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Ambrosia had nothing to blurt at the moment, she only watched the calculating old woman before her twirl the end of her long braid.

"That doesn't matter," Brianna looked around her for moment and leaned forward, "Did that boy do that to you?"

Brianna pointed a finger to Ambrosia's injured thigh and Ambrosia shook her head quickly.

"It's okay if your in trouble with him, I can help you get as far away from him as possible, you hear?"

"He didn't Brianna I promise," Ambrosia sighed with a slight pinch in her voice to emphasise her last words. She blinked and held the arm of her chair to keep herself steady.

"You need to go to hospital, it don't matter what that boy put in your head!" Brianna cried out hastily wagging her finger at Ambrosia.

"We...we have people who are going to come after us if we do," Ambrosia replied.

"No, If you check into a hospital, I swear on my husbands life anyone who wants to fuck with your recovery will have to come through me," Brianna demanded and chuckled. "That baby ain't dying on my watch."

Ambrosia was surprised at this strange woman's sudden devoutness to her and her baby. Her mind wanderd to the scenario of fleeing the house at short notice.

"You promise?" Ambrosia asked.

Brianna was looking off into the distance and frowned as Ambrosia's question reared its head.

"Hm?"

"You promise if I ask for help you will help me?"

Her eyebrows raised considerably high so that her blue eyes were piercng into Ambrosia.

"If I swear on my husband's life I mean in girlie, now turn around and let me finish untangling that mess of yours."

Ambrosia's lips twitched into a smile and she turned back around so that Brianna had access to the other side of her head.

"My deal expires tonight, Ambrosia."

"I'll talk to Eli—uhm Charlie about it."

Maybe I could trust this woman.

"Alrighty then."

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What was he hiding?

There was only one way to find out in Ambrosia's mind. The backpack Elias had been carrying sat in front of her, overstuffed and still slightly damp from the lake crossing. She bean zipping from the smallest pocket.

Brianna had gone to her room to "prep her wigs" whatever that meant, and Ambrosia was left in the guest room with no sign from Elias after thirty minutes.

Extra food, random supplies, and clothing were the only things that Ambrosia pulled out as she traveled to the second layer. A slim blue booklet caught her eye and Ambrosia reached deeper to retrieve it.

It was a passport, opening it left Ambrosia in shock.

The top read: Daniel Stressau.

This is Daniel's backpack.

Ambrosia's head shook in a frenzied new state as she began throwing out more things from the bag. Suddently, money, money, and more money came out like tissue paper and then harder stack that had been the bulk at the bottom of the bag.

Ambrosia gaped at the sight, her mind was still whirling from the possibilities of the moment. All of this excess money was Daniel's money and he was trying to escape and possible leave the country afterwards. Now he was dead and Elias had all his things, all his money.

Hard knocking came from the front door and Ambrosia jumped to push everything back into the backpack. Her heart was in her throat running faster and faster as more knocking came.

Sucessfuly, pushing the bag back into Elias' corner of the room she leapt up of the floor and hurried to the front door. Brianna had already been in the process of opening it and Elias came into the house. Hewas completely drenched. Elias was shivering and his face was painted with visible annoyance.

"Stay right there your soaking wet, let me get a towel—take your shoes off outside!" Brianna scolded him and jogged off to get a towel.

"Did you swim there?"

Elias shook his head, "No I took the raft, but it tipped on my way back.

Ambrosia sighed and helped him remove his wet jacket.

"There were police everywhere, they were all up in my truck" he grumbled removing his coat.

Brianna came back with a large green towel she tilted her head and glanced at Ambrosia. "Really, now?"

Elias grabbed the towel and glared at the older woman. He rolled his shoulders back to wrap himself.

"You called them this morning didn't you?"

"I have no idea what your talking about."

"When I told you specifically not to because now we can't-"

"I told you boy, I didn't call no one, y'know I'm not the only person around these parts!"

Ambrosia stepped forward and shook her hands grabbing ahold of Elias' arm.

"Elias come on don't argue with her, come into the room," Ambrosia cooed reaching to stroke his cheek. Elias pressed his lips together and nodded retreating back to the guest room. Ambrosia looked at Brianna who stood her head tilted upwards. Those sky blue eyes studied Ambrosia and then were gone as the old woman turned to go into her kitchen.

Ambrosia walked back into the guest room and noticed Elias standing back leaning against the wall. His eyes were closed and he was mumbling something under his breath, directions to some place she thought.

Ambrosia leaned against the door frame and Elias' eyes popped open and he rubbed the dark circles that were beginning to form.

"Elias," Ambrosia called he grunted in response.

"Brianna can help us, she wants to help us."

"What can that seventy-something year old woman do for us, she just fucked our easiest way of leaving," Elias professed walking over to the bed.

"Elias we need her help."

"We don't need anyone, no one is going to help us flower! Look at the people who have helped us...they all ended up dead."

Ambrosia balled her hands into fists and looked off to the side in silence.

Elias fell back onto the bed and stretched himself out, "I'll find another way, My older brother lives up north in Michigan he can-"

Elias paused, sat up and retrieved something from the other side of the bed.

His his head was hung over as he fingered the pages of the small booklet that Ambrosia had forgotten.

Daniel's passport.

Elias kept his gaze down while his eyes were watering and his face was distorting itself in anger.

Ambrosia swallowed hard as she watched him stand and throw the passport against the wall.

"Did you go through the backpack?"

"Elias I needed to know."

"You couldn't just leave the bag alone?" his voice quivered and Ambrosia felt her pride disipate into nothingness.

"If we're going to be in a relationship—if we're going to have this baby together we need to be able to trust one another!" Ambrosia pressed.

"Why do you care about him so much?"

He was choosing what he wanted to hear.

"Because he was our friend!" Ambrosia's voice came out harsh and defensive.

"No no no, we didn't need him, you didn't need him you needed me!" Elias had thrusted himself off the wall and stalked towards Ambrosia.

"And where were you when I was trapped in that house? For all I knew you could have been dead in a fucking ditch Elias!" Ambrosia shouted back as he took a hold of her shoulder.

"I do these thing because I love you Ambrosia, you don't know how long I've been searching for someone like you, your my flower and-"

"I didn't ask you to kill people Elias, I never asked you to do that!" Ambrosia shot back. Her head was blurred and the air around her throat was crushing into her, suffocating her.

Elias was silent and this allowed Ambrosia to dig deeper into her fears.

"And did you love him when I was gone?" Elias' voice was dangerously sharp and pricked every hair on Ambrosia's body. His finger dug into her shoulder.

"Like you loved me last night?" he added.

"Let go of me," she hissed.

Elias pulled her closer his cheeks were lined with fresh tears and his voice was full of bass.

"Answer me, flower, because if you did I wish you could have seen the look on his face when I pulled my gun to his head. I wish you could have seen the gorgeous blood cascading down his fucking eyelids when I popped his skull."

"Fuck you!" Ambrosia's face was hot as he chest filled with tears her body shuddered under him. She was alarmed from the mixed emotions that poured out of the man before her and she wiggled herself desperately from his hardening grasp. Finding all movements a loss Ambrosia pushed herself away and slapped Elias across the face.

"I almost did love him, but I didn't because I loved you, because I believed in you-you psychotic asshole!"

She shoved him back as he was still stunned by by her swift slap.

"And if I did love him, I'm pretty sure I would have fucking loved it," Ambrosia sneered and Elias and saw a dark stillnes come over him.

"I'm sorry Elias, you can't control yourself, your acting crazy and it's making me go crazy."

"No one is crazy, no one is going crazy okay Ambrosia," Elias muttered rising to his feet. "Lets just calm down, okay?"

Ambrosia didn't hear this, she quickly fled the room and strode into the living room where Brianna sat reading a book with a glass of wine and a chocolate bar.

Hopefully, she didn't hear any of that.

"Little lover's quarrel?" Brianna asked biting into the bar and glancing up from her book.

Damn it.

Ambrosia sat into a chair and clutched her head, "Everything's fine."

This was the simplest lie in a rigid reality that had concluded her doubts. It wasn't like Elias hadn't done it before but...Daniel.

He was the only thing close to friendly she had in that environment, despite his shortcomings.

Elias was different, something had severed within him either once he had lost his medication or possibly long before that something during his childhood that he was able to hide so easily his whole life.

Who knew how many people Elias had killed due to this fixation on his own emotions and simeltaneously his lack of control.

Her baby's father was a killer. That was it, pure and simple in the eyes of the social justice system.

Elias walked out into the living room and adjusted himself noticing that Brianna sat there as well.

"I'm calling a cab to take us tomorrow morning," Elias sputtered his eyes met Ambrosia yet she could not speak. This made him even more uneasy.

"Alright then," Brianna replied.

"I'll make some food for us, is that okay?"

Brianna set down her book and swirled her wine with a piece of chocolate her eyes squinting tighter if that was even possible. "Go ahead, veggies are in the second fridge, I'm on a low sodium diet by the way!"

Elias nodded and reluctantly left the living room. The slender old woman propped her feet up onto a small pillow and chuckled to herself.

"A cab, huh."

Ambrosia and the grey-haired woman locked eyes. "Could you extend your deal to tomorrow?"

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