Ted's voice sounded close behind Naomi. The hair on her neck stood up.

She blushed, aware of him seeing her struggle on her tiptoes. At least he couldn't see her face, as her back was towards him. It seemed her voice had disappeared, so she shyly nodded her head.

He stepped close behind her and she watched as his arms reached above her head and took the pillows out of the cabinet. He hadn't even waited for her to step out of the way, she realized.

Her heart beat hard against her chest. Once again, she hoped he couldn't hear it in the silent room. But at last, she couldn't take it anymore. The desire within her grew stronger and stronger.

Ted stepped back with the two pillows in his arms and smiled. "All done-"

Naomi quickly spun around and pushed him to the floor. He gasped, taken by surprise. The pillows flew out of his grasp. Luckily, he landed on the other pile of pillows they'd collected. Naomi landed on top.

"Ted," she breathed, lifting herself off his chest and supporting herself on her arms, palms on the floor between the pillows.

Ted breathed fast, given his current situation. Naomi tried to ignore the rapid rising and falling of his chest, and how each time it rose, it almost touched her own chest.

"You know how I said I'd be ok with whoever you chose?"

He inexplicably lost his voice as well, thus all he could do was give a slight nod.

"Well," Naomi said, breathing quickly. "even if you do choose Mary..." She shut her eyes hard to get the words out, "I'll be waiting until you like me back!" A knot formed in her throat right after the words left her mouth. She surprised herself, suddenly realizing how much she wanted to be with Ted.

She opened her eyes to see Ted's wide doe brown eyes staring back at her. Naomi felt moisture in her eyes, so she finally stood up. She gasped softly upon wiping her eye. Crying was the last thing she expected to do.

"Naomi..." Ted said softly, slowly sliding himself up.

"I'm sorry," he said at last. "I- I- I just can't decide yet!"

Naomi felt something slam into her chest. Her eyes grew big as she watched him run out of the pantry.

She stood there, alone on the pillowy floor, wondering what just happened. The sudden realization hit her; that he did not like her enough to choose her over Mary.

Naomi fell to her knees and punched a pillow. She sobbed convulsively, feeling extremely angry at herself. Why did she have to fall in love with him? He was too much of a good guy for her anyway!

"You can't do this to me," she cried, burying her face in a pillow to drown out her heaving sobs. "You just can't!"

***

Ted stood outside the back door, blowing air into his hands to warm them up. He rubbed his shoulders. He felt bad for leaving Naomi like that. As much as he longed to pull her closer to him, as much as he wished to place his lips on hers, he couldn't. The last thing he wanted was to play with girls' hearts. Mary and Naomi were his friends, you couldn't do that to your friends.

He looked out into the snowy street, suddenly realizing it had snowed! No wonder it was so cold...

He turned his head to the side admiring the leafless trees capped in frosty white snow when his eyes landed on a pale girl of his age laying motionless on the snow. He was taken aback by her mysterious beauty, and how much she resembled a gothic but modern snow white with long black hair.

Ted slowly came nearer. He became frightened when he noticed her icy blue frostbitten fingertips. Was she..? He let out a sigh of relief once he saw her chest softly rise and fall.

He decided to carry her inside. She'd be safer and warmer in the Harlequin Restaurant than out here. There, they could wait for her to wake up.

He let the kitchen door close behind him as he carried the sleeping girl inside. He took her to the lobby in the restaurant portion and slowly laid her body on the couch.

"Ted... What are you doing still up? It's late," Lena said tiredly as she rubbed her eyes. Her yawn turned into a gasp when she noticed the teen sleeping on the couch. "Who's that?"

Backing up, Ted spoke softly, "I found her out in the snow. She was unconscious."

"Yikes. I'll go grab her a blanket!"

"Thank you, Lena."

Lena ran out. Britney and Naomi entered a couple seconds later.

"So that's the girl Lena said you brought in," Britney mentioned while looking at she who resembled a porcelain doll.

Naomi's eyelids drooped as she looked away. Seriously Ted? You're always bringing girls in, Naomi thought to herself.

The girl shifted in her makeshift bed and slowly opened her eyes. Upon feeling the unfamiliar surface of the couch and texture of the blanket, she lept out and tore the blanket away from her.

"Where am I?!" she cried out.

"Relax!" Britney said while holding her hands out in front of her. "You're in the Harlequin Restaurant. You were found unconscious in the snow."

The unknown girl dusted herself off. "Well!" she laughed nervously. "I really should get going."

"Wait!" Lena called. "You should stay for a while. There's a blizzard outside, and it doesn't look like it's dying down. I'll make you hot chocolate while you stay. Get as comfortable as you want."

"Uh, ok. Thank you."

"You're welcome!"

***

"Maya. Guess what, " Naomi stepped into the break room to deliver the unfortunate news to Maya.

"EEEK! Naomi! You scared me," Maya cried while holding her hands to her chest. "What is it?"

Naomi walked deeper into the room until she stood a few feet away from Maya. "Ted brought a girl in."

Maya smacked her own forehead disapprovingly. "Oh well," she shrugged. "Hopefully she'll be gone by the morning." Smiling, she added, "How about we just get some sleep, ok?"

"Sure whatever," Naomi yawned.