A/N: Guess who forgot to update on Friday? This girl. I'm going to set up a updating schedule soon so it'll be somewhat normal now. The next update will be on the 18th, unless something comes up.

"Why did you do that?" I asked George when we got him to a doctor.

He just looked at me. He hadn't spoken a word since we got him back. I wanted to believe that it was all from the shock but I knew that it was something else.

I wouldn't go into his mind without his permission. I loved and respected him too much to do that to him. I wanted to help George and I knew that going into his mind would help diagnose it.

"That was foolish of you going out there alone."

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture William."

"You should have shared your intel. We would have devised an appropriate plan of action."

"They would have killed George. They are not your average criminals."

"I know. But at what cost?"

The answers I wanted about my mother. But that wasn't as important as George was. I could live out he rest of my life without those answers. George was the one thing that I could not.

"They'll come for me, for him. I need you to understand that I will do anything for him."

"I don't doubt your drive April. I'm thinking about the aftermath."

"I won't kill innocents. I'm not like them, not anymore."

I gently stroked George's hair, for his comfort or for mine. He looked at me and I gently smiled at him. He'd be okay.

"Will you watch over him while I figure all this out? I need some time to think."

"Of course. He's my friend too."

"I know. But you don't love him as much as I do."

I knew his aunts loved in a lot but it was motherly love and the romantic, unending, passionate love that we had, or that I liked to believe that we had. Passion was lacking but I wasn't complaining.

"I'm aware."

I looked at William.

"I do understand but these people are smart. I'm almost certain that you have Black Hand informers going in and out of the station all day."

"Would you suspect anyone working in the precinct?"

"I don't think so. They're smart but they're not dumb. I'm clever enough to be able to pick someone out that is from the Black Hand, hopefully."

"Could there be?"

"There's always the possibility."

"You're...bleeding."

I looked down at George when he spoke. I gently touched the cut on my forehead.

"I'm all right. It's just a cut."

He looked at me and I sighed a bit.

"Would you be so kind as to bandage my cut doctor?"

"Of course Ms. Vinnia."

I stayed still while my cut was cleaned and bandaged up. I didn't really feel the pain anyways. It was dull compared to the pain I could have felt if George had died because of me.

That was the one mistake I swore I would never make.I couldn't let myself become completely blinded by love to the point that I wouldn't be able to think straight.

But I knew that once we were free, I'd allow myself to become immersed in love. That was the only way that I would allow myself to. I could be free, in every aspect of the word.

"Thank you doctor." William spoke.

I helped George stand up and he was steady on his own feet. I made sure that he got home all right.

"They wanted you. I wouldn't give you up."

I looked at him and now it made sense as to why he was so beaten up. He had kept me safe, despite how much I had told him that I did not need him to. I could take care of myself.

"You should have told them. Your safety is more important than mine."

I sat him down on the bed and got up to get him a glass of water. He needed some water but I was wary about food. I was sure that he wouldn't be able to keep anything down because of the physical damage that had been done to his body.

"I couldn't. I love you."

I sat back down beside him with the glass of water in my hand. I handed it to him.

"Why don't you say it back?"

He drank some of the water and I sighed.

"I don't know."

"That's a lie April. Just tell me the truth."

"I looked at him and I knew that he wanted a serious answer now after all of my vague answers I had given him. I hadn't discussed a lot of my past with him for what I believed was the right reasons. Perhaps my reasons weren't good reasons anymore.

"When I was with the Black Hand, my father would kill the significant other of whoever happened to be in love. I feared that whoever I fell in love with would suffer the same fate as so many others had. I wanted to protect myself so I refused to fall in love and now that I have I'm still afraid for your safety, even when I'm so close to defeating them. I seem all tough on the outside because that is what I have to be. But I still feel like a frightened little girl on the inside."

I had a hard time looking at him now. My past was almost nonexistent to everyone else because I technically did not exist to anyone else because that was how the Black Hand ran things with their assassins. Now George knew and I trusted him to keep what I told him secret.

"You're April Vinnia. You're the woman who saved all those lives in the prescient when they attacked. You're the woman whose given up so much just to protect those who are vulnerable. You deserve so much for your selflessness and the love I have for you, whether you want to admit it or not. It'll always be here for you to take shelter in and to reminded that you are loved and worth it. Okay?"

"I looked back at him. How selfish I had been. Here was the man I loved with so much passion and love in his heart for me and the best thing I thought was the push him away. This love would protect us both, whether I wanted to admit it or not.

"He smiled at me and I realized now just how much I had missed him, and especially his smile.

"Nothing at all."

"We kissed and the sounds of Toronto nightlife faded into the background. /p

A/N: What do you guys think about oneshots? If you want one, send me a Murdoch based request!