Running to the Park and Ride stop to catch the bus before it left, we were completely out of breath. Jake got on first and handled purchasing our tickets. While he took care of it, I got on and surveyed the bus quickly. It was only half full, but of the passengers that were there they were all staring at us like we had three heads. I couldn’t understand why. It was as if they'd never seen two people wearing hoodies before. Then I remembered I had been crying only a short time earlier, and subconsciously wiped my face as I walked down the aisle to the back of the bus where there was an empty row for us to sit in. I sat down next to the window, putting our bag down at my feet. Jake followed after validating our tickets and I noticed him glaring at a couple of the passengers for staring as he went past them. He plopped down next to me and continued to give them a stink eye until they went back to minding their own business.

I pulled out my phone and cleaned up my tear-stained face as best as I could with my sleeves. Jake put his arm around me and leant his head against mine. Seeing us both on my phone made me smile, even if Jake still had his hood and mask covering most of his face. I really wanted to take a photo, but I wasn't sure if I should. Jake must've sensed my uncertainty as he reached with his free hand and pushed the camera button for me. He turned into me just in time so the camera didn't catch his eyes. Sure you couldn't see his face at all in the photo, but it was the first photo of the two of us. I loved it so much I made it my wallpaper.

Putting my phone away, I nestled against Jake and watched as the outskirts of Colville passed us by while he kept track of our progress on his phone. It was only the second time I had been to Germany and the last time I didn’t pay attention because I was so focused on everything happening in Duskwood. Suddenly Jake felt a lot heavier against my head. It took me a second to realise that Jake had nodded off. I raised my hand and gently rubbed his head, before pulling his phone out of his hand to prevent it from falling. He still had the map open and I could see we still had another 20 minutes before our stop, so I let him sleep.

With his phone in my hand, I grew curious. The urge to poke around was just too great to ignore, so I did. His phone was very streamlined to the bare minimum apps, which surprised me. He didn't even have any games, so that explained why he used my phone earlier to play Candy Crush. Out of curiosity, I opened his photo gallery, but to my surprise there were only a few photos in it, all of me sleeping. The last one he had taken that very morning in the barn while I was asleep on his chest. I couldn’t help but smile. Normally I found photos of me sleeping embarrassing, but I was so peaceful sleeping in his arms.

I swapped to his notes and only found one, written in German, containing a single line. I found it so strange that I had to know what it said. Without hesitation I copied it and swapped to the browser to translate it to English. 

'Never let her see you at your worst.'

I stared at the words for a few minutes, saying it over and over again in my head. Just what was he so frightened of? Considering everything we had been through the past few days, what did he still have hiding in his closet? What was his worst? I glanced at him sleeping. He looked so calm that it was easy to forget how he could change at a flick of a switch. I liked to think I was bringing some stability to his life, but did I really have any effect on him or was it just a facade?

Swapping back at the map, I realised there was only one more stop before ours. I gently shook Jake’s shoulder and he jumped, making my heart skip several beats. 

"Sorry, our stop is coming up," I laughed.

"Fuck! Why did you let me sleep!?" he snapped.

"Because you needed it?" I frowned. "It was only a few minutes."

"I could’ve done without it," he rolled his eyes and snatched his phone out of my hands.

"Clearly your body thought otherwise," I pointed out.

"What were you doing with my phone?" He sneered as he checked the open apps.

"Making sure we didn’t miss our stop," I replied. "I mean sure, I looked at your gallery."

"You saw the photos!?" he queried.

"Um, yes, they were cute," I smiled. "Though you can take photos of me when I am awake too."

Jake said nothing and reached for the button to signal for the next bus stop. Then he put his phone away and picked up his backpack, resting it on his lap while he waited for the bus to stop.

"Are you mad?" I asked.

"I am mad you let me sleep," he answered, but it felt like only half of an answer.

"Are you embarrassed because I saw the photos?" I pushed.

He ignored me and instead stood up as the bus stopped. I got up, grabbed our bag and followed him out the back door of the bus. He walked off in the direction of the shopping district. I had to rush to catch up to him.

"What the hell, Jake!?" I exclaimed.

He stopped and turned back to me, checking to make sure if anyone was in earshot before responding, "What do you want me to say? I like it when you’re helpless, vulnerable, unguarded, and weak."

At a loss of words, I searched his eyes for an understanding, "I think what you mean to say is you like it when I feel safe with you."

Jake smirked, "You really have no idea."

"Jake, I don't understand what you mean," I shook my head.

"We need to hurry to get those documents printed," he tried changing the subject.
Jake continued down the path to the shopping district, but realised I wasn't following and turned back.

"If it wasn't clear already, I trust you, Jake," I declared. "I am yours - mind, body and soul."

"One day I will break you," he warned. "It’s only a matter of time."

"Then break me," I laughed. "I broke when I lost you. So unless you plan on leaving me again, you really can't do worse."

He tilted his head and grinned, "You’re just as fucked up as I am."

"I think they call it love," I mused.

"Hmm, well, we'll continue this discussion later," he held out his hand to me. "Come on."

I took his hand eagerly and walked into the shopping district at his side. It was fairly busy so we had to weave through to get to our destination, a small print and copy shop at the opposite end. Still we managed to blend reasonably well into the crowd. All seemed to be going ok until we reached the shop. To our surprise, it was far more crowded than expected. Still we approached the counter and explained to the staff what we needed done.

"Please join the queue," the clerk behind the desk said to me in a thick German accent.

"Ok, but this is urgent. Like we need it done now urgent," I stressed.

"You have to wait for your turn," he waved me away.

Jake cut in and expressed our urgency in German. The clerk still didn't budge. 

"It’s a matter of life or death! Our job is way more important than theirs! And what, are your printers from the 80s?" I complained. "Why is it taking so long?'

Jake continued in German and tried to convince the clerk to push our job to the front of the queue. Meanwhile the other customers waiting for their turn were glaring at us. I could tell they weren't impressed by my suggestion that their print jobs were inferior to ours.

"Oh please, we have a critical deadline! You all can wait!" I snapped.

"MC," Jake put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a look to settle down.

"Where's your manager!?" I exclaimed.

"He is the manager," Jake clarified.

"Oh, well he sucks," I pouted.

"And he understands English," he reminded me.

"Yeah, change my opinion then!" I sassed.

"Give me a moment, ok?" Jake rubbed his head, then went back to speaking in German to the clerk.

I sighed and went back to staring down the other customers.

"Their primary printer is not responding. They're waiting for a technician to come, but it could be another hour. I will be right back, I am going to try to fix it myself," Jake explained. "Hopefully its just the network settings."

I nodded and watched as Jake went behind the counter. I could see him going back and forth between the computer and the large format printer several times. I'd be lying if I said watching him work so intensely wasn't hot. I caught myself staring at him as he checked the printer over for anything out of place. He noticed me watching and winked. I blushed and looked away. There was no way I was getting all turned on so easily.

I tried to distract myself with the product displays as best as I could. Who knew you could print your face on almost anything? I was reminded of the time I heard Dan had his face printed on bottle cooler sleeves and gifted them to everyone for their birthdays for the next year. Every time the group got together and they weren't using the cooler sleeves, he threw a tantrum. The memory made me giggle.

Out of nowhere, the staff all started cheering as the printer came to life. I saw Jake was very uncomfortable by the appreciation he was receiving and I had to smile. He shoved a USB stick into their computer, clicked on a few things and the printer started running again. Judging by the reaction of the manager seeing the printouts, I knew exactly what was printing. Still, the manager collected the documents and put them into a folder for us. Jake took the folder from him and thanked him, then walked back over to me.

"He didn't want any money?" I questioned.

"Nah, the service job was going to cost way more than the printing," he ushered me out of the store. "We need to hurry though or we're going to miss the next bus."

Jake handed the folder to me as we walked away from the shop. It felt so heavy in my hands, like I was carrying the weight of the world. The notion that I had been entrusted to carry his most vulnerable memories wasn't lost on me. I held it so tightly against my body to guard it with my life as we walked briskly back to the bus stop.

As soon as the stop was in sight and we saw the bus was already there, we ran again. Jake got to the door first and shoved his hand in as the door started closing. The driver was shocked and said something to him. Jake responded angrily in German and then motioned for me to get on. Using the same tickets from earlier, we filed onto the bus. This bus was more crowded this time with standing room only. The bus started moving before I could grab onto a rail and I nearly fell into another passenger, but Jake wrapped his arm around my waist and righted me. He took the opportunity though to hold me close against him. I glanced back at him and smiled, but his expression was sour.

"What’s wrong?" I questioned.

"I don't want to send you in there," he sighed. "Even with your new documents, they might realise who you are."

"But we agreed, Richy doesn't get early release," I turned around in his embrace.

"Listen, if the worst should happen, I will get you out," he promised. "They'll put you in a transport."

"And?" I asked, already anticipating what he'd say next.

"And I will find the transport and get you out," he responded vaguely. "You should probably brace for impact though."

"Right, of course," I chuckled. "We haven't really discussed this. I mean are you going to wait for me outside?"

"No, no, I'm not. I will disappear as soon as you walk through the entrance. I expect you'll attract attention so stay with your friends. I am sure they will want to talk with you and discuss whatever it is you discuss," he explained. "I will go to you as soon as I find an opportunity. Just try to act normal."

"You will always find me," I smirked.

"Yes I will," he chuckled. "I am glad you understand that."

I sighed, "Ok this is really happening."

"Having second thoughts?" he asked.

"No, I can do this. I go in, bust the door down if I have to, kick ass and take names," I tried psyching myself up.

"Please don't kick their asses," Jake humoured. "I mean it's not fair if I'm left out."

"Wait, left out of being a kicker or kickee?" I joked.

"Ha! As if you could take me!" he teased. "Though it would be cute to see you try."

I stuck my tongue out at him, then noticed the scenery around us had changed. Leaning over to look out the window, I could see we were approaching the prison. Jake pushed the signal for the next stop while I started practising controlled breathing exercises to calm my nerves. The bus soon stopped and we filed out of the back of the bus with several passengers, who were there to visit other prisoners. I turned to Jake with unease filling my stomach.

"Jake?" I said nervously.

"You'll be fine," he assured me and rubbed my arms.

I looked into his soft, warm eyes and could feel my muscles relaxing, "I love you."

He smiled, "I love you too. Now who is the one waiting to say it until the stressful moments?"

I laughed, which eased my nerves even more, then hugged him tight, "Please no disappearing on me."

He hugged me back even tighter, "I will be with you again before the night is over. But you best get in there, it is already ten minutes past 2."

I nodded and let go of him reluctantly to walk off to the prison entrance. The first time I glanced back, he was still standing there watching me, but by the time I had passed through the gate, he was gone. I was now on my own.