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Any response to that was smothered by her lips. Who was he to fight to speak then? They'd been bitter and fought over the past day or so, and even before that, were dangerously close to disaster. So, he did was he was told to, and just kissed her for as long as he could, all the while thinking of how he'd like to have Chase come in to see them together as a real couple, and not some ruse like he had put on all that time ago.

It was by this time that Damian nearly accepted that he was not about to get laid any time soon, so these moments of kissing were his next best outlet. After all, they couldn't even kiss without some interruption.
"No, Raquel, I won't leave... firstly because I love you, secondly because that is completely cruel, and thirdly because this is my house." He smiled before kissing her gently once more. "I promise you, I won't leave."

"Alright..." A few more minutes passed by before his stomach gave such a growl that even he had to look down at it to make sure it hadn't been an angry Trinity making some unruly noise. It hadn't been, of course. He just hadn't eaten in a good while, since wine and cheese does not make a meal.

"Since I believe Richard and Lorey are going to be heading out later, would you like to order out again? Have our own night here, with hamburgers and soda, or whatever you'd like?"
The very idea of them sitting on the floor, just talking and eating like nearly normal people did almost made him laugh out loud. And yet somehow he wanted that, and just with Raquel.

In the mean time, Damian went to his computer to pull up a menu of a rather high-end burger joint in the city. They even had delivery. He ordered a cheeseburger for Raquel and one for himself, making sure to have whatever condiments she might like in little self-serving cups. There were sides of french fries, pickles, and even little cups of ice cream for dessert.

"Yes, for Damian Centurion. No, this is not a joke, I assure you," he said in the small receiver suspended by his mouth. Obviously he'd never had a common establishment home deliver to this neighborhood, which would no doubt be looked lowly upon by neighbors, but who bloody cared? He wanted his cheeseburger.
"Alright. Thank you."

And with the click on the other end of the line, Damian set his earpiece down and went off to find Raquel with Trinity.
"Food should be here in about an hour, love," he said, carefully peeking his head into the room where all the supplies had been set. It would only be temporary until she learned the rest of the house, but even Damian had to admit, Trinity had it very well. An automatic litter pan that would save them the smell and cleaning, a cat tower for climbing... good food that they would wean her into, and health ensured.

Damian shut the door behind him once his eyes found Raquel.

Damian came to crouch by Trinity as well, earning a half-hearted glance from the cat as she continued eating ravenously.
"Going to get a stomach ache," he laughed. It was amazing how the little creature had come so far in life. Really, she should have died while injured, but hadn't. Again he thought it was just like them: they should have wasted away with their hurt, but had found the right person at the right time to help with that all.

Thinking of that made him realize something. "I should be thanking you... For putting up with me, all the time. Trusting me. You really shouldn't, not after everything I've done."

With a soft thud, he went from crouching to sitting right on his behind upon the laundry room floor.
"It's time I was honest with you," he said, rubbing his face with the heels of his palms. They finally settled over his eyes before dropping to his knees.

"Before I met you, I was staying with Richard and Lorey in their hotel room, which wasn't even theirs. I had gotten drunk, am fairly certain that I waved a gun around, the same one I saved you with, and told Lorey things that really she shouldn't have heard. And before that, I learned that my father had died and that I was no longer welcome in the corporate world of the Ball Room."

Well that seemed like a decent start, he thought. But it was hardly even scratching the surface, and he couldn't even meet her eyes as he rambled on. It seemed he would tell his story instead to the white tiles of the laundry room, with only Trinity's crunching of food to break the silence.

"Before even that, though... I was Liam Centurion's eldest son, running the Ball Room like a pocket watch. All was perfect, all went well, but most importantly, it was the center for all with money to come and do their business. Of course there were women there. Beautiful women, some with husbands, all seeking to further themselves somehow when their husbands controlled them. And if I could make them believe that sleeping with me could save them somehow, they would."

And therein lied the guilt he felt every time he looked at Chase.

"It never mattered if they were married. Hell, there were times I shared a night with a specially hired woman. I won't lie, they were incredible times, but they never meant anything. The women never meant anything, because I never cared. The only precaution I ever took was making sure that they never walked away with any child that wasn't their own or with some disease. At least I can credit myself with getting tested as often as possible to prevent that..."

"A hero?" No, he had played the villain. He'd rarely come through for anyone. Only if a woman was being physically abused in such a way that gave bruises did he intervene. He'd never forced himself upon anyone, and if he found out that such knavery was going on in his establishment, he would make some sort of public fool of them.
Maybe in that respect he could find himself to be a hero.

But that would have to come later, because Raquel was asking something very difficult of him.

"A happy memory?" As much as he would love to say that meeting her was a happy memory, it wasn't. She'd been hurt and abused at the time...
"Kissing you for the first time, and that bewildered face you made," he said with a sly grin. But he knew she was asking him to reach further back, to when they didn't even know the other existed.

"I remember a time when my mother was alive. She took me to a pond at a friend of the family's estate. I was frightened of the fish to the point of tears, but she made me feed them so I could understand they couldn't hurt me."
There, sitting on the floor of the room as sunlight leaked in through the one small window, Damian Centurion had the goofiest grin spread across his face.
"I loved my mother..."