My new job wasn't terribly hard, I discovered. I was put right to work and ended up processing my own employment forums and payroll. The fax machine was a breeze to work, simple and very fast, the copier might as well have been a dinosaur but it still spit out toner covered paper like the day it rolled out of the factory, and best of all, I had a huge desk and all the organizers I wanted.

The desk was like the other side of a black hole, wrappers and outdated coupons lay with the report papers and order forums, some of which needed to be processed weeks ago. I had a desk phone to answer and calls to direct, I only hung up on three people before I finally got the phone workings down. It was almost fuinny the way the desk looked at the end of the day as to when I got here. My room back home was a mess, it had been before Deidara moved in,but this work space was different. It was clean, sorted and efficient. Macy had left some things behind, a rhinestone pen behind and a high heal shoe tape disperser was among them, which I sort of put off to the side in case she came back for them, but I'd made up my mind that I was keeping the purple cupcake shaped stack of sticky notes.

A flood of the higher ups left the building at five sharp and I took that a my que to leave for the day too. I didn't see my boss or the old man that hired me again, and I didn't stand around to look. Descending the stairs, I found the office level also clearing out. Deidara held my coat up from his office, a tired smile on his face.

"Where'd you go for so long hm?" He asked, handing me my jacket. It wasn't near cold enough for a full on coat here, though it'd snowed back home.

"Upstairs, guess who got a job?" I asked, feeling a bit cocky.

"Couldn't be you could it?" He asked, pulling me close to give me a tight hug. We were both insanely proud of each other, I could tell. We'd come such a long way from laying on my sofa having nightmares and eating chips, to getting married. From bumming off my parents to looking at apartments of our own this after noon.

It was chilly outside, chilly enough to use the heated seats in Dei's borrowed car and to jam buttons to get the heater working as soon as possible. We were due for snow any day now too, not as much as my house in Southern Ohio got, but snow none the less. Christmas was on its way too, I mentioned. Deidara told me that he hadn't celebrated Christmas in years, not since he defected from his village, and I promised him a tree, though we agreed that our presents to each other this year would be a house.

We decided that instead of shitting around and trying to move, we'd just rent the apartment we were already in after the intern's lease was up, and buy our own furniture since the rental place would be coming to get the stuff he was using. We had three months rent paid by the end of the night, but not after draining my bank account. It didn't matter, I had more cash on the way at the end of this week and Dei had enough for food.

Honestly, the cash problem worried me. Yes, I was happy to have been able to sit down in a stable, safe, paid for place, but the amount of money we had left over worried me. We had to move forward, no matter how scary. Deidara taught me that. I'd started to teach myself that.

At midnight, I decided to call my parents.

I wondered as the phone rang if they were still up, but I hadn't called in a day or so, I figured they'd be waiting. It only rang a few times before my dad picked up.

"Hey there!" He sounded cheery. I could hear my mom laughing in the back ground.

"Whats going on?" I asked, putting the phone on speaker and laying it on my stomach. My legs were twisted with my fiance's, my left hand in his right and our heads near each others.

"Nothing, just uh, remembered something funny, having a good time?" he asked, the laughter dying down out of his voice.

"Yeah," I answered, as Deidara said ' its fine' indicating to my parents that he was on the phone too.

"When are you guys planning on coming home?" I heard my mom call, though I knew she wasn't concerned much with Deidara.

"Uh, mom, thats what we called about," I started, but I could hear her starting to repeat "no, no, no" over and over again, I knew she wasn't going to listen. My dad tried to quiet her, but eventually, I think he just walked out of the room because my mom's voice got quieter and quieter until I couldn't hear it anymore. Really, it hurt, to know she couldn't even hear me out. She couldn't even listen to all of our good fortune and happenings, she had to be immature. That's exactly what she was doing, being childish.

"May, I'm going to listen just this once, but I want you to know, moving is out of the question," My fathers voice sounded stern and sort of stressed. Their only child was moving away, and they were powerless to stop me, all they could do was claw and try to find a grip on me any way they could. They wanted me to stay, I realized, with them. I heard the phone click and I knew my mother had picked up another handset.

"I just want you to listen, and to not fight me, just this once," I groaned, I knew where this was going with him and it was only a matter of time until my mom joined in, "I came to work with Dei today, and I got hired in the same building he works in. We could work at the same place, and we both have really good deals here. The longer we work, the higher the pay will be and its already pretty good. I'm smart, I know about this stuff too, you didn't raise an idiot."

I felt like I was making a case in front of a court, like I was confessing to a crime. I knew there was nothing my parents could do, except hold all of my stuff ransom, but they meant more to me then the world, they raised me and I loved them, no matter how much they yelled. They were my parents, it was there job to parent me, to guide me in the right direction. I wasn't trying to be a rebellious teenager, I was just trying to leave the nest.

"No, no, go tomorrow and tell them you quit," my mother sounded angry, but I knew she was really begging, "I'm coming to get you right now, it wont be too long, get your things."

"Mom, he asked me to marry him!" I shouted, hoping to stop her frenzy before she got herself too worked up and did actually drive here. The line was quiet for a long time until I heard the phone click again.

"Hello?" I asked, unsure if either of them were still there.

"Yeah, uh, May, we'll be down in a day or so," My dad answered, his voice sounded worried and hallow. All I could say was 'okay' and hang up. Deidara cleared his throat.

"That went well, better than I would have thought yeah," he dead panned. I wanted to punch him.

My parents arrived the next day. Deidara and I went to work, per new usual, and when we got out, they were sitting in my dads two year old Cadillac, the windows rolled down with Shep's head hanging out the back seat window. The German Shepard about went crazy when he spotted me. I gripped Deidara's hand as we crossed the parking lot to see them.

"Calm down," he tried to soothe. I was walking ahead of him and I realized I was probably killing his hand in the death grip I had it in. I wasn't nervous, well, I wasn't until I closed the last five feet to them.

"Hey," I greeted lamely. I wasn't sure if my mom was going to lecture me here or wait, though I hoped it would be later.

"Hey," My dad offered back, he put on a fake smile just for me. Peering into the car I could see my mother who didn't look particularly unhappy either. We just sort of stood awkwardly with them for a moment before Deidara cleared his throat, bringing attention to himself.

"Lets go out for dinner, Karen, Sam, did you guys get your hotel room yet or do you still have to do that?" He sounded so casual, calm, like we weren't on the verge of a major break down of our family.

"No, We already checked in. Dinner would be nice, Don't you think?" My dad turned and asked my mother, who shrugged indefinitely. On a scale of one to ten on the 'I'm so over this scale' she was probably a ten. Her deepening scowl told it all.

"Alright, there's a cool little place near our apartment, fallow me over there okay?" Deidara took my hand without another word or my dad's okay, and lead me away from my parents. He insisted that he drive, to show my parents that he was more than capable of living on his own. I asked him why that was important, and he insisted that he needed to be able to care for himself to care for me. I wanted to ask him what that was about exactly, but I kept my mouth shut. He was driving sort of like an old man, five under the speed limit, hands at ten and two with stiff arms, just like a new driving student.

"I'm driving on the way home," I sighed as he attempted to parallel park at the restaurant. After his third failed attempt, the woman who owned the car in front of us came out of the restaurant and moved her car. I didn't blame her, he'd almost taken her back bumper off twice and nearly backed into her SUV on the way into the spot.

"Whatever yeah," he sounded more than a little irritated. I didn't try to coach him because when it came to driving, Dei liked to try and figure it out himself, though he had never touched an instruction manual, and it was almost impossible for him to know everything about the road without it. Conversions while he was driving usually ending in him telling me that he could do it, only to confirm he could not.

The restaurant was much worse than the car ride or the parking lot. My parents were already seated inside the dinner, disproving looks on their faces. We had barely sat down before my dad asked why he hadn't let me drive.

"Uh, Practicing, yeah, gotta get practice in so I can get an actual license," Deidara's voice sounded kinda nervous but my parents passed it off. I had a pop sitting in front of me, and they told us that they'd ordered for us, and food was on its way. I couldn't decide if it'd taken that long for Dei to park or if they were being foreword. It was quiet for a few more seconds before my dad asked another question.

"So, what are you both doing? At work I mean, you seemed so content with your jobs on the phone," This was almost a trap, like he was waiting for one of us to say the wrong thing. His tone wasn't accusing, but almost like he was daring us to speak.

"Well uh, I'm a secretary for the whole building, I uh, process paperwork and route it to where it needs to go, uh, I guess thats pretty much it, but I'm busy all day so, its not like.." I trailed off, withering under the gaze my mother was giving me. I put my head down, sighing.

"Well, technically, I'm a performance manager, so I have a lot to do, I take in what the customer wants in there show, plan it, and then send it to the factory, and then I also accompany the workers on the trip hmm, I supervise set up and then I'm the one that actually gets to detonate, but theres lots of forums and paperwork in there too, its not all fun and games," I was surprised with Deidara's confidence level. Usually he tried to say at little as he could with my parents around, but he was so cool about it, so factual.

Our food came then, not giving my father time to scrutinize either of our words. We spent the time eating in silence. I was surprised my father had taken charge of this trip. Usually it was my mother that did the lecturing and it was my father that gave me ice cream after she made me cry when I was a kid. Deidara was being quite macho too, I think they might have both been showing off to each other, a pissing contest essentially, but with my mother the way she was with everything, irrational and demanding, I figured my father was doing this for more reason that Dei.

"What kind of health insurance are you getting?" My mother asked, calmly, before shoving another fork full of salad in her mouth. Deidara and I were half way though the burger and fries they'd ordered us by this time. I entirely wasn't sure, I'd never asked about that, just took my job, so I looked over at Deidara who was chewing his food quicker to answer.

"Minimal, it covers colds and stitches, but it builds, this is a seniority job," He answered, sounding sort of short. I was worried he was starting to get an attitude with my parents, that was the last thing I needed. Dei wasn't exactly short tempered, but after enough prodding, he'd loose it. It was never so important my parents like him, up until now I could have cared less about what they thought about him, and I prayed that he could be tolerant of them just a little longer.

"Were gonna get a house after we save up this spring, right May?" Deidara nudged me with his elbow to my upper arm. I nodded, my mouth still full.

"A house is a lot to take care of," My father noted, like we were some sort of stupid children, like we didn't know that.

""I'm sure it'll be fine," Dei passed my father off quickly, and not another word was said about it. Our meal was finished shortly after.

It had been dark for some time now, and I'd been sitting here, letting Deidara take direction of the night for almost the entire time. It was better that way, him talking and allowing for me to just sit quietly and worry about things out of my control to myself.

"Dad, uh, Do you think I could get my mattress down here? And uh, my bed and stuff.." I trailed off as we walked outside. We needed that bed, we needed stuff for a house in general. Sure I could paint the walls with every hue in the world but you can't make a couch out of paint. Not that I had a couch, I had a desk though, and a shelf.

"Who's gonna pay for the movers?" He asked, not giving me a yes or a no, but when I told him that I would be paying, he said a quick "we'll see." I didn't mention I didn't have any more money. We parted ways that night, my parents going back to their hotel and taking my dog with them. I never hit the bed so hard as I did that night.

Morning again came to early, just like it had every morning when Deidara and I were traveling. At least I wasn't sleeping on the ground, but I sure felt like it. Things had been so much simpler when he was leading my blindly off into the unknown country side, on the run and having fun. I wondered if it was possible to get back.

"Dei," I groaned. He walked back into the bedroom still in his pajamas with two cups of coffee in his hands and tried to give one to me. I didn't want it, I hated coffee.

"What?" He asked, setting both cups down and sitting next to me on the bed.

"I'm so sick of this, this is exactly why I loved your world," I sighed, pulling the covers over my head. He didn't say anything, but he put his hand on top of the blanket where my should was. I felt sad, I felt like the world was on my chest, sick even.

"I want to go to your mom's house, I want to go back to the woods, I just, ugh," I groaned again.

"We have to get ready to go to work," he said quietly. He felt it too. Work drug on, and we meet my parents after again.

"I can't get any more time off from the hospital, they called me and there's an emergency, so, your mom and I are headed home tonight, call me and we'll set up a date for you to come to get the rest," My dad told me, patting my back as they stood outside of our building. He gave me a few bags of Deidara and I's belongings, and then they were off, Shep's head hanging out the window as they left the parking lot and disappeared down the road. I cried.

I left home, I left home with my lover, my fiance, my Deidara, but I'd left my family, and any chance I'd had at getting my friends back.

My days were the same after they left, one, two, three days pasted sitting in front of a computer, signing papers and sorting them into colored boxes and folders. There was no city view or fun coworkers, I sat alone in the room, typing and writing, trying to tackle the ever mounting stacks of paperwork in front of me. On the third day, my cell phone rang in the middle of the day, it was an unknown number. With no one around, I took the call.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello, this is Sargent David Pemberton, with the Kentucky state police, who am I speaking with?" the voice on the other end came. Why was the Kentucky state police calling me?

"Whats this about?" I asked quickly. I realized then my parents never called to tell me they were home safe, "Oh my god no, this uh, this is, my name is May, where are my parents are they okay?"

"They're in critical condition in Lexington city hospital, there out of the emergency room, but still in ICU, so theirs no rush to get here alright?" He tried to calm my frantic blabbering.

"Oh god!" I shouted, "I'll be there soon, thank you, thank you so so much," I was nearly sobbing as I hung up the phone. I jumped up from my seat to run into my bosses office, whom I had never meet, I told him the situation after introducing myself quickly. I was down the stairs and grabbing Deidara in what felt like a few seconds. The drive however was much different.

I was literally unfit to drive. I was more or less a nervous wreck in the passenger seat, knees pulled to my chest trying to fight bouts of crying and panicking. All I could think about was how they'd always been there, my parents, my fucking parents were in the hospital, the very same parents that had raised me, were in ICU. Deidara was not a confident free way driver, especially since the rush hour semi-trucks were going much faster than him and passing us left and right.

We'd just gotten into Kentucky when the unthinkable happened. I'd stooped crying long enough to decide I was cold and start playing with the heater. Just as it kicked on, I heard a horrible screeching sound and right away I turned it off, thinking something was wrong with it, however the screeching continued before I felt a very rough something smash into the back, right end of my our borrowed SUV. My neck nearly snapped, but that didn't stop me from grabbing a hold of Deidara's arm as he tried to pull the car out of the harsh right turn we were making. His hand had the wheel jerked all the way to the left, and he was still on the gas. Regardless what he would have done, another car still broad sided us, crashing into my side of the vehicle and nearly crushing my leg. I didn't know it until after, but another car rear ended that one, and tipped the SUV over on its side. The wheels still tried to spin, Dei hadn't let off the gas, but the SUV was so busted up, they literally wouldn't turn, so gas flooded the engine until the car died. We were both still screaming with chests heaving unable to come to terms with the terror that gripped us.

Five minutes has passed and neither of us had moved and it wasn't until I heard screaming sirens that I realized I couldn't feel my leg. When that silence over taken us? My throat was sore, had my vocal cords given out?

"Hello?" I heard a man call, pulling me from my terror gripped silence. My throat felt very raw.

"Hello!" I yelled back, good lord, help was here already.

"Hi! I uh, I'm gonna try n' get this door open, It might be busted, but were gonna get y'all out," his southern accent was thick as he spoke to us. I heard the car creek, and I assumed he'd gotten on the right ride, which was now the top.

"Dei, you, uh, uh, you have to get out first because, it has to look like I was driving," I sputtered quietly, trying to think quick. He couldn't get in trouble for driving after this, he couldn't.

"Don't worry about it hm, just tell them I got behind you to help you, were pretty much on top of each other anyway un, damn, that, that was so much scarier than any accident I've ever been in yeah," He was speaking normally, and sweating I could see my the light of our cracked windows. I think he just wanted me out of this death trap first. If it weren't for our coats, I think we might have froze to death.

I gasped in horror as another terrible crushing sound was heard above me, and in a flash, more light was exposed onto us. Above us I could see the machine as it ripped the crushed door from the frame and showed the pretty winter sky to us. Dei was unclasping me from my seat belt in a second and a man was reaching down to help me out. I almost fell on Deidara trying to get up, but with a wobbly armed push, the man had his hands on my elbows on my black coat.

This man, I could now see was a fireman, smiled as he helped me down off of the car. I turned around quickly, as soon as my feet hit the ground, to watch him do the same to Deidara. Deidara hopped down from the car and into my arms, our embrace was long and hard and loving. We'd lived through another catastrophe. My leg gave out just after he let me go, causing him to scoop me back up and hold me tight as he examined my leg.

"You might need stitches," he muttered. I looked at him and smiled, more because we'd lived then anything else.

"Only if you do them," I murmured and captured his lips in one of the few kisses we shared. I couldn't remember the last time I kissed him, probably the day he left for work, and that was far too long. I pressed my lips to his in a way I was sure he'd have an imprint after we'd finished. He kissed back with the same ferocity, wrapping his arms under my shoulders I wrapped mine around his. As I pulled away, he caught my lower lip between his teeth. I think it was supposed to have been sexy, but it only made me giggle. He laughed too, looking a bit sheepish.

"Uh, I hate to break you guys up but, there's an ambulance here to take you both to the hospital," the fire man said, and ushered us to leave, waving his hand to 'shoo' as a tow-truck backed up to the four car accident to start hauling away scrap and get the freeway clear again.

Deidara helped me hobble over to the ambulance and only after I had a got a cloth and pressure applied to my leg did I notice Deidara favoring his left arm, holding it away from his body and still, bent at a ninety degree angle. He'd hugged me with both hands, hadn't he?

"What you do?" I asked, raising the attention of the paramedic.

"Sir, is your arm broken?" the man asked in a demanding tone, just like all of these accident professionals spoke in. Deidara didn't say anything, just offered his arm to the man, who sighing got him a brace for it.

"You weren't gonna say anything?" I asked, "Doesn't that hurt?" It sort of angered me that he wasn't worried about his health. Ninja or not.

"I've had worse yeah," He commented. We didn't speak the rest of the ride. The wait to see a doctor after we arrived wasn't terribly long since we came in with the ambulance, though Deidara and I were in separate rooms, I was just happy to have someone to stop the bleeding. It wasn't a terribly deep wound, but I felt a little light headed. One hundred stitches, a lime green cast, a police statement and a large bill later, we were discharged from the hospital. Of course the bill was sent to the house in Ohio, there was no way we'd be able to get off the ground in South Carolina. One call to our boss and a moving company later, it was arranged for our remaining possessions to be sent back to my parents house by UPS. We had a cab called for us at the busy hospital, and using our brains, we had them pick us up in the parking lot as to avoid traffic. It was difficult for me to get around. They were afraid I'd pop the stitches in my leg and have the wound gushing again so I was given a pair of crutches which I was still attempting to learn to use. Not to mention they suspected I had nerve damage, and would have to schedule another doctor's appointment back home.

What had actually happened was a teenager playing on his phone hit the back off our car while not paying attention and drifting into the next lane over. The force from the uneven hit set us sideways, where we were broad sided and my side of the car caved in. Because I was leaning over to grab Deidara, who couldn't pull us out of it fast enough, my top half was spared when the car pushed sheet metal and plastic into my leg, cutting from my knee to just above my heal when the door crinkled in. When the fourth car rear ending the car that T-boned us, it was just enough to knock us over, where the force and smashing left side broke Deidara's arm. No air bags deployed. I was surprised that was all that happened, other than these few, I guess minor wounds, we were unhurt. Shaken up and jumpy, but otherwise unhurt.

When we expressed to the driver that we needed to go an hour from where he picked us up to another hospital to see my parents, After explaining he only did local jobs he called another cab that had us scrambling to get out and into another that could take us that far. It was all a huge hassle and all of it wracked up more and more bills. That all aside, the ride to the other hospital wasn't very fun. I'd asked to stop at a drug store and pick up asprin and some gauze to keep me from scratching at my leg, but neither of those things curbed the pain and ache I was feeling. I didn't assume Deidara was doing any better. I leaned on him, and he put his good arm around me, the artificial heat in the car made it warm enough to take off our coats. My pants were ruined, blood mostly coating the outside of them and ripped to all hell, but I'd insisted on keeping them and my bloodied sock and shoes, refusing to all the nurses to throw them out.

"We lived you know," I sighed, watching out the front window of the cab as the lights rushed by on all the other cars and buildings bordering the highway.

"Yes, we did, and I can honestly say, that was probably scarier then any mission I have ever been on," Deidara's tone was flat and tired, we were both fighting to keep our eyes open.

"Excuse me, sir, could you um, find us a hotel when you get into town?" I asked the cabbie, my head listening to Deidara soothing heart beat. The hospital my parents were at was probably closed for visitors. The sun had set an indeterminable amount of hours ago and judging by the amount of cars around, it was pretty late at night.

"Sure thing," He said. My eyes drifted shut, the last thing I felt were Deidara's lips on the top of my head as I drifted to a much needed sleep.