They were closed. It felt like a few hours before William was pushed through the door on the other side of the wall.

He stumbled stiffly and barely caught himself, a hand against the wall. He looked up and met eyes with her, and smiled.

A good portion of his face was still mottled red and purple, the skin lumpy and puffy around his eyes, down one of his cheeks to his jawline. A dozen or more small cuts were scattered everywhere, from his forehead to his chin. The circles under his eyes were bruise dark. His movements were slow and stiff as he worked his way to the clear divide. It all spoke of pain, of cruelty, but still he had a smile for her. Despite it all he was still achingly handsome.

He glanced at the closed circles and clearly sighed. His eyes lingered for a few moments on a few dark blood splatters still left were they had fallen on his side of the wall. He returned his gaze to Susan's, trying not to frown in worry.

   Susan rose from where she had been sitting, curled up in the corner. She moved swiftly to the wall and smiled at him, unable to help herself at seeing him. It was the biggest smile she had given in a long time. He was bandaged, clean, and he was smiling at her. She mouthed his name and placed her hands on her heart. Earlier, she had made sure her hair was falling over her forehead, to cover up the self inflicted bruises there. She didn't want to answer those questions yet.

   She pointed at him and mouthed, 'You're alive.' before placing her hands over her heart again and smiling, 'Thank you.'

William's heart clenched, but he just gave her a little half-shrug. He wasn't alive because of anything he had done. He gazed at her, drinking in the sight of her. He knew something bad would happen soon, so he just smiled and soaked up as much of her as he could. "Love you," he mouthed, placing his hands over his heart as well.

   Susan drank him in as well. She knew deep down what was going to happen, she said she would take it for him. So she steeled herself, storing him away for when she knew she would need him. 'I love you too.' she smiled. She started slightly and glanced over her shoulder, she had heard the hiss of her door opening. Three orderlies stepped in. She hadn't been expecting them so soon after William had arrived. She thought they would be given more time.

   Her heart began to pound and she looked back at William with large, fearful and resigned eyes. She placed her hand flat against the wall and kept her eyes on him, reassuring him as much as she could with her expression. The large hands of two orderlies grabbed her and pulled her away from Will and to the center of the room. The third glanced at William and moved to stand in front of Susan, flexing his hands in preparation, showing her the scratches on his left hand with anger.

In a blinding flash of panic William realized what was going to happen. "No," he whispered.

He couldn't stop them. What could he do for her? Wild fear threatened to overwhelm him. Not her. Not her too. He desperately slapped his hands against the clear divide. "No!" He'd give anything to spare her this... but they knew that.

He'd have to trust her strength. And give her as much of his strength as he could. So he stayed on his feet, let his hands fall to his sides and clench into fists. He pushed the pain away and schooled his expression, tried to let only anger show.

Half the agony of his beating was watching what it did to Susan. He would be strong for her, and not let her see what her pain was going to do to him.

   Susan's eyes left Will finally, and focused on the orderly as he lifted his fists. She fought to free herself, was held firm, and wriggled in their grip. He could see her sharp intake of breath right before the first blow landed, snapping her head to the side and down. The big man moved in and sank his other fist into her gut below her ribs, driving the air out of her. She would have buckled if she wasn't being held up. The orderly stepped back and paced, watching her gasp for breath. William couldn't hear the choking sounds she was making, but after a minute she regained her breath.

   Another punch, then another, and the orderlies began to warm to their task. They took quick turns, restraining, then beating, restraining and back again. Susan spat out a mouthful of blood, and a handful of her hair was taken in order to raise her face up to make it an easier target. She looked at William past the thugs, her eyes softening through her pain for a moment upon seeing him. Then another punch made her ears ring and stars sparkle before her eyes.

William stood and watched, face stony. He would watch, and remember.

He wanted to dissolve, to blubber and beg them to stop. Inside he screamed every time they hit her. Outside, he could barely stop his body jerking and twitching with each blow. He fought not to crumple to his knees.

He waited for her eyes to find him again. He put a hand on the clear wall, and tried to give her a strong smile. But the way his lips were trembling ruined it, and he almost broke. But he sucked in a breath, and kept his eyes on her. Kept his face angry. But he couldn't stop the tears.

   At first, Susan had tried to not make any noise when she was hit, but a few groans began to escape her. Her knees began to give out, and she struggled to stay standing. One particular punch sent her straight to the ground. She lay there for a moment, before looking back to William through a swelling eye and pushing herself up. A solid kick to her stomach stole her breath again, the orderlies paused while she struggled for air. Only after she managed to inhale slightly, did they move in with more kicking and punching while she was down. She tried to kick back, but her ankle was caught and held to keep her in place. A sharp kick to her kidney made her scream.

   A long time passed, Susan tried to fight back, and it brought on more energized reactions from her torturers. The first time she passed out, she was gently slapped awake. Her arms were bloodied and bruised from her attempts to protect herself. It wasn't too long before she lost consciousness again, getting a kick to the jaw. Her features were lost under swelling bruises, cuts and blood. A vigorous shaking brought her back long enough for an orderly to bodily slam her against the dividing wall. She stood for a moment, leaning against the divide for support, her back to William. The brutes advanced with bloody knuckles and made quick work of beating her to the ground. She took the hits while pinned against the clear surface, and when her body went limp, they knew she had passed out again.

   One of the orderlies bent and rolled her onto her back, shaking her and shouting at her, his large hands gripping the front of her bloody hospital shirt.

"Susan," William said in a tight whisper. "Stay down. Don't get up." He pled for it to be over. The hand he had placed against the clear wall had balled into a fist. He watched her for signs of life.

   Susan's breathing was so shallow it could barely be seen. The orderly slapped her and shouted at her, but seeming to answer William's plea, Susan did not wake. Dropping her, the big man straightened and gave her a shove with his foot. One eye swollen shut, just as William's had been, she lay on the floor with one arm across her belly.

   The opaque panels on the dividing wall opened, and William could hear the heavy breathing of the orderlies on Susan's side of the room.

William gasped with the need to call out to her, but bit his tongue. He glared at the bloody-knuckled orderlies. He trembled with the effort of keeping silent, tears flowing freely down his face. He looked back at Susan, straining to see if she was breathing. They wouldn't let her die. He knew that. But breathless panic began clawing at his throat anyway, constricting it so he could barely breathe himself.

   The orderlies paced for a minute or two, watching William and nudging the limp Susan every now and then. When Susan didn't stir, they nodded to each other and left the room, the door hissing closed behind them.

   Susan didn't move, aside from her shallow breathing. A few cuts still oozed blood, and her hair was matted.

Once they left, William allowed his legs to fold under him, collapsing into a sitting position. His sore limbs protested, but he barely felt it. "Susan?" he called out tentatively, wiping at his face and sniffing to control his runny nose. "Susan?"

He didn't know what to do. He could do nothing for her but be here, and love her. So he tried to content himself with that, but it was hard. He wanted to be either holding her in his arms or breaking some orderly faces.

   A soft moan came from Susan and her fingers twitched. Her head rolled toward him, and the eye she could open fluttered. She made a sound that may have ended up being his name, but her eye rolled back and she passed out. It was a while before she took in a deeper breath as she regained consciousness, her eye opening again and searching for William.

William had fallen asleep sitting up, his forehead pressed against the dividing wall, his hands relaxed and open in his lap. His shoulders rose and fell with his even breathing.

   Susan watched him for a few minutes, taking stock of her throbbing body and trying to get her vision to clear. His actions during her beating had kept her mind focused. How strange, she thought sluggishly, that the realization of his love for her came through in so many ways during her beating. Guilt swept through her at the thought and she shuddered, wishing she could have done at least that, for him.

   Everything hurt. She twitched her fingers first, before trying to raise her hand to her face. The movement sent a lance of pain up through her shoulder and she cried out, dropping it back down and gasping.

At the sound of her voice, William started awake, his body jerking back reflexively. When he saw she was awake, a huge smile split his face. "Susan! You're alive," his voice cracked with relief. He scooted back toward the wall on his knees.

   Susan couldn't help but smile at seeing the one on his face. She flinched and swallowed thickly, her voice weak, "I can.. certainly tell." she tried to smile again at her attempt at humor, her open eye closing for a moment to rest as a cut on her lip started to bleed anew, "Are you.. okay?" she whispered, looking at him with a sadness.

"No. Why would I be?" he answered lightly, still smiling. He stiffly maneuvered himself into a cross-legged sitting position. "But you're alive. We can be not okay together."

There was a pit in his stomach. The future was dark. But right now, they were together, and they could talk. A far sight better than nothing.

   Susan wished she could grab him and kiss him. How was he smiling? It was infectious. The sadness in her eyes faded, and she sighed, "Thank you. I- " She tried to shift into a more comfortable position, and the bruising pain was almost too much. She groaned through gritted teeth until it subsided, and had to resist the urge to keep moving. After a panting breath, she continued, "I.. can't express... how much you help me." It was getting slightly easier to talk, but each breath was fresh pain.

William swallowed hard, but kept smiling. It was a small, tender thing. Watching her pain felt like he was receiving fresh injuries, bruises on his heart, gashes in his soul. "I'll be here for you," he said quietly, repeating an oath he had spoken to her once before, "Though my heart is black and blue."

   Susan shuddered in pain and closed her eye for a few minutes. When she felt able to open it again, she looked at William and asked quietly, "What happened to you after they came? I.. They came and took me before you. I didn't see what happened. I thought you were dead." she had gasped a few times through her questions, and regained her breath.

William lowered his eyes, thinking. "I was talking to you, then... darkness. I think I lost consciousness. I woke up in my room. I saw no one for a long while, then they brought me here." He looked back up at her. "What about you?"

   Susan was silent for a moment, thinking back on what she did, what Dr. Horrible said, and she shuddered. She didn't want to tell him about what she did to herself, she was feeling a wave of shame. Licking her cracked lips, she took as deep a breath as she could, "After they came to get me, they knocked me out. I woke up in a recovery room... The Doctor came to see me." she hesitated, fearful tears stinging her eyes. She shook her head in the slightest, "He asked me what I would give, after I asked them to save you. I told him I didn't have anything." she looked away from William and closed her eye, saying carefully, "He touched my thigh... I think he threatened.." she couldn't bring herself to say it. She took a few painful and short breaths, stealing herself, "Threatened my, virginity. That's when he asked if I would take your beating, and I said yes."

"You... took my..." William pressed a hand to his mouth, fighting a wave of nausea. The emotions slammed through him so powerfully and so fast he could barely identify them; anger, horror, fear, love...
He quickly put up his walls, and the storm eased. His walls against torture. Horrific things had been done to him over the years he had lived here. Horrors and violations he could barely make himself remember, didn't think about, didn't talk about, for his own sanity. He had many coping mechanisms.

He didn't want Susan to have to go through this. To have to carve up her own psyche just to survive what was happening to her body. But if he couldn't stop that, at least she wasn't alone. He tried to remember, to throw his mind back to when this had all been new, so he could try and help her, understand what she was going through...

After a few moments of silence as he struggled not to vomit, William let his hand fall away from his face. He hiccuped a small laugh. "I would have done the same thing," he said thickly. "Susan... I would have done the same thing for you. But... please, we... we can't give them what they want. They'll take it anyway, but... we can't just give it to them. That he... threatened your..." Rage fought for a place in his expression as he struggled to keep his voice even. "Your virginity... I understand, it was too frightening and... disgusting. But..." He searched for the words, idly reaching up to touch his scabbed lips. "We have to... call every bluff, even if its not a bluff. They expect things to go a certain way, and I've always tried to... well, to mess it up. To be as uncooperative as possible. It's the only way I could fight." But then he frowned. "Though I always paid for it. I thought it was worth it, but..." He looked at her, the agony she felt reflected in his eyes. "Maybe it's not the best way for you to fight."