Answers to questions: First, yes, I do write these on paper before I type them; it's where I can organize my ideas. Thing is, this is the last chapter I have written out; I have to write some more, and with college approaching and me at a tiny bit of a beginning stage with ideas, I'm not sure if I'll be getting them out quite as quickly. Second, Nehemiah is pronounced "knee-ya-my-a". As I said before, ideas would be great! Feel free to post anything you think would be interesting; I'm willing to incorporate what people want to see!

Chapter Nineteen

Nora's POV

I walked inside quietly. I'd hoped that Patch wouldn't be home, but I sensed someone was there as soon as I walked in. It was silent, so I assumed he was asleep. Good; that'd save me an awkward confrontation.

"Nora?" So much for that. I'd jumped, even though I knew he was home. I looked at him; he was shirtless, so I knew I'd woke him up. Despite that, his eyes were very alert, and they looked at me with worry. We stood a few feet from each other, and I felt the need to break the silence.

"So…uhh…about this evening…" I started.

"I need to talk to you about it." Patch said. He seemed so sincere, and I regretted that it was a little too late for it now. He began walking towards me, and I jumped back.

"See, about that," I said quickly. "I don't want to know anymore. Or at least right now. In fact, I don't want to talk about it at all. It's stressing me out, and so I've decided to wait until I think I'm ready. If you can accept that."

Patch was thrown off. "What?" I continued on in a rush.

"Nope. I'm fine. We need to both be ready, so…yeah!" I tried to walk past him, but he held his arm out to stop me.

"Nora, are you sure? Because it didn't seem that way. I think that—"

He stopped because I'd curled into him and kissed him full on the lips. I needed him to be distracted, but my reasoning began to slip as he responded eagerly. He was tense at first, but with a groan he loosened, pulling me close.

You're confusing me, Angel, and that's pretty hard to do, he thought, moving back to smirk at me.

Oh? I think I made what I want very clear, I answered back, smiling seductively. His dark eyes smoldered with desire.

I completely forgot what it was we were arguing about by the time he lifted me into his arms, and shut the bedroom door behind us.

As I laid on the bed, I couldn't help but think about what I'd read. Certainly Patch had been a divine distraction for a few blissful hours, (I mean…that body!) but now that he was asleep, I was alone with my thoughts. To be fair, I genuinely wanted some sleep, to ignore all of the things I'd learned. I looked over at his sleeping body; he'd slipped up tonight. He'd fallen asleep on his chest, and his scars were in full view.

Suddenly, I felt as tempted as Pandora had to open the box. Just one little peek, the devil on my shoulder said, just to see if Chauncey's suspicions were correct. It won't hurt anybody.

No! I told myself. I couldn't do it; it was disrespectful to Patch. I couldn't do that to him, no matter how much I wanted to know. After tonight, we might finally be getting along again, and I didn't want to mess that up. Sighing, I leaned over instinctively to place my arm over him, the way we normally slept. I didn't realize until it was too late that I'd forgotten that he wasn't on his back.

I opened my eyes to see where I was. I seemed to be inside another woman's body, with Patch on top of me. He reached his hand down to caress my cheek, and then began to squeeze my neck. I couldn't breathe, and I began to panic; for some reason I could feel everything he did to her. He threw me onto the ground, and I watched in horror as he grabbed a knife and stuck it into the fire. When he came back, he began to stab her; no, stab me. Over and over. It was pure agony, and I was in so much pain that I couldn't calm down enough to leave the memory. When he finally stopped, I looked into his eyes. I heard Katharine Lowry gurgling something; begging for her life, but he began to shout at her.

"This…this is your fault. Everything! I watched you; I desired what I thought was your righteousness, and beauty, and love! You are a temptress, a whore, a demonic snake, and I lost everything because of your wiles! You are a murderer, and a thief, and you don't deserve to breathe any longer. Not for the things that you've done. Not for the misery you've inflicted upon me!"

In his words, in his eyes, I saw the pain, suffering, and anger that he felt. I'd never seen his emotions so stripped bare. It was a terrifying, demonic look, and it scourged my soul with its intensity. When I'd read what he'd done, I couldn't have fathomed that it'd be anything like this.

When I came out of the vision, my eyes filled with tears. Breathing heavily, I knew that a full blown panic attack was coming on, so I quickly got out of bed, ran to the bathroom, and locked myself in.

Patch's POV

I awoke quickly as I felt Nora rush out of bed. I heard her slam the bathroom door behind her, and I hurried to see what the problem was.

"Angel? Angel, what's wrong?" I heard her hyperventilating from behind the door. "Do I need to come in?"

"No!" she cried. I was upset by her vehemence, but I didn't go in.

"What is it? Are you hurt?" I asked her quietly. It was a few beats before she answered.

"No, I…"

"What?"

"I had a bad dream." She finally answered flatly.

"What happened in the dream?" I asked, sitting on the other side of the door. I waited while she collected her breathing enough to answer.

"It…it was me. I dreamt of…of being locked in that terrible basement, and I couldn't get out…"

I frowned. She hadn't had dreams like those in a while. The memories had been erased from her mind, but they sometimes came back to her as nightmares. I used to hold her as they'd come back, calming her down, and staying in her dreams so that they wouldn't bother her. I'd thought those nightmares were over with years ago. I sensed that there was something else underlying her words.

"Angel? No one will ever hurt you again. They're gone, okay? Those monsters; it's all behind you. You survived, you fought, and you overcame. It's over; you are safe. And if anyone else ever dares try to harm you, they'll have me to deal with. No one will ever touch you, I swear! " I vehemently told her.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're the strongest woman I've ever met, you know that? Strongest and most beautiful." I heard her giggle quietly, although there was a hint of pain in it.

"Do you need me to come in?" I asked her gently. Will you let me in? I wanted to ask.

"No! No I'll…be okay…Just give me a minute." Slightly dejected, I folded my legs on the floor outside and waited.

Eventually, I heard the hyperventilating stop, and it was replaced with a small snore. Sighing, I stood up and grabbed the key from the top of the door frame. Unlocking the door, I found Nora asleep on the rug. I picked her up, and carried her back to the bed. Even in sleep, hair all around her face, the expression on her face was disturbed; mine didn't look so different.

I'd been prepared to talk to her. Thinking she wouldn't be home until later the next day, I'd gone to sleep. She arrived home earlier, and I thought that it would be best to get it over with, but then she'd surprised me by kissing me. And I melted, happy to oblige, relieved that she wasn't angry. I don't think either of us knew how much we missed the other until I had her in bed. It had been amazing. She didn't even try to touch my scars while I was on her, not that I'd thought about it in strewn up in desire. The night had ended perfectly.

So something else was up. I'd accidentally fallen asleep face down (I'd been pretty exhausted), before she did. Nora would have probably went to sleep the way she normally did, except for this time, her head would have fallen onto my scars. She may have started off seeing her old nightmares, but I had a terrible feeling that a horrifying memory of my own may have slipped into them. Nora had a tendency to see exactly into what I'm hiding, so it was only a matter of what she had seen.

Please enjoy, and review! It motivates me when I receive them, honestly! I think I might wait to type some more until I get about 40 reviews. And some ideas in those reviews too, I love ideas. Thanks!