Update. I know I keep you all in the dark for so long and I apologize for it! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3: Taste

Jude's frail fingers wrapped around the warm teacup, sipping her tea, allowing the warmth of the drink to sooth her dry, and sore throat. The herbal flavor danced across Jude's tongue. It had been ages since she consumed something that actually had flavor, something that wasn't just mashed up and practically thrown at her to survive on.

"Thank you." Jude whispered to Kit as he sat down with his own mug.

"It's not a problem at all. Tea is pretty easy to whip up. Are ya feeling any better?" Jude nodded back at Kit. An abundance of questions flooded Kit's mind as he steadily watched Jude sip on her tea. "Sorry, I had ta invade yar privacy like that, I just didn't feel comfortable leavin' ya alone in there." Jude sat and stared for a while, prompting Kit to ask another question. "Are ya ok ta speak, I don't wanna force ya ta do too much." In a near paradoxical manner, Jude nodded in response to Kit's question. "I-I don't know where to start." Kit was still in awe that Jude was alive, alive and sane.

"I do." Kit looked up and watched her as she spoke. "Thank you, so much. Not just for the tea, but for bringing me here. For visiting me. For acknowledging me. Ya never had to do those things. Ya could've avoided me, and even if ya did decide to keep me company on occasion; this is your house, with your kids. I don't belong here, but ya brought me here anyway. I am so grateful for that, believe me." Kit gave a shied laugh.

"I don't know if this is gonna sound selfish, but I did it because I know I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left ya there. I wish I could've helped all of ya, but that's just something I couldn't have done."

"I treated you so poorly, yet, I'm here in your living-room. Why?" Despite Jude being grateful toward Kit, she also felt an overwhelming pang of guilt. It was, after-all, Jude's poor care he was under while he was being held captive in Briarcliff.

"I-I don't know. I really don't, I just know that somethin' was telling me that you didn't belong there." Kit was optimistic about his outlook on life it seemed. I mean, how else could you live without trying to be, at least a little positive, after everything that was done.

"I don't deserve yar kindness, Mr. Walker. All the torture I put ya through, it wasn't right of me. Briarcliff was my punishment."

"No, you, you were just doing yar job. You can call me Kit, by the way." Kit tried not to make Jude feel guilty for being rescued. Yes, it was true, she ran that asylum and approved most of the torturous activities that happened throughout the institution, but she was put through more than what she put her own charges through. Kit knew Jude was a strong woman from the get-go, so to have seen her at her lowest meant that something seriously wrong happened to her. No person deserved to be beaten down, left for dead, and stripped of all they had ever known.

"Some job, huh?" Jude shook her head in disappointment. All she had been working towards was an abject failure. There was nothing left for her.

"Well, this gives you a chance to start over. You're still recovering though. Until you're fully recovered and ready to get back into the world, you'll stay here." Kit smiled at the woman in front of him, who did not return a smile. "What's wrong?"

"I-I did so much wrong to ya, to yar child's mother. Ya can't want me in yar house." Kit placed his mug on the coffee table in front of him and placed his palms on his corduroy pants.

"Sistah, it's true that ya put me and Grace through some terrible things, but, I can't change that, and you weren't alone in that treatment. Ya went through the same things Grace and I did in that place, maybe more. Isn't that punishment enough for ya? As far as I'm concerned, you've served yar sentence, that time of repentance is over. Ya don't need ta be out in the street, alone, with no help. Accept my offer, but I won't force ya ta do anything." Jude was so touched by Kit's kindness, and despite him trying to get her to not feel guilty, she couldn't help but feel undeserving of his kindness. This genuine consideration Kit had for her was almost too much for her to handle. Jude was too weak to hold back tears, she just let the emotion overwhelm her.

"Oh-oh, sistah, ya don't need ta cry. Everything's okay now. Yar safe." Kit's heart broke watching Jude cry because of guilt. No matter how much he voiced to her that everything was okay with him, that he had no qualms with her anymore, she'd still feel that guilt till she confronted it herself.

The salt in Jude's tears nearly burned her tongue as they crept around the corners of her lips and seeped into her mouth. She let the guilt consume her in that moment, not just because she felt she deserved it but because it was the first pang of emotion she had felt in months. She felt no sadness, anger, resentment or even guilt in the asylum. She felt nothing. There was nothing to contemplate or toy with or be angry over, so feeling this wavering feeling of guilt was something she allowed to take her over.

"Thank you, Kit." Jude wiped a few of her stray tears in between her sniffles. "And you can call me, Judy."

Human. That was the feeling Jude began to feel again. The feeling of being human. Jude smiled at Kit for the first time, and he gave her an inviting smile right back.

Hello all! I'm back yes! I know these chapters can be short, and as a reader that's torturous, but I haven't updated in a while and I felt that you guys deserved a little something. There will be more to come, I promise! Thank you for taking the time to read! All feedback is appreciated!