A.N- Sorry this one took a while, guys. I was busy with school-related things. I'm planning to start updating more frequently, though I won't make any promises. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter, don't forget to read and review! As usual, I don't own any of the characters.

Chapter Two

Toris had been settling down for the night when he heard the knock on the door. Immediately he froze, listening carefully. The noise was frantic, desperate, not the controlled hammering he'd always expected. Tentatively, he climbed out of bed and crept out of the room. He made his way down the stairs, towards the door. Through the glass of the door, he could sort of see somebody. Someone who seemed to be a little shorter than him, though it was hard to make out anything else in the dark outside. He put his shaking hand on the handle and opened the door. Standing on the doorstep was Feliks Łukasiewicz, his best friend and the only nice Polish person he'd ever known. He was holding two large suitcases, a troubled expression on his face. Toris stepped aside and let him in, closing the door.

"Is it okay if I ask what you're doing here with those suitcases?" Feliks didn't respond. Instead, he dropped both his bags to the floor, ignoring the huge thudding noise they made, threw his arms around Toris's neck and started to cry into his shoulder. Immediately, Toris wrapped his arms around Feliks, holding him tight. They didn't hug very often, but the situation definitely called for it. For several minutes, they stayed like that, until Feliks was done crying for the time being. After a while, Toris led him over to the old, beaten-down couch and sat down next to him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he said eventually. To his surprise, Feliks nodded.

"I'm not really sure where to start, to be honest. So much has changed in such a short time, and I don't know what to do," he leaned forward, burying his face in his hands. Toris rested a hand on his shoulder. He wanted to say everything would be okay, but he knew Feliks probably wouldn't want to hear it. Whatever had happened, it had to be pretty big. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here at this time of night, carrying two suitcases.

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" he suggested. Feliks nodded again and sat up. He still didn't look at Toris, though.

"Alright. Well, the whole trouble really started this evening. Mother and Father left to go somewhere, but they wouldn't tell me where. They'd done that before, so I hoped everything would be okay, like it usually was. After a few hours, though, I… I heard a knock at the door. It was a friend of Father's, and he… he told me that… they… my parents… they'd been… killed. They'd been killed because they were in the resistance, and they never told me," he buried his face in his hands again. Toris wasn't sure how to respond. Briefly he was reminded of his last normal night in Lithuania. He'd been staying with his aunt, and just before he was meant to go home he'd found out that the NKVD had taken his parents. He hadn't expected it to happen. His parents had been fairly ordinary people. Mother had taught History, and Father had been injured in the conflict with the Poles in the 1920's. He sighed, not wanting to think about that now. Feliks didn't know about that, however. He just knew that Toris had ran away from home because it wasn't safe anymore. Gently he patted his friend on the shoulder, since he didn't have any better ideas.

"I wish I knew what to say to you," he said eventually.

"It's alright. It's not an easy thing to talk about, let alone try and help someone get through. Don't worry, though, I won't stay here long. Maybe just for tonight. Then I'll go… somewhere, I don't know. I'll figure something out," his hands were now clasped and resting in his lap, and he was staring at the floor.

"Don't be so silly, Feliks. You don't have to go anywhere, not until you have a plan. You're more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need to," he had a feeling that things probably wouldn't end well for Feliks if he didn't stay somewhere safe. First of all, he needed to recover from what had happened to him tonight. Also, it would probably be good for him to lay low for a while, and Toris was more than happy to help him with that. The last thing he wanted was to find out that his best friend had died especially if he hadn't done anything to prevent it. Feliks smiled weakly.

"No, it's fine. I shouldn't bother you any more than I already have."

"You're not bothering me, okay? Look, why don't you stay here tonight, and tomorrow we can make a plan,"

"That sounds reasonable," Feliks stood up. "Um, where should I sleep?" Toris frowned and thought about it. His house was very small, but until now he'd never really considered it to be a problem. He'd just been grateful to have it, since none of the alternatives were really good. It was better than living on the streets and it had to be better than whatever the NKVD could have done with his parents. Right now, though, the fact that it only had one bedroom was a bit unfortunate under the circumstances. He'd come to this country with the intention of laying low and keeping quiet until the war was over, so he hadn't really planned on ever having company over. He'd managed to avoid having Feliks over to stay overnight so far, since there would be nowhere for him to sleep. Now, though, he had no other choice. He had to think of a solution. It wouldn't be fair to ask Feliks to sleep on the floor, and neither of them would fit on the couch. After a moment of thinking, he came to a conclusion.

"There's only one bed in this house. You can take it, I'll sleep on the floor."

"Are you sure?" Feliks asked. "You don't have to give that up for me. I mean, it is your house, after all," Toris sighed, knowing he should've expected something like this. As good a friend as Feliks was, he could sometimes be way too stubborn for his own good.

"Yes, I'm sure. You're my guest, I can't ask you to sleep on the floor," he stood up, leading the way up the narrow, rickety stairs. When they reached the bedroom, Toris got to work making up a bed for himself from a couple of spare blankets and a pillow. Feliks stood in the doorway, watching him. Or at least, Toris thought that was what he was doing. He might just have been very deep in thought.

"Hey, you should get some sleep," he gestured to the bed. Feliks went to sit down on it, but didn't make any move to actually lie down.

"All my stuff's downstairs," he said with a sigh. Toris frowned at first, insure what this had to do with anything, Then it occurred to him what Feliks was talking about.

"Well, if you want, you can go down, get what you need to get and get changed downstairs somewhere. Or you can just take your jacket off and go to bed as you are. It's up to you," Feliks chose the first option. When he came back, Toris tried not to notice the signs that he'd been crying. He knew from experience it was best not to ask too many questions just now.

"Good night," he said as they both settled down.

"Good night," came the response, so softly he almost didn't hear it.

Toris couldn't sleep. The floor was a lot harder and more uncomfortable than he'd expected. Still, he didn't have any choice but to go through with it. He continued to try and sleep, until he heard Feliks's voice.

"Hey, are you okay down there?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he sighed. Really, he should've expected this.

"Are you sure? I mean, that doesn't look like the most comfortable floor in the world," this was probably the closest Feliks had come to sounding like his old self all night. Still, Toris knew that they would have to keep up with this current arrangement, at least for tonight.

"I'm fine, Feliks. Even if I wasn't, there wouldn't be anything we could really do about it. We can't swap places, I've already said that asking you to sleep on the floor isn't fair, and I'm really not sure what else we can do," Feliks sighed, and Toris was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes, even though he couldn't see him in the dark.

"I've got an idea, though it may be a bit of a squash. If you can lie on your side and try not to turn over, though, it could work," Toris frowned as the realisation of what Feliks was suggesting hit him.

"You can't seriously be suggesting what I think you're suggesting," it couldn't work. It would be too much of a squash. He sighed, knowing it would still be more comforting than sleeping on the floor. It would also probably be a lot warmer, which had to be a good thing. Rolling his eyes, he climbed into bed beside Feliks. He faced away from him, and tried to get some rest. Eventually, he managed to settle down and he drifted off to sleep.