I laid with Sam, cuddled up into his side, just listening to his heartbeat. He had one arm around me and one behind his head. I could tell he wasn't used to having much down time because it didn't take much for him to fall asleep. Gently, I started to remove myself from his side to get up to pee when there was a small popping sound. Fragile stood there with one of my bags, looking utterly dumbstruck. Sam was in a pair of boxer-briefs and I was in panties and a t-shirt so there wasn't really a way to brush it off as anything. I motioned for her to turn around before finishing getting up, grabbing my suit and throwing it on, and then pushing her out the door with me behind.

"I wanted to bring you some things I thought you'd want from your shelter," Fragile said, struggling to find her words. Her cheeks were a light pink. "I should have knocked but I didn't think you would be...occupied."

"Thirty minutes earlier would have been unfortunate," I winced at the thought. "I do appreciate you bringing my stuff though. I had been going to ask for your help with it."

"I'm happy to help." She looked very awkward. "This is weird."

"Very, not as weird as the last twenty-four hours though. I threw Higgs off of a roof after he saw me naked and smelled me. He tried to leave me his wedding ring. And then he asked if I was going to give Sam a ring like his. It was a weird encounter."

"We'll have to catch up on that sometime," she said slowly. "I'll be around the next few days if you need some company. I heard Die-Hardman is sending Sam out west."

"Yeah, I'll be helping Lockne in the lab but I think I'm here for a while."

"Great," she nodded with a smile. And then she was gone again.

I went back into the room, finding Sam awake and checking his email. He looked confused. "Where'd you go?"

"Just out in the hallway. Fragile brought me a bag of my things. She did also see us cuddling, I think it was a shock for her. I don't think she'll tell anyone, if that's a worry for you." He stood and walked over to me, hugging me.

"I'm not worried about that. Unless you're worried about that."

"I would show you off to everyone," I laughed.

"Then I'm not worried," he shrugged. He leaned down to kiss me.

"Oh, oh dear, I'm so sorry to interrupt," Deadman said, sounding surprised. Sam grunted in annoyance before kissing me anyway, just not as deeply as I think he had wanted to. Sam pulled away, pulling his pants on, and then came and stood next to me. "I, uh, found those files you had wanted, Taylor. I just wanted to let you know."

"On Higgs or the BBs?"

"Higgs. The BBs are taking a lot longer. Though I should make more progress now that Die-Hardman can order you around instead of just me."

"Thank you, Deadman. Did you read through them?"

"A bit. Honestly I couldn't read through all of it. The notes from his therapist were troublesome. I'm surprised he didn't snap sooner."

"That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks."

"No problem, just call me if you need anything." And then his hologram was gone.

"You asked for Higgs' files?" Sam questioned, his brows furrowing.

"Nobody else was and I didn't know if there might be something hidden in there that might be helpful."

"For you or for stopping him?"

"Does it have to be one or the other?" I sighed. "I know the most about Higgs, Fragile knows a good bit-and we're still in the dark as to why he's trying to end the world. Is it for power? Revenge? Literally nobody knows."

"That's fair." I pulled up the files on my cufflink.

"There are 116 files," I said slowly, my eyebrows raised.

"Want help?"

I hesitated. "I don't know what's in these files. I don't know what, if anything, Higgs says about me in these. I don't want this to be a problem in our relationship if you read them. I don't love Higgs any more. He's made sure that I can never love him or be with him again."

"Hey," he stopped me, grabbing my hand. "I love you and I trust you. It's going to be weird, but Higgs literally makes it weird any time I see him."

I kissed him. "I love you."

He put his forehead against mine for a second before I sat next to him. I gave him access to the files Deadman had sent me. We settled in, laying back on the bed together, to read them.

We read through the files much later into the night than we had originally intended. Eventually, I turned off my cufflink. "I can't read any more of this."

I snuggled into his chest as he turned the files off on his cufflink. We hadn't found out anything I didn't already know but it was all new information for Sam. Higgs' parents had died when he was young and his uncle raised him. His uncle was a jerk that beat him and tried to control every aspect of his life. The uncle almost killed Higgs, but Higgs killed him out of self defense. The first time he saw a BT was when his uncle went necrotic after dumping the body. At least he was honest about that-or he's just consistently told the same lie to everyone.

"It does make me understand him a bit more," Sam admitted. "And how you ended up together. He wasn't always the way he is now."

I sat up with a sigh. "No, he wasn't. He didn't used to be this particle of god that permeates all existence-or whatever he goes on about now."

"It's hard to imagine this guy turning into that guy."

"Tell me about it," I laughed.

Sam sat up, kissing me. It was gentle, full of love.