Lita kept walking in and out of the living room and her room for the half past hour which John pretended not to notice. She looked anxious like she wanted to talk to him about something. She even said his name once and when he asked her what was up, she told him nothing then just went back into her room. He wanted to ask her what was going on in her mind when he saw her wander into the living room for what felt like the billionth time, but decided he was just going to wait for her to come to him because she obviously wanted to talk to him about something and it was bound to happen.

"Hey John," Lita said after she finally decided to talk to him about what was bothering her.

John looked up from what he was doing and saw his roommate who was smiling hig ag him. "Hi Lita," he replied with a smile of his own.

"What's up? What's going on? Whatare you doing?"

John frowned at how quick Lita was speaking, her words kind of sounded all mushed up. As if he wasn't sure already, there was definitley something that was bothering her. "Um, just checking the last couple of days mail," he answered gesturing to the loads of mail in front of him.

"Oh. Duh. Haha. Anything interesting?"

John didn't say anything for a moment, trying to figure out what this was about. He was totally confused by her demeanor. "Just junk and some bills."

"Oh. Awesome."

"You okay?"

"How was work?" Lita asked, deciding to ignore his question as she sat down on the couch near him. It wasn't that she intentionally ignored his question, she just didn't hear it, too caught up in her own little world. "Fight any huge fires today? Any excitement?"

John shook his head. "Not really. Okay, seriously, what's going on with you? Are you okay?"

Lita nodded. "Yea. Perfect. Just um... well, there's um... I need... there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Okay," John nodded. "So what's up?" Lita didn't say anything in response, opting to stay queit because she really didn't know how to bring the subject up. She didn't think it was a big deal, but she was having a difficult time spitting it out. "Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me about anything."

"You know I like you, right?" Lita said which just made John even more confused than he already was. He really wanted to see where this was going. "You're a really great guy. You've been really awesome and helpful and supportive these past few months when you didn't have to and I'm really thankful for that. I found a really great friend in you." She paused for a moment and took a deep breath before finally getting to her point. "But the thing is, it's been a month since he was sentenced and is in prison for supposedly more than twenty years. Who knows if he'll actually stay there that long, but the point is I just want to start my life again. I just want things to be normal again for me. And... the way... it starts with um..." she trailed off and looked away for a while, shaking her head before she turned her attention to John who was patiently waiting for her to finish her little speech. "I believe for me to live my life again, to be me again, to be normal again starts with me being more independent which starts with moving out."

"No," John said way more quickly than he would liked to have which startled Lita. He didn't know why, but the thought of her moving out just didn't sit well with him. He tried to convince himself he just didn't think she was ready to go out on her own yet because she still had nightmares Matt escaped from prison and got to her, she was still afraid of her shadow at times and very paranoid, but he knew it was much more than that in addition. "I mean, why? Why would you want to move out? Don't you like it here?"

Lita let out a sigh and nodded. "I do. I'm very thankful you allowed me to stay here as long as you did, but it's time to move out. You have a life of your own which I'm disturbing-"

"You're not," John interrupted before she could get any further. "Really Lita, you're not disturbing anything. I like having you around."

"Well, I like being here, but-"

"No buts," the brunette cut off the redhead once again. "It's nice having a roommate. I had one a while ago and that didn't work out so I told myself I would never get a roommate again, but I actually like you. A lot." He immediately winced when he realized he said the last part out loud instead of in his head, but Lita didn't seem to notice. Either that or she chose not to comment. She actually didn't say anything for a while like she was thinking about it. "It would be easier for you just to stay instead of moving out and finding a place to live."

Lita nodded. "I know, you're right, but I just want to be independent again. I don't want to have to depend on someone any longer for anything. So how about I continue to live here with you, but I actually start acting like a roommate."

John arched a brow. "How so?"

"Start paying rent," Lita began to answer. "I could get a job. I need a job because staying around here all day is boring and I need something to do and I miss having a job. Then I can pay rent and utilities and whatever else."

"Okay," John easily agreed. "Did you start looking for a job? Got any leads."

Lita shook her head. "No. Well, kind of. It's June so I was hoping it wouldn't be too difficult to find a teaching job before the school year began. I know finding a job isn't that easy and is a pain, but maybe the school I used to teach at over a year ago is looking and maybe they'll favor me more than other applicants because I used to work there and they know how I am. I went down to the school a few days ago and talked to some people so let's see. Unfortunately, the case was all over the news so I'm thinking that might be a turn off."

"It shouldn't be because you didn't do anything wrong."

"Okay, but-"

"It shouldn't be," John repeated, "and I don't think it will be."

"Yea well I can't help but think that case is going to work against me now."

John shook his head. "It's not. Do you see people shying away from hiring Dawn as their decorator? No. People still come to her and she was attacked in her office. Her business is still going good."

"Okay, but I'll be dealing with kids-"

"So?" The man shrugged. "That doesn't matter. If not this school, then another one. You'll find something, I know you will. I'll help you. One of the guys at the station wife works as a vice principal at an elementary school around, maybe she could help you. I'll talk to him if you want. Or I could get her number for you and you can talk to her yourself."

"Okay. That would be helpful. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," John said picking up his phone from the table in front of him. "I'm off for another two days so I'll just talk to him right now before I forget."

Lita didn't say anything in response as she watched John, who was now talking to his co-worker, slowly getting to the reason why he called in the first place. She couldn't help but think about how he acted when she said she wanted to move out. He was pretty quick to reject the idea and it reminded her of an earlier conversation he had with Dawn a while back which she overhead. Lita didn't know how she felt about what she overhead, John did admit he liked her more than a friend and did have some sort of feelings for her. She didn't want to think about it. She wasn't ready for anything, not after how her last relationship ended. She did trust John, but they were just friends right now. She didn't know how that trust were to change if their relationship were to change. She had a feeling that last relationship was alwys going to haunt her. Yet, Lita couldn't help but wonder if John would say anything to her about it.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)