Amelia almost didn't want to wake up the following morning. She laid in bed, in that moment between sleeping and being awake. She had her eyes closed as she settled onto her other side, feeling her arm having gone numb from laying on it too long. She only peeled her eyes open after a while longer when she wondered what time it was. She opened her eyes slowly, the sun streaming in from behind the curtains. She pressed the button on her phone and saw that it had gone eleven in the morning. She didn't think she had slept for that long, but she was clearly mistaken.

Her hair was tangled and messy after she had slept on it while it had been wet. She tugged her hands through it as she sat up and turned to the side. Helmut wasn't next to her, but the duvet had an imprint from where he had been laid. She rested her hand into the dent and shook her head. She'd broken the one rule she had set. She wasn't supposed to fall asleep next to him.

She was supposed to keep distance between them because she knew what he was thinking. She knew he saw her as nothing more than a friend who he slept with. It was that simple and Amelia kept on thinking that she could keep it that way, but she didn't know if she could. She was beginning to doubt herself even more and, eventually, she would have to either tell him or walk away without a word. But he deserved to know the truth. Amelia was many things, but she never saw herself as a coward.

"I made you breakfast."

Amelia looked to the door and lifted the throw that had been draped around her up her lap. She crossed her legs and tossed a hand through her hair, pushing it behind her shoulders. Helmut walked into the room, carrying a silver tray with a plate on it alongside a glass of orange juice and a mug of tea.

"You didn't need to do that," she said and he moved towards the bed, handing her the tray and she sat it on her crossed legs. Helmut perched on the edge of the bed as Amelia picked up a slice of bacon, not bothering with cutlery as she took a bite.

"I wanted to," Helmut said to her. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Just…I don't know," Amelia confessed to Helmut. "Last night shook me up, I'm not going to pretend it didn't, but nothing happened. He didn't get a chance to do anything, not really, and we got out...I just want to try and forget it."

"But he still touched you, Amelia," Helmut said. "He dared to lay a hand on you against your will and I wish that I could go back and kill him all over again for even thinking…" he trailed off, unable to form the words. Amelia shook her head and dropped the bacon onto her plate, moving a hand to his arm and squeezing it. The motion was enough to draw his gaze back to her and she offered him a sad smile.

"I'm fine," she promised him. "Helmut, I'm fine. I want to forget it. I just want to forget what he would have done."

"But I shouldn't have let you go in."

"Helmut, please," Amelia pleaded with him, her hand running up and down his shirt covered arm as she watched him. She could see the torment in his gaze and she began to wonder if this was something else. She began to wonder if there was something deeper there that he felt for her or if he was just being a good friend.

"I know," Helmut told her with a nod of his head. "I know that you don't want me to get irritated with myself, but it's hard not to. It's hard for me not to blame myself."

"What have I told you all along?" Amelia wondered and he laid his hand on top of hers on his arm, thumb skimming over her engagement ring as he sat there. "I am responsible for my own decisions. I chose to go in there and neither of us could have foreseen what would have happened…that was him. He was the one who chose to try and hurt me, but he didn't. He didn't and I want to try and forget it happened so, please, can we just try and do that?"

Helmut nodded his head at her and she smiled back to him, moving to peck him on the cheek and then pick at the breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs he had made her. She took a bite of the eggs, finding that they were cooked and seasoned to perfection.

"So, what's the plan now?" Amelia asked, putting on a brave face.

She didn't want to tell Helmut that she had nightmares or that she, in fact, still did remember the feeling of William's hands on her when she thought about him. She didn't want him to know how she could still see William's face as she hit at him with the statue over and over again until she could get him off of her. She knew that if he knew that then he would begin worrying again and blaming himself and she didn't want him to do that.

"We have to go to Cleveland," Helmut said. "We know where Karpov is and I think it would be prudent to pay him a visit, however, I have organised for my private jet to take us. The journey is too long for me to consider economy and the jet is finally finished having repairs made to it."

"We're flying private?" she checked with him, taking another mouthful of the eggs. "On your jet?"

"Indeed," Helmut said to her and he noted her eyes glimmer and a smile form on her face. His own lips arched slightly. "Of course, we can always fly economy and save money-"

"-No," Amelia interrupted him. "I mean, I would and it's no burden to me at all…but maybe it would be nice to see what it's like to fly on a jet…and it seems a waste if you've had it repaired not to use it."

"I knew that flying first class to Madripoor would spoil flying for you," Helmut said and Amelia shook her head firmly. She began to protest, but he held his hand up, silencing her from saying anything or denying it to him. "It's fine, Amelia. You're becoming used to the finer things in life ever since you started travelling with me."

"Because you insist on paying for them," Amelia retorted. "And I'm not going to complain if you really do insist."

"You not complaining? Miracles do happen," Helmut joked with her and she hit him across the arm. He chuckled deeply and lowly and she went back to picking at her eggs.

"I'm still me," Amelia told him. "I just…I've learned not to complain when it comes to you wanting to do things because you always win anyway and usually you've been right as well."

"Admitting I'm right? Again, is the earth still spinning? Are you sure this isn't the start of the apocalypse?"

Amelia rolled her eyes and leant back against the headboard and her pillows. "You're a pain in my ass, Helmut."

"Indeed," he agreed with her and picked up a piece of bacon from her plate and stood up, chewing on it slowly. "But I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

She watched as he moved to the doorway and she picked up the mug of tea, holding it in her hands and nursing it tenderly, letting the heat from the mug warm her up. Helmut stood in the doorway and looked to her.

"Eat your breakfast and I'll go and tidy up. I'll see you downstairs when you're finished."

Amelia nodded and she watched him go, taking another bite of bacon after her sip of tea. Closing her eyes for a moment, she wondered just what it was that they were going to do for a couple of days.

Amelia had finished her breakfast and showered once again. The clothes in the bathroom had been cleared up and she suspected Helmut had been the one to do it. She didn't even care if he had burned the expensive red dress she had bought for the ball. She changed into a pair of jeans and ankle boots, slipping on a grey sweatshirt and tying her hair in a ponytail. She made minimal effort with her makeup, applying just some foundation and bronzer before going downstairs with the tray.

Helmut was perched on the couch and Amelia could see that he was watching the news. Moving over to him after she had placed the tray down, she stood behind the sofa and saw what was happening.

"Wanda Maximoff caused an explosion in Lagos," Helmut explained to her, despite the fact that she could read the news across the bottom of the screen and the presenter seemed to be repeating the facts every two seconds. "Some of the Avengers were there on some kind of mission to stop a chemical weapon from being stolen. Turns out that they caused more damage than they perhaps stopped."

"What?" Amelia questioned, seeing the images of chaos and destruction on the screen. Firefighters tried to put out a fire in the building that looked like a bomb had gone off in it. She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing as she kept her eyes trained on the television and walked around to sit down on the edge of the couch.

"There's been people killed," Helmut said. "The King of Wakanda is due to release a statement after some of their residents were found to be the victims. There is a fear that they are acting with impunity…reckless abandonment…it's alarming, really, just how many people suffer because they act without consequence."

"Christ," was all Amelia could say as she noted people running away from the building, covered in dust and ash alongside cuts and bruises. People were tending to the wounded and trying to help them in any way that they could. It looked horrendous and Amelia could almost picture Sokovia once again.

"I think that there might be consequences for them now," Helmut said to Amelia. "I think that this…so soon after Sokovia and D.C…I think there needs to be some kind of consequence for what they have done."

"And what is that?"

"I don't know," Helmut said and he turned the television off, having flashbacks of Sokovia himself. He tossed the remote onto the coffee table. "But I do know that it will just be pretty words, nothing effective to rip them apart."

Amelia nodded. She could see where he was coming from with that point. She took a moment to compose herself, tightening her ponytail as Helmut looked to her. "Come on," he said and stood up. "We should get some air instead of staying locked in here for the next two days. Besides, we need more food for this evening."

"Sounds like a plan," Amelia said and she stood too.

She grabbed her bag from where she had left it on the dining table and hung it over her body. She pulled her phone from her pocket and deposited it in her bag instead, checking that her purse was there too. Helmut slipped his black jacket on over the grey shirt he wore tucked into his dark jeans. He picked up the keys from the sideboard and unlocked the door.

He held it open for Amelia and she stepped onto the cobbled street. He followed her and locked up behind him, placing the keys into his jean pocket. They fell into step next to each other and walked in silence for a few minutes, but Amelia could never take the silence. She hated it more than anything, especially between the two of them.

"I just wanted to say thank you for staying last night," Amelia said, blurting it out. Helmut looked over to her and watched her for a moment before she shrugged at him. "I know that not sleeping…like…actually sleeping…together was something that we've done before, but last night, it was nice just not to be alone."

"You're welcome," Helmut said to her with a tight nod. "In fact, it was quite a comfortable bed. I slept all night without waking."

But he knew it wasn't the bed. He knew that it was more to do with the fact that he'd had Amelia pressed to his side, holding onto him and, somehow, he had managed to find his arm wrapped around her and keeping her to him. He had quite enjoyed the feeling. He'd moved from her grip earlier in the morning, watching her sleep for a few moments before he had cooked her breakfast.

"Well, I imagine you need the comfort," Amelia said to him. "You must be used to nice mattresses. Do you think that you could feel a pea underneath one?"

Helmut chuckled and arched his brow as they turned the corner and moved further towards central Paris, Helmut able to see the Eifel Tower over the tops of buildings. "I don't know if that fairy tale is entirely accurate, Amelia. I imagine even Princesses wouldn't know if there was a pea under their mattress, never mind Sokovian Barons."

"Baron," Amelia echoed him and shook her head. "I still find it odd that you're royalty."

She found it even more odd that she was sleeping with royalty. She was literally sleeping with a Baron and this was her: Amelia from a small town in Norfolk. How did she even end up in this position? She didn't know if it was luck or fate, but she had to make the most out of it, she guessed.

"Why? I'm just like you," Helmut responded.

Amelia scoffed. "I doubt you're anything like me," she said. "Growing up, what was it like? Did you know that you were royalty or not?"

"I knew," Helmut said to her with a nod of his head. "I never wanted for anything as a child. My father saw to that, but he also saw to it that I understood what I had. I understood how fortunate I was compared to others and he always warned me that a person with class never flaunted what they had. They never showed off. He was good at keeping my feet on the ground, but I was not always so good at listening to him."

"What happened?" Amelia questioned.

"I became quite a spoilt teenager…I acted entitled…thought that I was better than others," Helmut said and he shook his head. "You know how teenagers can be, Amelia. I confess that I was not an entirely pleasant child to be around during puberty and my parents worried about me. They would catch me smoking and going off to parties…missing school…getting into trouble at school."

"You?" Amelia checked, tone one of complete disbelief.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Helmut asked from her as they came to a bridge over the Seine. Walking over the river, he placed his hands into his pockets and looked down and out over the water, seeing how it glimmered in the midday sun. "My parents were concerned that I was going to be expelled from boarding school at one stage and so they decided that the best option would be for me to join the military."

"Did you want to?" Amelia questioned, moving down the steps onto the path that ran alongside the river.

There were couples walking along the river alongside parents urging their children not to run off too far. There were dog walkers and joggers as well. It seemed that everyone was making the most of the uncharacteristically warm weather for the early months of the year. Amelia kept her hands by her side, brushing her fingers against the material of her dark jeans.

"I didn't," Helmut confessed. "But they were convinced that it would be good for me and it turned out that they were right. I never admitted that to them though. What child admits that their parents were right when they're young and cocky?"

"Why did you enjoy it?" Amelia continued questioning.

"I found a place there," he said. "I was good at what I did and they clearly saw something in me to keep me on. I worked my way up from lowly officer to running EKO…it was challenging at first and I had been determined to hate it, but it turned out that people in the army are used to putting up with kids with an attitude."

Amelia's lips curved upwards and she shook her head. "I can't imagine you with an attitude," she said to him. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

"It was many years ago now and I swore that I would not hesitate to send Carl off to military school if he had the same attitude problem I had, but Heike didn't have the same sentiment," Helmut continued, wondering why he was finding it so easy to talk about his past with Amelia. "She was nurturing…the one he could always wrap around his little finger. I was the stricter parent, but I loved him no less. I just didn't want him to make my mistakes."

"He was a sweet boy," Amelia said to him. "Lukas spoke about him all the time. He figured that he could have made an excellent lawyer one day from the way he never backed down from arguments."

Helmut chuckled, nodding his head. "He did have a tendency not to back down," he agreed with Amelia on that point and then looked at her as she glanced over the river. He let his gaze roam over her side profile, drinking in her high cheekbones and the way her eyes seemed to smile, almost as though she was carefree and relaxed.

"And you?" Helmut asked and she turned to look back to him. "What were you like as a child? I imagine your parents never had to worry about your attitude."

"I had my moments," Amelia shrugged. "But generally I don't think that I was a terrible kid. I enjoyed…well…I was studying for my A-levels before going to university and there were house parties, of course, but I never did anything terrible. I got drunk…enjoyed clubbing when I was at university with friends, but I really loved studying. I know how nerdy that sounds, but I loved trying to be better than anyone else."

"Competitive," Helmut mused. "I can see that."

"Not overly," Amelia denied. "I mean, I just liked getting high grades and I did enjoy studying. I was so upset when I didn't get into my first-choice university. I think it was the interview…I completely messed it up and I needed the scholarship otherwise I'd never have been able to go."

"Where did you apply?"

"Oxford," she said and he whistled lowly as she shook her head.

"Very clever," he said.

"Well, not really because I didn't get in," Amelia said to him. "I ended up going to Durham to study French in the end. I loved it and I loved learning French, plus they gave me a scholarship. We didn't have the money to afford to send me to university. No one had gone before me…mum and dad…university was a strange concept to them, but they told me that they'd support me as best as they could. I remember going on the open days and they were as in awe with it all as I was…the libraries…campus…it was amazing."

"And after you got your degree?" he asked her.

"I wanted to go on and do a Masters degree…maybe a PhD in French Studies one day, but I couldn't get the scholarship," Amelia told him. "I ended up getting a job in a PR firm in London for a luxury travel agent. That's where I was when Lukas met me. It was my first job out of university and I never left. The firm expanded, though. They opened offices in Europe and I got chance to come to the Paris branch for some work events. That's how I met Lukas."

"I see," Helmut said to her with a nod. "You know, he called me on the very same day that he met you."

"He did?"

"Well, I think it must have been the morning after," Helmut told her and she looked at him intently, her face lighting up even more and he could see that she very much still missed her fiancé. "He called me and told me that he had met this British girl and spent the night with her. He told me how he was thinking of staying on in France and spending more time with her…that he was besotted…"

Amelia rolled her eyes and chuckled sadly. "He always was a hopeless romantic."

"I told him the exact same thing," Helmut said. "I told him that he had a tendency to jump into things and end up in a mess. I persuaded him to come back to Sokovia with the rest of his friends, but when he got back you were all that he could talk about…it was Amelia this…Amelia that…and then I told him that if he really did miss this Amelia then he should just get a flight to the UK to find her."

Amelia laughed and shook her head. "You told him to go?"

"I think I was tired of listening to him talk about you constantly," Helmut retorted. "Heike told him that it would either work out or it wouldn't. You would either think he was being romantic or stalking you."

She laughed again. "I'm not going to lie, I was shocked to see him outside my work," she admitted. "But it was nice. He…I'd been thinking about him too, more than any of my previous boyfriends."

"And had there been many?" Helmut questioned.

"Not many," she said with a shrug. "I dated someone while I was at school, but it wasn't serious. It was just someone to hang out with and at that age you think it's cool to date, don't you? I dated while I was in London working, but none of them ever came to anything…I don't think my heart was in it. I was looking at how to fund a Masters while I was working. I thought that I could do it part time and take a loan out. Figured if I did that then I'd have no time for dating anyway."

"Why didn't you?" Helmut asked.

"Fear, I suppose," she confessed to him, stepping over a small pothole in the path from where the stone had come up. "I was worried about the money side of things and worried about getting into debt…paying my rent…working and studying. I know people do it and it's possible, but I just wondered where it would lead me. Would it make a difference or would I still be working at the PR firm after it?"

"I suppose you don't know until you try," Helmut said, wondering just what other dreams she had. Did she really want more from her life? Helmut had always thought she had been happy when he had seen her with Lukas. He thought that she had everything she wanted and was content. But perhaps, even when you're content, you want more. It's human nature, isn't it? To not settle?

"I guess not," Amelia retorted. "Anyway, what about you? Was there anyone before Heike? She told me she met you while you were an officer."

"She did," Helmut confirmed. "And there had never been anyone serious. There had been school relationships, of course, but they were never serious…just hiding out behind the caretaker's shed and skipping class…and then at house parties I would meet girls, but never to date. Heike was the first girl I properly dated."

"I think that there's something sweet about that," Amelia said, tightening her ponytail once more, a few wisps falling out with the movement as she turned her gaze over to him. "You know, finding the one and then just being with them. It's sweet…and saves you a lot of time from trying to find them."

"I can imagine," Helmut agreed with her on that point. He watched her for a few seconds as she glanced back over the water. "But I never believed that there was 'the one' until I met Heike."

"Why's that?"

"It's not possible, is it?" he asked her. "I think that we see qualities in other people that we are attracted to because we lack them in ourselves. I mean, if we did think we had found the one, why would divorce exist?"

"Because they weren't your one?" Amelia retorted.

"But they must have been at the time," Helmut said to her. "The fact is that people fall in love, but they can either stay in love or drift. It doesn't mean that the love is gone when they divorce…and then there's us."

"What about us?" Amelia asked, her heart rate suddenly picking up at hearing him.

"We're both alone now…widowed…really," he said to her. "Does that mean that we shouldn't have another chance at happiness?"

"I don't know," Amelia told him. "I guess it just depends on if we want that chance. I know that we both say it will be hard to move on…impossible, even…but I think that we owe it to them that we try. I don't want to go through life being sad, Helmut. I will always miss Lukas. I will always wonder what could have been, but my grandma was pretty good at telling me that one day I'd wake up and realise that life is for living. Life is for living and I have to do that because he can't."

Musing to himself, Helmut ran a hand over his chin at hearing her. He nodded. "I agree," he said. "That makes sense, of course, and while I do think that people can find love again after loss, I just don't think that I will. I don't think that I could ever love someone like I loved Heike."

"Perhaps not," Amelia agreed with him. "But that doesn't mean that you'll never love again, Helmut. It won't be the same and I get that…but it doesn't mean that you'll never love again."

"And you think you will?" Helmut asked her.

How did she answer that question to him? How did she admit that she was worried she might be falling for him anyway? She shrugged, trying to play coy and hope that he wouldn't pick up on her look.

"I don't know," she answered him and looked to the sky. "But I know that if, by some miracle, we come through all of this and are free…not caught…then I'm going to do what my grandma told me. I'm going to carry on and see what happens. I need to because the guilt we've been living with isn't healthy. It's not healthy to feel that all of the time."

He observed her with a keen eye and almost wanted to ask her how she could have changed her mind. He wanted to ask her how she could be so open to the future when all he could feel was vengeance when he was left alone with his thoughts. But as he looked at Amelia, he wondered if she had a point. Maybe there was life to live. He just didn't know if he could do it.

"I wish I shared your optimism. There's no one else for me, not after Heike," Helmut said and Amelia felt her heart break at hearing him. She looked to him and for a moment she contemplated telling him everything.

She contemplated telling him how she was upset when she woke up that morning and was upset he wasn't there. She wanted to tell him how last night he had been the only one she needed or wanted. She wanted to tell him how she would catch herself looking at him and daydreaming about what it would be like just to reach out and hold him, no pretences, not just to comfort him, but just because she wanted to. She wanted to tell him how she had been happier than she ever had been when the two of them were just talking over a bottle of wine after their dinner. She wanted to tell him that her chest ached whenever he smiled at her, her stomach flipped whenever he touched her.

But she didn't. She just shrugged at him and her gaze met his.

"Never say never," was all she offered him and he glanced over to her, noting the way she bit down on her bottom lip and looked out over the river.

She tried to hide the tear that fell from her eye as she knew she had to tell him the truth and lose him for good before she got in too deep. She couldn't keep doing this. She'd had her heart broken before. She didn't know if she could have it broken another time.

A/N: The next chapter we start CIVIL WAR! There's a lot of drama to come and things are most certainly not going to be smooth sailing. Please do let me know if you're reading! You know I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings!