Eden stared into the mirror, it was a touch steamy from her shower but she could see herself just fine. Her hair dripped water on her neck and shoulders, the water droplets made Eden shiver even though she just got out of a warm shower.

As Eden studied herself, she felt as if she were looking at a stranger.

     The red hand marks around her neck were starting to bruise, leaving a darkening trail of purple around her neck.

     Eden's mind flashed to the last thing she could remember. Jacob's nightmare, being slammed against the ground and choked out by Jacob, the look in his eye as he squeezed harder. Eden ran her hand across her neck, even just doing that stung the sensitive skin.

     She tried to block out the memories but with it so fresh in her mind it was hard. Jacob wouldn't even look at her after what happened. It was almost like he was ashamed of what he did, even though he didn't really have any control over what happened.

     He was having a nightmare caused by his PTSD so when Eden tried to wake him up, she triggered his fight or flight response. Unfortunately for her it took him a while to snap out of it and she got the full force of the fear he was feeling at that time.

     After she found out what happened after she blacked out, Eden didn't know how or what to feel. When he was choking her she panicked, she didn't want to die, but now that she survived...maybe it would've been better if she hadn't made it.

     Eden's eyes trailed down past the hand marks around her throat. The scarred word WRATH had long since healed, but the sting was still there after all this time.

     Although the past is drifting further away, Eden felt no farther from it.

    Eden looked away from the mirror and grabbed a clean shirt to put on. She pulled the shirt over her head and shoulders, then walked out of the bathroom.

She passed the doorway to the blue room, and reached the red room. It used to be Dutch's main communications room, it had his radio and his record player in there too. He must've owned a hundred records. He had every song the Roskam brothers had ever released, but he also had stuff like Vera Lynn, Fred Astaire, and other classics.

Eden walked into the room and looked around. In a lot of ways it hadn't changed. The posters were still up, the maps of Hope County Dutch owned still hung on the walls. But it had lost its soul without Dutch there.

The cork board didn't hold information about the Seeds anymore. Joseph had long ago replaced their pictures and write ups Dutch had done with quotes from the Book of Joseph and hymns.

Eden found Dutch's record player on top of a book shelf and pulled it down. She set it on the desk across from Dutch's old radio and plugged it in. After she saw that it could work, she walked over to a book shelf full of records.

She thumbed over a few cases until she found an album that caught her eye. Eden carefully pulled the folder off the shelf and brought it over to the record player. She pulled the record out of its case and blew some dust off of it.

She gently placed the record on the platter and set the needle on the edge of the record. She adjusted the sound and music began playing. It's Been A Long Long Time by Kitty Kallen filled the room.

Eden leaned against the table with the radio system on it and just let the music wash over her. Doing something as simple as listening to music filled Eden with a sense of contentment, even amidst everything she was dealing with.

Strangely, it was the most human Eden had felt in a long time.

Jacob heard music playing from deeper in the bunker. The odd sound got his attention and drove him to investigate. He walked out of the sleeping quarters and heard it get louder as he walked into the hallway. The music was coming from inside the red room.

He took a peak inside the room and saw Eden standing across from a record player. She had her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closed. She was simply enjoying the music, honestly so was Jacob. It made the bunker seem less like a prison and more homey.

Eden opened her eyes and saw Jacob standing outside the doorway. They locked eyes, a silent communication between them as they stared at each other. Jacob expected her to turn him away or maybe even leave, but she nodded him in.

Jacob took a couple of steps into the room but then stopped, he didn't want to get too close. Eden didn't look away from him, her stare held even as he walked into the room.

The song changed, now But Beautiful by Kitty Kallen played in the room. (Listen to the song, you won't regret it. ;)

Eden took a step closer to Jacob. He hesitated, but Jacob took another step closer to Eden too. The gap between them slowly grew shorter.

Their eye contact never wavered. Eden reached her hand out for Jacob to take. Jacob was confused by this, what did this gesture mean?

Eden took another step closer to Jacob and gently touched his hand with hers. She finally broke their eye contact and they both looked down at their hands. Carefully, Eden grasped Jacob's hand.

Jacob felt chills run through his whole body because of her touch. It was surprisingly gentle and soft. She lightly squeezed his hand and looked back up at Jacob. The song changed yet again.

Now Take Everything But You by Kitty Kallen played.

Jacob's eyes trailed down to Eden's neck. Bruises were just barely visible along her neck, the red light washed them out, but Jacob knew they were there.

     He must've been staring at her neck for too long because Eden stepped closer to him. Jacob looked back up at her face.

     Her expression was strange. It was like she wasn't unsure of anything, she knew exactly what she was doing, even if she hadn't planned it. Her eyes searched Jacob's in a way he thought they never would again. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought he was standing in a room with Eden Blake from a few years ago.

     Had it already been that long?

     Eden slowly let go of Jacob's hand as she closed the short distance between him. Her hands slid around his waist and around to his back. As if moving in slow motion, Eden laid her head on Jacob's chest. Her hands pressed into his back gently while her head pressed against his chest.

     She was embracing him.

     The softness of her embrace was overwhelming. Jacob was frozen, his breath stopped in his chest. He was trained for combat, he had taken so many lives, he had lived through abuse, the foster system, and homelessness. But being hugged by a woman was what finally got to Jacob.

     His arms moved on their own and wrapped themselves around Eden. He held one hand on her back and one cradled her head against his chest. He didn't cry, but Jacob knew she must've felt his heart beating strangely.

     Eden slid to the side and slipped out of the embrace. She walked towards the door and Jacob turned to watch her leave. Eden paused at the door and looked back at him. She didn't look angry, her face was stuck somewhere between happy and sad. Eden turned away from him once again and walked into the hallway.

     If she hadn't of turned away so quickly, Jacob would've seen a tear roll down Eden's cheek.

     John was asleep on the couch in the blue room/kitchen when he was woken up by the sound of music playing. He got up and went to investigate the vintage music playing from the red room.

     John turned the corner but stopped in his tracks when he looked in. Jacob was standing in the middle of the room holding Eden. They shared no words but they just held each other while the music played.

     He knew he shouldn't have, but John watched them from the doorway. It was the kindest moment he had ever seen Jacob have. He knew he was often hard on his oldest brother, but that didn't mean that Jacob doesn't deserve to be happy.

     He wasn't sure if Jacob was happy in that moment or not, but who was John to intrude?

     When he saw Eden move to slide out of the hug he turned around and quickly shuffled back to the blue room. He hid inside the door way and peaked around the corner. He saw Eden walk out of the room and wipe her cheek as she walked back to her room.

     John walked back into the blue room and sat back on the couch. He knew that Jacob was attracted to Eden, maybe he even loved her, but he never knew if there was ever anything there for Eden. Well now he knew.

     Eden got back to her room and shut and locked the door. She leaned against the door and just stood there.

She repeated what had happened over and over again in her head. It felt really nice. Eden had never really been one for a lot of physical affection but hugging Jacob...it felt different.

Maybe it was a strange thing to do, but for Eden it opened her eyes. She needed to know who Jacob was, and that told her what she wanted to know. He may be dangerous, even cruel at times, but deep down Jacob still had a soul.

Eden walked over to her bed, the sound of Kitty Kallen ringing in her ears, and laid down.

Despite all that had happened, Jacob was still human. Maybe even more so than he was in that cabin so long ago...

(Authors note: I missed it last month but happy two year anniversary for this story! Honestly I never expected this story to go this far or have so many people that enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone that's stuck around and to the new people enjoying this story! :) )