Sarah wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that. She had the idea that she was going to end up being tattooed, but she didn't know with what. She thought he was just going to end up being a practice canvas for something he wanted to work on. And at this point she was just hoping that she would be able to deal with the pain of it and get through it. But within the hour she was sitting on the couch in his living room, his tattoo equipment was out, and she had picked something out that she liked.

"Are you ready?" He asked as he sat in a hair next to her on the couch.

Sarah nodded. He peeled off the stencil off of her ankle and began drawing. She was able to adjust to the feeling relatively quickly. She became intrigued watching him as he shaded and colored the picture on her leg. When he was finished, he cleaned it up and she took a good look at it.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"It looks great!" Sarah said with a big smile.

"You know this means you can't go into a pool for a while." Aleister smiled.

She just kept looking at it as he began cleaning up his equipment.

"So why a sand dollar?" He asked.

"My mom and I always used to look for them as we walked along the beach. She used to always tell me that these were the dollars you needed to be happy. I didn't realize back then she meant that the memories were the important thing and not money. My childish self was wondering how many sand dollars I needed to collect to buy a Barbie."

Aleister laughed at her comment. "Well at least you have a good meaning behind it."

There was no doubt that even though they were having a good morning that Sarah was still his prisoner. She still wasn't allowed to go into the bathroom by himself and he never let her out of his sight, but most of the time it didn't really feel like it. They spent most of the afternoon on the couch watching movies and discussing them. She wasn't allowed to leave, but at least she wasn't locked away in the closet.

"Well I'm getting hungry." He said later on that evening. "I think it's about time we order food."

"Do you have food here?" Sarah asked.

"Not much." He replied.

"Can I take a look?"

"If you want."

They got up off of the couch and he walked her into the kitchen. He watched her closely as she looked through his fridge and the cabinets.

"Do you mind if I cook?" Sarah asked as she turned around.

"If it means handing you a knife, absolutely not." Aleister said as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"I don't need a knife." She told him. "Just two pots. The oven. And about half an hour."

She found some kind of breaded chicken patties in the fridge, some pasta and some jarred sauce in the cabinets that he had probably forgotten about by now. About half an hour later she had chicken parmesan and spaghetti with a season sauce.

"I didn't know this stuff tasted this good. If I did I probably would have eaten it a while ago." Aleister commented as he ate the pasta.

"It doesn't." Sarah said with a laugh. "But if you heat it up and add your own spices you can make it good."

"It's really good on the chicken."

"You just have to wait until the chicken is almost done, then put some on, sprinkle some cheese and put it back in for a few minutes. And instant Italian dinner!"

"I never would have thought of this."

"Creativity." She said with a smile.

"If you can keep coming up with stuff like this I just might keep you here."

Sarah strangely took that as a compliment. She was sitting at the table while he was at the sink cleaning off the dishes that they had used. He started chuckling to himself.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"Just thinking about what my sister would say right now." He replied.

"Why?"

"Me standing here doing dishes after you just cooked an actual meal that didn't require a microwave. She would probably have some smartass comment."

"Do you still talk to her?"

"Oh yeah. We talk a lot. We get together as often as we can. We take her kids to a park or something." Aleister told her as he finished up and turned around,

"You sound pretty close."

"We are. Always have been. Growing up it was just us and mom." He could sense that her mood started to go down as he was talking to her. "You know, your brother does really seem worried about you. He seems to care about you."

Sarah looked away from him. "Can we not talk about my family anymore?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure. Did you want to go back and watch some TV?"

She nodded.

The rest of the night was pretty quiet. They had the television on and there had been some comments back and forth, but not much actual conversation. Sarah seemed to have gotten lost in her own mind. Eventually the night was setting in, though Sarah didn't know exactly what time it was.

"Well as you know it's been a long week and I'm pretty tired, so I'm ready to go to bed." Aleister said to her as he stood up.

"Do you think maybe I could not sleep on the floor tonight?" Sarah asked him. Her voice was nervous almost as if a child asking their parent for something they know they shouldn't have.

"The only other place I can put you is in the bed with me." He informed her.

"Alright." She said sheepishly.

She really didn't want to be locked away again. The room was too small to sleep comfortably in, she was all cramped up. And sleeping on the hard floor all night did a number on her body. Not to mention the mental toll it took being locked away in a room with no windows or any way out if something were to happen. He took her into the bathroom before they went into his bedroom, the one part of the apartment she hadn't seen yet. She was surprised when he opened the door and she was a normal bedroom. She had expected to see a bunch of posters of naked women hanging on the wall like a teenagers room and weird things all over. But that wasn't the case. There was a closet, a bed, a dresser, a guitar propped up in the corner.

"Are you going to sleep in that?" Aleister asked as she looked around.

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" She replied in almost a joking tone.

"You have a few options." He replied.

"I'll stick with this thanks."

He walked over to his nightstand and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. When Sarah saw the, she felt her heart jump in her chest. She just stood there rigidly.

"I have to make sure you don't try to kill me during the night." He said to her. "You can always go back o the closet if you'll be more comfortable."

The thought of going back onto the dark hard flood made her cringe. And even though it was probably one of the stupidest choices she made in her life, she would rather stay there than back in the closet. So she was just hoping that whatever kindness hs had showed her so far would continue.

She shook her head. "No. I'll stay here."

He told her to lay down and get comfortable. When she was, he placed one end of the handcuffs on her wrist and the other he attached to the headboard. She tried to seem as calm as possible as he walked away to get undressed. He was only his boxers when he walked over to the doorway to turn off the light and Sarah could see that her assumption about him having more tattoos was correct. He had them on his back, across his chest, on his thighs, in addition to the ones she had seen. She gulped as she felt him get into the bed next to her. She held her breath waiting to see if anything was going to happen. He shifted around for a few minutes before being still. She breathed out thanking whatever God there was that he had just gotten comfortable and left her alone.

"ALeister?" She said into the darkness.

"Hm?"

"Have you ever killed anyone?" She asked.

"That's a pretty bold question." He replied.

"I think I deserve to know the level of criminal I'm dealing with." She retorted.

"You have a point."

"And maybe I can get some bonus points with my cooking and get a less painless death."

He laughed beside her. "No. I haven't killed anyone. Messed up some pretty bad when it was needed though."

"What were you in jail for?"

"Armed robbery and assault."

"Why?"

"Are you sure you want to get into all that?"

"You know about my past." She answered.

Sarah was right. Aleister knew a lot about her history. And he had opened up more to her than he had to some of his own friends.

"It's the life I chose. I've never been someone to put on a suit and work a nine to five job. I deal better with people who are like me, doing our own thing, watching each other's back. It's what I grew up around, it's what I know. We make our own rules and live our own lives." He told her.

"And hurting people doesn't bother you?" She asked. She had seen that there was a kind side to him.

"It's just how things were always dealt with where I came from. And personally, I've never really hurt someone who didn't deserve it."

"I didn't think you killed anyone." Sarah said after a moment of silence.

"Why is that?" Aleister asked.

"A cold hearted killer wouldn't love the kitchen as much as you do." She said with a yawn.

The last thing she heard before she fell off to seep was his chuckle.