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Lorey kissed him, of course. There was no way she couldn't. For a few minutes, there was only them and the sweet little kisses they exchanged upon necks and lips. It was nice, until finally Lorey began laughing, and she had to explain herself.

"I love when that happens, and we just get caught up." And again she started laughing, simply because she was happy, and wanted to laugh after all that time spent being so sad.

Damian was smiling as well. It was such a change from his usual aloof, set face that always scrutinized everything and everyone around him. He no longer felt a great bitterness in his heart (it only changed to a small, nagging one, as his father was still dead, his fortune still lost, and a great mystery still hanging over his head).

He brought her in the elevator, up to the right floor, and in front of the hotel room door, which he knocked upon, because there really was no telling just what had gone on while they were gone.
"Really, I wouldn't be surprised if Lorey's sobbing and Richard's seething off in the bathroom somewhere..." he muttered, wishing he had a key of his own so this wouldn't happen.

Damian smiled at Richard, before ushering Raquel inside. He thankfully dumped the bags upon the floor at his feet. Really, he couldn't feel his left hand because of the cut-off circulation, but it was worth it for the eventual smiles the gifts would bring.

"We'll sort through these soon enough", he told them. Lorey had stood up and come over from the kitchen, curious as to what they had done. But, her immediate reaction was for Raquel.

"Raquel, you look lovely!" she said, taking in her dress and shoes. What an improvement, she thought, and through one afternoon with Damian. One afternoon with Damian... sort of like her afternoon with Richard, on that very first day...

"Yes, doesn't she?" Damian said, rushing things just so he could get his news out. "Now, everyone... we have all been purchased new clothes and other necessities, and you're probably wondering where we are going to put them all."
Maybe not, he thought, but what did it matter. He needed a prompt.

"I've taken the liberty of purchasing a new house, and you are all going to stay there with me while we sort out all of this nonsense. Alright?"

"No, of course I wasn't kidding..." Damian rubbed his hands as a distraction. How could he explain all of this?

Just the questioning looks from everyone demanded some kind of explanation. They'd never think this was out of generosity, just judging from his past actions which disgusted him.
"I..." he began, suddenly looking rather small in the crowd. "I don't pretend that I haven't been a pompous b*****d while you've known me." That was more directed at Richard and Lorey rather than Raquel. She would never believe that, he thought.

"After my father died, I spent a night in the park, just thinking. And I realized that throughout my life, I haven't done any sort of good with my funds. My father, he did, if in little ways... and now that things are beginning to be dangerous, and now that we are all intertwined in ways we cannot begin to fathom, I..."

The aristocrat cleared his throat. This was utterly demeaning, embarrassing...
"Well, I would like us all to be safe and in close quarters with one another so that we may be well taken care of."

Damian saw Raquel's nodding, and decided he could go on without sounding so odd. Lorey, however, was dumbfounded into silence. This man, who had pursued her in tasteless ways, who had tried so hard to make her life harder by simply throwing her out and then justifying it with reasons he found after the fact... he was offering them all a house? And he was being sincere?

"Listen, the house is bought and in my name. I don't expect any one of you to give me payments, because obviously most of us are not in the right mindset to go out pursuing jobs. But when you are ready to get back on track, you may do as you wish. Stay, find your own place... Right now, though, I only expect you all to get your lives together. I need to get my life together... and this is helping me. Believe me."

Damian looked down to the bags laying upon the floor. The sleeve of a dress he had bought for Lorey hung out of it, all lovely emerald green with a brown strip of fabric about the middle. It could be tied into a bow in the back. Lorey liked bows, he thought. She liked feeling pretty.

"So," he said, pulling his eyes away from the sleeve. "We may move in as soon as we please. It's all ready..."

Lorey thought about it for a moment. She had no where else to go, and neither did Richard. Raquel needed to live better... and there seemed nothing to fuss about.

"I can't find a way to say thank you," she muttered, before breaking out into a smile. "Nothing seems right..."

"Say thank-you by becoming healthier and taking care of yourself." Damian bent down to get a bag filled with her own things, and handed it to her. Richard was given a bag as well, though Damian couldn't find it within himself to look either of them in the eye.
"I'll take care of the room payments... I did add to this problem. If I hadn't..." If he hadn't thrown Lorey out, she wouldn't have had to have come to stay in the hotel room that wasn't even hers. And if he hadn't done that, Richard wouldn't have come along, and wouldn't have felt the need to add to the occupancy. He had also brought Raquel there...

"Well." Damian swallowed a bit. He looked to Raquel to hear if she was willing to come along, too. How scared he was that she would say no, and turn away to work the streets again.

Lorey had taken out a blue dress from her back. She thought it was lovely, and a bit cute.
"Damian..." she whispered, finally realizing all he had done for them. A house, clothing, food. Even Vi was going to be helped, and she didn't even known him. And what had she done for him? Hardly anything.

Lorey placed her things upon the kitchen table before going over to him and catching his middle in a tight hug. "Thank you."

If his heart still had pieces to break, they were officially gone at the moment Lorey gave him that hug. His own arms came around her, if only slightly.

"You're welcome, Lorey," he whispered. Grey eyes stayed upon the floor, not wanting to even see what Richard was doing at the moment. He was probably hated, as he should have been.

Lorey pulled away, smiling.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to this new home." She turned around to see Richard, practically beaming at him. Maybe this would be part of patching his dreams up. Having a home of sorts, and having a family that wasn't connected by blood so much as friendship.

Damian nodded, smiling in an odd, sad way. But in a wink, he caught himself and shoved it all inside of himself.
"Of course! You can all have a look at what we bought for you on the way over. Richard, you have shirts mostly. Lorey, you saw you have some dresses... everyone has socks, I wasn't about to go buying you all underwear..."

He bustled off to make sure everything was in proper order before they left, but really, he was just trying to hide this new confusion in him. His heart for Lorey was slowly vanishing. Not completely, but that hug was nothing like he thought it would be. He thought there would be a sense of belonging, if not triumph. But there had only been sadness and the knowledge that he would not get to feel that sort of belonging with her. If anything, he felt that more for Raquel, who he knew must have been miffed.