First I thought of using Selena Gomez Sober, but half way through I wanted it to end happily. So We The Kings Stonewalls were a perfect mix of sadness and happiness, or at least in my eyes/ears. I would also like to say sorry for not posting anything for a while, I have been in the hospital to get my appendicitis taken care of. Now that it's been taken care of, and I have healed for a while I feel so much better. But summer is here so the updates won't be as frequent as you are used to. Thank you all so much for reading and enjoy Stonewalls!

Leo was fast asleep, just the way he liked it, just pausing life, hell yes, sign Leo Valdez up for that. But the keyword in that sentence was: was. He was fast asleep. 
   There he had been, dreaming, blissful, drooling a little, resting and just recharging for the next day. That was until Nico di Angelo had shadow traveled into his cabin and landed on him.
   Lei grunted when he felt the body fall on top of him. First he had thought that it was one of his siblings accidentally falling into his bed from sheer exhaustion. Then he felt the cool hands on his naked chest. Yes Leo slept naked, it was nice and not as hot, it could get sauna hot in the Hephaestus cabin and even though fire didn't bother Leo, heat did. His hair was naturally curly but when you mixed that with this sticky heat he almost got a small afro. Something he was sure Grover would love.
    He had stared up into Nico's dark eyes that stared back at him with the same insane stare that Hades had. Not that Leo had met Nico's father but Percy had told him stories. 
   "Where am I?" Nico asked huskily while he tried to stand up, which only succeeded in him elbowing Leo in the throat, accidentally hitting his knee into Leo's special place, and a weird attempt that led to Nico falling on top of Leo and Nico snuggling into Leo's neck.
   The only logical solution to this was that Nico was so tired from the shadow traveling that he wasn't fully conscious to what he was doing. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, would never, ever, snuggle into anybody, especially Leo.
   "Nico, why do you smell like sulfur?" Leo asked placing his warm hands on Nico's shoulder blades.
   "Father asked..." Nico yawned so big that Leo was worried that he would dislocate his jaw. "...me to visit for a talk."
    "Why are you here?"
   "Where am I? Argo 2?" Nico asked confused.
   "Cabin 9, Leo Valdez's bed, Camp Half-Blood." Leo answered.
   "I'm sorry, tried to get home." Nico once again attempted to stand up this time succeeding, without hitting Leo. "I'm sorry, I'm tired, probably traveled to the place I thought of last"
   "You thought of cabin 9?" Leo asked skeptically.
   "No." Nico shook his head and walked to the door before lamely repeating "No."
   "Don't go out there, it's three am you'll get caught." Leo ran up from bed and stood between Nico and the door, only half worried that he woke up his siblings with that scream to hinder Nico from walking out side.
   "Caught?" Nico snorted. "I belong with the shadows no one will find me in the darkness."
   "Fine Ebony Darkness have it your way but I'm coming with." Leo said putting his hands on his hips, trying to look determined and fierce. 
   "You? Pff you wouldn't even survive with a ten thousand army, I mean even most cards in Mythomagic would have a better chance surviving out there than you." Nico snorted again.
   "Wow thanks man, that really made me want to save you from the harpies. Or better yet, help you to your cabin. A real vote for my confident." Leo said dryly.
   "Just take the kid out I wanna sleep!" someone threw a pillow at them but Nico caught it and threw it back.
   Leo sighed but opened the door to let himself and Nico out. There was a small cheer from inside the cabin, Nico joined them too but where Leo's siblings cheer was pure joy for going back to sleep, Nico''s cheer was that of a chuckle and eager steps to exit the cabin.

 "You have no idea how tired I am." Nico mumbled almost sliding down the front steps.
   "Trust me I do." Leo retorted taking Nico's arm in a firm grip as if to not let him fall on his ass. "Come on now Ghost King we're going home."
   "We don't have a home." Nico laughed as if he was drunk. "We aren't even together, I mean you have a great ass and warm hands... and I think your funny."
   Nico smiled groggily, his black hair fell into his eyes, making him seem so innocent and vulnerable. Who would believe that this guy who tried to be a nightmare was only fifteen? Leo couldn't even understand how this scrawny kid survived Tartarus alone.
   "You think I'm funny?" Leo asked.
   "Yeah, and great ass." Nico nodded, he pulled Leo down on the ground, "harpies."
   "Nico?" Leo said in a hushed voice, he had gotten a mouth full of grass and his throat ached from both Nico's elbow and from the rock that had planted itself into it. How much bad luck could he get?
   "Leo?"
   "There are no harpies here let's just get to your cabin." Leo tried to haul them both up but Nico was firmly stuck to the ground, the guy sure was scrawny but he weighed a ton a the moment.
  "You have nice eyes." Nico whispered up to the sky full of stars, stars that made constellation that Annabeth and Percy could point out, Leo hadn't a clue but he had a faint memory of his mother muttering things in Spanish under a clear night sky, just like this. Or maybe it had been his babysitter Tia Callida, or well, crazy old Hera.
   "You're tired, you're acting drunk, you sure you didn't drink anything weird in Hades?"
   "Mhm." Nico nodded, his hand laid on Leo's back, if Leo didn't get a fever from the cold and wet grass, he sure would from Nico's touch. "Didn't eat or drink. Don't want to end up like my step-mother."
   "Dude, come on we got to go now before the harpies come." Leo jumped up before Nico could push him down again, he offered his hand to the boy on the ground.
   Nico's hair had spread out like a black halo around Nico's head. Nico did look beautiful, his pale skin, his black clothes, black halo hair, if Leo had been closer he would have liked to believe that he could see the stars in those insane eyes.
   Leo swallowed hard, he wouldn't let Nico know that he had a crush on him these last few months, beside Nico had been dating Will. And Will was a far cry from Leo.
   Nico took his hand and stood up, stumbling into an awkward hug before walking again. Leo stood stunned for a few seconds, before shaking the feeling off and returning to Nico's side.
   "What did you and Hades talk about?" Leo asked.
   The smell of sulfur had now bee mixed by the smell of grass and that oil with Tabasco sauce that Festus ate. The Tabasco oil was all Leo's fault, he had gotten some on his hands before he went to bed, and he had been to tired to wipe it off.
   "What?"
   "You said that you came from your father's castle, house, mansion, place."
   "Yes he wanted to talk." Nico who had by now reached his cabin door, the distance between cabin 9 and cabin 13 wasn't so far apart.
   "About?" Leo coaxed on.
   Nico stepped into his cabin and pulled Leo in to, as if Leo didn't want to return to his own bed and just forget that the scrawny son of Hades had landed on top of him just a few minutes before.
   "Will broke up with me, Hazel told Frank, who told Reyna, somehow Persephone heard, so she told Hades, and Hades wanted to talk." Nico said matter-of-factly, the giddiness, the drunk side of Nico had gone, he stood now serious before Leo.
   "I'm sorry," Leo said, it was darker inside cabin 13 than it was outside, at least it was until Nico turned on the lamp he had by the bed.
   "Don't be, I kind of saw it coming." Nico shrugged and sat down on his own bed. "I'm tired, thank you for walking with me."
   "I can't just leave you after you told me that Will broke up with you!" Leo argued suddenly not wanting to leave Nico, drunk/tired or not.
   "Why?"
   "I don't know." Leo whispered even though no one else was there to over hear them, the moment seemed to fragile for normal talking.
   "Well you can. Leave me that is. I'm not a child, I can take care of myself." Nico said in a normal tone, it sounded as if he was shouting, in the lamp light he looked sickly, and Leo really didn't want to leave him like that. Trick of light or not Nico shouldn't have to be alone tonight.
   "I know you can I just... It feels weird to just walk you to your door and then vamoose out of here." Leo continued to argue.
   "Vamoose?" Nico laughed and pulled of his shirt.
   Nico had a six-pack and a lot of scars. The small scars were silver on his pale skin, some were as small as cent, some were long like a gash, others looked as if someone had whipped Nico. All silver, all made Leo dizzy. Why had Nico gone into so many fights? They were demigods but Leo didn't have anywhere near that many scars. But that also spoke of how lonely Nico had been during those first years of knowing. Hell the kid had been in the labyrinth alone, then Tartarus. 
   "Disappear quickly, run away." Leo defined the word.
   "Cool" Nico yawned and laid down on his bed, skinny jeans still on, over the cover.
   "Aren't you going to.. I don't know.. take of your jeans?" 
   "If you want me naked you can just say so." Nico chuckled darkly. 
   "No I mean, put on your pajamas."
   "Mm, well your half naked in a pair of... what are those?"
   "Sweatpants." Leo grimaced. "They are comfy."
   "Can I sleep?"
   "What about brushing your teeth?"
   "If you're really that concerned I have pajama bottoms in the top drawer, I won't brush my teeth, to tired for that." Nico whined, "Satisfied?"
   Leo handed him the pair of pajama bottoms he could find, he turned away when Nico started wiggling out of his jeans, he heard the cover being moved away and then back again.
   "I'm tucked in, leave?" Nico asked so sleepy that he no longer sounded mad or annoyed.
   "How about I just sleep here with you?" Leo asked, he started blushing as soon as the words were out, why would Nico even allow him to sleep in the same bed as him?
   After the war with Gaea things had gone back to normal, which meant that Leo and Nico were on different sides of the camp. Whenever the Argo 2 crew got together, Nico was there too, that was the only time that Leo and him had talked. But it was those moments that Leo loved, he loved seeing how Nico warmed up, how he started laughing more and more, how he started talking. Before Nico had been a bit scary but after Gaea Nico flourished into something less scary. There really were no other definition, he was simply less scary. And more beautiful.
   "You want to take Hazel's bed?" Nico asked surprised by Leo's question.
   "Yes... I mean no... I mean can I sleep with you... like next to you... in your bed?"
   "Why?" another chuckle that warmed Leo's heart, soon he wouldn't have blood he would have lava in his veins and heart.
   "You're cold."
   "I'm always cold."
   "You can get a fever or something."
   "I never get sick."
   "You owe me."
   "What do I owe you that makes it right for you to sleep next to me?" Nico asked, he seemed interested in their light hearted fight. It wasn't even a fight, more of an argument that was underlined by humor and warmth.
   "You kneed me." Leo offered.
   "Fine, cuddle in big spoon." Nico said lifting the cover for Leo to crawl in. "Holy Hades, you are colder than me!"
   Leo laughed and willed some of the fire inside of him to travel to his cold feet, to his hands, to every body part that touched Nico. Soon they laid in a comfortable warmth that lulled Leo to sleep. Before he fell asleep he heard Nico mutter something in Italian.

Leo woke up by hands that traveled over his chest, a pitch high scream and a bitch slap. Now Leo have woken up from many things. A kiss on the cheek, a scream, some lazy person trying to push him out of bed, yes someone had bitch slapped him awake too, someone had even done a wet willy to wake him up. But someone first touching him as tenderly as a lover, then that scream that traveled like ice through his veins and making him go deaf for a quick second, and then the bitch slap? Wasn't it good enough to do one thing?
   "Why are you in my bed?" the screaming came again.
   Leo knew that voice all to good, he had heard Nico freak out a couple of times before, but this scream? He could almost see how the cabin burned down, or how someone had hurt Nico's sister Hazel. Never before had he heard Nico use that scream at him, never before had the anger and unease traveled from Nico to Leo himself.
   "You invited me." Leo said getting out of the bed.
   When he looked down at Nico, who was tangled into his bed sheets, it made Leo's heart beat harder and faster, in another life he had been a hummingbird, there was no other explanation to how his heart could beat this fast now.
   "Shit!" Nico muttered, "Shit!" he said, "Shit!" he screamed, "fuck!"
   "I should probably go." Leo offered and walked out of the cabin before Nico could curse, argue, or say anything about it.
   It was still early and the crisp morning air sent chills down Leo's spine. For a moment he let himself believe that it was the coldness that seeped from the son of Hades. How could he Nico so much when they didn't even know each other that good. Nico knew Percy and Annabeth better, he knew Jason, Hazel, Frank and Reyna better. Hell Nico probably knew Piper better by now too, it was after all to her he went with all those Will-Is-My-Boyfriend-What-Do-I-Do questions.
   So instead of going to his own cabin he went to the Aphrodite cabin.
   "Who knocks at this unearthly hour?" Piper asked swinging the door open. "Oh hey Leo, something on your heart that makes it acceptably that you wake me up this early?"
   "The Bunker." He said and went ahead, he forgot all about the fact that he only had his sweatpants on, all he could feel was his heart tearing itself apart, and the only person who could fix it was Piper, Piper who knew exactly what Leo needed when he said the Bunker.

"He did what?" Piper sat on the platform were Festus slept, the dragon wasn't going to wake until he wanted to, that spoiled dragon.
   "First he told me I had a great ass, which I do, and the next morning he tossed me out." Leo summarized the whole event to her for the fifth time.
   "I don't understand, I thought he was with Will."
   "Haven't you been listening, they broke up!"
   "And you care why?" her kaleidoscope eyes shined in the dark bunker, at times Leo thought that he could see those crystals from Calypso's cave, other times they were the sand and the beach, yet other they were the night sky during new year's eve. "You like him."
   The silence between them wasn't awkward or forced. It was simply there. A nice feeling that meant that both of them were thinking, no need to interrupt until they actually had an idea, or plan.
   Leo loved being Piper, they were like siblings, that was one of the many things he liked with the whole demigod-package. He got siblings. Sure he had grown tired of creating a family when he was hounded around into all those foster homes but right here right now. He loved it. He loved that all of his step-siblings helped each other out. They had inside jokes that they shared. In the beginning he had been so into building the Argo 2 that he hadn't had time to create bonds with them, but after the war with Gaea, after the whole Calypso is set free thing, he had the time. He had all the time in the world.
   "Tell him." Piper said then.
   "Oh so just because he said I had a great ass, which I still have, I'm gonna confess my love to him?" Leo scoffed, "Sure Piper, I'll walk up to him and be like, sup Nico I have had a crush on you since you started dating Will, you want to go have ice cream sometime?"
   Piper laughed, "Not with that attitude, just, charm him, you are quite charming."
   "I'm what? Sorry I didn't hear that can you say it again?" Leo put his hand behind his ear and leaned closer.
  "Stop it!" she shoved him away, "but I'm serious, tell him."
   "You only encourage your friends to tell their crushes that they like them if the other part feel the same." Leo said suspicious. "Have Nico talked to you?"
   "No, I can just see it." Piper shrugged.
   "See it? Right Beauty Queen, forgot that your mother is the goddess of love." Leo rolled his eyes skeptically and paced the area in front of her. 
   "I see it Leo, don't make me curse you."
   "As if you had the balls to do it." Leo grinned catching Piper smile from the corner of his eye, "I'll tell him as soon as he has talked to you about my great ass."
   "Pinky swear!" Piper raised her pinky.
   "Fine, pinky swear," he hooked his pinky with hers and pulled away as soon as the promise was sealed.

Two weeks later

Leo walked around on the outskirt of the forest, he didn't want to return home quite yet. His whole body was in some sort of battle, his heart on one side, his brain on the other, his queasy stomach in the middle. He hadn't talked to Piper for two weeks, but Nico had been ever present. It was as if those rickety old hags knew what Leo felt and made sure that Nico was always around him to remind him of his feelings. As if he didn't know himself?
   So no, he would pace the outskirts of the forest for a little while longer. Just until the sun had disappeared and the moon had settled down on the sky. Then he would walk to his siblings, then he would fall asleep in his own bed, forgetting all about those dark eyes that made him just as much insane as they looked.
   The only problem was that he was bored out of his mind. His hands fumbled with anything he found, he had already made some sort of toy sword from a couple of branches and some duck tape from his tool belt. He had already built a mini Festus, took it apart and rebuilt it five times. His hands worked but it didn't calm his nerves, or his mind. He was a volcano that would soon burst, making Camp Half-Blood the second Pompeii. That would be something wouldn't it? Surely the Gods would kill him right there and then, and he wouldn't have to think about Nico anymore.
   Leo really wanted to be Mount Vesuvius right now.
   Leo really wanted to make the Gods angry so they could ship him off to some desert island, now that Calypso was free, Leo was sure that he would make a great replacement. Hell it would be even harder for him to attract both girls and boys that could fall for him. Leo was the hottest person on earth, but that made it all the much harder for people to fall for him.
   For some reason he started singing, during this past month Percy had started singing songs from the New York hits list. Songs that stuck on Leo's brain. He hoped that the Tree spirits wouldn't kill him from his horrible singing... or maybe that was the answer!
   No... he wouldn't want to be.. impaled.
   He laughed out loud for himself, his humor sucked and being alone only made him worse. Couldn't the sun just go to sleep so he could watch the moon rise and then go to bed? Was he really such a horrible person that that couldn't happen faster?
   A twig snapped behind him, he twirled around first thinking that it was a monster, but quickly realizing that it was a drowsy son of Hades.
   "Hey it's Team Leo, all the Ladies luv-" Nico stumbled and just laid there on the moss.
   Leo chided himself before helping Nico stand up, Nico was ready to fall asleep right there but it would be rather rude to just leave him on the moss to sleep, especially this close to the forest were monsters lived.
   "Come on big guy, up we go." Leo made Nico get up on his back, giving the son of Hades a piggy back ride at dawn wasn't fun, it could have been hilarious, if he wasn't so tired that he acted drunk, and if Nico hadn't fallen asleep as Leo walked.
   Trudging to Nico's cabin was making Leo tired, and all he wanted to do was build something, in his head millions of ideas raced together, competition on which would be built first. Non of them would since he was forced to carry Nico, his hands were restless and they needed to move, but he also kind of needed to hold Nico so he wouldn't slid of his back.
   A few campers who were still out as Leo neared cabin 13 hollered at them. Nico who came awake hushed them before falling back asleep, oblivious to him being carried to his door, oblivious about the part that he hated people carrying him as a child.
   Leo remembered when Nico had hit Jason for trying to carry him as a joke. Leo would get more than a punch in the gut for carrying Nico this far, and for everyone to see.
   The only good person was Percy, for when he saw them closing in to the door he ran forward and opened the door for them. Leo nodded a thanks to the son of Poseidon, Percy just smiled and closed the door behind them.
   Leo tried to place Nico carefully on the bed, instead he accidentally dropped Nico who banged the back of his head against the wall.
   The groan escaping Nico's lips made Leo burn. He was blushing, he felt his fingers travel to the hem of his shirt so that they could fumble with the hem, so that they could do something. Unaware of it he had started shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
   "What you do that for?" Nico complained.
   "Sorry." Leo apologized, now that Nico was secure in his cabin, Leo could return to his own and sleep, but as he walked away he felt a cold hand on his wrist.
   "Don't leave me." Nico whimpered.
   "Nico!" Leo protested, he coaxed off Nico's fingers from his wrist. "I can't stay, I won't."
   What he wanted to say was that he couldn't handle having another morning as the last one. He wanted to wake up next to someone who wanted him there. He wanted to be with someone who actually appreciated having him there next to them. He wanted to be loved, and for that lover to shout it from the top of a building, not ashamed.
   "Please." 
   "Why?"
   "I like you." Nico said.
   "Not truly, Piper hadn't said anything." Leo retorted tiredly.
   "Piper doesn't know everything Leo." Nico said lamely. "I like you, please stay."
   A soft kiss, it had happened so quickly, first Nico had sat there on his bed, his eyes half closed, on the brink of sleep. His black clothes rumpled, his voice husky and small. His hair all over the place as if he had walked through a tornado. Then he was in front of Leo, his lips pressed against Leo's, they were so soft, Leo thought that they would be chapped or bitten. But they were soft and warm.
   Then it ended and it left Leo stunned.
   "Stay." Nico whispered against his lips and Leo found himself nodding.
   Quietly they laid down on the bed, it was as if they had done it forever, they didn't crash together, they didn't make it awkward or weird. When they laid next to each other Nico draped his arm around Leo's stomach.
   Leo kissed Nico's forehead and not long after the both of them fell asleep.
   

When Leo woke up the next day the bed was empty. He didn't think much of it since he usually slept alone, but then he saw the dark design, the creepy things that the campers had put in the Hades cabin. With a start he woke up and stared at Nico who sat on the floor, back to the bed.
   "I'm sorry." Nico said.
   "Why?"
   "For pushing you away that first time." Nico said, "I'm scared, I was so afraid and I still am. After Will broke up with me, I... I didn't think I could handle anything new. I mean for Gods sake that first time, Will had broken up with me just a couple of weeks before. It was way to early for me to go into anything new, and the thought of us freaked me the fuck out."
   "Language." Leo said finally slipping down from the bed to sit next to Nico, without thinking he took Nico's hand in his.
   "Will broke up with me because I didn't share everything."
   "Like what? Your favorite color?" Leo joked.
   "Things like that, not my favorite color, but other things." Nico continued. "He tried to get me to talk about Tartarus, and the labyrinth, and Bianca, and the Lotus Hotel. I couldn't tell him, I get this lump in my throat that makes it impossible for me to share. He kept on asking me to talk, he kept telling me it would make things easier, he could handle it, he wasn't scared."
   "It wasn't about him." Leo whispered to afraid that his voice would break if he spoke normally.
   "No, it was me. It's about me. I can't share those things on a whim. It takes time." Nico said tilting his head back so that it rested on the mattress. "I loved him, love him, I wish I could stop. He decided we shouldn't be together, he couldn't be with someone who couldn't talk. No matter what I did, I did everything I could Leo."
   "I know you did." Leo assured him.
   "And it wasn't enough." Nico sniveled. "So when I spoke to my father, and he said that I should follow my heart I was so lost. He said that the person I was meant to be with would appear. I have friends, more than I used to have, but of all of them I can talk to you the most. You have been to foster homes that sucked, you have endured so much with Calypso, with the whole not fitting into the Seven Prophecy. If someone understands the pain of loneliness and the heartbreak of not being able to talk it's you."
   "You don't have to tell me Nico." Leo said.
   "I have too. Because I want to be with you, in a way that I know will last. I won't the same mistake as I did with Will." Nico brushed away his tears with his free hand. "I'm sorry."
   "For what? For crying?" Leo asked.
   "For not talking to you, for not confessing earlier. I know it's still super close to Will's and I's break up, I know we shouldn't be together right now, I want us to last, I don't want you as some sort of rebound." Nico said sniveling again.
   "I thought you were scary when I first met you." Leo confessed. 
   "Why?" Nico laughed.
   "I don't know. The black clothes, that insane look in your eyes, the black everything. The aura of death and power that surrounds you." Leo explained, "but after the war when you started acting more you... it disappeared. You were just a boy. You were like me. All of our friends, Will, they helped giving back some happiness to you. You recovered quite nicely from Tartarus on your own. You are a fighter Nico, you are a soldier, we all are, and if you feel like we should be together than yes. I have loved you for so long, but I also like to not be your rebound."
   "So we wait?" Nico asked.
   "We wait." Leo nodded.

A Year Later

Leo walked up to the cabin door, his palms were sweaty, he still had grease on his cheek and shirt, and he even had a couple of band aids on his fingers. He had been completely into his project in the Bunker that he hadn't been aware of the pain, of the mess, of life. Then Piper had come up to him and said one word. One word and he knew. He had ran from the Bunker and stood now panting outside of Nico's door.
   Today was the day.
   For a whole year they had been friends, they had talked, laughed, they had shared. He still didn't know details of all the horrors but that would come when Nico was ready. Leo wanted Nico to be ready, he didn't want to pressure him. The walls around him would fall on its own.
   He knocked again, impatient, after all today was the day. It still hadn't been confirmed yet but he felt as if every color was more vibrant. The strawberry fields were more red and green, he heard the music and laughter from them. The green grass behind him, the crackle of fire, the blackness of cabin 13. The orange from his dirty shirt hurt his eyes a little. Was he going crazy or were he just so happy that things came alive before his eyes?
   When the door opened he locked eyes with Nico. Neither of them said anything, both of them seemed to hold their breaths, the whole camp seemed to. Campers stopped walking behind them, in the corner of Leo's eye he could see Piper standing with Jason. But he didn't care because the only person who meant anything right now was the person standing in front of him. The black messy hair as if Nico had just woken up, the black rumpled clothes that Nico probably hasn't ironed since he got them, the black skinny jeans that clung to his legs. His lips that looked so soft.
   "Now." Nico smiled, it was the same word that Piper had said to him at the bunker.
   "Now." Leo breathed and smiled.
   The walls came stumbling down, the fire between them heated up, the colors hurt their eyes, and then they kissed. Their lips tingled and they laughed. Now. Now. Now.
   No more stonewalls, no more heartbreak because they had left all of that behind them. Their hearts may be young, may have scars, but they were so full of love for each other that they didn't care about any of that for the moment.
   In this second, in this breath, in this life, they were all they could be.
   "You want to be my boyfriend?" Nico asked, his lips still so painfully close to Leo's.

   "Yes, oh Gods yes." Leo kissed him again.
   Who cared about all those years longing for this, who cared about Will, who cared about the war, the pain, the hurt, the loss, who cared about anything. They were there, and they were together. At last.