Ruby's eyes flickered open in the bright sunshine of midmorning, the sound of Tori's snoring drawing her attention almost immediately. At some point in time, during the night, he had managed to make his way over to her and was curled up next to her on the floor, eyes closed in his rather serene looking face.

Her hand was resting against his chest, his arm was draped over her hips, the closeness making her heart pound.

"Did you forgive yourself, then?" Ruby whispered, reaching the hand on his chest up to brush her fingers over his chin, his cheek, her touch making him shift ever so slightly but not wake. "Do you believe, like I do, that you're not a monster, Tori? Or are you the monster under your own bed?"

Tori breathed out a sigh as his only sleeping reply, and Ruby smiled, sitting up carefully to work the kinks out of her shoulders and back. Sleeping on the floor was never comfortable, but having any sort of a safe place to sleep was better than attempting to scrape together a few hours outside with the zombies.

The thought came accompanied by a strange, gutteral shriek from outside, a single infected throwing himself against the door and attempting to beat his way through it to get to them. She jumped out of her skin, just about, the sudden sound and movement also waking Tori from his slumber with a grunt and a growl.

Picking up her pistol, Ruby made quick work of the infected outside the door, turning to look at the one inside with a sheepish smile.

"Didn't see him out there, I must have startled him when I got up." She murmured. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"I wish I would have woken sooner." Tori eyed the angle of the sun and sighed. "We can't get used to sitting around, we'll never get anywhere."

"You looked so sweet, sleeping. I didn't want to wake you." Ruby shrugged ever so slightly and Tori blinked up at her, color rising in his cheeks.

"I looked what?" He asked almost indignantly. Ruby just laughed, offering him her hand. Instead of using it to pull himself to his feet, he tugged hard enough to bring her down to him, a squeak escaping her as she fell against his chest.

As they lay there, gazing at one another, Ruby offered Tori a shy smile and tilted her head to the side. He didn't smile, he didn't move, he didn't speak, he simply stared up at her with his luminescent eyes, breath soft and even.

"This isn't very productive." Ruby said with a soft giggle, Tori raising an eyebrow.

"It could be."

"Getting started before you're even up out of bed, hm?"

"What can I say? I rise to the occasion."

"I see that, very clearly." Ruby's final whisper made Tori's cheeks flush again, and her own face was so hot, she was sure it was redder than it had been for some time. "You're obviously feeling better."

"I'm feeling just fine. Better than fine. I'm peachy." He shifted ever so slightly but refused to relinquish his grip on her, a sigh escaping his throat as he leaned his head back again.

"So, I was thinking we should actually go and find some food today. What do you think?" Ruby asked after a few long minutes of awkward silence, her heart beating so hard she was sure he could feel it against his chest. Tori lifted his head to look at her, then shifted his grip so that he propped himself up with one elbow, chuckling.

"Food would probably be good. I'm sure you're hungry."

"And a little more picky than you. I'd give anything for food that's not packaged for once. I know that's not gonna happen, but a girl can dream, right?" Ruby sighed dramatically, her eyes meeting his when his hand cupped her chin.

"I'm rubbing off on you, it appears." He rumbled, Ruby finally managing to escape his grip and stand up again.

"Spending as much time with a person as I spend with you can do that, Tori. Now get up, we've gotta get moving before we lose anymore daylight. It'll be a miracle if we find a safe room tonight." She glanced out the door, seeing that new infected had moved into the area during their eventful yesterday.

"Maybe one with a shower." Ruby rolled her eyes as Tori spoke, keeping her back to him as he pulled himself stiffly to his feet. It was going to be one of those days, obviously, one of those days where everything out of Tori's mouth was inappropriate, immature or innuendo.

It was better than angry Tori, though, or brooding Tori. He managed to make brooding handsome, but it wasn't good for her at this point in time.

It wasn't good to find him handsome with all that was hanging in the air between them.

"Food first, though." Tori sidled up behind her with his axe against his shoulder, shuffling her out of the way so he could open the safe room door and go out first, as was tradition with them.

Tori always went first, just in case. He had almost insisted on going into the safe room first as well when she had been pounced and thoroughly manhandled by a Hunter on their travels, but had quickly decided that was very un-gentleman-like of him.

The Smoker made short work of any infected that had strayed too close to the door and Ruby busied herself shooting others from afar with her pistol, their teamwork seeing them easily through the first part of the street towards a grocery store Tori knew was nearby.

The store had been understandably ransacked, but they managed to scrounge together more easily transportable food, stuffing their packs with as much as they dared to carry. Ruby gazed wistfully at the produce section, seeing that the other survivors that had passed through had taken all the irradiated apples, leaving only spoiled food behind, and neither she nor Tori dared enter the meat section.

Their luck was with them today, however, and Tori guided Ruby to the frozen food section where the electricity was still buzzing. They couldn't take what was in the freezers with them, but Tori offered to watch the door for her for a time while she indulged in some frozen treats, something that made Ruby rather jubilant.

Ice cream would be a bad idea, it might upset her stomach with how rich it was, but she could definitely eat some of the frozen fruit, choosing a small package of blueberries and sitting on the floor in front of the cooler to eat them.

A little while later, lips and fingers stained purple with blueberry juice, Ruby exited the store again with Tori at her side, a smile on her face. He seemed a lot more relaxed today than he had been the day before, and Ruby hoped it was an indication that things were going to start looking up for the two of them.

"There's a road that leads out of the city nearby, into the woods beyond. I have a feeling we'll be able to make a good go of it once we get outside city limits, and there should be less there for us to contend with. Maybe we can find ourselves a nice house on the lake, stay there for awhile?" Tori mused as they walked, running his fingers through his ponytail. Ruby blinked up at him and tilted her head to the side.

"Stay in one place? Sounds nice. A little too nice." She murmured, smirking a little. "I didn't take you as the type to settle down and play house, anyway, Tori."

"Shows how little you know me. If it was possible, I'd get us started having babies right away." He grinned at her when she shot him a look, swinging her around into a quick embrace.

Their travels were relatively unhindered, which was a bad sign instead of giving them a misguided sense of good luck. There were certain types of infected that the lessers would avoid… Tanks were one of those types, other Smokers and Hunters were two more.

Smokers and Hunters were soft and succumbed easily to bullets or blows from an axe.

Ruby had never actually defeated a Tank… most of her time had been spent running from them and hiding when they showed up.

When they reached the safety of the safe room however, the hulking body of one of the giants lay outside it, the smell overpowering and terrible. The sight of the thing, dead, did nothing to Tori's nerves… in fact, Ruby suspected he was more on edge now that he saw it was dead than he had been when he thought it was still alive.

"Why the fuss?" She asked, touching his arm gently. "It could have been other survivors?"

"That's why I'm fussing." Tori rumbled, Ruby raising and eyebrow at him. "Come now, you heard my story… you know my reputation."

"Are you saying there are other girls like Ashley?" Ruby asked quietly, narrowing her eyes, but Tori grimaced at her and shook his head.

"For the love of Darwin, of course not. Ashley was the only girl I ever infected, and I would never do the same thing again." He sighed shortly. "There are just a lot of people out there I've met, a lot of people who know my secret, a lot of people I've made miserable. I'm sure, if we were to meet with any one of them again, I'd end up with my brains splattered all over the wall or the ground."

"Then we'll just have to avoid them." Ruby stepped past the Tank's body and into the safe room, Tori following her shortly after casting another glance around.

Ruby found herself thinking that there was probably more to Tori's story than he was letting on…

…

Tori's coughing woke Ruby from fitful sleep, the girl sitting up and running her fingers through her wavy hair before looking around the darkened safe room to try and figure out where Tori was. His dark jacket made him blend in with the wall, and if he had his eyes closed, it was next to impossible to see him in the dark.

Luckily for her, he had his eyes open, though they seemed a little cloudy and dim from where she was sitting. Crawling across the floor to him, she touched his shoulder in a comforting manner, a gasp escaping her when he leaned into her with a whimper, the coughing resuming once again.

Wrapping her arms around him as gently as she could, not wanting to hinder his breathing in any way, Ruby reached her fingers up and stroked his hair, whispering softly to him in an effort to comfort him while they waited the coughing fit out.

One of his clawed hands closed on the back of her shirt, claws digging in ever so slightly as he gripped it tightly, the coughs beginning to mingle with hoarse sobs that probably did nothing to assist his breathing. Ruby continued to whisper comfort to him, wiping his face free of tears and kissing his forehead, rubbing his back, her efforts beginning to pay off as he stopped panicking and began to breathe a little more easily.

Tori continued to lean against her, Ruby continued to stroke his hair, leaning down to sing to him quietly as they crouched on the floor together.

"Little child, be not afraid though rain pounds harsh against the glass like an unwanted stranger. There is no danger… I am here tonight."

Tori took in another gasping breath and leaned his head against her shoulder, letting his luminescent eyes close.

"Little child, be not afraid, though thunder explodes and lightning flash illuminates your tear stained face… I am here tonight. And someday you'll know that nature is so, the same rain that draws you near me falls on rivers and land, on forests and sand and makes the beautiful world that you see in the morning…"

Ruby's voice was soft, sweet, Tori once again opening his eyes to gaze up at her with an expression of ease and comfort on his face.

"What would I ever do if I lost you?" He whispered, voice a little more hoarse than usual. Ruby smiled at him gently and brushed his hair from his face, letting out a sigh.

"You'd find me again, I'm sure." She whispered back, Tori's eyes widening slightly in the darkness.

His hand found her face, one claw stroking her cheek gently, then Ruby felt his weight shift, his breath washing over her face. Her heart skipped, a flutter running through her stomach and her breath catching just as Tori pressed his lips to hers.

It wasn't the same kind of kiss they had shared before. It wasn't hard and furious, deep and passionate, but then the purpose of it wasn't to offer Tori an outlet.

This was gentle, careful… loving.

He pulled away far too soon, his voice barely understandable when he spoke, so choked were his words.

"What have you done to me?"

"What do you mean?" She breathed, Tori's hand still cupping her cheek.

"I… wasn't supposed to fall in love with you. I wasn't supposed to… it'll only make it hurt more when it's gone. When you're gone." Tori leaned his forehead against hers.

"I'm not gone, Itoria. And I'm not going-" Tori cut her off with another kiss, leaning against her a little more firmly. With one hand on her back and the other braced against the floor, he lowered her back and settled against her, allowing her to shift to get comfortable before venturing to deepen the kiss they shared. Ruby's arms wrapped around him, her hands sliding over his shoulders, arms and back as one leg slid up the outside of his. This gesture made a surge of fire rush through him, a deep breath and a clenched fist the only things that kept him from acting on it.

Ruby fingers moved to the buttons on his jacket, undoing them slowly as he continued to kiss her, and a smile touched his lips.

He shrugged the jacket off after she unbuttoned it, not bothering to break the kiss, the feeling of her cool hands on his too warm skin sending a shiver down his spine. He slid his fingers up beneath her shirt, feeling the muscles of her stomach flutter as he dragged his claws very gently over her skin, a soft noise escaping him as he pulled away at last.

"I love it when you use my full name." He whispered to her, and she let out a soft giggle, dragging her fingers through his long black hair.

"Can it happen like this, Itoria?" Ruby asked, Tori tilting his head to the side curiously. "You said before it couldn't happen the way it seemed it was going to happen… but can it happen like this?"

"I might die." Tori said seriously, Ruby letting out a startled noise. "After that coughing I just did, um… such activities might not be such a good idea."

"If I hadn't seen the way you were just coughing, I'd write this off as just another "Not now honey, I have a headache" line, but… that was one of the worst ones yet, wasn't it?" Ruby murmured, continuing to run her fingers through his hair.

"My lungs have never burned like this before. Not since the day I turned." Tori whispered in return, shifting so that he lay beside her instead of on top of her and getting comfortable. They lay in silence for a few moments, then Ruby sighed softly.

"Hey, Tori?"

"Hm?"

"… I love you, too."

…

Tori's familiar warmth was gone the next morning, and Ruby's neck and back were stiff from the strange position she had managed to get herself into while she was sleeping. She lifted her head with a soft groan, startling when Tori suddenly swooped down beside her and put a hand over her mouth, raising one finger to his lips.

She blinked at him, sitting up, half expecting to hear another Witch crying outside. Instead, she heard voices, sitting up a little straighter with wide eyes. Tori hushed her again, standing himself and moving back to the door to look out. Ruby scrambled to her feet and looked up at him, wondering why he seemed so tense and frightened.

"Other survivors." She whispered softly, Tori nodding. "We should-"

"We need to leave." Tori rasped, taking her arm in his hand and moving towards the back door.

"What? NO! Tori, we can't keep going back, it's taking too long!" Ruby planted her feet firmly but Tori pulled her easily forward anyway, his strength far greater than hers.

"There is someone in that group that I do not want to face right now." Tori admitted, turning to face her wearing a look of worry. "There is someone in that group I recognize. Another ghost that I can't handle."

"Tori." Ruby's voice was once again pleading, but Tori shook his head and growled, picking her up and putting her over his shoulder. "HEY! What did I say about manhandling me!!"

"I don't have time for this, Ruby, we need to go."

"What are you so afraid of?!"

"I'm afraid of losing you!!" Tori lapsed into more coughing, still managing to struggle to the back door and wrenching it open. Ruby fell silent, staring back at the safe room until Tori hooked his tongue on a fire escape and pulled both of them up, the ground falling away in a dizzying swirl.

"You keep saying that you're worried about losing me. Losing me to what, Tori? Other than the possible chance of you driving me off by being an asshole, which probably won't happen if it hasn't already…" Ruby muttered indignantly.

"There's a girl down there. If we stay, she'll kill you."

"Like Ashley tried to before using you as an easy chair?" Ruby tried to fold her arms, which proved to be not such an easy task in the position she was in.

"Worse, probably. She'd take her time."

Ruby tried to turn to give him a 'look,' but couldn't manage it without making things difficult for Tori.

"Where do you find people like that?"

"I don't always find 'people like that,' y'know? I found you. You're not 'like that.'"

"Don't evade."

"Fine. I found her while I was travelling with some survivors. And I don't want to tell this story while I'm running for our lives, so you can wait until we stop." As he spoke, Tori took a running leap off the side of the building, landing on a lower roof below and continuing on his way. Ruby tried to fold her arms again, letting out a cry of frustration and squirming for all she was worth. "Stop it!"

"No! Put me down!"

"You wanna make those jumps yourself?!"

"I'm not going to be responsible for your hurting yourself!" Ruby continue squirming until Tori finally stopped with a snarl and dropped her unceremoniously on the ground. As Ruby opened her mouth to protest, climbing to her feet, there was a snuffling sound nearby, followed by a dull roar.

Both she and Tori turned to face the sound, the Smoker reaching out to take Ruby's hand in his own tightly.

The Tank had apparently been sleeping on the roof and upon hearing their bickering had awoken, looking madder than hell.

It hurried towards them, the roof shaking from its weight, and Tori didn't hesitate to scoop Ruby up into his arms, leaping off the side of the building as she let out a deafening scream. Managing to keep a grip on his axe as well, Tori used his tongue to swing them to safety, setting Ruby down the second they landed.

With a roguish grin, he swung her close and gave her such a kiss he took her breath away.

"I'll be back. And if not… at least you'll never forget me." He gasped, leaping off the fire escape they had landed on with axe in hand.

The Tank leapt off the building, landing with a crash on a parked car that gave a single squeal before dying, another roar coming forth as it barrelled towards Tori, brandishing fists menacingly.

The Smoker stood stark still, waiting for the moment to strike, becoming a blur of movement when the Tank sung its fist. He ducked beneath the fist and twirled out of the way, bringing his axe up to connect with the Tank's mouth, where its bottom jaw should have been, prompting a yelp that was shortly followed by a howl of rage.

When the Tank swung both firsts up to crush Tori beneath them, Ruby gasped and cried the Smoker's name, leaning forward on the railing where she was standing.

Tori leapt up into the air, high, his leather jacket swooping out behind him almost like a cape, landing on the Tank's arm after it smashed its fists into the ground. He scaled the Tank using its arm as a ramp, standing on its shoulders as it thrashed wildly and raising his axe above his head.

The Tank reached up and grabbed Tori's jacket, using it to swing him through the air with another bellow. Tori was flung to the side like a ragdoll, only his quick reflexes keeping him from smashing into the side of a building.

Wrapping his tongue around a light pole, Tori let out a choked gasp and dropped hard to the ground, laying still for a second before attempting to get to his feet. By the time he was up, Ruby's gun was barking and the Tank was headed straight for her, snarling.

Eyes widening, Tori reached out and grabbed the light pole again, gripping it as tightly as he could before shooting his tongue out again and wrapping it around the Tank's leg. He then leapt and planted both feet against the pole, pulling back and using his tongue to turn the Tank's bulk and momentum against it. When the giant began falling, Tori freed himself, leaping down and scooping his axe up again.

He ran swiftly towards the Tank, raising his axe up as he jumped onto the massive infected's back. The Tank's roar turned into a gurgling cry of pain when the axe bit into his skull, but the blow didn't kill the beast.

Tori jumped off as it began to rise up, movements jerky, then he swung around and used his inhuman strength to lop the Tank's head clean off.

The Tank's body, spurting blood like a fountain, slowly toppled forward, Tori stepping casually out of the way as it crashed to the ground.

As soon as she was sure it was dead, Ruby climbed down from the fire escape, calling Tori's name as she flew towards him, a grin on her face.

"My God, that was incredible!" She breathed, the Smoker holding her at arm's length so she didn't get covered in blood. "Tori, you're AMAZING!"

"Heh." Tori replied, the sound of footsteps rushing towards them silencing anything further he might have said.