So He kept his promise. Laying her down onto the cool sheets and watching her eyes fight back. Fight back sleep as she slipped away. He was as bit as protective as he used to be, and he was oh so good. With a faded itchy chair next to the splattered and vibrant fluorescent comforter, he never left the room. She stirred a lot. She moaned a little even. But just ever so slightly. During the night he didn't sleep next to her.

He'd brush his teeth, have the TV on mute, and keep the light dimmed. He barely slept but when he did, he was only half way there. In the chair. Otherwise he'd sit. Hands crossed, and his eyes heavy. She was always in sight. She had always been in sight. It all kind of was like a dream. Vivid with the suburban setting, and remote ways that only this suburban motel room outside of San Diego, could make him feel like this was all just a dream. There wasn't anything but her. Her with her scars, and her bony arms. Her with her fragile skin, and chapped lips.

And him, completely and focused upon this. The way she breathed. The way she looked. But never the way she felt. He couldn't or wouldn't go there. Time kind of went into a warp, a limbo, where the days passed but it was just off and on. The cool fake feel of the central air conditioning, and the buzz of the lights, and the floor below. Everything was in fastfoward, and slow motion. It was on pause, not play.

Until she woke up. 48 and a half hours later he was staring at the ground. The tepholon carpet, and the faded bleach stain near the edge of the bed. He didn't even feel her eyes on him. Until he looked up.

"Hey." He kind of whispered. Looking at her with genuine surprise, and relief.

"Hey." She whispered back again. A whole lot of meaning behind two useless words that could've been spoken between two strangers.

"Have you been here the whole time." She said pulling the sheets off and placing her hand gently on the back of her neck.

"Yeah." He replied, with even that sounding the slightest bit breathless.

She gave him a half smile. Reaching down and realizing she was wearing a huge sweatshirt with the words BERKLEY stretched out across the chest. It was worn in, but not too worn in. And the hood was scrutched up behind her neck. Underneath she was wearing massive navy blue sweatpants that fit her everywhere but the waist where they slung low. Her legs, though long enough for them could barely fill any part of them. She concluded quickly that the clothes were Ryan's.

That they were still in the motel room, and that it had been at least a couple of days since….well since she had fallen apart in front of him in the orange fading sunlight. For the first time since she could remember, she had woken up feeling slightly alarmed at first, then overcome with a feeling she couldn't even recall. She couldn't even find the word for it, because the girl that she once was, had felt it once or twice. But that girl on the beach, that girl with the needles in her arm, sweatall overher body, and tears never reaching her eyes, that girl never felt this way.

He must have sensed something, in the way he used to do when her eyes got that drifty look. Because he wanted to rescue her from it.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah…I'm alright." She said looking at the sheets. Not meeting his eyes, too afraid that maybe he could see right through them. She was anything but alright.

"What time is it?" She asked, with genuine curiosity.

"7:23, at night, it's been about 2 days…since well…you kind of .." It was still delicate. This was still delicate…some things couldn't be said. Even if they had already been said in moments before. It was too early in it all for strong talks and utter truths. The silence between them wasn't exactly comfortable. But it wasn't uncomfortable either.

"Well do you want to go get something then? I mean in the lobby even, or near by. I'm kind of hungry." She lied. She was never hungry anymore. But she did want to get out of her. She was kind of anxious to see what reality greeted her outside, for once. She was kind of holding her breath in her, suffocating until she realized that this wasn't all a dream, and or the apocalypse wasn't occurring outside.

"Are you up for that?"

"Yeah, of course." Quickly trying to prove her stability she kicked off the covers and headed for the bathroom. The ground felt strange, and her legs were completely like jello, but she wasn't about to show him that.

"Just let me freshen up."