I couldn't sleep.

Too many things were running through my head and too many things hurt.

This entire day has been complete shit.

Khloe hasn't even looked at me ever since Layla showed up. Not to mention that she had been carrying a sorrowful look on her face all day.

She looked like she was going to cry pretty much the entire day and I couldn't stand that.

I still couldn't stand that I never got an answer from her the previous night and now that Layla was here, I still couldn't try to figure it out.

My brows drew together as my head began to ache.

This whole thing was so stressful and I wanted it to be done with.

Not only did I have to explain my actions to Layla believable way whenever I did something moderately nice to Khloe, but I felt like I was losing Khloe.

It hurt so much seeing her upset and knowing that I couldn't do anything.

It physically hurt me seeing her like that.

All the joy that I had seen from her recently was completely gone.

I missed the sound of her laugh and the sight of her smile.

It had only been a day and I already felt like I was losing my mind.

It somehow felt worse than when she was at the clinic. At least when she was there, there was actually no physical way for me to do anything.

Now she was physically there, but I had to restrain every ounce of myself from acting on what I wanted to do.

There were too many times today I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms and tell her how much she meant to me. Tell her anything that would make that defeated look on her face go away.

Going on like this for a couple more days seemed impossible.

I thought that there would at least be sometimes during these days that Khloe and I would be alone, but Layla seemed very adamant about spending every second with me.

God, what did I do to deserve this?

I pressed the bottom of my palm against my forehead as the pain grew more intense.

Thinking about this matter apparently made it hurt worse.

I quietly pushed myself up and swung my legs off of the bed as gently as I could, never taking my hand away from my forehead.

I needed something to make this go away.

I pushed myself up from the bed, intending to find something in the bathroom that would do just that.

But my intentions were quickly guided elsewhere the second I heard a faint sniffle come from behind me.

My heart wrenched at the sound as I turned my head to where Khloe was.

She laid curled up facing away from me on the couch, the movement of her shoulders only barely giving away the fact that she was crying.

My shoulders slumped as I thought over that fact, trying to decide what I should do.

I turned my head towards Layla, seeing that she was facing away from Khloe.

Her heartbeat was telling me what she was fast asleep.

I guess that was all the information I needed to gather because my body was already walking towards Khloe.

I'm not really sure what I intended to do once I got to her.

The things that I would do were limited, but I just felt like I had to try to do something.

If not just for her, then for my own sanity.

I don't think she heard me as I approached her. Her body didn't react in any way that told me she did.

I was able to make out more and more about her position as I approached her.

The blanket that she had wasn't on her body, instead she was tightly holding it over her mouth and nose. I'm guessing in an act to try to keep quiet.

Tears rolled down from her eyes that were harshly squeezed shut.

Her breaths were very unnatural, like she was desperately trying to control them but it wasn't working.

Seeing her like that... She looked so helpless and lost.

I didn't even notice that I had reached out to touch her shoulder before I felt the warmth of her skin against my fingertips.

Her body jolted before the turned her head to me, her eyes filled with confused surprise.

Neither of us said anything.

I'm pretty sure neither of us knew what to say.

After a couple awkward seconds of silence, Khloe's brows furrowed as she looked away from me.

She then wiped the tears from her eyes and returned her head back to the pillow, never taking the blanket away from her face.

Her eyes stared straight ahead, her brows fixed so it looked like she was putting on a tougher act.

Taken aback and confused, I just watched, trying to figure out my next plan of action.

I needed to get something out of her tonight.

And the fact that she couldn't even look at me was making this a whole lot harder

The look on her face didn't stay for long before it slowly deteriorated back to sadness, adding another tear.

Goddammit.

I tuned in on Layla's heartbeat once more, making sure she was still fast asleep before I looked down at the limited amount of space left on the couch.

There was literally only one option that I knew of that might help Khloe stop crying.

Its worked in the past so I was just hoping that it would work now

I knew this couch wasn't built for two people to be laying on it, but at this point, I really didn't care.

So, I quietly lowered myself onto it.

Khloe tensed as soon as she realized what I was doing, and luckily she scooted forward a bit to give me more space.

Which wasn't a lot, half of my body was pretty much off of the couch but I was just going to have to deal with that.

I actually heard one of her quiet sobs as I laid my head on the pillow behind her, and her body curled up tighter as I wrapped my arm around her near her stomach.

We just laid there in silence for a few moments, but Khloe didn't seem to get any better. In fact she worsened.

Her entire body was basically trembling at this point.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked, only loud enough for me to hear through the blanket.

Her voice was hoarse and almost sounded like a whine.

"I'm not really sure," I quietly admitted, "I was hoping to figure it out along the way but that doesn't seem to be working."

"Layla might catch you." She suddenly bit back harshly.

That fact shocked me. She had never responded to me or anyone like that.

"I'm keeping an eye on her," I responded calmly.

Apparently, she was expecting me to mirror her anger, judging by her quick defeated breath followed by another sob.

Why would she want me to do that?

More and more questions that I wanted answers filled my head before Khloe finally spoke up once again.

"What... What was it that you wanted to figure out?" She asked.

I felt myself physically relax at the fact that she was semi-working with me.

"Why you're so upset."

Khloe quietly sighed as she finally removed the blanket from her face.

"Its nothing, Nico," She insisted, "Just having Layla here has just... I don't know its just put me in a weird mood."

Although what she said wasn't completely untrue, I had a feeling that she knew more about what she was feeling.

Actually, I was sure of it. That pause in her sentence gave it all away.

But, since she was talking on her own, I didn't want to try pushing anything quite yet.

"I see," I said, fully expecting our conversation to just fall back into silence.

Instead, Khloe surprisingly straightened out her body and turned her body towards me, allowing me a little more room on the couch.

I would have considered that a small victory for me, but she still wasn't looking at me.

She kept her eyes pointed down which raised even more questions for me.

"Khloe I really am sorry about this. I wish more than anything that this didn't have to happen." I explained.

"It's fine..." She replied flatly.

Her response for some reason sent a spark of frustration through me. Not because of her, but because of this entire situation.

"Don't say that," I retorted, fighting to keep my voice quiet, "Please don't lie to me about this Khloe. It's more than obvious that you're not fine. This whole thing sucks ass especially for you and you're allowed to not be okay with it. You're allowed to be mad at me for this Khloe, but please just tell me whats going on. Help me try to figure out how to make this easier for you. That's all I want."

The tension in my chest lessened ever so slightly when she finally looked at me, sadness and surprise in her eyes.

"I'm not mad at you." she defended, causing me to sigh.

I pushed myself up onto my elbow, still holding onto her with the other arm.

"Khloe I know you're mad at me. I can feel it with the way you've been avoiding me ever since our conversation last night. You've been mad at someone and for some reason, I have a gut instinct that's telling me that it's not Layla so that only leaves me."

What I wasn't expecting was the sadness to cover more of her expression and more tears to come from her eyes.

"N-Nico... I'm not mad at you. Why would I be? This wasn't your fault. I know that you didn't have a choice in the matter and..." Her voice died off.

I just looked at her.

"Khloe that doesn't make sense."

"I-"

"You'd have to be mad at me."

"But i'm-"

"Its okay to be mad at me."

"Nico-"

"Just tell me how to fix it!"

"I'm mad at myself okay!?" She snapped while still somehow keeping her voice quiet.

I just stared, stunned at what she has said.

A look of heartbreak covered her face as more tears made their way down her face.

"What?" I questioned, now having to reevaluate the situation.

Khloe shifted her gaze away from me, nervously sucking in her lower lip.

"I'm mad at myself," She repeated, her voice quivering.

I still had no idea how to move forward with that without an explanation.

Why on earth would she be mad at herself about?

She's done absolutely nothing wrong.

"Why?"

She sucked in a shaky breath, allowing me to see a glimpse of the battle that's been going on inside her head.

She shook her head, telling me she wasn't going to say anything.

"Khloe," I begged her.

She wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head again.

"Its stupid and embarasing."

"And it's going to keep eating you alive untill we find a way to deal with it," I said.

She stayed quiet. The look on her face telling me that she was painfully thinking over what I had said.

"Promise me you won't hate me for it then." she asked, tightening her hold on herself

My eyes widened at this.

What on earth could possibly be going on in her head to make her say that?

I began too gently rub my thumb against her back

"Khloe I could never."

I wish she knew how seriously I meant that.

"And please forget about it as soon as possible." She finished, her voice sounding more and more dejected as the sentence ended.

I agreed despite my confusion.

I was willing to agree to any of her conditions if it got her to tell me what was wrong.

She took in one last long breath.

"I'm mad at myself because I forgot what my place here was. I let myself get caught up in this fantasy the longer I lived here with you that I was more than just a pet. I started thinking of you as more than just my Master and began to think that I was more to you than just a pet. I started hoping and getting lost in the impossible possibility that maybe we-" she stopped as soon as her voice cracked, clearing her throat, "Ever since you told me that Layla was going to have to stay here and that you were going to have to treat me differently, it just threw me back into the reality of what my purpose here was. I'm your pet."

I was at a loss for words.

Dumbfounded didn't even come close to how I felt.

"I'm sorry Nico," she cried, her regret rolling off of her in waves "I'm sorry I got myself caught up in this mess and I'm sorry it took me this long to realize that it was ridiculous-"

"It's not ridiculous," I quickly butt in, effectively surprising her.

Hell, what was I talking about it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous that I felt the same way about her. That thinking of her as just a pet made me angry. That she meant so much to me that it actually hurt.

"Khloe," I began softly, Bringing my hand up to wipe her tears and cup her cheek.

She instinctively leaned against my hand, like she always did.

I could tell that she was confused as to how I was taking this whole thing. And I could tell that she was anxiously waiting for me to finish my thought.

The thing is, I didn't know how to finish it.

Not in words.

There weren't any words that were coming to me, just an urge that I finally had an opportunity that I haven't had until now.

Tension charged in the air and I wondered If she could feel it too

I didn't even give myself time to second guess myself.

I barely gave myself time to think in the first place before I slowly leaned down and kissed her.

Her small sound of surprise barely even processed in my mind before her hands tentatively brushed against my chest, gently grabbing and tugging on my shirt.

I smiled a bit at her shy gesture

Her lips were warm with the subtle taste of salt, and oh my god were they soft.

I nearly groaned when Khloe's hands traveled from my chest to the back of my neck.

And I sure as Hell cherished the small moan that she gave me and I trailed my hand down to do the same.

I could feel both of our bodies steadily relax as the seconds passed, even though both of our hearts were racing.

I was just about to move so that I was on top of her to give my other hand the ability to touch her, but a sound in my ears caused me to pull away.

I turned my head towards the bed as soon as I did, letting out a breath that was probably too loud.

Layla was waking up.

My hand slipped back up to cup Khloe's face as I turned to face her.

Her breaths were heavy and her eyes were wide, not to mention the new color on her face.

I could tell her head was rushing, yet she hadn't taken her hands off of me.

I took that as a good sign.

I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't think of a single thing and I was running out of time.

Of course, I had to pick probably the worst possible time to do this.

So, I had to resort to kissing her quickly on the forehead before I hurriedly got off of the couch and made my way across the room in less than a second.

And apparently, I got there just in time.

"Nico?" Layla asked, groggily pushing herself up to spot me, "What are you doing?"

I casually walked towards the bed, "Just using the restroom, Layla," I lied, shooting Khloe a quick glance.

She was staring right at me with that same wondering look, her hands still slowly returning from where they were lingering on me.

I could still hear how fast her heart was beating.

Layla said something to me, but I wasn't paying enough attention to listen.

My own mind was too busy thinking over what just happened.