Thanks to everyone for the reviews! This next chapter speeds things up a bit and it gets a little bit darker. Fair warning!

Ana woke up the next morning at 6:15 AM exactly. Butch had his arms wrapped around her so she couldn't move. She tried to wiggle away but his grip on her just tightened.

"Butch?" Ana whispered.

All she got in reply was a tired grunt.

"Butch, I have to get up," she tried again.

He sighed and released her. She smiled and laughed to herself as she got up from the bed to make him his breakfast. Last night hadn't been as bad as she thought it would be. Being civil with him wasn't very hard either. Maybe they could get this to work. Maybe...just maybe, she could learn to love him.

Butch rolled out of bed and joined her to eat breakfast at 7:00. Right on schedule.

"I'll see you at six," Butch said as he walked towards the door to head to work.

"Right, six," Ana nodded.

Butch kissed her on the cheek and left her to herself.

She had close to eleven hours to herself. What was she supposed to do? Amata would be up by now, so Ana decided she would go see her.

The walk to Amata's apartment was much shorter now, seeing as she was just three doors away. Ana rang the buzzer and Amata answer, still in her pajamas.

"You're here a lot earlier than I expected," Amata admonished.

"You expected me?" Ana asked.

"Of course I did. I knew you'd come to me first with the details of your first night of wedded bliss. Come inside."

Ana followed Amata into the living room. The dishes from breakfast were still sitting on the table.

"Well? How'd it go?" asked Amata.

"It wasn't...terrible. It was actually kind of nice. He wasn't a jerk about anything either," Ana said as she sat down on the couch.

"Really? That's surprising."

"Amata?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you not tell me about that...that manual?"

"We're not supposed to, I guess. I would have told you if I could have."

"Only two years until we have to have a kid? That's ridiculous..."

"I know...it's not a lot of time but there's nothing we can do about it."

"At least we can manage to be civil with each other."

Ana told Amata about their agreement to be civil, and about how he let her lean against him on the couch. Amata was shocked. Butch and Ana were getting along? The world must be ending again.

Ana left Amata's about an hour later to go back to her own home. She still had to clean the apartment and get herself ready for the day.

The day seemed to drag on until Butch came home. Ana had followed the damn schedule and had a hot supper of pork and beans (again) ready for him. He thanked her as they ate their meals in silence. Yesterday seemed to be completely different. Now they were passed the initial shock of their marriage. Now they were in for the real deal, for the rest of their lives.

The months went on. Day after day the same thing, over and over again. It was beginning to feel normal, like this is exactly how it should have always been. Ana and Butch grew closer and closer, it wasn't love, but it was something. Something...new, for both of them. While they still had the occasional fight, it was never as explosive as they used to be. Perhaps this whole genetic compatibility wasn't such a joke, after all.

Ana looked up from the book she was reading to see Butch arriving home from work. Dinner was made and was on the stove for him, like always. It had been six months since their wedding. It hadn't been terrible, to everyone's surprise.

"How was work?" Ana asked as Butch sat down at the table.

Something wasn't right. He was clenching his jaw and his hands were gripping the table so tightly his knuckles were white.

"Just give me my dinner," came Butch's clipped reply.

Ana did as she was asked and served him his food.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

That was all it took.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?! What's wrong is that every night, every Goddamn night, I have to come home to you, my doting wife. I'm tired of this!" Butch flipped over the table as he stood up, causing the plates to shatter.

Ana sat motionless in her seat, to afraid to make a move. She had seen him angry before, but this...this was something else. She had to say something.

"I thought we were-"

"Nothing you thought matters! Nothing about you does! I hate you and nothing will ever change that. I'm tired of pretending every damn day, and I'm tired of you! Ya know, it's not easy to keep myself from killing you somedays."

Ana was taken aback.

"Have you been drinking?" she asked.

"For God's sake, no! I'm not my Goddamn mother! And you don't even know, do ya?!"

"Know what?"

"That's why I've hated you all these years!"

"Butch, you're...you're not making any sense-"

"You had a dad! A dad that loves you and cares for you. Sure, you don't have a ma, but I don't have either of them. My dad left us! I wasn't even a year old! That's when my ma started drinking and sleeping around. While your dad was at all the school plays and baseball games, my ma was passed out on the floor! I raised myself, somethin' no kid should ever have to do! Now you know why I'm so screwed up! And you know what the worst part it?"

Butch grabbed Ana by her arms and lifted her out of her chair. She could see tears in his eyes but the pain he was causing in his grip on her hurt too much for her to say anything.

"My dad's here! He's somewhere in this stupid vault! He's not like you're mom, he didn't die! He's still here, but he's not man enough to do anything! Why didn't he want me, Ana? Why? What did I do!?"

"Butch, you're hurting me."

He let go of her as she fell to the floor. Butch looked at his hands and backed away from her crumpled form. He turned away and stalked off into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. The only sound was the murmur of the radio, quietly playing an old Frank Sinatra tune.

Ana sat on the floor. She was too stunned and hurt to move. What had gotten into him? There must have been something that set him off. That wasn't the Butch she knew, that was someone completely different.

She thought about what he had said about her mom. Catherine was her name. She had died seconds after Ana was born. Giving birth in the vaults was always risky. They didn't have new supplies and technology since the doors had been sealed off from the outside world. The prewar equipment didn't cut it, and Ana's mom suffered for that. She blamed herself for the death and could never find it in herself to forgive it. Butch saying anything about her mom just reopened the wound.

She picked herself up off the floor and left the apartment. She went to Amata's and was barely in the door before she collapsed into her friend and began sobbing. Amata motioned over her shoulder for Freddie to leave them alone.

"Ana...what happened? What's wrong?"

"Butch...he...he...I don't even know, he just...went off. I've never seen him so angry before..."

Amata pulled Ana into the room but she pulled back in pain. Amata had grabbed the now bruised parts of her arms.

"Did he hit you?" Amata asked, concerned.

"No...no, he just...grabbed me."

"Ana, you have to tell somebody!"

"No...no one can find out."

"Oh my God..."

"What?"

"You're in love with him."

Ana immediately stopped crying and looked into Amata's eyes. She was right. Somewhere along the way, the past six months of marriage had turned itself into love. For Ana, it did, anyway.

"Oh, Ana..." Amata gently brought her over to the couch as the tears began to flow again. There was nothing else she could do. The minutes ticked by but the tears just wouldn't stop.

"Ana? I'm sorry...but it's nine o'clock," Amata said as she wiped away Ana's tears.

Ana looked at the clock on the wall and nodded. She needed to get home.

Chapter 4! What'd you guys think? Not gonna lie, when I first wrote this, I got a little emotional during Butch's breakdown. Anyways, reviews are always welcome!