Nick woke up finding a still asleep Alice and that she was pressed very close to his chest, like how he use to hold his ex wife before she became a back stabbing bitch. Nick, without waking Alice up, pushed her away from him slightly and got up. He spent some time examining her wounds. It seemed that during the night she bleed through her bandages. He noticed that some of her blood was on the cuffs of his suit. He cursed quietly.

"Shit. She got blood on my damn suit. Well it's not like I don't have worse stains. Let's see if I can find any cold water and hydrogen peroxide."

He got up and looked around the safe house bathroom and found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. After that he checked the faucet and discovered it was running, no warm water but it was cold enough. He removed his suit jacket and ran it under the cold water rising out the blood. Crimson colored water swirled around the drain and the blood became lighter on the fabric.

"Always works like a charm."

He smirked satisfied with the current result and was about to unscrew the top off of the peroxide when he felt arms wrap around him.

"You shouldn't be up Ally. You bleed through your bandages and I was hoping you'd sleep in a little bit longer."

Alice didn't seem to care and her noticed the bandages around her arms where fresh. He figured she changed them herself and stopped the bleeding.

"I already took care of it. I notice I got some blood on your cheap suit. Sorry about that."

Nick just shrugged not really as upset about it as he expected. She couldn't help if she was still bleeding, she also needed rest.

"Honestly it's fine. I've dealt with this kind of thing before. Blood, brains, spinal fluid, again don't ask how I know that."

"You know one day you might have to tell me."

"Yea not if you still plan on heading out to DC after we find my group. You'll be dead in a few days. I'm not thrilled about that idea."

"Nick look ok you can come with me if you so wish but nothing can dissuade me from this. I have a job to do damn it, I have a wrong I need to make right."

The idea of her death lurched back to the front of his mind and he still didn't like it, he disliked even more how the thought made him feel. No, he couldn't be developing feelings, that couldn't happen to him. He started to get lost in his thoughts.

"Nick get it back together, she's just a target. Don't let this women get into your head. It's just sex, have sex with her, con her then get the hell out of her life. You've done it before so what makes her so different? Nothing now just get on with it."

"Hey pretty boy are you listening to me?"

Nick snapped out of his train of thought and looked back at her the peroxide still in his hands shaking some.

"What. Yes I was listening to you. so demanding and bitchy. Just what I expected from you."

Alice smiled as Nick poured the peroxide over the blood watching it bubble and sizzle out the blood. After he was satisfied with the result her rinsed the jacket then hung it to dry.

"Hey Nick I'm not an idiot. I know what you're up to and it's pissing me off."

Shit, she found him out somehow but Nick didn't show this distress externally. How could she have figured him out already? For him to save face he'd have to come up with a lie to cover his con.

"You're trying to keep me with you. Nick I promise I know what I'm doing and this is something worthwhile, I owe it to my mother."

That was a close one but he felt another weight fall on his shoulders. He became more worried for her safety and was now having something strongly tell him to persuade her to come with him.

"Alice you're mother would want you to live on don't you think? I don't know that's just me being logical. A crazy idea I know. You can't help her now but you can make things better for you."

Alice remained silent, Nick didn't like that. He felt compelled to know why she had to leave and what she was so willing to die for, he was still convinced it was for her mother no matter what she said.

"You wouldn't understand Nick and I don't feel like getting into it. I'm heading back to bed."

Alice walked away before Nick could retort. He just stood there with his head spinning. He needed a drink and he seemed to remember finding a respectable amount of booze in the safe house when he was looking around, surprisingly no other survivors had taken it with them. You could always find supplies in a safe house oddly enough.

After he was done in the bathroom he found an unopened bottle of rum, not a brand he would normally drink but with the outbreak he couldn't afforded to be picky and he felt like he needed it. Maybe it would help him discover why he's so off his game with Alice. He cracked open the bottle and took a swig. It went down rough and felt like fire in his throat but it was good enough.

"God this is shit but it's better than nothing. Cheers Nick you crazy son of a bitch."

He collapsed in an old beat up arm chair and coughed as dust wafted up from the cushion invading his lungs and throat. He took another swig still not enjoying the rum but was starting to feel better and drunk.

"Damn that women getting into my head and making me feel things that get in the way. Why can't it be as simple as it should be? He hips, her eyes, her ass fuck I can't stop thinking about them. I had a good life before all of this shit happened and I didn't have these damn issues conning a beautiful women."

Nick was subconsciously keeping his voice down as to not alert Alice and lead to an unpleasant event. His mind was swirling with thoughts of Alice in his arms during sex, sleep and in general. He had become even more upset at the idea of her being hurt and felt a well of hate in the gut for the hunter that attacked her even if it was dead. It was happening, the thing he feared the most. He was developing strong feelings for her and the booze was only making it worse but he kept drinking and it was starting get the better of him.

"This is god damn great. I can't do this to her, I can't fake feelings for her because you can't fake what you really feel. God maybe I should just stay with her and go into hell."

Nick decided it would be a good idea to storm into her room and clam her as his own. He still had the bottle in hand when he opened the door and Alice looked up at him startled as the smell of alcohol filled the room.

"What the hell Nick. I told you I was sleeping. Wait, is that a bottle of alcohol in your hand? Shit you're drunk."

"You're damn right I'm drunk. You drove me to this. Filling my head with shit that hasn't been there in years. It was meant to be easy Ally but no you had to be you and make me actually have feeling for you. How can I con a women that I have an attachment to? You god damn can't."

Alice just sat there stunned at Nick's drunk confession but in the end she didn't seem surprised she also didn't seem that angry. Nick just stood there and took another drink as Alice got up and took the bottle from him.

"You need to sleep this off Nick then we'll need to talk about this later."

She was about to turn from him but Nick grabbed her roughly and held her tightly pressing his lips to hers rubbing his hands up and down her sides. Alice just pushed him off but found herself back in his arms. She didn't fight him at that point.

"I can't do this to you Alice. You've hit my weakness without even knowing it. I want to protect you as you have protected me."

Alice remained silent and lead him to the bed guiding him to lay down as he still held on to her. He knew that when he sobered up he was going to regret all of this but he didn't care. The fact was if he kept trying to con her he'd end up in a worse place then drunk with the women he cared deeply about in his arms. He passed out in a drunk stupor still clinging to Alice.