A week went by, Rory went to her job day after day, popped into the gym before she headed back to the apartment. Ever since the mention of Eddie's muscular frame, she reminded herself of the gym membership she paid for each month and decided to start going back. Ever since this change in her routine, she less of her creepy neighbour Mike, and things seemed to be moving smoothly.

Until Mike picked up on her routine change. She made it to the top of the stairs on her level and pulled her keys out of her purse, still sweaty from the gym, her hair pulled back in a blue band. All she wanted was a shower and something dripping in grease, but instead she came face to face with Mike. He stepped out of his apartment the moment she reached her door.

Not turning to look at him, she shoved her keys into the door handle, but Mike was quick to her side. Leaning against her frame, he leaned towards her and she could smell beer on his breath.

"Excuse me," she mumbled.

"Are you avoiding me, Rory?" he asked.

She was fed up with him, so as she stepped into her apartment and went to shove the door closed she growled at him, "Yes."

The ferocity of which her words came out was enough to irk Mike, and he shoved his foot into the doorframe and stopped the door from shutting. Rory had half a mind to open the door and slam it shut harder with the intent to break his foot, but she was stunned into submission. A flash of memory from her last relationship crossed her mind.

Worthless.

Mike opened the door and was halfway into the entryway of her place now, and she didn't know how to get him to leave. Her hands trembled at her sides, but she had to do something. Looking up at him, but not in the eyes -she was taught as a young girl not to challenge animals by looking them in the eyes, and what difference was a predator like Mike to an animal?

"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked, trying to sound determined and courageous but it came out so softly that she hated herself.

"Just wondering why you're avoiding me."

Useless.

Her trembling hands curled into fists, and then she raised a hand and pointed at the door. "Can you please leave?"

"I just want an answer, Rory, it's rude to ignore people!" He raised his voice.

"It's rude to step into peoples houses without invite!" she shouted back.

"Hey, hey, what's going on here?" Eddie's voice came from the stairs, followed by swift footsteps that brought him to the top level. He came around the stair bannister and approached Mike. Though he was fairly shorter than Mike, Eddie didn't look intimidated. Instead, he looked angry, it flashed and lurked behind his blue eyes.

"Nothing," Mike said casually, guy-to-guy.

"You want this guy here, Rory?" Eddie asked, looking Rory dead in the eyes. It was clear by the way she composed herself that no, she did not want him there, but Eddie still asked.

She shook her head every so slightly, that if Eddie looked away he would have missed the gesture. Eddie's gaze went back to Mike, and he pointed at the fourth apartment door down the hall like a parent might do to a disobedient child.

"Out," Eddie said. When Mike didn't budge and opened his mouth to say something, Eddie raised his voice to make himself clear. "Get out!"

Mike sized Eddie up, but decided it wasn't worth his time. He was taller than Eddie, but not as muscular. He stepped out of Rory's apartment and walked right back into his own, slamming the door so hard behind him that Rory flinched. She remained where she was, planted on the spot with her hands curled into fists, black-painted nails digging into her palms.

Eddie stayed outside of Rory's apartment, but he lingered outside. When he was certain Mike was shut up behind closed doors, he asked Rory, "You alright?"

She nodded, but said nothing.

Eddie's face was pinched, he looked like he was about to walk straight to Mike's door and bang on it until he opened it, and Rory let thoughts of what he might do when Mike opened it cross her mind. Her eyes glanced over that way, as if beckoning Eddie to do it, but then she looked at the floor.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered.

"This is an ongoing thing?" he inquired and before she had a chance to answer, since it was obvious, he added, "how long?"

"Few months."

Eddie's jaw tightened, and he turned towards Mike's apartment. That was when Rory acted, lunging out her door and grabbing Eddie's arm before he could do more damage. "Stop, stop. It'll just get worse."

"It won't," he said, determined.

"Look, Eddie, I know it will. If you interfere, it will. I promise you."

He looked at her, seeing the pleading in her eyes. Then he let his demeanour and anger drop from him. Facing her now, her hand still gripping his sweater, he cocked his head to the side. "You're living in fear, that's not okay."

"Welcome to the life of every woman," she muttered under her breath. "Look, maybe you scared him off. Just..."

"Hey," he grabbed her hands, gently. Her palms were bleeding. "You did this?"

She noticed the cuts now too and pulled her hands out of his grasp. "Nerves."

"Let me wrap these up," he suggested.

She wanted to hide away in her apartment, away from men, away from the world, away from it all. And yet there was something about Eddie that she trusted, something about him that was different from most of the men she ran into and spoke with. Nothing about what he was asking of her was with any ill intent, there was no prize he expected at the end of helping her. Knowing he was recently booted out of a serious relationship made it easier to trust him -only because she could tell he still loved her.

The jarring sound of the guitar began to play in the apartment opposite Eddie's, and both of them flinched, then began to laugh just lightly, not loud enough to hear.

"Alright!" She agreed.

They went into his place, even though she needed a shower, she didn't want to be alone. Eddie closed the door behind him but didn't lock the chain; a silent effort to show her that he wasn't trying to keep her there. His place was still bagged and boxed up, not much had been unpacked in the week since he moved in. But the first thing that caught her attention was that he had a balcony. Or at least a window with a proper fire escape that could be accessed.

"Oh wow, you have a way better view than me," she exclaimed, opening the window and sliding out through it. "This is so nice! You must come out here every night, watch the city?"

"I uh," he muttered, nearing the window, "don't like heights."

She glanced back at him, learning this small piece of information felt like an honour. He was admitting a weakness, a fear, and she found it so brutally authentic that she held onto that little tidbit, keeping it locked away.

She climbed back in, and realized she got some blood on his window sill. "Oh shit!"

"Don't worry about it," he said casually, then dug through some bags and found a scrappy looking first aid kid. "Come here."

"I'll paint it for you," she suggested.

"Come here," he said again, beckoning for her to come closer. She sat down next to him at the table by the window and held out her hands.

When he took them, his expression turned to pure focus. Everything else faded away as he doused her wounds in hydrogen peroxide and then wrapped them up in a light layer of gauze. They wouldn't need to stay on for long, but it was the gesture itself that was so thoughtful. Rory studied him the entire time, wondering what he could have possibly done to be kicked out by his girlfriend. Everything about him was kind, even if he did have an obvious temper- it was directed at the right people.

"Thank you, Eddie," she said as she pulled her hands away from him, tucking them into her lap. "I should get back to my apartment, I really need a shower."

"The gauze will just come off," he said quietly.

"Are you suggesting I stay a little longer?" she asked.

A smile crept onto his face. Then he shrugged. "At least stay for a glass of wine."

Eddie put on a movie they could hardly hear, both of them seated next to each other on the couch. It was garage sale, definitely a scrappy piece of furniture he picked up over the last week since moving in, but somehow it suited him. They drank their wine and laughed along with the movie -something light and quick so she could get home at a reasonable hour. Before the movie ended, Rory was asleep with her wine glass in hand, her head slowly lolling over and clunking against Eddie's shoulder before he even noticed.

Glancing at her, seeing a serenity there, he decided not to wake her right away. Not uncomfortable, but concerned about how to deal with this situation, Eddie pondered. There was so much hiding behind everything she did and said, even the way she composed herself suggested she was hiding from someone, she even stated that she was. And yet here she was, asleep on his shoulder as though she trusted him her whole life.

It was a good feeling, but something stirred in Eddie. An anger towards the people who put Rory in this situation, an anger towards himself for what he did to Annie, and underneath those angers, there was guilt. Guilt that after what he did to Annie, he was looking at Rory this way. He knew he was never going to get Annie back, not after the stunt he pulled – but it still felt so wrong.

He removed the wine glass from Rory's hand to avoid it toppling and staining the wooden floors. The movement made Rory shift, but she didn't wake. A soft noise came from her lips and she adjusted again, still resting her head upon Eddie's shoulder. The movie finished, the credits ran, and Eddie still didn't know what to do. She trusted him enough to come into his apartment after what she'd been through with men, she trusted him enough to fall asleep next to him.

Slowly, he inched his way out and let her head rest on the back of the couch. With quiet, bare foot steps, he walked over to his bedroom and pulled the only blanket he had off the bed, and brought it to her. Draping it over her, he glanced at the clock and saw it was only nine. Too early to go to bed, but it was the first night all week that Ziggy wasn't playing his guitar or loud music, and so Eddie too decided to crawl into his blanketless bed and try and get some rest.

His mind, however, was reeling; he wanted to know who Rory was hiding from. He could find out, he knew he could, but it was a breach of privacy- the very thing that lost him Annie. Eddie tossed and turned, too cold to sleep, mind spinning too fast.

Why did he care so much? 

-----

So these chapters are getting significantly longer, that means I may not post every day. But don't fret, I won't disappear. Once I get my head wrapped around what I'm doing, I'll have a proper update schedule, but will still aim for one chapter a day.

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