The next few days went by pretty good I don't mind Candi being attached to me. Nothing really changed except me and Candice could be more touchy feely, she would even spend the night in my room. Whenever she did we just watched TV together and talked, nothing important but just little things like dolphins, and places we would love to visit. Waking up with her is another thing all on its own. We sometimes would have weird pointless conversations about weird things I don't mind because its fun.

This morning I woke up because I left the curtians open a little bit and the sun decided to shine right through it. And it hit me directly in the face sometimes I wish the sun would just go back down so I could sleep longer, but thats not how the universe works. So I untangle Candice from me and get up to walk over to the window to close the curtians. And for some reason its warmer in here than usual, you would think since its the middle of August in Florida you would think the a.c. would be on but for some reason its not. So I decide to turn it on. After that I climbed back into bed with Candi and that is when I noticed something very odd about her... And the more I think about it the more it stands out to me. The whole time I've been here I have never once seen what her forearms look like. I know who cares right, but I mean she always has on a long sleeved shirt, a sweater, or her sleeve gloves. And right now she is wearing a long sleeve shirt she has to be hot in it. But I guess she does it for a reason, but I want to know why though. Just like I want to know why she ended up in here, all I need is time. I then felt a set of lips kiss my neck.

"Good morning beautiful!" I spoke getting her to blush.

"Morning cutie! Its hot in here did you turn the heat on or something?" She asked as she sat up I then sat up to and pulled her in for a kiss.

"No for some reason the air was off so I just turned it on."

"Oh."

"Yea... Or it could be to the fact you're wearing a long sleeved shirt." I said pointing at it. "Do you want to borrow one of my tank tops?"

"No thanks I don't want to pester you." She said looking down at her hands.

"Ok well can you atleast roll your sleeves up, the last thing I would want is if you were to pass out." I said a little concerned she didn't move and she didn't say anything she just kept looking down at her hands. Now I'm a little worried. "Candice." I said softly "will you please look at me?" She still didn't look up but she sniffled. Now I'm really concerned so I gently grab her left arm and let it rest in my lap. I then slowly start to roll up her sleeve giving her enough time to stop me but she doesn't so I kept going.

As I roll up the sleeve my heart breaks a little bit at what I see. It is covered in scars from where she must have use to cut herself. Honestly it breaks my heart to know that somebody caused her to do this to herself. I can hear her start to cry as I run my fingers over the scars. There are so many some long and some short.

"Is this why you always wear long sleeves?" I asked, she just shook her head yes. "Has anybody else here seen these?" She shook her head no. That means she must really trust me if I'm the only one here who has seen them. "Candi will you please look at me?" I spoke and she looked at me. Tears were rushing down her face and it made my heart sink seeing such a beautiful creature crying.

"I guess you don't want to be with me anymore since you probably think I'm a freakshow." She said through tears. And it brings tears to my eyes that somebody must have said something like that to her. And it hurts even more that she thinks I would leave her because of something so small. So I wipe away her tears.

"No I don't think you are a freak at all. Infact I think you are the entire circus, and guess who just bought front row season tickets to the show? Me, and I will be there at every show sunshine, rain, snow, thunder storm, tornado, whatever I will be there because you are worth it. And it could be the world's most horriable show, but that doesn't matter to me all that matters is how much heart you put in it. It's what is on the inside the counts, and I think you are beautiful inside and out. Now I can't make these scars go away nor do I want them to go away because that is what makes you you and I don't want you any other way." I said looking her directly in the eye before I kissed her arm. "Kisses make everything better. And I'm not going to leave you over something so small. These scars don't define you its what you believe in is what defines you." She didn't say anything but she didn't need to I could see the look in her eyes that showed relief and thankfulness. She then leaned in and gave me a kiss before she just snuggled into me and I just held her as she cried.

Sometimes there aren't words that you can say to cheer somebody up, but holding them in a time of need could be all they need. And that is what I decided to do, just hold her untill she is ok again. I'm not sure how long I held her but I know it was long enough that we missed breakfast.

"Thank you." Candice murmered as she looked up at me.

"You don't have to thank me I was only telling the truth." I said looking down at her as I wiped away her tears. "Are you hungry?" She just nodded yes. "Well we missed breakfast, but come on we can have breakfast out the vending machines." I said before I kissed her on the forehead and got up.

"I'm sorry for making you miss breakfast."

"You didn't make me miss anything I wanted to do it." I spoke as she walked over to me and gave me a hug. "Do you want to roll your other sleeve up or are you going to leave it down?"

"Umm I think I'm gunna leave it down. I don't think I'm there yet." She said as she rolled them down.

"Ok well lets go before I eat you alive!" I playfully joke as I pretend to bite at her neck.

"Ahh! Ok ok we can go stop!" She giggled

"Kay lets go." I smirked as I grabbed her hand and lead her out the room. We then walked down to the vending machines.

"Ok my Angel Bunny what do you want? You can have anything you want its on me." I state looking at her.

"Angel Bunny?"

"What you don't like it?"

"No I love it!" She smiled before she gave me a quick kiss. "And can we get the little mini doughnuts?"

"Anything for you Angel." I smirked as I put the money in the machine and pushed the buttons letting the doughnuts fall to the bottom. "Anything else?"

"Umm no how about you choose."

"Ok." I then decided to get some fruit snacks. "Ok do you want something to drink?"

"No we can just go to the Rec. room and get drinks from there."

"Good point. Well shall we go?" I ask as I put my arm out for her to grab and she did.

"We shall!" She giggled. We then headed for the Rec. room. When we got there Randy, Jamie and Alex were all sitting on the sofas watching a movie.

"Hey there you two are! How come you weren't at breakfast?" Randy asked. I'm not exactly sure if Candi wants me to tell them so I had to think fast.

"Oh we stayed up like all night and slept in late." I spoke hoping they would buy it.

"Oh... Well we're watching the Avengers it just came on a few minutes ago if you guys want to join." Alex spoke. I looked at Candi and she seemed to be ok with it. So I handed her my snack.

"Here you go get us a seat and I will get the drinks ok." I suggested she just nodded and kissed me on the cheek before she walked over to the sofas and sat down. I got us both water and walked over to Candice. I sat down next to her and she cuddled into my side. So I just put my arm around her and we all watched the movie together.

At some point during the movie Candice feel asleep, poor thing she must have been so tired from all the crying this morning. How she fell asleep with the suround sound blasting during an action movie is beyond me. But I still don't really think its all that good of a place for her to sleep.

"Hey Randy do you think you could help me take Candi downstairs?" I asked Randy pointing out that she is sleeping.

"Yea sure." He said as he walked over to me and picked her up bridal style.

"Thanks I just don't think its all that good of a place for her to sleep."

"No problem. I see where you're comming from. I wouldn't want Alanna to fall asleep like that either." He spoke refering to his six year old daughter as we got on the elevator. We rode it down to our floor and I decided to let her sleep in my bed.

"You can just set her down on my bed I will tuck her in." I said softly trying not to wake her.

"Ok do you want me to wait for you or are you good?"

"Ummm just wait for me outside I just need a minute and I will be out." With that he nodded his head and left the room closing it behind himself. I carefully took off her cute little dolphin slippers and set them aside so I could tuck her in. She must be really tired if she hasn't woke up through any of this, but thats ok. I figured I would leave her a note, nothing serious just that I felt she should sleep in quiet and that if she needed me I will most likely be in the Rec room or lunch spending on the time. I then set the note down and gave her a kiss.

"You are beautiful Candi and don't let anybody tell you otherwise." I whisper to her before I left the room. Randy was standing across the hall leaning against the wall.

"We all set?" He asked.

"Yea lets go." We didn't say much until we got onto the elevators

"So what really happened this morning. You may have fooled Alex but you didn't fool me." Randy spoke up.

"How did you know?" I asked

"Well when I drank I guess I would do somthing to Sam that made her cry. And so every morning when I woke up her eyes would be blood shot just like Candice's were. So I can tell if a women has been crying I've seen it enough times to know." He shrugged.

"Well this morning Candice and I had a little bit of a heart to heart and a few tears were shed. Nothing serious but she was vulnerable and so I just held her until she was ok again." I said not wanting to give away too much.

"Oh... So what does that mean you two are together now?" He asked nonschlantly I just gave him a how did you know look. "Oh don't give me that face! Everybody could tell you both are into eachother, I'm surprised it took so long."

"Actually it was the day you guys made me kiss Ginger Snap. We're we really that obvious?"

"Yea you two are always together doing something. And we all noticed how after you came here she became a lot more social. I don't know what you did to her Vic, but she seems to be doing a hell of a lot better then she was a few months ago." He finished as we reached the Rec room. I couldn't help but to smile at the last part. Because not only am I changing her life... But she is changing mine too.

wow that was deep... But it seems to me that somebody might be falling! :) are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? -Joz