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"Alright then..." he said, before giving him a long hard look. "You better know what you're doing."
And without another word, Damian returned to the kitchen where Raquel was looking rather uncomfortable.
"I have a proposition for you, Raquel: we spend the day going shopping for both ourselves and our friends. You may buy whatever it is you need, with a few treats here and there, but we'll make an event out of it."
Still tired, Damian sort of hovered between sleep and being awake, though there was a forced happiness about him.

For a moment, Lorey thought that was what they had been planning, but something told her different, like the angry whispering. Or maybe they had been disagreeing about Damian spending money on them both?
"Why aren't we all going?" she asked.

To which Damian had a sharp answer for:
"Well, we need someone to watch over things here... make sure someone's watching over the home base, eh?"

Damian offered his arm to Raquel, and away they went out the door.
"Well, this should be... fun. Don't be surprised if we come back to someone in utter hysterics. They have a penchant for that sort of thing."
His finger jabbed at the elevator button for going down.
"I'm terribly sorry for this mood I've found myself in... Richard's planning something I don't approve of at all."


Lorey blushed, but as soon as they were out the door, she wandered over to Richard. He looked worried... which made her very, very nervous.
"What was that really about?" she began, standing in front of him with no smile upon her face, just a gentle worry.

"It's her heart... I don't know how it's so... strong. She is not untouched. Richard thinks she is this beautiful, pure thing, but there's a darkness in her. Even that seems to be bitterly beautiful."
But he stopped realizing it must make Raquel feel terribly inadequate.
"You have the same sort of beauty... that strength. And outer beauty, you have that, too."
Even with the bruise, Raquel was something to behold, for as he said, she looked so strong.

Lorey's heart began to beat madly. Something was wrong, but she still didn't know what.
"I already do. I'll always love you, I always believe in you... I trust you. Except when you try to leave me, then I just get mad."
She tried to laugh it off, but found herself stopping mid-laugh. Being so close to him was the only thing she wanted then, even if it was so serious. Worn hands intertwined with his, and blue eyes looked into his pleading ones.
"What is going on?" she whispered.

"Then be angry." Damian looked right at her. "Do what makes you feel the need to survive, and if you don't, then I'll help you. But I swear, while you are in my care, while we are friends, I will not allow anyone to touch you. I won't even touch you if you do not want me to."
Once more his gaze went out straight ahead. It seemed an unusually long elevator ride down.

The dreaded words had finally been spoken. But Lorey put herself into check this time. She stopped her immediate trigger response, and thought things through. This was for him... it would make him happy to find closure somehow. It would be for a real reason, one that might actually be valid despite her desire to keep him with her.
"You'll... you'll come back to me, won't you?" she asked, though try as she might, she couldn't help but have her voice choke up. "After you're done doing whatever you have to do?"

"Alright..." Lorey kissed him again, but her heart hurt so much. Richard, as far as she knew, was leaving to see if he could solve the murder of his wife.
"I'd bring her back to you if I could," she whispered, though her heart broke every time she thought of that coming to be. But she would... Lorey would step aside and have them be together if she only knew how to turn back time.

Damian wasn't quite sure of what she meant, either, but leaving the elevator, he held her arm a bit tighter.
"That's not how it works. These things... just happen. But please, stop doing what you're doing. You've been hurt enough..."
His voice was so genuine. It was a voice he usually saved for Lorey...

Lorey held back everything she really wanted to say: that she would bring his Rose back, how she would stand aside for them, how she knew she would never be his Rose and would never have all his heart. She wanted to say how much it hurt to know she would never hear how she was the greatest thing that ever happened to him, how certain days could be the best in his life. Every one of those, it seemed, had been taken already by someone she would never know.

Instead of saying all of this, she simply buried herself in his embrace.
"Please tell me what happened. Maybe not all at once. But tell me what caused you to almost leave me twice." Lorey pulled her head back to look at him. "I don't want any more secrets. I mean, I just learned that what I thought was true for years about my mother is a lie. What else don't I know?"


Damian stopped with her to see a little smile creep out from underneath all that pain. It felt good to know that he had put it there. He wanted to touch it, but thought better of that impulse.
"You're welcome, Raquel. But I hope you never become numb like you were saying before. I've been there myself, and you never quite get over it."

"Please," she prompted again. "You're always trying to shelter me, and I'm not sheltered. I've seen things, too. Terrible things. But I want to know the truth." Lorey's grip tightened where his had loosened. Already she felt like she was losing him, even if he had just said he would come back to her. She knew he would, but that fear was still too great that he would take off, and all to protect her from something that was already coming.


"Right." Damian reached the glossy, golden door and held it open for her. He would be taking her to a more sophisticated department store of sorts. "Well, today is going to be your princess day, Raquel." He loved saying her name. It was a beautiful name, and he knew she was beautiful, too, if she would only open herself up a bit.

((we should probably take them to a different area))

Lorey jumped at the level of his voice, and actually took a step back. He had never been rough with her, or made her feel so mistrusted. It was understandable why he'd be so upset, but...
"You make me feel so in the dark," she murmured with eyes cast down at the floor. Her cheeks were becoming red with anger, but her eyes looked incredibly hurt. "And you didn't have to yell."
She'd been yelled at before by coworkers, employers, people on the street who'd she'd never seen before. But not him. Lorey couldn't take being yelled at by Richard.

Without a sound, Lorey went off into the kitchen to clean the table. It always seemed like she started cleaning when things went bad between them, and yet she couldn't help but see how things only became rough when the secrets were brought up.