I'm going to treat you with two new chapters because you have been amazing with the response of this!

Honestly, thank you so much I cannot begin to describe how grateful I am :D

With that done, on with the chapter...

"Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could."

Barbara de Angelis

The party had carried on for a few hours longer until Alex and Mary went off to get some sleep before they began moving again. Gareth and April had remained in the kitchen, left to clean up the left overs. Or more, April had tried, but Gareth was adamant that she was to do nothing.

She sat on the edge of the counter, kicking her legs like a child as her mind was a little muddled from the alcohol. She'd only had about three shots worth, even so, vodka had never sat well with her as seen from her short tale with the alcohol cabinet. April watched Gareth clean everything away, packing the crisp packets into the backpack that had finally made a reappearance.

The way he worked amused her.

He caught her smirk, zipping the bag up as he stood with his arms crossed.

"Something funny?" He asked, to which April just shrugged her shoulders with a little pout. She honestly didn't know why she found his OCD like reflexes humouring her, it just did, then again the alcohol could have clouded her judgement.

He made a small hm sound before slipping off the jacket he hadn't seemed to have taken off, except for the time he had wrapped it around April's shoulders when she was broken. It had only been the day before, and yet it seemed like years had passed. He slugged it over one of the chairs of the oak table, meandering towards April so that he was directly in front of her.

"You ready to talk about it? Or do you want to sober up first." He asked diplomatically, knowing full well the side effects of vodka and how it affected brain capacity towards simple things. Basically, it made you do stupid shit you wouldn't have done if you were moderately sober.

She didn't care when they talked about it. No matter how drunk or sober she was, there was no right answer to something so trivial. She just smirked at him, secretly knowing what was meant to be done. It made something stir inside her that she couldn't place.

"Do we really need to talk about it? What exactly is there to talk about?" She challenged, and he heard the hidden message and actually flushed a little. He was insecure. Hell, he was willing to admit he was terrified.

And yet he felt compliant.

"No" he said. "I guess not."

He leaned forward awkwardly, slowly, biding his time as if they had time to spare. It was only a small kiss, barely a second, but it held more comfort than the one he had pounced on her the day before. They both had closed their eyes in unison, taking the moment in, keeping a clear head as was possible. They had to know whether it was a good idea or not.

He pulled back only slightly, eyes still closed until he opened them to stare at the expression on April's face;

It was less horrified, that was a plus right?

Even though it was a short kiss, he still felt breathless, almost admitting to being disorientated but to be fair he had ingested the most shots out of everyone. Finally April's eyes opened to meet his, telepathically hearing the question that was rolling around inside his skull. Eager.

"I think I could work with this." She replied with her typical smirk that seemed to mock at his breathlessness. He only huffed back, tenderly using a hand to push a few strands behind an ear. A pained expression fell over her features, one she attempted to hide but it was difficult with Gareth standing so close.

"Your shoulder?" He asked, a faint nod being her answer. "I'll see if we have some painkillers."

He disappeared hastily and as soon as he was out of earshot April hissed, hand grazing over the bandaged wound. Whatever Mary had given her before had worn off in that second, causing a pain nearly as strong as the original blade piercing it.

The other hand leaned against the counter as painful tears squeezed out of her eyes. It definitely had good timing, the compassionate moment fumbling her brain a little. What she said had been true, of course, but then worry had wormed its way into her head.

What if something happened along the way?

What if they would make things between them worse?

What if they got the other killed?

What if?

Just what if.

Stopping being so paranoid. April told herself sternly, shaking her head at her irritationally anxious behaviour. If things did go wrong, they would get through it, all of them.

Gareth returned with an orange translucent bottle. He filled one of the glasses they had used earlier with fresh water, the tap thankfully working as he popped the lid off and handed her the glass and a white tablet.

"Thank you." She murmured, swallowing the tasteless tablet wth the help of a gulp of water. It didn't immediately kick in, but she did feel less pain at the mere thought of it being subdued by the medicine. He turned and left to pack the painkillers away, April deciding to remain on the counter until the painkiller removed most of the pain. Still, she gulped down the rest of the water, the luxurious feeling of not being dehydrated was one she savoured.

"Alex and Mary aren't up yet. When Alex does get up be prepared for him to be pissed, he's the worst when he's hungover." Gareth explained as he returned yet again.

"Duly noted." April replied with a small laugh. That would be an interesting sight.

The room fell into a deafening silence, Gareth wearing an expression of inner turmoil that April had experienced only moments before.

"I'm scared." He finally spoke, his eyes shifting from the floor to her face. His was face passive, but the tone in which he used sounded like an apology in her ears. "I'm scared that...everything we've done. Everything we will do. That it will mean nothing, become nothing. I'm scared that the world now will never get better, I mean, we can't go back to how it was before, its too far gone for that. I just-" He stopped, an exhausted huff escaping his throat before he swallowed and finished his confession.

"I'm scared that one day I'll lose everything...and I'll do something terrible. I don't want to become that. Because terrible will turn into barbaric, and then it will turn into revenge and when has revenge ever helped anybody? You called me a hero once. I don't want to turn into the villain." He strained, the words bitter on his tongue but he knew he had to say them, at least to someone.

April jumped off of the counter, not even thinking about the pain that would be inflicted as she placed a hand on either side of his face. She stared into the brown, searching for the fear so that she could eradicate it, exorcise it.

"You are not a bad person." She said firmly. "No-one is a natural born leader, we have to learn, and with learning comes failure sometimes. But I promise you, I will always pull you back, no matter how far you go I will always be there to help you come back. Because you did the same for me."

She felt the wetness of a tear slide down her face. His eyes followed it, cautiously bringing up a hand to wipe it away with a tender thumb. He kept the thumb against her cheek, sculpting it over her jawline. It was tempting.

Before April could stop herself, she pulled his face close and kissed him passtionatly. It wasn't rushed, just a slow exploration as the world around them became intense all of a sudden: the colours, the sounds, the sensations. All of it was heightened.

He moved closer, pressing up against her as one hand ended up at her waist while the other ghosted over her cheek. The hands on his face seared like ice, scolding the flesh as a hand slid up to tug at his hair. The sensation caused his heart to miss a beat.

He could feel her hands move to clasp around his neck, enticing him as she took step backwards until her back was bombarded with the corner of the counter. He empathised with her lust, but it was different to that that was normally felt. This lust was more desperate. They wanted to be loved. It was actually depressing, but the rush that consumed him allowed the thought to be casted out.

His hands moved down over her body, cupping her inner thighs so that he could lift her back onto the counter. The slight elevation made a smile tug at her lips, the movement causing him to smother it in an act of defiance. The playful nature hid the darker aspect, how now the thought of losing her would be as mortifying as losing his family.

For once he didn't mind showing weakness, showing he had a pressure point. Fuck it, was all he could think on weakness; it was the best damn kiss he had ever had. It melted his worries away, and he knew, it was only that moment that they would be truly gone. As soon as it was over, those haunting worries would taunt him again.

They didn't deepen it, simply allowed it to escalate to the point where she began to lean backwards onto the counter with Gareth following uncertainly. They unlocked the kiss, lips ghosting over each other as they were both trying to catch their breath.

"That was-" he started, unable to finish as he lowered the hand away from her face.

"You say one jibe, and I knee you...it's your choice." She warned but there was a frantic nature in her voice, and all he could do was huff a laugh at it. However, he knew better than to test her warning, knowing she would do it without a second thought. He stepped away, giving April enough space to lean forwards again. She seemed disorientated herself.

Gareth stared at her, leaning his hands against the opposite set of countertops as he focused on getting his breath back. She looked different now, he never understood how that worked. People just looked different once you got past a certain barrier, like you saw them for what they really were. And what he saw, made his stomach flip.

"I love you." He blurted out, it taking all his will power to restrain his hands from flying up to cover his mouth. It was pointless. The words had already left his marked lips. "I've known you for a little more than a week, but fuck it, fuck all of it. I love you April." He repeated with more genuintity in his voice. She stared at him wordlessly, barely moving a muscle. He couldn't read her expression at all, and in that moment he really needed to know what she was thinking.

April shimmied herself off of the countertop, walking forwards to stand in front of him, causing more urgency in his eyes. She sighed, before burying her head into his chest, the nuzzling out of charactar but he didn't protest.

"I love you too. You persistent son of a bitch." She joked, but it made him smile as he placed his chin atop her head, wrapping his arms around her as if anything was about to snatch her away from him.

The worries scratched at his mind again But he thwarted them away for a little while longer.

"Yep, and you're stuck with me, Barbie."

"I could still knee you, you know?"

"What? And ruin our chances of having children?"

April scoffed at that, pulling away only to slap a hand on his chest, eyebrows creased at the ludicrous idea of children. He raised his hands in fake defence, it wasn't a bad thought. But even he admitted it was an idiotic thing to say, because of her history, because of the world around them.

No child should ever be put through what the world was now.

"Now that is going too far, maybe having a psychopath of a boyfriend was a bad idea." April countered, but Gareth met up to her games with a word for word quote of his own.

"I'm not a psychopath I'm a high-functioning sociopath, do your research." He said with a little tilt of his head, causing April to cover her mouth so that he didn't see her grinning smile. They were laughing. Together. As if everything was normal, like the old days before everything changed.

Maybe they could make it work.

"But honestly. Do you really want to do this?" He asked with all seriousness. April dropped the hand away from her mouth and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on his cheek, coming back with a toothed-smile on her face and a glint in her eyes that welled him with pride. He had made her happy.

"I maybe a little drunk, but, I know what I want. I want to be part of your family Gareth. And if that makes me selfish then screw it, being here with you, this whole party has been the best day of my life. I don't care how cheesy that sounds either. If my family is dead, they're dead, I can't change that and I'm sorry that I'm not with them. But I can start over, fix what I let be broken, and I wouldn't want to do that with anyone else but you." She finished, pulling her t-shirt down from her shoulder to have the white bandage on show.

The wound didn't pulsate rapidly radiant heat now, but she dared not place anything other than the flimsy material of her t-shirt over the top of it.

"As far as I'm concerned, you owe me, so you're stuck with me."

She pulled the fabric back up to cover the seemingly healing wound. He couldn't quite believe she was being so open about all of it, about leaving her family behind to start one with him. It was so surreal. A little more than a week ago she had sunk her teeth into his palm. At the memory, Gareth pulled the hand up to see that only one or two marks were left. He turned his hand so that April could see the faint tooth marks.

"You owe me , so you're stuck with me too."

He dropped his hand. His facial features dropping with them. There was one thing he wanted most of all, it was the one thing he wasn't going to let April abandon.

"When we find out what lies at the end of the tracks, if it's good or bad, we will make it our home. We'll make it a place for not only us...but for Kaitlyn to feel safe too." He promised, and in his heart, he knew that he had marked himself to fulfil that promise if it were the last thing he would do. April stared at him shellshocked at his proposal.

"Gareth you can't-"

"We still have to believe she's out there, I'm not going to let you give her up, not for me. We'll make it our home, somewhere built by kindness to house those in need. And maybe, we'll be able to reach out to her, somehow communicate to her to find the place." He was adamant, but April just couldn't see it, shaking her head faintly.

"Even if there is something worth making shelter for, people will take that kindness for granted. Hell, I did at first."

"Yes, I know that's a risk, but wouldn't it be worth it just to see Kaitlyn again? Safe?" He argued, not exactly sure as to why he was speaking such nonsense. And yet it seemed like clarity in his mind, maybe they could salvage something from what the old world had left them. Maybe, just maybe, if enough people wanted stability they would take it and join a larger community.

They just needed a place to start.

Finally getting some romance in there.

Yeah, I'm terrible at it _ I just hope that wasn't too sappy, but I was in that sort of mood when I wrote this. There may still be slower updates depending on how many I get done this weekend, hopefully this might feed you for a while at least XD

And again, thank you all so much!

~BehindTheMasqueradeMask