He had meant what he had said, he genuinely was happy for Mary, and she did deserve some joy in her life. He hadn't been expecting her to mention Gerard, but he hardly had any right to be surprised. He had not been involved in Mary's life, at least not really, for some time now. Gerard could be the man for Mary that he could never be, he realised that now, no matter how bitter a taste it left in his mouth to admit it. He turned around and walked into the medical room. Amy was staring at him as he entered a look of suspicion present in her features.

"Back again Mr. Larabee?"

"Fraid so, Amy," he smiled as he dipped his hat at her, before sitting down and placing it on the table next to his arm.

"Ms Travis seems nice…" Amy commented.

Though Chris knew it was aimed at him, it was almost as though she was making an observation to herself. Chris watched her carefully for a while as Amy stared down at the sheets covering her for a minute. Her expression was concentrated, and it looked as though she was thinking over something important.

"I feel like I should apologise to you Chris…" she eventually muttered in a tone so low that he almost didn't hear her. Taken slightly aback, he leaned forward,

"Pardon me?"

Amy's tightened her fist's grip on the bed sheets, and he realised that she must have already been gripping them whilst she had apologised to him. The strained look appeared on her face again, and it looked as though she was gritting her teeth at the prospect of having to utter an apology to him twice. He had to bite his lip to prevent a grin, as he waited for her to speak.

"I feel like I owe you an apology…" she started again. Chris couldn't help himself form butting in,

"Oh, no I heard that part, I was wonderin' why?" he grinned at her as Amy's head whipped round to face him with a glare that could kill. Losing the grin he made eye contact with her,

"Seriously though, why'da feel that you should be apologisin' to me?"

She took a moment before she spoke. He noticed the intensity in her eyes, staring at him still while she paused for thought.

"I kinda heard you and Mr. Wilmington arguin' yesterday after you left"

"That wasn't your fault Amy." He leaned even closer towards her as he said the words, and she felt the seriousness in his tone. She looked at him properly for the first time. He was handsome, in a rugged, uncaring sort of way. She was intrigued by the way that his face could seem both unwelcoming and friendly at the same time. He broke away from her gaze, and she realised that she had been staring at him. She had probably been staring at him silently for a little longer than had felt comfortable for him, but Amy sensed he disliked an inclination of intimacy. She has seen what she thought to be loneliness and sadness in his eyes, and it appeared he didn't like the possibility that she could have recognised this. She decided to bypass what she had noticed,

"It is, at least in part. I don' think he'd have been arguing with you for hurtin' a girl if I wasn't to blame"

Chris leaned back, mindfully stroking his chin, absent-mindedly staring at the floor,

"What else did you hear?"

"I wasn' eavesdropping if that's what you're implyin!" it was meant to be a protest of innocence but it came out a little more aggressive than she had planned. Chris' eyes snapped up to look at her, with mild confusion,

"That's not what I was sayin' Amy. I was only wonderin s'all."

She looked down at her lap again, this time in embarrassment,

"I'm sorry Chris…I heard a couple bits, you were basically outsida' my room y'know…I heard the name Ella a few times, sounded like she was importa…" she stopped midstream as anger clouded Chris' features. He looked down at his hands, which had formed into fists at the mention of Ella Gaines. Amy had noticed his hands tightening, and watched hypnotised as his knuckles turned white. Instantly she knew she had made a mistake,

"I'm sorry, I didn' mean to…" she started to apologise but Chris held up one of his hands in a silencing gesture. She stopped abruptly mid sentence, unsure of what to do next. He continued to stare down at his fist, with his other hand almost directly in front of her face. His palm was so close to her that she could notice it was shaking, in fact all of him was shaking in a silent rage. He brought his head up slowly to look at her, and the anger in his face scared her slightly, even though she had been expecting it. His nostrils flared as he took calming breaths, and Amy sat frozen, willing herself to look away from Chris, but unable to tear her eyes away. Never before had she seen a man so furious. He stood up silently, walking to the other side of the small room in such a way that she could feel the pain in every footstep. Amy watched as he stopped, facing the far wall with his back to her. She was not expecting the loud thud that followed afterwards, and jumped at the sound as Chris slammed his fist against the wall.

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault. Ella Gaines is the name of the woman that you heard mentioned." She could practically hear his teeth grinding on the words, "And as far as her bein' important, I suppose you could put it tha' way."

It was only as she went to reply that Amy realised she had been holding her breath throughout this whole episode,

"You don't have ta tell me about this Chris..." the words came out gently, the softness cutting into his blind rage. He turned on the spot, looking at the woman on the bed with a sensation of horror. She hid the terror from her expression well, masking it with bewilderment instead, but as he drew closer he recognised the alarm in her eyes.

"Ella Gaines murdered my wife and son three years ago."

He hadn't meant for the statement to come out so blasé. It had sounded so cold, so matter of fact, and the voice that he heard had sounded alien to him. He wasn't sure what he was doing. Why he was telling Amy his life story, but more importantly the way it was coming out. He had switched from punching walls in fury at the mention of Ella's name, to coldly stating truths about the murderous witch. No wonder Amy was staring at him. He couldn't place the look she was giving him, but he was pretty damn sure that it couldn't be a good sign. Feeling defeated by his emotions he sunk down into the chair beside the bed, resting his head in his hands, staring downwards.

"I'm so sorry Chris…" her voice was tender, but louder than he had expected. Drawing him out of his thoughts of self pity he looked up to find that Amy had moved herself out of bed to directly in front on him. As his eyes met hers, Amy moved her hand from where it had been gently touching his elbow. He hadn't even felt her touch. It was his turn to stare helplessly at her. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't feel. All he could do was watch her face intently.

"I can't imagine how it must feel, ta' know the person who killed someone tha' you loved…" she brushed a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes behind her ear as she spoke. Chris still silent, watched as the burnt gold strand rejoined with the rest of her hair. Next he looked at her freckles, dotted around her nose. One by one he paid the utmost attention to them, desperately attempting to avoid her eyes.

"When you lose someone…it never really goes away does it, the pain I mean…" the grief in her voice broke him from his trance.

"Who was it?"

"My mother…"

He sighed as he sat upright,

"I'm sorry ta' hear that Am…"

"It doesn' matter." She stopped him short, she was looking away from him now, staring deeply at the wall which he had punched earlier, "I mean it does matter, but it was so long ago now, I kinda feel like I shouldn' bring it up." He could almost hear the tears in her voice, "I'm not tryin'ta compare it to what you've gone through" she added quickly looking at him with such a pained expression that would have melted even the hardest of hearts. She looked away again, and he racked his brain for a way to erase the silence that had fallen in the room.

He needed to leave the room, he couldn't breathe around her anymore. She knew his darkest secret, a complete stranger and he had told her the earth shattering news that even he had only discovered recently. But simultaneously he felt that he had uncovered a secret from her that nobody had ever been privileged to before. Suddenly his rage was back again, and this time it filled him, until even his vision was tainted red. How could he have been so foolish? All this time he had kept his business to himself, not a word had slipped past his lips about how the whole situation with Ella had really affected him. He had shut the world out, all those who cared about him, to the point where he seemed a stranger to them. And now he had given away all of his emotions to Amy, a girl he hardly knew! He hadn't actually spoken about how he was feeling but he hadn't needed to. Trembling with rage he stormed out of the room without even a second glance at Amy.