Thank you for reading, and if you are still with us seven chapters on then well done to you!

I don't normally post updates this quickly but I need to get this story out of my system, so here is the next chapter. Vaas is really fun to write! Tricky though, because he's got to be mad, scary, funny, and whatever serves the story without being OOC... So bear with, hopefully I'm not butchering it too much.

Disclaimer still applies as always, and thank you again for reading, I really, really appreciate it.

Hope you enjoy!

"Wake up."

There's a light breeze on her face.

"Wake up."

She blinks, the skyline and pavilion come into view.

"Good morning sunshine."

When she recognises the voice, Alice jerks awake, her eyes focus on Vaas' face, a few inches from hers.

He laughs.

"I swear nena, you were sleeping so deeply, so sweetly, you were like Sleeping Beauty!"

He turns away from her, and she notices that he looks even worse than usual, if that's even possible. He mustn't have slept at all. Or he is extremely high. Most likely both.

"You enjoying the view? It's a nice fucking view. That why you come here so often?"

She nods.

"Huh?" He is cupping his ear, his tone aggressive. Something is wrong this morning, he looks angry. Agitated.

"I do enjoy the view."

"Yeah?" He laughs without any humour. He's never sounded so mad.

"Is everything ok?" She asks him, before remembering her conversation with the doctor. Keep him keen. "Vaas?" She uses her softest voice, dismisses all fear.

He looks right back at her, stares, harshly, into her eyes. He stands, walks around like some sort of caged animal. Alice remembers the nightmare she had when he'd lunged at her like a tiger.

"Do you remember," he starts, quietly. He sits where Dr Earnhardt had sat he night before, very close to Alice. Their knees are almost touching. "The terms of our agreement? Huh? Do you remember, nena? Our deal?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do you?" He laughs again, and there is no joy in his eyes. It is the most terrifying thing Alice has ever seen. "Because to me, nena, Alice, it looks like you don't remember anything at all. You see, " he shuffles even closer, his hands holding an invisible contract. "The deal said that I would let your friends live. Have I done that?"

"Yes". Screw confidence. Her voice is trembling, her hands hold onto the long chair.

"Number two was that I protect you. Am I doing that?"

"Yes."

"Huh?"

"Yes, you are, you are protecting me."

"Number 3, you wanted to move around. Come here, to the doctor's house. Now you're doing that, and you're doing that a lot. Every single fucking day. That right?"

"Yes. Vaas, I'm sor-"

"And finally, you asked me not to force you into anything sexual. Look at me." This time, his face is so close that their noses are nearly touching. "Am I forcing you into anything sexual?"

"No."

"No. So would it be fair to say, that I am fulfilling my part of the deal?"

"Yes it would be fair, very fair."

"Yes. And what was your part of the deal? Can you remember that?"

"I..." She feels like crying. She's sure that this time, this time, he is going to hit her. Maybe rape her. Kill her, definitely.

"I was going t-to try my best to f-fall..."

"Say it. Look at me. Look me in the eye. Say it."

"To fall in love with you."

"That's right. That's right, nena. See, I thought you'd forgotten! I thought, maybe she's forgotten, you know, because if not, then how is she expecting to fulfil her part of the deal if. She. Is. NEVER FUCKING THERE!"

When the explosion comes, Alice has been expecting it, and to her credit she does not flinch. Vaas stands up and starts pacing the pavilion again, looking like he needs to hit something. Someone. Her, possibly.

"FUCK!" He shouts, punching the air. "FUCK!"

He slows down, lets out another chilling laugh, crouches in front of her. She shuts her knees a bit tighter.

"It's not like I'm not trying, you know? I'm doing my part. I'm being patient. Look at me. Fuck, I don't like this look on your face. What did we say about this look on your face? huh?"

"I... I'm sor- I'm really-please, I-" she can feel the tears on her cheeks now, but she absolutely cannot calm herself. She is far too scared to even say full words anymore.

"We said, we said no looking scared. You're looking scared right now nena, scared as fuck. We said, no looking scared, no saying sorry or please." He opens his arms, gives her a half smile. "So you see, to me it looks like I'm doing all the work here, and you're not doing your share at all. That ain't fair, right?"

Alice decides that now she will just look down, stop trying to save herself. There's no stopping that level of mad, is what the doctor said. Crazy thing is, she feels she can hardly blame him, his arguments seem to make sense. She is annoyed with herself, she's shot herself in the leg there.

She hears him shuffling awkwardly. When he speaks again, he's adopted the soft tone he usually maintains when addressing her.

"I can see you're really sorry, nena. I'm going to chill, I'm not going to get mad, ok? I'm going to give you another chance."

She can hear the smile in his voice.

"I don't want to see you cry today, sirenita. Today is a special day for you, and I got a surprise for you."

"A sp-a special day?"

"It's your birthday. And I got you a present."

She looks at him, and he is all smiles again, looking at her like he loves her, like she's not scared he might kill her any second.

"I spent all night thinking about it. I thought to myself 'Vaas, what could a mermaid possibly want for her birthday?' And the answer came to me like a, like a revelation or something. A mermaid... She'd want a swim!"

He claps his hands, jumps up.

"We're going for a swim today nena. I'm going to take you some place nice. We're gonna spend the day together, you know, have a swim, then we're gonna have a romantic dinner together. I brought you some flowers. Here."

And sure enough, there is a bunch of flowers on the floor, and Vaas picks them up and hands them to her. A few sweet smelling white flowers, huge, red blooms, and a couple of spiky yellow ones.

"Do you like the flowers I brought you?"

"Thank you, they're beautiful."

"They're not as beautiful as you. I picked them myself... Like I did with you." He chuckles to himself. "I brought you some clothes for today nena. I went through your stuff, I would have asked you but you know, you weren't there. So I'm going to give you ten minutes. In ten minutes, I want you dressed, I want you ready, I want you happy, I want you swimming."

He stands.

"Happy birthday mi amor."

Vaas has chosen a blue summer dress and a yellow swimsuit which Alice recognises, because she's seen it on Jennifer a few days ago. She guesses that this means Jennifer/Sophie has finally been sent to her buyer. Maybe that means that she's finally become Sophie for real.

But Alice does not care about Jennifer at the minute. She is all absorbed in herself, and how close to death she thinks she's just been. Vaas has somehow decided to give her another chance, and Dr Earnhardt's words are in her mind as she tries to tame her hair and make herself look nice. She's got to be more careful. The doctor is right, she has been given a good hand in her misery and if she plays her cards well she may survive this place yet. She may even survive Vaas.

The dress isn't torn or bloody, just a bit muddy, and the swimsuit smells like Jennifer did when Alice last saw her. It may have been gold rather than yellow. Alice is far bustier than Jennifer is -was? - and the swimsuit molds tightly around her breasts and squashes them together, which is probably a good thing.

You can do this, she tells herself. Remember, it's not yes, it's perhaps. You can do this. You just need to keep him keen until you find a way out of this hell.

You can do this.