Arthur smiled softly to himself as he heard the water in the shower turn on; he and (Y/n) had been to the store on the way back to his apartment, and while he had told her to go and get a shower, he stood in his small kitchen, making tea and a mountain of sandwiches.

Even as the two had walked around the store, (Y/n) had never let go of his hand, and he couldn't help but feel a warm tingle as the young woman pulled him from shelf to shelf, staring at all the treats as if she were a kid in a toy store, looking at him occasionally as if to ask permission to put just one more thing in the basket that he held.

Suddenly Arthur was brought back from his thoughts when from behind the locked bathroom door, a melodious voice began to sing happily, the words of "That's life" floating through the tiny apartment.

Chuckling, he set the groaning plate and two cups of tea on the coffee table, as he waited for (Y/n) to finish. He couldn't help but find himself intrigued as to what would emerge from the steamy confines of the bathroom, he had given her some of his clothes, and an old jumper that had stretched due to being washed incorrectly, and even though he should have thrown it away long ago, for some reason he couldn't bear to be parted from it.

As he heard the door click open, Arthur's head spun around, his eyes growing wide as he saw the beautiful creature before him; even with the dirt on her face she had been beautiful, but now as she stood smiling at him, her brilliant white hair damp, her body draped in his clothes, and the over sized jumper wrapped around her, he couldn't help but think that somehow an angel had fallen from heaven and was now standing looking at him.

"You have no idea how good it feels to be clean." (Y/n) said happily, as she came to sit next to a stunned Arthur, her eyes falling on the large plate of food.

"I-i-i-its ok, you can eat as much as you want." Arthur told her, watching as she picked a sandwich up in each hand, and began to tuck into the good food.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a pig." (Y/n) laughed, as she finished the first sandwich. "It's just nice to eat food that your sure isn't covered in rat shit or maggots." She said, as took a bite of the second sandwich.

"I don't know about that...... Did you see the state of that store, the dumpsters around the back are probably cleaner?" Arthur joked, hurriedly patting (Y/n) on the back as she laughed and began to choke on the sandwich.

"Yeah, your probably right." (Y/n) said as she finally got her breath back and peeled back the bread to look at the meat filling.

"Are there any missing pets around here? Because I think that I might just have found them." (Y/n) chuckled, as she took a big bite.

"So........ you like Sinatra? I couldn't help but overhear you singing, and That's life just happens to be one of my favourites." Arthur said, as (Y/n) nodded, taking a gulp of her tea.

"Oh yeah, Frank, Sammy, Dean, I love those guys; I had a foster family for a while, and the dad, Harvey, was a big fan of the rat pack, so I would hear their music day in and day out; Frank was always my favourite though, there is just something about old blue eyes that you have to love." (Y/n) told him, as she crossed her legs under her, her thigh inadvertently brushing against Arthurs.

"I don't get chance to hear much music these days, but I still like to sing when I can, sometimes it just brightens your day, you know what I mean?" She asked as Arthur nodded in agreement, he himself knowing how music seemed to improve a bad situation.

"I hope you don't mind me asking Arthur, but......well...... your condition, what is it?" (Y/n) asked hesitantly, as she softly gripped his hand, making him jump a little, as yet again she seemed to show that she cared.

"Its called Pseudobulbar Affect, it's an emotional disorder brought on by brain damage, which in my case was cause by abuse when I was a kid; it means I laugh at inappropriate moments, and usually comes on when I'm stressed." Arthur explained, growing wide eyed as (Y/n) threw herself into his arms and squeezed him tight.

"Oh my god Arthur, that's awful; I'm so sorry that I brought it on earlier, if I had known, I would never have insinuated that you anything but the lovely man that you are." (Y/n) said, as she continued to hug him close.

Without thinking, Arthur melted into her embrace, his arms reaching around her waist as the two just sat there, holding one another close. To feel someone hold him, to feel someone else's body pressed against his was making Arthur feel warm inside, and he hoped against hope that the moment would never end.

"You know, I know plenty of people that have conditions too, and most of them are just really nice folks; its society that turns anyone with a mental illness into a social pariah, its like their modern day lepers and people think that mental illness is catching or something, it's stupid." (Y/n) told him, as she seemed to refuse to let go of the man in her arms, gently tightening her embrace.

As a comfortable silence enveloped the pair, the two just sat side by side in one another's arms, Arthur's heart beating faster than he thought humanly possible as he felt (Y/n)'s warm breath on his skin, as she nuzzled her face into his neck.

Gradually Arthur noticed that (Y/n)'s grip began to loosen, as her body rested on his, and he couldn't help but smile as the softest snore drifted from her lips; as gently as he could, Arthur slipped out from under her, carefully picking the sleeping woman up into his arms and making his way to the bedroom.

As he placed her on the mattress, and covered her with the blankets, he couldn't help but brush the few stray strands of white hair behind her ears, smiling as she suddenly turned onto her side, gripping his thin pillow tightly.

With a happy sigh Arthur left the room, making his way to the bathroom to retrieve (Y/n)'s clothes so that he could take them to the laundry room in the basement of the old building.

>>------------------------------<<

Arthur's eyes slowly opened, he wasn't quite sure of the time but the dark sky outside the window was slowly dissipating to reveal a cool grey hue; as he turned onto his side, trying to find a comfortable spot on his beat up sofa, his eyes fell on a figure, curled up in a ball under a blanket on the floor next to where he lay.

Slowly he sat up and leaning forward he carefully pulled back the blanket to find (Y/n) resting peacefully, her eyes fluttering open as she smiled up at him.

"Morning Arthur, I hope you don't mind me being down here, but your mattress is far too soft for someone that is used to sleeping on the streets; and your soft snore sounded like the dull hum of the traffic near where I normally sleep, it's so sweet." (Y/n) explained as she stretched her limbs before rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"And I must say, I'm not usually greeted by such a nice sight when I wake up in the morning." (Y/n) said, as she looked at Arthur's bare chest, chuckling as he quickly tried to put on his shirt, glowing a delicate shade of red.

"Oh, I'm sorry........ I just didn't......... well I didn't expect you to come and sleep next to me, and I thought that I would be awake before you....... and you wouldn't see me like this." Arthur spluttered out, trying to explain his state of undress.

"Arthur, its ok. Normally when I wake up I see old Mary pushing her shopping cart with her little dog in it, and I hear Harry complain about how much his back aches, and how he's getting too old for this shit; so to wake up to a half-naked, handsome man is something that doesn't usually happen to girls like me." (Y/n) told him, as she sat up and pulled off the blanket to reveal her naked legs.

Arthur quickly averted his eyes as (Y/n) pulled back on the pants that he had given her, seemingly not caring that he could possibly be looking at her.

"Well, what does a man like Arthur do on a normal day." (Y/n) asked, as she dropped down on the sofa next to him.

"I...... I have to go to work." Arthur explained, finally feeling it was safe to look up from the floor, now that (Y/n) had more than just his jumper on.

"And what, pray tell, do you do?" (Y/n) asked, frowning slightly as he became a little embarrassed.

"I'm....... I work as a clown, like a party clown, or sometimes I go to entertain the sick kids in the hospital." Arthur mumbled, part of him expecting her to laugh at him.

"Wow! You got guts Arthur; all those kids would freak me out. I bet you are really popular too; I can just imagine you dancing around and making balloon animals and everything." (Y/n) said happily, as Arthur finally felt confident enough to smile at her.

"And working with sick kids is a really nice thing to do; lord knows they need something to cheer them up. You really are a good man Arthur, a rare and mythical creature." (Y/n) told him as she took his hand and squeezed it tight.

"You can stay........ I'll be back later, and I cleaned your clothes last night." Arthur said, getting to his feet and moving over to the little kitchen area to put on the kettle.

"I will bring something back for dinner, so you can make yourself comfortable, and just relax while I'm out." Arthur continued, as (Y/n) rose from the sofa and brushed her hand over the pile of her now clean clothes.

"Thank you, Arthur, I really appreciate it."

>>------------------------------<<

Arthur's day was proving similar to most every other day. Getting to work had been a pain, as people pushed and shoved one another on the packed bus; work was no better, as Randall and Hoyt seemed to be in worse moods than normal, and being forced to work outside on a freezing cold day had made Arthur feel more desperate than normal; but as he struggled to press the lift button, his arms weighed down by a heavy bag of groceries he couldn't help but smile at the thought of opening the door and seeing the beautiful face of his lost girl.

Fumbling with his keys, he managed to unlock the door, and push his way into the apartment.

"(Y/n)? Are you here?" Arthur called out as he looked around the seemingly empty apartment.

Putting the groceries on the countertop he looked around, his eyes falling on a piece of paper that was propped up on the coffee table. Sitting down on the sofa he took the paper and began to read the message that was written in a beautiful hand.

To my favourite clown.

Thank you for everything. Thank you for the pancakes, and the sandwiches; thank you for the shower and the clean clothes, and thank you for the good nights sleep and the chance to wake up next to a handsome man; but I can't stay, I don't want you to ever think that I am taking advantage of you, and I can never do anything to repay you for your kindness, so it is better that I just go back to what I know before you regret helping me.

Maybe I will see you around the dumpsters one day.

(Y/n) xx

Arthur dropped his head into his hands, not for one minute did he ever think that she would take advantage of him, not for one minute would he ever regret helping her, but he hadn't had the chance to tell her that he wanted nothing more than for her to stay, and now she was gone, and he didn't know if he would ever see her again.