The night air was so much chillier than during the daytime. The sky, now almost pitch black, like the colour of molasses, was dotted with many a star, shining singularly. The moon is not full, nor is it a crescent, and yet it still has that incredible and enchanting effect that feels almost hypnotizing if you gaze up at it for too long. She called a taxi over and quickly clambered in, not wanting to be vulnerable to attack from the cold.

The journey lasted a millennium, or that's what it felt like anyhow. The driver was exactly the type she wanted tonight: quiet, asking no questions, and just taking her exactly where she wanted, or rather, where she needed to go. The radio was on in the background, just faintly, and it was crackling slightly from the back reception in the middle of a still bustling city, even though the time was gone half past eight in the evening. The song was one that she vaguely recognized; Salome had put it on her iPod along with the rest of the Glee soundtrack.

I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown.

Tonight, for one of the first times, she was letting someone else save her. She normally didn't let anyone in, she didn't let anyone see who she really was and how she was feeling, but she honestly didn't know how she would possibly hide it from him. And he was an inquisitive guy, and she knew that when he said she could tell him, that basically meant you're going to tell me. But he would be a gentleman about it.

The taxi jerked to a halt outside a tall block of flats just outside central London. She dutifully paid the taxi and stepped out once more into the numbing cold, wrapping her navy military coat even tighter around her shivering form. The taxi sped off as soon as her high heels graced the pavement and she watched it drive away, her only means of escape travelling off without a conscious concern.

She tried to breathe deeply as she slowly trawled towards the front door of the block of apartments, but it was difficult and it hurt, like someone was stuffing cotton wool down her throat, slowly throttling her into an early grave. She coughed loudly, trying to rid herself of the feeling, but just felt that lump in the back of her throat, an early warning sign that she might well break down right in front of him.

She took the stairs to his flat on the twelfth floor, preferring to have time to prepare herself than to just get it over with. She didn't know what she was so frightened about really; here was a friend, ready to listen and all too willing to help her out, and yet she was terrified of him actually seeing her. She tried to convince herself it was because she didn't want him to see her so damaged and broken, but deep down she knew it was because she was in a vulnerable state and she needed him. And not just anyone, she needed him specifically. She needed Matt to pull her out of this, and it scared her because she didn't have an honest clue why.

Her high heels were making a very irritating tapping noise against the ground, but the noise soon feel silent and she found herself standing on his doorstep. She didn't know what to do. Her head was beginning to ache and hurt from earlier, and she grimaced weakly, brushing her gentle fingers against the huge swelling that was now her left eye, and a tear slipped from her right. She hastened to knock, but with sincerity, on his front door and it was not long before the wooden frame was relieved of its occupant, and his form was revealed.

In the first few seconds, she didn't have a clue what she was doing, but he smiled gently, and her heart immediately calmed down. He invited her in, and she followed after him, closing the door behind her and stepping into his humble abode. She slipped out of her heels, feeling that it was probably appropriate, and he took her jacket and put it in the cupboard.

His flat was, to be fair, rather large, but homely decorated, with pictures and posters up on the wall, and she blushed when she caught sight of an almost life-size River Song poster on one of the living room walls. Staring at herself on his wall – it was probably the weirdest thing about being an actress. She followed him into the little kitchen space that was merged with the rest of the flat (apart from the two bedrooms, one master and one spare) and he offered her a drink which she politely declined. Once all the formalities had ended, she sat down on one of the little stools which sat around the island in the middle of his kitchen and he sat on the other. Both were at a loss for words, and he looked at her properly for the first time that night.

Again, as in her own apartment, he had neglected to turn on many of the lights, but he saw that, even in the dark, some of her face looked a little different to the rest, and he pulled her up off her chair and held her and walked with her until they reached the light on above the cooker. She followed him begrudgingly, without much of a choice she hastened to add, but when her face was put under the light of the cooker, however dim, she feared what his reaction might be.

'Oh Alex, what happened to you?' he whispered soothingly, brushing the hair she had deliberately placed in front of the bruise aside to see it properly. He watched her as her face contorted into a terribly beautiful, yet heart-breaking expression and her eyes welled with tears and then her face simply crumpled and she fell into battered sobs.

He knew it had been coming, he had seen the reflection of her sadness in her eyes as soon as he had opened the front door, let alone the phone call they had both had to endure previously. But when she had been sobbing down the phone to him, he hadn't expected it to be something quite as bad as this. He loved Alex, maybe not quite in that way, and she was very important to him, and the fact that someone had hurt her (he could tell by her reactions that this was no accident) like this made him so despicably angry.

But his first priority, before he went out and beat up the bastard who had done this, was to comfort her and make sure that she was okay. So when he watched her just collapse into tears, he swiftly pulled her into a comforting hug and he gently squeezed her, wrapping both his arms around her waist, making sure that she was in no danger of being alone. She rested both hands on his shoulders, but buried her face into his t-shirt and soon enough, his hand found her hair and he tenderly unpinned her bun and let those brilliant curls come tumbling out. He rested his hand on the back of her head and shushed her peacefully, this time it being more successful than it had been down the phone. Gradually, he prised her off him, took her hand and led her over to the sofa where he motioned for her to sit down whilst he went and got her a drink of some kind.

Alex just curled up into a ball on his sofa, embracing her knees and pulling them up to her chin, sniffing back the tears still dripping off her face. Matt returned within the next five minutes with a steaming cup of tea and a bag of frozen peas which he had wrapped up in a tea-towel, handed her the tea which she gratefully took, perched down on her left hand side and cautiously grazed the peas against her bruise, trying to calm down the swelling. Holding the basic ice pack in his left hand, he placed an arm around Alex's shoulders and continued to pat the peas against the bruised flesh surrounding her left eye until there was a visible difference and she had finished with her tea.

He took the cup and dumped it clumsily in the sink, and then looked over at her figure from his kitchen. She looked so shaken up that he could hardly believe it. Alex had always been this impossibly flirtatious woman whom he had admired for so many years, and it was difficult to even see her in this state. He never expected to have to comfort her in the evening, but he didn't mind as much as he would've had it been anyone else. This thought puzzled him, but only for the briefest of moments. He had always considered their relationship to be platonic, but he knew that what had happened to her, and her choosing to come here was going to make them the strongest friends imaginable, and maybe, just maybe, something so much more.

She didn't hear him joining her once more, but she immediately felt calmed down when his hand grasped hers, and his other tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. 'Alex, I need you to tell me what happened,' he said softly, trying to make the statement sound as neutral as he possibly could. She looked up at him, and nodded, showing understanding of his request. She took in a shaky breath, the oxygen rattling her stomach, a normal human thing making her feel sick.

'We were supposed to be going out tonight, which, you know, why I'm dressed like this,' she began slowly, making reference to her dress and jewellery, 'but Jack got home late, and we missed the booking. I made some comment about how he was never home on time, and he told me that he had had to put up with that for years when I always had to come over here from America to work.

We just started arguing like we've been doing a lot recently, and Salome came out of her bedroom to see what was going on, and I said something, I can't even remember what it was but it must've been bad because he just looked so…mutinous,' she hesitated before continuing, but Matt sheltered her with his arm around her shoulders, holding her in a soft hug on his sofa, and she whispered, 'And he just…he just…he…hit me and then g-grabbed Salome and left.'

Okay, so it wasn't quite what he had been expecting. Alex had confided in him before that her marriage had been on the rocks for a while, but it wasn't something that he thought would end in domestic violence. How could someone ever hit her? She was one of the most beautiful people he knew, both on the outside and the inside, as corny as that sounded. 'It's okay Alex, you're safe here.'

'I'm so sorry for intruding Matt,' she said loudly, although her voice was shaking with the realisation of revealing what had happened to her, 'I'm sorry I've ruined your evening. It's just, I don't know anyone else who lives in London apart from Karen and Arthur but I don't know either of them well enough or where they live and so you were…'

'Alex, don't you dare apologize to me,' he said fiercely, and she was almost scared by his refusal to accept her apology; he was being so passionate about defending her, 'you have got nothing to say sorry for, you hear me? Absolutely nothing.'

She sniffed. 'Thank you Matt.'

He just nodded his head in recognition and the two remained silent for what must have been around ten minutes. During that ten minutes, Alex realized how good a friend Matt was, that he had taken her in, looked after her and been so kind to her; there was no way she could repay him. She just felt oddly at home with him. Matt just let her rest her head on his shoulder and he softly rubbed her arm, stroking her flesh in a relaxed and carefree manner before a sudden thought popped into his head, and he expressed his fail-proof plan. 'Hey Alex, do you fancy going for dinner?'

Alex looked up at him, enquiry on her face like she was asking him if he had lost all sanity and had gone stark raving mad. However, she soon put it aside and meekly replied, 'Yeah, sure.' She could see his surprise to her immediate approval, and she smiled meekly, before Matt slipped his hand back from around her waist and stood up. He promptly offered her his hand, and she grinned widely for the first time that night and accepted it, allowing herself to be pulled up off the sofa. She wobbled initially on her feet, and she made her way over to the front door to collect her shoes. Matt, who for some reason was already dressed in a formal suit (maybe he had presumed that she would accept his proposal?), quickly checked his hair in the mirror, and then joined her by the front door of his apartment.

'Matt,' she began slowly before he stepped around her to open the door for her, and he raised an eyebrow in order to tell her to continue and she murmured, 'do I look alright? You know with the whole…' she trailed off, bringing her hand up to shade her mutilated bruise. He stared at her with such kindness in his eyes that it almost made her melt. He took a stride back from the door, and took each of her hands inside one of his own.

He looked into her eyes, dark yet enchanting green staring blissfully into spellbinding oceanic blue, and he let the corners of his lips curl upwards slightly, transforming his solemn expression into one of deep friendship. 'You look beautiful Alex, just like usual.' At any other time, she would've seen that as what it was, a flirtatious compliment, but right then and there she saw it as just him trying to make her feel so much better than she did. He was picking her up from the bottom line she had found herself standing at.

She blushed fluorescent red, and her cheeks warmed to such a degree that she thought they would set on fire, and she fiddled with the straps on her black five inch heels to avoid making any sort of eye contact with him. She missed Matt beam graciously at her and she brought her head of curls back up, when the redness of her cheeks had died down, after he had unpinned her hair earlier. He swung open the door and was actually able to reveal the outside corridor to her. 'After you, my love,' he crooned cheesily, quoting his character.

He could see the twinkle in her eye that told him she was a little closer to being back to her normal self after the ordeal she had been through tonight, and she winked as she stepped out and he heard her murmur so quietly it could've passed for a sudden whoosh of air, 'Thank you Sweetie.'