Just trying to help, Malcolm and Nicoletta!

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

What else could go wrong? Seriously, this was turning out to be the worst year in Nico's young life. A year ago, she lost a great friend. And now another great friend was arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Malcolm was innocent, and Nicoletta knew it. But there was no proof to say the fact. His father had made sure that his son would take the fall. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Yes, there were empty alcohol bottles in the trash. They had been strewn across her apartment, but her OCD to keep things clean hadn't let them stay there for long. And the numbered bottles had been emptied over the last week or so, since Malcolm's official arrest. She had been allowed to visit him only once since then, and it had nearly broken her heart. Over the past year, the two had grown close, never actually having talked about the night of Eli's death. Nico had done a very good job at avoided that talk.

Her music had been so loud earlier in the day that she hadn't heard the knock on her door from neighbors, and was only made aware of the complaints when she received a phone call from landlord, which she only knew she was receiving because of the vibrations in her pocket. Now it was lower, but still loud enough to be heard in every room of her apartment. It wasn't enough to make her forget the pain, but it did help distract her for the most part. All she needed now was the military knocking on her door, to report Mal's death. Then she could actually die of a completely broken soul.

[MALCOLM NOMURA]

Malcolm was a master of scaling buildings, which explained why he was hanging outside of Nicoletta's ledge and not outside her door. Granted, he was also incredibly grateful that she was no higher than the fourth story floor.  He heard the music and leaned his head against the glass pane.  He knew that the music meant that she was hurting, that she was sad and he knew that the sight of him clinging like some desperate super hero to the side of her apartment wasn't going to make things better.

This was his closest friend, his confidant and he was risking her safety more than she knew. Bleeding from his arm where he had cut out the microchip, Mal knew he wouldn't make it very far without help though and Nico was the only person who he could turn to. At least they shouldn't be troubled by any unexpected visits from the military. He had hid the tracking chip in the sewer system, which should send the military on a nice man hunt through shit. The thought made him extremely happy. 

Mal knocked on the window, trying to get the woman's attention. He was half dressed, in a t-shirt and his military fatigue pants. The cold was beginning to get to him. As far as he remembered, he was on day three of no sleep. Time was beginning to blur together, which wasn't good. He needed to rest and he needed to devise a plan to get out of Hollow Earth.

The wilds of the surface wouldn't be safe, but what other choice did Mal have? He wouldn't wait in a cage all his days, raving like a lunatic of his innocence. At least the surface would mean that the soldier could go out on his terms, not dying alone in some military detention center.

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

Yet another empty bottle tossed into the trash as Nicoletta finished cleaning her apartment. It had kept her mind off of things for at least a little while, but now there was nothing to do. The tub had been scrubbed. The floor mopped. The furniture polished. Not a spot of dust was in the entire unit, and any other time Nico would have squea'ed, but it just didn't seem right at the moment.

A knocking coming from the living room made Nico pause for a moment. What was that noise? It certainly wasn't her music. She walked into the room and saw a man in her window. As if that wasn't enough, he was on the ledge of the fourth floor. Nico jumped back and grabbed her lacrosse stick before she realized who it was at her window.

"What the fuck!" she screamed, turning her music off and running to the window. She dropped her stick and opened the window, pulling Mal into the apartment. "Malcolm, what are you doing here?"

[MALCOLM NOMURA]

"My place is overrun by investigators," Mal said, shivering although he tried to hide it. He kept his voice down, although for Malcolm that was never hard. He had almost been afraid that Nicoletta would turn him away, call the cops, believe all the lies that had been in the news about him.

"If anyone asks you can say I held you at knifepoint," Mal said, placing the switchblade he had taken from one of the guards and setting it on the table. "I won't be here long, I just need a little time to formulate a plan, get warmed up, stop bleeding from my arm."

Mal closed the curtain. "I am not being followed, although the government is looking for me. I'm not a terrorist, although I think if you thought I was one you would have taken that lacrosse stick to my junk."

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

Nico stood stunned, trying to decide if Mal was really standing in her living room or not. She listened as he spoke, but she didn't move, just looking up at him. When he mentioned the bloody arm, her eyes instantly went to it. She gasped, finally snapping out of it, and looked around for something to stop the blood. Nico grabbed the hand on his good arm and pulled him into the bathroom.

"I am not going to say you held me at knife point, Malcolm Nomura," she stated firmly, pushing him down to sit on the toilet lid as she rummaged her cabinet for antiseptic and bandages. Good thing of being an OCD hypochondriac, you always had supplies on hand. Just in case.

"And you know very well I wouldn't take anything to... your junk," she finished, wrinkling her nose. Finally she found what she was looking for and pressed a towel to his wound as she prepared the antiseptic and bandages. "I can't believe you escaped. You'll be put in prison forever if they catch you." Already she could feel the tears stinging her eyes just at the thought of never being able to see him again.

[MALCOLM NOMURA]

"I wasn't going to get a trial," he explained as he followed the woman's lead as she made him sit on the toilet. "I don't know, after the third day of questioning it became obvious that I had already been found guilty."

The former soldier turned criminal ran his fingers down Nicoletta's arm gently. "I have to leave, for the surface. The longer I stay in the Capitol the more likely the military will find me or find those suspected of helping me. I want you to protect yourself. Say we weren't that close and whatever it takes to keep the investigation away from you. I doubt they are going to be looking too closely at you, but just to be safe."

Malcolm closed his eyes. "I sound as paranoid as my father." Not even realizing it he was still gently petting Nicoletta's arm, almost as if it was he who was comforting her.

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

He was right, even Nico could tell Mal wouldn't have received a fair trial. All the papers had already found him guilty, and his father was being praised as a hero. She sniffled, pushing the tears back for now.

Nico paused for only a moment when Mal touched her arm, then she pushed through it to continue with his arm. The bleeding wasn't going to stop itself, and Mal almost seemed in a state of shocked paranoia. At least until he announced his plan to go to the surface.

"...what?" she stumbled out, stopping what she had been doing completely. "The surface? You could die up there. Like Elijah!" And then the tears started. There was no way to stop them after that. "I'm not going to turn my back on you like that. I won't go along with your plan. I can't believe you're just going to leave me after everything!"

She put the antiseptic down before she spilled it everywhere, noticing that her hands were shaking from... was it rage? Or hurt?

[MALCOLM NOMURA]

Malcolm placed his hand on her face, leaving the arm she was treating hanging limply. He placed his forehead against hers, knowing full well they weren't going to get many more moments like this.

"Nico, you've helped me get through this past year. Without you I don't know where I'd have been. I don't want to leave you. I'd hide away here, live in your closet if I could find room in it. Eventually though, the military would track me down and you would be charged with aiding a terrorist. I won't have you going to jail or worse, because of me," Mal said firmly, as if that part wasn't in question.

"The surface is the only place I can lose them. I don't plan on going empty handed. I know where my father keeps his survivalist stashes - I'll go prepared. But you don't need to hear about that plan. I'm sorry, I am so sorry. If I could think of any way I could stay, know I would," Mal said,his voice breaking a bit at that. He honestly wouldn't leave her if he could. For a brief flickering moment the man debating saying come with me. The words though caught in his throat and stayed there, unspoken.

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

Nico closed her eyes to the feel of Mal's forehead against hers, and his hand on her cheek. She fought the tear as much as she could, knowing full well that they would be of no help in this matter. Malcolm was a headstrong man, and he had already made his decision. There was nothing Nico could do to change his mind. As bad as it sounded, the surface was his only chance at freedom, and his best chances at survival.

"You would have to fight Link for the closet," she said with a pout, her eyes still squeezed shut. If she opened them now, to see Mal this close... She wasn't sure where it would lead to. Perhaps another whiskey filled night. No, there was no time for that. Even if her blood alcohol level was beginning to get there, it was still early enough in the night that she was technically still considered sober. "I know you're thinking of me, but for once maybe you should think of you? What are you going to do on the surface? You're going to be opened up to an entire new world of bad things."

Finally Nico opened her eyes, and pulled back away from him. She picked up the antiseptic as she nodded to him. She heard the break in his voice, and knew he was just as upset about leaving as she was. They had been through a lot in the past year, and he was the only person she felt she could truly trust. "I guess I understand. How are you going to get into your fathers supplies?"

[MALCOLM NOMURA]

"I don't know what I am going to do. Lose the military tail for one, then, I don't know. Find somewhere to rummage food and supplies. After that, maybe there's a settlement somewhere that could use a soldier. My first order of business is to just survive out in the wilderness for awhile until things have cooled off. Then, I'll figure out the rest," Mal said honestly. Having Nico so close felt good, but it made leaving that much more painful. He didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay and feel her arms around him.

Mal winced as the antiseptic touched the broken part of his skin where he had torn the tracking chip from his body. He was lucky to have located it, otherwise the military would have easily found him and hauled him back to the detainment center.

"I was hoping I could rest for a bit. Then, well my father's place has already been searched so I know that it's not at his apartment where his equipment will be. He had a storage unit, paid for with cash. I'm going to go there, hopefully break in," Malcolm said wearily. "I should...we should...have a window of 24-48 hours of relative quiet and safety. I'm sorry Nico, if i had known my father would have done any of this, I never would have trusted him to be back in my life. "

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

She heard what he was saying, but she was only half listening. She honestly wasn't interested in hearing how he was going to leave. All she wanted to hear from him was that he was going to stay. But she knew even if he did decide to stay, it wouldn't really be his choice. The military would pick him back up and she'd never see him again. Malcolm would be placed in solitary confinement for the rest of his life, assuming he was even given life in prison for what he was suspected of doing.

Nico quickly cleaned his arm and wrapped it up, a skill she had learned when she was younger, as a child that was an OCD hypochondriac. Not the best of combinations, but Nico was perfectly fine with her odd knowledge. At least she knew how to take care of smaller wounds.

"You can rest here as long as you need. I can call in sick to work tomorrow, I don't mind. I have the time to take off, and people would understand. I doubt the financial sector would hear about your escape so soon. And it's not like they would have any proof I helped you in any way," she added with a shrug. She paused a moment when he corrected his 'I' to 'we'. Her heart jumped a little bit, but then she was back to feeling hurt and lonely. "It's not your fault," Nico said quietly, shaking her head at Mal.

[MALCOLM NOMURA]

"It feels like my fault," Malcolm said, trying to decipher what Nicoletta was thinking. There was no reason why he should be able to know what was going on in her head now anymore than he normally did.

"Where do you want me to sleep? And, can I ask a favor, I mean more than I already have," the soldier said chuckling at his own audacity, shaking his head. "Will you...just stay beside me and maybe talk with me for awhile? I...it's been a rough few days. I really needed to see you."

Malcolm hated himself at the moment. Nicoletta didn't need to know what happened at the detainment center. Nor really did Malcolm need to be here. He could have rested in the park, gone to his father's stash and been gone.

"I didn't want you to just think I had disappeared. I don't want to leave you, you've lost enough this year," Mal said, wishing that he could keep his mouth shut like normal. He might as well as admit at this point how much he cared for her. Those words though he held back, convinced that it would be like pouring salt onto a wound.

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

"Don't ever think anything is your fault. That's how one loses self confidence and falls into depression." And Nico had plenty of experience with depression, as her mother had fallen into one after the birth of both of her children. But that was different from this type of depression.

Nico was going to respond with the first thing that came to her mind - "I have one bed, so you can sleep with me." - but Mal began to talk again, so she looked up at him after putting away the things she had used to bandage his arm. He had asked her a question, and she wasn't completely sure how to respond. "Of course," she finally said, not sure why it took her so long to give him that simple answer. All he had asked was for her to sit and talk to him; it wasn't that difficult of a request. But it was the last part that had caught her by surprise. He had needed to see her. Her, not anyone else. Not that the man had many other people anyway. She was the only person he had left with Elijah dead.

"I'm glad you stopped by here," she said, tears falling from her eyes silently. It would have killed her for Malcolm to vanish from her life like Elijah had. "I haven't lost nearly as much as you have," she replied, stepping closer to him. Nico wrapped her arms around Mal's waist in a tight hug. She buried her face into his chest so he couldn't see her cry. He hadn't left yet, but already Nico felt lonely.

After a few moments she quieted herself and pulled back reluctantly. "You can stay in my room. Take my bed if you want." She paused a moment, not looking up into his eyes. "I'll go make us some tea," she nodded, promptly walking off.

[MALCOLM NOMURA]

Malcolm felt Nicoletta's arms slide around him, her face buried against his chest and all he could do was place a hand on her hair and wrap his arm around her. The scent from her dark hair filled his nose and Mal ran his hand gently over her back, letting her cry. God knew that tears were running down his own face. After the nightmare of being arrested, taken without trial or rights because of the crime of terrorism, just holding the woman who was the most important person in his life was enough.

"I'm going to use your shower. Then I'll be right out for tea," Mal said. He then paused at the door to the bedroom, knowing that Nico could hear him. "If I'm taking your bed, you should join me."

With that the soldier went into her bathroom and shut the door. He stripped down and turned on the hot water, letting it run over his skin. Watching the steam rise and the dirt wash off his skins, Malcolm wished all of his problems were as easy to solve.

[NICOLETTA MILLE]

Nico nodded, mostly to herself, when Mal said he was going to use her shower. That was fine, it would make him feel slightly better, and give her time to put her thoughts somewhat in order. She stopped just inside the kitchen when she heard him say she should join him in her bed. Damn that man, always getting to her.

She shook her head when she heard the bathroom door shut and took the tea kettle out of her cabinet. She filled it with water at the sink before putting it on the stove range. Mal would need some clothes when he got out of the shower. Nico very much doubted he would want to put the same ones on. It was a good thing she had some of her brothers clothes from when he had come to visit her a few weeks ago. Mal was in better shape than her brother, but the sizes should be at least close.

Nicoletta walked back into her bedroom and heard the water running from the bathroom as she pulled the clothes out of her closet. Carefully she laid them out on the bed and went back into the kitchen to wait for the kettle to go off for the tea.