After he had left the room, Lawrence waited for Adam outside the police station.

He hadn't intended to say much to Adam on his way down here.

But after seeing Adam for the first time in weeks, there was no way he'd let Adam go without talking to him.

He'd ask Adam how he was holding up, ask how his job was going.

Ask how they'd ended up where they were and whether Adam would consider taking him back.

He was prepared to grovel if he needed to.

He needed Adam, and clearly, Adam needed him.

He heard the door of the building slam shut, and Lawrence turned around.

Adam stood on the steps, looking at him as though he couldn't believe he was still here.

Brief silence.

"Um…hey," Adam said, clearly nervous.

"Hi," Larry said.

"H-hey, look, man, thanks for coming down," Adam said, carefully averting Larry's eyes. "I know I shouldn't have called you at work-"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Larry said. "I'm here if you need me."

He smiled. Adam felt a pang, remembering that smile and realizing just how much he missed it.

God, Lawrence, I do need you, Adam thought. I need you right now. I always need you.

"Y-yeah,"

More silence.

"Um, how've you been?" Larry asked uncomfortably.

"Been good," Adam said. "Can't complain." What else could he say? Every night I wake up screaming from a fucking dream about the fucking Bathroom, hardly able to breathe. I look like shit, I barely eat, I'm terrified to be alone at night, and I miss you so fucking much it hurts more than anything Jigsaw could ever dish out. You?

"That's good," Larry said. You're a terrible liar.

"How's Diana?"

"Fine, thank you," Lawrence said. "She's on the honor roll at her school, and her teacher's been telling us that it might be possible for her to skip into the fourth grade by Christmas time."

"That's awesome," Adam said, "That should be no problem, she's a smart kid."

"Yeah,"

Lawrence studied Adam. He could see the longing on his face, and suspected it showed on his own face.

"Well, I'll see you, Larry," Adam said, knowing in his heart that he would never seen Lawrence again after this.

Adam started past Larry. A voice in Lawrence's started to rave at him.

Dammit, man, say what you know you were gonna say the minute you came here! Before he walks away!

He swallowed.

"Hey, Adam?"

Adam stopped and turned around. "Yeah, man?"

"Um, you know, Diana really misses you."

"She does?"

"Yeah, she's been wondering where you've been, why she can't see you anymore."

"Yeah? What did you tell her?"

"What really happened. Well, what she needed to know. She doesn't understand it. And to tell you the truth, neither do I."

Adam closed his eyes and sighed.

"Look, man, I explained it to you," Adam said. "I told you why, I gave you the reason-"

"A reason that doesn't make sense," Larry said. "Seriously, what happened to us?"

"Nothing 'happened'!"

"So we're not together right now because nothing happened?'

"No, man! You know why we're over."

"No, not really."

"Dammit, Lawrence, I thought we went through this. We don't belong together!"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, man, isn't it obvious? This relationship didn't make any fucking sense!" Adam said.

Lawrence stared at Adam and let out a bitter snort. "And you're just realizing this now?"

"What?"

"Of course our relationship makes no sense! You haven't ever seen that?"

"No, I've always known that! The minute I realized I was fucking in love with you, which was pretty much the minute you left my ass in that fucking Bathroom, I've known that!"

"So have I."

Adam stayed quiet.

"Do you think what we have makes any sense to me? Do you? You have no idea how it feels to be married, have a daughter, and realize that the one person you want to be with, the one person you've ever been truly in love with, is a man with whom you have absolutely nothing in common with? Of course it doesn't make sense."

"Then how come you never said anything?"

"Because even though it never made any sense in the obvious way, it still made sense to me! It felt right! I trusted it because it didn't make sense!"

"Let me ask you this," Adam said. "What kind of future could we have had together? Huh? I didn't see any future."

"Adam, dammit, where is all this coming from?" Lawrence asked. "Was it Violetta?"
"No, it wasn't her!" Adam said. "This has been with me ever since we first got together."

"What do you mean?"

"All those dreams that I've had? The ones that I wake up from, screaming? They were all about you! It wasn't Jigsaw that's been haunting me. It's you!"

Lawrence stared at him.

"Me?"

"Every single fucking night, I've dreamt that you'd leave me. I couldn't take it anymore. I got it done myself before something else did it."

"What makes you think that I would leave you?" Larry asked, knowing the answer.

"You left me before,"

"I had to! If I hadn't, you and I would still be there in that room!"

"Come on, Larry, I know the truth. It's no big. I've been alone all my life. I've been unhappy all my life. It's my fate. This was gonna end no matter what. God forbid I be happy, so it's better if I just have it over with, right? I'll be seeing you, Lawrence."

Adam turned his back on Lawrence and headed down the stairs.

"You know what, Adam?"

Adam turned around and looked at Larry.

"What?"

"You told me that losing me was your biggest fear."

"Yeah?"

"My biggest fear? Losing you."

"But you've never lost me the way-"

"Haven't I? Leaving you in that room was the hardest thing I've ever done. The entire time I was crawling through that hellhole, my biggest fear was that something was gonna happen to you."

"Happen to me?"

"Yeah," Lawrence said. "That you'd bleed out, or that you'd panic and hurt yourself, or, I don't know, that maybe that Jigsaw would come after you."

"He didn't."

"He could have," Larry said. "The entire time we've been together, I've been terrified at the thought of losing you. Thank you for making my worst fucking nightmare come true."

With that, Larry went to his car, got in, and drove away, without even a glance at Adam.