That night Velvet had slept the best she had slept in a long time. She finally was able to escape her nightmares. Although her night was great, her morning wasn't. When she awoke she had a splitting headache and grabbed her head, "Damnit..."

"Regretting last night bun?" Sun asked her from the couch.

"No." Velvet said with a goofy smile despite her headache.

Gaston figured Velvet would need something to help her hangover after seeing them the night before. So, when he heard her wake up he came upstairs with a cup of coffee, an aspirin, and some toast.

"Here, this'll help with your headache." Gaston informed Velvet.

"Thank you." Velvet responded.

Velvet quickly ate/drank what Gaston brought up, and she found it helped a bit, but didn't completely stop her headache. That didn't really matter much to her at the moment though, what really mattered was what had happened last night. Even though it wasn't a real kiss it was enough to get Velvet to blush just thinking about it.

"Everything okay?" Sun asked looking at her red face. "Are you sick?"

"N-No, I'm fine!" Velvet responded quickly.

"Okay, I guess I'll leave you here then, I'm off to work." He told her as he went towards the ladder. They both knew what his 'job' was, but calling it work was enough to keep everyone else out of the loop.

"See you later." Velvet told him.

Velvet found herself in the room alone, which had never happened before. Generally the kids were up here, but today, with the help of some disguises, Blake and Neon took them out to the town. Now that she was alone Velvet found it quiet, and she found herself thinking of her life as a slave. She couldn't help it, all the silence just reminded her all of those nights in the basement, and the more she thought the more scared she grew. Her legs started to hurt and her shirt felt tight around her neck.

Coco ascended the ladder and saw Velvet huddled in the corner, so she immediately went over to try to help, "What's wrong Velvet?"

"I-I can't stop thinking of the basement..." Velvet said, her fear clearly shown in her voice.

"Velvet, look at me." Coco said turning Velvet's head gently to her. "You're safe here. We won't let anything bad happen to you. You'll never be back there." She assured her. Coco hadn't heard Velvet's story yet, but she had dealt with enough faunus to guess what she was talking about.

Velvet found Coco's voice soothing and it started to calm her a bit, "A-Are you sure?"

"Yes. Gaston, Sun, Blake, Neon, and I will make sure of it." Coco said offering her a warm smile.

That was enough for Velvet, so she moved her legs and gave Coco a hug. "Thank you..."

"You're very welcome." Coco replied holding her close.

After that day Velvet felt a lot closer to Coco, and Coco felt the same. They spent a lot of time together over the couple of weeks and eventually Coco asked her out. Everybody knew it was coming, although some wished it didn't. Tonight Coco's plans were to take Velvet out for dinner and a movie, a classic date, but something Velvet had never experienced.

"You almost ready?" Coco asked from the base of the ladder.

"Almost, but are you sure this will work?" Velvet asked looking in the mirror at her disguise. It was mostly normal clothing, consisting of jeans, a sweater, a plain t shirt, and a beanie. However her ears curled up nicely into the beanie effectively hiding them.

"Trust me, it'll work. If you'd like I could bring a collar along. That way if you do get discovered I can pretend to be your owner." Coco suggested.

Velvet thought about it for a moment, on one hand she didn't want to even look like a slave again, but on the other it'd offer them a good backup plan. Not to mention she didn't really mind the thought of Coco owning her, but that was beside the fact. "Okay, bring one, but is it okay if I keep the key?"

"Of course! I wouldn't want you to wear a collar you couldn't take off." Coco replied before dashing behind the bar and grabbing a collar and key. They kept several collars back there for situations like this, or for when someone is looking over the bar. That way they wouldn't need to worry about any of them being caught.

Velvet descended the ladder and met up with Coco, who gave her the key. "I know I'm being paranoid, but can I make sure the key works?"

"Of course." Coco responded handing her the collar.

Velvet quickly locked the collar and tried using the key on it. Much to her relief it unlocked easily. "Thank you."

"So, are you ready to head out then?" Coco asked

Velvet nodded, now that she had a disguise and Coco had a collar, she was more than ready. Now that she had confirmation Coco opened the door to let Velvet out. Velvet wasn't used to this kind of treatment, but she found it made her feel special, at least a little bit.

"Thank you." Velvet told her.

The movie theatre was a couple blocks away, so the two of them walked over. They walked over not really talking, but it was a comfortable silence, the kind of silence only achieved through close friends. Eventually they made it to the theatre, it wasn't a big one, but it was nice. There were two glass doors with a now playing sign between them, showing off the current triple A title that was being shown, 'X-ray and Vav: Dawn of Mogar'. Neither of them wanted to watch that movie, Coco because she wasn't super into superhero movies, Velvet because she hadn't seen any movies and it looked like a sequel. The two of them walked inside and had a look at the showings, it read, "Pacific Grimm 7:30 9:00, Sarge 7:00 8:30, Silence of the Lads 6:30 8:00, and In Service 6:00". Velvet looked at the movie names and one stood out to her.

"Coco, what's 'In Service'?" Velvet asked interested.

"I think it's a love story or something... I'm pretty sure it's about a relationship between some rich dude and one of his faunus servants." Coco told her. She didn't really watch love stories, action movies were more her style, but if Velvet wanted to see it she wouldn't say a word against it. The only problem was she hoped that if they watched that movie Velvet wouldn't relapse.

"Coco? What movie do you want to watch?" Velvet asked having not decided on what she did.

"Silence of the Lads is supposed to be good, but I don't think you'd like it... It seems a little too scary for you." Coco said. The movie was about this group of people who work together, but one of them is a psychopath. He eventually locks everyone in their office and picks them off one by one.

"No it's not!" Velvet objected with a stomp of her foot. She felt like Coco was treating her a little bit like a child, but in actuality she was just being careful.

"Okay, we can watch it if you'd like then." Coco told her.

With that the two of them bought two tickets to 'Silence of the Lads'. The movie started fine, so Velvet sat there thinking that Coco just thought she was a scaredy cat or something. However when the movie really got going she clung onto Coco often putting her head into Coco's shoulder to avoid seeing some people die. Once the movie was over she still clung to Coco, which she admittedly thought was funny, but there was no way she'd laugh at Velvet right now.

"You okay there Vel?" She asked

"I-I'm fine! T-That movie wasn't scary at all!" Velvet said immediately declinging and acting tough.

"Yeah, it was great wasn't it." Coco said mostly humouring her. She did actually think the movie was great, but she didn't believe for a second Velvet wasn't scared by it.

"So, why don't we head out for dinner?" She suggested.

"So, we're heading back then?" Velvet asked figuring dinner just meant going back to the bar and eating with everyone else.

"No, I mean like go to a restaurant and you and I just eat. Maybe with some romantic lighting." Coco said smiling.

"I've never been to a restaurant before..." Velvet informed her.

"So, that means we're going then." Coco said leading Velvet down the street to the closest restaurant, 'Jaune's Ark'. It was famous for having the widest selection of foods.

When they arrived there was a decent amount of people in line, but they were able to get in eventually. As they walked Velvet started to feel very out of place, she had been taught her entire life that if she were to be seen in anyplace as fancy as there that she would be punished. The waiter dropped them off at a table near the edge of the restaurant, but it wasn't a bad spot. Now that they were seated Velvet looked at Coco and waited to see what she did before she did anything herself.

"Vel, you just pick up a menu and pick what you'd like to eat." Coco told her, while doing so herself.

"Mmm, the Italian dishes look good." She commented, but Velvet didn't know what or where that was, she was still fumbling with her menu.

"Oh, and the roast sounds good too, especially with the roasted carrots." Coco continued, "Do you want to try that?"

"No!" Velvet answered very quickly and a little louder than she intended.

"Vel, is something wrong?" Coco was concerned that she had said something or done something to piss her off.

"Nothing, I just don't like carrots." She responded putting emphasis on the word don't.

"Okay." Coco responded. Most people wouldn't really get why she was like that, but Coco pieced it together, she had found a lot of faunus are fed with stereotypical foods while they're slaves. So, hearing Velvet having an aversion to carrots wasn't too far out there.

"The lasagna here is very good, and they serve it in big proportions, so why don't we split one?" Coco offered.

"That sounds good, and sorry about snapping at you..." Velvet said while she looked down and crossed her legs at the ankles.

"Hey, Vel. I understand why you did." Coco replied showing off a warm smile to sooth velvet a bit.

Velvet simply smiled back happy that Coco was as understanding as she was. It really made things a lot easier on Velvet. Their moment was interrupted when the waiter came back for their orders, "Are you two ladies ready to order?" he asked.

"Yes. We'd like to split an order of lasagna, Vel over there would like a coke, and may I please have some water." Coco ordered.

The waiter looked over at Velvet just to make sure that's what she wanted as well, and after a nod of confirmation he said, "I'll be back with you beverages in a moment."

After the waiter left Coco gazed across the table at Velvet, "So, how did a girl like you manage to become so beautiful?"

Velvet turned a shade that complemented her name and couldn't find the words to respond.

"Um, Coco? Can I tell you something after dinner in private?" Velvet asked a bit nervously.

"Of course! You can tell me anything." Coco responded without a moment of hesitation. Overall Coco wasn't sure what it was, but the look Velvet had on her face made her think it may be about how she escaped.

The waiter came back with their drinks and after a little small talk he brought the lasagna as well. Overall the wait wasn't long especially for a busy place like this.

"It's so big..." Velvet said looking at the lasagna which was about the size of her head.

"I told you they had big proportions here."

"But... I didn't think you meant this... Are all restaurants like this?"

Coco laughed at Velvet's response before giving her own, "No, this restaurant has bigger proportions and especially with their lasagna." She explained.

Now that Velvet was at least a little bit over the size of the food she grabbed her fork, took off a piece, and tried it. Her face turned into a mix of pleasure and pain, she loved the taste, but it hadn't cooled enough for her.

"Hot! Hot!" She exclaimed fanning herself with her hand.

"Vel, you have to wait for the food to cool." Coco responded trying not to laugh at her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Velvet asked with a betrayed look on her face.

"I thought you knew." She responded honestly.

Velvet just stayed quiet and waited for the food to cool by chatting and sipping on her coke. Despite the size of the lasagna the two of them managed to make short work of it. Well, the two of them might be a generous description, Velvet ate about a quarter maybe less, meanwhile Coco put away the rest with little difficulty. After that was done Coco paid the bill and they went on their way.

The walk back was generally uneventful, with Velvet holding Coco's hand and resting her head on her shoulder as they walked. They didn't talk much on the way, but neither of them minded the quiet, but when they passed a TV store they had a problem.

"Ex Magician Roman Torchwick was found dead in his kitchen last night stabbed in the chest. Police found an unlocked faunus collar at the scene. He had owned a bunny faunus that worked as his assistant in his shows, but it seems to have left the scene. If you see this faunus report to the police immediately, they are assumed armed and dangerous." The reporter said as a picture of Velvet in her assistant 'uniform' appeared on the screen.

"Vel?" Coco asked looking over at her.

Velvet simply didn't respond, her breathing had sped up and she gripped onto Coco's arm tightly. It was clear to Coco that Velvet was the killer, but she couldn't think of her doing anything like that.

"Vel. Talk to me."

"I... I..." Velvet tried to say something, anything, but that was all that came out.

Coco pulled Velvet closer and held her, half to calm her, half to talk to her quietly. "Just talk to me when we get to the bar." She said before continuing their walk.

After that moment Velvet and Coco's walk became more and more unnerving with each step. Velvet was looking around worried that someone would find her, and Coco just wanted to hear Velvet explain herself when they got home.

Eventually they did manage to get home without Velvet being caught, so Coco took Velvet into her room so they could talk in private.

"What was that about?" Coco asked.

"I-I... H-He..." Velvet started to try to explain but her words were failing her, and her body was shaking.

"Velvet. Explain yourself." Coco demanded.

"I-I was in the basement... H-He kept me there b-between shows... W-We had gotten b-back from one... H-He beat me w-with his cane... I-I was letting m-my legs rest o-on my dog bed a-and he called me up... H-He had been d-drinking a-and he called m-me over... H-He said I w-was beautiful for a-a faunus a-and he said h-he hadn't tried me yet... W-When he tried to grab m-my breast I-I knocked away his hand... T-That only made h-him mad... H-He grabbed my a-arm and he w-was going to... G-Going to..." Velvet started to explain herself, all the while she held herself. This was making her relive the night.

"You don't need to say. I think I know." Coco told Velvet making it so she didn't need to say it.

"S-So I reached b-behind me a-and grabbed the f-first thing I c-could find... I-It was a pot... S-So, I hit him upside t-the head a-and he w-was knocked back a-a bit... I-I turned around a-and grabbed the knife... I-I pointed it at him b-but my hands were shaking... H-He said I wouldn't do it a-and kept walking closer... I-I thrusted f-forward and it h-hit him in the chest... H-He fell back a-and said, 'You did it. You bitch.'" Velvet told her finishing the story. While she spoke tears freely ran down her face, but Coco leaned forward and held her close, which surprised her.

"Vel, it's okay... It was self defense." Coco told her while holding her close

"Y-You aren't g-going to turn m-me in?" Velvet asked

"What did I tell you a couple weeks ago?"

"T-That I was safe here. T-That you a-and Gaston w-would protect m-me." Velvet responded remembering the moment clearly.

"That hasn't changed. We still are looking out for you and we will never turn you in. I care about you way too much for that to happen." Coco assured Velvet.

Velvet couldn't find words once again, but this time that was because she was so incredibly happy right now. She held Coco close, and held her tightly.

"Now Vel, why don't you have a nap, you must be tired." Coco told her while slowly releasing herself from the hug and gently lowering her onto the bed.

"Thank you Coco. I love you..." Velvet said as she drifted off to sleep.

For once it was Coco's time to blush, Velvet had just told her that she loves her. She had never been told that from anyone but her parents before. She could only think of one thing to do, pet Velvet's head gently and softly say, "I love you too."