How did this happen? How is it that I ended up here, sitting alone, my entire existence relying on whether or not he comes back.

Shane. Sometimes he didn't come back, but so far that had just been because whatever job that he had been assigned caused him to be away for longer than his usual day. Five days had been the longest so far. But that had been the longest one hundred and twenty hours of Ella's life, or so it seemed to her as she stared into the fireplace for what had to be the millionth time.

At least he came back eventually.

It was Ella's darkest fear that Shane would never return. She would never again hear his footsteps coming down the hall, never see his features turn from solemn to a smile when he saw her, never instantly feel comforted when his arms wrapped around her. Whether it was because he died or simply decided that he didn't want her anymore.

Ella worried that for a moment her imagination was playing tricks on her when she heard footsteps coming down the hall toward the room. When she realized that they were real her heart went soaring. She quickly looked over at the clock that was placed on the small nightstand next to the large bed in the room. It read eight o' clock.

Wow, he's back early…

Then there was a knock on the door.

Ella's face fell as her hopes were crushed. Shane never knocked; it was his own room, after all. She sighed and stood up to answer the door. Conner, a close friend of Shane's, stood in the doorway.

Ella smiled. "Hey, Conner."

Conner nodded and stepped into the room. "Ella." He didn't seem the least bit surprised of her presence; everyone working in the building knew about her.

Conner walked over to the bed and casually laid down on it. Ella chuckled at how high his comfort level was around her.

"You're back early," she said.

Conner shrugged. "Easy day."

"So everything went without a hitch? No injuries?" Ella placed herself right next to him on the bed.

He smiled warmly at her and stroked her cheek. "Now now, Ella. Give me a little more credit."

"I'll take that as a yes," she said. Conner laughed and dropped his hand. Ella knew not to take his loving gestures seriously. It was obvious. Every single person who worked here knew that she was Shane's and Shane's alone. It would be pointless to try and steal her away, and Conner knew it. He was just a natural flirt; he couldn't help it. This was just his way of showing that he cared about her.

Conner looked around at the empty room. "It seems like you'd be bored in here all alone. You could at least watch TV or something," he said while gesturing at the flat screen hanging over the fireplace.

"A person can only watch so much TV."

"Ah, I forgot that you're always here all day. Why don't you go out?"

"I do," Ella said defensively. "Frequently. You're just never around during the day to notice," she pointed out.

"True. You're always here when I am. I just naturally assume that you don't have a life."

Ella glared at Conner and shoved his shoulder playfully. Conner laughed again, and she heard his phone start to ring.

"You'd better get that," Ella said. "It might be important."

Conner groaned, his head slumping further into a pillow and closing his eyes. "I'm so tired. Will you answer it for me?"

"Where is it?"

"My front pocket. The one closest to you."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Conner tried but failed to keep the smirk off of his face. "Please? For me?"

Ella sighed but grabbed Conner's phone and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Ella? Is that you?"

Her heart almost stopped upon hearing the voice. "Shane?" she said breathlessly.

"Yeah. What are you doing with Conner and why do you sound out of breath?"

Ella laughed. "We're just talking."

"Well, then tell the lazy jerk to answer his own phone next time."

She turned to Conner. "Shane says to answer your own phone. Oh, and also he said that you're a lazy jerk."

"What else is new?" Conner said without opening his eyes.

Ella giggled before speaking into the phone once again. "Are you coming back soon?"

"Hopefully. I shouldn't be too much later. Let me speak to Conner, alright? I need to decide how to wrap up this last job," Shane said.

Ella frowned, but handed the phone over to Conner, who took it reluctantly. Ella turned away, not wanting to hear this conversation, but knowing that she couldn't really get away from it as she heard Conner speaking.

"What do you mean you can't decide?…Well if he's at a public event, just slip the poison into his drink…Just wait the extra five minutes or however long it takes if you're so worried then…No, I'm telling you, a gun would draw way too much attention…You think he'd fake his death? How the heck would he know why you'd be there?…Trust me, I've done this for much longer and the poison is the way to go…Alright, I'll tell her. Bye."

Conner hung up his phone, but Ella didn't turn back to him. She couldn't stand what he and Shane had gotten themselves into. Their jobs were to kill anyone that was assigned to them by the head of the program. Nobody knew who the head was, the workers just received a text every morning of the name of their victim.

When a worker signed up, they signed a contract with the head agreeing on how long they had to work here. No one knew for sure what would happen when someone broke their contract, but rumors definitely circulated. Most of them included dying. Shane had signed a five year contract. That had been three years ago.

Conner sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like listening when we have to talk about our jobs."

"How long?" Ella asked.

"How long what?"

Ella turned back to face him, her eyes burning with worry and concern. "How long do you have left?"

Although they had been close friends for over a year, Conner still refused to tell Ella how long he had signed in his contract to work the job, or how long ago he had signed it. It worried her beyond belief when she thought of how many more years Conner may have to be doing the awful things assigned to him. At least she knew just how long Shane would be risking his life.

Conner paused, his eyes sad. "I told you that I won't tell you. We've been through this, Ella. Don't worry about me, please."

"How can I not? I care about you Conner, and don't even try to tell me that you aren't taking huge risks every single day that you're here. You've been hospitalized before."

"Only twice," Conner said, trying to make a joke out of it. Ella didn't laugh, she just kept staring at him until he would give her the answer that she wanted. He shook his head. "I won't tell you. I'm sorry."

"You should be! If you don't tell me, I'll just think it's so terrible that you can't stand to say it out loud." Numbers between ten and fifteen years swam in Ella's mind, and she shuddered of the possibility of that many more years lined up in front of Conner.

"I'll be fine."

"You're twenty! You need to get out of this as soon as you can!"

"And you're seventeen. You need to get out too."

Ella crossed her arms. "I get out when Shane does. Everyone knows it."

Conner crossed his own arms, mimicking Ella in order to annoy her. "And everyone feels sorry for you. Including Shane. He would prefer it if you moved back to your old home and waited for him there, you know."

Ella shook her head. "That's not going to happen."

Conner sighed. "Shane told me to tell you that he'd be back in around thirty minutes. Would you rather wait here alone?"

Ella paused before shaking her head slightly.

Conner opened his arms. "Come here."

Ella climbed into his arms and Conner grabbed the TV remote and turned on some pointless comedy show that was exactly what she needed. By the time it was over, the heavy atmosphere had completely dissolved.

"Shane will be here any minute," Conner said. "I'm going to go to bed early tonight. See you tomorrow." He gave Ella a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up from the bed and walking out of the door. She could hear footsteps and voices after he left.

"Ah, speak of the devil," came Conner's voice.

"You were talking about me?" That was Shane's voice. Ella's heartbeat increased rapidly.

"You bet I was. Right after I made out with that girlfriend of yours," Conner said. Ella snorted.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she was all over me. Well, have a good night!"

Ella could hear Conner walking away as the door to Shane's bedroom opened. He walked in and Ella sprang out of the bed, rushing over to him. His arms welcomed her warmly.

Ella brought her lips to his in a needy kiss. It was always such joy, being with him again after a long day of waiting and wondering of his safety.

"Are you okay?" she asked in between kisses.

"You need to give me a bit more credit, darling," Shane laughed.

Ella pulled away reluctantly and rolled her eyes. She kept her arms around his neck. "You are so like Conner, it isn't even funny."

Shane laughed and pulled her to him again. Their lips melded together so naturally that it was almost unnerving. They were perfect together.

He's perfect.

They pulled away for a moment to collect the oxygen that they needed. "Is that so? How does my kissing compare to his, then? Seeing that he said you were all over him today," Shane said.

Ella laughed. "I'd say you beat him, but only by a little. Conner's kissing is phenomenal. You wouldn't even believe it."

"And I hope to never find out. Tell me, if he's phenomenal, what am I?"

I paused and considered it. "How about sensational?"

"I'll take it."

Ella tried to bring her lips to Shane's again, but he stopped her by holding her shoulders back. He was looking over her shoulder, and she instantly understood.

"Do you mind?" Shane asked.

"Not at all," Ella said, brushing some of his black hair across his forehead distractedly.

Shane gently disentangled Ella's arms from around him and walked over to the nightstand. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a small box. Ella sat on the bed, waiting patiently. Shane opened the box and gently pulled out the glowing red rock that was inside.

Ella had seen that rock hundreds of times. She never knew why it glowed or why every single worker was given one immediately following their first successful job. She only knew that Shane needed it desperately after every one of his own jobs. Ella had even seen Conner use his own rock before.

If only she knew what it did.

The workings of the rock was the only thing that Shane kept a secret from Ella. And by extension, Conner wouldn't tell her, either. When she had asked, Conner only replied that Shane would tell her when he was ready. It drove her insane.

Shane sat beside her on the bed and held the rock firmly in his hands. Ella adjusted his pillow slightly so it was in the right position for when Shane fell. She watched as Shane grasped the rock tightly and shut his eyes, showing enormous focus.

After a moment, the rock's red glow intensified slightly and Shane fell backwards with a groan and an exhalation of breath. His head landed perfectly on the pillow.

Ella sighed and moved some of his hair out of his face. She knew that he'd remain unconscious for about five minutes or so, and when he woke up, he'd be in a considerably better mood.

Ella rested her head on Shane's shoulder and waited for those glorious eyes to open once again.