She sat in muted silence as her brain absorbed and processed his admission. On the one hand she was glad that he had wanted her to stay, on the other she was curious as to why he was taking this so well. If someone had broken into her house and then admitted that they had been following her around for months, she would probably be more then a little pissed off. She supposed that he had his reasons, getting him to reveal them would prove to be a chore though. For as open a person as he was most of the times, he was very guarded about a lot of things.

He always kept himself very contained and reserved as far as showing emotions goes, what he showed on the out side was but a tenth of what he was really feeling. Kim had never known judging by the way she acted, either that or she didn't care but that didn't seem right. She always seemed to take his demeanor at face value. Either way, the calm albeit somewhat confused exterior that Ron had been portraying thus far piqued her curiosity. "Why are you taking all of this so well Ron? I mean, this is well beyond the realm of normality, even for you or Kim."

Ron smiled suddenly as part of his old joking charm peeked through for a brief moment. "I've scheduled a freak out episode for later, right now I don't think it would help much." He chewed his lip and withdrew into his thoughts for a moment before seeming to deflate a bit and sink into the couch. "This is all just a tad overwhelming to me at the moment, I really don't know how to react to it all."

"I'm not surprised by that Ron, actually I would be a bit concerned if you did" She looked at him and chewed the inside of her cheek as she contemplated. "If you don't mind my asking, what exactly has been going on the past couple of months? I have only seen the aftermath so to speak."

Ron closed his eyes and laid his head against the back of the couch, this wasn't something he wished to discuss but he needed to let it out before it consumed him. He knew that this question was coming, but that didn't make having to answer it any easier. He wanted to tell her, really he did, but he had never been good at talking about his problems. In the past he had always buried his emotions to get away from having to deal with Kim feeling sorry for him. He had never been sure if she really felt bad for him when things like this came up, or if she was doing it simply out of pity. But sadly those days were gone now. He couldn't lie to himself, he missed Kim terribly, the walls that had slowly developed between them had left many holes in him. Holes that he had tried to fill up with work. That had not worked out all that well. Cooking was something that he had always greatly enjoyed, so burying himself in it wasn't that hard and it didn't do much to stave off his troubles. "Before I get into that, do you want something to drink? This is gonna take a while" he

spoke without moving his head from its position.

Her eyebrows shot up as her mouth dropped open slightly. She was glad that he wasn't looking at her, that would have raised some interesting questions. She hadn't expected it to be this easy to get him to talk about things. This must go deeper then I thought. Probably best to tread lightly so he doesn't close up on me "What have you got?"

He raised his head off the couch back but didn't look at her. "Water, soda, tea, the usual stuff."

"Any alcohol?" She didn't drink very often but tonight seemed a good night to indulge herself.

He chuckled quietly as he looked over at her. Somehow he wasn't all that surprised by her inquiry. "What's your poison?"

"Whiskey if you have it. Preferably single malt but I'm not picky."

He smiled at this and levered himself off the couch. "Coming right up madam." He walked into the kitchen and retrieved a glass from the cabinet before kneeling down to rummage through his liquor cabinet. As he move bottle after bottle his frustration grew. He knew he had a bottle somewhere but he couldn't remember where he put it. Moving from cabinet to cabinet as he continued to search for the elusive bottle.

As Ron searched the kitchen, Synnove was pacing in the living room. This was getting deep. A lot deeper then she had thought it would get. She had anticipated some wariness and confusion on his part. Open acceptance, open for Ron any way, was not something she had expected. So much for being able to rehearse this Nothing to do now but to ride it out and let the chips fall where they may. She didn't like it but she did not have any choice in the matter. Grunting in resignation she sat back down to wait for Ron to get back. She normally preferred not to have touchy feely emotional bonding moments, that was one of the reasons she had separated from her brothers. But there was something about this situation that made it seem more tolerable, she couldn't put her finger on it but she knew it was there. Hopefully a little alcohol would make this easier to get through.

"Ahh, there you are!" Ron pulled the bottle from the back of the cabinet and held it up triumphantly. He didn't know how it had ended up in there but he had found it and that was all that mattered. After grabbing several beers from the refrigerator, he piled everything on a tray and went back into the livingroom.

"Sry that took so long, the bottle was playing hide and seek with me" he laughed briefly and set the tray down on the coffee table before resuming his seat on the couch. He opened his beer and took a long drink before settling back into the soft cushions of the couch. Thoughts careened around in his head as he stared off into space. How much should he tell her? How much did she really want to know? Why did she want to know? How had he gotten himself into this? He cut off his musings before he confused himself any more. A slight movement caught his eye and he turned his head toward Synnove, he saw that she had poured herself a glass and was now looking at him as she sipped at the amber liquid.

Seeing that he was now committed to this, he set his beer in his lap and closed his eyes taking a few moments to himself before he started. "Have you ever been in a situation where everyday, no matter what you did or didn't do, you were ridiculed and made fun of? Where nothing you did seemed to allow you gain even one iota of respect from people?" He swallowed hard as he looked up at her, feeling more then a little bit of relief as she nodded sadly. That relief was short lived as he remembered what he had read in Global Justices files about her past. Her youth was harder then his was and yet she was here trying to comfort him. He mentally chided himself, You know damn good and well that she has had a worse time of things then you have and for a lot longer to boot. "As I am sure you know from our varied history, I don't exactly rank all that high on most peoples lists. Somehow I just seem to blend into the background until I perform a spectacular display of buffoonery. So with that taken into account, most people seem to look at me as little more then some moron who followed Kim around the world for 7 years and occasionally managed to help her out with my dumb skills."

He reflected on his statement for a moment before continuing on. "After a while I guess I just got used to it and accepted my social pariah status. It didn't faze me too much back in the day, having people take pleasure from my pain, I even managed to use that to my advantage on a few rare occasions. I never really put much store in other peoples opinions of me. It was high school after all." He chuckled suddenly "I actually enjoyed it a bit from time to time truth be told, being able to make people laugh and forget about their troubles for a few brief moments."

He sighed and downed the rest of his beer before setting the empty bottle on the table. "Then high school ended but the teasing and ridicule continued" a doleful tone took over his voice and he sat forward resting his elbows on his knees. "I didn't think much of it at first but day after day, month after month it continued. Gone were the days of people laughing in amusement. The insults and jeers became harsher and it started to hurt more then it used to. I tried to shrug it off, I have been putting up with people giving me shit most of my life, but now it was really starting to get to me. People I don't even know were starting to give me hell." Ron paused and stared at the floor. Just thinking about it caused the proverbial knife to twist.

Synnove watched him in silence. She wanted to say something, but what? What could any one say that would lessen the pain, a pain that she was all to familiar with. Her life after the "Incident" was not unlike Ron's from a certain point of view, and she was no stranger to people trying to hurt her for their own enjoyment. Fortunately her personality, with a little bit of comet power thrown in, had allowed her an outlet for her misery. There had been no shortage of targets and eventually most people had learned that pain begets pain, those that didn't learn the first time got a not so subtle reminder. Ron didn't have the luxury of an outlet like she did. Not only did his personality not allow him to hurt someone else, but he didn't have the abilities to back it up. That left Ron with no choice other then to deal with it and try to ignore the anguish. A loosing battle no matter how you looked at it.

"So I started to withdraw from society as a whole." She was snapped from her reverie as Ron started to speak again. "That's one of the reasons I'm living out here now. I just got tired of dealing with the bullshit." His voice was strained and his eyes were clenched tight. She slid across the couch cushions

and enveloped him in her arms. Seeing him like this ripped at her heart strings forcing her to action. He tensed for a moment, then melted against her as the stresses from the past several months culminated in this moment and slowly started to slip away. He was only subconsciously aware of where he was at the moment, he needed this right now and by god he was not going to be denied.

How long they sat they didn't know, nor did they care. Two tortured souls finding solace in each others company. No words were spoken between them, they sat each drawing strength from the other. Each second they spent in the others comforting embrace seemed to stretch into hours as years of pain condensed into mere moments.

Neither noticed the barely audible click as the stereo turned on. Soft notes filtered through the speakers making their way to the two figures on the couch.

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph; I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

Two pairs of eyes slid open slowly and looked around. The soothing yet haunting voice encompassed the room, the lights seeming to dim slightly.

The worst is over now and we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

They looked at each other almost daring to ask. They leaned in, each tightening their arms around the other. A soft glow began to fill the room as the lights dimmed further.

'cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

Their eyes closed again as they let the music wrap around them shutting out the rest of the world. The words that mirrored the the souls of the two figures permeated the room. The glow grew brighter and became more distinct. One glowed a deep blue, the other a bright green.

'cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel light when you're gone away

They stared intently into each others eyes as the notes from the guitar slowly died away into nothingness. The stereo emitted a soft click as it became dormant again. The room was awash with green and blue hues as the lights died out completely. As one the two figures moved towards each other and their lips met.

An aqua glow filled the room and became blinding to the figure standing by the front door. With a smile the figure set the remote for the stereo on the table by the door and stepped out into the night closing the door behind them. I guess I didn't have to worry after all