Gently and quietly she closed the door behind her, waiting for the sound of the click to make sure it was locked before she continued down the stairs into the lair. It was clearly after midnight but what hour it was exactly she wasn't sure. She had lost track of all time here and now the days seemed to move at whatever pace plans happened to. Looking around the lair for a moment as she stood in the middle of the room, she realized everyone must have been asleep before she removed her boots and set them aside to quietly wander through without bothering anyone. The late night of sitting outside was something she needed from time-to-time, everyone getting accustomed to her need to be alone every now and then. What kept her out much longer then usual was watching the snow start to fall from the sky, the final snow of the season that would close out the winter month.

She rubbed her arms trying to warm herself up before heading up the stairs and disappearing into the monitor room, curious to see how the progression of building the traps in the rooms was going. Flipping them on, she winced in the green and black tinted light before it dimmed and she got a better view of everything. Looking at each monitor, she shook her head, silently reprimanding herself for even being involved in this practice, but what more could she do? She owed John a lot and she was learning that paying that back to him was coming in rather interesting conditions. Rubbing the back of her neck a bit, she reached over in the darkness to flip the monitors back off, her hand hitting John's cherished message carrier. In the darkness that occurred after the monitors were off that eerie and unsettling laugh resounded rather loudly and not only did she almost jump out of skin at the sound, but the octave in which it was echoing in the room would surely wake someone up. She picked him up off the table and frowned, fumbling around in the darkness to try and stop his laughter but unfortunately it only stopped when the loop was over. Groaning, she pressed the offending doll to her chest, trying to muffle him until he finally stopped, pulling him away and shaking her head as she looked at him in the darkness. "You're one creepy little bastard. I hate that laugh." Setting him back down on the table, she peeked around the corner, relieved that no one had woken up before making her way to John's room to make sure he was alright. Merely peering around the corner, she was satisfied to see that he was actually up tonight and working comfortably before slowly turning on her heel.

"…what are you doing sneaking around at this hour?"

She froze for a moment and sheepishly turned back around, pushing the plastic flaps to the side and stepping into his room (after all, when he addressed her, she learned to answer promptly). "I wasn't sneaking I was just outside for a while. I didn't even realize what time it was." He never looked up from his sketch, her eyes trailing to the paper, watching the pencil move with ease as if he were copying a picture directly from his mind with no references. He still didn't look up at her, waiting for her to continue she gathered before she spoke softly now "…I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. Be more prompt from now on. Now get some sleep, we have a lot to do tomorrow." She furrowed her brows and frowned, sighing and nodding her head before she started to push through the plastic flaps to head to her own bed. John cleared his throat and she turned around, pausing to look at him "…sleep here. I'm busy tonight and I would prefer to know where you are." He was abrasive with his request which flustered her in a way she couldn't quite explain, but all the same she nodded in agreement and walked to his bed. Since he was so busy, she didn't feel the least bit apprehensive about sliding off her jeans and climbing into his bed in her underwear and tank top to be more comfortable as she slept. As she did so though, she was unaware that John's pencil had stopped moving and for a good long while he was watching her out of the corner of his eye until she disappeared under the covers and curled up in the same fetal position she always did against the wall. John sighed and took a few moments to return to the task at hand, frustrated with himself. They had spent the past week with him so busy he didn't have time for her and often times the only time he spent was when she would end up falling asleep in his bed when he demanded her company. He hadn't slept next to her in a long time and tonight would be no different from the previous - or would it?

John leaned back in his chair and peered over at the young woman sleeping quietly in his bed, his lips attempting to curl up into a smile before he rose and headed out of the room to go get himself a glass of water. It was a long night filled with planning, drawing, and trying to work out all the kinks in some of his plans. As he passed by one of the tables he paused, picking up the paper that was lying face down on it, crumpled up. Pulling the edges out and flattening it, John raised a brow slowly before smirking in a much more sinister fashion then he had in a long time as Jigsaw crawled out from behind his façade. He was amazed by the intricate detail, the attention to how gears and mechanisms properly functioned, and by the very idea of the trap design. He had no idea that was capable of this kind of thought but something provoked him to want to see more. Folding up the paper, he tucked it into his pocket, quite interested in building this design considering there were little to no flaws in the way she designed it - it would a perfect trap for the perfect test subject. Finally making it to the sink, he turned on the water, filling up a cup only partway before sticking a straw in it and taking a drink. The cool liquid felt good cascading down his sore throat - sore from the violent coughing fits, sore from the small amounts of blood that always seemed to come up from deep within his lungs. He paused as he heard a loud thud, peering around the lair to make sure that no one was trying to enter his abode but once sure it wasn't anywhere outside, he frowned as he heard it again. He discovered the direction of the sound was coming from was his room. Setting the cup down on the sink, he made his way back as quickly as possible, pushing aside the plastic flaps and glancing at his bed to find Michelle was missing from it. A bit startled by her sudden disappearance, he calmed down when he heard sounds coming from the bathroom, figuring that perhaps she just woke up to use it. As he slowly approached so as not to scare her, he heard the clattering of metal and other various objects into the sink, raising a brow curiously. Peering around the corner, John rushed in quickly following that as he saw her sobbing at the sink with a razor in her hand, mutilating her arms and the large quantity of blood pooling from the wounds. "Michelle!" he practically screamed her name to get her to stop but she didn't even look up at him, mumbling to herself and clearly in a state of shock and panic. Grabbing hold of the hand with the blade in it, he was even startled when she turned to him abruptly and tried to start fighting him, shoving him violently into the wall.

"NO! Leave me the fuck alone!!! I have to find the fucking key!!"

Key? Oh god, she was having a serious mental breakdown and John had to stop her before she cut something major and ended up bleeding to death. This time it wasn't her fault, she wasn't trying to hurt herself, she swore she was in a trap fighting for her life just like she had done before, obviously having grabbed some mental imagery from seeing other people in their own traps. "Michelle! Michelle wake up! You're not in a trap, you're safe! Come here!" He grabbed her again, amazed at the strength she possessed when adrenaline pumped through her body at a fierce pace. She was fighting him for all she was worth, John getting covered in her blood as she violently flailed in his arms, unable to wake up from this horrific night terror she was having.

"GET OFF OF ME!! YOU'RE GONNA KILL US BOTH!! I HAVE TO FIND IT!!"

"There's no key!" he shook her aggressively, trying to get her to wake up, taking hold of her shoulders when he finally managed to spin her around and hold her tight to his chest. That was when she dropped the razor blade to the floor, hitting him as hard as she could, but John could take the abuse. "Michelle listen to me! It's John! No one is hurting you!" He shouted at her but couldn't get her to wake up as her body shook with the violent sobbing that overcame her. What was he going to do? She wasn't waking up and if he didn't stop her and get those wounds checked out and bandaged she could end up with more problems. She pounded at his chest, John holding her as tight as he could, his shirt now soaked in her blood.

Suddenly her pounding at his chest ceased as he continued to call her name, something snapping her back to consciousness. She stopped hitting him, blinking a couple times and looking around at her surroundings as everything came into focus again. The dark room was gone, the timer on the wall was no longer there, the strange man trying to force her to let herself die materialized into John, and she could hear the pounding of John's heart in her ears, louder then she had ever heard it before. She was breathing hard, a last tear streaming down both cheeks as she looked up into those blue eyes that were brimming with concern. She finally looked down at his shirt, seeing that it was soaked in blood, her confused expression turning into one of horror but she hadn't seen the worst of it. Her vision finally focused on the hundreds of slices all over her arms and wrists, her mouth opening with a silent scream, her voice quivering as all she managed to do was squeak out a bunch of little sounds. She balled up John's shirt in her fists before sinking in his arms, John holding her tighter to try and keep her up. "Oh my god…oh my god…what…what…"

She was starting to panic so John quickly directed her gaze up to him, shaking his head. "Shh, easy. It's okay, it's okay…listen to me. Michelle, Michelle come on…you're okay, this isn't your fault."

"Then who's fucking fault is it?!" she finally managed to scream before crying hysterically, John unable to keep her calm as she sunk to the floor. He sank down with her, continuing to hold her against his chest - the adrenaline was keeping her up now but the minute it stopped, she'd become weak and unable to do anything and he wanted to get her out of here before that, but this was on her time now, she had to calm down.

Bringing a hand up, he placed it on her head, pressing it against his chest and rubbing her back with the other. "Easy. Calm down, calm down okay. It was an accident." He was concerned about the blood loss at this point, quickly reaching over to grab a towel on the floor and pushed her back a little, wrapping it around her arm tightly. She was unable to control herself and he figured it was an affect of waking up in such a horrifying position and trying to focus her mind which was clearly a mess right now. "Michelle, listen to the sound of my voice. You're safe, no one is hurting you." It took a good 5 minutes before she finally settled down, John finally tilting his head to the side to look at her. She was pale and shaking, clearly weak from the amount of blood loss and he needed to take care of that now. "Come on. I'll help you. We have to take care of these cuts." Lifting her off the floor, she weakly followed him into the medical room and practically fell into the chair, John grabbing alcohol and gauze. Pulling the other chair in the room up in front of her, he unwrapped the towel, turning her arms over - unfortunately she did it just as bad to one as the other and if he hadn't stopped her he would have hated to see where she tried to find the "missing key" next. When she saw the mutilation to her arm as John poured alcohol on it and cuts became more visible, her lip started to quiver and she shuddered, about to break into tears again. "Shh. It's okay, everything will be fine." He reached over, squeezing her shoulder before returning to cleaning out and bandaging her wounds.

She was terribly woozy, but the worst part was she was confused. She had no clue what she did to herself, she was completely unaware of her behavior she just remembered seeing herself in a trap and believing that if she didn't find the key to unlock the door, she was going to die. "Wh--what happened?" her voice was shaky and weak as she watched John pick his head up and look at her, a deep frown crossing his features.

"You don't remember anything? I found you in the bathroom cutting yourself apart claiming you had to find a key."

"No, I remember what I thought…was real. I was trapped in a room, I had to find a key, the timer was counting down and some person I didn't know was…trying to force me to kill myself."

"…that must have been when I grabbed you." He watched, concerned after what happened as he wrapped her wrists and arms. "Has something been on your mind?" Looking into her hazel eyes he saw the confusion before he finished up, gently patting her hand and standing up, still in hearing distance if she cared to answer him - he hoped she would.

"Well, no, I…I don't know, I guess I'm stressed or…"

John sat back down in front of her, taking hold of her hands "It's okay. How about you sit this one out, alright? Besides, I don't want you making these worse, some of them might need stitches but we'll see how they heal on their own before we make that decision." He stood up, taking hold of her hand and helping her to her feet, placing his arm around her waist to guide her out since the fatigue was clearly starting to take over. He guided her over to his bed, setting her down before gently taking hold of the bottom of her tank top - it was soaked in blood and she didn't need to sleep in that. He helped lift it over her head, listening to her whimper at the pain that was finally setting in. He hated seeing her in pain like that, but unfortunately there wasn't anything he could have done unless he was right there when she got up and even then he wasn't her captor, she was free to go into whatever room she felt necessary. He helped her lay down, now only in her bra and underwear before gently pulling the covers overtop of her. Looking to his desk, he realized he had more work to do, but tonight he needed to put it off and help her feel safe. He watched her curl into the fetal position again like she always did and removed his own shirt and pants that were covered in her blood, sliding underneath of the covers. Gently, he pulled her out of her curled up place on the bed and brought her to his chest, taking hold of her hand and setting it over his heart. Tilting his head to the side, John watched as she started to unwillingly fall asleep, but it was the best thing for her as his fingers ran over the back of her hand. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he watched her eyes flutter open before he placed a finger under her chin, lifting her head and gently pressing his lips to her own. He smiled as she head dropped back down to his chest, taking his other hand and trialing his fingers down the middle of her spine as he took the night off to finally get some sleep.