~

One Month Later

“Welcome home, Allie,” said Elizabeth, looking up from her papers. Allison lightly smiled in response.

“It’s still weird to hear you say that,” she admitted, causing Elizabeth to frown.

“What, you don’t think of this as your home?” she asked in mock-offense.

“Oh, I’m getting there,” Allison replied with a chuckle, “I just never thought I would be living with one of my professors.”

Elizabeth nodded thoughtfully.

“And I never thought I would be living with one of my students, but here we are. However, I have absolutely loved it so far,” she responded, smiling brightly. Allison blushed.

“Thanks,” she said quietly. “I’ve enjoyed it, too.”

Elizabeth nodded, and turned back towards the papers that were spread out on the table she was sitting at. There was a stack on either side of her, with a couple of papers strewn about in the middle. Noticing this, Allison made a noise of disapproval.

“You’re still grading?” she asked incredulously. “For one thing, it’s Sunday. For another, I was out for two hours!”

“Grading takes a long time!” Elizabeth replied defensively. “Never forget that professors also have tons of work to do, honey. On top of that, I keep getting distracted by the case.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Allison sighed, before her eyes lit up. “Any developments?”

“None,” Elizabeth replied, which elicited a frustrated groan. Allison moved towards the couch in the living room and plopped herself down.

“Allie, they only reopened the case yesterday, and it’s been three years. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to find anything that will completely exonerate him. You know this,” she continued, taking her glasses off and turning to her former student once more.

“I know…” Allison grumbled. “I just don’t like that it’s out of our hands now. I don’t like not being able to do anything.”

“It’s been out of our hands for weeks now,” Elizabeth said with a sigh. “It’s been out of our hands ever since we turned over the video. Now, we just have to sit back and watch the chaos.”

“I know…” Allison whispered sadly.

“Don’t worry. It may be out of our hands, but it’s absolutely in good hands. With Senator Day breathing down their necks, nobody is going to get away with anything shady. She’s really betting her entire political career on this. Brian sure did his research, she was absolutely the right person to contact,” Elizabeth assured, with an appreciative smile.

“Yeah,” Allison replied, reciprocating her smile. “What about public opinion?”

“All quiet on that front, too,” Elizabeth answered with a sigh. “Seems to still be about 50/50. As expected, those damn networks are still relentless in their attempts to discredit the investigation.”

Allison scowled.

“Scumbags,” she spat. “A bunch of hacks, protecting their own interests.”

“You said it, honey,” Elizabeth agreed, shaking her head in disapproval. 

They were referring to a select group of media networks that had ties to the politicians who were especially vocal in their condemnation of Brian Bentley, back when he was arrested. As you could imagine, they would be pretty embarrassed to learn that he was innocent, and thus were abusing their connections to try and invalidate the investigation. Allison, Elizabeth, and Brian had done research into which media groups had such ties, so they could avoid them when they initially tried to spread the evidence they had found.

“At what point do we go public?” Allison wondered, staring up at the ceiling.

“No clue,” Elizabeth responded, her tone lowering slightly. ‘He’s pretty adamant that we don’t unless it’s a sure thing. I tried to talk to him about it earlier today, and his opinion hasn’t changed.”

At that, Allison’s expression darkened immensely.

“How is he?” she asked quietly, causing Elizabeth to sigh once more.

“The same,” she answered softly. “He’s just so… serious. I can’t get him to engage with me at all. He’s always either reading, researching, or resting, and he’s never interested in doing anything fun. When he thinks nobody is looking, he looks so sad. I don’t know how to get through to him anymore.”

Slightly overcome with frustration, she put her head in her hands. Allison was staring into the distance, a troubled yet faraway look on her face.

“And the headaches?” she asked quietly.

“Still frequent,” came Elizabeth’s slightly muffled voice. “Ice seems to help, but I really wish we could figure out how to make medicine work. We could try crushing it up into a powder, but then we would have no way of controlling the dosage. I just wish I could take all his pain away, but I can’t. It’s killing me, Allie.”

Allison lightly scoffed.

“I let someone discover him, and he gets chronic nightmares. I cause an episode of amnesia, and he gets chronic headaches,” she muttered.

“Stop that,” Elizabeth said sternly. “Continuously beating yourself up isn’t doing anyone any good. You saw a problem, and you took steps to fix that problem.”

“A whole lot of good it did for Brian, though,” Allison replied. “A month later, and he’s still in pain. He closed himself off, and now he feels completely alone.”

“A broken heart is an astounding thing, you know this. And for his first relationship, no less. Let me be clear, though, I still think you did the right thing. But the truth remains,” Elizabeth sighed. Allison nodded in agreement.

“Let’s not forget that this was for your benefit, too,” she continued. “You needed some time to work on yourself, right? And that’s been going pretty well, yeah?”

“I think so,” Allison replied, her expression finally brightening a bit. “I really like my therapist. She’s really smart, and she’s helping me work through my feelings.”

“That’s wonderful, Allie,” Elizabeth said, smiling warmly.

“I can also tell that she’s excited to have me as a client,” Allison continued with a chuckle. “I was in an abusive relationship, and then became a Chevalier of all things. In terms of issues, I probably have some of the most… unique.”

“Oh, stop that,” Elizabeth said, smiling exasperatedly. “The only thing that matters is if it’s helping you move on.”

“Yeah,” Allison replied, adopting a small smile of her own.

“On that note, since you have your next session tomorrow, don’t you think you should ask Brian about that thing?” Elizabeth asked. At that, Allison stiffened in fear. She turned to Elizabeth with panicked, pleading eyes.

“I’m not doing it for you,” she replied, shaking her head. “Look, you don’t need to be scared of him. Brian can tell that talking to him stresses you out, and he told me to tell you that it isn’t necessary.”

“I know, but…” Allison began. Before she could continue, though, she was stopped.

“Allie, go talk to him,” Elizabeth ordered, softly but firmly. Allison stared at her for a moment, before completely deflating.

“Fine…” she grumbled, before taking a deep breath and rising to her feet. Then, with an ever increasing amount of anxiety, she began to walk towards the bedroom that contained her ex-boyfriend- Brian Bentley.

~

Elizabeth’s home had three bedrooms. Although Brian slept in Elizabeth’s bedroom, despite his occasional protest, during the day he occupied another bedroom. This room contained all of his stuff, including the 3D printer. Incidentally, his collection of stuff had grown significantly since they had moved into Elizabeth’s house. Soon after the move, he developed a sudden desire to be more independent. As such, he designed furniture, housing, and even a rudimentary toilet that allowed him to function without assistance, for the most part. Although Allison and Elizabeth were concerned that he was doing this as a way to isolate himself, he insisted that he was simply tired of asking for help all the time. These things were spread out on a large table in the bedroom, with a bridge that connected the table to the bed. Brian could usually be found in one of the chairs they had built for him, but he sometimes moved to the bed whenever he needed to rest.

Allison lightly knocked on the door, letting the inhabitant know that someone was about to come in. Her heart was racing, but she tried not to let it show on her face. After a moment, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Moving inside, she turned her gaze towards the table. There, sitting in a tiny chair and intently watching his phone, was Brian.

Notably, he was wearing clothes. The green shirt he received on his “birthday” had been adjusted to fit properly, and he was wearing a pair of simple black pants. Elizabeth had kept her promise to continue making clothes for him, and his wardrobe was slowly expanding over time. His outfit wasn’t the only thing that had changed, however. His messy black hair had grown a bit during the previous month, but not to an extreme degree. Nobody was quite sure how to go about getting him a haircut, if need be, but they decided to cross that bridge when they got to it. His green eyes were still striking, but also steeled over. He carried a sense of polite professionalism, leaving little room for casual familiarity. 

After Allison broke up with him, his entire demeanor changed. He never acted bitter, resentful, depressed, or any other emotion that one might associate with a painful breakup. As Elizabeth had said, he simply became serious. He chose to focus on the case, and began to treat Allison and Elizabeth more like colleagues than close friends. In many ways, though, this treatment was even worse for them.

Hearing the rustling of footsteps, Brian turned towards his visitor. He was somewhat surprised to see that it was Allison, unaccompanied by Elizabeth for a change. Ever since they had moved, despite his efforts to put her at ease, Allison rarely talked to Brian alone.

“Allison,” he acknowledged, standing to his feet. He then moved towards his phone and turned the volume down.

“What’s up?” he asked plainly, his voice neither high nor low pitched. His attitude of indifference caused Allison’s brain to short-circuit, and she went silent for a moment. 

“H… Hi,” she finally said. Brian raised an eyebrow.

“Hi,” he replied. “Something I can do for you?”

Allison snapped out of it, and moved slightly closer. She caught a glimpse of his phone screen, and saw that he was watching a livestream of the news. On closer inspection, she saw that it was one of the networks that was working against him.

“Why are you watching that?” she asked quietly. Brian looked back towards the screen with a shrug.

“I like to know what the other side is thinking. If we know what arguments they’re making, we’ll be better prepared to fight against them,” he answered.

“I see… and what arguments are they making?” Allison continued. Brian motioned for her to come sit on the bed, while he sat back down in his chair.

“Mainly, they’re saying that the investigation is a waste of time and money. It was three years ago, they’re not gonna uncover anything new, the jury said the evidence was ‘overwhelming,’ and so on. Standard stuff,” he replied, letting out a sigh. 

“Doesn’t it… I don’t know, piss you off, though? To watch these assholes say such awful things about you?” she asked frustratedly. Personally, she couldn’t watch more than two minutes of those types of networks before wanting to throw a remote through the television. Once more, Brian shrugged.

“It’s nothing new,” he said softly. “And it’s not like I’m watching it all day, I only started about ten minutes ago. Anyway, do you need something?”

“Do… do I have to need something to come talk to you?” Allison replied, in an awkward attempt to be teasing. Brian gave her a doubtful expression.

“Are you saying you don’t?” he asked skeptically. After a moment, Allison deflated.

“I do,” she said sheepishly. “I wanted to ask your permission for something.”

Brian nodded, just a little disappointed.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I, um… I was wondering if you would be okay with me telling my therapist about you,” she answered nervously. 

“Oh?” Brian replied, caught a little off-guard.

“Yeah… ever since your case started to blow up in the media again, I’ve tried to gauge her reaction to the whole thing. She’s really receptive to the idea that you could be innocent, so I’m confident that she wouldn’t try to get us in trouble. It’s just… you’re a really big part of my life, Brian. It’s hard for me to talk about everything that’s going on with me if I have to lie about you,” she explained. Brian thought for a moment, before his expression softened.

“Fine, go for it,” he replied casually, before turning back to the phone. Allison was shocked.

“Wha- just like that?” she stammered, causing Brian to nod.

“I trust your judgement. You were right about Elizabeth, after all. Plus, it’s a different environment out there now. More and more people are open to the idea that my case was covered up. So, if you feel like telling her will help you, then I’m fine with it,” he replied. Allison adopted an appreciative smile.

“T-Thank you,” she replied, which elicited another nod.

“No worries. Thanks for asking,” Brian said, before moving to turn the volume back up. Once he rose to his feet, though, he stopped and turned back towards Allison.

“Is that it?” he asked. Yet again, his neutral tone and expression pained her heart, and she was reminded why she had a hard time talking to him alone. Unable to audibly respond, she simply nodded. With that, she rose from the bed and moved towards the door. Just before she reached the handle, though, a strange feeling stopped her in her tracks. 

“Do you want to watch a movie later?” she suddenly asked, looking back at Brian. Her heart was racing, but she was experiencing an overwhelming urge to try engaging with him. Brian froze, before looking at Allison with a raised eyebrow. This was completely unexpected.

“A movie?” he repeated. Allison nodded.

“Anything you want. It’s just, um… it’s been a while, and maybe it could be fun?” she continued, adopting a nervous smile. Brian looked away from her, a slightly conflicted expression on his face. He pondered for a moment, before his gaze hardened over.

“No thanks,” he said quietly. “Looking at a big screen like that for more than 30 minutes would give me a headache.”

Allison closed her eyes, and internally scolded herself for not considering that.

“Shit, you’re right,” she said quietly, a pang of guilt shooting throughout her body. “Well, then, what if we did something else? That doesn’t require a screen? Elizabeth has a few board games, maybe we could…” 

Brian shot Allison a firm glance, which stopped her in her tracks. He lightly shook his head, before sitting back down in his chair. Allison got the message, and deflated in disappointment.

“Okay,” she whispered, as she began to turn away. However, just like the previous time, an unexpected urge caused her to speak up again. Elizabeth’s earlier words had reached her, and she felt like she simply had to say something.

“I never wanted us to stop being friends,” she said softly. Brian paused for a moment, thoroughly surprised at her unexpected confession. This was the first time she had so much as even obliquely referenced their breakup, and he needed a moment to adjust. After that moment, though, he narrowed his eyes as a twinge of annoyance manifested in his mind. He looked towards the giant woman standing before the door, and saw that she was averting her eyes.

“Seriously?” he asked lowly. Allison sheepishly nodded, misinterpreting his tone.

“Yeah. It makes me sad that we stopped talking. I know that I hurt you, and I never expected you to forgive me quickly, but… I don’t know, I guess I thought that we could still do stuff together,” she continued. Brian was staring at her, completely dumbfounded.

“Allison, you don’t get to say that to me,” he said quietly. Her eyes shot towards him in shock.

“What?” she asked softly.

“I have done nothing to stop us from talking. I never intentionally tried to make you uncomfortable, and I never tried to antagonize you over what happened. This is, like, the third time in the last month we have talked one-on-one, and this is the only time we’ve talked about what happened, so don’t act like our lack of a relationship is anything other than your fault,” he continued, his face darkening even more. Allison was stunned into silence, and she adopted an incredibly guilty expression.

“That’s fair,” she murmured. “But… to be fair to me, you haven’t been super approachable. And Elizabeth says that you aren’t really receptive to her when she tries to interact with you.”

“I might not be going out of my way to pick fights with anyone, but I’m still allowed to be hurt, Allison,” Brian replied coldly.

“O-Of course, I know…”

“And for that matter, what does us being friends even look like?” Brian asked. “We never had sex, so how exactly does our friendship differ from our relationship? What, were we just friends that kissed sometimes?”

Allison had no response. 

“You don’t get to tell me that you broke my heart ‘for my own good’ because you’re hazardous to my health, then come around and tell me that you still wanted us to be friends afterwards. It doesn’t work that way,” he continued, his tone still low and steady.

Allison looked like a deer in headlights. Each word brought back the pain of her decision, and she was struggling not to crumble in the face of Brian’s intense gaze.

“So, what then? Do you want me to move out, and never talk to you again?” she asked weakly. Brian scoffed, and held one hand to his forehead as he closed his eyes.

“I never wanted any of this,” he replied quietly. “That’s the whole point. Do you at least understand that?”

“Of course I understand that,” Allison responded, finding her conviction. “But do you understand why I felt like it was necessary? Can you at least acknowledge that I was doing it for you?”

Brian looked up at the ceiling and let out an enormous sigh.

“See, you don’t understand. Neither of you do,” he said, trying not to get emotional. “What hurts me more than anything is that you’re acting like you made some noble sacrifice. You’re acting like what you did wasn’t completely selfish.”

Allison was taken aback.

“Wha- me? Selfish?” she stammered defensively. “How could you say that to me? I was trying to protect you!”

“Let me tell you how it appears to me, the person you were trying to protect,” Brian replied, turning his gaze back towards her. 

“You made a judgment call about my happiness. You decided that, until you got help, you would inevitably make a mistake that would lead to me getting hurt again. So, you decided that as a result, whatever happiness staying in a relationship brought me did not outweigh the potential risks to my safety. Henceforth, the only option was to end the relationship, no matter how much it hurt me initially.”

Allison’s face twisted in confusion.

“Y-Yes, that’s exactly it! If you understand so well, then how can you say that what I did was selfish?!” she asked.

“Because you did it behind my back!” Brian shouted, causing Allison to flinch. “You can’t say that you only had my happiness in mind when you left me out of the fucking conversation! It was selfish because you refused to let me have a say!”

He took a breath, getting his anger under control. Allison couldn’t bring herself to reply.

“I have felt a lot of things since becoming small,” Brian said calmly. “Most of those feelings have been because of you, and they’re not all good. But, when you decided that I didn’t know what was best for me, you made me feel the worst thing yet.”

He looked up at her.

“You made me feel small. It was the first time you had ever completely disregarded my feelings. Minutes after I remembered one of the worst things that ever happened to me, you came in and informed me that the best thing that ever happened to me was now over. And then, once I started to cry, you ran away. That’s all this was- you running away. Our relationship was two weeks old, and at the first sign of real trouble you threw everything out the window and ran away.”

Despite his efforts, Brian was unable to stop a tear from running down his cheek.

“Our relationship was the most important thing that ever happened to me. After three years of literal torture, you gave me a reason to smile. There is nothing in the goddamn universe I wouldn’t have done for you, and I thought you felt the same way. But then I learned that you were capable of completely ignoring my feelings, and rather than working through our issues you were more likely to give up entirely. So, are you seriously going to look me in my eyes and still tell me that what you did was completely fucking selfless?!”

With that, Brian was done. He was angry and tearful, but he was done. He had finally been able to tell Allison how he felt, and now it was on her to respond. To his overwhelming frustration, though, she didn’t. She simply stared at him in shock, completely pale. Her brain was unable to form any meaningful responses, as it was completely overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. Brian began to breathe slightly harder as the silence dragged on and on.

“Come on,” he quietly pleaded. “Come on, please…”

He desperately wanted her to say something. Something that would make it right. He was silently begging her to apologize, admit to being wrong, and say that she still loved him. Because despite everything, he still madly loved her. But no apologies or admissions came from the trembling woman in front of him, and after a small eternity, Brian gave up.

“Fine,” he whispered, turning away and collapsing into his chair. “Just leave. If you have nothing to say… just leave me alone.”

Allison left.

~

“Brian?” Elizabeth softly called out, as she entered the room. She scanned the room until she saw the one-inch figure on the bed, laying down with an arm draped over his forehead. She made a sympathetic noise, and moved to kneel down in front of him.

“Another headache?” she asked, gently petting his side with one finger.

“Yeah,” he sighed.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Let me go grab you some ice and a paper towel, okay? But I came in here to ask what you wanted for dinner. It’s my turn to cook,” she replied, still trying to physically comfort him.

“No preference,” he murmured, which elicited a small frown.

“That’s what you always say. It wouldn’t kill you to let me spoil you a little, would it?” Elizabeth asked, gently nudging him with her finger in an attempt to be playful.

“It’s been a bad day,” Brian replied, before removing his arm from his eyes and letting out a sigh.

“Even more reason, then,” she said, adopting a sad smile. “But I know what you’re saying. Allie’s been in her room all day. She won’t tell me what it was, but whatever you two talked about is really bothering her.”

“That makes two of us,” Brian muttered, rolling over so his back was facing Elizabeth.

“I’m assuming it was about what happened a month ago?” she softly asked. Brian made a small noise of acknowledgment.

“I see. Well, I suppose it had to happen at some point,” she sighed. Once again, Brian felt a hint of annoyance.

“Don’t act like this has nothing to do with you,” he said. Elizabeth was taken slightly aback.

“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling her finger away.

“I know you heavily influenced the decision,” Brian continued.

“Well, yes, I suppose that’s true,” Elizabeth replied sheepishly. She wasn’t used to being called out directly for her work behind the scenes.

“I don’t understand,” Brian said quietly. “Even if I vehemently disagree with literally everything about it, I can at least understand Allison’s line of logic. But what was in it for you?”

Elizabeth frowned, letting out a small noise of disapproval.

“It’s not like that…” she replied. “I just didn’t want to see you get hurt. Allison was letting her issues get in the way of being a good partner to you, and she clearly wasn’t ready to be in such a complicated relationship.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m pretty fucking hurt,” Brian responded dryly.

“I know that, sweetie, I know that…” Elizabeth soothed, resuming her petting on Brian’s back. “But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right decision.”

“It wasn’t the right decision because I didn’t help make it. You and Allison don’t get to decide what’s best for me behind my back,” Brian said, shaking Elizabeth’s finger off.

“Brian, love causes people to make stupid decisions, sometimes. I see this all the time with my students, and Allie knows this better than anybody. This was your first relationship, and you were extremely devoted to her. It’s impossible to think clearly when you love someone that much, and that’s why she decided to go about making that choice the way she did,” Elizabeth explained, keeping her tone soft.

“That might be true for some people, but it wasn’t fair for you to make that assumption about me. This is my happiness we’re talking about. How would you know if I wasn’t able to be rational about it if you never even gave me a chance?” Brian asked, causing Elizabeth to lightly sigh.

“I understand what you’re saying, I really do. But we were in a crisis, and Allie had to make a judgment call. And for my part, I hope you understand that I was just trying to protect you,” she said.

“Why?” Brian asked frustratedly, finally turning towards her. The pain made it difficult to open his eyes all the way, but he nonetheless made eye contact with her.

“Why are you so protective of me? I’m not some delicate thing that needs to be sheltered at all times. I deserve to have a say in what happens to me, even if it carries the risk of causing me pain. Why can’t you just treat me like a person?” he continued. His words completely rattled Elizabeth, and she needed a moment to collect her thoughts. She then began to speak, slowly and softly.

“I care about you. So, so much,” she started. “You are such an amazing young man, Brian, and I can’t help but love you like a son. And, um…”

She paused. An onslaught of emotion overtook her consciousness, and she brought one hand to her mouth as tears formed in her eyes.

“A-And… I know what it’s like to lose a son,” she choked out. Brian’s eyes softened in sympathy, and his anger dissipated as several things became clear to him.

“I saw the pain inside of you, and I committed myself to making up for some of the love you were cheated out of. As such, I refuse to lose you as well. I simply won’t allow it,” she said firmly, getting her emotions in check.

“Elizabeth,” Brian said gently, sitting upwards. “Whoever you’ve lost, I can’t replace him. It’s just not possible.”

Elizabeth adopted a teary smile.

“I know that, sweetheart. Just like I know that I can’t replace your mother, no matter how much I’d like to,” she replied, gently poking Brian in the stomach. He slightly smiled in response. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t lean on each other a bit. That doesn’t mean I can’t protect you to the fullest of my capability.”

“You can’t if it means disregarding my own autonomy,” Brian softly replied, placing one hand on Elizabeth’s finger. “You have to let me have a say in what happens to me. If you don’t, then I’ll never be happy.”

Elizabeth’s eyes softened, as her lip quivered a bit. After a moment, she closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

“I understand. I’m sorry if I’ve been too overbearing, Brian. I’ll try to do better,” she said quietly, finally acknowledging his feelings. Brian smiled in response, before he winced in pain from his headache. Elizabeth noticed this, and her concerns were renewed.

“Well, enough of this for now,” she said. “Let’s not forget about your head, honey. I’ll go get some ice, and I can think some more about dinner, okay?”

Brian nodded appreciatively. At that, Elizabeth leaned forward and lightly kissed the top of his head, before rising and making her way out the door. Silence overtook the room once more.

~

Brian was flopped over on the bed, holding one hand to his forehead. His expression was troubled, as he had a lot to think about.

Allison was curled into a ball on her bed, small tears running down her face. Her expression was troubled, as she had a lot to think about.

Elizabeth was rummaging around in the kitchen, getting some ice ready for Brian. Her expression was troubled, as she had a lot to think about.

Still, now that things were finally out in the open, they were finally ready to move on. Little did they know, that would be happening much sooner than any of them could have anticipated.