After Rob Kingson's visit to the apartment, Kyle flung himself even deeper into his studying. Lindy watched him devote every bit of himself to their sessions with Will, taking notes, asking questions. He studied early in the mornings, before their sessions, and long after as well. He even went to the library on the weekends to keep up his momentum. He was a man on a mission, and Lindy knew that it wasn't just to get the GED; it was to invalidate everything his father had told him.

She didn't mind that most of Kyle's attention had been taken away. She knew it was only for another few weeks, and then they'd take the test. She didn't want to hold him back, or make him feel guilty for what he was doing. In a way, she was glad his attention was so taken up with his studying. That way, they didn't have to talk about Rob's visit.

It wasn't that Rob's insults had hurt her deeply, or even surprised her. She knew what people like him thought about her. She'd had to deal with that all her life. And she knew that he hadn't poisoned Kyle's mind in any way. What it was, really, was his father's candidness. She'd never actually heard anyone put those thoughts into words and say it with the amount of earnestness that Kyle's father said it.

Lindy had allowed herself a good cry that night after Rob left, and she was glad she was discreet enough that Kyle didn't know about it. She cried until she was unconscious, and even then her body was racked with trembling sobs in her sleep. By the morning, however, she felt refreshed, as if she'd bathed in a deep, cool, moonlit pool on a hot summer night. She hadn't cried in a good long while, and it was as if her body had needed it.

In some weird, twisted way, she owed a debt of gratitude to Rob Kingson.

Before any of them realized it, it was the week of the test. In the years after, Lindy would remember those days as being one, long, day, sitting on the beige-colored sofa, surrounded by books, softened by Will's stern but compassionate eyes as he drilled them – and the feeling of Kyle's hand absent-mindedly petting the back of her head.

The night before the test, Lindy couldn't sleep. She lay on her side, watching the glowing scarlet numbers of the clock get higher with the arrival of midnight. It didn't help that her bedroom was the highest in the house, and also the warmest, thanks to the last vestiges of summer. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and went downstairs, hoping that the cooler temperature would help her sleep.

As she passed from the third, to second, to the bottom floor, she could hear the sounds of the television chattering softly in the darkness. As she rounded the corner to the living room, she felt a sense of nostalgia, remembering the first time she and Hunter met face to face.

But instead of Hunter's dark, slumped form in the sofa, it was now Kyle's straight back and blonde head poking up from the back of the cushions. He was reading over one of their study books.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" she called out in greeting.

He turned around and smiled at her. "Just thought I'd look over a few things before I called it a night."

"Remember Will's warning about cramming: does more harm than good." Lindy rounded the sofa and came to sit down next to Kyle.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," he replied, tossing the book onto the coffee table. "So, what's your excuse?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't get comfortable. My room's a little…warm." She felt guilty about complaining about it.

"Ugh, sorry. I hadn't considered that when I made it your room."

"No worries. Only a few more weeks of summer, then it'll get cool again." The sounds of foreign voices met Lindy's ears and she turned her attention to the TV. It appeared to be a Korean program – not unlike the one that had been on the first time she met Hunter.

"Gee, this feels familiar. Do you study well to Korean TV?" she teased him.

"Just background noise. Besides, I've seen this one a hundred times and I know exactly what's going to happen."

"Oh, do you? And that's because you're fluent in Korean, right?"

"Exactly. Just like you are - supposedly."

Lindy smirked and turned back to the set. The program showed a middle-aged man in a gaudy white suit, taking a young girl in a tight tank top and a mini skirt to a jewelry store. As they looked at the showcase of earrings, bracelets, and rings, Lindy couldn't help but notice how precariously close the man's hand was to the girl's ass.

"All righty then, you take Sugar Daddy, I'll take Lil Precious," she said.

"Game on."

They listened to the conversation between the shop keeper, Sugar Daddy, and Precious for a few seconds, then Kyle asked, "So what did she say?"

Lindy squinted at the TV. "She said…'Ooh honey, buy me this necklace! It would look sooo good in my cleavage!'" They laughed over the kewpie doll voice she used to narrate.

"What about Sugar Daddy?" she asked.

Kyle bit the inside of his lip in thought. "He said…'Nothin's too good for my sweet cheeks – as long as you let me fish it out of your cleavage with my teeth!'"

Lindy laughed so hard at Kyle's interpretation that she had to catch her breath. The jewelry store scene abruptly cut to dinner at a restaurant. They watched as Sugar Daddy and Lil Precious walked over to a table together, where a middle-aged woman and a teenage boy were already sitting. Sugar Daddy kissed the older woman on the cheek, then went to sit next to her while Lil Precious sat across the table with the teenaged boy.

Kyle and Lindy looked at each other, confused. "What…?" Kyle started.

They couldn't understand the conversation the four of them were having, but listening closely, they finally figured out that the boy and girl were calling the two older people "Ma" and "Pa."

"Omigod. That wasn't her sugar daddy. That was her…" Lindy trailed off, as the realization hit them.

They both groaned in disgust, then laughed. "Well, at least we got the 'daddy' part right," Kyle pointed out.

Lindy tossed her head back against the sofa and laughed. "True enough."

They smiled at each other, and it got very quiet. Kyle leaned over and kissed Lindy, quickly, gently. That kiss was barely over before they both leaned in and captured each other's lips, only this kiss was longer and deeper. Her hands went to the back of his hair, fingers entwining the locks, while his arms wrapped around her back and waist, pulling her closer to him. The kiss kept going and going, getting more intense as the seconds went on. They both realized how hungry they had been for each other.

Kyle broke off the kiss to pull Lindy onto his lap. He buried his face in her hair, kissing her neck, then resting his lips against her ear. "Lindy!" he whispered to her. The need in his voice, the desire in it, sent shivers running through her. He sounded like a man who'd been denied water, finally getting to quench his thirst.

The world spun before her eyes as he laid her down on the sofa and then lay on top of her. She soon found that she didn't mind his weight pressing on her; in fact, it might her feel safe, protected. He cupped her face in his hands and smiled down at her, and his smile almost felt painful. She'd denied herself access to him for too long. He was always there, waiting for her, being patient as best he could. Knowing, knowing her, knowing that she'd come around no matter how long it took.

Why did it always seem that he knew her better than she knew him?

His hands were slipping beneath her clothes. She sighed and closed her eyes, relishing the feeling of him touching her. It felt like everything had been leading up to this point – from the moment he first spoke to her in the hallway at Buckston. Granted, he was accusing her of trying to embarrass him, but the fact that he was speaking to her – and that she'd surprised him by wishing him luck. And then, just a few weeks later, he surprised her by not only giving her a rose, but taking a picture with her and not taking his eyes off of her.

When she thought about it, their relationship had been one surprise after another: coming into his house, thinking she was a prisoner, then coming to rely on him and trust him and love him. Then finding out the guy she lusted after and the guy she loved were actually one and the same…all surprises woven together, but all together making sense, feeling right, being—

"Oh!"

Kyle's pained gasp shook Lindy out of her thoughts and her eyes flew open. He was looking at her scar, then looking back at her in shock.

God damn it, she'd forgotten about the scar.

"What happened?" he asked, running his finger over her hip.

She pushed his hand away. "Don't touch it. Just –please, please don't touch it." She sat up on the sofa and straightened her clothes.

"What happened to you?" Kyle asked again.

Lindy chuckled bitterly. "Just a reminder of where I came from." Without another word, she got up and left the room, leaving him sitting on the sofa.

She'd only gotten halfway down the hall when she changed her mind. She stopped, turned around, and returned to the living room where he was still sitting. She sat in the chair across from the sofa – she didn't want to risk him touching her.

Lindy took a deep breath before she started. "Two years ago, my dad and I lived in a different apartment. Not too far away from the one I was living in when you found me. We had a different apartment, and Dad had a different dealer too. His name was Sy. He wasn't like Victor. He buddied up to my dad, acted like he was his friend. My dad used to actually let him come into our apartment. The first time my dad couldn't pay, Sy acted like it wasn't a big deal. The second time it happened, Sy still had that same shark smile on his face, and he told my dad – in the friendliest way possible – that it would be very bad if it happened again.

"One night, I woke up to the sound of glass breaking. I was going to stay in bed, because when my dad would get high, he sometimes broke things because he got clumsy. But then I heard blows and my dad yelling. I knew that Sy had come to collect, and my dad didn't have the money to give him.

I came out into the hallway, and sure enough, it was Sy. I watched him hit my dad. So I came after him from behind. He threw me off of him, and I lost my balance. I collided with a table that had a glass top. It had been one of my parents' wedding presents – a tea table with a swan carved in the wood. But the glass had been broken. That was what I had heard break." Lindy paused in her story for a moment, swallowed, then continued.

"When I hit the table, the glass was jagged. It cut right into my thigh, and as I fell, it cut me to my hip." She stopped speaking, but she didn't look at Kyle. She could imagine the look of horror and disgust that would be on his face.

She went on, not wanting to wait for any sympathetic words. "The neighbors had heard my screams and called the police. Sy left before they could get him. I ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind me. My dad cried at the door, begging me to forgive him, to let him take care of me. But I wouldn't let him in. I tried to take care of the cut myself."

She felt the scar burn as she thought back to that night, going through all of the toilet paper and paper towels they had, her hands stained red, and her father balling at the door.

"You never realize," she added softly, "how much blood you have inside of you until something like that happens."

Finally she brought her eyes to Kyle's. He looked like he was about to cry. She kept going. "I realized I couldn't stop the bleeding on my own, and I had to let my dad take me to the hospital. I promised him that I wouldn't tell the doctor what happened, under two conditions: one, that we move out of that apartment; and two, that he never let any of his dealers into our home ever again. I got 12 stitches that night. Dad kept his promise. I'm glad I didn't ask for something stupid, like that he'd never use again."

Kyle got up from the sofa and knelt in front of her. "Lindy," he said, his voice breaking, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Sitting on the floor in front of her, he looked like a little boy who had just had his heart broken by learning some cruel fact of life. Lindy suddenly felt very old and weary. She took his face in her hands gently. "When exactly was I supposed to tell you? I have lots of stories like that one, although that's the only one where I got hurt. It's the life of an addict's daughter."

Kyle looked away. "You didn't want me to see your scar. You were angry that I saw it. But you had to know I'd see it sometime."

"I knew that you'd see it. I was even going to tell you about it, but then…" she trailed off.

"But then what?" he asked.

"But then…you know…things changed."

He frowned in confusion. "What things cha-" And then suddenly it was clear to him. The scars he'd had as Hunter. Surely if anyone could understand how humiliating a wound that wouldn't heal was, it would be him. He could see how Lindy thought that telling him about her own scar would have helped him to deal with his disfigurement.

But those scars were gone. They were transient marks, reflecting the cuts to his soul that he'd inflicted on himself. And he'd healed himself through his ability to selflessly love. But Lindy…she would have to bear the mark of her father's mistake for the rest of her life. There was no magic spell promising to fix what was broken about her.

And every time she looked at Kyle's smooth, perfect flesh – the flesh of a boy who'd been pampered and protected all his life – she'd be reminded of that.

But Kyle had to try to make things better, in spite of this fact. "Lindy, I love you. Nothing can change that – not where you came from, not a scar, nothing."

She nodded. "I know that. I know, I do." She sighed. "It seems like there's always something between us, doesn't it?"

Kyle shook his head. "Only the things we let come between us."

"And then there's something else around the corner. If it's not my dad overdosing, it's your dad coming over and telling you I'm trash-"

"You heard him?" Kyle's voice cracked in shock. He was so embarrassed that she'd heard.

Lindy shrugged. "Doesn't matter. All the things he said – I already knew he was thinking them from the moment he met me." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "We should get some rest. Tomorrow's a big day."

Kyle caressed the arms around his neck. "But I don't want to end it like this."

She smiled and kissed him. "We're cool. I haven't gotten this far just to lose you now." She pushed him to get him to stand. "Go on. Go on, go to bed. We have to be up at 7 to get to the center by 9."

He hesitated. How could everything be cool, after what she told him? But then again, what else could he do, except trust in her? As he began to walk away, he realized she wasn't walking with him. He turned back. "Are you staying down here?"

"Yeah. Like I said, cooler on this floor. Easier for the sandman to find me," she replied with a light laugh. "I'll see you in the morning."

And Kyle realized there was something else he could do. "No," he told her firmly. "I'm staying with you."

She smiled at him. "Kyle."

He shook his head. "No. I won't sleep without you. If you want me to get some rest, then I'm staying here."

It look Lindy a while to adjust to the feel of his chest against her back, the hardness of his arm under her ribs as they shared the sofa. She probably would have been more comfortable alone in her own bed, even in the heat. But she couldn't leave that sofa even if she wanted to. She needed to believe that everything was going to be okay between them. She shut her eyes tightly and forced herself to sleep.


That's how Will found them in the morning when he went to get them up for the test. The two of them, crammed onto the sofa, arms and legs hanging awkwardly off the side, heads and necks twisted at odd angles in order to accommodate each other – fast asleep. Their bodies were under great strain, but their hearts and minds were at peace.

He guessed that this was what real love was supposed to look like.


Will and Zola dropped Kyle and Lindy off at the center a half an hour before the test started and promised to be there at 5 when they were done. The GED was eight grueling hours. But Will had prepared them well. As he went through the exam, Kyle found himself pulling the answers from his memory with fair ease. He was grateful now to Will for being so hard on him.

The only trouble was, he soon began to get tired. Unfortunately the testing center they chose required them to take the whole test in one day, instead of being able to break it up across several days. By the time lunch came around, his mind felt blown. As he stumbled out of the testing room, exchanging looks of mutual sympathy and exhaustion with others, he hoped that Lindy might have retained a little more energy than he.

There were restaurants lining the street that test center was on, but Kyle and Lindy didn't need them. Zola had packed bag lunches to take with them. At that moment he was grateful for the motherly gesture, because he felt so mentally drained by the test that he didn't think he could even make the simple decision of choosing a meal from a menu.

But now he couldn't find her. They had been assigned their seats alphabetically, so the instructor had put her several rows back from him. The room had been crowded, and when the lunch break was called, the other test takers flooded from the room, pushing him along with them. So he took a seat under a large and rather lush oak tree, hoping she'd find him.

He dug his hand into the brown paper bag and pulled out a sandwich. Absently he bit into it while he scanned the scene, trying to find her.

"She was checking her voicemail inside," Kyle heard a heavily accented voice say a few feet away from him. Kyle turned in the direction of the voice and saw an Indian boy, about his age, biting into a piece of naan and smiling.

"Oh! Thanks." Kyle was a little surprised by the comment.

The boy must have sensed Kyle's surprise, because he added, "I saw you kiss her before we had to start. It must be…comforting to have your wife with you."

Kyle laughed. "Thanks, but we're not married yet."

"Ah." The boy nodded as he finished the last of his naan. "I am not married either. I will be going home after I pass the exam to do so. Our families have been kind enough to put off the wedding until I finish this."

Kyle's chewing slowed down as he contemplated this. "Your marriage was arranged, right?" He hoped he wasn't going to offend the guy, but he was curious.

"Yes, it was. I know how that must sound to…someone outside of my culture. But I have met the girl I'm going to marry. She's lovely. I'm sure we will be happy."

Kyle didn't comment after that, instead trying to focus on eating his lunch and looking for Lindy. But he was thinking of what the guy told him. Could anyone really be happy, having someone chosen for them? He was sure that if he pressed the issue, the boy would argue that he and his wife would learn to love each other. That even though the choice was taken away, they'd still find themselves at the end wanting no one else.

But then he considered something else: Lindy's choice was taken away from her too. She had to live in a house in which her only options for love were another woman, a man too old for her, or a boy her age who was so disfigured that he couldn't bear to leave the house. What else could she do, but fall in love with Kyle? She learned to love him.

And, perhaps, in a way, Kyle's choice was taken away from him too. There were irresistible forces that put them together. Not tangible, overt forces, but more like fate. Zola happened to buy a white rose instead of the orchid that Sloan wanted, giving him the chance to talk to Lindy and give her the rose. And that spurred them to take a picture together, burning her face into his mind.

And when he went to the Halloween party, she just happened to be walking by when he kicked those boxes, making her stop to talk to him. And she happened to drop her glasses, so that Kyle could pick them up and see through them, finally finding the person that, as Kendra put it, "could see better than him."

And after he started following her, he just happened to be there that night, to save her from Victor and his brother. And those horrible circumstances had allowed him to lay claim to her, in the hopes that she would be able to see beyond his ugliness and love him. Time was running out. Lindy was his only hope. He didn't have the time to find anyone else.

Fate had arranged them together, Kyle supposed. And they learned to love each other. He looked over at his lunch companion, and gave him a good natured smile.

He felt a hand caress his hair. He turned around to find Lindy standing behind him.

"Hi," she said with a smile. She sat down next to him and opened her lunch, tucking into it quickly as their lunch hour was quickly running out.

"Hey," he answered softly, pulling her gently towards him to kiss her to the side of the head. "How are you feeling? Personally, my brain is oatmeal."

"Ha! Yeah, the same. At least we get an hour off."

"So…where have you been?"

Kyle noticed that Lindy's chewing slowed down after his question – as if she were trying to figure out how to answer. She swallowed gently, avoiding his eyes. "I was checking my voicemail."

"Okay…"

She sighed and smiled at him sadly. "I wanted to wait until after the test to tell you. My uncle left me a message. My dad can have visitors at the rehab center he's in, and he's been asking for me. I've-I've spent all this time trying to figure out whether I wanted to call him back, or just delete it."

Kyle nodded. "What did you decide to do?"

Her eyes were shining with guilt. "I think…I'm going to go see him. Sometime this week."

"Always something between us, right?" Kyle said with a bitter smile.

"Kyle."

"No, it's okay. I know you have to go to him. He's your father."

Lindy leaned over and kissed him. "It's only for a few days, and then I'll be back. I promise."

They had to go back into the testing center shortly after that. Kyle was able to throw himself back into the testing fairly easily, even with the thought of Lindy leaving him again in the back of his mind. But if it were true – if fate was always pushing them together, making it so that their only choice was to be together – then Kyle had nothing to worry about.

He would rather live in a world where all he could see was Lindy than a world full of empty choices.