".....hm. I see." Vincent replied.

"That pretty much told me all I need to know." he said.

"Well... I do hope you manage to find a way to leave your stressful life behind, though that can be difficult at such a tender age." he told her before sighing.

"....oh, on another note." he then said, sounding like he had remembered something.

"The manor I live in has a fully renovated basement, but I have no need to use it... and it seems a shame to just use it for storage." he told her.

"If you think of anyone that could use it in the next little while, let me know." he said. "If it helps, I'm very flexible with rent... so much so, I'm actually willing to forego payment for help in caring for the place." he continued.

"It's... pretty big." he chuckled.

"Goodbye for now." Vincent responded as she left.

He then sighed, and seemed to stare off into space.

'...it should be her birthday soon...' he thought, recalling her file.

'...she'll be 16...' he thought further.

He then shook his head, sighed once more, and stared at the papers in front of him.

He'd done all he could really do. Anything further, and there would probably be repercussions. So he needed her to come to him about this... if she wanted to.

".........." Vincent was silent as he looked at Madison, and the injuries she seemed to have sustained.

"Madison...?" he said quietly, before shaking his head.

"Yes." he replied.

"Yes I do." he told her.

"Nobody's been interested at all, probably because I live a little out of the way." he said, pretty much outright lying. But she didn't need to know that.

He DID live out of the way, but that wasn't the reason for the lack of interest.

"I assume you're looking to rent it." he went on.

"If you like, you can come and see it tonight, and if you like it, you can move in right away." he told her further.

"....understandable." Vincent replied.

The two of them then got into the vehicle, and buckled up.

"Right." he said, starting the car.

"Do you want me to grab you something to eat on the way there?" he asked her.

"As in, from a drive-thru or the like?" he clarified.

"If so, what would you like?" he then inquired as they pulled out of the school parking lot.

Vincent thought for a moment, and nodded with a smirk.

"I know just the place." he said.

"It's a diner. No drive-thru, but it's open late, they make things to go, and they make a mean chicken ceasar salad." he told her, before gesturing to the phone in one of the cup holders.

"PIN for the phone is '1230'." he told her.

He then told her the phone number for the diner.

"Tell them you want a large, with a bottle of water, and tell them it's for Vincent Remmington." he went on.

"They know me there."

Vincent just laughed in response.

"Oh, plenty." he told her.

"I'd say for every 5 people that like me, 1 person doesn't." he said.

"Which... isn't a BAD ratio, but I know a LOT of people." he then muttered.

"But those that don't like me tend to not associate with me, so I'm lucky in that regard." he then added with a shrug.

"And yeah, the man that owns the diner is an old friend of mine, so everyone there knows me, due to my going there to meet up with him for coffee." he explained to her.

"Heck, we do it every December 31st." he added with a small, wistful, nostalgic smile.

"....my friend and I have been through a lot. We've seen a lot." Vincent replied.

"We've seen the world at its best, at its worst." he went on.

"But we keep on living." he told her.

"No matter what kind of year we've had, we've vowed to end the year in each other's company, and start the new year in each other's company as well." he said.

"It's our little tradition. He keeps the diner open past midnight just for the two of us, so we can have that tradition."

Vincent just smiled again as Madison said what she did.

"Indeed." he said.

"We look forward to it every year." he told her.

"Regardless, their food is absolutely lovely." he then said.

"We'll grab the food and head back to my manor." he went on, looking skyward.

"Looks like it's going to rain pretty hard, and soon."

"You're very welcome." Vincent replied.

With that, they arrived at the diner where Vincent stepped inside for a few minutes, returning with an impressively large takeout container with the salad in it. It wasn't obscenely large or anything, but it was a lot of food. And there was a bottle of water for her as well.

Once he was back, they left the parking lot, and made their way to a very impressive and almost imposing manor. As he parked the car and turned off the vehicle, they heard a few droplets of rain hit the roof of it.

"Come on." he told her.

"Let's get inside quickly."

"Seems so." Vincent replied as he started turning on lights.

"Good." he said.

"I'm glad we managed to get out of that." he commented.

"At any rate, feel free to take a seat wherever you like and eat your salad." he told her.

"I'm going to find my first aid kit to tend to some of your injuries." he went on.

"And after that, you can see the apartment downstairs if you like." he then added.