Liesel glanced over at Max across from her. She couldn't help but think how much she loved him, just looking at him made her heart swell. They had spent most of the day doing things next to each without saying a word, neither one sure what to say. Liesel had read on the small sofa shoved against the wall, and Max had been writing letters to lost family members announcing his survival. Liesel walked over to stand behind him watching his swift handwriting.

"Hey, Max," Liesel's voice cracked because they had been not speaking for so long. She had been brimming with anguished curiosity since he arrived about what happened to him.

"Yes, Liesel?"

"Were they…were they as bad to you as I've heard?" The question that Liesel managed to get out did not quite compass what she actually wanted to ask, but it opened the door.

Max stared into Liesel's large eyes once again awed, but also horrified that she would ask that question. She was just a child—and yet she was not. She had been a child when he left, as he had been when they took him. But now either one of them were their true age anymore. She was not a true seventeen year old, soon to be eighteen, just as he was not twenty-eight either. They both were humans who had been through a lifetime of suffering. Suffering that kept him up at night, suffering he did not want to share with her. As much as they had been through together, and apart, Max wanted to protect her. Protect her with every ounce of his being as she had done for him when he hid in her house, as he laid dying next to her. Sun light streamed in through the windows of the upstairs apartment, it brought out the highlights in Liesel's hair as she stared down into his eyes. Her bright blue eyes had flecks of gold in them.

"Liesel…," Max started to say. "It was bad, I won't lie to you. It was more horrific than anyone could imagine. But what matters is that it is over, and I am here with you now." Max's heart was aching with the need to hug her, not to comfort her, but to comfort himself.

All Liesel could see was anguish in Max's eyes, and her heart reached out to him as her hands wrapped around his shoulders. She could feel his strong arms wind around her waist as he rested his cheek against her belly. She reached up to run her fingers through his feathery hair, and hummed a lullaby to soothe him. Liesel's heart swelled with affection and with heartbroken longing. Never had she imagine she would be able to hold him like this, so close to her…and yet not close enough. Soon though, Max released her and went back to his letters. Liesel honestly could not imagine what had occurred in those camps. She recalled the time she ran into the precession of captured people walking to the camps, and how she had ran into their mists hoping, searching for him. She looked down at Max again, who was busy starting another letter to his second cousin twice removed. She smiled at him grateful that he had come back to her, out of all the places he could have gone he chose her. Liesel finally went back to sofa and her book, she had it in her hands but did nothing but stare at Max's world-worn face instead.

For everyone who have read what I previously wrote, I apologize. I wanted to recycle this story, but it need some major editing. This chapter has been significantly changed from what was written previously, but I think most of my readers will agree it this is much better. I'm going through each chapter to edit, and hopefully make a coherent story.