Now she felt guilty for his ood for speaking up. "I shouldn't have said anything," she whispered more to herself than to him. She felt horrible... But what else was she supposed to do, sit there and take it? She couldn't do it anymore and something had to be done, right? She watched him quietly after that, needing to mull things over anyways.

Darius sighed and focused more on the painting. He understood it. No one depended on him or trusted him. No one even liked him that much. He didn't care to change it as he liked to focus on his art. He offered her his home for sanctuary and tried to offer her his help as much as he could do, and she clearly didn't want to accept it. So he did the only thing he could do in this situation.

He painted.

She did want his help... she was just... frightened. Then she thought she was being unfair to him by bringing it up and saying no to his help. "I'll do it..." she finally whispered, another tear annoyingly finding it's way out. It was clear that she was beyond frightened.

Darius glanced at her just as the tear fell. He blinked and old guilt rose up like bile in his throat. He immediately looked down. "I.. I'm not forcing you to do it. I'll be your friend regardless what you want, I just want you safe. "

"No, it's not... that... I am just so frightened, Darius." and then another tear fell, and another. She put her hands over her face and the tears just started to fall freely.

Darius stopped as she started to cry before him. "Well.. you .. "He looked around and picked up a clean silk handkerchief and handed it over. "You don't have to be afraid any longer."

"No?" she asked, moping up the tears. She was just done, it seemed as if the whole world was crumbling from beneath her feet. She pulled the hanky away and looked at him with red rimmed eyes, "I trust you."

Darius hoped he wouldn't let her down. He gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm going to help you and you'll be happy again. It'll be my life's work right now." He patted her back to try to get her to feel better, but he was a terribly awkward man.

"Happy..." she murmured as if that was an anomaly, really. Was there ever a time where she was happy? She couldn't remember. That was the part that bothered her the most was her inability to remember far back enough for that. "Thank you, Darius."

Darius held out a hand. "Thank me when I succeed. Now, how can I help you with those tears?" He couldn't paint her like this and he was going to try to help her since she did pay attention to him. This would go better than Chris did, he had to believe that.