A/N: Once again, sorry for the latecoming of this chapter. I got distracted by an English essay, a maths test, a Chemistry test, a Physics test, a French essay, a music presentation, flu, a stomach bug, accumulating artwork, and that terrible evil known as procrastination. But I've finally finished it, and it makes sense! So that's a positive. I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Vince's POV

The next day, I woke up early; unusual for me. I lay in bed for a few minutes, staring at the pure white ceiling, listening to the relative quiet of this part of the city. In the end, though, my mind started to drift, sending my thoughts in dark directions. I got out of bed. Howard was asleep. I left him there; he never disturbed me when he woke up early, so why should I disturb him? I left the bedroom and went to shower. I had issues with the temperature controls at first. I couldn't work out how they worked, so for a moment the water was freezing, then scalding hot. I figured it out in the end, and managed to get a comfortable spray of water. When I was dressed again, I went into the kitchen for a drink. Naboo was already in there, sitting at the table staring intently into a cup of tea. He looked up as I came in.

"Alright, Vince." He greeted me.

"Alright." I replied. I filled the kettle and turned it on, before turning back to Naboo.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I leant back on the counter and rubbed a hand through my hair.

"I dunno. I think so. I just have to stop my mind driftin', you know? Stay concentrated on something."

"Yeah. Listen, d'you know when that psychiatrist appointment is?"

"Yeah, next Tuesday."

"You can't go."

"What?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"It won't help at all, Vince. He'll just prescribe you methadone. That's just another addictive thing; you're more likely to end up using on top of it. You have to stay away." I hesitated, but eventually nodded. Naboo knew what he was doing.

"So what do I do instead?"

"Just keep taking that potion. Have you had any yet?"

"Had some before I went to bed last night."

"Good. Just keep going. Everythin' will be alright in the end." I smiled, and remembered the chat we'd had before me and Howard had left for the squat.

"Naboo, when you talked to me before, did you know what was gonna happen?" He didn't answer for a minute.

"I had a vague idea. I knew something bad would happen. I didn't think it would be this bad, but… yeah."

"And that's why you told me all those things. Like how you should ignore the truth cause it's better to live a lie than die."

"And that nothing lasts forever. And to always stay yourself."

"Yeah. And I forgot all of it. I listened to the truth and it nearly killed me. I thought this would last forever. I forgot who I was."

"It doesn't matter now, Vince, okay? It's in the past. You have to focus on the future. Right?"

"Yeah. I will."

"Good. Now, give the psychiatrist a call, tell 'em you can't make your appointment."

"Yeah." I went into the living room and found my appointment card, and called the number at the bottom.

"Hello, Oak Lane Psychiatry, how can I help you?" A woman said. She sounded bright and cheerful.

"Hi, I'd like to cancel an appointment."

"What's your name?"

"Vince Noir." I heard her tapping at a keyboard.

"Ah, yes, Tuesday afternoon at 3:30. Could you give us a reason as to why you can't make it?"

"Um… I'm gonna be busy. Won't be able to make it in time."

"Alright. Do you want to reserve another one?"

"I'll leave it for now, thanks."

"Okay, thanks for letting us know. Goodbye."

"Bye." I put the phone down with a certain sense of relief. One more torture I wouldn't have to go through. I went back into the kitchen to finish making a cup of tea. Thank god for Naboo.

Howard got up not long after me, and came into the kitchen. Naboo quietly got up and left us alone, knowing that we needed some peace. Howard sat down next to me at the table.

"Morning, little man." He said. I smiled at the nickname I had missed.

"Mornin'." I replied.

"How d'you feel about going up to the storage centre today and picking up our stuff?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't mind."

"You can get all your clothes back."

"Mmm. I have missed them."

"Just let me have something to eat, and we'll go."

Twenty minutes later, we were on the way to the storage centre in the van. We didn't speak much at first. But then I started to recognise the area we were in.

"Hey, this is near Nabootique, isn't it?" I asked. Howard looked around quickly.

"Yeah, I think so." He replied. "Vince, you know we can't go back, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just…" I shrugged.

"I know. We'll go back one day, don't worry. This isn't the end, right?"

"That's good. Somethin' to look forward to?"

"Yeah." He turned for just a second to smile at me, and I felt a bit better. It wasn't much longer until we came to the storage centre and found our door. Howard unlocked it and we went inside. I opened a box and found a load of jazz LPs.

"Here, Howard, these are yours." I handed him the box and he carefully put them into the van. We started going through the boxes, finding it was actually quite difficult to tell the difference between our current stuff and Howard's stuff from the eighties. In the end we had almost everything, but there was one last box in the corner. I opened it and was greeted with the sight of silver sequinned fabric.

"My mirrorball suit!" I picked it up. "I've missed it."

"You know what? So have I." Howard said. "You'll have to wear it soon."

"Definitely."

"Come on, let's put it in the van." I nodded, put it back in the box, and took the box back to the van. As I closed the back door, Howard put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to face him.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We're going to make this new flat home, right?" he said.

"Yeah. We have to."

"We're not going to let you suffer anymore."

"I know you won't, Howard. You couldn't."

"I know. I abandoned you in the squat and I'm not-"

"No you didn't. You did your best, so did everyone. It was Finley who did it and it was him who paid for it."

"But-"

"No, listen." I put my finger to my lips and he stood still and silent. "You've done nothin' wrong. You've always been good to me and you never stopped. You were always doin' what you could to keep me safe. It's never easy, with me. And I'm sorry I was such a dick some days."

"It's fine. It wasn't a problem." He looked a bit bewildered and a bit scared that I was having to encourage him. I sighed.

"Come here, Howard." I held out my arms, and he hugged me tightly. A shudder ran through me, but I ignored it and just held him. We needed each other now. He was as desperate as any of us, but in a different way. He had it hard enough with me. Now with Alena as well, it was going to be difficult for him.

"Howard." I whispered in his ear. "I'm gonna do whatever I can to help you now, okay?"

"Okay. If you think you're up to it."

"I will be." He let go of me, and I nodded.

"Come on. Let's get back." He said. "Naboo'll wonder where we are."

"Yeah." We got into the van and turned it around to drive back to the new flat. It was abnormally quiet on the roads; there was a lot less traffic than usual. It was quiet in the van too. I didn't know what to say or what to do. Howard was concentrating on driving, but I guessed that he was in the same state. It wasn't long before we were back at the new flat, and we enlisted Bollo's help to bring the boxes in; he could bring four at a time without breaking a sweat, so the job was done twice as fast as last time. When everything was in the flat, we took our stuff into our room and started unpacking it. The room was a little bit smaller than our old one, and not everything had a place to go. But we found somewhere to put most things, and I proudly hung my clothes in the wardrobe. Then I sat down on my bed, and Howard sat next to me.

"So. Vince. When you go to the psychiatrist-"

"I'm not going." I blurted out.

"What?"

"I decided I didn't want to go."

"Why?"

"I just did." I felt my face flush red, and he knew I was lying.

"Vince, what happened?"

"Naboo told me I couldn't go."

"But… Doesn't he know it'll help?"

"He said they'd just give me methadone, and that's worse, because I'll get addicted to that too." Howard nodded slowly.

"You know, I think I watched something about that once. I think he's right." He admitted grudgingly.

"Yeah. He told me to just keep taking the potion and I'd be fine."

"Well… If you trust him, so do I. I mean, he's not all bad, is he?" I laughed at the reluctant compliment.

"No, he isn't. You just have to trust him, Howard."

"I know. That's what I'm having trouble with at the moment."

Howard has a lot of trouble with Naboo. I would like to say that I am listening to Babel by Mumford and sons, and it is the best thing for inspiration ever. I mean ever. Reviews would be awesome and lovely. Much love to all of you xx