“He let Shane drop back down in his chair, and walked out, back stiff. Furious.Shane sat with his hands clutching at the armrests. He exchanged a stunned look with Eve, and they both stood up at once. "No," Shane said. "I did it. Let me fix it."He went off after Michael. Eve chewed her lip and said, "Well, we're either going to see half the house destroyed, or their bromance is going to go all the way.”

“Eve took me to teach me how to fence," Claire said."Not so much how to fence as how to hold a sword and not drop it," Eve said. "And then I fought Oliver to a draw."Shane fluttered his hands. "Oh, and then we were all elected as ice princesses and asked to go to Disneyland!""Laugh all you want. I'm going to look way better in full skirts than you," Eve said.”

“Maybe we should go along," Shane said. "Strength in numbers, man." Michael smiled at Eve and shook his head. "After she bitch-slapped the Founder? Not a good idea.”

“Fate" Eve said with a sigh"I'm not sure fate had to burn up your car to get the point across," Shane said, buckling his own seatbelt."No, not that. The hearse. I'm going to name it Fate."Shane stared at Eve for a long, long few seconds, then slowly shook his head. "Have you considered medication, or-"She flipped him off."Ah. Back to normal. Excellent.”

“Eve hugged her, hard. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “What happened to the old frosting?”Shane, sitting at the table, raised his hand. “Took one for the team.”“Jesus, you ate it? All of it?”“Nah.” He held up the bowl that was sitting in front of him. There was still about half a cup left. “Couldn’t finish it all.”Eve blinked and looked at Claire, who shrugged and said, “I always thought he was sweet.”

“Bite me, Goth princess,” Shane called from the back. “Not literally or anything.”“Maybe you should say that to Michael.”“Not funny, Eve,” Michael said.Eve raised her eyebrows and held her fingers up, measuring off about an inch. “Little bit,” she said.”

“Seriously, Shane? Ditto? That's the best you can do?"Shane and Michael exchanged identical looks and shrugs. Guys."Let me show you idiots how it's done," Eve said, and hugged Claire fiercely. She kissed her on the cheek. "I love you, CB. Please take care of yourself, okay?""I love you, too," Claire said, and suddenly her throat felt tight and her eyes burned with tears. "I really do."Shane and Michael watched them with identical expressions of blank bemusement, and finally Shane said, "So basically, it's what I said. Ditto.”