2.

~ The alarm for the door didn't go off and Ariadne felt her heart speed up. Someone was in the house and the alarm hadn't sounded. She couldn't seem to will her feet to move. For the past few months it had been like this. Her anxiety so consuming, she often found herself frozen in fear.

She was easy prey, standing there, waiting for her own doom.

The old wooden floorboard cracked slightly as the intruder came into the kitchen.

"I though we agreed to turn the alarm back on once you're inside." Arthur said.

There was a touch of annoyance in his voice.

"I was afraid I'd set off the motion detectors again." Ariadne said. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked.
"I just wasn't expecting you home so early." she told him.

"Right after you left, I made an excuse to leave." he explained.

"They're going to catch on to us if you keep doing that." she smiled. Secretly, she was glad he took the rest of the day off. They both worked too many hours.

"How many times do we have the evening free together?" Arthur asked. "Between our crazy work schedules and you going back to school."

She felt a pang of guilt and looked at her bare feet.
"Do you still not feel safe with the alarm? Because we can get a dog if you want. I have a buddy who breeds the attack dogs they use at the white house. German shepherds. Very loyal and gentle." Arthur said. He was raiding the fridge for his traditional after work orange juice.

"Must be why Hitler liked them." Ariadne smiled.

Arthur loosened his neck tie. A nicer tie than he normally wore, thanks to her picking out his clothes.
"That's racial profiling, Miss Richards." Arthur teased. "Or maybe a pit bull their supposed to be the nanny dogs."

"We barely have enough time to see each other, Arthur. When would we have time to take care of a dog?" she asked. "The walks everyday after work. Not to mention the furniture would be ruined."

"We could hire a dog walker."

"And defeat the whole purpose of a secure home by giving a stranger the keys to the door and alarm code." she refuted.

"Alright, it's just a suggestion." Arthur said.

She sensed disappointment in his voice and took a deep breath.
"I feel perfectly safe in this house." she lied. "I'll set the alarm when I come home. Promise."

"The alarms will work. They're very loud. No one wants to stay in a house when there are alarms going off." Arthur told her. He had moved to stand beside her and she could smell the last traces of his cologne on his clothes.

It was a scent she had picked out for him and given him for his birthday last month. He kissed her on the forehead.

"I told you I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. Remember?"
She smiled.
"Yes, you did." she agreed sadly. "It's just, it's a lot to put behind me. I killed a man, Arthur."

"I know. But he was going to kill you. He almost killed me." he agreed.
"You took a job that was beneath you just to be here. You gave up your career to babysit me all day. What's worse, we can't even tell anyone we're a couple." she added sadly.
"First of all, I didn't give up anything." Arthur said curtly. "I like the art museum. I get to look at a pretty brunette on the camera's all day and no one is shooting at me."

Ariadne smiled.

"I was told my work isn't progressing fast enough. The curator of the restoration projects said I should be done by now." she said sadly.

"It's art. You cant rush it. She either wants it done fast, or she wants it done right." Arthur said.

"This is America. She wants it done now. Right now." Ariadne sighed. "What if I'm not good enough to move up at the museum?"

It was a fear she had been experiencing for a few months now.
"I mean, my supervisors are cold and catty to me. I don't have any real friends there. Arthur, I have every last dime invested in this town home that we're trying to flip. We can barely afford the repairs and if the market takes another dive." she said.
"It's going to be fine." Arthur said. "If we have to live in this house forever we will."

"We cant afford to live in this house forever." Ariadne sighed. "The taxes in the neighborhood alone are outrageous."

"Because of the private school a block away. We knew that when you bought it. It's one of the reasons why it's such a good investment." Arthur told her calmly.

"Do you know the last estimate I got to make a finished basement? Over fifty thousand dollars." Ariadne said.

"If we make it into an nice micro apartment, we can ask a lot more for the house. It's worth the extra money." Arthur said. "Our real estate lady even told us that."

"I'm just worried. It's so much work. I keep thinking I'm going to fail. I feel like I'm a failure at everything."

Arthur was quite for a moment.

"I've never really had to worry about money before. It all came from my trust. I've relied on my dad's position to get me where I wanted to be. I mean, even now, I only got this job because my dad's friend pulled some strings. I'm not qualified to work at the museum in anything but a tour guide. I have a masters degree in art history and design. How is that any use in the real world?" she said sadly.

"You're free for the weekend, right?" Arthur asked.

She nodded.
"Work thinks I'm going to see family. Why don't we spend that time peeling off this hideous wallpaper and repainting. It'll be fun."

"I have to write at least five thousand words on my thesis before next month and all I have are a bunch of notes. I may even have to change topics because of the stupid movie" Ariadne said.

She hated to declare defeat, but she knew she had bitten off more than she could chew with work, school and fixing up an old town house.

"We can make it work." Arthur said gently.

"Why did you decide to stay with me? I'm not exactly paying you to protect me anymore." she asked.

She already knew the answer. She was fond of asking this same question when ever she needed cheering up.

"Didn't I promise I would look after you?" he said in a whisper.