Amanda stared at John, not moving, not even blinking, until he started to become nervous.

"Um…Amanda?" he tried, putting a hand on hers.

"You want what?!" she demanded. Her voice, raspy from giving her life story, hurt as she spoke. She coughed, trying to clear her throat, but when she spoke next, it hurt even more. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

John had asked himself the same question, on numerous occasions, since she had survived the bear trap test. Never had it seemed more appropriate.

He cleared his throat, even though he knew it didn't need it, using the time to think of some type of response. Had Jigsaw escaped unnecessarily? Was it too early to be doing this?

He could shrug it off, say that he was just kidding. Buy Jigsaw didn't like that idea and neither John nor Jigsaw particularly enjoyed lying. Especially when Jigsaw knew that sooner or later, Amanda would have to work for him and learn his life lessons before he died. Otherwise, everything they had done would be wasted. Jigsaw wanted to create a legacy. His work could not end with his death. It had to continue.

"What are you doing?" Amanda asked again, eyes narrowed. The hand beneath John's had become a fist.

John could see her flinch every time she spoke. Her voice was terribly hoarse, so he imagined that it hurt her to talk. Amanda did well with pain, though. She had endured various injections through the drugs she craved, and John knew that she cut herself on occasion.

He hoped to promote that. Pain in itself was useless, but applied to the right direction, it could serve its purpose. John's best designs came when he was suffering headaches that the medication never entirely took away.

"I want to help you," he explained. "I want to offer you an opportunity."

"For what?!" she spat. Spray touched his face, but John did not bother to wipe it away. "One day I'm your pet kitten, now I'm an apprentice?"

Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke.

Oh, so that was what it was about. John nearly sighed with relief. Amanda would do anything for him, but he had to make her understand that she would be doing this for herself. Becoming his apprentice in order to continue his work after John's death would empower her, because it would keep her away from drugs and tell her, every day, how important and precious life was. The only reason she was hesitating was because Amanda was afraid their relationship would change.

John nearly scoffed at that. Of course things would change after she began to work for him. Yet she must have known that they could not spend the rest of his life on picnics. He had important work to do, and every day he delayed was one less day of progress. Doubly so if Amanda agreed to carry on his work.

"You're still my kitten, Amanda," John promised. "You mean everything to me."

"Then why…?" she nearly wailed.

"Because I want my life to have a purpose, and I want yours to have one after I'm gone. Amanda." He put both hands on her shoulders and stared at her evenly. "I only have a few more years left before this cancer takes my life away completely. It's already taking me away, bit by bit. I want people to see how important life is."

"By killing them?" Amanda countered, face hardening.

"If they want to live, they will live. You survived. Everyone has a chance, but they must make a choice." He paused. "You should know better than anyone else that there are rules."

"I'm the only one who's survived."

"Then why shouldn't you be the one to carry on my work? Can't you see how this is meant to be? You are the only survivor and you will, from your experience with the bear trap and your learning from me, be able to teach the world to marvel at life."

"So I kill some people? Big deal. After you're gone, the police will hunt me down next. They'll find me, too."

So part of her hesitation was that Amanda did not want to return to prison. John couldn't say he blamed her. Prison might be preferable to participating in one of his tests, but it was hard to live one's life to its fullest potential if he or she were locked in a small room all day and night.

"Listen to me and do what I say. Then you won't be caught." He smiled. "Unless you want to be. You may find yourself with the power should they find you."

"You're fucking crazy," Amanda sighed.

"I'm perfectly sane," John replied, slightly offended by this assessment.

"It's not like I have a choice, do I? That's why you broke into Liz's apartment. That's the reason you wanted me to get better." She rolled her eyes. "I should have known something was up. You're a murderer."

"I've never killed anyone," John protested. "I simply place people in situations in which they must act or will die."

Amanda scoffed at this, but said nothing more about it. "Fine, I'll do it, but under a few conditions."

It was Jigsaw's turn to scoff. Amanda had no real power here, and if she didn't realize this, she was a fool and it had been stupid of Jigsaw to choose her.

"What are they?"

Amanda inhaled. "This better not become everything we do. I want some kind of a normal life within all of this."

John nodded. "Of course."

"Don't you dare put me in any more traps."

John sighed. "You won't be in anything like the bear trap, and you will always have additional information so you can solve the trap. But I am thinking of entrapping several people in a house, including Detective Matthew's son. While I would not make any traps for you, you would know how to complete them all."

Amanda paused before answering. "I just don't want to wake up in a fucking trap without knowing anything beforehand."

"Agreed." He paused. "Anything else?"

Amanda slowly shook her head. "Just don't let things change too much, okay? I hated my life before, and now…"

John nodded and pulled her into a hug. Jigsaw tried not to shudder at this display of affection.

The two of them were still at odds.

John felt relieved. The worst was over, or so he believed, and Amanda had agreed to help him. She might think he was a murderer now, but she'd soon realize that John, and Jigsaw, had been right all along. She would thank him for placing her in the bear trap, and look to him as the father figure he saw himself. Everything he did was for their mutual benefit, and even if Amanda viewed him as a hateful snake now, it wouldn't last.

It couldn't.

A/N: As always, five reviews and then I'll start on the next chapter.