"Via! Via, Where have you gone?"

"I'm right here, Ray."

Raven turned around, looking down at her sparkling eyed baby sister.

"Oh Vienna.." She shook her head, "Gracie was so sure the ground had swallowed you."

Just then, Grace ran up beside Raven, brown curls bouncing as she moved.

"Via!" She breathed, "If you hide, no one can save you!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vienna sighed as the first bell rang. Twenty minutes to homeroom.

"Hey, babe!" a cheerful voice boomed in her ear from behind, as two hands covered her eyes, "Guess who!"

"Mary, how do you manage to be so peppy in the morning?" Vienna muttered.

"In a less artificial way than I see you've chosen." She said, disapprovingly, watching Vienna take a huge gulp of her coffee. Vienna rolled her eyes, with an exagerated swallow.

"Where's your beau?" Mary laughed, looking around.

"Right here." Zac answered for her, walking up beside Vienna, "Unless Via has another man that I don't know about." he smiled at her.

"Did you get your schedule, babe?" she asked. He handed her the slip of paper, in response.

"We have the same lunch." Vienna told him, as she looked it over, "And you're in my last class too."

"Oh, awesome, you've got my homeroom!" Mary interjected, peering over Vienna's shoulder at the schedule, "And I'm pretty sure my brother's in a few of these class, too."

Patrick grabbed the schedule from Vienna, as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere and walked into the circle. She jumped.

"God almighty, Patrick..."

"Hm." he nodded, ignoring Vienna, as he looked over the schedule, "Looks like we spend the whole middle part of the day together, pal."

He handed the schedule back to Zac, who nodded dully.

Via closed her locker and slid down it to sit on the floor. Patrick followed and rested his back against her legs, which she had bent in front of her. She reached for Zac who sat beside her and dropped his head onto her shoulder just as Mike walked up to them.

"Oh good, I made it in time for the pre-homeroom sleeping in a pile party."

"Hi, Mike." Vienna greeted, eyes closed.

"Morning, Via." he ploped down on her other side and looked up at Mary, who was still standing.

"Don't tell me, you're afraid you'll get your clothes dirty."

"I just got these pants for Christmas." she defended, "Besides, it's better to just be a loner than to join in and try to compete with Via here. She's completely covered in men!"

Vienna laughed.

"Break goes so fast." groaned Patrick. Via scratched her nails in his hair.

"I hate to do this, guys, but my homeroom is all the way upstairs. You're gonna have to find a new pillow."

Patrick took his cue and shifted to lean against Mike.

"Zac, you'll be okay?" Vienna asked, standing up.

He nodded.

"I'll take care of him, Via." Patrick mumbled.

Vienna pecked his cheek as she leaned down to pick up her bag and said near his ear, "That sounded a little sexual, Patch." he swatted blindly at her but she was already upright and hugging Zac.

"See you guys later." she said, before heading off in the direction of the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zac made it through his first few classes without incident. The teachers were just as tired as the student so there was a very light work load.

After third period he met Vienna in the hallway and immediately embraced her, tightly.

"Hey..." she smiled at him, "How are you doing?"

He dropped his head onto her shoulder, "I'm okay. I just wanna be with you."

"Well, fourth is lunch." she soothed, rubbing his back, "We get fourty-five minutes together."

"Thank God."

She grabbed his hand as he let go of her and they walked together to the cafeteria.

As soon as they had sat down at Vienna's lunch table, Zac's head fell into Vienna's lap.

"Are you okay?" she questioned.

"Tired."

"Hey!" Patrick greeted, sitting down across from her. She smiled.

"I hate school."

"That's the spirit!" he remarked, "I'm getting online, coming?"

"What do you think?"

"Just thought I'd ask." he grinned at her.

Vienna bent down next to Zac's ear.

"Are you gonna eat, sweetie?" she asked, softly.

"Mm hm." he murmured, slowly sitting up.

"Alright, lets go." Patrick said, and they went off, leaving Vienna by herself.

She folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them, closing her eyes and drifting off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He reached for the little girl and swung her up into his arms.

"Don't be scared, baby bird." he said to Vienna and she looked where her father pointed, at the stars.

"God watches from Heaven." he kissed her forehead, "Just trust him, he will keep you safe."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vienna felt a hand on her back and she knew by it's warmth and gentleness that it was Zac's.

"Vienna.." he whispered.

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and picked up her head.

"Are you alright?"

"Just tired." she grinned, returning his own answer. She glanced at Patrick and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Won't you eat?" Zac asked, biting into his cheeseburger.

"Via dosen't eat in school." Patrick answered, giving her an evil smile, "She's too disgusted."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next few weeks, Zac adjusted to the school and grew comfortably into the flow of things. He was enjoying seeing Vienna in such a normal atmosphere and had also begun to share her locker so they could see each other between classes. This was the event that their friends had come to mockingly refer to as them "moving in together". Zac was beginning to feel more like a part of this world, rather than a visitor in Vienna's world.

On the Friday before Valentine's Day, Zac went to school early, rather than carpooling with Vienna. He met up with Mary in their usual morning gathering spot, in front of his and Vienna's locker.

"THERE you are!" she said, looking up at him, "Patrick's parking the car, he'll be here in a minute. Why did you want to meet us here?"

"Help me out, Mary." he pleaded, "I need to do something really great for Via tomorrow."

"Propose." Said Patrick, joining them.

"Oh, shut up." Mary said. "Zac, it's simple." she told him.

He stared at her blankly, "What is?"

"The gesture!" she said, in exasperation. "Do something simple." Patrick nodded.

"Vienna's not very materialistic. She's a smart and spiritual, deep, deep little girl. She'd rather have closeness to you than anything else."

"Try and say something slightly gayer, Patrick." Zac laughed. Patrick made a face at him. "I guess you're right though." Zac agreed, "That's what makes her so incredible."

Mary and Patrick exchanged a look.

"I wish my boyfriend were as great as you.." Mary cooed.

"Me too." Patrick added, mimicking her tone. They laughed. "It sucks not having a girlfriend for Valentine's Day."

"Why don't you hook up with Megan?" Mary suggested.

Patrick straightened up, "Do you think she'd go out with me?"

"Hello!" Mary's voice took on that familiar exasperation again, "She's SO in love with you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

He smiled, "Something to think about."

Vienna walked over to them and stepped over Patrick to get to her locker. Mary shot a look at Zac and nodded towards her.

"Happy Friday, Via Marie!" she smiled at her.

"Hm?" she looked around, "Oh, happy Friday, Mar Mar."

"You okay?" Patrick asked, concerned by her very out-of-it state.

"Fine." she said, "Morning, Patrick." Patrick and Zac exchanged glances.

"And Zac." she added, oblivious to their silent exchange. She closed the locker and turned to him, "Hi, Zac."

"Hey, sweetheart." he reached out a hand to her. She sat down next to him and smiled weakly at them all.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

"You seem to be somewhere else this morning." Patrick told her.

"It's early." she shrugged. Zac smiled at her.

"I missed riding over with you this morning." she told him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I missed it too. Missed the Starbucks run. I'll never make up tests in the morning again, I promise." he put his arm around her and she rested her head on his collar bone, close to his neck.

"Vienna." he said, cautiously, "You're burning up.."

"Hm?" she muttered, weakly, eyes closed, "No, I'm not, I'm freezing." She was wearing a thin, long sleeved t-shirt. Mary gave Zac a concerned glance.

He took his sweatshirt off and slipped it over Vienna's head, pulling her arms through the sleeves.

"Zac." she said, not opening her eyes, "You'll be cold."

He looked down at his Led Zepplin t-shirt and shrugged.

"No, I'll be fine."

Patrick broke off from watching the exchange and announced, "Homeroom's about to start, I better book it." he leaned over and stroked Vienna's forehead, "You should go home." he told her, standing up, "See yas later."

The bell rang and Mary got to her feet as well,

"Yeah, I guess I'll see you later too..." she looked at Vienna with her brow furrowed and shrugged to Zac then walked off, leaving him with a barely concious, feverish Vienna.

"Via." he whispered, "You're sick." he put his other arm around her too.

"Mm." was her only response.

"Come on." Zac stood up, pulling her along with him, "I'm gonna take you home."

he led her down the emptied out hall and out of the building before putting her in his car and driving her home.

Oce he had put her in her bed, he sat down at her side and stroked her forehead.

"I've gotta go back to school." he tucked her hair behind her ear, "Okay?"

She nodded.

"Alright, I'll come see you during lunch." he said softly, not sure if she was even concious of him anymore, "Go to sleep." he kissed her nose and stood up, leaving.

Zac made it back to school with a few minutes left of first period, which he spent making faces at Mary from the hallway, occasionally having to leap out of view of the teacher.

When the bell rang, Mary came out, laughing. She shook her head at him.

"Did you bring her home?"

"yeah." he nodded, "She's sleeping."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vienna spun around, laughing, until she fell backwards into the dandelions.

Her older sister fell down beside her, grinning up at the sky.

"Do you think we could fly to heaven?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through her delirium, she felt someone climb into bed beside her and wrap their arms around her.

"Zac." she whispered, spooning up against his chest. He pressed his lips against her forehead and felt the heat of her lingering fever.

"I bought you some ginger ale." he said against her skin, "I don't know why. My mom always did..I think it's only if your stomach is upset though.."

She took the bottle from him and hugged it to her.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"For what, being sick?"

"The flow never ebs."

He sighed and smoothed her hair against her head.

"I like to take care of you." he kissed her head before straightening up to look at his watch.

"Don't leave me again." she panicked, opening her eyes and using them to plead with him, "I see bad people here!"

For a moment, Zac wondered just how high her fever was to make her so undeniably delirious. He layed back down next to her and took the ginger ale bottle out from between them, pulling her into his arms.

"Okay. " he soothed, "I won't leave."

And he didn't. And it meant the world to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary and Patrick stopped at Vienna's house rather than going home, after school.

They parked the car next to Zac's, in the driveway and ran up the front steps but when Patrick knocked on the door, no one answered.

"Are you sure he's here?" Mary asked.

"he's gotta be. he never came back to school, where else would he be? Besides.." he gestured behind him towards the car and knocked again.

"Oh screw it." Mary opened the door and they walked in.

"Hello?" she called.

"Mar, quiet!" Patrick climbed up the stairs, his sister behind him and knocked on Vienna's bedroom door lightly, before opening it.

Vienna was laying in Zac's arms, resting against him, very much asleep.

Zac looked up at them.

"Hey." he whispered, "I figured it was you guys but I'm not disturbing her, I don't care who you are."

They nodded their understanding.

"Is she alright?"

"We all got worried when you didn't come back after lunch."

"She was having dellusions." he answered, around a yawn, "She got scared."

Vienna half opened her eyes then closed them again.

"Are they really there?" she asked Zac.

"Yeah, babe, they're really there." he laughed.

"Hi guys." she muttered.

"Are you feeling better?" Mary asked sympathetically, sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Sure." she answered, weakly.

Patrick sat down on her other side, leaning back against her headboard.

"I'm going out with Megan." he told her.

"'Bout friggin time." Via muttered. He chuckled.

"The best part is, it pisses her brother off so very very much."

"Ha!" Zac snorted, triumphantly.

"Holding grudges much?" asked Mary.

He grinned, stroking Vienna's hair.

"You know, you guys shouldn't hang around, you'll catch her fever."

"I think I agree." Mary said, standing up. "I'll be in the car." she waved at Zac and left.

"I guess." Patrick said, "But we could say the same for you."

Zac turned his head to him and stared at him blankly.

"I'd die for her, I can take a fever."

"And I can take a hint." Patrick laughed, standing up, "Have fun, man."

Zac layed his head down next to Vienna's and shut his eyes, allowing to surface the feeling that he was holding the world's greatest treasure and he had no intend of letting go.