A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

She didn't know exactly when he had moved her to the bed. It got lost in her tears and worry that he'd give up on helping to protect her completely, but he was still there. He sat on the edge of the left side of the bed. His back was facing her, and his fingers were in his very light brown locks. Nick hadn't said a word since she had finished telling him everything, but she didn't dare disturb his silence. Rather, she cuddled up with her blankets and had her knees to her chest. Her eyes stared at her legs almost lifelessly.

Countless negative thoughts raced through her mind, and each one drained her. Her lips were downturned into a frown, and red streaks from her tears decorated her face. As she sat in silence with him, her mind recounted his reactions. Nick had told that he understood why she had made the original deal and reassured her that she had done the right thing in trying to console Haley through her grief. He even had remarked that burying Dean probably had saved her parents from horrible deaths since they might've not been willing to make their own deal with the creature if they had discovered him at that time.

While he had accepted those behaviors of hers, he had been less receptive to the news about how his friend actually had died. Brent had been an a**hole in life and death, but she couldn't outright tell Nick that. If she did, he probably wouldn't listen to another word of hers. Maybe, he had known that, but he just didn't want to admit to it. Instead, he only wished to remember the better memories he had of his late friend.

Moving the blankets closer to her, she tightened her hold on them as she recalled what he had asked. "Had he died quickly?" She had shaken her head and had mentioned the screams, and she even had discussed the hallucinations that she had of him. His reaction to her explanations hadn't been pleasant, and he hadn't needed to speak for her to understand what was going through his head. Even now, she imagined that he was questioning the same thing over and over again. Why had he helped and saved her from the tunnels when she had sacrificed his friend?

"You could've done something. You could've tried to fight back instead of just following along." His words rang in her head like loud bells banging back and forth. She could've rejected the creature's deal back then with Brent's life; she could've not answered, but her own survival had been her priority back then, not the life of some jerk that was looking to throw her to the creature when he got the chance. (F/n), though, to be respectful towards Nick didn't voice that opinion.

"You would've sacrificed all of us except Laura if it had meant you living. Or, am I wrong?" She hadn't argued against that, and her fingers dug through the blankets and into the palms of her hands. (F/n) would've reassured him that she wouldn't give up him or any of his new crew to the creature to survive now, but that wasn't the point. What mattered to Nick was that she had left behind his friend all while he had been the one to aid her out of the tunnels and get her to the hospital, but she didn't bring up how he had left behind Brent too to save his own life. Again, that probably would've caused him to leave her apartment, and she didn't want them to part on a rough note.

No, she desired for him to remain her friend. She wanted someone who wasn't the creature to accept all of her actions. Nick didn't need to forgive what she had done in the past; she just wished for him to stay there with her for as long as he could, especially since she had called Ms. Zacerson and requested a sick day off, which the older woman had been kind enough to give her.

Given how things currently were, though, she expected him to leave the apartment and never come back unless it was to kick her out. The quiet ate at her more, and her hands dropped the blankets. Slowly, she moved, and Nick remained still. She didn't wish to disturb him and cause him to lash out. Presently, he was completely unpredictable.

Gradually, she stood up from the bed and headed for her room door. Maybe, cooking breakfast would distract her from everything. A saddened smile touched her lips. His help would vanish, and he would disconnect her from his world. She could've continued to hide all of those details from him, but she wouldn't feel right if she had done so. Nick had offered his aid to her, and for her to continue to store away all of those secrets from him simply had felt wrong. He was risking so much for her, and she owed him the truth of what had happened all those months ago.

Pausing by the door, her right hand hovered over the doorknob. Nick didn't make a sound behind her. She felt a sob building in her throat and chest. Her somber smile grew. When it came down to it, only the creature would accept everything that she had done to survive because he had been the root cause of it. That's not true. She froze, and her hand shook some. You never had to enter the tunnels; you trespassed and took his home. Now, you gave him a new one, but you could've declined.

Breath caught in her throat. Whose voice was that? She couldn't pinpoint it, but its statements hit her hard. The voice wasn't wrong. All of the creature's deals, she could've rejected; she could've fought back harder until he eventually and/or accidentally had killed her from losing his temper, but she hadn't. And, she couldn't.

Clenching her right hand into a fist, she pushed back the voice. Whether Nick continued to be her friend or not didn't impact her desire to win the game; she had to beat it. And if she had to leave the town and move onto another location, she would do so. If she gave up now, everything would crumble, and she'd only find herself in a worse situation, especially since she had left the creature in that angered state. She didn't desire to imagine what he would commit to her if he caught her while that rage was boiling within him.

Relaxing her hand, she placed it on the doorknob and turned it. Before she could open the door, however, footsteps hit her ears, and a hand latched around her right wrist. "I can't forgive any of your actions, (f/n)," Nick started, his voice soft. "But, ... thank you for telling me. Thank you for trusting me. I ... I ..." He took a deep breath before he slowly exhaled. "I probably would've done the same in your shoes. It was unreasonable of me to say that you could've done something. You could've, but you would've gotten killed in the process. Both of us might've not been here right now; we might've been dead and left to rot in those tunnels."

Gently, he tugged on her wrist until she faced him. Hesitantly, her (e/c) optics met his brown ones. "Even though Brent had been rude and money-possessed, Tara impatient and Laura dismissive, I miss them." He hung his head, and dropped his hand back to his side. "I love my current group, and they're better investigators than the old team, but I ... what happened back then ... I can't forget it and to hear that ..."

Moving closer to him, she wrapped an arm around his waist and the other around his neck. Her right hand pressed against the back of his head until his head rested in the crook of the right side of her neck. A relieved and joy-filled smile greeted her lips as tears trickled down her cheeks once more. "You don't have to explain yourself to me Nick." She swallowed a sob. "I'm just happy that I'm not losing you."

"(F/n) ..."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't have done more. I'm sorry that I'm weak," she spoke, cutting him off, as she held onto him tighter. "I was scared and wanted to live, and I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid of being left alone to die in those tunnels. Even after them, I didn't want you to disappear from my life. You almost helped me kill the creature, and now you're helping me hide from him." She smiled more and leaned her head against his chest. "Having you has made this all the more bearable."

Steadily, he pulled away from her. As he did so, his hands came up to her face, and he cupped her cheeks. He held her gaze, and his thumbs wiped her tears away. "And, having you here to talk to and relax with, despite all that's happened to both of us and what you've told you, has made me smile more than ever." A tearful, small grin spread on her lips, and she brought her hands up to rest over his.

Their fingers intertwined as their hands fell back down gently. (F/n) leaned her head against his chest again and could hear his heart beating. It thumped at a steady rate, though; it was slightly uneven due to recent events. Her heart rate was calming down too even as she felt more tears leave her eyes, but he had stayed. He was still there with her. Someone other than the creature was there for her, and it meant the world to her.

Tiredness from it all began to set in, and she closed her eyes. His heartbeat only lulled her to sleep more, and her body soon slackened from exhaustion. Nick held onto her and lifted her into his arms before he walked her back over to the bed. Carefully so as not to wake her back up, he tucked her under the sheets. She curled up in them, and he wiped a few remaining tears from her eyes and cheeks.

Part of him was still pissed about what she had done to Brent, but he knew that was just from anger. It wasn't anything more than that. Over the last weeks, he had gotten to know and understand her better as well as what she had gone through with the creature. After all of that, it was a surprise that she still was fighting for her life and not surrendering herself to him.

He couldn't help but admire the fire that was in her, and he'd do his best to help her while he still could despite her news. His fingers brushed across her forehead and pushed aside some locks of her hair. Leaning down, he placed a kiss on her forehead and whispered, "I'll take care of you until I no longer can, (f/n)."