A/N: I'm spitting these babies out now!

It must have been hours, judging by the crick in his neck. Junior's eyes fluttered open. This wasn't his bedroom. His bed had never been so hard or sticky or wet. He groaned, rubbing his fist against his eye and trying to get his bearings. At length he realized he was in his father's lab, on the floor of all places. Then he realized the back of his head was very tender and filthy - so much so that his hair was plastered to his head in irritating patches. When he tried to scratch his scalp, he was obstructed by something fleshy and foreign. He whipped around, effectively knocking himself onto the floor and causing more pain to shoot through his head. Only them did he notice Mandy, curled fetal in a pool of blood beside him.

Junior pushed himself into a sitting position and analyzed the scene. He was so groggy, it took all of his effort to remember the events of the night whilst keeping himself upright. Why on earth had she slept on the floor next to him? It was evident by her shallow breathing and twitching features that Mandy was alright, meaning that the blood had likely come from him. He gingerly touched the back of his skull, wincing as he did. If there had been a gash there, it was gone now. "Must be my quick healing," he told himself aloud.

Mandy stirred at his voice, her face constricting into something pained. Junior started when he heard her whimper. She'd never sounded so pathetic in her life. "It's alright, Mandy," he soothed, placing a hand on her shoulder and running it down the length of her arm. "You're having a bad dream. Let's get off the floor."

Mandy groaned and squinted at him, blinking uncomprehendingly. It took her a moment, but at last she mumbled, "Junior?"

He gave her a small smile. "Yes, it's me. Let's go rinse off. We've been sleeping in a pool of blood."

Mandy continued to blink at him, her frown of pain turning to confusion. "You're okay?"

Junior chuckled, happy to know she was so concerned about him. "Yes, I'm alright. Now let's get up - this floor is no place to sleep."

Mandy stretched out her hand, allowing him to help her to her feet. She cracked her spine as she rose to her feet, sighing. Junior steadied her against his side as they walked back through the house and toward his room.

The bathroom was opposite his room in the hallway. As he lead her in there, he couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened after dinner. The chess game was as far as his memory went, and he had no idea how they had ended up on the floor of the lab.

When he flicked on the light in the bathroom, he noticed that Mandy was covered in blood. More than just the side she had lain on in the lab, the front of her dress was soaked in the shape of a cranium. Then she stepped in front of him, and he realized that she must have hit her head, too. Her normally blond hair was spiked with scarlet, darkening toward a radial point in the central left of her skull. When he looked closely, he could see where the blood had clotted around the wound.

"Mandy, you may want to wait to get in the shower," he warned.

"What?" she asked, turning slowly to look at him. "Why?"

"Your head. There's a cut on the back where you must have fallen."

"What?" she asked again, more confused, "No, you're the one who bumped your head and got hurt. I'm fine - I'm just covered in your blood."

"Trust me, Mandy, some of this is your blood."

Seeing the conviction in his eyes, Mandy reached around and probed her scalp. She winced when she found the cut. "I guess you're right."

Junior wrung his hands before him. "Maybe we should get you to a hospital."

"I'm fine," Mandy waived him off. "Just a flesh wound. Not like the crack in your skull, which is much more serious."

"What are you talking about?" Junior asked. "My skull is just fine. I don't even have a gash anymore."

"Let me see that." Mandy spun him around, parting his hair and searching for the cracks she knew had been there. But Junior was right - the wound was sealed. The only evidence of its existence was the blood and a web-like bumps that she could feel beneath her fingertips. "Give me your hand." He obliged. She pressed his finger pads to the affected area. "Feel those ridges? That's where your skull was cracked open mere hours ago."

Junior felt the bumps, fascinated by them and the story they told. "So it is. I know I have inhuman healing powers, but I don't think those can mend bone so easily. Did you do something to me after I blacked out?"

Mandy rehashed the events of the night, including her interpretation of the text and how she was certain the spell should have worked but hadn't.

"I read it and reread it," she explained. "It was the right one. I don't know where Nergal ran off to - the book said we had everything we needed to begin the incantation. There was no reason for him to delay us or leave the house."

Junior pondered that. His father always acted strange, but he usually kept his priorities in order when helping out a friend. Had he somehow misinterpreted the text?

"Well, now that that's cleared up, let's take a shower." Junior turned her toward the bathtub. "You can use my bathrobe to cover up with after you get out. I'll throw your dress in the washing machine."

"You're not going to join me, right?" Mandy asked skeptically.

Junior snorted. "No. I have more sense than that. I'll wait outside. Just holler if you need me." With that, he turned and left the room.

It felt lonely in the dark hallway. Having been with Mandy for a full day, Junior found himself going through withdrawal now that they were apart.

The bathroom door opened suddenly behind him, and out flew Mandy's pink dress. Junior took the garment and retreated to the laundry room, as he had promised.

As he watching the dress swirl in a torrent of soap and bloody water, he realized Mandy would need replacement clothes if she were to spend the night. Surely he couldn't expect her to sleep in his bathrobe. Without further thought, he transported into her bedroom in Endsville. He had been here many times growing up; he and Billy had even spent the night several times, although for some reason Mandy preferred to sleep over at Billy's.

Junior opened her closet and pulled out a dress. Then in a flash of inspiration, he pulled open her drawers and found her night clothes. There were only plain pink night gowns in the drawer. Junior knew she had some pajamas with pants, but searching through the rest of the drawers did not yield further success. He did, however, quickly snatch a pair of panties out of their drawer and stash them in the bundle of clothing. Maybe she would forgive him for prying if she felt really clean.

In a flash of green, he was back home. He plopped the clothes down on his bed and returned to the bathroom door to check on Mandy. He could hear the shower going on the other side. He knocked loudly. "You okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Mandy yelled back.

"Okay!" Junior slid down the wall until he sat on the floor. He braced his arms against his knees and let his head rest on one of them.

An unspecified amount of time later, Mandy emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam. Her clean blond hair was matted down the opposite of usual, with the upper points all but erased. She dabbed at her scalp with a smaller towel, observing Junior with her most appreciative frown. "Thanks."

Junior smiled. "No problem." Dragging himself to his feet, he stole into the bathroom for his own shower.

Mandy entered the bedroom not knowing what to expect. Her underwear was bundled up beneath her bathrobe - it had also gotten stained with blood, but she didn't want to release it to Junior. The bra, luckily, was untouched, but all the same, she didn't want to put it back on.

When she found fresh clothes waiting for her, her mouth popped open in surprise. This boy deserves a medal, she thought to herself. She discarded her used underwear next to her shoes, hating that she couldn't hide them anywhere. When she found the clean pair tucked inside her gown, a little part of her melted. Quickly dressing, she draped Junior's robe over his bed post and set to work on drying her hair. Thankfully its short nature made it easy to towel-dry. She had never needed a blowdryer and had thus never owned one.

As she was toweling off her ears, a knock came at the door. "Come in," she called.

Junior pushed the door open, wrapped only in a towel. His black locks hung down below his ears, dripping onto his bare shoulders. A tuft of hair fell onto his forehead, and he smoothed it back out of his eyes. "I forgot my clothes."

Mandy stared at him with a mix of desire and amusement. His alabaster cheeks were pink with heat. Even his human form looked good shirtless, with slender but defined muscles on his arms and abdomen. He was a far cry from his childhood self, having matured into an attractive teenager. Mandy had to force her eyes up to his face again. "So you did."

Junior averted his eyes, hand going subconsciously to the back of his neck. His blush deepened. Mandy sashayed around him. "I'll let you change." She pressed her arms to her sides to keep from touching him as she passed. Luckily he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice.

After a minute, Junior called her back in. He now wore a tank top and shorts. The small towel Mandy had used on her hair was in his hands, working at the back of his head. It must have been soaked by now. "I put your dress in the dryer," he said, polishing off the top section.

"Thanks." Apparently it didn't bother her anymore to say thank you, not to Junior anyway. She used to hate the word, the sentiment that anyone could be worthy enough to deserve her appreciation. But Junior was special, as she had learned. He was deserving of that much, at least.

Trading places with her, Junior crossed into the bathroom with his towels and robe in tow. He returned empty-handed to find that Mandy was already in bed. Flipping off the light, he joined her.

There were no words exchanged as she pulled him close and tucked her head under his chin. Though Junior may not have realized why, her ear rested over his heart, just to reassure her that he indeed was alive. After the horrible scare from earlier, she wasn't sure if she could retry the ritual to give her powers, at least not without supervision. She hated the feeling of failure that pressed against her throat, but she hated even more the prospect of losing him.

Junior wrapped his arms around her back, surprised at her sudden affection. He wouldn't complain, even though her damp hair poked through his thin top. She wanted him, and he would do nothing to dissuade her. They fell asleep, wrapped in each other's embrace.

A/N: Well, that's all I have for now. Let's hope it doesn't take me another year to come up with more content. As you well know, hearing/seeing my work appreciated gives me more drive to actually finish it.