"She's gone to the market, she shouldn't be long."
"You all right?"
Jackson looked up from his glass. "I plan to tell Elisabeth that I am a vampire."
"Oh, man, that's tough."
"Yeah."
"You know, I could talk to her if you want. Give her the human side."
"You would do that?"
"Of course, anything I can do to help."
Jackson stood and held his arm. "Thank you, I think that would be a tremendous help."
"Sure thing, no problem."
"How bad was it down there?"
"I'm not going lie to you. I really thought I would lose my mind. The whole thing was a living nightmare." Jackson hung his head as Connor patted his back. "Hey, look at me now though, all adjusted and loving the vamp stuff."
Jackson forced a thin smile. "Yeah, a few days of hell and now you're in heaven."
"Right."
When Sarah returned with the groceries, she found Jackson in the holding room making the bed. She placed the bags on the counter. "I said I would do that."
"I know."
She approached him and took his hand. "It is going to be all right, you'll see."
"I don't know how you do this."
"You do it because you have to. Try to keep your mind on the future."
"What if there is no future?"
"You have to believe there is." Sarah allowed her hope to sink in before continuing. "I think the best advice I can give, is try to understand that everything she does and says initially comes from fear and shock. She won't be thinking rationally at all. Nothing hurts more than having the person you love call you terrible things and look at you with horror in their eyes. You have to try to let her work through that, so she can start to think clearly again. Do not take her words or her fear to heart."
Connor appeared at the doorway. "A truck just dropped off a shitload or art supplies."
"Thanks, will you help me bring them down?"
"Yeah, um, how long do you plan on keeping her down here?" Jackson had bought everything he could think she might want. There were easels, palettes, canvasses of every size, oils, water colors, sketch pads, pencil sets, brushes, virtually anything an artist would need. The three brought the supplies down and set them up in one corner of the room.
"Do you want us to leave or stay?" asked Sarah.
"Stay. Connor has offered to talk to her."
"That should help. Once she knows he is human she won't feel so alone."
***
Jackson met Elisabeth midway down the walk. She carried an overnight bag and a large artist's portfolio. "Let me help you." He took them from her and bent to kiss her. "What's in the portfolio?"