Chapter 1

It starts like this - she drags her tired, sore feet through her apartment door after a long day of bickering with her computer in an office that feels like it was stealing the air from her lungs. Her overstuffed purse drops from her aching shoulder before she tries her damnedest to shrug off her light jacket. In her fight to gain control over the (seemingly) powerful polyester garment, she sees it. Or them, really.

The bullet holes in her wall are not so much holes now as they are...white patches?

She tentatively steps closer to the wall above her short dresser and runs her finger over the still wet spackle. Putty? She's not sure what to call it, but she knows its purpose. Her breathing stops for the briefest of moments when his name creeps up her spine and settles itself in the back of her mind.

A note catches her eye. It is, of course, written on the back of her electric bill.

"Get paint."

A surprised bark of laughter bubbles out of her before she can stop it and her hand covers her mouth as if she could shove it back inside. The smile she's wearing makes her feel lighter than she has in months.

"Yes, sir. " she says out loud to her quiet apartment. He's left cash for her which makes her roll her eyes. She grabs the cash and her purse before heading back out.

She spends way too much time buying paint supplies. She happily carries bags full of paint rollers, brushes, tape, and sandpaper (to smooth the spackle/putty/bullet hole-filler) back to her apartment.

She's home and unpacking the bags when it finally occurs to her that Frank was in her apartment. By himself. Obviously, she realized this before, but the weight of it is only now resting on her nerves. He was here with her things - her pictures, her dirty dishes, her stained shower, and her chocolate cake she baked two days ago for only herself. She had run through half of that cake in two days and was now making mental plans to eat a slice, take a hot shower, and fall into bed.

She steps out of her heels and begins to undress where she stands, pausing when she becomes hyper aware of her location in front of the window. She feels the all too familiar and creepy sense of someone's eyes on her, but can distinguish when it's only her mind playing tricks on her. She leaves the curtains open just in case.

The cake is calling her name. Yes, she's going to be naked and eating cake because that's what living alone is all about. Only her half a cake is now a quarter of a cake and those dishes she left are no longer dirty. She frowns slightly. She does not pout and she certainly does not stomp her foot in exasperation.

She grabs a fork and the rest of the cake and eats it out of spite.

Her belly feels rounder and she'll have a sugar hangover tomorrow, but there's no more for him.

Her day starts like this - coffee, scanning the news for signs of Frank and/or Matt's handiwork, and then making herself presentable for the outside world.

She leaves a note, on a notepad-thank you very much- saying, "Landlord keeps paint in the basement"

She stares at it for a good 30 (million) seconds, deciding if she should say thank you in the note or ask him to stick around so she can thank him properly. Is that sexual? It sounds sexual. She means with a meal or some beer or whatever else he might like. Ammo?

Her phone buzzes and shakes her from her thoughts. A weather update. Clear today with a high of 65. Silly of her to think it would be a human making contact with her.

Some mornings she loves stepping out and breathing in the city - can feel it pulse through her. Those are the days she can forget her darkest memories and live only for the moments ahead of her.

This, thankfully, is one of those mornings.

She's not a fool and will not try and deny it's because of his presence. Her thoughts seem to always travel the dark and windy road to him. He is always there to accept her as is. Major flaws and all. Of course, this is all in her fractured mind and she has no real idea how he would treat her after she made it clear he was a dead man walking. To her, anyway.

If the white marks all over her wall are any indication, he's cool with it.