Three days had passed since the night Twilight and I met by chance in town square.

Rose and I were settled in the house now. I was also officially working on and around the land that made up Sweet Apple Acres, and Rose had taken up baking. She likes assisting Granny and Apple Bloom in cooking, and sells various baked Apple produce every weekend. Because of this, she has even taken up some classes (more like hooves-on lessons) from Mr. and Mrs. Cake.
Through them she made friends with a bubbly pink pony, named Pinkie Pie.

As for money, we're trudging along nicely. The payment plan is to help set up a system that allows me to put money towards the bank and the house at the same time, without dropping it all at once. Rose has no idea that we put a payment plan for that exact reason. At the moment she assumes that what I have is decent, but just isn't enough to pay off the house, and I feel pretty guilty about it.

Even though things are going smoothly, I can feel myself slipping a bit. Not letting Rose aware of my past and what I had had to do was starting to get to me. I just couldn't tell her, not yet. It had to be soon, though.

With a sigh I closed my barkcloth journal and set it aside. The house felt empty with just myself occupying it.
It didn't dawn on me until after a few minutes, that I was actually considering having a foal.

"What the hell is wrong with me? Can I even afford that?" I whispered to my self.

"Afford what?" Rose turned the corner into our bedroom, just getting home from work.

Apparently I didn't hear her come in from downstairs, because I jumped slightly as she appeared. "I don't know... well I do, but-"

"If something's bothering you, tell me. I'm not a stranger, Cross." Rose trotted over and climbed on the bed next to me, moving the journal out of the way and sitting on her haunches.

I rolled onto my side from a laying position and turned my head to look up at her.

"Don't get any funny ideas, but I was wondering if you ever might consider having a foal."

She covered her face with a hoof, and sighed. "Seriously? Cross!" Her voice cracked as she said my name, and couldn't knock off a smile. "How can I not get any funny ideas!"

Rose moved her hoof, and revealed that her entire face was red, and her eyes were slightly teary from embarrassment (as well as trying so hard not to laugh).

"I didn't hear a no." I chuckled.

She shook her head and got out of bed, still blushing intensely as she made her way around it.

I rolled back into a laying position and turned to look at her as she went to pass by, but before she continued I was pulled into a kiss.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a shower." Rose winked at me and continued on into the master bathroom.

"Hey, I could always join you with that."

"Oh, shut up." She laughed and closed the door.

When I heard the water start I grabbed my journal, propped my back up on a pillow, and began sketching on a new page.

By the time I finished, the water stopped running. I was satisfied with how it turned out, and looking at the sketch of an embarrassed Rose standing over me with her face covered made me smile to myself.

As I closed the journal, Rose stepped out of the bathroom. Her mane was still a little wet and rested on one side of her head, hanging in the front across her chest. I personally liked it a lot, since her mane normally only curled at the end; whereas when it's not been brushed or teased all of it is naturally curly.

"Why don't you keep your mane natural?"

Rose turned her head to me and shrugged, climbing over me, just to wind up plopping down beside me. "I dunno, I guess it just looks more presentable. Otherwise I look like I'm going to a party, and not the formal kind, either."

"Nothing wrong with that," I laughed a little. "Nor is there anything wrong with letting it hang in the front like you have it now. I like it."

"I'll keep it like this at home." She put a hoof over my chest, and laying on her side, cuddled against me.

"You could have at least dried off completely." I rested my muzzle against the top of her head, and on her damp mane. "You're still a little wet."

"Either let me love you, or shut up." She grinned and pressed against me, so that her cold damp coat was up against mine.

With a shiver I put a hoof around her, and held her close to me. "That's not fair, but I'll take it."
Rose giggled and closed her eyes.

"I assume that tomorrow will be a good day for business?"

"Well.. We've got everything in order to set up stand tomorrow. Mostly it'll just be sweets like apple fritters, apple pies, and so on," She shrugged. "Then we'll set up stand for more healthy produce in a few weeks. Until then I'll be baking with the Cakes."

I smiled and lifted my face from her mane. "A few weeks oughta' give us some time together."

"Mhmm," She yawned.

A few minutes go by as we lay there, relaxing.
It was a nice change from one (or both) of us constantly going, and I let myself get lost in it. I took the time to just focus on her presence, every time she exhaled through her nose I felt her breath, along with the rise and fall of her chest on my side.

"Cross?" Rose said softly, "Can we have a foal?"

I don't know what it was, but something about that broke me. It only made things worse when she looked up at me. All I could do was stare at her.

"Cross?" Rose looked at me worriedly.

My eyes must have shown some sort of sadness, or desperation.

"I need a moment.."

Once I wiggled my way out of the bed, I went into the bathroom, closed the door behind me, and began to softly cry.

"You're an idiot." I whispered to myself, resting my head on the sink counter with my face buried into my foreleg. "You're broken. You're weak, you're.. you're..."

I slammed my hoof on the counter and looked up in the mirror.

My eyes met, and from my own point of view I saw nothing but a criminal and a coward.
"You don't deserve this." Tears rolled down my face, and I shook my head slightly as I looked towards the bathtub.

I don't remember climbing in the tub, nor do I remember starting the water and laying back.

What I remembered in that moment, that minuscule frame of time, was that officer pony with the shotgun. If he wasn't shot, would I have beat his skull in with the stock of that shotgun? Would I have been the one to kill that pony, that pony who probably had a family just like the one I dream of, like Applejack has with her siblings and grandmother?

I hadn't realized I was uncontrollably sobbing at this point, until Rose came in. She didn't say anything at all, instead she came over to the tub, got in it, and cradled me.

All I could do was cry, cry like I just threw my life away. "I'm worthless," I sobbed into her coat. "I hate it."

Rose clinged onto me tightly. "No, you're not. You mean everything to me, Cross. You're all I've got."

Author's Note

I apologize that this chapter is so short, I just really wanted to split it into two parts to hopefully make it come together better.