she shook her head, putting her hand on his back. "there you go again, riker. your human. be vulnerable, weak even. lay down you look like a fuckin' zombie. we can deal with that bitch later."

He smirked, "I mean lets face it, I was stabbed, I might just be a zombie." he chuckled laying down though, "besides... ever heard of the hierarchy of needs? survival first, emotions second."

she smiled. "it was in a book i read once." yea, rima, tell him all about your aunt giving you a book on depression...

"See. Your learning alot from me." He sighed, sitting up and looked at zen. "He needs to know..." Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and said, coldly, "A couple years ago, well..." he shook his head, "I was sailing with my friend, fishing.... joking around right." he leaned back, "w..well i pushed her in. And... well... long story short, she died. Search and rescue saved me after wrecking the ship but... well... never found her." He groaned, "an...and I... well... god dammit... its not possible."

rima frowned looking at zen, she added, "and he thinks that the murderer looked like her." she looked back at him.

"But... thats not possible." he shook his head falling back hard and wincing, "shes dead. thats that. less move on." he closed his eyes slowly.

rima nodded and felt his forehead. no tempurature. what am i mother fuckin tereasa? why the hell am i so worried? she shook her head and sat down on the bed opposite them both. she grabbed the flashlight and held it close. "i dont know about you guys, but tomorrow, i dont want to be tired." she reached for the alcohol and chugged the rest in one drink. slurring her words she added, "n-nighty night."

Chuckling, he turned over and groaned, looking up at zen he added, "Your in charge." he muttered, handing him the caffeine pills and his bottle. "and no sodomy while I sleep."

dreaming wasnt good for rima. she knew it too. she was at her house at eight years old wearing a pretty white dress and her long pretty hair in pony-tails. she was standing over her dead mother and father, covered in their blood and her eyes snapped open. rima sat up like a bullet and breathed heavily preventing a very loud scream from coming out of her mouth. no. no. just a dream. yea. a-a dream.

He sat up quickly and grabbed the crowbar. "WHAT THE!!!!" he glanced around than sat back slowly. "Don't scare my ass like that." Rubbing his eyes he looked over to her, "Whats got you so twisted anyway?" he muttered.

rima looked over at riker still with worried eyes. she breathed for a few moments then layed back down. "im fine..." just some bad dreams get back to sleep! she layed down but kept her eyes open. she was too scared to sleep now. i cant. i cant. i dont want to see them again!

"Right. You know. You could at least cover your lies with sarcasm, or humor." He stepped out of bed and sat on her bed, "so if your not going to be crass enough to lie properly, tell me what's bothering you."

she covered her eyes when she felt tears coming and sat up. she wiped them away, only to have them come back again. she couldnt hide them. her calmness snapped right in front of her. she looked up at riker crying and asked, "c-c-can...i...cr-cry...on...y-you?"

he nodded softly, pulling her up, and squeezing her against his good shoulder, gritting his teeth. "Of course you can." he said gently, "You'll have to forgive my inadequate consolation." He smiled, rocking back and forth with her, "So tell me whats wrong, eh?"

she cried and clutched onto him. "th-their dead..." in between sobs she added. "i did it...it wa-was my fault...all my fault..." she burried her head into his shoulder, hoping it was the good one, and continued to cry. "i d-did it...m-m-me...only...m-me"

He smiled petting her hair, "Shhhh. Relax... shhhhh." he kissed the top of her head, leaning against her he shook his head, "Now Now." he whispered, "Your here with me right now. Focus on the now." he muttered, Good advice. Why cant you follow it. Shit, shes leaning against you. Since when did you feel like this towards anyone?

she nodded in his shoulder and suddenly felt like she didnt want to let go of him. now. right now. now im crying. and im crying into riker? riker. her heart skipped a beat and she cried a bit more until she must have ran out of tears. once she was done she quickly stood up out of bed about 3 feet away from him. she almost did something she might have regreted. "oh...i-im...s-so...s-sorry" she covered her blushing face.

He smiled softly, turning on the light and handing it to her, "Nothing to be sorry bout. Hell, how many times have you done the same for me?" standing up he pushed her back onto the bed, "So. care to tell me whats going on?"

she nodded and sat down. staring at the wall she said, "nightmares. i get them when i sleep sometimes." she shook her ehad to remind her she was awake and added, "im glad you were here." she avoided his stare. "if you werent here, my razor was in the bathroom."

He groaned and shook his head, "who would have thought I would have to compete with a knife for a womans love." Frowning, he placed his arm around her should, "You know. It's easier to sleep if you dont dream." He frowned, "How about you sleep." Shaking his head he pushed her down and sat next to her, "If it makes you feel any better. I will sit next to you to keep the evil baddies away."

rima was still very tired. she nodded and layed down covering up. she clutched onto the bottom corner of his bloody shirt and whispered. "d-dont go u-until i fall asleep...p-please, riker..."

he petted her hair and smiled, "I won't." he cooed, Okay. Relax. Think about the next move. worry about this, whatever this is, later. Right now. Survival.

rima nodded and slowly drifted off into sleep again. her clutch on riker's shirt eased slowly and her hand fell next to her. i'll have to thank him...later, though...after all of this is over...

Zen had walked out after he was givving teh pills and he sat down on the couch opposite the recovering girl. He took a swig of alcohol and started thinking A girl that is soposed to be dead killing others grusomlly why does that sound familiar he looked up to see the girl was sitting up "Hey he said You okay?" she smiled and nodded and opened her mouth but nothing came out she mad a drinking motion and Zen got her a glass of water, he brought her a few pieces of bread and the glass of water "Thanks" she said in no more then a whisper, Zen smiled and watched her "Whats your name?" she looked at him confused then shook her head as if to clear something out of her face and looked up at him puzzled "I don't remember"

Once she was asleep, he stood up, walking quietly to the door, he peeked out, "Zen... wh...woah, whats wrong?" He slide around the door and closed it quietly behind him, trotting over to the recently unconcious girl, "Hey, can you hear me? whats wrong?"