The ride back home drifted into darkness as I was lulled to sleep by the steady drone of the engine. It was only when the monotone rumble and soft vibration stopped, that I woke to see us parked in the back lane behind the flat. The dim glow of the streetlights bathed the lane in an orange glow, illuminating Gina perched on her balcony stealing one last cigarette before she headed to bed. Her shock of dyed orange hair bobbed above the old brick wall as a plume of smoke billowed into the cool night air.

It all seemed so normal. It was almost comforting to know that life had plodded along at its usual pace.

I uncurled and glanced at the digital clock glaring from the console.

"How is it only 10 o'clock?" I rasped as I tried to clear the sleep from my eyes. It had felt like a lifetime since I was last here.

I twisted in the seat and looked across to Atticus at the still silence that followed. His eyes tightened as they roved over the various cuts and bruises blemishing my skin. Sparks flickered across his irises, disappearing from view as soon as his eyes met mine.

I reached for his hand where it gripped the gearstick. A buzz of energy vibrated across his skin, making my skin tingle wherever ours met.

The silence of the car ride had only served to concentrate his anguish.

"I know I look like shit, but I'm OK," I jested with an empty smile.

"I know... I know..." He loosed a breath as he hung his head. The glow of the streetlight shone off the ebony strands, tousled from where he'd ran his hand through it throughout the drive. "But when I think about how she hurt you, and let him..." His words were strangled by gritted teeth, and his knuckles went white where he gripped the steering wheel.

"She gave me her best shot and she failed. Largely down to you..." If he hadn't shown up, I don't know what I would have done. I shivered with a chill of realisation. I'd had a knife in a supernatural gun fight.

Rage flickered in his eyes as he replayed what could have happened if he'd been too late. "I should have burned her to ash. At least then I'd know you'd be safe," he seethed, but his voice was heavy with regret.

"I'm safe now."

"But for how long?" His blue eyes shone with anguish. "If she ever remembers..."

Before he could spiral any further, and damage Aslo's beloved Betty, I rested my palm against the chiselled contours of his jaw and gently turned his face towards mine.

"If it's a month, a year, or a lifetime, it's time we wouldn't have had." His beautiful eyes searched mine; the fear falling away as the pad of my thumb swept softly against his skin. "So can we just enjoy it. For a little bit?"

I dropped my hand and cupped his between my palms. The thrum of energy slowly dissipated until all I could feel was the same warmth he'd always had. That slightly raised temperature that marked him as something other.

His eyes softened and a tentative smile curved the corners of his lips. "A lifetime?"

"Caught that did you?" My cheeks flushed with heat as I shifted under his gaze. His grin widened as he leaned in with slow, deliberate movement, grazing his lips against the soft curve of my jaw.

"I'll gladly spend a lifetime at your side," he breathed as his lips skated over the apples of my cheeks. "If only to see how many ways I can make you blush like that."

A shiver rippled down my spine as he whispered against my lips.

My lower lip dropped as I sucked in a shaky breath. He brushed a light kiss across the sensitive surface. "But for now, you need to get some rest. A lifetime can wait a little longer." He rested his forehead against my own, inhaling softly before getting out of the car and opening my side.

My back gate opened with a squeal of complaint, and I braced myself for Gina's inevitable questioning.

As if reading my mind, she leaned over her balcony, her eyes widening as she scanned over my crumpled frame.

"Gosh, Petal, look at the state of you. Must have been one hell of a tumble you took." Her husky voice wrapped around me, bringing an unexpected swell of relief, of home.

I noted the lie she had been told, no doubt by Atticus, and made a mental note to ask him about it tomorrow. There would be a lot I'd have to ask him tomorrow, but for tonight I just wanted to curl up and fade away.

I tugged my hair closer around my neck and pulled the sleeves of Atticus' hoodie further down to hide the rope burns. Despite Gina's age, her eyesight was still as sharp as a tack. There wasn't much her shrewd gaze missed.

My own watched as she dragged another long puff from her cigarette. The burning cherry illuminated the creased lines around her lips and the crinkle of concern in the crease of her brow. But there was something else too, something in the way her eyes tightened with a wince of pain. And there, on her pursed lips, was a gash slicing through her lower lip, and her eyes, so often painted with bright, livid, eyeshadow, were now mismatched. One still glimmered with metallic turquoise liner, while the other was dark and puffy with bruising.

"What happened?" I gasped as she tapped her ash against the handrail. Atticus' hand rested lightly at the small of my back, a soft comforting touch.

"Oh these?" she asked with an absent tone, dabbing lightly at the mottled skin around her eye. "You know, I have no idea, Pet. Do you ever get that? Where you wake up with bruises and you have no idea where they came from? Said to myself I need to cut back on the gin." Her husky laugh did nothing to soothe the feeling of horror pounding in my chest, but I forced a smile onto my face.

"Where's the fun in that though?" I returned, fighting to keep it together.

Before the tears glazing my eyes could break free, I rushed a goodnight and forced my way through the kitchen door.

"What happened?" I hissed as Atticus gently closed the door behind us.

"We think she saw Olivia and Christopher moving you. She can't remember any of it, but it's clear her memory has been glamoured."

My hands raked through my hair, pulling at the tangled strands.

"She's OK, Anna. She has a few bruises, but that's it. She's not in pain," Atticus murmured.

I pushed my palms against my temples, like I could somehow squeeze the past twenty-four hours out of my head. But it just kept coming. It all just kept coming.

"I don't think I can take any more of this bullshit." My voice cracked as Gina's face pounded behind my clenched eyes. Strong arms wrapped around me.

"This is all my fault."

"No, it's Olivia's," Atticus pressed as he rested his chin against my hair, tucking me against him until all I could feel was his warmth surrounding me. "She came after you."

"So what?" I sniffed as I pulled back, retreating across the debris until I felt the cool kitchen cupboards against my back. "You heard her. If I hadn't done the things I have, if I wasn't some weak spot or whatever the hell I am, she never would have come here. Christopher wouldn't have been who he was. He'd still be alive, and Gina wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Atticus' expression was pained as he gravitated towards me with slow, silent steps.

"I can't speak for the teacher, but if not for you, then Gina would have hurt herself long before now."

"What?"

His gaze caught mine, as his hand softly cupped my cheek. "You blame yourself for this one moment of pain in her life, but you don't see how you've helped her deal with the rest."

Just as I had the first time we kissed, and he'd told me I was beautiful, I felt myself shrink away from the emotion shining in his eyes. I wanted to bask in it, but it felt wrong to accept it, like I hadn't earned it, or deserved it. How could I believe him with the guilt of everything laid at my feet?

"Yeah, right," I snorted, twisting my face away from the comfort I craved, but his touch held me in place. It was unmoving and firm, yet there was a softness in the way his thumb swept the apple of my cheek, and his eyes watched mine.

"I saw how you used to talk with her. Even when you didn't want to. You listened to her when no one else ever did. It might not seem like much to you, but it means something to her..." His voice was gruff and sincere. "You focus so much on the pain you think you've caused that you don't see the light you bring to the world."

The darkest part of me wanted to pull away and dismiss him, but instead I stayed in his grasp, enchanted by the vision he had, the faith.

"You might have darkness in you, Anna, but it doesn't mean you're broken or damaged. It just makes you shine brighter... You are..." He paused, his eyes searching mine. "You're the stars against a clear night's sky. Lightning breaking over the deepest ocean. A diamond glittering in the darkest chasm." His words rushed free like water bursting from a broken dam. "The world is full of beautiful, complicated, mesmerising things, but none of them compare to you," he whispered as his gaze dropped to my lips before dragging back up, burning through thick eyelashes. "Trust me, after two thousand years, I've seen them all." His lips curved into a wry lopsided smile as his hand dropped from my jaw and ran through his hair.

I missed the touch instantly. His words echoed in my head and for a moment I felt all of my insecurities, my neroses, my fears and nightmares, drift away. Not into oblivion, but instead they were like rocks on a riverbed, and I was floating above them, swept away by warm lapping waters.

"I..." I started but the words choked in my throat. They were too heavy, too full of everything I wanted to say to him.

I wanted to thank him, not just for his words, or tonight, but for everything. For walking into the bar all those months ago, for forcing me to talk when all I wanted was to hide. For saving Nightmare, and saving me from myself, and the pit I would gladly have thrown myself into.

I wanted to tell him that if there is light in me, then it's because he helped me find it. He sought it out with his own and made it burn brighter. And because of all of those things, and a thousand others reasons, I loved him.

The words danced on the tip of my tongue, but I sucked them back with a breath. I could feel them resonating with every beat of my heart, but I knew that when I said those three little words, I didn't want it to be on the rebound from everything that had just happened.

With my silence, Atticus stepped back towards the kitchen door. A spark of panic flung my hand out to stop him. "Don't. Please."

Atticus' eyes watched mine, and he nodded with understanding.

"I can crash on the sofa while I wait for Aslo."

"Thanks," I breathed with relief and my fried nerves settled.

No, tonight wasn't the time to tell him how I feel, but we would have time.

Whether it was a month, a year, or a lifetime, we had time.