Stein kept his arms wrapped loosely around the sobbing death scythe, careful not to tangle her IV line even as she sobbed into his chest. "You're not alone, Marie. I promise. It was just a dream. I'm right here." He didn't know if it was his words or just his voice that was soothing the distraught woman, but he kept repeating to her that he was there, that no one else was, that she was alright. Eventually the sobs died away, and Stein winced at how wet his shirt felt.

"That doesn't do you any good you know, Marie. It just makes it longer that you have to spend rehydrating." He teased quietly, laying her back down in the bed. He was rewarded with a weak smile.

"I'm sorry, Franken. Looks like you'll have to take care of me a little longer." She teased back, but Stein could see the fear in her soul still as she let out a long sigh, clenched muscles finally relaxing.

Stein sat down again, propped up against the dresser and stifled the yawn he felt growing. "A nightmare, I assume?" He said, partly to get her to finish calming down and partly to keep himself awake.

Marie was silent and he looked over at her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks again. "Marie, stop that." He said, perhaps more forcefully than he should, another sob escaped the woman. Stein sighed, standing and leaving the room briefly before returning with a damp cloth. Sitting carefully on the edge of her bed he dabbed the tears away.

"It was a dream, Marie; nothing more. You're safe now, and she will never bother you again." He promised, wiping away another tear. "Do you understand? Laryn will never again bother you or anyone." Marie nodded slightly and sniffled, the tears stopping. "Now then, no more tears. You're home, safe. That will never happen again." He gave her a smile.

"Thank you for coming after me…" Her voice broke slightly, but she didn't cry again.

"What else was I to do, Marie? You would come, have come, after me. Shibusen don't leave their own behind, and I would never leave you like that." He said gently.

It was too much for Marie, she couldn't keep the tears restrained and she felt them rush down her cheeks. Stein sighed again, picking the cloth up, dabbing it against the tears. "You're going to dehydrate yourself again." He said quietly.

"I was so afraid no one was going to come. I kept telling her you would, but I didn't know if you could. She knew I was lying. She kept telling me that if I knew, if I really knew that you were coming I would have eaten and drank when it was offered. Even Sid's voice was reminding me that I should have. I just didn't want to risk it. What if it was enchanted with something? I'd rather die than have been used against you if you came…" Marie's whispers trailed off as sobs wracked her body again.

Stein was speechless. 'She's in this condition because of me? Because she was afraid of being caught in a spell and forced to fight me? She didn't want to be used against me…' His hand snaked out, forgoing wiping the tears from her face to hold her hand gently in his.

Before he knew what he was doing, Stein leaned forward and pressed his lips against Marie's. He could taste the salt from her tears and see the surprise in her eye, but the tears stopped almost immediately, even though he could see them still brimming in her eye. He leaned closer to her, deepening the kiss and she made a small sound into it, her eye closing, one final tear escaping.

"No more tears, Marie." He whispered as he pulled away from her, and she opened her eye before smiling at him.

"No more tears." She agreed, still smiling.

Stein sat holding her hand until she drifted back to sleep. Once he was certain that she was asleep he slid back down to the floor, balancing his laptop on his knees again, propped up against the dresser, ignoring the handles that dug into his side and back.

He was still awake when she woke up, his typing filling the small room. Marie lay silently for a while, wondering if the night before had been a dream or not. 'Oh come on, Marie. You know it was a dream! Franken Stein? Holding your hand, kissing you? Just enjoy that it was so vivid!' She smiled a bit, eyes still closed.

"Good morning, Marie. Did you sleep well?" Stein's voice came from beside her bed and she looked over at him.

"I did. Thank you for staying with me." Stein watched as she scooted herself up in the bed and nodded in satisfaction that she could.

"You seem to be doing better than last night. I was concerned that you would have to remain bedridden longer than I had anticipated after the incident last night." He said, turning his attention back to whatever it was that he was typing.

"Incident?" She asked, looking down at him.

"Ah, if you don't remember I won't remind you." He responded, one hand turning the screw in his head.

Marie blinked, looking at him. "What incident, Franken?"

He turned his head to look at her. "You had a nightmare and woke screaming. I didn't want to remind you of it. You spent a good amount of time crying, and I was concerned that you may have lost a good portion of the fluids I was using to rehydrate you. It seems that the concern was unnecessary." He smiled. "I'm glad for that."

Marie lay there, staring up at the ceiling, counting the stitches. 'Was the kiss a dream then?' She wondered to herself, not daring ask.

"Your soul is trembling, Marie." Stein said quietly.

The lie sprang to her lips before she could stop it. "Just remembering the nightmare." She gave a fake laugh. "Maybe it would've been better if you hadn't reminded me."

"You could tell me about it." He said simply, keys clicking again as he started typing.

Marie was silent. "I'd rather not…" She finally said. Stein didn't push the subject.

They sat together for a while, neither one speaking, Marie counting the stitches she could see, the clicks of his keyboard. "Franken?"

"Hmm?" He didn't look up this time.

"Have you eaten?" The typing stopped and she looked over at him. His brow was furrowed in thought. She smiled. "Go eat something, a sandwich at least. Then go and get some sleep. I can yell for you if I need anything, alright?"

Stein closed the lid on his laptop and stood up, stretching his shoulders and back as he did so. "I'll go eat, but you don't need left alone yet." He said, leaving the room. Marie smiled.

She reached down and carefully fished the laptop off the floor before thinking better of what she was considering doing. Sighing she lowered it back to where it had been, and her gaze fell against the top of the dresser. Sitting on top of it, her bookmark still in place, was the book she had been reading before all of this had happened.

'He brought it up for me.' She thought with a smile, stretching her arm out for it as Stein walked into the room, a sandwich on a plate in his hand and what looked like a jello cup.

"I'll get it." He said, moving to it quickly and picking the book up, sitting it in her lap before balancing on the edge of her bed. "You seem to be strong enough to eat something too." He explained as he peeled the lid off the jello cup. "Nothing difficult, though, so some Jello will be a good starting point." He sat the covering on his plate and dipped the spoon into the cup, bringing just a small bit of it out of the cup and to Marie's lips.

"Can't I feed myself?" She started to ask, Stein pushing the spoon into her mouth, a smirk on his face. She swallowed the bit of jello and grimaced. "Orange." She explained.

"You don't like Orange Jello? Then why did you buy it?" He took another small amount on the spoon and held it out, a smirk plastered on his face.

She obediently opened her mouth, eating the offending jello. "I bought it because you like it. It's too sweet for me. Then again, I don't really like Jello."

Another bite, another question. "Why don't you like Jello?" He asked.

"Too much time spent sick when I was little. I don't like lemon-lime soda for the same reason." She explained, taking another bite.

"You were ill often while you were younger? Was that before or after your weapon qualities manifested?" Stein's face lost its smirk, pure curiosity playing across his features as he held the spoon out again.

Marie took her time chewing the half-bite of Jello, thinking. "It was before." She said finally.

The wheels were turning in Stein's mind, and Marie got a bite without being asked a question. Swallowing she took a deep breath before he could give her another bite and asked her question.

"Did you kiss me?"

The spoon with the jello clattered to the bed, Stein's thoughts completely broken. He busied himself with cleaning up the mess, apologizing for making it.

"You didn't answer the question, Franken." He looked up at her and she could see it plain as day on his features; the way his pupils were a little wider than normal, the almost imperceptible dusting of pink underneath his eyes that anyone other than her or possibly Spirit would have missed.

She laughed, her head thrown back and her eye closed. The whole situation was so hilarious to her; Dr. Franken Stein, reduced to wordlessness by one simple question, the man who had an answer for everything. She shook with the force of the laughter, trying to rein it in.

Her eye flew open when she felt his hands on her shoulders. He was inches from her face and a second later, his lips pushed against hers. She gasped against his lips and could feel them curve upward into a smirk as he pulled away from her.

"Your answer." He said, sitting back, spooning more Jello up for her.

He asked a question as he fed her another bite.

"Did you enjoy it?"

A/N: I am LOVING writing this out :D

I don't own Soul Eater or Jello. Review if you don't mind, I'd like to see if people want me to keep up! :)