A/n: I can't believe this. 1K reads. I swear when I saw it, I almost cried. You guys are awesome, each and every one of you. Thank you so much.❤

Mallowmelt for all of you!

Sophie awoke to the smell of something sweet. She sat up groggily. "Fitz?" she grumbled. "Is that... mallowmelt?"

"Good morning Sophie," Tam said, walking in, carrying a tray of ripplefluffs, and her memories came rushing back.

"You-" she screamed as she observed her surroundings. She was in a room with walls made out of pearly crystal. No windows and the door he came through slid closed, fitting perfectly with the wall and hiding from view. As for the room itself, it was furnished with a daybed with a blue comforter and pink pillows, which she was sitting on, a blue desk, and a purple vanity stocked with makeup. In the corner was a bookshelf stocked with various human books. However nice the room, though, she could hardly keep herself from yanking the tray out of his grasp and throwing it in his face before breaking through the crystal and levitating far, far away from this place.

Calm down! she chided herself. Play it cool for Fitz. Try not to kill anybody. That would kind of ruin the whole "cooperation" deal.

"Careful, now. Remember, I still have Fitz." He set the tray down. "Now, let's start over. I walk in, you say, 'Oh Tam, my dearest love, good morning! May I have a ripplefluff?' "

"You're sick," she growled.

"Sophie, I thought you would've learned from last night. You know what I can do to him," Tam warned gravely.

"Tam, I... I'm just not ready for this. I'm sorry. I've never seen you as anything other than a friend. I really can't, okay? So why don't you just leave me alone for now." It wasn't a question, and Tam noticed.

"Don't tell me what to do in my own home, Sophie."

"This isn't your home, Tam!" she cried. "Your home is with Linh!"

"Linh- doesn't- miss- me," he growled through gritted teeth. "She thinks I'm dead. That we're all dead. She's surely moved on by now. She's with Dex and Tiergan and all of our other friends. It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does," Sophie insisted. "You know you do care about her, deep in your heart, and she loves you, Tam, more than anything. She'll be heartbroken without you. Fight the shadows, Tam. There's always a better way," she urged.

Shadowflux pooled from his hands. "No. It's simple. You refused me, so I took... desperate measures."

"I just don't understand, Tam. Linh was your everything until you... changed. Until you let the shadows take control of you. And when they do, you drop her and leave her alone to fend for herself. Don't you understand she'll definitely be a number one Neverseen target, now that I'm out of the picture? They all will be."

"I'm doing this for you. You should be grateful! But instead, you go back on your word and demand these answers which are absolutely none of your business, Sophie. We're done here."

"Wait!" she said, getting an idea. "Why do you love me so much? Why is it only me?"

He sighed, relaxing. The shadows dissipated, and he sat down on her daybed. "I'm sure you have been told your eyes are beautiful.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"It's not only your eyes. Your voice... it's so soft and kind. I grew up around parents who hurled harsh words at me and a sister who rarely spoke. After I was exiled, the only words uttered at me were from my coaches and my sister. But your voice... it's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."

"Well... thank you. But you know, there are a lot of humans like that."

"Sophie, you think I care? It's something about you, you know? Something about you. I could never even look at another girl."

"You should. Why can't you just move on, Tam?"

"We talked about this, Sophie. If you could only learn to love me... we would be perfect together." He took her hand, squeezing it tightly. Though she didn't return the gesture, she didn't let go either. He needed the support. "If it would please you, I could have a Washer wipe your memories and implant new ones? You would be perfectly happy."

A shudder coursed through her and she pulled away from Tam. "No. Never. The Black Swan messed with my mind and took memories from me. To create a whole new life- identity- for me... no."

"It's Fitz," he growled. "You're still soft on your sweetheart. And you tell me to move on."

"Tam, that's- that's different. We love each other, and I don't want some selfish jerk to pull us apart from out of jealousy."

A/n: Sorry, fellow Tam fans. Don't smack me through your phone/computer!

"I see how it is, then," he said, voice cold as ice and as sharp as a knife. "I'll go now. Maybe I'll come back to check on you in a few weeks- or at least, what's left of you. Good luck getting out of here- and remember, I can always make the echoes come back." Shadows pooled from his hands. He stood there for a minute, letting the thought sink in before the shadows dissipated and he picked up the tray, walking out of the room as the door closed behind him.

With a thud, she was shut in the room. The crystal seemed to give off light because Sophie could see no other visible light source. She immediately started kicking the wall as hard as she could, but, surprisingly, it wouldn't break. Exhausted, she flopped down on the floor and sobbed. Fitz might die, and it would be all her fault. She might die, but that's not what mattered. What mattered was that Tam would probably torture, if not kill him, because she didn't cooperate. Why did she only care for herself at that moment? For five minutes she could've pretended to love Tam and then gone back to hating him, but no, she had to go and argue and yell and-

A voice broke her mental rambling. "Sophie?"