Arthur was in a frenzy. Remembering Samuel's body like that. It made his stomach twist in his body to remember. Tears flowed down his cheeks and his lower lip quivered, he clenched the steering wheel as he drove. There was only one thing he knew to do, though he's never done it before. He'd give it a chance; after all, this was Samuel.

The flashbacks began: he walked into their flat to find him... his blood soaked clothes and lifeless blue eyes staring into nothingness. The vertical cuts in his porcelain white wrists and the knife in his right hand. Arthur knew what he'd been going through, but he never thought he would do something like this.

He'd arrived. He got out of the car, carrying the supplies in his shaky hands. He went to the center of the crossroads, burying the box, praying that this would work. For a brief moment he wondered if he should even be praying. After all, this was rather demonic. He wiped the tears from his face, looking around. He was unsure of what was supposed to happen now, but this lack of anything was surely not it.

"Hey!" He cried in a broken voice. "I wanna make a deal! Where are you, you damn devil?"

"Right here, sweetheart." He whirled around to face the source of the female voice.

"I want Samuel back," he growled, clearly not fooling around.

"Straight to business, then? Oh, apologies, nothing about you is straight."

"Shut up! No games, no messing around, just give me back my Samuel!"

"Alright. I bring him back, you get ten years to live before hell collects your soul as payment. Sound like a fair trade?"

"Deal. Now bring him back."

She clearly wasn't finished. "Oh, but sweetie, you and I both know he committed suicide. What makes you think he won't simply... try it again?"

Arthur saw her point. But he didn't want to think about that. "I'll make certain he won't. Do we have a deal or not?"

The demon grinned. "Deal. Now, in hell, we don't exactly shake on it."

Arthur became confused. "Then what do I have to do?"

"You don't have to do anything. Unless you'd like to." She gave a cheeky smile before placing her lips on his. He was repulsed by the feeling, but anything to save Samuel.

They quickly separated, and he wiped his mouth. "So... is Samuel alive now?"

"Give him a call and find out, skipper." She winked and vanished in an instant.

He wasn't sure where she went, nor did he care. He scrambled to fish his phone from his pocket. He called Samuel and eagerly awaited the sound of his voice. He went back to his car, still awaiting an answer. "Please, Samuel, please pick up," he murmured to himself in a bit of a panic.

Samuel finally answered. "H-hello?" He spoke shakily, quite possibly in shock.

"Samuel! Thank god! Are you alright? How are you? Do you need anything while I'm out? A-anything you want, just name it." More tears ran down his face, but this time they were tears of happiness and relief.

Samuel paused momentarily. "I... Arthur I thought I... I thought I killed myself."

Hearing this hurt a little, but what mattered now was that Samuel was alive. "Please, Samuel... try to feel better until I get there, alright? We should talk things through. Make yourself some tea, or - or whatever you want, okay? Please. I'll get there as soon as I can. I love you so much, Samuel, I want you to know that. I love you, and if you weren't here, I - I don't know what I'd do."

Samuel paused again. "I - I love you too, Arthur. I... I'll put the kettle on."

"Okay. I love you, and I'll see you shortly. I... I love you. I always will."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because I do. So much. I want you to know that. How much you mean to me. Alright, well, I'm on my way. I'll see you at the apartment. Love you."

"Love you too. See you here."

After hearing Samuel hang up, he put his phone in his pocket and quickly began driving to their flat. He drove like a madman, wanting to get there as quickly as possible. Once he got there, parking the car hastily, he ran to the front door, Samuel buzzing him in. He ran up the stairs, feeling too much nervous energy to take the elevator. He got to the door, opening it and finding Samuel inside sitting in the den, looking to be in a state of shock.

He approached him, kneeling in front of him. "Samuel. How are you? Feeling well?"

"Arthur, I died. I know for a fact that I died." He looked Arthur in the eye. What the hell did you do?"

He didn't want to say. He had a feeling Samuel would be upset, and he didn't want that. "I got help. And you're back now. And I'm thankful. I'm going to love you like you've never been loved before. I'm so glad to have you in my life. Don't ever forget that."

Samuel wasn't buying it. "Arthur. What did you do?"

There was silence until the tea kettle whistled. Arthur decided to take his leave there. "I-I'll make the tea, okay?" His voice broke at the last word. He got up to take the kettle off the stove, pouring the hot water into Samuel's cup, teabag already in place. Tears filled Arthur's eyes as he mixed the teabag in the water. He knew it was stupid, what he did, but he did it for Samuel. Perhaps he would understand. Maybe.

"Arthur?" Samuel had approached him, standing just behind him. "Please, talk to me. Tell me you didn't do anything reckless."

He stared down at the tea. "Do you want to hear that, or do you want to hear the truth? Because you can't have both."

Samuel sighed, closing his eyes. "What did you do? Give it to me straight."

Arthur grinned faintly. "I haven't done anything straight for a very long time, Samuel."

"Arthur, don't make jokes. Tell me what you did. You can't avoid it forever."

He knew Samuel was right. He couldn't avoid this. He took a deep breath, turning to face him. "Fine. I... I went to a crossroads, and... may have given my soul in exchange for you. I have ten years before I... pay the price."

Samuel looked more than distraught. "My god, Arthur. What were you thinking?"

"I know. It was stupid of me, and I'm sorry. I just... I can't live without you."

"So now I must live without you? In ten years time?"

He hadn't thought of it like that before. "I... I'm sorry. I just wanted you back. Please don't be mad. I... I thought... I thought I could make you happy, if I had one last chance. You know? I thought, with this second chance, I could make your life better. I love you so much, Samuel. I was only thinking of you, but... I can see how selfish I was. I'm sorry."

He took this all in. "I know your heart was in the right place. I just... I thought that I was putting an end to my suffering. And to wake up, right back here again, it... I don't know. I'm just so tired of going through what I'm going through. I'm... I'm so tired."

Arthur saw tears in Samuel's eyes and wrapped his arms around him. "I can't say that I understand, because I don't. But I can say that I will try to help, because I will. I'll try my damnedest. Because I love you, Samuel. I love you so much."

Samuel embraced Arthur's hold. "And I love you, Arthur."