When Damon finally closed the door a few minutes later, he turned around to find both Caleb and Ros smiling at him from the stairs. "What?"

Caleb only kept smiling before turning to go back upstairs to his room. Ros on the other hand…

"Damon and Sharon, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-" she began singing with a goofy grin on her face.

Damon unsuccessfully fought to keep the blush from coming, but come it did and he found himself running up the stairs to catch his little sister, who ran squealing from him to her room. "Come on, Ros! You know you don't get away from teasing me without getting tickled," he playfully threatened. She only laughed back when he managed to catch her and begin torturing her with tickling. "Mercy?" he asked.

"Never!" she screamed as she tried her best to wriggle out of his grasp.

"Then I'm not going to stop tickling you," he warned.

"Yes, you will."

"Oh really? And what makes you think I'm going to stop tickling you?"

From downstairs, they heard their father call. "Damon?"

Immediately, Damon raised an eyebrow down at his little sister. "Cheater," he smiled.

Ros only stuck out her tongue at him and the two of them left her room to go downstairs.

"Hey, dad! You're home a little earlier than usual."

"Don't get used to it. Unfortunately, until this deal is done, I'm not going to be able to come home before dark too often. Where's Caleb?"

"In his room."

"And Mom?"

"She's still out running errands," Ros supplied.

"Oh. Sharon's gone already?"

"Yup. She only left a few minutes ago."

"Did Mom leave money for her then?"

"Nope."

"You didn't let her leave her without getting paid, did you?" he asked Damon, frowning a little.

"She actually insisted on it. When I got home earlier than expected, she really wanted to surprise her own parents by coming home early to help them with dinner and said she can wait until whenever you want to have her over again."

Mr. Cardinet looked a little surprised but decided to let the subject drop there for the moment. As he turned to go into the kitchen to see he could start making for dinner, he noticed something though… "Damon, you're looking a little red. Did you have a rough work-out today?"

Immediately, Damon felt his face flush again as he mumbled, "No, not any more than usual…"

Ros burst out laughing and found herself unable to say anything, much to Damon's relief. Caleb, however, chose that moment to stick his head out of his bedroom and call out, "Hi, Dad! Damon's blushing because he likes Sharon and we caught him with a stupid smile on his face after Sharon left."

Damon turned his head to glare at his brother, but Caleb paid him no mind and chuckled at his brother's expense before ducking back into his room.

"Well, I don't see anything to be embarrassed about. I thought everyone knew that already," Mr. Cardinet stated matter-of-factly, mostly succeeding in hiding his own grin.

"Dad!" Damon exclaimed. "You're not helping things here!"

His father lifted his hands in apology. "Sorry, sorry," he said as he backed his way into the kitchen. "I'll try not to overstep my boundaries next time or suggest you take her out to the movies or get ice-cream or something."

"Dad!" This time, Mr. Cardinet just laughed as he retreated into the kitchen to begin preparing dinner. Giggling next to him made Damon turn to Ros next. "And what are you still laughing at?"

"You," she grinned before she skipped her way down the stairs to join her father in the kitchen.

Sighing, Damon made his way up the stairs and into the shower to finally clean off all the dirt and sweat he'd been caked in since practice earlier that afternoon. In the privacy of his room, he was able to forget the teasing from his family, the long day at school and at practice, the amount of homework he had looming in front of him after dinner, the remaining college applications he had left to finish and send out… He pushed all of that out of his mind for the time being to focus on the girl who had caught his eye after their first run-in together.

There was no denying it. The more and more he saw Sharon and spent time with her, the more he wanted to know about her, the more he looked forward to the next time he'd see her, be it at lunch or in class or at home when she was over to baby-sit Caleb or Ros… It was scaring him that he was starting to look forward more to those few instances than to other things that had meant so much to him in the past.

Damon was falling for Sharon and he didn't know what to do about it. Sharon was unlike any other girl he'd dated. Most girls in the past had been content with the occasional dinner or movie out, the occasional trips to the park or to the city. Then there were the girls like Kari who considered him to be just a prize, a cute boy to tote around and make her look good. Hers was the kind Damon just didn't understand – didn't they have a bigger ambition than that? Truth be told, he'd only asked Kari to Homecoming because he'd waited too long to ask Sharon, and all the other girls he would have asked had made plans already. He knew that Kari had turned down everyone else, risking the lateness in plans in hopes of Damon asking her, and she was rewarded for her patience, a virtue she normally lacked.

Damon sighed. Kari was nowhere near what he wanted in a girl and secretly agreed with his father's disapproval of that kind of girl. He was just more tolerant than his father with those types of things because there just wasn't anything he could do about it. Still, he did find it interesting that his father hadn't been too fond of any of his female friends, save Ana and now Sharon.

Ana he understood. Damon and she had practically grown up together just down the street from each other, and they'd always been naturally close. They were always honest with each other, and were always willing to help each other out in their times of need. She'd been there to help him cope years ago when his favorite grandmother had died and he couldn't talk to anyone else about it. He was there for her when her first boyfriend left her heartbroken.

Damon knew people were surprised that the two of them hadn't ended up together. After all, they knew each other's faults and compensated with their strengths. Hopes and fears were not a secret between the two, and often they pushed each other to reach their dreams, helping each other achieve the most out of what life had given them. This, he knew, was important for his father. The fact that Ana had aspirations and the motivation to become a doctor after college was important. Kari… just didn't have it all together yet.

He knew he was blessed to have such a good, true friend as Ana, but he also knew that he was genuinely happy for the relationship she shared with Riley. Those two reminded him a lot like her parents and even his own to a certain extent. They just worked well together.

And Damon knew that that was what he wanted in the end. He wasn't going to settle for anything else otherwise – it just wouldn't be worth it.

He wasn't certain if Sharon would be the one for him yet, but he was certain that she was the best girl out there for him at the moment because frankly, no one else at the school met his standards. The fact that his family had taken such an immediate liking to her was also a big deal to Damon, especially when considering the fact that they usually remained more on the reserved side whenever he brought company home (except for his mother, who was just a naturally an open, accepting, and outgoing person), and it never occurred to him as anything strange until he thought about how differently they treated Sharon. With her, they were definitely more open – Ros had dropped the shy act as soon as Sharon had been there with the Little Mermaid band-aid incident a couple of months ago. Caleb had taken longer to warm up to Sharon being even shyer than Ros, but in the end, he had also opened up to her in his own way. Now, his two siblings were always looking forward to when Sharon would come over to baby-sit – they'd never responded as well or as quickly to any other sitter in the past outside of family.

And if that was a miracle, it was even more so with Damon's dad regularly asking about Sharon now. He may not be home consistently due to his work, but he still managed to stay on top of things that involved his family. That meant also knowing his children's business. Damon considered himself lucky that he had an open, honest relationship with his dad, who always shared his views on one person or another when he was alone with his son, and rarely ever warmed up to any of his friends except those closest to Damon.

'Like father, like son,' Damon mused. While both men were well-liked among their respective peers, they were also mindful of the company they found themselves with. They knew better than to talk too candidly with the likes of Kari, but also knew to treasure the lasting relationships, like the one Mr. Cardinet had with his wife and the friendships Damon shared with Ana and Riley and a few others.

And for some reason, Damon had instinctively trusted Sharon and placed her in that exclusive group. Again, that was a feat in its own right. It normally took Damon a long time to establish friendships, not necessarily because he didn't trust people, but more because he wanted to have his trust earned, and that took time.

Sharon was different and he knew it the moment she stepped into the high school. If he had believed in auras, he would have said that hers resounded with strength, almost like she'd been through it all and has lived to tell her tale. Whatever that history was, it wasn't at all hidden by her hesitating just inside the main doors. He attributed that solely to the uncertainty she'd had in orienting herself to her new surroundings, and it really hadn't done anything to hide that strong spirit he'd felt she had. This was a woman with secrets, a story, and he'd been drawn to her from the start.

Damon sighed as he got ready to go back downstairs for dinner. Admitting to himself that he liked Sharon had been difficult to swallow… Ana had actually been the one to point it out to him weeks ago, and this was another secret they shared. Still, if Sharon was as special as he thought her to be and suspected her to be, he didn't want to ruin whatever friendship they had by doing anything stupid.

"Damon," Ana had told him when she'd confronted him about his feelings for Sharon. "Nothing's wrong with asking a girl out to get to know her."

"I know," he had replied. "But I don't want to rush things. She just moved here and is still settling in."

"That's such a bad excuse, even for you."

One thing about being so close, they knew all the buttons to push to get each other aggravated. That was one such moment and he'd scowled at Ana for being right.

"Just ask her out, Damon. If you don't, someone else will, and trust me, it won't take long. I've seen how some of the guys look at her like fresh meat. Just because she hangs out with us doesn't give her complete immunity to other guys who want to try their luck."

A week later, Vin asked Sharon to go with him to Homecoming and Ana had given Damon a knowing look. He hadn't needed her to say out loud that she'd already "told him so."

"As if things weren't hard enough as it already is," he muttered to himself as he made his way downstairs. "Still, we'll see how things turn out in the end. Things may change for the better yet."

An image of a dragon crossed his mind and he smiled. Those magical creatures that he had dreamt of as a child represented strength and power, both of which he knew he had and suspected would help him get what he wanted. He just needed the right situation…

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