Indeed she had awoken something within the boy. He had been use this past month in following her lead in light of what had happened assuming that doing things physical again would take time as she got use to certain matters and came to accept matters as they happened. Of course he had not had to wait long, their were limits and what not that had to be dealt with, and he was aware that she did not wish to do too much too soon. But now it had seemed she was getting back to her old self.

He could only be there for her throughout this remaining patient and following her lead. He was patient throughout this time and had been willing to display his love and attention upon her through means that she was comfortable with.

He heard and saw her nervousness. One hand gripping his bat, the other stroking against her cheek casually as she mulled that over. Due to the protection of rape victims few outside of the case had learned of what really happened, Vilmer, the cops and lawyers, Rena … the information was out there for sure but it was not common knowledge either, not useless she went around introducing herself as Stein's rape victim … fortunately she had not been gone long enough to generate a stir in the media, the daughter of a famous athlete missing for 19 days now or some such where it could be inferred what had happened.

Vilmer could have pressed her a little but right now he didn't. They were still close to the “event” after all and he would understand if she had some reservations here.

But he smiled as she excepted this. He kissed her again at that. “Then tonight I'm going to have the game of my life ...”

He walked her back to her place, a smile on his features all the way, no doubt looking beyond the game and considering the rewards that where to be had. He had arrived at her place when he spoke about it again.

“I'll have to make sure there's a blank tape. I'm sure there'd be something I can record over but we wouldn't want someone popping in something expecting to see a wedding video or something and … well you know.”

Not that he'd record over a wedding video. He colored though as he recounted how embarrassing such a situation would be.

Oh, the boy had gained his confidence. So much confidence. Vikky felt entirely blown away. She had told him to be more confident, and well… he had complied. Now she felt powerless to resist him. Not that… well… not being able to resist was anything bad, it was just that... uh… I-in any case! Gee! She was… she was so powerless when he acted like that…

He kissed her. Vikky complied, the way she felt a girlfriend would. That… that smile of his. Something told her he’d be able to get away with many things with her just by being this confident and smiling like that at her… She was head over heels for him. And he… was hers. It was so lovely. And so he ensured her that he’d be winning and they kept walking. Soon, they had arrived, where Vilmer said he’d need to make sure they had a tape.

“Of… of course.” She smiled at him. The embarrassment at the thought of being filmed was still majorly present within her mind. So… that was that, right…?

He dropped her off at the end of the walkway up to their home. His confidence had grown considerably given the rewards to be gained with success how could he loose then? It was like telling him that they would brake up if he lost today, it spurned him on to succeed where failure no longer entered his mind or the performance of the team.

Her lips still tingled against hers.

“I'll see you tonight at the game. Got to go find that tape now.” He grinned at her and then hurried off after kissing her again and confessing his love for her. It was clear that the prospect excited him.



Her mother had dropped her off and the Rattlesnakes were creaming the Devil Fish early on. Nikolaus was going to be pulled, the Fish were down by 7 runs and the coach had come out to the mound to talk to him to see what the problem was.

Rena sat nearby in the stands after with the the two exchange students. They were seniors now, right? She looked nervous but the Devil Fish had pulled ahead coming back to eventually pull ahead by one point.

Rena had wandered off at one point and spoke with Lucas and Stefan. They were joined by the Americans Missy and Lauren, at one stage Rena looked back at her then she moved towards her with a smile on her delicate features now.

“Good game ...”

They certainly wouldn’t break up if he lost. In fact, Vikky’s emotions had built themselves up preparing for what happened after that she’d probably reward him even if he failed completely. Maybe. Vikky found herself kissed, oh she loved to be kissed, before Vilmer turned around to get going. Vikky waved happily after him, excited to be able to see him again later…

“See you later…!”


So, later Vikky was sitting at a well-placed bench watching the game on the grounds. It seemed Nikolaus was having a bit of trouble. Vikky kept her mouth clenched as the game changed its pace and the other team caught on. She constantly kept her eyes peeled at where her boyfriend was located so she could comment on him later. Of course, she needed to look at the rest of the team as well, as well as the opponents. She could see it as training to the future she desired, as a coach or manager. She was fairly well versed in the different things one needed to think about (though her player isn’t). A moment’s observation revealed that Rhina and the rest of them were a bit over there, also watching for their respective boys. Since they were on opposite sides, Vikky hadn’t really planned on coming into contact with them, but Rhina came over on her own…

Vikky smiled back a genuine smile, hoping to share the excitement of the event despite the events that had earlier slit the two of them. “Yeah. It is too early to define the winner. I’m sitting on the edge of my seat in excitement.” She actually was. Vikky tried to avoid any certain comments on how someone specific was doing good, seeing how Nikolaus had been doing before and all… But this could be an excellent time to talk about something the two of them had in common. Vikky leaned forward and said the first thing that came to her mind… “Wow, Nikolaus sure is capable of some fast and powerful pitches…! He can go far with that…!” Something about Rhina’s boyfriend that was definitely a compliment. The obvious answer if they were fine with each other would be if she now praised Vilmer in some way. Maybe?

Rena glanced at the field and watched her boy friend's fast ball zipping along. Early on he was having a bad game but seemed to get the Devil Fish back on track. She watched him pitch a few more times.

“He does but he's getting tired fortunately that's the end of the seventh so he's only got two more innings. I don't think they'll pull him though. He's got some stamina ...” she smile a bit then looked to the American girls making her excuses to head back to them.

No comment on Vilmer though she did not seem malicious either.

The 8th inning went by quick enough. The Rattle Snakes held the Devil Fish to just one base hit though there at bat wasn't much better. The lead was a marginal one point difference in the Devil Fishes favor. They were up at the top of the 9th but could not add to their lead. Just one run and this at bat had the Rattle Snakes doing well. Bases loaded, two outs and it came to this. Vilmer was up now and Nikolas was still pitching. The first pitch … KLANK … a line drive out of the park but hit foul.

Nik was lucky, all the Rattle Snake's needed was a base hit to tie, a double would win it …

The second pitch was a curve ball. Strike two. Clearly it came to this moment.

Vikky saw Vilmer step away from the plate again and mutter something to himself and shake his head. The next two pitches were balls. It would be decided with this next pitch, another fast ball … a swing …

Strike three and the Devil Fish come back to win the game and where in the midst of celebrating. Rena pumped a fist, standing and applauding the success of her boyfriend ...

Vikky nodded to Rhina and waved her goodbye as she left. Alright, she seemed nice enough this time around. … The two of them were rather oddly similar. Both had at least had fathers in the police department, both of them had baseball playing boyfriends… Did they have any other strangely placed coincidental similarities? … Nah. No point in thinking all that harder on that. For now, she simply had to clench her thumbs and cheer for her boyfriend. So she half stood up and started shouting random supporting remarks to aid the spirits of Vilmer’s team at times when it was needed. Though, it was doubtful they heard her all that much.

When the final confrontation occurred, Vikky tensed up considerably. Alright. This was it. C’mon Vilmer, you can do it. You’re great. You’re awesome. You know all those terribly naughty things you can do to me if you win. It all comes down to this. C’mon. C’mon…!

… He missed. Vikky exhaled in clear disappointment, and fell back in her seat. Well, she shouldn’t be too down. Vilmer probably would feel bad if she felt too disappointed. Though… she did feel disappointed, so it was difficult to hide… Vikky held her eyes closed and thought on the bright side of things. At least Rhina had cause to be happy. Rhina who had been sad at the expanse of Vikky’s earlier happiness. Vikky took the time to smile in the direction of the cheering girl over there, before taking a note and paper out of a pocket in the small hand-bag that she was apparently bringing along because fitting. She took a moment to think of what exactly to write, poking on her lower lip with the pen, and then wrote on with a mischievous little smile on her lips. So then. A few moments later she was done. The note was placed back into the bag as Vikky stood up and started making her way towards where she’d meet her boyfriend.

Very timely, her parents wouldn’t be home tonight as her mom would have to go attend a dinner with a few friends and her dad… well, who knows really… at least he wouldn’t be there. So now then… let’s see what she’d do about this~

“That's insane! No way!”

Nik violently shook his head from side to side turning his back to his girl friend.

Nik was walking away to the sounds of 'WAIT BABE!' but apparently he was done listening to whatever nonsense Rena was addressing. Rhina frowned as she watched him, a fence separating the two of them.

“JERK!” She called after him and Nik kept walking flipping her off without so much as looking at her. What was suppose to be a joyous moment with the team winning broke down into some form of fight between the two lovers and given the look on her features Rhina was none to happy as the American girls approached …

Vilmer was standing where he said that he'd meet her. To say that he was a little dejected would have been an understatement. He was still in uniform having yet to change and shower though some of the fans were giving the usual 'good game' which was expected.

He was tapping his bat against one foot then the next as he shifted his wight lifting each foot in turn as his back leaned up against the fence behind him.

When he saw her he put on a rather weak smile. “Well there goes that idea … and I even brought the camera too. Damn curve balls, he set me up with them then switched back to the fast ball when I thought it was going to be another curve and I realized too late that it was coming dead ahead.” He shook his head. No excuses. He should have realized things much sooner. He sighed. “Well, next time I guess. We play them again in a few days though it's an away game.”

... Huh. That was some... strange situation. Wonder… huh. In any case. Vikky kept going to the destination intended.

Yes, Vilmer was there. His condition was as it could have been expected. Perfectly fit physically, more than a little down mentally. Well. That was fine. He should feel the full force of this loss so he knows what to expect if he lost in the future. Vikky stared at him as he leaned against the fence, smiled weakly and spoke to her. She didn’t smile. Actually, currently she probably looked a bit unimpressed as she stared at him. She didn’t lean anywhere, just stood upright and looked at him.

“Hm. You’re still scheduled to come over to my place, so you might as well do so. Go shower. I don’t want you to smell when you come in. C’mon, then. Don’t make me wait.” Her tone was a little colder than she had intended, but… It wouldn’t last all that long. She could surprise him a bit, right? Alright, and now not to smile due to imagining what might happen in the near future. Go on, then.

He had not wanted to sound whinny but rather sucked up this loss after his initial compliants. Really, he had not been expecting to be invited to her place but given the initial coldness Vilmer did not expect anything. He was slow at times to get things she found though he was by no means stupid so he nodded and pressed himself off of the fence.

“Wait here. I'll be back in a few minutes.” It was painfully obvious that he had lost more than the game. He had lost games before and while he did not like loosing he came back from this looses and never let them get him down like this.

While she was waiting Nikolaus came around all showered and cleaned up. He was alone, no friends, no Rena.

“Hey, Vikky got a sec?”

Alright, so Vilmer was now still pretty down from how the match had gone. That was fine with her. Vikky would simply stand around while he got himself showered. That worked fine with her. So, while Vilmer went showering Vikky leaned against pretty much the same fence which her boyfriend had earlier and smiled a little to herself when her boyfriend was out of range. Now things might work out fine after all. She merely had to continue acting like this for a little while longer, the note she had just wrote still located in her bag. OK, now she just needed…

… Huh. Nikolaus suddenly showed up, walking to over to her completely devoid of team-members, fans or girlfriends. Really? Vikky looked at him surprised at the mere thought of seeing him here right now. He should be throwing a party with his team and Rhina right about now. So, what was he doing here? Only reason Vikky could think of was that maybe he was here to say ‘thanks for the game’ or something to Vilmer, but…

“Gee, I suppose I do. What does it concern?” Vikky forced herself from the fence to stand straight and look at Nikolaus who obviously wanted something.

Nik wanted something, well wanted to tell her something and it wasn't about the game either. His shoulder was pretty sore and he didn't know how he managed to go all those innings without being pulled for someone else from the bull pen. They were pretty quick innings after the fourth so he was not complaing about that.

He looked to the smaller girl and nodded, a sigh escaping his lips. He wasn't in the best of moods but he had never hated the girl either. Even when Rhina and she were arguing for that sort time earlier today it was tough taking his girlfriend's side and he didn't.

“It's Rhina … I'm not going to get into all the sordid details. You probably saw us arguing earlier to.” He sighed, really not sure how much he should say. On the one hand he didn't want to get Rhina into trouble either. “Watch out for her, ok?”

Hm? Well, she did see parts of it… but… huh? I-I’m sorry, I don’t get what you’re talking about unless you tell me the sordid details. Vikky gave him a confused look back for his request. There was something strange with the way that he had said that… um…

“What do you mean, ‘watch out for her’…? Like, that I should keep her safe or…” Oh, and then there was the possibility that… Vikky blinked as her surprise increased a little extra. Did he mean…? “O-or do you mean that I should watch out for her because she’s going to…!?” W-wasn’t that cleared up already!? “P-please explain.” Vikky was suddenly afraid once again. What was he talking about?

“Be careful around her.” He clarified a bit. Rhina could take care of herself. He was so disgusted that today that was it, that they could no longer be boyfriend and girlfriend as his mind had been rattled. It was so sudden …

“I'm not sure what happened between you two, whatever it is she's clearly not over whatever it.” He did not wish to say too much about it but if he said absolutely nothing then he'd be just as guilty burying his head in the sand like and ostrich. “That's all I have to say about that. Just be carefully ...”

He did not get into too many details leaving then. Soon after Vilmer returned in a fresh change of clothes. His uniform and the cam coder packed up in the gym bag that he now carried. He turned towards her.

“Alright, ready when you are.”

Vikky stared in confusion at Nikolaus. But… the thing with Rhina was over! They had handled it! Vikky had confronted her about it, and they had reached some form of understanding… right?

“A-alright. I’ll… be careful.” But… she didn’t think she needed to. Hadn’t she already heard about it? Yes, Vikky’s the reason for her father’s death, indirectly… But that had not been by her own choice or desire! While Vikky was deeply regretting that it led to something like that… she didn’t think it was cause to continue a grudge against her! This was so confusing! Why was… “Why do I…” … Oh. Nikolaus was leaving. Vikky remained stunned where she was standing. That… THAT was all he had to say!? No reason or anything like that!? That’s just…

Vilmer returned soon enough. A new change of clothes and everything like that. Freshly washed… huh. Vikky nodded to him without much else of a reaction.

“Let us go then.” And as such she turned around and walked in the direction needed to catch the bus that would lead them home, and not showing Vilmer much enthusiasm. Though… she was silently excited. Hopefully Vilmer would be able to bring her mind of Rhina… for a while.

Nik must not have realized that Rhina and she had that talk or what it entailed since he gave her the floor with his ex girlfriend earlier that day.

Nik did not stop for a Q&A session. He said his piece and left. What he knew or didn't know, why he was fighting with Rhina in the first place had eluded her. Maybe it was nothing, she could file away the incident.

Vilmer returned, probably still thinking about the game. He was quiet and Vikky could sense that quiet disappointed with how results had gone. He did not seem pissy or angry but rather down and unmotivated at the moment.

She could see that his favorite bat was sticking out of his gym bag and though he walked in silence he took her hand in his. He waited for the bus with her and was still silent as they walked up to her home.