Darien feels cleaner when he finishes his painful shower, but his wounds nag at him. He walks out of the bathroom shirtless wearing a pair of pajama pants.

"Let me help you, Darien," The Keeper offers, placing his arm around her shoulder and trying to help his staggering body to the bed.

"I can do it," Darien protests.

"I know you can, but humor me," She replies dryly. She is quiet once he relaxes and allows her to hold some of his weight.

Once he is seated on the bed, he sighs audibly. "Claire," He starts.

"Are you sure you feel up to a deep conversation?" She asks, hesitatingly.

"As sure as I ever was," He replies. "I'm sorry about getting pissed at you. I didn't think about you and Kevin that way, I was self-absorbed as usual and I'm sorry. I can tell by the way you told me that you loved Kevin and I'm sorry that now he's lost to both of us."

Claire sits down beside him. "Darien…"

"I feel like I'm losing everything inside me, like its drowning in the quicksilver." He looks at her, sadly. "I'm slowly fading away, Claire, and nothing's going to stop it."

She puts an arm around him and pulls him into an embrace. "Darien, don't let it happen. You fight it. I want to see you come into the Agency with a smile on your face and twinkling eyes. I know you want to, you aren't supposed to be depressed, you're supposed to be able to sleep, but it's not the gland, Darien. It's you. You're doing it to yourself. It's like you're digging a pity hole and sure, if you keep digging, you'll eventually bury yourself, but you can always climb out."

Darien looks at her, curiously, but nods.

"I was thinking about an old friend of mine when I was in there. Sinclair. He's been dead, god, fifteen years or so. I went through this before, right after my mom died, years ago, and Sinclair pulled me out. I met him right after she died and he made me appreciate life again. He said once 'Don't get used to getting pulled back over the edge 'cause one day your partner might be taking a piss'," He smiles. "I would always fuck up something at every job and he would fix it."

Claire nods, listening.

Darien looks at her with a reminiscent smile. "Sinclair was strong and he died but I'm still here, and I'm weaker than he was. But, since he's gone and Kevin's gone, I guess I'm just gonna have to buck up and live the life that I'm given. It's not as bad as it could be, and I need to stop making it worse." He waves his hand. "This drinking is like tearing open a wound over and over so it never gets a chance to heal."

Claire squeezes him reassuringly. "You have help. You have friends that care about you. You have to come to us before it gets this bad. You can't solve some problems by yourself and you're not expected to."

Darien nods. "I see that. It took all this for me to see what was right beside me."

Claire sits quietly, content to hold Darien.

"Guess what?"

"What?" Claire replies, smiling slightly.

"I'm about to ask you for help."

"What is it?" Claire asks, concerned.

He pulls from her embrace and smiles at her. "Do you think I should cut my hair?"

Claire laughs for the first time in days and Darien starts to feel a lot better.

----"What if people get everything they expect? What becomes of hope?"-------- 7mary3 song lyric