Ariel was running back and forth around the apartment like crazy, and for good reason, her older brother had called a few days back asking if he would be able to stay with her until he got settled and after a talk with her room mate the answer had been yes. 
Rushing into the extra room she looked around. "Fold out couch... check... nightstand.. check.. drawer.. check... covers.. check" she mumbled on for a few seconds before making her way back out and into the living room to make sure everything was tip top, not wanting to give her brother any reason to complain as soon as he got here or think she was a major slob. 
Huffing and puffing she finally sat herself down and fixed the red blouse she worse, which in all the running had pushed itself upwards slightly. Her bright blue eyes closed and a long sigh escaped her blood red lips, as she ran a hand through her long platinum colored hair. 
Ariel hadn't seen her brother in over three years now, but she had heard news of him and it seemed that in the end he had made his way to the rank lieutenant, which had almost been the death of him but thankfully he had made it through the whole thing alive. 
Crossing her leg over the other she leaned forward and looked down at the glass table that sat in front of the dark, red, couch. It was easily seen that the girl was nervous about seeing her brother, and who wouldn't after such a long time, three years, it might not sound too long but when you know that each day he might end up dead those there years turn into a very long time.

Valerie let out a tired sigh as she opened up the door to her apartment. Another long day at work left her looking tired under the eyes and her curly red hair out of place. Looking up she saw her room mate and best friend sitting in the living room area. "Ariel?" she had a puzzled look on her face as she entered and locked the door to the apartment. Her work uniform was bothering her, so she ajusted the mini skirt and walked over towards Ariel. Her red eyes looked her up and down once more, before she sat down. "What's going on?" she asked cluelessly as she kicked off her high heels. "You look nervous for some reason?" 

Ariel had gotten lost within her own mind and as a result she hadn't even noticed as her friend came in and didn't until the girl sat next to her. Jumping she turned her head to look at her and let out a sigh. "Oh it's you," she chuckled and just shook her head "I guess I'm a little nervous. Joshua will be arriving at any time now, haven't seen him in three years, you know" she explained and leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes once again. "Been running around this place like crazy to make sure everything is in place" she let out another, quiet, laugh and turned her head to look over at Valerie, giving her a smile, happy that she would have allowed the man to stay around for a few days. 
Lifting her hand she looked at the watch that sat upon her wrist and bit down on her lower lip, knowing full well that any minute they would hear the doorbell ring and he would be here, which is something Ariel was still trying to realize. Lowering her arm her foot started to twitch a little as it hung down from the other leg.

"Oh yeah," Valerie said almost bitterly. "Calm down, it's just your brother.." she said standing up. "I'm just going to go in my room and stay out of the way. You know him and I don't get along with each other." she said stretching out and grabbing her heels off the ground. Ever since she could remember, Joshua had always been a jerk towards her. It had been three years since she had scene him, so he could of been better or worse. As soon as she entered her room the door bell began to ring. 

 Ariel jumped from her seat as she heard the bell, not having been ready for it. As she ran across the room her heels clicked against the floorboard. Reaching the door she took in a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at her friend before turning her attention towards the door again, opening it slowly.
The sight before her shocked her a little, and for a moment she was actually unsure of who it was. A tall man, with a well build body, black hair that reached down below his ears, a small patch of hair on his chin in the same color, slightly tanned skin, dark chocolate brown eyes. Was this really her brother? The skinny looking weirdo that had been living with her for all those years? She blinked a few times and looked over the man's uniform, dark green camouflaged pants, a jacket in the same color with a few marks and badges hanging from it, and a white shirt hidden underneath it. "Oh my god.... Josh!?" Ariel finally mumbled out, still blinking in surprise. 
 
Joshua's eyebrow rose as he starred at the shocking face of his sister. "Who else would it be?" He muttered out as a sly smirk crawled over his thin lips. Dropping the two duffel bags he carried he reached his arms out slightly "So, you going to give me a hug or stand there like an idiot and just stare?"
 
Ariel shook her head, snapping herself out of the stare and just smiled as she jumped over to him, giving him a hug quickly and welcoming him back. Afterwards she made her way into the apartment and offered him in.  Tilting her head she stared at Josh's hair with question. "They let you have long hair?"
 
Josh grabbed his bags and swung one over his shoulder as he stepped inside, looking around curios once he was inside. "Not until the very end... should have seen me when they shaved me bold." He told her, his voice slightly deeper and darker then it had been about three years go. Hearing the door close behind him he dropped the bags to the floor once more and took a step inside, his army boots making his step sound quite loud.

Valerie stood beside the door way for a second, before putting her heels into her room. Maybe he had changed on the outside, but truth be told she was scared he was the same jerk on the inside. "Hey, Josh." she said looking across the room waving slightly at him. Since they were older he probably would be different.

Josh tilted his head to the side and just smirked as he spotted Ariel's friend "Oh right, you're here too" before he could say anything else his eyes fell forwards as his sister began poking his chest, and stomach, with that shocking look still in her eyes. "Ariel... stop poking me, seriously" 
 
Ariel looked up and blinked a few times, quickly pulling her hand away "Sorry! it's just... you know... You didn't.. erm..." she stopped herself before she would mumble out how pathetic looking his body had been before he was sent off. 
 
Josh rolled his eyes at his sister before walking around her and around the apartment, making himself familiar with the place ending by the living room window, where he just stood with his back straight, hands rested behind his back and starring out at the traffic below them. "Not too bad" he muttered out, more talking to himself then either of the girls.

Valerie felt her right hand twitch slightly, he seemed the exact same. Although, she ignored it and approached him this time. "So, how long are you exactly staying with us?" she asked curiously. "I'm just wondering." she said before crossing her arms over her chest.

Joshua's eyebrow rose once more as he looked over at Valerie, grinning a little at her question. "Wow, haven't been here for five minutes and already you want me out." He laughed, his eyes quickly scanning over the girl's body before turning back to the window. "Don't worry, I'll be out of your hair soon enough, don't have much interest of staying with you two anyway. Even tho it does give me a cool story to tell, if I skip the sister part" A silent chuckle escaped his lips before he turned around, facing Valerie. With a devilish smirk he leaned forward "But maybe once I leave you'll be begging me not too" Josh joked before straightening out his back once more, looking over at Ariel as she started to stare at the watch.
 
Ariel's eyes opened wide "Crap! I'm late for work!" she yelled before grabbing her jacket and putting it on. "I wont be too long, you just make yourself at home and if there is anything you can ask Valerie here, I'm sure she can help you out... or just call me. Bye!" and without even waiting for any replies to her words she had dashed out and shut the door behind her.

Valerie turned her head away, "I was just asking a simple question." her face was red with a slight blush and she turned away. "There's food in the kitchen, I'll be in my room if you need anything." she said trying to keep her cool. "And you're still full of yourself, Joshua, you shouldn't really anymore." she said waving her hand at him, putting her back to him. He was still the same jerk who teased her.

Josh just chuckled as Valerie turned away "Though you would have gotten that stick removed from your ass in all this time" he commented towards her as she walked off. Shaking his head he just kept the smirk over his lips before walking over to the kitchen area to see if there was anything good that caught his attention, then again, everything would look good after that army food he had to live on. 

Not being familiar with the arrangement in the kitchen he opened every single cabinet that was there to see where everything was, ending up with just grabbing a glass and a bag of chips that where hidden away. After pouring himself some cola he walked back into the living room and placed the glass, along with the bag, on the glass table and moved over to the front door to kick off his boots. After that he grabbed his bags and paused for a moment, raising an eyebrow, having no idea where his damn room was. Sighing he flung one of the duffel bags over his shoulder and trailed on over to Valerie's room and gave it a knock. "Hey! Where the hell am I sleeping anyway?" he asked, his eyes falling away from the door.

Valerie froze up, while covering her chest with her night shirt she opened the door parshly. "It's down the hallway, the last door to the right." she said glaring up at him, "Now go away." she said as she began to close the door.

Josh turned his head back towards the door as it opened, his little smirk returning as he noticed that the girl was covering herself up. "No need to be so harsh princess, I just asked a simple question" he tried to copy her from before. As the door closed he just rolled his eyes and as a teaser he placed his hand onto the door and pushed harshly against it, hoping for it to open a little more, even tho he had already started to walk towards his room. 

Reaching the door to his room he starred at it for a moment before opening the door and looking inside, it looked alright. Nothing too big, but it wasn't too small either. Stepping inside he tossed his bags onto the bed and removed his jacket, not much point of wearing it in here. After tossing the jacket onto the bed as well he reached to his neck and was about to remove his dog-tag but paused and decided to leave it on.

Walking back out of the room he made his way into the living room once again and sat himself down into the couch. After reaching for the TV remote and the chips he had found he kicked his feet up onto the table and started to flick through the channels, wondering if there was anything interesting he could watch.

Valerie came out of the room after twenty minutes of resting. Her hair was now down and fell over her shoulder. She glanced at Josh in the living room, her right eye twitched slightly and she approached him once again. "Feet off the table.." she said pushing them to the ground and walking to the other side of the couch and sitting down. 

 Rolling his eyes at the girl he let his feet rest against the floor this time, even tho it had been tempting to throw them back up on the table just to annoy her. 
Josh had given up trying to eat those chips he had found, some low fat crap, he didn't know who had bought it but it tasted horrible. Flipping through the channels once more he sighed. 

Suddenly loud gun fire was heard from the TV which made Josh jump instantly and with wide eyes he was quick to switch the channel once more, ending up on some children's cartoon that was showing. Taking a deep breath he relaxed himself, this had not really been something he had wanted to hear, after he came back he wanted to try and forget everything about his time in the army.

Running a hand through his hair he exhaled slowly, closing his eyes for a quick second as he pushed away a few memories that would haunt him for the rest of his life. 
It was right that the whole experience had changed the man, even tho he would never admit such a thing. Why? Because before he had joined he had claimed that people didn't change like they did in the movies, and with the pride he had Josh refused to believe that he had changed.

Valerie looked over at him, after a moment of silence she spoke up. "Are you alright?" she asked bitting her lip slightly. "You've broken out into a sweat." she stood up and sighed. "Do you need anything from the kitchen?" she asked trying to get his mind off the events of the gun noises on the TV.

"I'm fine!" the man hissed, not really happy about the fact that Valerie had seen that little jump of his. Running his hand over his face he was quick to wipe away the few drops of sweat that had formed on his skin. Leaning back he dropped his hand and folded it over his chest along with his other arm, shaking his head slowly at the question. 
Gulping quickly he starred forward at the TV, watching as some two cartoon characters wandered off to find some box. After that noise things where still running through Josh's mind and slowly he leaned his head back, resting it against the couch as he stared up at the ceiling.

Valerie flinched slightly, before clearing her throat. "Okay..." she said leaving the room for a moment, before coming back with two sandwhiches. "Here, I made one for you." she said leaning forward slightly.

Josh finally moved as she came back and just raised his eyebrow slightly as he starred at the sandwich in front of him. Looking up at the girl he couldn't help but grin. "You should be careful, keep being this nice and I might actually like you" he teased and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, after he had grabbed one of the sandwiches. 
Reaching his hand up he placed the bread by his lips, just starring forward for a moment before biting into sandwich. As he chewed he reached the remote with his free hand and changed the channel, haven gotten bored with the damn cartoon that was on.

Valerie shifted in her seat slightly, "I'll keep that in mind." she said bitting into her sandwich. Glancing over at him for a moment, before placing the food down. "I was just trying to be nice earlier...I would of thought you would of changed and start to try and get along with me." she said staring at the T.V. "Change isn't a bad thing."

Josh glanced over at her from the corner of his eye as she spoke, Valerie was right, a change was never a bad thing but would she really say that after what he had been through. Right now he just wanted everything to be as it used to be, pushing away the memory of the last three years, even tho he knew very well it would be impossible. 

Without even answering her he took another bite of the sandwich and just let out a small sigh as his eyes fell back onto the TV screen. "I guess" he then finally mumbled after swallowing what he had in his mouth.

Valerie placed her plate down before sighing gently, "What exactly happened?" she asked timidly. "You're different somehow..." she said crossing her legs and turned to him slightly. "You don't have to be a jerk to me anymore you know..."

Josh stopped, the edge of the bread touching his lips, as he heard Valerie's question. What had happened? What kind of answer could he give her without spending hours telling her 'what happened'. Lowering his sandwich on his plate he stood up and made his way into the kitchen, where he left the plate before making his way back out, looking towards Valerie. "I just figured, I haven't had a good shower in a wile" he said and looked over at Valerie, giving her a clearly fake smile which disappeared as soon as he turned his head away once more and was about to walk off but stopped and tilted his head a little. "Where's the shower?" Josh quickly asked.

Valerie stood up and sighed slightly, "Down the hall next to my room." she said walking passed him. "I'm willing to give you a chance, just think about it." she said walking into her room and closing the door. 

Josh nodded towards her and once Valerie was gone into her room Josh made his way towards the bathroom, leaning the door back as he stepped in. Out of habit he didn't bother to close it fully. 

After stripping off his clothing Josh pulled the dog-tags over his head. Looking down at the metal pieces in the palm of his head he just sighed and shook his head before placing the chain onto the sink and stepping into the shower and turning the water on. 

How his father had been able to drag him into the army in the first place was still a blur in his mind, then again Josh had been forced to in the end. 'You look like a damn ghost. There isn't a piece of meat on your body. The army will toughen you up, boy' His father's words rang back and forth in his head and a wonder came to his mind. Had his father known there would be a war as Josh was training, had he still been sent? 

Joshua leaned the side of his head against the wall of the shower and just starred down as the water ran down his scared body, it would take him some time to get used to this whole thing and return to what people would call 'normal'.

Valerie laid on her bed for around 45 minutes. The thought of work and school most of the time was running through her head, but seeing Joshua the way he acted after seeing the gun shot on T.V. it just wouldn't leave her mind. Turning over onto her back, she stared at the ceiling for a moment before letting out a small sigh and getting up and out of the bed. She was going to try and talk to him again. Opening up her door, she turned around the corner and saw that the door to the bath room was cracked. Assuming he was already out, she wasn't going to try and talk to him while having to use the restroom. Closing the door behind her, she locked it out of habit. Before noticing the dog tag on the counter. "What's this?" she asked herself picking it up and dangling it in front of her.

Constantine
Joshua R.
783-34-1574
O pos.
 
That was the writing on the dog-tag, which like most know, are used to identify the dead. 
Joshua had fallen into his mind once again, starring at flashbacks through the years and so he didn't even realize how long he had been in the shower for. Snapping out of it finally he turned the water flow off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing the first towel that he saw and began drying himself off. Once he was dry enough he wrapped the towel around his waist and picked up his clothes before making his way out of the bathroom, almost running into Valerie. "Whoa.." he was quick to break and just managed to stop himself before crashing his body in with hers. "Didn't see you there" he said and a small smile formed at the corner of his lip.

Valerie looked away blushing, "I didn't know you were still in here, it's been almost an hour." she said lifting up the dog tag to him. "Here, don't want to lose this." she said looking up at him through the corner of her eye.

"I lost track of time" He excused himself as he took the dog-tag and looked over the scratched metal once again, his smile disappearing fast. Each time he looked at that he couldn't help but get a small sting in his stomach as the thought crossed his mind that this was the only thing that could have identify his body if he was found dead somewhere on the field. Holding the towel with one hand he flipped the chain quickly over his head and frowned slightly as he felt the cold metal against his warm skin, a feeling he would never get used to. 

Picking his clothes up once more he just gave Valerie a nod before making his way over to his room, would probably be better to put some clothes on before walking around the apartment again.It didn't take him long to dress, the only new thing he had thrown on were some clean black boxers. After he put on the army pants he had worn before along with the white, sleeveless, top. Turning he made his way back out of the room, running a hand through his moist hair as he closed the door behind him.

Valerie finished using the restroom and made it back into the living room. She squeezed her hands around her night gown before sitting back down next to him. Hoping on the inside he wouldn't get angry with her. Her previous relationship had been a bad one, an abusive boyfriend that got pissed off at her for no reason. If he got upset enough to yell at her, she would just begin apologizing and shut down. "So..." she began looking over at him. "What...happened exactly Joshua." 

Josh leaned back on the couch and watched with a raised brow as Valerie made her way towards him again, sitting herself down beside him. Josh's scanned over the girl once more, quite enjoying the view and so a little grin crossed his thin lips but fated as he heard her repeat her question. "Why do you want to know?" he replied, curios of why she was so interested. 

Valerie didn't move and looked away. "Because, I said I would be more open didn't I? So...you've got to meet half way. You jumped after hearing the gun shots on T.V. What happened that made you so jumpy?" she asked bluntly again.

 Josh moved his hand upwards and placed them behind his head, starring forward. "The volume was just a little too loud, didn't expect it" He quickly excused himself, his pride really not allowing him to admit he had actually gotten sightly scared as the sound of so many guns filled the room. Shrugging his shoulders he took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes as he did so.

"Most people wouldn't break out into sweat." Valerie said moving closer to him. "Seriously...there has to be something."

"Well most people haven't seen what I've seen!" He snapped, having gotten tired of her pressuring him, but a few seconds later he realized that he had no right to push his frustration onto her. Running a hand through his hair he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and let his head hang downwards "Sorry" he apologized, scratching the back of his neck as he reached his hand there. "I didn't mean to snap at you, I just really don't want to talk about this"

Valerie flinched and her eyes stay the same way, until she tilted her head down feeling them watering up. "I'm sorry..." she said scooting away. "I didn't mean to upset you." she brought her arms up to her elbows in a sort of hugging way to calm herself down. "I'm sorry." she repeated feeling her arms shaking slightly.

Josh tilted his head to look over at Valerie, why in the world was she saying sorry. His eyes widened a little as she saw her, had he really sounded that harsh? "Oh no no no" he started and straightened himself up. "Look, you have nothing to be sorry for. Alright? You didn't upset me alright? Just... ugh" He had no idea where he was trying to go with this and soon the palm of his hand ran over his face, he had not meant to upset the girl. Allowing his hand to fall again he looked once more at Valerie and just let out a sigh. "Fine, alright, I'll answer your questions. Ask away" he told her calmly, he had heard that it was better to talk about stuff, even tho he never believed it himself, at this point he just didn't want Valerie to be so upset because of him.

Valerie looked up at him after realizing she was trembling. "...Josh...I'm sorry, I won't ask." she said standing up from her seat. "You weren't being mean I just...it's a long story." she turned her head away. "You don't have to tell me."

 Josh exhaled sharply and rubbed the spot between his eyes, this was a great start now wasn't it? His eyes fell on her once more when he felt her stand up from the couch, he had no idea what he could tell her at this point or even do. Finally he stood up slowly "Sit back down, I'll get you some water" he told her, hoping she would calm down. Josh walked over to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards one again to find a glass, not really remembering where he had gotten it last time. 

Finally he found one and was quick to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and pour into the glass. After placing the bottle back he froze as a sharp pain ran up his leg. "God dammit..." he cursed, and placed a hand on his thigh, rubbing it quickly. Shaking the whole thing off he grabbed the glass and moved back into the living room, trying his best not to limb as he walked to Valerie. "Here" he muttered as he placed the glass onto the table in front of her, quickly sitting himself back down. 

Valerie sat back down on the couch and took a small sip of the water. "Thank you." she said quietly, before the air got heavy quickly. "I didn't mean to act like that..." she said glancing over at him. "Why are...you scared of gun shots?"

Josh thought about her question for a moment, even tho he would never tell her he found it to be a stupid one, but even so he decided to be polite and answer. "Not scared of them, really. You stop being scared of a gun shot after the first months." He told her, avoiding to look towards the girl as he spoke. "But you get jumpy, very much so." 
Josh paused for a second and ran his hand over his thigh once more. "You hear the shot, which means you are still alive, but you can never be sure who actually fired." Shrugging he leaned back and relaxed his arms along his sides, allowing his eyes to close for a moment. "It's a reaction that ends up getting programmed into you. You hear a gun shot, you grab for your own gun and just hope you'll get the guy before he gets you."

"I can't help that I'm jumpy.." she said leaning her head back on the couch. "I don't know if your sister told you, but I was in a...abusive relationship." she curled up slightly. "I don't know why I'm telling you this.." she said gently to him. "I guess that would make since about the gun thing I mean."

"I didn't really mean that you are jumpy I was ju-...wait what?" Josh turned his head and looked at Valerie with a confused look within his dark brown eyes. "Why would you go through an abusive relationship!?" His eyes narrowed slightly, he could have said a lot of things to that girl at this point but given how she was he decided not to. "You were in the relationship, right? You aren't still are you?" Josh hadn't quite heard the full sentence, his brain only taking in the 'abusive relationship' when it came up.

"I was in one..." she looked away from his narrowed eyes, "I got out of it, after he hit me once." she touched her shoulder, before looking up at him. "It was verbal abuse...I got out of it as soon as I could.."she swallowed slightly. "I'm out of it."

 Josh just lowered his head and shook it slowly to the sides "Well, at least you aren't a complete idiot then." He muttered under his breath as he ran a hand through his hair, messing it up a little. Josh wasn't going to ask any details about the whole thing, knowing full well that it would only end up with him wanting to track that man down and teach him a thing or two, even tho if he were to do that Josh would risk getting thrown into jail, after all he was a trained killing machine and he had no right on wailing on some man he didn't even know. "Did you want to ask anything else?" He asked, trying to focus her mind away from the subject.

"No." Valerie said standing up, "I have to...go study." she fixed her night gown and looked away from him, "Just...so your sister doesn't worry...don't act so tough, alright?" she turned to him covering up her chest with her arms.

Josh looked Valerie over as she stood up, a little grin forming at the corner of his mouth. It couldn't really be helped, the girl looked good and she was earing a simple nightgown. Her words made his eyebrow rise tho and soon enough his eyes met with hers, not really sure how to respond to that and so he didn't. Just giving the girl a simple nod he turned his gaze away and starred towards the window across the room. 

Valerie turned away from him and walked towards her room, just stopping short in the door way. She had actually had talked with Josh with out getting angry with him.  It seemed weird in a good way, after closing the door to her room she went over to her bed and laid down. Not even going near her books.

 He watched as she left and as soon as she was out of sight Josh grabbed the remote and turned the TV on again, flipping through the channels once more, this time he had lowered the volume a bit tho. Stopping he tilted his head slightly and starred at the screen, looked interesting enough. 
"Lieutenant!" A harsh, dim, angry voice suddenly called out and Josh's first reaction to this was of course to stand up and so he did but felt really stupid once he figured it had just been the TV again. Placing the palm of his hand over his face he let out a long sigh "Idiot..." he mumbled under his breath as he allowed himself to fall back onto the couch, he knew full well he was not going to be hearing that title addressed towards him while he lived with his sister and room mate.  The leg started to act up again and so Josh leaned forward and ran his hand up and down his thigh, cursing lightly under his breath as it began to sting, why did this have to start acting up now. 

Turning off the TV he thought he might as well check and see what was going on and so he forced himself back on his feet and slowly made his way towards his room, just leaning the door a little back after he had entered. Limping towards the edge of the bed he sat himself down and pulled his pants slightly down, starring at his thigh where a large scar was clearly visible. It was a scar after a bullet, a part of his skin went slightly inwards almost showing exactly how large the bullet had been. It hadn't been the biggest but Joshua remembered well that it hurt like hell. Stroking the tip of his fingers over the scar he tilted his head, checking if something wasn't off, which it wasn't, the damn thing was just acting up a little. Normally this wound had allowed him to ship home but for some reason he had never been allowed to, but he never asked why, wasn't allowed to. Once he had been able to walk again he was sent straight to the field once more.  Josh sighed and rolled his eyes at the pure thought of what he had gone through with this damn hole in his leg, it hadn't been easy for him but he made it through, which in it's own way was quite remarkable and had earned him quite the respect among his own platoon. 

Valerie covered her head with her blanket after getting comfy and had even fallen asleep. But she hadn't slept long, before she woke up in the middle of the night. Her room mate must of been still at work, so she got out of the bed and opened up the door. Her blanket wrapped around her arms as she made it into the living room. It was quiet that night as she laid alone on the couch curled up under her blanket. Joshua must of been asleep by then.

Josh had been able to fall asleep in the end, but having slept with one eye open for over three years the simple noise that came from Valerie as she exited the room woke him up, great. 

Knowing full well he wouldn't be able to sleep again for a little time he got up and grabbed his pants, not really bothering with the boxers. After zipping the pants up and tightening the belt he made his way out, not really caring that he hadn't put a shirt on. 
There was a tattoo on his left shoulder blade that had been hidden before and as his hand lifted up to the shoulder his fingers scratched over it slowly. 
Walking down the hall he soon ended up in the living room and peeked over towards the couch, an eyebrow raising at the sight. "What are you doing out here?" he asked with a tired voice, that was followed by a short yawn.

Valerie looked up at him from under her blanket. "I couldn't sleep." she said looking back at the T.V. "Just decided to watch T.V. until I pass out or something." she said with a slight shrug towards him.

"Because you woke me up" He told her straight as he moved over to the couch, thinking that a little TV watching wouldn't hurt. Not wanting to disturb her too much, wile she lay there on the couch, he planted himself on the floor and just leaned his back against the couch, starring towards the TV screen. "What are you watching then?"

Valerie yawned slightly, "I'm just fliping the channels.." she replied to him, patting him on the head slightly. "So sorry for waking you up, princess..." she said teasing him. 

Josh turned his head and gave Valerie a slight glare, not too happy about her words when he had just been woken up, but he couldn't really be asked to try and think of something insulting to reply to her. Yawning he turned his head and looked back at the TV and just watched as the channel changed. "Do you often wander around here at night, would like a heads up about that" he mumbled tiredly, which then followed by a long yawn. 

"Only when I can't sleep..." Valerie replied putting the channel onto a romance movie. Letting out a sigh, she looked tiredly at the T.V. "You're aloud to sit up here...I won't kick you at all or anything."

Josh looked over at Valerie and just nodded. "Just thought you wanted the leg room" he told her before pulling himself up on the couch lazily. After making sure her feet weren't in the way Josh leaned himself back and placed his arm over the back of the couch, allowing it to rest there as he starred forward, not paying much attention to the TV. Suddenly he figured that his sister hadn't been home and so he began to wonder. "Does Ariel always work this late?" he asked, but kept his gaze forward only hoping that the reply would be a yes so that he wouldn't have to add worries to the jet-lag that was still bothering him.

"Yeah...she does." Valerie said curling up slightly. "Don't worry, your little sister is grown up, she might be slightly spazzy...but she'll be fine." she sat up slightly, proping her arms onto the pillow and snuggled it into her chest.

 Josh just grinned at her words "I suppose you are right" he said in a low tone of voice as he began focusing on the movie that was in front of him, having no idea what was going on.
It was weird to think that his little sister had become so, well, grown up for when he left she was still just a stupid teenager who got herself into trouble all the time. 
Lowering his arm he crossed it with the other over his chest, taking in a deep breath of air as he leaned his head back to rest it on the back of the couch, his eyes slowly closing as he just listened to what was going on in the movie. 

Valerie as well found herself dozing off slowly. She let out a small yawn before falling asleep on the couch.

 Josh's eyes opened as he heard the front door shut quietly, looking around he noticed it was still dark out and so he doubted that he had slept for long. Once his eyes gained focus, and had gotten used to the flashing light on the TV screen in front of him, he noticed that he had somehow managed to sneak himself behind Valerie wile he slept and so he woke up with his arm around her. Opening his eyes wide he quickly pulled it away, but slow enough so that he would wake her up and before his sister spotted them he sat himself up and stood up from the couch, slowly and quietly walking towards the door to greet his sister.
The spoke for a short moment in a whisper before Josh asked her to open the door to Valerie's room, ignoring the teasing grin his sister gave him as he asked. "Yeah, goodnight" he replied to his sister and watched her walk down the hallway and open the door to the girl's room. 
As quietly as he could Josh made his way back to the couch and decided to pick Valerie up and bring her to her bedroom, thinking she would sleep better in the bed anyway. 
Carefully he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the couch, she was like a feather in his arms, which made it very easy for him to carry her into the bedroom and lay her down on the bed, only realizing after that her cover and pillow where still in the living room. He rolled his eyes at his own mistake and quickly made his way back into the living room to get Valerie's covers and turn off the TV wile he was there.

As soon as he had returned, Valerie was squeezing her pillow in her hand. Reaching out in her sleep, she gripped him around the back of his neck and brought him down next to her. Snuggling him close to her chest in her sleep.

 Josh had been to tired to react and so before he knew Valerie had grabbed and pulled him down to her, letting him stand in a very awkward position. Sighing quietly he tried to slowly pull away but the girl's grip was to tight and as such he was sure to wake her if he would move, and he was too tired to even think of a different way out of this. Rolling his eyes he thought that he might as well sleep here if the girl was going to hold him hostage and so he moved his body onto the bed and lay himself beside her, not taking to long to fall asleep himself as his body relaxed in her soft bed.  

Valerie woke up slowly the next morning to a warm body hugging her from behind. She shivered slightly and turned over to curl up in the warmth of the embrace. She didn't realize it until her eyes were opened that Josh was hugging her. "Josh...Josh wake up." she said blushing slightly.

 Josh rolled on his back and let out a sigh as a voice woke him up. "What?" he mumbled half asleep still as his arm moved off Valerie and over his face, trying to block out the bright morning light that was filling up the room. It wasn't until a few seconds later, when his brain woke up, that he remembered that he had fallen asleep in Valerie's room. "Oh right..." Lowering the arm from his face he starred up at the ceiling and let out a sigh before sitting himself up, not really seeming to be bothered that he was here, it wasn't his fault anyway. Moving his feet off the edge of the bed he reached his arm over his shoulder, scratching his fingers over the tattoo that was clearly visible now due to the fact that he hadn't been bothered with putting on a shirt when he woke up last night. 

"How come you were in my bed?" Valerie asked sitting up still blushing as she stared up at him. "Your sister didn't see right?" she curled back up on the bed covering her face embarassed at that current moment.

"I brought you into your room, and you decided to try and choke me in your sleep" He said with a sly grin and stretched out, feeling a few bones in his spine crack. "I didn't want to wake you up and I didn't want to choke so I decided to just rest here" He explained before looking over his shoulder "And no, don't worry. She was long gone to her own room" At least he hoped so. Standing up he yawned slightly and looked towards the door, sure that his sister was still asleep due to how late she had worked.

"O-Oh, sorry about that.." she said rubbing her arm slightly. "You can go if you want." she said yawning again before closing her eyes to fall back asleep. "I'm off tonight...so I'm sleeping in."

Josh looked at Valerie with a slightly raised brow, he could go if he wanted? He couldn't really pass this up. "What, you wanting me to stay or something?" she said with a sly smirk across his lips as he turned his body so that he faced her.

Valerie opened up her eyes and looked up at him for a moment, before blushing like mad. "It's up to you if you want to stay or not...that's all I'm saying."

Josh kept his smirk, she was making this too easy, and by the way her face color was changing he figured he could play around a little with this whole thing. Moving himself over to the bed once again he placed a knee on it and forced himself and quickly placed his arms on each side of the girl, allowing his upper torso to hover right above her. "I would have thought that you would kick me out at the first chance" he started before leaning himself down over her so that his head rested beside her's. Tilting his head slightly he kept his thin lips right by her ear, his warm breath gently falling upon it. "So by your words, one could only guess that you want me to stick around." he murmured into her ear and looked over at her from the corner of his eyes, curios of how she would react to the whole scene.

Valerie looked over into his eyes with her bright red ones. "I never said any of that...y-you're just free to stay if you wanted.." she averted her eye contact and felt a small shiver go down her back as soon as he breathed on her ear. 

 Josh had to admit he had hoped for a different reaction then that. Lifting himself up he starred down at Valerie and just shook his head with a teasing smirk before pushing himself away so that he could stand up from the bed once again. Letting out a chuckle he turned and made his way to the door "Sleep well, kid" he said as he opened the door and walked out, closing the door slowly behind him. 
Yawning he made his way into the kitchen to grab himself some water to drink, thinking that he might crawl into his own bed and sleep for a few more hours. Having been woken up so much during the night he was needing the extra rest if he was going to be active at all today.