The next day and a half were hard for them, even Impact sensed their unwillingness to part.

For Aaron it was a struggle against his head and his heart.  His mind knew better but his heart was willing.

For Aphmau, it was the fear of being alone. To feel helpless and to be stripped of her innocence again.

But how can someone love, if their both afraid of their heart breaking.

It was time, they both went into the main room, avoiding each other's eyes. Aph had already taken off her bandages. And Aaron was leaning on the garage doorframe.

She sighed, God, she was going to miss this place.

And everyone in it.

She went to the doorway, not looking back. She heard Impact whimper, but she kept looking on.

She knew that if she looked back, she wouldn't be able to look away.

"Good luck..." She heard Aaron trial off, he must have been at the doorway now.  She tried to ignore the gnawing feeling at her heart.

And with great speed she whipped around and wrapped her arms around Aaron's neck.

the sudden warmth and weight startled him, but after a second he hugged her back. His arms lacing around her back.

Her arm hit his scar, but it didn't phase him. It just made him hold tighter.

Aphmau, was, of course surprised that he had returned her hug. But she smiled and she felt hot tears run down her face.

Aaron felt them run down his back, he realized what was happening. He released her, looking her right in the eye. Of course this didn't have the desired effect because he still had his mask on.

She sniffed and tried to hide her tears, but even she knew it was a losing battle.

"Aphmau."

The suddenness of the way he said her name made her jump. But she met his mask anyway.

He put his hands on either side of the mask and slowly lifted it off his head.

And with that, for the first time, Steel met Caramel.

He paused for a second. Looked at the bruises and the tears of the crying girl in front of him. And he bent down and picked her up.

"Wha- W-What are you doing?!" She stammered, tears still pouring down her face.

He dropped her on the bed, and then pushed his armchair next to it.

"Right, now, tell me again, what happened to you, for you to get hurt so badly." His unconcerned, stupid facade was gone. His mind was screaming at him to stop, to let her go. But his heart was open to her, it had been the moment she stepped in to his home.

And at the moment, that's what he was listening to.

She sniffed.

"Take it from the top, what exactly happened?"

She nodded, she supposed it would be nice to tell someone, even if she might never see him again.

"I ran away from home, my responsibilities. I had alway heard stories of people finding who they were in the wasteland. Living on my own, free of all the rules back home seemed nice at the time."

He sat down in his armchair and listened. He was finally opening up to her, as long as she opened up to him.

"But when I went, A rad storm hit. And I had to find shelter. But no one would take me in. I was so hungry and tired I... didn't see the signs when someone finally agreed to take me in.

Aaron furrowed his brow, people were always the ones who killed you. Not the monsters, or the rad storms (well maybe the rad storms.)

"At first he seemed nice, told me he was a trader. And he gave me some food and water. He said that his wife had died, and that he was incredibly lonely."

Aaron figured he knew where this was going. And it sickened him.

"I told him that I would be happy to stay awhile, if he didn't mind. But that's when it went sour."

"That night when I was asleep, he kidnapped me, and chained me up in his makeshift dungeon."

Fresh tears came poring down her face, but she continued.

"When I woke up he was waiting for me, he-he did so many t-things to me."

"I felt so helpless, I couldn't do a thing to stop him. When he... Aaron, please, don't make me go back out there!"

She choked herself up again, tears falling even faster.

"Shhh, Shhhh..... I'm not making you go anywhere. You're welcome to stay."

He hugged her again, rocking her back and forth.

"Everything's fine, look at me."

She looked up at him, his cheeks were tinted pink.

"Me and Impact won't let anything happen to you, not willingly, I promise you." He lowered his voice to a coo. Trying his best to calm her down.

She hugged him back, holding on to him like it was her last hope on the world.

Slowly her breathing slowed and her tears stopped. And that's when he released her.

She hadn't fallen asleep, but he did wonder what would happen if he had stayed there.

"Now, how about I tell you what happened to me."

She looked up at him, she really didn't think that anything bad had happened to him at all. But she nodded and he started to tell his story.

"About four years ago, It wasn't just me and Impact. In fact, Impact didn't even exist at the time."

Impact curled up next to his master and listened as well.

"It was me and a girl named Jennifer. Who I was in a relationship with. And everything was going well, until we went scavenging together."

Aphmau, listened intently. Glancing at Impact who had laid his head on Aaron's lap.

"She was acting kind of weird, but I was too distracted to notice. Because, I was going to ask her to marry me. I had the ring in my pocket and everything."

Aphmau awed. She didn't know Aaron had such a soft heart.

"But right before I turned around to ask her, she took her dagger, and stabbed me in the back. Right in my spine, almost paralyzing me."

"Then she ran, and by the time I had realized what had happened she had robbed me blind. And I had to drag my bleeding body to this station."

Aphmau winced, now she knew why he didn't want to open up to her, he was scared of being betrayed again.

"When I got back, everything I had was gone. She had even took the sheets off the bed."

He smiled, it was a grim smile. One of someone who had been grieving for a long time.

"It wasn't the pain that hurt me, at least, not the physical pain. She broke my heart, and my spirt. And I vowed not to open up to anyone again."

He glanced up at Aphmau for a moment and chuckled.

"But, we see how much that held up."

After a moment he felt stupid, he didn't have a right to compare what he went through to what she went through. They were on two different levels of horrible.

"I'm sorry, what I went through, doesn't even begin to compare to what you did." His voice was low and sorrowful. Now that he had said his story. He felt almost empty. Like it was the only thing that filled him and now, it was gone.

"No, I'm glad you told me, and I'm glad I told you. Now maybe, we can both move on."

What she said was wise, and it made him chuckle.

"Did you read that somewhere?" He asked, smiling stupidly

"Maybe..." She responded the same stupid grin etched upon her face.

A/N

These take sooo long to write. But I enjoy it sooo much.

Bye Guys, I hope you all enjoy!