"... wow.... Dick move" Pietro blinked, looking at the ring.

"I guess so." She slowly slipped the ring off. Her expression pained as she stared at it. She left numb. Like all the nerves in her body had been severed. "I mean... He just lost his wife again... I can understand where he's coming but." She held the ring in her hand, "he doesn't want me anymore... I was ready to spend the rest of my life with him and he just..." She turned her hand slowly till the ring fell with a loud thump on the floor.

"Could you... stroke my hair a little bit longer?" She asked hesitantly.

"... sure" Pietro replied, guiding her head back to lean on his chest as he pet her head in silence. There really wasn't anything he could think of to say, there was nothing to say really. No words existed for comforting a person, only the individual could work it out themselves and eventually move on. All anyone else could do was just be there for them, that was something Pietro knew surprisingly well.

*
Ciara didn't leave her little house for several weeks. She used some of the things Pietro had brought in to make a fort, much like the ones children make. Several blankets covered the top of it and in the inside was her mattress. A tray sat by the door. It was empty but only because she'd flushed it all down the toilet.

She was suppose to start tests a week ago with Nat and Hank but then this happened. The mystery of her survival underwater would have to wait.

Pietro sped by now and again to try and get her to eat. Hank tried as well but there wasn't even much he could do it seemed. Finally there was a knock on Ciara's door and a different voice calling out, "Ciara McCoy?" Horatio called tentively, "are you home?"

She sat up upon hearing a different voice. She'd lost at least 15 pounds since locking herself away. Slowly, she popped her head out of her tent, "Who's there?" She asked.

"It's me, Horatio" he replied, "I looked everywhere for you, this is the only place I couldn't get in. Good news, if I can't get in without time travels, you're pretty safe."

"Must be the metal Papa used... Or the anti-time travel field, Big Blue set up." She said sluggishly. "Glad to know that Max won't be able to come in here... Thought if he did... I'd kill him. F-ing jerkface." She came out of the tent, an empty bottle of booze.

Her hair was twisted and knotted together and looked almost like a huge afro upon her head. Her father had managed to get her to change and bath and drink some water but that was about it.

Horatio stepped into the house as Ciara opened the door for him. He took a moment, disappearing to see the layout of the place before reappearing next to her tent, "I um... love what you've done with the place?" he commented uncertainly.

She rubbed her arm, "Thanks. I guess..." She crawled back into the tent and wrapped some blankets around herself. "What do I owe the pleasure, Horatio?" She asked.

Horatio dropped down and crawled in after her, having a little bit of trouble orientating himself before finally sitting down, "Just thought I would stop by and see how things went. I'm going to guess, not well."

"Logan dumped me." She stated. "I choose to be with him and he rejected me."

".... I was afraid of that" Horatio frowned, drawing imaginary circles with his finger on the floor. "I wasn't too sure how this one would play out. From what I've seen of this future, it's hard to say how your relationship with Logan went. Logan wouldn't talk about it."

"He said he'd be there for me... always. And then he... he..." She reached under her pillow, finally feeling like eating something. And that something would be the chocolate Pietro kept bringing. "I mean, he flirts with me through out his past and then he just... dumps me. I know Itsu's death is part of the reason but... I was ready to spend the rest of my life with him. I wanted to be there for him. To help him through the hard times and he just pushed me away... I'm a failure."

"There's something you need to understand about my father" Horatio sighed, "everytime he lets someone in, they stay for a few seconds and then they die, or dump him, or go insane. If there is one thing he's learned, it's to deal with the hard times by himself. He doesn't know another way and he refuses to learn because if he lets himself rely on someone else, then when they are gone he becomes lost. It happened with my mother first, and since then anyone else who has come into his life has never gotten that close again. He may act like he's gotten over it, but he never has and from what I see... he never will. He's damaged, and there's no one who can fix him"

"I don't care! I'm different! I've traveled through time to visit him! I was always going to be there for him. I just... Just-" She tried to run a hand through her hair but was stopped by a knot, "...What the heck?" She touched the form that was her hair. "Wow... I look special don't I?"

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything-sometimes people just look funny when they're caught in the wrong moment-but yeah... kind special" Horatio admitted

Ciara looked down shyly, "Could... Do you think you could help me brush it out?"

"Err... I can give it a shot..." Horatio disappeared and suddenly there was a brush stuck in Ciara's hair, "Aaahhh! How do people do thiiissss?!"

"Ow! You have to start at the bottom and work your way up." She yelled, holding the side of her head where a sudden pain came from. "...Oh right. I guess you don't have to brush your hair..."

"Yeah... knots aren't a problem with dreadlocks." Horatio replied, backing away with his hands up in submission, "The funny thing is, wherever I cut my hair, the ends for about an inch turn naturally red. I really don't do much with it."

"Oooooooh. That sounds awesome." She wrapped an arm around him, a wide smile on her face, "Care for a trim?"

"Hmmm, maybe you should take care of your own hair first" he smiled a little, toying with one of his locks, "although I suppose they could be a bit shorter..."

"Great!" She guided him into the bathroom and seated him on top the counter. They chatted away as Ciara fixed her hair. It wasn't an easy task. A lot of the knots were too tight, forcing her to cut them. By the end of it her hair was a little longer than shoulder length, piles of red strands lay around the floor.

It wasn't hard to trim Horatio's hair. It was already in dreadlocks. "There. All done. What do you think?" She asked, smiling happily. She felt like a huge weight had been taken off... which it had. Her hair had been down to her bum!

"I'm sure it looks great" horatio chuckled, "It feels good anyway." his hair was now completely black, the red tips wouldn't full show up for another hour or so.