Ryleigh wasn't fine. But she was going to pretend to be. She was writing away, flicking pages, highlighting things as Matt entered and asked how she was. She was fine. And that's what she would tell him. It was late, and Ryleigh should have been fast asleep long before. Normally she was. But not tonight.

"I'm fine. How are you?" She asked, while scribbling something else down.

Anything to distract her from what had really happened at the party. Anything to make her forget seeing a dead man. Just anything to forget everything. It still felt wrong and unnatural that they hadn't called someone. It made her feel like she was a murderer of sorts, or that she'd helped a murderer... But Matt wasn't a murderer. He hadn't killed that man. He'd hurt him to stop him from hurting her.

"If you want to go to bed, you can. I don't need babysitting." Ryleigh was certain she was safe in her room as long as she stayed away from the window. And right now she was on her bed. Hopefully tomorrow this nightmare would be over when she woke up bright and early. To a stress free day.

When he first came into this household, less than a day to boot, he acted as he was taught by the Society. A difference existed between the demeanor of an assassin and that of a bodyguard. A guard must carry within him or her the utmost stoic disposition and brevity. However, as he looked on with the girl, and from their earlier encounter, that had all melted away. He acted as the true Mathias. That of the killer, blunt with the words.

He moved towards her bed side as he dragged her desk chair with him. He sat down while staring at the window. "To tell the truth or half a truth," he said. "I'm impartial though I do feel slightly bad that you got involved. You strike me as person who's adverse to danger. Walks in the opposite direction should it arise. A literature enthusiast such as yourself should be aware of the phrase, 'curiosity killed the cat', no?"

There was nothing consoling about what he had just said. The assassin was never good with the words. He could fake it, of course. Ryleigh just happened to be witnessing a time where he wasn't. He was too tired of the charade of being socially appropriate. It wasn't his specialty. "Don't think of it as babysitting. More conversational," he said finally. He chose his next words with care. "Still can't get the body out of your head, can't you? It's always the hardest. I won't bore you with the details; to be more precise, talk to someone. Don't hold it up. Otherwise, you'll go crazy."

He got to his feet as he headed towards the door. "Silence is certainly a remedy, if you can handle its bitter echo," he said. "Talked enough for one night. Call if you need me."

Ryleigh was trying her best to avoid thinking about the body or anything related to it and then Matt walked in and brought the topic up. She hated that. Now she was thinking of the body that he'd hidden. How could she have just let him do that. Maybe she could still call the police and tell them anyway. Her safety was in danger... But Matt had been hired to protect her.

"I don't need to talk about it. And I don't want to. I have studying to do. And the only people I'd want to talk about it with would be the police. What you did was wrong - hiding the body. I don't agree with it, and if it hasn't been found once I'm out of danger, then I will be telling the police." Ryleigh told Matt before focusing back on her studies.

She thought she could handle not talking about it, but Ryleigh was a fragile creature. And was just trying to stop herself from panicking over the whole situation by not thinking about it. If she thought about it, she'd panic. So instead she let Matt leave, and then got herself ready for bed once she'd spent an hour cleaning up her room, both her books and her clothes from earlier, until everything was perfect.

In the middle of the night, around 3am, Ryleigh was woken by nightmares. Sitting up in bed she sighed when she realised she was safe before getting out of bed and leaving her room. Her intended destination was the kitchen for a midnight snack.

It was two in the morning when Mathias woke from his nap. After checking to make sure his monitors were working and reading more into the files Huntington had sent him, he figured taking a short five hour power nap wouldn't kill him. He had conditioned his body to go without sleep for several days, but if it wasn't needed, he'd never say no to a few moments of a tense-free world. Namely when he dreamed.

Now, as he walked outside, he noticed a few estate guards patrolling with comfortable habit. He nodded to one and received and acknowledgement back. "Quiet?"

"As always," said the guard as he rolled his shoulder. "The boss took on some more PMC guys though. Preparing for war if I didn't know better. Must be taking on some serious shit."

Mathias nodded. The gang that had tried to kill Ryleigh at the party was serious shit. Not only did they carry out human trafficking, drug smuggling, wet jobs, and muscle for intimidation, but they recruited from the worst of the worst. Ex-Spetznas looking for purpose, psychotic killers with a long success track record at their craft, and the most astute of chemists. This group was set. He dared not share this with the guard. He wondered if he should request the Society to find a contract on the organization. Cut the head off the dragon before it awoke.

"How's babysitting the princess?" the guard asked. "Heard about the party. Nasty business. You get the guy?"

Mathias shrugged. "He met an unfortunate accident."

"Right."

"Speaking of the princess, it's time for a quick check up," he said before bidding the guard farewell. He entered the house right as Ryleigh entered the kitchen. He arched an eyebrow as he silently followed. "Couldn't sleep?"

When Ryleigh saw Matthias, she sighed. Great, even at two in the morning, she wasn't going to get a break from him. He was probably monitoring her at all hours. "I don't need babysitting all the time. No one is going to be up at this hour trying to kill me." She told him warily. "And yes, I can't sleep. And I'm hungry. I forgot to eat at dinner."

She was a girl that had a healthy appetite and didn't care what she ate. She was no means fat, but she had meat to her bones rather than being stick thin like her mother, who had tried to convince Ryleigh that she had to be the same, and failed. As she got to the fridge, she took out some juice, some burgers that needed to be reheated and lastly, moved to the freezer and took out her ice cream for dessert.

"Want anything to eat?" She asked as she put the burgers in the microwave and started to scoop the ice cream out with a spoon eating it while she waited. "I've decided on another rule. You are way too serious. You need to be a bit more relaxed. I can't deal with another serious person around me. What do you do for fun?"

If she had to put up with Matt being around, she decided that she might as well get to know him and try to be friendly with the man. He had saved her life, and though hiding the body had been wrong, maybe he'd had a good reason, she had eventually reasoned with herself. She needed to get over that. And this was how to.

He smirked as he came and stood before her in the kitchen. She must've really wanted him gone. Or was just creeped out. It was his job to follow her. Why else was he here? There wasn't a secret kill contract at present. His directives was clear. Protect and ensure that Ryleigh survived. "Don't think of it as babysitting," he said. "Think of me as a ... pin cushion. Not only am I here to take a bullet for you, but if you need to vent, fire away."

Christ. When did he become so personal with his charge?

Mathias looked at the leftover hamburger as Ryleigh put it in the microwave. She then rose and eyebrow as she took out a bucket of ice cream. "You're eating that?" he said more so than asked. "I'm sure it wasn't disclosed and such, but I can cook you know. Had to learn when I was sent to ki--"

He stopped his previous sentence as his lips creased downward. A rule he made to himself long ago. He swore never to talk about any of his missions to anyone. No exceptions. Not even his parents whom headed the Society. It was what kept him sane he supposed. Though he killed for money, he tried his best to be respectful of the lives he took without thought. He didn't know why he did it. It was just his way.

Thankful for Ryleigh's next words, he thought of what to answer with. Killing? Faking IDs? Receiving the rush of discovering yet another to kill someone? He couldn't share that. That'd probably scare the woman even more. No. What did he do for fun - outside of death dealing? He looked up in thought. "I rarely have time for it, but I love reading. Your books in your room? Never actually had the chance to read any of them except one. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. My ... parents didn't allow hours upon hours of reading. They said it was counterproductive. So, I sneak a few minutes here and there. Other than that? I'm just your normal, boring everyday bodyguard."

"I think that's quite unfair, you know, having to take a bullet for me. Yes, I want to keep my life, I don't want to die, but your life isn't less important than mine. Your life is important too. Why did you become a bodyguard anyway?" She asked curiously still digging into her ice cream. When he mentioned that he could cook, her ears pricked up with interest.

"Cook something for me then. We have everything you can imagine. Let's see what you can make." She grinned, stopping the microwave. She could still eat the burgers. Ryleigh had always had an amazing appetite for food. She could stuff her face and nothing would be added to her hips, which she thought was great. She had meat to her bones, but wasn't fat or chubby, the only thing she didn't like about her figure was that it seemed to flat and squarish.

When he mentioned reading, Ryleigh knew what he meant. When she'd first fallen in love with books, her parents had hated it and tried to stop her. They thought she had better time on her hands for business and modelling. In the end, Ryleigh had gone to libraries to get her fix of books. And after a long battle, her parents had given up on their daughter. "Read mine. I have all the classics. And your dad isn't going to be here to say you can't. Be a rebel." She smirked.