Thank you very much TheForgottenSheikah, ItsLiz and Kid for reviewing the last chapter! :D

"Back again, Ruben?" Sofia asked, not bothering to raise her eyes from her microscope as she heard the door to the laboratory open. It was almost midnight; only one crazy scientist would come to the lab at that time on a Friday night. "It's the fourth night in a row. You should be resting."

The man scowled as he walked up to the woman until he was standing right behind her, bent over her frame so his cheek was touching hers.

"I'm waiting for new test-subjects to be delivered to my home." The scientist explained, pulling Sofia's hair softly so she would move her head to the side and allow him to gaze into the microscope. "I don't have anything to do there for now, so I might as well make sure you do your job right."

And make sure you're too busy to play detective regarding the origin of my test subjects.

Although, that particular night, he had something else in mind.

"Ever thought that, just maybe, taking care of your health takes priority over the research?" Sofia asked. "Also, I always send you reports about my progress; you don't have to come all the way here to pester me."

Ruvik's hands fell on the table by her sides, effectively trapping the woman where she was. Eyebrow raised, Sofia spun her chair around so she could look into the man's grey eyes and she felt her body grow warm at just how close his face was.

"Come home with me. I have something nice for you." Ruvik ordered. "You're just analysing histological slides. Have someone else do it."

All the warmth Sofia was feeling died and was replaced by a cruel chill. Last time she had gone to the Victoriano manor, she almost died and Ruben hurt her – purposefully and with great pleasure. She never wanted to return to that place.

"Ruben, I have a couple of patients scheduled for tomorrow and your mansion is so far from the hospital…" The doctor spoke, turning her head to the side and down in a mix of shame and nervousness. It was just an excuse and both knew it.

Ruvik pursued his charred lips and his hands tightened in fists on the table. While he usually enjoyed watching people – mainly Jimenez – squirm under his gaze, having Sofia feeling uncomfortable around him and trying to avoid his home left a bad taste in his mouth. She was the one person – the one living person at least – whose company he desired and he wanted her to crave him as well. He wanted her to need him, more than she could ever need anyone else, especially that pathetic patient she was always so worried about - Leslie Withers. And, for that, it seemed he'd have to make concessions.

"Your apartment then." Ruben settled, forcing his hands to relax as he erected himself. "Call one of the other researches. Tell them Jimenez wants to have those slides analysed by tomorrow at noon, and that they are to send you a report of the analysis. We're leaving in five minutes."

Sofia blinked up at the man and opened her mouth to protest, but, before any words could leave her, Ruvik's bandaged right thumb settled over her lips.

"It'll be worth it." The man promised with a wicked smirk as his thumb caressed Sofia's bottom lip suggestively. "I did tell you I had something nice for you, didn't I?"

The woman's body temperature rose again, and so did a very interested and curious eyebrow. On their last nights in the lab, Sofia was the one who had initiated any kind of sexual contact and conversation - all short lived due to their focus on the work - and, although Ruben was very receptive to them, he still seemed to be a little unsure of how to react. She never thought she'd live to see the day he would make the first move.

"Where is this sudden confidence coming from?" Sofia couldn't help but ask as she stood up and marched to the laboratory's telephone to dial Rosa Fernandez's number; Rosa was new in the lab, but she knew her stuff when it came to Histology. And she owed Sofia many favours for covering her on Fridays' night-shifts. "Not that I'm complaining. But you seemed to be feeling a bit… out of place lately. I thought it would take more time and persuasion from me to get you to try again- Hey, Fernadez. Sorry to call you so late…"

As Sofia talked on the phone, Ruben walked to a chair on the corner of the lab on which the woman always left her handbag while she worked. Impatiently, he grabbed the thing and returned to the doctor just as she ended the call and started to take off the white coat she was wearing, only to leave it hanging on the back of the chair closest to her.

"All set." Sofia spoke as her right hand moved to take her bag from Ruben's. To her surprise, instead of handing her the article, he grabbed her hand in his left one and started to pull her out of the laboratory. "Ruben?"

"What?"

"Don't you want to give me my bag?"

The man's eyes lowered to the handbag in his hand before he shrugged. "It's not heavy."

Sofia blinked at Ruben's unexpected chivalry but decided not to comment on it. She could see on the tension in his trapezium muscle and on the sweat coating his hand that he was already way out of his comfort zone. For some reason, he seemed to think that he needed to change his behaviour in order to woo her and, while that was a complete absurd, she could see he had spent time preparing himself for that and she didn't want to make little of his effort.

Later, when they were in private and he was more comfortable, Sofia could tell him that she appreciated him doing that extra effort for her, but that it wasn't necessary; she liked him like he was.

But for now, she would just continue to hold his hand in a reassuring grip and smile warmly.

"That was… wow." Sofia breathed out as she stared up at her bedroom ceiling, her chest going up and down in a hasty pace as she tried to catch her breath. "You sure weren't kidding when you said you had something nice for me. Are you certain this is your first time doing this? Men usually need a lot of practice to get me in this state."

With a dazzled smile on her face, the woman pushed herself up on her elbows so she could smile down at the man lying between her legs with his chin propped up on the end of her belly. Ruben returned her smile with a predatory smirk before opening his mouth to lick his still moisten lips. Unlike Sofia, whom was naked from the waist down, his body remained completely covered by the ever-present gauze and his usual sharp clothes, but it still was a very… stimulating sight for her.

"I think we both can agree that I'm much superior to the men you've been with previously." Men that will certainly die by my hands for touching you. "Theoretic knowledge can go a long way when you have a brain like mine."

One of Sofia's eyebrows rose at hearing that. "You've been researching about how to perform oral sex?"

Ruben's smirk immediately became a scowl and he turned his face away from her. If his head hadn't been completely wrapped in taught gauze, the woman was certain that she would've seen him blush at her comment. He was uncomfortable and annoyed… and lifting his body away from hers.

"Oh, Ruben!" Sofia exclaimed in exasperation as she sat up to reach for one of his hands and hold it in both of hers softly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to embarrass you-"

"I'm not embarrassed."

"-I find it extremely cute-"

"And I'm certainly not cute."

"-that you're making an effort to please me. But, really, you don't have to do that." Sofia continued, pulling him in slowly until her arms were around his shoulders and her cheek was glued to his. "I know you're not very experienced in this. I know that, earlier this night, you were really stepping out of your comfort zone to play the gentleman-"

"I am a gentleman."

The woman couldn't help but pull back a little and give him a withering look.

"Fine. I'm not a gentleman." Ruben conceded, sneering down at her as he raised his hands so he could encircle her neck with them. He tightened his hold for a second before losing it so he could caress her skin gently. "But I can be."

"Yes." Sofia agreed, sliding her hands from his shoulders to his wrists. "But what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to. I like you how you are. If I didn't, we wouldn't be here now."

The man's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You like me?"

"I think we both can agree that it is obvious that I do."

"Like? You like me? You sure about that?"

"What ar-"

"I don't think you like me." Ruben interrupted, pushing forward until Sofia had her back on the mattress and he laid on top of her. "I think you're falling in love with me."

Sofia's eyes widened and, before she could deny his claim, Ruben's lips were on hers, swallowing any words she could say. When he pulled back, the woman was flushed and breathless, staring up at him with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to embarrass you." Ruben repeated her words from earlier with a mocking smirk.

Sofia might have an advantage over him regarding physical experience, but no years of working as a psychiatrist would give her advantage in reading other people's emotions. He had plenty of them lying dormant inside his brain.

"I find it extremely cute, that you're falling for me."

Again, before the woman could respond, he covered her mouth with his. However, before he could deepen the kiss, she pushed him off and ran out of the room, not paying any mind to the pained grunt that left the man's lips at the rough handling.

Ruben scowled at the bedroom's open door for barely a second before allowing a very satisfied smile to grow on his lips. No one, especially not someone as calm and collected as Sofia would react that way to his words if their feelings weren't as deep as he had claimed. That had completely confirmed his theory; Sofia Prieto was falling in love with him.

And he was enjoying every second of it.

Sofia spent almost half an hour standing on her balcony staring off in the distance with glazed eyes, not minding that she was wearing only a dress shirt. It was much too dark for any eventual curious eye to make out anything and, even if someone did manage to catch a glimpse of her, she couldn't care less; there was a much more pressing matter demanding her attention.

Oh god. I'm falling for Ruben.

As a child and pre-teenager, Sofia had dreamed about love just as much as any other girl – maybe even more due to her romanticism, bred by very little social contact with boys and girls of her age and years of reading romantic novels. However, her first year of college had shattered whatever romantic belief she might've had.

Some of the male seniors had a "traditional" bet going on: who'd manage to sleep with the most freshman girls? Naturally, naïve and very drunk on the freedom that came from exchanging her parents' house for the campus' dormitories – as was mandatory on the first year of her college – Sofia had been easy prey. It was a matter of weeks before one of the seniors had her falling head over heels for him.

Sofia went as far as telling the boy she was in love with him and that was when the game had ended for her. He had told her about the bet and confessed that she wasn't the only girl on campus he was seeing. He went as far as apologizing, saying that he hadn't meant for her to fall for him; it had all been for "good fun". It was cool, right? No harm done; they could still be friends, right?

Holding back tears, Sofia nodded and lied that it was alright and that she understood and of course they could still be friends. It was painful but she got a lesson out of that: sex was for fun and not love. It was extreme, wrongful towards men in general and didn't portray reality; she knew, but just couldn't let it go. She had grown to accept and live by that.

Until now.

With a miserable sigh, Sofia buried her face in her hands. "I really screwed up."

"What did you screw up?"

The woman jumped and turned her head to find Ruben standing at the balcony's sliding door, glaring at her exposed lower body.

"Get inside and put some clothes on. I don't want any voyeurs feasting their eyes on you."

Before Sofia could answer to that, Ruben's hand was around her wrist, pulling her into the living room.

"Ruben, wait." She spoke, pulling free from his grip. "We need to talk. About what you said. You were right-"

"Of course I was." There was no mistaking the condescension in the man's voice and, were they talking about a less serious matter, Sofia would've rolled her eyes.

"-But I understand that it wasn't supposed to be like this. I'm sorry. Without realizing, I let my feelings get involved in this and I know that I shouldn't had. It got a bit out of hand, but I can fix it. Just-"

"Fix it?"

At the venomous hiss coming from the man in front of her, Sofia quickly shut her mouth. Ruvik was staring down at her with burning eyes that bordered on lunacy and something told her that she was not the only thing on his mind at the moment.

"There's nothing for you to fix." Ruben continued, advancing towards her with menacing steps until he was right in front of her, holding her face in place with both of his hands. "I'm not a mistake, do you understand? There's nothing for you to fix. I'm not something you can use and let go of at the slightest sign of discomfort! I AM NOT BROKEN!"

Ruben's vision suddenly blurred and his muscles contracted fully for some short seconds before his body started to convulse uncontrollably. Sofia quickly stepped up to him and grabbed his shaking body before he hit the ground. With a lot of effort, she laid him down on the couch , which was - thankfully - close to her. Then she kneeled on the floor and surrounded his head with fluff pillows as extra buffering to his trashing skull. Barely two minutes passed when Ruben stopped convulsing but, as all the times Sofia had to sit through the process before, it seemed like so much longer. It was agonizing.

As soon as Ruben stilled and slowly sat up, Sofia moved so she was kneeling between his legs with her arms around his waist and her head laid on his chest. His heartbeat was completely out of control.

"I'm sorry." The woman whispered softly. "I didn't mean to imply there's something wrong with you. You're not broken – damaged most certainly, but not broken. I don't want to fix you. The problem here isn't you."

Ruben felt his blood pressure decrease gradually and automatically laid his hands around her shoulders, allowing his bandaged thumbs to draw lazy circles on the material of her dress shirt. This woman's affections had a surprisingly calming effect on him.

"Ruben, what happened to you?" Sofia asked in a whisper. "What made you so paranoid and insecure?"

The man's chest expanded as he took in a deep breath and his grip tightened around her.

"You don't have t-"

"My father was a very proud man. Always so concerned with his family's appearance before his precious Church." Despite the low volume of Ruben's voice, there was no mistaking the resentment and loathing in it. "After the fire that killed my sister and made me like this he locked my in the manor's basement. Hiding his traumatized son was a better option than to admit to those cultists that I needed help. He tossed me away like a broken toy. Out of sight, out of mind."

Sofia felt her heart clench at what was being confided to her and couldn't help but tighten her hold around Ruben's body a little, as if to say that she wasn't abandoning him.

"My mother was much too weak-minded to confront him about what he was doing. She just remained silent as I suffered in that cold basement. But she suffered as well; suffered for the loss of her children and the imposed authority of her husband until she couldn't take anymore. Until she lost control and killed both him and herself."

The last part was an absolute lie, but it was the official story propagated by the media regarding the demise of the wealthy Victoriano couple and he would stick to it. Ruvik would never admit to Sofia he was the responsible for his parents' demise; her understanding regarding his sinful nature could only go so far.

"I'm sorry, Ruben."

"Don't be. Their deaths granted me my freedom."

"That's not what I meant." Sofia spoke, pulling from him a little so she could look up into his eyes. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with all of that alone. And I'm sorry for what I said earlier. But I'm here for you."

"You sure you don't wish to fix that?" Ruben asked bitterly.

"It's hard for me to start, let alone keep relationships." The woman admitted. "That's why I ran away from you earlier. But-"

Sofia bit her lip. What she was about to say would be hard on her but she owed Ruben the effort. After all he shared with her, she had no right to hold back on him due to a stupid failed relationship she had had so many years ago. Ruben's traumas were so much worse than hers and yet here he was, out of his comfort zone and doing what he could – in his own callous way – to keep what they had going. He was not a hormone-driven college boy; if she was indeed falling for him, it was because he deserved her feelings. And he deserved her to be honest with him, just like he was being with her.

"But I promise not to do so again. If I'm really falling for you-"

"If?"

"-I won't fight it." Sofia ended, eyes fixed on his. "You're really important to me and I'm not ashamed of that."

Ruben's sharp eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it and snapped his jaw shut again. Without a word, he grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her up before dragging her to the bedroom.

It had been a long day. He was tired and for the first time in more than 20 years, he would share the bed with a warm and gentle woman. A woman he cared for and whom, in return, cared for him.

He smiled. The night was turning out better than expected.

Well, we get a littl glimpse of Sofia's past and of Ruben's feelings towards his parents. :)

I hope the bonding wasn't too forced between the two and, as always, that I've managed to keep Ruben reasonably IC. =.=

Kisses,

RedVoid