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Lorey chewed at her bottom lip like she always did when she was truly perplexed.
"Could we go and see him?" she said finally. "Find out for ourselves what all this means. I don't want to find out later that he wants to call this a favor and get something back."

Lorey nodded, smiling, and headed out the door. She waited for him to follow before taking his hand, together going to the Centurion building.

Lorey happily lead the way back to the room, though she couldn't help but be a little nervous. Should she run into her old boss or maybe some co-workers, things were sure to go awry. But, she navigated the halls without a bit of bad luck, and soon enough they were safely tucked away inside their room. Or rather, Vi's room. How she felt like she was an intruder...

"Well, home sweet home," she said, placing her purse on the small table within the rather petite kitchen area. Lorey turned to Richard with her little smile that always seemed to be glued on her face after years of forcing it, though then it was really, really there. Her blue eyes scanned his face and eyes carefully.
"You look tired..." But of course, they both were after everything that had happened. "How are you, Richard? And I really mean the question, how are you?"

As he watched her, she watched him. Richard was about five years older than she was, and though there was that age gap, she still felt close to him in mind and body.
The troubles reflected in his eyes, though, made him seem more haggard. She had seen that look before, the one that looked distant and sad. The one full of memories of his lost Rose, and who knew what else. That was the only part of him that she feared: his secrets. She knew enough of them, though, but just enough to know that Richard was tormented in a way that she could never truly understand. Everything else was just as veiled in mystery as he was.

After a moment of silence and thought, Lorey stepped forward to catch him in a hug about his middle. He was strong, she could feel that just from his muscle. And yet, for all that strength, he was always so gentle with her, like she would fall apart at the slightest touch.

"Me, too," she said, very quietly. It wasn't a lie. She did love him. Maybe not in the deep, desperate way, since they had only just met in the grand scheme of things, but she did cherish his presence, and every moment spent with him. Just thinking of the moments they had already shared made her pull her arms about him in a tighter hug.
"Things are so complicated..." Lorey mumbled into his shirt. "I always wished I could escape on a ship and just... go. No cleaning, no yelling, no rough hands. Just fly away and start somewhere else."

It was then that she picked her face up to look at his. He was so handsome to her, and in such a gentle, endearing way. Richard's attractive face didn't come with endless preening like Damian was prone to. He was simply genuine.
"I love you."

Had she? Lorey thought she had been.
"I... I thought I was." It was a very small answer, not how she wanted to sound at all. She wanted to tell him yes, she had been, and that's how she knew he was so very special to her. But that would have been a lie.

"I thought I was, with someone right before my mother died. He was wonderful... But he changed, very quickly." The young man had paid her every attention a potential lover could. Even when her mother had died, he had been there for her night and day, making sure she ate and hate everything she needed. And yet, for all that affection, he soon became controlling and abusive, as most people in the slums became after their lot in life grew too burdensome. He had hit her once, right before he simply ran away to who knew where. Some people thought he died. No one knew.

"If he hadn't become so... angry, maybe it would have been something amazing. Maybe."

His words stung her.
"Please don't say that," she whispered. It almost sounded scared, terrified. "You've no idea how good you are..."

With every word, she just found herself holding him tighter, as if he would leave at any moment.
"You make me so... happy. I haven't been happy in ten years. You make me feel safe and loved and beautiful even when we're both in such hard times. You ask me if I've ever been in love, and I say no, but I know I love you, I just know."

How bitterfly unfair it would be for him to be so kind and only to walk away. Lorey knew she couldn't bear another loss, not again. She was no more strong than he was in that respect.

Lorey looked at him with a dumbstruck gaze. She simply stared for a moment, before her eyes began to brim with tears and anger welled up inside of her. Beautiful anger that she had never felt before.

"So you pull me to my feet and kiss me and hold me, then shove me away..." she began, thinking of the moment they shared in that very kitchen, of that first kiss. Every word shook with sorrow and indignation. Would she lose that? Would she allow herself to wake from the dream?
"And then you buy me a beautiful rose, telling me you'll love me until it dies, when it never will, and now you're doing the same thing?"

Her lovely face contorted with sadness and raw anger, and for just a moment, she took a step back. It was all too much, this game of back and forth. But it dawned upon her that she could try to hang on to what she wanted, because for once in her life, she was going to say what it was she wanted and fight with her life to get it.

Lorey sent herself forward to catch him in the tightest, most painful hug she could bring herself to give without breaking her own arms.
"No! You might be able to let me go again and again, but I'm not letting you go, Richard!" The tears were beginning to choke her, though Lorey still raged on.

"I love you, why can't you understand that? Why can't you understand that it would nearly kill me, too, to lose you? Don't you think I've been through enough? Don't you think I know just a bit of what you're feeling at every waking moment? I've lost everything, everything, and I'm not losing you, you..." The words weren't coming to her, because somehow she loved him so much that petty insults could never be said.