Amelia was exhausted, Helmut could see that much. She hadn't been sleeping for the past two nights and he would find her sat awake in the middle of the night in the living room, curled up in a chair and looking out over the dark sea from her window. She would sometimes have a small glass of whiskey in her hands, the liquid shimmering in the light of the lamp before she downed it in one. He watched her intently when he went to sit awake with her, but he didn't know if she entirely noticed him.

"Do you know how many types of coffins there are?" Amelia asked from him and then shook her head, hands clasped around her mug of herbal tea that he had made her on New Year's Eve. "Sorry, of course you do…that was so stupid of me."

The week in between Christmas and New Year used to be Amelia's favourite week. Lukas had laughed when she had called it the 'Crimbo Limbo', but he saw why she did. The days seemed to melt into each other and they just spent the week lounging around, eating chocolate and doing nothing other than that and indulging in a lot of sex.

"It's fine," Helmut promised her.

He sat down next to her on the sofa, keeping a respectable distance as he noticed her flicking through a catalogue that the funeral director had given her. He had visited her the day before to start arrangements for the funeral, but Amelia had felt out of her depth. The funeral director must have picked up on that because he left Amelia with their catalogue and told her just to go through it at her own pace and to call him when she had made decisions and was ready to talk again.

She had put it off for two days, the brochure sat there and staring at her as she looked down onto it. She had organised funerals before, of course, for her parents. But Lukas's family had helped her with that and had practically taken charge of everything, insisting on them having the best. They paid people to make decisions and Amelia had insisted on only certain things, such as her mother's favourite flowers and her father wearing his favourite tie. Her grandmother had also had her input too, but this was now all down to Amelia. There was no one to help her make decisions or to guide her. There was only Helmut and she worried about leaning on him too much.

"It's not fine," Amelia said. "I should think before I speak."

"That's not your style," Helmut said to her.

"Maybe it should be," she grunted, wondering if it would have saved her a lot of trouble in the past as she sipped on her herbal tea and let it warm her throat. Helmut picked his own mug up from the coffee table and took a sip himself, enjoying the taste of the berries. "I know that I have to make decisions, but I don't know…I just didn't know there was this much to plan."

"Do you want me to help you?"

"I can't ask that of you. You don't need to do that."

"I want to," he assured her. "Two minds might be better than one in this instance…just talk to me…tell me what you're thinking."

Helmut looked at her and nodded sternly, promising her that he was fine with this. He wanted to help and if this was his way of doing it then so be it. He remained sat next to her as she finally opened up and he spent the next two hours with her, listening to her and working out the details. She made notes in the notebook to the side of her so that she didn't forget what she wanted for her grandmother and, eventually, she hoped that she had organised everything.

She told him that she would call the funeral director again after New Year's Day considering everything was closed for the holidays. She tided up the apartment, placing the catalogue in the coffee table and out of sight. She finished at around five and then sighed, looking to Helmut as he worked on the laptop at the dining table.

"I might go out tonight," she said suddenly and she wondered where that thought had even come from. She hadn't been out on New Year's Eve in years, not since she had lived in London. But the idea of staying in was one she didn't want to entertain. She had spent the past week in the apartment and moping around, grieving her grandmother and wondering just what it was she should say to Helmut.

She still hadn't been able to find the right words to say to him and he had given her space as well, not wanting to bring it up.

"Go out?" he asked from her and she picked up the glass of water she had just poured herself. "Where?"

"Into Norwich," she said. "There's plenty of clubs and I guess some will still have tickets left for tonight. I can check online. I just don't want to sit in so I figured I'd go out."

"I see," Helmut said. "Well, it's been years since I stepped into a club or a bar."

"Oh, Helmut, you…I mean…I can go alone," she said to him but he shook his head. The idea of leaving Amelia to go out to a nightclub on her own didn't sit right with him. It wasn't her who he didn't trust: it was everyone else. Plus, he knew what she was feeling. He didn't particularly want to keep spending his evenings on his own, but he knew that it might be interesting to go out.

"And if I also want to come? I could use a night out, Amelia. It might do us both some good."

She guessed that she couldn't insist on him not joining her. Besides, that wouldn't make her a great friend and she really did want to be his friend even if they couldn't be anything else. So she forced herself to smile at him and nodded.

"Let me see what I can do."

Amelia had managed to get last minute tickets to a nightclub she remembered frequenting when she had been a student and came back home for the holidays from university. She only hoped that she didn't bump into anyone familiar. She had ordered a taxi for nine and Helmut hadn't seen her since six. She had locked herself in the bathroom for an hour before moving to her bedroom. He had heard her hairdryer, followed by groans and moans and he wondered what it was she was doing.

He was in the process of dabbing cologne onto his neck when he heard her bedroom door open and the familiar noise of heels moving across the wooden floor of the hallway. He checked his appearance in the mirror, adjusting the trousers he wore with the black belt around them to keep them in place. He tucked the dark green shirt he wore into the waistband and then slicked his hair back from his face on the top of his head. He left the top two buttons of the shirt undone before grabbing his black suit jacket and leaving the bedroom.

He found Amelia in the kitchen, drinking a glass of wine and he almost stumbled over the doorway at the sight of her. He swore he had never seen her look like she did at that moment in time. She had curled her hair even more, letting it bounce around her shoulders, full of volume and shiny. She had minimal amount of makeup on, her eyes wider than usual thanks to the mascara. The silver dress on her body was tight fitting and one sleeved, coming down just to above her knees and clinging to her in all of the right places that made Helmut's eyes wander.

"The taxi is outside," Amelia said to him when she checked her phone and she walked from behind the counter and he saw her move gracefully in the black heels she wore on her feet. "You ready?" she checked, dropping her phone into a plain black clutch bag.

"Yes," Helmut managed to say, trying not to notice the way she tugged the dress down her thighs as she moved by him. He followed her to the door as she held it open and he frowned. "Do you not want a coat?"

"You just have to check them in at the cloakroom and that takes ages, plus I had a friend who use to work in one of them and she told me that they go missing all the time," she said to him and he slipped into the corridor behind her. She locked the door and dropped her keys into her bag.

He followed her down the corridor, keeping a step behind her as she tugged at the wide strap on her left shoulder and his eyes instantly went to her bare shoulder, noting the spattering of freckles that poked out from beneath the dress. It sat right across the top of her chest, but dipped slightly at the back. Helmut shook his head as he walked behind her and cursed in his head about what it was he was going to do with her. She was testing his patience and he only hoped she knew that.

She slid into the back seat and gave the driver the name of the club, sitting silently as Helmut sat next to her, a hand balled into a fist by his chin as he looked out of the window, slowly beginning to see signs of life as they moved towards the city centre. He didn't protest when Amelia paid for the fare, knowing that it would do him no good. She slid out first and it almost felt as though she was trying to keep her distance from him. She had been silent. She had sat practically scrunched up at the other end of the car. He didn't know what was going on in her mind, but he was wondering about it all of the time.

At the start, when he had first had thoughts about her, he felt as though he was cheating on his wife. It had felt wrong even to think about it, but then loneliness had gotten the better of him. He couldn't give her anything other than comfort and companionship. He had no intention of giving anyone a piece of his heart ever again. It belonged solely to Heike. But what if he ended up wanting to give Amelia exactly that? What if he got in so deep that his heart ended up broken? Or worse, he broke her heart? He didn't want to think about that, but it was a thought that was running around in his mind.

He pushed it to the side as Amelia flashed the tickets on her phone and he followed her down the stairs and into the nightclub. It took him a moment or two for his eyes to adjust to the dimmed lighting and he was almost about to complain about how loud the music was before he remembered where he was. The club was nothing special. There was a bar against one wall where people were clambering over each to get served. The dance floor was packed with people moving to the sound of music that Helmut couldn't quite get the words to. Some people were already drunk, slurring their words and barely standing up straight. He doubted they would see in the New Year.

"What do you want to drink?" Amelia asked him above the noise of the speakers, basically shouting directly into his ear as she held his shoulder for balance.

"I'll get them," Helmut told her.

"Just tell me what you want and you can get the next round," Amelia demanded and he didn't even bother to argue with her as he told her that he'd have a gin and tonic. Nodding her head, she pushed her way to the bar as Helmut followed her and he wondered just what it was he was doing.

Why was he here? He thought that it might actually be fun when Amelia had first suggested it, but as he fought his way through writhing bodies and smelled people's body odour, he began to doubt his choices. He would have much preferred a night in with a good book and a glass of expensive whiskey. Sighing to himself, he knew he shouldn't complain. If Amelia needed a night out then he wasn't going to rain on her parade. He managed to stand behind her as she leaned against the bar, trying to get served. His eyes darted down to her bare thighs from where her dress had ridden up and he remembered how he had them wrapped around his waist the other night. Shaking his head, he watched as Amelia turned around and reached for his arm, grabbing him and pulling him forward as six shots were lined up in front of them.

"I thought I asked for a gin and tonic?" Helmut checked with her.

"And you can have one when you've downed these shots with me," she said to him and he sighed as Amelia already picked up the small glass and downed the liquid in one. He watched her do the next one and then her final third by the time he was just on his second. He finished the shots as Amelia shook her head and shuddered at the taste, her throat feeling like it was burning.

"You're quite the expert," Helmut said to her and she shrugged.

"Practice makes perfect," she told him.

"And do you have much practice?"

"I dated Lukas and went to his parties, what do you think?" Amelia retorted and Helmut's lips arched at hearing her. He nodded his head as she passed him the gin and tonic and she took hold of her own glass. "I'm going to dance. You coming?"

"I don't think I'm drunk enough," Helmut confessed.

She shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said and he watched her move into the crowd as he leant back against the end of the bar. She held her bag in her hand as she moved in time with the music and Helmut wondered just how much she'd had to drink before they came out. He'd seen her disappear into her bedroom with a bottle of wine, but she surely couldn't have drunk all of that?

Shaking his head softly, he saw her toss her hand through her hair and he looked around. He was about to try and find a quieter spot, realising that he might be in the way, when a woman came and stood besides him, trying to get served as he finished off his first drink.

"Let me guess," she said, almost shouting over the music, "you've been dragged here and can think of plenty of other places you'd rather be?"

"How did you guess?" he asked and looked down to her as she smiled at him and he couldn't deny that she had a nice smile. She looked to be in her mid-thirties with bright, white teeth that were perfectly straight. Her cheekbones were prominent and she had on a soft tint of makeup. She was wearing a long, fitted green dress with a slit up the outside of her left thigh. The halter neck dress accentuated her lean form and she had a number of bangles on her arm.

"You're stood at the bar alone," she responded. "I hate to say that you're taking my usual spot too."

"Then I only apologise."

"Perhaps we could share?" she suggested, throwing him another smile and her green eyes seemed to shimmer in the dark as Helmut chuckled and nodded his head. "Anyway, who are you here with?"

"A friend," he responded and his eyes darted into the crowd to try and find that friend. Amelia was still there on the floor, completely lost in her own world and he watched her as she danced.

"Same," she said. "I'm Jessica."

She held her hand out and Helmut took her fingers, shaking her hand. "Helmut."

"Helmut? That's an interesting name. Where are you from? I detect an accent."

"I'm from Sokovia," he told her and she nodded, her smile falling from her face.

"I'm sorry about what happened. I actually went and volunteered there afterwards…I work for a charity providing international aid and we went out to Sokovia. It was awful…the things we saw," Jessica confessed and Helmut went silent and looked down into his drink as Jessica shook her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't bring it up. I can't imagine how horrible it was…I'm being insensitive."

"No," Helmut said with a shake of his head. "You're alright. It's not your fault."

"But still, not exactly a topic for New Year's Eve," she said to him. "So…what is it you're doing here?"

Helmut sank back to rest against the bar and told her what was going on as she listened intently and he noted her watching him as she tried to joke with him and played with the ends of her hair. He had no idea what he was doing, but he had to confess that he was finding Jessica easy to talk to and it was quite tragic that he was in a club on his own. And so he just talked to her, having no intention of going any further than that.

But that wasn't for Amelia to know. She had seen him out of the corner of her eye and had almost stopped dancing. He was leant against the bar but his head was angled downwards, a tall, blonde woman talking up to him and Amelia wondered why her stomach was churning. She had no right to be jealous. Helmut wasn't hers. She had told herself that she wasn't going to start anything with him and she intended on going through with that. Then why did she feel sick at watching the woman press her hand to his forearm and cling onto it? Amelia knew it was wrong. She had no right to feel this way. Besides, Helmut had made it clear that even if they did sleep together there would be no feelings involved. There would be no notion of a romance. But Amelia couldn't even risk it. She couldn't risk getting in deep with him and then both of them not able to work it out because it felt like they were betraying the people they loved the most.

She kept telling herself all of that, but she still couldn't get over the fact that she kept continuously looking over to him. He said something into the woman's ear and Amelia felt her annoyance boil over. It was irrational to be angry with him, but she was. She left the dance floor and stormed forwards, hair bouncing around her shoulders as she stood besides Helmut, her arm brushing his as he turned to look to her.

"I need another drink," she simply said to him.

"Let me, I believe it is my round," he said and reached for his wallet before looking to the blonde next to him. "Jessica, would you like another?"

"A Jack Daniels and coke," she said, "if you don't mind."

He nodded his head. "Amelia, this is Jessica. Jessica, this is Amelia."

"Oh, your friend who you're here with?" Jessica asked and Amelia looked to the woman as she shot her a smile that seemed almost effortless. She looked exactly like the glamour models Lukas used to hang around with as friends. She was taller than Amelia, even more so in her heels and her hair was pristine in soft curls down her back. Amelia knew her curls were falling out, her hairspray not being as effective as she had hoped.

"That's me," Amelia said to her.

"Helmut was telling me about his job in marketing," Jessica said. "He said that's how you know each other."

Amelia would have snorted with laughter if Helmut didn't throw her a look, almost pleading with her not to say anything. She kept silent and simply nodded, telling Jessica how they'd known each other for years and instantly she knew what Jessica's intentions were as she laid her hand on his arm and kept it there while he faced the bar. Amelia saw the way she was practically laying claim to him and she wondered if he was enjoying this. Or was he just too polite to tell her he wasn't interested? What about if he decided to go home with her? He handed Amelia a drink and she took it.

"Can you look after my bag?" Amelia asked from him. "It's annoying me while dancing."

"Sure," Helmut said to her.

"Unless you want to come and join me?"

"I think we're fine here, aren't we?" Jessica was the one to speak and Helmut shrugged as he looked back to Amelia.

"Maybe after another drink or so," he told her and she nodded, pushing down the lump in the back of her throat as she went away with a nod.

Helmut watched her go, swearing that he had seen a fleeting expression of upset pass her face when he turned her down. He didn't know what she was doing or what she was thinking. She was the one who had rebutted him that night. She was the one who wanted them to stop when he would have been more than happy to take her on the floor of her living room. So if she was jealous, as he suspected, why would she be hurt? Or was it that she felt something more for him? Was it more than guilt over him being Lukas's friend? He didn't know because they hadn't even spoken about it.

He remained where he was and continued talking to Jessica. She was openly flirty and he had wanted nothing more than to shrug her hand from his arm when Amelia had been there, but he hadn't. He didn't want to appear rude and, in some childish and petty way, he wanted to see how Amelia would react. His gaze kept moving between Jessica and the dance floor as they talked and he kept Amelia's bag in his eyesight on the bar.

He didn't know when it happened. He had no idea what was really going on. One moment Amelia was on the floor alone and the next there was a man behind her. He had his hands on her hips, but Amelia didn't push him away. Helmut was tempted to move over there and tell him not to touch her when she didn't want him to. But the issue was, from what he could see, she did want him to. She was doing nothing to deter him as she turned around and faced him, an arm going over his neck and he moved closer to her.

"You know, if you're not interested you could have said from the start instead of wasting my time."

Helmut looked down to Jessica as she held her glass to her chest and cocked a hip out, arching a brow.

"Excuse me?" Helmut asked.

"You haven't looked away from her all night," she said to him. "There's clearly something going on and I'm not getting in the middle of it."

"Have a good night, Jessica," Helmut said, not bothering to respond to her comment. Grabbing Amelia's bag, he moved through the crowd as the bearded man rested his forehead to Amelia's and whispered something into her ear before Helmut saw him move into kiss her neck. Before he had chance, he was by her side, thrusting her bag towards her and taking her off guard, her arm dropping from the man's neck as she frowned.

"Here's your bag. I'm leaving."

Helmut said nothing else. He didn't even think about leaving her alone in the club. He was angry. He was annoyed with her. Did she intend on going further with that man? Did she intend on going home with him or, even worse, bringing him back to her apartment? And as Helmut stormed up the steps and out of the club, he wondered why he was even angry. He had told her that that sleeping together would simply be just that. It would be fulfilling physical urges. So that didn't explain why he was so emotional at the idea of her being with someone else.

He came to the air on the street and looked around, no idea where he was going as he bypassed the queue of people waiting to get in without tickets. He moved down the street, some people already falling around on the road while others were sick on the curb. He ignored them as he walked off, but then he heard her voice.

"Helmut!" she shouted him.

He didn't turn around, continuing to move as she yelled his name again and some drunken men laughed at her failed attempts to get him to stop.

"Helmut!" the screech was something that he couldn't ignore as it echoed down the road but he did ignore the group of drunken girls spilling out from the club across the road who mirrored it in jest, their drunken minds finding it entertaining.

He stood still and turned around to see her advancing towards him, arms flapped out by her side. "What the hell was that about?" she asked from him. "And don't pretend you didn't hear me."

"I just told you that I was leaving. I'm sure you would be fine to make your own way back home…or back to that man's place if that's what you'd have preferred. Why don't you go back, Amelia? I'm sure he's still waiting for you."

"Is that your problem?" Amelia demanded as he turned around and continued walking away from her. "Your problem is that I was getting close to another man after I had to watch Jessica drape herself all over you at the bar?"

"She was hardly draping herself all over me," Helmut retorted as she walked just a couple of steps behind him.

"Really? Because she looked pretty interested to me," Amelia snapped back at him, her heels clicking on the floor as she did her best to keep up with his pace and he moved away from the main area where the clubs were located. "And you didn't seem to want to shrug her away."

"Why do you care?" Helmut wondered from her as he finally stood still and Amelia did the same, folding her arms over her chest and trying not to think about how cold she was. She didn't know if her shivers were exclusively from the cold or because of the current situation. "You told me that you didn't want anything from me so why should it matter who I am with?"

"I…I said that we shouldn't do this because it was wrong…we would just feel guilty," Amelia said to him with a firm shake of her head, not wanting to tell him the truth. She didn't want to tell him that she was worried she'd get deeper feelings and then the guilt would become even worse. "Besides, you told me that it wouldn't mean anything. What was it you said? It would just be an itch we could scratch? So why do you care if I scratch that itch with someone who isn't you?" Her breath came out with short clouds of mist in front of her from the cold as the booming noise of the music was but a faint hum.

His lips arched in a dark smile. He shook his head back and forth at hearing her. She had a point there. He shouldn't care. It should be none of his business.

"You're right," Helmut said to her and he stalked closer towards her, but she remained firm in her stance, chin jutting out. "I shouldn't care about whose bed you end up in, just like you shouldn't care who I end up with."

"Then you're telling me that you wouldn't be bothered if I went back in there? You're telling me you wouldn't care if I didn't come home tonight?"

She was challenging him and he knew it. He knew exactly what she was doing, but he also had his suspicions about her as well. If he had told her that he was going to go back to Jessica then what would she have done? But Helmut wasn't going to back down. He wanted her to confess that she had been jealous; that she really did want him just as he wanted her the other night.

"Fine, go," Helmut said to her and she searched his gaze, wondering if he truly meant it. What were they doing? She knew she was being a stubborn idiot, but she was pretty certain she wasn't the only one. "If you really want to go then go."

And so she did. Turning on her heel, she began to walk off, her footsteps heavy and her hips swaying with her long strides. Helmut watched the back of her and remained still. Amelia didn't turn back around. She wasn't going back to the club, but he didn't need to know that. She was trying not to cry as she came to the realisation that perhaps he really didn't care about who she was with. He was willing to let her walk away and her, being someone who didn't back down, went.

She dropped her arms to her side as she went, but she hardly heard the footsteps behind her. She startled as she felt warm fingers grab her around the wrist and stop her from going any further. She almost lost her balance until she turned around and saw him there, staring down at her as he reached his hand out to the back of her head and before she had any chance to demand what he was doing, his lips had descended onto hers.

Amelia's breath hitched in her throat as his soft lips moved over hers, his hand holding the back of her head and tangling into her hair as she caught up with what was going on. She soon moved, her arms winding around his neck and fingers clawing into his hair as she felt his tongue swipe her lower lip, making her moan against him as he gained access to her mouth, his free arm going around her waist and pressing her to him. He relished the way she was so sensitive to his touch when he tickled the back of her neck. He loved it how she shuddered whenever he did something to her that caused her to moan.

He didn't want to pull back from her, but he knew that he had to. He had to breathe for air eventually. Reluctantly, he pulled back from her, not abruptly, but slowly with soft pecks on her lips that had her reaching for him and wanting more. He felt her pant for breath against him as she moved a hand over his shoulder and to his chest, sitting there as he kept her balanced with his arm around her waist. He looked down to her and she shook her head.

"We can't keep doing this," she said to him.

"I believe that was the first time we kissed," he reminded her.

"Not that..." she said. "But this…us…we need to talk about it."

"Tomorrow?" he asked from her. "Can we at least talk about it tomorrow?"

Amelia was about to protest, but then she nodded. What would be so wrong about talking tomorrow? Just for tonight, she didn't need to think about it and with the way Helmut had moved to kiss her again; she was struggling to think coherently anyway.

"We can't stand here forever," Amelia said to him and pulled back after a moment.

"What do you want to do?" Helmut enquired and she realised he was leaving it up to her. He knew what it was he wanted, but he had to be sure she wanted to same thing. It took a moment as Amelia searched his gaze and watched him.

"I want to go home," she said to him and he was about to ask if she wanted to go home alone or not, but then she kissed him once more, the motion swift and brief. And he knew when she took his hand that he was coming with her.

They walked silently back towards the town centre as Amelia wondered how they would find a cab. She kept her arms folded over her chest and Helmut shrugged out of his jacket. Shrugging it over her shoulders, she didn't push him away as he wondered just what it was that she was thinking once more.

It had taken a while before they had found a cab, but eventually they got back to the apartment. Amelia had unlocked the door, her pulse racing and her stomach churning as she pushed the door open. Stepping into the hallway, she held the door open for Helmut and went to lock it, her hands shaking slightly as she pulled the bolt over the door and he noticed. She had kept her face to the door as he stood behind her, a hand moving to sit over hers against the wood.

"You're shaking," he had commented in a soft, husky voice.

"Cold," she explained to him and he nodded.

"Nothing else?" he asked from her.

"No," she lied to him. How did she tell him that it was from anticipation as well? She turned her head over her shoulder and he noted the way her eyes darted straight down to his lips and he picked up on her intention as she drew closer to him and he met her halfway, kissing her once more before turning her around to face him. She kicked her heels off her feet, shrinking her by six inches as he ducked his neck even further down to continue kissing her as he shrugged his jacket from her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor.

She moved to grab at the buttons to his shirt, undoing them as quickly as she could and he grabbed her thighs, hauling her up to him and giving her no option but to wrap her legs around his waist as she finally unbuttoned his shirt and he walked her backwards towards her room. But she pulled back and pressed a hand to his chest as her other arm steadied herself around his shoulders.

"Not in there," she told him and he didn't need to be told twice.

It was her room with Lukas. The guest room wasn't personal. It was simply just a room. Helmut pushed the door open and shut it with the heel of his shoe. He took his time in learning what made Amelia gasp and wither in pleasure as he dropped her onto the end of the bed and let his hands wander her body, his lips soon following their trail. He peeled her out of her dress and looked at her with awe as she reached for the belt around his trousers and felt no shame or sense of guilt as she forgot everything but him.

Laying on her front, Amelia gathered her breath as he remained on his back next to her. She felt his finger running over her naked back that wasn't covered by the floral duvet. She shuddered as he dragged a finger up and down her spine and she turned her head to the side to look to him. He lifted his hand from her back then and moved to brush her hair from her face. Her curls now fell flat as he moved his fingers through the locks, untangling strands of her hair as she looked him in the eye.

"I guess I should say Happy New Year," she commented as she realised that it had gone midnight and Helmut smirked at hearing her, slipping further down the bed so that he was inches from her, resting on his side, a finger curling underneath her chin and lifting her gaze upwards.

He kissed her tenderly, his lips pressing to hers. He didn't deepen it, knowing that he was as exhausted as she probably was. Pulling back softly, he gave her one final peck as she moved a hand to rest underneath her cheek.

"Not the way I had intended on seeing in the New Year," Helmut confessed to her.

Her lips arched. "What else did you have in mind?" she questioned from him.

"A quiet night in….book…maybe not even noticing it was a New Year," Helmut said.

She hummed gently then and shrugged. "Might have been a better idea."

"I think it ended up being alright," Helmut told her. "Despite the fact that I know you want to talk about this right now because you're impatient and can hardly wait."

"Am I that transparent?" Amelia asked from him.

"I've gotten to know you," Helmut told her. "So go on, I'm not going to stop you. Talk to me and tell me what is going on in that mind of yours."

"While still in bed?" she checked.

"Amelia, after what we just did I don't think now is the time to worry about modesty or crossing a line or whatever else it is you're worried about," Helmut told her and she suspected he had a point. She moved to lay on her side, pulling the duvet up to her chest as Helmut mirrored her actions, but he left the duvet around his waist, seeing the way her gaze sat on his neck, almost as though she was too worried to look him in the eye.

"I've wanted you for a while," she confessed to him. "There would be some nights when all I could do was lay awake and wonder if you felt the same way. I spent so long telling myself it was wrong because of who you were…and Lukas and Heike…a part of me wondered if I would end up feeling something more…and that made me feel even worse because the idea of developing feelings for Lukas's best friend just makes me feel like I'm betraying him, even though I know he's gone and isn't coming back. Plus, there is the fact that I…I didn't know what you were thinking."

"Perhaps exactly the same as you," Helmut admitted to her and he watched her push a hand through her hair. "I've felt this way for a while, Amelia. I am not denying that I am attracted to you and I…there have been nights when it has been you who has been the object of my fantasies."

Amelia chewed down on her bottom lip and he swore he contemplated kissing her once more as he saw her do that. He refrained and continued talking.

"Do I care for you? Yes. Of course I care for you," Helmut said to her. "And did I worry about feeling guilt? Again, of course I did. But…the idea of this developing any further…feelings becoming more complicated…it is something I have also thought about because a part of me can see it. I can see why Lukas adored you so much and you deserve that again. You deserve that and so much more, but I…you do not need to worry about it being me giving you it."

Amelia swore she felt her chest ache at hearing him say that. He was telling her what she wanted to hear. He was telling her all of it and she wondered if it would make it easier. She didn't want him to see her like this.

"Just like you do not want to fall for me, I have no intention of falling for you or developing stronger feelings," Helmut promised her. "I…Heike…she had all of my heart. She…no one will ever replace her and I don't think that I could ever feel for someone like I did for her, just as you, no doubt, feel the same way about Lukas."

"I do," Amelia said to him, agreeing with him on that point. That still didn't stop her from worrying, however. But he was right. As she looked at him, she realised she cared for him deeply, but nothing like what she felt for Lukas. Was she overthinking it?

"Besides, we have a job to do and we can't let it distract us," he warned her and she agreed with him on that much. "Are you alright?" he checked.

"Yeah," she said to him, nodding her head.

He would never love her. He would never let himself get so close to her. And she swore she felt the same. She had no intention of falling for him either. Why did caring about someone and sleeping with them have to necessarily then involve falling for them? They were both adults. They both had the ability to be grown up about what this was.

"You sure?" he checked.

"Positive," she said and she wondered if the smile on her face was natural. "I'd best go and get some sleep."

She slipped from the bed and picked her dress up, clutching it against her chest before searching for her underwear. Helmut sat up, leaning back on his elbows as he watched the silver scrap barely cover any of her modesty.

"You're going?"

"I think it's for the best if we don't share a bed," she said to him. "Not to sleep, at least…you know…like boundaries?"

Helmut nodded thoughtfully. "If you wish," he said and she nodded, seeming almost frantic.

She looked to him and gave him a breathless smile. "I'll see you in the morning, alright?" she said and he nodded his head, watching her back away to the door and then slip out. He remained sat where he was, a hand running through his hair as he remembered what had just transpired and flopped onto his back, knowing he wouldn't get much sleep anytime soon.

Amelia grabbed her pyjamas and fresh underwear before heading to use the bathroom and leaving them on the hook behind the door. She stepped into the shower, needing to freshen up after throwing her discarded clothes into the wash basket. She let the warm water fall over her, washing away her makeup and the hairspray. Closing her eyes she tried to control her breathing and told herself this would be fine. Everything would work out. But somewhere deep down, she knew that wasn't true. She knew that she was playing with fire and she was now convinced that she was going to get burned.

...

A/N: We finally got there! There is so much more to come before we start bringing in the film, which I have ideas for an am excited to do. I've also thought about heading into the TV show, but I guess it depends if anyone is interested. You know I love to read your comments and would most definitely love your thoughts on this chapter! Pretty please?!