Alice nodded. "I certainly hope so." She didn't want to imagine what it would be like to wake up and see that he wasn't there.

"Just make sure to have protection."

She reached in her bag and pulled out another gun. "This good enough for you?"

"How many guns have you got in there?" Joe asked. "And where did you get them?"

"Oh, this is the only one I have with me right now. I have a couple others at my apartment." She looked over at Joe. "Does it really matter where I got them?"

"It matters why a nurse has firearms!"

"This one was a present from one of my uncles a couple of years ago. They didn't like the idea of me living on my own," Alice answered.

"What about the other one?" Joe asked. "And who gives a woman guns?"

"The other one my cousin gave me after what happened at your agency."

"Your cousins are just wonderful." Joe said sarcastically.

"Would you rather have it so I was unprotected?" Alice asked.

"Yes." Joe replied.

"Why?"

"You don't need a firearm."

"Well you'll have to excuse me if I disagree with you."

"Well anyway, I'll get going so you can handle your business." Joe said. "I'll see you when you wake."

"I will see you in the morning."

"May I have your hand?"

Alice nodded and held her hand out towards him.

He kissed it tenderly.

"Some day I will have the honor to stay the night with you." He said. "That is a day that I will treasure."

Alice smiled. "I will treasure it as well."

"Goodnight, Alice. When I return, I will have Linus Huxley's blood on my hands." He turned and left the hotel room.

((It's funny, because I'm RPing Joe go after Linus while you're sleeping. Ha. Works out perfectly.))

Alice watched him leave and stood there for a few minutes before she turned and walked into the bathroom.

((Well you didn't get all that far in it.))

((No, I was pretty sad when everyone left, so I quit and watched YouTube until I got ready to come to school. That brings us here.))

((The time differences certainly don't help.))

((Yes. You got off around midnight or so, so I was up the whole night.))

((I can't do all-nighters as often as I used to.))

Alice took a bath, dried off, and changed into her night gown. Then she pulled on her robe and walked out of the bathroom. She looked around the empty room and then moved over to turn off the lights before getting into her bed. She pulled off the robe and set it down in the chair next to her bed and then laid back on the bed. As she stared up at the ceiling she hoped that Joe was all right.

Three hours later it was about five A.M. Joe entered the hotel room in a new change of clothes he had gotten from the agency. He was clean now, had washed off as much of the blood as he could. He still felt dirty, though. He felt like a bad person. He went to the bed and saw Alice sleeping. He sat down at her side, gave her a kiss, then went to the other bed and collapsed on it, fully clothed. He fell asleep.

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