Allen picked Hannah up into his arms and carried her into the bathroom where he turned on the cold water in the shower and got into the tub with her still cradled in his embrace. They were both fully clothed but he didn't care. He had read somewhere that if an addict was going through withdrawals and hallucinations, the best thing to do was to get them under ice cold water to shock their systems back into lucidity. Remembering that, he dunked both of them under the shower head making sure that the cold water hit her head directly and primarily. Though he was shivering, his own well-being wasn't as important as snapping Hannah out of her paranoid state.

    Hannah started gasping as her body nearly immediately reacted to the temperature drop as the water cascaded over her entire body. She shuddered as her body became soaked and though still weeping, she was able to focus on Allen's face that didn't look like Shanel anymore. The specter of Shanel was gone; it had vanished along with the voices and the rest of her hallucinations as soon as her body registered the nearly freezing water. It was as if she had been taken from the hottest desert on the planet and dropped into Antarctica in 5 seconds.

    She had been hyperventilating but continued to look Allen straight in the eyes as his soothing voice reached her beneath all the layers of inner torment. He was trying to calm her down and focus on reality and the present. Very slowly, her weeping subsided and other then shaking from the cold, her mind was her own again. He could tell when she had returned to the present as her eyes were focused and not darting back and forth between what was and what didn't exist.

    When he was sure that she had her wits about her and was back with him mentally, he turned off the water and stepped out of the bathtub. He sat her down on the floor and grabbed a bunch of towels that he then wrapped around her as she stood there shivering. He walked out of the bathroom and came back with even more towels for himself as well; he didn't want to get the bedroom wet as he walked around. He was just about to leave her to her own devices to dry off and change, when she stopped him.

"Allen, I'm sorry for all of the terrible things that I said. I didn't mean them. Truly, I didn't." Hannah said putting her hand on his arm.

"I know you didn't. Don't worry about it." He said to her softly.

    Without much hesitation and disregarding her and his own wet clothes, she reached over and put her arms around him, giving him a big soggy hug. He was surprised by it in one way and not very much in another. He knew how affectionate she was and sometimes when one couldn't find the proper words for gratitude, a hug would suffice. He returned the hug then and when they drew apart, she looked into his eyes and he felt that she could see right into his soul with those beautiful brown eyes of hers.

    Slowly, without thinking he leaned down, lowering his face towards hers, until their lips touched ever so softly. He kissed her gently and only pulled away when he heard her sigh.

"Hannah, are you sure about this?" He asked her softly then still meeting her gaze and not blinking. She nodded with a small smile.

    He kissed her again, this time more passionately as she returned the same thing he gave. Their lips fit together perfectly, molding into each other as if they were made specifically that way by the universe itself. As the kiss deepened, they wrapped their arms around each other and forgot about the world. Soon, they stripped off each other's wet clothing that fell to the floor with a loud flop and put dry towels around each other, only broke the kiss to breathe and dry off.

    When they were both sufficiently dry, Allen picked Hannah up into his arms and carried her to his king-sized bed. They were both naked but neither broke the others gaze. It was as if they were walking on a cloud with nothing around them but air. Allen set her softly down on the bed and she got under the covers as he followed suit, settling himself over her as he kissed her again. She had never been with another man other than Chris before in her life so this was all very new and exciting. Hannah could tell that Allen on the other hand had his share of experiences because he knew exactly what he was doing.

    Each motion of his lips, tongue, hands, fingers, and body set her mind aflutter and her senses ablaze. He made slow and sensual love to every part of her body as she thought she had died and gone to heaven. All of her stress had disappeared and she was truly living and enjoying the moment. Ironically, it reminded her of her first hit of meth with Caddie when she saw the kaleidoscope of colors when the drug hit her brain. This time the sheer ecstasy and each climax shot rainbows and other majestic lights into her head as her body reacted to every move and motion.

    This was nowhere near what she and Chris had even during the best parts of their marriage before she became ill and he started screwing Scarlett. Whatever he had with the tramp next door wasn't special at all but instead was undulated raw sex. This was real love making between two people that respected each other and had formed an unbreakable bond of trust. When you come from two completely different worlds yet meet in the most unlikely of places during a tragic time, sometimes the connection is irrevocable and unbreakable. Hannah felt reenergized and alive for the first time in years. She was again living in the moment but a different type this time. Meanwhile, making love to her, Allen felt like his senses were on fire. He'd been with a few women here and there over the course of his adult life, but nothing like this.

    After both were satiated they fell asleep in each other's arms with Hannah lying on Allen's chest and his arm around her shoulder holding her tight. She fell asleep first and before rest found him, he thought to himself just how at peace he felt and how funny life was. Thinking back to that fateful afternoon in the elevator 2 years prior; when he had first laid eyes on Hannah with her husband and parents-in-law. Never in a million years would he have thought that they would cross paths again and definately not in the way they had now.

When she woke up the next morning, Allen was already up, and called out from work. He wanted to spend the day with her. His boss understood as he had racked up quite a lot of off days working the Scorpio case non-stop and needed some time off. Until the case went to trial in Texas, the other two states—California and Arizona—had jurisdiction and Allen didn't need to think about testimonies and such. So when Hannah woke up, he brought her breakfast in bed and they chatted while she ate. Afterwards, they decided to go for a walk and as usual ended up at the SMU campus just wondering around holding hands. It was Hannah that broached the subject of what had happened between them the night before.

"I just wanted to let you know that I in no way regret what happened between us last night."

"I'm glad to hear that because neither do I. It wasn't something I planned or thought would happen honestly. I just wanted to help you. But I think you ended up helping me too." He said winking at her as they walked and she looked at him inquisitively.

"How's that?"

"Well, you've made me remember to stop and smell the proverbial flowers. And also about how caring for another person doesn't have to be complicated." He answered, raising her hand up to his lips and kissing it as she smiled.

"No it doesn't have to be. You've taken better care of me in these last weeks' then I think my husband had our entire marriage."

"That definitely says something, doesn't it?" He sighed as she nodded.

"In more ways than one." She replied looking out into the distance as they continued their walk and turned the topic to other things.

It wasn't that they were avoiding the hard topics; on the contrary, they could talk to each other about anything. The fact of the matter was, was that they never ran out of things to say. In what became a daily routine, they would wake up and if Allen had to go to work, Hannah would stay in the apartment. She learned how to use the laundry room downstairs and would wash both of their clothing. She cooked and cleaned the apartment spotlessly so that Allen wouldn't have to worry about it on the weekends. In the evenings they would make dinner together when there weren't leftovers to be had and/or go grocery shopping.

They were more than roommates now; they were in a relationship and learning how to live together which didn't seem all that hard. When a pair had so much in common, it was easier to get along and wrap lives around each other so that everything would work. When Allen wasn't working, they would go for walks when the weather would be beautiful and when it wasn't, take trips to museums and nature centers around which would give their already infinite rolodex of discussions an even more perverse amount to add to the list.

After dinner each night, they would either retire to their now mutual bedroom—Hannah stopped sleeping on the couch after their first night together—and make passionate love that happened every night without fail or before doing that, they would get popcorn and watch different genres of movies together. Either way, there wasn't any loss. The more they did, the more they learned about each other and themselves; both in the past and in the present.

One day, when Hannah had lived at Allen's for nearly 7 months, she went for a walk while he was at work. She was getting tremors almost every day now and started having hallucinations in her dreams. She had been off of meth for all of those 7 months but she hadn't had proper treatment of recovery and after giving it much thought, she returned to the apartment to wait for Allen—who had given her a key of her own—to tell him of her decision. She wasn't sure how he would react but had a hunch he would be very supportive. When Allen walked into the apartment at 8pm that evening, she greeted him at the door with a hug and a kiss.

She asked him how his day was which he explained to her as much as he could while relaxing on the couch next to her. He was very shrewd though and could tell there was something on her mind. When he finally asked her, she took a deep breath, turned to him, and said:

"While walking around today, I realized it's been nearly 7 months since I've last used and though a long time has passed since then, I haven't gotten proper treatment for it. I wasn't ready before but I am now. I need to heal properly and go into a facility where they can get me on the right path so I can put this addiction behind me and focus on figuring out how to get better from M.E. and finally live for a future instead of just in the present."

"Are you sure?" Allen looked deeply into her eyes.

"Yes, I'm very sure. More sure then I have been of many things in the past 2 years." She replied nodding. Allen smiled.

"Well then, you have my full support and help. I will call around and see what I can find that will fit you perfectly. Though there are a lot of different rehab locations in and around Dallas; every person needs a place to fit them best. I'm very proud of you, Hannah. I know this wasn't an easy choice. But I will stand by you through this process and be here when you get out."

    Hannah smiled wildly then and threw her arms around his neck as he kissed her and they hugged. She knew that he wouldn't let her down and Allen was smiling with relief as he started mentally jotting down notes of places he wanted to call and people he wanted to talk to, in order to get the ball rolling. That night, when they got to the couch to watch a movie, it was Allen's turn to pick one and his selection had Hannah in fits of laughter.

He clicked on 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back'. Because it was time for Hannah to find hers once and for all.