Kimberly woke up on the floor next to him and despite the fact that he tried to pretend that he was still asleep, she knew him better than that. She sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. She looked at him and how sweet he looked, even if he was faking sleep to make her more comfortable.

"I know you're awake," she said, softly, "But thank you for trying." He opened one eye and looked at her with just the hint of a smirk. She was terrified of his closeness and yet wanted to never leave his presence. This is where she felt safe and she knew that he would never hurt her. Time was the only thing that would help her get past what happened.

"Hey," he said, sitting up and rubbing her back while she hugged her knees to her chest and chewed on her thumb nail, "Why don't I go get us some breakfast and you can shower and get dressed or whatever you need to do and then we can go over and see my mom. She's going to murder me for being out all night, so having you with me might actually save my life." Kimberly allowed herself a giggle and smiled at him but she didn't want to be without him. Even for the smallest amount of time. She was scared and felt alone.

"Can you just wait outside and I'll throw something on really quick," she asked, shyly.

"Yeah, sure," he said and stood. He helped her up and then exited the room to give her some privacy. He did exactly what she asked and stood outside the room while she changed. As he was shutting the door, Jason came out of his own room and looked at Tommy with confusion.

"Dude, didn't you go home," Jason asked

"No," Tommy said, "I stayed because she asked me too." Jason just smiled and nodded and continued his way to the bathroom which immediately brought to Tommy's attention just how badly he needed to go, but he waited until Kimberly was done.

Kimberly dug throw her suitcase but the only thing she could find that didn't need to be washed were a pair of light denim shorts and oversized white sweater. So she slipped off her pajama shorts and pulled on her denim shorts annoyed at how frayed the ends had because the cut off edge was starting to look like they were more like fringes than cut offs. She quickly located the scissors shed borrowed from Jason's mom and snipped at the long strings until she was satisfied. She left the black spaghetti strap shed slept in on since she really didn't have another clean one and then put on the oversized sweater that slid off of one shoulder. It was a pretty thin white sweater and she was satisfied with the look when she looked in the mirror to fix her hair. She ran her fingers through and then just bent over and flipped her hair up and it fell, a little side swept, on either side of her shoulder. The sleeves were so long that they stopped at the end of her palm where her fingers started. She quickly put a little lip gloss on her lips and then turned to leave. This was probably the first time she didn't spend an hour getting herself perfect looking for spending time with Tommy but after everything that she had dealt with, she didn't really care if she was pretty enough. She slipped on her flat white Ked's tennis shoes over ankle socks that now looked invisible inside her shoe and turned the door knob.

Tommy turned when he heard her hand on the door knob and then there she was. Tommy was a little stunned as she came out of her room.

"Wow," he said, just taking in how beautiful she looked.

"What," she asked, looking around like she couldn't figure out what he was wowing.

"You," he said, "You just look…..you look gorgeous." She felt herself blush a little and shrugged, while still chewing on her thumb that was covered mostly by her sleeve and rocking back a little on her heel.

"Thank you," she said and gave him the best smile she could muster. He held out his hand to her and she took it.

"I don't know about you," Tommy said, "but I am starving."

"Yeah," she said, "I'm definitely hungry."

"Well, what do you feel like," he asked as they descended the steps to Jason's living room.

"Tommy, you don't have to take me anywhere. I can make something here," she said, trying to make sure he knew that she wasn't looking for him to take care of her.

"Well, fine," he said with a serious tone, "You can just sit there while I eat." She kind of cocked her head with her mouth slightly agape and huffed at him, starting to smile like she hadn't in so long.

"You know, maybe we should just go see your mother," she said, giving him a playful punch to his bicep, "Because I think I need to talk to her about where your manners have gone."

"Oh yeah," he said, and reached over to tickle her which resulted in a surprising fit of laughter and Kimberly swatting his hands away, "Well, maybe you should put up missing poster signs for them while you're at it."

"Maybe I will," she said between fits of laughter as he continued his assault on her until she stepped back and lost her balance as the back of her foot met his and she fell backwards. Tommy caught her just in time and they both looked at each other, for a moment remembering that one day in high school when she just seemed to be having the worst luck. He walked her home that day and she tripped over a rock. He had caught her that day just like he had just now. She held onto him, her arm just around his shoulder. For a moment Kimberly studied the black beater he had on under the red plaid button down that he left open. His long, wavy hair framed his face and then she met his eyes. She was so lost in them. He made her feel like herself. She missed feeling like this. She didn't know where it came from, but in that moment fear left her alone and she pulled herself closer and kissed him. Pressing her lips to his and closing her eyes, she just felt home.

For a moment, Tommy was just stunned but it only took a moment and his free hand was lost in her caramel hair and he returned the kiss. She laced her other arm around his waist, beneath the open plaid flannel but still on top of the black beater he wore. He felt her tracing his muscles and he pulled her closer so that her body was pressed to his and the kiss deepened as she allowed him to caress her tongue with his own. How he had missed this, how he had missed her, it was utterly indescribable. He was so grateful that, despite everything she had been through, she was letting him in.

She didn't want this moment to end. She had missed him more than she cared to admit and she was still terrified, but this, she could be here like this with him forever. She felt like her old self. She felt a little free. This last night, this was the safest she had felt in a very long time. She didn't want to let go of him.

"I'm sorry," she said as she broke away from his lips.

"For what," he asked, a little breathlessly as she released him.

"I don't know. Kissing you," she said, confused by her own words. He pulled her in close to him, felt her tense up just a little but then her muscles relaxed. He brushed her hair behind her ear and looked her in the eyes.

"Don't ever apologize for that," he said and she bite her lip and looked up at him shyly. He gave her a smile and took her hand, "Come on, I'm hungry."