Trigger Warning: Mention of abuse/sexual assault, anxiety, depression, PTSD

The second night in the hotel, Andy made sure Remington was asleep before slowly sliding out of bed and leaving the room, praying to god that he stayed asleep until he returned. He walked quickly down the hall and knocked on a door, said when it opened, "Sorry. I know it's late. We'll be going home tomorrow, hopefully. I just wanted to check everything's okay. I know this isn't your idea of fun." 

"Honestly, it's cool. I get it. I'd rather be here than shot in the head, so..." 

Andy hummed. "Right. Well, good. I'm gonna get you a taxi for the journey home so you don't have to put up with me for six hours or whatever it is. You've eaten and everything?" 

"Yep." 

"Good. Okay. I'll go now. See you tomorrow. Sorry again." He turned and headed back to his room, opening the door to find Remington manically scrambling around while simultaneously hyperventilating and muttering to himself. "Darling, hey. I'm here," Andy said, and Remington darted into him, pushing him back against the closed door. 

"You said no more alone," he mumbled through choked breaths, stumbling against Andy. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd wake up so fast. It's okay. I'm right here. Deep breaths." 

"Need tighter."

Andy held him close. 

"You-you left me alone, and-and alone is-and too much alone, and you said-you promised no more, but you left me, and-" 

"I know. I know. I'm sorry." 

"Never alone again. Please." 

"I'm right here. I'm sorry I scared you. Let's go back to bed, okay?" 

"No!"

"I'll be right here."

Remington shook his head. 

"You have to sleep." 

"No." 

"Remington-" 

"No. No. No." 

"I'll be right here the whole time-" 

"You said that last time and you-and you left me alone, and-and-and..." 

"I know, and that was a bad mistake, and I promise I'll be here." 

Remington started to cry into his neck. "Too much alone," he sobbed, then, "Need tighter." 

"You're not alone, I promise. You're okay. Shh." 

"No more..." 

"Shh, it's alright. You're okay." 

For the rest of the night, Remington cried on and off, sleeping, but for less than an hour at a time, waking frequently to make sure Andy was still there and still holding him. 

In the morning, they ate breakfast in the room and after, Andy gave Remington some of his clothes from the small bag he'd brought with him, binning the suit. He clung to Andy as they walked down the hall and asked where they were going, that the lift was the other way. 

"My husband," Andy explained. "He had to come so they wouldn't shoot him for being more than a hundred miles from me. Don't worry. He's only my husband for the technicalities. You're still my husband really." 

"Okay." 

The door opened. "I'm almost ready," said the new husband. 

"No rush. Uh, Remington, this is Julius. Julius, Remington." 

"Hi," Remington said quietly. 

"Good to finally meet you. You're all he talks about."

Andy hummed. "That is true. Alright. We'll meet you in reception." 

"You got it." 

"He seems nice," Remington said once they were in the lift. "What will he do when you have to divorce?" 

"Ah. You've missed an awful lot. You remember those protests?" 

Remington nodded.

"They worked." 

"They worked?" 

"The six month thing was revoked four months ago. And they also changed the law so that any physical abuse will be punished by businesses being closed down." 

"But then why...why did they not let me go home? Why did they make me be alone for so long?" 

"It's only for physical abuse. So any sort of sexual assault, hitting, punching etcetera. It's still not the best, because they're really strict about how much abuse counts as abuse. Which is ridiculous. You'd need, like, considerable physical damage to be considered a victim. I'm talking near-death." 

Remington nodded slowly. 

"Anyway, it means that Julius can stay married to me and that means he'll be safe, and I've paid some nasty people a lot of money to convince them to let me marry you again. So you'll be my husband husband. He'll be married to me just to protect him." 

"And he'll live with us?" 

"Yes. But I'm having part of the house converted into an annexe type thing. So he'll have his own kitchen and everything. Basically his own apartment." 

"Okay." 

The lift doors opened and they stepped out as Andy said, "But I'll explain it all in more detail later, when we're home. Are you okay? You're shaking a lot." 

Remington nodded. He was gripping Andy's arm. "What about you being a serial killer?" 

Andy chuckled. "Oh. Don't even worry about it. I bought the gun off one of the guys who steals you away, you know, with the black cars and shit, and paid him a lot of money to hide the murders. I mean a lot. He's actually quite a nice guy. Anyway, he has it all under control. Every week, he sends me an update of the latest death and the cause. You know, making it up and filing it as official police reports. Very clever guy. But it's done now. I don't need to kill anyone else." 

"You did all that for me?" 

"Why, of course. You want another hug before we get in the car?" 

Remington nodded, stayed in Andy's arms until Julius appeared. Then, the three of them walked out into the carpark and Andy made sure Julius' taxi was there before opening the passenger door of his car for Remington.