"Melfina? Is that you?"

"W-Who's t-there?" she replied shakily, quickly wiping away the tears that had streamed down her cheeks. She tried to adjust her blurry vision to see the individual who had called out to her.

"Melfina, are you…are you crying?"

"G-Gene…?"

Gene dropped his gun on the floor and quickly made his way towards her after seeing the gleam from her tear-filled eyes. He bent down towards her and placed a hand on her still wet cheek. Gently lifting her face, he attempted to look into her eyes but came to face only her averted glance.

"Melfina, please look at me…" he said softly.

The softness of his voice moved Melfina and she slowly forced herself to look at him despite the embarrassment she felt at being caught in the state she was in. As her gaze slowly met his, Gene felt his heart drop as he saw the pain reflected in her bloodshot eyes.

"What's wrong, Mel? Why are crying out here all alone in the dark?" Gene asked, unable to hide the worry in his voice.

Once she saw the worry cross his face, she couldn't take it anymore. It was always the same cycle of events with him. She would hurt, he would care, then she would be content and he would be aloof. She knew that she couldn't dance these endless waltzes of emotions and stages of being loved for much longer. Her heart just wouldn't be able to handle another let down after being given another small scrap of affection.

"It's nothing, Gene. I'm fine really I am. I just had a nightmare that shook me up. Nothing more." She gave a feeble smile, "See I'm fine now. Really I am."

She removed his hand from her face and quickly stood. Wiping away the imaginary dust on her nightgown, she continued to smile and give her excuses all the while refusing to look Gene in the eyes. "Well its late and I have to wake up early to make breakfast for everyone so I better go to bed now. Sorry for waking you so unnecessarily, Gene."

She smile once more and turned her back to him, feeling the remains of her wounded heart begin to slowly crumble at his nearness. As she took her first step away from him, she was suddenly stopped.

"Mel, you know after hanging around hooligans like us for as long as you have, you haven't picked up the art of lying yet, you know," Gene said with a small crooked smile. Melfina forced herself to not turn around. Suddenly, Gene's grip on her wrist slightly tightened and his voice softened, "I know something's wrong and I know that you're hurting real bad right now."

As those words left Gene's lips, Melfina could feel her breath catch in her throat. She could feel the oncoming barrage of tears beginning to well up in her eyes. As she continued trying to hold back the tears and contain the sob that was threatening to escape her throat, she could feel Gene release her wrist and grab a hold of her hand.

"And I'm pretty sure that I'm the jerk that is causin' you this hurt, too."

At the admission of fault, Melfina immediately raised her free arm to hide the tears that had begun to freely fall down her face. As the intensity of the pain continued to rise, Melfina could do nothing but fall to her knees as the sobs racked her body.

This display of sorrow cut Gene deeper than any injury he had ever sustained in any of his violent encounters. As he stared at the small form kneeling beneath him, he was taken back by how deeply he had injured the beautiful creature that had risked his life to save by his insecurity and indecisiveness. Gene immediately sank back to his knees and pulled the sobbing girl into his arms. Running his hands soothingly over her back he began to speak softly to her, "Aw damnit, it seems like the only thing I'm good at is makin' you cry, Mel…. Look, you may not believe me but I'm real sorry for the hurt that I've caused you. I'm such an idiot for being such a selfish prick and ignoring you the way I have."

With this apology, Melfina raised her tear stained face. She tried to speak through her sobs,"S-so y-you were aware of the w-way you were treating m-me, G-Gene?"

A wave of anger suddenly swept through her as more tears began to stream down her cheeks. She buried her head in his chest as her hands tightened into small fists. "Y-you knew you were hurting me and y-you kept doing it?!"

Her sobs grew more erratic as her voice gained more volume. "Why Gene?!"

Melfina began to cry uncontrollably. Her sobs prevented her from speaking coherently and she had begun to punch Gene in the chest as she continued, "You jerk, Gene! Why?! Why hurt me?! …Why hurt me???"

Gene allowed Melfina to continue hitting him while he tightened his embrace around her until her sobs began to quiet down to a faint whimper. Softly stroking her hair, Gene whispered, "Mel…I'm so sorry Mel. I didn't mean to hurt you… It's just that…It's just that after that night we spent together…"

He couldn't bring himself to expose his fears to her. He knew that that was what she needed to know, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to divulge those insecurities. Gene was roused from his internal struggle by Melfina pushing his arms off of her and sitting up, facing him eye to eye.

"A-after that night, what Gene?"

Oh man…how do I tell her? What a brave guy I am right? Oh damnit it all to hell! Gene placed a hand on her reddened face and gently whipped away a few of the tears with his thumb as he softly caressed her face. You'll lose her if you don't man up and say something, you moron.

"I-I was…I was scared. The way I felt that night with you…well….it umm….it s-scared me. I had never felt that way before. I had never had anyone surrender themselves so completely like you that night. And that scared me…"

Gene fell silent after that statement, unsure of the correctness of his divulgence.

"So I scared you, Gene?" Melfina couldn't hide the confusion and the hurt in her eyes as she looked at Gene. Gene was caught off-guard by her response. He gazed into her eyes and put his hands on her shoulders.

"No Mel! You didn't scare me, silly." Gene responded quickly trying to clarify things before they got even muddier. He bent down and gently kissed away one of the tears that had just fallen down her face. His hands moved from her shoulders up to her neck as he whispered.

"I scared myself." He proceeded to kiss away another one of her tears.

"The way you gave yourself to me so unconditionally and completely made me want to…well, it made me want to give you everything as well." He moved to kiss more tears that had fallen on her other cheek, while his hands began to slowly caress her neck.

"I had never felt that way with another woman, Melfina. And I wasn't sure if I would be able to give myself as completely as you had." He began to trail small and light kisses towards her now closed eyes.

"What I felt that night…was like….nothing I had ever…felt before." Gene moved to kiss the tip of her nose as his fingers moved up her neck until they cupped her now flushed face.

"Melfina…Melfina look at me please."

Melfina opened her eyes only to find Gene's face only an inch away from hers. She could feel his steady breath on her skin. His blue eyes were glazed over with a strange brightness that she couldn't quite describe. His lips temptingly close to her own.

"Melfina, please forgive me for…for not showing you how much I-I love…I love you." With those words, Gene softly kissed Melfina.


Author's Note: Hey there! Well if you've gotten this far than I gotta thank you for takin the time to read my little story here. I know I cut off the chapter kinda abruptly but I was planning on writing a lemon or something very close to that nature in the next chapter, so I just thought I'd give you guys a heads up. Thanks again for reading!