Ains' room wasn't what I expected.

I expected something ridiculously clean, everything perfectly tidy, not a thing out of place.

Instead, I found a room that spoke to me of Ains, the secretly vulnerable orphan who felt everything much more deeply than he allowed anyone to know.

I took a deep breath and looked up as Ains entered, carrying a bowl of water. He knelt down in front of me, his gaze flickering quickly across my outfit - a borrowed pair of tight black pants and red shirt of Vanessa's - before he moved to start cleaning me up. I reluctantly let him - I hated people fussing over me, especially now that was an agent, when I was supposed to be strong.

It appeared that my face had suffered most of the damage, although I had cut my hand at some point. I didn't know how - I didn't even remember doing it.

"You don't have to be strong all the time, Care." Ains said gently. "You can be vulnerable now and then."

"No, I can't." I said.

Ains stopped and looked up at me curiously, rocking back on his heels. "You have some odd ideas about strength, Caroline Morgan."

"I know that strength isn't hitting your own children." I said, just to show him that I wasn't some helpless and broken abused child. I reached forward and took the cloth from his hands, pressing it against my temple. Pain ricocheted across my skull, but I gritted my teeth and pressed it more firmly against it.

"Do you ever intent to let anyone look after you?" Ains asked, his dark brown eyes staring at the side of my face. I took a deep breath and lowered my hand, looking down at the white-turned-pink-by-my-blood material of the cloth. Ains reached out, brushing his thumb across the back of my hand. I felt tears welling up behind my eyes and I closed my eyes, pressing my lips together to keep a sob from escaping.

"Hey," Ains said quietly, dropping onto the bed beside me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, drawing me into his side. I placed my head on his shoulder and he took the cloth from me, and I let him, burying my face in his shoulder. He rested his head against mine, his fingers intertwining with my own.

"You know," he said quietly, his thumb tracing slow, smooth circles against the back of my hand, "you don't have to be indestructible all the time, Care. You're allowed to cry."

I shook my head against his shoulder. "I can't."

"Why not?" he breathed into my hair.

I pulled away from his side, drawing my legs up beneath me and rubbing unshed tears out of my eyes. I refused to look at him as I said quietly, "My dad hit me. He hit Dan. I don't want to cry because I'm afraid that if I start, I won't be able to stop."

I made myself look at him and he reached across, brushing my hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear. He sighed, his fingers sliding across my jaw as he let his hand drop into my lap. "You . . . You will find a way to stop, Caroline. I know you will."

I laughed bitterly, shaking my head. "I don't cry when I should. I cry when I have to."

Ains smiled. "You'd get along well with my foster sister, then."

"What, Vanessa?" I asked, confused.

Ains smiled, shaking his head. "No. I have another one. She doesn't live here – she's kind of gone off the grid."

"Off the grid?" I questioned.

"Family stuff," Ains said dismissively.

I nodded and picked at the edge of the blanket nervously. Nothing hurt – not really – but I knew that the events of tonight were going to come back and bite me on the arse at some point. I felt long, gentle fingers grasp my chin, pulling gently. I reluctantly lifted my eyes to his, watching as his eyes flickered back and forth across my face.

"Do you – " he started.

"No," I said, leaning back against the bedhead. "I don't want to talk about my dad. I don't want to talk about how messed up my family is."

"Count yourself lucky that you have a family," Ains said quietly.

I sucked in a quick breath. "I didn't mean – "

He smiled at me. "I know you didn't."

I pulled my knees up into my chest, wrapping my arms around them. "I just need to wrap my head around it, before I can talk about it."

He nodded. "Fair enough." He looked at me, his brown eyes holding some emotion that I was a little too tired to bother to decipher. "What do you want to talk about, then?"

I smiled mischievously, ducking my head forward so that my chin rested on my knees. "Maybe I don't want to talk about anything."

At times, Ains could be naïve, and at time he could be so utterly mature that it amazed me. But he was not ignorant, and he definitely wasn't stupid. He knew how to take a hint. He proved that then, by leaning forward and pressing his mouth against mine, his hand coming up to rest on my cheek. I kissed him back roughly, running my hands up his arms to wind around his neck. I felt his arm sliding around my waist to pull me closer, his fingertips finding the skin hidden underneath my shirt and jumper, sending shivers up my spine.

"You know, if you're going to defile my sister, I'd prefer that you did it with the door closed."

Ains abruptly pulled away, twisting his head away from me. I peered over his shoulder to find Dan leaning against the doorframe, his phone in his hand.

"You a dick, you know that?" I told him, narrowing my eyes.

"I have been informed of that on multiple occasions, Care." Dan said, grinning. Then his expression sobered and he asked, "Can I talk to my sister alone, Ains?"

Ains hesitated, but he pressed a kiss to my forehead and left the room. I wrapped my arms around myself, well aware that my brother had just walked in on me kissing my boyfriend, and that I was wearing Ains' jumper that I'd nicked from the back of his desk chair. My discomfort faded away when I noticed the circles under Dan's eyes, the way his shoulders slumped, as if simply being in this house tired him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, crossing my legs.

Dan waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, I – I'm fine. I don't need you to console me."

"Something is wrong, though." I insisted.

Dan stared at me. "MI9's turned you into a little mind reader, hasn't it?"

"Hardly," I told him. "Quit dodging my questions. Tell me what's happened?"

Dan took a deep breath, shoving his phone into the pocket of his jeans as he looked away. "I just had a call from Mum."

"And?"

"And she and Dad are getting a divorce."