Out of all the impulsive things that Zer0 had done in his career as an assassin, deciding to instantly pair up with Athena in a single-bed room was perhaps one of his most rash decisions. Maybe it was coming into terms that he was indeed growing and accepting his feelings for this woman, or maybe it was his evolving protective nature for her that shouted that he had to stay by her side at all cost. Either way, it was one that got noticed by her almost instantly to his dismay and embarrassment. At a later time the next day, he would make an excuse, but for now he was instead listening to her jostle around on the bed as she fought to either get comfortable or stay awake.

It didn't seem obvious at the time in Sanctuary that the Bloodshots would become a serious problem. They had a floating city so that no one, except for Hyperion and the occasional bandit buzzards that rarely reached the Highlands from the Dust, could harm them. However, Lilith wanted to make sure that the bandits that had tried many, many times to take over Sanctuary had to be dealt with immediately. Thankfully each time they failed and now it seemed that they had to be taken out for good.

As Lilith had put it at the briefing, "It'd be one less bandit clan Pandora has to worry about."

So it seemed obvious that a small group of Vault Hunters were to be sent into the old Bloodshot Dam to kill them all. Sanctuary could not afford to send Crimson Raiders out of the city for a job that they could handle. With his chest wound healed up, Zer0 had immediately volunteered and had been able to take a part in the annihilation of the bandits. Axton, Gaige, Maya, and Salvador had also decided to join in as well. However, what shocked the whole group is that Lilith had, once again to Zer0's suspicion, decided that Athena would join them as well.

By the time they had reached the Bloodshot Stronghold, it was already the middle of the Pandoran night cycle so they had decided to rest in the Happy Pig Motel nearby. The motel had only three usable rooms in the whole establishment, so Axton and Salvador had taken a room and Maya and Gaige had taken the other. As with, probably, all the other rooms there was a single bed in it. And so this is where the two of them rested now.

He rested back-to-back with her on the bed, tottering on the edge as he tried to give her as much room as he possible could. He faced the wall while Athena faced the door and window of the motel room. Zer0 almost definitely would not be sleeping tonight as he feared that he would not be able to wake up before Axton did and get caught without his mask on. He, at first, expected Athena would pass the night away by sleeping. However it seemed not to be the case as she moved around on her side of the bed.

Zer0 could feel her shifting weight from the mattress dipping back and forth. She let out huffs of frustration as she tried to jostle herself awake to try and keep sleep from taking her. Sometimes, he could even feel her sitting up in her position only to fall back down a few minutes later. He began to expect that she was nervous about taking over the Bloodshot Stronghold and could simply not sleep in the case of it.

"What's wrong Athena?/ Why can you not fall asleep?/ Something the matter?"

Athena let out a frustrated sigh and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, elbows on her knees as she faced the door. Zer0 sat up and watched her from his peripheral vision. She seemed distracted and uncomfortable, though that could be the fact that she was wearing her armor whilst previously resting in the bed.

"I just... I just don't like knowing that we're sleeping next to a bandit stronghold. That's all. It unsettles me."

"Understandable/ However, still try and sleep/ Rest will be needed."

"You make it sound easy, but it's not. What if one of the Bloodshots comes and finds us here, sleeping? He would have an easy target to take out."

So that's what is wrong/ Interesting phobia/ Can I do something?

Zer0 scanned the room, trying to find ways to block Athena's nervousness of the bandit stronghold that they were, currently, neighbors with. Multiple scenarios ran through his head. While he highly doubted that bandit would be awake at this point and even try to leave the fortified base that they had set up outside the entrance to the dam, he could validate Athena's nervousness and overall sense of insecurity. The Happy Pig Motel wasn't exactly the most guarded place in Three Horns and was, to an extent, possibly the least guarded. Letting his thoughts run free, his gaze drifted across the dimly lit room until it landed upon the door and the window.

One, I lock the door/ Two, I close the window's blinds/ That should be enough.

With a small, almost non-existent nod of his head, Zer0 went over and turned the lock, producing a small click of it securing itself in place. With that completed, he slid the chain lock into place as well to solidify that the door was now somewhat safe and that no one could get easily anymore. Now they would have to at least break the door to get inside the room, something of which would wake Athena up and would put him on instant alertness. Turning to face the window, he reached up and pulled the blinds down causing the room to go dark. Though he couldn't see them himself, he was certain that his eyes had changed from a snow white to an ivory color.

While the room was darker than what it had been before, he could still clearly see Athena. She seemed slightly more relaxed than before and had even go as far as to remove her scarf and nearly all the pieces of her armor on the nightstand beside her while he worked on locking the door and pulling the blinds down. However, she still seemed slightly tensed. Something of which Zer0 sought to fix.

He sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder causing Athena to look up at him.

"Lay facing the wall/ I wish to help let you sleep/ Trust me, Athena."

"Um... okay?"

It took some effort and a mixture of clumsy movements on Athena's part before she was finally in the center of the bed with her back turned to the door and her eyes scanning the wall. With renewed courage and a slight sense of embarrassment, Zer0 followed her movements.

As Zer0 had expected, she tensed up as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back closer to his chest. She also let out a choking sound as he, with some struggle and very little cooperation from her, put his arm underneath her head so that it would substitute as a pillow. Then it was the familiar silence that followed whenever something to this degree happened.

Of course it was familiar and he was accustomed to it. It had already happened dozens of times before this so it had no case of being foreign to him and, to a hopeful degree, her. With the added bonus of his helmet being off he allowed himself to gentle place his nose against her head and breathed softly.

Cinnamon? How strange/ I did not expect this scent/ I thought about blood.

However, he could not complain. It had a pleasant smell to it and had a calming effect on him. It, ironically as he thought about it, also contrasted her personality a lot. While cinnamon was a sweet and savoury spice and sought by many, Athena was dangerous, guarded her emotions well, and sought to be alone much of the time whenever someone tried to make contact with her. So, Zer0 took his time in smelling her sweet scent as he expected it would last only for little while before he would wake up again and have to kill more people.

"Um... Zer0?"

He barely remembered that she was there for a moment.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you- uh. Holding me?"

"I'll take the first blow/ If an intruder comes here/ So you don't get hurt."

"I see."

The silence fell over them again letting him resume him previous intention of catching her scent. It was an enjoyable, nice change after smelling gunpowder, blood, and red-hot metal for months. Not for the first time, Zer0 smiled while holding her as he buried his nose into her black-blue locks in an attempt to drown out the other uninteresting, unpleasant odors in the room.

He let out a small chuckle and rolled his shoulders in an attempt to stop any kinks from forming. Upon hearing his back crack and pop a few times, he rested more comfortably against the mattress and brought her closer to further make his point with his next statement.

"I guess some people just need to be held, sometimes."

"O-Oh."

He smirked and once again buried his face into her hair.

"Sleep now, Athena/ I'll make sure nothing harms you/ I can promise that."

"Okay, f-fine."

Zer0 could faintly hear the sounds of Gaige animatedly talking to Maya about some project she was working on along with Axton and Salvador playing cards through the walls. However, as of right now he didn't give much of a care. Hell, he couldn't really even think of why they came to Three Horns anymore.

Author's Note: Welcome to 2015 guys! This is a slightly shorter chapter than the other ones, sorry. However, I hope you enjoyed reading it. I'm still taking suggestions for what the next chapters should be as it would be a nice help for me. For reference, I plan on this story being specifically centered in the perspective of Zer0. So, sorry if you were hoping there to be an Athena chapter. Anyways, thank you for reading and for all the support. Let's hope for a good year.

Update 1/2: Fixed grammatical mistakes.