Severus remained in the bathroom for a while, and Paige sat in the main room. She prepared the bandages by opening a few. She also had some rubbing alcohol and cotton balls. In case of a really bad wound, she had some thread and a needle to sew it up. After she positioned all of the first aid supplies, she laid some clothes out on the main table in the room. She figured a black t-shirt and jeans were appropriate for him considering his usual dress robes were black, and she had found him at the front door to her room wearing them.

While Paige prepared to help Snape, he grabbed the washcloth she had thrown in the tub, and started cleaning all the dirt and grime off of himself. Blood, which had left his wounds so long ago, had stuck and dried to his skin. He tried to wash off the blood gently, trying to avoid pain when cleaning the more severe slashes on his skin. After years of being the Potions Master, his skin remained sensitive, even when there were no problems with it. Perhaps the different potions throughout the years had seeped into his skin, causing it to be sensitive, while others thought it was just karma for his cruel punishments and behavior. At the same time, no matter how sensitive his skin could be, no matter how pale it was, that skin remained tough, blocking out all the hurtful events of his life. For so many years, the skin of Severus Snape had remained hardened and untouched, until now, when he had been wounded in more ways than one, and only one thing had wounded him so badly in the past: the loss of Lily.

After Snape finished with his bath, he stepped out and drained the tub. The slightly red water swirled down the drain and disappeared, just like Lily had disappeared from his life within a few brief seconds. Grabbing a towel from off the rack, he wrapped it tightly around his waist. He turned to face the mirror and forced himself to look at the man he had become. The cold stare looking back at him, which were his own eyes, gave him a cold shiver. He wasn't sure he had liked the man he had become, but he did it for a reason. He did it to protect the one good thing Lily had left behind: Harry. What good did it do though? Harry probably would know the truth after Snape gave him his thoughts, but he had been so mean to Harry. Snape just could not stand to see Lily's eyes looking at him everyday, staring up at him in class, or glaring at him from something mean he had done.

Severus glanced at himself one last time in the mirror. His hair potentially might have not been greasy for once, which made it seem like it had been an eternity since it was smooth and shiny. He had become so used to the way he was, he didn't really understand the person he could be. Having the towel only cover him from his waist down to his knees, Severus exited the bathroom and walked into the main room. His bare chest and legs were exposed, pale, vulnerable, wounded, and yet somehow, he had managed to still look remotely decent after all of these long brutal years.

Paige turned around to see Snape in nothing but the towel. Her cheeks turned a light shade of red before a smirk came across her lips. "I'm surprised you clean up well at all," she joked. "Now, lay down on the bed so I can bandage you up."

Severus laid down on the bed, his back up against the headboard, and the towel still tightly wrapped around his waist. "I'm surprised you've even seen a man half naked." He retorted in his usual, cruel, monotone voice.

"I've seen a lot better looking men more than half naked," she grinned. "Ones that weren't half dead and laying on the doorstep to a hotel room."

Paige grabbed a cotton ball and a bottle of rubbing alcohol, but Snape snatched the alcohol from her. "I can do it myself," he explained. "I don't need a chaperone."

Paige pulled out a second bottle of rubbing alcohol. "Fine. You do the top half of your body, and I'll do your legs." She offered, handing him some bandages and cotton balls to go along with his bottle of rubbing alcohol.

Severus watched as Paige put the cotton ball over the opening of the rubbing alcohol bottle before tipping it upside down. She let a bit of the alcohol get onto the cotton ball before setting the bottle aside again. Wiping the cotton ball over one of the cuts to disinfect it, the cotton ball turned a light red color where the alcohol was at on it. The alcohol stung slightly, but Severus kept calm and started to clean the wounds on the top half of his body in the same manner as Paige.

"Did you really try to kill yourself?" Severus asked, referring to the long scar on her forearm while he continued to clean his cuts.

"No." Paige replied simply while already starting to bandage some of the cuts.

"Then, what happened?"

"My arm was broken in four different spots. They had to do surgery to realign the bone."

"How did that happen?"

"I don't feel like playing twenty questions right now." Paige stated before putting on the last bandage.

"Well, telling someone that some wounds don't heal is a pretty deep statement for someone of your age." Snape commented, still bandaging up a couple cuts.

"I'm twenty five years old," she replied. "That's not that young to actually know something in this world."

"Then you must know that some wounds are only skin deep," he suggested. "I'm sure you know that considering that broken arm was probably given to you by the same person who gave you the black eyes and bruises on your wrist. You know that the pain of the actual injury goes away, but the memory, that lives on forever. It's a wound that doesn't ever heal. Only someone you truly care about and love, can leave such a wound."

"Sounds like you would know all about it," she retorted. "This wound here is only skin deep." She pointed to the long gash on his lower leg, barely above the ankle. "It needs to be stitched up."

"Alright." Snape replied.

Paige wiped the cotton ball full of alcohol over the long gash. More blood stained the cotton ball since this wound happened to be more severe than the rest. Snape flinched his leg as it stung more than the rest of the cuts or wounds that had been cleaned. "It burns." He stated through gritted teeth, actually looking like it hurt.

Paige stood up and walked over to the miniature refrigerator. She pulled out a tiny bottle of alcohol, closed the door, and walked back over to Severus, handing him the bottle. He grabbed it and read the label. "Vodka?" he questioned. "That is the best you can come up with? Don't you have some of that painkiller that muggles use?"

"First of all, don't call me muggle again. Second of all, it's called aspirin and I'm not giving you any because it thins the blood, which would cause you to bleed more quickly." She answered.

"Fine." Snape said, opening the little bottle of Vodka and downing it. The alcohol soothed his nerves, but didn't do much otherwise. The pain still remained and there was nothing he could do about it. These wounds were more than just skin deep. Lord Voldemort had betrayed him, and even though he knew Voldemort loved no one, he had followed the monster and still was betrayed in the process. He remained loyal for so many years, playing both sides, to only be hurt by the one person who considered him is most loyal servant.

Paige sterilized the needle with a bit of rubbing alcohol before putting a piece of thread through the head of the needle. She tied a knot at the end of the thread before placing the needle to his skin. She pushed the needle through his skin, going through to the other side, and then looping it around to stitch it up. Severus groaned in pain and closed his eyes. "Just take a deep breath." She suggested.

Severus did as she recommended, although it did barely anything to stop the pain. Paige continued to stitch up the gash in his leg until the whole thing had been sewn up. Once she finished, she wrapped a bandage around it and threw all the wrappers in the trash from the bandages and other supplies. "I'm done." She stated obviously. Severus did not hear her because he had already fallen asleep from the pain.

Paige had taken this opportunity to wash the blood off of her hands. She walked into the bathroom and cleaned them thoroughly with soap. The normal white soapsuds turned a red color once they were lathered all over her hands, turning red from the blood. She rinsed her hands with water, the water turning a transparent red when it spiraled down the sink and down the drain. After several washes, all of the blood had been cleaned off of her hands.

After Paige finished up in the bathroom, she knew it was time to get something to eat. Her belly had started growling in the process of cleaning up Severus' wounds. It had been way past dinnertime and really dark now, so she grabbed her purse and quietly left the hotel room. Her best bet was some type of fast food that would still be serving food at this time of night.

Fifteen minutes later, Paige turned the doorknob to the apartment. She opened the door to see Severus half naked, trying to put on the clothes she had bought for him. Luckily, he had already put on the shirt and a pair of boxers. When she walked in, Severus was sliding on the black jeans. "Sorry." Paige apologized, her cheeks slightly pink as she placed the bag of food on the table.

Snape pulled up his pants and buttoned them. "It's fine," he stated. "Maybe you should have tried knocking first."

Paige just scoffed and opened up the bag of food. She placed a burger and some fries on one side of the table along with a drink in a Styrofoam cup. The other burger and fries were for her. "Eat up." She said, biting into her burger.

"Is this the best food you could get?" He asked annoyingly.

"Just eat it." She demanded while eating more of her burger.

Severus bit into his burger. It didn't taste anything like Hogwarts food would have tasted, but the burger didn't taste half bad to him. The two of them ate in silence and at one point, Snape looked at her. He was able to watch her eat because she wasn't really paying attention towards his direction. While he looked at her, a feeling came over him. This feeling was guilt, one that he had barely ever felt throughout his life. Along with this guilt, he felt grateful. "Thank you." He said graciously out of nowhere.

Paige looked at him. "Its just food." She stated.

"No. Thank you for helping me. Thank you for bringing me in from outside, cleaning me up, giving me clothes, and even buying me food."

"It's nothing." She said while avoiding his eyes as if being thanked embarrassed her somehow.

"No. It's something," he stated. "Why would you help me? I'm a complete stranger."

Paige looked back up at him, seriously this time. "I'd like to think that someone would help me if I really needed help," she answered. "I would like to think there is always someone out there who is supposed to save each and every one of us at some point or time in our lives."

Severus finished eating and nodded as if he understood. "I hope you know I can't leave here," he confessed. "That means you can't leave here either. It sort of makes you my prisoner."

A grin came across Paige's lips. "I'm hiding too, remember?" she asked. "I'm here on my own free will, so that means I'm not your prisoner."

"I will pay you one day, for everything you have done." He explained.

"No thanks," she replied. "Just save my life someday. That's paying me back enough."

"How do you know I will even meet you again in the future?" He asked.

"I believe we meet everyone for a reason," she answered. "I believe that you ended up on the doorstep of my hotel room for a reason. Everyone comes and goes in our lives for a certain reason. The hardest part is just trying to figure out what that reason is."

Severus pondered her answer for a while. He knew she made a good point because he had met so many people in his life for a reason. Lily opened his heart to love, which protected him from completely turning evil because no love in his life would have left him cold and heartless. Dumbledore took him in as if he were like a son, protecting him from Voldemort and coming up with the plan to play both sides. Now, he had met Paige, the one woman who saved him from an excruciating death. Was this the reason she had come into his life, or was there something more?